Snowcap: GPU Profiling with Machine Learning

Snowcap is a plugin for the Snowdrop engine built by ‪@UbisoftMassiveEntertainment‬, used in games like The Division, Star Wars Outlaws, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, that estimates GPU performance on consoles - but without running the game on the target hardware. Whether it's Xbox, PlayStation (or Switch 2?), Snowcap uses a trained machine learning model to estimate whether the game will run within acceptable performance ranges. Tommy sits down for a conversation with three developers involved in Snowcap's development - engine programming lead Franck Maestre, associate production director Elia Wrzesniewski, and expert data scientist David Renaudie - to find out how it works, how the project started out, and how it has evolved into an essential part of the process for artists and level designers working in Snowdrop. Note that this episode is not sponsored by ‪@Ubisoft‬. We did not receive any assets (be it games, hardware, cash, or otherwise) from the company in making this video.