{{Lowercase}} {{short description|Video game engine}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2023}} {{Infobox video game engine | name = id Tech 6 | logo = | screenshot = | caption = | collapsible = | author = | developer = id Software | latest release version = | latest release date = | repo = | tools = | programming language = C++ | platform = {{ubl|Microsoft Windows|PlayStation 4|Xbox One|Nintendo Switch|Stadia}} | license = Proprietary | website = {{URL|idsoftware.com}} | replaces = id Tech 5 | replaced_by = id Tech 7 }}
'''id Tech 6''' is a multiplatform game engine developed by id Software. It is the successor to id Tech 5 and was first used to create the 2016 video game ''Doom''. Internally, the development team also used the codename ''id Tech 666'' to refer to the engine.<ref>{{cite web |last=McElroy |first=Griffin |date=17 July 2014 |title=The new Doom game is just titled 'Doom,' runs on id Tech 6, and more details |url=http://www.polygon.com/2014/7/17/5913883/doom-4-quakecon-reveal |access-date=18 May 2016 |work=Polygon}}</ref> The PC version of the engine is based on the Vulkan API and the OpenGL API.
John Carmack started talking about his vision regarding the engine that would succeed id Tech 5 several years before the latter debuted in ''Rage'', but following his departure from id Software in 2014, Tiago Sousa was hired to replace him as the lead renderer programmer at the company.
On June 24, 2009, id Software was acquired by ZeniMax Media. It was later announced in 2010 that id Software's technology would be available only to other companies also belonging to ZeniMax Media.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Graft |first=Kris |date=August 13, 2010 |title=id Tech 5 Rage Engine No Longer Up For External Licensing |url=https://www.gamedeveloper.com/programming/id-tech-5-i-rage-i-engine-no-longer-up-for-external-licensing |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100816103142/http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/29886/id_Tech_5_Rage_Engine_No_Longer_Up_For_External_Licensing.php |archive-date=2010-08-16 |access-date=September 27, 2017 |url-status=live |website=Gamasutra}}</ref> It was followed up by id Tech 7.
==Preliminary information== In 2008 and while id Tech 5 had yet to be fully formed, John Carmack said the next engine by id Software would be looking towards a direction where ray tracing and classic raster graphics would be mixed.<ref name="pcper">{{cite web |last=Shrout |first=Ryan |date=2008-03-12 |title=John Carmack on id Tech 6, Ray Tracing, Consoles, Physics and more |url=http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/John-Carmack-id-Tech-6-Ray-Tracing-Consoles-Physics-and-more |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161001211747/http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/John-Carmack-id-Tech-6-Ray-Tracing-Consoles-Physics-and-more |archive-date=2016-10-01 |website=PC Perspective |publisher= |quote=What John does see ray tracing useful for is a very specific data model he has created called "sparse voxel octrees" that allow him to store immense amounts of data in a fashion that is easily accessed using ray tracing methods(...) This new data model and algorithm being worked on for id Tech 6 would allow, according to John, nearly infinite amounts of geometric detail in the world without the problems seen with tessellation engines or trying to store gigabytes of data locally}}</ref> The engine would work by raycasting the geometry represented by voxels (instead of triangles) stored in an octree.<ref>{{cite web |last=Olick |first=Jon |year=2008 |title=Current Generation Parallelism In Games |url=http://s08.idav.ucdavis.edu/olick-current-and-next-generation-parallelism-in-games.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301073410/http://s08.idav.ucdavis.edu/olick-current-and-next-generation-parallelism-in-games.pdf |archive-date=2012-03-01 |access-date=2010-11-12 |website=UC Davis |publisher=id Software}}</ref> Carmack claimed that this format would also be a more efficient way to store the 2D data as well as the 3D geometry data, because of not having packing and bordering issues.<ref name="pcper"/> The goal of the engine would be to virtualize geometry the same way that id Tech 5 virtualized textures.