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Onlive Beta

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:16:07 GMT

serialkiler
Onlive Beta

i found this looks very interesting. you can play the games in your TV at very high. its cost 14 monthly.
it also provides an SDK to publish our games. read their blog lots of info there ^^

looking forward for some more feedback on this.

JimmDaBimm
14$ and i can play every game they have? Or do i have to pay single games too ?

serialkiler
hmmm nice question ^^ they dont provide much info about that.
but if it does what they say without any lag it rocks ^^
unfortunately the beta is only for United States :( but i think it works like xbox live.
you connect to the platform and buy\play the games. it also prevents piracy to, since theres nothing
to download, only video streaming. its like YOUTUBE + STEAM + XBOX LIVE.

For those in US try to apply for the beta :D its free anyway ^^

Farad77
Seems to be the clouding tech everyone shout will be our future.
This will never get to me, not fort the 10 next year, as internet here is just beginning to be high speed (i'm still paying my 512kbits for 35euros/month), streaminng sd videos on youtube are quite difficul so streaming HD realtime game like Mass effect 2 wooo.
Could be very interesting for those having great connections though.

Surface detail tools problem... and is gouraud shading possible?

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:43:48 GMT

Kristian
Hello! I downloaded dx studio just some days ago. And I have some questions. I have slight experience with programming in game maker and visual studio, but I am pretty much a noob to this program though. I want to make something that is close to n64 graphics (because my computer isn't among the most powerful computers and I plan to have a lot going on, and because I like the graphics), so I am wondering if it is possible to do gouraud shading in dxstudio, I don't need any step by step explanation, I'm just wondering if it is possible, and if I have to try to implement the algorithm myself or not.

I've also encountered a problem while using the surface detail tool while following the beginners terrain tutorial featured in the wiki, the meshes and billboards gets placed, but they don't show up unless the camera is inside or maybe very very close to them...
I've checked my hardware specifications, and I seem to fall short on CPU power (everything else is enough though)
(I have 1.66 Ghz (2 CPUs), and minimum requirements are 2 Ghz), but except a few crashes, I've experience no other problems yet, so I don't think that is the reason.
Here is a video (avi 6.55 mb) of what is happening (please excuse the low framerate and quality):
http://www.mediafire.com/file/kj1znoyzzlc/dx studio problem.avi

Thanks for any help!

LF
Welcome to the community:)
I posted some dx studio only tutorials on my blog http://www.lfz2.wordpress.com
please check the blog's Archives : February 2010 and March 2010 :) they will help you:)
You can implement your shader stuff with the SDK in C++

LF
On the blog you will find detailed terrain tutorial that works with dx studio without any problems.
Including surface details.

serialkiler
the Goraud shading can be achieved by using SDK (code your own), but actually by default the dx render is very close to it so i dont think its worth the effort.

as for the surface detail i cant see the video so i cant give any feedback. maybe wen i get home can provide some help on it.

MiKo
This is really weird looking, Kristian. I, too, wouldn't think that hardware limitation is causing this.
Say, any chance you could upload that file so that others can check if they have the same problem on their machines?

Dx studio community Project

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:42:05 GMT

Marijn
Hi,
We are starting a Dx studio community project,
look at my topic in the Announcements tab.
Every new update or conversation is now going to be in this topic.

greetings,

please send me a mail if you want any information (marijn_goossens@hotmail.com)
everyone is welcome.

LF
Once we will have a fully working simple demo we will show the proof that this project isn't a waste of time.

Marijn
information form first topic:

Hi,
I got this huge idea,
what if we just make (with the community) a game?
Let's see the world what the dx studio community can do
Someone makes the models an other the sound, 3 make the scripting, or everyone makes a part and we all work on it.
Doesn't matter if you're old/young or a newbie, everyone is good at something!
I just wanted to see who is with me

Extra information:

I repeat: everyone is welcome, just post your name and say what you want to do.
when I've found enough people I will start the discussion about the game like:
online/not, shooter/level/, etc

Imagine what we can do if we work all together,
We will discuss later what everyone wants to do.
I think that this community is strong enough to do something,
and I don't say that you need to put all your time in it.

I hope that this community will do something like this, I think we'll be the first!

greetings

LF
Let us remind you that this is a community project ! Everyone is free to join !
I will be posting information about the project and progress at my blog :)

ucm
Well I'll volunteer some time for coding a small part of it :-) ( again, when time permits, i have to finish my #1 main project really soon )

I think you two should go ahead and plan out the details of the entire project over MSN and then when you guys are ready post the project details here

Then several of us can each choose a small part to contribute; maybe if we get it complete enough, it might make it's way to the gallery or a News article ;-)

How about it? :-)

Farad77
Yes but doing this it won't be a community project it will be a group project wanting help to build it.
So yes the community could participate but personnaly when i think of community project, i see a game created by the community over this board and then coded in dxstudio with models from the community.

I don't know if i'm clear, a real community project, an utopy i think ;)

Marijn
yes maybe it's a group project, but the thing is, everyone from the community is free to join.
I, LF, and Merrie had an discussion on msn/yahoo and we are making the story and we will posting updates so that everyone knows what's happening , and if they want they can do little things.
For now we are making a TEST project (small) to see if this (big community project) CAN work. just the same idea only just a little project. to test.

We will post updates soon,

and Farad77, did you get my message?

LF
Farad, please PM me your email or messenger ID (MSN or whatever id you have) :)
Let us remind you that this is a community project, we will post every piece of information where is needed :) and to keep all the dx studio community users to an update. For those that are looking for
We will make a simple demo to see if this works out then we will make it grow bigger:)
In case someone is looking for more detailed information you will find much more details at the moment on my blog describing every single part of the progress we are having before we get to the real demo and start posting actual good looking screenshots of the game and much more information and explaining every piece of code and information that is used on this game.
http://lfz2.wordpress.com/dx-studio-community-project/
We must make a simple but working prototype first then we will post every update and progress.
I will think a bit about the way we will post each progress so that we won't make 20 posts in a row and that we won't cause any trouble.

JimmDaBimm
I think it is a good idea to know, what kind of project it is going to be. I also think that this is the most important information for others to know, if they want to join. There is a terrain map, so it is going to be an RPG?

LF
Yes. It will be a RPG, a third person one. We want to make something unique, possibly never made before with dx studio.
There are a few RPG attempts around here but no one completely working or shared with the community.
It will be fun to work on this. I am already having a lot of fun making models and managing the scene and stuff
Everyone is free to leave comments on the blog
When we get our game in a good progress and we can actually share something usefull for the community we will start posting documents with scripts and documentation explaining every single detail on how to:) and what does every single button do
In the middle of development and even now anyone that wants to join, can join!
I will think a bit about the way we will post each progress so that we won't make 20 posts in a row and that we won't cause any trouble.
Don't forget to visit http://lfz2.wordpress.com/dx-studio-community-project/ to see every tiny detail about the project.

LF
I had some really bad headaches with the grass billboard texture for months, well now I found the perfect texture and solution :) I just needed to make a few changes :) and it fits well the environment and map:)
I will post information on the blog :)

LF
Blog updated with more information about the progress that we are making in this game:)
http://lfz2.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/dx-studio-community-game-progressA1/
Screenshots, info and more :) and a new billboard texture free to download :)

StereoMike
@ LF: You could try and make the grass darker at the root (right now it's lighter). Since the roots lie in the shadows of the blades, it will look more natural, I guess.

LF
I tried that Mike, but what you've seen there is the best result we have at the moment. I will try to improve it if I can. I tried darker, was turning too dark, I tried lighter was making the texture really lighted up and green but made it look very unnatural. Thanks for the suggestion, but I have tried everything to improve the billboard texture but this is the best result I can get

Marijn
new: site for the project just the updates, progress and information

http://users.telenet.be/marijn_goossens/

Marijn
The sites:

The blog site, for updates and screens, and beta: http://lfz2.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/dx-studio-community-game-progressA1/

The official website in progress, official stable releases, and information and screenshots, so the GAME site: http://users.telenet.be/marijn_goossens/

LF
http://lfz2.wordpress.com/2010/02/07/dx-studio-community-game-progressA2/
Check it out, fresh information about the game progress that we are making.
Don't forget! Anyone can join the team

Marijn
@LF: I got this problem that I can't add more then 8 objects in 2D, so I can't add my spell icons to the scene :(
I also can't add my other icons like quit and open spell menu and map etc.

ucm
@Marijn: those 8 objects plus the light plus the camera == 10 objects total and the Freeware edition of DX Studio only allows you to have a maximum of 10 objects in any one scene:

"* Freeware Edition is limited to 10 mesh/bitmap definitions per scene, and 10 objects in the physics engine. "

Basically tht means you can have 10 total different kinds of objects per scene so you can have for example 20 cameras and 50 lights and 12 cubes and 46 spheres and 64 plant A's and 78 houses and 18 girl's and etc etc etc

any number of them but only 8 different kinds of objects and this is per scene so if you have 2 scenes then you can have 8 objects in one scene and then 8 different kinds of objects in another scene and 8 different kinds of objects in another and another etc etc ;-)

If you and LF wanting to make the community project available to everyone including those who only have the freeware edition then you will need to keep that limitation in mind

This is done because DX Studio is a commercial product and the Freeware Edition license is meant to allow new members to "try before they buy" DX Studio :-D

I bought it just a few months after I first tried it ;-)

Marijn
Hi , I know that I could only have 8 objects I was just telling it to LF to make clear that I've freeware,

But I have an idea how I can fix it ;)

Merrie Schonbach
I am contributing to this project having put all others to the side, helping with concept, ideas, and models.

