It’s finally here! CRYENGINE 5.5 has been a long time coming, but it’s an absolute beast with over 1000 fixes, changes, improvements, and features since our last major release.

Credit where credit is due!

Before we get into the details, we want to say a big thanks to everyone in the CRYENGINE community around the world who has tested our preview builds and participated in our Github-powered beta program. All your feedback, pull requests, and discussions are vital to the team and have helped us shape the build as we’ve made progress towards this release. This is your engine as well as ours. CRYENGINE wouldn’t exist without you, and we couldn’t create it without you. We look forward to your ongoing feedback and participation in the development of CRYENGINE.

Contributors

Additionally, we would like to say a MASSIVE thank you to the following members of the community for their valuable contribution towards the development of CRYENGINE 5.5.

*initiating appreciative Corgi-Fistbump from our office dog Nacho*

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New to CRYENGINE? Welcome!

Get started with CRYENGINE 5.5 by registering & downloading here!

Upgrading from an older Version?

If you are upgrading your project from CRYENGINE 5.4, please read this topic: Upgrading from CRYENGINE 5.4 to CRYENGINE 5.5

For more information on Code Interface Changes, see the Important CRYENGINE 5.5 Data and Code Changes article.

Upgrade Paths

If your project was created using a C++ or C# template, and you have not modified its source code:

Create a new template of the same type in the CRYENGINE Launcher and then copy your modified assets over. This is much easier than fixing the template code to match the new engine interfaces.

If your project was created using a C++ or C# template, and you have modified its source code:

You will need to manually fix code errors caused by the engine interface changes. Please see the aforementioned Data & Code-Change Article for more information on what has changed.

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CRYENGINE 5.5 Release Highlights

SVOGI Improvements: SVOGI, the feature which allows developers to create scenes with realistic ambient tonality, now includes a major advancement with SVO Ray-traced Shadows offering an alternative to using cached shadow maps in scenes.

Documentation Overhaul: As requested by the community, redesigned and updated documentation arrives for designers, artists, programmers, and anyone who uses the Sandbox Editor. Veterans and newcomers alike will be able to quickly find what they need.

Flappy Boid: Flappy Boid is a fun, accessible, and now comprehensive onboarding course enabling users to learn core game development concepts while building a finished game.

The Sandbox Editor improves workflow, performance, and optimization, making the development process quicker and easier.

Terrain Object Blending: Users can mark Entities with a Mesh Component to become a part of the terrain mesh, empowering more realism, especially with snow and sand scenes.

Updated Entity Components: Multiple new and legacy Components come to the new Entity System, including the porting of legacy rain and water ripple Entities and a new VR Camera and Interaction Component to get users up and running with their VR project quickly.

C# Upgrades: C# assets can be created directly inside of the Asset Browser and functions may be exposed to Schematyc for use inside of Entity Components. C# users will now be able to debug through Visual Studio via a new extension.

Terrain System Improvements: Blend multiple materials and use a new displacement option in the sculpting tools for even more realistic terrain.

Game Platform Plugins: A new Game Platform plugin allows for easy access to common distribution platforms and data transfer protocols, including Steamworks and PSN APIs.

CRYENGINE Versions and Full Editor Source Code: Users can submit pull requests, access the full Sandbox Editor source code, and get preview releases via GitHub. Preview releases will also continue to be made available via the CRYENGINE Launcher.

Unity Migration Guide: Unity Engine users can transfer their skills and content to CRYENGINE quickly and easily with our easy-to-use migration guide.

New Sandbox Level File Format: This feature brings the ability to place level files anywhere within the project directory, and allows for dynamic population.

Automated Packaging and Backing Up: Non-coders can simply share and release CRYENGINE content with new package build functionality within the CrySelect interface. A new Backup Project tool makes backing up projects simple.

You can read the full Release Highlights and Change List in our CRYENGINE 5.5 Documentation pages.

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Heads-Up: We are deprecating 32-bit support after CE 5.5

With loads of new and exciting features in this major release, we also need to clarify on a decision we made moving onward to CRYENGINE 5.6 that unfortunately will take something away from the community. We will discontinue support for 32-bit Windows platforms from here on out. This means CRYENGINE 5.5 is the last engine version that you will be able to develop games for 32-bit systems with.

There are several reasons on our check list that lead to this decision. We have to set priorities in development and direction to support our core platforms in the best possible way. Spending resources on supporting 32-bit systems would take away this priority and slow down our development.

Some technical factors:

The maximum amount of memory a 32-bit application can use is 4GB.

The Vulkan renderer is not supported on 32-bit operating systems (which precludes supporting 32-bit Android devices).

We do not support 32-bit Linux.

Game builds will be smaller, and therefore faster to transfer.

Vendor support for these platforms is decreasing across the board (affecting middleware and related tools out of our control)

While we appreciate our CryENGINEERS wanting to develop for a broad audience of players, we see 32-bit systems are on the decline, and it makes more sense for us to focus on supporting new platforms like Android/mobile and further look into improving VR/AR development solutions. As we look forward, we will keep providing CRYENGINE 5.5 and previous versions which will be available to those developers who want to develop for 32-bit systems.

We thank you for your ongoing support and encourage leaving your feedback with any comments, questions and concerns on the matter.

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We’re sure you’ll agree that CRYENGINE 5.5 is a mighty update. We think it’s a major step forward for the engine, in terms of both ease of use and a range of improvements to weave into your workflows. We can't wait to hear your feedback about the new build and we have started a dedicated CE 5.5 feedback thread. Keep using the Crash Reporter, of course, and submit your issues and Pull Requests through CRYENGINE GitHub.

And don't forget to attach the logs!





Inevitably some features didn't make it into 5.5, despite the blood, sweat, and tears that all go into a release of this size. But we'll keep you updated about our progress and future updates, so keep an eye on our blog, the official forum, and, of course, Discord, Facebook and Twitter. Once again, keep your feedback and suggestions coming. It really does help shape the future of CRYENGINE.

- Your CRYENGINE Team