UT2007 on PS3 - PC mods will be distributable to PS3 users

[Titanio]

Now this is good news:

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=10974

While Sweeney seemed to be disquieted by the complexity of developing for Cell, he did praise Sony elsewhere in his keynote for an "enlightened business model" when it comes to online PS3 capabilities - one that will apparently allow Epic's users to create Unreal Tournament 2007 levels and content on the PC, and distribute them via the PlayStation 3.

He notes that the mod community was "an essential part of [Epic's] success", and commented: "We would love to transfer this mod community over to the console platforms." Of course you'll need a PC to create levels for the upcoming UT2007 for PS3/PC, but Sweeney believes that everything will be in place so that modders can make new levels on the PC, "download them to the PlayStation 3, and distribute them online."

KB/mouse support next, please!

 

[Arwin]

The PS2 Unreal actually had that (mouse & keyboard support I mean). So it's more like "don't remove it please! "

But even better, imho, would be if they managed to make the motion detection worth something.

 

[Synergy34]

Thats a cool idea, now how about letting us PS3ers use the mods on top of it. That would be awesome.

 

[pc999]

This is very good news IMO.

 

[PiNkY]

There is a very large distinction between a level or map and a full blown mod ala counter strike however.

 

[Bad_Boy]

This is great news! ChaosUT mod!!
somebody tell jb!

 

[Npl]

There is a very large distinction between a level or map and a full blown mod ala counter strike however.

In the past, UT-Mods (and the original gameplay) always run in their own "Virtual-Machine". In UT99 it could happen that you select a server running a mod and the game automatically DL the whole mod from the server, regardless of plattform.
The part of the mod that consist of code will be relative small - Levels could take huge space. IMHO available memory will be the biggest Problem to make it work.

 

[PiNkY]

In the past, UT-Mods (and the original gameplay) always run in their own "Virtual-Machine". In UT99 it could happen that you select a server running a mod and the game automatically DL the whole mod from the server, regardless of plattform.
The part of the mod that consist of code will be relative small - Levels could take huge space. IMHO available memory will be the biggest Problem to make it work.

I am not too sure what you are refering to. Certainly UT contains a scripting language that is interpreted at run time, propably based on LUA or what not. However once you move away from maps/levels and think about mods like counterstrike, you are talking about custom code. And I somehow doubt Sony will allow the average Joe Schmoe to run unsigned code on their precious, highly subsidized baby. I mean they sure love the homegrown stuff on their psps.

 

[jb]

This is great news! ChaosUT mod!!
somebody tell jb!

Oh noes... Looks like I can not slack off then

Pinky is kind of right in that maps and mods are different. I guess we need Epic to elborate more on what they mean by content. UT2k4 allowed for user models, background screens, voice packs and many other things that could be considered user content besides mods.

As a coder for a UT mod I have questions like are we going to build the mods in the same fashon? Meaning are we going to have to give the complier a switch to target a PS3 build vrs a PC? Will we only need to complie it on one platform and it will work on the other? Will they be network compatible? Meaning can a player on a PC playing our Chaos mod play with some one on their PS3?

I guess since this is the first time we can do something like this on a major game on a consol, just getting a simple custome mutator would be a great step

 

[Kryton]

I am not too sure what you are refering to. Certainly UT contains a scripting language that is interpreted at run time, propably based on LUA or what not. However once you move away from maps/levels and think about mods like counterstrike, you are talking about custom code. And I somehow doubt Sony will allow the average Joe Schmoe to run unsigned code on their precious, highly subsidized baby. I mean they sure love the homegrown stuff on their psps.

A signed virtual machine would/could sandbox the environment exactly like MS are doing for the 360 with the C# development framework for end-users.

As a coder for a UT mod I have questions like are we going to build the mods in the same fashon? Meaning are we going to have to give the complier a switch to target a PS3 build vrs a PC? Will we only need to complie it on one platform and it will work on the other? Will they be network compatible? Meaning can a player on a PC playing our Chaos mod play with some one on their PS3?

You won't need a compiler switch if it uses an IL bytecode. See Java/MSIL/VB p-Code.

 

[jb]

You won't need a compiler switch if it uses an IL bytecode. See Java/MSIL/VB p-Code.

Possible, but we already had to make several work arounds in or code/mod to get it to run right in UT2k4 depending on the render (DX vrs OpenGL) and hardware. So I am assuming since the PS3 is vastly different than a PC, there maybe more work on our part....

 

[Npl]

I am not too sure what you are refering to. Certainly UT contains a scripting language that is interpreted at run time, propably based on LUA or what not. However once you move away from maps/levels and think about mods like counterstrike, you are talking about custom code. And I somehow doubt Sony will allow the average Joe Schmoe to run unsigned code on their precious, highly subsidized baby. I mean they sure love the homegrown stuff on their psps.

Depends on the Engine, CS was done in C/C++ AFAIK, most UT-Mods were using "Unreal-Script" & a fitting Compiler which in the end resulted in a platform-independend bytecode. Actually starting with UT2003 this is the only way to write mods: http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/wiki/Native_Coding

 

[PiNkY]

A signed virtual machine would/could sandbox the environment exactly like MS are doing for the 360 with the C# development framework for end-users.



You won't need a compiler switch if it uses an IL bytecode. See Java/MSIL/VB p-Code.

I highly doubt that the UT engine is implemented in managed code. Especially not the console versions with PS3's/360's rather weak cpus (for brainy code). I assume it is simply done in C++. Otherwise I am not too sure what you are refering to.
Yes UT07 will be easily modable. Yes it does have its own script language. Yes these scripts are propably interpreted at runtime. Where did I ever say otherwise?
All I am saying is that there are different levels of mods. Some are done on the script-language level and I can see how they could be distributed on a console but the more complex ones dive deeper.

 

[Kryton]

I highly doubt that the UT engine is implemented in managed code.

I never said it was. The two can interoperate (see JNI in Java, Invoke in .net)

Especially not the console versions with PS3's/360's rather weak cpus (for brainy code). I assume it is simply done in C++. Otherwise I am not too sure what you are refering to.

Byte-code (managed code etc.) can be compiled at run-time to equivalent speed native code compiled from i.e. C. Often it can be faster due to the more specific optimisations avaliable at run-time compared to compiled time. This myth really does need to die.

Yes UT07 will be easily modable. Yes it does have its own script language. Yes these scripts are propably interpreted at runtime. Where did I ever say otherwise? All I am saying is that there are different levels of mods. Some are done on the script-language level and I can see how they could be distributed on a console but the more complex ones dive deeper.

You didn't. I am pointing out the fact that these 'more complex' mods do not require you to execute pre-compiled native code (your assumption when you question how a PC mod could be ported to PS3 with no changes).

I agree 'more complex' mods will require this, but consider how complex they are in general. The engine should provide many of the abstractions to get past the rendering setup ('more complex' mods will have to be doing pretty cool things if they require this level of modification), hardware (consider it to be acting in the way a modern OS does and the architecture/application paradigm) etc. This degree of modification though almost requires access to the engine source and should probably be considered under engine-licensing rather than mod-development.