The Dark Mod on the Crysis engine?

[Amita12]

If ever it were possible to summon such motivation (and funds/hardware/etc.), wouldn't it be at least a little bit cool to see this mod on the Crytech engine? I know it sounds a little far-fetched at this point, but it's still cool to think about...

 

Besides that, using a BCI for this mod would be pretty sweet, too, if not slightly complicated.

 

mike

 

EDIT: Before you say anything, I'd like for you to know that this topic was written playfully and not intended to spark anger/frustration/exhaustion/negative-energy. I knew from the beginning how far-fetched this idea was and if I had meant it seriously, I would have written my first post differently. I love TDM the way it is and couldn't be happier with it's outcome. A lot of time's been spent working on it and I admire the dedication. I admire it so much, in fact, that I'm even offering my animation skills and sound-proof audio studio privileges for women voices. So, please don't take this all the wrong way, I have good intentions. I've also recently been informed of how tired this topic is, so rest assured you may hear no more of it from me.

[GameDevGoro]

Voted for "Kinda".

 

Since yeah, it would be swell seeing a game like this on such graphical power but I think it's slightly unnecessary. I mean, Thief 1 did fine, right? xD

 

On the plus side, Crysis engine does support large areas which could be all for the better. But then again, who would have energy to produce these levels and at a constant quality?

[Springheel]

This is kind of on par with asking, "Would it be cool to see a live action movie based on TDM?"

 

Well, yes, it would, but it's never going to happen.

[Serpentine]

Starring Serp as a homeless man with a unix beard.

[SneaksieDave]

I'd like to see TDM in the Zork engine. Imagination FTW!

[New Horizon]

What would be the point though? When the D3 engine goes open source, it will be possible to update the graphics anyway. All that work would be for nothing. With the exception of art assets, it would be like starting from scratch all over again.

[aidakeeley]

I'd like to see TDM in the Zork engine. Imagination FTW!

 

:laugh:

 

Thrice the funny.

[Komag]

Yeah, I LOL'd on the Zork thing too

[Amita12]

Haha, I know we'd have to start from scratch, which is why I thought this as far-fetched; I'm just trying to imagine it.

 

I already love TDM as it is and if it were to be ported to a Crytech engine I wouldn't be able to play it or test my animations in-game because my computer can't handle Crysis. So, it's more like a good thing that the project is based into the Unreal engine .

 

EDIT: Why'd I get a negative rep for this post ?

[Springheel]

So, it's more like a good thing that the project is based into the Unreal engine

 

[New Horizon]

So, it's more like a good thing that the project is based into the Unreal engine .

TDM uses the Doom 3 / idtech 4 engine.

[Amita12]

TDM uses the Doom 3 / idtech 4 engine.

 

Ah, my bad. Still, though

 

 

I thought Doom3 was unreal :s

[Serpentine]

You have been eaten by a grue.

[Amita12]

You have been eaten by a grue.

 

Grue: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grue_(monster) ?

 

Hell, I don't mind. Was simply attempting to incite discussion . Besides, it was interesting reading the various opinions on the subject. Plus, I was walking into this whole heartedly knowing the idea was far-fetched; as I have explicitly stated several times.

[aidakeeley]

I think that was just more Zork banter -- not directed at you, Amita.

[Amita12]

Oh. Heh, I've never heard of Zork, so I didn't know

[aidakeeley]

I've never heard of Zork

 

Oh... Uh-oh... Now you truly are asking for it!

 

[nbohr1more]

I suspect that the lighting related game-play mechanics would be problematic but this screen seems to offer cursory proof that this could be a successful venture...

 

 

I would add that instead of the current Crytech, that instead it would probably be something like CryEngine 5 or whatever will shortly be available when Id Tech 4 no longer plays well in current OS's (again this is presuming that ZeniMax decides to prevent Open-Sourcing the engine).

[Serpentine]

And it was no doubt exclusively constructed in a 3d modeling suite :/

 

In the case where you're making a AAA title and have a million artists which you can use to make filler content, that stuff is lovely. However TDM is a toolkit to make FM's, if we had to make authors use that... we'd look at 1 FM per year at max, the difference between maps would be huge and no one would give a damn about gameplay etc and there is no consistency and canned AI.

[nbohr1more]

Correct, that was made in a modeling suite!

 

As I said, that line of speculation is for the far future and presumes the worst case scenario of ZeniMax being jerks about Open Sourcing Id Tech 4.

 

On a related note ...what would be really cool is if we could code-share between Dark Radiant and Blender (but we'd get the better deal I'm sure...). Yeah, this has probably been mentioned before by someone.

