Times of War Development Team

[PsyVision]

ill have to dig the code out and have a look

[Zaei]

Ok, figured out the initialization problem... Appears that global variables are initialized to 0, while local variables are not, and since m_module was never explicitly set to 0, it never got set to 0 in my own code. Fixed that, then ran into another init problem, which also stemmed from un-initialized variables, which I also fixed.

Now I can get a server running... however, I can stop it :D. The call to dsClose simply hangs, dont know whats happening here... will take some more looking =).

Z.

[Zaei]

Ok, I've got the server running, and I can get a client to sort of connect =). It logs on, but immediately logs off, havent figured out why yet =).

Im thinking about converting the server to run on scripts, to make debugging a bit easier on me, but we shall see =).

Z.

[PsyVision]

hmmmm, seems to be running a bit crap :(

it seemed to work when i last ran it. i never tested it much on other computers though :s

[Zaei]

Figured out WHY the server wont stop... now need to figure out how to fix it =).

Z.

[Zaei]

Had to do with a socket being locked during a call to a blocking function... Essentially, the server would exit when someone tried to connect. Tested this, and found that it pretty much crashes the server. I simply removed the socket locking around the call, and things run smoothly now =). Now its time to figure out this login stuff =).

Z.

[Zaei]

Im gonna see if I cant rip the I/O stuff from the DPlay8 Maze Server sample, and use that for our server console. If youve got the DX8 SDK, run that sample, and youll see what I mean. Or I could post a screen shot, let me know =).

I think Ill use the same console as the game engine uses, maybe stick it in a DLL for more portable use, dunno =).

However, all of the above implies that I have the networking under control =). Couple of small changes need to be made, but I think ive got the hang of it now =).

I was gonna say something else, but I forgot what it was at the moment =).

Z.

[PsyVision]

I have looked at DPlay and would run with that myself. It soooooo infinitly better than mine. Ive got a cd with the Multiplayer Game Programming Tutorials on it. do u want me to upload it to my site ? it uses direct play 8 ?

[Zaei]

Originally posted by PsyVision
I have looked at DPlay and would run with that myself. It soooooo infinitly better than mine. Ive got a cd with the Multiplayer Game Programming Tutorials on it. do u want me to upload it to my site ? it uses direct play 8 ?
The only thing about DPlay8 is that I think it would be major overkill for what Im going to use it for, as well as it wont be able to run under lunix, which is what my server/router runs.

Z.

[Zaei]

I might have us online by tonight =). Jsut doing a quick cleanup on mymail message system right now. Moved the code from the Core module into the game Module, since that is where I want to keep the networking stuff (I dont want the Core module relying on anything else). Had to modify my timed mail delievery system, changed the message queue to a message prority queue, sorted by time. If the next message to be delievered is greater then the current time, it remains on the queue, and the queue is considered empty. Pretty slick, I think =).

Now all I need to do is plug in the network code, and implement the code to send a message to the server.

Z.

[Sastraxi]

Alright guys, I'm sorry about this whole absence thing, I'd like you to know that it stops after I get Gentoo up and running =).

[Zaei]

Wow, Sas is inventing light speed travel =P.

Right now im trying to figure out the best way of letting the server know on which client a physical mailbox resides. Probably create a couple of new messages...

Z.

[Sastraxi]

That I am ;) :p

Okay... on my side I am trying to find a fast Gentoo mirror... who knows what else is going on in my mind... =)

[Zaei]

Ok, Ive got the game to connect to a server. Something is going wrong, however, but ill figure it out =).

Z.

[PsyVision]

Sonding good there Zaei!

[Zaei]

Figured out the problem... virtual functions =).

Z.

[Zaei]

Ok, ive got the server working, and the client working as well. New console functions, name(string) to set your playername, and connect(string addr) to connect to a server. Will be adding another connect function, connect(string addr, string pass) at some point. The addr string is the standard "127.0.0.1:5600", so you can specify port. Might also add in the option to specify full addresses: "tow://user:pass@127.0.0.1:5600", let me know =).

Need to add some more things in... on join-game, the server will send the map name to the client. At some point, ill do a verification, and if the map doesnt exist, the client will notify the server, and either download it, or disconnect.

Also have the mail functionality implemented, though I dont know if it works yet, havent tested that out yet. For now, the server is acting as a mail router, recieving messages from the clients, and sending them back to all connected clients. The clients then stamp the raw messages and send them to the local PostOffice objects to deliever. The game is then simulated on each client separately. From the readings that I have done, this is the standard method of doing things =).

