Demo Map/Battlefield

[Bulma]

 

My last post on GDN was that MDX2 upgrade is canceled, we`ll stay with MDX1.1 until XNA/DirectX10 come out...

 

I am still wating for crosshair texture....

We need it to finally make AIM mode look like it was designed...

[Bulma]

I was checking firing code today and found something weird. There are actually two hit point values for map objects (walls, chairs,etc). One is value for each texure and one is for block. Currently it works this way:

When you fire some round, bullet flies and checks for every texture on its way and reduce ammo energy by (texture hit point amount). There is no any permanent block damage. When energy reaches zero, bullet dies, unless it is explosive type of bullet. In that case damage is done to blocks and block's hit points are taken into account. Also, this causes permanent damage to blocks and finaly map damage (replacement of blocks).

I guess this was made this way because i had in mind simple projectile weapons like pistols and rifles where bullets can fly through wall, but can't make any permanent damage. This won't work in case of some nasty weapons like that big gun from Doom the Movie, in which bullet actually make big holes on its path

[The Veteran]

We need to start looking at captive explosions as our code moves on... For example, explosions in corridors will be long and thin, not just as long as normal but thinner... We need to use all the energy from a blast where it would realistically be felt, not just use a maximum radius like Apocalypse.

[Bulma]

I am still waiting for that scope texture.. Meanwhile, here`s mine:

https://img205.imageshack.us/img205/6299/scopepv5.jpg

Image in scope is zoomed as you can see...

[Bulma]

I have returned grass and ashes blocks (both use shaders):

https://img215.imageshack.us/img215/1053/grasshi8.jpg

 

https://img236.imageshack.us/img236/1889/ashtm2.jpg

 

We need to start looking at captive explosions as our code moves on... For example, explosions in corridors will be long and thin, not just as long as normal but thinner... We need to use all the energy from a blast where it would realistically be felt, not just use a maximum radius like Apocalypse.

 

There is already code that works like that.. or better I say... should work like that.. but it seems like it's a bit buggy

[AlanatXcomHQ]

The screenshots look very cool Bulma. I'm really impressed with them. Since I'm one of the artists on the team, screenshots like this help me.

 

The Veteran asked me a while back about doing a sight system, I made one up, but it was more of a case where the sight was best suited for a sniping sight system, it takes up the entire screen.

 

(Sorry I can't show you, I don't know how to put images in my posts. I can E-mail it to you if you want.)

 

Obviously with weapons like the pistol and such, the zoom-in ability you've implemented for them is perfect.

[The Veteran]

Very nice Ivan, the FPS mode is looking nice. Grass is a little long mind... Haven't these crazy Martians invented lawnmowers yet

[Bulma]

Very nice Ivan, the FPS mode is looking nice. Grass is a little long mind... Haven't these crazy Martians invented lawnmowers yet

 

It was originaly shorter but it has grown in time

No, it looked very ugly.... Anyway, I do expect from our artists to improve things like that if they can

 

AlanatXcomHQ, for posting images. go to: www.imageshack.us, upload picture therer and copy/paste forum link to when making post in this forum. "Hotlink for forums (1)" is ok.

[AlanatXcomHQ]

Hey there, I edited one of your FPS pics with Flash MX.

 

I've edited the Target Sight, the weapon being shown. (Vet should know what it is.) I've also edited the space for switching between men to accomindate the crouch and standing positions. I've also implemented a "known enemy info" space to fill a large gap, this space only gives a creature's shape and name.

 

The picture is pretty big, its at 1024x768 size, I had to because of the text I put in the picture.

 

Hope you like it.

 

https://img407.imageshack.us/img407/3372/fpschangeue9.jpg

[Bulma]

Hey there, I edited one of your FPS pics with Flash MX.

 

I've edited the Target Sight, the weapon being shown. (Vet should know what it is.) I've also edited the space for switching between men to accomindate the crouch and standing positions. I've also implemented a "known enemy info" space to fill a large gap, this space only gives a creature's shape and name.

 

The picture is pretty big, its at 1024x768 size, I had to because of the text I put in the picture.

 

Hope you like it.

 

Yes, looks cool.

I am waiting until we get workspace on www.codeplex.com, then I`ll upload all source code, image, model we have. I am still deciding what formats should we use.

