IW (game engine)

The IW engine is a game engine created and developed by Infinity Ward for the Call of Duty series. The engine was originally based on id Tech 3. Aside from Infinity Ward, the engine is also used by other Activision studios working on the series, including primary lead developers Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games, and support studios like Beenox, High Moon Studios, and Raven Software.^[1][2][3]

IW

The lighting, shadow, and texture streaming of the engine's 4.0 version can be seen in this screenshot, taken from the multiplayer mode of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
Developer(s)	Infinity Ward
Initial release	October 2005; 17 years ago (2005-10)
Stable release	IW 9.0 (Modern Warfare II)
Written in	C, C++, Python
Platform	Microsoft Windows OS X PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Xbox 360 Xbox One Xbox Series X/S Wii Wii U Android iOS
License	Proprietary

History

IW 2.0 to IW 3.0

The engine has been distinct from the id Tech 3 engine on which it is based since Call of Duty 2 in 2005. The engine's name was not publicized until IGN was told at the E3 2009 by the studio that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 would run on the "IW 4.0 engine".^[4] Development of the engine and the Call of Duty games has resulted in the inclusion of advanced graphical features while maintaining an average of 60 frames per second on the consoles and PC.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was released using version 3.0 of the engine. This game included features such as bullet penetration, improved AI, lighting engine upgrades, particle system enhancements and many more improvements. Treyarch began using an enhanced version of the IW 3.0 engine for Call of Duty: World at War.^[5] Improvements were made to the physics model and dismemberment was added. Environments also featured more destructibility and could be set alight using a flamethrower. The flamethrower featured propagating fire and it was able to burn skin and clothes realistically. Treyarch modified the engine for their James Bond title, 007: Quantum of Solace.^[6]

IW 4.0 to IW 5.0

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was released using the IW 4.0 engine, the only game to do so. The IW 4.0 engine featured texture streaming technology to create much higher environmental detail without sacrificing performance. Call of Duty: Black Ops was not based on IW 4.0; rather, Treyarch further enhanced the version of IW 3.0 they had used in their previous game. This version of the engine also featured streaming technology, lighting enhancements, and support for 3D imaging. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 utilizes an improved version of the IW 4.0 engine. Improvements on the engine allow better streaming technology which allows larger regions for the game while running at a minimum of 60 frames per second. Further improvements to the audio and lighting engines have been made in this version.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II was developed using a further iteration of the IW engine.^[7] Texture blending has been improved due to a new technology called "reveal mapping" which compares tones between two textures and then blends them together. Also, there have been upgrades to the lighting engine which include HDR lighting, bounce lighting, self-shadowing, intersecting shadows and various other improvements. Call of Duty: Black Ops II takes advantage of DirectX 11 video cards on the Windows version of the game. The "zombie" mode has been moved to the multiplayer portion of the engine which will allow for much more variety within this part of the game.^[8]

IW 6.0 to IW 7.0

Call of Duty: Ghosts features an upgraded version of the IW 5.0 seen in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. It is unknown at this time whether or not any engine features have been taken from Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Since the main developer is Infinity Ward they have returned to their original engine naming system and called this iteration IW 6.0.^[9] IW 6.0 is compatible with next-gen systems such as Xbox One and PlayStation 4 so polygon counts, texture detail and overall graphical fidelity has been increased. IW 6.0 is also compatible with Microsoft Windows, Wii U, PS3 and Xbox 360. The IW 6.0 engine features technology from Pixar, SubD, which increases the level of detail of models as one gets closer to them.^[10] Mark Rubin has said about the HDR lighting "We used to paint it in and cover up the cracks, but now it's all real-time".^[11][12] Ghosts uses Iris Adjust tech which allows the player to experience from a person's point of view how their eyes would react to changes in lighting conditions realistically. Other features include new animation systems, fluid dynamics, interactive smoke, displacement mapping and dynamic multiplayer maps.^[13]

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare features Sledgehammer Games' in-house custom engine with only a few lines of legacy code remaining from the IW engine.^[14] Majority of the engine in Advanced Warfare had been built from the ground up.^[15][16] Developer Sledgehammer Games incorporated brand new animation, physics, rendering, lighting, motion capture and facial animation systems.^[17][18][19] Call of Duty: Black Ops III uses a highly upgraded version of the engine used in Black Ops II.^[20][21] Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare's IW 7.0 features weightlessness system, game physics improvement, improved AI and improved non-player characters behaviors.^[22] Call of Duty: WWII uses an enhanced version of Sledgehammer Games' in-house custom engine from Advanced Warfare.^[23] For Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Treyarch heavily modified the engine used in Black Ops III to support up to 100 players, and introduced a new 'Super Terrain' system.^[24][25]

