Irrlicht vs. Crystal Space

k_kolibri_7 · Post by **k_kolibri_7** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 10:16 am

Which prog is better?

The community of irrlicht is bigger, but crystal space includes also a physics-engine and a scripting-engine and a sound-engine.

So which prog should i chose for the beginning?

I have to say that i'm a beginner in C++, but i want to learn it...

Greetings

roxaz · Post by **roxaz** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 10:26 am

i have never used crystal space so i dont know which one is better, but lets take a look into both.
crystal space has sound engine, so does irrlicht. it is named irrKlang.
crystal space has scripting engine, there is python binding for irrlicht named pyrr. i didnt like python personaly some time ago, but when i gained more experience i realised that it is a wonderful thing

crystal space has physics engine, irrlicht doesnt have it. but who cares? You say that crystal space community is smaller. they develop more stuff with less ppl? i dont think that all this stuff is good quality. for irrlicht you can just take Newton, Bullet or ODE for physics. There are much more free and rly good physics engines.

So why irrlicht is better? It is better because it is realy easy to use (especialy for beginners), it can be mixed up with whatever you want (network engine, sound engine, physics engine, car engine (joke

)). And community is bigger, so it means that answers for newbie questions come fast

omar shaaban · Post by **omar shaaban** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 11:56 am

roxaz wrote: So why irrlicht is better? It is better because it is realy easy to use

yes i have tried crystal space and it 's harder than irrlicht when i was noob so what irrlicht is more specialist in it isthe ease of use and i think that is the important thing because if the engine is easy u will have time for more stuff in your game

greenya · Post by **greenya** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 12:54 pm

I recommend you to take a look at http://www.devmaster.net/engines/
The are a lot of engines, descriptions and reviews(-- that is most important

)

Here is Irrlicht reviews:
http://www.devmaster.net/engines/engine ... s.php?id=4

Here is Crystal Space reviews:
http://www.devmaster.net/engines/engine ... .php?id=33

Of cause some of them not objective and/or written by very different people (some of the know c++ better, some not). Any way, that can help you to gain your own opinion about those engines.

P.S.: As for me, most great properties of Irrlicht is: easy-of-use, great community, very attractive license

.

Wyszo · Post by **Wyszo** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 1:10 pm

Whoah, man, slow down, k_kolibri_7.

You wrote that you are newbie in C++. Are you new in programming? If the answer is yes - do not - I repeat DO NOT touch Crystal Space. In fact if you are new in programming I wouldn't recommend to use Irrlicht either. It's much easier to learn, but still it's powerful and complicated. You should start with writting 2 dimmensional games (use Allegro or SDL). When you become more skilled you can try to write your own 3D engine. You will probably never reach the point when your engine will be as good and as complicated as Irrlicht, but you'll gain expirience. Then it would be the right time to choose form Irrlicht and Crystal Space.

monkeycracks · Post by **monkeycracks** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 1:22 pm

I could never do 2d before 3d for some reason. I found it to be more difficult. I have no clue why so don't ask.

If you feel more comfortable with diving into learning c++ and using the Irrlicht engine at the same time, go for it. It won't be easy nor smart, but it's possible and just be ready to learn.

I'll admit I did a bit of Allegro beforehand, but I could never get the hang of it

On Topic :

I prefer Irrlicht over CS for easy of use.

roxaz · Post by **roxaz** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 1:26 pm

starting from 2d - maybe yes, maybe no.. my first game was 2d, everything was drawn in console, and in fact it was made following a tutorial. it was 1st and last my 2d game

later i jumped to irrlicht with no problems. writing personal rendering engine - in most cases i wouldnt suggest that. It would be a headache. Unless you want to make something rly rly rly rly specific, unless you NEED such experience for something very very special (lets say you are some kind of proframmer in company). For simple guys like us it would be too much and not necessary at all. Starting at something higher level is not bad. In fact experience gained with irrlicht would help in studying OGL or directx. Not much guys start learning programming from ASM, OGL and directx is kind of 3d ASM

Wyszo · Post by **Wyszo** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 2:53 pm

From my point of view (I want to start working in gamedev industry as a programmer soon) understanding how graphics engine works is significant. I believe this knowledge can only help when developing eg. new features to irrlicht. But there is also I very big plus in writing your own 2D or 3D engine - you learn to optimize things and you learn how to do it - and that skill is important for every programmer. You will not acquire it by only learning Irrlicht.

