Crysis®, modding and content creation
When
Crysis©
was
released
in
November
2007,
after
its
installation
I
thought
„Wow,
this
is
the
game
and
graphics
I’ve
always
wanted“.
And
to
be
honest…
I
must
say…
until
today
this
game
doesn´t
lose
its
fascination.
The
story
is
no
highlight
but
when
you
land
on
the
island,
you
are
still
fascinated.
Crytek©
knows
graphics.
Unfortunately
the
game
was
technically
ahead
of
its
time
in
2007.
Not
very
many
people
were
able
to
play
it
in
high
quality,
in
full-HD,
with
acceptable
frame rates. Nevertheless, the modding started.
Not
until
later,
in
2010,
the
PCs
became
strong
enough,
to
handle
Crysis©
well.
Justifiably
the
game
remained
„state
of
the art“ for long time.
„Just
in
time“
with
the
release
of
Crysis©
started
its
modding.
The
main
reason
behind
it
was
that
Crytek©
released
the
game
allegedly
with
„DX10“-features,
usable
only
with
Windows
Vista©.
But
the
community
was
quick
and
noticed
some
possible
workarounds,
inside
Crysis©
CVar-files.
These
first
tweaks
opened
the
possibility
of
using
the
„DX10“-features
(that
in
reality
were
apparently
DX9
ones),
for
the
Windows
XP©
users.
The
amazing
side
effect
of
the
My
Crysis(R)
version
(US-version
1.0):
This
bypass
runs
faster
with
Windows
XP©,
than
with
Windows
Vista©.
Later,
Crytek©
have
made this feature official in a patch.
Not
long
after
these
first
modifications,
many
people
wanted
to
have
the
„ragdoll“-effect
back.
We
had
seen
those
effects
in
the
convention
videos,
before
the
Crysis©
release,
but
the
final
version
did
not
include
it.
The
first
„reality-mod“
was
born
and
I
was
a
member
in
the
team
behind
it.
Below
I
will
show
you
my
part of work for it.
Inside
version
1.0
of
the
game
it
was
easily
possible
to
get
the
ragdoll-effect
back,
by
editing
a
few
files,
located
in
different
*.pak
files
of
the
game.
The
reason
behind
this
modification
was
to
make
the
game
more
realistic,
but
ragdoll
and
visible
blood-decals
are
only
one
part
of
it.
The
first
mod
contains
many
other
„reality“-things,
like
lightning
and
environment
work,
too.
With
the
first
patch,
Crytek©
patched
off
the
possible
ragdoll-workaround
and
all
future
methods
were
illegal
because
its
reactivation
then
required
code
editing
and
hacks.
Our
team
broke
up
and
continued
only
the
work
on
environmental
content.
I
have
nothing
to
do
with
any
later
released „reality-mods“ or any illegal back-compiling of files or hacks!
Please note, that this workaround is only legal and usable with Crysis© v 1.0!
The first step is to unpack the original „gamedata.pak“ and find & edit the files below:
.xml (steers the „blood splatter“ at bullet hits)
.lua (steers the ragdoll itself)
.xml (steers lifetime of shot- and bood-decals)
.lua (steers ragdoll at hits)
_fx.xml (steers the lifetime of shells)
If you want to get more shiny shells after shooting, you can edit the „objects.pak“ the file:
„*_5,56.mtl“
After
editing
these
files,
it
is
necessary
to
pack
the
file
with
winzip©.
Most
of
us
used
„uncompressed“,
for
later
faster
loading
ingame.
Last but not least, just rename the „ZIP“ to „pak“.
The
next
„reality-features“
I
did
were
more
realistic
grass,
shells
and
some
additional
environment
stuff. A few things I wrote into a tutorial which you can download on my website.
Shortly
after
the
shells
I
worked
on
different
grass-models,
because
the
original
grass
in
Crysis©
was
one of the things that weren’t looking good.
After
the
grass
I
created
some
bamboo-trees,
because
Crysis©
doesn´t
contain
any
of
these
and
I
liked
them
in
Far
Cry©.
With
the
bamboo
I
created
not
just
touch-
and
detail-bending
content,
it
was
breakable too.
Last but not least, I tested my first coral-models for a reef.
Shortly
after
the
beginning
of
reef
models,
my
work
was
interrupted
by
a
newly
founded
German
Jurassic Park© mod and I was highly interested to work in it. This was in January 2010.
I
now
concentrated
my
work
on
the
„Return
to
Jurassic
Park©“-mod
and
started
a
very
huge
collection of information.
Later
down
the
road,
I
wrote
another
very
huge
tutorial,
about
the
complex
rigging
and
the
animation
for
the
CryEngine©
Free
SDK,
the
new
tool
by
Crytek©.
This
was
exactly
on
17.
Oct
2011.
The
test
inside
the
new
SDK
and
the
tutorial
itself
took
me
about
a
year.
By
the
way,
you
can
download
it
on
my website too. And please take the time for 120 pages!
When
the
tutorial
was
finished
and
the
engine-tests
done,
the
mod
was
broken
up
and
as
result
I
had
wasted
the
last
year
of
intensive
work
for
the
online-documentation
and
the
huge
tutorial.
To
be
honest, it was frustrating! It was January 2012 when this was happened.
Because
of
the
broken
up
mod
I
wanted
to
start
my
own
modification,
in
my
beloved
theme
„the
age
of
sail“.
Since
the
first
second
of
Crysis©
in
2007,
I
tested
some
simple
ship
modifications
but
lost
my
„mental fight“ for the reality mod and the rise of the visual quality.
In
the
years
from
2007
to
2012,
I
did
much
more
than
I
have
posted
here.
Most
of
the
work
is
not
worth
presentation.
It
was
mainly
texture-
and
material-optimizations
or
the
creation
of
new
ones,
as
replacement for the original ones. Or simply in-engine-settings of the „time of day“-lightning.
I
spent
a
little
time
modding
the
first
Crysis©-map
„island“.
I
tested
around
with
„flowgraph“,
expanded the vegetation, accessible areas and much more.
After
the
last
5
years
of
experience
in
Cryengine©,
I
decided
to
start
my
own
modification.
Please
read the next period, to read more.
Till
today
the
game
Crysis©
by
Crytek©
is
a
real
great
game,
with
an
amazing
graphical
experience.
Convince
yourself
and
look
at
the
pictures
on
this
site
below
or
on
my
next
section
„Crysis
Modification Drake´s Legacy“
.
But
attention:
Please
note
absolutely
the
relevant
Amazon
product
pages:
The
game
is
suitable
for
people
aged
18
years
and
older!
Rated
in
Germany
by USK and in the UK by BBFC.
In
the
USA
the
game
were
rated
by
ESRB with „M“ as Mature (17+).
Buy this game at Amazon.de (Germany)
Buy this game at Amazon.co.uk (UK)
Buy this game at Amazon.com (USA)