AMD Updates Gaming Evolved Client

Game streaming and recording has continued to be both a growing hobby and profession for many in recent years. Anytime there is growing interest in anything from society there comes a growing number of people willing to make tools to facilitate said interest. In this vein AMD and second-party developer Raptr have brought a few updates to their Gaming Evolved client in an effort to provide a more accessible means to record and share gameplay footage.

The first of these additions is what AMD is calling the Replay feature, which is a new recording mode for the Gaming Evolved client. Replay mode will start recording the moment the game starts (or when the designated hotkey is pressed), and will then record the whole gameplay session. The significance/difference of this is that it’s automatic recording of a whole gameplay session, rather than a rolling buffer for recording the last couple of minutes of gameplay, as what already happens in other modes. Though for those who want to capture both entire sessions and selected clips of the last 30 seconds, the updated client also includes a bookmark feature to do just that. All of this, by the way, flawlessly captured a video of our GTAV benchmark when I did a test run.

Going hand-in-hand with the new whote-session recording functionality, the latest update to the client also adds a basic video editor to handle the resulting video. The editor aims to make it easy to create highlight reel by simply selecting clips marked during gameplay, particularly when combined with the afformentioned benchmarks.

Finally, the Gaming Evolved client had also added a set of unique integration features with both League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. For these games the client can use live match data to automatically identify important points and create highlights featuring all kills, deaths, and other shenanigans. And it sounds like AMD/Raptr aren’t done here, as integration for further games is said to be coming soon.

If you already have the Gaming Evolved client you can update new version by simply restarting your client. It’s also available to download over at AMD’s website.

AMD Releases Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.3.1 Hotfix

Following last week’s release of Radeon Software 16.3 Hotfix, AMD is back again with a quick update to their driver set, bringing it to 16.3.1 Hotfix.

The list of resolved issues this week is brief compared to the last few months of updates. Among the resolved issues is a problem where installed and played games were not showing up in the Radeon Settings “Gaming” tab. Meanwhile a hang in Unreal Engine 4 games has been fixed, along with issues installing the Radeon Software driver set via command line. Lastly, AMD notes that DirectX 12 applications are no longer locked to the refresh rate of the display.

Alongside these fixes there is also driver support for the new Need for Speed, and a Crossfire profile update for Hitman.

As always, those interested in reading more or installing the updated hotfix drivers for AMD’s desktop, mobile, and integrated GPUs can find them either under the driver update section in Radeon Settings or on AMDs Radeon Software Crimson Edition download page.

GDC 2016: Tearing & Freesync/G-Sync Support Coming to Windows’ UWP Apps

With the recent release of the first major games built for Windows’ Universal Windows Platform runtime, the current limitations of UWP has been a hot topic in technical circles. When it comes to gaming, UWP as it stands is not up to par with the Win32 API we have come to know and tolerate. To that end, with Microsoft running a block of technical sessions at today’s GDC, I checked in on the state of UWP and where Microsoft is in addressing some of the concerns that have been raised over the past couple of weeks.

The overall message from Microsoft right now is to wait and see. Talking to Microsoft representatives and speakers, the company is well aware of what’s being said and wants to address it. GDC just won’t be that venue. Rather the company will be updating the press and developers on UWP at BUILD 2016, Microsoft’s annual conference that’s taking place in two weeks. And while the company’s reps can’t make specific comments at GDC on what to expect later this month, I do consider it a positive sign that they are aware of what’s going on and that they are preparing what looks to be a serious response.

Meanwhile on a related note, in this year’s DirectX 12 session, Microsoft has confirmed that they are going to be addressing the current refresh interval limitations of UWP. In short, Windows UWP will be gaining support for interval immediate refreshing, otherwise known as tearing. Tearing currently isn’t allowed, and while tearing is not typically desirable, there are situations where the bare minimum latency it affords may be more useful than displaying a whole frame without corruption. This will also allow Freesync and G-Sync variable refresh rate technologies to work with UWP, as the underlying issues blocking them with the current system are much similar.  As it stands there isn’t an ETA on this update, however it’s something the DirectX team has taken to heart, and with a bit of luck it may be sooner than later.