Tank Universal 2 - tech test

Community Forums/Showcase/Tank Universal 2 - tech test

MadJack(Posted 2012) [#1]
I need to start getting builds out and so here's a single level tech demo.

Would much appreciate feedback on how it runs (or doesn't) for people (along with your vid card, OS and CPU).

Download (please make sure to extract with directory structure intact):
http://madjack.fileburst.com/TU2_build0001.rar

Navigate to BIN and run game.exe to start.



Last edited 2012


Mark Judd(Posted 2012) [#2]
Windows 7 Pro 32 Bit
3 Gb RAM
Dual-Core 2.6GHz
Geforce 9800

Display mode menu opens, but no pointer.
Can launch game by hitting return, and the main game runs fine at the default 1024x768 windowed mode.

Looking forward to this updated release !

Mark


MadJack(Posted 2012) [#3]
Mark

Thanks for the feedback.

Surprised there's no menu pointer - perhaps it's not being centred/limited to the window correctly. Regardless, probably worthwhile implementing navigation by arrow keys.


ford escort(Posted 2012) [#4]
nice, run smooth @1920x1080 fullscreen

win7x64
12GB ram
core i7 2600 @3.4ghz
ati radeon HD 6970.


Chalky(Posted 2012) [#5]
Windows XP Home SP3
4 (3.25) GB RAM
Dual Core 2.93GHz
Geforce GTS 450

Smooth as silk - though in full screen mode (1280x1024) the hud fonts are quite blurry.

Can't wait for this - spent FAR too many hours playing TU1...!


Grisu(Posted 2012) [#6]
It crashed when i fell under the world map.

Smooth though. ;)

Full HD @ i7 920, 6GB, ATI 6850.


Steve Elliott(Posted 2012) [#7]
Looks nice, but runs 11FPS on this graphics card at 1024 X 768...What's more worrying is the jerking back and forth of the tank you're controlling - even when still...when moving it could give motion sickness.


matibee(Posted 2012) [#8]
Ran well enough although I had no idea what to do :) Only modest PC specs for the day (a 5 yr old mid to high end rig.)

Fonts are hard work though. I thought the screen-res choice screen was in the wrong language at first.

XP Pro SP3, Xeon quad core 1.8 Ghz, 2Gb ram, NVidia GForce 8800 GTS 512.

Last edited 2012


RemiD(Posted 2012) [#9]
Crashes after the loading screen when the game first starts.
There is a sound but nothing happens (windowed or fullscreen) i had to use CTRL + ALT + DEL to exit the game.

edit specs :
Lenovo Thinkpad E325, DualCore AMD E-450 APU 1.65Ghz, 6 Go DDR3-1333, Radeon HD 6320 Graphics 384 mo, Windows 7 Home Premium

Last edited 2012


MadJack(Posted 2012) [#10]
It crashed when i fell under the world map.

This is something I need to check for. The game uses bullet raycast vehicles but it's sometimes possible to get the pitch/roll to a level where the raycasting fails and the vehicle then falls through the terrain. Was your tank at an high angle when it fell?

Looks nice, but runs 11FPS on this graphics card at 1024 X 768...What's more worrying is the jerking back and forth of the tank you're controlling

The code uses tweening to uncouple the physics and main code from framerate, but if fps drops below 30 (which is the game update rate) then you'll see that jerkiness. I know there's been some discussions in the past about the best method for tweening so I'll look those up again. Of course, there's more optimisation to be done (there's always more optimisation to be done!).

There's a TU2.ini file in the DATA directory. If you could edit that to turn off antialiasing and background scenery and let me know what fps results?

Fonts are hard work though. I thought the screen-res choice screen was in the wrong language at first.
Understood. I'll have a think about that.

Crashes after the loading screen when the game first starts.

Once the graphics are loaded, there's a short period where the game is running but nothing's rendered as the captureworld/tweening system needs to catch up. Suspect it's choking on that. Was the logo still visible when you hit ctrl/alt/del?

Last edited 2012


ervin(Posted 2012) [#11]
Ooh excellent!
I'll be all over this one when the weekend arrives.

I can test on 3 different configs - all of them wildly different.


MadJack(Posted 2012) [#12]
ervin

Looking forwards to your results!

