Game Development Community

Plan for Burning

by James Laker (BurNinG) · 09/20/2004 (4:43 am) · 4 comments

I've spent my whole weekend playing and tweaking the vehicle data block to get it as close as possible to Grand Theft Auto's handling... And I pat myself on the shoulder, as got quite close. I used a Chevy pickup truck available freely from Marlin Studios and used that as my Test model... Though i've never heard of them, I see they have an awesome customer base (Valve,M$,etc). I got the Chevy from this page. I'll post everything as soon as I'm happy with it.

Most people are frustrated with the Vehicle "code" and the datablock settings. But I'm (one of few) actually starting to get the hang of it. Some stuph are still confusing, but the basics are the only thing needed to get a suitable/drivable "version".

One thing that is a PAIN is the camera code. The camera 'mounts' to eye/cam node and it won't move!... This means if you roll a car, the camera reacts like a poodle on crack.

Now my first goal was to get satisfactory handling results... Check! The second was to get rid of that "mounted camera", check... I used the Advanced Camera resource which is absolutely awesome. I vote for this as a feature in the next HEAD.

The next things I'm gonna start working can mostly be found in resources scattered around the forums. So it's just putting it all 2gether. And the rest shouldn't be too hard. I will be giving it all back to the community (It's not mine anyway). And make a video... The video will show people what can be accomplished with information given by the community. I think a video of combined code will open the eyes of people who have given up... I know I did... *Kicks own ass*

I'll also try to toss in some of my own ideas (which shouldn't be too hard).

- When Reset, Reset at current position (flicker & Disable collision for 3 sec.)
- Update Dust (Atm cant really see it... It's there though)
- Drive with Keyboard (Got from Forums)
- Action Cam (A combination of the Advanced Camera resource and a bit of scripting)

- Damage to vehicle (Forums)
- Mount Guns so we can kill each other (how brutal...)
- Particle emmiter for damage (more Damage more smoke)
- Explosion when health < 1

- onCollision -> applyimpulse
- Mount Bumbers/Lights/Windows (Make Damagable)

- Infinite Cameras (Not just EYE and CAM) *Dunno how hard this is gonna be...*
- Fix ParticleEmmiter to compensate for direction of travel. When you Powerslide the
vehicle kicks up dust in correct direction.

Later:
- Gears
- Check dynamics of Vehicle.cc eg. When you're driving fwd and start reversing,
the friction should be more on the turning wheels. Liitle things like that.

Catch Ya later!
Burning

#1
09/20/2004 (8:16 am)
Sounds like you'll be having some fun >:) I'm glad you discovered some hidden gems within the community.
#2
09/20/2004 (3:39 pm)
Good job! A tutorial of some kind would be most beneficial to the community. I tried playing with the datablocks for a while, but never achieved good results.
#3
09/20/2004 (6:54 pm)
Sounds great... Hope it all goes well
#4
01/04/2008 (6:29 am)
id love to find out some of the handling characteristics you have modified, big problems with traction and speed with 1.4tge