Enhanced Weapons System
by Ronald J Nelson · 09/04/2009 (8:27 am) · 6 comments
Well even though I have been a TGE or TGEA owner since 2005, this is my first blog here. I always wanted to have something really cool to show off like some of the other stuff I see around here before I did. Well I finally got one.
First let me apologize to TGE users, there is absolutely no way I am going to be able to make TGE do what I have in TGEA without an insane amount of work that I am just not going to do for something I am about to give away for free. I will try to put something together for TGE but it is going to be extremely light by comparison to TGEA. Also, this is done in TGEA 1.81 and I won't be making a T3D version as I don't own it and am not really looking to spend $1000 for something I don't need right now.
My latest version of my Enhanced Projectiles resource, now called Enhanced Weapons System, has a ton more and all previous stuff in the old resource has been fixed, updated, or massively upgraded. Honestly there is so much I am having to right a manual on how to use it. There are several additions from other resources that I integrated into my system or based some of my work on theirs. I tried to give credit where it was due in the manual.
Some of what it includes is:
Radar guided projectiles with radar jamming detection and code necessary to just make a script call to set it for a vehicle.
Heat-Seeking projectiles that lock on to a target but still look for extremely hot heat signatures like flares of big fires. Heat signatures are set in the datablock with a cool down option as well.
Terrain following projectiles that can be used in conjunction with Radar-Guided or Heat-Seeking projectiles.
Sidewinder projectiles.
All of the stuff from my Enhanced projectiles resource but with bugs fixed and most areas greatly improved
Massive particle system enhancements. For example, fire that can kill by nothing more than particle collision.
There is a ton more, but I have a much bigger one that I had to show off. But first a quick video showing the heat seeker with the GUI additions I am sharing.
Now the big one is that I got transforming decals and polysoup collision for shapebase objects to work. This means bullet holes on the visible surface of any shapebase object other than the player class. Also it updates the collision for short animations so that if you want to make a destryed barrel or crate, well the collision will update to the visible mesh and what it looks like after the animation change.
In my example I used the Torque Dune Buggy chassis as a RigidShape and as you can see it has a very simple collision mesh.
Now look at the video:
Like I said, for the stuff I added that was from others I did ask for permission when possible and gave credit to them all in the manual. There was just so much good stuff I had added, converted or updated over the years that I just though others might still find it useful. I'll try to get this out in about a week. I thought I would have it out sooner, but I ran into a few snags along the way.
First let me apologize to TGE users, there is absolutely no way I am going to be able to make TGE do what I have in TGEA without an insane amount of work that I am just not going to do for something I am about to give away for free. I will try to put something together for TGE but it is going to be extremely light by comparison to TGEA. Also, this is done in TGEA 1.81 and I won't be making a T3D version as I don't own it and am not really looking to spend $1000 for something I don't need right now.
My latest version of my Enhanced Projectiles resource, now called Enhanced Weapons System, has a ton more and all previous stuff in the old resource has been fixed, updated, or massively upgraded. Honestly there is so much I am having to right a manual on how to use it. There are several additions from other resources that I integrated into my system or based some of my work on theirs. I tried to give credit where it was due in the manual.
Some of what it includes is:
Radar guided projectiles with radar jamming detection and code necessary to just make a script call to set it for a vehicle.
Heat-Seeking projectiles that lock on to a target but still look for extremely hot heat signatures like flares of big fires. Heat signatures are set in the datablock with a cool down option as well.
Terrain following projectiles that can be used in conjunction with Radar-Guided or Heat-Seeking projectiles.
Sidewinder projectiles.
All of the stuff from my Enhanced projectiles resource but with bugs fixed and most areas greatly improved
Massive particle system enhancements. For example, fire that can kill by nothing more than particle collision.
There is a ton more, but I have a much bigger one that I had to show off. But first a quick video showing the heat seeker with the GUI additions I am sharing.
Now the big one is that I got transforming decals and polysoup collision for shapebase objects to work. This means bullet holes on the visible surface of any shapebase object other than the player class. Also it updates the collision for short animations so that if you want to make a destryed barrel or crate, well the collision will update to the visible mesh and what it looks like after the animation change.
In my example I used the Torque Dune Buggy chassis as a RigidShape and as you can see it has a very simple collision mesh.
Now look at the video:
Like I said, for the stuff I added that was from others I did ask for permission when possible and gave credit to them all in the manual. There was just so much good stuff I had added, converted or updated over the years that I just though others might still find it useful. I'll try to get this out in about a week. I thought I would have it out sooner, but I ran into a few snags along the way.
#2
Nice to see the details and extra work you have done in action.
09/04/2009 (10:25 am)
Very nice work Ron!Nice to see the details and extra work you have done in action.
#3
Also, damaging particles sounds good - any client/server issues there? I always thought particles were only run on the client.
09/04/2009 (12:06 pm)
The decals look great! Any plans to extend them for use with Players?Also, damaging particles sounds good - any client/server issues there? I always thought particles were only run on the client.
#4
Just try taking any of the player characters and add them as a static shape and then try to enable polysoup. I have tested this with stock TGEA and it crashs every time.
The best thing I can tell you is that I have hitboxes coded in and you could use hitbox locations to add material layers. Its far from a perfect solution, but so far its about the best available.
09/04/2009 (10:29 pm)
Sorry Daniel but I probably won't be able to extend them to the Players. Its not that I couldn't let them use polysoup as I am with all other shapebase objects, but that their model really doesn't like polysoup. Just try taking any of the player characters and add them as a static shape and then try to enable polysoup. I have tested this with stock TGEA and it crashs every time.
The best thing I can tell you is that I have hitboxes coded in and you could use hitbox locations to add material layers. Its far from a perfect solution, but so far its about the best available.
#5
I will be adding the material layer system with a couple of updates to give a good working example on how to get wounds on players.
Right now I am just cleaning things up and improving others.
Daniel - In response to your question about the damaging particles, the information is networked and even transfers client information in cases of particles produced by a projectile explosion. A good example of this would be a Hellfire missle and or a Napalm bomb. All of the fire produced and anyone killed by it can be credited to the client that fired it.
I am including examples with an update to the T3D example game that you will be able to use in making your own versions.
09/06/2009 (3:21 am)
Another update is that I had to pull the hitbox code, it was really messing with raycasting and was not compatible with my polysoup updates. I will be adding the material layer system with a couple of updates to give a good working example on how to get wounds on players.
Right now I am just cleaning things up and improving others.
Daniel - In response to your question about the damaging particles, the information is networked and even transfers client information in cases of particles produced by a projectile explosion. A good example of this would be a Hellfire missle and or a Napalm bomb. All of the fire produced and anyone killed by it can be credited to the client that fired it.
I am including examples with an update to the T3D example game that you will be able to use in making your own versions.
#6
The only thing I was never able to remove completely is Torque's need for the old collision and LOS details for ShapeBase because it uses them for so many other things like nodes and bounding boxes. The code I added works perfectly for raycasting, but does not replace the old collision system, they just work together now.
09/06/2009 (7:48 pm)
On an additional note that I had not considered, the polysoup addition actually improves collision detection between vehicles. Sure there is still the same performance loss as in stock TGEA with prolonged contact, but the difference is that they no longer pass through each other even on slow collisions.The only thing I was never able to remove completely is Torque's need for the old collision and LOS details for ShapeBase because it uses them for so many other things like nodes and bounding boxes. The code I added works perfectly for raycasting, but does not replace the old collision system, they just work together now.
Torque 3D Owner Tuomas Kaukoranta