IW 8.0 to IW 9.0

With Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Warzone, Infinity Ward employed their Poland studio to rebuild the engine completely.^[26][27] Dubbed IW 8.0, the engine was created within five years, and feature substantial upgrades such as spectral rendering, volumetric lighting and support for hardware-accelerated ray tracing on the PC version.^[28][29][30] Support for Nvidia's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) was added later in April 2021.^[31][32][33] Activision has stated that the new engine is also shared across the board for all Call of Duty developers to use in future titles.^[34] Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War does not use this new engine, but instead uses a highly modified version of the Black Ops III engine.^[35] Call of Duty: Vanguard is powered by the same engine used in Modern Warfare and Warzone with enhancements from developer Sledgehammer Games.^[36][37]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II is developed on a highly upgraded version of the engine first used in 2019's Modern Warfare.^[38][39][40] Dubbed IW 9.0, the engine is co-developed by Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games, and will be used in future installments of the series in a unified effort to ensure that every studio is working with the same tools.^[41][42][43]

Games using IW engine

Title	Version	Year	Notes	Features
Call of Duty 2	IW 2.0	2005	Modified version of id Tech 3 from Call of Duty	Normal mapping Light bloom Heat haze Unified shadowing system Game console support
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare	IW 3.0	2007	Highly upgraded version of Call of Duty 2's IW 2.0 engine	Bullet penetration Improved AI Lighting engine upgrades Particle system enhancements Ragdoll physics integrated into character death animations. Self-shadow every frame
Call of Duty: World at War	IW 3.0	2008	Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare's IW 3.0 engine updated	Audio occlusion Improved physics Ragdoll physics after death animations Dismemberment More destructible environments Realistic burning of skin and clothing Propagating fire
007: Quantum of Solace^[6]	IW 3.0	2008	Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare's IW 3.0 engine updated	Cover system
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2	IW 4.0	2009	Highly upgraded version of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare's IW 3.0 engine	Texture streaming technology Improved AI
Call of Duty: Black Ops^[44]	IW 3.0	2010	Call of Duty: World at War's IW 3.0 engine updated	Texture streaming technology Stereoscopic 3D support Deferred lighting^[45]
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3^[46]^[47]	IW 5.0 (MW3 engine)	2011	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's IW 4.0 engine updated	Improvements to texture streaming technology to allow for larger regions Lighting engine enhancements to show reflections of some objects on tile floors Improvements to the audio engine
Call of Duty: Black Ops II^[48]	Black Ops II engine (Modified version of IW 3.0)	2012	Call of Duty: Black Ops's IW 3.0 engine heavily modified	Reveal mapping (improved texture blending) Improved water effects Improved lighting effects Lens flare effects HDR lighting Bounce lighting Self-shadowing Intersecting shadows DirectX 11 for Windows version Improvements to the audio engine
Call of Duty: Ghosts^[49]	IW 6.0^[9]	2013	Highly upgraded version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's MW3 engine (IW 5.0)	Pixar's SubD (models sub-divide the closer the player gets to them)^[50] New animation systems for movement (sliding, leaning etc.)^[51] Fluid dynamics Interactive smoke Improved AI^[52] Dynamic multiplayer maps Displacement mapping^[53] New volumetric HDR lighting system^[54] Iris Adjust tech^[55] Graphics Tessellation for Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One PhysX support for Windows version Specular mapping on particle effects Use of Umbra's advanced rendering technology (Umbra 3)^[56]
Call of Duty: Black Ops III^[57]	Black Ops III engine (Modified version of IW 3.0)	2015	Call of Duty: Black Ops II's Black Ops II engine updated	New renderer New animation systems^[58] Improved lighting Dynamic water simulation system Dynamic Movement
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare	IW 7.0	2016	Call of Duty: Ghosts' heavily modified engine (IW 6.0)	Physically-based rendering Improved lighting Zero-gravity simulation system Physics improvement Improved AI Improved NPC behaviors Streaming level transition improvement New performance capture stage^[59] Dynamic Movement
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4	Black Ops 4 engine (Modified version of IW 3.0)	2018	Call of Duty: Black Ops III's Black Ops III engine updated	Improved lighting Enhanced dynamic water simulation system Slimmed Dynamic Movement New 'Super Terrain' system
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare & Call of Duty: Warzone	IW 8.0 (Rebuilt version of IW engine)^[26]	2019 & 2020	Heavily rebuilt version of IW engine with much improved lighting, physics, graphics, etc.	New lighting engine Improved physics New sound engine Ray tracing support for PC via NVIDIA RTX graphics cards New renderer Advanced photogrammetry DirectX 12 API Dolby Atmos support^[60] Large map streaming^[61] DLSS support added on April 22, 2021^[62]^[63]
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War	Black Ops Cold War engine^[64] (Modified version of IW 3.0)	2020	Upgraded version of Call of Duty: Black Ops III's engine using tools from the IW 8.0 engine	Support for next generation consoles (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S) Hardware-based ray tracing support for next-gen consoles PC ray tracing and DLSS support via NVIDIA RTX graphics cards FOV Slider for Xbox One, PS4, Xbox Series X, PS5, PC
Call of Duty: Vanguard	IW 8.0^[65]	2021	Upgraded version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's engine	Photorealistic graphical details^[66]^[67] Textures with a damage layer system^[68]^[69] Tactical destruction^[70]^[71] Advanced variable rate shading (VRS) system^[72] AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution support^[73]
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II & Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0	IW 9.0	2022	Highly upgraded version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's engine	New water simulation system^[74] Improved AI^[75]^[76] New audio engines^[77] Improved 3D directionality and immersive audio^[78]

