At the company’s presentation, a number of new tools were announced, such as NVIDIA Streamline, NVIDIA Kickstart RT, GeForce NOW Cloud Playtest.
Right after the NVIDIA Omniverse for Game Developers announcement, a number of new tools were announced, such as NVIDIA Streamline, NVIDIA Kickstart RT, GeForce NOW Cloud Playtest, which will make it easier for game developers to save time, integrate NVIDIA RTX more easily, and create virtual worlds.
Streamline – An Open Source Software Framework Compatible with All Hardware Manufacturers to Simplify the Integration of Super Resolution Technologies
At the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2022, NVIDIA announced Streamline, an open source software framework compatible with all hardware manufacturers, aimed at simplifying the integration of multiple super-resolution technologies and other graphic effects in games and applications. With Streamline, developers will only need to code once and be able to add multiple super-resolution technologies to their games.
Streamline offers full integration with its plug and play infrastructure. It sits between the game and render API and defines SDK-specific API calls into an easy-to-use Streamline framework. Rather than manually integrating each SDK, developers can determine what resources (such as motion vectors, depth) are required for their target Streamline plugins and then decide where they want the plugins to run in the graphics pipeline.
The Streamline SDK, which was made available today with support for NVIDIA Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) and Deep Learning Anti-Aliasing (DLAA), will soon have NVIDIA Image Scaling (NIS) support. Streamline supports DirectX 11 and DirectX 12. Vulkan support is currently in beta and available for developers to test. The framework is also expandable in terms of super resolution SDKs, with developers adding NVIDIA Real-Time Noise Reduction (NRD) to games via Streamline.
NVIDIA is aware of the pressure faced by developers to support multiple SDKs, with often varying integration points and compatibility. Streamline alleviates this burden with its open source, compatible with all hardware manufacturers framework. Easier integration of technology means more games with more technology. NVIDIA’s goal with Streamline is to support the best games each hardware manufacturer has to offer, rather than just specific games that ship with a subset of a select number of hardware manufacturers’ technologies. This represents a significant improvement for gamers and the gaming ecosystem.
“Game developers today have to do additional work to support post-processing effects with each hardware vendor’s different APIs,” said John Spitzer, VP of Developer and Performance Technology at NVIDIA. With Streamline, this workload can be eliminated and the adoption of new features in games can be accelerated and in turn, the user experience can be further improved.”
Andre Bremer, VP and Director of Game Engineering, Intel AXG: “Intel firmly believes in the power of open interfaces. We’re excited to support Streamline, the open source, all-hardware framework for new graphics effects. This will simplify the integration efforts of game developers and accelerate the adoption of new technology.”
Kickstart RT – Starter Kit to Add Ray Tracing
NVIDIA Kickstart RT makes it easier than ever to add real-time ray tracing to game engines, producing realistic reflections, shadows, ambient occlusion, and general lighting. Kickstart RT provides a convenient starting point, allowing developers to quickly and easily incorporate realistic dynamic lighting of complex scenes into game engines in a fraction of the time than traditional methods. It is also supportive for developers who are having trouble upgrading their engines to the DirectX12 API. Kickstarter RT is now available. For more information on Kickstart RT, visit the NVIDIA Developer site.
GeForce NOW Cloud Playtest – Cloud Connected Anywhere Playtest
Playback testing is the process by which a game designer tests a new game for bugs and design flaws before releasing it. Designers need innovative ways to perform this vital part of game development safely and without danger. All of this is possible with Cloud Playtest on the GeForce NOW Developer Platform. With a network of more than 30 data centers and 80 countries, GeForce NOW uses the power of the cloud to bring the GeForce PC gaming experience to any device. This expanded infrastructure provides a developer platform for studios and publishers to virtually carry out game development starting from the playback testing phase.
With GeForce NOW Cloud Playtest, gamers and spectators can connect from anywhere in the world. Game developers can upload a build to the cloud, schedule a playtest that players and watchers manage on their calendars. During a playtest session, a player can use the GFN app to play the targeted game while streaming their camera and microphone. Observers can watch the game and webcam feeds from the cloud.
Updated RTX SDKs and Game Development Tools
At GDC 2022, NVIDIA also announced SDK updates for NVIDIA RTX Global Illumination, RTX Direct Illumination, Reflex, and Real-time Denoisers. Updates have also come to important game development tools such as NVIDIA Insight and NVIDIA Virtual Reality Capture and Reply.