Content and decorations do not matter.
Stable network protocol and balanced gameplay - primary target.

this. exactly this.

Trust me, it would be extremely hard to balance, on top of the base maps being hard to balance.

They just saved themselves the trouble.

Yep. I've brought up the question numerous times about Unreal 3 vs Unreal 4. Apparently we're using a hugely modified version of Unreal 3 now - to the point where moving to Unreal 4 just doesn't seem realistic. Most of the things we'd want from Unreal 4 we've already created ourselves at this point anyway!

I do know though that the project is currently running DirectX 11.

Edit: I think an example of where we've drastically improved beyond just Unreal 3 is the lighting. CCP Android works on this stuff a great deal. I'll try to get him to chime in with some details later.

Without knowing any details about the modification done on UE3 (and the engine itself to begin with), I am a bit hesitant about this news since I would like UE4 to be used for Legion

You have a opportunity to change now, while you only have an early prototype. If the project is green lit it should use the "next gen" engine to make it future proof.... Let say 10 years?

It is not a matter of what the engine can do now. It will be easier to add features later which would help you in development, but is not available in UE3.

Please reconsider.

What CCP actually wants to say:
"we dont want to spend more money into that game, we just want to farm the legion players as we did with the dust players! So we decided to use what we allready have."

Hey feckers, its not all about graphics. The graphics for Legion look good enough to me, I am way more interested in how the game plays, balance issues and most importantly how the sandbox aspect is going to work :)

Oh, worry not! As Destroyable Structures and Ship Boarding aren't on the cards at this time. Those who attended like myself asked these pointed questions at FanFest.
But don't worry because instead of all that boring stuff, we get something better!# As we are going to get Trees & Burning Trees (expect without leaves), Rocks and steam vents!
I know everyone will be looking forward to that!

I fail to see how changing engines forces them to throw out all models, textures and sounds.

Mainly it would force them to re-do things like movement and physics. Which... uhhhh.... yea, they kinda need to do that anyway.

I fail to see how changing engines forces them to throw out all models, textures and sounds.

Mainly it would force them to re-do things like movement and physics. Which... uhhhh.... yea, they kinda need to do that anyway.

they're not changing engines. it's still the unreal 3

It's not the first time.
CCP started developing DUST on the CARBON engine, and they had to throw away 3 years of work when they moved to UE3.

Depending on who you ask within the company it was never on Carbon.

If only you would understand what the hell you're talking about.

You know Valve?
You know what their Engine is?

Their engine is the Source Engine.

That's based on Gold Source.

That's based on the Quake 1 engine.

And they have been adding features and refining it ever since it came out.
It's actually very different from the original source engine.

It's nicknamed the Tower of Duct tape.
But it works, and I doubt that you will find any resemblance to Quake 1 on the Source Engine, would you?

There's gameplay from that era.
Even saying carbon on stage.

And there was a dev correcting that quote, saying it was false and has been on U3 since the 2009 stage demo.

So it comes down to what you believe more? The original quote from Hilmar, who is entirely detached from the work actually being done to the games, or the ones who actually work on it?

I have no answers for you with certainty though. As I said, it depend who you ask in the company.

If only you would understand what the hell you're talking about.

You know Valve?
You know what their Engine is?

Their engine is the Source Engine.

That's based on Gold Source.

That's based on the Quake 1 engine.

And they have been adding features and refining it ever since it came out.
It's actually very different from the original source engine.

It's nicknamed the Tower of Duct tape.
But it works, and I doubt that you will find any resemblance to Quake 1 on the Source Engine, would you?

I don't want to pretend to know what I'm talking about, but I don't think the Engine has much to do with the game running on a next-gen console or PC. From what I've heard, we've modified the Unreal 3 engine so much that we've already implemented a lot of the additional features we'd be looking to - and at this point it'd be easier to implement whatever else we need rather than to rip out the engine and start again.

If only you would understand what the hell you're talking about.

You know Valve?
You know what their Engine is?

Their engine is the Source Engine.

That's based on Gold Source.

That's based on the Quake 1 engine.

And they have been adding features and refining it ever since it came out.
It's actually very different from the original source engine.

It's nicknamed the Tower of Duct tape.
But it works, and I doubt that you will find any resemblance to Quake 1 on the Source Engine, would you?

The choice of engine and tools should not only be based on technical hurdles.

BIG DISCLAIMER: I know NOTHING about UE3 or UE4 engine, so please excuse me if I just talk garbage (and correct me if I do)!

I does sound a little weird that they spend time modifying an engine for lighting effects, if they would get that for free with UE4?
I know they probably did the modification before UE4 came out, but wouldn't this be something that they "don't" have to migrate over if they switch engine? The less modified your engine is, the better.

Use the strength of the of the engine (graphics, net-code, effects), and just modify what you need to have it communicate to CARBON and CREST?
When Valkyrie is released, it would also be easy for those devs to jump in and help (if required).

If the end it does not matter which engine they choose, of course... if it gets the job done. However, I just don't want it to bite them in 5+ years time when UE4 is optimised beyond what UE3 is capable of. And it would be a shame if they are forced to keep modifying and improving stuff which they could get for free in the new engine.

But again, what do I know...
(It would be nice to get a dev blog on that as well)

Choice of Engine shouldn't be made ONLY based on the technical hurdles alone, no. But each and every hurdle costs time and employee salaries just to work around, and/or correct. So the technical difficulties is a major concern to game devs, but far from the only.

I'd say the choice to stay and mod UE3 has something to do with that 'slightly older' engine's licensing. If I recall, it provides discounts to games made with it for a F2P business model (I may be misinterpreting, or just completely off base. Never touched the UDK). Considering UE4 is Epic's new cash cow, this might be a very shrewd decision made by CCP.

Also consider that Eve got a massive graphical overhaul recently and the graphics teams would be able to utilize what they learned there (metallic surfaces, alpha maps, and limit of Detail options; not to mention that horrendous lens flare effect), in an FPS game the same way.

Looks quite a lot like U3 to me.

The vehicle physics particularly look packaged.

What was shocking was how much they ended up changing, which I've only ever been able to blame on poor terrain work, inconsistent frame rate and optimization pretty much corrupting what already worked.

Well there goes my dream of playing the infiltrator tech demo. If ccp could at least make it so the vehicles don't behave like flying saucers when they hit a bump that'd be great. I also dislike how everytime my characters feet aren't on the ground my character lifts his gun up like he fell 8+ meters. You need to have a threshold set for things like that so you can just "climb" over small obstructions. I remember in the 2009 video the lavs actually had a suspension for going over bumpy terrain. The lavs we have now control like lowriders.