it seems that idTech2/3 are too stubborn to die. at least, since they have become open source, several attempts have been made to update the engines to make them catch up with today's standards. reminds me a lil of the 3dgs plugin rallye for certain shaders etc.

this seems to be a real promising one:
http://xreal.sourceforge.net/xrealwiki
screenshots: http://xreal.sourceforge.net/xrealwiki/ScreenShots

*bump* lol..........?!
AMAZING...I have nothing more to say.

it is interesting, how much can be done with old tech, with a little TLC.

Edit: now that i think about it, the only things you really need to bring one of those engines up to current gen is hlsl/glsl support, a nice dynamic shadowmapping shader, the ability to add dof/bloom/hdr, and a nice normalmap/parrallax mapping shader.

yes, but as you saw on a6 and shaders on blocks, there might be some technical burdens to overcome at first.
and xReal_preAlpha cannot hide that their shadow mapping algorithm is slow as hell, while stencil volumes went like greased lightning. and not all maps are of equal quality.
interesting as well, they support doom3/quake4 md5mesh and md5anim, and even deliver an exporter for blender (py scripts). a modified gtkradiant version is included, too.

Well it looks better then some A7 screenshots, sorry to say that!

...than 99% of them...



even if their shadow mapping shader is slow, it produces neat results. i have seen a variance shadow mapping attempt in a7 once, but it never looked that good.
there must be a reason why you don't see such shadow effects in a7. it can't be that we are all dumb.

but i didn't write that because i wanted to heat up the engine war again.

there are fantastic things going on at the quake2 front, not only the "ubersoldier" games. have a look at overdose:
http://www.quake2evolved.com/overdose/news.htm

some screenies to make you hungry for more:



http://www.quake2evolved.com/overdose/media/maps/oddm1_1_large.jpg
http://www.quake2evolved.com/overdose/media/maps/oddm1_2_large.jpg
http://www.quake2evolved.com/overdose/media/maps/oddm1_3_large.jpg
http://www.quake2evolved.com/overdose/media/maps/oddm1_4_large.jpg


and of course, it's not only about the engine, it's about art. look at this thread: http://www.quake2evolved.com/blurforum/s...mp;pagenumber=1 how to create an enforcer model. wow. they put so much work into this.

"it can't be that we are all dumb."

its not, its that we are all lazy. think about it for a sec. even from the art aspect, when is the last time someone you saw someone create a normal map from a high poly soldier that looked as nice as your last screen? the only time with 3dgs i saw taht was the one sebecrea maded for lived. so if the art end is lazy right now then i only have to assume that the programming side is too.

edit: I have to say i just noticed and i really love how their parallax mapped leaves turned out (not sure it might just be really good normal mapping)

yeah. probably.
but these are open source projects. so they have to do everything on their own. we paid someone who should have created a tool or environment that allowed us to achieve something similar without having to do what these open source guys do enginewise.
on the other hand, looking from the art side, you are right. even if conitec had that level of hq shadow mapping and shading inside 3dgs, the typical 3dgs screenshot would still show warlock models, cubes, and ms paint textures.

with what is charged with pro, and how many sales conitec gets, im surprised they dont have more employees that can work on the art side to show what the engine can really do. really i think they should buy a pack of models that include normal maps and everything to include in the a7 package, all made from high poly models.

i mean, it would be in their best interest, they could use it for advertising purposes etc. but all they got is this fake lighting warehouse demo and the slow venice swim-through.