Engine

Sonic R Engine

Sonic R's .TER file format (used for collision in PC Version) is a very early version of the format used in the NUP and PS2-HD titles, but everything else is unique.

Nu2 Engine

Whilst all TT-produced mainline console and PC video games from Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex to The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame run on the same underlying engine, the engine itself has undergone several iterations over the years. This page attempts to categorize the engine into several sub-engines and document which games use which versions of the engine.

PlayStation 2 (PS2) sub-engine

The PS2 Engine was purpose-built for the PlayStation 2, and then ported and modified for use on other platforms.

NUP variant

The NUP variant is so named for its usage of .NUP files in LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game and LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy instead of .GSC files like in later titles.

Although listed as the same variant, these games also have vast differences, with LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game being much more hard-coded than LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, and Bionicle Heroes having a significantly different system for loading files and code.

PS2-HD variant

The oxymoronically named PS2-HD variant is so named because it is technologically similar to the NUP variant of the PS2 sub-engine, but was designed for HD platforms instead (although all games had a Wii release, and LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures and LEGO Batman: The Videogame had PS2 releases).

It introduced the Enhanced Graphics mode, which uses higher-polygon character models, as well as introduces depth of field in cutscenes and uses complex shadows for all Lego models (although blob shadows still occasionally appear). Complex shadows are filtered in LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga and LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, but are unfiltered in LEGO Batman: The Videogame, resulting in noticeable aliasing. LEGO Batman: The Videogame also introduced a strong Ambient Occlusion shader, although it suffers from color banding and fringing, and does not take into account vertex normals.

Also referred to as the PC.GHG variant, although this stems from a file nomenclature difference that is only used by the Windows releases. The three Lego games on this sub-variant are commonly referred to by modders as the "holy trinity" of Lego game modding.

Next-Gen (NXG) sub-engine

When developing LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues, Traveler's Tales decided to drop support for the PlayStation 2, and instead focus on pushing the capabilities of seventh-generation hardware. This resulted in a major technological revamp.

Creator variant

The Creator variant is so named because both games have a level builder. It also introduced the concept of using a .CD file to point to a character's files and replaced the plaintext CHARS.TXT with a binary .APJ file, much to many modder's chagrin.

Builder variant

The Builder variant is so named because it introduced several folders named BUILDER. It is notable for the usage of a new graphics engine, which introduced more advanced shaders and necessitated capping the console releases' framerates at 30 FPS.

Gotham variant

The Gotham variant, named after the hub of LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, is most notable for adding full camera control to (most areas of) the hub world and introducing a separate audio track for voices during cutscenes.

Cinema variant

The Cinema variant is so named because Tt Games decided to make the games more cinematic around this time period. Also referred to as the DX11 variant, due to the API used.

DirectX 9 (DX9) sub-variant

The DX9 sub-variant is so named because the Windows versions of the games run under DirectX 9.

DirectX 11 (DX11) sub-variant

The DX11 sub-variant is so named because the Windows versions of the games run under DirectX 11.

TFA variant

The main distinction between the Cinema and TFA variants is that LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens-variant games require a patched executable to run with extracted .DAT files. Often lumped together with the Cinema variant in discussion.

DirectX 9 (DX9) sub-variant
DirectX 11 (DX11) sub-variant

NTT Engine

NTT (pronounced "entity") is a custom built engine, developed specifically for LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. As TT Games has announced that future titles are being developed using Unreal Engine, it is unknown whether NTT will be used for any other titles. Additionally, due to The LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga's pending (and postponed) release, any technical similarities between NTT and the late Nu2 are yet to be determined.

Handheld engines

Not much is known about the handheld engines, as they do not have easily disassembled Windows ports.

The DS versions of LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, and LEGO Batman: The Videogame share an engine, while the GBA versions of LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game and LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy uses the same isometric engine developed by Aspire which is different from there fully 3D engine of LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy for DS which in itself is different from the standard TT Fusion engine that is used from LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga onwards.

GBA Engine

Amaze-ing Engine

Fusion Engine

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