[10/26/08] DeM0nFiRe's Irrlicht Test Bed 2 V1.2.0 [Bugfix]

DeM0nFiRe · Post by **DeM0nFiRe** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 12:00 am

Hello everyone,

Some of you may already know that a few months ago I started DeM0nFiRe's Irrlicht Test Bed. It was my first venture into both 3D Programming and C++, using the Irrlicht Open Source, High Performance 3D Game Engine. I was able to come up with a simple demo of a First Person Shooter level where you could run, walk and jump. However, I could not get very far past that with the little knowledge of C++ I had, so I had to put it on the back burner for a while.

Now that I have finally had time to learn the parts of C++ I was missing, I am now ready to start working on 3D games again. This time around, however, there are a few major differences from my last time around. My first Irrlicht Test Bed is, for now, discontinued. I will now be working on "DeM0nFiRe's Irrlicht Test Bed 2"

Goals for DeM0nFiRe's Irrlicht Test Bed 2:
The primary goal for this project is, of course, learning. I am using this to learn 3D programming, and also to experience first hand the problems that arise from using a complex language like C++ over a more user-friendly language like Ruby. This aspect of the second test bed is identical to the first.

The most noticeable change for anyone who tried out my first test bed, is the fact that I have departed from the First Person viewpoint. The reason being, quite simply, that it is too easy. Irrlicht has a built in First Person Shooter camera, and I wanted to go through programming my own camera so I decided to go Third Person.

The biggest change is that this project has an end goal. When I released my first test bed, I stated that the project was just going to kind of evolve as I decided to add different features. Well, I've decided that a lack of end goal is bad for motivation, so this test bed will have an end goal. The end goal for this project is to eventually be a fully working code base for a 3rd Person Action RPG similar in style to the Zelda games for the Nintendo 64.

Current Release:
The current release version for DeM0nFiRe's Irrlicht Test Bed is v1.2.0

(Current release uses art that came with the Irrlicht Engine)

This release attempts to fix the known issues [003] with framerate independent movement and [004] with the latest Irrlicht version.

The features in the test bed this release are as follows:
3rd Person Camera:
--Rotation on 3 axes independent of the actor's rotation. Angles are controlled by mouse.
--Chase distance can be changed on the fly with the mouse wheel.
--Follows the Player Actor (No, Really?!?)
Player Actor:
--Walking (Actually, running. Only one speed right now)
--Turning (This is a little awkward right now, and it can take some getting used to)
--Jumping
Special feature by request of missingno:
--Double Jump (Please note that the code for double jump is buggy and tested only slightly)

Known Issues: (db == Discovered By)
[001]The camera does not 'accelerate' when it moves. It will move directly proportional to the amount you move the mouse. This can make it kind of hard to get used to the controls, but it is do-able. (db. DeM0nFiRe)
[002]There are some weird things that happen when you jump or run in certain spots on the map. This is a problem with the map's collision info, I am pretty sure. Some future release will have a better map, but for now we'll have to live with it. (db. DeM0nFiRe)
[003]The framerate dependent movement causes higher-end machines to have problems when moving sydney. (db. Sudi)
[004]Because the program is compiled with Irrlicht 1.4.1 as opposed to 1.4.2, the program runs at an incredibly low framerate for some. (db. Halifax) *Fixed*

Sorry, but I do no have any screenshots because I don't have the program I usually use for screenies installed right now. If anyone really needs them, let me know. I will definitely have screenshots in future releases.

The current release can be downloaded at: DeM0nFiRe's Irrlicht Test Bed 2 V1.2.0

Credits for people who have helped me with my code include:
aanderse
Linkin_T
sudi(jacky)
kaeles
VarmintTheRat

Acki · Post by **Acki** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 1:04 am

the map look realy good and dark and the moving is very smooth !!!

but I have a problem with the lighted things...
depending on where I look at the lighting is gone:

and it doesn't seem that you have a flash light there...

especially the first 2 pics are showing this, in the first pic I look directly at that lamp and it's black (hard to see)...
in the second pic I look to the right so the lamp is at the very left side and the lighting is there...

my specs: winXP-pro(sp2) and GeForce fx5200

sudi · Post by **sudi** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 1:05 am

ok tested it.
well its fast.....really fast....are you using framedependend code???
this is really "unplayable" here because when i just barely touch the turn key seydny just spins around..same with running.
besides that look sweet. the camera should accelerate just like u said and not diretly respond to the keyinput.

frostysnowman · Post by **frostysnowman** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 1:47 am

DeM0nFiRe you do not need any special software. Just click PrintScreen on your keyboard, then open up a paint program and do ctrl-v (paste). You can save that then, and you have your screen shot.

The most noticeable change for anyone who tried out my first test bed, is the fact that I have departed from the First Person viewpoint. The reason being, quite simply, that it is too easy. Irrlicht has a built in First Person Shooter camera, and I wanted to go through programming my own camera so I decided to go Third Person.

lolwut

Making a camera for your video game is by far not the most strenuous task.
And I'm sorry, but I don't consider this much of a demo (sorry!). All I see is a moveable sidney that can jump and a camera.

