- "There's nothing left in the engine from Quake any more. We've continued to re-write every section. We do a lot of re-writing the tools, re-writing lighting calculations. It doesn't sound very interesting. It's very literative."
- — Mark Rubin
The IW engine is a game engine developed by Infinity Ward and is used in the Call of Duty series. The engine is based on id Tech 3, which was used in Call of Duty. The IW engine has been modified with graphical and technical additions since Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
History[]
Infinity Ward's iterations[]
The first known iteration of IW engine was first used with Call of Duty 2 in 2005 under a proprietary license. The engine did not have an official name until IGN was told at E3 2009 by the studio that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 would run on the "IW 4.0 engine".
Prior to IW 4.0, a new version of the engine dubbed "IW 3.0" was used in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. This iteration included features such as bullet penetration, improved AI, lighting engine upgrades, better explosions, particle system enhancements, and more. IW 4.0, which was used for Modern Warfare 2 and later Call of Duty Online, included texture streaming as an enhancement, allowing higher graphical details without sacrificing performance.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 uses an upgraded version of IW 4.0, unofficially dubbed "IW 5.0" or "IW5". The upgraded iteration featured improvements to the streaming technology, allowing larger regions to be rendered.
Call of Duty: Ghosts featured a new iteration of the IW engine, dubbed IW 6.0. The engine was the first to support the eighth generation consoles (Xbox One and PlayStation 4), in addition to PC, Wii U and the seventh generation consoles (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3). One of the highlighted technologies in IW 6.0 is SubD, a technology created by Pixar that allows increased level of detail the closer one gets to a model. The engine also featured a new animation system that allowed new movement mechanics, such as sliding and automatic leaning (the latter of which was previously available only on PC via manual keybinds). The PC version supported advanced NVIDIA PhysX effects for realistic smoke clouds.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare featured IW 7.0, a highly upgraded version of the engine used in Call of Duty: Ghosts. Its features included physically-based rendering, rewritten A.I., weightlessness, improved physics and photogrammetry. This was the last version of the engine to be used by Infinity Ward, before moving on to the revamped engine.
Revamped engine[]
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare featured a completely revamped iteration of the engine, dubbed "IW 8.0". Brand new lighting and sound systems were included, in addition to a new physically-based rendering engine, and advanced photogrammetry. The engine also moved to the DirectX 12 API, and supported ray tracing exclusively on the PC version, with ray-traced shadows allowing for more life-like shadow rendering. Additional updates were made to the engine as part of the long-term support for Call of Duty: Warzone, including a new texture streaming function to download high-quality textures during play sessions, as well as NVIDIA's DLSS on the PC version.
Call of Duty: Vanguard used an updated version of IW 8.0, which featured the addition of a variable rate shading system for improved performance. The engine also added support for AMD's FidelityFX software suite, including FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) upscaling technology and FidelityFX CAS sharpening, in addition to existing DLSS support.
Treyarch's iterations[]
A modified version of IW 3.0 was used by Treyarch to develop Call of Duty: World at War. This iteration improved physics models and added dismemberment effects, in addition to light environmental destruction. With Call of Duty: Black Ops, Treyarch opted to modify their current build of IW 3.0 with their own enhancements. The modified IW 3.0 build used in Black Ops also featured texture streaming, in addition to lighting upgrades.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II continued to upgrade its own modified IW 3.0 engine, simply dubbed the "Black Ops II engine". The updated engine featured lighting upgrades such as high dynamic range (HDR) lighting, bounce lighting, self-shadowing, intersecting shadows, etc. The Black Ops II engine also utilized DirectX 11 renderer on the PC version. The Zombies mode has been moved to the multiplayer portion of the engine to allow for much more variety within this part of the game.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III used an upgraded iteration of the Black Ops II engine, which featured a brand new renderer, improved lighting and physics, as well as support for dynamic resolution scaling.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 used an updated version of the Black Ops III engine, which featured improved lighting, a new "Super Terrain" system and support of up to 100 players.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War used the engine used in Black Ops III and 4 with additional framework and elements from Modern Warfare (2019). It featured support for next-gen consoles and improved real-time lighting. Ray tracing support was available on PC and next-gen consoles, with the engine allowing ray-traced shadows and ambient occlusion. The PC version also supported NVIDIA's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) upscaling technology. This was the last time Treyarch's iteration of the IW engine was used, before the team moved toward the unified engine for their future titles.
