What you need for this book

In order to make best use of the examples in this book, you should use the latest version of CryENGINE. Although much of the knowledge provided in this book can still be applied to older versions of the engine, it is recommended that you use this book with CryENGINE 3.5.2 or above.

The jump to CryENGINE 3.5

The CryENGINE technology has been around for over 10 years and the engine has undergone a lot of changes and improvements over those years.

Crytek released the latest version of the engine, CryENGINE 3, in 2009, which introduced a lot of improvements (for example, a deferred rendering pipeline) and brought the engine to XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3. Along with the addition of countless new rendering features, the Sandbox editor also underwent a big facelift.

Within the lifespan of CryENGINE 3, there has been one big transition: the jump from Version 3.4.5 to Version 3.5.

With the upgrade to Version 3.5, all the changes and improvements made during the development of the critically acclaimed games, Crysis 3 and Ryse, found their way into the CryENGINE 3 SDK.

All the new features that made Crysis 3 and Ryse look so stunning became available to developers with this upgrade. An improved rendering pipeline and the new animation system CryMannequin, which replaced AnimationGraph, are two of the biggest changes done to the engine in Version 3.5.

Most of the topics covered in this book will still be valuable for you if you are working with an older version of the engine. However, some of the newer features discussed in this book, for example the LensFlare editor, might not be available for you if you are working with an older version of the engine.

Other required software

In order to follow the examples in this book, we recommend that you obtain the following software:

  • CryENGINE SDK 3.5.2 or above
  • Photoshop Version 4 or above
  • Notepad++
  • Visual Studio 2010
  • 3D Studio Max 2010
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