AMD partners with Crytek to bring Mantle to CryEngine

[Scorpus]

AMD's low-level Mantle API is being backed by another top-tier game developer, the company announced at the Game Developers Conference. Crytek has hopped on the bandwagon to integrate Mantle into an upcoming iteration of CryEngine, which will be used for upcoming games such as Star Citizen, among others.

CryEngine, like EA DICE's Frostbite engine that also supports Mantle, has typically been harnessed for graphically impressive games such as Crysis and Ryse: Son of Rome. Any extra performance that you can squeeze out of hardware in games like this can be a godsend, especially on entry-level hardware that can struggle to run the game at all.

Crytek joins a range of other developers committed to integrating Mantle into their game engines and games, including Rebellion Developments (Sniper Elite III), Eidos Montreal (Thief), Oxide Games (Nitrous game engine), Cloud Imperium Games (Star Citizen), and, of course, EA Dice (Battlefield 4, and all upcoming Frostbite-powered games).

At GDC 2014, AMD also announced partnerships with two other game developers as part of their Gaming Evolved program. Through a partnership with Square Enix and Airtight Games, upcoming title Murdered: Soul Suspect will feature DirectX 11 effects optimized for AMD hardware. Another developer, Xaviant, will integrate TressFX Hair and TrueAudio into Lichdom, a game which we first saw at AMD's GPU14 Tech Day last year.

Neither Murdered: Soul Suspect nor Lichdom will feature Mantle API support at this stage, but AMD is taking it one step at a time. In the coming days we should also expect news surrounding DirectX 12, which looks to be a low-level graphics API competitor to Mantle.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/56060-amd-partners-with-crytek-to-bring-mantle-to-cryengine.html

 

[GhostRyder]

Well gotta hand it to AMD, they are going all in with this Mantle support and getting companies on board. At the rate this is going at, all the big game engines will have Mantle support.

 

[cliffordcooley]

In the end though I can't help but think it is a hopeless cause. Only time will tell if Mantle is more, than what DX12 will offers. It is hard not to think of the possibility that DX12 may kill the Mantle project.

 

[theBest11778]

"IF" DX12 offers similar features to Mantle, and works across all GPUs, then yes it will become the defacto standard. However Mantle can still find a nice home on Linux with the SteamOS. In reality that's the best place for a new API standard, along side with OpenGL. Depending how complicated it is to convert DX code to Mantle is the key. If AMD developed a converter program, then AMD wins all Steambox support.

If DX12 is inferior to Mantle, AMD still has a shot in the Windows market with their current list of supporters, however AMD NEEEEEEEEEDS Unreal Engine 4 to support Mantle ASAP. Most AAA titles, and with their new business model more F2P/Indie games will be using UE4. If they lock that down they'd have Unreal Engine 4, the new Cryengine, and Frostbite... besides the new, and untested, Snowdrop engine... they really have their bases covered.

 

[penn919]

Well Mantle has an immediate an advantage over DX12. It's available now and it doesn't require upgrading your GPU or OS. AMD can inflict a lot of damage between now and when DX12 is released. If they can amass enough support before DX12 comes out, then who'll need DX at all? Only Nvidia fanboys.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Well Mantle has an immediate an advantage over DX12. It's available now and it doesn't require upgrading your GPU or OS.

OS yes, GPU? That depends on which GPU you have. Mantle support only goes so far back.

 

[Guest]

Mantle can't do any damage until R9 prices go down.

 

[dividebyzero]

OS yes, GPU? That depends on which GPU you have. Mantle support only goes so far back.

Whereas DX12 looks as though it will be compatible with most DirectX10.1 and 11.x capable GPUs, so it doesn't look to require full feature level compliance.
With all three main GPU hardware vendors on board plus Qualcomm in the mobile GPU sector, Mantle will effectively be relegated to bullet point status. AMD doesn't have the software backround to have had Mantle up and running at inception, and without all the pieces in place couldn't afford to have other vendors implement Mantle faster than AMD could if they opened it up to other IHVs.
As it is, Mantle remains an AMD (selected) hardware-only option. The latest info still has Mantle as a closed shop.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Whereas DX12 looks as though it will be compatible with most DirectX10.1 and 11.x capable GPUs, so it doesn't look to require full feature level compliance.

That interesting! Does that mean some DX12 features can function on systems with DX10.1/11 card?

 

[Steve]

Mantle seems to be only useful to those who use extreme high-end GPU's on low-end or AMD CPUs.

 

[dividebyzero]

That interesting! Does that mean some DX12 features can function on systems with DX10.1/11 card?

That's what I took from the presentations*. Reading between the lines, DX12 won't leverage any hardware functionality required for 11.1/11.2, so any DX11 card should be compliant with DX12.
With non-DX11 capable cards moving into legacy status (if not there already) and most recent DX games being of the 11 variety, I would estimate that DX11 might be the cut-off point for compatibility going forward for any 12.x revision.
Nvidia stated that all their DX11 capable GPUs would be DX12 compliant. Haven't seen any confirmation from AMD or Intel. There seems to be some speculation that AMD's VLIW4 and 5 architectures won't be DX12 compliant.

* Forgot to include the presentation highlights ( PC Per liveblog)

 

[GhostRyder]

Mantle seems to be only useful to those who use extreme high-end GPU's on low-end or AMD CPUs.

Not exactly, ive seen some pretty heft improvements on some of the 6 Core i7's in BF4 and the likes. The lower down the CPU it goes, the better it seems to do but in some cases there have been tests saying that there was a 10+% increase on a i5 3570 with a r7 260x system which brought the average from 47FPS to 55FPS.

