Mantle (API)

Last updated
Mantle
Developer(s) AMD, DICE [1]
Initial releaseSeptember 25, 2013;11 years ago (2013-09-25) [2]
Operating system Windows
Platform x86 and x86-64
Successor Vulkan
License Proprietary, freeware
Website www.amd.com/mantle

Mantle was a low-overhead rendering API targeted at 3D video games. [3] AMD originally developed Mantle in cooperation with DICE, starting in 2013. [1] Mantle was designed as an alternative to Direct3D and OpenGL, primarily for use on personal computers, although Mantle supports the GPUs present in the PlayStation 4 and in the Xbox One. [1] [4] In 2015, Mantle's public development was suspended and in 2019 completely discontinued, as DirectX 12 and the Mantle-derived Vulkan rose in popularity. [5] [6] [7] [8]

Contents

Overview

The draw call improvements of Mantle help alleviate cases where the CPU is the bottleneck. The design goals of Mantle are to allow games and applications to utilize the CPUs and GPUs more efficiently, eliminate CPU bottlenecks by reducing API validation overhead and allowing more effective scaling on multiple CPU cores, provide faster draw routines, and allow greater control over the graphics pipeline by eliminating certain aspects of hardware abstraction inherent to both current prevailing graphics APIs OpenGL and Direct3D. [9]

CPU-bound scenarios

With a basic implementation, Mantle was designed to improve performance in scenarios where the CPU is the limiting factor:

GPU-bound scenarios

Mantle was also designed to improve situations where high resolutions and "maximum detail" settings are used, although to a somewhat lesser degree, as these settings tax GPU resources in a way that is more difficult to improve at the API level. While Mantle provides some built-in features to improve GPU-bound performance, gains in these cases are largely dependent on how well Mantle features and optimizations are being utilized by the game engine. Some of those features include: [14] [15]

Benchmarks

Other claims

Support

The Mantle API was only available as part of AMD Catalyst prior to 19.5.1, which was available for Microsoft Windows. AMD promised to support their Mantle API only for their graphics cards and APUs which are based on their Graphics Core Next microarchitecture, but not older products based on the TeraScale microarchitecture. [29] As of July 2014 the implementation of the Mantle API was available for the following hardware:[ citation needed ]

Mantle was originally planned to be released on other platforms than Windows, including Linux, but it never happened. [30] [31]

While the API was officially discontinued, Clément Guérin [32] started a Mantle to Vulkan translation layer called GRVK [33] in mid 2020. This allows the API and ultimately the games to live on even without Mantle supporting graphic drivers.

Game engines

Video games

Originally planned

Similar technologies

A set of recent OpenGL 4.4 features, coupled with bindless texturing as an extension, can also substantially reduce driver overhead. This approach, termed by the Khronos Group as "AZDO" (Approaching Zero Driver Overhead) has been shown to achieve substantial performance improvements, approaching those stated for Mantle. [42] [43] Nvidia has extended OpenGL with a number of features that further reduce driver overhead. [44]

After details about DirectX 12 were made public, AMD has stated that they fully intend to support DirectX 12, but at the same time they claimed that Mantle "will [still] do some things faster." They have also claimed that due to similarities in the design philosophy of the two APIs, porting games from Mantle to DirectX 12 will be relatively straightforward, [45] and easier than porting from DirectX 11 to 12. [23]

Ultimately, AMD discontinued Mantle as a game API due to the similar aims of DirectX 12 and glNext (later renamed Vulkan). [5] [6] AMD donated the Mantle API to the Khronos group, which developed it into the Vulkan API. [46] [47] [48] [49] [50] [51]

Comments

Much of the work that drivers used to do on an application’s behalf is now the responsibility of the game engine. ... It also means that this work, which must still be done, is done by someone with considerably more information. Because the engine knows exactly what it will do and how it will do it, it is able to make design decisions that drivers could not.

