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“ This sure is some detailed technical information on the development of an entire games system. ”

Sounds very professional

The Terminator MOD new engine and modding

Mon 2 Feb 2004 | 11h35 GMT+1
Info: News by fan

Terminator fan Frosty_theozzie of the official T3 forum has been developing a new Terminator mod game for some time now. Below is a transcript he send in and posted on the forums about the progress of the game, the changes of the engine and his gearing up towards modding soon!

This is just a quick update to inform you all that the Terminator mod has changed engine. Prior to now it was planned to use the Half-Life 2 engine. However, now the mod will be powered by CryEngine, the engine used by the new upcoming FPS FarCry. The reason for this is twofold; A. Half-Life 2 is in a development limbo, and no one, probably not even Gabe Newell himself knows when it will be released. B. Far Cry has additional features that the mod needs, and HL2 cannot offer. For instance, The Terminator mod requires that the majority of downtown LA be reproduced as a gaming environment, and Half-Life 2 is not very flexible in that regard. However, Far Cry offers enormous gaming environments with a plethora of options.

Also, the system requirements of Far Cry are not that steep, and can run on a variety of systems without issue. I've played the demo, and although there still are a few issues, it is remarkable and extremely fun, and if there are any niggling issues that would conflict or reduce the quality of the game, the mod can just fix or change them. Here's the feature set of the CryEngine.

  • Real-time editing, bump-mapping, static lights, network system, integrated physics system, shaders, shadows and a dynamic music system are just some of the state of-the-art features that the CryENGINE™ offers.
  • The CryENGINE™ comes complete with it's a bevy of internal tools and also includes the CryEDIT world editing system. Licensees receive full source code and documentation for the engine and tools. Support is provided directly from the R & D Team, and teaching workshops can be arranged for your team to increase the learning process as ongoing improvements to the engine are made.
  • The engine supports all video and hardware currently on the market, and new hardware support will be constantly added as it becomes available.
  • CryEDIT: A real-time game editor offering instantaneous "What you see is what you PLAY" feedback.
  • Renderer: Integrates indoor and outdoor technology seamlessly while offering rendering support for OpenGL & Direct-x 8/9, XBox using latest HW features, PS2 and GameCube.
  • Physics System: Supports character inverse kinematics, vehicles, rigid bodies, liquid, rag doll, cloth and soft body effects. This system is directly integrated with the game and tools.
  • Character Inverse Kinematics & Animation Blending: Allows a character model to have multiple animations that blend in believable ways.
  • AI System: Enables team-based AI as well as AI behaviours defined by scripts. This features affords you the ability to create custom enemies and behaviours without even touching the C++ code.
  • Interactive Dynamic Music System: This system dynamically tracks and responds to the player's actions and current situation while offering CD Quality playback in full 5.1 surround sound.
  • Environmental Audio & SFS Engine: Accurately reproduce sounds from nature with seamless blending between environments and interior/exterior locations in 5.1 audio. Includes EAX 2.0 audio support.
  • Network Client and Server System: Manages all network connections for the multi-player mode. It is a low-latency network system based on client/server architecture.
  • Shaders: A script system used to combine textures & produce visual effects in different ways. Supports real-time per-pixel lighting, bumpy reflections, refractions, volumetric glow effects, animated textures, transparent computer displays, windows, bullet holes, and shiny surfaces.
  • Terrain: Uses an advanced height-map system and polygon reduction to create massive, realistic environments. The view distance can maximized to an unprecedented 2km when converted from game units.
  • Lighting and Shadows: Combines pre-calculated, real-time shadows, stencil shadows and light-maps to produce a dynamic environment. Includes high-resolution, correct perspective, and volumetric smooth-shadow implementations for dramatic and realistic indoor shadowing. Also supports advanced particles technology and any kind of volumetric lighting effects on particles.
  • Fog: Includes volumetric, layer and view distance fogging to enhance atmosphere and tension.
  • Tools Integration: Objects and buildings created using 3ds max™ or Maya® are easily integrated within the game and editor.
  • Polybump™: Standalone or fully-integrated with other tools including 3ds max™.
  • Scripting system: Based on the popular LUA language. This easy to use system allows the setup and tweaking of weapon/game parameters, playing of sounds and loading of graphics without touching the C++ code.
  • Modularity: Entirely written in modular C++, with comments, documentation and subdivisions into multiple DLLs.

Lets hope Frosty_theozzie (and his possible team) come up with a very cool game!

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