Singularity 3.02

Community Forums/Showcase/Singularity 3.02

JoshK(Posted 2003) [#1]
v3.02 base:
Download (6.5 mb)

v3.02a (overwrite all files):
Download (144 kb)





I added in a bunch of weapons, a sniper scope, and some night vision goggles. A lot of code changed, but the same entity architecture reamins unchanged, and your old entities will still work. This method will continue to be used, so if you stick to editing entities, you'll be fine.

The map isn't as impressive as the first one, but I was just trying to get something functional. Press "N" to activate nightvision and find your way through the dark hallway.

I think this version is really really promising. The lighting, the sound, the weapons, everything is very professional. To me it feels a lot like Half-Life.

What now?

-I'm going to keep a lookout for military textures. These are easier to come by than sci-fi, and I can even make some myself.

-I want to add a grenade launcher, a flamethrower, and a sniper rifle. Let me know if you find any of these, or if you find grenade models. If anyone wants to buy this for me, here is a sniper rifle model I like for $46.50. (I DID just write you whole game engine):
http://www.turbosquid.com/HTMLClient/FullPreview/FullPreview.cfm/ID/209895/Action/FullPreview

-Character models will be added when I get them. Ben says he'll make one, and DarkMatter II is coming out in a few days, so we'll see what comes of it.

-All Blitz programmers are welcome to take part in this. IPete2 has been doing some cool stuff with it, and hopefully more will join in. It's non-commital, free, and seems to actually be going somewhere.


poopla(Posted 2003) [#2]
Halo, very nice work as always. Perhaps when my guys get done with our current stuff, we can focus on helping you develope singularity. Im all for developing open source! :) Nice rifle btw.


Dave(Posted 2003) [#3]
had to reply halo, as usual this looks really good.

Your developing an excellent open-ended architecture for buddying FPS developers. What we are seeing here is primarly an engine, but also a small game intermerged. It would be nice to see a few things implimented and maybe a small but fully functional FPS game level would be nice?

A few things to consider adding :

- BOT based AI
- Multiplayer Support
- Powerup Entitys (Ammo, Health, etc).
- Physics Engine - It would be great if you could shoot down crates and things to make the whole game more interactive. The best option here is to try and use the physics engine bouncer is creating, but i'm not sure he's willing todo so. Overall it would give a highely robust engine.
- Their are other graphical tweaks that could be added such as Cubic Enviroment Mapped Water (still to be added to be brought in an update though).

Also did you look into outdoor enviroments with a terrain engine, etc? Unreal handles this very well.

Just some things to consider of course...


Dave(Posted 2003) [#4]
think someone's forgot to upload it...


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#5]
It wouldn't work on my 56k. I am installing DSL now.

I can't make bots until I work out the character model stuff.

Multiplayer comes after bots. It's just going to treat the network like AI.

Physics will develop as I am able to. I have routines for dangling tubes and chains. I would like to be able to have crates that collide right. This would be a good project for someone else to try.


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#6]
The extra wait was worth it. The nightvision goggles have static across the screen and a depletable battery. The player now gets hurt and can die. A screen flash effect can be called any time with a ScreenFlash(red=255,green=255,blue=255,alpha#=0.1) function.

See original post for download link.

I made a knife model and now am going to add support for melee weapons (knives, swords, bayonets, chainsaws, etc.) If you want to change weapons to make crossbows or lasers, you just will change some configuration files. The shotgun will always be the shotgun, but it can be made into a crossbow or whatever, like with Quake editing.



Models needed, with high-res textures:
-Nightvision goggles item
-Med kit
-battery
-Kevlar vest
-pistol ammo
-sniper rifle
-grenade launcher
-flamethrower
-better shotgun pellets, because my triangle ones suck
-grenade (the kind a launcher uses)
-gloved hand (for knife and some guns)


Dave(Posted 2003) [#7]
I'm going to be honest with you Halo, this totally rocks. Its clear alot of work is going into this, i mean the nightvision looks as good as splinter cell. I also liked the name "Chost Cell", your creating a true open source game/engine thats going to be the biggest thing to happen in this whole community.

I would be intrested to hear what order you are going to keep updating this engine, i put forward some ideas above, i would probably be tempted (if i were you) to add some bot based AI and make it a fully playable single level FPS. Adding weapons and things is cosmetic updates.

I really like the weapon models as well, their capabilites are very well implimented also (the handgun is a great weapoon in this short demo for example)...

Their really is a massive and vast amount of things that could be added to this engine/game because of its modular design. I would definitally look into some kind of physics engine support (It is possible to use ODE in Blitz btw -- check out the "Dirt Devils" game on blitzcoder).

Physics would be one of the biggest updates to the whole engine, giving it full rigid body support along with boned characters (like in your previous post) would be usful. Did you see that Ben (who created the military pack) offered to create a character for you ?

I really want people too help you with this Josh, i want to help you with the textures and maybe i can help with audio (soundeffects/soundtrack).


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#8]
Next thing to take care of is character models. Nothing else can really happen until that's taken care of. After that will come AI. Actually, I plan to set up a bot contest where each programmer writes a routine for enemey AI, following a standard rules set, and the bots are let loose in an arena to see who's AI gets the most kills.

Textures needed:

-A good-looking font or bitmap font
-Nightvision goggles outline (to replace current one)


Sound effects needed:

Items/Weapons:
-Nightvision power up, power down (think the menu sound in Half-Life)
-Ammo pickups, possibly for each weapon.
-Knife hits wall
-Draw knife
-Knife swings through air
-Med kit pickup

Vocals (need to sound somewhat like grunt.wav and jump.wav)
-Pain
-Really bad painful pain
-Death (a few)


Craig H. Nisbet(Posted 2003) [#9]
Hey Halo,

I like the demo, very cool. I've been messing around with a demo of a plugin for Lightwave 3D for baking textures onto real-time geometry. I could probably make that sniper rifle for you. I'd need some visual references and what not. Preferably, not references of the real-time object, real gun pics would be much better. I've gotten pretty good at getting the files into b3d format as well. I've been testing this plugin on some real-time B5 models I made based off some fan built high poly models. If you want to see them, send me an e-mail and I attach the b3d files. I don't have a web hosting service, so I'm not quite sure how to get the files on the net. Anyway, I can use this baking texture process for levels as well. Let me know if you are interested. It's a good time for me, because I really want to get good at making real-time models to expand my experience as an artist, and to make content for my own Blitz games.


