AMD opens the Mantle floodgates, private Developer Beta begins

[Lorien]

Over 40 developers pre-registered already with more to come.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7985/amd-mantle-developer-private-beta-begins

http://developer.amd.com/mantle/.

The Mantle NDA Developer SDK website is open to professional game developers that are interested in evaluating and developing games with the Mantle API. Only a limited set of developers are provided access to the Mantle NDA Developer SDK and access is subject to a selection process. To register your interest please send an email to mantleaccess [at] amd [dot] com with the following information:

Name of company
Name and email of contact point for Mantle access
Game title(s) or codenames for which you are interested to evaluate Mantle for
Reasons for requesting Mantle access

 

[Pieter3dnow]

Yeah but that number does not translate to real world games, it might be more curiosity based then developers waiting to port their software to Mantle ..

 

[Lorien]

Yeah but that number does not translate to real world games, it might be more curiosity based then developers waiting to port their software to Mantle ..

If it helps you sleep better at night, sure.

 

[pcjunkie]

Where is PRIME1 to downplay this into nothing?

 

[maboblivion]

it's gonna be a good teaching tool for coders and will help get experience,will help them for dx12.
There isn't that many different ways to reduce drawcalls (code wise), at least if you've watched mantle , dx12 and opengl(valve dev day) videos showing actual coding.

Mantle isn't going away to some peoples chagrin. muahahah

 

[Relayer]

Yeah but that number does not translate to real world games, it might be more curiosity based then developers waiting to port their software to Mantle ..

Or it might not be. Do you have anything to base this possibility on, or is it simply spin?

 

[magixx]

Not all planned game make it to release.

 

[dewbak75]

Yeah but that number does not translate to real world games, it might be more curiosity based then developers waiting to port their software to Mantle ..

I wonder if that number includes developers working with licensed engines that have announced support for Mantle, like CryEngine or Frostbite. Because there are already quite a few games in development using those engines, including some highly anticipated titles.

 

[Relayer]

I wonder if that number includes developers working with licensed engines that have announced support for Mantle, like CryEngine or Frostbite. Because there are already quite a few games in development using those engines, including some highly anticipated titles.

I would think they would be prime candidates for the program. There is only so much support resources available for these devs. I would imagine AMD would want to support the game engines that are incorporating Mantle as a priority.

 

[Coldblackice]

So is AMD basically giving up on driver improvements for DirectX gaming? From what I've heard, there haven't been any changes or updates to the DX module of their drivers since the first Mantle driver release.

Which seems odd, since there are, what, 2-3 (current/relevant) Mantle supported games out right now (BF4 being the poster child)? I can understand switching focus to promote their API, but there should be a bit a transition, for crying out loud. Unfair for current card owners to be given the bird while AMD works on their own proprietary API from ground-zero -> up.

For the record, I'm fully supportive of Mantle, and think it's direly and fantastically needed to give Microsoft/DX some competition, particularly after some dust-gathering stagnation.

 

[Relayer]

So is AMD basically giving up on driver improvements for DirectX gaming? From what I've heard, there haven't been any changes or updates to the DX module of their drivers since the first Mantle driver release.

Which seems odd, since there are, what, 2-3 (current/relevant) Mantle supported games out right now (BF4 being the poster child)? I can understand switching focus to promote their API, but there should be a bit a transition, for crying out loud. Unfair for current card owners to be given the bird while AMD works on their own proprietary API from ground-zero -> up.

For the record, I'm fully supportive of Mantle, and think it's direly and fantastically needed to give Microsoft/DX some competition, particularly after some dust-gathering stagnation.

I'm not sure where you heard that they aren't doing DX updates in their drivers?