Z.

[PsyVision]

Again Zaei, Sounds Great.

For the support for tow:// things, make it so when the game starts if the command line is that or something like that it then stores the data and follows thru the normal steps to join a game (albeit automated and using the stored data).

[Zaei]

Thats probably what I will do, Psy, though if the game is run with that as the command line, I can just send it straight on through to the console.

Z.

[Zaei]

The packets are flying think and fast =). The server now sends the current map to the clients when they all signal ready. New console commands, say(string), whisper(string), for global messaging and whispering.

Z.

[PsyVision]

Sounds good, using my module ?

[Zaei]

Yup =).

Z.

[Zaei]

Ok, I need to do some thread proofing, and a couple of other things... moving along, though =).

Z.

[Zaei]

Need to move some code around, going multi-threaded =). Wrote up a nifty thread object a few minutes ago, and a mutex object earlier, so we wills ee where this takes me =).

Basically, I want to move some stuff over into other threads so they canw ork while im rendering. Things like data loading, so I can print out live log data, etc, etc.

Z.

[Zaei]

Alrighty, that time has again arrived, to clean up my code, and rebuild the engine =). I need to finally finalize object management and such, because at the moment, its driving me nuts =).

Z.

[Zaei]

Oh, and the source is 25,109 lines of code in the base engine =).

Z.

[Sastraxi]

Yeah, 25k :cool:
I can't wait until it comes time for the scripting ^_^

[PsyVision]

lol, just a few :):)

what code line counter do u have btw ? i tried to find a decent one that worked for vs7 but couldnt get one.

[Zaei]

Psy: Project Line Counter, for vc6 (dunno if there is a 7 version).

Working on thread proofing everything... =)

Z.

[Zaei]

Performance boost? :D

http://www.vbforums.com/attachment.php?s=&postid=1366562

Z.

[Zaei]

Alright, basically what I am doing now is looking over the components that I have, and thread proofing them, and slowly integrating the engine basics back into the system. As of right now, Ive got the console up and running, taking input, executing commands, etc. Having fun playing with these threads, currently getting ~44,000 updates per second (only timing the logic stuff for now, might add a second timer for actual fps) with the UI junk. That will drop quite quickly once I start getting some mutex clashing between the updating and rendering threads. Also had a small problem with my thread termination, but that has been sorted, and things are running smoothly =).

Z.

[PsyVision]

heh, nice fps there lol.

sounds good.

i tried that but it never seemed to install properly.

[Zaei]

Originally posted by PsyVision
]i tried that but it never seemed to install properly.
Hmmm? What were you installing? Sorry if its obvious, my brain has stopped working for the evening =).

Z.

[PsyVision]

Project Line Counter

[Zaei]

Ah =).

Z.

[Zaei]

Spent the day tracking down memory leaks, making more, and fixing them =). Have caught all of them so far, so Im fairly happy at the moment =).

Z.

[Sastraxi]

So thats what you do in your spare time :eek:
Today I spent doing so much work it wasn't funny =(

[Zaei]

Originally posted by Sastraxi
So thats what you do in your spare time :eek:
Today I spent doing so much work it wasn't funny =(
Yup... sounds like fun, eh? =)

LAN party tomorrow..the day after, so nothing will be getting done except thinking, maybe some more stuff sunday =)

Z.

[rEaL iGoR]

Hello, everyone.

I am sick. I've got mononucleosis. It's terrible. I've been sick for nearly 3 weeks and I've still got high temperature and an EXTREMELY soar throat...throaght...how is it written?

Nevertheless, I'm still here. If anybody wants me, I'm to be found sometimes at the MSN or you can notify me by email..I'm sure you all got it. I'm not really updated here, but I'd be happy to know how the progress are coming along.

Good night and good bye! See You

[Sastraxi]

Well if I can remember any of my medical knowledge mono goes away in about a month... and you don't have to worry about getting it twice ;)... so tough it out until then! :)

And it's sore throat if you wanted to know =)

[PsyVision]

Im ill too at the moment, feel sick, swollen glands, sore throat, weak body.

:(:(

[Jorj]

That's awful... I was sick earlier this week too.

Hope you guys are feeling better soon!

[Zaei]

=( Wish you all well soon =).

