Hi. Why Epic don’t allow using UE2 Runtime in games? About 14 years passed since first release of it, but Epic still restricts it’s usage.
About 2-3 years ago, i talk with Epic license manager, can i use ue2 rt for my game, and he tell that it’s impossible(no reason).
So, why? In fact UE2 Runtime is a UE API port to UnrealScript, i.e when commercial version is targeted on C++, UE2 RT is targetted on UnrealScript.
I see some games on UE2 Runtime, but Epic didn’t tryed to punish developers.
1 - Mirror's edge on Unreal Engine 2 Runtime - YouTube(more like demo than normal game)
So, may be someone from Epic stuff can answer to this question correctly?
What if i come to Epic with almost done game built on UE2 RT? Can they give me license(sorry if it sounds a bit rude, i can’t describe it cuz of language barrier)?
Epic not Valve, to give licenses to anyone, but may be?
Notice: I didn’t want use UE4 cuz it’s different from UE2/UDK, doesn’t support UnrealScript and, require new toolchain and new IDE(that works too slow without SSD, i have SATA).
Epic doesn’t have full rights to the code from UE-UE3. That’s why it’s impossible for them to do anything with it. And that’s why UE4 had to be built from the ground up to allow full access to their source code.
Yes, that’s right.
But UE2 RT can be licensed for 100$, for any apps excepting games.
Do you think that Epic shared this 100$ with other rights holders? That’s may be strange.
I would imagine it’s a stipulation caused by one of the components of the engine and it’s licensing terms. You may be able to convince Epic to license Unreal Engine 2, though I suspect it would be unlikely. The engine is also likely reaching an age where it soon won’t run too well on modern systems.
I mean not source code license, i mean UE2 Runtime license(unrealscript only), i.e just allow to make games with unrealscript. Also UE2 Runtime doesn’t support any other platforms excepting PC.
I think main problem, is that engine doesn’t optimised for modern multithreaded CPU.
i.e it doesn’t have smart pools(like in UDK), it can’t dynamically stream assets, it doesn’t have mutithreading at all(input, rendering, scripts - all in single thread). That’s why i get 50% CPU usage on simple scene.
But UE2 is working on almost any machine, any modern GPU, it have very thoughtful architecture. That’s why i want use it in my project.
My original comment still stands. It’s likely a component used in the engine has a license stipulation that prevents it (the run-time) being used for games, requiring you to license the engine proper.
Not sure about that, cuz UE2 Runtime is based on normal UE2. But might be your right, just owner of some proprietary technology used in UE2 restrict usage of it’s without pay. May be Epic employe can answer here? It would be nice to know reasons, may be just it’s business policy of Epic, to prevent developers use old engines, licensing new instead.
It’s probably a combination of third party components used in the engine that may no longer be allowed to be used and that most likely it’s not worth Epic’s time to try and deal with licensing the old versions of the engine.
The Runtime has never been available for games. Like I said, it’s almost certainly a licensing issue. One company did port Unreal Engine 2 to the DS a few years back, so it may well be possible to still license the engine.
Why you’d actually *want *to is questionable. If you want to target older (Dx9) hardware and use UnrealScript, UDK has you covered.