IW engine
The IW engine is a game engine developed by Infinity Ward and Treyarch for the Call of Duty series. The engine was originally based on id Tech 3 as its core, since the engine itself is proprietary with inclusion of GtkRadiant by id Software. It has been used by Infinity Ward, Treyarch, Raven Software and Sledgehammer Games.
History
From IW 2.0 to IW 3.0
The engine has been distinct from the id Tech 3 engine on which it is based since Call of Duty 2 in 2005. The engine's name was not publicized until IGN was told at the E3 2009 by the studio that ' would run on the "IW 4.0 engine". Development of the engine and the Call of Duty games has resulted in inclusion of advanced graphical features while maintaining an average of 60 frames per second on the consoles and PC.' was released using version 3.0 of the engine. This game included features such as bullet penetration, improved AI, lighting engine upgrades, particle system enhancements and many more improvements. Treyarch began using an enhanced version of the IW 3.0 engine for '. Improvements were made to the physics model and dismemberment was added. Environments also featured more destructibility and could be set alight using the flamethrower. The flamethrower featured propagating fire and it was able to burn skin and clothes realistically. Treyarch modified the engine for their James Bond title, '.
IW 4.0 - IW 5.0
' was released using the IW 4.0 engine, the only game to do so. The IW 4.0 engine featured texture streaming technology to create much higher environmental detail without sacrificing performance. ' was not based on IW 4.0; rather, Treyarch further enhanced the version of IW 3.0 they had used in their previous game. This version of the engine also featured streaming technology, lighting enhancements, and support for 3D imaging. ' utilizes an improved version of the IW 4.0 engine. Improvements on the engine allow better streaming technology which allows larger regions for the game while running at a minimum of 60 frames per second. Further improvements to the audio and lighting engines have been made in this version.' was developed using a further iteration of the IW engine. Texture blending has been improved due to a new technology called "reveal mapping" which compares tones between two textures and then blends them together. Also, there have been upgrades to the lighting engine which include HDR lighting, bounce lighting, self-shadowing, intersecting shadows and various other improvements. takes advantage of DirectX 11 video cards on the Windows version of the game. The "zombie" mode has been moved to the multiplayer portion of the engine which will allow for much more variety within this part of the game.
Next Gen IW
' features an upgraded version of the IW 5.0 seen in '. It is unknown at this time whether or not any engine features have been taken from '. Since the main developer is Infinity Ward they have returned to their original engine naming system and called this iteration IW6. IW6 is compatible with next-gen systems such as Xbox One and PlayStation 4 so polygon counts, texture detail and overall graphical fidelity has been increased. IW6 is also compatible with Microsoft Windows, Wii U, PS3 and Xbox 360. The IW6 engine features technology from Pixar, SubD, which increases the level of detail of models as one gets closer to them. Mark Rubin has said about the HDR lighting "We used to paint it in and cover up the cracks, but now it's all real-time". Ghosts uses Iris Adjust tech which allows the player to experience from a person's point of view how their eyes would react to changes in lighting conditions realistically. Other features include new animation systems, fluid dynamics, interactive smoke, displacement mapping and dynamic multiplayer maps. ' features an unknown version of the IW engine, as the majority of it has been re-written. Advanced Warfare features a new audio engine built from the ground up. Developer Sledgehammer said they have incorporated brand new animation, physics, rendering, lighting, motion capture and facial animation systems.'s IW 7.0 features weightlessness system, game physics improvement, improved AI and improved non-player characters behaviors.
Games using IW engine
| Title | Version | Year | Upgraded from | Features | - | - | - | - | - |
| Title | Version | Year | Upgraded from | Features | Call of Duty 2 | IW 2.0 | 2005 | Modified version of id Tech 3 from Call of Duty |
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| ' | IW 3.0 | 2007 | Call of Duty 2s IW 2.0 engine | - | - | - | - | - | |
| ' | IW 3.0 | 2008 | Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfares IW 3.0 engine | - | - | - | - | - | |
| ' | IW 3.0 | 2008 | Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfares IW 3.0 engine | - | - | - | - | - | |
| ' | IW 4.0 | 2009 | Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfares IW 3.0 engine | - | - | - | - | - | |
| ' | IW 3.0 | 2010 | Call of Duty: World at Wars IW 3.0 engine | - | - | - | - | - | |
| ' | IW 5.0 | 2011 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2s IW 4.0 engine | - | - | - | - | - | |
| ' | Black Ops II engine | 2012 | Call of Duty: Black Opss IW 3.0 engine heavily modified | - | - | - | - | - | |
| ' | IW 6.0 Next Gen | 2013 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3s MW3 engine updated | - | - | - | - | - | |
| ' | Black Ops III engine | 2015 | Call of Duty: Black Ops IIs Black Ops II engine updated | - | - | - | - | - | |
| ' | IW 7.0 Next Gen | 2016 | Call of Duty: Ghosts | - | - | - | - | - | |
| ' | Black Ops 4 engine | 2018 | Call of Duty: Black Ops III | - | - | - | - | - | |
| ' | IW 8.0 | 2019 | Highly upgraded version of IW engine with much improved lighting, physics, graphics and etc. | - | - | - | - | - |