—  Firaxis on 2014-04-28, Why We Went With Mantle

Recording and FPS overlay software

PC gamers and professionals traditionally used programs such as Fraps and Bandicam to record gameplay, measure game FPS and display FPS overlay, but because Mantle is new, most traditional recording software does not work with new titles while using the new API.

In partnership with AMD, PC gaming community and game recording software maker Raptr have overhauled their client and have since re-branded it as the AMD Gaming Evolved client in conjunction with AMD's Gaming Evolved initiative in the PC gaming space. Out of the partnership, players who install and use the client while in-game can earn points to spend on digital items like games or computer hardware, chat with friends, keep their game library optimized, check for graphics card driver updates, stream their games to Twitch and record gameplay of their own with a built-in GVR, a feature similar to Nvidia Shadowplay software in its own GeForce Experience software that allows users to define a custom buffer length in their game for retroactive game recording with the push of a button so no moment gets missed and users typically do not need expensive hard drive setups to record to. In late 2014, AMD updated the client to support the recording and streaming of titles using Mantle. [52] As of its initial update into the client, the Gaming Evolved software was the only software to officially support the recording and streaming of Mantle enabled games.

Besides Raptr, D3DGear [53] was the only other commercial game recording software that supported Mantle API based games.

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

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  2. ↑ "AMD Radeon R9 and R7 Series Graphics Cards Usher in a New Era of Gaming Realism". AMD. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
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  5. 1 2 Smith, Ryan (2 March 2015). "AMD Lays Out Future of Mantle". Anandtech.com. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  6. 1 2 "One of Mantle's Futures: Vulkan | AMD Blogs".
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  15. ↑ "The Race to the Metal". Josh Barczak. 2014-05-23.
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  18. ↑ "Tłumacz Google". February 2014.
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  22. ↑ "AMD releases Mantle, shares performance numbers".
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  24. ↑ "Combining Efficient Engine Design with a modern API". 2014-03-20.
  25. ↑ "Mantle in the words of game developers". AMD. 2014-05-28.
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  27. ↑ "Mantle for Developers (by Johan Andersson, DICE)". 2013-11-21.
  28. ↑ "Empowering 3D Graphics Innovation". 2013-11-21.
  29. ↑ Smith, Ryan (26 September 2013). "Understanding AMD's Mantle". Anandtech.com. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  30. ↑ "AMD wants to improve gaming in Linux and Steam boxes with its Mantle tools". 2014-06-18.
  31. ↑ "Linux support isn't ruled out completely". Phoronix. 2014-05-31.
  32. ↑ "libcg on Github". GitHub .
  33. ↑ "GRVK on GitHub". GitHub .
  34. ↑ "AMD Mantle support is headed to another game engine". 14 January 2022.
  35. ↑ "Star Swarm Stress Test on Steam".
  36. ↑ "Mantle Renderer now available in Battlefield 4".
  37. ↑ "Mantle Takes to the Stars with Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth".
  38. ↑ "Sniper Elite 3 to tap AMD's Mantle API". 21 November 2013.
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  43. ↑ "Beyond Porting: How Modern OpenGL Can Radically Reduce Driver Overhead". YouTube. 2014-02-11. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
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  48. ↑ "AMD Gaming: One of Mantle's Futures: Vulkan | AMD Blogs". Community.amd.com. Retrieved 2015-03-05.
  49. ↑ Hruska, Joel (4 March 2015). "Not dead yet: AMD's Mantle powers new Vulkan API, VR efforts". ExtremeTech. Retrieved 2015-03-05.
  50. ↑ "AMD's Mantle Lives On In Vulkan - Lays The Foundation For The Next OpenGL". Wccftech.com. 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  51. ↑ Kirsch, Nathan (2015-03-03). "Is AMD Mantle Dead As We Have Known It? Vulcan API Uses Mantle Technology for OpenGL". Legit Reviews. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  52. ↑ "AMD Gaming Evolved Now Supports Mantle".
  53. ↑ "D3DGear Mantle Recording Software".
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