Marijn
Ok, this are the members (on the moment)
-LF
-Farad77
-Merrie Schonbach
-Marijn (me :D)
-ucm (will help sometimes with the scripting , when he has time :D)
-I hope a lot of other developers (will come)

Merrie Schonbach
One thing we are running into thats proving to be a big problem, is that two of our team are using the Freeware version and Im the only one with a Non-Commercial Version. Because of the model restrictions it makes it a bit difficult. This is just a note for future teams.

ucm
I have an idea on that; how about we gear this project toward Freeware Edition users? Think about; this way new comers to DX Studio can try the project them selves and see how easy it is to build a cool game. Then as they become more comfortable with it they can buy a license and expand their capabilities ;-)

For instance since there are only 8 different mesh types allowed per scene in the Freeware Edition then we could have several different smaller scenes to represent each different level ( or area ) of the project ( kinda like how Zelda64 does it )

What does everyone think?

Marijn
Good idea, then we just need to change a bit in the 3d scene cause now it's just one big scene
But LF and Merrie made the 3d scene till now yet so we need to ask what they think about it,

btw: does Farad77 has standard or pro?

this will be very goood for our newbies
I repeat everyone is free to join,

serialkiler
Farad77
Non-Commercial Pro Edition
Joined 05 September 2008

Marijn
aha, thank you :D
ofcourse just click on his picture :D

Brian B
I have been watching the thread. Looks like coding and graphics stuff is covered. I am in if you need audio stuff. I can do voice if you need it too. Depending on requirements, I can ask for some volunteer voice actors too. No guarantees, but they are a fun bunch.

Marijn
Thanks Brian B, we will contact you when we are at the audio part,

Brian B
Sounds good, I'll keep monitoring the thread for other opportunities to help.

LF
I know that I've been inactive here for a few days but the truth is that I was really ill these days, but that illness didn't stop me from working on the project , so I am still feeling really ill but at least here's what I've got done, we will post screenshots of the UI soon. (Marijn already made a good part of the UI but it's still not the time to show it although it's great)
http://lfz2.wordpress.com/2010/02/09/dx-studio-community-game-progressa3/
Brain B, any help is appreciated.

LF
I forgot to mention, there are 3 interesting animated water textures I would like to share with you, you can see them on the blog.

Merrie Schonbach
I would like to thank the current team for their hard work so far, it is proving to be a great learning experience as far as working with a team, communication (which can be a challenge with different languages thats for sure) the ideas are fantastic, ways to organize and stay on track. All very useful.

Marijn
Yeah it's really a challenge with the languages :D
But I also want to thanks the team for his work. :D
Now I am starting to see what a group can do :D

LF
You heard Merrie, this team and collaboration process proves to be effective and really good.
I would also like to thank everyone who helps us to make this game one step closer to reality.
We have a lot of room left (unlimited) for other dx studio members to join the team.
If it's still not the time for you to join the team, then you should think that you can be accepted even if you join in the middle of the development. We give credits to everyone. We don't make trash to just show our skills, we make a real community project. People don't talk about keeping it real it's understood that they actually will. even if I, LF, a 15 years old kid must make huge efforts to prove that this project isn't a waste of time and that it worths every effort, I will do it with pleasure.

Marijn
new member list

-LF
-Farad77
-Merrie Schonbach
-Marijn (me )
-ucm (will help sometimes with the scripting , when he has time )
-Brian B (sounds)

MiKo
Although not being able to help out, I'm following the project's blog with interest.
Fingers crossed! Good luck!

Marijn
Hi we got this new announcement:
We thought that it was time for a leader, not for giving orders but for the real announcements and communication and for organization.

And it is for now: LF

He is not giving orders but just a little bit organization.

:D

Merrie Schonbach
Everyone needs a director to help keep things organized, LF has been doing a great job so far at helping to keep things on track.

LF
As for now, things are going well, we still have a lot of work to do but it's all going to be worth the effort. Thank you :) everyone:)

ucm
Rock on!! Lead the way, LF!! uhh, Sir! ;-)

Brian B
./salute

BUnzaga
Wow you guys, this is looking very cool. I have always appreciated your artwork LF. ;P

LF
Sorry for not being active for a day, I had internet problems, couldn't connect anyway...
But my internet is back and I'm glad that the problems didn't keep longer than that.
Thank you everyone. We will continue our work.
We accept anyone in the team, because we are a Team.
We are friendly because that is how we should be in a Team.
We all listen to each other and have respect because that's how Team members should collaborate, with total respect.
But we don't forget one thing, we are part of the dx studio community.

LF
After geting annoying error and losing a ton of progress I decided to rework everything that we lost.
Today I should get everything back to the point where I was before losing the progress
Today I should have the terrain tutorial done for all of you to view:)

Marijn
I had some problems with opening the document but I've fixed those evil problems now :D
Me and LF have been working on a skill system which will be finished very soon :D
I've also searched for some sounds for the project :D
I hope we will have more news soon :D

LF
Sorry for not posting for so long, it seems that we have made a couple of major changes to the game.
And what we have changed is possibly influencing the whole system of the game.
Now it's all a scripting process more than a design one.
So we would request some major help if someone would be interested in programming.
I will try to program what I can in the game, but remember my programming skills are limited at the moment!
This is the final decission.
WE ARE NOT ABANDONING THE PROJECT:)
Now we do require programming assistance to cover up a few arreas that the team members can't.:)

Thom Parkin
How can I help?
What do you need?
PM me.

LF
I found the best solution yet for fixing the OUT OF MEMORY ERROR:)
Thanks to UCM for asking me about this method since I told him something really simple, to reduce texture size and how. Now this is the key! You are a genius UCM! Thanks to you I found out the key to all our problems! Why 150 MB when we can have under 100MB?:)
Anyone who gets annoyed by OUT OF MEMORY ERROR: REDUCE TEXTURE SIZE OF YOUR MODELS and it should work:)

ucm
:-D Glad I could help ;-)

LF
Marijn has been prototyping a UI and all goes well, we should have some new screenshots for everyone in a few days.

LF
Well our normal 3D scene had 150 MB, I reduced the texture size and kept the details;) and the results are unbelievable! the document is 44 MB in size:)

LF
I want to share this with everyone:) I got a huge performance increase when I reduced the number of lights and used a single directional light to light up the surface in each spot. Texture reducing was great:) but the light did even more:) even if it didn't reduce size, it increased performance. Simple tricks that are logical can help more than you believe;) that's why I keep some of them a secret :)
The result is: Smaller, Better document (huge performance increase) and loading much faster.

LF
http://lfz2.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/the-community-awaits/ New blog post! Updates on the community project! Check it out!

Marijn
Just an update: The project is going great :D
I finished the first scripting part,
-The UI
-A drop system
-A bag system
-Equipment system

Lf is now working on the project, so we'll have new upadtes soon :D

serialkiler
maybe some screenshots to motivate possible team mates :P

DXSPathfinding Plugin

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:43:18 GMT

MiKo
Some might remember my fiddlings with a pathfinding dll here, using the Micropather code.
Now, I'm going to port that to a threaded plugin. Just finished a very first implementation (non-threaded), and couldn't resist to brag a bit about it ;)
The VS2008 source will be available finally, too. But for now, just a demo doc and the - first - plugin compile (which can be exported from the doc if needed for other usage).

DXSPathfinderPluginDemo_1.0.dxstudio

Thom Parkin
O U T S T A N D I N G, MiKo.
The VS2008 source code would serve an additional duty as [one of the first] sample code on using the SDK.
I recommend you comment it heavily. If you would like some help in "cleaning up" for prime-time just email me.

