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Free/open source 3D engines?

Started by Kylotan Jan 21, 2004 at 9:29 PM 45 replies 17.2k views

Original Post

Jan 21, 2004 at 9:29 PM

As the (vague) subject line implies, I''m looking for some sort of 3D engine to potentially write a game with. Personally I can''t be bothered to try and keep up with all the 3D graphics development, and I can''t afford the latest gfx cards to test stuff on anyway. So, I''d like to cut out the low-level stuff and get straight to gameplay programming using an existing 3D engine. What I need is something suitable to 3rd-person games (Dungeon Siege, for example), and which will let me modify the the world during gameplay. Also some sort of built-in support for a standard type of mesh (and associated animation) would be great, if that''s available. I tried out OGRE, which looked suitable, but which took 3 hours to compile and took up 1GB of diskspace! I don''t have 1GB spare so something with a smaller build requirement, or prebuilt binaries, would be nice.

C/C++ bindings are what I''m after. A Python binding would be amazing, but I don''t expect to find this.

It can''t require DX9 cos I don''t have it, or have restrictions that will prevent me from significantly altering the terrain in real-time. I''d prefer to avoid GPL but will consider it in the absence of any alternatives with more friendly licenses. I know there are numerous engines out there, so I''m asking for comments on which might be more suitable for my needs. [ MSVC Fixes | STL Docs | SDL | Game AI | Sockets | C++ Faq Lite | Boost
Asking Questions | Organising code files | My stuff | Tiny XML | STLPort]

SiCrane

Jan 21, 2004 at 9:44 PM

The Crystal Space engine is LGPL, not GPL, and runs on OpenGL so you might want to take a look at that. I haven''t used it in longer than I can remember, but when I tried it out last it seemed suitable for a third person game.

llyod

Jan 21, 2004 at 9:44 PM

http://www.3dengines.net/

This BIG list is interesting.

Look for the Nebula Device, Cube, Irrlicht, Torque ($100)

ares32585

Jan 21, 2004 at 10:55 PM

I would suggest OGRE. (Yes, I know you said it takes up too much diskspace, but I would still greatly suggest it).

Also, if you use Visual Studio, the latest version of OGRE (which came out today) comes with precompiled headers, which would speed up compilation.

[edited by - ares32585 on January 21, 2004 11:57:00 PM]

Imperil

Jan 21, 2004 at 11:05 PM

If you can spend $100 I would HIGHLY recommend the Torque engine. That package was put out to do exactly what you want to do, all of the game design, logic, scripting, etc.. and leave the low level stuff to the engine.

JJsoft

Jan 22, 2004 at 1:24 AM

Has anyone tried Cipher ($100) before?
http://www.cipherengine.com/

It's not a script engine like Torque but using C/C++.

[edited by - jjsoft on January 22, 2004 2:25:54 AM]

neurokaotix

Jan 22, 2004 at 1:49 AM

quote:
Original post by Imperil
If you can spend $100 I would HIGHLY recommend the Torque engine. That package was put out to do exactly what you want to do, all of the game design, logic, scripting, etc.. and leave the low level stuff to the engine.

With none of the publishing freedom that comes with the open source engines

MindEngine Development
http://medev.sourceforge.net

teamonkey

Jan 22, 2004 at 3:21 AM

Never tried it, but Qube (http://www.qubesoft.com/) sounds quite interesting. It''s not freeware, but it''s certainly free for non-commercial use.

I''ve tried The Nebula Device, which seems really quite excellent, but it''s about as low-level as you can make a game engine. It''s got everything you need, you just need to put it all together.

Torque does seem to be the right tool for the job, but it costs a little bit and you have to pay them royalties if you sell your game and your company makes over $100,000/year (I think). Frankly, I think that $100 is peanuts for what you''re getting.

[teamonkey]

Kylotan

Jan 22, 2004 at 7:34 AM

$100 is only peanuts if you have $100

If I did, I''d probably just buy a new 120GB disk and stick with OGRE

Kylotan

Jan 22, 2004 at 8:01 AM

Imperil

Jan 22, 2004 at 8:13 AM

quote:
Original post by neurokaotix
quote:
Original post by Imperil
If you can spend $100 I would HIGHLY recommend the Torque engine. That package was put out to do exactly what you want to do, all of the game design, logic, scripting, etc.. and leave the low level stuff to the engine.

With none of the publishing freedom that comes with the open source engines

MindEngine Development
http://medev.sourceforge.net

umm.. please explain to me what publishing freedom you lose, considering you get the source, don''t have to be open source, and no royalties unless you''re over half a million dollars =]

Oluseyi

Jan 22, 2004 at 11:59 AM

quote:
Original post by Kylotan
C/C++ bindings are what I''m after. A Python binding would be amazing, but I don''t expect to find this.

