Farming Simulator 22 with DirectX 12, Shorter Loading Times and Ton of Improvements
The devs of Farming Simulator 22 discussed the improvements offered by the GIANTS Engine 9 graphics engine and showed the build mode in action.
- DirectX 12 support on PC;
- Numerous optimization features (including texture streaming and Occlusion Culling);
- New effects such as Temporal Anti-Aliasing (TAA) and Parallax Occlusion Mapping;
- Improved shadows.
GIANTS Software released an interesting video that discusses the engine and graphics improvements coming in Farming Simulator 22, the latest installment in the hit farming simulator series.
The game is being developed on GIANTS Engine 9, the studio's proprietary next-gen technology. In comparison to the previous installment, it will introduce, among others, DirectX 12 support on PC. The developers have also prepared solutions to improve optimization, such as texture streaming, thanks to which Farming Simulator 22 will load lower or higher quality textures depending on what is visible on screen. This will speed up loading data and allow more objects to appear on the map.
A similar role will be played by Occlusion Culling, which will stop the engine from performing complex graphical operations on elements that remain invisible. For example, crates behind a barn will not be rendered if the player cannot see them from his/her current position.
Graphics in Farming Simulator 22 will benefit from the enhancement of GIANTS Engine 9 with new graphical effects such as Temporal Anti-Aliasing (TAA) and Parallax Occlusion Mapping. The shadow system will also be improved.
In the video, one of the developers also explained that the team decided not to use the Unreal Engine, for example, because the Farming Simulator brand requires specialized solutions, such as systems simulating physics or vegetation synchronization, which would be troublesome to adapt to someone else's engine.
In addition, the use of proprietary technology strongly facilitates the authors in offering powerful tools for the modding community, which is an important element that ensures the unflagging popularity of the series.
It is worth mentioning that a few days earlier GIANTS Software released another video, which was devoted to the building mode, in which we will be both shaping the terrain and placing buildings on it, seamlessly switching between these functions. The devs have thoroughly improved the user interface and greatly increased the number of objects that we will be able to place on the map.
Farming Simulator 22 is coming to PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. The game will be released on November 22, 2021.