<ref name="E3 2008">{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Will |date=2008-07-15 |title=E3 2008: The John Carmack Interview. Rage, id Tech 6, Doom 4 Details, and More! |url=http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/e3_2008_the_john_carmack_interview_rage_id_tech_6_doom_4_details_and_more?page=0%2C1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080717040310/http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/e3_2008_the_john_carmack_interview_rage_id_tech_6_doom_4_details_and_more |archive-date=2008-07-17 |website=Maximum PC |publisher= |quote=I still think there’s one more generation to be had where we virtualize geometry with id Tech 6 and do some things that are truly revolutionary. (...) I know we can deliver a next-gen kick, if we can virtualize the geometry like we virtualized the textures; we can do things that no one’s ever seen in games before.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Shrout |first=Ryan |date=2008-03-12 |title=John Carmack on id Tech 6, Ray Tracing, Consoles, Physics and more |url=http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=532 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100314045408/http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=532 |archive-date=2010-03-14 |access-date=2010-01-03 |website=PC Perspective |publisher= |quote=This new data model and algorithm being worked on for id Tech 6 would allow, according to John, nearly infinite amounts of geometric detail in the world without the problems seen with tessellation engines or trying to store gigabytes of data locally.}}</ref> This would be a change from past engines which for the most part use mesh-based systems. However, he also explained during QuakeCon 08, that the hardware that would be capable of id Tech 6 did not yet exist at the time.<ref name="carmack">{{cite web |last=Chan |first=Norman |date=2008-07-31 |title=QuakeCon 08: id Tech 6 Will Utilize Hardware That 'Doesn't Exist Right Now'; Next-Gen Will Still Be Polygon-Based |url=http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/quakecon_08_id_tech_6_will_utilize_hardware_that_doesnt_exist_right_now_nextgen_will_still_be_polygonbased |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100128095058/http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/quakecon_08_id_tech_6_will_utilize_hardware_that_doesnt_exist_right_now_nextgen_will_still_be_polygonbased |archive-date=2010-01-28 |website=Maximum PC |publisher= |quote=id Tech 6, for example, probably won't be coded in Java or any protected language. It also will be designed for hardware that doesn't exist right now. With new discrete graphics players entering the field (Larrabee, Fusion, etc), Carmack knows that the PC space is relevant, and that's where he'll be looking when thinking about coding his next engine.}}</ref>
In July 2011, Carmack explained that id Software was beginning research for the development of id Tech 6.<ref>{{cite web |last=Brightman |first=James |date=2011-07-27 |title=Doom Creator More Excited About Games Now Than Ever |url=http://www.industrygamers.com/news/doom-creator-more-excited-about-games-now-than-ever//article.php?aid=532 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318084428/http://www.industrygamers.com/news/doom-creator-more-excited-about-games-now-than-ever//article.php?aid=532 |archive-date=2012-03-18 |access-date=2011-08-01 |publisher=IndustryGamers |quote='And we're in research for id Tech 6 graphics, content development…yeah, I’m super busy,' he said.}}</ref> It's unknown if Carmack's vision of the engine at the time was still the same he described in 2008.
Eventually, the plans for a rendering approach with voxel-based raycasting were abandoned in favor of conventional mesh-based rasterization.
==Technology== {{original research|section|date=April 2024}} An early version of the fourth main ''Doom'' game was being built on id Tech 5 but id Software restarted development in late 2011 to early 2012, after Bethesda expressed concerns about its creative and technological direction. When development was restarted it was decided to begin with the id Tech 5-based ''Rage'' codebase but take "big leaps back in certain areas of tech" and "[merge] Doom features to Rage".<ref>{{cite web |last=Schreier |first=Jason |date=2013-04-03 |title=Five Years And Nothing To Show: How Doom 4 Got Off Track |url=http://kotaku.com/five-years-and-nothing-to-show-how-doom-4-got-off-trac-468097062 |access-date=18 May 2016 |work=Kotaku |publisher=Gawker Media}}</ref>
