Game Developer Features

Crimson ReLive 17.7.2 also brings about some updates for game developers and content creators. LiquidVR may not have necessarily taken off as AMD would have liked it to, but with LiquidVR 360, they are offering an SDK with end-to-end HEVC 4K x 4K VR video playback. AMD is promising massive performance increases with no dropped frames with media playback on a HTC Vive or Oculus Rift. An SDK specifically designed with 360° videos in mind and supporting GPU-accelerated playback has multiple potential applications as well, which is nice. The SDK also includes support for ambisonic audio, which is a must with VR media playback.

AMD has continued to work on the GPUOpen initiative by updating the AMD media plugin as well as OCAT (Open Capture and Analytics Tool), and has introduced a new tool to further aid developers with the introduction of the Radeon GPU Profiler, which aims to shed light on the GPU black box aspect of PC game development and is the first PC graphics tool to allow low level, built-in hardware thread tracing. This enables game developers to track game code to specific hardware events on a microsecond scale that will come in handy to those who take advantage of it. They include testimonies from game developers working for established companies, including DICE and Valve, and I defer to their expertise here when they say this is an extremely useful tool.