I finally decided to give the Windows 10 Edition a try. I was hesitant, because it seemed like it was just going to be a port of the pocket edition. Yet it has much of the look and feel of the PC edition. It's still a work in progress, but I'm pleased with it so far. Some things I noticed:
-Improved graphics
-Boats actually work (still a bit awkward though)
-Much better performance (I'm running this on a $200 Bay Trail laptop, but the game runs quite smoothly)
-Limited world options, but the world is infinite (unlike pocket edition) and most of the in-game features are there
I really like how well the game runs, and how smoothly the chunks load. I'm guessing a big part of this the game being written in C++, which eliminates the overhead that Java has with VM and memory management (garbage collection can eat a lot of CPU time). Once I get Windows 10 on my desktop, I figure I can max out the settings with no issue. So far, it isn't quite a replacement for the standard PC edition, but it is a good option in its own right - and it is still only in beta. If anything, it might mean some good improvements to the PC edition, if Mojang goes that route.
I finally decided to give the Windows 10 Edition a try. I was hesitant, because it seemed like it was just going to be a port of the pocket edition. Yet it has much of the look and feel of the PC edition. It's still a work in progress, but I'm pleased with it so far. Some things I noticed:
-Improved graphics
-Boats actually work (still a bit awkward though)
-Much better performance (I'm running this on a $200 Bay Trail laptop, but the game runs quite smoothly)
-Limited world options, but the world is infinite (unlike pocket edition) and most of the in-game features are there
I really like how well the game runs, and how smoothly the chunks load. I'm guessing a big part of this the game being written in C++, which eliminates the overhead that Java has with VM and memory management (garbage collection can eat a lot of CPU time). Once I get Windows 10 on my desktop, I figure I can max out the settings with no issue. So far, it isn't quite a replacement for the standard PC edition, but it is a good option in its own right - and it is still only in beta. If anything, it might mean some good improvements to the PC edition, if Mojang goes that route.
I doubt C++ is the cause of the gain to performance. Java can be blazingly fast.... if you put the effort in to optimise your code, and that's the key. Mojang hasn't done a complete rewrite at all, instead just rewriting portions of the code per-update, so there's huge chunks of the game still running with the exact same code that alpha was, and there's tons more content in the current version compared to alpha. The lag can be attributed to the insanely inefficient code. Once Mojang rewrites the game, and moves away from an ancient version of OpenGL which uses a fixed-function graphics pipeline (I mean come on, 1.8 and below is programmed with a version of OpenGL released in 2006 in mind, 2006!), you'll see a big improvement in performance.
Windows 10 edition likely has been optimised and is using a modern graphics library, likely DirectX. C/C++ may help performance, but the main reason for the improvement in performance is probably a combination of optimisation and plainly a better and more recent rendering library.
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Author of the Clarity, Serenity, Sapphire & Halcyon shader packs for Minecraft: Java Edition.
-Limited world options, but the world is infinite (unlike pocket edition) and most of the in-game features are there.
Pocket Edition has had infinite worlds since 0.9. Only the console editions are still limited to finite worlds. (Presumably due to restrictions to save file size)
I finally decided to give the Windows 10 Edition a try. I was hesitant, because it seemed like it was just going to be a port of the pocket edition. Yet it has much of the look and feel of the PC edition. It's still a work in progress, but I'm pleased with it so far. Some things I noticed:
-Improved graphics
-Boats actually work (still a bit awkward though)
-Much better performance (I'm running this on a $200 Bay Trail laptop, but the game runs quite smoothly)
-Limited world options, but the world is infinite (unlike pocket edition) and most of the in-game features are there
I really like how well the game runs, and how smoothly the chunks load. I'm guessing a big part of this the game being written in C++, which eliminates the overhead that Java has with VM and memory management (garbage collection can eat a lot of CPU time). Once I get Windows 10 on my desktop, I figure I can max out the settings with no issue. So far, it isn't quite a replacement for the standard PC edition, but it is a good option in its own right - and it is still only in beta. If anything, it might mean some good improvements to the PC edition, if Mojang goes that route.
I have it and I gain a major FPS boost with DX12!
I doubt C++ is the cause of the gain to performance. Java can be blazingly fast.... if you put the effort in to optimise your code, and that's the key. Mojang hasn't done a complete rewrite at all, instead just rewriting portions of the code per-update, so there's huge chunks of the game still running with the exact same code that alpha was, and there's tons more content in the current version compared to alpha. The lag can be attributed to the insanely inefficient code. Once Mojang rewrites the game, and moves away from an ancient version of OpenGL which uses a fixed-function graphics pipeline (I mean come on, 1.8 and below is programmed with a version of OpenGL released in 2006 in mind, 2006!), you'll see a big improvement in performance.
Windows 10 edition likely has been optimised and is using a modern graphics library, likely DirectX. C/C++ may help performance, but the main reason for the improvement in performance is probably a combination of optimisation and plainly a better and more recent rendering library.
Author of the Clarity, Serenity, Sapphire & Halcyon shader packs for Minecraft: Java Edition.
My Github page.
The entire Minecraft shader development community now has its own Discord server! Feel free to join and chat with all the developers!
Pocket Edition has had infinite worlds since 0.9. Only the console editions are still limited to finite worlds. (Presumably due to restrictions to save file size)
Capture bats and other mobs in a small cage!
Bedrock edition: Using nether quartz to measure light levels