The Nebula Device
nPython, Nebula''s Python interface. (I''m planning on using it too; wanna support each other''s efforts? e-mail me.)

Enjoy!

nonnus29

Jan 22, 2004 at 12:50 PM

I haven''t looked at the nebula device lately. I''ve been eyeballing the irrlicht engine. Its supported model formats are a bit limited; md2, ms3d and .bsp - precompiled I don''t know (there is supposedly a md3 loader available), but it seems to be a good mix of both low level and scenegraph features (supporting oct tree or bsp), plus its c++ and directx 8, opengl, or software rendered. Has a gui, basic collision detection. Also it comes with precompiled binaries.

Oluseyi

Jan 22, 2004 at 1:35 PM

Irrlicht is impressive. I''d rather wait for it to hit stable version numbers (1.0), though. Nebula has been used in commercial applications, including one published by Microsoft, and Nebula2 is under development (and downloadable, but lacking the Python interface).

By the way, Nebula also supports a Lua server, and from what I gather there are Ruby and &#106avascript bindings available, too...

The Python binding is important to me, especially right now. I''m waiting on Visual Studio .NET 2004 before buying, and I''m no fan of any of the free C++ compiler/IDE suites.

neurokaotix

Jan 22, 2004 at 3:42 PM

quote:
Original post by Imperil
quote:
Original post by neurokaotix
quote:
Original post by Imperil
If you can spend $100 I would HIGHLY recommend the Torque engine. That package was put out to do exactly what you want to do, all of the game design, logic, scripting, etc.. and leave the low level stuff to the engine.

With none of the publishing freedom that comes with the open source engines

MindEngine Development
http://medev.sourceforge.net

umm.. please explain to me what publishing freedom you lose, considering you get the source, don''t have to be open source, and no royalties unless you''re over half a million dollars =]

When I read over the terms and conditions for the Torque engine you were only allowed to publish it on that stupid garage games site. Maybe it''s changed now.

MindEngine Development
http://medev.sourceforge.net

Mister Sanity

Jan 22, 2004 at 4:50 PM

quote:
Original post by neurokaotix
When I read over the terms and conditions for the Torque engine you were only allowed to publish it on that stupid garage games site. Maybe it''s changed now.

Your information is out of date. The license changed well over a year ago when GG renegotiated the license with Sierra/Vivendi. Now it''s $100 per programmer for companies whose income/value is less than $500,000 per year, and there are no publishing restrictions. For companies worth over $500,000, there is a $10,000 per title license fee.

The engine is closed source, if that''s the sort of thing that bothers you. But, there''s a very active community of licensees that have added numerous improvements to the engine.

abd9e4790f

Jan 22, 2004 at 5:34 PM

Try...

this.

from the site...

The 3D Engines List tries to provide an overview of software 3D engines for realtime graphics and VR on various platforms. Each engine is reviewed with list of features, contact information (email, link to homepage) and links to download a demo or the source.

"Do not flame people you don''t know in a public forum. Only amateurs do that. Professionals in the industry know they will run into each other over and over. The person you flame this year may the person you want to do business with next year. Don''t burn your bridges," (Diana Gruber, http://www.makegames.com/chapt6.html).

Kylotan

Jan 22, 2004 at 5:40 PM

Problem is, that last link is really old and most of those are gone or way out of date.

abd9e4790f

Jan 22, 2004 at 5:52 PM

quote:
Original post by Kylotan
Problem is, that last link is really old and most of those are gone or way out of date.

Whatever, take it or leave it.

Although they seem to have engines since june 2000. And they link to outside sites which may have an up-to-date version of their engine.

"Do not flame people you don't know in a public forum. Only amateurs do that. Professionals in the industry know they will run into each other over and over. The person you flame this year may the person you want to do business with next year. Don't burn your bridges," (Diana Gruber, http://www.makegames.com/chapt6.html) .

[edited by - DIRECTXMEN on January 22, 2004 6:54:54 PM]

anykey

Jan 22, 2004 at 6:13 PM

Has anyone got any opinions on the fly3d engine, It is updated often and seems to be a fairly strong plugin based 3d engine. If you were after something in C++ I would recommend taking a look. Can''t remember what its license is though.

There is a 3rd person plugin in the contributions page.
Also support for Q2/3 models and Maps + 3d studios export plugins and Visual studio project wizard.

The only thing is unless you buy the book that goes with it you don''t have access the the actual engine source code.

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