Cyberpunk 2077 director says studio's switch from REDengine to Unreal Engine 5 'isn't starting from scratch'

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Cyberpunk 2077 marks the end for CD Projekt's REDengine, the in-house technology that it's been building on since 2011's The Witcher 2. Last year, CD Projekt announced that its next Witcher game and other games going forward—including Cyberpunk's sequel, codename Orion—will be developed with Unreal Engine 5.

In a recent interview with Cyberpunk 2077 director Gabe Amatangelo, I asked about that transition to UE5, especially in light of the cutting edge tech the studio has continued adding to Cyberpunk 2077 (it's the first game to build in Nvidia's new ray tracing Ray Reconstruction, for example). Does all that work essentially die with 2077?

"It isn't starting from scratch," Amatangelo said. "A lot of times when you build these things, like Ray Reconstruction, there are a lot of methodologies you can apply to new engines. Learnings and the strategy of setting up the architecture. And when you look at the things that Unreal does well, the things that REDengine does well—there are some similarities and some gaps, but the brilliant engineers are like 'with all the stuff that we know you crazy creatives want to do in the future, there's less of a delta here. Let's strategically shift to [Unreal Engine 5]'."


Hmm makes me kinda sad we're not keeping Red Engine after all the problems with it seemed solved UNLESS multiplayer is something that they want to add and Red Engine is being difficult with it.

The Cyberpunk team is ready to start developing the sequel, but it likely won't be the first game we see from CD Projekt built on Unreal Engine 4. That's more likely to be The Witcher 4 (or whatever its name ends up being), announced last year.

This has to be a typo right, its UE5 not UE4???
 
One thing is for sure: say goodbye to the modding freedom we had until now.
Not necessarily, I'm not modder, but I think Unreal Engine is maybe more "open" to modding than Red Engine is. There are a bunch of games on Unreal Engine who support mods :)
 
^^ Cyberpunk literally had mods changing body rigs, creating quests, adding gang system etc, unreal engine can allow you to change clothes,upscale textures and skins but not more than that.

Red engine and Creation engine are best for modding.

It will all depend on how CDPR proceeds with modding since now they will hire "industry experts on UE" for their games.
I will not hold out much hope for Cyberpunk level of modding.
 
^^ Cyberpunk literally had mods changing body rigs, creating quests, adding gang system etc, unreal engine can allow you to change clothes,upscale textures and skins but not more than that.
Not true... Just check ARK on Nexus ;)
There are also several "mods" that Wild Card Devs litterally added to the game as DLCs.
One game mode overhaul : Primitive Plus
Several Unofficial and complete maps (ARK maps), which for each of them add new stuffs, new creatures, new bosses, new power, new building parts,...

So no, if modders want, Unreal Engine is really open to modding, maybe even more than Red Engine ever been :D
 
^^ Yeah, I agree with that, Thats why i said "It will all depend on how CDPR proceeds".
They are now locking stuff inside twitch subs, amazon codes in single player game.

Let's hope they get back on track.
 
^^ Cyberpunk literally had mods changing body rigs, creating quests, adding gang system etc, unreal engine can allow you to change clothes,upscale textures and skins but not more than that.

Red engine and Creation engine are best for modding.

It will all depend on how CDPR proceeds with modding since now they will hire "industry experts on UE" for their games.
I will not hold out much hope for Cyberpunk level of modding.
Unfortunately, it doesn't depend on CDPR.

To put it in extremely simple terms, in order to mod an UE game, you need access to the entirety of the uncooked paks for the game. This is because mods need to cooked and packed directly into the game files for them to be read.

This level of access, means that someone could grab an UE game, completely change it into something different, and then proclaim they made a new game.

This is the basic reason of why no one is allowed to properly mod UE games. These are but two threads about this issue, there are many more:


https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/ue4-needs-a-more-friendly-modding-system/89251
 
It all depends on what he means by "starting from scratch". They have the gameplay, camera and all that set and stone. Assuming the sequel is going to be first person with similar gameplay. The next question is whether or not the sequel is in a new city or not, because thats going to determine really how long the sequel takes. One thing I think is for sure though: the sequel is not going to take as long to develop as 2077 did.
 
They should switch to it NOW, and give Phantom Liberty to us that way. Red Engine is clearly trash.
 
This is the basic reason of why no one is allowed to properly mod UE games. These are but two threads about this issue, there are many more:


https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/ue4-needs-a-more-friendly-modding-system/89251
6-8 year old threads? Seriously?
 
Cyberpunk 2077 marks the end for CD Projekt's REDengine, the in-house technology that it's been building on since 2011's The Witcher 2. Last year, CD Projekt announced that its next Witcher game and other games going forward—including Cyberpunk's sequel, codename Orion—will be developed with Unreal Engine 5.

