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Session
Title |
Description |
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Case Studies in VMX128
Optimization
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Arm
yourself with the latest techniques for writing
ultra-fast VMX code. This talk discusses several VMX
topics. First, a hands-on deep dive on how performance
bottlenecks in the 2006 CustomVFetch XDK sample were
discovered and how the VMX loop was rewritten for a 10X
increase in performance by eliminating several expensive
problems such as branching penalties, LHS penalties and
the horrors of non-coalesced write-combined memory
access. The talk demonstrates branching in VMX
registers, packing 16-bit VMX floats, and solutions to
many other problems that may be haunting your own code.
We introduce a VMX random number generator to replace
the expensive rand() operation. Next, we introduce an
algorithm for generating convex hulls and another
algorithm for generating and traversing kd trees.
Finally, we discuss a VMX algorithm for fast DXT block
compression of color and normal maps using both 4-wide
float and 16-wide byte operations.
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CPU Optimization Archetypes:
Using Our Xbox 360 Tools to Best Effect
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Developers often ask us to show how we use PIX for Xbox
360, which numbers are relevant, what appropriate ranges
are, and so on. PIX is such a comprehensive tool on Xbox
360 that optimization effort often doesn’t look beyond
to other tools. However, PIX has some limitations, and
there is a wealth of useful information from other
tools, useful in specific situations, which can help
enormously. Working from practical CPU optimization
situations, learn how to apply the entire set of Xbox
360 CPU performance tools together in harmony.
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System-wide Game Profiling
with the Windows Performance Toolkit
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The
Windows Performance Toolkit (WPT, or xperf) is a free
toolset from Microsoft that lets you see everything
happening on your system in order to investigate
otherwise invisible performance problems in your game.
WPT can show Disk IO, registry access, GPU packets, page
faults, context switches, kernel activity, and even has
a sampling profiler, all integrated into one visualizer.
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Visual C++ 2010: A Turbo
Boost in Productivity
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Visual
Studio 2010 is a huge release for C++ developers. We
have rebuilt the IDE to scale to huge source bases
spanning tens of thousands of files and millions of
lines of code all while providing new code-focused
productivity boosts. We’ll show it in action!
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Visualization Tools for
Multicore Performance Analysis
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Multicore processors offer the promise of significant
performance potential at the cost of increased
application complexity. This talk gives an overview of a
novel parallel performance tool shipping in Visual
Studio 2010 that allows users to quickly identify
significant sources of inefficiency in multithreaded
Windows applications.
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GRAPHICS
The Graphics track focuses on new and innovative features and
techniques on the GPU, for both Windows and Xbox 360 titles. How
does DirectX 11 work in practice, given the latest hardware
developments? What methods have top titles employed to continue
raising the bar on graphics quality? What is the latest word on best
practices for shadowing, lighting, and texturing? How do we fit all
these new bells and whistles into our games without blowing our
frame rate budgets? And where are we headed in the future? Come join
us to explore these issues in depth!
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Session
Title |
Description |
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Block Compression
Smorgasbord
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DXT
style block compression has become a de facto standard
for most textures in games. We will cover several
topics of recent interest in this area:
1. Fast
block compression. With some optimization effort,
real-time block compression is feasible, on either the
CPU or the GPU. Real-time compression opens up a host of
possibilities for disk space reduction and dynamic
texture updates.
2.
Normal map compression. Block compression was designed
for color data but adapted for use with normal maps. The
results are not always pretty. What usage patterns
should be favored, or avoided, in this context?
3. New
block compression formats. DirectX 11 introduced two
brand new formats: BC6H for HDR textures and BC7
for high quality LDR textures. We discuss how and when
these formats should be employed, and how to handle the
enormous search space for compression.
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Building an Uber-Fast Crowd
Renderer for Your Next Xbox 360 Engine
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Rendering thousands of highly detailed, unique
soft-skinned characters with shadows at 30 Hz on an Xbox
360 console requires a highly tuned rendering pipeline.