References

1. "Now Every Single Activision Studio Works On Call Of Duty". Kotaku. April 30, 2021. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
2. "Activision confirms all its core studios are now working on Call of Duty". Video Games Chronicle. August 20, 2021. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
3. "All of the Activision Studios Working on Call of Duty and What They Did Before". Game Rant. May 4, 2021. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
4. Stead, Chris (July 15, 2009). "The 10 Best Game Engines of This Generation". IGN. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
5. "E3 2010: First Details Interview Part 2 HD". GameTrailers. May 28, 2010. Retrieved May 28, 2010.
6. Miller, Ross (May 9, 2008). . Joystiq. Archived from the original on May 12, 2008. Retrieved May 30, 2021.
7. Lamia, Mark (May 12, 2014). "Black Ops 2: New engine isn't necessary - Treyarch". computerandvideogames.com. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
8. Amrich, Dan (May 1, 2012). . One of Swords. Archived from the original on May 4, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
9. Dave Tach. "Infinity Ward, Call of Duty: Ghosts and the nameless game engine that powers a first-person shooter phenomenon". Polygon. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
10. "Call of Duty: Ghosts - More details revealed, graphics and SubD discussed". Game N Guide. June 3, 2013.
11. "Infinity Ward reborn". MCV/Develop. June 3, 2013.
12. "Call of Duty Ghosts: Graphics Details Revealed, Will Be Using SubD". GamingBolt. June 9, 2013.
13. "Call Of Duty: Ghosts Graphics Performance: 17 Cards, Tested". Tom's Hardware. December 4, 2013.
14. "Advanced Warfare is COD's biggest technological leap since Call of Duty 2". Eurogamer. July 2, 2014. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
15. "SHGames says majority of Advanced Warfare's engine has been built from scratch". Charlie Intel. June 6, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
16. "The making of Sledgehammer Games and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (exclusive)". VentureBeat. July 29, 2014. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
17. Makuch, Eddie (June 5, 2014). "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Uses Version of "Avatar 2" Facial Animation System". GameSpot. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
18. "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Uses Avatar 2's Facial Animation System". GamingBolt. June 5, 2014.
19. "New Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare image shows off Avatar 2's facial tech". VG247. June 5, 2014.
20. "Yes, Black Ops 3 is still running the old COD engine. No, it's not that simple". GamesRadar+. July 1, 2015. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
21. "Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Does Run on Old Graphics Engine". Game Rant. July 2, 2015. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
22. "Call of Duty Infinite Warfare Won't Use A New Engine, But Will Feature Improvements". GamingBolt. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
23. "Can Call of Duty: World War 2 improve on one of gaming's fastest engines?". Eurogamer. August 31, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
24. "How well does Call of Duty's tech handle the battle royale challenge?". Eurogamer. September 22, 2018. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
25. "COD Black Ops 4: behind the scenes on Blackout, Battle.net - and the new focus on PC". Eurogamer. October 10, 2018. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
26. Shea, Brian (August 26, 2019). "The Impressive New Tech Behind Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare". Game Informer. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
27. "Modern Warfare® Initial Intel: Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare's game engine is put through its paces". Activision. June 26, 2019. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
28. Jones, Ali. "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare finally has a new engine, with 4K and raytracing". PCGamesN. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
29. "Building a world of Modern Warfare". The Washington Post. October 17, 2019. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
30. "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's engine revamp promises a generational leap in fidelity". Eurogamer. May 30, 2019. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
31. "Latest Call of Duty: Warzone patch adds DLSS support, finally". PC Gamer. April 22, 2021. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
32. "Call of Duty: Warzone patch finally adds DLSS support". VG247. April 22, 2021. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
33. "Call of Duty: Warzone adds Nvidia DLSS for a massive speed boost". PC World. April 22, 2021. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
34. Madan, Asher. "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare engine has been in the works for 5 years, to be used in future games". Windows Central. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
35. "Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Uses Different Engine Than Modern Warfare". Game Rant. August 26, 2020. Retrieved October 31, 2021.
