Why Unreal Tournament COULD get a "small" engine upgrade...

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Creavion
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Why Unreal Tournament COULD get a "small" engine upgrade...

Post by Creavion »

Release of the U1 patch:
http://www.oldunreal.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/ ... 982000/0#0
Smirf might introduce it later for those who dont know






Thread version 1.00
- --=Aalexanderrr=-- has permission to correct grammatic mistakes or similar issues! (since my english sucks anyway)
Last update: Sat Aug 14
Discussion/comment thread: http://www.ut99.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t ... 750#p24750

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Content:
BTW: It is not sure if this will ever come for UT (see last part for details)


Part 1: Alpha Blend, Surface Flags, Ed Renders, Alignment... (this post): http://www.ut99.org/viewtopic.php?p=24747#p24747
Part 2: Static Meshes - benefit, converting, import/export: http://www.ut99.org/viewtopic.php?p=24748#p24748
Part 3: ???: coming soon
Part X: What the heck is going on here anyway? The explanation! coming soon

Discussion/comment thread: http://www.ut99.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t ... 750#p24750

__________________________________________________________________

I think, I am bored atm, the community is rather inactive (oh yearh the summer time), the unreal 1 patch 227g is (from my knowledge) nearly finished. But before I come with a wall of text "what the heck is going on", some screenshots ...

Ok, lets start by importing a DXT5 texture for testing purposes... in case of e.g a foilage texture you better pre-activate "AlphaBlend"
(yearh, you are not forced to limit yourself to p8 {256 colours, 8 bit) textures anymore)
Supported formats: DDS, 8/24/32 bit bmps (and of course the retarded pcx)
01TexImport.gif
01TexImport.gif (8.71 KiB) Viewed 10288 times
Looks a little bit strange in the texture browser, but only in the texture browser!
02TexBrowser.gif
Ingame it is fine...however since I can/want to use this texture with and without alpha, I reimported it without activated alpha.
Here without alpha!
03TexWithoutAlpha.gif
And here with activated alpha! (seriously, if any UEngine 2 or 3 modder sees this all, he will surely laugh his ass of...)
04TexWithoutAlpha.gif
You will notice I will not follow any pattern (regarding features, upgrades and fixes). The list of new stuff is really amazing big. Its easy to lose track of that.
Other Surface flags those needs the one or other comment:
Environment:
New flag -> makes your surface looks like "Stud metal". Is not supposed to be working with alphablend (not requiered...)
05EnvironmentFlag.gif
Dirty Shadows :
Not a new flag, but now a WORKING flag. Adds dark random shadows on the flagged surfaces.
06DirtyShadows.gif
Density can be changed in the Levelproperties under ZoneLight-> DirtyShadowLevel (default value: 0.250000)

BrightCorners:
Fixed!!! Flag. "Overusing" this flag caused the engine to produce certain random error shadows during Lighting Rebuild. Was very annoying.

I switch from "Flags" to "Stats"
You might notice some new stuff is added here as well giving you useful information.
07Stats.gif
During mapping I prefer to use "Direct X9". But "Open GL" is also available. Switching between those and Software is a matter of some miliseconds.
08Render.gif
BTW: Direct 3D8 is NOT working in the editor. It is still included for testing purposes. And for the love of god, do not use the default d3d (anymore).

The Alignment. Was it not always a pain in the ass to align those curved faces (e.g rocksurfaces)? You had to rotate the brush to align those surfaces with "Align to Floor". But only that. You had to consider the X or Y axis, too. Bye, bye. This time consuming and annoying working step can be now done very quickly. See screenshot!
09Alignment.gif
As a side note: In a certain INI (dont remember which one atm) you can set some actors from which you think you will need them very often. Useful.

End of Part 1

Discussion/comment thread: http://www.ut99.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t ... 750#p24750
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About to be non-active
My very last UT map project: CTF-FacePalm (tropical CTF-Face remake)
Why do I leave? click here
What I want to do next: Joining an UDK team (uncertain however) and improve 3D modelling and texture editing skills
Thanks to those who visibly supported me until/at the end!
My reactivated account on indiedb.com.
User avatar
Creavion
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Posts: 4497
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:23 pm
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Location: Germany, Lower Saxony

Part 2: Static Meshes - benefit, converting, import/export

Post by Creavion »

Discussion/comment thread: http://www.ut99.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t ... 750#p24750


Static Meshes found their way kinda late into the list of features of the patch. (introduced with the 31st development/test version, current version: 34). For this Unreal will have / UT could have a new subfolder called "Meshes". The static meshes have the file extension: *.usm (no "usx" because of possible copyright issues, huh?). The idea for "usm" crossed my mind (as like many other included feature ideas *caught* -> Unreal Static Mesh, simple, isn`t it?). A possible reference to RTNP`s "Unreal Space Marines" is only a coincidence. ^^

Before that "we" were already happy with the facts that regular (skeletal/vertex) meshes did not disappear anymore (FullMeshRendering) and/or that meshes gained a REAL per poly collision (UseMeshCollision). (Hint: Not for animted meshes or pawns / meshes with multiply mesh frames)

But most of us, I think, used regular meshes mostly for smaller decorations. Although you could use e.g the "Mesh maker" to convert your brushes to meshes, it was a lot of work and every mesh needed its own class in the Actor class Browser (at least if you wanted to select your mesh rather quick instead to change the mesh itself in the actor properties).