Seminus
Cool stuff Miko.
Thanks for sharing.
I realy love how the plugins now are directly working form inside the document and how they integrate. :)

ucm
Super Awesome, MiKo!!! :-D

I wish I knew vc++ like you ;(

I think this summer after I get two of my main projects released; I will get VS 2008 and start learning vc++ ;-)

Moach
ROCK ON, DUDE!!!

this is a most valuable asset! let me see if i can get you another star ;)

perhaps a new type of forum award should be created for people who contribute with plugins, something like "Master of PlugIns"

i´m already signed up for my c++ course, starting March 6th... can´t wait :P

cheerz

Larry Ledden
Nice Miko! I've been playing with your Alternative Path Module, and wondering how this new pathfinding plugin relates. Do you intend that the plugin would have functionality like your earlier module? I was going to ask what you thought of adding the ability to invoke a script, or trigger an event when an object reached the end of its path?

ucm
> perhaps a new type of forum award should be created for people who contribute with plugins, something like "Master of PlugIns"

Yes!! I almost posted that request too :-D

Cardek
Thanks for sharing Miko! :)

MiKo
Thanks for your kind comments :) The SDK will become my main playground for the near future, I feel. There is so much to discover, and possibilities seem nearly endless (also, I still prefer using C to JS - no idea really why that is the case, though).

Larry, the plugin would at first calculate (and return) a path from given waypoints only, not covering the actual moving of objects (as it is in the Alternative Path Module). Actually, I think about some options to transfer "the steering" to the plugin aswell, so one could assign an object to it and would not need to care about sequences and such.
It would need some time to get that working, though. Btw, that "callback when path's end reached" is a good idea! (*takes notes)

MiKo
On a short update, here is the current source snapshot, a small DXS demo running 100 units on a 100x100 waypoint grid and the effect itself. This is pretty much WIP, and not 100% thread safe yet (I'm using one single thread that works on a path calculation job list and does a callback when ready - looks like this might be enough, as it is pretty fast). Just in case you want to take a look. The effect itself is a debug compile, creating lots of output (to e.g. DebugView). But it should be in a state people could play around a bit already. Movement is still done in JS, using sequences.

DXStudioPlayerPluginPathPlugin.zip
pathfinder_effect.zip
sampledoc.dxstudio

ucm
This is Totally Awesome!! I ran your sampledoc and it runs at 4fps on my system wth the vid card onboard but it's running a hundred cones whereas I have tried this before and only did about 50ish and at 2fps

This is shaping into a super sweet system!! :-D

LF
A stable 25 Fps on my Middle/End PC

LF
I am running at least a dozen on applications at the same time on my pc and I get a stable 15 FPS on each document running 4 processes (the same 4 documents in 4 different windows) and it works nicely
Great job miko

MiKo
A short update: I'm going on with the "automove" feature (you'd submit a path request, and on completion you'd tell the plugin to "move the object by itself" and send a notification when the path has been travelled).
I'd be interested if this runs on other PC's. Be warned, I'm still fighting race conditions and memory issues, so this test doc might greatly fail on your pc (causing the player to crash). If so: sorry.

100214_sampledoc.dxstudio

Larry Ledden
It runs fine on my system, shows about 28 fps.

Farad77
Hi the document run at 36fps here and crash about 3,4 mins after the beginning

edit:second try 6 mins and didn't crash, i stare at it all long and spot an error (script error:not a function) couldn't read it the script console wasn't wide open and with all the lines showing was hard to see.The fps slowly decrease, 9 mins later and 25fps.

edit2:20min later documents is still on between 17 and 18fps but no crash!however 2 entities doesn't move anymore!

JimmDaBimm
Ok, i tested it a bit and it runs with smooth 60 FPS on my machine (Intel E8400 @3GHz,4GB Ram, GeForce 8800GT, etc... ).

But, after a few Minutes (don't know excactly, i think it was about 2 minutes) the frame rate was at Ø 55 FPS (decreasing every minute). It uses Ø 100KB of RAM every Second. And meanwhile it is a Ø 45 FPS. 3 of the thingys stopped walking but after clicking on them they are on their way again, haha.

Anyway, really nice work so far :) !

ucm
I got about 6-9 fps on average before crash but it doesn't always crash at the same point each time I run it

( SPECS: Acer pc with Intel Pentium D 1.8GHz (E2160) 4GB ddr2-800 ram on 2 sticks with onboard nVidia vid card: [ NVIDIA GeForce 7050 / NVIDIA nForce 620i ] )

MiKo
Thank you all. The decrease in fps (and increase in mem usage) would be ok. By intention, I had removed a "cleanup routine" that I thought would cause heap corruption. But, as it seems, there is other things in still, too. Thanks for your support. Reviewing the code now...

ucm
:-O OMG!! I had turned on Windows Prefetch which had used up most of my drive C :-$

After turning it off today; i RE-ran your demo and it is going super fast!! :-D

I average about 27-28 FPS too ^_^

You Rule Man!!! :-D

MiKo
This calling into the JS engine really is a bitch ;) Okay, here is a new version. It is running stable and with rather constant mem usage over here.
I'd appreciate if anyone could give it a try - just start the doc and leave it running (the longer, the better, heh).
No worries about the fps yet. There is heavy memory checking inside.
Thanks.

100217_sampledoc.dxstudio

Dux94
So will it help if I leave it minimized for a while?
And should I check something(eg. RAM usage,CPU usage)?

ucm
I'm on it!! ;-)

I have my secondary pc running it with the screensaver disabled so that I can check it out if it stops or crashes and I'll also keep it running for several days for you too ;-)

JimmDaBimm
Ok, I leaved the doc for some minutes and compared the mem-usage and the fps on the start and at the end:
(but i forgot to write down the time :O)
FPS: 60
Memory Usage: 260.608 KB

-- some minutes later ;) --
FPS: ~50
Memory Usage: 270.376 KB

So the memory problem seems to be solved, it doesn't increase every second and also decreases every now and then.

Dux94
It's still(from my last post here) running on my PC but I have other programs running to(notepad and IE).
fps is ~4,5
memory 998MB(930MB after shutting the player down)

when I restarted it:
~6.5 fps(970MB)

ucm
Here is my preliminary report: All conditions look stable :-D

I also did a 30 minutes pattern sampleing test for you too:

/*
First test on Core 2 (2.13GHz) - ATI 8x AGP machine with 2GB ddr400
on Feb:17:2010

Started at 3:52pm MST and FPS average == 20.78

at 3:54: FPS = average between 21.04 and 21.28 ( usually staays at 21.28 )

I messed it up on axident :-(

Restarted for Second Pass at 3:56PM MST

FPS got to 21.28 pretty darn quick and it seems to like that FPS :-)

4:01pm = 40,620k

4:02pm = 40,876k

4:03pm = 41,160k

4:04pm = 41,544k FPS == 19.79 - 20.55 <-- Up 1 MB to 41

4:05pm = 41,840k

4:06pm = 42,204k

4:07pm = 42,656k FPS == 16.83-17.02 <-- Up 1 MB to 42
4:08pm = 42,876k

4:09pm = 43,140k

4:10pm = 43,460k FPS == 16.08-16.63 <-- Up 1 MB to 43

4:11pm = 43,600k

4:12pm = 43,824k

4:13pm = 44,104k FPS == 15.30-16.63 <-- Up 1 MB to 44

4:14pm = 44,380k

4:15pm = 44,624k

4:16pm = 45,012k FPS == 13.54-14.19 <-- Up 1 MB to 45

4:17pm = 45,208k

4:18pm = 45,456k

4:19pm = 45,588k FPS == 13.54-14.03 <-- Stayed at 45k, Excellent! :-D

4:20pm = 45,800k <-- Stayed at 45k, Excellent! :-D

4:21pm = 46,032k

4:22pm = 46,244k FPS == 12.72-13.85 <-- Up 1 MB to 46

4:23pm = 46,472k

4:24pm = 46,588k

4:25pm = 46,968k FPS == 12.16-13.09 <-- Stayed at 46k, Excellent! :-D

4:26pm = 47,120k

4:27pm = 47,260k

4:28pm = 47,508k FPS == 10.64-12.16 <-- Up 1 MB to 47

4:29pm = 47,752k

4:30pm = 47,976k

4:31pm = 48,092k FPS == 10.76-11.87 <-- Up 1 MB to 48

*/

Only problem I noted was that many many times it 'looked' as though the spheres were going through the red dots horizontally or vertically. This is most notible looking at when they go horizontal...

ucm
15 minutes later: 4:46pm = 50,588k FPS == 9.25-10.64 <-- Up 2 MB to 50

ucm
15 minutes later: 5:01pm = 52,796k FPS == 7.83-9.46 <-- Up 2 MB to 52

Also I saw a several times that two spheres go through each other, is that normal?

