CryEngine 3 Master Thread

[e-freak]

As it has gone public finally, here's the according Master Thread for technical questions and tips for the CryEngine 3.

Links to start with:



Free SDK (now with DX11 support, probably no need for C2 SDK anymore, unless you want a C2 Mod)
http://www.crydev.net/newspage.php?news=88053



Download of Crysis 2 SDK Version here: (Not Standalone!!!)
http://www.crymod.com/dm_eds/download_detail.php?id=3
You can find the official documentation here:
http://sdk.crymod.com/dashboard.action (http://sdk.crymod.com/dashboard.action%3Cbr%20/%3E%0A%3Cbr%20/%3E)
Crysis 2 DirectX11 Packages (HighRes Textures PAKs and Tesselation Assets)
http://www.mycrysis.com/dx11

Here's an awesome compilation made by Ark, Thanks so much for doing this!

Here's a list of Tutorials that I've compiled. There mainly from Bookmarks that I have collected over the years. I have some more Bookmarked somewhere, that are on a backup, mostly SE2/CE2.

A few of them are for Sandbox 2/Cryengine 2, a lot of them still apply to the new Cryengine 3 as far as i can see.


Official Docs

Cryengine 3 Free SDK - Community - http://freesdk.crydev.net/display/COMMUNITY/Home
Cryengine 3 Free SDK - Console Commands - http://freesdk.crydev.net/display/CRYAUTOGEN/Home
Cryengine 3 Free SDK - Cryengine Free - http://freesdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC8/Home
Cryengine 3 Free SDK - Sandbox Manual - http://freesdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC2/Home
Cryengine 3 Free SDK - Asset Creation - http://freesdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC3/Home
Cryengine 3 Free SDK - Technical Documentation - http://freesdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC4/Home
Cryengine 3 Free SDK - Scripting Manual - http://freesdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC5/Home

Sample Assets - http://www.crydev.net/dm_eds/files/General_Downloads/CryENGINE_FreeSDK_v3_3_5_Sample_Assets.zip

Crysis 2 SDK - SDK Fundamentals - http://sdk.crydev.net/display/modsdk/Home
Crysis 2 SDK - Sandbox Manual - http://sdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC21/Home
Crysis 2 SDK - Asset Creation - http://sdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC3/Home
Crysis 2 SDK - Scripting Manual - http://sdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC5/Home

Cryengine 2 SDK - Sandbox Manual - http://www.crydev.net/wiki/index.php/Category:Official:Sandbox2_Manual
Cryengine 2 SDK - Asset Creation - http://www.crydev.net/wiki/index.php/Category:Official:Asset_Creation
Cryengine 2 SDK - Community Tutorials - http://www.crydev.net/wiki/index.php/Community_Documentation_Index
Cryengine 2 SDK - Sandbox and Asset Creation Docs - http://doc.crydev.net/
Cryengine 2 SDK - Official Sandbox 2 Tutorials - http://www.veoh.com/list/c/officialSB2Tuts


Sandbox 2/3 Editor

Written

Parallax Occlusion Mapping in Cryengine 3 - http://www.simonfuchs.net/folio/tut02_pom.htm
Glass in Cryengine 3 - http://www.simonfuchs.net/folio/tut03_creating_realistic_glass.htm
Decals in Cryengine 3 - http://www.simonfuchs.net/folio/tut04_decals.htm
Various tutorials for Sandbox 2 Editor - http://maxedgaming.com/tutorials/kb_categorie.php?id=2
More various tutorials for Sandbox 2 Editor - http://konakona.nbtxathcx.net/sb2/index.php
Porting Crysis/Crysis Wars maps to Crysis 2 - http://www.crymod.com/viewtopic.php?f=291&t=68879&sid=95e92aebc1d78e9cf5b4fc475570ac56
Custom Boids - http://www.n-a-i-m-a.com/?page_id=162

Videos

27 Videos covering various aspects of Sandbox Editor 3 - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFD00C571688BB20D&feature=plcp
AI Path Helicopter - http://vimeo.com/6561754
Materials - http://vimeo.com/2120458
Terrain - http://vimeo.com/29622990
VEOH Crymod Channel: Multiple Videos on Sandbox 2 Editor http://www.veoh.com/list/c/TutorialChannel
Weather, Lightning Storm and Sound - Cryengine 3 Tutorial - Weather, Lightning Storm and Sound - YouTube
Caves - Cryengine 3 Tutorial - Creating Caves - YouTube
Character Editor (1/2) - CryEngine 2 Tutorials: Character Editor Part 1 - YouTube
Character Editor (2/2) - CryEngine 2 Tutorials: Character Editor Part 2 - YouTube
Multiple Videos on the Sandbox Editor - http://www.youtube.com/user/Xanthochori/search?query=crysis
12 Videos covering various aspects of Sandbox 3 - http://www.crydev.net/newspage.php?news=80741
Space Scene - http://www.crydev.net/viewtopic.php?f=321&p=803297
Realistic Terrain (Maya, Mudbox, Word Machine 2 and Sandbox) - http://www.crydev.net/newspage.php?news=76145
Setting up Multiplayer - http://www.crydev.net/viewtopic.php?f=291&t=71057
Solids - http://www.crydev.net/newspage.php?news=70471
Decals in Cryengine 3 - http://eat3d.com/free/cryengine3_decals
Glass in Cryengine 3 - http://eat3d.com/free/cryengine3_glass
Parallax Occlusion Mapping in Cryengine - http://www.3dmotive.com/training/free/parallax-occlusion-in-cryengine-3/?follow=true
World of Level Design Tutorials covering Sandbox 3 Editor - http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categories/cat_cryengine_3_sdk.php
Terrain Layers and POM - http://www.crydev.net/newspage.php?news=64323
Importing Textures without Photoshop/Crytiff - Cryengine 3 SDK Texture import Without Photoshop and Crytiff plugin tutorial - YouTube
Various Tutorials on Cryengine 2/3 - http://dorten.net/Downloads/Tuts/
Basic AI - http://www.rancid1.com/tophat/whats-next/
Custom Weapons and Equipment - http://www.crymod.com/viewtopic.php?f=291&t=70747&sid=95e92aebc1d78e9cf5b4fc475570ac56

