PC Alpha 19 Dev Diary

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Ok. So a feature related to optimization in videogames that can be ticked as an option in the game is a hardware geek thing now. In a sense, I guess. Rude answer due to me using DLSS 2.0 and not Deep Learning Super Sampling 2.0 which sounds ... geekier? Still, using it in 7dtd would be cool because it would increase fps by 15-40% depending on the situation/game, which you guys need.

I don't get advertising money for this so don't worry lol. I thought it might be of some help for you guys to consider it and give it a try in the future.
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I literally have no idea what that is, so I'm not being rude, I'm saying I'm not the kind of guy looking at new stuff and hoping its going to save the day on performance. I'm looking at optimizing using standard tried and true methods that work on all platforms, like cleaner UVs, designers adhering to poly count standards, etc. I buy the best hardware about 3500 can get me every 3 years and it works great but I'm not looking at new hardware coming out at all. I still don't know what Vulcan is and never will. Its not my job. If programmers come to me and say "we gotta do this" then I'd be ok what is it and what does that do for us. That is more engine level stuff so Unity can take care of it for us.

 
@madmole

So i have played around with a brawling builf and i have to so say its VERY Fun. Mostly with any alcohol. and that got me thinking. "Sense Alcohol gives you a Buff with a Brawling, will their be any other, Food, drinks, or even Candy that gives boost to (blank weapon class).

the Shorten version is. will there be any new items to give buffs like how alcohol gives buff to brawling?

 
This is part of the problem, it seems I test this game (and others) on more varied types of hardware than you do, sometimes through choice other times through necessity. I'm not always near my decent hardware. A fast computer will hide a multitude of programming sins.

The only problem I can see with DLSS is that you'll have to train the AMD image sharpening tool as well otherwise you'll be alienating the AMD users, although I dare say both could be automated to a greater or lesser degree.

Why wouldn't you learn this stuff? If I spot something I don't know about I make it a point to at least have a reasonable knowledge of it when I get the chance.

 
@madmole
So i have played around with a brawling builf and i have to so say its VERY Fun. Mostly with any alcohol. and that got me thinking. "Sense Alcohol gives you a Buff with a Brawling, will their be any other, Food, drinks, or even Candy that gives boost to (blank weapon class).

the Shorten version is. will there be any new items to give buffs like how alcohol gives buff to brawling?
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Candy fills any voids there were.

 
Candy fills any voids there were.
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Any "spoilers" on how common candy will be? 50% of a vending machine's contents? More? Only a couple per? (My only concern here, if it is even valid in the first place, is multiplayer worlds where food would be even more scarce as a result. **Perhaps making vending machines show their contents client side and not server side could be a solution here? I don't play multiplayer however, so I might just be talking out of my hat.)

(**Then again, maybe they already do. I have no clue.)

 
Candy fills any voids there were.
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me when candy comes out.

Thxs for answering :)

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I'm not a heating engineer but I learned to repressurize a boiler and bleed a radiator when I needed to.
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But you probably also go by the motto, "If you want something done right then do it yourself" and pride yourself on having personal knowledge about everything. There are those who are willing to trust the talents and abilities of others and willing to not micromanage everything. TFP have hired some extremely talented people and there are some programmers and QA testers who play the game on a variety of rigs in order to give feedback on how the game handles. In fact, fatal who has been doing the lion's share of optimization work has stated he has a potato rig to try the game on and get a sense, for himself, how the game plays on lower end machines and what settings he has been adding to the options menu will have the best gains for older machines. Why shouldn't Madmole trust who he has hired to do the job they were hired to do?

 
But you probably also go by the motto, "If you want something done right then do it yourself" and pride yourself on having personal knowledge about everything. There are those who are willing to trust the talents and abilities of others and willing to not micromanage everything. TFP have hired some extremely talented people and there are some programmers and QA testers who play the game on a variety of rigs in order to give feedback on how the game handles. In fact, fatal who has been doing the lion's share of optimization work has stated he has a potato rig to try the game on and get a sense, for himself, how the game plays on lower end machines and what settings he has been adding to the options menu will have the best gains for older machines. Why shouldn't Madmole trust who he has hired to do the job they were hired to do?
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Not to mention you can teach a 5 year old to bleed a radiator, not so much optimize a game.

 
I'm not a heating engineer but I learned to repressurize a boiler and bleed a radiator when I needed to.
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We're big enough that I no longer have to wear 500 hats. That DIY attitude can be detrimental when you reach a certain level. I could waste time learning odd bits and being jack of all trades or specialize in design and let people with a much better knowledge of hardware and programming do that thinking for me at a much higher and informed level. I can sort of code, but no I'm not a programmer. I could lift weights but I wasn't a bodybuilder until this year. I DIY and got a lot of things wrong. I finally decided to hire a trainer because I've had such great results in business hiring professionals yet something I put so much energy into has been DIY. The results have been worth it and I think I'll reach all my goals finally.

