Major UE3 Upgrades Debut At GDC '09

Well, providing they keep the applications simple to use (i.e. you don't need a degree in rocket science) then this is more cool stuff for the Unreal editor.
I just hope the process of making maps isn't bogged down with really complicated stuff because the whole point of Ued is it's accessibility and ease of use - I'd hate to see that move from easy for casual mapper to make something to intermediate to expert use only.
I'm particularly interested in the new light rendering system - if there's one thing games still struggle with, it's convincing lighting in game - dynamic lighting is such a resource hog.

Lruce

KillerSkaarj said:

Holy crap! With global illumination, the environments would look more realistic than they need to be! I think the difference between real life and video game graphics is beginning to blur.

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Err, that's been in Engines for years. Just not in the Unreal (and a few others) Engine.

GI lighting is nice, but if it will take 70 hours or so to rebuild a level like this (hi Mirrors Edge levels), it would be quite annoying for community mapping as you'd have no renderfarm available.
Also GI only works well on fairly bright and empty environments. So that's Mirrors Edge for example, a lot of Valve games are kind of like that too, UT3 however is dark and so crowded with details that it won't make a massive difference really. For games with a different style, that + AO would make quite a difference of course.

Hourences said:

GI lighting is nice, but if it will take 70 hours or so to rebuild a level like this (hi Mirrors Edge levels), it would be quite annoying for community mapping as you'd have no renderfarm available.
Also GI only works well on fairly bright and empty environments. So that's Mirrors Edge for example, a lot of Valve games are kind of like that too, UT3 however is dark and so crowded with details that it won't make a massive difference really. For games with a different style, that + AO would make quite a difference of course.

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Hourences, for God´s sake. You know when placing light actors on a map you have a lot of freedom chosing the one you want to put.

Also, it says the new function is a very fast one: ...." Epic's new Swarm distributed computing framework enables lighting to be generated up to 10 times faster..."

While i dont expect to be the uber global illumination by radiosity or photon mapping that can be used on movies, it will be interesting to see this new technique in action.
(also, i love the new character lighing on chars included on the titan pack btw )

Note the "distributed computing framework". It's "fast" because you can use render farms.

Damn, i thought it wast that optimized...

EDIT: eitherway, traditionally on rendering engines, illumination solvers have been always easily activated or disactivated, so one could think that this solver could be turned off and keep using simple illumination as always

Hourences said:

UT3 however is dark and so crowded with details that it won't make a massive difference really.

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Maybe for a map like the ones from HOLP?

Anyway, looking forward to the global illumination.

KillerSkaarj said:

Why do I get the feeling the new engine updates will be used in a (hypothetical) future, nonmulitplayer-based Unreal game?

Maybe it's just me being wishful.

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Would be awesome if they came out with another single player Unreal game like Unreal 2.

Here's a wild idea - as part of the 'major update' for the UT3 engines, why not add.... oh I donno....

FSAA????

Seriously - 'lighting'? We've already got it...
Put a feature back IN that you took OUT - we want a UT3 engine that can do FSAA under DX9 and in windows XP!

If these 'advanced shaders' mean that one of the most basic and major features in 3D game's appearance (FSAA!!) must be removed, then how 'advanced' can they be....?

Seriously though - UT3 update. FSAA. Get on it - NOW!

Quaglax said:

Would be awesome if they came out with another single player Unreal game like Unreal 2.

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They're busy on a new horror IP aren't they? And I'd imagine Gears 3 too.

and don't forget Real 3

DazJW said:

They're busy on a new horror IP aren't they? And I'd imagine Gears 3 too.

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that's the people can fly team.

Hourences said:

Also GI only works well on fairly bright and empty environments. So that's Mirrors Edge for example, a lot of Valve games are kind of like that too, UT3 however is dark and so crowded with details that it won't make a massive difference really. For games with a different style, that + AO would make quite a difference of course.

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No offence, but why UT3 has to be full of meanlingless details, why UT3 can't be just kinda like UT1, clean and colorful and stylish? Why UT3 needs as many details as Gears(or even more)?

r1esG0 said:

Hourences, for God´s sake. You know when placing light actors on a map you have a lot of freedom chosing the one you want to put.

Also, it says the new function is a very fast one: ...." Epic's new Swarm distributed computing framework enables lighting to be generated up to 10 times faster..."

While i dont expect to be the uber global illumination by radiosity or photon mapping that can be used on movies, it will be interesting to see this new technique in action.
(also, i love the new character lighing on chars included on the titan pack btw )

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Thanks to you I could notice that the character lighting was improved, I am glad of this but the lighting doesn't seem to be as advanced as in GoW2.

moonflyer said:

No offence, but why UT3 has to be full of meanlingless details, why UT3 can't be just kinda like UT1, clean and colorful and stylish? Why UT3 needs as many details as Gears(or even more)?

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Exactly where did I said it had to be? It simply is, I would love to have a more UT1'ish approach too, but it isn't like that.

Yeah, sorry for misunderstanding. I am still hoping EPIC can make use of GI for UT3 or maybe UT4, and along with old school style of details. Sometimes too many details just ruin the gameplay experience IMO.

Inspired by Tron :

Unreal Lightmass

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the Unreal Master Control Program (MCP)

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elmuerte said:

MCP? somebody has been watching Tron

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There's always that guy that is two steps ahead. Bravo .

shletten said:

Thanks to you I could notice that the character lighting was improved, I am glad of this but the lighting doesn't seem to be as advanced as in GoW2.

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If you accept suggections, disable "bloom and depth of field",
put the post processing on "vivid",
put all the details on maximun (if your pc can, of course), and enjoy the next gen.


Yes, in gow2 it seems a little better.

r1esG0 said:

If you accept suggections, disable "bloom and depth of field",
put the post processing on "vivid",
put all the details on maximun (if your pc can, of course), and enjoy the next gen.


Yes, in gow2 it seems a little better.

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Yes my details are at maximum, I got a nice 8800 GT which has always been helpful with this game. As for bloom and DOF, I never dared to turn them off. Should I that much? I find the colors already intense enough so I don't wish to change my Post-Processing mode...

Damn, I just played without Bloom & DOF and it looks drastically different. I did not know the image was being blurred so much. Unfortunately, with these settings disabled you lose a lot of color depth and it looks kind of bland.

Hourences said:

Exactly where did I said it had to be? It simply is, I would love to have a more UT1'ish approach too, but it isn't like that.

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i would love a ut99 approach as well. i think that assets could have been used in UT3 to much greater effect. while the game looks great having more simplistic textures and arrangements of static meshes would compliment those really detailed areas much better. some levels have very little contrast between the details resulting in an overwhelming busy look. but thats not to say i don't enjoy or admire the visuals EPIC populated the maps with.

something that i would like to point out and is a growing concern to me is a steady pace of the mod community not getting their hands on new tech. Unreal Engine 3 updates found in Gears of War 2 have not as far as i know made it to PC in a form that can be picked up by the mod community. if a PC version of Gears 2 were made this would not be the case.

more updates now and i think we are all pretty sure EPIC is going to make Gears of War 3 next and it will likely be exclusive. a lot of assumptions but i'm pretty sure its going to play out that way. so my concern is that this could eventually hurt the mod community where most of the talent found in the games industry came from. without turning this into a blog do you guys understand why this could be a bad thing.

the mod community is essentially a proving ground for future programers, artists, and level designers. i see one maybe two major updates to Unreal Engine 3 not finding their way into the the hands of the mod community. this is bitter sweet news to me.