Jump to content

16 June 2008 - Development Diary and System Specifications


Mil

Recommended Posts

In the first Development Diary on our graphical improvements, we showed you the results of textures, texture blending, shadows and fog. In this, the second and final Development Diary on the release, we shine a light on the other effects we have been using.

 

 

 

Minimum specifications:

 

 

 

To play RuneScape's new detail level you will need:

 

 

 

* 1.5 GHz processor or higher

 

* 256MB of RAM or more

 

* 64MB 3D Graphics card, such as Nvidia® GeForce 3 or above

 

 

 

Additionally, your graphics card should have the latest drivers installed, to ensure the new detail level plays with no problems.

 

 

 

If you need more information on your computer's specifications or how to update your graphical drivers, visit our Tech Support Forum in the RuneScape Forums.

 

 

 

When the graphical improvement is released, you will be able to increase or decrease the number of graphical features that are activated. This will be done in your in-game 'Options' menu (the one with the spanner icon). So, any problems playing the new detail mode may be lessened by reducing the number of graphical features that are activated.

 

 

 

We would advise that your computer exceeds the above requirements, so you will be able to play the new detail mode without any issues.

 

 

 

REMINDER - The existing Low and High Detail will still be available, as the graphical update is completely optional.

 

 

 

 

[hide=]DEVELOPMENT DIARY]

comic08.gif

 

 

 

A New Look RuneScape: Part 2

 

 

 

The first part of this Development Diary covered a brief history of the new detail mode project and a few of the features it brings namely, textures, shadows, texture blending and fog. This concluding part will cover the remaining graphical effects: lighting, water, fullscreen and some other, related projects.

 

 

 

Lighting the way

 

 

 

Currently, the lights in the game torches, lanterns, fires, etc are just animations that don't affect the surrounding area's light levels. In the current detail modes, no matter where you are, the lighting is always the same and, as an artist, that's a real limitation, says Mod Farley of Graphics. We wanted lights that actually illuminate their surroundings.

 

 

 

Mod Nick, Head of Tools, says, A hardware card will typically allow for eight lights. A very basic sunlight takes up two of those, leaving only another six, but we've managed to code a system that allows us to have up to 255 lights in a map square. Mod Farley adds, We've not needed to use anywhere near that many yet! but it does provide the Graphics team with another atmospheric tool.

 

 

 

 

 

lighting_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

To make sure the lights were working as intended, we had to check all 18,000 of them individually to make sure they had the appropriate position, colour, style of light, intensity and flicker rate. We also had to make sure that they cast their light properly. As Mod Nick says, Graphics cards will cast light through other objects unless they are told to stop. We had to devise a method of turning off the effect of a light beyond a certain point say, when it hit a wall so objects the other side of the wall weren't incorrectly lit. That may sound like a lot of effort, but it had to be done, and it required less effort than it did to get the water right...

 

 

 

Waterworld

 

 

 

We planned to improve RuneScape's water from the start, but researching the best way to do so took a long time. Mod Nick says, We had to reject a number of methods of how to do it, either because they didn't look good or didn't fit with RuneScape's style. In the other detail modes, water is just a texture, but with this update we wanted it to be more realistic and have transparency. This meant that there had to be something underneath the surface. Mod JackH of Tools says, I had to create an entirely new area below ground level that didn't previously exist. We nicknamed it 'The Underworld'.

 

 

 

 

 

water_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

RuneScape map squares currently only have four levels (numbered 0-3). Level 0 is ground level, level 3 is typically the roofs of the tallest buildings and the other two levels are different storeys. We started by making level 0 'The Underworld' and shifting the other levels up by one, so we had levels 0-4, says Mod JackH, but this caused too many issues with existing code: for example, teleport spells typically send your character to somewhere on level 0, and since level 0 was 'The Underworld', you'd teleport below ground level. We could have used this method, but issues like teleport code would have required too many fixes for it to be practical, says Mod JackH. After a rethink, we settled on hanging 'The Underworld' below ground level effectively making it level -1, Mod JackH continues. This method still caused its own problems, most notable of which were 'cracks': places where 'The Underworld' and the ground level didn't properly line up.

