Crytek Releases CryENGINE 3 Free of Charge

[Kreij]

Crytek GmbH (“Crytek”) is excited to announce that they will release their latest all-in-one game development solution CryENGINE 3 free of charge for non-commercial use today. The award winning SDK provides the complete game engine to create AAA quality next generation games for PC, and includes the CryENGINE®3 Sandbox™ level editor, a production-proven, 3rd generation “What you see is what you play” (WYSIWYP) - tool designed by and for professional developers. The free toolset is available for download at crydev.net, the former crymod.com community portal that offers documentation written by the developers of the engine, a thriving community and a supplementary knowledge base for CryENGINE 3. The free CryENGINE SDK will be updated regularly, to make sure our community has access to all the advances we make to CryENGINE 3.

Note : This is for non-commercial development only, but it's the whole SDK and tool collection, however if you are in an educaitonal environment or giving the game away for free, you're good to go.

CryENGINE Free Use
You can use CryENGINE 3 for free in educational facilities, even if you are charging tuition. We have always offered our engine for free to educators, but now individual students can also freely download the engine and use it to learn about real-time 3D development.

CryENGINE 3 is also free for non-commercial use; if you are distributing your game or application for free (and not charging for your work in producing it, whether directly or indirectly), no additional license is required.

Crydev.net

 

[helloWorld]

Might be something worthwhile to get myself into as a hobby.

 

[ShiBDiB]

Bye bye outdated source engine

 

[Lionheart]

I've always wanted to become a modder

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

screw modding from the looks i can import my meshes and do real time renders that are actually worth a god damn for once,

no more messing with the marmoset engine,

 

[Jegergrim]

Something to finally kill time with

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

bah crytek only supports 3DS max properly community plugins dont function properly so i can import meshes because apparently crytek dosent support OBJ files which are the most widely used format in existance, have to export using there specific file format via a broken plugin with maya. not impressed. at least UE3, Gamebryo, Source are easy to put a model in, from what i see here unless you on 3DS max dont bother.

 

[Lionheart]

bah crytek only supports 3DS max properly community plugins dont function properly so i can import meshes because apparently crytek dosent support OBJ files which are the most widely used format in existance, have to export using there specific file format via a broken plugin with maya. not impressed. at least UE3, Gamebryo, Source are easy to put a model in, from what i see here unless you on 3DS max dont bother.

Just from reading your comment I feel like such a lost noob

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

basically if your meshing with only cryteks models etc its fine and dandy

if you want to import your OWN meshes etc, you have to use 3DS max to get proper support,

Maya a $20,000 piece of software isnt supported by crytek a modder had to make a script and its only version .1c beta and dosent function currently at least on my version of maya. so yea. awesome SDK, but dosent support any formats but there own, so adding new textures, new models = total bitch. apparently so far only Source, and Gamebryo got it right in terms of ease of use, UE3 isnt bad either but not my favorite engine,

 

[m4gicfour]

Lol I actually understood everything he said (including Crazy's usual slight mangling of words) and the most graphics design I've ever done is playing around with blender.

 

[Lionheart]

Lol I actually understood everything he said (including Crazy's usual slight mangling of words) and the most graphics design I've ever done is playing around with blender.

Lol I'm new to the whole modding/game making or whatever ya call it so I'm a big fat noob

 

[Damn_Smooth]

Lol I'm new to the whole modding/game making or whatever ya call it so I'm a big fat noob

I'm with you. I couldn't make a pong stick.

 

[qubit]

Wow, just wow. I can see some awesome games and mods being made with this.

 

[xbonez]

I've made a couple of games using the Unity3D game engine (which is amazing, btw), including one I'm working on right now for the Independent Game Festival. Once I'm done with that, I might give either UDK or this a shot.

 

[MadClown]

Wow, just wow. I can see some awesome games and mods being made with this.

fix'd

 

[TRIPTEX_CAN]

Bring on MWLL with this engine.

