Dear Esther Graphics update

Technology and Gaming
#61

The only real problem Source has is that you have to license the engine to get full access to all source code and get rid of the limitations that the Mod SDK imposes on you.

Cryengine and Unreal Development Kit doesn’t have this issue.

And then if you have access to the full source code you can make any adjustments you care to make. Improving the engine.

Making a game engine takes a lot of work and time so it makes sense to reuse the old code and incrementally build on it. Most game engines are improved this way even if they slap a new number on it.

So it really isn’t about which engine is the best but it is about who can make the most use of it.

#62

Great, everybody cares about name of engine.
Yay, they don’t add number to name, they change number in build! Hurray!

Source is an old engine, less advanced that top-of-the-line CryEngine 2 (3 is just console port). As you could see, even this nice looking Source mod “Dear Esther” is far less good looking than Crysis. Look at the textures - they aren’t sharp even in small youtube window. And the darkness in this trailer is used by author to hide it from our eyes.

#63

There is more to looking good than simple textures and lots of polys. And the textures look really high res to me. The one spot I don’t like is the textures around the small pool are stretched, other than that the textures look really good.

1280×720 464 KB

#64

Yeah he’s talking out of his ass. This is directed at him: Have you ever been in a cave?

That section of cave looks much better than the caves in Crysis. (Which has nothing to do with the engine…)

#65

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, no.

CryEngine 3 was almost re-written from the groud up to be a lot more efficient, while introducing some new stuff that improve the visuals in significant ways.

And regarding the rest of your quote, the big picture is always more important than the details. You can have the best fucking engine in the world, but if the art design is lackluster, then it’s all just a waste of code.

#66

I came buckets. Lots of them.

#67

hmm …

Is it only me who is thinking: “BM need this guy for XEN”? :smiley:
Imagine XEN caves which are looking like this ^^

#68

I hope that’s why BM didn’t make the 2009 deadline. They hired that guy and he’s been remaking Xen from scratch since then. :stuck_out_tongue:

#69

This.

#70

i’m just gonna say this
yeah i love what the guy is doing with this mod, but all this talk about source being the best engine evarrr there sure isn’t a lot to show it for. valve games sure, they made the engine and have the personnel who’ve been using it for years. there are mods, but very few break the hl2 mold.

but commercial games?

uh

heroes of might and magic?
and uh
zeno clash

#71

Source Engine is used almost exclusively by Valve, but I don’t in any way see why that makes it worse. And as for mods not breaking the HL2 mold, that’s bs, it’s hard to find mods that don’t break the HL2 mold. Just take a look at the mods thread.

#72

No. Its really not hard to find mods that break the HL2 mold. Its just the popular ones that do.

Patonki has a point, it isn’t used for many commercial games, which doesn’t diminish from its quality, but it really isn’t necessarily the greatest engine. It depends on what you want from your engine.

As a side note, those screens do look better than Cryengine. The idiot who called the textures low res has clearly not seen any of the larger images.

#73

Yep. And i know that there are different types of caves. While Crysis uses sea caves, this mod utilizes solutional cave. This second type of caves, when made properly, is very good looking, especially with nice spring. Sea caves look ok, nothing less, nothing more.

Yep, CryEngine 2 was rewritten to be compatible with consoles. Their graphic cards are weaker than PC generations of last few years, so it had to be more efficient. Visuals? Not really visible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WJG14uLA3k&feature=fvw

And the big picture in Crysis looks wonderful. Also when you take a closer look at something, it will still look great.

Thanks! I really love you too!

Look at the stalagmites at 0:21.

#74

I call everyone that. Its really an expression of respect.

#75

Source is on OSX and Windows, CryEngine3 isn’t.

So logically, Source > CryEngine3.

#76

in a few years you will not praise others anymore, I can assure you! with each release, in HL series because in this games they put all that Source engine can offer; becomes more powerful just think about the concept of HL3 they are obliged to use the newest technologies, if you want to play in reality it’s your business, in render a game is more beauty than in reality especially if the textures are very detailed, Cryengine not focus on detail, but on game face to be as natural; they copy reality in game you find this interesting?

#77

LOLWUT

#78

Well, of course the console version looks worse than PC, but that’s all they ever show.

Now, if they shown a CE2 vs CE3 on PC, you’d certainly notice the huge improvements they made on lighting with real-time global illumination.

#79

0:21 is a transition between two locations in the cave. I assume you are talking about the stalagmites just after 0:21, in that case,

Low quality? Orly?

#80

Ya rly

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.