Resistance 1 used just 10 - 20% of SPUs

This comes straight from Insomniac's brochure released on 1ts January,2008.

Summary of SPU usage found on page 34 of the 38 paged documentation :-

SPUs
All our systems started off as RAW mode
The only long term (not finished this frame) asynchronous
processing is the collision on the raw SPUs
We use [Job Manager] but not all systems use it in the typical way
of fire and forget. Most of our system require the SPU to be
running a particular system at the same time as the PPU.
To ensure the SPU is doing what we want at the correct time we
send [Job Manager] the job and use our own thin
synchronization and job buffering schemes using the locked-line
for communication
10-20% total SPU utilization

[drewdrakes]

Use 10% to 20% of the SPUs' POWER. Clarify this please.

[zambrota]

pg 31

SPU Configuration
 2 Raw mode SPUs
 One SPU running broad collision
 One SPU running narrow collision
 These run all the time
 3 [Job Manager] SPUs
 In a thread group running SPURS
 [Job Manager] policy module
 All jobs go on these
 1 Unused
 This is for the OS to steal for AC3 Encode etc
 This should be used with its own job manager instance in the
future for jobs that don’t mind getting interrupted by the OS

SPES used in (pg 33)

 Animation
 Audio (NextSynth and LR1)
 Bucketer sort
 Collision (separate broad and narrow)
 Dynamic DB
 Dynamic joint
 FX update
 Geom Cull Clip (for shadows and decals)
 Glass
 Moby constants
 Physics collision
 Physics simulation
 Particle (weather fx)
 Render mats
 Static DB
 Water (FFT)

pg 34
contents posted above*****

FIXED

do give me bubbles please

[cellypower]

For you Z

[actas123]

Bubbles for u. Keep up the good work champ!

[Greek99]

I dont see why you have only 3 bubbles.

[mikeslemonade]

This game wouldn't have ran as well on the xbox 360 because of the huge maps, 40 player mutiplayer on dedicated servers with no lag, and the speed of this game. 360 owners are stuck with the slow Gears, Halo, and Mass Effect.

[barom]

actually the reason why XLive doesn't have 40 player or anything on that level is because they use P2P. Which imo sucks especially if you pay for it.

But I guess that's not what they're paying for

[mikeslemonade]

Yea I was meaning to compare all aspects and xbl was included. This is proof that xbl is actually lagging in some areas compared to PSN. I don't think any major 360 multiplayer game every hit even 32 players thus far and the system has been for more than 2 years. The PS2 was able to do it with 32 player with SOCOM 3 and there was lag in the smaller maps, but none of the larger maps.

[Lord Anubis]

Zambrota you are going to have to wait because I had already given you a bubble so it will take a week before I can give you another.

[CeruleanSky]

"Use 10% to 20% of the SPUs' POWER. Clarify this please."

In an ideal PS3 game all three of these things are doing work at the same time:

* PPU
* All non-OS used SPUs
* RSX

and every bus is saturated with data being transfered for each unit so when the current workload is done work can be started immediately without stalling.

The pdf is talking about how they still have a huge amount of parallelizing of their engine workload to do for their games after Resistance.

With Resistance the SPUs were operating much more in lock step than ideal. As they continue to upgrade their PS3 engine(s) they will be detaching more and more processing so that the number of things that can be done at once rises to the point where they will have every SPU operating in parallel constantly.

It is very similar to development on the PS2 but on a much larger scale where the huge leaps in graphic engines came as developers got better at having both VU0 and VU1 operating in parallel.

[JsonHenry]

My question is this - since the CPU only has direct access to 256megs of system RAM - exactly how much of the SPUs can they really use since they can only put so much information through at one time due to the system RAM as is? I am not saying they can't do it. I am just wondering from a devs point of view what tricks can they pull to fix this problem?

[Armyless]

Very very different stuff now.

[millertime8306]

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe each SPU has its own cache that it can use for computations

[Mu5afir]

Each SPU can run two operations (threads) at the same time. :)

[fenderputty]

"1.12 - @JSon
I'm not 100% sure, but I believe each SPU has its own cache that it can use for computations "

That's exactly what Heavenly Sword did. It used the SPU's to handle having all those enimies on screen at one time without touching the main RAM.

