Aquanox - Bringing 3D To Its Knees!

**DOOM** · 01-28-2002

AquaNox leverages the GeForce3 nfiniteFX engine to deliver photo-realism in real time. Over 160 Vertex Shaders are used to implement special effects such as layered fog, caustics, photo-realistic materials, radiosity lighting, and real-time shadows. Higher order surfaces are used to create organic enemies, and Pixel Shaders are utilized for bump mapping and volumetric lighting effects.

"Massive Development has been working closely with NVIDIA to expose the awesome power of GeForce3 in their forthcoming title AquaNox," said Sanford Russell, Senior Director of Partner Management at NVIDIA. "Geforce3's nfiniteFX™ engine has enabled Massive Development to bring real-time Hollywood quality to their game. Only by using NVIDIA's hardware Vertex Shaders and Pixel Shaders, are they able to achieve their unique lighting solution at great frame rates. AquaNox and its technology, the krass™engine impressed us! NVIDIA looks forward to working with Massive Development again in the future to take games and gamers to the next level."

"Massive Development have designed AquaNox to have great game play and be graphically superior from the beginning," said Alexander Jorias, Managing Director at Massive Development. "By adding programmable Vertex and Pixel Shaders to our LOD terrain and battle subs, Massive Development and NVIDIA are creating an exciting new generation of gaming. When we ran AquaNox on GeForce3, we were blown away by the stunning realism that we witnessed. We saw the birth of the first game ever that delivers photo-realism at 60 fps."

So Is This Bad Boy Still Coming Out For XBOX Or What?
Check It Out:
http://developer.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=aquanox
or Here:
http://www4.tomshardware.com/consume...124/index.html

**Ninja Scroll** · 01-28-2002

Um,,.............. that's nice and all Doom, but what's this got to do with my beloved Xbox!?

**DOOM** · 01-28-2002

It's Suposed To Be Coming Out For It, DUH!

**Ninja Scroll** · 01-28-2002

Duh!!How?? Duhhh!

Why not explain how it will happen then smart ass!?

Or is it Doom Daddy, Doom Diddy, or Doom Dummy!?

hehehe, hit you with that Nas joint!

**Nato King** · 01-28-2002

This game should be hot if it come to xbox. I just have one Question is there some online play for this game.

**Shadow Fox** · 01-28-2002

Two questions:

Where exactly are 160 vertex shaders used in this pic above? I see flat textures abound; albeit the sea floor.

How in the hell will the Xbox be able to achieve this with 160 vertex shaders? Only two exist in the hardware, and the rest would have to be programmed or encoded on the disc for extraction. I hope the copy-and-paste description relates to "throughout the game", instead of "in one scene", because it won't happen, unless Microsoft buys hefty stock in SGI pretty soon...

-Official Ninja of GameTavern (and NDose)

**Ninja Scroll** · 01-28-2002

That's what im trying to say Shadow Fox, he's not really giving us the information the we need.
It is nice and all he hit us with the scoop but with nothing to follow it up on with though!

**DOOM** · 01-28-2002

Nothing To Explain...
WTF R You On, Egg Scroll!
Keep Your Ebonics To Yourself.
What I Posted Was Info & A QUESTION:

Originally posted by DOOM
So Is This Bad Boy Still Coming Out For XBOX Or What?

Take a Chill Pill Dude!

HERE's More Aquanox Info:
http://www.fgnonline.com/xbox/news/18692.html
& Here:
http://www.actiontrip.com/previews/aquanox.phtml
& Here:
http://www.neoseeker.com/Games/Products/Xbox/aquanox/
Here Too:
http://www.xboxaddict.com/products/n...Product_ID=155
Here:
http://developer.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=aquanox
or Here:
http://www4.tomshardware.com/consum...0124/index.html
One More:
http://www.xboxweb.com/news/0301/020.html

**Shadow Fox** · 01-28-2002

Originally posted by DOOM
Nothing To Explain...
WTF R You On, Egg Scroll!
Keep Your Ebonics To Yourself.
What I Posted Was Info & A QUESTION:

Take a Chill Pill Dude!

HERE's More Aquanox Info:
http://www.fgnonline.com/xbox/news/18692.html
& Here:
http://www.actiontrip.com/previews/aquanox.phtml
& Here:
http://www.neoseeker.com/Games/Products/Xbox/aquanox/
Here Too:
http://www.xboxaddict.com/products/n...Product_ID=155
Here:
http://developer.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=aquanox
or Here:
http://www4.tomshardware.com/consum...0124/index.html
One More:
http://www.xboxweb.com/news/0301/020.html

DOOM man, none of these sites says anything about an Xbox version. The obvious Xbox sites place it in the Xbox "folder" of their webpage, but there's nothing relating to this game being ported to Xbox other than high hopes. Nvdia's site (the first one that should mention it), says nothing about an Xbox product here. And judging on early reviews from the PC version (and at E3, where it debuted), it isn't what it's cracked up to be anyway.

-Official Ninja of GameTavern (and NDose)

**LynxFX** · 01-28-2002

All I know about this game is that it is a graphics card killer fully utilizing DX8. The new engine brings even the GF3 Ti500 to its knees which is why it has started to become a popular benchmark. Check out tomshardware for more info on that.

I don't know about the game coming to xbox though. I see it likely though since it was developed with Microsoft (directx 8) and nVidia (pixel shaders etc etc) in mind.