Paid

Sandbox CookBook http://www.crydev.net/newspage.php?news=69255 -
EAT3D Cryengine 3 - Volume 1 - An Introduction and Application (1/3) - http://eat3d.com/cry3_intro_vol1
EAT3D Cryengine 3 - Volume 2 - An Introduction and Application (2/3) - http://eat3d.com/cry3_intro_vol2
EAT3D Cryengine 3 - Volume 3 - An Introduction and Application (3/3) - http://eat3d.com/cry3_intro_vol3


3ds Max

Written

Getting Stearted: Max to Cryengine - http://www.simonfuchs.net/folio/tut01_getting_started.htm
Cloth - http://www.crydev.net/viewtopic.php?t=35508

Videos

Full Body Animation - http://vimeo.com/1431695
Building modeling and export (1/3) - http://vimeo.com/8249572
Building modeling and export (2/3) - http://vimeo.com/9239074
Weapon Setup and Export - http://vimeo.com/6952715
Weapon Rigging, Animating and Export - http://vimeo.com/28498622
Material Export (1/2) - http://vimeo.com/4174072
Material Export (2/2) - http://vimeo.com/4174535
Importing Custom Characters, Rigs and Animations (1/3) - Part 1 - Importing Custom Characters, Rig, and Animations - YouTube
Importing Custom Characters, Rigs and Animations (2/3) - Part 2 - Importing Custom Characters, Rig, and Animations - YouTube
Importing Custom Characters, Rigs and Animations (3/3) - Part 3 - Importing Custom Characters, Rig, and Animations - YouTube
MAX custom Textures and Models (1/2) - Cry Engine 3 Tutorial - 3ds Max Custom Models and Textures - YouTube
MAX custom Textures and Models (2/2) - Cry Engine 3 Tutorial - 3ds Max Custom Models and Textures (Part 2) - YouTube
MAX Vegetation (1/2) - CryEngine 3 Custom 3d Vegetation using 3ds Max (Part 1) - YouTube
MAX Vegetation (2/2) - CryEngine 3 Custom 3d Vegetation using 3ds Max (Part 2) - YouTube
Models, Textures and Vegetation - 01) Cryengine 3 Tutorial - Beginner 3ds Max Models, Textures, and Vegetation - YouTube
Replacing Character Models - 03) Cryengine 3 Tutorial - Import / Replace Player Character Model - FREE COOKBOOK (Claimed) - YouTube
Procedural Destruction - http://www.crymod.com/viewtopic.php?f=291&t=81827&sid=95e92aebc1d78e9cf5b4fc475570ac56
Exporting models from Max - http://maxedgaming.com/tutorials/crysis/assets/exporting-models-from-3dsmax-into-cryengine-2-118.html
MAX to Cryengine 3 Asset Pipeline - http://eat3d.com/free/cryengine_3dsmax
Max Weapon Rigging and Skinning - http://www.crymod.com/viewtopic.php?f=291&t=70815&sid=95e92aebc1d78e9cf5b4fc475570ac56


XSI

Written

Exporting Materials from XSI - http://maxedgaming.com/tutorials/crysis/assets/how-to-make-exportable-materials-in-xsi-185.html
Material Options from XSI - http://maxedgaming.com/tutorials/crysis/assets/xsi-material-options-for-cryengine-2-181.html
Exporting Models from XSI - http://maxedgaming.com/tutorials/crysis/assets/exporting-with-xsi-mod-tool-24.html

Videos

Animations - http://vimeo.com/channels/45102#3820864
Pickable Objects - http://vimeo.com/channels/45102#3999768
Pickable Objects v1.5 - http://vimeo.com/channels/45102#4444442
XSI Parenting - http://vimeo.com/channels/45102#4014043
Bone Setup - http://vimeo.com/channels/45102#4710253
Multiple Animations - http://vimeo.com/15923750
XSI Export 101 - http://vimeo.com/5125205
XSI Animation (1/2) - http://vimeo.com/6183375
XSI Animation (2/2) - http://vimeo.com/6182627
XSI LOD's and Collisions - http://vimeo.com/6290887
XSI custom Textures and Models (1/4) - Cryengine 3 Tutorial - (Part 1: First Map) Custom Textures and Models using XSI Mod Tool - YouTube
SI custom Textures and Models (2/4) - Cryengine 3 Tutorial - (Part 2: Custom Textures) Custom Textures and Models using XSI Mod Tool - YouTube X
XSI custom Textures and Models (3/4) - Cryengine 3 Tutorial - (Part 2.5: Better Textures) Custom Textures and Models using XSI Mod Tool - YouTube
XSI custom Textures and Models (4/4) - Cryengine 3 Tutorial - (Part 3: Custom Models) Custom Textures and Models using Softimage Mod Tool - YouTube


Maya

Written

Custom Grass - http://joopson3d.tumblr.com/post/9075397626/importing-custom-grasses-or-foliage-into-cryengine-3

Videos

Rigging for Cryengine - http://vimeo.com/23987112
Weapon Exporting - http://www.rancid1.com/cdk/cdk-tutorial-weapon-pipeline
Enhanced Maya Exporter - http://www.crydev.net/newspage.php?news=71279
Custom Grass - Cryengine 3 Custom grass tutorial - YouTube
Maya First Person Arms Rig - http://www.rancid1.com/cdk/maya-and-the-cdk


