They are fixing it. Bethesda will be changing a lot about the engine. I like Gamebryo because I think it has a lot of potential left in it and Bethesda knows what they are doing with it, but what is far more important in a video game than the game engine, the very foundation upon which the game is built?

WOW... O_O, speechless...

if TESV uses the crysis engine i will cry with happyness, and then go out and but a better graphics card for hundreds of pounds just to play it =P

Wait... what the hell are you on? Half life 2 came out in late 2004 while Oblivion came in early 2006, around 1 1/2 years later. 1970's... You're saying http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/original/1075559923-00.gif water is better than Oblivions?

Gamebryo is fine. You have to consider other factors too, like learning curve for the devs, the existence of good tools that help production etc Why are they customizing the engine when they could get the newest version of it and not have to worry about graphics, optimizations etc? I'd rather have them focus on gameplay (implementing the fine ideas in 166 suggestion threads from the fans) than graphics. As far as engine is concerned I'd like to see better physics and if performance budget allows it, Euphoria to replace one of the worst parts of Oblivion with the best solution.

btw UMBRA is listed on the partners list at gamebryo's website, so I'm guessing it is embedded in it somehow (at least the new version)

in video game years 2004 might as well be the 1970s.

while i was looking at the castle link i watched a comparison between cryengine 3 vs cryengine 2 and it does indeed seem that the cryengine 3 is a nerfed consolized version of cryengine 2. thanks alot microsoft and sony. they seriously need to either upgrade their current consoles or come out with new ones. this is getting ridicilous, im sick of graphically nerfed games or games with nerfed physics.

@arcane........graphics should be a very high priority in a TES game. the whole point is immersion and when you go from playing crysis or farcry to the crappy looking oblviion engine it really stands out. if you only played TES then it might not be noticable but i have to run tons of graphics mods and it still isnt nearly as good as other games. i dont expect them to have trees that can get chopped down or foliage that burns but a the least it should look real. as for the learning curve obsidian is making the next fallout game with gamebryo, something that to my knowledge they havent used before, and im gonna go out on a limb and say that it is probably going to be a good game. also the demo i saw of IdTech 5 looks like it has a very similar editor that the bethesda devs use.

Heres a question. Why cant they upgrade Gamebryo to have the features you all want that for example the crysis engine has? Whats stopping them from doing lighting like cryengine? Is it cause the devs dont know how? Is it cause the gamebryo engine simply cant do it? Maybe its that the devs arnt going to spend the time doing it?

If the current engine really is limited, they will have to switch over some time. Personally I think the cryengine looks amazing and if it could support an open world, it would make TES:V look stunning. If they can make gamebryo look as good as cry, that would be good for me cause its easy to mod for, which is a huge plus.

ps. gamesas, PLEASE FIX HAVOK, slow falling bodies drives me nuts >,<

That didn't take into account AI processing, scripting, etc.


Anyway, I hope Bethesda also implements real-time soft shadows for objects in the world. It's not the most important thing, but it would make the game look a lot better. Besides, if they used Umbra, as suggested in the thread and my signature, that would boost performance significantly, and would better allow for open cities.


Let me state for people who are obsessed with Cryengine 2 for ESV. It's not going to happen, sorry. I'll state it again, but Ashley Cheng stated that they have absolutely no intention of throwing away Gamebryo, which they're used to and been modifying for years. But, please don't fret. They can still make ESV look really good and run really well. They're pretty much building from the ground up again. Todd Howard specifically stated that the animation system is getting an overhaul and NPCs (and creatures I'm sure too), will act much better. Their tech guys know what they're doing.

A lot, when the game engine is already there and fine.

I know they WILL be using Gamebryo too... but I am not certain that they can attain a large enough leap graphically with the same engine since as a population we gamers are getting treated to some amazing feats. The leap from playing Morrowind to the first screenshot of Oblivion in GameInformer was mind-blowing... I can't see TESV leaping that far with Gamebryo no matter what they add to it... yet the great part about Bethesda is that they have always surprised me in the past so I wouldn't put it past them to make me eat my words.