 

Edit:

 

I am also sure that Crytek would claim that Sandbox2 is every bit as flexible and robust as DR but I do not have enough expertise in either to say anything...

 

All I know is that the pace of TDM FMS creation is incredible!

 

But I think if they were forced to change over (and had the will to continue) that the TDM team would be equally adept at modifying the Sandbox<X> interface as they were for Doom 3 Editor. Again, we all cross fingers that it'll never come to this...

Edited July 4, 2010 by nbohr1more

[greebo]

Even if Zenimax is preventing the D3 source from being released, I seriously doubt that TDM will be switching engines. It'd rather pick my left eye out instead of doing that. It's basically starting from scratch, and I think I'm speaking on behalf of the whole team that absolutely nobody here will be investing another 4 to 5 years of their lives, even if they could.

 

(Code-sharing between DR and Blender? There is no such thing as code-sharing.)

 

Sandbox: do I get this right that the Sandbox editor code is freely available for people to modify and re-publish? If not, discussion about modifying it ends right there. We've been lucky to get the GtkRadiant sources in our hands, which have been fully GPL'd long ago - otherwise there would be no cross-platform DarkRadiant, just Windows-only D3Edit.

[Tels]

Even if Zenimax is preventing the D3 source from being released, I seriously doubt that TDM will be switching engines. It'd rather pick my left eye out instead of doing that. It's basically starting from scratch, and I think I'm speaking on behalf of the whole team that absolutely nobody here will be investing another 4 to 5 years of their lives, even if they could.

 

Seconded. I'd pick out bopth of my eyes instead of switching engines. We haven't in all that time even managed to replace the physics engine (a thing possible less costly), so what makes people thing we can switch engines and start all over with the code?

 

Anybody can place a few thiefy-looking in a different engine and claim "it is possible" - but they miss the AI code, the lightgem, the objectives, the S&R system, the sound propagation to AI and what not.

[jdude]

It's only as good as the artists can make it and right now our beta mappers are putting in 100% creativity and work, sooooooooo no point to changing the engine.

[Melan]

People aren't even close to exploiting the potential of the Doom3 engine; polycount alone can go much higher than we have had so far. If someone really put in the time and effort (and that would be a lot of both), they could conceivably make something that looked significantly better-looking than anything released so far. The question is, is the high cost/benefit ratio worth it to have ultra-detailed scenes using every editing trick to get the best visuals you can get, or is there a point where it is better to have two or three large levels instead of a single medium-sized one. Even Dromed could do things like Sliptip's Ashen Age, but it was quite small compared to a less detailed but more extensive place like Down in the Bonehoard or Trace the Courier. It is a tradeoff between quality and quantity; while Dromed's hard limits don't quite apply to DarkRadiant, you still have to figure in time investment, which is the main currency of level design. Spend three or four months and have a nice level, or spend two years to make it look that much better with dozens of custom objects and static mesh terrain?

 

With more modern engines, even if a modding effort were to succeed in developing a TDM equivalent, these concerns would be even more pressing. If Thief 4 comes with a level editor/SDK, expect a mission to take a magnitude more effort to create than in either Dromed or TDM. That means less levels overall, higher barriers of entry before newbie involvement, and consequently also fewer contributors with a weaker network-building effect than we can achieve with older but more accessible tech. Doom 3/DarkRadiant is actually very advantageous as an editing platform, since it is so easy to get started with and create something with a reasonable effort that plays well and looks decent. Brushes and basic patches together are not the graphically optimal way to construct good-looking architecture, but it is more feasible for people who t do it as a hobby instead of a job or way of life.

 

Sure, you can do this or this, but are you willing to do what it takes? That's the question. Here is a quote:

The geometry is entirely static meshes. Though there are 2600 static meshes in the scene, an extremely high level of instancing and modularity of only 240 unique meshes means that performance is very high. With no occlusion, the level never drops below sixty frames per second even while running at 1600x1200. (This is on an intel quad core, 4 gigs of ram, nvidia 8800 GPU.)

240 unique meshes, a lot of time spent stitching together, and you will have Digital Nightfall's beautiful cathedral. Worth it, or will you be happy with the one Bikerdude is working on?

 

[edit]Added ref. to Bikerdude's cathedral[/edit]

Edited July 5, 2010 by Melan

[jdude]

Agree 100%. There hasn't been enough time for gorgeous missions to get released yet. I know this first hand, I've been plucking away at my own since saintlucia so it's been in the works for more than 2 years. I'm amazed the missions of the quality that they are have already been released tbh. They got them out the door fast!