ucm
30 minutes later: 5:31pm = 56,392k FPS == 7.09-8.15 <-- Up 4 MB to 56

ucm
1 Hour later: 6:31pm = 62,256k FPS == 5.78-6.27 <-- Up 6 MB to 62

ucm
1 Hour 45 minutes later: 8:16pm = 70,192k FPS == 4.30-5.00 <-- Up 8 MB to 70

ucm
I think the framrate being as low as it is on this test machinie must be having a dirct effect on the amount of ram being used..

but hey! it's been almost 2 hours and only gone up about 40% ( ish ) so if we some quick math:

1 hour 45 minutes == 70MB of ram soooo --> 1.75 hours * 10 == 17.5 hours at roughly 700MB but then most people would need to goto bed ;-) ;-)

So if RTS developers would design a Saving Where Everything Is system for when the user wants to save and quit because they have to goto bed and plan to come back to where they left off the next day then I imagine that 700MB would go back down to less than 100MB the next day

I think that's pretty sweet right there! :-D

ucm
ah damn! it crashed sometime between 8:30pm and 9:07pm when i came back to my computer

Stats are:
9:07pm = 73,488k FPS == 4.39 <-- Up 3 MB to 73

17896.797592188253 B8 got noted about path's end

:-(

MiKo
Wow, thanks all for your tremendous efforts! We're coming close - yet not fully there, as it seems :$

UCM, the objects going through each others would be ok. Changing this - as well as adding rotation adjustment - would come in at a much later time. For now, its all about handling of memory and interacting with the JS engine - and how to best protect things from that nasty GarbageCollector.

Btw, the source "as is now" would be available to anyone upon request. I'm just not uploading it yet, as it is riddled with debug and testing code, looking rather ugly.

MiKo
Here is a new version, seems to be stable now. Fixed some race conditions and a nasty memory hole.

Using this as a base, I'm going to add direction orientation now, amongst other things. Also, the start/end points are still being submitted via waypoint indices to the plugin - want that to be a simple "go from this [posVec] to [thatPosVec] with [thatSpeed]" finally. A real "fire and forget - give me a call when you're done" concept even.

This is a demo doc, showing the usage (effect embedded. Export if you want to use it someplace else). A bunch of objects is given a waypoint to walk to. After having calculated the path, the plugin is then moving each object at given speed and rises a callback when work is done.

sampledoc1.dxstudio

Uploading the source code this time, too. Just in case someone would like to extract any useful (well, more or less...) things for his/her own creations.
DXStudioPlayerPluginPathPlugin.zip (VC++ 2008 project)

Farad77
That's so nice ^^;
I've launched it (35fps), i was kind of worried because it shouldn't be so low, so i've zoomed to see if it gets getter and there i've seen all the waypoint drawn :p
Just disabling the drawpoint got me my 60fps, really nice, i've been working on a same kind of code and your approach seem so nice, i may take a look and perhaps throw mine to implement yours :p

I'm a bit lazy but how do you tag walkable/non walkable cell? If for example a barrel roll to another cell how do you handle this?
I'm currently struggling with this part of my algo :p

MiKo
Farad77, as for the walkable/non walkable, I'm a lazy one, too ;) See here:
I'm adding those "change requests" (e.g. make a previously accessible waypoint now non-walkable) to a queue. Whenever a path has been calculated (they are all queued and done one after the other in a single-threaded task, in parallel to the player), all change requests are applied. Then, next calculation starts. Waypoints can be "disabled" by calling into the 'micropather' code and will be considered on the *next* path calculation then (I'm using the 'micropather' lib for actually calculating the paths - not sure what exactly is going on under the hood, but it works extremely well) .
There is no mechanism right now to check for obstacles that might pop up *while* a path is being calculated and/or 'automoved'. It *is* safe now to submit changes at any time, but those will not be considered until the thread starts a new path processing. I might get that in via an external call that causes running pathmoves to stop at next waypoint and being recalculated - e.g. a scene.effect.pathfinder.signalNewObstacle(index). Or maybe just check each path whenever a change in walkable/non-walkable is submitted...

Farad77
Ok thanks for the info!
It amusing to look at those little cone wandering the world, i've looked at them for like 5 min like hypnotyzed ^^

ucm
:-O WHOOOAAAA!!! :-O

If only you knew how tempted I am to give up my current game development to build with your pathfinding technology ;-)

Funkas
It took between 30 seconds to a minute for me to place myself under hypnosis, but from that point I felt it must have to do with monochrome color of the pins. I went giving them randomized color. Now we can see, what each of them does on its route.
Great example MiKo :D

sampledoc_color.dxstudio

Night Hawk
Wow! Miko this project is realy comming along, great example keep up the good work:)

MiKo
Uops, sorry, didn't notice the demo got a "hypnotization issue". The combination of fine grid and lines and moving objects is a bit overdoing it, I reckon.
...
This was an evil attempt to send "give me all your stuff" to your subconscious minds and gain global dominance finally. Obviously, it did not work and was broken by Funkas soon after, anyway. Well, might try something different next time, lol. :P
...
Thanks for your comments.

Farad77
For those you who like to try it don't forget to change the build.bat as miko as a german filesystem the build.bat direct to another location (due to path translation of windows localization).

I've quickly try to test it and got some weird issue :/, everything looks to work great i got the waypoint up etc, but when i call SolvePath function from the effect it kept rising the error:
Solvepath is not a function. The function exist in header.xml and i've got autocompletion when i type it, but dxstudio can't seem to found it, so weird i'll try to add my build effect to your example source to see if it's a compilation problem from my side or a dxstudio weird bug.

MiKo
Thanks for pointing to the fact that some changes are needed. Yeah, forgot to mention that. The paths in the buildpack.bat need to be adapted - and probably some links to the DirectX SDK, too (inside the project).

As for the "...is not a function": In the past, I got that when calling a plugin from outside the scene, even if it is showing up in autocomplete etc. So, "scenes.scene_1.effects.myEffect.doSomething()" did not work when called from system.script or scene_2.script. It did only work from scene_1.script. Can't remember if this was always the case.
So, I made functions in scene_1 script and accessed those functions from "outside", rather than the plugin method themselves.

Might that apply for you here too, Farad77?

Farad77
Oh!
I will try it now!

Edit:It's ok by adding a function in scene1 script the function works well (what a weird one).
Now the startautopath just hand the player, i'll will try to browse the code and set up a bunch a console output to see where it's stuck.

edit2:
[3040] DXSPather_Plugin: CTheMapClass::IsMapEmpty called
[3040] DXSPather_Plugin: CTheMapClass::CreateMapArray called
[3040] DXSPather_Plugin: CTheMapClass::ResetMapArray called
[3040] DXSPather_Plugin: myclass_setMapSize: Set X: 99 Z: 99
[3040] DXSPather_Plugin: CTheMapClass::DoSolve invalid PathJob parameters!
[3040] DXSPather_Plugin: CMovementManager::CreateMovementJob ERROR on GetWaypointsPositions
[3040] DXSPather_Plugin: myclass_startAutoPath: Could not create AutoMoveJob. Abort.
Here's what i've got when try to test it, my terrain is a plane 100,100.
I'll try to see if i can minimize the document code to upload it here.

MiKo
Farad, it seems to me that the call to pathfinder.SolvePath does succeed (obviously), adding another job to the internal "calculation queue". Later, when it comes to processing, one or more of the given parameters are not accepted though. I reckon this is bad behaviour, as I should reject this entry right away (*takes notes).

This could happen when the map size has not been set before or indices supplied are out of range (remember you must submit indices of waypoints, not actual positions). Maybe this helps?

Farad77
Yes it was it, i was passing cell coordinate to vNewIndice var.
Works perfectly now.
I'll have both implementation to test it now.
When i'll finished the first playable prototype i'll show on my post on user,contribution forums.

DXChristy
nice one, added a recommendation, very helpful.

EXE build bad - no way again .......

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:55:39 GMT

Charles
why my DXdocument.exe does not work??

tesst2.zip
???
:S:S;;;

Hey :)

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:27:37 GMT

Charles

Seminus
:D If this is real I would say the DXS-Team has found a very powerfull marketing method :)

Charles
HAhhhHHHHH i turn on the top of body !!! :):):)

LF
A bit of javascript editing or maybe just screenshot and then edit in paint.net? Anyway...It's quite funny

Charles
no no i not edit is realy the number

LF
then WOW!:-O

Charles
lol Funny LF hihhih tisss

ucm
:-O wow!! Awesome!!

@Support: Can we get a website feature request for somehting like:

"Most Users Online Ever was: 3035 on November 28th, 2009

:-D

Funkas
Lol, this was rather a bug on the site or Denial-of-service attack.
Another possibility is that many people have nothing to do, but this would be contrary to the discussion on another thread, where the most of users stated, computer job is a hard work too :D

Cardek
Sometimes when the search engines crawl a site, that can increase a lot the users number, but I doubt it's the case here. It's far too much.

