A next generation Fallout engine: FIFE

Discuss the creation and scripting of new fan-made games and mods for the Fallout series of games.
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A next generation Fallout engine: FIFE

Post by mvBarracuda »

As there are already threads at all important Fallout sites, I thought that it's time to post on DAC too.

FIFE is an open source project that is dedicated to create a cross platform next generation Fallout-like engine. Our goal is the replace the awful modable Fallout 2 engine with a modern easy to mod engine that comes with a bunch of important and easy to use modding tools. We've just released our second major milestone: FIFE 2006.1

The first FIFE-based Fallout mod was officially announced some time ago: "Fallout: Zero". We hope that we can persuade the big Fallout total conversion projects like FanMadeFallout and Mutants Rising to switch over to FIFE by delivering an excellent engine and good modding tools. The engine is still not in the status where you could decide if it's worth switching over. However we hope that we can offer enough useful features and a stable API in about 4 months.

FIFE does support different Fallout file formats so you can load FO1 & FO2 DAT, MAP, FRM, ACM and other files and use it with FIFE. However FIFE is even suited for the creation of non-Fallout-like RPGs. Because it is written with C++ and using cross platform libraries, you can play FIFE mods on Windows, Linux, Macintosh and all flavours of BSD-like systems.

Current release:
FIFE 2007.0 (r821) win32

Screenshot from the current development version (changed from time to time to show the recent progress):
Image

Image

Homepage: http://www.FIFEngine.de
Forums: http://www.fifengine.de/module-pnforum.phtml

Wiki: http://wiki.fifengine.de/index.php?title=Main_Page
Roadmap: https://mirror1.cvsdude.com/trac/fife/engine/roadmap
IRC channel: http://www.fifengine.de/fifewiki/index. ... RC_channel
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Post by mvBarracuda »

I know that I didn't post here for ages but anyway: here we go.

Phoku revealed the roadmap for the next FIFE releases today and we're planning a GFX contest entitled "Send them in!". You can read about all the details @ our developer blog:
http://mirror1.cvsdude.com/trac/fife/en ... 3/05/08.17
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Post by jetbaby »

Make sure you tell NMA. Their mod community is a bit more... active.
off topic? OMG YOU'VE BEEN CENSORED... yet you're still posting. MYSTARY!!!!

Duck and Cover: THE site for all your Fallout needs
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Post by mvBarracuda »

jetbaby wrote:Make sure you tell NMA. Their mod community is a bit more... active.
We already had front page coverage there several times :-)

This news was posted @ their front page yesterday.
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Post by bforp »

:-)
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Post by mvBarracuda »

Late but better than never:

It's done :-) After over three months of hard work, we've fixed the last issues today and released the 2007.1 milestone of FIFE. The most important improvement is the new custom map format that can be considered as stable. We created a demo map for this release for a number of reasons:
*Show the modders how the FIFE map format and specific concepts like the tilesets, archetypes and prototypes work.
*Set up a starting point for modders so they can get into the world of FIFE more easily.
*Create something that looks totally unFallouty to get away from the "FIFE-is-just-a-Fallout-emulator"-image. Welcome to the Isle of FIFE :-)

Here is a screenshot of our new demo map, using graphics from Reiner's Tilesets:
Image

New features since the 2007.0 release:
*Stable custom XML map format for FIFE including our demo map to show the new features and syntax of it :-)
*FPS limiter (can be set in fife.config) to save important CPU time for future tasks (AI, pathfinding, etc.)
*Tile and object coordinates can be displayed (press "c")
*Color key overriding for Fallout transparency effects (see content/gfx/fallout_overrides.xml)
*Fixed DAT1 decoding code (bug was introduced with the DAT1 rewrite)
*Major map model classes have been exported to Lua and are now accessable via the console
*Map size dependant, configurable geometries
*Colorkeying for the SDL renderer
*Add custom VFS sources via vfs.addSource (see content/etc/vfs_sources.txt)
*Increased startup speed with FO2 DAT files
*Enhanced camera with support for multiple viewports (see content/scripts/demos/map_control.lua)
*Built against SDL_image 1.2.5 and guichan 0.61 now (Win32 binaries)

Get the win32 package here:
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/fife/F ... _win32.exe

Get the src package for linux, mac and kind of other POSIX systems here:
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/fife/F ... rc.tar.bz2

Install guide:
1. Unpack
2. Read README.txt
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Post by VasikkA »

Looks like crap. First person would be more immersive.
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Post by mvBarracuda »

VasikkA wrote:Looks like crap. First person would be more immersive.
I love the comments here at DAC :-)
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Post by Megatron »

Um Bongo, Um Bongo, They drink it in the Congo.
:chew:
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Post by Goretheglowingone »

pfft, its like a JEW made it.
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Post by mvBarracuda »

Goretheglowingone wrote:pfft, its like a JEW made it.
Yep, I didn't want to reveal it but your father is part of the development team.

I hope you don't mind that this secret is not a secret anymore now.
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Post by mvBarracuda »

Image

About FIFE
FIFE is an open source 2D engine that aims to become a whole framework for the creation of cross platform (Linux, Mac, Win32) roleplaying games. Although we are having trouble getting the development started on the editor, we aim to include modding tools in future FIFE releases. The project is in development for almost 21 months now (ohh, we're getting old :-/) and we did release several public milestones of the engine over this time.

The latest release, entitled FIFE 2007.1, shipped about one month ago and features our first larger custom map for FIFE. The engine supports some of the assets of the Interplay RPG classics Fallout 1 & Fallout 2. The Fallout assets served as test content for the engine but we've moved away from our Fallout roots over the last year and FIFE is slowly becoming a general purpose 2D RPG engine, suitable for the creation of all kind of roleplaying games.