Acki · Post by **Acki** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:04 am

a moving Sydney, where !?!?!

as you can see in my screenies there is no Sydney for me !!!

ohh, and yeah, I thought you created the level on your own, but it seems it's just a free q3-level, so it's not realy impressive...

but the level still looks good...

sudi · Post by **sudi** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:06 am

[offtopic]
hey Acki did u post in the wrong thread?
[/offtopic]

Am i the only one who noticed the tremoundous speed??

Acki · Post by **Acki** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:11 am

Sudi wrote:[offtopic]
hey Acki did u post in the wrong thread?
[/offtopic]

eeehhhmm, I'm a little bit confused now !!!

I swear there was another download before !!!
I just downloaded it again and yes it's the q3 map from the sdk with Sydney now !!!

EDIT 1: I looked around the forum and there is no other thread except one in the beginner forum where I downloaded the example...
and the one from the beginner forum is about the bounding box with moving animated character, so definitely not this one...
This MUST be the thread from my screenies !!!

EDIT 2: I just found my previous download in the browser cache !!!
and yes it is from this thread !!!
so what the heck !?!?!?!

Sudi wrote:Am i the only one who noticed the tremoundous speed??

for me this is now more a slide show, can hardly move around...

Dark_Kilauea · Post by **Dark_Kilauea** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:24 am

Maybe he reuploaded his executable?

Anyway, seems you need to learn about using a delta time to make your character's movements frame independent.

JP · Post by JP » Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:11 am

I started off very impressed by the first post, saying how you went away to learn C++ better and then came back, very admirable and sensible!

And Acki's screenshots looked fairly nice, though not so impressive if it's just a Q3 map, but then it turns out his was a phantom download of some sort and no longer exists...

And yeah on my PC it's waaay too slow... It's like sydney is running through treacle. When you jump she jumps about 5 times and spazzes out a lot, probably you're trying to catch the end of the animation or something and failing to due to the variable frame rate. And she can't even go up the stairs..

So not great to be honest. But hey, you're still learning right? Hopefully you can take all these comments on board and improve, you do seem to be fairly sensible about your development with your list of bugs there already and seem to be well prepared to add to it when other people discover bugs you've not found.

So yeah, mission number 1; framerate independent movement!

Acki · Post by **Acki** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 12:55 pm

Dark_Kilauea wrote:Maybe he reuploaded his executable?

yup, seems so...

JP wrote:And Acki's screenshots looked fairly nice, though not so impressive if it's just a Q3 map, but then it turns out his was a phantom download of some sort and no longer exists...

absolutely right !!!

DeM0nFiRe · Post by **DeM0nFiRe** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 9:14 pm

Yeah, guys if you downloaded it and got a FPS, then download it again

I accidentally posted the old one when I first made this thread XD

The level is not my own, this is just supposed to be a test of my coding for now.

For anyone who had it run slow, can you please post your specs? I definitely need to work on frame-rate independent movement, because for faster machines it could be a problem. However, if your machine is slower than mine you may be out of luck XD I am running on a low-end machine as it is, so I will try to make it work as well as I can but it may just be your computer. My specs are as follows:

Windows XP SP2
Intel P4 2.39Ghz
768MB RAM
ATI Radeon 7200 32MB Vram

@Sudi: Yes, you are the perfect example why I need framerate independent movement (and perhaps a frame limiter for that matter). I will definitely fix that in a future release.

@forstysnowman: Oh, I know the camera isn't the hardest part. I have been programming 2D games for quite some time, this is just my first for 3D.

Ok, so now I have a new bug to add:
[003]The framerate dependent movement causes higher-end machines to have problems when moving sydney. (db. Sudi)

Just to re-iterate: I am not an artist. Any art that you see in this project came with the engine, unless I specify otherwise.

Dorth · Post by **Dorth** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 9:35 pm

You don't need a frame limiter if you can code time dependent instead of frame dependent code...

Acki · Post by **Acki** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 10:05 pm

DeM0nFiRe wrote:My specs are as follows:

Windows XP SP2
Intel P4 2.39Ghz
768MB RAM
ATI Radeon 7200 32MB Vram

and it runs smooth for you !?!?!

my specs are:
Windows XP-pro (sp2)
Intel Celeron 2.6Ghz
1GB RAM
GeForce fx5200 128MB Vram
and for me it runs like a slide show (maybe 2 or 3 fps) !!!
and since there is nothing except of the q3 map and Sydney this is a very bad performance !!!

DeM0nFiRe · Post by **DeM0nFiRe** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 11:03 pm

Is your GeForce AGP or PCI? It makes a huge difference.

Acki · Post by **Acki** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 11:27 pm

DeM0nFiRe wrote:Is your GeForce AGP or PCI? It makes a huge difference.

it's a PCI though: http://www.nvidia.com/page/fx_5200.html
I play Battlefield2, FarCry, Entropia and some other games with realy good perfomance !!!

and your realy small test program only shows the q3 map and Sydney from the sdk, so it should run with an realy ancient card...

but the performance is more than bad !!!