Frostbite (game engine)
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| Developer(s) | EA Digital Illusions CE |
| Platform | Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 |
| Type | Game engine |
| Website | http://www.dice.se/ |
Frostbite is a game engine developed by EA Digital Illusions CE, creators of the Battlefield series.
DICE has used both versions of the engine for their in-house games Battlefield: Bad Company, Battlefield 1943, and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Frostbite 1.5 has also been used for the multiplayer component of Medal of Honor which DICE developed. (The single player was developed by another EA studio with the Unreal Engine 3.) The next generation of the engine, Frostbite 2, is used in Battlefield 3[1] and Need for Speed: The Run[2] and will be used in Mirror's Edge 2[3] and Command & Conquer: Generals 2[4].
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[edit] Versions
[edit] Frostbite 1.0
Frostbite debuted in 2008 with Battlefield: Bad Company. It features HDR Audio, which adjusts different types of sounds' loudness and lets players hear important sounds clearly even if there are other noises being generated (for example, gunshot sounds are always louder than in-game music; the in-game music will lower in volume while shots are being fired), and Destruction 1.0, which allows the player to destroy certain objects, like walls.
[edit] Frostbite 1.5
The second version of Frostbite debuted with Battlefield 1943 in 2009. It improved on the in-game destruction capabilities with Destruction 2.0, allowing the player to destroy entire buildings instead of just walls. In 2010, DICE released Battlefield: Bad Company 2 using this version of the engine, which was the first game to bring Frostbite Engine to the Windows platform. The Windows version of the game has minor DirectX 11 shader support; consequently, it doesn't take full advantage of the entire API. The multiplayer component of Medal of Honor also uses this version of the engine, though with limited in-game destruction capabilities.
[edit] Frostbite 2
The next generation of Frostbite debuted with Battlefield 3. It takes full advantage of the DirectX 11 API and 64-bit processors,[5] with no support for DirectX 9 (nor, therefore, Windows XP).[6] It also features enhanced in-game destruction with Destruction 3.0, creating more refined physics than its predecessor and quasi-realtime radiosity using Geomerics' Enlighten technology. Additionally an important distinction on its naming is that Frostbite 2 is not called Frostbite 2.0.[7]
DICE has given several presentations on advances in their rendering technology with primary focus on the aspects of Animation, Destruction, Scale, Rendering, and Audio.
- SIGGRAPH 2010
- "Tile-based deferred shading acceleration" via DirectCompute.[8] This is being ported to the PlayStation 3's SPUs.
- Morphological Anti-Aliasing (MLAA), again implemented with DirectCompute, for bandwidth conservation.[8]
- Quasi-realtime radiosity using Enlighten from Geomerics.[9]
- Improved environmental destruction.[10]
- GDC 2011
- Realtime approximated subsurface scattering.[11]
- SIGGRAPH 2011
- Separable bokeh depth of field[12]
- Tile-based deferred shading on Xbox 360[12]
- Temporally stable screen space ambient occlusion (SSAO)[12]
- GeForce LAN 6
- DICE's lead graphics guru, Johan Andersson, presents an in-depth examination of Battlefield 3's game engine and visuals[13]
- Other
- Streaming data from disc to memory: "We can have 512 megs every hundred metres if we wanted to."[14]
[edit] Development pipeline
Frostbite 1.5 games are built using a complicated chain of compilers, version control and distributed caches, making it very difficult to install to a new environment: it took a week for one DICE employee to set the system up outside the company's offices.[15]
Frostbite 2 is said to greatly improve this "flaky" pipeline, and DICE has not ruled out the feasibility of releasing mod tools for it.[16]
[edit] Games using Frostbite
| Title | Release Date(s) | Engine Version | Platform(s) | DirectX 9.0c | DirectX 10 | DirectX 11 |
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| Battlefield: Bad Company |  June 23, 2008 June 26, 2008 |
1.0 | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 |  |
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| Battlefield 1943 | Xbox Live Arcade July 8, 2009[17] PlayStation Network July 9, 2009[17] |
1.5 | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 | |
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| Battlefield: Bad Company 2 | March 2, 2010 March 5, 2010 March 11, 2010 |
1.5 | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows | |
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| Medal of Honor (multiplayer only) | October 12, 2010 October 14, 2010 |
1.5 | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows | |
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| Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam | Microsoft Windows December 18, 2010 Xbox 360 & PlayStation 3 December 21, 2010[18] |
1.5 | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows | |
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| Battlefield 3 | October 25, 2011 October 27, 2011 October 28, 2011 November 2, 2011[19] |
2 | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows | |
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| Need for Speed: The Run | November 15, 2011 November 17, 2011 November 18, 2011 December 8, 2011 |
2 | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows | |
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| Command & Conquer: Generals 2 | 2013 | 2 | Microsoft Windows[20] | |
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[edit] References
- ^ "Battlefield 3 to use DX11, Frostbite 2". GameFront. 2010-08-05. http://www.gamefront.com/battlefield-3-to-use-dx11-frostbite-2/. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
- ^ "Need for Speed: The Run Announced". IGN. 2011-04-28. http://pc.ign.com/articles/116/1164745p1.html. Retrieved 2011-04-30.
