C4 engine vs Torque

#1 Buy both, then let us know!

i think Torque's strong point is the scripting system. i dont think c4 has that, but i could be wrong.

#2 If you want to shaders and stuff like thatyou might want to compare that to TSE.
Download both demos, see which you like more. (TSE isnt complete yet)

#3 There's been a thread about this already.

#4 Hey Derek,

I own both engines but i do not own TSE, only TGE (with lighting kit). I can't really make a fair comparison between TSE & C4. However, I will tell you the most noticable points i've discovered in TGE & C4...

C4

1) The first most obvious difference that hits you straight away is the rendering. The C4 demo level looks fantastic, it shows off real-time fluid surface simulation, real-time cloth simulation, bump-mapped reflection and refraction, just to name a few things.

IMAGE CAN BE FOUND ON C4 WEBPAGE

2) Lighting & shadowing are amongst the best I've ever seen. Comparable to engines like the Source Engine (Half Life 2, Fear).

IMAGE CAN BE FOUND ON C4 WEBPAGE

3) Collision is amazing! The screenshot below is of a stress test which you can load up if you own the engine. There's 120 of those green little balls in that room and they all bounce around the room colliding with everything, including each other. No collisions are missed regardless of how fast an object is moving.

IMAGE CAN BE FOUND ON C4 WEBPAGE

4) Sound is easy to use and bug free. Complete support for EAX environmental audio effects including reverberation and occlusion.

5) Upgrades are constant & consistent. Things are done right the first time, ie no hacked in code.

6) Not setup like Torque in the sense that you can just start 'modding' from a startup kit. Requires a sound knowledge of programming to get started.

TLK 1.4

1) Community support is probably the best there is. Plenty of resources, examples, screenshots, etc to get the creative spark burning.

2) Gui editor is extremely handy & makes GUI creation very simple & fast.

3) Startup kits provided with engine can have a basic prototype of your game up and running in next to no time.

4) Sound can be a nightmare to work with, expect plenty of random unexplained mishaps.

5) Collision needs improvement, especially where vehicles are concerned. Very easy to get stuck if you get a little too extravagent with flying vehicles.

6) Outdated rendering techniques really emphasise the age of the engine. Good artwork goes a long way but can only go so far.

Pretty fair statements on both engines I would say. As far as which engine you should be using that's a matter of personal preference.

I use both engines for their differing qualities...

Torque because I've been using it for the better part of 3 years now and feel quite comfortable using it. Got two projects on the go, one of which is nearing completion and will be released for free.

C4 because I have a desire to make a modern fps with lots of eye candy.

Hope this gives you a little insight and understanding of the differences between the two engines.

#5 Tim gave some excellent points on the comparison between TGE/TLK 1.4 and C4.

The key difference is one of hardware specificity. C4 is a high-end engine that requires a high-end computer. Much like TSE.

TSE has massive terrain rendering whereas C4's is based around highly detailed, smaller environments.

They're both nice engines. But you'll have to be a (more than) competant C++ programmer to work with either one.

#6

Quote:
They're both nice engines. But you'll have to be a (more than) competant C++ programmer to work with either one.

I disagree with you David. You can work in scripts to a great extent and I knew almost no C++ when I started, yet I can do as much as I want to in TGE, now.. 2 years later.

#7 Stefan - You realize he's talking about TSE, right ?

EDIT: Isn't he? If not, I agree with Stefan.

#8 Dunno, I guess. (: He said Torque so I just commented on what's already there.
It's not fair to compare anything to TSE yet as it's not complete, IMO.

Edit: Ah gotcha, yeah David spoke about TSE. Sorry.

#9 C4 isn't complete yet either by the way, and development on it commenced after TSE. If one owned both engines and had no bias either way a fair comparison could be done. That's my opinion.

#10 Yes, Stefan, you can do an amazing amount with TS in both TGE and TSE. But to get to the meat of feature utilization in both C4 and TSE in their current incarnations, you'll be hitting the C++ side of the coin.

But, I also have not used either one to full extent, though. I do own licenses to both and I have worked with both. But as to whether I can sit and do a feature-for-feature comparison, I can't really do that. I would be much better at say offering an A6/TGE/Unity comparison as I have used them more extensively. I keep tabs on the next generation of engine technologies, but I also know that most of any market that I target myself will have a wider range of hardware.

#11 Of course, but that's different from "being able to work with them" - of which code simply is not needed much. To get the *meat* of the features, you'll need code.

#12 An advanced scripter can also implement a large number of camera paths to simulate the advanced camera resource if necessary, but the advanced camera resource adds the functionality right into the C++ source. So it's a bit of both, depending on what you need the engine to do.

C4 requires a good amount more source use than stock TSE, much like Irrlicht.

#13 You don't have to be more then competent to implement resources involving c++... You just have to be able to read directions.

#14 No. but you have to be more than competant to debug resources from V12/1.2/1.3/1.4 for integration into your own codebase which may or may not include various other resources from a variety of TGE versions. Sometimes resources don't automagically work, and without C++ experience, it can be extremely frustrating to debug exactly what is going wrong.

#15 C4 and TORQUE are both good, and have the same price.

Are there engine similar to the two?

maybe there is some eingine with similar price ,but have some other characteristic.

#16 @Tim how easy or hard is the c4 engine to work with compared to tge ?.
I ask because to get lights and shadows like c4 would lift my game alot.

#17 A better comparison would be Irrlicht and C4. C4 is a SDK within which you program your game from the ground up. You will need a programmer on your team. TSE, on the other hand, has a number of built-in tools like TGE, but because of its EA status, they are not as fully fleshed out. You will have to build using the framework in C4. In TSE, the base framework is supplied.

But again, this is a cursory view of both engines. I've simply played with what is there in the basics and watched the commentary from the community. But I have learned an amazing amount from both. Just not knowledge that is directly applicable to "will this engine or that engine make my game better/easier/etc".

#18 I (briefly) checked out the demo. Those screenshots look considerably better than what I saw up close in first person view. TGE 1.4 is obviously a much stronger game engine and better community... and Ogre3D has a better rendering engine and community. C4 isn't interesting.

I am anxious to see TSE.

-Josh Ritter
Prairie Games, Inc

#19 I can't wait to see MoM NextGen with ATLAS terrain.

#20 Yea At first glance I was like hey... what is this.

but after a test run on my work pc and an examination in the dep walker of the dll and exe.
im like.. hmm.

as Josh said, looked like crap on my work pc.