Thom Parkin
That is the count of the number of DXStudio projects CHARLES is creating!!
LOL

Charles
:) Cool

BUnzaga
Sweet (H)

ucm
:-O 377 new registered users in 31 days :-O

Awesome!! ( Let's see if we can get that number up to 500 or more ) (H)

LF
We can have tons of registered users, but we still have quite a low number of active users (200 or so)
Let is rise :)

LF

This is strange... 0 users online! LOL!

Charles
yes :S me too is 0....

Chris S
Hmm - looks like the caretaker's gone to sleep... :-)

ucm
@Chris: lmao!!! :-D

LF
@Chris: ROFL! RIP caretaker...LOL!
Hes sleeping again :) lol!

Thom Parkin
I noticed this just now.
I bet it does not occur very often; actually only ONCE.

Do you believe in THE POWER OF NUMBERS?

As I always say, "It's bad luck to be superstitious"

ucm
Super Awesome!! :-D

LF
20 users registered in 1 day....now that's good:)

DXPACK files - generic containers with encryption support

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:01:03 GMT

Moach
Brett´s thread on the beta forums about scene and module encryption got me thinking... every now and then, we´d like to encrypt something that´s neither exactly a scene nor a module....

so i devised this idea of a generic zip-like file that one could use to compact any assortment of external files and have them encrypted if needed...

the reason i think this would be very much viable, is because it would use the exact same systems that are used for scene encryption (coming in V4, no?), the only difference being that DXPACKS are treated more loosely, having no header xmls and being geared mostly towards loading as linked resources - optionally, such packs could be left unencrypted, acting as general-purpose, zip-compatible storage modules

i took this idea out of the .pbo file system used by Bohemia Interactive in the Armed Assault series... the result is that their game is incredibly addon-friendly and extendable

anyways, this approach offers the most professional solution to encryption... we can protect our files (whatever they may be) whislt maintaining an expansion-oriented modular design

pretty neat, i think ;)

please consider this

cheerz

LF
This is neat, rock on Moach.
You got my vote

serialkiler
mine to. any type of encryption would be good actually ^^

ucm
Great Idea man!! :-D

Thom Parkin
Outstanding idea. You should get the Nobel prize for ingenuity!

Moach
another advantage of this feature that just occurred to me, is that DXPACK files effectively enable you to have automatically linked assets!!

since a DXPACK is a single file containing other files, once it´s linked, every file in it will be a resource, meaning that you could simply add more files into a previously linked DXPACK and they would be automatically loaded next time you run your game... without need to open your project and add the new links

this saves up on a rather decent amount of script, which is required to do this now...

and thanks everyone! nice to see this is a welcomed idea... even tho i can´t really take full credit for it :P

cheerz

Player Install Problem Win7 Pro

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:42:32 GMT

Robin C
Was installing the latest player on my win 7 Pro test machine and I have encountered the following error. I was installing as administrator. I did notice that a windows update had just taken place

Chris S
Hmm - it's safe to hit ignore, but we'll check into why it's coming up now too.

Robin C
@Chris S, i did hit the ignore but becuase it's not registered when I run the player as an activex object I get an exception because the activex object hasn't been registered.

-objectId's in range of a specified object in a scene

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:55:42 GMT

ucm
scene.objectsInRangeArr(centralObject, range);
   centralObject = the object in question at the center of the range finder
   range = spherical radious around the centralObject's .pos world pos

   Returns a String Array of all the objectId's in range of the centralObject

With this; I can make among a tremendous number of other things, Magnetism (H)

Also I imagine that this is basically a .pos checker so if that turn's out to be the case then could we also get this for 2D scenes as well? ;-)

James
Hi ucm, if your treat the positions of your objects like vectors you can find the distance between two points very easily. You can then iterate through all your objects to see which are in range.

for example (in pseudo code)

function DistanceCheck(Vector3 point1, Vector3 point2, float range)
{
if(VectorMath.distance(point1, point2) < range)
return true
else
return false
}

if your interested in calculating the distance your self check out this site for the maths its easy stuff and is easily portable into code.

hope this helps.

james

ucm
Nice function although I was thinking that if we could get this built intot he core of DXS then it would go a whole lot faster than if we use it as script alone ;-)

Your pseudo function's pretty neat and gives me an idea for doing this in script:

function getAllObjectIdsInRange(ofThisObject, range){
tempStringArray = scene.objectsGetArray();
for(i=0;i if( VectorMath.distance(objects[tempStringArray[i]].pos, ofThisObject.pos) < range ){
tempStringArray.push(tempStringArray[i]);
}
}

return tempStringArray;

}

Then we can call it like:

someArray = getAllObjectIdsInRange("crate_1", 16);

Also!!!

we could slightly modify that to get ONLY the specific types you want to search for that are in range:

function getAllObjectIdsInRangeByType(ofThisObject, onlyOfThisType, range){
tempStringArray = scene.objectsGetArray();
for(i=0;i if( VectorMath.distance(objects[tempStringArray[i]].pos, ofThisObject.pos) < range ){
if( objects[tempStringarray[i]].type == onlyOfThisType){
tempStringArray.push(tempStringArray[i]);
}
}
}

return tempStringArray;

}

Then we can call it like:

someArrayByType = getAllObjectIdsInRangeByType("crate_1", "barrel", 16);

NOTE: I am at a chritical point in my game devleopment so I just poped all of that out of my head; hopefully there's no typos ;-)

I was hoping we could get something like this in the core of DXS because I believe it would perform the task faaar quicker than running it as script :-D

BUnzaga
[EDIT]: UCM, check the type before you check the distance :) also, you could just use objectGetArrayByType(type). [/EDIT]

I really wish we could assign objects to selection masks, so we could do 'scene.objectsGetMask(4)' and it would get all objects, regardless of their type or ID, that are assigned to that selection mask.

It has gone around and around in several posts, for several ideas including physics/collision optimizations, etc. It is about time it is done I think.

I bring this up because in your function, UCM, scene.objectsGetArray will give you ANY objects, including the camera, lights, effect points, emitters, etc. It is a bit over kill if all you want are all the objects that are considered 'enemies'. Even 'objectGetArrayByType(type)' doesn't cut it, because what if I have several objects that are considered 'enemies' but they are not the same mesh definition? Or what if one mesh is an enemy, but another is a friendly unit, but they are the same mesh type? The system has several holes that selection masks would solve.

The only other system that might help for a short term 'work around', is to use a system of arrays and JS Objects when you add / remove objects from the scene.

enemy = {
air={};
ground={};
water={};
}

mask = {
0:null;
1:enemy.air;
2:enemy.ground;
4:enemy.water;
}

So as you add the different units to the scene, you store them in enemy.air, enemy.ground, or enemy.water. Then you could iterate only the 'masks' that you want, such as 'for(var i in mask[1])' will iterate through all objects that are 'enemy air' units, regardless of their type.

If you want to iterate over 2, 3 or more masks, you would have to do that with some other method, like a bit check iteration (which Funkas provided in other threads).

Then when you remove the object, instead of just calling 'scene.objectRemove(object.id)', you would first have to remove the object from the lists, and then remove it from the game, something like:

delete enemy.air['boat_01'];
scene.objectRemove('boat_01');

There could be even better ways to manage this, I haven't spent too much time trying to implement it.

Promoting and selling your games

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:26:35 GMT

Lourenço
Hi all,
I have been working on a game for the last month and it should be over in the next weeks.
WordBog and WordPack have been released as freeware... but this time, it is going to be my first commercial game.

My questions are :
- how do you promote your games once they are ready
- what would be a reasonable price
- does dxstudio offers any means of publishing them or any marketing package
- there is a 'WorldWeaver Games" section under the Account summary : what is it intended for?

Thank you for your help.

Farad77
That's the last and often most difficult part, you have a good point you have a demo playable so publisher won't deny your request with a "give us a demo".
In fact i've just read (today!) a wonderful document, however it's in french i don't know if you read french:
http://www.dk-games.info/RonronsMakingOf/LeMondeDesRonrons_MakingOf_Intro.htm
It's the story of a man who decide to release his own game and this document tell us the different step he took including the sales step.
Perhaps you should try plateform like steam, starimpulse etc...
I don't know how they work but every great indie games i've come accross where already included in steam/starimpulse.

Good Luck with the release and don't hesitate to report your adventure!

Lourenço
Thank you Farad for your reply. Very interesting article. (... did not have any difficulty in reading it as I am from France!).

serialkiler
you could translate for community and maybe add it to dx wiki :D

MiKo
Interesting topic, Lourenco. Hopefully, you are going to share your experiences ;)
Actually, I wonder if shareware would be an option?

