Thmexthy Lewt
by Steve YorkshireRifles Acaster · 05/06/2009 (3:34 am) · 12 comments
Om nom nom ... Interwebz ate my first blog post attempt
Thmexthy Lewt - as a girl once described the spoils of a WoW raid to me.
So, we now have Beta1 of new tech. And very promising it looks too. It's got shiny bits, quite a lot of shiny bits. They don't all work, which is why it's Beta1.
Chaps! My chaps, off for a bit of jog
The tools are nice, mostly realtime editing, and thus give a lot of decent close control, especially with the Materials Editor which is a real time saver. No more exiting the app to type stuff into files, only to reload it and not like it, and thus exit to tweak it all again.
It's a first try - and it works ... which is nice ...
After a fair bit of playing with the tools, I've made a superfast port of my TGEA stuff, some of it anyhow. It doesn't require too much rejigging, a few folder/destination changes in files, moving the spec map from the diffuse to the normal. The textures themselves will need a bit of a retouch to cope with the new lighting system, they're a bit dark now, but at least everything I've moved across seems to work at a base level.
Wait till you see the whites of their eyes ... or not ...
So I've had my AI running about, shooting the crap out of each other. It's always nice to know that it works. I've also fixed a couple of memory leaks I found in my base AI script. TGEA wasn't bothered about them, but T3D gave me some series reporting/console spam on the subject. And there's enough console spam as it is.
Still got a host of textures to rejigg specmaps over to normals. After which It'll be time to stick my previously built mesh town in and see how it works.
A shiny bit.
Roll on fixes, tweaks and Beta2.
Thmexthy Lewt - as a girl once described the spoils of a WoW raid to me.
So, we now have Beta1 of new tech. And very promising it looks too. It's got shiny bits, quite a lot of shiny bits. They don't all work, which is why it's Beta1.
Chaps! My chaps, off for a bit of jog
The tools are nice, mostly realtime editing, and thus give a lot of decent close control, especially with the Materials Editor which is a real time saver. No more exiting the app to type stuff into files, only to reload it and not like it, and thus exit to tweak it all again.
It's a first try - and it works ... which is nice ...
After a fair bit of playing with the tools, I've made a superfast port of my TGEA stuff, some of it anyhow. It doesn't require too much rejigging, a few folder/destination changes in files, moving the spec map from the diffuse to the normal. The textures themselves will need a bit of a retouch to cope with the new lighting system, they're a bit dark now, but at least everything I've moved across seems to work at a base level.
Wait till you see the whites of their eyes ... or not ...
So I've had my AI running about, shooting the crap out of each other. It's always nice to know that it works. I've also fixed a couple of memory leaks I found in my base AI script. TGEA wasn't bothered about them, but T3D gave me some series reporting/console spam on the subject. And there's enough console spam as it is.
Still got a host of textures to rejigg specmaps over to normals. After which It'll be time to stick my previously built mesh town in and see how it works.
A shiny bit.
Roll on fixes, tweaks and Beta2.
About the author
One Bloke ... In His Bedroom ... Trying To Make Computer Games ...
#2
It's great to hear that porting was relatively painless for you. It's extra cool that you figured the moving sun out. Now just imagine the extra shiny and fixes that will make Beta 2 even better!
05/06/2009 (4:34 am)
I remember your demo with the AI -- I was quite impressed with it back then -- how has the AI come along since then? Or have you been testing large environments and creating assets mainly? It's great to hear that porting was relatively painless for you. It's extra cool that you figured the moving sun out. Now just imagine the extra shiny and fixes that will make Beta 2 even better!
#3
05/06/2009 (7:18 am)
Looking good, Steve! I really can't wait to see the town in Torque3D!
#4
Over the last year (lol, didn't mean it to take quite that long!) I've been practising building assets and testing how best to make large environments. Once I'm fairly happy with that, and I get my pathfinding reintergrated (been left out since upgrading to TGEA) I'll upgrade the AI scritps.
Speaking of asset building, back to converting textures so I can see how the town works as one model, and then split down into section.
05/06/2009 (1:13 pm)
My working AI script is still pretty much what it was, I've simplified a few bits and streamlined it. I've got a "planned" extension to the AI, but that's still in a scrawled flowchart in my sketchbook.Over the last year (lol, didn't mean it to take quite that long!) I've been practising building assets and testing how best to make large environments. Once I'm fairly happy with that, and I get my pathfinding reintergrated (been left out since upgrading to TGEA) I'll upgrade the AI scritps.
Speaking of asset building, back to converting textures so I can see how the town works as one model, and then split down into section.
#5
Need to sort out the mipmapping on my horizontal (road) textures, it's a bit blurry.
05/06/2009 (4:27 pm)
Need to sort out the mipmapping on my horizontal (road) textures, it's a bit blurry.
#6
05/06/2009 (8:01 pm)
From the posts I've seen, the best thing about T3D seems to be the dynamic sun light ;P! Aside from that, it's all looking good! Good to hear the port wasn't too difficult.
#7
(based on the same tests in my previous blogs using the same model town)
Advanced Lighting
x768: 29
x1050: 17
Basic Lighting
x768: 167
x1050: 107
05/06/2009 (8:07 pm)
Initial Performance tests (based on the same tests in my previous blogs using the same model town)
Advanced Lighting
x768: 29
x1050: 17
Basic Lighting
x768: 167
x1050: 107
#8
05/06/2009 (11:42 pm)
I still think you need more dirt and grime ;) well, only if it fits. That's actually quite good for an unoptimized alpha, I mean beta. I like seeing dynamic sunlight! Are those tests done with an empty scene or is there any hidden/unseen stuff in there?
#9
I did just do a quick test with some previously made DIF scenes, and didn't like them too much. Performance was about the same if not a little worse. And DIFs currently look awful in Basic Lighting. Lightmaps must be disabled.
Textures are just placeholders, I wanted them for normal maps!
Last time I looked buglog was at 430 something.
05/07/2009 (1:11 am)
Mostly just shell buildings right now. I've stuck 4 copies of my town together in one map and have not noticed an impact in performance (one hell of a lot of rooftops and chimneys!).I did just do a quick test with some previously made DIF scenes, and didn't like them too much. Performance was about the same if not a little worse. And DIFs currently look awful in Basic Lighting. Lightmaps must be disabled.
Textures are just placeholders, I wanted them for normal maps!
Quote:Lol! Yeah that's what I thought.
quite good for an unoptimized alpha, I mean beta.
Last time I looked buglog was at 430 something.
#11
05/07/2009 (2:36 am)
I like it, I like it 
Torque 3D Owner bryce
Release a new demo!