As mentioned, there's TU2.ini in the DATA folder in which anitaliasing/bloom/distant scenery can be turned off as well.


RemiD(Posted 2012) [#13]
Ok i try it again and i will wait more time.

I'm curious, have you managed to produce the results you wanted with Xors3d shadows ?

Because i have done some tests with it and sometimes the shadows have weird offsets, and it is really really slow !

DSS is much better, i think a similar lib should be possible to code for Xors3d.


RemiD(Posted 2012) [#14]
No there is a problem.
I can hear the sounds of the menu navigation when using the mouse, but only the loading screen is displayed, and then after a while windows shows a message that asks if i want to close the program or wait until it responds.

Maybe you should add the possibility to activate/desactivate the shadows, glow, and others effects on the screen with the choice of the resolution.

Last edited 2012


MadJack(Posted 2012) [#15]
RemiD

Xors shadows are not really in a workable state unfortunately - or at least, they can only be used very sparingly. There is some static shadowing in the demo, and shadows can be enabled from the ini file but otherwise I haven't used them.

Regards not running on your Thinkpad, down the line there'll be a full options screen and further optimization, but I can't promise the game won't need a dedicated desktop PC + vid card to run.


Grisu(Posted 2012) [#16]
Was your tank at an high angle when it fell?


Yes indeed. Was driving over some buildings... ;)


RemiD(Posted 2012) [#17]
MadJack>>
Ok,


Steve Elliott(Posted 2012) [#18]
With settings turned down I get 18 FPS, no jerking.


ervin(Posted 2012) [#19]
Alrighty, some tests on my desktop PC.
Athlon 64 X2 4600+ (2.41GHz)
2.5GB RAM
ATI 5770 1GB

After running GAME.exe, the video resolution screen appears, and the font appears a little distorted, as if it is stretched to fit the window size, but the stretching is not smoothed at all and looks a little messy.

I chose 1280x1024 fullscreen.

The "Initializing" screen sat there for around 1 min 8 seconds, and then the game appeared. I thought the game had crashed as I was getting a frame every 3 seconds or so. After 35 to 40 seconds, the framerate began to speed up, settling on around 23 fps, which was playable.

Is there some major pre-calculation going on during these 2 delays?

Now to the good stuff:
The graphics are beautiful and the atmosphere very effective!
I LOVE the transparent tank body - a very nice touch.

The tank movement "feels" good. The controls are tight and it feels as I imagine a futuristic tank would feel. The aiming is very nice as well.
Driving around and shooting were satisfying as well.
I really like the way the tank "tips" a bit as you climb over obstacles.

However - I swear that a fully powered canon shell went through one of the power line beacon things. I tried it again but I couldn't reproduce it - subsequent attempts appeared to collide with the beacons in the expected fashion.

I went into TU2.ini, and turned off anti aliasing, complex sky, and bloom.
After the same initialisation delays, I got around 35fps, and (of course) it was a lot smoother.

All in all, it's looking great. The startup needs a bit of work and polishing up, but the meat of it (i.e. the tank control) is very promising. I'm REALLY looking forward to this game. Keep it up dude!

Hopefully I'll get time to try on my other 2 configs, though they are *significantly* less powerful than my desktop, and it may not be worth trying. What do you think?

Last edited 2012


RifRaf(Posted 2012) [#20]
MadJack,

Looks good here, no real problems. The bullet model continues to skid across the ground after the explosion effect though :)


MadJack(Posted 2012) [#21]
ervin

First off, thanks very much for the feedback!

Is there some major pre-calculation going on during these 2 delays?

There's a lot of mesh building goes on when the level is built, but the delay seems to be related mostly to captureworld/tweening. I suspect things are choking on captureworld after the level is built and populated but not yet rendered.

The tank movement "feels" good.

Heh - you should talk to NeatNit - he wants the old non-physics based controls back. However the physics is still provisional and there are clipping issues to resolve.

However - I swear that a fully powered canon shell went through one of the power line beacon things.

I expect you did. It's a problem with large worlds/fast moving objects. Occasionally Bullet misses a collision as it occurs. My response has been to increase the size of the bullet collision volume but that will only go so far. I might need to increase the physics update frequency.

I got around 35fps, and (of course) it was a lot smoother.
Still not high enough once the tank combat is put in. More optimisation is needed.