Im home now... slept until 4 this evening =).

Well will see what will happen next =)

Z.

[Sastraxi]

We will indeed =). Hey Z, mind whipping up the latest executable (when you do something nifty, whenever ;)), and sending it over to sastraxi@gmx.net? I'd like to see how this works on WineX... maybe we could keep the code compliant with WineX if it works ;) Who knows1 =)

[Zaei]

Will do, Sas =). Might be a while until I get something that is worthwhile, but I will =).

On a side note, since we are planning on allowing recording/playback of games, what about a command line option that throws the game into Screen Saver mode, and plays back a saved game loop type thing? =)

Z.

[Sastraxi]

That sounds pretty cool! I wouldn't mind having that playing back for an SS... also, we need some kind of propietary demo format and a demo->avi/mpg encoder. I could whip up the small encoder in VB using avifile (or maybe that's the linux thing, but I know I can do it).

In the end, we'll have quite a few modes:

Normal Mode loads tow, optionally the tow mod [mod].tow [-mod "modname"]
Screensaver Mode plays back (at full framerate) the demo file.tow -ss "mydemo.towdemo"
Demo Record Mode records a demo file from another [server] into [demo] file. Using the [only-record] flag we can tell it not to render (ala spectator mode). You can record a demo of current game by using same record syntax in console.tow -record "mydemo.towdemo" -server "tow://192.168.1.107" -only-record
Demo "Playback" Mode plays back, frame by frame, a demo file at specified [fps], and specified [size]. 2nd syntax advances the frame.tow -encode "mydemo.towdemo" -fps 23.976 -size 400x300
tow -advance 1
Spectator Mode connect to [server] to spectate a game from [player]'s POV. You can change this from inside the game.tow -server "tow://192.168.1.107" -player 1

Basically, we should make it so console commands can be typed on the commandline (like a startup script for tow). One potential problem is how we communicate the rendered image to the media encoding program. I was thinking image -> bmp -> image -> stream, it would be best just image -> stream, but I'm not familiar with program interoperability. Can anyone advise?

[Zaei]

Sounds fine, though I would rather have the demo stuff as console commands.

For executing commands from the console, I was thinking -<command> for options, +<command> for console commands.

Also, I need a default file extension for maps. Suggestions? =)

Z.

[PsyVision]

Seems okay Sas. I would go with what Zaei says as an added extra.

.twm ??

[Sastraxi]

*shudders at the mention of that horrible window manager*

Yeah, .twm would be great =) :D

[Zaei]

Originally posted by Sastraxi
*shudders at the mention of that horrible window manager*

Yeah, .twm would be great =) :D
It is, isnt it... :D

.twm it is then. Unless you all want something longer then 3 letters... we ARE on a 32bit operating system here =P.

Reason I ask is so I can allow people to specify <map> and append the extension on before loading.

Trying to decide whether or not to start with the user interface, or the game itself =).

Z.

[PsyVision]

.twm should do it.

go for the UI ;)

[Zaei]

Ive been pretty much completely unconcious for the last two days or so, except for school and work, so nothing has gotten done at all.

I got the map to load up with the new system, looking good. Modified the camera so it is a bit more intuitive, need to make a couple more changes to it, though =).

One problem with the map is that it still blocks rendering, which was exactly what I wanted to avoid with the threads. So im gong to need to change some more stuff around, no big deal. Also need to change how the input thing handles key releases (the way it is now is that the command needs to be the same for key down and up, except for a + or - in front of the command), will be changing that =).

Z.

[Zaei]

Alrighty, after a small hiatus, I am back =).

Had a load of junk due today and yesterday, so I worked on that all of friday. Worked saturday, then went over to a neighboring campus to visit people, so nothing got done. Drove home sunday, worked, then finished work, so nothing got done. One of my friends had suggested an HL mod for me to try (The Specialists http://www.specialistsmod.net , lots of fun), and I played that sunday and monday night, then did some more work for school. As far as I know, everything is smoothing back to normal now.

Worked some on the game today, had to modify my mutex object, since I wanted a function that was NT only. It works, but I am having some problems that I need to track down that probably have something to do with a memory over write somewhere... but I will get there =).

Z.

[PsyVision]

Sounds like someones having fun at Uni.

I've been looking at a whole load of Uni's seen as im hoping to go in September 2004 to one and study Computer Science.