Craig H. Nisbet(Posted 2003) [#10]
Hey Halo,

Turns out the e-mail address on my profile is old. The new one is cnisbet@...


Dave(Posted 2003) [#11]
Right Halo, tomorrow i am going to put togther at no less a complete game sound sample pack that should meet your specifications (could contain around 200/300 different sound effects). I was thinking about the sound effects and their are a variety of methods i can use. I can use analog modelling approuch and bounce synth audio direct to wave (i.e. create sounds on my synth, then render to wave).

I might also use the microphone approuch and manually record some sounds. I will try and record some "grunt" noises using my microphone then tweak them to a usuable state. Sound effects are purely a personal thing though, i mean what i think sounds good, you might not, so hence why i might create variations of each sound effect. And probably include at least 50/100 random sound effects.


poopla(Posted 2003) [#12]
Halo, I can't wait for the bot contest :). I assume the winning bot will be the "standard" for others to follow?


Dave(Posted 2003) [#13]
here are some misc. samples i just created in the last 30 minutes.

www.megazoid.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/effects.zip


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#14]
v3.02a posted, source and media files only. This adds a combat knife. Secondary fire throws the knife. I really like tossing it into the air and hearing it come back down. I also changed the size and number of the shotgun pellets, and it looks way better now.


Bot Builder(Posted 2003) [#15]
See if dmc/miracle can help you on the physics. They might wanna contribute to such a cool thing. I might try as well when the time comes. Crates should be really easy if people have a triangle-quad collision code. once I have that with penetration distances, and some other info, it would be easy as cake. perhaps even blitzes box collisions would work. does anyone know if box collisions can be rotated?


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#16]
Dave, I think those first gunshots might work well as impact sounds...they have a little twang like a bullet hitting something. I like the first pickup sound.


jfk EO-11110(Posted 2003) [#17]
That's looking good.
Craig.
http://world.guns.ru/main-e.htm
http://mrguns.tripod.com/~MRguns/mrg5.html


Smurfpuss(Posted 2003) [#18]
Halo i have mailed you several times about cshop 3.02 brush propertie problem but havent got an answer

like cshop 3.02 dosen't load or save the properties in the brush object pleas help


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#19]
Does anyone else have this problem?


Dave(Posted 2003) [#20]
I like the new knife Halo, feels very good. A couple of points though, you should run material based colision checking on it, i mean it shouldn't stick into certain materials such as metal, etc. Also if it gets stuck up high on a wall where its unreachable it should be possible to "shoot" it down again...then again thats going into a proper physics engine where you can shoot entitys and they react...

With regards to the physics engine and character based control, did you consider looking into being able to blowoff individual limbs of a character (like solider of fortune features) this would be really neat! its complex to handle at code level though...


Smurfpuss(Posted 2003) [#21]
well some people i have talked to have the same problem like it does save the propertie in the brush but dosen't load it back in cshop3.02 you have a later releas on cshop3.02 upgrade then the one i got when cshop3 kame out the first time


Tranz(Posted 2003) [#22]
;)


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#23]
I improved the lighting system. Any enemy can be lit dynamically. This just means the whole mesh will be bright when they're in the light, and dark when their in a shadow. It also works on particles, so smoke trails actually change color when moving through areas of light and shadow. So does the throwing knife, or any other entity. What I would really like to do is make a strobe light. I think the easiest way would be to make solid object of the walls that the strobe hits, in CShop. You would either want those objects to be lightmapped, or to be full-dark. In the game, change their UV coords all to 0,0 any time you want to darken the area, then change them back to reapply the lightmap. Actually, I would do this by copying the meshes, but it's the same idea.

That's a nice sniper rifle. How about donating it to this project? I'm not inclined to pay for any Blitz media when I am posting the whole source here for free.


Tranz(Posted 2003) [#24]
Ah, well..I see your point.

However, since I'm not a Cartography Shop user that source doesn't do me much good.


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#25]
I added a strobe light, with dynamic lightmaps. To do this, I edited the lightmap by hand, darkening parts that the strobe effects. The engine loads the image and automatically pastes it onto the lightmap texture. It's very inefficient right now, and I think it will slow down a lot at high poly counts.

Only a small part of the lightmap texture is actually changing. I am betting it would be really fast if you split those areas into several images, and pasted them in the correct place. I think it would also be really annoying to set up, though.


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#26]
Got it. Here's what you do.

1. Save a copy of your bitmap lightmap with CShop.

2. Open the image in PSP or whatever editor you use and change the parts of the lightmap that should be different. Dark areas or change the radius of a light.

3. Name the file something like base1.bmp and place it in the textures\dynamic\ directory.

4. The program will search for dynamic light frames when the level is loaded and apply those to the same object the original lightmaps are applied to.

5. A shader in the engine gives one texture a blend of 2 and the other a blend of 0 (invisible), and switches back and forth. The resulting strobe lights are extremely fast!


Zephar123(Posted 2003) [#27]
looks good halo, let me know if theres anyway i can help.
silvatedch@...
Id be more then happy to implement networking into it when your rdy. netblitz works pretty well with a few modifications :-). I would also be willing to make an outside level. so please let me know


Dave(Posted 2003) [#28]
the new screenshot looks really sweet btw halo! When can we expect the next release? and you never answered my previous questions (realistic limb removal, etc)....


sigi(Posted 2003) [#29]
Really good,
but how can i compile it. It always opens a Loadrequester?
With 3.0 all worked fine.


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#30]
Sigi, I think that happens when userlibs aren't there.

Dave, it wouldn't really be a problem, but I can't do anything like that until I have character models working.