[Armyless]

The SPU's all have their own Cache and they can all SHARE cache and threads with each other SPU INDEPENDANT (if programmed that way) of the PPU.

[INehalemEXI]

Bubble @ you Z

[drewdrakes]

Are you guys stupid? I said it was using 10 to 20% of the SPUs' power, how is that a wrong statement? The wrong statement is that it uses 10 to 20% of the SPUs. THAT statement means its using about 1 out of 8 SPUs, understand the difference? Its using 5 SPUs, but 10 to 20% of the power of those SPUs. Understand now? God.

So CeruleanSky, i dont know what the hell YOU thought i was talking about.

[CeruleanSky]

"i dont know what the hell YOU thought i was talking about."

Obviously no one knew what the hell you were talking about.

[The Dark Knight]

and it shows :P

jokinggggggggg :P

[Capt CHAOS]

.

[Whoooop]

you keep getting owned...

:)

[The_Engineer]

him and his merry band of bots foaming at the mouth. That's why the admin throws a muzzle on em.

[cjp4eva]

firstknight is a rrod head, nothing good expected from him.

[pwnsause]

i dont blame him, his 360 is possibly in a repair shop, just like my freind's 360 who, is a xbot.

[Hydrollex]

PS3 >>>>>>> 360

[Pandaren00]

bubblez for u 2

[captainpwn]

He's down to 1 bubble. Maybe people don't like his display pic.

[RecSpec]

Well, it's a launch title, nothing shocking here.

[MUNKYPOO]

we only use 10-20% of our hearts too

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

Imagine if our hearts had a Cell processor...

...effin' A!

[kurochi]

Freaking retard..... humans use ALL of our heart... We only use 10% of our brain-capacity. Get some knowledge before you freaking post.

Edit: @ 8.3 & 8.4

If you're really interested in this topic, please read "Conversations with Neil's brain", by W. Calvin in regard to this matter. This is a gaming site and I don't want to bring the academic field into this. However, 8.4 does have semi-relevant point in using your brain functions all at once, but that's debatable.

[Skerj]

I hope you were kidding kurochi because I do believe MUNKYPOO was. Also the 10% of the brain usage is a myth that somehow continues to be perpetuated but it's false.

[Synex]

No we use all of our brain, just not all at the same time.

[Whoooop]

the other 90% we use it on our c*cks.

:)

[Sevir04]

if humans were able to use more than five we'd be made... the average human male uses 4-5% of our brain capacity while females use about 6. genius and super geeks are one who tap into about 8-9 percent. but fankid only use .00009% of brain capacity, as seen with comment by firstknight and wagglesave and those other nutcases from the sony side who are perhaps just as extreme as the xbox kids ^^

this is besides the point, if resistance 1 was only using aproximately 15-20 percent and giving 15 as the sweet spot for a launch title that stood above every other launch title for the ps3 and xbox360 besides motorstorm then rachet must have used alittle close to 30 percent because the most graphical game for the PS3 is uncharted and it was about 30 percent of spu full capacity. and motorstorm used 15 percent as well so i really wonder how much they are using as a 3rd gen title with R2 because that engine is amazing..

simply put they are genius. amazing talented devs that dont sleep, true insomniacs and lives up to there name.

all insomniac games + PS3= pwnage

[MUNKYPOO]

kurochi i was just jokin. i got it from starsky and hutch.

[Armyless]

I'll keep this simple, don't want it going over your head.

Jumping on his neck for saying something funny that YOU mistook as his ignorance... is... well....

ignorant.

Good day.

[pharmd]

wasnt it actually from wedding crashers? either way i cracked up when i read that.... bubs up

[Ri0tSquad]

Huge environments, great A.I., long campaign, 20vs20 robust online with no lag, huge maps, and a WHOLE lot going on at once with the framerate never dropping. The game didn't look so hot in HD but it didn't have last gen graphics at all. If you haven't played through the whole campaign, please don't criticize this game. Resistance 1 was the best 60 bucks I spent in 2007.

[akaFullMetal]

i agree, it was one of the best games i thought of 2007, but if people are complaing how it didnt look like a next generation game, then tell me how halo 3 looks, see i can do the same thing.