Hopefully I'll get time to try on my other 2 configs, though they are *significantly* less powerful than my desktop, and it may not be worth trying. What do you think?

Doesn't sound like they'd handle the demo in its current state, so I'd probably not bother - but thank you for the offer!

Last edited 2012


RemiD(Posted 2012) [#22]
I have tried your demo on another pc and it was really slow. Even with the antialisaing, shadows, glow set to off.




It's a problem with large worlds/fast moving objects. Occasionally Bullet misses a collision as it occurs.


What you can try is to position the bullet at the begining of the barrel of the canon rather than at the end.

If the collisions calculation are similar to Blitz3d, with fast moving colliders, i have found that the first movement is not taken into account but the second and the others yes. (even if EntityRadius(Bullet,Radius#) and EntityType(Bullet,Group) are set after the bullet creation.)

Your tank having a long barrel it may help if you create the bullet at the start of the barrel.

Last edited 2012


RemiD(Posted 2012) [#23]
See an example of what i mean :
Graphics3D(800,600,32,2) 
SetBuffer(BackBuffer()) 
HidePointer()  
SeedRnd(MilliSecs())

Camera = CreateCamera()
CameraRange(Camera,0.01,1000)

WallCollider = CreateCube()
ScaleMesh(WallCollider,0.1/2,3.0/2,10.0/2)
PositionMesh(WallCollider,-0.1/2,3.0/2,10.0/2)
EntityColor(WallCollider,050,050,050)

Const IsStatic% = 1
Const IsMoving% = 2
Const IsDestroyed% = 3
Global BulletState% = 0

BulletCollider = CreatePivot()
PositionEntity(BulletCollider,0,0,0)
Debug_BulletCollider = CreateSphere(16)
ScaleMesh(Debug_BulletCollider,0.01/2,0.01/2,0.01/2)
PositionEntity(Debug_BulletCollider,EntityX(BulletCollider,True),EntityY(BulletCollider,True),EntityZ(BulletCollider,True))
RotateEntity(Debug_BulletCollider,EntityPitch(BulletCollider,True),EntityYaw(BulletCollider,True),EntityRoll(BulletCollider,True))
EntityParent(Debug_BulletCollider,BulletCollider,True)
EntityColor(Debug_BulletCollider,000,000,255)

BarrelMesh = CreateCube()
ScaleMesh(BarrelMesh,0.011/2,0.011/2,0.5/2)
PositionMesh(BarrelMesh,0,0,0.5/2)
PositionEntity(BarrelMesh,1,1.5,5)
;PositionEntity(BarrelMesh,Rnd(1,20),1.5,5)
TurnEntity(BarrelMesh,0,90,0)
EntityColor(BarrelMesh,100,100,100)

OLight = CreateLight(2)
LightRange(OLight,6.0)
LightColor(OLight,255,255,255)
PositionEntity(OLight,5,1.5,5)
AmbientLight(063,063,063)

PositionEntity(Camera,0.001,3,5)
TurnEntity(Camera,90,0,0)

Const CollWalls = 1
Const CollBullets = 100

Repeat

 Cls()

 ;Colliders and Collisions groups update
 ClearCollisions()
 EntityType(WallCollider,0)
 EntityType(BulletCollider,0)
 EntityType(WallCollider,CollWalls)
 EntityRadius(BulletCollider,0.01/2)
 EntityType(BulletCollider,CollBullets)
 Collisions(CollBullets,CollWalls,2,1)

 ;Characters/Vehicles update1
 If(KeyHit(57)=True)
  PositionEntity(BulletCollider,EntityX(BarrelMesh,True),EntityY(BarrelMesh,True),EntityZ(BarrelMesh,True))
  RotateEntity(BulletCollider,EntityPitch(BarrelMesh,True),EntityYaw(BarrelMesh,True),EntityRoll(BarrelMesh,True))
  BulletState% = IsMoving%
 EndIf
 
 ;Bullet update1
 If(BulletState% = IsStatic%)
  ;
 ElseIf(BulletState% = IsMoving%)
  MoveEntity(BulletCollider,0,0,0.995) ;This corresponds to the distance from the start of the barrel to the wall (1.0) minus the radius of the collider bullet (0.005), more than this speed at the first frame and if at this distance from the wall, the collision will not be detected.
 ElseIf(BulletState% = IsDestroyed%)
  ;
 EndIf