I did some messing around with my physics routines and came up with the following routines, all finished and bug-free:

-VERY good bouncing/colliding balls (or grenades, etc.)
-Chain physics
-Box or other rigid body collisions (though you can't have a million of them going at once...maybe 5 or 6 crates to be safe, definitely no more than 30 cubes.)
-Rag doll physics, without limb constraints yet.

If the rag doll physics get done, this will be everything we need.


Smurfpuss(Posted 2003) [#31]
and Rag doll Physics is like a enemy or a player modell falls in diffrent way depeding on the terrain or env it falls against am i right


Tri|Ga|De(Posted 2003) [#32]
Hi Halo

I tryed to edit the base.csm file, but when I run it theres no textures.

I know I'm doing something wrong but what?


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#33]
Copy all the textures to your CS folder.


Dave(Posted 2003) [#34]
excellent news halo, the physics upgrades are really sweet, you should add some crate objects (entitys) with the new physics core.

This engine is getting really sweet and while at present its only fully usuable CShop, their is no reason the source cannot be changed to function with BSP based maps such as Quake 3 maps. I cant see why people are not wililng to help you.

On the subject of help i am still working on the sound effects and then going to start doing more military textures to help you out with this.


Dave(Posted 2003) [#35]
excellent news halo, the physics upgrades are really sweet, you should add some crate objects (entitys) with the new physics core.

This engine is getting really sweet and while at present its only fully usuable CShop, their is no reason the source cannot be changed to function with BSP based maps such as Quake 3 maps. I cant see why people are not wililng to help you.

On the subject of help i am still working on the sound effects and then going to start doing more military textures to help you out with this.


Tri|Ga|De(Posted 2003) [#36]
Thanx Halo

Everything works just fine now!


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#37]
You know, I want this to stay exclusively for CShop, for obvious reasons. If that becomes a problem then I will limit future releases to CShop customers only.


Smurfpuss(Posted 2003) [#38]
Well sounds amazing halo but will this new physic system make stuff you can push and move any way you whant


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#39]
You can push boxes around. Grenades or heads can bounce around. Tubes can dangle around in the breeze, and they can split into any number of ends tethered to solid walls, or free to swing about. Ragdoll deaths should be possible, in time. I can't really think of anything else it needs to do.

I'm going to download some HL2 movies to get more ideas. Unless I find something really amazing I want to add, I think I am going to call it finished.

By the way, the strobe lights are completely finished, and take no time at all to process. If I can think of a way to do pulsing lights in lightmaps I will.


Rimmsy(Posted 2003) [#40]
one of those hl2 movies features water refraction. tried to implement it?


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#41]
Rob's demo did this, didn't it?


Rimmsy(Posted 2003) [#42]
refraction? reflection perhaps. It's the clip where he crowbars a zombie into the water. nice effects.


Bot Builder(Posted 2003) [#43]
I don't think "true" refraction is possible in the blitz engine. refraction is the bending of light, so your view through water is distorted. maybe some texture or camera tricks could do it? Caustics(light reflection from water)(I think) are definately possible, in fact implemented many times. these would be cool to see, but I think first guns/enemies/sfx/physics/menu system/more levels should be taken care of.


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#44]


The immediate concerns I am working on are:

-Lighting (a really complete system to handle all necessary lighting, including dynamic shadows).

-Physics, although I think I am done with everything except limb constraints. The coming GetSurfaceTexture() will allow physics on a texture basis, so footstep sounds and friction can be controlled with texture shaders.

-Character models are priority number one, but I can't do anything about it at the moment.


Smurfpuss(Posted 2003) [#45]
wow you mean like ice floor and wet floor surfaces


Smurfpuss(Posted 2003) [#46]
well sounding nice halo


Dave(Posted 2003) [#47]
couple of things to say Halo, first off dont limit this work of art to CShop owners only.

I like what i hear so far, but keep one thing in mind, this will never be finished. Their will always be optimizations and improvements that can be made to the engine and keeping it open source is going to aid this.

Will it be possible to have realistic shadows for actors? I ultimately want dynamic shadows for everything in the levels.

Also consider adding a proper HUD with some graphics for the health etc. Also why not allow other weapons such as remote mines (always a favorite in multiplayer). How are the physics entitys setup? via assigning a property then associated script?

Whats happening just now with the character models? Ben offered to help you i think, so their must be at least one model being created for your purpose.

Adding the basic cube mapped water effect that Rob had in the "cubed" demo would be an excellent touch, but not available as of yet.

Also what about a realistic gore engine for example being able to blowoff individual limbs, realistic blood effects, etc...

Obviously, once characters are in some Bot based AI will hopefully come next...


JaviCervera(Posted 2003) [#48]
couple of things to say Halo, first off dont limit this work of art to CShop owners only.
Come on, Dave... making an engine like Singularity takes a lot of time. Consider this a gift from Halo to CShop owners. I agree completely with him that this should be for CShop owners.


Dave(Posted 2003) [#49]
hmmm hold on a second. I was complimenting halo on his work!Also i dont own CShop personally but i am helping halo by working on textures and doing sound effects (i cant do modelling though)...So i feel that its kinda fair that i can still help without actually owning CShop..


jfk EO-11110(Posted 2003) [#50]
I think it depends on the way halo is going to publish a ruleset for the engine. This could then allow People to write their own Editors. CShop would still be an easy choice, but the Community wouldn't be limited to it.


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#51]
The next release will indeed rock. Ditching the sci-fi theme was a good move because I find it a lot easier now to model prefabs because I have some basis in reality to work off of. Models of all kinds are needed, anything you think might be found in an urban or miltary setting. I will convert them into CShop prefabs if you post them in .3ds or .max format.




Dave(Posted 2003) [#52]
wow! This looks stunning halo. This is some really nice models you got their! I was imagining this level being covered by realistic moving water as featured in rob's "cubed" demo (obviously in such a complex scene it would be unrealistic to use dynamic cube mapping but a static generated map would be fine). It would be so cool to see those can's floating about in the water using the new physics routines...the mind wanders :-)

I think the next release is gonna break the barrier in all respects.

What will be featured in the next release from a technical aspect? Will it be possible to interact with those gas tin's (half-life stylee)?