[Sastraxi]

You'll do well, Psy =)
Sounds fun, Z. I hope you're still getting some work done, though :)

Myself, I have been out and about this way and that for the whole weekend and part of yesterday. Today we had company so I was busy entertaining and couldn't do much work. On the other hand, I have gotten quite far in developing a small {freeware} app based around the command-line for converting various music formats. It's part one of five in a digital music suite, audioinfinity, that I'm developing...

Although it makes me stuck with one question, which is the purpose of bringing this up. Do you think I should accept multiple files at one time or only one? The way I have set it up now it only accepts one, but I think this may not be sufficient... what do you think?

[Zaei]

Originally posted by PsyVision
one and study Computer Science.
I already hate both of the CS programs at the schools im looking to transfer to. But thats OK, Ive already tested out of the basics :D

Sas, explain more =). I think that if there are a lot of cmd line options for whatever the thing does, you should allow it to accept multiple files.

Z.

[Sastraxi]

It's no matter; I decided to bite the bullet and add it in. The only problem I have now is how I'm going to name the output files now... I'm sure it'll come to me though...

If you want to see it, here's the GUI (near nothing coding-wise is done at the moment, I just started yesterday).

[Zaei]

Well, I just fixed those funky memory errors... now Ive just got to figure out HOW :D

Z.

[Zaei]

WHoops. No wonder my system starts running sluggishly after a few debug sessions =)

Detected memory leaks!
Dumping objects ->
{2432} normal block at 0x0088A630, 6084 bytes long.
Data: < > 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Object dump complete.


:D

Z.

[Zaei]

Alright, all leaks are fixed.

After realizing that 78^2 == 6084, I knew where my leak was, and fixed that. The other 512 byte leak Is pent 45 minutes tracking down before realizing that it was a fake leak :rolleyes:

Z.

[PsyVision]

hey, ive seen that memory logger somewhere, i was reading the flip code message board but now i cant find the thread. where did you get the code for it from ? i saw a piece of code that had "Detected memory leaks!" in it :s

At least the memory is being cleaned nicely :):)

Sas, do it multiple files ;)

[Zaei]

Originally posted by PsyVision
hey, ive seen that memory logger somewhere, i was reading the flip code message board but now i cant find the thread. where did you get the code for it from ? i saw a piece of code that had "Detected memory leaks!" in it :s

At least the memory is being cleaned nicely :):)

Sas, do it multiple files ;)
Its actually built into the MS version of the runtime library. Just run this little bit of code when your program starts up:

int flag;
flag = _CrtSetDbgFlag(_CRTDBG_REPORT_FLAG);
flag |= _CRTDBG_LEAK_CHECK_DF;
_CrtSetDbgFlag(flag);


Z.

[Zaei]

Added in console message scrolling... you can now move through the whole log with pg up/dn =). Also addd a new command "developer(n)", which allows you access to level n debug messages =).

Z.

[Sastraxi]

Okay, I thought I'd lighten the mood to the non-programmers of the team by adding in some new ideas I have had.

Remember how each building needs flat ground? Well, how about buildings can provide flat ground, we we can have "bases". For example, you can have a sort of elevated stone platform, and add a stair to it, or maybe if it's quite tall add a tunnel underneath. Something in the roman style :).

Also, not sure if I ever mentioned this, but Siege towers are a must for this kind of game.... ;)

[Sastraxi]

Here's that picture I forgot to attach:

[Zaei]

Sounds good Sas =). I need to get buildings implemented soon =).

Z.

[Zaei]

And Audiocon looks nifty :thumb:

Z.

[Zaei]

Finally got to test the code I wrote last night, worked like a charm. Implemented command history, so the up and down arrow keys cycle through the most recent console commands that you typed.

Z.

[Sastraxi]

Unix-style ;)

[PsyVision]

Sounding good !

[PsyVision]

Zaei, i got the memory leak thing working. How do i tell where my in my code the errors are ?



Detected memory leaks!
Dumping objects ->
{149} normal block at 0x00437D68, 172 bytes long.
Data: < !B > 80 21 42 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 05 00 00 00
{148} normal block at 0x00437CF8, 48 bytes long.
Data: < ? > 00 00 80 3F 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
{147} normal block at 0x00437CA0, 24 bytes long.
Data: < > 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
{146} normal block at 0x00437C30, 48 bytes long.
Data: < > 00 00 80 BF 00 00 80 BF 00 00 A0 C1 00 00 80 BF
Object dump complete.



