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'''Star Engine''' is the unofficial name of [[Star Citizen]]'s game engine.<ref name="GN-20160924-CR_CitCon16">[http://www.gamersnexus.net/gg/2613-chris-roberts-on-star-citizen-procedural-planets-alpha3-citizencon Gamers Nexus - Interview with Chris Roberts, summary]</ref> Originally it is a heavily refactored version of [[CryEngine|CryEngine 3]] from Crytek used since the first [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpgUuGunU0o in-engine video] released at the start of the [[Crowdfunding campaign]]. More specifically, the last update integrated into Star Citizen's code was patch 3.8.<ref name="GN-20160930-ST_64bitEngine">[http://www.gamersnexus.net/gg/2622-star-citizen-sean-tracy-64bit-engine-tech-edge-blending Gamers Nexus - Interview with Sean Tracy, summary]</ref>

On 2016-12-23, CIG announced with the release of [[Star Citizen Alpha 2.6.0]] its move to {{WP|ref=no|Amazon_Lumberyard}} game-engine (which is also based on CryEngine 3.8) in order to utilize the integrated Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Cloud-Computing features "to support next generation online gaming" {{RSIForumDiscussion|ref=yes|discnum=364217|text=Clarification by Chris Roberts on the switch to Lumberyard}}. It is not known which version of Lumberyard is currently integrated in Star Engine and how CIG will handle future iterations (as of November 2016, the current version of Lumberyard is ''Beta 1.6'').

Engine development is still driven within the CIG studio structure with some of former Crytek employees supervising the project{{fact}}.

== Features ==
{{Editorial Note|Although CIG is very open about their development process, not all details on internal processes and work on the engine are released to the public. The following list contains features that are described in interviews, Monthly Reports or dev comments. The names can differ from the actual name internally used and the feature funtionality should always be considered as not fully accurate. Additionally, some are already integrated CryEngine 3.8 and/or Lumberyard features - for a list see {{WP|ref=no|CryEngine}}}}
Here's a list of features added by CIG since CryEngine 3.8.

=== Notable Tech ===
*[[Large World]] (64bit world space coordinates)
*[[Object Container Streaming]]
*[[Mega Map]]
*[[Zone System]]
*[[Local Physics Grids]]
*[[Room System]]
*[[Camera Relative Rendering]] <ref name="MR-201409" />
*[[Procedurally Generated Planets]]
*[[PBR]] (Physically Based Rendering)
*The Sun as a physical object (possibility of Binary Star Systems or exploding ships in orbit casting light to the planet surface) <ref name="GN-20160924-CR_CitCon16" />
*[[Subsumption AI]] <ref name="Mr-201410">[https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14191-Monthly-Report-September-2014 Monthly Report Sept 2014]</ref>
*[[Unified First- & Third-Person animations]]
*[[Unique Global Entity ID]] <ref name="MR-201411">[https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14345-Monthly-Report-November Monthly Report Nov 2014]</ref>
*Generic Instance Manager <ref name="MR-201504">[https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14690-Monthly-Report Monthly Report April 2015]</ref>
*Universe Simulator <ref name="MR-201504" />
*Persistence (Player Info Server, Presence Server, HUB Server and Player Persistence) <ref name="MR-201504" />
*[[Item Port System]] <ref name="MR-201505">[https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14758-Monthly-Report Monthly Report May 2015]</ref>
*[[StarNetwork]]
*GOST (Game Object State) (reworked to newer system<ref name="MR-201409">[https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14278-Monthly-Report-October-2014 Monthly Report Oct 2014]</ref>)
*"Grabby Hands" - now integrated into the Cargo system and Loot system,<ref name="MR-201504" /><ref>[http://imperialnews.network/2016/09/september-subscriber-town-hall-summary/ Subscriber's Town Hall with Austin Developers]</ref> initial system for grabbing and moving objects (e.g. cargo) and initially set to be released in the (later delayed) [[Astro Arena]] or [[SATABall]] FPS game mode
*Multi-LayerBlend - character shader tech <ref name="Mr-201406">[https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14814-Monthly-Report Monthly Report June 2015]</ref>
*iPredictor (movement prediction) system <ref name="MR-201504" />
*Diffusion (cloud-oriented back-end service architecture)

=== Rendering ===

*Object space shader damage (allows 4 different types of damage to be permanently inflicted on ships, including cutting holes, and blended seamlessly into the base shading)
*Real time environment-probe capture and compression (avoids needing to bake probes in space and on planets)
*Image based lens flares (use entire source image to simulate 4 different physically based lens distortions per colour channel on up to 20 individual elements)
*Physically based bloom (wide exponential kernel based purely on light intensity)
*Human eye exposure simulation (capture histogram of light intensity from both screen and surroundings, isolate range of light we intend to focus on, simulate both pupil and photo-pigment reactions for quick and slow reactions)
*Major improvements to planar lights (far more physical basis now which results in major quality improvements)
*Intelligent mesh-merging system (repeatedly searches for best bang-for-buck mesh merge opportunity in a scene until we hit a memory limit)
*Upgraded volumetric fog (e.g. support for planar lights, light-boxes, env-probe priority sorting)
*Major upgrade to shadow pool system (all lights share one giant pool for better dynamic resolution scaling, shadows can be cached between frames for better performance)
*Render target pooling (shares memory between internal textures used in the renderer to vastly reduce VRAM usage)
*Render to texture pipeline (ability to render secondary viewports with full or limited feature set to then be used as textures in the primary scene, e.g. video comms or holograms)
*Tiled lighting upgrades (use rasterization light culling for greater efficiency, particle support)
*Density based LOD algorithm (LODs change based on polygon density to ensure consistent appearance, less artist intervention, and promote more optimal art assets with fewer sub-pixel polygons)
*GGX normal map filtering (gloss adjusted in mip-chain to best fit of our GGX lighting model to give the same results as super sampled normals)
*Camera relative rendering (allows 64bit world without incurring any rendering performance hit by maintaining 32bit precision for rendering)
*GPU Particle System (built from the ground up for efficiency, distinct from Lumberyards and CryEngine's GPU particle systems)
*Various improvements to transparency sorting (generalized system, allow depth of field and motion blur to not effect nearby in-focus objects, order independent transparency for specific shaders such as hair)
*Artist friendly profiler (captures statistics per art-team, and per area of the level allowing accurate breakdowns and quick diagnosing of performance issues)
*Physically based atmospheric scattering
*Hierarchical object management (efficient searches and culling, local coordinate frames for things like ships inside ships on planets which are rotating etc)<ref>{{Cite RSI|url=spectrum/community/SC/forum/50259/thread/engine-question/250379|text=Ali Brown comments on Star Engine renderer on Spectrum}}</ref>