Here is an impression of our demo map that shipped with the 2007.1 release:
Image

About the contest
The demo map shown above was created with free graphics from Reiner's tilesets site. We're trying to build a community around FIFE and we're also of course trying to get them involved in the project. A first step into this direction is our upcoming graphics contest, called: Send them in!.

The contest will start at the first of June, 2007 and the end of it is scheduled for the first of August, 2007. There are basically four different categories in which you can take part: floor tiles, roof tiles, static & animated objects and animated characters. You can take part in more than one category but there are certain requirements for each category; if you want to win the prize of the contest, you'll need to fulfill them.

So what is the prize? FIFE programmer Phoku offers to code an (useful) ~10 man hours feature into FIFE for the winner. This is probably a good way if you're considering to use FIFE for an own project but one important feature is still currently missing in your opinion. Although there will be no monetary compensation as the whole team works in their free time on the project, we're hoping for a bunch of interested participants nevertheless.

We're aiming to use the contributions of all participants of the contest for a new demo map that will hopefully already ship with the upcoming 2007.2 release.

More information
You want to know more about FIFE and the Send them in! contest? Our project site and the development wiki are good starting points for you. Our wiki features a separate rather detailed article that is dedicated the contest. All details about the rules of the contest, license-specific issues and the different contest categories can be found there.

If you still got questions about this upcoming event, feel free to visit the team at their project irc channel or ask your questions directly at the talk page of the corresponding article. You'll need to register at the wiki to get write access. We were not keen to enforce wiki registration, but the spam attacks of unregistered bots are really getting on our nerves and waste our time that could be invested far more useful.

We want to thank every interested graphics artist who takes part to support an work in progress open source project :-)
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Post by popscythe »

VasikkA wrote:Looks like crap. First person would be more immersive.
Whats the best way of telling someone who represents the type of person that caused FO3 to be the shitfest it is currently that they're not only incorrect, but going to be first one up against the wall when the revolution comes?

This FIFE shit looks amazing, btw. I'm going to dig into it post haste.
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Post by Superhaze »

Shooting spree at the beach. I love it. Very Nice! :D
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Post by VasikkA »

popscythe wrote:
VasikkA wrote:Looks like crap. First person would be more immersive.
Whats the best way of telling someone who represents the type of person that caused FO3 to be the shitfest it is currently that they're not only incorrect, but going to be first one up against the wall when the revolution comes?
You should probably ask those who'll pass the anti-sarcasm law.
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Post by mvBarracuda »

Welcome to yet another FIFE news update :-)

It was pretty quiet lately, not because we would have been lazy but because I was busy with my exams and had no time to write about our most recent efforts. Nevertheless there was of course a bunch of work going on behind the scenes and I'm happy to have finally found the time to summarize it for you. There are several topics to talk about:
* The send them in! contest is over and we finally have a winner.
* The work on the new metamodel branch is coming along quite well.
* The FIFE team agreed to work on a new techdemo in cooperation with the Zero-Projekt team that explains the features of FIFE.
* The FIFE project turns two rather soon :-) Time for a birthday party.
* fifengine.de has been slightly updated with the help of the new developer Nick.

You can read about all these topics in detail at our most recent FIFE developer blog update. Have fun :-)
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Post by mvBarracuda »

We've made it! The 2007.2 release is on the server and we're all happy that it shipped in time.

Download
* Source package (Linux, Macintosh): http://downloads.sourceforge.net/fife/F ... rc.tar.bz2
* Win32 binaries: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/fife/F ... _win32.exe

Screenshot
Image

Important changes since the 2007.1 release
* Removed the rather difficult to maintain lunar.h bindings in favour of SWIG (http://www.swig.org).
* Replaced the Lua scripting support with Python. Now the main loop runs in the scripting language. For the 2007.1 release the main loop still ran in the engine side and the Lua library was embedded into the engine. By utilizing SWIG game creators can add Lua support back to the engine again if they have the need for it.
* Metamodel refactoring. This resulted in a better engine structure and a decreased number of dependencies between the engine modules. Furthermore bi-directional dependencies were removed completely.
* Improved engine modularity. Our aim is that you can cherry-pick specific engine modules of FIFE and just use the ones you really need for your game.
* Pathfinding integration. Exchangable backends so you can already replace the currently rather simple linear pather with a more sophisticated system.
* New 3d geometry system. Camera supports now tilt, rotation and zoom. Geometries are affected by camera adjustments, but in addition to that, layers can contain separate scale and rotation.
* New event channel module. Scripts have full access to mouse, keyboard & widget input.
* New MVC architecture pattern. The whole engine has been refactored to follow a model - view - controller pattern. This leads to a cleaner engine module hierarchy compared to the engine design that was used before.
* Improved action-based animation system.
* A techdemo to give game creators a starting point. This is a common undertaking of the Zero-Projekt team (http://www.zero-projekt.net) and FIFE.

Read the full release news update:
http://mirror1.cvsdude.com/trac/fife/en ... 0/10/16.23
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Post by PiP »

:dance: gee wish I were 16 and had the time to learn and make mods / fanmade RPGs / whatever
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Post by mvBarracuda »

PiP wrote::dance: gee wish I were 16 and had the time to learn and make mods / fanmade RPGs / whatever
It's never too late :-) I got involved in FIFE when I was 21. I'm pretty sure that you got worthwhile skills to contribute to a game development project as well.
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Post by Dreadnought »

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