Welcome to CRYENGINE 3.8.1 (out now for all subscribers on Steam), the most feature-packed release since we launched the Engine-as-a-Service model in May of last year!

 CRYENGINE 3.8.1 is now available

New API: OpenGL Support
Starting with 3.8.1, we are shipping a fully-featured OpenGL rendering implementation with CRYENGINE, which goes hand in hand with Linux support for your games (see below).

New platform: Oculus Rift Support
You asked about it, and we listened: Just in time for the announcement of Crytek’S new VR title “Robinson: The Journey” at this week’s E3, we are putting support for the Oculus Rift HMD (Head-mounted display) into EaaS users’ hands. We've included a small demonstration level, aptly titled the "VR_Demo" level. This showcases some information on how you can approach setting up your levels for VR, some of the implications and the immersive benefits of using VR.

New platform: Linux
As previously announced, we are adding Linux support for your Game.exe. While you will still need Windows to use the Sandbox Editor, you can now release your commercial games on Linux as well as on PC- and of course, there are still no royalties whatsoever!

New feature: Voxel-based Volumetric Fog
With today’s release, we introduce an all new voxel-based volumetric fog system. The system supports illumination from deferred lights, respects clip volume boundaries and works consistently with transparent objects including particles.

New feature: 8-weight GPU Vertex Skinning
Skinning of complex animated meshes that use more than 4 vertex weights (up to 8 weights) can now be performed directly on the GPU which can significantly reduce the CPU load.

Improved: POM Self-Shadowing
This is another topic we had a lot of feedback on from our users on the forums, so we are happy to report that POM self-shadowing is back and working efficiently with deferred shading, allowing the sun to cast shadows from the heightmap used for POM (Parallax Occlusion Mapping).

GameZero
The GameSDK project is a full blown game example. It demonstrates how most of the CRYENGINE features can be utilized, but its size and complexity can be overwhelming for first-time users. GameZero offers a minimalist approach to CRYENGINE. It allows first time users to get a quick overview of using the engine’s core functionality. It can be used as starting point for creating several types of games.

Added: Support for 3ds Max 2016, Maya 2016 and MotionBuilder 2016
Keeping our DCC-import pipeline up-to-date, we have added support for 3ds Max 2016, Maya 2016 and MotionBuilder 2016.

And much, much more!
Beyond these highlights, there are hundreds of further additions, improvements and fixes- please find the full release notes on our Documentation website .