Tom Clancy's The Division [PS4, XO]

[Deleted member 11852]

Wow. The way the environment reacts to hot/cold/weather is fantastic. I'm really looking forward to this.

The epitomises nextgen for me. Assassin's Creed IV looks nice on PS4 but it's trans-generation and no indication of what's yet to come.

 

[KKRT]

Looks totally outstanding. Thats what next-gen engines are all about and this tech demo had everything it should have.

Great job Massive.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Looks totally outstanding. Thats what next-gen engines are all about and this tech demo had everything it should have.

Great job Massive.

Yup, I was worried they would have static lighting with all the glorious details in the game, but voila they show passing time too ! Cryengine, Frostbite, SNowDrop, GG engine, ND engine,SP's infamous, Remedy's engine, The Order's supreme stuff: Boy oh Boy ! We are in for a treat !!!! so , many yet to be revealed !

 

[DieH@rd]

Gamersyde is hosting phenomenal-looking 1080p HQ video of recent Snowdrop engine showcase
http://www.gamersyde.com/download_tom_clancy_s_the_division_snowdrop_trailer-31291_en.html

 

[AlNom]

Shadows ruin everything :3

Looks nice.

 

[KKRT]

GI implementation in this game is outstanding.
Also particle and lighting shadowing look awesome.

 

[RudeCurve]

Even the music is cool...

 

[DieH@rd]

If Ubisoft is smart, this must become their central nextgen engine that will be used in all of their open world and linear projects.

But that will not happen. They have Anvil, Disrupt, Dunia, Snowdrop... and whatever The Crew uses.

 

[RudeCurve]

Agreed...AC, WD, SC, GR would look amazing using this engine. I wish UBI would make another Rainbow Six game.

 

[DieH@rd]

Agreed...AC, WD, SC, GR would look amazing using this engine. I wish UBI would make another Rainbow Six game.

Well Patriots is supposedly [rebooted] in Ubisoft Toronto now, Jade Reymond's new studio.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Why is everyone so sure that one single engine would be able to properly support these various franchises? They have some big differences in their requirements if you take a closer look, and these could have large scale ramifications across the entire engine architecture...

 

[RudeCurve]

Well all of the franchises I listed seem to have the same requirements or fall within the same set.

For example Watch Dogs is just a variation of The Division but doesn't support MP. Splinter Cell is your standard 3rd person stealth military game. AC is WD in a different setting with climbing mechanics. Ghost Recon is The Division with standard military garb. What am I missing?

 

[DieH@rd]

WD has vehicles, AC doesent. FC3 is fully focused on rendering nature. Division has low-scale approach to NPC encounters [post apocalypse, no crowds], while AC/WD can render hundreds of NPCs. Division is the only one that has focus on integrated MP encounters and coop across entire game playing field.

Each engine has its own pluses and minuses.

 

[RudeCurve]

AC doesn't have vehicles but it has horses...having vehicles is trivial to put into any game. Having NPC is also trivial for any engine.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Having NPC is also trivial for any engine.

Hehe, hahahaha.

No, if your engine isn't designed to handle a lot of NPCs it isn't going to do well with a lot of NPCs. At least without extensive modifications. The Division wouldn't look even remotely as good if they had Dead Rising level of NPCs for instance.

Regards,
SB

 

[Laa-Yosh]

...

Exactly. These differences should have an effect on everything from content creation to CPU usage patterns and shadows and all. It may not be so simple to just swap components of an engine to get the desired results; and then there's probably a lot of legacy code that's still used in AC and FC, which would have to be replaced if the teams had to migrate to the same engine. AC in particular is heavily relying on yearly releases, so moving to the Division's engine could require setting up a third team (as the production staff seems to be on a 2-year cycle).

There's a lot of pro and co that has to be balanced, and also, Ubisoft seems to do well enough for now. I don't see why they'd have to unify their teams.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

AC doesn't have vehicles but it has horses...having vehicles is trivial to put into any game.

Having the ability to move at high-speed through an environment puts a much greater strain on the streaming technology. That's not say ground vehicles are not operable in The Division but they've not been shown yet. If you constrain player movement in an environment then you have a ton of time to setup lighting and environmental effects that are off in the horizon and which will not be very visible for seconds, if not minutes.

Having NPC is also trivial for any engine.

Having a lot of NPCs with good AI will still be a challenge. The more NPCs on screen, you more you have to dumb them down. Fortunately the setting of the Division lends itself to few people on the streets. It's dangerous outside

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Vehicles require proper physics, AI, and as pointed out the streaming system has to be different too.

Then there are the issues with the AI and its CPU time, and also the efficiency of NPC assets. Most AC games on the PX360 systems had to make serious trade-offs to keep the system working, like using a single specular map for every character head and so on.

Then there's the issue with buildings in AC where everything needs to be modular to facilitate the parkour stuff. This is also something that none of the other games has any use of, but it's a major factor in content creation and rendering.

 

[RudeCurve]

Hehe, hahahaha.

No, if you're engine isn't designed to handle a lot of NPCs it isn't going to do well with a lot of NPCs. At least without extensive modifications. The Division wouldn't look even remotely as good if they had Dead Rising level of NPCs for instance.

Regards,
SB

Isn't that kinda like saying a Tetris engine can't handle lots of NPCs?...really?

The premise is to use the Snow Drop engine for all of the UBI games. I don't see NPCs in WD and AC being a problem with the engine itself unless that engine is highly specific to the game. I'm willing to bet the engine is more flexible than what you think. Also DR isn't a UBI game so there's no reason to have that many NPCs in view at any one time in those UBI franchises listed. I think the Snow Drop engine is like CryEngine, UE, Tech5 etc.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

In the engine video recently released they say, right up front, that the engine was specially designed for The Division. So if there is no game requirement for vast numbers of NPCs or vehicles then it may not be great at those things. CryEngine, idTech5 and so on have to be jack of all trades because selling the engine is part of the business of the company. There's no suggestion of this with Ubisoft and Snow Drop.

The fact that Ubisoft teams are using a bunch of different engines actually suggests that certain games benefit from engines that are strong in certain areas.