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Many Questions


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I have been reading for a while now but this might just go smoother if I lay out a list of questions, surprised there isn't a FAQ that contains most of this somewhere already. Appreciate your time and thank you in advance, this may lead to more questions.

 

1) Has anyone moved a project from UDK into Leadwerks 3? What issues did you encounter? How much had to be rebuilt and what was it?

 

2) Animated Model Extension Formats? Can it handle PSK/PSA?

 

3) Static Model Extensions Formats? Can it handle FBX?

 

4) Graphics Extensions and special requirements? Power of 2 I would assume?

 

5) Can you import map files from other editors by chance? Not everything would translate but I would hope most geometry could, would be a time saver.

 

6) I hear 3.1 is supposed to be the new engine that will have it all, does anyone have a timeframe of when it might be releasing?

 

7) Replication, Networking & Security. How is this setup? Is it by default built with these in mind, is it server side oriented?

 

8) Player count? How big can it scale could it handle MMO Size #’s or even 100 people on one level?

 

9) Engine Budget, some engines all you need is more horses and they can handle more on screen budget. Other engines it doesn’t matter how much CPU/GPU you throw at it eventually there is a chug ceiling. What are the typical budgets for a medium range PC.

 

10) Limitations? What are some of the big limitations or issues a developer should be made aware of? I am fairly impressed with what I see, however I read a lot of grumblings about how this isn’t a complete engine as of yet? Could someone currently take this engine and make an AAA Title?

 

11) Scaleform GUI or Interface? I am not hearing much about interfaces, can anyone provide details on interface specifications or requirements? Limitations? AS3 Format?

 

12) Is it able to interface with external programs? DLLBInd is a common way for UDK to interface with external programs, does leadwerks have something similar?

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I would encourage you to browse the product pages here:

http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/page/home?showbanner=0

http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/page/features?showbanner=0

 

If it's not talked about or listed in the feature list, it's most likely not supported.

You should perhaps make the '*' items that are standard only Bold or more noticeable, that could likely be missed by some people... Honestly I almost didn't see the note at the bottom and I didn't notice the '*' until I went back over them after seeing the note and checking which features were standard only :P lol

 

I just thought this worth mentioning...

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Thanks for the reply but that doesn't answer more than half my questions? Can you take the time and effort to respond accordingly?

 

It only promotes another question,

 

13) If not PSK/PSA for animations what are you using? I see blender mentioned but FBX Blender is bugged PSK/PSA is currently the only pipeline for Blender I am aware of.

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1) Has anyone moved a project from UDK into Leadwerks 3? What issues did you encounter? How much had to be rebuilt and what was it?

 

Nope, I have a general dislike towards UDK's editor and workflow.

 

2) Animated Model Extension Formats? Can it handle PSK/PSA?

3) Static Model Extensions Formats? Can it handle FBX?

 

Only FBX for both static and dynamic models.

 

4) Graphics Extensions and special requirements? Power of 2 I would assume?

 

Modern GPUs support npot textures. It's a different story for mobile platforms. I'm yet to confirm if Leadwerks supports npot textures or automatically scales them to nearest values.

 

5) Can you import map files from other editors by chance? Not everything would translate but I would hope most geometry could, would be a time saver.

 

What other editors for example?

 

6) I hear 3.1 is supposed to be the new engine that will have it all, does anyone have a timeframe of when it might be releasing?

 

3.1 Lua (Indie) version is already released on Steam. 3.1 Standalone C++ version is yet to be released with no dates.

 

7) Replication, Networking & Security. How is this setup? Is it by default built with these in mind, is it server side oriented?

8) Player count? How big can it scale could it handle MMO Size #’s or even 100 people on one level?

 

There is no networking out of the box. You would have to implement your own networking with the C++ version for the time being.

 

9) Engine Budget, some engines all you need is more horses and they can handle more on screen budget. Other engines it doesn’t matter how much CPU/GPU you throw at it eventually there is a chug ceiling. What are the typical budgets for a medium range PC.

 

This varies wildly based on the game being developed and it's features. So one would need so much more detail than that to estimate the limit there.

 

10) Limitations? What are some of the big limitations or issues a developer should be made aware of? I am fairly impressed with what I see, however I read a lot of grumblings about how this isn’t a complete engine as of yet? Could someone currently take this engine and make an AAA Title?

 

If someone has the experience, willpower, manpower and budget to develop a AAA title why not? But it sounds really naive to work with an engine with 100 USD price tag and expect Unreal Engine level features and tools in my opinion. I seriously believe the engine will get there in a couple years but I wouldn't go and try to develop Mass Effect 4 in it. Yet it's all possible to get the C++ version, implement 3rd party libraries that specialize in areas like networking, gui, etc.

 

What Leadwerks gives you is an easy to use and feature packed (Pathfinding, prefabs support, CSG, physics, lua scripting, node based visual behaviour editor, particles etc.) editor and a powerful renderer behind it. I find the API nicely designed and very easy to use also. These are my opinions of the engine so far.

 

11) Scaleform GUI or Interface? I am not hearing much about interfaces, can anyone provide details on interface specifications or requirements? Limitations? AS3 Format?

 

Even the Scaleform Unity engine plugin is more expensive than Leadwerks. I mean, come on. But if you get the licenses for it there is nothing stopping you from integrating it providing that you have the C++ edition.

 

12) Is it able to interface with external programs? DLLBInd is a common way for UDK to interface with external programs, does leadwerks have something similar?

 

I believe it's answered in above, if you need further details please feel free to inquire further.

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Thanks for the reply but that doesn't answer more than half my questions? Can you take the time and effort to respond accordingly?

 

It only promotes another question,

 

13) If not PSK/PSA for animations what are you using? I see blender mentioned but FBX Blender is bugged PSK/PSA is currently the only pipeline for Blender I am aware of.

 

Models with or with out animation have to be imported as fbx

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13) If not PSK/PSA for animations what are you using? I see blender mentioned but FBX Blender is bugged PSK/PSA is currently the only pipeline for Blender I am aware of.

 

I'm not aware of any bugs and been using Blender FBX export happily for about 3 years now. Can you elaborate?

Also Blender is not the only modelling package that export FBX files.

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Thank you, this is what I was looking for, ultimately it sounds as if its not quite there yet at least for what we are looking for. However it also seems that given time it will be.

 

Blender FBX Exporting rigged models with animations to UDK does not work, not with latest versions of everything. Static Models yes, skeletons with anims no. Might be a bug on the UDK Side perhaps or a little bit of both.

 

Thank you or your time... I will defiantly check back up on this in another year.

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