Shadowfox,

I think the 160 pixel shaders are the number of unique shaders made for the game. The Geforce 3 has one in hardware and the xbox has 2. I believe it works the same as with textures where there used to only be one texture pipeline now there are quad pipelines for textures. You could still have multiple textures on the screen with the single pipeline but it just took longer than if you had a quad pipeline rendering the textures. I think that is the same for pixel shaders. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

**JJaX** · 01-28-2002

Originally posted by Ninja Scroll

Or is it Doom Daddy, Doom Diddy, or Doom Dummy!?

hehehe, hit you with that Nas joint!

Oh i get it!

Your biggy and he's Puffy!

Stillmatic is nasty..

Poison is my song......

**Ninja Scroll** · 01-28-2002

Originally posted by JJaX

Oh i get it!
Your biggy and he's Puffy!
Stillmatic is nasty..
Poison is my song......

No, Doom's Biggie & JJax's Puffy

Dude, Poison is da sh*t kid, honestly, I love all 15 joints.
But you gotta give it up to "Ether". daaaaaaaaaaaaaamn, da is da greatest dis ever since 2Pac's "Hit Em Up" joint!

**JJaX** · 01-28-2002

Originally posted by Ninja Scroll

No, Doom's Biggie & JJax's Puffy

Dude, Poison is da sh*t kid, honestly, I love all 15 joints.
But you gotta give it up to "Ether". daaaaaaaaaaaaaamn, da is da greatest dis ever since 2Pac's "Hit Em Up" joint!

EHheeh ether is hot. But it aint to Hit em Up booooy.
And hell nooo, I aint puffy.

**Shadow Fox** · 01-28-2002

Originally posted by Lynxfx
Shadowfox,

I think the 160 pixel shaders are the number of unique shaders made for the game. The Geforce 3 has one in hardware and the xbox has 2. I believe it works the same as with textures where there used to only be one texture pipeline now there are quad pipelines for textures. You could still have multiple textures on the screen with the single pipeline but it just took longer than if you had a quad pipeline rendering the textures. I think that is the same for pixel shaders. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I'll correct you. First off, the "ad" Nvidia posted listed 160 vertex shaders, not pixel shaders. 160 pixel shaders is by no means a graphical feat if the N64 could pull it off...

It was 160+ VERTEX shaders. I'm clueless on this, and I hope it IS a typo, so you can be correct. I've never seen that many used in a rendered scene before in Maya, let alone in a game. That is entirely too much bump-mapping; there would be no point to render more than 100,000 polys per sec with that kind of hardware realism...

As for the data pipeline, it depends on how the developers see it. If a unit had a signicantly smaller pipeline, (like a mac), all the textures would be processed with about as much speed as two or three of the standard pipelines processing the info thru the CPU and sending it to the GPU and back. If the developers want to make a texture "stack" (line of textures waiting to be sent a bursts), it could also work on a single pipeline, often as well as a quad +. Solutions like this exist for all types of hardware, it just takes the time (and wit), to figure it out.

-Official Ninja of GameTavern (and NDose)

**Hugh_Jass** · 01-28-2002

Hasn't the general consensus been that this game is a graphical showcase but not very fun?

**Shadow Fox** · 01-28-2002

Originally posted by DOOM
AquaNox leverages the GeForce3 nfiniteFX engine to deliver photo-realism in real time. Over 160 Vertex Shaders are used to implement special effects such as layered fog, caustics, photo-realistic materials, radiosity lighting, and real-time shadows. Higher order surfaces are used to create organic enemies, and Pixel Shaders are utilized for bump mapping and volumetric lighting effects.

I'm hoping that I'm wrong here, and the two words in bold were switched around as a typo on Nvidia's site by accident. Switch them around yourself, and see which one makes more sense.....

-Official Ninja of GameTavern (and NDose)

**LynxFX** · 01-28-2002

Oops my bad. With so many 'ex' and 'el' ending graphics terms now it gets confusing.

Vertex, pixel, textel etc.

It was so much easier when we were just trying to compare 16bit versus 32bit gaming back in the day.

**sinizuh** · 01-28-2002

they use this game for benchmarking PCs

**GokuX** · 01-28-2002

Okay I've played this game and while it looks great, it doesn't compare to the likes of top level Xbox or GC games. Its all show and no go. It wasn't fun at all. Wow I'm underwater and I need to blow up turrets, how fun. I really can't see the concept being much more anyway which is why they probably pumped so much into the graphics so people would excuse its rather diaphanous gameplay. Really it thins quickly and I quit playing after 10 minutes. I wouldn't even rent it if it came to the Xbox. Basically, there's no need to play this game if U've already played Bloodwake, which this game basically is, except underwater.

**Hugh_Jass** · 01-29-2002

Originally posted by GokuX
Okay I've played this game and while it looks great, it doesn't compare to the likes of top level Xbox or GC games. Its all show and no go. It wasn't fun at all. Wow I'm underwater and I need to blow up turrets, how fun. I really can't see the concept being much more anyway which is why they probably pumped so much into the graphics so people would excuse its rather diaphanous gameplay. Really it thins quickly and I quit playing after 10 minutes. I wouldn't even rent it if it came to the Xbox. Basically, there's no need to play this game if U've already played Bloodwake, which this game basically is, except underwater.

Your comments remind me of the feelings I had playing Star Wars on the GC.