A few questions about T3D
by Thomas Bang · in Torque 3D Beginner · 07/23/2009 (2:13 am) · 11 replies
#1 Update the position/rotation of mounted objects attached to animated nodes (currently a problem in TGE)?
#2 Animated collision meshes?
#3 Example datablocks to create hover- and flying vehicles (all fields explained in detail)?
#4 Working animation trigger? It works in TGE but only with a engine modification.
#5 Prevent weapons going through walls? I dont like to move the weapon forth and back to avoid that.
#6 Detailed docs about collada-dts-meshes (naming conventions of nodes, portals, lod and material properties)?
#7 Good looking flashlight. Are scripts and/or shader available?
#8 Physical objects and destroyable objects with the same quality like Half-Life 2 has?
#9 Holes in the Terrain to create smooth Indoor-Outdoor-Transitions?
#10 Is a function available to automatically deform the terrain under a selected object, maybe a house?
#11 Support for moving platforms (also horizontal) for elevators and ropeways (cable car)?
#12 Better support for ladders?
#13 pureLight: Look at these screenshots from Half-Life 2. I guess T3D is not able to deform a terrain like that. So the only solution would be to place meshes. Is it possible to relight these meshes with the same quality?
#2 Animated collision meshes?
#3 Example datablocks to create hover- and flying vehicles (all fields explained in detail)?
#4 Working animation trigger? It works in TGE but only with a engine modification.
#5 Prevent weapons going through walls? I dont like to move the weapon forth and back to avoid that.
#6 Detailed docs about collada-dts-meshes (naming conventions of nodes, portals, lod and material properties)?
#7 Good looking flashlight. Are scripts and/or shader available?
#8 Physical objects and destroyable objects with the same quality like Half-Life 2 has?
#9 Holes in the Terrain to create smooth Indoor-Outdoor-Transitions?
#10 Is a function available to automatically deform the terrain under a selected object, maybe a house?
#11 Support for moving platforms (also horizontal) for elevators and ropeways (cable car)?
#12 Better support for ladders?
#13 pureLight: Look at these screenshots from Half-Life 2. I guess T3D is not able to deform a terrain like that. So the only solution would be to place meshes. Is it possible to relight these meshes with the same quality?
#2
This is a thread in a forum and not a blog. You know the difference?
Like Deborah Marshall said:
07/23/2009 (5:22 am)
@MichaelThis is a thread in a forum and not a blog. You know the difference?
Like Deborah Marshall said:
Quote:
This forum will serve as a housing area for Torque 3D questions as we approach the final betas and eventual release of Torque 3D. When Torque 3D releases, the private forum will disappear and merge with these public discussions. Thanks for stopping by and hope we can answer your game dev questions here!
#3
07/23/2009 (7:07 am)
Ups, my bad. Sorry! Pressed the wrong button.
#4
07/23/2009 (7:24 am)
No problem. 
#5
07/23/2009 (8:00 am)
Those are good questions/requests. 
#6
This probably hasn't changed from TGE 1.5.2 but I don't know off the top of my head. I'll add it to the list of things to look into after 1.0 goes out.
Animated collision meshes gets into some pretty complex networking issues which is why we haven't solved the problem yet. It is on the short list of things I'd like to look at after 1.0 ships.
Not yet.
As far as I know this is functional in Torque 3D (or so I've heard from the artists).
This is still the same. We are looking into a better system as part of our work on an improved FPS Genre Kit that will ship some time after 1.0.
Yes.
We won't be shipping an example implementation of a flashlight but with the Advanced Lighting system it shouldn't be too hard to make it work (attaching a spotlight to a mesh).
The stock Torque 3D physics hasn't changed significantly since TGE 1.5.2 but Torque 3D does ship with PhysX support for singleplayer games (and limited support for multiplayer).
Yes...this will be in the next release.
The terrain deformation that occurs in the Terrain Editor is actually all script driven. It is pretty straight-forward to add the ability to conform the terrain to the bottom of an object. I've seen it done 3-4 times by various community members but we won't ship with a tool to automatically do it for you out of the box with 1.0.
Again, this actually touches on some serious trickiness in the networking code. It won't be in 1.0 but it is on the short list of things to look at after 1.0.
Nothing new here.
Yes. You can use pureLIGHT or any other lightmapping tool to achieve the same (or better) lighting quality with meshes.
07/24/2009 (12:46 pm)
Quote:#1 Update the position/rotation of mounted objects attached to animated nodes (currently a problem in TGE)?
This probably hasn't changed from TGE 1.5.2 but I don't know off the top of my head. I'll add it to the list of things to look into after 1.0 goes out.
Quote:#2 Animated collision meshes?
Animated collision meshes gets into some pretty complex networking issues which is why we haven't solved the problem yet. It is on the short list of things I'd like to look at after 1.0 ships.
Quote:#3 Example datablocks to create hover- and flying vehicles (all fields explained in detail)?
Not yet.
Quote:#4 Working animation trigger? It works in TGE but only with a engine modification.
As far as I know this is functional in Torque 3D (or so I've heard from the artists).
Quote:#5 Prevent weapons going through walls? I dont like to move the weapon forth and back to avoid that.
This is still the same. We are looking into a better system as part of our work on an improved FPS Genre Kit that will ship some time after 1.0.
Quote:#6 Detailed docs about collada-dts-meshes (naming conventions of nodes, portals, lod and material properties)?
Yes.
Quote:#7 Good looking flashlight. Are scripts and/or shader available?
We won't be shipping an example implementation of a flashlight but with the Advanced Lighting system it shouldn't be too hard to make it work (attaching a spotlight to a mesh).