36. "Good news, Call of Duty: Vanguard runs on the Warzone engine". PC Gamer. August 19, 2021. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
37. "Call of Duty: Vanguard Using Modern Warfare Engine for 'Photo Realistic' World". Game Rant. August 19, 2021. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
38. "The future of Call of Duty and 'Warzone'". The Washington Post. June 8, 2022.
39. "Everything You Need To Know About 'Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II' And 'Warzone 2'". Forbes. June 8, 2022.
40. "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the Start of a New Era for CoD and Warzone". CNET. June 8, 2022.
41. "Modern Warfare 2 lays the groundwork for Call of Duty's future, including Warzone". Polygon. June 8, 2022.
42. "Modern Warfare 2, Warzone 2, and all future Call of Duty games will be on one "unified engine"". GamesRadar+. June 8, 2022.
43. "Call of Duty ushers in a new era with a unified engine". Windows Central. June 8, 2022.
44. Matt Peckham. "Call of Duty: Black Ops Review Roundup". PC World. Retrieved November 9, 2010.
45. . Archived from the original on July 26, 2014.
46. Marcus Yam. "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Engine Focused on Gameplay". Tom's Hardware US. Retrieved September 6, 2011.
47. Bowling, Robert (June 10, 2011). "IAm Robert Bowling, Creative Strategist on Modern Warfare 3 AMA". reddit. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
48. Dan. . One of Swords. Archived from the original on March 12, 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
49. Perry Vandell. "Call of Duty: Ghosts engine isn't brand new, but upgraded". PC Gamer. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
50. "With Call of Duty: Ghosts, Activision seeks to continue a video game franchise that defies gravity". VentureBeat. May 21, 2013.
51. "Call of Duty Ghosts preview – the next generation of CoD". The Guardian. May 21, 2013.
52. "Call of Duty: Ghosts engine explained by developers". Trusted Reviews. May 28, 2013.
53. "Activision previews its Call of Duty Ghosts demo for E3". VentureBeat. June 8, 2013.
54. "Call of Duty: Ghosts is 60FPS on Xbox One, next-gen engine tech detailed". VideoGamer.com. May 21, 2013.
55. "Call of Duty: Ghosts – Campaign, Multiplayer and Next-Gen Engine". VideoGamer.com. May 21, 2013.
56. "Small Finnish firm, Umbra, helped IW make next-gen tools for Ghosts". Charlie Intel. November 8, 2013.
57. "pcdev on Twitter: @treboruk92 Heavily modified from BO2 including completely new renderer". Retrieved May 6, 2015.
58. "Engineer's Roundtable". Treyarch. May 23, 2016. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
59. "Call of Duty Infinite Warfare: Performance Analysis". TechPowerUp. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
60. "2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Runs on a New Engine and Includes Raytracing". usgamer.net. May 30, 2019. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
61. "Call of Duty: Warzone declassified - the Digital Foundry tech deep dive". Eurogamer. June 11, 2020. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
62. "'Call of Duty' DLSS upgrades promise a big boost to 4K gaming". Engadget. April 22, 2021. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
63. "Call of Duty: Warzone gets Nvidia GeForce RTX DLSS boost in time for Season 3". Tom's Guide. April 22, 2021. Retrieved October 31, 2021.
64. "Black Ops Cold War engine gets revamp to give modern take on 1980s". Charlie Intel. August 26, 2020. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
65. "The Pros and Cons of Call of Duty: Vanguard Using the Modern Warfare Engine". Game Rant. August 28, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
66. "War photographers go inside Call of Duty: Vanguard to capture images". VentureBeat. October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
67. "Vanguard's Engine used by real war photojournalists to capture WW2 battles". Charlie Intel. October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
68. "CoD Vanguard to run on Modern Warfare & Warzone engine". Charlie Intel. August 19, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
69. "'Call of Duty: Vanguard' is going (back) to World War II. Here's what's new". The Washington Post. August 19, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
70. "Call Of Duty: Vanguard Has Rainbow Six-Style Destruction". GameSpot. September 7, 2021.
71. "Call of Duty: Vanguard lets you destroy (and see through) walls in multiplayer". Polygon. September 7, 2021.
72. "Call of Duty: Vanguard - a tech marvel marred by bugs and stuttering issues". Eurogamer. November 13, 2021.
73. "AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution in COD: Vanguard". Videocardz. September 17, 2021.
74. "I like the look of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's fancy new water tech". Eurogamer. June 8, 2022.
75. "Modern Warfare 2 devs explain major AI improvements in new Intel Drop". Charlie Intel. September 9, 2022.
76. "Modern Warfare 2 developers detail AI improvements in latest Intel Drop". VideoGamer.com. September 12, 2022.
77. "New technology to improve Modern Warfare 2 footstep audio". Charlie Intel. August 25, 2022.
78. "Latest Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Video is All About the Game's Immersive Audio". Game Rant. August 26, 2022.