==== Tech included in [[Star Citizen Alpha 3.0.0]] <ref name="CitizenCon 2017">CitizenCon 2017 Graphics Engineering Panel "Beyond the Cutting Edge"</ref> ====

*P4K System - improved data handling system
*Planetary Rotation
*Temporal Supersampling (TSAA) - previously rendered frames are used to improve the anti-aliasing results on the new frame
*Improved Screen Space Directional Occlusion (SSDO)
*New Filmic Tone Mapping Curve (ACES)
*PBR Glass - Glass (e.g. cockpits) can be rendered with phyiscs-based distortions, cracks, reflections and chromatic effects

=== Future Planned features (as of October 2017)<ref name="CitizenCon 2017" />===

'''Short term'''

*Terrain Occlusion & Shadowing
*Gameplay Driven Material Shaders
*"Space Fog" (Gas Clouds in e.g. asteroid fields)
*Improved Hair
*New Shield Effect
*Depth of Field Improvements
*Colour Processing Improvements
*New Motion Blur Implementation
*Support for Complex Shading Models

'''Mid/Long term goals'''

*Object Container Streaming support on the low level/system side
*Improved Planet Effects (shadows, clouds, etc.)
*Improved Space Effects (stars, sun, rings, etc.)
*Dynamic Global Illumination
*Batching of physics-thread
*Batching of render-thread
*Vulcan backend support

== Tools & 3rd-Party Software ==

*Kythera - AI middleware <ref name="SC kythera">[http://kythera.ai/case-studies/star-citizen ''Kythera'' by Moon Collider]</ref>
*Vulkan API - 3D graphics and compute API {{RSIForumComment|ref=yes|comnum=7581676|text=Ali Brown (Director of Graphics Engineering) comment about Vulkan}}
*Wwise - Sound Engine {{WP|Wwise}}
*FMOD - (deprecated) Sound Engine <ref name="MR-201409" />
*DataForge {{fact}} - Data management, Ship & Weapons balancing <ref name="MR-201409" />
*StoryForge - Dialogue and Conversations system, built upon DataForge <ref name="MR-201411" />
*VERS 3D (formerly known as PlanetEd) - Editor for creating planets <ref>[https://youtu.be/fDROliuDczo?t=659 PlanetEd reference]</ref>
*System Layout Tool - Star system layout and design <ref name="Mr-201410" />
*Room Management System - (deprecated) System for players to manage their hangars; now changed and integrated in Item Port System <ref name="MR-201409" />

== List of Videos on the Star Engine ==

[https://youtu.be/kO9dEq3YMWc Gamers Nexus - Video Interview with Chris Roberts on Engine Architecture & Zoning Optimization (2015)]

[https://youtu.be/j0r6aOasFEQ Gamers Nexus - Video Interview with Chris Roberts on Instancing & Player Counts (2015)]

[https://youtu.be/kGZJP5oVUn8 Gamers Nexus - Video Interview with Chris Roberts on Procedural Generation (2014)]

[https://youtu.be/TbWh5inW7Fw Gamers Nexus - Video Interview with Chris Roberts on Character Tech, Weather System, & Engine Architecture (2016)]

[https://youtu.be/k_jq_dCW6Jc Gamers Nexus - Video Interview with Sean Tracy on CPU thread management, Jobs System, Character Technology, Lighting, sun/planet movement, Authoring Tools & AI (2016)]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TlLNCyVudc Gamers Nexus - Video Interview with Sean Tracy on Parallax Occlusion Mapping for Biomes edge-blending; Spring Tension and Inverse Kinematics for the Rover & Ships (2016)]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDROliuDczo Gamers Nexus - Video Interview with Chris Roberts on Procedural Planets V2 (2016)]

[https://youtu.be/OB_AI9ukSp8 Gamers Nexus - Video Interview with Sean Tracy on 64-bit Engine Tech & Procedural Edge Blending (2016)]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahGLguBQBQ8 Gamers Nexus - CitizenCon 2016 PlanetEd tool]

[https://youtu.be/XD9_L5o4mhQ Chris Roberts on DX12 & Vulkan support]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpgUuGunU0o Squadron 42 Trailer (2012)]

== See also ==
* {{Link RSI|url=https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/50259/thread/cryengine-vs-starengine/3135119|text=Clive Johnson's comment on Star Engine modifications on top of CryEngine/Lumberyard}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Short description|Game engine that power Star Citizen}}

[[Category:Development]]

Star Engine - Revision history

PabloEscobar at 16:31, 6 March 2024

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