Tantalus Studio has revealed some new tech details about Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition. According to Joss Ellis, Director of Development at Tantalus, Age of Empires 3: DE will support the DX11 API, as well as some modern graphical techniques like Physically-Based Rendering, SSAO, dynamic lights, a new water system and TAA.
As Joss Ellis said:
“First, we overhauled the entire engine: moving from DirectX 9 to DirectX 11. We’ve updated each texture and model, and re-rendered the in-game cinematics with higher fidelity. This means players will see significant changes from when comparing the original Age of Empires III to the Definitive Edition. There are also improvements to the cliff visuals and readability with triplanar texture projection; all part of a reworked procedural generation code with new pixel shaders. The terrain was also redesigned with a better blending system that gave our artists more control over blending between the materials, including a brand new FFT-based water system and river generation.
Under the hood, we also put in a Physically-Based Rendering system and SSAO & TAA graphic options. We’ve upgraded the physics engine to the newest Havok system, and the particle system with new dynamic lights. Not to mention, we put in an all-new destruction system! All of this was done with significant performance improvements. Thus, the game now better utilizes the GPU and multi-cores where possible.”
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition will release on October 15th. Alongside the aforementioned graphical improvements, this pack will contain all DLCs. Additionally, the game will feature two new game modes: Historical Battles and The Art of War Challenge Missions. PC gamers can also expect online support.
Lastly, you can find the game’s official PC system requirements here.
Stay tuned for more!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
Contact: Email