Well, we may be switching engines. I've found an engine that has virtually everything we need, minus the spline tools (but I could integrate the tools with this engine relatively efficiently). There's also a great 3rd party editor (Grome) which has all the terrain/world tools, and works well with this new engine. It's geared towards MMOs and military sims, and is actually being used by the US Military in development of combat sims and trainers. It so far seems perfectly geared and oriented towards our project's needs, as really no engines have these features for highly-realistic military sims. They work great for fantasy and casual fps games, etc, but these sorts of sims have VERY quirky and specific needs. It also has native support for MASSIVE worlds, endless terrain, and even full-sized planets, lol (totally without using any "code tricks", all off the shelf). It's even got native support for realistic flight models! Omg! Über! Dwarfs and Trolls! <- kidding about the trolls..
Another major plus is that it's highly modular, and it's API fully integrates with Visual Studio. I'm new to C# (only experienced previously with C/C++, and I'm really even new to Lite-C), but I've practically picked up all the basics today. I wrote a fully functional web browser, word processor, and calculator in C# today after reading the doco, no outside help or templates. I find already that the power of C# (but also flexibility and simplicity compared to C++) actually let's me work faster than with Lite-C and any scripting languages. I originally planned on writing our full MMO in C++, but I think C# has won my heart already. It almost felt like second nature when I started fiddling with it last night.
So I've got a full demo of it, with no limitations. But it's only the beta version I got (because they need testers, and hope to encourage you to buy), and I'm only allowed to use it while beta is still open (I think, not sure on rules so must read again). But I'll be able to make my final call on it before then. It's just a VERY expensive AAA engine. But I'll be able to purchase the full/pro license before long, IF I decide we need it. I think it's going to be WELL worth it for OUR project though, due to what we're aiming for. Most people just don't need this stuff to make great, successful games, and A7 is perfect for them.
But I'll NEVER leave the community here.
I'll still always love A7 and all of you! Lol! So even if we do switch, I'll still be around and tinker with A7 in my free time, and annoy all of you forever! I'll probably help folks out with their projects when I have time, if they want. I just always want to work with A7, because it's so fun, heheh. If it would work with A7, I MIGHT even try making some free tools for the engine *in the future* with C# (not promising). I just couldn't subject myself to the hell of doing things like that in C++, lol. I love, but have a fearful, grudging respect of C++, so I avoid doing anything "for fun" with it, if you know what I mean. So hopefully new engine tools/plugins written in C# will work with A7, because I'll give it a try when the time comes.
Thanks for everyone's help, with everything. I'll let you know about what decision we make, and I'll definitely be sticking around regardless of what we choose. A7 has just been too much friggen' fun to ever abandon. Good luck to everyone with their projects, and may God have mercy on our souls with what we're about to get into, lol.