I could'nt see a line number like in other managers.

[Sastraxi]

What's the number in parentheses at the start?

[Zaei]

Originally posted by Sastraxi
What's the number in parentheses at the start?
*shrug* :D

Psy, my method is to override new, and check the returned pointer, ie:

void* operator new(size_t n)
{
void* m = malloc(n);
if(unsigned long(m) == 0x00437D68)
{
m = m; // breakpoint here
}
return m;
}

Then you can just move up the stack to find your leak :D

Z.

[Zaei]

Im still here, and still working =). Added a developer console function to set the debug log level, and a cmd_list function to list the available commands. Thinking about implementing a command search type function as well, but we will see.

Also want to implement console tab completion at some point, but not now =).


Z.

[Sastraxi]

You really should implement tab-completion. It's very annoying to have to have a reference beside you when typing something at the console, and maybe just a general help that outputs all of the possible commands.

By the way, does the window scroll (scrollwheel)? I remember you saying it did at one point, but I can't find that post.

[Zaei]

cmd_list lists all the possible commands =P.

The console does scroll, but with pgup and pgdn, not the scroll wheel.

Im having a small problem with the terrain rendering... it doesnt seem to want to render any of the tiles but one... so I am searching to fix this =).

Z.

[Sastraxi]

Perhaps an unset variable.

[Zaei]

Probably me not setting up something correctly... thats why I backed up all the code before starting this rewrite =)

Z.

[Zaei]

Well, the terrain problem is sorted now... Its amazing how one single assignment can screw up everything =). Basically, the terrain can be created in two ways. The first, the number of tiles and the tile size are embedded into the map file, and are loaded when the map is loaded. The second, those are specified by the program for the creation. To tell between the two, if the number of tiles passed by the program is 0, it means that the attributes have been loaded, and to use those values. However, the variable that moves the current position of the tile to be created was still being set to the value passed by the program (0), and not the one loaded from the file. So, the terrain is abck in action =).

Z.

[PsyVision]

I know what you mean Zaei :s

Nice Going !

[Zaei]

Also made the shadows look nicer, and added an option to toggle them on and off (dont ask me why, I just felt like it =).

Z.

[PsyVision]

Screenshot ? ;)

[PsyVision]

I have started on the UI for my engine. Its going well.

Zaei, how did you do it for Divinity.

I am having a static list of windows within a window class. as a new window is defined or a class derrived window is defined it adds it to the list. Then on mouse down etc events i call Window::MouseDown(iX, iY); and it runs through the linked list calling OnMouseDown(iX, iY);

I guess im going to need some kind of Z order for the windows.

[Zaei]

I use a UserInterface manger class, which contains a list of windows, and a list of input handlers. When input is recieved, it is sent to each input handler individually, which decides what to do with it, and returns either true or false. If it returns true, the input message is sent to the next handler, otherwise not (so you can set a hook, and have it steal input, instead of passing it along).

Z.

[PsyVision]

Cheers,

mine passes along the list and i have set it so if it doesnt handle the input or it wantsto be passed along the handler returns -1, if it does handle it, it returns the window's ID.

[Zaei]

This is going to be a really busy week for me, lots of junk going on all over the place, so I dont know how much time ill get on TOW. Just wanted to let you all know =).

Z.

[PsyVision]

The first release of my engine in its current state is on my site (www.psyvision.co.uk). It has lots of bugs within the UI but it should run fine.

[PsyVision]

Zaei, in your user interface, lets say you have to windows overlapping:



--------
| |
| --------
| |z| |
-------- |
| |
--------



And the mouse clicks where the letter z is, how do you handle that ? in mine i simple run through all windows and pass the coordinates on mouse click etc, this isnt good because in my case both windows move.

So, how do you do the Z-Ordering ?

[PsyVision]

I was thinking to having a pointer to the currently active window. At startup this is the first window active, and a list of all the others (no active).

When a hit is registered, it checks if its within the bound of the currently active window, if it is it only sends it to that one.

If the click isnt on the currently active one but not on another it doesnt do anything.

If the click isnt on the active one but on the other then that one is moved to the active list and the other one (previously active is put onto the list of non active).

[Zaei]

Thats how I do it... Ill eventually at real Zordering in, though, if only for the rendering.

Z.

[Sastraxi]

How was your day in NY?