Whereas DX12 looks as though it will be compatible with most DirectX10.1 and 11.x capable GPUs, so it doesn't look to require full feature level compliance.
With all three main GPU hardware vendors on board plus Qualcomm in the mobile GPU sector, Mantle will effectively be relegated to bullet point status. AMD doesn't have the software backround to have had Mantle up and running at inception, and without all the pieces in place couldn't afford to have other vendors implement Mantle faster than AMD could if they opened it up to other IHVs.
As it is, Mantle remains an AMD (selected) hardware-only option. The latest info still has Mantle as a closed shop.

Well, that still all depends on how good DX 12 is and also if Windows 7 will work with it seeing as how most people still run 7. The other thing is games with this support are over a year and a half away from shipping according to the article (Holiday 2015) so while they are waiting, enough game companies have pledged Mantle support on most of the big name game engines now which will in turn be beneficial to the Mantle API and AMD. It will of course come down to if the companies decide its worth it in the long run and if DX12 actually does what it says its going to do.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Well, that still all depends on how good DX 12 is and also if Windows 7 will work with it seeing as how most people still run 7.

SP2 and DX12 should be the final two updates to WIndows 7, but I doubt we will see either one on Windows 7. The equation for MS in my opinion is (no SP2 or DX12 = Screw MS). To be honest I don't really care if they include DX12 for Win7. But if it boils down to them simply not wanting to enhance the most desired OS, out of spite, I will stop buying from MS out of pure spite. They are already pushing my patients with SP2. I'm expecting SP2, if MS wants my loyalty in the future.

Yes yes, I know I'm just one person and MS probably doesn't care about the feeling of just one person. The question is if I am alone?

 

[GhostRyder]

SP2 and DX12 should be the final two updates to WIndows 7, but I doubt we will see either one on Windows 7. The equation for MS in my opinion is (no SP2 or DX12 = Screw MS). To be honest I don't really care if they include DX12 for Win7. But if it boils down to them simply not wanting to enhance the most desired OS, out of spite, I will stop buying from MS out of pure spite. They are already pushing my patients with SP2. I'm expecting SP2, if MS wants my loyalty in the future.

Yes yes, I know I'm just one person and MS probably doesn't care about the feeling of just one person. The question is if I am alone?

I thought that they had already announced no Windows 7 Service packs for the future. I don't know about DX12, but the problem is they really are pushing towards the future (At that point also, I feel that DX12 will be around the time Windows 9 is coming out anyways so its probably going to be a W8/9 exclusive).

Just my guess of course.

 

[dividebyzero]

The other thing is games with this support are over a year and a half away from shipping according to the article (Holiday 2015) so while they are waiting, enough game companies have pledged Mantle support on most of the big name game engines now which will in turn be beneficial to the Mantle API and AMD.

Of that there is no doubt, but for the most part Mantle will remain a marketing tool- and a marketing tool that AMD will need to fund. No game developer will release a title without DirectX / OGL support

It will of course come down to if the companies decide its worth it in the long run and if DX12 actually does what it says its going to do.

If Mantle support is either cost effective (from a marketing PoV), or subsidised by AMD then I can't see why game developers wouldn't use it. What is a given is that DirectX support will continue to be the driving force, since it is incorporated into both Xbox consoles, as well as Nvidia, Intel, Qualcomm, and AMD - which pretty much covers the graphics landscape, Sony notwithstanding.

All this announcement does is serve notice that Mantle is now on the clock as a low level API. I haven't heard it said that a game title can't launch with both DX12 and Mantle support, but where one supports Xbone, Fermi, Kepler, Maxwell, Haswell iGP, GCN, and ARM and the other supports GCN only, it is probably safe to say that Mantle will end up losing relevance and joining the list that includes RRedline/Speedy3D, NVLIB, C Interface, S3d, Glide, Creative Graphics Library, and Matrox Simple Interface.
Hopefully, AMD reap the benefits of being first to market with Mantle, but they are going to need to much better than the stuttering steps taken in the first two outings. AMD can ill afford to have Mantle games launch without the API already integrated, especially then the deck is stacked against them since the supported hardware precludes widespread uptake.

 

[GhostRyder]

Of that there is no doubt, but for the most part Mantle will remain a marketing tool- and a marketing tool that AMD will need to fund. No game developer will release a title without DirectX / OGL support

If Mantle support is either cost effective (from a marketing PoV), or subsidised by AMD then I can't see why game developers wouldn't use it. What is a given is that DirectX support will continue to be the driving force, since it is incorporated into both Xbox consoles, as well as Nvidia, Intel, Qualcomm, and AMD - which pretty much covers the graphics landscape, Sony notwithstanding.

All this announcement does is serve notice that Mantle is now on the clock as a low level API. I haven't heard it said that a game title can't launch with both DX12 and Mantle support, but where one supports Xbone, Fermi, Kepler, Maxwell, Haswell iGP, GCN, and ARM and the other supports GCN only, it is probably safe to say that Mantle will end up losing relevance and joining the list that includes RRedline/Speedy3D, NVLIB, C Interface, S3d, Glide, Creative Graphics Library, and Matrox Simple Interface.
Hopefully, AMD reap the benefits of being first to market with Mantle, but they are going to need to much better than the stuttering steps taken in the first two outings. AMD can ill afford to have Mantle games launch without the API already integrated, especially then the deck is stacked against them since the supported hardware precludes widespread uptake.

Indeed, but it will also come down to the promises of DX12 vs Mantle. While DX12 will have more integration because of its universal compatibilty and the fact that DX has been used for along time now I feel it will come down to which is better. If AMD is willing to push it and support it then it will begin to thrive especially if its a better option (Or if companies just get used to putting it in) otherwise if the results come down to maybe 5% difference then it will be brushed aside.

Until that time, I guess we will all have to wait to see if it is all its cracked up to be (DX 12) or if mantle really gets the promised integration all the companies have pledged.