[INFO] Development Journal

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Feralidragon
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Re: [INFO] Development Journal

Post by Feralidragon »

But be carefull Shadow. One thing I noticed while working with mesh sheets and sprites was that that's not that linear. For instance, if you make lots of sprites showing up in your view, they will only be laggy if they are medium sized or big, when they are very small or even tiny, they don't make almost any performance hits.
The same happens with meshes: I tried one day to make UScript based distance fog (very simple), and it didn't work out, not only because it looked ugly in a few maps with greyish textures (looked great in Face though), but mostly due to performance problems. I tried it 2 ways: several 2 polys huge sheets, and then an entire adjustable model made of about 30 to 40 sheets with the minimum of translucity (almost invisible). While both looked the same (and great in some situations, ugly in others), one I had nearlly 5 fps, while in the other I had about 15fps.
Both methods are low poly, but the difference is that the sheets were huge and translucent, and so why I say that's not that linear. Personally, I would make it 50/50 (depending on the situation), although sprites give indeed bigger problems, so you should consider meshes and vertex particles as well.

But that detail with 12-16 meshes is really good, so keep up the good work. But remember that people won't most likelly create small clouds like that one, I advice you to test them way bigger and high in the sky and "fly" through them to see if there's any lag.
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Shadow
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Re: [INFO] Development Journal

Post by Shadow »

Yes you're right, but you should know that I'm always thinking of Performance :D
I'll soon test multiple clouds and other weather emitters in a outdoor terrain map..


//edit: The Cloud Emitter in motion:

[youtube]z7STRFlD0JY[/youtube]
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Lee_Stricklin
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Re: [INFO] Development Journal

Post by Lee_Stricklin »

Shadow wrote:Yes you're right, but you should know that I'm always thinking of Performance :D
I'll soon test multiple clouds and other weather emitters in a outdoor terrain map..


//edit: The Cloud Emitter in motion:

[youtube]z7STRFlD0JY[/youtube]
Beautiful.
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Re: [INFO] Development Journal

Post by Myth »

Sprite speed really depends on hardware.
When a sreen is renderred in ut, everything behind solid level surfaces are hidden and NOT draw because the engine is well optimized and the BSP trees are really really really fast. (if there aren't too many polys)
When masked surfaces are drawn what's behind it is never hidden cause that too is partially visible. And when you have translucent or modulated surfaces you get an even bigger performance hit because when your computer draws something translucent it first performs a read from memory then adds together and multiplies colors then it performs a write to memory. The more pixels are processed like this the slower it gets.

This is really slow whit computers whit less hardware acceleration. Test the weather system or multiple huge sprites in hi res software mode. The you'll have HUGE performace spikes the moment you get some huge sprites onto the screen.

So you can have hundreds of particles or a few big ones, you get the same performance.

Also, it would be really awesome if we could have some optional fadeout effects whit particles and sprites. If they are too close they get faded or if you have a sprite whit z-axis it should also fade out when out view it from the top and based on distance ect. If particles get huge they get bigger, so having them fade out before they get too big could save some performance. And viewing z-axis sprites from above is really ugly. >_<

And I will make small clouds like that. Very subtle small clouds and almost in reach for the players to touch.
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Re: [INFO] Development Journal

Post by Shadow »

Myth wrote:Also, it would be really awesome if we could have some optional fadeout effects whit particles and sprites. If they are too close they get faded or if you have a sprite whit z-axis it should also fade out when out view it from the top and based on distance ect. If particles get huge they get bigger, so having them fade out before they get too big could save some performance. And viewing z-axis sprites from above is really ugly. >_<
already implemented ^^
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Re: [INFO] Development Journal

Post by Shadow »

JOURNAL DATE: 19.01.2010

CHANGES / UPDATES
  • Spark Emitter finished
  • started working on completely new Menu System
  • Concept/Organisation work for the Sandbox Mods begun
OVERVIEWS

Spark Emitter

Spawns multiple Sparks simulating Special Effects concerning Weapon Fire, Ricochets, Sparks, Energy etc.
Each Spark can be one single element or consists of multiple flexible connected parts (like a Beam).
The set Texture determines the color/shade of a spark. Please note that sparks are 1x Pixel Lines.
As all other Emitters the Spark Emitter supports things like Fading, Scaling, Collision etc.


Sandbox Mods

UT RPG
-------

UT's Standard Gameplay mixed with RPG-Elements. Each Player starts with a basic amount (which is equal for every player at start) of Money. Each Item/Weapon has it's price and can be bought or selled. You gain experience for a Kill. After gaining enough experience you may level up distributing your Skill Points on developing Skills (currently not thought about all in particular) like Speed, Accuracy, Additional Health and so on. For keeping it fair every player looses his money and equipment after a kill, but NOT his experience (unique skills remain) and a spawn protection will be build in. There won't be any classes so that every player really has the same basic conditions as the other. The Mod has a friendly In-game Menu for Buy/Sell Stuff/Skills and is highly customizable. The frequency of level ups slows down with each level. Also thinking of allowing allies to exchange their equipment with team mates. A player may gain extra exp points by doing special actions like Double Kills or scoring a CTF-Point or something like that.


