Unreal Engine update

[Slowpork]

I've been googling some stuff about newer versions of Unreal Engine and noticed that Conan Exiles uses an old (very old) version 4.15. They went from 4.12 to 4.15 shortly after release.

According to this https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/unreal-engine-4-15-released

This version was released on February of 2017...But this is not the strangest part. During the 3 years of game development devs haven't updated to a newer version ever. At least, I wasn't able to find any info on that. Which is again, strange.

So my question is, are there any plans to migrate to newer (4.23-4.25) versions of the engine? If, not, why? Many games on UE4 benefitted greatly from an update (PuBG, Insurgency and probably some others I missed), so it could be a great sign of dedication to this project.

[NiflRav]

I doubt. I was working many hours with ue4 and there is big problem in migrating your project to newer version of engine. I mean not small patches like from 4.12 to 4.15 but on massive like 3.0 to 4.0 or 4.12 to 4.25. Cuz you need to rewrite a huge pieces of your code and bp's.

Sorry for bad english)

[Slowpork]

Originally posted by Elrax:

I doubt. I was working many hours with ue4 and there is big problem in migrating your project to newer version of engine. I mean not small patches like from 4.12 to 4.15 but on massive like 3.0 to 4.0 or 4.12 to 4.25. Cuz you need to rewrite a huge pieces of your code and bp's.

Sorry for bad english)

Well, I didn't say it would be easy. But considering the fact that Conan Exiles was in development for the last three years, I'd say at least some updates could have been made.

Especially considering the size of the development team. For example Insurgency: Sandstorm team has only 36 employees but they constantly release various engine updates.

[Kisston]

The scope of the project to update the engine to the newest version would arise in the same problem. By the time they migrated all the files and got things in a working state an even newer version of UE would be available, the devs may as well make a Conan 2 with the amount of work it would require.

[Slowpork]

Originally posted by Kisston:

The scope of the project to update the engine to the newest version would arise in the same problem. By the time they migrated all the files and got things in a working state an even newer version of UE would be available, the devs may as well make a Conan 2 with the amount of work it would require.

Basically what you are saying, why bother? Honestly, this sounds like a huge cop out.

[Multigun]

Originally posted by Slowpork:

Basically what you are saying, why bother? Honestly, this sounds like a huge cop out.

You would be wrong. It's not a cop out what so ever. It is NOT industry standard to update engine versions for a reason. Very, very, very, few games that have active development after their initial 1.0 release ever do an engine update. For a reason. You're going to just have to accept that.

It's also cute that you think Insurgency Sandstorm's team is smaller than the one working on Conan. Conan Exiles started with 7 people in EA.

[cattibria]

The upgrade from UE 4.12 to 4.15, to answer your question, was done to support the Xbox and Playstation.

This caused so many issues with the game that it took a couple of months to get it back to where it was before the update. Yes, it was playable after a week thanks to hotfixes. It was not fun on many levels, and yes, even more people were complaining about the upgrade. This happened in the first year of the Early Access period for the game.

It is my guess that is the reason why it has not been upgraded since then. With the new map in the works, possibly we will see a new engine, yet again, I am only guessing.

[Slowpork]

Originally posted by Multigun:

Originally posted by Slowpork:

Basically what you are saying, why bother? Honestly, this sounds like a huge cop out.

You would be wrong. It's not a cop out what so ever. It is NOT industry standard to update engine versions for a reason. Very, very, very, few games that have active development after their initial 1.0 release ever do an engine update. For a reason. You're going to just have to accept that.

It's also cute that you think Insurgency Sandstorm's team is smaller than the one working on Conan. Conan Exiles started with 7 people in EA.

https://newworldinteractive.com/#about NWI started with 18 employees. Not that different tbh.

As for Funcom. Actually they have even more people developing stuff now.

https://conanexiles.gamepedia.com/Funcom 185 vs 143 from usual Wikipedia. If you ask me that's plenty enough. They are no longer indie just by the sheer size of the development team.

Originally posted by steitsch:

The upgrade from UE 4.12 to 4.15, to answer your question, was done to support the Xbox and Playstation.

This caused so many issues with the game that it took a couple of months to get it back to where it was before the update. Yes, it was playable after a week thanks to hotfixes. It was not fun on many levels, and yes, even more people were complaining about the upgrade. This happened in the first year of the Early Access period for the game.

It is my guess that is the reason why it has not been upgraded since then. With the new map in the works, possibly we will see a new engine, yet again, I am only guessing.

I see. I guess time will tell then. The reason I brought this issue in the first place is because I'm not satisfied with how the game runs on my rig. Less than 60 FPS on High for not particularly great graphics is not a plus in my book. Buying something like RX5700 just to play with decent frames at 1080p is also not an option right now.

The game eats resources like some Red Dead Redemption 2 and that game is GPU heavy as hell.