Our game uses:

DDS - (mostly DXT5) for textures, with full mipmaps

BMP - pictures for HUD

.X - models

 

Problem is that DDS format is bad for editing (most software doesn`t support it, etc), so we need another format for original textures. I have converted all of the textures to BMP and that is what i`ll upload. However, problem in BMP is lack of compression -> large size. Any idea what should we use? TGA,PNG?

For models, I assume .3DS format will be the best. .X format is almost imposible to import in anything.

 

Ok, so here`s my proposal:

Models: .3DS

Textures: .PNG

 

What do you think?

[The Veteran]

In all honesty I'm still not over the moon with the framework the whole project works around... We're making some real progress now and we need to start bringing all of the different parts of the game together. Geoscape, Battlescape, base, UFOpedia, R&D, etc and so on...

 

The framework is, lets be honest, one of the least reliable and most awkward systems to run on. It's about as non-universal as the Hitler's ideals...

 

Why not one of the more widely used codes? Have a think on it Bulma or we'll have done too much to change soon!

[Bulma]

The framework is, lets be honest, one of the least reliable and most awkward systems to run on. It's about as non-universal as the Hitler's ideals...

Why not one of the more widely used codes? Have a think on it Bulma or we'll have done too much to change soon!

 

You have something against .NET or C#? ARE YOU?

 

No, the real problem is a zillion of different versions/updates of MDX.. but I think I found a solution for that now...

[Jman4117]

png > *

[Bulma]

png > *

 

Then PNG it is... Thanks Jman... I`ll convert BMPs to PNG before uploading to codeplex...

 

To everybody:

We don`t have a workspace on codeplex yet, but it is a matter of days until we`ll get it... To access codeplex source control (online storage for source, textures and everything else), you`ll need Team Explorer. You can download it freely from Microsoft site:

https://download.microsoft.com/download/2/a.../VSTFClient.img

It will integrate into Visual Studio 2005 if you have it installed. If not, it will look like Visual Studio but wihtout any developer features.

There are also some other clients if you don`t like Team Explorer, like Teamprise Explorer, but it is not free:

https://www.teamprise.com/download/index.html

 

Btw. Team Explorer is one big download so get on it

[Bulma]

Lighting...

 

I am planing to improve lighting system a bit, and need some info from guys that do map: Vet, anyone else?

Current map supports only spotlights. Reason is that spotlights are natural types of light for shadow mapping method we use for shadows. However, problem is that there are lots of rooms and this will require large amount of lights to cover all sides of each room. So, as first step I am thinking of replacing spotlights with point lights. Rendering point light will be slower than single spotlight, but it will be faster than rendering 5-6 spotlights (for all 6 directions needed with spotlights to cover whole room). Question is, will only point lights be enough, or should I also make possible to use spotlights?

[AlanatXcomHQ]

Sorry to burst any type of bubble Bulma. But do we really need that many lights on the map? Why not extract some of the spotlights and leave some rooms in darkness. Not every room is going to be lit. (For Example, a barnyard.)

 

Or even better yet. Why not follow what UFO and TFTD did and have the soliders on the map illuminate the immidiate area around them?

Therefore, areas which are not affected by the natural "Sun" Spotlight (Such as inside "Some" buildings) and have/have not been searched will be darker.

[Bulma]

So, we don`t need point lights? I wasn`t thinking of putting light in every room, but with current hardware, with every light fps goes like:

FPStotal=FPSwithonelight/numberofLights

 

So, less lights, much better frame rate. With current release, using more then 3-4 light, frame rate goes really crappy...

 

Anyway, I`ll post detailed guide for objects/map creating in day or two. Vet could help me here as he made some modifications to map lately. I haven`t used BFC for years...

Exported/imported features in game from models are:

for each vertex:

- position

- normal

- texture coordinates (one set only), binormal and tangent are calculated in code (used for normal/bump mapping). btw. normal maps use same texture coordinates as diffuse texture.

for each subset/material:

- ambient color

- diffuse color

- specular color

- diffuse texture name (normal/bump texture has same name, but different extension: diffuse textures has .DDS extensions, and normal maps has .TGA extension)

 

Probably some more, I have to check the code (I am writting this from memory).

So, my question is, is that enough, too much maybe? Do we need ambient and diffuse color when we have diffuse texture?

Our goal is to make map as good looking as possible and at the same time to make it faster by removing unnecessary data.

 

Also, even that we have most of the objects done for the demo map, we still need damaged versions of all those objects. Multiplelevels are acceptable, but maybe not too many (2-3 per objects are ok) because it will increase both memory requirements and modelling time.