NarHekka Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Firstly, thanks to all the modders for all the great work! hugs and kudos! Secondly, just wondering if anyone is working on improving the Skyrim engine (especially for handing 64bit) to get better stability and performance? would be nice (if possible at all) given the work from Skywind which allows us to spend more time in Tamriel ... though I do cringe at having to endure the limitations of the engine. Just thought I'd ask (again assuming it was possible) ... maybe bethesda would lend someone to the cause :P someone from Skywind should ask them at least! :wub: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matth85 Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 (edited) It's not quite as simple as that. To keep it short: 1) We don't got the source code. To get the source code, we would need to buy the license to the engine. That would be about.. 200k USD. Not to mention buying the Skyrim version of it, and be allowed to do it.2) You'd need plenty of good programmers. I don't speak scripting-level coding, I speak C, C++ and whatever other language is used. 3) Skyrim uses the "creation engine", which is just an editted version of the Gambryo engine, which is ancient. Nobody likes it by now. 4) We all hope Bethesda is making their own engine soon. They got the capital, they got the manpower and they got the time. 5) Bethesda wouldn't allow it. To put it in perspective: We barely got plugins for 3d softwares to export out files, and Nifskope, the tool we use to work models into the engine, is confusing beyond word. There are maybe 2-3 coders around the globe working on that. For an engine, beyond the cost of it and all that, we'd need around 20 of these coders at an even better level of skill. Which is not easy, unless you have a master in coding/computer science. Edited October 2, 2014 by Matth85 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NarHekka Posted October 2, 2014 Author Share Posted October 2, 2014 ya no small mountain. be great if all this effort could be put to a modern, flexible engine so you modders could expand at will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matth85 Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 I don't think we'd ever see a engine we could use. It would not make sense in a business-kind of way, nor would it make sense in general. For that Bethesda needs 100% copyright over all their content. They don't. They would also need an engine of their own. Which they don't got. It would also give them huge problems, as modders would rip their work left and right, and soon you'd have custom indie games made on their engine without their permission. The fact we get a modding tool and this much power to mod is insane to start with. The freedom we got here is amazing. What we should ask for is not the ability to mod the engine, but an engine not made for static sandbox games. Rather a new engine, made to fit the games Bethesda makes. Above that, we could ask for more control within the engine, to change certain hard-coded things. Perhaps even an easier way to edit the UI. In the end of the way, we can't ask for anything, we can't do anything and we should, and we are, plenty happy with what we go! Matth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fore Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 I wouldn't be surprised if Bethesda is already working on a new engine. Why did they depart so early from their cash cow DLC? And isn't a new Fallout overdue? They probably are already concentrating their efforts. The engine level quality of Skyrim already is frumpy at the best. What will be around 2016? Isn't it time to move away from this ancient Gamebryo based, 32-bit core. With its instability which certainly not only drives the modding comunity crazy? And finally, this engine isn't open for new improvements. Take the Havok behavior as an example. If you have a little bit of experience in this area then you can easily see how much problems Bethesda had to cut the old animation functionality out, and replace it with proper HBT interfaces. THere is so much clumsy mortar that I just can't believe that Beth will take on all that hazzle with that engine again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrNewcenstein Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 They dropped support of Skyrim to put everyone on the launch title for the XboxOne because Microsloth cracked the whip on them. Fallout 4 was never guaranteed. While F3 and NV were good, I'd rather not wait til 2021 for another ES installment simply because they're expected to do another FO. If they're only doing 1 new CE game every 5 years, and they keep adding titles, we'll never have a complete picture of Tamriel/Nirn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bben46 Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 The Fallout and Elder scrolls are overlapping - not every skill is needed at the beginning of a new game, and some of those absolutely needed at the beginning are not needed at the end. The choice is lay of those programmers not needed right now and hope they are still available when you get to where they are needed, then lay off the ones that made the early parts ( artwork, main story & quest outlines & much more) when their part is done. OR, As parts of the current in production game are completed, move those programmers over to the other game to keep them on the payroll and productive. Not everyone will be moved from one game to the next, some will stay with an ES or FO game all the way through. But most will not. Then, if needed for some late breaking change or bug, the original programmers are still right there and available to work on the other game for a while. Then you will have the engine specialists - they are probably working on a new or updated engine all the time, and deciding which parts will be used in the next 2 or 3 games - this has to be decided in advance as it has to be in place before the game can be built on it. If that capability is not in the engine, then it cannot be in the game - and redesigning the engine can screw up the entire game if done during production. There is probably a team of managers that meet weekly to decide who works on what this week and what other resources they get. From my own experience in resource management meetings there well may be blood on the floor before they get out of there. Everyone wants the same scarce resource - or highly skilled programmer - for their project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fore Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 This article is less than a year old: Bethesda parent company Zenimax has filed a trademark application for "Void Engine Powered by Id Tech," suggesting the company has created an all-new game engine. The news comes as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are soon to be released, though it is unclear if the new engine is related to the next-generation systems.The trademark application, filed November 8 with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), covers "software game engine used to design and develop computer games," among other things. A Bethesda representative told GameSpot, "we don't really comment on trademark filings."id Tech is the name of a series of game engines created by the Bethesda-owned id Software. The latest iteration, id Tech 5, is powering next-generation games like Wolfenstein: The New Order, The Evil Within, and Doom 4.Unannounced but rumored upcoming Bethesda games include Fallout 4, potentially set in Boston, and a new project called Soulburst, which Bethesda trademarked this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NarHekka Posted October 3, 2014 Author Share Posted October 3, 2014 great chatter and insight ... very helpful for all sitting on the outside looking into modding. TY! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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