Will their be some basic AI bots in the next release? or still working on obtaining some suitable characters?

Luckly i am off work this week also because i'm suffering from a badly swollen knee (fluid in my knee to be exact). I am hoping to get some coding done but going to spend a few days doing more sound effects, i have about 80 sound files now created (all gunshots, hit sounds, metal sounds, etc). I'm going to try do the nightvision effects you were talking about (they are a little harder though)..

I enjoy creating textures as well, can you give me examples of games or similar architecture you are trying to create? any source stuff will be usful for me...


IPete2(Posted 2003) [#53]
Dave,

I don't know if you know, but Halo already has a water fx inbuilt into Singularity, set the properties of a texture (in CShop) to water to see the effect. Lovely, considering we are waiting for Cubemapping.

IPete2.


IPete2(Posted 2003) [#54]
Dave,

I don't know if you know, but Halo already has a water fx inbuilt into Singularity, set the properties of a texture (in CShop) to water to see the effect. Lovely, considering we are waiting for Cubemapping.

IPete2.

EDITED...

Yeah er sorry not thinking there... Halo has corrected me below, ta.


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#55]
Actually, create a solid entity with classname=water for the effect.

The next release is going to feature an animated player model and as much physics and interactivity as I can cram in. A lot of this is dependent on the new release and the GetSurfaceTexture() command, because I have to know what kind of material I am interacting with.

I'v been thinking about physics. I think the action moves so fast in games that you don't really need to have perfect, correct physics based on real life. You can program specific actions without any basis in real physics. For example, you could program it so if a bullet hits a certain material, adjacent vertices on the hit surface are permanently moved away from the site of impact. This would allow you to dent those cans, and it has absolutely no basis in reality.


Red Ocktober(Posted 2003) [#56]
Verrrrry Verrrrry Impresssive collection of your work H...

Thanks Big Time for the share...

While I'm not using it at the moment... I may have to reconsider based on the volume of neato stuff you are outting into it...

--Mike


Dave(Posted 2003) [#57]
jesus halo lol i mean being able to dent objects like the cans would be ULTRA cool.

The physics dont need to anywhere near perfect, i mean its a game not a simulation. Have you seen the harbor HL2 video? where the enemy gets hit into the water and he starts realistically "bobbing" (floating) on the waves?

I must say i'm a sucker for realistic water effects like rob created in the cubed demo, i'm hoping the new blitz release comes soon so we can have those water effects in the singularity engine (with Dynamic Cube Mapping, etc).

Is the shadowing on those tin's real-time? I want to be able to roll those babies about lol


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#58]
No, the shadows are lightmaps, but I agree, they should be movable and dynamically lit. If Shawn were to get in on this and take care of the dynamic shadows, that would be perfect, but I don't think that's going to happen.

The only physical objects you need in a game are cylinders, boxes, and flat planes. I'd like to be able to shoot a leg out from under the table and have it fall over, or roll the oil drums around.

Today I am going to test a character model Ben made and work on these physics issues.


Dave(Posted 2003) [#59]
its funny halo, cause when you mention "today" its actually tonight for me :-)

I personally think what you mention would be enough (physics wise) with regards to being able to interact with basic objects such as the oil drums and things alike.

I personally would love to see a realistic gore engine for when the actors. By this i mean various hitzones (bone collisions) used so if i sniper an actor in the skull he would die instantly.

Obviously being able to blowoff limbs such his leg, which in turn caused him to move more slowly or fall to the ground would be nice. Then again alot of the time this is animation based...just triggering a certain animation when a specific event or body part is hit...

I'm hoping a ragdoll approuch to the physics will allow for a fair bit of realism regarding character animation, for example, launching a grenade under his feet and watching it blow him high in the sky would be nice! :-)

Also you forgot to answer the questions about the textures and things i offered to take care of this week.


poopla(Posted 2003) [#60]
Halo, are there any area in specific that need doing? My artist will be out for about 3 weeks and I would love to give you a hand.


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#61]
I can't really say about textures yet, because I don't know. Obviously, this is starting to look a lot like HL2.

Actually I do need a broken glass texture.


Perturbatio(Posted 2003) [#62]
If you still need it, here's a simple 1st Aid Kit I made a little while back.


Bolo_Loco(Posted 2003) [#63]
@ halo

What are youre plans with Singularity -
a one level-techdemo or a full game ?
( Is there a story already ? )

If you need some assistance with 2D/3D art i'm willing to
help.
( Just some reference pics and i will see ,what i can do )

Keep on the good work !!!!

Bolo Loco


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#64]
Bolo, could you post some of your past work for us to look at?


poopla(Posted 2003) [#65]
Begars can't be choosers halo.


Michael Reitzenstein(Posted 2003) [#66]
Begars can't be choosers halo.

I beg to differ.


sigi(Posted 2003) [#67]
Hi,
Sorry but i won`t give up on this.
Since Version 3.01 i can`t compile this Engine anymore.
3.0 works fine. It opens always a Loadrequester.
I have following dll`s in the userlibs directory:
color.dll, file.dll, maths.dll, maths3d.dll,string.dll and
all the .decls files. Do i miss a userlib? Am i the only
one with this Problems?
Thank you


jfk EO-11110(Posted 2003) [#68]
string dll? wow. guess this must enhance the 3d engine enourmously. Have the sources of the singularity dlls been released?


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#69]
They're all at leadwerks.com/code/userlibs


Smurfpuss(Posted 2003) [#70]
halo why not have a law rocket launcher
like who can carry five rounds for a ordinary rocket launcher any way




i made this modell and only used the photo as textur


IPete2(Posted 2003) [#71]
.


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#72]
What's a Law RL?


Tracer(Posted 2003) [#73]
LAW = Light Anti-tank Weapon

Shoulder fired rocket against light armor. It effective range is about 170 to 220 meters.

Look up the M72 66mm LAW that the US Army uses.




Tracer


jfk EO-11110(Posted 2003) [#74]
They're all at leadwerks.com/code/userlibs

Ok, that's a good thing.