Photoshop

Written

Exporting .dds for Cryengine - http://maxedgaming.com/tutorials/crysis/assets/creating-materials-for-cryengine-2-82.html


SketchUp

Videos

SketchUp for Cryengine - http://www.crydev.net/newspage.php?news=72791


C++

Videos

Implementing a 3rd person camera - 02) Cryengine 3 Tutorial - Third Person View / Compile C++ / FREE FARCRY + FARCRY 2 - YouTube -


Related Websites

CryDev Forums - http://www.crymod.com/forum.php
CryDev Tutorial Forum - http://www.crymod.com/viewforum.php?f=291
A good run through on the unique features in CE3 - http://www.crymod.com/viewtopic.php?f=126&t=69239


I'll try to keep this updated with any new tutorials that become available and see if i can find my backed up bookmarks.

Please let me know if any go missing/down/wrongly linked and I'll try my best to fix them.

[Ark]

Why no XSI support like the original game? Do the original XSI exporters still work from Crysis?

[e-freak]

XSI support is on hold (at least for now). I don't know if it works, cause I've never worked in-depth with the C1 XSI Exporter but if you can define the RC.exe (or it's respective folder) then you might be able to run that with the CE3 Exporter.

Are you trying to compile static or skeletal meshes?

[Ark]

Mainly cgf/cga files. I'll try the RC stuff, thanks for the help.

[e-freak]

Someone on Crymod claimed that it is still possible to use XSI, although you might need Crysis Wars installed to use its old RC (which in most cases still works for CGFs and CGAs).

http://www.crymod.com/viewtopic.php?f=315&t=68591

[Ark]

Cheers, i'll give that a shot.

[[HP]]

Awesome, we'll aid as much as we can. :)

[HAL]

Awesome guys!

Can I somehow sync my max Unit scale with the exporter? I ran into the issue that upon exporting a mesh which has a "normal" size in max (set to metric) my mesh is really really tiny in the sandbox after the export. In addition the exporter rebuilds the mesh kinda wonky due to the small size.

[e-freak]

If you set Max to Centimeters it should work just fine (if you want to make sure what it is, rescale the Object in the Editor and basically take the multiplier to figure out which scale you need to set max to. I once forgot that I had Inches on so after rescaling I saw that it was 2.5 times smaller)

[[HP]]

Yes, we use either cm or meters to work with. A regular human is 180cm's tall, so just make a block with that height for reference scale before exporting.

(And always reset your xform before exporting, I recommend even assigning it to a hotkey)

[HAL]

thank you :)

[HAL]

New question here.

I want to export a mesh from max to crysis 2 sandbox.

The mesh consists of one main object and 4 subobjects assigned to it via schematic view.

For every part I have set up a material in max as a multi material.
The material with the sub materials exports fine from max;

But I just cant assign them to the different parts because they are all merged.



export files per node and merge all nodes unchecked.


I have my materials set up properly, I get it into sandbox fine, but still.. whether I export just the main mesh and have the other ones exported via hirarchy or I selected all of them in the object export Its still one object, I can only assign one material, the mesh isnt divided into subojects or something.

Checking/unchecking merge all nodes doesnt change anything besides the yellow wireframe stuff moving one meter unit up if I uncheck merge all nodes.

e:// forgot material ids and the crytekshader... which didnt change anything ... :(

Should this work or cant this work anyway?


SOLVED

something was messed up with the material ids

[Ark]

Is it still possible to create full volumetric lights like in the SB2?

I've applied both a light-shape texture and a material from the lightbeams folder to the light, yet the actual volumetric effect isn't visable.

Heres how i used to do it in SB2: http://www.crymod.com/wiki/index.php/How_To_Create_Light_Beams

EDIT: I managed to get it sorted thanks so some guys over at crymod. For anyone else that would like to know, you have to enable r_pointslightshafts 1 and enable PostEffect on the light. Although it doesn't look properly implemented yet as it doesn't respect projection textures, so your stuck with omni lights.

[ShadowFox]

http://crytek.com/news/crytek-releases-cryengine-3-sdk-free-of-charge

Wooooh!

[sltrOlsson]

Question for ya! How do i get my freshly exported object to show up in the brush list without a restart?

[EDIT]And ten seconds later i find the amazing "reload button" :P Can't see anything i import into the engine though :(

[EzMeow]

Your CGF file need to be in the "game/object" folder to appear in the brush list

[hostilis]

I'm trying to export a test rig (.caf) from 3ds max 2012 to CE3 sdk. After clicking the export bones button I got an error which is:

Unable to find root CBA file for: C:*****\****\*****\CE3\Game\animations\TestRig\Tes tRig.caf
Was searching upwards for a directory containing a file Animations/Animations.cba
Failed to save animation range into C:*****\****\*****\CE3\Game\animations\TestRig\Tes tRig.caf

I tried googling the animations.cba and other said that it is located inside the animations.pak and I need to put it inside the folder where the .caf is located. I tried opening the .pak using winrar and can't find animations.cba.

Where can I find the animations.cba?

by the way I'm following this tutorial: http://freesdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC3/Exporting+Animations

[e-freak]

OK, let's go through this:

The CAF File is an animation, not a rig! CAF is the abbreviation for Crytek Animation File.

What you need first is a CHR file (a Character) which contains a Skinned Mesh and a Skeleton.

Once you have the CHR file you create a chrparams file (basically a definition file for the character's resources) and you need to add an entry to the Animations.cba (The Can't Be Arsed file or Crytek Batch Animation iirc) which will make sure the engine reads all the correct Animations and parses them to the correct Skeletons.

