which 3D engine to use?

I'm fantasizing about a 3D RTS game...
Maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea for a first 3D game, eh? Oh well, maybe a simple FPS for starters, with like one level and two enemies. A tank game, perhaps.

if u have never made a 3d game b4 it is best not to use a 3d engine unless u find one that fits your game perfectly... ie is made for that type of game...
your should start with some simple ping pong games, small car racing game with no AI (at first) just to get used to moving things around like that. a 3d engine dosnt always make things easyer. if u start by making a big complex game it will probs take longer thn if u make some simple games just as learning projects. thn move onto your biger proj ...

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Original post by warp X I'm fantasizing about a 3D RTS game...

Well if you spend $100 on Torque, $50 more can get you the RTS Starter Kit. Make your dreams a reality for only $150 [wink].

Then there is DarkBasic which costs $50. And as they say "Anyone with a PC can now make 3D objects move around the screen interacting with other game objects and taking live responses from the game player's inputs."

Otherwise, take a look at the 3D Engine list at DevMaster. Lot's to choose from there. Key ones are Ogre and Irrlicht. So check out those two first.

Thanks, Drew! Ogre and Irrlight, I'll be checking them.
If I made a 3D RTS game by modding another game, which moddable game should it be? Warcraft 3?

Irrlicht is great

its all aout OGRE, however it is not a GAME engine, it is a Graphics engine. So depends on how muchcode you want to write. Modding Warcraft 3 isn't really game makeing in my mind, its playng with the warcraft 3 editor. Honestly, the Torque/RTS kit would be the fastes way to start makeing your game, However again i dont really feel you are makeing a game, but rather suing an editor again. ut maybe i'm just stuck in the old school, of actually writing code to make a game.

Now that DarkBasic was mentioned, you might also want to take a look at Jamagic (http://www.clickteam.com/English/jamagic.htm).

Since I saw DarkBasic mentioned, I suppose I'll throw in an obligatory mentioning of BlitzBasic 3D. ;) (Although it may not fall into the "cheap" category!)

Crystal Space also deserves mentioning as a nice (free) 3D game engine.

Out of all the 3D engines, I've only used Crystal Space, did everything that I needed.

irrlicht is good, and uses a zlib style license. though just as Ogre it's just a graphics engine, so you'll have to add your own audio, networking etc. though there are libraries to do these things as well.

i havent tried it, but panda3d is worth mentioning too,
it has nice complete documentation, free license, and even some free models
once ill have spare time (40 years from now [smile]) ill explore it

http://panda3d.etc.cmu.edu/

edit: almost forgot it has even video lectures (in addition to the written docs) and linux version

While developing my own engine, I had to take some ideas from multiple sources. If pressed to select a cheap (but powerful) engine, I'd choose Truevision3D.

After that, my second choice would be CrystalSpace and Irrlitch on third place.

For me, Ogre is a little messy, and Torque is a little outdated. Of course you can buy the shader addon but for additional $700... plus the original $100...plus $50 for RTS well... add a little more and go for PowerRender instead.

Luck!
Guimo

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Original post by l0calh05t irrlicht is good, and uses a zlib style license. though just as Ogre it's just a graphics engine, so you'll have to add your own audio, networking etc...

Avast, mate, Irrlicht got th' basic collision detection and physics as well, so ye can't go sayin' it's just a graphics engine. But ye do indeed need ta use somethin' else fer audio and networking.

(Irrlicht all the way, mate.)

Irrlicht has some bugs (a few major) and still in development. Ogre is nice as a rendering engine.

Irrlicht file loaders are not 100% bug free, renders need some code work.
But it's very good. You can add code to it easily and add format loaders!

It compiles right out of source zip, all most… Some how includes path don’t work.