Alexandraus

Behind the Scenes: GPU-Grilling Adventures

Added 2023-08-09 13:28:24 +0000 UTC

Hey folks,

Just dropping in with a quick update on the latest happenings in our prototype project. Lately, I've been diving into the world of Foliage and Landscape techniques, which is pretty new territory for me in UE5. It's been a learning curve, to say the least.

I've been tinkering with these features to enhance the visual experience, but I'll be straight with you – they're pretty darn resource-intensive. Your PC needs to pack a bit of muscle to handle these goodies in all their high-quality glory. I've put together a video to give you a sneak peek at how things are shaping up in the test build. Check it out and you'll see what I mean.

Now, let's talk about shadows – they've turned out to be the thorn in my side. Even a single directional light (yes, that sun-like thing) can chew up GPU resources just for those shadows. In the video, the foliage might not look too dense, but trust me, it's already putting the brakes on performance. I've been crunching numbers and sweating over optimizations, and I've managed to push it from a wobbly 9 or 10 FPS to a slightly better 40 FPS in the more demanding sections of the oasis level.

Hang tight though, because there's a glimmer of hope. I've heard that shadows might get a performance boost in UE 5.3 (currently rocking 5.1). Fingers crossed on that. Oh, and there's the chance of refining the "wind shader" for an even better performance – but that's a task for another day. Right now, we're at that crossroads where we need more functional gameplay rather than just dazzling graphics.

I'm planning to unleash this whole shebang in a few days, so you can throw these "GPU fryer" demos onto your rig and see how it holds up. Stay tuned for that – and brace yourselves for a ride.

Catch you soon,
Alexandraus