X-Ray Engine

X-Ray Engine is a programming language created by GSC Game World for internal use. Everyone who has played the computer game Stalker has heard of this company. The official engine SDK (Software Development Kit) and the source code for the game's programming language are used by the creators of unofficial mods. In the process of creating Stalker - Shadow of Chernobyl, the developers used X-Ray, and released two versions of the game that continued the original: Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat. A modified version of the "engine" was used to create the Stalker 2 project, but development stopped back in 2011.

Purpose

Game developers use the X-Ray Engine to create new mods. Stalker is a multi-part game, to which a lot of modifications were released. To help mod developers, GSC Game World has created SDK tools. For each part of the game released a lot of mods with different graphics quality and changes. The creators of the unique engine forgot to "certify" it with official documents. The first developers of mods created them in a semi-crude form. During the development of the first mods and the writing of this review, there were a lot of instructions and thematic forums. Thanks to these instructions, people communicate and share their experiences with the SDK.

Technical specifications

The final version of the engine runs on the Diagnostic Tool and DirectX 11 library. The programming language has support for volumetric light and complex effects with smoke, as well as it allows rendering complex game scenes and works with Ragdoll-physics. In the first version of the programming language, the developers added soft shadows to the game. At the time of the release of the first part of the game, such a graphical element was something new and technically interesting, even more so for a game with a large space and open area.

Key features

• official SDK for creators of modified maps for the game;
• programming language supports DirectX 11 libraries;
• creation of physics with realistic movement and its own AI system (A-Life);
• introduction of technology that creates relief textures of objects;
• support for soft shadows and volumetric light;
• display of about four million polygons in one frame;
• the game's programming language is not certified and is not officially distributed;
• rendering of complex game scenes and support for next-generation physics.