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Star Citizen, an upcoming space trading and combat simulator video game that is developed by legendary Chris Roberts, has already become the highest raising crowdfunded project of all time and is the first AAA crowdfunded video game. Apparently, the title could also become the first video game that will natively support both 4K and 8K ultra-high-definition (UHD) resolutions.
At the PAX Australia 2014 event Chris Roberts, the founder of Cloud Imperium Games, which develops Star Citizen, revealed that since the game is a PC-exclusive title and is not developed with video game consoles in mind, the company is working on ultra-high-resolution textures, which may indicate that the game is designed for future UHD displays.
According to Chris Roberts, who spoke to TweakTown web-site, the development team is working on 4K and 8K textures and is “pushing the boundaries of the DirectX 11 and Mantle application programming interfaces.” By the time Star Citizen hits the market, DirectX 12 and improved Mantle APIs will be available, hence, what sounds like extreme today, will be more or less mainstream in 2016 or 2017, when Star Citizen hits the market. Cloud Imperium Games has no plans to make Star Citizen available on video game consoles, therefore, the company has a lot of flexibility when it comes to system requirements.
“I don't care about consoles,” said Mr. Roberts.
While many titles today are designed for beyond 1080p resolutions and some are developed with ultra-high-definition displays with 4K resolutions in mind, Star Citizen will likely be the first title that will also natively support 8K displays and will even include textures that do not magnify (i.e., get blurry) at 7680*4320 when a player gets up close to surfaces. In a bid to do that, game developers need to use the largest possible texture sizes. For example, for textures where the player can get close enough for 1:1 texel to pixel ratio (walls, floors, asteroids, extremely large objects, etc.), 4096*4096 or 8192*8192 textures provide the highest quality on ultra-high-definition displays.
While a number of games today use ultra-high-resolution textures in certain cases in a bid to provide additional details on modern monitors, 4K, 8K and 16K textures (such high-resolution textures are supported by multiple contemporary video game engines, including CryEngine 3/4, id Tech 5, etc.) are really needed for next-generation titles that will be played on UHD displays. The fact that Cloud Imperium Games throws in a number of 4K and 8K textures that is worth talking about may indicate that this is done for future PCs and for ultra-high-definition resolutions, such as 4K (3840*2160 or 4096*2160) and even 8K (7680*4320).
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KitGuru Says: It is really nice to see that one of the most anticipated PC titles of our days is not only developed to be a good game, but is also designed to take advantage of the latest technology. Since UHD resolutions require a lot of graphics processing power, you will need a good graphics card to play this title.
easily a 100Gb+ download when finished, if they fully flesh out all the aspects of gameplay, as they intend to.
Maybe not that far. They want to push the utmost amount of power in todays modern technology possible (think of it as a middle finger to the cheap console ports) and with that means optimized code and models. Might actually be surprisingly small like 50gb
its 20Gb now so its possible, if that happens i’ve got a lovely little rack with a window view reserved for my SC only SSD.
Also, it’s possible there will be different downloads, e.g. you can choose to download only the ‘low resolution’ (e.g. normal) models or to download the ultra-HD models. There is no point having the ultra-HD models if you haven’t got a screen which won’t show any difference!
cryengine, which Star Citizen is based on, is capable of lowering the resolution to 1080p and 720p, otherwise we’d not already be able to play Arena Commander in 4k (which we can) and lower resolutions (which we can).
The AI seems to be a tripping point as even now with a few tens of thousands of data points in Assassins Creed Unity the AI chokes the hardware on the consoles leading to a resolution cap to allow the title to play.
Kythera AI by Mooncollider (which is in Star Citizen) is much advanced over anything in any PC or Console title (it reacts to players on the fly instead of being scripted). This might actually be a tripping pioint for its lack of future inclusion on consoles. Not the resolutions SC si capable of (reaching for 8k yay!).
Can I do that with my console? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CdVTCDdEwI
Like Skyrim’s HD-Texture DLC pack (obviously free) 😀
I’ve sworn to myself, get the game, then accessories. If I buy hardware for it today, 2 years from now it’ll be meh.
