[NGTM-1R]

Which was awful.

Fixed.

[General Battuta]

That level wasn't the high point of the game, mostly because of the goddamn tornadoes, but that had more to do with the level design than the engine's flight dynamics.

[NGTM-1R]

On the contrary, a lack of ability to control your aircraft and poor intuitive flight style was exactly why the goddamn tornados earned the epithet "goddamn".

[General Battuta]

Those aren't problems with the engine, though, they're problems with the gameplay.

[Titan]

Something freeware preferably, since my parents won't let me cough up money for an fps.

But, I understand that the hl2 engine is capable of craploads of stuff.

[NGTM-1R]

The VTOL is going to be the natural starting point for any effort to implement aircraft, so it's flaws are going to effect any such effort.  It may not be integral to the engine, but it doesn't have to be unless you want to build stuff from the ground up.

[General Battuta]

I think you've got plenty of other mods with aircraft to work from on the CryEngine front.

[dragonsniper]

Something freeware preferably, since my parents won't let me cough up money for an fps.

But, I understand that the hl2 engine is capable of craploads of stuff.

hl2 is capable of craploads of stuff, but really only if your doing a mod with the weapons and vehicles that are already in it. As for the freeware thing, I looked at all the fps freeware engines out there, but decided that Crytech or Source would be the best. A half baked production isn't what I'm aiming for.

[Titan]

Something freeware preferably, since my parents won't let me cough up money for an fps.

But, I understand that the hl2 engine is capable of craploads of stuff.

hl2 is capable of craploads of stuff, but really only if your doing a mod with the weapons and vehicles that are already in it. As for the freeware thing, I looked at all the fps freeware engines out there, but decided that Crytech or Source would be the best. A half baked production isn't what I'm aiming for.

By all means, dude. I'm only one person.

[CP5670]

They should be all be capable platforms as far as mods go, but Crysis and UT3 are of a different generation than HL2 and Doom 3. Those games are several years old now and look quite dated today.

I looked at all the fps freeware engines out there, but decided that Crytech or Source would be the best.

UE3 is actually free for non-commercial use. You can download the SDK and make a standalone game on it. Although you need UT3 or some other game built on it if you want to use existing models, textures and other assets.

I think UE3 would actually be a good fit for the interior style of the FS universe, more so than the other engines.

[dragonsniper]

I have tinckered with the U3 engine, and it's incredible, but very difficult. It's fan base is also extremely low, and there are little to no tutorials to get you started and going, whereas Crysis and Halflife 2 do have stronger fanbases. At the current moment, the U3 engine iirc won't allow you to implemet your own things, and your limited to what is in the Beta SDK. If the license prices go down (Currently $1500+ a computer ) then it would help a lot.

[CP5670]

Have you seen this? I'm not sure what the free version's restrictions are, but several games that used to be UT3 mods have been turned into standalone freeware titles using this. Prometheus and The Ball are some examples.

UT3 itself has had limited popularity, but interestingly it has had a very active mod community, more than almost any other game from the last few years. The MSU contests were probably the main reason for this. The UE3 engine is also used in a lot of other games, and is by some distance the most common engine seen these days.

[dragonsniper]

Thanks for the link, but I already have the dev kit. An update may be useful though. Maybe I should look into it more, but it looked (and is) very complicated for level designing, with a very small fan base for tutorials. However, larger and more complicated usually means that it is more powerful, which I do not for one second doubt that it isn't.

[Kolgena]

Obviously, performance of CryEngine2 is abysmal, and a lot of your map-making/modding time will be spent on optimization.

Care to elaborate how the performance is abysmal? As for the map-making and modding, they are also obviously going to take a lot of time. Optimization on any engine for level designing is going to happen, and take a lot of time.

Um, not sure about other rigs, but mine doesn't go above 100 fps looking at sky and an endless flat plane of grass texture. Stock levels are 20-35 fps on 1024x600, medium. The engine just demands stronger hardware. If that's not a primary concern, then by all means, use CE2. My impression is that it's one of the easier level creators to use once you have assets made.

[Klaustrophobia]

it's not designed for pointlessly large framerates.  i get 25-30 on 1680x1050, nearly full settings, and NOT looking at the sky.  that is a really bad way to benchmark performance.

[Titan]

it's not designed for pointlessly large framerates.  i get 25-30 on 1680x1050, nearly full settings, and NOT looking at the sky.  that is a really bad way to benchmark performance.

I prefer my framerate at above 30, thank you. 

<-- Been killed way to many times due to lag spikes

[General Battuta]

it's not designed for pointlessly large framerates.  i get 25-30 on 1680x1050, nearly full settings, and NOT looking at the sky.  that is a really bad way to benchmark performance.

I prefer my framerate at above 30, thank you. 

<-- Been killed way to many times due to lag spikes

It's not the framerate that matters as much as the steadiness of the frame rate. Crysis has excellent motion blur which, for some reason, lets it look quite consistent even in the 20-30 range.

[Titan]

*thinks about that for a second*

... ok. Not really sure what that means, but it still makes sense.

[General Battuta]

If your framerate is steady, that is more important than it being high (unless you fall below a critical threshold where even a steady framerate is unplayable.)

Crysis is set up in such a way that comparatively low framerates still appear smooth and feel playable.

[Thaeris]

Well, let's see... If the UT3 engine is free for non-commercail usage, I'd say go with that. Of course, I'm not aware of all the restrictions, but it wouldn't make sense for them to release an SDK with no means of somehow implementing your own features... if that's some of what's being said here.

Thus said, I'd remove my vote for HL2 and select other if I could... unless convinced otherwise. Furthermore, using the Unreal engine would mean that you could make the entire package available for download with no dependencies - again, that's only if my understanding is correct on this matter.