The Animations.cba should be placed once (not for every single character but once in once per Installation of the SDK) in the Animations root folder and if it's not there you can extract it from the Animations.pak file (PAK files resemble the folder structure and are just packed for distributions sake and write-protection).

I don't know if you are using Maya or Max but this Tutorial's Maya Part from the C2-ModSDK should contain all the necessary steps (and if anything is missing, beat me up cause I wrote it):
http://sdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC3/Exporting+Assets

[hostilis]

I successfully exported and created a .chr file but I'm still stucked at exporting the bones because I encounter the error I posted earlier.

I'm still confused because I can't find the animations.cba file even inside the animation.pak.

Here is the screenshot of the model and bones:

http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff417/karagatan/testrig.jpg

It is just a simple box that has a bend animation as I want to know the logic before diving to something complex.

Here is the screenshot of the contents of my animations.pak:

http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff417/karagatan/noanimcba.jpg

there is a animations.img file inside the pak, I've tried opening it using the notepad. It contains tons of ascii symbols which I can't understand but there are destination paths written inside.

Here is a sample:

üªq ”n
Ö ¤
 üªq 8p
× ¤
 üªq Üq
Ø ¤
 üªq €s
Ù ¤
 üªq $u
Ú ¤
 üªq 
 animations/1st_person/arms_fp/arms_deselect.caf Yy¼$Òé @Æ @Æ @Æ @Æ @Æ @Æ @Æ @Æ
A
0A €?& €? ¾¢¾¾¢¾ .½»3 €? €¿ €¿ 8�? 8�?ÛI¿ ) ) üªq Ä   animations/1st_person/arms_fp/arms_idle.caf

I'm using 3ds max 2012 and the free cryengine sdk not the mod sdk

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.

[e-freak]

OK I can't find the Animations.cba either, but here's an example one:

<Definitions>

<Platform Name="PC" CompressionMultiplier="1.0" />
<Platform Name="PS3" CompressionMultiplier="1.0" />
<Platform Name="X360" CompressionMultiplier="1.0" />



<AnimationDefinition>
<Model File="/../Objects/Maya/MyAnimObject.chr"/>
<Animation Path="Animations/Maya"/>
<Database Path="Animations/MyAnimObject.dba"/>
<COMPRESSION value="20"/>
<FOOTPLANTS value="NO"/>
<AUTOCOMPRESSION value="0"/>
<LOCOMOTION_LOCATOR value="NO"/>
<SpecialAnimsList>
</SpecialAnimsList>
</AnimationDefinition>



</Definitions>


basically just put this into Game/Animations/Animations.cba as a new text file.
every new model you add is another <AnimationDefinition> Block just added there.

[hostilis]

I finally exported the .caf and .chr correctly but I can't preview it inside the sandbox 3. Whenever I open the file inside the character editor It gives me an error: "Loading of character objects/testrig.chr failed."


Here is the content of my animations.cba

<Definitions>

<Platform Name="PC" CompressionMultiplier="1.0" />
<Platform Name="PS3" CompressionMultiplier="1.0" />
<Platform Name="X360" CompressionMultiplier="1.0" />



<AnimationDefinition>
<Model File="/../Objects/TestRig.chr"/>
<Animation Path="Animations/TestRig"/>
<Database Path="Animations/MyAnimObject.dba"/>
<COMPRESSION value="20"/>
<FOOTPLANTS value="NO"/>
<AUTOCOMPRESSION value="0"/>
<LOCOMOTION_LOCATOR value="NO"/>
<SpecialAnimsList>
</SpecialAnimsList>
</AnimationDefinition>



</Definitions>

Here's the testrig.chrparams

<?xml version = "1.0"?>
<Params>
<AnimationList>
<Animation name = "#filepath" path = "animations\TestRig"/>
<Animation name = "TestRig" path = "TestRig.caf"/>
</AnimationList>
</Params>


Thanks for the help.

[XRevan23]

I have a question, I have a scene in Cryengine 3 SDK and wanted to know if and how I could get rid of those statistic in the upper right hand corner, and also if their is a way to view wireframe and level coloration like in UDK. Also is their a way to mirror a asset in the editor.

[e-freak]

Mirroring of assets - no.

Static in the top right corner? The Debug Info is r_DisplayInfo 0. The Vignetting is r_HDRVignetting 0, and the additional Grain is controlled by r_HDRGrainAmount (and through the Time of Day Editor).

Wireframe is in the Viewoptions. What is Level Coloration in UDK? Just Diffuse without lighting?

[[HP]]

For wireframe just press F3.

But that wireframe is a bit confusing, I prefer "r_showlines 2" myself.

[XRevan23]

ok thanks e-freak and hp, i can just mirror the objects in max then and import as another iteration, then for the level coloration i can just turn off the diffuse.

[e-freak]

Oh, you mean coloration in terms of only getting the Lighting without any Diffuse colors? That's fairly simple with e_DefaultMaterial 1

[XRevan23]

yeah thats what i meant thanks

[franman]

I'm having problems running the CryMaxTools installation.

I've tried running the copyToMax.bat and assigned it to C where 3ds max was installed; when I open 3Ds max I click on CryMaxTools at the top and the pull down menu only shows "animation" as an available option and clicking on "animation" doesn't do anything.

Because the Crytech site is down can anyone tell me how to properly do a manual install to 3Ds Max?

If this comes in handy the version build I'm using is v3_3_7_2572

[[HP]]

Mmm, is max installed to another folder other than the default? (Even tho in theory it shouldnt matter, the bat should search for it)

Anyway, you can just copy it by hand, just put the CryArtistTools.ms file in the "..\3ds Max 20xx\Scripts\" folder.