In a recent interview with Cyberpunk 2077 director Gabe Amatangelo, I asked about that transition to UE5, especially in light of the cutting edge tech the studio has continued adding to Cyberpunk 2077 (it's the first game to build in Nvidia's new ray tracing Ray Reconstruction, for example). Does all that work essentially die with 2077?

"It isn't starting from scratch," Amatangelo said. "A lot of times when you build these things, like Ray Reconstruction, there are a lot of methodologies you can apply to new engines. Learnings and the strategy of setting up the architecture. And when you look at the things that Unreal does well, the things that REDengine does well—there are some similarities and some gaps, but the brilliant engineers are like 'with all the stuff that we know you crazy creatives want to do in the future, there's less of a delta here. Let's strategically shift to [Unreal Engine 5]'."


Hmm makes me kinda sad we're not keeping Red Engine after all the problems with it seemed solved UNLESS multiplayer is something that they want to add and Red Engine is being difficult with it.

The Cyberpunk team is ready to start developing the sequel, but it likely won't be the first game we see from CD Projekt built on Unreal Engine 4. That's more likely to be The Witcher 4 (or whatever its name ends up being), announced last year.

This has to be a typo, right? It's UE5, not UE4.
CDPR leaving the red engine right when they mastered it is such a letdown. I can't recall a single unique title made on Unreal Engine. The game play and world building in cyberpunk is top tier considering it was their first fps game. I'm saying it now Leaving the red engine is a mistake. Bg3, red dead redemption, dark souls, elden ring etc etc. all great game all made on proprietary engines.
 
CDPR leaving the red engine right when they mastered it is such a letdown. I can't recall a single unique title made on Unreal Engine. The game play and world building in cyberpunk is top tier considering it was their first fps game. I'm saying it now Leaving the red engine is a mistake. Bg3, red dead redemption, dark souls, elden ring etc etc. all great game all made on proprietary engines.

Just because you can't think of anything unique on Unreal doesn't mean there aren't. There are plenty

Star Wars: Jedi survivor - UE4
Hellblade Senua's sacrifice - UE4
The entire Borderlands series - UE4
Dragon Ball Fighter Z - UE4
The FF7 remake - UE4
Bioshock series - UE3/4

The list goes on. Simply put, it's one of the most used engines around, it's powerful and it's easy to work with.

If CDPR is able to adapt it to their style of games, I have no doubt they'll do amazing things with it. Considering they signed a 15 years partnership, I'm assuming they explored the possibilities already and are confident they can adapt it to their needs.
 
I can get newer ones if you want. Nothing has changed when it comes to UE modding, aka, best you can do it change a hair, or modify a jacket. You can also feel free to check for yourself, or go see how modding in UE looks out there.

Also, you might want to check what is being added to the Unreal Engine... https://wccftech.com/denuvo-unreal-engine-protection/
Here are some proposed solutions to making certain portions of the game accessible for modding:
There's a non-zero chance that they are able to implement something with this approach, given their previous access to the Witcher's toolset and Redmod.

Additionally; that does not say that Denuvo is baked in. Developers will have the option to use it. If CDPR put 2077 out DRM free, and DRM free has been GOG's operational standard and selling point since Day 0, there is no evidence to suggest they will add --not just DRM -- but perhaps the most infamous and malignant DRM solution of the current generation, to their flagship title; noting that their reputation can only handle so much more blowback after the 2077 arc.

In short, Time Will Tell, but it's probably going to be fine. Theres a bigger chance of losing modding than there is of them adding DRM at any rate.
 
Just because you can't think of anything unique on Unreal doesn't mean there aren't. There are plenty

Star Wars: Jedi survivor - UE4
Hellblade Senua's sacrifice - UE4
The entire Borderlands series - UE4
Dragon Ball Fighter Z - UE4
The FF7 remake - UE4
Bioshock series - UE3/4

The list goes on. Simply put, it's one of the most used engines around, it's powerful and it's easy to work with.
I just want to add Hogwarts Legacy, because it's more "RPGish" :)
Beside, Red Engine might be one of the reasons why even after 3 years, CDPR keep struggling to fix bug on Cyberpunk...
 
I just want to add Hogwarts Legacy, because it's more "RPGish" :)
Beside, Red Engine might be one of the reasons why even after 3 years, CDPR keep struggling to fix bug on Cyberpunk...

Well, I'd argue that FF7 remake and Jedi Survivor definitely land into the RPG category.

But you are entirely right, Hogwarts is definitely another great UE game. I'm genuinely surprised I didn't remember it considering I thought it was great.

And, yes, there is no doubt in my mind that the REDengine is why things are the way they are today. Building and maintaining an engine is no easy task.
 
Well, I'd argue that FF7 remake and Jedi Survivor definitely land into the RPG category.

But you are entirely right, Hogwarts is definitely another great UE game. I'm genuinely surprised I didn't remember it considering I thought it was great.
Ok, I didn't play both, yet :)
FF7 Remake no doubt, but I guess Fallen Order misleaded me, which I wouldn't consider as an RPG.
 
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