RIFT is getting a tech update, and best case scenario, you could see a 10FPS increase.
Trion Worlds released a blog post detailing the major update for the MMORPG. Being one of the less visible updates to RIFT, the company decided they would detail the process they were going through.
Although they acknowledge not every feature has launched smoothly, Trion Worlds is confident that this update is necessary. Snedphel was kind enough to explain exactly what was going on, “RIFT runs in a graphics API called DirectX 9 (DX9). […] The problem is that DX9 is showing its age and was designed with single-core computers in mind, and DX9 places a fairly large burden on the CPU. Technology has since advanced and now multiple core computers are the norm. RIFT will soon have true multicore support, which allows us to use every core on your computer to provide better frame rate and improved response time while ensuring that your CPU speed doesn’t throttle your graphics card.”
For those that don’t understand the “technobabble gobble-dee-gok”, their is a better explanation. “Imagine you were designing a vehicle to transport people from CPUville to Graphic Card City. The people are the rendering instructions. To get them to Graphic Card City, you’d make a bus. It’s going to be the most efficient vehicle to get folks from one place to another. Several years later, the road from CPUville has now been upgraded to a four-lane highway. Is a bus still the best choice? Well it takes quite a bit of time to load up a bus until it’s full. It takes a while to accelerate or to change lanes. So we switch to cars. The car usage isn’t perfect. Upon arrival the people still need to line up properly, and it’s a lot of work to dictate how people drive. They might even crash! (Yes, I’ve been dying to make that joke here.) Cars are, however, much better now that you have those additional lanes. You can load the cars up quickly and get them zipping down the road. This is what true multicore support will do for RIFT.”
The upgrade isn’t easy to explain to those without prior knowledge, but the blog post does a pretty decent job of helping the community to understand. By upgrading the tech in RIFT, they’re ensuring that the MMORPG won’t become outdated anytime soon.