[franman]

Don't you mean the LoadCryMaxTools max script? I did a text search and nowhere does it say CryArtistTools. Anyways I copied it to Scripts folder as you specified but reopening Max again nothing happens.

Also I have two internal hard drives I save the 3Ds Max installer on one drive and installed the actual 3D application program on the C drive.

[Ark]

Couple of more questions if anyone would be kind enough answer:

1. Does the Irradiance volume remove the restriction on multiple overlapping deferred lights?

2. Does the "Wet" shader still exist that was previewed in the GDC videos? http://www.gametrailers.com/video/gdc-10-stage-demo-cam-part/63097

3. Is there an option to change a lights cone angle turning it into a spotlight or do i have to handle this through a projection texture?

4. Is there a plan to add the DX11 features to the free SDK instead of the C2 SDK?

5. Is there a way to add your own post-process effects without writing code? All I'm after is a simple desaturate by screen depth.

[e-freak]

2, 3, 4 and 5:
2: I think they used a rain entity in that presentation (Rollup Bar - Entity - Environment - Rain)
3: Projection Texture it is. As soon as you put a texture in the Lights parameters for projection it will turn into a projector. Use the Angle Parameter to control its cone angle and radius to control the distance.
4: Afaik yes
5: Desaturate by screen depth - I'd try fog in the Time of Day Editor.

[Ark]

Thx for the replies e-freak, really appreciated.

Going back to question 2. i don't think its the rain entity, as the effect in the video seems to be a option on the lights, maybe a light function?

But thx anyways!

[Ark]

Here's a list of Tutorials that I've compiled. There mainly from Bookmarks that I have collected over the years. I have some more Bookmarked somewhere, that are on a backup, mostly SE2/CE2.

A few of them are for Sandbox 2/Cryengine 2, a lot of them still apply to the new Cryengine 3 as far as i can see.


Official Docs

Cryengine 3 Free SDK - Community - http://freesdk.crydev.net/display/COMMUNITY/Home
Cryengine 3 Free SDK - Console Commands - http://freesdk.crydev.net/display/CRYAUTOGEN/Home
Cryengine 3 Free SDK - Cryengine Free - http://freesdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC8/Home
Cryengine 3 Free SDK - Sandbox Manual - http://freesdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC2/Home
Cryengine 3 Free SDK - Asset Creation - http://freesdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC3/Home
Cryengine 3 Free SDK - Technical Documentation - http://freesdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC4/Home
Cryengine 3 Free SDK - Scripting Manual - http://freesdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC5/Home

Sample Assets - http://www.crydev.net/dm_eds/files/General_Downloads/CryENGINE_FreeSDK_v3_3_5_Sample_Assets.zip

Crysis 2 SDK - SDK Fundamentals - http://sdk.crydev.net/display/modsdk/Home
Crysis 2 SDK - Sandbox Manual - http://sdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC21/Home
Crysis 2 SDK - Asset Creation - http://sdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC3/Home
Crysis 2 SDK - Scripting Manual - http://sdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC5/Home

Cryengine 2 SDK - Sandbox Manual - http://www.crydev.net/wiki/index.php/Category:Official:Sandbox2_Manual
Cryengine 2 SDK - Asset Creation - http://www.crydev.net/wiki/index.php/Category:Official:Asset_Creation
Cryengine 2 SDK - Community Tutorials - http://www.crydev.net/wiki/index.php/Community_Documentation_Index
Cryengine 2 SDK - Sandbox and Asset Creation Docs - http://doc.crydev.net/
Cryengine 2 SDK - Official Sandbox 2 Tutorials - http://www.veoh.com/list/c/officialSB2Tuts


Sandbox 2/3 Editor

Written

Parallax Occlusion Mapping in Cryengine 3 - http://www.simonfuchs.net/folio/tut02_pom.htm
Glass in Cryengine 3 - http://www.simonfuchs.net/folio/tut03_creating_realistic_glass.htm
Decals in Cryengine 3 - http://www.simonfuchs.net/folio/tut04_decals.htm
Various tutorials for Sandbox 2 Editor - http://maxedgaming.com/tutorials/kb_categorie.php?id=2
More various tutorials for Sandbox 2 Editor - http://konakona.nbtxathcx.net/sb2/index.php
Porting Crysis/Crysis Wars maps to Crysis 2 - http://www.crymod.com/viewtopic.php?f=291&t=68879&sid=95e92aebc1d78e9cf5b4fc475570ac56
Custom Boids - http://www.n-a-i-m-a.com/?page_id=162