Besides - OS programmers always tell that ASM is great

Believe me or not, but developing your own engine is fun

greenya · Post by **greenya** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 2:57 pm

Wyszo,
+1

GameDude · Post by **GameDude** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:16 pm

I prefer Irrlicht over CS. Irrlicht was much easier. For CS, I couldn't even figure it out. Plus Irrlicht is easily modifable and you add just about anyhting you want.

hd_ · Post by **hd_** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 11:49 pm

I would say try Irrlicht as a starting point at least- and don't be scared off by Wyszo's suggestion of going slowly and trying something else first. It will be a lot harder to jump straight in, especially with no previous programming experience- but you require the same amount of perseverance to take the long route as well. The difference is that if you jump straight in, you probably wont learn all the fine details as quickly, but you will get the point of making things a lot faster- and after that you will learn the finer points much more easily because it will be fun.

If you find C++ a pain (which you probably will)- try the python version of Irrlicht (pyrr)- or you could try panda3d which is based around python and has a nice feature list as well.

hybrid · Post by **hybrid** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 11:50 pm

There's also a Java binding for Irrlicht, and since the .net wrappers allow for other simple languages there are also other interesting possibilities.

dejai · Post by **dejai** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 10:44 am

I have done a in depth comparison with the two and i have found out some valuable information

1. Irrlicht has a great active community look at this post alone!
2. Irrlicht is very diverse and can work on Mac, Linux and Windows without needing to write another line of code.
3. Irrlicht actually care about your input.
4. Irrlicht is not a complete engine and thus can be CUSTOMIZED and this is one of its biggest advantages, you can chose your sound engine you can chose your physics engine MIX IT UP

Its all good

5. Irrlicht has Extensive Documentary
6. Irrlicht has Tutorials in PLAIN ENGLISH
7. You can actually email the creators.
8. The creators are active forum participants
9. Forums are well moderated.
10. The engine allows the coder a lot of room to experiment.
11. Irrlicht is under constant development and improvement.
12. Irrlicht is a very easy engine to use (relative to other engine)
13. Irrlicht has many fan sites and examples
14. The irrlicht engine comes with source code and examples
15. You can edit the irrlicht and commercially sell games under the license
16. Compatible with many IDE's
17. Versatile mesh capabilities.
18. Non repetitive code (relative)
19. Powerful 1 line change can alter your entire game!
20. Many SF Built in

Thanks and thats my 2 cents

3ddev · Post by **3ddev** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 6:38 am

One important feature/difference between the two engines is that Crystal Space only support OpenGL rendering, while Irrlicht support OpenGL, DirectX, and a custom renderer. DirectX is the key here, since most Windows platforms don't come with OpenGL support by default (the user has to download a driver from NVidia or ATI)

Wyszo · Post by **Wyszo** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 7:41 am

;P

That was a good one

DirectX is the key here, since most Windows platforms don't come with OpenGL support by default (the user has to download a driver from NVidia or ATI)

Ok, none of Windows platforms comes with OpenGL drivers, but none of them have DirectX drivers (and library) installed by default. User has to install graphics card drivers if he wants to have fast 3D acceleration. And by doing this he installs both OpenGL and DirectX libraries and drivers. So, your post doesn't make any sense.

Crystal Space only support OpenGL rendering, while Irrlicht support OpenGL, DirectX, and a custom renderer

I didn't bother to ever read CS feature list. CS also has software renderer, but who needs it in the times of Shader Model 4.0 ?