Quote:#8 Physical objects and destroyable objects with the same quality like Half-Life 2 has?
The stock Torque 3D physics hasn't changed significantly since TGE 1.5.2 but Torque 3D does ship with PhysX support for singleplayer games (and limited support for multiplayer).
Quote:#9 Holes in the Terrain to create smooth Indoor-Outdoor-Transitions?
Yes...this will be in the next release.
Quote:#10 Is a function available to automatically deform the terrain under a selected object, maybe a house?
The terrain deformation that occurs in the Terrain Editor is actually all script driven. It is pretty straight-forward to add the ability to conform the terrain to the bottom of an object. I've seen it done 3-4 times by various community members but we won't ship with a tool to automatically do it for you out of the box with 1.0.
Quote:#11 Support for moving platforms (also horizontal) for elevators and ropeways (cable car)?
Again, this actually touches on some serious trickiness in the networking code. It won't be in 1.0 but it is on the short list of things to look at after 1.0.
Quote:#12 Better support for ladders?
Nothing new here.
Quote:#13 pureLight: Look at these screenshots from Half-Life 2. I guess T3D is not able to deform a terrain like that. So the only solution would be to place meshes. Is it possible to relight these meshes with the same quality?
Yes. You can use pureLIGHT or any other lightmapping tool to achieve the same (or better) lighting quality with meshes.
#7
Ah, ok. I asked because in TGE (TLK) dynamic spotlights are not supported.
But there is one thing i can't understand:
Why have collision and animated collision meshes something to do with networking? Collision detection should always run on the server. As far as i know there is no need to network something because the client displays only the graphical copy of the server. Quasi the state of the server-objects.
07/25/2009 (1:32 am)
Thank you very much. Quote:
We won't be shipping an example implementation of a flashlight but with the Advanced Lighting system it shouldn't be too hard to make it work (attaching a spotlight to a mesh).
Ah, ok. I asked because in TGE (TLK) dynamic spotlights are not supported.
But there is one thing i can't understand:
Quote:
Animated collision meshes gets into some pretty complex networking issues which is why we haven't solved the problem yet. It is on the short list of things I'd like to look at after 1.0 ships.
Quote:
[...elevators/ropeways...]Again, this actually touches on some serious trickiness in the networking code. It won't be in 1.0 but it is on the short list of things to look at after 1.0.
Why have collision and animated collision meshes something to do with networking? Collision detection should always run on the server. As far as i know there is no need to network something because the client displays only the graphical copy of the server. Quasi the state of the server-objects.
#8
I noticed a great solution for this in GTA4. If the weapon collides with the environment... they play an animation where the character lifts the weapon up to keep it from hitting. Sort of like this..
Which points out that this is a gameplay specific issue... one which you will want to custom design to match the feel of your game.
07/25/2009 (10:49 pm)
Quote:#5 Prevent weapons going through walls? I dont like to move the weapon forth and back to avoid that.
I noticed a great solution for this in GTA4. If the weapon collides with the environment... they play an animation where the character lifts the weapon up to keep it from hitting. Sort of like this..
Which points out that this is a gameplay specific issue... one which you will want to custom design to match the feel of your game.
#9
Not actually true at all. All clients perform non-authoritative collision (and in fact full world simulation for the objects that are scoped to that client) to provide the ability for instant feedback for your inputs locally.
If only the server performed collisions, that would direct that your client could not get updated until after your move input was sent to the server, resolved, and then sent back again to your client, introducing extremely experience breaking delays in avatar control.
In Torque, when you make a move input, that move is instantly applied to your local world simulation so you get immediate feedback, and then delivered to the server for authoritative processing. The server than ratifies (or changes) the physics, and sends supporting updates back to your client.
07/26/2009 (12:12 am)
Quote:
Quote:
[...elevators/ropeways...]Again, this actually touches on some serious trickiness in the networking code. It won't be in 1.0 but it is on the short list of things to look at after 1.0.
Why have collision and animated collision meshes something to do with networking? Collision detection should always run on the server. As far as i know there is no need to network something because the client displays only the graphical copy of the server. Quasi the state of the server-objects.
Not actually true at all. All clients perform non-authoritative collision (and in fact full world simulation for the objects that are scoped to that client) to provide the ability for instant feedback for your inputs locally.
If only the server performed collisions, that would direct that your client could not get updated until after your move input was sent to the server, resolved, and then sent back again to your client, introducing extremely experience breaking delays in avatar control.
In Torque, when you make a move input, that move is instantly applied to your local world simulation so you get immediate feedback, and then delivered to the server for authoritative processing. The server than ratifies (or changes) the physics, and sends supporting updates back to your client.
#10
I used a floating weapon at eyeOffset = "0.1 0.2 -0.2"; //(xyz)
with the MuzzlePoint node. When pressed against a wall it would be pushed backwards.
spam for example (15mb)
These days I mount weapons directly on to players' hands so I guess the mount node overrides pushing the weapon back. Haven't tried anything else in T3D.
07/26/2009 (8:01 am)
Quote:I managed this in my old TGE AI/Gameplay-test demo. Admitedly it was a fluke.
#5 Prevent weapons going through walls? I dont like to move the weapon forth and back to avoid that.
I used a floating weapon at eyeOffset = "0.1 0.2 -0.2"; //(xyz)
with the MuzzlePoint node. When pressed against a wall it would be pushed backwards.
spam for example (15mb)
These days I mount weapons directly on to players' hands so I guess the mount node overrides pushing the weapon back. Haven't tried anything else in T3D.
Torque Owner Michael Hartlef
like it was said many many times before. The blogs are there to talk about projects.
Questions about how to do things with the GG engines are to be posted inside the forums.
Michael