Videos

27 Videos covering various aspects of Sandbox Editor 3 - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFD00C571688BB20D&feature=plcp
AI Path Helicopter - http://vimeo.com/6561754
Materials - http://vimeo.com/2120458
Terrain - http://vimeo.com/29622990
VEOH Crymod Channel: Multiple Videos on Sandbox 2 Editor http://www.veoh.com/list/c/TutorialChannel
Weather, Lightning Storm and Sound - Cryengine 3 Tutorial - Weather, Lightning Storm and Sound - YouTube
Caves - Cryengine 3 Tutorial - Creating Caves - YouTube
Character Editor (1/2) - CryEngine 2 Tutorials: Character Editor Part 1 - YouTube
Character Editor (2/2) - CryEngine 2 Tutorials: Character Editor Part 2 - YouTube
Multiple Videos on the Sandbox Editor - http://www.youtube.com/user/Xanthochori/search?query=crysis
12 Videos covering various aspects of Sandbox 3 - http://www.crydev.net/newspage.php?news=80741
Space Scene - http://www.crydev.net/viewtopic.php?f=321&p=803297
Realistic Terrain (Maya, Mudbox, Word Machine 2 and Sandbox) - http://www.crydev.net/newspage.php?news=76145
Setting up Multiplayer - http://www.crydev.net/viewtopic.php?f=291&t=71057
Solids - http://www.crydev.net/newspage.php?news=70471
Decals in Cryengine 3 - http://eat3d.com/free/cryengine3_decals
Glass in Cryengine 3 - http://eat3d.com/free/cryengine3_glass
Parallax Occlusion Mapping in Cryengine - http://www.3dmotive.com/training/free/parallax-occlusion-in-cryengine-3/?follow=true
World of Level Design Tutorials covering Sandbox 3 Editor - http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categories/cat_cryengine_3_sdk.php
Terrain Layers and POM - http://www.crydev.net/newspage.php?news=64323
Importing Textures without Photoshop/Crytiff - Cryengine 3 SDK Texture import Without Photoshop and Crytiff plugin tutorial - YouTube
Various Tutorials on Cryengine 2/3 - http://dorten.net/Downloads/Tuts/
Basic AI - http://www.rancid1.com/tophat/whats-next/
Custom Weapons and Equipment - http://www.crymod.com/viewtopic.php?f=291&t=70747&sid=95e92aebc1d78e9cf5b4fc475570ac56

Paid

Sandbox CookBook http://www.crydev.net/newspage.php?news=69255 -
EAT3D Cryengine 3 - Volume 1 - An Introduction and Application (1/3) - http://eat3d.com/cry3_intro_vol1
EAT3D Cryengine 3 - Volume 2 - An Introduction and Application (2/3) - http://eat3d.com/cry3_intro_vol2
EAT3D Cryengine 3 - Volume 3 - An Introduction and Application (3/3) - http://eat3d.com/cry3_intro_vol3


3ds Max

Written

Getting Stearted: Max to Cryengine - http://www.simonfuchs.net/folio/tut01_getting_started.htm
Cloth - http://www.crydev.net/viewtopic.php?t=35508

Videos

Full Body Animation - http://vimeo.com/1431695
Building modeling and export (1/3) - http://vimeo.com/8249572
Building modeling and export (2/3) - http://vimeo.com/9239074
Weapon Setup and Export - http://vimeo.com/6952715
Weapon Rigging, Animating and Export - http://vimeo.com/28498622
Material Export (1/2) - http://vimeo.com/4174072
Material Export (2/2) - http://vimeo.com/4174535
Importing Custom Characters, Rigs and Animations (1/3) - Part 1 - Importing Custom Characters, Rig, and Animations - YouTube
Importing Custom Characters, Rigs and Animations (2/3) - Part 2 - Importing Custom Characters, Rig, and Animations - YouTube
Importing Custom Characters, Rigs and Animations (3/3) - Part 3 - Importing Custom Characters, Rig, and Animations - YouTube
MAX custom Textures and Models (1/2) - Cry Engine 3 Tutorial - 3ds Max Custom Models and Textures - YouTube
MAX custom Textures and Models (2/2) - Cry Engine 3 Tutorial - 3ds Max Custom Models and Textures (Part 2) - YouTube
MAX Vegetation (1/2) - CryEngine 3 Custom 3d Vegetation using 3ds Max (Part 1) - YouTube
MAX Vegetation (2/2) - CryEngine 3 Custom 3d Vegetation using 3ds Max (Part 2) - YouTube
Models, Textures and Vegetation - 01) Cryengine 3 Tutorial - Beginner 3ds Max Models, Textures, and Vegetation - YouTube
Replacing Character Models - 03) Cryengine 3 Tutorial - Import / Replace Player Character Model - FREE COOKBOOK (Claimed) - YouTube
Procedural Destruction - http://www.crymod.com/viewtopic.php?f=291&t=81827&sid=95e92aebc1d78e9cf5b4fc475570ac56
Exporting models from Max - http://maxedgaming.com/tutorials/crysis/assets/exporting-models-from-3dsmax-into-cryengine-2-118.html
MAX to Cryengine 3 Asset Pipeline - http://eat3d.com/free/cryengine_3dsmax
Max Weapon Rigging and Skinning - http://www.crymod.com/viewtopic.php?f=291&t=70815&sid=95e92aebc1d78e9cf5b4fc475570ac56


XSI

Written

Exporting Materials from XSI - http://maxedgaming.com/tutorials/crysis/assets/how-to-make-exportable-materials-in-xsi-185.html
Material Options from XSI - http://maxedgaming.com/tutorials/crysis/assets/xsi-material-options-for-cryengine-2-181.html
Exporting Models from XSI - http://maxedgaming.com/tutorials/crysis/assets/exporting-with-xsi-mod-tool-24.html

Videos

Animations - http://vimeo.com/channels/45102#3820864
Pickable Objects - http://vimeo.com/channels/45102#3999768
Pickable Objects v1.5 - http://vimeo.com/channels/45102#4444442
XSI Parenting - http://vimeo.com/channels/45102#4014043
Bone Setup - http://vimeo.com/channels/45102#4710253
Multiple Animations - http://vimeo.com/15923750
XSI Export 101 - http://vimeo.com/5125205
XSI Animation (1/2) - http://vimeo.com/6183375
XSI Animation (2/2) - http://vimeo.com/6182627
XSI LOD's and Collisions - http://vimeo.com/6290887
XSI custom Textures and Models (1/4) - Cryengine 3 Tutorial - (Part 1: First Map) Custom Textures and Models using XSI Mod Tool - YouTube
SI custom Textures and Models (2/4) - Cryengine 3 Tutorial - (Part 2: Custom Textures) Custom Textures and Models using XSI Mod Tool - YouTube X
XSI custom Textures and Models (3/4) - Cryengine 3 Tutorial - (Part 2.5: Better Textures) Custom Textures and Models using XSI Mod Tool - YouTube
XSI custom Textures and Models (4/4) - Cryengine 3 Tutorial - (Part 3: Custom Models) Custom Textures and Models using Softimage Mod Tool - YouTube