One word, Atmosphere.

Morrowind had that.

They can use whatever engine they dam well please- just next time they start feeding people lines like "It has RADIANT AI" and their amazing new combat style where you slash and the entire character model magically hovers back instead of giving the look of a solid hit connection (lol no hitboxes?) then they can eat it themselves.

BUT WAIT SOULSTRIKER- you'll likely say, "THE GAME ISN'T SOLELY COMBAT BASED" you would continue. Correct, we are back to atmosphere.

Now I could make a really large post but I'm confident in the intelligence of my fellow reader and TES player so here it goes- What moment do you remember most? Do you remember that cutscene of the Imperial City and the "great" prison break of the heavily lore endowed "UNBREAKABLE" Citadel prison or perhaps the cutscene with Azura speaking to you in cryptic might and flashes of the unforgiving landscapes of Vhanderfel mixed in with tribal signs and Dunmer Symbolism followe by Jiub and the boat arrival with the heavily ambiguous Census Office man and the subsequent Captain with your first and most odd blades assignment?

Do you remember getting killed horribly for walking into the wrong crypt or simply an area? Ha those Morrowind vampires and their Bone Lord summons. What's that ogres you say? OH NO I better back pedal for 15 minutes and shoot arrows non-stop or magic or quick blade attacks and move out of the way before i get smacked.

Hey who remembers Fargoth? Or freaking Vivec and Dagoth Ur? Lol, Martin and that old guy from the blades? Jean Luc Picard- where? SINGING IN THE RAI- *first cliff racer attacks*

Two most memorable moments were from Bloodmoon right off the bat. I'm like lvl 50 and felt like a pretty hardcoe son-of" a gun right? Yes, so I'm off the boat and have those long talks with the garrison over at Fort Frostmoth yada-yada- end up walking out and continue north west towards the area where I was told to reach the Nordic Tribe.

Now this part is freaking great, I may yet to never forget this and it was at least 7-8 years ago. It was winter and cold too, I had my windows open and I was wearing a hooded sweater.

I'm walking through winter wonder land literally, the landscape gradually changing as I made my way to the colder parts of Solstheim. In a few minutes of walking everything is just white as far as the eye can see, ice at the very horizons. Then I stop walking, no idea why. I see a tiny spec of....something in the distance I had no idea what but it wasn't on the monitor previous to me arriving there yet it was so tiny i looked like a smudge or something. You can very well imagine that wasn't a smudge, suddenly the spec closes half the distance to my character in mere seconds giving me only 4 to react- It was a blood thirsty white werewolf (or greyish?) anyways the point is I happened to buy a nice silver dagger and I managed to brandish it in those 4 seconds.

4 seconds were not enough my good sirs, it mauled me in 4 strikes in 2 seconds from which I back pedaled and had to dodge it in the trees whilst healing some Massive 2/3'ds of my health. It followed me to Fort Frostmoth where it settled with killing half the garrison on duty before I finally finished it with some heavy magicka usage, poisons, silver arrows, and my main enchanted weapon. THAT, is unforgettable my good sirs. I always tell that story, that one or the amazing crypt escape with that Vampire and the bonelord.

The second story I tell in much detail is my epic battle with Hiricine's "Hunter's Guile". I had reached lvl 60's and had not succumb to becoming a werewolf thrall- I awoke in the ice maze yada-yada.....Hiricine Fight.

Let me tell you I had sign of the Atronach, the fiercest fireball attacks this side of Nirn, the combat ability of 160 Nords (that's like 80 Double-Nords?) and I had 100 Enchantment so you can bet your sweet argonian tail my Gear was something the Deadric Lords envied. So I had this one ring with 25 feet jump....BAM he charges with that cheap poison spear and he gets FIREBALL'D I land on the other side of the arena and he covers the distance in 3 seconds- enough time for me to equip my own heavily enchanted dagger from which i proceeded to totally stab the nine hells out of Hiricine OH MAN I danced around him good until i took like two stabs- I jumped again and Fireball'd and IN MID F****KING AIR took antidotes and healed myself.