''Doom'' was first shown to the public during QuakeCon 2014, where it was confirmed it was running on an early version of id Tech 6.<ref>{{cite web |date=1 September 2015 |title=Powering DOOM with id Tech 6 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6itJ19T99c |access-date=12 February 2022 |publisher=Bethesda Softworks |via=YouTube}}</ref> The developers' goals when creating the engine were described as being able to drive good looking games running at 1080p on 60 fps but also reintroduce real-time dynamic lighting which was largely removed from id Tech 5.<ref>{{cite web |last=Bishop |first=Samantha |date=5 September 2015 |title=Doom debuts the new id Tech 6 engine |url=http://www.gamezone.com/news/doom-debuts-the-new-id-tech-6-engine-3424473 |access-date=18 May 2016 |website=GameZone |publisher=}}</ref> The engine still uses virtual textures (dubbed "MegaTextures" in id Tech 4 and 5) but they are of higher quality and no longer restrict the appearance of realtime lighting and shadows.<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la0O0SyM3gg |title=Doom Tech Analysis: The Best-Looking 60fps Console Shooter? |date=18 May 2016 |publisher=Digital Foundry |access-date=18 May 2016 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211220/la0O0SyM3gg |archive-date=2021-12-20 |url-status=live |via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="venturebeat"/> Physically based rendering has also been confirmed.<ref>{{cite web |last=Palumbo |first=Alessio |date=2 September 2015 |title=Take A Look At DOOM's id Tech 6 In This Video Interview |url=http://wccftech.com/take-a-look-at-dooms-id-tech-6-in-this-video-interview/ |access-date=2016-02-19 |website=WCCFtech |language=en-US}}</ref> A technical analysis of ''Doom'' found that the engine supports motion blur, bokeh depth of field, HDR bloom, shadow mapping, lightmaps, irradiance volumes, image-based lighting, FXAA, volumetric lighting/smoke, destructible environments, water physics, skin sub-surface scattering, SMAA and TSSAA anti-aliasing, directional occlusion, screen space reflections, normal maps, GPU accelerated particles which are correctly lit and shadowed, triple buffer v-sync which acts like fast sync, unified volumetric fog (every light, shadow, indirect lighting affects it, including water caustics / underwater light scattering), tessellated water surface (on the fly without GPU tessellation.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}} Caustics are dynamically generated and derived from water surface), and chromatic aberration.<ref>{{cite web |last=Linneman |first=John |date=21 May 2016 |title=Face-Off: Doom |url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2016-doom-face-off |access-date=11 June 2016 |work=Eurogamer}}</ref> On July 11, 2016, id Software released an update for the game that added support for Vulkan.<ref>{{cite web |last=Duffy |first=Robert |date=2016-07-11 |title=DOOM – Vulkan Support Now Live |url=https://bethesda.net/en/article/1By8XypnlaCqmmIWqAcOgm/doom-vulkan-support-now-live |access-date=11 July 2016 |work=Bethesda.net}}</ref>
Following Carmack's departure from id Software, Tiago Sousa, who had worked as the lead R&D graphics engineer of several versions of the CryEngine at Crytek, was hired to lead development of the rendering.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pcper.com/news/General-Tech/John-Carmacks-Replacement-id-Tiago-Sousa-Crytek|title=John Carmack's Replacement at id: Tiago Sousa (Crytek)|work=pcper.com|date=July 19, 2014 |access-date=18 May 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite twitter|number=490177133180760064|user=idSoftwareTiago|title=Happy to announce i'll be helping the amazingly talented id Software team with Doom and idTech 6. Very excited :)|date=18 July 2014|access-date=18 May 2016}}</ref> Bethesda's Pete Hines has commented that while id Tech 6 reuses code written by Carmack, most of the decisions made about the engine's direction were taken after he left.<ref name="venturebeat">{{cite web |last=Takahashi |first=Dean |date=17 June 2015 |title=Bethesda wins the attention war by blasting marketing rules for Doom, Fallout 4 |url=https://venturebeat.com/2015/06/17/bethesda-wins-the-attention-war-by-breaking-the-game-marketing-rules-for-doom-fallout-4/view-all/ |access-date=18 May 2016 |work=VentureBeat}}</ref>
==Games using id Tech 6== {| class="wikitable" |+ !Year !Title !Developer |- |2016 |''Doom''<ref name="quakecon14">{{cite web |date=18 July 2014 |title=Why id Software is calling it 'Doom' and not 'Doom 4' |url=http://www.vg247.com/2014/07/18/doom-4-details-quakecon-2014-reboot/ |website=VG247}}</ref> |Id Software |- | rowspan="2" |2017 |''Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus'' |MachineGames |- |''Doom VFR'' |id Software |- | rowspan="2" |2019 |''Wolfenstein: Youngblood'' | rowspan="2" |MachineGames<br>Arkane Studios |- |''Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot'' |}
==See also== *First-person shooter engine *List of game engines *List of first-person shooter engines
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Id Software}} {{Doom series}} {{Video game engines}} {{Portal bar|Video games}}
Category:2016 software Category:3D graphics software Category:Game engines that support Vulkan (API) Category:Global illumination software Category:Id Tech Category:Video game engines