Btw - I wonder how they fire such a LAW without to burn their faces.


Tracer(Posted 2003) [#75]
That's why it's launched out of a tube JFK :) The flame comes out of the backside when you launch a LAW or a Stinger anti-aircraft missile. Don't stand behind one when they're gonna fire! :)

A Bazooka works much the same.

Tracer


Akat(Posted 2003) [#76]
can i model it for u halo? just wanna scratch my fingers...


Craig H. Nisbet(Posted 2003) [#77]
Anyone know if there is a B3D to 3DS converter? I model in Lightwave, I've had good success with the LWconverter for coverting to B3D. I'm not sure about 3DS format though. Is it neccessary that it be in 3DS?


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#78]
b3d works.


Smurfpuss(Posted 2003) [#79]
well like moving around in a game carring around ona a big rocket launcher and a lot of rockets is heavy and not that unrealistig the law rocket is more realistic it is smaller and it only works ones


c5ven(Posted 2003) [#80]
i've attended live fire demos. at one there was a version of the TOW missile without stabilizers. rear end was perforated and loaded with tiny "rockets". after launch it sounded like firecrackers, esp during flight corrections. it was pretty wild. you don't forget the sound.

i think the intent was to have a kind of vectored thrust so that it was more manueverable. but without those rockets it was completely unstable (like an unrifled bullet).

unfortunately a wire broke during that demo and the missile went out of control. anyways, if just for the sound fx you could add, that would be an interesting weapon. i thought they had a shoulder-mounted version, but most TOW's are tripod rigs. pics of those are all over the net - plenty of variety.

and another cool shoulder-mounted rocket is the Javelin.

Javelin


jfk EO-11110(Posted 2003) [#81]
How about a Stinger :)


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#82]
If someone can UV map and/or bone this model I can set it on my skeleton and get the next version of the engine out with dynamic lights, players model, physics, and new weapons.

The sniper rifle in the physics thread also needs to be skinned.

See this thread:
http://www.blitzbasic.com/bbs/posts.php?topic=25510

Download:
http://catmother.sourceforge.net/




jfk EO-11110(Posted 2003) [#83]
Looks pretty highpoly, is it?


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#84]
6000. There are low-poly versions.

It's totally animated!


jfk EO-11110(Posted 2003) [#85]
Then you better map the lowpoly version from beginning on. Can you port it to B3D? Maybe the HL way?


Rob(Posted 2003) [#86]
Just downloaded this... it's looking cool Josh. It did run a little slow on my system after shooting with the assault rifle, as if things were not cleared up.


Dave(Posted 2003) [#87]
when can we expect the next release halo? (roughly)


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#88]
It depends on:

1. Me getting the finished models asked for in the physics thread.

2. Getting a character mesh. Ben is working on one, and this character mesh from Cat Mother just came up, so whoever gets me a textured, rigged mesh first.

Then it will just take me about a day to get it ready.


sigi(Posted 2003) [#89]
Wohooo,
with the Blitz Update to 1.85 i can compile this Engine.
I am wondering, why it not worked under Blitz 1.83.


Dave(Posted 2003) [#90]
hows things progressing halo? not heard from you in the last few days regarding the next release...


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#91]
Just an update:

Matt22222222... tracked down 75 megs of pro-quality sci-fi textures, and I have about ten good sci-fi weapons now, so you can expect a return to an Unreal 2 environment in the next release.

I am trying to get the final version of Cartography Shop done. The editor is going to handle "vis groups" which will make settings up visibility culling a lot easier. I'm also going to make use of the new SurfaceTexture() commands to implement physical properties directly into the shaders. Stepping on a metal-textured object will produce a clanging footstep.

It'll take awhile to put all this together. I wouldn't expect anything for a good month. This isn't a month because I won't be working on it, this is a month because there is so much to do.


Dave(Posted 2003) [#92]
Thanks for the update halo! I recieved your email btw, and will reply with a few points i wanted to make.

I'm liking the idea of the sci-fi based "look", the good thing about this engine is that is flexiable for any fps.

I'm looking forward to proper physics being supported as mentioned, espically rigid body physics so actor's can fall down stairs, react correctly to hit's, etc. Also throwing around crates/tin's will be really cool! I love having a truelly interactive enviroment.

I'm going to seriously consider creating an FPS game using this engine, and i have NO issue's with splitting the profits (if any) with yourself halo. Personallly your work is great and CShop is shaping up nicely!


Matt2222(Posted 2003) [#93]
Yeah, I am cool. (sorry, ego attack)
These are probably the best looking textures I have ever stumbled across. What is cool is that we have complete commercial rights!

Dave, the sci-fi look is what I was shooting for when I was looking for these textures.

anyhow, prepare to be blown away with the next singularity release!

-Matt


Dave(Posted 2003) [#94]
just thought i would say mate, if you need any additional texture's created, i am skilled at texture creation and willing to help in this respect.

Also i meant to upload my sound effect's zip file, but going out clubbing now, so will try and upload tomorrow at some stage.

I'm looking forward to the next release, i just know its gonna rock!


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#95]
I couldn't resist, Matt.

Thanks to Psionic and Harlequin for weapons models.




Matt2222(Posted 2003) [#96]
Well, singularity is pretty unresistable. Those textures look great. (i found them)

(oh yeah, to those morons who said no good first person shooters can be designed in blitz: Hahahahahahaha)

Just because some of you are stupid and cannot get anything done does not mean that we are not intelligent. If you can't do it, I guarentee that we can.

(all of you who are not stupid idiots, "and you know who you are", please disregard the statement above.)
As for the rest of you....The ninjas are coming to kill you. You'd better hide!

-Matt


Bot Builder(Posted 2003) [#97]
Hmm. I really can't get my junker 300 mhz. pc to do perfect verlet physics on 1000 ragdolls at 60fps. I assume you can?

There are many intelligent people using blitz-Most are. The point is that allthough you might finish a good fps, It is very, very unlikly it will be able to compete with commercial games. Take project Plasma for instance. It was pretty far along, lots of people working on it, and yet it sort of died. I mean, no offence project plasmaers, it was a cool project, and is still alive, I think, but it has rapidly deteriorated. This is why many of the "stupid people", as you call them, release games that are cheap yet fun. In some cases very fun, yet they are not up to the specs of the most modern games.