 

[ctrain]

basically if your meshing with only cryteks models etc its fine and dandy

if you want to import your OWN meshes etc, you have to use 3DS max to get proper support,

Maya a $20,000 piece of software isnt supported by crytek a modder had to make a script and its only version .1c beta and dosent function currently at least on my version of maya. so yea. awesome SDK, but dosent support any formats but there own, so adding new textures, new models = total bitch. apparently so far only Source, and Gamebryo got it right in terms of ease of use, UE3 isnt bad either but not my favorite engine,

Source is a fucking nightmare compared to CE3 / UDK

But .obj is kind of the bitmap of 3d, so it's kind of weird not to support it. It's still an early release though so more tools will become available.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

no more tools wont

all Cryengine SDKs only support Cryteks in game format,

you have to use community script tools and halfassed mel scripts for maya etc,

only 3DS max is fully supported from what ive been able to gather, i dont use MAX, for polygon modeling its interface and controls are more awkward and it just feels wrong, it just happens to have DX and Open GL shaders from the get go that can be easily applied,

and source is a nightmare still far easier to use OBJ meshes

i mean for a static mesh with no physics no texture data no nothing to get it into the Crytek SDK you still have to assign materials, physic's properties, collision detection you name it it has to be there.

Gamebryo, Source UE3 you can pretty much just click export to w.e you need drop it in game and have it render, or if need be even use other tools like nifscope to check things first,

If someones going to release and SDK, make sure to properly support industry standard tools,

Its pretty bad when the last update for maya to use there SDK was a script made in June / July thats version .1c and is still beta, and for me just throws out errors constantly no Cryteks fault the script dosent fully work, what is there fault is lack luster broad platform support which every other game engine seems to have these days by allowing OBJ files in some form or other.

eitherway looks like for rendering out images im stuck with marmoset engine still

just an idea of what Marmoset Real time render offers for quality

now i feel working with Crytek's SDK would offer me better render quality for a real time situation then the engine shown below, the problem is if it requires me constantly waiting on community integration with the apps i use daily, its not worth it, Ill have to stick with marmoset which has its own mountain of issues but at least accepts proper file formats.

[img[http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2009/357/0/b/The_Knight___Marmoset_by_darthrith.jpg[/img]

 

[ctrain]

It's not really a deal breaker any way you slice it, more tools will come as the product matures, they have 3dsmax, XSI, and Maya sections in their documentation. Until then you can just download a 3dsmax trial and import then export from there. Only takes a second to import from 3dsmax to CE3, I did it last night. The scaling is weird though, 1 generic unit was 1 unreal unit, but here it's in centimeters with the display as meters.


I'm a little more disappointed that they haven't exposed the shader code yet, but I guess that will be coming soon along with DX11.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

i hate 3dsmax with a passion to the point i refuse to use it,

I use Maya extensively now.

and again Marmoset is litterally load OBJ, Load Textures, Set light source click render and tada

i realize its an SDK but there really is no excuse for forcing the use of there file format when OBJ is easily supported. Its mostly a work flow thing, I do all my work in maya if i make small edits i dont feel like exporting then reimporting then exporting again just to view progress. not when many other game engines i can bypass the use of 3DS max even UE3 supports almost all Maya version to the current in 32 and 64bit so i mean i dont feel theres any excuse here.

when many other apps and SDK's offer support without issue, maybe im being to harsh on Crytek but for all the BS they spout off i expect them to deliever on something every once in awhile,

again i love how there Engine renders things out, But i wont change my entire work flow and add more complications when theres alternatives that get the job done. Im sure you can understand where im coming from, once your set in your ways as an artist and have a comfortable work flow changing it for the sake of something as small as a beauty render isnt worth it.

maybe in 6 months ill revisit the Cry Engine 3 SDK and see how things are going but for now ill focus on what works granted what i want is a very small aspect of what the SDK can provide so others should take my ranting with a grain of salt.

 

[Lionheart]

i hate 3dsmax with a passion to the point i refuse to use it,

I use Maya extensively now.

and again Marmoset is litterally load OBJ, Load Textures, Set light source click render and tada

i realize its an SDK but there really is no excuse for forcing the use of there file format when OBJ is easily supported. Its mostly a work flow thing, I do all my work in maya if i make small edits i dont feel like exporting then reimporting then exporting again just to view progress. not when many other game engines i can bypass the use of 3DS max even UE3 supports almost all Maya version to the current in 32 and 64bit so i mean i dont feel theres any excuse here.

when many other apps and SDK's offer support without issue, maybe im being to harsh on Crytek but for all the BS they spout off i expect them to deliever on something every once in awhile,

again i love how there Engine renders things out, But i wont change my entire work flow and add more complications when theres alternatives that get the job done. Im sure you can understand where im coming from, once your set in your ways as an artist and have a comfortable work flow changing it for the sake of something as small as a beauty render isnt worth it.

maybe in 6 months ill revisit the Cry Engine 3 SDK and see how things are going but for now ill focus on what works granted what i want is a very small aspect of what the SDK can provide so others should take my ranting with a grain of salt.