[Multigun]

Originally posted by Slowpork:

https://conanexiles.gamepedia.com/Funcom 185 vs 143 from usual Wikipedia. If you ask me that's plenty enough. They are no longer indie just by the sheer size of the development team.

You understand that Funcom is a studio right, with multiple different job roles, with multiple games, and multiple offices across the world? There aren't 185 developers all chained to their desks working on Conan.

Conan Exiles is still a very small team, you can disagree with that all you want. Won't change anything.

[Slowpork]

Originally posted by Multigun:

Originally posted by Slowpork:

https://conanexiles.gamepedia.com/Funcom 185 vs 143 from usual Wikipedia. If you ask me that's plenty enough. They are no longer indie just by the sheer size of the development team.

You understand that Funcom is a studio right, with multiple different job roles, with multiple games, and multiple offices across the world? There aren't 185 developers all chained to their desks working on Conan.

Conan Exiles is still a very small team, you can disagree with that all you want. Won't change anything.

I would like to see your proof of this very small team then. You've yet to present any factual information backing up your argument.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funcom

Most of these games are either abandoned or cancelled. Conan and Secret Worlds Legends seem to be their top priority now. Unless (!) they are currently working on something new behind the curtains. Then this would explain pretty much everything.

https://jobs.funcom.com/

Over 160 people form two main studios.

[Multigun]

Originally posted by Slowpork:

I would like to see your proof of this very small team then. You've yet to present any factual information backing up your argument.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funcom

Most of these games are either abandoned or cancelled. Conan and Secret Worlds Legends seem to be their top priority now. Unless (!) they are currently working on something new behind the curtains. Then this would explain pretty much everything.

https://jobs.funcom.com/

Over 160 people form two main studios.

Secret World, their top priority? That's what you honestly believe? Ya, this is my final comment on this subject, as your mind is made up.

Google Dune. Check out their public financial streams every quarter where they talk about working on other unannounced games.

And you aren't including ZPX in your list.

[cattibria]

Originally posted by Slowpork:

Originally posted by Multigun:

You understand that Funcom is a studio right, with multiple different job roles, with multiple games, and multiple offices across the world? There aren't 185 developers all chained to their desks working on Conan.

Conan Exiles is still a very small team, you can disagree with that all you want. Won't change anything.

I would like to see your proof of this very small team then. You've yet to present any factual information backing up your argument.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funcom

Most of these games are either abandoned or cancelled. Conan and Secret Worlds Legends seem to be their top priority now. Unless (!) they are currently working on something new behind the curtains. Then this would explain pretty much everything.

https://jobs.funcom.com/

Over 160 people form two main studios.

Multigun is correct. The team working on CE is very small and works out of the Oslo office. It is my understanding that they are working inhouse on other titles at that office. The CE team at most is less than 15 people if I remember correctly. Some have left the project to work on other projects, and some new team members have joined the project.

All of the titles listed on the Funcom website are currently supported games. Some of the games are developed by other smaller studios and published by Funcom.

[Slowpork]

Originally posted by steitsch:

Originally posted by Slowpork:

I would like to see your proof of this very small team then. You've yet to present any factual information backing up your argument.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funcom

Most of these games are either abandoned or cancelled. Conan and Secret Worlds Legends seem to be their top priority now. Unless (!) they are currently working on something new behind the curtains. Then this would explain pretty much everything.

https://jobs.funcom.com/

Over 160 people form two main studios.

Multigun is correct. The team working on CE is very small and works out of the Oslo office. It is my understanding that they are working inhouse on other titles at that office. The CE team at most is less than 15 people if I remember correctly. Some have left the project to work on other projects, and some new team members have joined the project.

All of the titles listed on the Funcom website are currently supported games. Some of the games are developed by other smaller studios and published by Funcom.

Your comment sounds a lot more plausible than what Multigun is saying and probably confirms what I suspected. They are indeed working on something else. Strange that CE is not their priority *shrugs*.

[Multigun]

Originally posted by Slowpork:

Your comment sounds a lot more plausible than what Multigun is saying and probably confirms what I suspected. They are indeed working on something else. Strange that CE is not their priority *shrugs*.

Lol, what I said wasn't plausible? That they aren't working on Dune?

Google it.

[Slowpork]

Originally posted by Multigun:

Originally posted by Slowpork:

Your comment sounds a lot more plausible than what Multigun is saying and probably confirms what I suspected. They are indeed working on something else. Strange that CE is not their priority *shrugs*.

Lol, what I said wasn't plausible? That they aren't working on Dune?

Google it.

I thought you were done with this thread?

[cattibria]

Originally posted by Slowpork:

Originally posted by Multigun:

Lol, what I said wasn't plausible? That they aren't working on Dune?

Google it.

I thought you were done with this thread?

They are working on Dune and they are still working on CE.