My point is there are levels to every profession. I know enough to know that its a mistake to try and do it all yourself to try and save money. We've surrounded ourselves with some amazing talent the last two years and we trust their judgement on a lot of topics. Its allowing me to grow into a much better game designer since I don't have as much hand holding to do. We're training our guys to spread their wings and fly so we can get a lot more done and its very liberating.

We don't really talk about it much but TFP is now one of the bigger studios in Dallas. We've hired more people in the last quarter than we had on the entire team for the first few years. We're investing into the business and want 7 days gold to be amazing. Alpha 18 was the first sniff of me pushing most of the designs and some of the new talent and A19 and 20 will continue to showcase our new talents but more importantly get us to gold with class and hopefully almost a AA feeling at least.

I'm all about expanding my knowledge but not when its outside of my area of expertise. BTW I fix my own boilers too for my 200' heated driveway, but only because I'm not going to sit there and wait for the plumber to show up while the snow is piling up. But I have a background in mechanical repair so its not outside my wheelhouse for that.

 
But you probably also go by the motto, "If you want something done right then do it yourself" and pride yourself on having personal knowledge about everything. There are those who are willing to trust the talents and abilities of others and willing to not micromanage everything. TFP have hired some extremely talented people and there are some programmers and QA testers who play the game on a variety of rigs in order to give feedback on how the game handles. In fact, fatal who has been doing the lion's share of optimization work has stated he has a potato rig to try the game on and get a sense, for himself, how the game plays on lower end machines and what settings he has been adding to the options menu will have the best gains for older machines. Why shouldn't Madmole trust who he has hired to do the job they were hired to do?
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You're almost right. I became very disappointed in my early teens when I realized it was impossible for somebody to have the entire sum of human knowledge in their head. I also became determined to not let that stop me from trying.

I'll quite happily hand a job off to somebody better at it than me but I've never felt ashamed about asking stupid questions.

 
But you probably also go by the motto, "If you want something done right then do it yourself" and pride yourself on having personal knowledge about everything. There are those who are willing to trust the talents and abilities of others and willing to not micromanage everything. TFP have hired some extremely talented people and there are some programmers and QA testers who play the game on a variety of rigs in order to give feedback on how the game handles. In fact, fatal who has been doing the lion's share of optimization work has stated he has a potato rig to try the game on and get a sense, for himself, how the game plays on lower end machines and what settings he has been adding to the options menu will have the best gains for older machines. Why shouldn't Madmole trust who he has hired to do the job they were hired to do?
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The difference is thinking big or thinking small. I can't complain my do it yourself attitude served me well and got us on steam and off to a great start. But in order to grow from an ugly semi successful want to be game to a professionally done household brand we needed to grow into big thinkers and learn to delegate and trust people in their areas. I could do art, but I was too busy to spend the 4 weeks needed on a tree like Justin can. I was always getting pulled into meetings and needed on design discussions so my art was never awesome because I knew design was more important. So its best to focus on one area and get really good at it then be a jack of all trades and master of none, unless you want to be a 1 or 2 man rodeo.

 
You're almost right. I became very disappointed in my early teens when I realized it was impossible for somebody to have the entire sum of human knowledge in their head. I also became determined to not let that stop me from trying.

I'll quite happily hand a job off to somebody better at it than me but I've never felt ashamed about asking stupid questions.
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I used to say there is no such thing as a stupid question, but now with the invention of google, there kind of is. We tend to get lazy and ask stupid questions sometimes when you should at least google it quick to see what it is, then ask some questions. This "did you try and figure it out" environment helps breed stronger developers.

 
I used to say there is no such thing as a stupid question, but now with the invention of google, there kind of is. We tend to get lazy and ask stupid questions sometimes when you should at least google it quick to see what it is, then ask some questions. This "did you try and figure it out" environment helps breed stronger developers.
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To be fair, five minutes asking stupid questions to an expert will save you five hours of googling. If you don't know the keywords to look for the information can be incredibly difficult to find.

That said, many moons ago when facebook was cool (before they started doing mass mind control experiments) I used to help out a lot on programming pages and quite often I'd just post a link to a relevant stack overflow page... as you may have noticed, the habit stuck :-)

 
I used to say there is no such thing as a stupid question, but now with the invention of google, there kind of is. We tend to get lazy and ask stupid questions sometimes when you should at least google it quick to see what it is, then ask some questions. This "did you try and figure it out" environment helps breed stronger developers.
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Nevertheless, it is never a wise decision to put all of your eggs into one basket. Perhaps I am a bit old fashioned in that reward, since I verify information in "dusty old books" almost as often as I do Google.

And yes, stupid questions exist. So do stupid people, although they aren't necessarily intrinsically connected. The only thing everyone has in common is that we all share this mess of a rock together, for better or for worse.

 
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