• 
  Highlights of AMD Catalyst™ 14.4 Windows Driver
  
  Support for the AMD Radeon R9 295X
  CrossFire fixes enhancements:
  Crysis 3 – frame pacing improvements
  Far Cry 3 – 3 and 4 GPU performance improvements at high quality settings, high resolution settings
  Anno 2070 – Improved CrossFire scaling up to 34%
  Titanfall – Resolved in game flickering with CrossFire enabled
  Metro Last Light – Improved Crossfire scaling up to 10%
  Eyefinity 3x1 (with three 4K panels) no longer cuts off portions of the application
  Stuttering has been improved in certain applications when selecting mid-Eyefinity resolutions with V-sync Enabled
  Full support for OpenGL 4.4
  OpenGL 4.4 supports the following extensions:
  ARB_buffer_storage
  ARB_enhanced_layouts
  ARB_query_buffer_object
  ARB_clear_texture
  ARB_texture_mirror_clamp_to_edge
  ARB_texture_stencil8
  ARB_vertex_type_10f_11f_11f_rev
  ARB_multi_bind
  ARB_bindless_texture
  ARB_spare_texture
  ARB_seamless_cubemap_per_texture
  ARB_indirect_parameters
  ARB_shader_group_vote
  Mantle beta driver improvements:
  BattleField 4: Performance slowdown is no longer seen when performing a task switch/Alt-tab
  BattleField 4: Fuzzy images when playing in rotated SLS resolution with an A10 Kaveri system

There are DX, OpenGL, and Mantle updates/improvements in the latest drivers. Sounds like stealth marketing FUD to me. Whoever has been telling you that, don't listen to them.

 

[Venomous]

I'm not sure where you heard that they aren't doing DX updates in their drivers?



There are DX, OpenGL, and Mantle updates/improvements in the latest drivers. Sounds like stealth marketing FUD to me. Whoever has been telling you that, don't listen to them.

Well these drivers with DX/mantle are complete shit on a 280x... Prob work great on Hawaii cards.

 

[Warstopper]

Well these drivers with DX/mantle are complete shit on a 280x... Prob work great on Hawaii cards.

I have a 7950 and 290...

The drivers work great on both cards in all three modes (DX/Mantle/OpenGL)

The fact is, regardless of Hawaii being the current version of GCN, both cards are GCN and they both see improvements through any changes in the drivers.

I do not get the hate for AMD Drivers. Sure, they have some issues occasionally, but so does Nvidia. I have completely swore off Nvidia cards because I found both Drivers and the Hardware to be far more reliable on the AMD (And prior, ATI) cards.

I find that people complaining about drivers not working properly usually have one of the following going on: Are pushing the upper limits of the hardware, have some minor issue with memory (settings, a bad stick that semi-works, not compatible with motherboard, ect) or just have some component in the pc which is not fully up to par (failing, poor build quality, other random issues). This cuts both ways for Nvidia as well, so this is not limited to AMD, I just think the tolerances are different on the Driver side so one may work great while they other will have minor buggy issues.

AMD Drivers are fine, they continue to improve and they spread that improvement over all the cards.

Nvidia Drivers are fine, they continue to improve and they spread that improvement over all the cards.

Lets get over this one driver is better than the other bullshit. Yes, they both have nagging issues which can cause the most annoying problems, but, I would be willing to bet most of those nagging issues can be resolved easily (For both AMD and NVIDIA)

I would suggest if you are having such problems with your 280x that you need to further troubleshoot your problem in order to get to the heart of the issue. The 280x is a great card and has been around for quite a few years (first as 7970, 7970ghz, now 280x).

 

[Relayer]

I have a 7950 and 290...

The drivers work great on both cards in all three modes (DX/Mantle/OpenGL)

The fact is, regardless of Hawaii being the current version of GCN, both cards are GCN and they both see improvements through any changes in the drivers.

I do not get the hate for AMD Drivers. Sure, they have some issues occasionally, but so does Nvidia. I have completely swore off Nvidia cards because I found both Drivers and the Hardware to be far more reliable on the AMD (And prior, ATI) cards.

I find that people complaining about drivers not working properly usually have one of the following going on: Are pushing the upper limits of the hardware, have some minor issue with memory (settings, a bad stick that semi-works, not compatible with motherboard, ect) or just have some component in the pc which is not fully up to par (failing, poor build quality, other random issues). This cuts both ways for Nvidia as well, so this is not limited to AMD, I just think the tolerances are different on the Driver side so one may work great while they other will have minor buggy issues.

AMD Drivers are fine, they continue to improve and they spread that improvement over all the cards.

Nvidia Drivers are fine, they continue to improve and they spread that improvement over all the cards.

