Unreal Engine 3 got updated

As much as I hate UE, I have to say this... UE4 ( or whatever version ) will compete with Frostbite 2 ( but won't be better, because it's not as realistic ), but definately reaches CryEngine 3's height. The quality is amazing! There is tesselation, dynamic lights and shadows and it uses deferred rendering.

Here is a vid of a tech demo in GDC'11 :

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And a slideshow compiling the most important things in the engine :

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Ummmm... UE 3.5 is already out for two years now. GoW 2 debuted 3.5 and Mass Effect 2 used it as well. This must be UE 3.75 or next-generation UE 4.

 

Yep, because this version has DX11 support, unlike the previous versions.

 

Epic said this engine is not Unreal 4, it's more like 3.975.

The demo was run on 3 SLI'd 580's.

I see little hope in graphics like this until the next generation consoles launch (in the next 5 years).

 

Well... Then be ready to be dazzled by BF3 ( FB2 )

Soooo... The whole NBR forum wouldn't run this demo maxed, right?

 

Looks nice, but I should mention that given most of the updates, Unreal Engine 3 does have support for Deferred Rendering and Shading, as well as Dynamic Lighting and Shadows. So really, feature wise, that leaves tessallation and what I assume to be a proper utilisation of the DX11 pathway to achieve great visuals without taxing the hardware.

Nevertheless, the clips do look good.

Edit:
I doubt that either of my rigs would manage this demo. It does look very smooth and the animation is top-notch. The movement is fluid with great detail like those parts of Killzone 2 that people were initially hyping up as in-gane game 'scenes' before their bubble was burst with some hard truths.

 

Do you think they at least updated it so UE doesn't crash whenever you alt tab? It's always the basics that get left out.

 

BF3 (FB2) was designed and will be released within current gen console specs, so don't expect to be dazzled much. As previous poster said we won't see truly amazing stuff until next gen. console hardware has been realized.

 

Darn consoles holding us back!

Unreal Engine is great for scalability, and the amount of power it takes per the visual quality.

Its major flaw is basically zero multi monitor support

Lots of good games out there using the engine that will not work in eyefinity properly.

 

Well... I just hope I can run this at 1080p with eye candy at playable FPSs

 

Well, I never had a problem with Mass Effect 1 or 2 doing Alt+Tab, so I guess that should still be covered.

 

I just hope my G73 holds out for another 2.5 years, and then I will build a tower and buy the next console. Atleast my card barely supports dx11 now. I personally don't see another generation for atleast 3 years, depending on a few factors. It always takes 2 years after the announcement of new hardware for it to come to market (ps3, 360 so on and so on), and no announcements on next gen hardware yet, so even if this year we get the announcement it will be another 2 before we see the hardware.

 

I have no idea how you hate a game engine such as UE3, when you're not a developer. It is much too versatile just to judge it be a few of the games that have been made with it. That said, Unreal Engine 4 is, last I heard, going to be targeting next generation consoles all the way down to handheld phones. Frostbite 2 will be targeting current generation consoles and PC, who knows if it even scales at all. Additionally, do any other non-FPS games use Frostbite? I don't think it is designed as an adaptable solution, and thus not comparable to Unreal Engine.

Comparing limited specific role game engines to an entirely adaptable solution such as Unreal or Gamebyro is a horrible comparison. Most of the "feel" of the games has nothing to do with the engine, but rather the game itself. The graphics are as much a work of the engine and the artists, not just the engine. Just because game Z on engine A looks like crap does not mean that game Y on engine A must be horrible looking. For example, the multiplayer component of Medal of Honor runs on Frostbite while the single player component runs on Unreal Engine.

 

The engine is definitely a factor in graphics, The way effects are processed in UE3 will be different then another engines, I for one can notice a UE3 game from another engine, im not even talking about in house developers, Bioshock 1 and 2 have such a distinct look about the textures and effect, they all fall apart aswell when you get close to them. Rainbow six vegas is another game that a person can look and go "oh thats a UE3 game!!". That said alot is on the artist and texture creators and modeling crews, they all effect the outcome, but short of coding in your own effects into the UE3 engine, most games do have a certain look about them. No one can convince me other wise. I've been playing games and designing in 3d for a long time now, I might have a slightly more sensitive eye to these kinds of details though. As a part time developer myself the UE3 engine is a great tool to use, makes scaling and development easy and quick, but it ends up looking like a game from UE3. Even as good as the mass effects look, they use a modified UE3 engine and I can tell every time I play them

 

I didn't say graphics was not a factor of the engine. I said it was a combination of the engine and the artists. Which it most certainly is. You could have the best engine ever but as long as you have low quality assets it will look bad.

Oh and you're telling me all of these are identifiable as Unreal 3 games? Just by looking at the rendered result? I'd say that is a very impressive skill, the CIA Image Analysis department may be calling you soon.

 

IMHO, I would say yes. If you notice, the textures are ALMOST the same. Look at Sheppard from ME2. then look at someone in MoH. The face textures are pretty identical. Almost no detail in the skin, pretty flat ( IMO ). But, apparently, UE4 has changed it.

 

I most definitely can, and a job with the CIA would be a great career move !! Regardless, its time for a refresh of the UE3 engine, its not bad by a long shot but a refresh is nice.

 

Always remember the 5370 POWA!

 

Here I thought Borderlands, Fat Princess, Monday Night Combat, and Bulletstorm all looked quite different (all stellar games, by the way). Guess I was wrong.

Unreal 4 will help with a lot of things, but I'm not going to hold current games to an unrealistic standard because of it. Instead, I'll stop complaining about perceived faults affecting every game made with a certain engine and let the developers get to work on some gameplay. PS: About the face textures, UE3 supports 8192x8192 textures. It can also have its own shaders that could do all kinds of fun things to make it less flat. It might be that those are console games, which have much more limited GPUs and thus lower quality textures. PPS: They recently refreshed UE3 to UE3.5 which adds a quite an impressive list of features.

 

Borderlands is VERY Unreal Engine-ish. Notice the textures?

Borderlands... Lol... Most UE-ish game I have ever seen. Not bashing tho, that game is stupid but fun

 

Yes, what about them? And how does that define UE3? As I said above it supports 8192x8192 resolution textures. The only gripe that I've noticed about UE3 is the lighting. Mirror's Edge being an exception, because they used an external tool to generate the light maps. I can accept the lighting "sheen" as a complaint, but there is no reason for textures to be lower quality on UE3. If you're referring to texture pop in, I've never noticed this on PC, just consoles and on different engines as well.