LF
What about the dx studio games section? Wouldn't us dx studio users be able to sell our games there soon? There are many ways to sell a game. the internet is the best way to find out

BUnzaga
Hey Lourenço, I have been asking myself these questions the last week or two also. It seems like getting the final product is only 1/2 way to the goal. The distribution / sales / advertisement is the other 1/2.

I would also appreciate it if you could come back to this topic to give us an idea of how you did it or the steps you took, perhaps things you would have done differently, etc.

Video on effects plane

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:02:13 GMT

Asif Haroon
I have added a video effect on effects plane. I want to stop the video file on mouse down. I have written the following code for this

objects.effectplane_1.effects.video.render = false;

I get this error message
Effect 'video' not found on object
TypeError: objects.effectplane_1.effects.video has no properties at line 3, scene scene_1

File is attached.EffectPlaneVideoTest.dxstudio

MiKo
Asif, I believe it should work by using the media channels (thus indirectly accessing the effect):
function onMouseDown(e)
{
scene.media.controlChannel = 0; // This channel is assigned to the effect
scene.media.stop(); // well, stop it
}

Introducing the next wave

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:03:04 GMT

LF
Hello everyone. As I promised, the next wave of tutorials is here:)
Particles Explained :)
Paint.net General Introduction - I made this because Paint.net is really useful when used with Dx Studio.
And Making Custom Cursor from PNG and making it functional in Dx Studio.
Sorry for the delay, the second part of the particle video was too long for youtube so I had to shrink it and it took some time to re-encode it.

Please wait while videos become HD so you can see the tutorials properly
Let me know if you have questions or if they helped you :)

http://lfz2.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/the-next-wave/
Have fun :)

serialkiler
xD tanks gave u a star ^^

serialkiler
@LF "ill give u a moment to copy this script"
wheres the script :D i cant read it in the video xD

LF
Add this to your document script:

function onInit()
{
system.ui.mouse.hide(); //used to hide the normal cursor
}

function onMouseMove(e)
{
scenes.scene_1.objects.Cursor_1.pos.x = e.clientX; //to make the cursor image follow mouse X coordinated
scenes.scene_1.objects.Cursor_1.pos.y = e.clientY; //to make the cursor image follow mouse Y coordinated
}

function onTimer(timerId)
{
if (timerId=="ClickMe")
{
scenes.scene_1.objects.Cursor_1.type = "Cursor"; //change the type
return;
}
}

And this to your cursor script

function onClick()
{
scenes.scene_1.objects.Cursor_1.type = "Cursor_Click"; //make the click thingy to work using a timer
system.setTimer("ClickMe", 0.1);
}

Here you go:)

serialkiler
:D ty now ill will try this around to make on mouse Hoover etc.
Tanks again xD

DXChristy
Hey thanks, great tutorials really, but you need to stop swearing! I watched them on speaker phone, I have kids!

dr_bernie
Great Tutorials LF. Very informative. Thanks a lot for your efforts.

I think you will find this link useful: http://www.wondertouch.com

The Particle Illusion program can generate image sequences and is very easy to use. The image sequence can then be saved with alpha channel and brought into DXS or a GIF animation program.

The SE version of Particle Illusion costs $99.- (if I'm not mistaken) and, considering the wealth of features and the ease with which you can create great looking particles, is worth every penny of it.

Now I have a request for tutorials on lightmaps. I am trying to figure out lightmaps with this program: http://www.frecle.net/index.php?show=giles.about

If you could come-up with some tutorials on how to create lightmaps (preferably with giles, because it's free and it seems to be quite good, but it's really up to you) and how to get them into DXS, it would be great.

LF
:) Hey I didn't think particle illusion could be that usefull, I used it in a lot of videos.
Thanks dr_bernie but the thing is that particle illusions just renders particles different from the way taht dx studio does. DX Studio does not generate volumetric particles or Z ordered particles. That could be the wrong step.
@DXChristy : Sorry :) I was a bit nervous :) I apologize
@serialkiler: if you have some problems I could help you out.

LF
Anyone who want to request a tutorial, let me know:)
Oh and thanks again everyone!:)

dr_bernie
Tutorials on lightmaps would be greatly welcome.

LF
I got to test a old method of mine to see if it still works. And if it works I'll make another tutorial
:) I'll try to make the tutorial soon. Today I don't have enough time to record :) but I'll keep in mind.

dr_bernie
Take your time. No rush, no hurry.

LF
Let me know if there are any other requests so when I have time, to get myself to make some tutorials.

[OT] Black Prophecy trailer released and Beta subscription online.

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:26:03 GMT

Seminus
Hi everyone,
Here's my first sort of of-topic post, but I thought I share the news with you anyway:

As some of you allready know I'm working on my day job on a MMOG called Black Prophecy at the studio Reakktor. Today we released our very first trailer of the game to the public and additionaly started to accept Beta applications.

Here's the offical press release:

Reakktor Media is proud to present the official debut teaser for its upcoming next-generation Space Action MMO „Black Prophecy". This teaser gives you a glimpse of Black Prophecy's visually stunning, fast paced real-time combat action within the dark universe created by the award-winning Sci-Fi author Michael Marrak.

Visit the official Black Prophecy website for more information and to register for the upcoming closed beta phase.
www.blackprophecy.com

Download:
High Definition: HD Trailer download - 64mb
Standard Definition: SD Trailer download - 44mb

I hope you like it. Coments and critics are allways welcome. :)

Cheers

Seminus
PS: the whole trailer was captured ingame, no rendering or anything like that. ;)

PPS: under Vista there is a problem with the beta registration, we are working on it, so it should work in a few hours. XP should not be a problem.

Seminus
short update: Vista problem soveld. you should now be able to register for beta.

Carl
Incredible! How big is the world? it looks never ending. And how to you handle player boundary's?

I would sign-up for the beta but after seeing those videos i doubt any of my computers will be able to handle that.

Seminus
Glad you like it. :)

The universe is big, but the whole thing is divided into sectors where the missions and the locations are. The sectors have some boundaries. when the player tries to leave this sector he is turned back into the sector. Additionally each missions has its won level generated by a dynamic level generator, so on the paper we have unlimited sectors.

The system requirements are not set yet. But a the moment you need a shader 3.0 gfx card and something like a p4 at 2.5ghz. But we are optimizing all the time. Alot of work pc have a geforce 7600 in it and there you can play it quite nicely at medium detail.

But we are actually also looking for low end pc in the beta to see how it behaves on this systems.

Carl
Thats leaves me out. Still rocking shader model 2.0. Wish i could upgrade but being a student sucks. :(

Funkas
Fantastic music in Trailer. Is it in game too?

Seminus
yes the music is part of the original soundtrack of the game, recorded with a live orchestra.

Seminus
Hey everyone,
Offtopic angain and none DXStudio, but perhaps some are intressted in it anyway:
We (the company I work for on my dayjob) released the offical Black Prophecy website yesterday with new shots and alots of information about our Action-MMOG.

http://www.black-prophecy.com

Hope you like it. :)
More will come in the next weeks.

MiKo
Nice. I'm downloading the trailer right now. Say, Seminus, how would you compare BP to Jumpgate Evolution, which is currently in development as a successor to Jumpgate Classic? JG was the first online game I played; it hooked me for years - and finally draw me in to (wanna-be) game programming.

TATOFOREVER
This is looking soo far so nice. The graphics are amazing. Are you using in house game engine? Or you took over existing technology?
Seminus, whats your ocupation at Reakktor studios?
Keep the good work.

Seminus
@MiKo: I really can't tell you, because I did not had the chance to play JGE yet as its not realesed yet. I can only speak for BP: Black Prophecy is a action game by heart. So your own skills with the mouse or gamepad are very important. The gameplay focus on PVP and PVE coopartive gameplay. We will show more soon and give out more detailed informations.

@Tatoforever: We use a middleware for the rendering and modified it for our needs. This saves you alot of work. :)
I'm the Development Director at Reakktor.

TATOFOREVER
Wow, really nice, hope you get lots of users when the project gets complete. :)
Regards. :)

MiKo
Thanks for the info, Seminus. I registered for the beta meanwhile. From what I read, JGE and BP might actually target similar audience. It will be very interesting to see how both are doing, once released.
Good luck for the beta and release!

Seminus
thanks guys! :) I will keep you posted.
More to come soon. ;)

Seminus
We have released a new cinematic trailer for Black Prophecy:

http://bp.kkdownload.com/trailer/bp_cinematic_trailer_hd.zip
It's a 140mb zip.

Hope you like it.

Chris E
Looks good. Reminds me of Freespace, which is never a bad thing

MiKo
Wow, really BIG ships in there :-)

I understand the focus is on action and things, but ... "will there be mining lazers"? ;-)

Seminus
Thanks guys :)

Today we released the first 8 minute Gameplaytrailer with lots to show how the game is like:
http://bp.kkdownload.com/trailer/bp_gameplay_trailer_hd.zip (400mb)

hope you like it.
Btw the offical forum is online too.