- ^ "EA 2011: Mirror’s Edge 2 to be powered by Frostbite 2". http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/06/08/ea-2011-mirrors-edge-2-to-be-powered-by-frostbite-2/.
- ^ "Command & Conquer: Generals 2 Video Game, VGA 2011: Exclusive Debut Trailer". http://www.gametrailers.com/video/vga-2011-command/724611.
- ^ Q&A with DICE: Frostbite Engine & DirectX® 11. AMD. 2009. http://game.amd.com/us-en/content/images/play/gameassets/DICE/DICE_11Days_Interview.pdf. "Since the first early internal versions of DirectX 11, [we have] been working with it and building in support into the Frostbite 2 engine to fully utilize it."
- ^ Johan Andersson (2010-07-31). "Frostbite 2 is primarily d...". Twitter. http://twitter.com/repi/status/20028015661.
- ^ Johan Andersson ,Senior Software Architect in the Frostbite Engine team at EA DICE (2011-04-30). Dudes, it is "Frostbite 2", not "Frostbite 2.0". Twitter. http://twitter.com/#!/repi/status/64029372427939840.
- ^ a b Johan Andersson (2010). Bending the Graphics Pipeline. http://bps10.idav.ucdavis.edu/talks/07-andersson_BendingTheGraphicsPipeline_BPS_SIGGRAPH2010.pdf.
- ^ Per Einarsson (DICE), Sam Martin (Geomerics) (2010-08-01). A Real-time Radiosity Architecture. SIGGRAPH 2010. http://publications.dice.se/publications.asp?show_category=yes&which_category=Rendering.
- ^ Robert Kihl (2010). "Destruction Masking in Frostbite 2 using Volume Distance Fields". http://advances.realtimerendering.com/s2010/Kihl-Destruction%20in%20Frostbite%28SIGGRAPH%202010%20Advanced%20RealTime%20Rendering%20Course%29.pdf.
- ^ Colin Barre-Brisebois (2011). "GDC 2011 – Approximating Translucency for a Fast, Cheap and Convincing Subsurface Scattering Look". http://zigguratvertigo.com/2011/03/07/gdc-2011-approximating-translucency-for-a-fast-cheap-and-convincing-subsurface-scattering-look/.
- ^ a b c http://advances.realtimerendering.com/s2011/White,%20BarreBrisebois-%20Rendering%20in%20BF3%20(Siggraph%202011%20Advances%20in%20Real-Time%20Rendering%20Course).pdf
- ^ NVIDIA (2011-10). "Battlefield 3 GeForce LAN 6 Graphics Presentation". http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF8BD90EA590F5B01.
- ^ Total PC Gaming (2011-07). "Battlefield 3 preview". http://www.totalpcgaming.com/previews/battlefield-3-preview/3/.
- ^ Kalms, Mikael (2010-09-20). "So how about modtools?". http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/18438346-post1.html.
- ^ Fahey, Mike (2010-03-04). "Bad Company 2 Devs Have Nothing But Love For The Modding Community". Kotaku. http://kotaku.com/#!5485700/bad-company-2-devs-have-nothing-but-love-for-the-modding-community.
- ^ a b Sliwinski, Alexander (2009-07-02). "Battlefield 1943 declares war next week, starting July 8". Joystiq. http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/02/battlefield-1943-declares-war-next-week-starting-july-8/. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
- ^ "Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam Release Date". Game-Debate. http://www.game-debate.com/news/?news=610&game=Battlefield%20Bad%20Company%202:%20Vietnam&title=Battlefield%20Bad%20Company%202%20Vietnam%20Release%20Date. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
- ^ BF3 Release Date to have Region Lock.
- ^ http://www.joystiq.com/2011/12/10/bioware-announces-command-and-conquer-generals-2/
[edit] External links
- Frostbite Rendering Architecture
- DICE Publications
- DICE's Official Homepage
- Geomerics' Official Homepage
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