 

 

 

Deciding to create a whole new level is one thing, but creating all of the objects on that level is something else entirely. We had to find a way to model the bottom parts of everything in water shorelines, rocks, reeds, boats as only the top portions of those objects exist in the other detail modes. Mod Nick says, The Tools team built a system into our map editing software to automatically generate any ground underwater, which Graphics could then then tweak if they needed to."

 

 

All the 'small' things

 

 

 

As we'd updated so many elements of the game already, it became apparent that other things also needed to be improved to keep up, so we decided to work on some area and NPC improvement projects in parallel with the graphics overhaul. As a result, alongside the new detail mode, we'll be releasing improved versions of Lumbridge, Al Kharid, East and West Ardougne and Castle Wars; interfaces have been reworked; and some animations, cutscenes and emotes have been tweaked. We've also reworked human NPCs and chat heads, and the player kit. All of these area and NPC improvements will be available in the existing detail modes, too, so even if you don't play RuneScape in its updated graphical form, there's still something for you.

 

 

 

lumbridge_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

The human NPC improvement alone is the single largest project of its type to date, with humans accounting for approximately 15% of all NPCs (1,500 out of 10,000 unique models), and the player kit consisting of over 4,000 body parts and clothing. Mod Kavi of Graphics says, "The main focus has been on improving human character proportions and facial detail, which has given us the ability to create a greater range of (and better) animations for them." Among other things, this has also fixed an issue we used to have with hair rendering through headgear. "We achieved this by creating a character with those features most prone to causing rendering issues long beard, glasses, pipe, pigtails and re-modelling them to work with all worn items," says Mod Kavi. We then used that character as a template to re-model all other facial features.

 

 

 

head_new.gifhead_old.gif

 

 

 

The big picture

 

 

 

Mod Nick says, All of the new engine features are just pieces of the puzzle; they all need putting together for the full effect, preferably in fullscreen mode. Indeed, fullscreen mode might end up being the most popular aspect of this update, if not the most surprising, as players correctly guessed RuneScape would be going fullscreen after seeing we'd done that with FunOrb games.

 

 

 

"It feels more like you're in the world now, instead of looking at it through a window."

 

 

 

Mod Farley

 

Graphics

 

 

 

The (optional) fullscreen mode will scale the game up to your monitor's native (32-bit colour) resolution and the field of view adjusts for widescreen resolutions it also supports 2x and 4x anti-aliasing to help smooth off edges. Playing the game in fullscreen mode allows you to more fully immerse yourself within the game, as Mod Farley says, It feels more like you're in the world now, instead of looking at it through a window.

 

 

 

Speaking of looking at the game from a new perspective, Mod Farley says, This project has meant artists and developers looking at areas of the game that haven't been looked at for a long time. We have an ever-growing list of other things we now can and want to do! He finishes with, The whole project has created a great atmosphere at Jagex, a great positive feeling. It's been a rejuvenating experience for Jagex as well as RuneScape.

 

 

 

screenshot_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

New horizons

 

 

 

As one horizon is reached, there will always be another one to aim for, and we've already started working towards the next one (and several others after that). For a start, the work on this graphical update has, to date, focused on improving what was already there. We can now take texturing, shadows and the like into account for any new content we work on, developing areas and characters with these things in mind.

 

 

 

As we said in Behind the Scenes June, we're not currently planning any more game updates to RuneScape this month, but that doesn't mean we're taking time off ourselves or relaxing just yet. The whole company is working hard on the new detail mode's finishing touches, July's other updates and content beyond that. As the saying goes, 'There's no rest for the wicked'. Andrew concludes with, Altogether, I am massively pleased with this update, but there's always more we can do. RuneScape needs to constantly evolve to remain a state-of-the-art online game, so we're already planning future graphical improvements...