MiKo
It looks like Black Prophecy is now going with publisher Gamigo. See their Announcement.

From what I got from their forums, there seem to be some concerns about the payment system. As it is said to be "F2P" (FreeToPlay), one would probably have to buy the box and put in money laters for "micro transactions" (like, buy new gear for your ship or so). It looks like some people don't like that.

As for me, I 'd be happy to try that approach. I tend to play an online game for months, then be off again for months, then come back, etc etc. Having to pay a monthly fee is always a bit problematic when having that "play style" (and don't want to start over each time).

What you others think?

Farad77
F2P is a wise choice, in fact it has been proved to be the most rewarding financial system in the world of mmog.
The user can try it and if like the game then buy what he needs, League of legend is a jewel of this system from my point of view.
And recent studies show that client of F2P give by year more than an average P2P games with subscription system.
So it's a win/win, occidental are not quite used to this system but i think it will imposed itself in the future like in asia.

dr_bernie
Great video clip. The music reminds me of 'Aliens 2' movie.

LF
This is great:) Who knows where the game industry might take us:)
I am curious what engine are you using? or is it a secret?:)

serialkiler
i thought in that to :P

Seminus
hehe thanks guys. BP is keeping me realy busy these days so this is one reasons why I was more or less inactive here during the last few month. More to come. :)

@LF: This engine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamebryo

Cheers.

serialkiler
wow that rocks.
id always liked that one but dont have €€€ for it xD
btw whats your position ?

LF
This is great:) but still dx studio remains my first choise;)

serialkiler
cant even be compared LF ^^
its like a mini whit a ferrari ^^

Seminus
@serialkiler: I'm the Producer at Reakktor, which means that I lead the project and the team.
@LF: You realy can't compare, they have both a completely different philosophy behinde. :)

serialkiler
ohh man thats awesome hope i can get there to :D
really good to see industry ppl in dxstudio ^^
wish u a good luck on this one..

btw how many ppl working in that mmo ?

LF
I don't compare them:) I just like dx studio a lot:)

Attention NVIDIA-Users!

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:36:31 GMT

JimmDaBimm
The newest driver (196.75 WHQL) causes an error that can damage your graphics card. The problem is, that the fan-control doesn't work and so the fan won't speed up if the card gets warmer. You should keep 196.21 WHQL or downgrade to this driver-version.

I'm using the newest driver but I also use an 3rd-party fan without software-sided fan-control and have no problems ;).

LF
I'm glad I stick with ATI's graphics cards:)

ucm
Thanks for the info, JimmDaBimm!!! :-D

Moach
thanks for the heads-up, Jimm!

i wouldn´t wanna see my beloved 8800 going up in smoke :D

cheerz

exe install option problem...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:45:12 GMT

ucm
I had a friend of mine help me alpha test a level to my game I have been working really hard on.

He had recently rebuilt his computer and put Windows 7 64-bit on it. He didn't have DX Studio or the DX Player installed and just ran the exe I made.

It told him that his computer required PhysX, but the error when away when he installed the DXPlayer obviously...

Here are the EXE build options I chose:

( checked ) Include player setup ( for offline distribution )
( checked ) Use temporary player ( no PhysX, no browser, admin rights not required )
( checked ) Encrypt with password
( checked ) Allow DX Studio Player to decrypt without password

And I password protected the entire doc prior to building the EXE

The final EXE seemed to be a little smaller that I expected it to be ( or maybe it was just me )...

Did I do something wrong or is it an issue when a End-User doesn't already have the DX Player installed on their system?

Chris S
Make sure you set your 3D scene to have physics of 'None' in the scene properties (it defaults to PhysX).

ucm
ohhh that makes sence but ummm....

1: if I am understanding this right then setting every scene's physics to 'None' would mean that all object.physics.blah would be ignored by the player?

2: also does this mean that if we want someone to be able to use physics on obejcts then they "must" install PhysX? If so then could you put in an option or warning message when the box is checked informing the developer:

if physics is detected in the doc xml:
"Physics detected; Note that 'temporary player install' requires PhysX to be pre-installed on the detination machine.

What would you like to do?

( ) Disable physics in this doc then build the EXE
( ) Keep physics as-is and build the EXE leave "Use Temporary Player" UNchecked
( ) Keep physics as-is and build the EXE with "Use Temporary Player" ( Note: if the destination machine does Not have PhysX installed then a error message will display informing the End-User that PhysX is required and must be installed to continue )

This would come in extremely handy for rapid development ;-)

Change Mouse Cursor

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:20:41 GMT

serialkiler
is it possible to change mouse cursor ?

So instead off having the normal windows arrow have my own ??
If its possible how will i do it :D

tanks in advance

LF
http://www.dxstudio.com/forumtopic.aspx?topicid=bb02df6a-4dc6-4991-99bc-966d3876e575
This thread should help you:)

serialkiler
thats old :D

does it already support png as icons or do i have to export them somehow.

having an tutorial on this one would be great LF :P

LF
I believe that I could make a new method on these things.
At least I'll try:)
You gave me a great idea serialkiler:)

LF
Yes! I got something working just right:)
I'll have a tutorial done in a few hours (I'm rendering a few others right now)

LOL I accidentally posted on Silly Timer Question Topic believing that I was replying here :) sorry

serialkiler
LOL np :P

looking forward for the tut :D

LF
Tutorial is done now it's uploading and I'm posting them in several minutes.

serialkiler
hehe nice

LF
Posted:) Check the topic "introducing the next wave"

What movies have you been watching recently?

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:40:44 GMT

James
Hey!

So I was interested in what films everyone has been watching recently. Myself, last night I caught the end of 'A Fistful of Dollars' which was great western. In terms of more modern films recently I watched 'Avatar' (nice special effects, poor story) and 'Up In The Air' which I really enjoyed.

So what have you been watching or are going to watch soon?

James

serialkiler
The last movie i watched was shutter island, its a nice movie :D i recommend it to others :P

dr_bernie
'Once Upon A Time In The West' and 'The Good, The Bad And The Ugly' are among my all times favorite western movies.

But my award for the all times greatest western movie would go to 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'.

ucm
Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman

Except for some of th emusic I thought this was pretty cool :-)

BUnzaga
Hmm, the last show I saw was "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief". With 4 kids and a wife, the selection becomes quite narrow. :) The acting was not super great, but the story was fun.

I have also been watching a chain of Dragon Ball Z. Goku just became a Super Saiyan. (H) He is battling this evil dude named Frieza, which I thought was a womans name, but I guess its a man.

serialkiler
after many years of Dragon Ball no one knows whats the Frieza Genre ^^

LF
Last one I believe I saw is Avatar...

JimmDaBimm
Clerks 1 and Clerks 2. Both are really funny :D

ucm
> I have also been watching a chain of Dragon Ball Z. Goku just became a Super Saiyan. He is battling this evil dude named Frieza, which I thought was a womans name, but I guess its a man.

Oh dude! I own that video :-D I bought it for like my 2x something birthday present to myself

Actually I thin Frieza is supposed to be a female but in america they thought it would get banned if a girl got beat up ( I 'think'; I don't really know but it makes sence )

Dude, enjoy that whole series man, it's time well spent ;-)

ucm
@serialkiler: I just replied to your PM :-)

Edit:

@BUnzaga: the order of progression is:
* DragonBall
* DragonBall Z <-- several sagas
* DragonBall GT <-- takes off right after Z
* something else but I didn't get that far yet ;-)

Enjoy!

BUnzaga
I haven't watched the Dragon Ball original series, I just started with Dragon Ball Z. I know the basic story though, is there anything MAJOR that I would be missing by not watching the original?

James
@dr_bernie, 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance' is an all time great but I think my favorite western is 'El Dorado'. Cant beat a bit of John Wayne. :D

David Shute
is there anything MAJOR that I would be missing by not watching the original?

All the good bits?

Haha, I kid. ;)

If you ever have the opportunity to read it though, I can strongly recommend the original Dragonball manga - It's more of a comical adventure series than Dragonball Z, which sometimes seems like just a series of absurdly protracted fights. In terms of plot you don't really need to know anything about DB to enjoy DBZ though, it just shows Goku growing up and meeting all his friends, and the first few uses of the Dragonballs. (The very first wish that gets granted is a doozy!) DBZ pretty much ignores all the previous storylines and starts afresh.

dr_bernie
@ James: I saw El-Dorado many years ago on cable TV, so now I will have to go get the dvd and watch it again.

I have 'The man who shot Liberty Valance', 'High Noon' and 'The last train from Gun Hill' dvd's.

