Game Engine?

[JuggernautOfWar]

Are they using the same exact game engine for ArmA2 as they did for ArmA? From the screens and little videos it seems the exact same, just way better optimized. The voices are the same, seems to use the same shader and texture drawing methods as well. Seems like a lot of the models are recycled from ArmA1 too, the civilian bus and the M1A1 stick out in my mind. I'm really wanting some better physics so when you shoot somebody they don't fall along a predefined path, and also when reloading, PLEASE let us move around BIS, thanks. So my question is: Does ArmA2 use a revamped game engine for ArmA2 or a completely different one which seems to still be lacking for a modern game, even if it is a simulator.

[mr.g-c]

Yes its even the same engine from OFP. It just gets renewed the whole time.

According to the screens and videos we saw so far, it indeed "just" looks like a slightly improved Arma1, and i nearly fall from my chair as i saw the same Arma1 bugs in Arma2 in one of their released videos (exact case: Hind starts rotor and jumps around on the ground).

However i see a lot of potential, as it will be more or less the first Quad-Core optimized Game engine i heard of so far.

I think, depending on the development roadmap they have, that the environment comes first, then comes models and effects.
So i think its to early to really judge about it. Lets wait if we see screens from one of the next gaming-events, then we can judge.

If the Landscapes will be so beautiful like we see in some screens, if the models will be optimized (and i bet they will, according to some photo-realistic texturized BRDM/BTR in one of the screens), if they can get rid of the "stiffnes" and make animation transitions smoother and if they finally consider some of the community made suggestions in terms of "love for detail" and new possibilities/small effects like countermeasures and stuff, then it will be absolutely fine for me.

Regards, Christian

[.kju [PvPscene]]

Almost every company does improve their engine rather doing
a new one from the scratch..

Quake, Unreal, Blizzard etc etc

[Max Power]

ArmA 2 was in development before ArmA. It is apparently an all new engine. It is not a development of the ofp engine as ArmA is. Apparently some improvements that were developed for ArmA 2 made it into ArmA. The company has said that ArmA is ofp 1.5, and arma 2 would be bis's sequel to ofp.

[NeMeSiS]

It is apparently an all new engine. ***It is not a development of the ofp engine as ArmA is.

Where did you get that from? Looking at the screens its quite easy to say that at least the core is still based on the old OFP engine.

[Max Power]

This is information from back when it was still called game 2. Among newer information, the graphics engine is supposedly improved, with pixel shader 3 support and parallax-bump mapping and more material shaders like a metal shader. They also have something they call soft particles that will not penetrate solid objects.

BTW, screenshots can't tell you about the game engine. The graphics engine != game engine. Even further to this idea, the assets that they use and other things don't tell you anything about the graphics engine. You would need a graphics demo that specifically contrasts the differences with that. Some fuzzy videos and some still shots using similar assets are unlikely to highlight the differences.

[NeMeSiS]

BTW, screenshots can't tell you about the game engine.

http://alpha007.wz.cz/images/ofp/4.jpg

http://screenshots.playwhat.com/files....3_3.jpg

http://www.pcgamespecial.nl/cgi-bin....00&tn=0

http://www.firingsquad.com/games/sin/images/sin000.jpg

4 screenshots, 2 engines (Or updated versions from an engine), i would say its quite easy to tell them apart.
And why would BI need to throw all their old work out anyway? There is no need to update parts of it, it just doesn't make sense.

[Maddmatt]

4 screenshots, 2 engines (Or updated versions from an engine), i would say its quite easy to tell them apart.
And why would BI need to throw all their old work out anyway? There is no need to update parts of it, it just doesn't make sence.

If the two different engines were showing the same map, using the same models, textures, shaders, then how would you tell them apart? ***
It's the artwork that you are seeing there, not an engine.

Anyway, ArmA 2 seems to be an evolved version of the same engine.
Although once code has been changed, it's not completely the same engine.
So in that case you could say that ArmA is not the OFP engine, even though it seems to share some of the same code

All BIS/BIA games so far seem to be based on the same engine, but they are reworking and adding parts as they go.

So I'd say it's not the ArmA engine, but it's based on it


No point making a whole new engine, just change the parts that need changing. Creating a new engine is a huge investment for a game developer.

[JuggernautOfWar]

That's not a biased post at all . Well good luck convincing people when your posting screens from Quake 3 and OFP and comparing the two, lol.

[Jacobss]

Is this so hard to look at BI Wiki?

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Real_Virtuality