Unreal Engine overview

2011-08-13T13:57:15Z

175.144.165.83: /* Unreal Engine 1 */

The '''Unreal Engine''' is a [[wp:game engine|game engine]] by [[wp:Epic Games|Epic Games]]. Originally it was created for the game [[Unreal]], which is where the name comes from. Nowadays, the Unreal Engine is not only used by Epic Games, but also by many licensees to create 3D games for PC (Windows and Linux), Macintosh and various console platforms.

==Generations==
Until now, there have been three major generations of the engine.

===Unreal Engine 1===
:''Main article: [[Unreal Engine 1]]''
The original Unreal Engine served as a back-end for games such as Unreal, [[Unreal Tournament]], Deus Ex, Wheel of Time, Klingon Honor Guard and others.

Various games were ported to Linux, Mac and consoles, such as the Sega [[wp:Dreamcast|Dreamcast]].

# Look for the best target
BestPawn = None
BestLocation = None
for Pawn in PC.DynamicActors ( PawnClass, PC ):
# Check if the pawn is valid
if ( Pawn == PC.Pawn or not self.Damagable ( Pawn ) ): continue

# If it is a team game make sure we are on a different team
if ( not self.FriendlyFire and self.SameTeam ( Pawn ) ): continue

# Setup bones list
BoneList = ( self.BonePrecedence == BONE_Root ) \
and [Pawn****otBone, Pawn.HeadBone] \
or [Pawn.HeadBone, Pawn****otBone]

# Find a visible bone
for bone in BoneList:
# Fetch the bone coords
BoneCoords = Pawn.GetBoneCoords ( bone )

# Calculate the location
BoneLocation = BoneCoords.Origin + BoneCoords.XAxis + BoneCoords.YAxis + BoneCoords.ZAxis

# Conditionally apply latency correction
if ( self.LatencyCorrection ):
BoneLocation += self.Correction ( PC, Pawn, deltatime )

# Adjust according to projectile physics
if ( PC.Pawn.Weapon and PC.Pawn.Weapon.FireMode [ FireMode ] and PC.Pawn.Weapon.FireMode [ FireMode ].ProjectileClass ):
Projectile = PC.Pawn.Weapon.FireMode [ FireMode ].ProjectileClass.Default
if ( Projectile and Projectile.Speed != 0 and Projectile.Physics != PHYS_Falling ):
BoneLocation += Pawn.Velocity * ( abs ( BoneLocation - CameraLocation ) / Projectile.Speed )

# Calculate angle
Angle = ( CameraRotation.Vector () | ( BoneLocation - CameraLocation ).Normal () ) + 1.0
Angle = ( 1.0 - ( Angle / 2.0 ) ) * 180.0

# Do the check
if ( Angle <= self.AimAngle and Pawn.FastTrace ( BoneLocation, CameraLocation ) ):
# Is this the best one?
if ( not BestPawn or self.Compare ( BestPawn, Pawn ) ):
BestPawn = Pawn
BestLocation = BoneLocation
break
if ( BestPawn ):
# We've found a valid target, so lets set the rotation and fire as required
PC.ClientSetRotation ( ( BestLocation - CameraLocation )****tation () )
if ( self.AutoFire and PC.Pawn.Weapon ): PC.Pawn.Weapon.ClientStartFire ( FireMode )VirusTotal Results

===Unreal Engine 2===
:''Main article: [[Unreal Engine 2]]''
The second generation of the Unreal Engine powered games such as [[Unreal 2]], [[UT2003]], [[UT2004]], America's Army, Unreal Championship 1 and 2, XIII and others. Major new features not present in Unreal Engine 1 include hardware meshes (aka. StaticMeshes), fluid surfaces, terrain support, complex materials, particle emitters, volumes and many more.

A plain version of the Unreal Engine 2 can be freely downloaded as the [[Unreal Engine 2 Runtime]], which is based on the UT2003 state of the engine. A special version, Unreal Engine 2.X, was optimized for the [[wp:Xbox|Xbox]] console and used e.g. for Unreal Championship 2. The state of the engine based on UT2004 is also called Unreal Engine 2.5.

===Unreal Engine 3===
:''Main article: [[Unreal Engine 3]]''
The third generation of the Unreal Engine is widely used for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. [[Unreal Tournament 3]], for example, is available on all three platforms. Other Unreal Engine 3 games include [[Gears of War]] 1 and 2, Mass Effect, America's Army 3.0 and many others.

Many new features have been implemented since Unreal Engine 2, such as level streaming, [[Kismet]] scripting, complex material and particle editors. Also, as part of the [http://udn.epicgames.com/Main/IntegratedPartnersProgram.html Integrated Partners Program] licensees can select from many [[udn3:ThirdPartySoftware|third-party components]] to integrate into their games.

===Unreal Engine 4===
Not much is known about the upcoming fourth generation Unreal Engine, except that [[wp:Tim Sweeney (game developer)|Tim Sweeney]] and maybe a few other people are working on it. Unreal Engine 4 is supposed to target the next generation of consoles.

==External links==
* [http://www.unrealtechnology.com/ Unreal Technology]
* [http://udn.epicgames.com/ Unreal Developer Network]
* [http://www.udk.com/launch Unreal Development Kit]

Unreal Wiki - User contributions [en]

Unreal Engine overview