Sledgehammer Games' iterations[]
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare was the first title to feature Sledgehammer Games' own custom in-house engine, which used very little legacy code from the IW engine. The majority of the engine was built from the ground up, and incorporated brand new animation, physics, rendering, lighting, motion capture and facial animation systems.
Call of Duty: WWII used an improved version of Advanced Warfare's engine, which features photogrammetry and improved lighting. The engine was also the first to support HDR imaging, allowing for better color output on supported displays.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered used an updated version of Advanced Warfare's engine, with modifications from Raven Software. While Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered used the same engine as Modern Warfare Remastered, with new modifications from Beenox. This was the last title to use Sledgehammer Games' engine iteration.
Unified engine[]
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 used a highly upgraded version of IW 8.0, dubbed "IW 9.0". The engine featured a new water simulation system, in addition to improved AI and audio. The engine also added support for Intel's Xe Super Sampling (XeSS) upscaling technology. IW 9.0 also marks the first time an engine iteration is shared across all studios, with Treyarch, Sledgehammer Games, and Raven Software both developing their new titles on IW 9.0. In addition, the engine was used on mobile platforms development for the first time, with Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile being the first mobile title using IW 9.0.
IW 9.0 was also used to build Call of Duty HQ, a launcher app that acts as a hub for Modern Warfare II, Modern Warfare III, Black Ops 6 and Warzone 2.0, plus a number of Call of Duty games to be released in the future. The shared app allows all of the aforementioned titles to leverage assets from one another, reducing install size on all platforms.
Games[]
| Game | Year | Engine | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Call of Duty 2 | 2005 | IW 2.0 | |
| Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare | 2007 | IW 3.0 | |
| Call of Duty: World at War | 2008 | IW 3.0 | |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | 2009 | IW 4.0 | |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops | 2010 | Modified IW 3.0 | |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 | 2011 | MW3 engine | Upgraded version of IW 4.0 |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops II | 2012 | Black Ops II Engine | Heavily modified version of the Black Ops IW 3.0 build |
| Call of Duty: Online | 2013 | IW 4.0 | |
| Call of Duty: Ghosts | 2013 | IW 6.0 | Upgraded MW3 engine |
| Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare | 2014 | Sledgehammer Games engine | Custom in-house engine, rebuilt from the ground up using the MW3 engine |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops III | 2015 | Black Ops III engine | A heavily modified version of the Black Ops II engine |
| Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare | 2016 | IW 7.0 | |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered | 2016 | Modified Sledgehammer Games engine | |
| Call of Duty: WWII | 2017 | Upgraded Sledgehammer Games engine | |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 | 2018 | Black Ops 4 engine | An updated version of the Black Ops III engine |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 2019 | IW 8.0 | A heavily rebuilt iteration of IW engine |
| Call of Duty: Warzone | 2020 | IW 8.0 | Shared base game with Modern Warfare |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered | 2020 | Modified Sledgehammer Games engine | |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | 2020 | Black Ops Cold War engine | An updated version of the Black Ops 4 engine |
| Call of Duty: Vanguard | 2021 | Updated IW 8.0 | |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II | 2022 | IW 9.0 | Part of Call of Duty HQ |
| Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 | 2022 | IW 9.0 | Part of Call of Duty HQ |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III | 2023 | IW 9.0 | Part of Call of Duty HQ |
| Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile | 2024 | IW 9.0 | |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 | 2024 | IW 9.0 | Part of Call of Duty HQ |
References[]
- News Blog - Activision vs EA, West, and Zampella set to last eight more months + New Interview with Mark Rubin.
- ^ Stead, Chris (2009-07-15). "The 10 Best Game Engines of This Generation". IGN. Retrieved 2010-05-24. "Although the original game in the series ran off the id Tech 3 engine, for the highly regarded Call of Duty 2 the developer built its own in-house middleware which, until recently, had no official name. When questioned at E3 this year, however, we were told by an Infinity Ward rep that the upcoming Modern Warfare 2 would be running on the IW 4.0 engine, a generation beyond what we saw in the so-spectacular-it-hasn't-aged-a-bit Call of Duty 4, released in 2007. "
- ^ "E3 2010: First Details Interview Part 2 HD". GameTrailers. May 28, 2010. Retrieved May 28, 2010.
- ^ Ross Miller (2008-05-09). "New Bond game Quantum of Solace runs on COD4 engine, launching with movie". Joystiq. Retrieved 2008-05-10.
- Mark Lamia discusses the Black Ops II engine
- Zach Volker discusses the new Call of Duty: Ghosts engine
- The Director of Development for Treyarch states what engine Black Ops 3 runs on.