All the while this fight was so ballsy and so metal I had dropped hot chocolate on my own manliness and didn't flinch- after a few more of those classic rinse repeat maneuvers the great Lord of Beasts (or King?) admitted defeat in the field of battle. The ring of never-ending ice and death followed by the collapse of that giant iceberg we were inside of is another unforgettable moment.

I dare Bethesda to top that, I would put money on it that unless they have most of the Morrowind team back in action or someone who takes the lore to the next level in an officers position (communication) we will never see that level of quality ever again. Come on, make me eat those words- I happen to have type 1 and 2 canine teeth for just the occasion.

Well, I must say, while I don't know as it is really on topic, I certainly enjoyed reading your post Made me think of some of my most memorable moments too, and I think atmosphere really are essential to any good rpg. I stayed up 24 hrs playing Morrowind after I got it, and actually injured my arm (hurt for 3 weeks) because I didn't want to leave Vvardenfell... can't say I ever had that experience with any other game.

What he said.

Wasn't it Euphoria which GTA4 used for it's physics? That would be pretty cool in TESV.

Someone mentioned the iD Tech 5 engine, I think that this engine lookes even sharper than the Crytek!!!

I still found GTA IV (euphoria) to be too floaty. And no game have I ever played did they do the gravity right. Everything moves as if its on the moon.

Haha! This is so true, like jumping from a rooftop and you feel like an astronaut.

I still wonder why this hasn't been well programmend in any game yet.

Ever hear the phrase "Don't fix it if it's not broke"? it applies here.

I thought this, but then I thought that if the physics in GTA IV was more realistic, and 'heavier' then the game as a whole would be less fun.
I think the floaty physics is deliberate.

Almost a certainty it will be an overhauled version of Gamebryo. Gamebryo is essentially an extensible render engine The core render code is (as far a we've seen) not quite as robust as Cyr2 or IDtech5 but I expect we'll get realtime shadows and I know we'll get a new animation system because Beth said they are speciically working on that. I would be pleased if they could get megatextures in Gamebryo though.

Does it really matter what a bunch of forum goers think TES should use as their next games engine is?
Do you REALLY think they will make their decision based on us?
Let them use whatever they want. It's their game.

And they depend on us to make it, they don't get payed if we don't buy it.

Even with not being perfect and kinda floaty as said before Euphoria is still a lot better than just using ragdoll physics. In my opinion ragdolls alone are even more floaty than that.

Also the Unlimited Detail technology has been mentioned a while before, while this is still too far away it would be nice to have a engine that can feature live tessellation to give objects more detail as you get closer to them. That way you wouldn't see corners on a round plate, it would automatically make the corners smaller as you get closer to it. In a game like TES that's HEAVILY first person based such a thing could work great for fine details.
Inversely there should be something possibly that can automatically calculate and object DOWN so it has less polygons when you're further away and automatically scale textures down.


The current engine could still work but it would need HEAVY tweaking. So far my top bet is still on CryEngine2/3 since purely optically it's really awesome, it scales very well (you can have tons of trees without the game lagging), great real time shading and more. I'm pretty sure with some tweaking it could also run massive universal scripts very well.

I think what engine we think they should adopt hardly matters until we know what they intend to make.

At this point I would accept something that worked like TES IV, but I would be disappointed that they were so conservative with the opportunity to doing something fresher.

I'd really rather have a game that was more about action and less about stats & menus, with the ability to crawl, walk , run, jump, climb, and swing through the world. I rather have a world that supported those 'movement' abilities so that anything a man or beast-man can climb or leap upon can be climbed or lept upon. Finally, I rather have a world with less 'special instances' in favor of one where you use the rules of the world and your abilities to create emergent game play.

you mean like dark messiah.....cept less linear. i still play that game cause i love the combat mechanics and climbing ropes and chains etc.

Would be nice indeed and make for a really killer dungeon crawl.