 ;Collisions detection and response update
 UpdateWorld(0)

 ;Characters/Vehicles update2

 ;Bullet update2
 If(BulletState% = IsMoving%)
  CCount% = CountCollisions(BulletCollider)
  If(CCount% > 0)
   BulletState% = IsDestroyed%
   OCollider = CollisionEntity(BulletCollider,1)
   EntityColor(Debug_BulletCollider,255,000,000)
   EntityColor(OCollider,125,000,000)
  EndIf
 EndIf

 If(KeyDown(2)=True)
  Wireframe(True)
 ElseIf(KeyDown(2)=False)
  Wireframe(False)
 EndIf
 
 ;Render3D update
 RenderWorld()

 ;Render2D update

 Flip(True)

Until(KeyDown(1)=True)

End



MadJack(Posted 2012) [#24]
Your tank having a long barrel it may help if you create the bullet at the start of the barrel.

I think in this case it's a matter of speed of the shell vs size of poly it hits vs size of the shell's collision volume vs update frequency of Bullet physics. The missed collision typically happens when the shell is well into its flightpath.

It is a known issue with Bullet (and other physics systems I imagine). such that Bullet has an extra setting called continuous collision detection. This checks for a fast moving object 'drilling' into another. Unfortunately this setting is not available in Xors.


Naughty Alien(Posted 2012) [#25]
..HUD works fine here..tank turret is not locked to body as previous game (im not sure is this suppose to be like this so im just mentioning)..anyway, here are issues I noticed:

1) ground surface went totally black (it was blue hexagons initially), as well as some parts of the surrounding trees

2) glowing projectile particle (one you see when you firing most powerful shot, and visible on projectile while flying, its look like flare or something like that), keep glowing on two places on the ground (point of impact)..on other parts of geometry I couldnt get it..

Its looking nice and looking forward to see final release :)

Specs

nVidia GTS 450, W7 pro 64 bit


MadJack(Posted 2012) [#26]
NN

Thanks for giving it a whirl!

tank turret is not locked to body as previous game

That's intentional. In fact the default in TU1 was to have the turret unaffected by the tankbase yaw.

ground surface went totally black (it was blue hexagons initially), as well as some parts of the surrounding trees

There is a 'night' phase when the sun goes behind one of the clouds. I'm guessing/hoping that's what happened?

glowing projectile particle

Particles are semi-nerfed. May need to brew a custom solution.


MadJack(Posted 2012) [#27]
Updated build.

High/medium/low settings available on start screen.

Second screen includes the option to choose from 3 zones, the occupying team and occupation level (1 = empty level, 8 = full fortress).

Have tweaked the tank physics, hopefully driving feels more solid and won't clip through terrain.

Turbo is enabled - tap shift to enable.

Still various things to fix but looking for feedback - particularly how the low setting runs for some folk (ervin?)

Download (please make sure to extract with directory structure intact):
http://madjack.fileburst.com/TU2_RUNTIME.zip

On the plain


Last edited 2012


Steve Elliott(Posted 2012) [#28]
Much faster! :D

On medium settings at 1024 X 768, In the Valley gets around 43 FPS, the other 2 levels around 30 FPS, which is much improved over the previous build on this crappy graphics card.

In the valley runs around 24 FPS on high settings and is acceptably smooth. No graphical glitches noticed. Should we be able to destroy tanks yet?

[edit]
The new tanks are great by the way, with transparent sections and now track trails.

Last edited 2012


MadJack(Posted 2012) [#29]
Steve

Thanks for that - can I ask what FPS lowest quality / max occupation level gives on your card?


RemiD(Posted 2012) [#30]
Your game is really slow compared to the previous Tank Universal, and honestly i don't see what effects you have added, what do you think makes it so slow ?

Too many surfaces ?

The game runs at 0fps on my laptop pc...

And on my desktop pc : (on low)
Valley : around 30fps
Plains : around 15fps
Wall : around 25 fps

Some errors (maybe) i have seen :
->the buttons (arrow and checkbox) have an offset at right.
->the colliders of the trees trunks are too wide.
->it is possible to use the turbo when going backward.

