Getting Started with the CryENGINE SDK

This section contains information you may require for use with the CryENGINE 3 Free SDK. Information on system requirements, network setup and required packages can be found below!

System Requirements

System Requirements for Developer

System Requirements for End User

End Users who only use the game launcher without Sandbox have lower system requirements.

Additional Software Requirements

• DirectX End-User Runtime (August 2009).
• Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (both x86 and x64).
• Latest graphics card drivers.

Notes on 32-bit Support

The SDK contains a 32-bit version of Sandbox but we highly recommend to use the 64-bit version for production since it does not suffer from memory limitations. The 32-bit version is just provided as-is without any further support by Crytek. Using the 32-bit version of Sandbox might result in the application crashing when doing a lot of editing work on a level.

Network information for CryDev Login if behind a firewall

I.P. address & port used:

• 62.67.9.135:25323

Running CryENGINE on different platforms

PC (Windows)

• In Bin32 you will find the 32bit .exe/.dll of CryENGINE and Sandbox.
• In Bin64 you will find the 64bit .exe/.dll of CryENGINE and Sandbox.
• DCC exporters and additional tools are stored in the Tools directory.

Sandbox can be started by using Bin32\Editor.exe or Bin64\Editor.exe.

The Engine Settings Manager (Tools\SettingsMgr.exe) can be used to change the registry keys to the global resource compiler path. This setting is used for the exporters to find the Resource Compiler of CryENGINE to finish processing exported assets.

Launching Sandbox

The Sandbox executable Editor.exe can be found in the Bin64 directory of the CryENGINE root folder. The application can also be launched using the shortcut in the start menu.

It is recommended to load just one level after starting Sandbox Editor, otherwise loading several levels in a row (load a level and open another one) could cause crashes; however restarting the editor will solve that issue!

Windows and Hot Reload Issue

The Last Access Time is the time a File or a Folder is accessed the last time. This helps identify document age and status. This is disabled by default in Windows Vista and Windows 7 by default as this can add to the overhead of Disk I/O and performance although with the newer hardware this can be anything close to negligible.

Enabling Last Access Time is recommended when running Sandbox in parallel to exporting assets from Max or Maya.

If you choose to enable the Last Access time in Windows 7, 2008, Vista or earlier versions you can either use FSUTIL (not available in Windows 2000) or from the Windows Registry.

Using FSUTIL (not for Windows 2000)

From the Command Prompt as an Administrator run the following command: (In Windows 7/Vista/2008, click Start – search for cmd. Right-click and choose “Run as Administrator” to run Command Prompt with elevated privileges)

fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 0

This enables the Last Access Time recording.

Later if you need to disable, run the following command:

fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 1

From Windows Registry

1. Click Start – search "regedit" (Windows 2000/XP/2003 Start – Run – regedit) to launch Windows Registry Editor.

2. In the left-pane, navigate to the following registry key:

3. In the right-pane, double-click NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate and set its value to 0. This key doesn’t exist by default in Windows XP, 2003 and earlier, so in the right-pane right-click and select New – DWORD and name it as NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate and set its value as 1.

4. Restart the system for the changes to take effect.

Source: http://www.windowsreference.com/windows-7/enabledisable-last-access-timestamp-in-windows/