So I have a little SC-Pool set in my budgeting.
Anton, you twisted Chris’ words and made a title out of it. How predictable for a desperate attention seeking media whore.
He never said “the first video game that will natively support both 4K and 8K ultra-high-definition (UHD) resolutions”. That would be idiotic for two reasons:
1. There are tons of games with 4K resolution support, its late to be first at it … by several years. The word “native” is just plain stupid in this context, it doesn’t mean anything.
2. There are no 8K displays. Zilch. Your “native” support would have been completely untested.
Instead, Chris talks about 4K and 8K textures which is different. Related, but different.
Exaggerate less next time.
Star Citizen is likely going to be the most expensive video game to buy of all time. £40 for the game, then £2000+ on the rig capable of playing it! Haha.
It has the potential to be worth it all though!
Lol. Typical misinformed console gamer. A PC build for the minimum requirements (1080p, everything on low) would be around £500. Being a PC gamer is pretty cheap.
Jesus, is every game and tech community so unpleasant these days.
I have, and will always, game on all formats. I’ve been building my own gaming PC’s for the last 15 years. Fuck master races. I’m a gamer, and I have the benefit of being able to enjoy games on whatever they come on.
I am clearly talking about the cost of a rig that can run this game with at least high settings.
To play the game on full settings in 4k/8k is going to take an absolute beast. An 8k monitor alone in 2017 will probably cost more than £2000!
John, what is that cheap iOS camera app that can do 4K on the iPhone 4s? I can’t find it.
same here! I’m saving up for a rig that can run SC in 4k. hopefully in max settings if thats even possible at launch lol
this is true. I know I will get hate for this but I only like playing games at max settings/high resolutions. I just feel that is how the devs meant for people to experience the game, so I assumed thats what you meant in your first comment.
You can’t deny that Consoles severely hold back gaming as a whole. With heavy down-scaling and retarded “Exclusive” bullshit.
Hell they flat out LIED about several games at E3, reduced the quality of fidelity by 50% if not more.
You cannot possibly say you game on anything….Consoles absolutely blow when it comes to resolution. Shadow of Mordor and Witcher III on a 980 x 2 SLI Setup is gorgeous maxxed out settings. Console will never come close.
Ehh you are actually wrong, their are rigged setups with 12k support right now. Think 3 x 4k monitors, and yes MANY people have this setup.
You clearly misunderstood my post.
I’m not saying console gaming is on an equal footing when it comes to performance or anything.
My point was purely, why the hell do gamers hate on other platforms, it isn’t worth your breath.
I do game on all platforms. Ideally on PC’s, but when I’ve got pals round its much more social (and fun) for us to all sit on the sofa and game on a console. Plus a lot of my friends only play on consoles, so by not restricting myself to one platform I’m still able to game with all of them.
It’s extremely easy to hate on console gamers. The fact a 3 year old can hold a controller and smash buttons says enough about them. Real gamers eventually go to the PC when they realize not only can they get better resolution, they can get great mods for their games to adjust them even more. PC’s are completely backwards compatible with every single system and I can play games back from the 1960s. Console peasants will never have the same power.
Whatever mate, no one is arguing that PC’s aren’t the best platform with the most versatility. Consoles have their place like it or hate it. What I don’t understand is why anyone wastes their energy hating something that really doesn’t matter.
Wow, I don’t know why you got so much hate. Why would anyone build a pc to play Star Citizen on low? LMAO.
So I tested Star Citizen Alpha 2 on the following specs:
Intel Core i7 5960X 3.3GHz
64GB DDR4 2400MHz
Plextor M6e 512GB M.2 SSD
Nvidia Titan X 12GB
4K @ Very High: 4fps
4K @ High: 6fps
4K @ Medium: 7fps
4K @ Low: 9fps
1080p @ Very High: 76fps
Results kinda makes me feel the game isn’t 4K optimized yet.