The great wall is impressive, well done.


Steve Elliott(Posted 2012) [#31]
No probs...50, 35, 40 FPS


MadJack(Posted 2012) [#32]
Remi

Thanks for the feedback.
I guess the diff is much larger levels, DX9 vs DX7, more objects on-screen.

I'm guessing your laptop is your Thinkpad.
Can I ask what specs your desktop has?


MadJack(Posted 2012) [#33]
Steve

http://www.gmabooster.com/

?


RemiD(Posted 2012) [#34]
MadJack>>
Yes you can see the specs of the Thinkpad in my previous message.

The specs of the desktop are :
eMachines EL1350, DualCore AMD Athlon II 2.7Ghz, 3go DR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE 256 Mo, Windows 7 Home Premium


Steve Elliott(Posted 2012) [#35]
Thanks Phil, but it doesn't seem to support the Intel G45 Express - just the netbook Intel 945 Express, and I wouldn't attempt to run Tank Universal on that.


Grisu(Posted 2012) [#36]
I still manage to make the tank fall through the map. At least I now get a shield warning message before the crash. ;)

Please make it possible to switch back to the "resolution screen" on start up.


ervin(Posted 2012) [#37]
Hi MadJack.

Looking a lot better.
:o)

Positives:
- Love the tracks that you and other tanks leave behind (was this in the first build?)
- The enemy tank models are fabulous
- The game is now much smoother and much more responsive
- 50-80 fps depending on situation (in high detail mode)
- tank physics are excellent. I really like the way the tank "drives"

Negatives:
- some obvious texture seams in the high blue mounds around the arena
- the LONG delay on the initialisation screen
- the long delay once the cockpit has appeared, while the fps settles down
- I accidentally pressed TAB during the game, and it froze. It was like it had been paused, but I couldn't come out of it. I tried pressing a few keys, and it came out of the "pause" for what looked like 1 or 2 frames, then froze again. The brief "unpause" erased the textures from a couple of walls around the arena. Then the game crashed back to windows.

All in all, it's heading in the right direction.
I'm still really excited about this game!

Hopefully I'll get a chance soon to put this onto my crappy netbook, though it probably isn't aimed at that sort of machine!
:o)

Last edited 2012


MadJack(Posted 2012) [#38]
ervin

Meant to get back to you and say thanks for the info.

Understood about the initialisation time. I'll look at it again but probably not before the next release. I'm focusing on the strategy map at present.

Tab - whoops, meant to take that out! It actually spawns a box at each impassable A* square in the level. No wonder it crashed your machine!


ervin(Posted 2012) [#39]
Always happy to help.
:o)


Blitzplotter(Posted 2012) [#40]
MJ, sorry about my tardiness - just tried your 'initial' download, and that ran as smooth as silk on 1920x1200 while my humble PC was running a 2nd monitor with Spotify streaming some tunes at the same time.

Just about to try your updated download... although first one ran fine.

Sys specs:
AMD Phenom II X2 545 3.00 GHz
4GB ram
32 bit
Gfx: GeForce 9800 GT


MadJack(Posted 2012) [#41]
BP

I updated the link in the intial post to DL the updated version so you might have been running the updated version. If it gave you the option to select area/team/occupation level then you were running the updated version.


Blitzplotter(Posted 2012) [#42]
MJ,

Was running your original build - ran your second build on max setting 1920 x 1200 - & also ran silky smooth. Sound Effects are also awesome, you have one customer right here when you've finished it.

One brief thing - windows came up with 'Game.exe is not responding, do you wanna wait', obviously I waited and it was fine - however didn't get that on the first build.

Last edited 2012


MadJack(Posted 2012) [#43]
BP

Thanks for that.

Did it give the error message the second time? Had you hit escape by chance?

However, need to reduce the startup time and maybe add a loading bar or some such as well.

Last edited 2012


Blitzplotter(Posted 2012) [#44]
MJ,

Just remembered the first time I ran your update ran it in windowed mode, extracted from within the downloads folder. I got the 'error' message the second time & it was running in windowed mode (I think) - I don't reckon I hit escape though.

Today, cleared out my TU2 folder within program files and extracted it 'properly'. Elected for 1200x 1080 windowed mode this time - no error reported.

Tried a second time in full screen, also no error reported.