Metal API coming to OSX

[Hobbes Novakoff]

So, Apple is launching OSX El Capitan, and with it a version of the Metal API for OSX. So, I'm not a computer hardware expert, but according to this article, this bypasses the super-slow OpenGL framework, and basically makes stuff run way better. Unity (as well as every other major game engine, including 2K and Blizzard's in-house engines) will support Metal. What I'm interested in is a) is this integration automatic, or does SQUAD need to spend time on it? What performance increase do you guys think this would give, if any? and c) If this requires SQUAD to spend time on it, should they devote dev time, or is the OSX crowd just a too small segment of the player base?

Discuss.

[mattinoz]

Interesting Blog post from Unity when Metal was announced for iOS.

http://blogs.unity3d.com/2014/07/03/metal-a-new-graphics-api-for-ios-8/

If these answers in the FAQ at the end are the same for Metal on OS X it can only be a good thing for KSP right?

What would I have to do to take advantage Metal’s lower CPU overhead?

Generally, nothing. Once we add support for Metal in Unity, using it should be very transparent. All your existing projects, all your shaders and graphics effects should just work. Just enjoy your lower CPU usage!

But what about shaders, since Metal has a different shading language?

We’ll take care of that. Right now you generally write shaders in Cg/HLSL, which we convert into GLSL for OpenGL ES behind the scenes. For Metal, we’ll convert them in a very similar way.

What can I do with lower CPU overhead, again?

Have better physics, AI or more complex gameplay logic. Put more objects on the screen. Or just enjoy lower battery usage. It’s all up to you!

[Murph]

If your graphics options were set correctly for your hardware, the immediate impact should be very little gained. Correctly configured, your KSP will more likely be bottlenecked on physics, not graphics. It's not a particularly graphics-heavy game. Once they eventually ship a version which has the Unity support enabled, you might be able to push a graphics option or 2 upwards, but that should be all unless you've already got the options set too high.