“MAXIS-mizing” Darkspore game performance with Intel® GPA 4.0!

Omar A Rodriguez, IntelDavid Lee Swenson, Maxis

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Agenda

• Quick Intro to GPA 4.0

• Sneak Peek of Darkspore

• Live demo of GPA 4.0 using Darkspore and Scaleform GFX4

• Q & A

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Intel GPA helps you analyze and tune your game for performance

• In-game analysis with System Analyzer HUD using state overrides and real-time metrics graphs

• Deep frame analysis with Frame Analyzerdown to the draw call level, incl. shaders, textures, D3D states, pixel history

• View system wide picture of CPU and GPU workload with Platform Analyzer

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Here’s how to use Intel GPA 4.0

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Target Game with HUD

If CPU bound, use Platform Analyzer or other CPU profiling

tools like VTune

If GPU bound, use Frame Analyzer

Improved Gaming Experience on Mainstream Graphics with SandyBridge

• 1280 x 720

• 30 FPS

• Medium settings

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System Analyzer HUD

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System Analyzer HUD

• Frames per second

• DirectX* version

• Vsync on/off

• Resolution

• 4 metrics graphs configurable from GPA Monitor

• Fast rendering with low overhead

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Configure HUD from the GPA Monitor

• Hot keys & GPU, CPU, DirectX metrics shown on HUD are fully configurable from the GPA Monitor Preferences

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Capture “Interesting” Frames

• Select metric

• Decide the condition based on the selected metric

• Select type of capture: frame, trace, or both

• Choose what to do with the application after the capture

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State Overrides Accessible from HUD

• Use state overrides to find high-level bottlenecks

• Example: Disable Draw Calls

– CPU or GPU bound

• Example: 1x1 Scissor Rect

– Helpful to determine if your game is pixel shader bound

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Darkspore and GPA Demo by David Lee Swenson

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Darkspore (Marketing Pitch)

• Online Action RPG

• Play a Squad of 3 Heroes

• Spore Editor

• 100 Heroes to Unlock

• 4 player Co-op

• 2v2 PVP

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Darkspore Game Demo

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Darkspore Rendering

• Deferred Pass First Target

• Normal (RGB) + Gloss (A)

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Darkspore Rendering

• Deferred Pass Second Target

• Depth (R*256+G) + SpecPow (B) + ToonId (A)

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Darkspore Rendering

• Lighting pass

• Diffuse (RGB) + Specular (A)

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Darkspore Rendering

• Final Pass

• Color + Glow + Post FX + Particles + UI =

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Darkspore Rendering (Final Frame)

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Darkspore and GPA

Without GPA

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Darkspore and GPA

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Darkspore and GPA

Start

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Darkspore and GPA

• Tall bars are draw calls taking the most time

• Wide bars spend more time in the pixel shader

• In Darkspore we saw a lot of big bars…

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Darkspore and GPA

Blood Decals in the Deferred and Final pass

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Darkspore and GPA

Look at the shader

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Darkspore and GPA

Finished?

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Darkspore and GPA

Nope! GPA shows a 30% and 24% improvement

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Darkspore and GPA

Blood decals are volumes that write more pixels

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Darkspore and GPA

Use the stencil to kill pixels in the final pass

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Darkspore and GPA

Simple Frame Rate Check

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Darkspore and GPA

Changing states in GPA

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Darkspore and GPA

Ok, finished!

…maybe

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Other Optimizations for Darkspore

Trees all had roots below the ground!

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Other Optimizations for Darkspore

• Terrain mixes 4 textures together per pass, but large sections only really need one.

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Other Optimizations for Darkspore

• Creatures were really dense and burning quads.

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Other Optimizations for Darkspore

• View space normals took only two channels but weren’t worth the cost.

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Thanks for listening…

Platform Analyzer

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Working with leading middleware providers for complete compatibility

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#1 Video Game UI Solution

The company’s latest release, GFx

4.0, which includes an all new multi-threaded renderer and mobile compatibility, has been developed in conjunction with Intel to allow detailed GPA profiling

Havok added instrumentation on latest version of Havok Physics

Scaleform was used to create Darkspore UI and tuned using Intel GPA

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Instrumenting Code for Platform Analyzer

#include <ittnotify.h>

void System::DoWork( … )

{

__itt_begin_task( “System::DoWork” );

// do work

__itt_end_task();

}

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• Per frame visualization of middleware activity

• Tasks associated with Task Groups

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• Overview statistics for the current trace displayed

• Tabs display information for selectedtasks

• Relations, such as dependencies,between tasks shown in hierarchy

• CPU/GPU and DirectX* metrics displayedper selected frame

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• Tasks timeline displays instrumented code as it is executed over time

• CPU/GPU Frames and DirectX* calls displayed by default

Pre-instrumented components

• DirectX* interceptor used by Intel® GPA

• Threading Building Blocks

• Scaleform and Havok first two…many more middleware to come pre-instrumented

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Where do I get Intel® GPA 4.0?http://www.intel.com/software/gpa

• Join the Visual Adrenaline program

• Come see us at the Intel Booth at Expo, North Hall #1212

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www.intel.com/software/gdcMonetizing Games on Devices: Intel’s AppUp Business Room 302 Wed 4:30-5:30

This is your brain on game development Business Thu 9:00-10:00

Adaptive Order Independent Transparency Programming Thu 1:30-2:30

Dynamic resolution rendering Programming Room 110 Fri 9:30-10:30

Increase Your FPS with CPU Onload Programming Room 110 Fri 11:00-12:00

Hotspots, Flops and uOps Programming Room 123 Fri 2:00-3:00

PC Gaming’s Global Value Propositions Business Fri 2:00-3:00

Delivering Demand-Based Worlds with Intel® SSDs Programming Room 110 Fri 3:30-4:30

