SMALL_DEMO(Need Testers) [UPDATE 18_OCTOBER]

[sio2]

I just tested on Vista with nvidia 8800 and it's working OK now without any driver lockups. I guess fixing the index count did the trick.

Just about to test on ATI...

[belfegor]

Good to hear, now i hope it is a little bit stable.

I am also interested as how it will show on ATI cards.

Thanks again on your efforts.

P.S. I'v downloaded your "City Driving" demo but i am unable to test on this
machine. If you are still interested how it will work on my PC and i can test
it on ATI 9600 pro 256mb also and report you back next time i visit this forum.

[sio2]

Yes, I'd be interested in knowing how it runs on a 9600. I'll be testing on an X1800 today; I'll let you know how I get on.

[sio2]

OK, I tried an X1800 on both XP and Vista with 7.10 drivers and your demo ran just fine. I don't know how different an X1800 is to a X800...

My City Driving demo ran OK also, except the splash screen didn't load - everything else looked OK and the motion blur worked just fine.

[belfegor]

Thanks sio2.
Anyone else expiriencing problems?

[PI]

Hello Belfegor! I've finally tested your app but I had no net connection in the last 2 days The latest demo ran fine on my X800GTO. Today I've changed to HD 2600 Pro, still ATI, and now I've test results for you, if you're interested:

- 1024x768 85Hz, every option on high, no AA: about 140 - 400 FPS
- the very same with 4X AA: about 42 - 220 FPS
- did you know that there's no 8X AA? Or just for me, again?

Here's my opinion:

I love that I can climb the ladder (when going up, you can go up to the ceiling!) I love the specular normalmap shaders, and I'd really like to produce such once. Newton works really fine; I've got a question: how many FPS do you loose on it? Approximately? (I'd be interested in a with - without it comparison) The whole demo runs very fast, (without AA) but there's this large difference: 140 - 400 FPS. Do you perform any scene culling? Or later? The config menu is really great! But, can you change the font later? To a simpler, more readable one?

Anyway, I really like it, nice job! Keep us updated!

Cheers,
PI

[belfegor]

Hi, PI

thank you for testing.

did you know that there's no 8X AA? Or just for me, again?

I check hardwer for supported AA and fill combo box accordingly.
Try to run "Caps Viewer" if you have DX SDK and see your card maximum fullscreen AA.
Dont forget to set in control panel for gfx card AA to "application controled".

I love that I can climb the ladder (when going up, you can go up to the ceiling!)

Yes i know that, i need to change body shape. Will be fixed in next update.

Newton works really fine; I've got a question: how many FPS do you loose on it?

Not much as for now demo doesnt contain complicated objects.

Do you perform any scene culling?

Yes. Depends on the object shape, BBox/BSphere and dynamicly change
camera far clip based on where you are.
Still working on better culling for shadow meshes.

The config menu is really great! But, can you change the font later? To a simpler, more readable one?

Yes, if i find FREE good looking one, or make my own.
If you have link with free fonts i'd be hapy to look at
(because i could not find by using google, and i found this one link in
source for "old font tool").

Belfegor.

[sio2]

Yeah, the latest demo looks great. The extra exploration is nice. I especially loved the door, for some reason - swinging it on its hinges.

When I press Esc I get back to the menu but there's doesn't seem to be a way of switching back to the game (pressing Esc again quits) unless I've missed something. In my engine the user can toggle the menu via Esc. [BTW my menu was designed to fit the minimum supported resolution of 640x480 - I'm going to increase that to 800x600 as it looks too small].

BTW Would you like my Doom3 MD5 Mesh/Anim code? I haven't finished it but it may be useful to you with all that bump/gloss/normal stuff.

[belfegor]

When I press Esc I get back to the menu but there's doesn't seem to be a way of switching back to the game (pressing Esc again quits)

Currently working on it.

BTW Would you like my Doom3 MD5 Mesh/Anim code? I haven't finished it but it may be useful to you with all that bump/gloss/normal stuff.

Yes, gladly. You can put link here or send me PM.

[agi_shi]

Looking great! The new demo is pretty amazing!

Two things:
- the holding is quite... bouncy. How do you get the held object in front of the player? I've implemented a HL2-like holding system (via Newton, of course) where the object does not really ... bouncily float, know what I'm saying? If you want the code, just tell me
- how do you calculate the holding position? You can push yourself with held objects. I ran into this, as well, and fixed it by having the position in front of the player, higher or lower depending on the pitch of the player's head. This way things don't push you when you look down (or up for that matter).

Other than that, it's really, really cool!

[belfegor]

where the object does not really ... bouncily float, know what I'm saying? If you want the code, just tell me

Yes, i could not explain it better too. Dont know how to solve it for now.
But if you willing to share your code i'v like to have a look. Just
what involves holding.

Dont have my code here but i can show you next time i come back to forum.

- how do you calculate the holding position? You can push yourself with held objects. I ran into this, as well, and fixed it by having the position in front of the player, higher or lower depending on the pitch of the player's head. This way things don't push you when you look down (or up for that matter).

Yes i know that, just didnt do anything about it yet (have beeen busy with other stuff). For example (hard to explain) if you carry object on one side of the wall and you are on the other it should drop it.
Hopefully next update will be with much more fixes/additions.

Does any of you expiriencing problems with stairs?

[sio2]

I picked up a barrel and placed it the other side of the wire fence. I was able to walk backward with the barrel stuck the other side of the fence and still throw it. Kinda cool but probably not very realistic - 20 foot arms. HL2 has some form of "breaking strain" on the connection between player and carried objects. Perhaps it's just as simple as breaking the hold if the object goes further than arms distance.

Will you be adding sound at some point?

Also, did you see Merciors original Irrlicht/Newton demo? It had some water in it and it was cool seeing stuff float. Newton has support for "floating" so it's not too difficult (I think).

