BioShock: Graphics & Performance

Water:

On the previous page, we had a brief look at the water quality improvements. 2K states that there are "dynamic water ripples" under the DirectX 10 codepath, but from the example we used, there was no stand out difference between the Shader Model 3.0 and 4.0 paths.

At best, the water ripples looked slightly more randomised, but that could easily be put down to the fact the screenshots were hard to capture at exactly the same point in time.

With that said, we went on a quest to find some differences in water quality between the two shader paths and, good lordy we found some! The profound differences became apparent when either the character you play, or one (or more) of the NPCs interacts with the water.

In the first example, we've walked backwards through the water – this isn't something you'd normally do during the game, but the same affect is achieved when one of the non-playing characters walks, or runs, through the many pools of water throughout the city of Rapture.


It's fair to say that the differences are pretty massive here, with the Shader Model 3.0 codepath producing a quite awful-looking "splash" texture that makes the time spent making the water look realistic a waste of time – essentially, the Shader Model 3.0 water is realistic until you walk through it in this example.

With the DirectX 10 (SM4.0) codepath, 2K Australia has created a quite fantastic looking ripple shader – when you walk through the water it ripples and parts. When we were down at 2K Games' UK offices to preview the game, the 2K representative mentioned that there had been two guys working full-time on water shaders and despite what I said about the rather ugly-looking splash effect on the DX9 codepath, I have to say that this is the most realistic-looking water rippling effect I've seen to date!


In the second example, we used our trusty wrench to attack the water (Just because it's similar to System Shock 2 doesn't mean you have to pretend to be Xerxes, Tim – Ed) to produce a more focused splash – the same effect can be achieved by firing one of your weapons into the water too. It's a little harder to spot the rippling effect here, mainly because of the murky lighting, but you can make out the white rings on the two DirectX 9.0 screenshots.

Instead of this, the water actually displaces under DirectX 10, creating a nice ripple effect similar to what you would see after throwing a pebble into a lake. It's really hard to capture on screen and the screenshots honestly don't do the effect a great deal of justice – you've really got to see it in motion.