Lol I can tell your well knowledgeable in this subject and looks like I'm going to be asking you a lot of questions for help

 

[Kreij]

I agree with what you are saying, Crazy, but it looks like Crytek just released the SDK in the form that they use it.
It really makes no sense for them to put effort into it to support a lot of other tools that they will never use in their games. It's going to be up to the community to provide those tools to utilize the engine from a variety of modelling programs and formats.
That being said, the community will have the tools out in 1/10th the time than if we had to wait for something promised by the developers.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

thats just it Kreij

you can take an OBJ model file

put it in UE3, Nifscope -> Morrowind Oblivion Fallout 3 New Vegas
Source has 1 click scripts that convert meshes to the right format
for 3DS Max, Maya, XSI, Blender, and more

every app to do with 3D usually revolves around OBJ, including Zbrush, Mudbox, hell even Adobe Photoshop has plugins to accept 3D models and allow you to move them in 3D in photoshop and paint on them

And the problem with community tools is only 1 guy is writing scripts for Cry Engine SDK that actually tries to keep them up to date, sadly they dont work currently in any of my versions of Maya, including 7 8 8.5 and 2010, most game companies that release and SDK that allows for newer content, will allow for a quick transfer of OBJ files, heres why, when working in 3D not just 1 guy touches a mesh and works with it, everyone does from the concept artist, the rigger, even the guy who has to put it in game and make it work, it all tends to be OBJ for compatibilities sake, Im not saying Crytek has to, do anything im just saying that companies with far less of an attitude have far greater support.

A good example of this theres a Free SDK and a paid SDK, im guessing the Paid version has far better support, and probably allows for the OBJ files and the ease of use that im speaking of. I just wont pay for a cry engine sdk to get what i need to work properly i cant really depend on 1 guy whos updating 1 script that was used for Cry Engine 2 SDK and has to iron out issues for multiple Maya versions which the coding does change from version to version, Its why even Bethesda still uses 3DS Max 5 / 6 if i remember right i dont expect Crytek to do anything but it would be nice to simply allow an OBJ file to be brought into the SDK, so far Crytek is the only company thats put an SDK out that when using maya i have to apply everything to it period i cant get a test render to see how things look, to see if edits must be made, some might say mountain out of a mole hill, for someone like me its like telling me to paint a masterpiece but you take the paints and brushes away. Thats an exaggeration but eitherway, Ill give them another chance 6 months from now. Ill check the scene again then see if better tools are made its no skin off my back to wait and see, if nothing materializes there other options out there for what i would use the SDK for sometimes its nice to be able to use a different render engine, a different lighting engine, etc. example same models same textures, look vastly different in say Unreal Engine 3 vs Gamebryo vs Source, the engines handle things different, a good example of this is i prefer UE3's ability to render normal maps over Gamebryo and Source, but i prefer using Gamebryo / nifscope for finding seams it tends to make them glaringly easy to spot compared to others, Source is great for trying to get a rough idea of what looks good and what dosent community is also extremely large so having someone get a model animated in that engine is easy to do. I was hoping for the SDK to have OBJ support i was disappointed, I really wanted a quick way to see how something looks rendered in there engine for quick tests. As I might depend on 1 3D app for modeling but to get a better appreciation of a model the textures etc, its best to really try different things see what works what dosent. Either way im rambling, and its nonesense im really just derailing the thread at this point feel free to edit my garbage posts out if need be.

 

[1nf3rn0x]

imho ce2 is better.

nuff said.

 

[ctrain]

Yes because that's completely and utterly impossible to ever do in CE3 despite an overall superior feature set


But on another note, fun with triangles (the little GTX 260 that could):

It's a 1900 triangle model I made, I pasted it a lot of times. I think I need to do something to flag it for instanced drawing because it pushed my draw calls through the roof. Probably would have done better yet.

8.6 million triangles at about 35 fps.

bonus 16.4 million poly clusterfuck moments before i tried to duplicate the entire thing again and blew up the editor