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Optimization NoticeOptimization Notice

Intel® compilers, associated libraries and associated development tools may include or utilize options that optimize for instruction sets that are available in both Intel® and non-Intel microprocessors (for example SIMD instruction sets), but do not optimize equally for non-Intel microprocessors. In addition, certain compiler options for Intel compilers, including some that are not specific to Intel micro-architecture, are reserved for Intel microprocessors. For a detailed description of Intel compiler options, including the instruction sets and specific microprocessors they implicate, please refer to the “Intel® Compiler User and Reference Guides” under “Compiler Options." Many library routines that are part of Intel® compiler products are morehighly optimized for Intel microprocessors than for other microprocessors. While the compilers and libraries in Intel® compiler products offer optimizations for both Intel and Intel-compatible microprocessors, depending on the options you select, your code and other factors, you likely will get extra performance on Intel microprocessors.

Intel® compilers, associated libraries and associated development tools may or may not optimize to the same degree for non-Intel microprocessors for optimizations that are not unique to Intel microprocessors. These optimizations include Intel®

Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 (Intel® SSE2), Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 (Intel® SSE3), and Supplemental Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 (Intel® SSSE3) instruction sets and other optimizations. Intel does not guarantee the availability, functionality, or effectiveness of any optimization on microprocessors not manufactured by Intel. Microprocessor-dependent optimizations in this product are intended for use with Intel microprocessors.

While Intel believes our compilers and libraries are excellent choices to assist in obtaining the best performance on Intel® and non-Intel microprocessors, Intel recommends that you evaluate other compilers and libraries to determine which best meet your requirements. We hope to win your business by striving to offer the best performance of any compiler or library; pleaselet us know if you find we do not.

Notice revision #20101101

Backup

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64-bit games support

SandyBridge GPU Metrics

Platform View

Easy game launchConfigurable In-Game HUD

Full DirectX 11 support

New single system

workflow

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New Intel® GPA 4.0 Features

PC Volumes will Dwarf Console Volumes by 2014• Total PC Gaming TAM for DT & NB (GPU+Proc/Gfx) represents the largest opportunity

– 550mu 2009 growing to 913mu by 2014• Overall Console TAM growing slowly but being rapidly outpaced by PC TAM

– 236mu Consoles in 2009 growing to 318mu by 2014

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

(Mu) WW Consumer PC TAM

PC Gaming (DX9-11) vs 6th & 7th Gen Console

PC Gaming

PS2

Wii/PS3/360

NextGen Console

Potential for

PCs in 2009 are 2.32x bigger than 6th/7th Gen Consoles combined. By 2014 it becomes 3.08x bigger

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Source: PCGA 2010 Horizon’s Hardware Report (IDC)

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New SandyBridge metrics cover all GPU stages

Array of Unified

Execution Units

EU

Sampler

EU EU EU

EU EU EU EU

EU EU EU EU

DataPort

PixelOps

Cache

Vertex

Fetch

Vertex

Shader

Geometry

Shader

Clipper

Setup

Windower

Two types:D3D Pipeline StatisticsGPU Performance Statistics

Examples:GPU Active Cycles - EU Cores ArrayVS Invocations - Vertex ShaderPost-Clip Primitives – ClipperPrim. Setup Active – SetupPixel Rendered – PixelOpsPost-Filter Texels - Sampler

Metrics Available in GPA 4.0

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GPU DurationVS DurationPS DurationGS Duration

CPU n LoadAggregated CPU LoadTarget App CPU LoadFrame TimeFrames Per SecondApplication TimeFrame NumberGPU Frame Number

Draw CallsState ChangesVB LocksVB Lock TimeIB LocksIB Lock TimeLocks

Lock TimeState Block AppliesState Block CapturesRT ChangesColor FillsSurface UpdatesStretch Rects

Surface LocksVolume LocksSurface Lock TimeVolume Lock TimeTexture1D MapsTexture2D MapsTexture3D Maps

Buffer MapsZ/Stencil ClearsRT ClearsResource CopySubresource CopySubresource UpdateTexture Creations

Surface CreationsIB CreationsVB CreationsBuffer CreationsResource CreationsRT Data Gets

DirectX*

CPU/App Graphics HW

Extended Metrics Available on Intel HW in GPA 4.0

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CPU n LoadAggregated CPU LoadTarget App CPU LoadFrame TimeFrames Per SecondApplication TimeFrame NumberGPU Frame Number

Draw CallsState ChangesVB LocksVB Lock TimeIB LocksIB Lock TimeLocks

Lock TimeState Block AppliesState Block CapturesRT ChangesColor FillsSurface UpdatesStretch Rects

Surface LocksVolume LocksSurface Lock TimeVolume Lock TimeTexture1D MapsTexture2D MapsTexture3D Maps

Buffer MapsZ/Stencil ClearsRT ClearsResource CopySubresource CopySubresource UpdateTexture Creations

Surface CreationsIB CreationsVB CreationsBuffer CreationsResource CreationsRT Data Gets

GPU Duration GPU EUs ActiveGPU EUs StalledGPU FrequencyEUs Active in GSEUs Active in PSEUs Active in VSEUs Stalled in GSEUs Stalled in PSEUs Stalled in VS

Primitive CountVertex CountVS DurationVS Invocations GS DurationGS InvocationsPost-GS PrimitivesPS DurationPS InvocationsPS Killed Pixels

Clipper ActiveClipper InvocationsPost-Clip PrimitivesPrimitive Setup ActiveBlended PixelsPixels RenderedGPU Texture ReadsPost-Filter TexelsSampler BusySampler Stalled

DirectX*

CPU/App Graphics HW