See also: [[NWScript]], [[Aurora Dialogue System]] # Notability Aurora is a family of game engines created by [[Bioware]] originally created for *Neverwinter Nights* and used extensively for *Knights of the Old Republic* and *Dragon Age* series. ## Aurora Engine - Neverwinter Knights (2002 - Bioware) - 2 Expansions - The original release of the Aurora Toolset. - The Witcher (2007 - CD Projekt Red) - Renderer rewritten from scratch. ## Electron Engine - Neverwinter Knights 2 (2006 - Obsidian) - 3 Expansions - Electron Toolset released with the game. ## Odyssey Engine First to allow deployment to consoles. - Knights of the Old Republic (2003 - Bioware) - Jade Empire (2005 - Bioware) - Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (2003 - Obsidian) ## Eclipse Engine - Dragon Age: Origins (2009 - Bioware) - 1 Expansion - Eclipse Toolset released with the game. ## Lycium Engine Internal name of upgraded Eclipse Engine. - Dragon Age II (2011 - Bioware) ## Xoreos There is an open source attempt to re-implement it from scratch called [[xoreos]]. # History It is the 3D successor to the 2D-ish [[Infinity Engine]] used for games like *Planescape: Torment* and *Baldur's Gate 1* & 2. Each game had its own variation with different capabilities, but the base file formats and UI changed relatively little between its initial release with *Neverwinter Knights* in 2002 and final release with *Dragon Age II* in 2011. The Mass Effect games (2007, 2010, 2012, and the remaster in 2021) used [[Unreal Engine]] 3. Star Wars: The Old Republic, the MMO spinoff of KotOR uses the [[HeroEngine]]. EA discontinued use of the Aurora Engines in 2013 in favor of the [[Frostbite Engine]]. # References - https://xoreos.org/blog/2016/01/12/disassembling-nwscript-bytecode/ - https://deadlystream.com/files/file/1982-holocron-toolset/ - https://github.com/NickHugi/HolocronToolset - https://deadlystream.com/files/file/767-kotor-toolset/ - https://web.archive.org/web/20050214090539id_/http://www.starwarsknights.com/tools.php ## Tutorials - https://deadlystream.com/topic/6886-tutorial-kotor-modding-tutorial-series/ ## File Format Specifications ![[Bioware_Aurora_GFF_Format.pdf]] See also: [[Aurora Dialogue System#References|Aurora Dialogue System File Formats]]