[chrno6]

yeah I agree, and resistance and halo 3 have the same quality of grahpics. (not to mention that resistance was a launch title)

[Partisan]

Bubblez for you

[Boink]

but why is this news?

1 year after realease, who cares?

that just tells me they should have put more work in it since they supposedly had so much power left.

I feel bad for whomever wasted their life reading pages and pages of a manual to re-justify why they purchased their favorite fanboy console...

[kurochi]

you, sir are a retard. While I may agree with you that this may not be news, you saying that "that just tells me they should have put more work in it since they supposedly had so much power left." is like me saying well, why didn't they have Gears out during the 360 launch? Just like everyone else, insomniac need to get use to the PS3, so did the programmers that developed Gears.

[Sevir04]

you sir just exemplified my statement made earlier ".... but fankid only use .00009% of brain capacity" go back to school and learn how to think and speak as if you know how to. *Rolls eyes*

[Bubble Buddy]

Are you stupid?> I don't usually make rants but when you said "they should have put more work into it..." Resistance was an amazing game. Insomniac is one of the best developers in the gaming industry. They will soon release their 3rd, yes 3rd ps3 game on the ps3 in 3 years. All of their titles should have been triple A. Resistance was bummed down to 86 i think because of all the UK reviewers who gave it a low score such as IGN uk. Ratchet and the infamous Gamespot conspiracy as we all know with metacritic adding random sites they barely acknowledge in their other reviews ignoring many 90+ scores. If triple A title meant getting an 88, ps3 already would have 4 more other games. If you think you can work harder than Insomniac then go do it. They already finished resistance's 2 main campaign just needing to fix out the bugs and graphics. Yes they finished it after two month releasing ratchet. Can you find me another developer that makes amazing games once a year? And no EA doesn't count. And Naughty Dog is of course with Sony.

[Armyless]

This is a hobby to many of us, and for some it's an actual career.
Why are you here?

[captainpwn]

for the morons who wasted their time playing gaylo on the xflop.

[sephy 9 2 5]

If Insomniac's main goal was to make it a launch title....?

[Boink]

I said it was a good game, but why rush it out to get something there for launch, why not wait a bit, use more power and make a truly great game?

if they could have made something as good as R:FOM2 is looking, but it would have meant that R:FOM game would have been released in march instead of a launch title would that not be better?

or is you fanboyism so blind than even constructive criticism will not be tolerated?

jackoffs....

[MK_Red]

That's rather obvious. First gen games use less than 20 percent of any console's power. Imagine PS2's first gen games and compare them to monsters like God of War or Shadow of the Colossus.
Personally, I didn't like Resistance 1's graphics and I'm more curious to know how much of SPU's were used for Ratchet & Clank TOD which IMO is one of the best looking available PS3 games and one that made me say "WOW".

Anyway, great find and news.

[-EvoAnubis-]

I fail to see how this is news. A launch title only uses 20% of the systems power!? WOW!!!! Who would have guessed? Also, R&C:ToD looked awesome . . . tell me how much power that used, and I'll be impressed.

It goes w/o saying that we have yet to see a game that truly drives the PS3 hardware . . . and it'll be a year or two before we even begin to understand how powerful this beast is.

I'm just glad we're no longer seeing lackluster ports of 360 games . . . F.E.A.R. made me want to kick a puppy.

[Armyless]

When a developer is beginning work on a sequel to a successful new IP, the gaming community wants to know how they're going to approach development in the SECOND GENERATION of a NEW console's life-span.

What they learned in the process of making the original...
What steps they can take to optimize code...
How THEY will tackle the Cell programming juggernaut...

News to everyone that cares, and that's plenty, even if you ain't one of 'em.

[ps3playbeyon]

Great Game 4 a launch title !! anyways I just Cant wait for the 2nd one!!! Hope they use the ps3 power more than the first!!

[Skerj]

R1 looked damn good for a launch title, and the graphics still hold up today. The AI was really aggressive and at times tactical, it made me rethink the way I play shooters, which was already pretty careful. There was some kind of weird grid/rocket gun in the making of video in the game, I so hope that's in the sequel and more.

Now that they've tuned the engine maybe we'll start seeing some crazy ass reality bending weapons. Here's wishing for the backlash grenade and the reapers for the 1st play through, and WEAPON UPGRADES a la Ratchet or even better.