Lets get over this one driver is better than the other bullshit. Yes, they both have nagging issues which can cause the most annoying problems, but, I would be willing to bet most of those nagging issues can be resolved easily (For both AMD and NVIDIA)

I would suggest if you are having such problems with your 280x that you need to further troubleshoot your problem in order to get to the heart of the issue. The 280x is a great card and has been around for quite a few years (first as 7970, 7970ghz, now 280x).

There are driver/software issues from both companies, as you say.

• There's also:
  Conflicts between other hardware drivers.
  Corrupted Windows files.
  Leftover files/folders/reg entries that cause conflicts.
  Conflicts with other graphics hardware controlling programs like Afterburner, Etc...
  Windows conflicts where they update power saving features, for example, and break things for other hardware (especially graphics cards.
  Updates to browsers, media players, etc... that break drivers.
  Game updates/patches that break drivers.
  Shady vendor checks that break features.
  User issues.
  Numerous different graphics architectures, chipsets, mobo bios that all have to be accounted for with updates for them that sometimes fix compatibility and sometimes break it.
  AIB's using different non approved/tested components on their PCB's (We recently had Gigabyte (IIRC) have to update their BIOS on the Winforce cards because 14.# beta drivers broke their fan control and stopped the outside fans from starting up.
  Various and innumerous user errors.

That's all that comes to mind. I'm sure their is more.

 

[Pieter3dnow]

Or it might not be. Do you have anything to base this possibility on, or is it simply spin?

It is about a number which is meaningless. It could be 500. Does not mean it produces anything.

Spin is where you deny something, I don't deny it I'm saying that the number has no meaning.

 

[The Mac]

Not really, spin is where you make something infer the opposite of the facts.

 

[Venomous]

I have a 7950 and 290...

The drivers work great on both cards in all three modes (DX/Mantle/OpenGL)

The fact is, regardless of Hawaii being the current version of GCN, both cards are GCN and they both see improvements through any changes in the drivers.

I do not get the hate for AMD Drivers. Sure, they have some issues occasionally, but so does Nvidia. I have completely swore off Nvidia cards because I found both Drivers and the Hardware to be far more reliable on the AMD (And prior, ATI) cards.

I find that people complaining about drivers not working properly usually have one of the following going on: Are pushing the upper limits of the hardware, have some minor issue with memory (settings, a bad stick that semi-works, not compatible with motherboard, ect) or just have some component in the pc which is not fully up to par (failing, poor build quality, other random issues). This cuts both ways for Nvidia as well, so this is not limited to AMD, I just think the tolerances are different on the Driver side so one may work great while they other will have minor buggy issues.

AMD Drivers are fine, they continue to improve and they spread that improvement over all the cards.

Nvidia Drivers are fine, they continue to improve and they spread that improvement over all the cards.

Lets get over this one driver is better than the other bullshit. Yes, they both have nagging issues which can cause the most annoying problems, but, I would be willing to bet most of those nagging issues can be resolved easily (For both AMD and NVIDIA)

I would suggest if you are having such problems with your 280x that you need to further troubleshoot your problem in order to get to the heart of the issue. The 280x is a great card and has been around for quite a few years (first as 7970, 7970ghz, now 280x).

Funny I have zero issues with 13.12's... Amazing your 7950 is soooo trouble free on 14's...

Nothing wrong with my system...

 

[Relayer]

It is about a number which is meaningless. It could be 500. Does not mean it produces anything.

Spin is where you deny something, I don't deny it I'm saying that the number has no meaning.

No spin is where you distort a fact.

Fact: 40 devs have signed up for the beta program.
Spin: They're just curious, not making games. Nothing to see here.

 

[bexamous]

Fact: "Only a limited set of developers are provided access to the Mantle NDA Developer SDK and access is subject to a selection process."
Spin: "AMD opens the Mantle floodgates"

 

[Pieter3dnow]

No spin is where you distort a fact.

Fact: 40 devs have signed up for the beta program.
Spin: They're just curious, not making games. Nothing to see here.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/pressreleases/203987/Oxides_Nitrous_Engine_to_Support_AMDs_Mantle.php

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2014/03/20/crytek-to-add-amd-mantle-support-to-cryengi/1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantle_(API)

substance ....

Not really, spin is where you make something infer the opposite of the facts.

Wait can you quote me on saying that there are no 40 "developers" ? I never said that nor implied that just found it rather meaningless.