My bottom line:

Leaf shadows on a rock are not enough incentive  to make me put out for a new computer and an upgrade to M$ Vista.   

I need to be gobsmacked, not mildly impressed.

Originally posted by elvenangel

 

Originally posted by slannmage

DX9 can do everything DX10 does but developers don't want you to know that and just restrict the DX9 version on purpose :O Crysis anybody? ROFL! All these screens do is add more shadows :S Oh WOW you can't get these shadows done on DX9 can you lol.......

 

Actually DX9 can NOT do alot really cool stuff that DX10 has been touted for being able to do.   I work as a Graphics Engineer and while I think 10 is in bad shape aka .. should of been released a year or two later than it was..it still does more than 9.   DX10 Supports Geometry Shaders & High Resolutioned Lighting that the DX9 Pipeline & DX9 only cards Pipelines are not designed to handle which is why Nvidia and other companies had to make NEW cards instead of just making it a software update.

Honestly don't talk out of your ass unless your an actual programmer.

Anyone who doubts that: Next time the trees around you have leaves, and the sun is shining down, take a look at the shadow cast on the ground. What won't you see? Sharp defined shadows. The sun is not a pinpoint light source, so any shadows that are any distance away from the object being cast upon will be diffused.

If you really want to see what I'm talking bout, go to a lamp with a sheet of paper, hold up a finger to cast a shadow on that paper. Based on the distance from the paper (and the bulb) you'll see the shadow loses definition fairly rapidly.

Originally posted by Sovrath

 

Originally posted by Aragoni

ah.. Middle-earth, what a great sandbox game the devs could've made with that IP.

 

What else do you want? you have emotes, a music system, a clothing system coming up, housing (which will be added to) hats.

I don't see any reason why people can't roleplay to their heart's content?

Can't please everyone, there will always be people complaining about something.

Well I can tell you first hand what dx10 currently means for LotR, BSOD!

It's  true, the current drivers have a memory leak, so DX10 is lovely but the diff between 9 & 10 is minimal and should be used at your own risk lol. My $4k rig is the best you can get and it dies every 2 hours with this game running in DX10 mode.

As for the state of the game, I have to say it's good, the community is great and it's more polished than other games that have been running for the same length of time.

DX10 will come to be the norm eventually but for now, it's a gimmick, a broken gimmick at that.

Originally posted by Oakstead

Everyone seems to be missing the point about DirectX 10 by thinking it is supposed to produce prettier pictures.  Its key addition to the rendering pipeline is the geometry shader which is tailored for procedural rendering (think Spore). Shapes and surfaces can be changed on the fly in a way which are much more general than using "bones"  to define movable characters in DirectX 9.

This new power will allow for more amorphous and dynamic shapes in future games.

 

 

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Originally posted by openedge1

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I've played EQ 1 and 2. Let me say WoW is no EQ clone. EQ2 is a WoW clone. EQ 1 was a XP grind MMO. Any XP grind game (like Lineage series, most Eastern MMOs) are the real EQ clones. Level grinders.

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Uh...EQ2 released before WoW, and WoW copied the mechanics of EQ1, and then simplified it for the masses
Get your facts straight before spouting...
Later

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Hmmm well lets see....EQ2 released Nov 8th of 2004, WoW was released Nov 23 of 2004...not much of a statement if u ask me. EQ2 was still pushing out bugs for those couple weeks before WoW's launch so ur statement doesnt really have much of a strong point. Nuff Said

Now I know why I didn't like LotRO, they're Nvidia fanboys! That also explains why I love Guild Wars. ^^ ATI power! Nvidia makes you pay double money, for less than double performance.

Sorry.. couldn't resist...

Seriously.. I can't find even one good way to buy Vista... Everything has an alternative. DX -> openGL. Windows -> Mac/Linux. About every game can be played using Cedage/Cider. Then why should we pay for Vista? A new video card costs enough as it is... And Micrisoft knows that, that's why they never make any 'final' DX version, they need the money....

Earlier today, Turbine issued a press release stating that Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar is the first MMORPG to support DirectX 10 Graphics and NVIDIA GeForce graphics processors.

As far as i know EVE-Online is the first MMO that supports DX10?!?

Originally posted by Fion

 

Originally posted by elvenangel

 

Originally posted by slannmage

DX9 can do everything DX10 does but developers don't want you to know that and just restrict the DX9 version on purpose :O Crysis anybody? ROFL! All these screens do is add more shadows :S Oh WOW you can't get these shadows done on DX9 can you lol.......

 

Actually DX9 can NOT do alot really cool stuff that DX10 has been touted for being able to do.   I work as a Graphics Engineer and while I think 10 is in bad shape aka .. should of been released a year or two later than it was..it still does more than 9.   DX10 Supports Geometry Shaders & High Resolutioned Lighting that the DX9 Pipeline & DX9 only cards Pipelines are not designed to handle which is why Nvidia and other companies had to make NEW cards instead of just making it a software update.

Honestly don't talk out of your ass unless your an actual programmer.

 

All DX10 is, is better coding and support for offloading work to the GPU. There isn't a single thing Dx10 can do graphics wise that Dx9 can't.

 

Case in point - Crysis.

