Crystal Space, OGRE, or Irrlicht ??

#1 These 3 are all free, but, you get what you pay for... ;)

They are all pretty difficult to use when compared to something like Torque. You get no tools, no support, and you are expected to figure out most things on your own.

If you MUST pick one of the above, I'd go with Irrlicht. (and yes, I've tried them all out ).

#2 Don't quite agree with Joe on this. Ogre has a thriving community and has actually been used in some pretty good commercial games like the Ankh series. It is easy to pick up and provided you know some c++ it is easy to put something together in it. Ogre actually has a more commercial forum crowd than Torque and if you look at their projects page you'll see that free does not in any way equal low quality.

I will say that asking about these engine on the Torque forums is likely to get you some pretty bias replies so I'd go check them out for myself if I were you and form you own opinion.

#3 From the OP's profile, it looks like he is already a Torque SDK owner.

If you are already a Torque owner and you are asking about other platforms, I'll hazard that your project is something that Torque does not do well. Another open source option to look at is Delta3D. It is funded by the US Navy so that they have a cheap (free) platform for developing combat simulations on. It does some things far better than Torque, but Torque is easier to work with and has a much larger community.

#4

Quote:You get no tools, no support, and you are expected to figure out most things on your own.

You are talking of Torque, aren't you? ;-)

#5 Of those three I would definately go with Irrlicht. It's clean as a whistle compared to Torque engine(s) code wise, but is also missing a lot of what Torque gives you. Irrlicht does have some user contributed GUI and scene editors, extensive tutorials to get you started and an active user forum.

#6 My vote goes to irrlicht. it's less complex than ogre and is easier to compile than crystal space.

#7 Irrlicht seemed to be more stable and ready to go out of the box than the other two engines he mentioned. It has the GUI, multiple renderers, etc. and they actually work quite well. It will also compile with less hoops to jump through than OGRE. Also, OGRE is just a Rendering Engine (RE). It's not a game engine. Last time I checked it didn't even have a GUI built in. You had to hack in some other open source OpenGL-based GUI, and DIY. I also don't remember it having any form of scripting. With Irrlicht you can choose IrrLua, and it may possibly have python bindings as well.

All I can say is to try them all and see which one works for you. Still I would deeply consider licensing your engine technology. I found that people getting paid are more likely to make updates and give support to their products.

#8 Thanks for your replies guys. It seems Irrlicht is the winner, plus I was leaning that way also.

I will let you all know how it goes, after about three months of working with it.

#9 I did a comparison between OGRE and CrystalSpace earlier this year, before I got Torque. I didn't investigate Irrlicht very seriously (I don't remember why), but if you're interested in the comparison I did I have a page up at:

www.arcanoria.com/CS-Ogre.php

By the way, I'm using TGEA now, and have no regrets. :)

#10 Oh and also the license for Irrlicht is less restrictive.. It has the zlib/libpng license. The other two are LGPL, which isn't terrible, but could present issues in some cases if you were to modify the engine code.

#11

Quote:Don't quite agree with Joe on this. Ogre has a thriving community and has actually been used in some pretty good commercial games like the Ankh series. It is easy to pick up and provided you know some c++ it is easy to put something together in it. Ogre actually has a more commercial forum crowd than Torque and if you look at their projects page you'll see that free does not in any way equal low quality.

I will say that asking about these engine on the Torque forums is likely to get you some pretty bias replies so I'd go check them out for myself if I were you and form you own opinion.

I agree with this, but also want to add that (1) You need a Vulcan mind meld to actually build OGRE if you're a n00b (2) it doesn't have a GUI and all that stuff because its, first and foremost, a baremetal renderer. If you want a GUI, CrazyEddie's GUI has full support for it.

In comparing these three, one should add C4 to the mix. Its just as powerful as OGRE and without the needless complications (compiling and all that jazz).

#12 I looked at C4, very nice engine for$200. But I need something Linux ready and I wanted it Free.

Irrlicht compiled well, and the tutorials are very easy. But so far all the tools Ive looked at seem to be for windows. Also I don't find there forum as well done as GG's, witch will make it harder to learn.

So much for a three month report, it's only been three days, and I think I will stay with my TGE for now.

#13 And did you check this one? Not Linux ready, but already cross-platform.
Baja engine

#14 Ogre is where it is At.

Extremely well written, excellent solid design.

regardless of what others tell you, a noob can compile the engine.
it is as simple as doing a checkout and running your compiler tools
be those linux or windows tools it is pretty easy in either case.

there are a bazillion addon's and other great community driven assets.

it is Super fast to develop with, you can have a demo up and running in no time.

as for working with the existing components it is too easy.
only a few lines are ever needed to activate something.

being Open Source means it is Better than the commercial crap on the market.
these people do it cause they WANT to do it, not because they are in search of the almighty dollar.

#15

Quote:regardless of what others tell you, a noob can compile the engine.
it is as simple as doing a checkout and running your compiler tools
be those linux or windows tools it is pretty easy in either case.

You just proved my point. Q.E.D.