The advantages of static meshes:
-> can be easily imported as *.obj (unlike ut2004/uengine 2 as lwo or ase), yep this means nothing prevents the 3D Max / Maya / Blender modeller anymore to build their levels (mostly) external in a 3D model program.
10SMBrowser1.gif
-> Export as *.obj is also possible (a feature not included in ut2004)
-> No retarded UV limit (unlike regular meshes, which caused several - mostly converted brushes - to have wrong aligned textures)
-> Static Meshes can be better lighted (comprared to regular meshes)
-> "discharge" the nodes (65536 < is the node limit) and the bsp of possible HOMs (Hall of mirrors) or ICHs (Invisible Colllision hulls) -> thus makes it possible to make possible bigger maps (because the node limit did upset your's plans)

As like in UEngine 2 you can also convert in the ed build structures to a static mesh. Here I selected a subtract brush, just for the lulz.
11Convert1.gif
Give your static mesh a name and decide the package (sadly no grouping possible, since static meshes share with Vertex and Skeletal meshes one single browser, you can mark or dismark the 3 types of meshes which can be shown in the mesh browser, so overall the meshbrowser gained a lot of importance now)
12Convert2.gif
12Convert2.gif (5.21 KiB) Viewed 10286 times
And this is now the result:
13ExampleSM.gif
Look closely and you will see .. yes detail textures on static meshes! (no macro texture support btw)

You can also convert multiply brushes and/or (several) already placed static meshes. In this example I selected 2 static meshes and a simple semi solid rock to convert it to a new single static mesh. Kinda like uengine 2...right?
14MultiplyActors1.gif
15MultiplyActors2.gif
You can also convert the static meshes back to brushes (as like in uengine 2).
And BTW: You can also place regular meshes (skeletal/vertex) meshes directly over the mesh browser. The question is only, if it makes sense?
And no: You can not convert regular meshes (skeletal/vertex) meshes to static meshes (to convert to brushes, expection: "Mesh Maker Meshes")
And BTW 2: Unlike UT2004 THOSE static meshes are in some points better. First of all: The UV data of brushes will not be screwed and even your in the ed built static meshes can have a smooth lighting, makes it nearly impossible to differ them from imported *.obj static meshes.

Ok, now the Mesh properties window itself, full of information:
16SM_Materials.gif
Origin: I think, you can change the provits location there? I don`t know.
RotOrigin: Seriously, no idea.
Scale: Change global the scale values of the mesh (each axis seperatly). NOT recommendable. You can also change/scale each axis of a mesh now over DrawScale 3D (under display obviously).
Textures: Obviously the materials textures.
Flip Normals: For the case you want to flip the static mesh`s normals.


Material properties:
bAlphaBlend: For AlphaBlend textures - in case of using, you have to use it even for p8 and DXT1 textures.
bInvisible: Makes the material invisible.
bMasked: Obvious?
bMeshEnviroMap: Once only useable for the mesh overalll, can be now activated for each static mesh separately.
bModulated: Obvious?
bNoCollision: Disables the collision for this material. Useful for trees (collision for the trunk, but no collision for the leaves)
bTranslucent: Obvious?
bTwoSided: Yes, obvious, again. But anyway, no matter if you activate "TwoSided" for the brush surfaces if you convert a brush to a static mesh you have to change this bool by hand.
bUnlit: Obvious?
SmoothingGroup: Smirftsch told me that dots included this option to make it possible to have certain static mesh materials with "bsp like lighting". So far I could not get this working or at least I am not able to see any difference.
TextureNum: Connected with the Mesh - textures.
UseSimpleBoxCollision: !!!
UseSimpleLineCollision: !!!

End of Part 2

Discussion/comment thread: http://www.ut99.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t ... 750#p24750


Last bumped by Creavion on Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:39 pm.
About to be non-active
My very last UT map project: CTF-FacePalm (tropical CTF-Face remake)
Why do I leave? click here
What I want to do next: Joining an UDK team (uncertain however) and improve 3D modelling and texture editing skills
Thanks to those who visibly supported me until/at the end!
My reactivated account on indiedb.com.
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