Report: Valve's Source 2 Engine Gets Soft Launch in Dota 2 Tools

[MarlaDesat]

Report: Valve's Source 2 Engine Gets Soft Launch in Dota 2 Tools

The latest update for Dota 2 appears to be running the Source 2 engine.

Valve's Source engine powers games like Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Source and Portal. Rumors of a new release, Source 2, began in January this year when a NeoGAF user posted a RoyAwesome [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131719-Leaked-Source-Engine-2-Screenshot-Hints-At-Left-4-Dead-3] reports that the workshop is running on the Source 2 engine, with changes to file names, script changes, and a new command console as proof.

"Everything that would share a name with Source is named '...2'. That's 'engine2.dll', 'vconsole2.exe', 'vphysics2.dll'," says RoyAwesome. "[The new script] also allows for different dlls to load and render different assets (vmaps are rendered by worldrenderer.dll, etc). This is quite a bit different from Source 1, as they had a large number of things in the engine libraries. This bit alone would indicate a significant amount of engine work has been done to split these bits out of the engine and into their own libraries." If the Workshop really is running Source 2, Dota 2 is a great place to test out the engine, with over 7 million players [http://www.gamespot.com/articles/dota-2-players-now-outnumber-world-of-warcraft-subscribers/1100-6419431/] in April.

Valve has not confirmed that the update is running Source 2, but has certainly be keeping busy this year. The Steam controller got a international Dota 2 competition [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/136349-Steam-Controller-Redesign-Includes-Analog-Thumbstick], I'm not sure the pros will be picking up a Steam controller, but I can see the appeal of playing a few matches from my couch.

Source: Reddit [http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/2cv5os/so_the_workshop_tools_isnt_just_a_modding/]


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[RA92]

Next: Half Life 3 confirmed... to be a DOTA 2 mod.

HL3E1 will be a TF2 hat.

 

[synobal]

Let me clear up a few things that a lot of people are confused about.

NO they are not putting out Dota 3 a year after dota 2. This is just Dota 2 running on the source 2 engine, something valve have done in house for Tf2 and L4D2.

It is speculated that Dota 2 is getting ported over to source 2 for longevity reasons, Valve think they game has the chops to last for a decade if not more so the want it to be on their latest and fancy engine and think its worth the time to port it over.

Does this mean L4D2 and TF2 will be released for source 2? Maybe its hard to say if Valve think its worth their time. If I had to pick one most likely to be ported it would be TF2.

Is Dota 2 currently running on source 2? No, the tools valve released (which are in Alpha) launch a copy of Dota 2 that is running on the source 2 engine, for testing reasons etc etc.

 

[Denamic]

DotA 2 is not a couch game. If you're relaxed, you're doing it wrong.

 

[cypher-raige]

Does this mean L4D2 and TF2 will be released for source 2? Maybe its hard to say if Valve think its worth their time. If I had to pick one most likely to be ported it would be TF2.

I would also pick TF2 considering it has about five times the active players of L4D2. Maybe call it TF3.

 

[synobal]

Does this mean L4D2 and TF2 will be released for source 2? Maybe its hard to say if Valve think its worth their time. If I had to pick one most likely to be ported it would be TF2.

I would also pick TF2 considering it has about five times the active players of L4D2. Maybe call it TF3.

Nah its a port, not a new game. When they ported the original half life over to gold source they didn't rename half life.

 

[Living_Brain]

Have you seen the new Hammer editor? It looks really nice.

 

[Dr.Awkward]

Have you seen the new Hammer editor? It looks really nice.

Wait, there's a new Hammer editor? Does all the rendermodes actually work and have an intuitive workflow? Can it do real-time rendering within a window instead of having to compile the BSP every time? Does it allow you to extrude or bevel faces on a primitive polygon? Does it use a node graph when scripting what certain primitives do instead of "plop pre-made system entities within the map and then get frustrated with linking/configuring said entities together"?

 

[QuadFish]

Have you seen the new Hammer editor? It looks really nice.

Wait, there's a new Hammer editor? Does all the rendermodes actually work and have an intuitive workflow? Can it do real-time rendering within a window instead of having to compile the BSP every time? Does it allow you to extrude or bevel faces on a primitive polygon? Does it use a node graph when scripting what certain primitives do instead of "plop pre-made system entities within the map and then get frustrated with linking/configuring said entities together"?

Considering how long people have been yelling at them about all the problems in Hammer (7+ years now?) it would be crazy of them not to fix the thing up. If there is a new one it will be a major redesign.

 

[synobal]

Have you seen the new Hammer editor? It looks really nice.

Wait, there's a new Hammer editor? Does all the rendermodes actually work and have an intuitive workflow? Can it do real-time rendering within a window instead of having to compile the BSP every time? Does it allow you to extrude or bevel faces on a primitive polygon? Does it use a node graph when scripting what certain primitives do instead of "plop pre-made system entities within the map and then get frustrated with linking/configuring said entities together"?

The short answer is, yes. Though I dunno about the faces thing.

 

[Living_Brain]

Have you seen the new Hammer editor? It looks really nice.

Wait, there's a new Hammer editor? Does all the rendermodes actually work and have an intuitive workflow? Can it do real-time rendering within a window instead of having to compile the BSP every time? Does it allow you to extrude or bevel faces on a primitive polygon? Does it use a node graph when scripting what certain primitives do instead of "plop pre-made system entities within the map and then get frustrated with linking/configuring said entities together"?

Unfortunately I can't tell you, as it is amongst a 5.5 gb Workshop Update that I don't have the time to download right now. Here is a link to a post with pics http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1238036&p=45616633&viewfull=1#post45616633

 

[Living_Brain]

Have you seen the new Hammer editor? It looks really nice.

Wait, there's a new Hammer editor? Does all the rendermodes actually work and have an intuitive workflow? Can it do real-time rendering within a window instead of having to compile the BSP every time? Does it allow you to extrude or bevel faces on a primitive polygon? Does it use a node graph when scripting what certain primitives do instead of "plop pre-made system entities within the map and then get frustrated with linking/configuring said entities together"?

Quote #2: Look at this. Oh my holy fuck. I want it. http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/2cvdd4/the_new_hammer_map_editor_is_insanely_powerful/ (just click the title)