Source 2: Difference between revisions
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==Fundamentals== | ==Fundamentals== | ||
The Source 2 engine of today is not too dissimilar to the engine for [[wikipedia:Quake_(video_game)|Quake]], from [[wikipedia:Id_Software|id Software]] in mid 1996, even though technology has much | The Source 2 engine of today is not too dissimilar to the engine for [[wikipedia:Quake_(video_game)|Quake]], from [[wikipedia:Id_Software|id Software]] in mid 1996, even though technology has improved much since then. Though Quake's graphics weren't bad for the time, the Source engines haven't tried too much to make the graphics what you'd call "Next-Gen." Because of the low quality high fps nature of the relatively new Source and Source 2 engines, you'll find that most of the games for it are first-person shooters. Examples being [[wikipedia:Counter-Strike|Counter-Strike]] and [[wikipedia:Half-Life_(video_game)|Half-Life]] to name a few. | ||
There are multiple ways the engines obtain this high fps without sacrificing too much graphical fidelity, one major way is how Source gets around real-time lighting simulations, called cubemaps. These calculate the lighting of textures while rendering the maps; making the file sizes larger but increasing performance and in a static lighting environment, sacrificing no quality whatsoever. | There are multiple ways the engines obtain this high fps without sacrificing too much graphical fidelity, one major way is how Source gets around real-time lighting simulations, called cubemaps. These calculate the lighting of textures while rendering the maps; making the file sizes larger but increasing performance and in a static lighting environment, sacrificing no quality whatsoever. | ||
Revision as of 15:06, 24 June 2018
Source 2 is a 3D video game engine in development by Valve as a successor to Source. It is used in Dota 2, parts of The Lab and in SteamVR Home. There are plans to port Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to the engine some time in the future. Source 2 was announced by Valve in March of 2015 at the Game Developers Conference and was first implemented into Dota 2 on June 17th 2015.
The engine is capable of rendering highly complex and well detailed scenes with minimal framerate drops, thanks to its new 64-bit support alongside Vulkan, allowing for better multi-core rendering and more efficient 3D rendering.
Valve has announced that Source 2 will be released to the public for free, and will only take money should it be used for commercial products.
Allegedly Valve is currently working on three games with the Source 2 engine. (one of which may be Artifact)
Features
- Lower latency and more responsive input.
- Increased performance limit to take advantage of higher end hardware.
- Improved audio and voice processing.
- Makes use of the Vulkan 3D Graphics and Computing API.
- Native OpenGL support on all platforms.
- New in-house physics engine, Rubikon.
- New authoring tools, rebuilt from the ground up.
- Physically based shading support.
- Support for the Steam Audio sound system.
- Enhanced GUI, designed to be more user friendly.
Products using Source 2
- Dota 2 - Ported to Source 2 in 2015
- Robot Repair - Included in The Lab
- SteamVR Home
- Artifact - The Dota Card Game
- SteamVR Performance Test
Fundamentals
The Source 2 engine of today is not too dissimilar to the engine for Quake, from id Software in mid 1996, even though technology has improved much since then. Though Quake's graphics weren't bad for the time, the Source engines haven't tried too much to make the graphics what you'd call "Next-Gen." Because of the low quality high fps nature of the relatively new Source and Source 2 engines, you'll find that most of the games for it are first-person shooters. Examples being Counter-Strike and Half-Life to name a few. There are multiple ways the engines obtain this high fps without sacrificing too much graphical fidelity, one major way is how Source gets around real-time lighting simulations, called cubemaps. These calculate the lighting of textures while rendering the maps; making the file sizes larger but increasing performance and in a static lighting environment, sacrificing no quality whatsoever.