u/MichaelKlint

Hi guys, I thought this sub would appreciate the approach I am taking with indirect lighting / global illumination in the C++ powered Leadwerks Game Engine 5.2. This basically a more modern and dynamic version of baked global illumination. I literally just got it working yesterday, but it's already producing some very nice results.

Performance is kind-of-on-the-verge of being real-time, and possibly could be in some smaller environments...with a very powerful CPU. However, after seeing the performance problems Unreal Lumen has, I think I would rather steer things in the direction of high quality and fast rendering performance, with the dynamic aspect of it just being useful as an in-editor lighting preview or maybe a slowly changing day/night cycle that updates in the background.

There's a discount on Leadwerks 5 during the Steam summer sale, so if you're interested you can get it now and receive the 5.2 update for free when it comes online.

It's still early but development of this feature is progressing quickly. Let me know if you have any questions or ideas!

Hi guys, in this week's live developer chat we are kicking off the Leadwerks Summer Games Tournament. Participants have 30 days to create a simple playable game (with Lua or C++) and upload it to our website. Instead of a competition, this is a co-opetition. Everyone who participates gets a prize in the mail. 😃

We also played through the free game Exit: Underground and took a sneak peak at some of the plans for development in Leadwerks 5.2, including fast software raytracing and moving our VR backend to OpenXR.

If you are interested in participating in the tournament, you can pick up the Lua-enabled Leadwerks Game Engine 5 with a discount during the Steam summer sale.

I recently got an Oculus Rift S for testing. I love the hardware but the software ruins it. I was wondering what headsets are out there in 2026 that are JUST a headset?:

• Designed for PC only.
• No half-ass built-in cellphone OS.
• No attempt to build an "ecosystem".
• Not tied to Steam or Facebook.
• No mixed-up reality nonsense.
• Prefer no passthrough at all, since it's added weight with no benefit.

Does anyone even make a VR headset that's just a VR headset, without any stupid bullshit?

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I'm a developer, and I do some enterprise VR work, so being able to run without Steam is necessary.

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Bigscreen Beyond won't work because of the custom fitting.

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I literally just want an Oculus Rift S with a higher resolution screen and a minimal OpenXR integration.

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It appears that "not spying" is actually part of the value proposition for the expensive enterprise VR headsets. If any companies that offer what I am looking for can contact me, feel free, but otherwise it looks like we will paying a $2000 premium just to avoid the "ecosystem" nonsense.

This sounds a lot like the "diversified" mortgages being bundled and sold during the 2008 crisis. Basically, you make a loan to someone who will never be able to pay it back, then bundle and resell those loans, and it's no longer your problem.

>The underlying assets tend to be very diversified platforms, equally in terms of metropolitan areas that they operate in and the breadth of customers that those platforms interact with

>Pension funds and insurance companies seeking long-duration assets have been among the most active buyers, Ooley said.

I would love to hear more investigative coverage about this specific topic. What do you think?

Hi guys, in this week's live developer chat I'll recap the main features of Leadwerks 5.1 Beta, discuss how inflated GPU and RAM prices necessitate the need to support a wide range of computer hardware, show our Unreal to Leadwerks level converter, provide some tips to help all developer stop flickering vegetation, and show our experiment with vector displacement maps.

Leadwerks 5.1 is available now on the beta branch on Steam, with a discount this week. Let me know if you have any questions or comments and I will try to respond to everyone! Thanks.

Hi guys, after several months of work, the beta of Leadwerks 5.1 is now available on Steam. Version 5.1 is a significant update that brings a lot of new features, enhancements, and optimizations. Here's the announcement:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/251810/view/670617878982034217

Here's some of the stuff I added:

Efficient New Deferred Renderer

The clustered forward+ renderer has been replaced with a new deferred renderer, to provide better performance and easier shader development. Many new optimizations have been implemented, such as the use of the stencil buffer for controlling decal visibility. The transparency system in 5.1 is insanely good, with screen-space reflections, probe volumes, refraction, and rough transparency (frosted glass) all integrated into an efficient rendering pipeline that gives you gorgeous visuals with minimal effort.

Support for Potato PCs

Given the inflated costs of PC components today, supporting older hardware is more important than ever. Leadwerks 5.1 introduces optimized support for low-end PCs and older computers, ensuring that even users with modest hardware can enjoy smooth gameplay. In fact, Leadwerks 5.1 will run on computer hardware going all the way back to 2010...including integrated graphics. This change unlocks an underserved market and increases the audience for your game by 50%, while delivering better visuals than ever before.

Terrain-mesh Blending

A new terrain-mesh blending feature lets you seamlessly blend rocks, trees, and other items into the landscape with a natural appearance. This feature makes it easy to achieve stunning outdoors scenery with minimal effort.

Upscaling

A custom upscaling solution has been added that boosts framerates by as much as 300%, with minimal loss of quality. This allows an Intel HD 630 (definitely potato-class hardware) to achieve a solid 60 FPS in our first-person shooter sample, running at 1080p!

All of this is easily programmable with C++ and Lua.

Let me know if you have any questions and I will try to answer everyone. Have a nice Memorial Day! :D

Hi guys, I'm putting on the final touches for the release of Leadwerks 5.1. Here's the recording for this week's live developer chat.

This Week's Progress

I integrated tessellation back into our new virtual texturing terrain system. Our stochastic vegetation system has been updated to work with the 5.1 renderer, with support for the new terrain-mesh blending feature. This blends objects into the ground but can also act as a color-grading tool that lets you easily create outdoor scenes with a professional cohesive look. The use of alpha-to-coverage with our multisample antialiasing (MSAA) makes grass and trees look clean and sharp.

Links

• Get Leadwerks Game Engine 5: https://store.steampowered.com/app/251810/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social
• Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/qTVR55BgGt

In this week's live developer chat we take a look at the revised terrain system set for release in Leadwerks 5.1, including the new terrain-mesh blending feature. I decided to go with the tried-and-true clipmap method, used by both Battlefield 6 and Leadwerks 4, with the resolution cranked up and some new ideas and tricks built in.

I also implemented the terrain-mesh blending feature I've been planning a long time, which only took a couple of days from start to finish. My implementation treats terrain blending as a deferred effect that works on any surface, and is built into the core rendering pipeline.

Get Leadwerks Game Engine 5: https://store.steampowered.com/app/251810/

Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/qTVR55BgGt

In this week's live developer chat we take a look at the revised terrain system set for release in Leadwerks 5.1, including the new terrain-mesh blending feature. I decided to go with the tried-and-true clipmap method, used by both Battlefield 6 and Leadwerks 4, with the resolution cranked up and some new ideas and tricks built in.

I also implemented the terrain-mesh blending feature I've been planning a long time, which only took a couple of days from start to finish. My implementation treats terrain blending as a deferred effect that works on any surface, and is built into the core rendering pipeline.

Get Leadwerks Game Engine 5: https://store.steampowered.com/app/251810/

Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/qTVR55BgGt