[Doctor Strange]

Resistance 2 is going to be a monster, with all the stuff they learned during Ratchet and Clank this game is going to be amazing.

Insomniac is one of my favorite devs right now.

[IntelligentAj]

Yeah I just read the GI preview of Resistance 2 and DAMN!! That game is going to be crazy. That being said: of course Resistance only used 10-20% of the PS3's power. It's a launch title. You find me one launch title that used all of the systems resources.

[-EvoAnubis-]

I have no idea how you got a disagree for that. Everything you said was actual fact.

[shine1396]

if I get a disagree for saying nothing...

[Strife Lives]

Does this count out of a 100 percent that devs may never be able to use? Or is a realistic amount of it? Cuz with the effecienciey of the cell and the spus,we may never see 100 percent.kinda like driving a ferrari F50 in peak traffic in New York City. Is it just for show? Cuz u may never be able to floor that beauty of a car

[-EvoAnubis-]

That's somewhat an inaccurate comparison. Unlike tearing though NYC in a Ferrari, there's nothing stopping a developer from using more of the PS3's processing power except for their own shortcomings.

I have to say that I'm getting sick and tired of devs whining about how hard it is to develop for the PS3. As if consoles were supposed to be the same forever, and the exact same things that worked in the Atari 2600 days should still work today. It's called "progression." Get with it, or get out of the business.

[mistertwoturbo]

No. It's more like a Ferrari F50 at the nurburgring. Sure a rookie driver can hit let's say 8 min's flat (new developer). While a seasoned veteran can tear it up into pieces and hit 7'30 seconds (PS3 experienced developer).

[CeruleanSky]

"I have to say that I'm getting sick and tired of devs whining about how hard it is to develop for the PS3."

No one but crappy x86 pc developers like Valve and Id are 'whining about the PS3' because they can't handle anything but the outdated desktop pc architecture.

It is the same tired old BS Xbox fanboys have been desperately trying to spread since the Dreamcast/Xbox days years ago.

[-EvoAnubis-]

I'll give you an agree, but please, chill out on the fanboy crap. I got tired of that ish on the GameFAQ boards (which is why I rarely go there anymore, despite being a regular poster once upon a time).

And yes, I'm well aware of how rampant fanboyism is here on N4G . . . I may have just made my account today, but I've been lurking for months. To set the record straight, I'm a GAMER, not a fanboy. I may not like the 360 at all, but when a game as good as Mass Effect appears on it, I do take notice.

[lesferdinand]

"I have to say that I'm getting sick and tired of devs whining about how hard it is to develop for the PS3. As if consoles were supposed to be the same forever, and the exact same things that worked in the Atari 2600 days should still work today. It's called "progression." Get with it, or get out of the business."

I agree with you partially. It's very dangerous to linger too long in the past. E.g. look at Windows and its DOS legacy. But developers are in the business to make money. So architecture that limits their productivity (at least initially) should be a factor when considering what platform to develop for. On the other hand, they shouldn't be too short sighted and also look at what platform has the best potential for broadening the video game market in the long run. The Wii shows that there's a market outside the tried and tested genres. Maybe when playing to the PS3's strengths it's possible to get people to play games that otherwise wouldn't. Market expansion like that would warrant the extra (inital) cost of development.

It's a job for Sony to push technology forward but also to supply devs with tools that make their job as easy as possible. And if they do add complexity, it should have benefits in some form (e.g. gameplay not possible on another platform). Progress without tangible benefits isn't real progress.

[Spydiggity]

no xbox fans read or care about this article, so not sure why you're attacking 360 fans. as for graphics, this game blew, as for quality, this game blew, as for everything else, this game blew. and who wants 20 vs 20?? way too many for a standard FPS multiplayer. more doesn't mean better.
you sorry people will look for any reason to brag. i just find it funny that the reason you all bought this extremely crappy game is because they bragged about how it utilized PS3 to the fullest. now they are saying they weren't even trying and you act like that's a good thing. you all got ripped off the first time, now they are using cheap tactics to trick you into buying piece of crap part 2.

[ar]

"no xbox fans read or care about this article..."
You obviously do.

[pharmd]

wow, i can see your bubbles disappear as i type this

[InMyOpinion]

Grabbing for straws...