And anyway, You don't have a full fps by far yet. where's the ai, particles, physics, player models, menu systems, levels, or the plot? All you have right now is guns, controls, a level loader/creator, cool fx, and a preliminary level. Granted it looks beutiful, but still, no where near what you need for it to be sold. I'd place my bets on it not working, if halo/rockstar wasn't working on it. Now I'm kinda 50/50. He has a strange sickness that causes him to have alot of arrogance and the ability to code for long periods of time. It seems at least the arrogance symptoms of this rare disease have been spread to matt222. It's appears to be contagious.


poopla(Posted 2003) [#98]
I agree, I'm working on one now, let the FPS's ROLL!!! :)


Nebula(Posted 2003) [#99]
-AI is fun and relatively easy to write.


Thats becourse most people are content when they have a entity patrolling between point a and b and shooting at you when in sight. Even todays million dollar budget games have crappy ai when having dedicated ai programmers.
I do hope something special is planned for singularity with the ai.


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#100]
Dev, the flip side of that is that we have to cooperate. No single one of us can take on Epic, but if we work together intelligently, i.e. one person overseeing one engine, editor integration, and modular code, a group of us can make the Unreal-killer.


IPete2(Posted 2003) [#101]
Bot Builder,

I believe you're right, many Bltz coders are intelligent people, and as such they can make up their own minds when it comes down to what is good, clever, works, doesn't, etc.

You are a talented coder - I have no doubt about that from what I have seen of your stuff, especially in recent months.

Please, don't lets get started into a distracting arguement again!

Singularity is a game engine (Singularity Engine), it is not (unless I missed something somewhere) an fps game 'per say'. SE enables people with aspiration to move quickly into the fps genre. It has a lot of features, many already in there as Rockstar quotes above.

I don't know why Plasma has deminished recently, I felt that was sad in a way, all that work - hopefully not gone to waste!

Singularity Engine (as a base) can be used right now to create all sorts of first person games - I have already started adding my own entities and code to enhance it the way I want. It not only looks beautiful, it really rocks (hence 'RockStar' I guess!)


What 'the coder formerly known as Halo' (lol) has done, is create a framework for those who have knowledge and aspirations (I like that word) to 'get stuck in'. The code is ordered, commented, organised, given names which mean something and some of the stuff in there is quite advanced.

There is always room for improvement in any code, but as a base the Singularity Engine is more than ready to have a story, or whatever 'hung off it'.

If you haven't already, boot it up and look into it, especially if you already own CShop because the two work Soooooooooooooo welll together, it's almost outrageous!

Of course these are only my opionions,

IPete2.


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#102]
I rule you suck.




Bot Builder(Posted 2003) [#103]
I know, I know, Singularity rocks. Probably one of the best things written in blitz as far as fps goes, unless your factroring in Project Plasma. I just don't like the attitude that everyone else doesn't know anything and I'm the best(talking as if I'm halo/matt222). I guess with some more hard work it'll work out well. At least as a nice "look at what blitz can do" demo, if not a full fps.

I guess I might do a little experiment with adding verlet physics to singularity. I'm uncomfortable with adding code to a giant engine written by someone else. There are so many things that can go wrong.


jfk EO-11110(Posted 2003) [#104]
Looks nice, but you forgot the smiley in the description :P


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#105]
Learn to take a joke. CSP rocks, too. When I say "you suck" I mean "wow, this is neato!" and I wait for you to one-up me with your screenshot.

If you are interested in adding verlets, I'd love to help. If you have any code for me to look at, I will try to add it in.


Dave(Posted 2003) [#106]
i'm for everything halo's does, i'm actually looking forward to the next release of the singularity engine as much as waiting for max payne 2/hl2 coming out! I've got some great conceptual idea's for an FPS title which halo has made possible for me to test out within a structured framework and seamless working enviroment.


Rob(Posted 2003) [#107]
I feel like competing.


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#108]
Let's get it on.


IPete2(Posted 2003) [#109]
Bot Builder,

Adding you verlet physics would be bloomin' awesome!

Do not be phased by SE, it is really well organised. I gues you'd just have your physics as an include and provide access to functions (as long as its well commented!).

SE uses lots of Types for entities and pulling information from CShop maps (which is a great way to add stuff).

I have torches, waterfalls and some building block prefabs as well as door and key entities already in and working, and I am certainly nowhere near your league sir!

The great thing about all this is that you guys who do your own especially clever things can add in stuff which can be switched on or off depending what you want to achieve.


IPete2.


Ross C(Posted 2003) [#110]
Hehe, canny wait till me and ma wee teams project comes out next year. Should be fun :) I like this whole team work thing, but make sure it's gets somewhere :D

I was gonna offer to help out with particles, but you seem to have that all wrapped up.....anything i can do??


Matt2222(Posted 2003) [#111]
Great Job Josh.
I'm all about the "take a joke" thing. Learn to blow people off and not whine. Life becomes more fun! : )

-Matt

(there is four twos in my screenname)


Bot Builder(Posted 2003) [#112]
well, My current Verlet system can't be easily integrated. custom collisions 'n all. I don't think it would be to hard to make a universal system that uses blitz collisions. The problem is figuring out proper friction. I'll try to put together a demo. Maybe use some of your dll functions while I'm at it.


Bot Builder(Posted 2003) [#113]
Just put together my current verlet physics system into a small zip. get it here:

http://www.freewebs.com/botbuilder/downloads.htm

E1 and E2 are just basic physics example
E3 is a cube colliding with mathamatical spheres
E4 sux. it's a flat cloth colliding with a flat ground.
E5 has potential. change the second parameter of "vcloth" to 6
E8 is a cool snake demo. yep. 100 verlets runnin fast. works with 1000 if you have a fast machine.

I shoulda included the cloth on sphere demo but I was lazy. Maybe next demo.