I (re)watched 'The last train from Gun Hill' about a month ago. Absolutely superb. Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn at their best.

ucm
@James: What do you think about Gunsmoke or Bonanza? I used to watch these every so often ( especially during our move last summer )

James
Hey Ucm, I never watched those series myself so Ive no idea what they are like :D. The cowboy series I used to watch when I was younger is; The Lone Ranger. Sadly I dont get to see as many westerns these days I always used to watch them during the day, but I dont think they show so many on British TV anymore.

JimmDaBimm
Watching "Skins" (on DVD) at the moment. I love this show. Reminds me on Trainspotting :).

MiKo
They started the FlashForward series over here, on a weekly schedule. Trying to follow that.
Always looking for something that hooks me like the "X-Files" did, back then... ;)

dr_bernie
One day I will buy the entire dvd collection of 'Twilight Zone'.

James
I really like Flashforward. Just waiting for the rest of the season. Im not such a great fan of Skins however, but Im guessing its not really aimed at me. :D

LF
Anyone need a Doctor house ?:) lol I love that tv show

James
Haha, I didnt really like House either. I think Owens a big fan tho. Recently Ive been watching Being Human, you would probably only get a chance to see it if your in the UK. But its pretty decent, the premise sounds pretty silly (a vampire, werewolf and ghost move into a house in Bristol, hilarity ensues) but its good fun kinda dark-comedy-drama.

Thom Parkin
>>kinda dark-comedy-drama
Well, with a 'vampire' I would imagine it is dark all-the-time!!

JimmDaBimm
Does anybody know "My name is Earl"? Just watched the first episode again... soooo funny :D

James
these are new age vampires who can walk about outside. :D

Timer silly question.

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:25:12 GMT

LF
Hello everyone. I headed to learn something about timers but I didn't get it to work when I used my code:
function onInit()
{
system.setTimer("Progress1", 0.5);
}

function onTimer(Progress1)
{
scenes.scene_2.objects.Progressbar_1.type = "Progressbar_10_";
system.setTimer("Progress2", 2.5);

}
function onTimer(Progress2)
{
scenes.scene_2.objects.Progressbar_1.type = "Progressbar_30_";
system.setTimer("Progress3", 1.5);

}
function onTimer(Progress3)
{
scenes.scene_2.objects.Progressbar_1.type = "Progressbar_60_";
system.setTimer("Progress4", 0.5);

}
function onTimer(Progress4)
{
scenes.scene_2.objects.Progressbar_1.type = "Progressbar_81_";
system.setTimer("Progress5", 2.5);

}
function onTimer(Progress5)
{
scenes.scene_2.objects.Progressbar_1.type = "Progressbar_Full_";
}

I would like to know where do I make the mistake:)
Thank you for your help

MiKo
LF, the name you pass with the timer is passed again when the (one and only) onTimer function is called.

Like,

setTimer("bah", 0.5);
setTimer("buh", 1.0);

function onTimer(id)
{
if (id=="bah") { ... }
if (id=="buh") { ... }
}

Here, you can do a "cascading" as you did above aswell.

See what I mean?

LF
Sry Miko. It gives me a Timer is not defined at scene_2 line 4.

MiKo
Okay, please look here for a demo. :)

timertest.dxstudio

LF
Thats exactly what I was looking for. Thank you MiKo!

LF
Sorry ! ACCIDENTAL POST:(

Thom Parkin
@LF: Don't overlook SHOUT to simplify (and enhance) the use of Timers in DXStudio.

alpha version of encrypted external resources? :)

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:16:41 GMT

BUnzaga
I'm just throwing my fishing line out there and hoping I get a byte. (H)

JimmDaBimm
Arn't exported external resources already encrypted?

BUnzaga
Nah. If you export a scene file, it has a .dxscene file extension. If you change this to .zip, you can 'have your way' with the resources in the scene. Any models, sounds, etc.

ucm
@Chris: This is uber important especially for those us who want to create a .DXMODULE or .DXCONTROL or .DXSCENE and then encrypt it then sell it to others ;-)

:-O DXS v 3.9.0 ??

BUnzaga
DXS v 3.9.0 ??

LOL just a guess :)

BUnzaga
Hey I found a glitch that sort of works like password protection...

I made a document, and put a password protection on it. Then I exported a scene. Now this scene file has a password. I can't edit it, or add it to a new document without the password.

If I want to remove the password, I have to create a new document, add it as a resource, type in the password, then add the check mark to 'use a password' in the document and then take it back out and re-export it. Now it is just a normal dxscene.

I haven't tried it with anything else yet, such as DX Controls, DX Modules, etc.

Chris S
Yes, it's the same as when you export a dxmesh, that will be encrypted too. Only scenes and meshes at the moment, more to come... :-)

ucm
:-O oooeeee

Oh hey, if you rename a scene done this way to a .DXMODULE or .DXCONTROL then do you get the same effect?

Chris S
Yes, if you rename you'll get encrypted controls and modules :-)

BUnzaga
There needs to be different options for encryption due to various situations, such as a password to edit the file, but free for others to use. A password for both using the file and editing the file. Then just an open file, free to use or edit.

ucm
I think the most important thing on passwords ( at least for me lol ) is to have a Separate password in the Build EXE section :-$

This way we can make it something rediculous for security but that we don't have to remember when we next open the .DXSTUDIO doc for editing :-$

Several times I have put a password on a doc so i could make a test EXE's then forgot to remove the pw :-(

Moach
could we have encryption support for any file (such as text files) in the near future? this could be done through a generic file-packing extension that supports encryption, such as a DXPACK file (would be simply a glorified .zip with encryption)

now, that would rock!

cheerz

Couple of new videos

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:10:29 GMT

Chris S
Just to let you know there are a couple of new videos on the DXStudioVideos YouTube channel...
DXStudioVideos

ucm
:-O Is google asking you to do this for them?

Chris S
@ucm - Google? No.

LF
Nicely done :) I really like them:)

ucm
I am soooo blown away by what you have achieved with that :-D

Cardek
Nice...and interesting to see examples of what can be done in DXS.

JimmDaBimm
The marble-game looks really cool. Is this going to be a real game, or just a 1-level techdemo?
The other video.. don't know... i think you have to know more about the background stuff ;).

Chris S
The marble game was just knocked up by our in house artist in a couple of days, but is surpisingly fun. We'll make it a gallery doc, and it will be one of the first games on Android :-)

The other video is basically mixing standard DX Studio content with a Google Earth style stream of the planet, more for the simulation market.

Seminus
Really love the new videos. at least some fine demos that show of what you can achive with the DXS engine. Like the marble game and the use of DoF :)

Merrie Schonbach
Love the new videos the marble game is very creative artist wise and looks very fun :)

BUnzaga
Does DOF add render passes, or how does that work? I was thinking of using it, but I was worried it would slow down stuff. I think I'm getting fps-paranoia.

Chris S
@BUnzaga - it's probably not wise to make DOF part of your core design as it does involve more GPU. You could make it an option though for those with the higher end cards.

BUnzaga
Its a nice effect though :) It makes the marble game look very cool. ~~I also liked that paint thing. VERY cool.~~

EDIT:I thought you somehow added red paint to the marble when it went through the paint, but after watching it again, I realize I goofed. :)

Chris S
You're ahead of the game again - that IS what's going to happen, but it doesn't yet!! LOL :-)

Merrie Schonbach
I was looking for that effect as well, want to see the ball turn red :)

Carl
@Chris - What physics engine is the marble game using? Is it just custom gameplay code?

Chris S
@Carl - it's PhysX. There's only a few lines of script for the whole game. :-)

Carl
The reason I asked was because if you are using PhysX how do you intend to get it onto the Android platform? Have you guys got PhysX working on android?

Chris S
Android will use Bullet behind the scenes, but the interface to DXS will be the same to the document designer.

ucm
@Carl: I think that's totaly kick a$$ that they got the whole marble game done with "only a few lines of script for the whole game." :-D

@Chris: I can't wait to start seeing the andriod system and also DX4 in the beta test section ^_^

of course I am soo emersed in my game right now that I hope beta testing starts sometime this summer ;-)

Carl
I can't wait for android support, hopefully the beta starts sooner rather then later as well. :)

LF
My question is, how are we going to test the games to see if they work on android!?
I mean isn't there a free emulator that runs the player?:)

MiKo
I think there is an "Android Virtual Device (AVD)" which would do the job :)
http://developer.android.com/resources/tutorials/hello-world.html

ucm
Rock On, MiKo!! :-D

matt smith2
Chris is the terrain streaming demo going to be available at some point? That's really impressive, I'd love to see how it links to google maps.

Chris S
@Matt - It's currently a bespoke plugin. Due to the enormous data sizes in order to test it I doubt we'll make it an example, but it shows what the SDK can do if you need to work in a particular feature.