The developers of Star Wars: The Old Republic continue to work on modernizing their MMORPG and are now presenting the largest project to date.
What kind of project is this? The developers of SW:TOR spoke about their largest project to date in a new post on their website (via swtor.com): the upgrade to DirectX12. DirectX is the key point for many of the processes that take place on the screen in SW:TOR.
SW:TOR still uses the old version 9, which is no longer the standard. In order to enhance the MMORPG in the future, the developers need an upgrade to version 12, but that is not so easy.
Here you can see how much SW:TOR has visually changed so far:
Everything from the beginning
How is the upgrade progressing? To enable the upgrade to the new version 12, the developers had to dismantle and rebuild many of the graphical elements of the MMORPG. There are technical features that SW:TOR uses in version 9, but which do not function in version 12.
The developers share images in their post that show how extensively they had to dismantle the MMORPG – almost only test textures remained. The process was so complicated that they even had to reprogram the SW:TOR engine itself.
Through collaboration with EA, the developers were able to incorporate features of the Frostbite engine into SW:TOR during this process, which is expected to have a positive impact on the MMORPG in the future.
Although the developers are not yet at their goal, they are already showing images of how the game currently looks, with notable improvements in light and shadow effects.
Where is the journey heading? The developers do not simply want to make SW:TOR look better; they also care about compatibility. DirectX9 is too old and may not run on all hardware in a few years.
But the graphics can be significantly improved through the massive changes. While previously there were only limited opportunities to enhance the MMORPG, big changes can be expected after the upgrade.
However, it will still take some time before that happens. The developers want to involve players from the technical alpha to test compatibility on the countless different graphics cards. Only after that will they finalize the processes.
That the developers of SW:TOR are rewriting their entire engine to prepare the game for the future is a good sign for all players. Those who have been concerned that the MMORPG might soon be history will be reassured by this news. The process is a clear step into the future. What is expected to happen this year is detailed here: Star Wars gets a new game, but doesn’t leave behind a 14-year-old MMORPG, starting soon into a new era