Don't try to make this into a singularity entity. I'm 104 lines into a more universal verlet engine, halo/rockstar, although it's not a singularity entity.


poopla(Posted 2003) [#114]
Halo, I'm gonn put the shadowing code I did have done up so everyone can improve on it. Can you help me out with some physics stuff? Ive got most of the stuff done you have from when plasma was going, Lenseflares, player control, world interraction, particle systems, etc, etc.

[edit]Couple things ive got to update on the shadow code, then i'll upload. It works well for casting ontop level geometry. Right now it's weakness is casting onto objects that are smaller then the towel mesh. You'll see what I mean.

Is it possible I could get you to send me the full Cshop 2 while your at it? I bought it a while back but formatted my system.


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#115]
I have some simple verlets working in the engine, but no matter how you cut it, it's going to hav problems. Edges of boxes are always going to poke into the level. I think we need to use a totally new method, using a new box-box collision routine that works at any orientations. If this requires special level geometry, or extensive setting-up, I am okay with that. When you are in a game and box corners poke into walls, it really destroys the whole feeling.

On the other hand, the chain physics we've seen people do would look really good in the engine as-is.


poopla(Posted 2003) [#116]
Yeah, the only other way is if you feel like coding custom collisions in a dll of some sort, otherwise the speed hit will hurt.


sswift(Posted 2003) [#117]
Uh, Matt, where exactly did you "find" these textures? I mean, using them in a demo is nice and all, but I think folks here would like to know if they're free for use in commercial games and whatnot.

Just thought I'd ask. Personally I'd reather make my own textures. :-)


poopla(Posted 2003) [#118]
That's a good question. Anyhow, Can someone be so kind as to post a nice looking map I could use in my engine to show it off, it has most of what Singularity has as far as I can tell, aside from a custom map format :). Nice work halo.

Anywho, a nice map to work with would be awesome, thanks.


Warren(Posted 2003) [#119]
I guess I'll throw this in ... why don't you guys work on something more interesting than yet another FPS engine? Seriously. What about an RTS engine? An RPG engine based around the concepts of the SCUMM engine?

I find it hard to get excited about a screenshot showing a gun and coronas.


sswift(Posted 2003) [#120]
"I guess I'll throw this in ... why don't you guys work on something more interesting than yet another FPS engine? Seriously."


Hehe. That's funny coming from a guy who worked on Unreal. :-)



"What about an RTS engine?"

You mean a basic terrain engine with some shadows and some 3d models tossed on top of it? :-) That's not very challenging. I already have everything I need to do that. :-)

But colliding objects with other objects with realistic phsyics and properly modelling ragdoll characters... that's fun. :-)


"An RPG engine based around the concepts of the SCUMM engine?"

You mean side view 3D where each room is a seperate 3D model and a mouse interface where you select from a set of keywords like "drop" "hamster" "microwave"?

Eeeeeasy. :-)


Besides... You know as well as I do that the world needs another RTS even less than it needs another high quality FPS. :-) And graphical adventure games are DEAD. Lucasarts recently cancelled Full Throttle 2. The last good graphical adventure to come out was either Grim Fandango or Curse of Monkey Island. Probably the former cause I didn't even finish the latter.


While I agree with you that it is stupid to create yet another generic FPS, that doesn't mean nobody should make FPS's at all. Current FPS games are sucky. And I personally was not a big fan of System Shock 2's interface. But something which is somewhere between Half Life and System Shock 2, with a bit of something else thrown in... That might be really cool.

But that's not likely to come from the Blitz community. It's just too hard to do with no budget.


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#121]
.


Matt2222(Posted 2003) [#122]
Exactly.


jfk EO-11110(Posted 2003) [#123]
lol
Learn to take a joke

No problem. When I say ":P" then keep in mind it's still a smiley :)


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#124]
This movie shows some dynamic lighting, using the same method Quake 3 did. I've done some tests with volumetric fog, and it looks pretty good.

Why don't you go home and play some Ms. Pac-man? :P

http://www.leadwerks.com/yousuck.zip


Dave(Posted 2003) [#125]
which codec was used for this halo? I can only get the audio stream's and not the video.


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#126]
FRAPS


Dave(Posted 2003) [#127]
frap's was the app you used to capture halo :-) not the codec used to encode the video stream.

I'm wanting to see this as well! it sounds good at least lol


Bot Builder(Posted 2003) [#128]
My current verlet system is pretty unstable as far as useability goes. I'd muchy rather include the one I'm currently working on. And yes, the problems with convex levels are still to be delt with. I don't think it should be TO hard. BTW, does your system currently have any kind of portalling or octree division? that would speed up a solution to the cube side to convex level problem. That way, you check what section or sections the verlet object is in, and do some line segments-tri tests (either blitz version or a dll). First, I'll finish up my usability based verlet system.


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#129]
I just added BSP nodes to speed up the dynamic lighting.

The level is split up into coplanar (flat) faces. Each face stores an individual mesh, and a plane equation. The faces aren't actually arranged in a tree yet, but that will follow.

Rendering is still done in large chunks. Object faces with like textures are merged, so that there is one big object per texture in the map. This way properties specific to the texture can be applied, and it's the fastest way to render in Blitz.


Bot Builder(Posted 2003) [#130]
So, given say a sphere/square, would it be possible to quickly know what planes might be intersected?

Also, what's the aproxamate real world measure of each blitz unit? (for proper gravity)


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#131]
I add -0.4 velocity 60 times a second for gravity. I think the player is about 80 units tall.

Once the BSP tree is working, you should be able to quickly tell which planes intersect a point or sphere. I am running my dynamic lights right now in a small room without BSP trees, and they are pretty fast, fast enough for testing, anyways.


Bot Builder(Posted 2003) [#132]
That sounds nice! very good for my system.... For now I'll just perfect the colisions and friction. Might add some more constraint types. See what syntax your using for angular constraints.


Dave(Posted 2003) [#133]
post some more screenshot's halo? still not able to play that video.

I was thinking alot more about the engine, their are a few things we need to consider. One thing that would be usful would be scripting of animation so its possible too put togther scripted scenes with spline based camera path's.