 

 

On the topic of Dx10 in this game. It looks like using Dx10 and vista (and thus reducing your performance in the game by 20-40%, if what we've seen in the industry holds true,) you get slightly cooler water and very hard edged real time diffuse shadowing. Sorry but IMHO that'll be hardly worth the performance loss.

I'll wait for AoC, which should perform better under Dx10 simply because it was designed with it in mind, like Crysis. While it is sure to not perform as well as Dx9 and XP, it should hopefully be playable on your average 'gamers' machine.

DX9 CAN NOT DO GEOMETRY SHADERS Only DX10 has the pipeline capabilities to handle it.    If you think otherwise please head right over to Nvidia or ATI or even DX10's official sites and read the developer white papers.    Geometry shaders are only possible on DX10, its not possible in a game environment to even mimic a Geometry shader efficiently in DX9.  The hardware and the API pipelines can not hack it.  

The fact you reference crysis sort of makes me laugh...all the people I know here where I work that have high end Vista machines complain like hell about Vista & DX10 fubaring the game  and their systems. Unless your absolutely sure every lil peice of your machine is 'Vista Ready' there's no gaurentee it'll work perfectly.

Personally I still fully support XP & DX9.   Until Microsoft gets their head out of the sand and makes Vista work right there's no point in me even thinking about upgrading in the first place especially since most games worth their salt support DX9 & 10.   Honestly if you have time to sit around and admire how the sun glows in the distance then the MMO your playing must be incredibly boring.

Originally posted by Itanius

The difference in quality between the DX9 and DX10 stuff certainly doesn't justify the requirement of having to use Vista.

Exactly.

omg I so like to walk around and look at my own and other ppl's shadows irl.

Okay, I installed LOTRO yesterday and got to play today. The DX10 option is enabled, and I find the graphics very impressive. No idea how it stacks up to the DX9 graphics, nor will I try to compare, since I last saw this game during beta and imagine it's changed quite a bit...as has my graphics card.

I am continually amazed at the number of people who bitch about DX10 and Vista in a gaming context. I understood it all a year ago...when I got Vista in February '07 it ran like hell until I doubled my memory, and many, many games have issues. Now, a year later, I can't even imagine the point of going back to XP. Except for the defrag program...that still sucks.

As for DX10: I always find it interesting that "those in the know" advocate it as a worthy step up in graphics design and options, while those who complain about it and talk abotu how DX9 is superior seem to have no actual ability to describe so in technical terms. Big picture, people, that's what it's all about: in a couple years, everyone still using DX9 and XP are going to look like the same people today who play Runescape and The Realm because they refuse to upgrade their rig....

Originally posted by elvenangel

 

Originally posted by Fion

 

Originally posted by elvenangel

 

Originally posted by slannmage

DX9 can do everything DX10 does but developers don't want you to know that and just restrict the DX9 version on purpose :O Crysis anybody? ROFL! All these screens do is add more shadows :S Oh WOW you can't get these shadows done on DX9 can you lol.......

 

Actually DX9 can NOT do alot really cool stuff that DX10 has been touted for being able to do.   I work as a Graphics Engineer and while I think 10 is in bad shape aka .. should of been released a year or two later than it was..it still does more than 9.   DX10 Supports Geometry Shaders & High Resolutioned Lighting that the DX9 Pipeline & DX9 only cards Pipelines are not designed to handle which is why Nvidia and other companies had to make NEW cards instead of just making it a software update.

Honestly don't talk out of your ass unless your an actual programmer.

 

All DX10 is, is better coding and support for offloading work to the GPU. There isn't a single thing Dx10 can do graphics wise that Dx9 can't.

 

Case in point - Crysis.

 

 

On the topic of Dx10 in this game. It looks like using Dx10 and vista (and thus reducing your performance in the game by 20-40%, if what we've seen in the industry holds true,) you get slightly cooler water and very hard edged real time diffuse shadowing. Sorry but IMHO that'll be hardly worth the performance loss.

I'll wait for AoC, which should perform better under Dx10 simply because it was designed with it in mind, like Crysis. While it is sure to not perform as well as Dx9 and XP, it should hopefully be playable on your average 'gamers' machine.

 

DX9 CAN NOT DO GEOMETRY SHADERS Only DX10 has the pipeline capabilities to handle it.    If you think otherwise please head right over to Nvidia or ATI or even DX10's official sites and read the developer white papers.    Geometry shaders are only possible on DX10, its not possible in a game environment to even mimic a Geometry shader efficiently in DX9.  The hardware and the API pipelines can not hack it.  

The fact you reference crysis sort of makes me laugh...all the people I know here where I work that have high end Vista machines complain like hell about Vista & DX10 fubaring the game  and their systems. Unless your absolutely sure every lil peice of your machine is 'Vista Ready' there's no gaurentee it'll work perfectly.

Personally I still fully support XP & DX9.   Until Microsoft gets their head out of the sand and makes Vista work right there's no point in me even thinking about upgrading in the first place especially since most games worth their salt support DX9 & 10.   Honestly if you have time to sit around and admire how the sun glows in the distance then the MMO your playing must be incredibly boring.

DX9 can do geometry shaders but microsoft just wont enable it for obvious reasons.