GPUOpen
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| Original author(s) | Advanced Micro Devices |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Advanced Micro Devices |
| Initial release | January 26, 2016 |
| Development status | In development |
| Written in | C, C++, GLSL |
| Operating system | Linux, Microsoft Windows |
| Type | Game effects libraries, GPU debugging, CPU & GPU profiling |
| License | MIT License |
| Website |
gpuopen GPUOpen SDKs on GitHub GPUOpen Effects on GitHub |
GPUOpen is a middleware software suite originally developed by AMD's Radeon Technologies Group that offers advanced visual effects for computer games. It was announced on December 15, 2015 and released on January 26, 2016. GPUOpen serves as an alternative to, and a direct competitor of Nvidia GameWorks. GPUOpen is similar to GameWorks in that it encompasses several different graphics technologies as its main components that were previously independent and separate from one another. However, GPUOpen is entirely open source software, unlike GameWorks which has been heavily criticized for its proprietary and closed nature.
Nicolas Thibieroz, AMD's Senior Manager of Worldwide Gaming Engineering, argues that "it can be difficult for developers to leverage their R&D investment on both consoles and PC because of the disparity between the two platforms" and that "proprietary libraries or tools chains with "black box" APIs prevent developers from accessing the code for maintenance, porting or optimizations purposes." He says that upcoming architectures, such as AMD's Rx 400 series "include many features not exposed today in PC graphics APIs."
AMD designed GPUOpen to be a competing open-source middleware stack released under the MIT License. The libraries are intended to increase software portability between video game consoles, PCs and also High-performance computing.
GPUOpen unifies many of AMD's previously separate tools and solutions into one package, also fully open-sourcing them under the MIT License. GPUOpen also makes it easy for developers to get low-level GPU access.
Additionally AMD wants to grant interested developers the kind of low-level "direct access" to their GCN-based GPUs, that surpasses the possibilities of Direct3D 12 or Vulkan. AMD mentioned e.g. a low-level access to the Asynchronous Compute Engines (ACEs). The ACE implement "Asynchronous Compute", but they cannot be freely configured neither under Vulkan nor under Direct3D 12.
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