id: Rage too complex for modding

If you were looking forward to tinkering with id Software's new Tech5 engine when Rage is released then we may have some bad news for you. id Software has revealed that the upcoming multi-platform shooter, Rage, might be a bit too complex for users to modify.

The problem it seems arises from the megatexture technology used in the game, a technique which involves using heavily compressed surface textures to ensure that no part of the terrain is repeated at the texture level. It's a fancy new technology developed by id, but the process requires textures of up to 128000x128000 pixels in size.

Not only does this mean that the megatexture technology is going to be prohibitively complex and detailed for many users, but the textures also take a staggering amount of processing power to create. Put simply, id doubts that any modders have the hardware available to them to even try and fiddle with the technology.

In the past id Software have always been very supportive of the modding community and have gone so far as to make all of their games and engines open-source once the next few titles have been released. Carmack and Co. have pledged that they will be doing the same with the id Tech 5 engine too eventually, but are unsure if anybody could yet process all the information - sounds like a challenge to us!

Naturally though, the issue does beg the question of why the engine requires megatextures and doesn't provide support for smaller, old-fashioned texture technologies.

Have you ever made a map or a mod? Let us know in the forums.

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id: Rage too complex for modding

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