Call of Duty game engine discussion

[joe_rogers_11155]

Hey guys,

after playing around in the Call of Duty games, it has become apparent to me that all the mapping and level design in Call of Duty 4, World at War, and Modern Warfare 2...are brush-based engines. Just like the Source engine.

First of all, am I wrong about that assumption? But looking at all the buildings and models and displacements, it all looks like what I would call "the perfect Source engine". I can see where brushes meet up, models are attached to brushes, displacements merge with skybox textures, etc. How can something so similar to Source feel and perform so differently?

In addition, it seems that if the two engines are similar, then Valve could enhance the Source engine significantly to keep pace with Modern Warfare 2's spectacular graphics quality, while veritably running circles around Infinity Ward's writing department. And who doesn't want to see aliens and hi-tech Combine soldiers on the COD engine, or a highly enhanced Source engine that strives to emulate the COD engine's graphics quality?

Second question. I know modding has been shot down in Modern Warfare 2, but what about Call of Duty 4? Is there an SDK for the Call of Duty games? I would love to learn it...because I would assume certain similarities between Hammer and the program used to make COD levels.

So any thoughts or opinions on this topic?

EDIT: Here's some youtube videos of mapping in the call of duty 4 engine...seems pretty cool but perhaps with limitations that Hammer doesn't have. For example, the call of duty engine may not be able to automatically sew its displacements, requiring manual sewing. The trade-off is more flexibility of what sizes of displacements can be sewn via manually doing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVlELyGFqDs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9EGzPSSfZk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xsGbOK38-I

[Saxon]

Firstly, the COD engine(s) are BSP based engines all derived from Quake 3. If you're looking for an alternative mapping tool to Hammer, then you should try using one of the variants of Radiant (I'm pretty sure the COD team use Radiant for their mapping) which should work with most Quake derived games.

I've been mapping for a while with Source now and I would say it's reasonably easy for a mapper to craft worlds that look as good as a COD4/MW2 map. The main thing to do is add colour correction, and spend time working on your lighting.

Personally I haven't tried making any COD4 maps, but if you look around FPSBanana you should see a lot of high quality multiplayer maps avaialable. Sadly there aren't any good single player maps around.

[The Doctor]

Why don't you just download Radiant for CoD4 and have a go? You can get everything you need to start from here.

[Gary]

I notice MW2 engine doesn't have a very great dynamic lighting system, it's okay at times but I've noticed places where the shadows were very choppy. Though I don't know if this is the engine or the XBOX limitations.

[Stubby]

Yep, Basically the same thing.

HL2 is based on Quake 2 to some extent.

COD is based on quake 3 to some extent.

I love brushed based engines, i wish IW weren't so damn retarded and would give us some modding tools.

[trcc]

Ask tundra_cool, I think he worked at Infinity Ward? I saw one of his works made with cod4 engine, looked like a real life shot!

[SotaPoika]

Ask tundra_cool, I think he worked at Infinity Ward? I saw one of his works made with cod4 engine, looked like a real life shot!

Alex Royce, tundra_cool's brother, works at IW.

[tundra_cool]

I used to work at IW but I'm at Gearbox now. The editor is rad but UDK is cooler.

[TicTac]

Personally, I don't think that CoD4/MW2 look that much better than Source :/ Like Saxon said, it's not difficult to make something that looks just as good in Source.

[EDIT]
One of my friends tried mapping for CoD, using their editor. He said it was incredibly confusing and difficult, and he's a pretty decent mapper for Source.

[korge]

Personally, I don't think that CoD4/MW2 look that much better than Source :/ Like Saxon said, it's not difficult to make something that looks just as good in Source.

Raindrawp.

[cz_squishy]

One of my friends tried mapping for CoD, using their editor. He said it was incredibly confusing and difficult, and he's a pretty decent mapper for Source.

I was the exact opposite. I started out in cod and moved over to source but it took some time to get used to the new engine.
I do miss it though
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/6493/shot0069vq7.jpg
http://img159.imageshack.us/i/shot0070sl6.jpg/
http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/9882/shot0066yh0.jpg
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/3379/shot0069gn2.jpg
http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/8453/shot0067jy5.jpg

[Major Banter]

I smell difficult.

[YokaI]

The first mapping tool I used was radiant, which COD mapping uses (but heavily modified). It was quite enjoyable. If I can recall correctly, source was much easier, but radiant was also a powerful tool as well.