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First Game EVER to use Shadow Mapping?

Started by treeway Nov 30, 2007 at 9:58 AM 11 replies 5.9k views

Original Post

Nov 30, 2007 at 9:58 AM

Hi I’m writing a paper which includes a section on shadow mapping, there is some info on the wikipedia on shadow mapping along with a nice little explanation but there isn’t much about its use in games. What I want to know is: what was the first game to use Real-Time shadow mapping? (not pre-rendered backgrounds / sprites and the like). I’m sure lots of you will remember a game that used it way back but please also be careful that your game was actually using shadow mapping and not some cheep trick or plane shadows. I assume due to their dependence on floating point textures and programmable shaders that they haven't been around in games for too long (maybe DirectX 8/early 9)? Please post your answers in the following format Game Title: The title of the game Developer/Publisher: Who made the game was developed by and published .by Year: year first released in anywhere (maybe origins as well as dates). Comments: anything else you want to say about that game and its use of shadow Thanks!

Toolmaker

Nov 30, 2007 at 10:05 AM

Sorry to tell you, but we ain't your research team... Not only is this information hard to find out, it's also useless in a paper. Being able to tell 'Game XYZ was the first recorded instance of real-time shadow fapping used in a commercial game' is pretty pointless.

Pro-tip: Wikipedia is NOT a reliable source of information.

Toolmaker

treeway

Nov 30, 2007 at 10:12 AM

Hey

I only want to mention it in passing as a part of my introduction, it’s not the focus of the paper or anything. Also I don’t expect you to do any research, I just know the people here are knowledgeable of, and interested in games so maybe it would be fun to find out where shadow maps were first used? Maybe it was earlier then we think?

As for Wikipedia, I don’t rate it as a reliable resource but it is helpful e.g. in the shadow mapping article it cites "Casting curved shadows on curved surfaces" by Lance Williams which was a good read and very helpful.

Wan

Nov 30, 2007 at 10:15 AM

I think it's a perfectly acceptable question, and since it is difficult to find the answer why would it be so wrong to see if someone here would have some information? It's not like he asking us to explain shadow mapping to him.
Papers generally include a bit of history, about research or its application. I don't know the topic, scope or intention of this paper, but I could imagine it to be relevant or at least interesting.

Having said that, I don't have the answer.

OrangyTang

Nov 30, 2007 at 10:20 AM

Quote:
Original post by treeway
I assume due to their dependence on floating point textures and programmable shaders that they haven't been around in games for too long (maybe DirectX 8/early 9)?

Shadow mapping doesn't require floating point textures or programmable shaders. IIRC shadow mapping is possible on GF2 hardware (and possibly 1, but the earliest I saw a demo was on GF2). However it took a while before they became practical for use in a proper game. Your best bet it to start looking at early Xbox 1 games and others about the same time. Fable is the earliest game I can think of, but I'm sure theres much ealier examples than that.

treeway

Nov 30, 2007 at 10:30 AM

Hi

OrangeyTang thanks for your reply. One of the games I had a look at was WRECKLESS: The Yakuza Missions by Bunkasha Games in 2002 on Xbox 1, as it has also been cited in a shader book I read a while back (can't remember which one exactly) for early use of Kawasaki HDR. I found one page which says its using shadow maps, and I would be inclined to agree from looking at screen shots / my memory of the game. Again, its just for the intro to the Shadow Mapping section of my paper and wouldn’t be the end of the world if I dropped the sentence but I find it quite interesting.

Promit

Nov 30, 2007 at 10:39 AM

Quote:
Original post by OrangyTang
Shadow mapping doesn't require floating point textures or programmable shaders. IIRC shadow mapping is possible on GF2 hardware

The ARB_shadow extension is available from GF3 and up. I'm not sure how it would be possible to implement shadow mapping in any reasonable form without it.

OrangyTang

Nov 30, 2007 at 11:01 AM

Quote:
Original post by Promit
Quote:
Original post by OrangyTang
Shadow mapping doesn't require floating point textures or programmable shaders. IIRC shadow mapping is possible on GF2 hardware
The ARB_shadow extension is available from GF3 and up. I'm not sure how it would be possible to implement shadow mapping in any reasonable form without it.

Some dodgy nVidia-only register combiner trick no doubt - I don't think any game would have used it, the quality was bloody awful.

Moe

Nov 30, 2007 at 11:06 AM

Quote:
Original post by OrangyTang
Quote:
Original post by treeway
I assume due to their dependence on floating point textures and programmable shaders that they haven't been around in games for too long (maybe DirectX 8/early 9)?

Shadow mapping doesn't require floating point textures or programmable shaders. IIRC shadow mapping is possible on GF2 hardware (and possibly 1, but the earliest I saw a demo was on GF2). However it took a while before they became practical for use in a proper game. Your best bet it to start looking at early Xbox 1 games and others about the same time. Fable is the earliest game I can think of, but I'm sure theres much ealier examples than that.

I thought Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee was one of the first games I remember hearing about that used shadow mapping. It was released November 2001.

treeway

Nov 30, 2007 at 11:12 AM

thanks moe. I remember the shadows in oddworld, particularly the clouds casting shadows onto the terrain which I thought was cool as the time. Seems to be around about the same time as Wreckless too which is good although I remember Oddworld was in development for PS2 for a long time before it was eventually released on xbox.

Promit

Nov 30, 2007 at 11:16 AM

Quote:
Original post by Moe
Quote:
Original post by OrangyTang
Quote:
Original post by treeway
I assume due to their dependence on floating point textures and programmable shaders that they haven't been around in games for too long (maybe DirectX 8/early 9)?

Shadow mapping doesn't require floating point textures or programmable shaders. IIRC shadow mapping is possible on GF2 hardware (and possibly 1, but the earliest I saw a demo was on GF2). However it took a while before they became practical for use in a proper game. Your best bet it to start looking at early Xbox 1 games and others about the same time. Fable is the earliest game I can think of, but I'm sure theres much ealier examples than that.

I thought Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee was one of the first games I remember hearing about that used shadow mapping. It was released November 2001.

Oddworld was an Xbox game, and the Xbox had a modified GF3.

OrangyTang

Nov 30, 2007 at 11:26 AM

Quote:
Original post by Promit
Quote:
Original post by OrangyTang
Shadow mapping doesn't require floating point textures or programmable shaders. IIRC shadow mapping is possible on GF2 hardware
The ARB_shadow extension is available from GF3 and up. I'm not sure how it would be possible to implement shadow mapping in any reasonable form without it.

Found it. The scary tex env setup makes me glad we've got proper shaders now. And surprisingly they list it as possible all the way back to a TNT card. o_O

treeway

Nov 30, 2007 at 11:43 AM

Ok, GDC 2000 demo of real-time shadow maps on TNT, GeForce and Quadro. Very interesting especially as its printed in March 2000 giving about a year and a half before a similar effect was applied in a released game (as far as we know at this point). Contains some nice references to SIGRAPH papers too thanks.

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