Unreal vs Source.

[Spellbinder]

So for some people that haven't yet decided which engine they should or shouldn't start with here's a thread where you can tell us all whats good with an engine (what you like) and whats bad with an engine. And PLS dont make it as low as starting namecalling or trolling or flamewar. Keep to the facts. Saying Unreal engine sucks or is gay isn't saying any one anything. So really this isn't a discussion thread as much as a thread for every one to say what they like/dislike with the engine's. If you dissagre with some one maybe you can take it through pm.

[von*ferret]

Source has radiosity, lacks the control and manipulation that unreal has.

[hessi]

try both and decide for your self.

[von*ferret]

oh I have....oohhh...i have....

[R_Yell]

I couldn't say about UE, I'm owned by Source When I tried to make some landscapes I missed some major features there, I had to use 3rd party apps to import heightmaps. The vegetation system tools are almost inexistent, you have to edit some text file for almost everything. In fact one of the tools I use most in Source is the damned notepad

Does someone know something about next Hammer ( 5 or 4.x whatever is called) ?

[Taylor]

I haven’t exactly researched this, but I hear of a lot of people buying the unreal engine, especially console games. Yet I haven’t heard of anyone but mod-teams-gone-professional using source for their product.

[Sindwiller]

Yet I haven’t heard of anyone but mod-teams-gone-professional using source for their product.

Red Orchestra UT2k4 mod --> Standalone commercial title :roll:

[von*ferret]

yeah, no source mods. as you asid, RO is a ut mod.

[R_Yell]

RO won a million in cash and a free UE license, isn't it? I could go professional with that too.

There was a CS clone mod in UE that also went as a commercial game, don't know if there are more examples like that.

[hessi]

counter-strike???

though valve didnt take any mod/levels developed on the source engine yet (except the hl2dm contest after they released the sdk in 2004) into the official product pool.

[JamesL]

Garrymod?

[skdr]

The Ship?

[e-freak]

Go with Source - it is harder to work with at some parts but you at least understand what it does. I don't know too much about the Unreal Engine it self and less i do know about UE3 but I know that it is a satisfying feeling to know every number you put in a vmt file yourself by name and can adjust everything as you need and wish, while some of the newer sdks seem to go into the direction of a "let's throw together some prefabs"-editor. It is the difference between writing html and a php backend your self or going to myspace and click on a template and make it extra uggly...

[R_Yell]

Sometimes it's good to have access to the lowest level. Once ago I had a bizarre situation where I needed to create 64 vmt's that were part of the same group. I made a script to automate that process. However, Valve should integrate material creation, model compile, soundscapes, etc. into Hammer. Both, low level and easy usage, should be possible.

[aevirex]

So this is really new to me that you open Unrealed hit a button and have a map

It is not like you open the new Material Editor and can't edit anything (if you want to I'll make a screenshot of the MatEd). About the power of the new engine, I (Hourences was involved) was able to implement a technique that saves up to 12,5% (actually more due to DXT compression) of the texturesize on your hdd on the first day I started with UE3 (no, knowledge of UE2.5 doesn't help much with the new MatEd).

One thing that makes Source popular among mappers is imho the inability of most to do prefabs in programs like Max, Maya, ... If you want to make a decent map for UT2K4 you need custom models and textures. Tbh I think most things can be achieved with both engines, it is just the time you lose to things that are not important when you want to design a level.

At the end, take the number of sold licences...