Maya

Written

Custom Grass - http://joopson3d.tumblr.com/post/9075397626/importing-custom-grasses-or-foliage-into-cryengine-3

Videos

Rigging for Cryengine - http://vimeo.com/23987112
Weapon Exporting - http://www.rancid1.com/cdk/cdk-tutorial-weapon-pipeline
Enhanced Maya Exporter - http://www.crydev.net/newspage.php?news=71279
Custom Grass - Cryengine 3 Custom grass tutorial - YouTube
Maya First Person Arms Rig - http://www.rancid1.com/cdk/maya-and-the-cdk


Photoshop

Written

Exporting .dds for Cryengine - http://maxedgaming.com/tutorials/crysis/assets/creating-materials-for-cryengine-2-82.html


SketchUp

Videos

SketchUp for Cryengine - http://www.crydev.net/newspage.php?news=72791


C++

Videos

Implementing a 3rd person camera - 02) Cryengine 3 Tutorial - Third Person View / Compile C++ / FREE FARCRY + FARCRY 2 - YouTube -


Related Websites

CryDev Forums - http://www.crymod.com/forum.php
CryDev Tutorial Forum - http://www.crymod.com/viewforum.php?f=291
A good run through on the unique features in CE3 - http://www.crymod.com/viewtopic.php?f=126&t=69239


I'll try to keep this updated with any new tutorials that become available and see if i can find my backed up bookmarks.

Please let me know if any go missing/down/wrongly linked and I'll try my best to fix them.

[[HP]]

Maybe e-freak can also update the first with all that info?

Awesome share man, thanks a lot!

[WhiteNorthStar]

Arc... sweet holiness! That is an awesome assembly of knowledge... thank YOU ! :poly142:

I'm bookmarking it, I haven't seen it on CryDev, but imho it should be a sticky there.

[e-freak]

Just saw the update! Updating OP! Thanks for the compilation!!!

[NuRiXx]

Thanks for the subject. There are very helpfull stuffs.

[ParoXum]

Just thought I'd post this here:

3.4.0 - DX11

http://www.crydev.net/newspage.php?news=88053

[Wesley]

With the new glass stuff, does the new dirt layer mean that lighting/shadows will be affected by it?

I wanted to have areal grungy window, but the god rays and the light on the floor look as if the window is clean.

[[HP]]

It probably does not affect lighting, it would if it's alpha test, but I don't think it is.

[EzMeow]

The new glass shadow get affected by the alpha test from the diffuse.

[bac9-flcl]

Just wanted to share some advice on the Editor. Couple of things have been bugging me for a long time, and only recently I've figured how to fix or explain them.

1. If you are using Parallax Occlusion Mapping feature in your materials, you may be familiar with this issue:

http://i.imgur.com/Ytyiwm.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/Ytyiw.jpg)
^ PoM off

http://i.imgur.com/E4U9Em.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/E4U9E.jpg)
^ PoM on

To avoid incorrect self-shading (especially pronounced under projector lights) make sure to change the HeightBias parameter (becomes available in material properties after enabling PoM flag) from default value of 1 to 0.

http://i.imgur.com/xfZOzm.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/xfZOz.jpg)
^ HeightBias = 1

http://i.imgur.com/vVnwsm.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/vVnws.jpg)
^ HeightBias = 0

2. Do not use DestroyableLight Entity in SDK 3.4.0 (build 3410) as a shadow casting light source, it's bugged. If you need a shadow casting lamp consisting of geometry and a light source, I'd recommend to use the Light Entity coupled with a Brush into a Prefab for the moment. Not as customizable setup as DestroyableLight (lacking destructibility, for one), but at least shadow maps aren't broken like this:

http://i.imgur.com/BJg60m.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/BJg60.jpg)
http://i.imgur.com/xLkxem.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/xLkxe.jpg)
http://i.imgur.com/pPla3m.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/pPla3.jpg)
http://i.imgur.com/ee8R9m.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/ee8R9.jpg)

3. Release 3.4.0 included some changes in shadow map rendering. As you may have noticed, shadow maps casted by every light source have a significantly more pronounced shadow acne. Previously that was solved by tuning these CVARs:

e_ShadowsConstBias=1 [ ]
e_ShadowsLodBiasFixed=1 [ ]
e_ShadowsLodBiasInvis=0 [ ]
e_ShadowsSlopeBias=1 [ ]
r_ShadowsBias=8e-005 [ ]

These, though, are now obsolete and would not affect the shadow maps in any way. Shadow bias is now configured individually for each Light Entity with a new ShadowBias parameter. Default value is 100. The value of 500 is, in my opinion, good for most light sources. Additionally, you can now configure shadow map update rate for each light source to improve performance. Unfortunately, these new parameters aren't yet mentioned in the official documentation.

Additionally, and most importantly, these parameters weren't implemented for the DestroyableLight Entity class, leaving it (as traditional global CVARs are now obsolete) without ANY way to fix shadow acne. That's a second reason why it's best not to use DestroyableLight in the current build.

From what I've heard, none of these problems persist in current internal builds (DestroyableLight Entities work great there and so on), but we're stuck with 3.4.0 until early 2013, so there's that.

4. Some of you may have noticed that terrain is completely unaffected by some ToD settings like ambient light levels. Took me a while to realize that, I've previously blamed everything from too bright diffuse texture to terrain layers settings:

http://i.imgur.com/E45yAm.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/E45yA.jpg)

Again, it's a bug of the current build that I expect will be fixed in the future, but for the moment, I've stumbled into a workaround solution.