Is the model ben was working on almost finished?

I wanted to add that i am working on a *huge* texture packaged aimed this time round at sci-fi and military based fps textures. Got lot's high resolution texture's ready to be released, i'm just finishing off some crate textures and a few wall textures.


IPete2(Posted 2003) [#134]
Dave,

Sounds great! And yes where can I get the codec to be able to play the video clip please?

IPete2.


Matt2222(Posted 2003) [#135]
You need to download FRAPS. If you get the app, the codec is included and you will be able to view the video.
The video is very amazing!!
Hope this helps.

-Matt


Binary_Moon(Posted 2003) [#136]
Is the model ben was working on almost finished?


He's getting there. I have had some paid work to do recently so he took a back seat.

I'm gonna have a go at rigging him tomorrow so that Josh can test his animations.


Dave(Posted 2003) [#137]
looks amazing josh! Very nice work here mate. I think it would be cool to have bump-mapped surface's, i'm a big fan of bump mapping because of the radical detail levels that can achieved.

At present i'm working on a specific FPS based texture pack and i am going to put togther some proper normal/bump maps to go with the texture's, i am keen to try and emulate the look the game HALO has achieved with the bump mapped indoor sections. Bump Mapping is also supported on card's dating right back to the GF one/TNT cards, its relatively safe to use.

The main thing's i want to see in the sing. engine are :

- Boned based actors with proper physics applied (so actor's can fall down stairs, off ledge's, etc).

- Ability to blowoff individual limb's of the actor's (think Solider Of Fortune).

- Full Shadow support for dynamic entities such as actors, crates, etc.

- Scripted Scene Support (Supporting spline based camera motion)

- Entitie's including door's, elevators, etc

- Simple Console

- Physics can be applied to entities such as Barrel's, Oil Can's, Crates, etc.

- Static Weapon Entitie's, such as standalone weapon's in which the player can "walk up too" and start using would be nice!

- Detail Textures, Bump Mapping, Spherical Enviroment Mapping, Cubic Mapping (Static & Dynamic) support.

- Once actor's are complete (with physics & animation) i would love to see bot based AI or single player AI implimentated.

I personally like alot of thing's in the release 3.02, espically the war look and weapon's, i reckon you should keep them in plus have all the additionoal weapon's included with the sci-fi version! I really liked the nightvision google's and sniper for example.

Anyway keep this excellent work josh.


poopla(Posted 2003) [#138]
Josh, can you release the plain verlet source? I worked on some a while back but lost the source (grrr..). If ya can upload it somewhere, or mail it, I'd apreciate it.


poopla(Posted 2003) [#139]
Dave, the texture resource sounds great, nice guy you are ;).


Dave(Posted 2003) [#140]
i was hoping josh would reply to be honest :-) Seem's he's been too busy though!

Dev, your free also to use the texture's of course. For everyone and everything (got alot of nature texture's this time also).


poopla(Posted 2003) [#141]
Nature and high tech are what i'm looking for. If I make some cash off my game I'll hit ya with a donation.


Matt2222(Posted 2003) [#142]
Singularity ROCKS!!
Check that out.





Couldn't help it.
-Matt


Bot Builder(Posted 2003) [#143]
hehe. looks cool. I assume that middle thingie is a particle system or at least animated texture?

I already have fraps, but I got dial up. It's going to be slow but I'm gonna get the movie anyway tho.

Anyway, I was gonna ask halo/rockstar how he's storing the "planes" in his levels. tris? quads? polygons? I know that they are divided up into orientation groups, but you still need some sort of positional data.


Matt2222(Posted 2003) [#144]
Texture generated with a particle system. (you were close)

You really should get the video, because it does a good job of showing what our next release will be like. Josh did a great job on dynamic lighting and such. You have to have the newer version of FRAPS in order for the video to play.
Cool.

-Matt


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#145]
Meshes. The whole map gets split into flat pieces automatically. Each BSP node stores a mesh and a plane equation, nx#,ny#,nz#,d#. I still have a lot of work to do to get the BSP really functional. The lighting is really killer. You can light up a pitch-black room with a shotgun.


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#146]
Okay, I will release the new one tomorrow.

It isn't that playable or amazing, but it does do several cool things, most of which you'll notice if you make maps for it. Ben hasn't gotten me the finished character model yet, so that will have to wait until the next version after this.


poopla(Posted 2003) [#147]
To be honest with you, I'm currently more impressed with the maps then the playability. But it's the same thing with my engine atm, it's got everything singularity does, but mine looks half as good. So people will boo it when they see it ;).


jfk EO-11110(Posted 2003) [#148]
Got a screenie? :)

And wtf is that "Singularity Fatal Error: Level not dark enough - yo sucker" thing? :P


Dave(Posted 2003) [#149]
seen as its "tomorrow" today i'm happy! looking forward to this release with some new stuff to playaround with me. I wont start any serious developments (tech demo's or otherwise) until the next release with actor support and other goodies.


Bot Builder(Posted 2003) [#150]
hmmm. so it's stored as blitz meshes. I can work with that. Sorry, I'm ignorant of your plane equation nx#,ny#,nz# is the normals, but whadya need the d for?

I downloaded the movie, and the dynamic lighting looks great. a little pixelated, but cool. I especially liked when he shot up through the hole in the ceiling. I missed the lighting in the 3.02 demo, as I always wanted to light up the route to the missile launcher with the machinegun or the launcher itself.


JoshK(Posted 2003) [#151]
I had a date with a bisexual Catholic chick. This is postponed until tomorrow.


poopla(Posted 2003) [#152]
Heres a screen jfk:

*http://www26.brinkster.com/bed1/FirstShot.jpg* (Copy and paste without the *'s).


Dave(Posted 2003) [#153]
lol rockstar :-) So how did it go mate?


Dave(Posted 2003) [#154]
btw looking good dev! when can we expect a demo from you?


jfk EO-11110(Posted 2003) [#155]
hey Dev, that's looking pretty cool! Much better than I expected from what you said.


Matt2222(Posted 2003) [#156]
Looks good Dev.

-Matt