[/hide]
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 182
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

My only bug with the updates is that they aren't changing the distance the game renders up to, which seems a bit weak. Other than that, looks great :D

draciontheman.png

 

"In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just read through the development diary. And I was like wow :o !

 

I knew that this would be a massive update, but not this massive. This is going to be one of the biggest updates RS has got since it got started. And the new graphics looks awesome. Great work, Jagex! =D> :thumbsup: \'

 

Can't wait for this update to be released. I look so much forward to playing RS in fullscreen :D

lGxorje.png

 

Add me if you so wish: SwreeTak

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OMG LAST IMAGE OMG!!!!!

 

 

 

ALSO : The (optional) fullscreen mode will scale the game up to your monitor's native (32-bit colour) resolution and the field of view adjusts for widescreen resolutions it also supports 2x and 4x anti-aliasing to help smooth off edges.

 

 

 

O M G ! ! ! ! ! ! !!!!!!!!!!11!1!!1!1one!21!!eleven!1!!!!!1!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

*sigh* I was expecting something a bit better then requiring 256 MB of ram and a 64 MB graphics card (I'm running on 4096 MB of ram and 256 MB graphics card) Still, any improvement is a good one ;) Scaling it up to native resolultion and using 4X anti-aliasing should be plenty for a good graphics card to handle... I'm assuming that the requirments are for the 800X600 window. Guess we'll see what Runescape looks like at 1920X1200 + anti-aliasing :pray: Guess the $250 on the graphics card was well spent ::'

DeviledEgg24.png

Drops: 1x Draconic Visage, 56x Abyssal Whip, 5x Demon Head, D Drops: 37, Barrows Drops: 43, DK Drops: 29

GWD drops: 14,000x Bars, 1x Armadyl Hilt, 2x Armadyl Skirt, 4x Sara Sword, 1x Saradomin Hilt, 8x Bandos Hilt, 8x Bandos Platebody, 9x Bandos Tassets, 4x Bandos Boots, 43x Godsword Shard, 82x Dragon Boots

Dry streak records: Saradomin 412 kills Bandos 988 kills Spirit Mages 633 kills - Slayer Sucks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks really sweet. I just have to make sure i have the requirements... Not exactly sure how to check though :?

 

 

 

Go to Start

 

Right Click "My Computer"

 

Click "Properties"

 

 

 

Should be listed under "Computer" on that first page.

 

 

 

To check ur video card you can right click anywhere on ur desktop and select properties. Click the settings tab and then click advanced. There should be a tab with ur graphics cards name on it. If not then it probably means ur running an onboard GPU in which case i'm not entirely sure how you check.

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society

 

"Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice Job, Jagex!!! =D> =D> =D>

 

 

 

I can't wait to try it out! :D

> SELECT * FROM users WHERE clue > 0;

0 rows returned

There's no place like 127.0.0.1

There are only 10 types of people

in this world: those who understand

binary and those who don't.

This statement is false.

$DO || ! $DO ; try

try: command not found

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks really sweet. I just have to make sure i have the requirements... Not exactly sure how to check though :?

 

 

 

Go to Start

 

Right Click "My Computer"

 

Click "Properties"

 

 

 

Should be listed under "Computer" on that first page.

 

 

 

To check ur video card you can right click anywhere on ur desktop and select properties. Click the settings tab and then click advanced. There should be a tab with ur graphics cards name on it. If not then it probably means ur running an onboard GPU in which case i'm not entirely sure how you check.

 

 

 

Awesome, thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks GREAT!

 

 

 

But... we still have lines for eyes and balls for hands. Looks a little tacky with all of these new graphical improvements. It sticks out like a really sore thumb. Maybe an improvement to player models will come eventually...? To maybe sort of match the new chat-head look?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Im not so sure about the low mem and graphics reqs. Right now i never play in High Detail because it slows my computer down alot.

 

 

 

My comp has an AMD turion 64x2 at 2.2ghz with 4 gig of ram, with about 1 gig of that dedicated to my ATI Radeon x1200.

Americans love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle.

George S. Patton

1242631666.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.