I don't recall problems with the stairs but I'll have another look.

[PI]

I check hardwer for supported AA and fill combo box accordingly.
Try to run "Caps Viewer" if you have DX SDK and see your card maximum fullscreen AA.
Dont forget to set in control panel for gfx card AA to "application controled".

I don't have DX SDK and my Catalyst Control Center is broken, so I cannot check it right now. AA is app controlled, I can say that for sure.

Newton works really fine; I've got a question: how many FPS do you loose on it?

Not much as for now demo doesnt contain complicated objects.

I'm asking because I haven't started to use Newton, Bullet, etc. because I'm not convinced at all by their speed. I just need simple collision and ball physics in my game. So actually I thought I's not worth to use any physics library, that's why I've implemented ball physics. It's not perfect, but way much faster than it'd be in Newton, for instance. However, playing around with your demo I've seen the great FPS results you have. That made me think about Newton again, and also it seems that I have to rewrite the whole collision system.

Yes. Depends on the object shape, BBox/BSphere and dynamicly change
camera far clip based on where you are.
Still working on better culling for shadow meshes.

I thought there's some kind of a portal based culling system around.

Yes, if i find FREE good looking one, or make my own.
If you have link with free fonts i'd be hapy to look at
(because i could not find by using google, and i found this one link in
source for "old font tool").

I hope this link helps.

Does any of you expiriencing problems with stairs?

I did, lowering the stairs would solve it, I think.

I picked up a barrel and placed it the other side of the wire fence. I was able to walk backward with the barrel stuck the other side of the fence and still throw it. Kinda cool but probably not very realistic - 20 foot arms. Laughing HL2 has some form of "breaking strain" on the connection between player and carried objects. Perhaps it's just as simple as breaking the hold if the object goes further than arms distance.

Yes I've seen that in other games too. In my game I do a simple ray collision check to see if I can drop a bomb, or it would be inside a wall; then, I can calculate the appropriate distance. I like the "bouncing" when picking objects, btw.

Regards,
PI

[belfegor]

I picked up a barrel and placed it the other side of the wire fence. I was able to walk backward with the barrel stuck the other side of the fence and still throw it. Kinda cool but probably not very realistic - 20 foot arms. Laughing HL2 has some form of "breaking strain" on the connection between player and carried objects. Perhaps it's just as simple as breaking the hold if the object goes further than arms distance.

That is what i tried to explain in my last post. I just left it until i fix it in
later updates (its not much of a problem).

Will you be adding sound at some point?

My hands are currently busy with other stuff in demo, but ill add it in future
offcourse.

Also, did you see Merciors original Irrlicht/Newton demo? It had some water in it and it was cool seeing stuff float. Newton has support for "floating" so it's not too difficult (I think).

You are reading my mind.
I just test my water shader (RT refraction and cubemap reflection since
its faster and looks good enough) with floating barrels.

I don't recall problems with the stairs but I'll have another look.

I have report by my friend that he always got stuck in them.
But i have not got that problem when testing.

I hope this link helps.

Thanks for the link.

I did, lowering the stairs would solve it, I think.

Ok, not a problem.

agi_shi

Code: Select all

...
if(CarryBody)
{
     matrix4 matrix;
     NewtonBodyGetMatrix(NPickedBody, matrix.pointer());
     vector3df Point = EndLine;
     matrix.transformVect(Point);

     vector3df Diff    = (CamLine.end - CamLine.start);
     vector3df Force = CamLine.start + Diff;
     PickForce          = Force - Point;
}
...
if(InteractKey Pressed)
{ 
     NPickedBody = PickBody();
     if(!CarryBody && NPickedBody)
     {
          NewtonWorldUnfreezeBody(NWorld, NPickedBody);
          matrix4 matrix;
          NewtonBodyGetMatrix(NPickedBody, matrix.pointer());     
          vector3df Diff    = (CamLine.end - CamLine.start);  
          EndLine             = (CamLine.start + Diff) - matrix.getTranslation();
          matrix.inverseRotateVect(EndLine);
          NewtonBodySetForceAndTorqueCallback(NPickedBody, 
                           OnApplyPickForceAndTorque);
          CarryBody = true;
     }
}
...
void cTestLevel::OnApplyPickForceAndTorque(const NewtonBody* Body)
{
     matrix4 matrix;
     float Mass, Ixx, Iyy, Izz;
     vector3df Force, Torque, ForceDamp, TorqueDamp, Velocity, Omega;
     NewtonBodyGetMassMatrix(Body, &Mass, &Ixx, &Iyy, &Izz);

     NewtonBodyGetMatrix(Body, matrix.pointer());
     NewtonBodyGetVelocity(Body, &Velocity.X);
     NewtonBodyGetOmega(Body, &Omega.X);
     
     Force          = PickForce * (Mass * 100.0f);
     ForceDamp = Velocity * (Mass * 10.0f);
     Force        -= ForceDamp;

     /*vector3df Point = EndLine;
     matrix.rotateVect(Point);
     Torque = Point * Force;
     TorqueDamp = Omega * (Mass * 0.1f);
     Torque -= TorqueDamp;*/

     Omega *= 0.0f;
     NewtonBodySetOmega(Body, &Omega.X);   
     NewtonBodyAddForce(Body, &Force.X)
     //NewtonBodyAddTorque(Body, &Torque.X);
}

I have commented torque because it got strange results with
"pressure tank" (not sure how do you call it in english).
Also, this code might contain typos because i retype it from paper.

Will i ever got code from ether of you, or you change your mind:?:

Belfegor.

[sio2]

Will i ever got code from ether of you, or you change your mind:?:

You mean my Doom3 code? Yes, I just need to pull it down from my backups and make sure it compiles.