UT Golf Cart
------------

Have you seen Jackass The Movie !? Yap now YOU gonna crash some Golf Carts at funny Environments (Estates, Golf Courses etc.). The gameplay is simple: Vehicle-Crash Last Man Standing. The last one still able to drive is the winner...


MORE to come...


The purposes of these Mini-Mods or Sandbox-Mods are:

- giving everyone a kickoff on how to create cool mods based on the SDK
- example content
- fun, anyone !?
- directly showcasing the new possibilities


The Sandbox will be released shortly after the Runtime and Development Edition of the SDK.


MEDIA

[youtube]v2Suc0XeTDs[/youtube]


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The last one of the emitters is the Trail Emitter, after finishing it... the Software Particle Engine goes 90 % !
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Re: [INFO] Development Journal

Post by Creavion »

It would be a shame if I would NOT use your stuff in my next project, Shadow. I really like the effect. Perfect for industrial - setting levels.
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My very last UT map project: CTF-FacePalm (tropical CTF-Face remake)
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My reactivated account on indiedb.com.
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Shadow
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Re: [INFO] Development Journal

Post by Shadow »

Thanks alot, I'm doing my best :mrgreen:
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robin13
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Re: [INFO] Development Journal

Post by robin13 »

Shadow wrote:JOURNAL DATE: 19.01.2010
The purposes of these Mini-Mods or Sandbox-Mods are:

- giving everyone a kickoff on how to create cool mods based on the SDK
- example content
- fun, anyone !?
- directly showcasing the new possibilities
:D Little guess,Garrys mod in UT99? :D
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Shadow
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Re: [INFO] Development Journal

Post by Shadow »

robin13 wrote:
Shadow wrote:JOURNAL DATE: 19.01.2010
The purposes of these Mini-Mods or Sandbox-Mods are:

- giving everyone a kickoff on how to create cool mods based on the SDK
- example content
- fun, anyone !?
- directly showcasing the new possibilities
:D Little guess,Garrys mod in UT99? :D
yep, you're damn right ^^
just like the description in the header section of the moddb site says..
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editor Dave
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Re: [INFO] Development Journal

Post by editor Dave »

Does the "UT RPG" also work for Singleplayer? I'd like to use it in my maps :)

P.S.: I sent an e-mail on December, the 28th. Since then I got no reply. I'll try to do my own cool picture when it rains the next time :wink:
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10-Year Anniversary on Jun 08, 2019.
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Shadow
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Re: [INFO] Development Journal

Post by Shadow »

UT RPG bases on the UnrealAvatar Gameplay System, which is thought for Single- and Multiplayer Usage ;)
UT RPG simple uses the Base Mechanics adapted to the UT Gameplay.

you did ? Hm never got anything Oo
Was it a direct eMail (ut99sdk@gmx.de) or a Forum PM ?

I normally reply everytime.
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editor Dave
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Re: [INFO] Development Journal

Post by editor Dave »

Shadow wrote: you did ? Hm never got anything Oo
Was it a direct eMail (ut99sdk@gmx.de) or a Forum PM ?

I normally reply everytime.
Oh, there was a misunderstanding... On that day I wrote an e-Mail to this site which hosted the new picture for your weather system. Since then they haven't answered. That's why I want to do my best to take an own picture for you when we have storm again. :o
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10-Year Anniversary on Jun 08, 2019.
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Shadow
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Re: [INFO] Development Journal

Post by Shadow »

Sorry, I still do not know what you mean ^^

JOURNAL DATE: 21.01.2010

CHANGES / UPDATES
  • Unreal Tournament SDK gone indipendent (without breaking any Engine Copyright)
  • still working on Trail Emitter
OVERVIEWS


Indipendency

A huge leap forward today. I figured out how running a "Total Conversion" / Game (based on Unreal Engine 1) installed ANYWHERE, not limited to the "EngineGame\MyTotalConversion" structure. From now on Mods, "Games" and Total Conversions can be installed anywhere outside the UT Directory AND also not requiring a copy of the exe or dll files in the Mod Directory (which would be illegal). I tested it myself with the SDK currently. It works great. The SDK has it's own system configuration and setups etc. So this means Mod Support like in Unreal Engine 3.



MEDIA

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Last edited by Shadow on Fri Jan 22, 2010 7:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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editor Dave
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Re: [INFO] Development Journal

Post by editor Dave »

editor Dave wrote:No, I took a smaller part from this pitcure. Maybe you should ask if you may use it. I can do that, too. ;)
I'm glad I could help you. :D
Do you remember it? :tongue:
Btw, great news!
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10-Year Anniversary on Jun 08, 2019.
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