A new type of instancing renderer that uses the GPU’s
memexport feature is introduced here and compared to
some other common, but less optimal, forms of crowd
rendering. The renderer uses very limited CPU resources
and is memory-conscious. This talk showcases an
interactive, real-time demo. Some features of the crowd
renderer are: Highly tuned VMX animation; Memexport,
vfetch, and tfetch techniques; Entire crowd is skinned
and transformed with a single draw call and exported to
memory for rapid depth prepass, shadow generation and
color generation passes.
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The Dark Art of Shadow
Mapping
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Adding
shadows depth maps to a title is straightforward and
simple. Making the shadows look good while staying
within artistic, performance, and memory constraints can
be very difficult. This talk explains how common shadow
mapping artifacts occur and gives some basic guidelines
that should be followed at all times. Next, the talk
explains advanced techniques that benefit shadow maps,
such as cascaded shadow maps, filtering, pancaking, and
deferred shadows. Finally, the intricacies and caveats
of combining these techniques are described. Attendees
should come away understanding how to identify
artifacts, which techniques will mitigate them, and at
what cost.
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DirectX 11 Technology Update
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Direct3D
11 is out and ready for use by your game today to
exploit the latest in video hardware features as well as
current generation machines. This talk brings you up to
speed with the API, offers tips on how to get your
renderer up and running, presents key feature overviews,
and shows how to deploy your application. Attending this
talk is highly recommended if you are attending other
DirectX 11 presentations.
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Fast GPU-based Scene
Analysis and Post-Processing
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The
latest games use increasingly intensive scene
post-processing techniques to deliver amazing visuals.
Many of these techniques have traditionally required
scene analysis on the CPU to drive adjustments to
post-processing settings in a realistic way. This
presentation demonstrates the use of a GPU-based sort to
enable additional control of such post-processing, as
well as prevent costly CPU synchronization and analysis.
A variety of new post-processing effects that can be
achieved will be demonstrated as well. This technique
works well on Xbox 360 and scales nicely on all modern
shader hardware.
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Still in the Trenches:
More Lessons Learned About Xbox 360 Graphics Programming
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The Xbox
360 GPU used to be a mysterious beast, but by now it’s
pretty well understood. Despite implementing all the
various tips and tricks over the years, it gets harder
every day to find new ways to improve performance. And
now that Microsoft has relaxed the Xbox 360 TCRs on
resolution and MSAA, your competitors are already taking
advantage of the new rules to increase scene complexity
while boosting their frame rate. We present our findings
on various experiments with lower-resolution rendering,
and introduce the concept of sandboxing the GPU using
real scene data extracted from PIX captures. Add in the
usual grab bag of miscellaneous tips and techniques
learned over the years and this is a must-attend event
for any Xbox 360 graphics developer.
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PRODUCER AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
The creation of a game stretches far beyond the work of developers,
designers, and artists. Producers and Business Development Managers
drive the project to completion, while balancing staying ahead of
the curve with a respect for the bottom line. You’re expected to
know best practices and be familiar with the latest platform
developments. The Gamefest 2010 Producer and Business Development
track will provide you with upcoming features for Microsoft gaming
platforms.
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Session
Title |
Description |
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Enabling User-Generated
Content in your Xbox LIVE Games
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This
talk presents an overview of policy and technical
requirements for enabling user-generated content (UGC).
The presentation includes a high-level overview of
potential benefits, challenges, and requirements around
enabling UGC on the Xbox LIVE platform, as well as an
overview of technical recommendations on how to best
satisfy those requirements.
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Evolution of the XNA
Development Portal
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Come
learn how we are going to make finding developer
content, and submitting and certifying content, much
easier. This talk discusses the new investments around a
new developer site and submission process.
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How Microsoft Can Help You
Make Great Games
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Come
hear an overview of game developer support and services
offered by the Developer Connection team at Microsoft,
with an emphasis on newer proactive services. |
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Publisher Revenue
Opportunities on Xbox LIVE Marketplace
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How can
publishers maximize their revenue potential on Xbox LIVE
Marketplace? We’ll tell you. We cover LIVE Arcade, Game
Add-ons, Avatar Marketplace, Demos, and Games on Demand. |
The Value Proposition for
Games for Windows – LIVE
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This
talk offers a comprehensive look at the Games for
Windows - LIVE platform, demonstrating that it is much
more than just ”Xbox LIVE on Windows” and answering the
question “Why Games for Windows - LIVE?” for publishers.
