i for one want them to use all of the latest tech. i want this engine to be as future proof as possible on PC.

speed Tree
Havok Phyics
euphoria
DX11 Features
volumetric lighting and fog
ect.

A new engine AAA game on PC in 2011 should have all these things. Multiplatform or not., develope for the best to have the game looking its best, then just scale it down for consoles. not the other way around like they did with Oblivion and fallout.

Yes. The newer versions of Speedtree look great.

Whilst I love speedtree, I hope bethesda provide the means to model new vegetation. From my understanding, the software required to create trees for these games is pretty expensive. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

I remember everyone complaining about the leaves on the trees in Oblivion: "While facing one of the clusters of leaves on a tree/bush, even when I move around them in a circle - they still face me directly; like the signs/trees/people in Daggerfall and Arena! It's like all the leaves are JPEG's of leaves and not really in 3-D at all....this is supposed to be next-gen gaming?!?" :banghead::swear:

....

That sort of tech is a thing of the past with these new Speedtree versions. If gamesas is using the latest Speedtree software - you can rest assured that Skyrim will deliver THE BEST trees you have ever seen or interacted with. :foodndrink:

SpeedTree seems to be the best what is available. Sure we want it.

But here are my wishes for features:

(1) As much trees/bushes included as possible. Even if not all are
used by vanilla Skyrim. For example, Oblivion modders wanted palm
trees and northern trees. More, realistic landscapes requires
a lot of vegetation types in total. (How many spt files Oblivion has?)

Would it cost too much to license the entire SpeedTreeRT tree library?
Because modders are unable to buy more SpeedTreeRT trees for modding
purposes, all what we need should come with the game.

(2) 360 degree billboard. Useful in CS in which fast rotations
around trees are possible. In game, a player may remember locations
by a skewed tree: one billboard gives incorrect skew from the other
side.

(3) If tree has no billboards, CS or game would generate them
automatically. This would be useful if one succeeds to modify
the SPT files. In Oblivion, generation of tree billboards was
an issue.

(4) Built-in or bundled SpeedTreeCAD in CS, for creating really
unique landscapes. SpeedTreeRT is licensed only for game developers,
and so, the inclusion of SpeedTreeCAD would not be a financial loss
for SpeedTree company.

I could have sworn I heard Todd say in an interview that they are not using Speedtree anymore for Skyrim, but had developed their own system for creating trees and foliage. Specifically, one of the reasons given was that by not using Speedtree, it allowed them do a lot more unique and unusual types of flora. The only middleware he mentioned using was Havok. He said using middleware was helpful and nice, but it made it harder to do unique things they wanted, so as much as possible they were writing their own code, making it easier to make changes and improvements on the fly.

EDIT: Found the quote, it is from a Game Informer http://www.gameinformer.com/games/the_elder_scrolls_v_skyrim/b/xbox360/archive/2011/01/17/the-technology-behind-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim.aspx on the technology of Skyrim:

In previous games the team licensed the SpeedTree middleware to render the forests. For Skyrim, they've created their own platform that allows artists to build whatever kind of trees they want and to dictate how they animate

I thought I heard somewhere that Bethesda ditched Speedtree and hired a team of artists to create more realistic looking flora. If that's the case then hell no. I prefer hand made over random any day. Besides, all the trees we've seen so far look better than the ones in your link.

Edit: Hmm, the "Hand Drawing + Physics" showcase is rather impressive, though I don't think we'll have the ability to obliterate every tree in Skyrim.

You are correct. Skyrim doesn't use speedtree. This thread started before it was confirmed. I don't know why juhana brought it back from the "dead". It's very irrelevant now since we know Skyrim doesn't got speedtree.

Bethesda could only use the technology that was available in 2008.

Oh wow, this thread started in January. :pinch:

Hi everyone.

I have just built a quick top down level for a project I have at college. It's more of an idea at the moment, but I have light shafts and
some nice dynamic shadows going. The trees I made are in speed tree:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/844/speedtree.jpg/



Ooops.

I didnt think they were actually using it in Skyrim?

They're not.

http://www.speedtree.com/sales/#sdk

todd confirmed that this time they wont be using speedtree and every tree will be hand placed

Hand...Drawing...trees. :clap: :drool:

Downloading Free Trial now.

$10,000 dollars per title. Damn... ?_??

Yeah, It's for people expecting to make money off of it. You have to fill out a form to use the free trial...I guess I'll pass, lol.

I said no, and I'm sure more people would if they followed more closely what is being said. Todd has said that they aren't using speedtree because the creation engine allows them to do it BETTER.

If you download UDK, it comes with Speedtree and you can learn how to make an eye-candy forest with Unreal Engine 3. It's not a trial, but its only for Unreal. You can make as many trees as you want though. Win.

http://www.udk.com/download

By the way the editor is separate so you can just make trees randomly in the SpeeTree editor if you want, without going into the Unreal kit. If you have a graphics tablet, it's even better to draw your own branches.

They already stated that they are not using Speedtree.

/thread