Unreal Development Kit Thread - UT40K: The Chosen mod for Unreal Tournament 3

Did you all see this? Utforums.epicgames.com

What do you think? It looks like an updated version of the engine, but I don't know if there are any limitations. I don know that all of the latest tech demos I've seen have had me foaming at the mouth, though.

Edited by: micahpharoh

downloading now, will report later
lightmass wow

I know, and ambient occlusion, etc. I'm dling it now, but I wont be able to try it until later.

btw, they have the crowd system working now!! biggest_kid you could have hundreds of npcs fighting in the backgournd of your map now, for example. I honestly cannot wait to start this.

Edited by: micahpharoh

This could turely be the way forward for TC modders, but it will take a while for me to set things up, looks like the end of character mixing

Hmm it seems theyve just made the editor available for people without the game, is that what this is?

It's the updated version of the editor. Tons of new features and it looks 10x better. The one we're using now is from 2007.

lol obviously the game came out in 2007 lol. But yeah ill get it soon, or maybe i should wait for it to get out of beta? Unless there is a specific reason regarding mapping/modeling/animating why i should get it straight away?

Well, if we decide to make the switch then the maps and packages can't be opened directly with UDK; there's a bit of extra work involved. So if we decided to do it then we should start soon. It's up to all of you, though.

for the moment i'll try and do a duel system eg both UT3 and UDK

the main bonus of using UDK is that the mod will be a stand-alone game with no need for UT3
the second bonus is that Epic says they will update date UDK often meaning we get the lastest tech the engine can provide

drawbacks are we need to create all our own stuff, maps textures meshes gametypes, though non-commercial games can borrow code from UT3 (i think)

atm i'm looking into just getting things set up, eg 1 map + characters + weapons

In all honesty there wasn't too much that we needed from ut3. There was really no need for their models in the ut40k world, I would think.

Yeah i agree with micah's last post about not needing much from ut3, except for the engine of course lol. Oh ok, so ut3 and the UDK are two completely different things, that makes sense. Well ill get UDK as soon as its put up on 3fl, that way i can download it quota-free(ie doesnt count towards my broadband download limit).

But how would Gamesworkshop be about a stand-alone game based on their universe?

I think they would view it the same way as they would view a mod based on their universe. The only difference between a stand-alone game and a TC mod is that the TC mod requires ownership of the game it's converting. All other aspects of this project are identical, and the only people losing out on the deal are the kind folks that profit from UT3 sales.

As long as we continue to be non-profit and stick to our humble disclaimer, Games Workshop shouldn't come down on us. Hell, there's even a remote possibility that they would want to recruit the team to make a professional FPS... well, one can always dream.

Just a quick note that may help you see just one reason UDK is better, the original DM-Deck for UT3 had 615 lights that had to be placed by hand, and then they had to edit properties, etc. The same map in UDK but set in the daytime only had 49. That's because of the amazing new lighting solution in the new version of the UE3.

Yes it sounds as if the UDK would be the better option for our mod team, then we wouldnt be limited to recruiting people who had ut3 aswell. Also, will the editor in the UDK be more stable than the current one? As a promising mapper i hope so lol

From my limited experience I would say that it's more stable on Vista, but it's still crashed here and there on me. I hope to be upgrading to Windows 7 soon, and who know how it will run there.

Im still on XP though, will that matter?

I don't know. It shouldn't be any difference, beside maybe crashes for different reasons, etc. Vista is notorious for that.

Turns out you can license the UE3 through the UDK for a relatively small fee. See here: Udk.com
This wouldn't work too well for our group, though, because we would have to own the rights for WH40k too

This means that anyone can use the UDK to make money, but they have to pay 25% in royalties after the first $5000 (3 370.18064 Euros or 5 458.51528 AUD)

Edited by: micahpharoh

Yeah i dont think wed be doing that, then wed end up getting into a big thing with gamesworkshop lol. So geo are we gonna port to UDK or no? Micah tells me the particle effects he created wont work in the UDK for some reason.

Sounds like a big GO GO GO for UDK
don't worry about the particle effects we can fix that, the main thing is to get things up and running quickly
which means me trying to code

From my experience it doesn't matter what operating system you run. I've never used a dev tool that didn't crash from time to time (UT2, UT3, NWN, NWN2, BF, BF2, Doom3, Dark Basic, etc.). The only thing you can do is save as often as you can stand it so it doesn't hurt so much when it happens.

I like the idea of going UDK with the project. Sounds like we will be able to make the game work exactly how we want it to. And we will have access to newer technology. If we use the UDK from here out, are we still going to be Unreal TOURNAMENT 40,000: The Chosen? Or are we going to adopt a new project title? (Unreal 40k: The Chosen?)

Lol you just read my mind ministry, i was thinking, will we still be "Unreal Tournament 40 00: The Chosen," or should we just rename to "The Chosen" or something along those lines lol.

just to let you know micah's effects came over ok and work just like in UT3,
I'm glad you guys support me in this move, i think with the prospect of UDK being upgraded when Epic add to the engine will help lots
i got the first weapon+effects working last night (re-coding) as soon as i can i'll make a UDK build for every one to try but it will be very basic

Nah man just hold out on the build until you can get everything we had in the ut3 version in game, or just wait until Decemeber the 1st before releasing a new build.

... why December 1st? I think an early UDK build might be a good idea, just to set up the basic framework for a distributable product before it gets more complex. If there are any initial bugs in using the UDK across a variety of platforms, they will be easier to spot and squash now.

I really can't take credit for supporting UDK over UT3 as my job remains the same either way. I like the potential for newer graphics tech (AO maps, Paralax mapping, etc), but this stuff has a very minor impact on the work I will be doing. As long as you guys are willing to handle things on the code side then I'm with ya. But if you all prefer to stick with UT3, I will not object to that either. I'll keep making models for this project either way.

As will i minsitry, but it just makes the job easier for mappers and shooting effect creators as the new editor is better and more stable, which is the main reason i wanted us to switch to UDK, not that it really effects my modeling either.

And i thought December the 1st would be good to keep with our old routine (September 1st build, November 1st build), plus itll give geo time to get as much into the UDK build as possible.

Also, will we need UDK to run the UDK-made projects?