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"PROJECT NATAL"
*
Please use your Xbox Central password to access this content. If
you cannot remember your password, please contact your Account
Manager directly for assistance.
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QUALITY ASSURANCE AND
CERTIFICATION
Game development increasingly presses technology and test resources
to the limit. In addition, new technologies introduce fresh
challenges, and create new opportunities. Faced with this, QA
professionals must constantly adapt by keeping up-to-date on the
latest testing techniques and platform Certification policies. Come
explore approaches designed to increase your QA team’s efficiency,
thoroughness, and impact on your Xbox 360 and Windows titles.
Examine the tools and services that Certification provides, meet the
people responsible for certifying your titles, and learn how they
can help you get your product out the door quickly and easily. Get a
better understanding of new and upcoming technologies and how they
will impact your testing and Certification preparations. Jump in and
ensure that you and your test team are at the top of your game!
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Session
Title |
Description |
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Certification Overview,
Trends and Direction
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The Xbox
360 certification process is one of the final steps in
releasing a game to market. Learn about the Xbox 360
game certification process end-to-end. The talk will
provide a high level overview of the process, and help
you understand how to get your game through the process.
This talk also presents a series of key developer trends
identified by the global certification teams at
Microsoft. Topics include how these trends affect your
success in Certification and what you can learn from
them.
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Functional Testing of Your
Title |
The
responsibility of Game Quality’s Functional
Certification Team is to identify issues that the
average Xbox 360 gamer will encounter while playing
through any given title. Join us for an examination of
the two major types of functional testing. We’ll cover
topics like lab setup, test planning, our FTCs, the new
failure scenarios and our top ten game failing issues.
We will also talk about the areas we don’t test and
share some tips to help you pass Certification on the
first submission.
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Games for Windows: Updates
for Windows 7
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Each
year since the launch of the Games for Windows program
in 2006, we’ve updated the Technical Requirements and
Test Requirements to address ongoing support issues and
provide additional guidance. For 2009, we also needed to
address Windows 7 readiness in time for the holidays.
This talk will present a short summary of the existing
GFW requirements and call out the changes made for the
1.4.0009 updates. We will also cover Windows 7 app-compat
guidance, the related TR changes, and explore the latest
technical showcases.
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Network Testing: Taming the
Beast
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Testing
the network portion of a title can be a daunting task.
Actions at the network layer are dynamic and fluid and
happen in an (often unfriendly) environment which isn’t
fully controlled by the title. This talk will focus on
giving the network tester a set of tools to help them
better define their problem space, test it, and verify
the results. We will look at ways to identify the scope
of testing that a title needs and discuss a number of
currently available tools and infrastructure work that
can be added to a title to aid testing. Finally, there
will be an examination of network problems encountered
while testing LIVE Parties.
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Open Panel: Xbox 360
Certification
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Come join our Q&A session
specifically designed to provide an open discussion on
all Certification-related topics. Several
representatives from the different branches of Microsoft
Game Quality will be on hand to field your questions
about Certification on Xbox 360.
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Ubisoft’s Approach to Certification – The Essentials
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Effective Quality Control procedures and methods improve
the chances to pass Microsoft certification on a first
submission and consequently allow a product to be
released on schedule, as well as within budget. This
presentation provides information about QC process
inside Ubisoft and the topics are related to
organization, communication, planning, testing and
submission of a game.
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Xbox 360 Compliance: What's
New?
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Join us and get up to speed
with all of the latest developments from the
Certification Group’s Compliance team! Discover more
about the latest TCR updates and get a sneak peek on
“Project Natal” TCRs. Find out how to determine which
TCRs will be applied to your title’s unique feature set.
Learn more about new updates to Compliance tools, test
cases, and TCR scenarios. Get the inside scoop on what
has been failing submissions this year and learn how to
avoid the same fate for your titles. Learn how the
Compliance team at Microsoft is working hard to make
Certification simpler for publishers and developers. If
you will be submitting a title through Xbox 360
Certification this year, you can’t afford to miss this
talk!
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