Enabling the e_GsmCastFromTerrain CVAR should work most of the time. If the terrain still looks wrong, there is a way to force lighting conditions with cloud shadows.

Just specify any CloudShadowTexture in the Environment tab, set the ExtendLastShadowLODMinSpec to 1. Funny thing is, cloud shading is completely broken in this build (texture is not being loaded for some reason), but some kind of influence bugged cloud shading provides seems to be just what's needed there. Terrain lighting wakes up and behaves properly:


http://i.imgur.com/TirUcm.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/TirUc.jpg)

As far as I see, nothing is darkened additionally and shadow mask itself is not taken into account (this build won't render cloud shadows properly). It's a 100% lit terrain that (for some obscure reason triggered by aforementioned Environment changes) started taking ToD values into account. Unfortunately, broken cloud shadow masks out direct sun light everywhere, so use that only as a last resort for overcast weather. For other cases, e_GsmCastFromTerrain 1 is as far as it should go.

Now, you probably know that e_GsmCastFromTerrain is a CVAR enabling the shadow casting from terrain. Obviously, that can be somewhat undesirable, as it brings problems like shadow acne, flickering on distant LODs and performance drop, not to mention it's not really benefiting for most, relatively flat landscapes. But, again, until the next release it's what we have as a workaround.

5. A warning here: opening the Change Tile Resolution window and hitting OK without explicitly selecting the resolution from dropdown menu (for example, in a case when you realize you'd like to keep an existing value) results in selection of 64x64 tile resolution upon closing the window. It's a simple oversight (window won't load an existing value properly) and will be fixed later (probably), but for the moment, be careful not to lose your terrain work like that:

http://i.imgur.com/YSa2Ym.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/YSa2Y.jpg)

6. If you've tried to place sample assets into your levels, you're probably familiar with a peculiar look they have.

http://i.imgur.com/gzJiJm.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/gzJiJ.jpg)
http://i.imgur.com/aRVbAm.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/aRVbA.jpg)
http://i.imgur.com/CtlAlm.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/CtlAl.jpg)

This overly dark appearance is not your problem (some would think there is some problem with lighting setup on their levels). It's just that lots of materials (characters, weapons, helicopter, some environment assets), were configured with extremely low diffuse color parameters, at times being practically black. That was done to match everything to at times very dark environments of the Forest example level, but these values look unsightly on any level with neutral lighting conditions.

I'm not sure why other means to achieve lower environment brightness weren't used on Forest (ToD?), but tweaking hundreds of materials to make scorched dark images out of diffuse textures (while losing color in the process) seems counter-productive. Not to mention that being example assets, they will confuse some new users who will wonder why everything looks so inconsistent on their maps.

So, just nevermind and use your own assets. :) Also, here is a quote from Crytek community manager:

We're completely overhauling the assets for a big release next year

These assets be configured better, I hope. :)

7. Material Editor is unloading a material and directories that were opened in it every time you close the window. Not a bug, but extremely inconvenient if you're working with a material from some folder hidden five subfolder levels below. So, either keep the window open or make use of "Pick Material from Object" and "Get Item From Selected Object" tools. There are some issues with these, though, and I want to warn about them.

"Pick Material from Object" tool is unable to open the same material twice during a session. Once you need to find some material for second round of editing or something else, clicking on objects gives you nothing, tool is just not functional. Try not to throw your keyboard at your screen like I often do and let's hope this bug will be fixed in the next release. Good thing is, issue is partially compensated by "Get Item From Selected Object" tool, which works every time. Sadly, it has no use in selecting materials from terrain or other unusual sources. So while editing these, try not to close Material Editor to avoid lengthy manual searches in the material library.

***

That's probably all I can remember for now. :)

[Visceral]

I have dropped the plugin file CryExport14_64.dlu in my Plugins folder but when i try to change the shader from Blinn to CryShader Max crashes, every time. When i open max i get the box that said that it found the Cryengine root folder and that rc something is found.
Any help here?

[Dibbz]

I've just started using Cry Engine 3 and I noticed in the materials whatever tile you set to the diffuse slot it replicates in the normal slot. Is there a way to break this link? There is a seperate tile function in the normal channel but the material only seems to read tile information from the diffuse. This also seems to happens with blend maps in the custom channels on the material.

[e-freak]

On most shaders all textures share the Diffuse Tiling APART from the Detail Map. You could switch the Normalmap to the Detail Map slot and get a lot more control over it (including Normal strength) and assuming you are tiling the Diffuse more than the "Detail" could put a generic Detail Normal Map into the "real" normal Map slot.

[Visceral]

No one knows? Ill just make a thread in Tech Talk.

[e-freak]

Any other shaders installed that might interfere? Which version of Max are you using? (CryExport14 should be max2012 afaik) Did you try reinstalling/redownloading the CrySDK? (in case any files got corrupted)?

The RC is the command line tool to convert assets from source format to CryEngine optimized format. Its important that Max knows where to find it, but it should only appear once, not every time you run Max.

[Visceral]

Okay :D finally some answers.

Well i downloaded a fresh copy of Max 2012 from student area of autodesk. I dont have any other plugins installed so no conflicts there. I didnt have any issues installed the CrySDk but if you think redownloading that might help then ill get on it.

I had to manually setup the patch to my Cryengine 3 root folder beacuse i have my CrySDK on my D: drive instead of my C:.

Thanks for your reply, after much investigating i dont get any wiser. PC is my last hope :P

[womball]

Is there any tutorials on how to get a custom character, textured, materials edited on it, and ready for presentations? Is SSS shaders and metal shaders covered?