EA started development on a new 3D engine in 2001, commonly known as the Strategy Action Game Engine (SAGE). It was based on
Westwood Studios's W3D engine, which was in turn a major modification of the SurRender 3D engine developed by
Hybrid Graphics Ltd. Westwood first used W3D on their
first-person shooter Command & Conquer: Renegade and their
massively multiplayer online role-playing game Earth & Beyond. The first game utilizing this engine would be
Command & Conquer: Generals, which would be developed under EA Pacific and finished by
EA Los Angeles. The updated SAGE engine allowed for
dynamic lighting that would cast realistic shadows and reflections on most objects, as well as higher quality visual effects and a stop-motion camera feature. The SAGE engine would continue to be used by
EA Los Angeles on additional titles in the
Command & Conquer series and on the real-time strategy series
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth. With the release of later
Command & Conquer (
Command & Conquer 3 and onwards, the engine underwent a large overhaul of its major systems. Major upgrades included support for the PlayStation 3, an upgrade of the renderer to RNA, dynamic environmental music, and numerous minor internal improvements. A common misconception was that the new engine itself was called RNA when in fact RNA only referred to the renderer. The last title to use the SAGE engine was
Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight. == Games ==