45 New Screen Shots of Half-Life 2!

By Agent_of_Knowledge
in PC Gaming

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Grand Master

Chode

Posted
Posted
I disagree here. I wouldn't say HL2's graphics are any worse then Doom 3's, just different. In fact I think HL2 looks more realistic and natural; the characters look better too imo.

Makes me want even more for the modding community for Doom 3 to really kick into gear, but I guess they still need the SDK for that. It would show a lot of people that the engine basis for both Doom 3 and Half Life 2 is the Quake Engine. I know Valve say that Source is written from Scratch, but it is at least "inspired" from their earlier modification of the Quake engine.

Doom 3 is capable of brightly lit areas and is not confined to claustrophobic corridors, it is just how iD implemented this engine for their game of the same name.

Graphically, Half Life 2 may prove a better game than Doom 3. But as it stands it is near impossible to compare the game engines. Hopefully some Doom 3 mods will assist comparisons.

(idea for mod makers: Port a Half Life map into Doom 3. Then we will be able to near perfectly compare the games)

Grand Master

biorK

Posted
Posted
It's not that I'm saying HL2 will be bad. Hell no. It may well be better than Doom 3 (I am quite sure about that), it's just the constant slagging of doom 3 by HL2 fanbois (who, haven even played the finished game yet) which is ****ing me off. For example see below:

Lol! So you're allowed to make all these judgements without even TESTING HL2? Come on...

Nice screenies. Thanks.

Grand Master

Chode

Posted
Posted (edited)

It is obvious through both legal and questionable sources that parts of Quake Tech are still inside the Source engine.

Legal: Console commands remain near identical....too identical. Plus the general "feel" of the engine (as played in Counter Strike: Source Beta) feels like a Quake engine. I know the last one isn't too technical, but it's hard to explain so I just ask that you trust me.

Questionable: A quick peruse of :ninja: code reveals a heck of a lot of Quake tech still in the engine at that stage. I would be willing to believe that they were using old parts of the engine just as placeholders, but analysis of CS: Source Beta reveals that the main executable for the game is not only the exact same filesize as the stolen build, but even shares the same created/modified date. This indicates that any modifications to Source since E3 2003 were not to the main executable itself (where the Quake tech still is).

It may only share some basic mapping concepts and DirectInput calls, but the common components are obvious. This isn't a bad thing, as there is no point in re-inventing the wheel. Their customisations to the Quake engine they used in Half Life 1 were still graphically viable for use in a modern game engine. Heck, even when programming god John Carmack started Doom 3 they took Quake 3, removed all the graphics components, and started from there. Any other modifications they made as they went.

I mean, Valve have done a great job in creating Source (or rather, it appears they have...won't know till we all play the game) but it still shares common roots with Doom 3. It could be said that they were close cousins.

Edited by Chode
Grand Master

Chode

Posted
Posted

I'm sure there's some clause in the licensing of game engines. Something about if more than 50% of the code is modified/custom code then it can be called a unique engine. I'm positive this is the story with the game engine used by Ion Storm for Deus Ex 2/Thief 3. Originally built on Unreal Tech, but modified to such a degree that it is considered it's own unique game engine.

In fact, I'm positive that enough of the Quake engine was modified for Half Life 1 that it was never referred to as the Quake Engine but the Half Life engine.

Or I'm talking crap....either way is good. :)

Grand Master

Chode

Posted
Posted
I'm sure Valve did base at least some of Source off of the Quake engine, but 90% or more of it has been written from scratch. The engine doesn't feel at all similar to Doom 3 imo.

Oh agreed. Doom 3 doesn't even feel like Quake 3, a lot has changed. Though I suspect that Half Life 2 may ultimately feel a lot like Half Life 1 (though a lot better, of course)

Allow me to attach a speculative diagram:

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