[Zaei]

Didnt end up going... no one could drive =(

Z.

[Sastraxi]

Where we at folks?
If you want some news from me, I've finally hauled my arse into gear on the fora... Not to expect anything, but I may just get around to finishing if I have enough free time...

[PsyVision]

Got a huge piece of computing coursework in this friday so ive been working my butt off on that im afraid.

[Sastraxi]

No worries, just looking for a status.

[Zaei]

Im still here, but a bit loaded down with other stuff =(. Will be picking back up just as soon as I can.

Z.

[Sastraxi]

I pretty much figured - April is the time for big school and uni projects, am I right? =)

[Zaei]

Originally posted by Sastraxi
I pretty much figured - April is the time for big school and uni projects, am I right? =)

Not really sure... I dont pay much attention :D

Z.

[PsyVision]

It is in the UK :s

[PsyVision]

Im with you on that.

[Sastraxi]

Yeah... don't know why I posted that here... was still mad from when this guy did that... Who knows. I think I'll remove the link, it doesn't matter.

[Zaei]

OK.

After an extremly long and unplanned hiatus (sorry guys), I've finally done something...

By logical deduction, I figured out that the threading I had going on was REALLY screwing up performance (~5fps on my p4 2ghz gf2, ~50 on my p3 500, tnt2 :confused: ), so ive removed it... back to a standard loop setup. Then wrote a thread to load maps in the background, so basically a reversal of what I had before. Better performance on my tnt2 (~70 fps, with a map onscreen), havent gotten it running on the other yet (might have to copy everything over, not really sure as of yet...).

Z.

[PsyVision]

Good Zaei.

I have to say that i hate threads in a game. in a game i think it should be a process, you get input, process and respond. i hate threads running all over. in the end its all done by the same cpu and takes the same time...

[Zaei]

Originally posted by PsyVision
Good Zaei.

I have to say that i hate threads in a game. in a game i think it should be a process, you get input, process and respond. i hate threads running all over. in the end its all done by the same cpu and takes the same time...
At the moment the only place I use a separate thread is to load the maps. This way I can immedately see the output of my various debug messages immediately.

Z.

[Zaei]

Camera Limiting had been reimplemented... a lot cleaner this time around. Will be adding script camera commands maybe tomorrow.

Z.

[Sastraxi]

It's good to see some progress going on again...

I'd like you all to know that I'm very excited about the summer coming up, it gives me a chance to work on this again. I've got myself going on ASP, and also am in the middle of learning XSLT. This will allow a 2-phase process making things extremely clear to program.

ASP gets stuff from database, puts it in XML. XML is transformed into XHTML by the way of XSLT... the new web technologies are simply amazing.

[Zaei]

Sounds like fun, Sas =).

I also forgot to mention that ive started adding ui object creation script stuff in. At the moment all I can do is create a mouse cursor, but that will be changing =).

Z.

[Zaei]

Well, i need to restructure the UI system. As it stands, ill be rewriting basic code for every component I want to add, which is unacceptable. Ill be using a layered system, where everything starts from a Basic Window (which is basically a rectangle). The you can add a border, title bar, etc, whatever you like. Ill add ZOrdering, and better window management as well.

Z.

[Zaei]

Well, I have had too much work to do to do anything at all, so I've decided to just not worry about TOW for right now, get all of my other stuff that needs doing done, and resume work in 2 weeks or so. After that, Ill be able to give the project some much needed attention =).

Z.

[Sastraxi]

I think we've all made that decision ;). Things catch up with you, times change...

See you all again in the summer :D

[Zaei]

Just spent the longest time doing some actual coding for the first time in a month or so =).

Implemented Animated Textures, and the converter for them. Works like a charm =).

Essentially, you define a list of textures and their alpha masks, and it converts each texturem and appends them to a header, containing the number of textures, the width of the textures, and the length of the final animation.

The texture in the game inherits from the basic texture type, so the usage is exactly the same.

Next, I will try to get vertex animated meshes up and running (ive got this huge desire to see something run across my terrain, at the moment =).

Z.

[Zaei]

Been slowly working on the animated mesh converter, and trying to model something to animate... I am simply not cut out to do modelling :D.

Anyway, ill probably do some testing on the converter tomorrow, see if it works, and then try to implement it into the engine =).

Z.

[Sastraxi]

You know I'd help you, but I have a lack of modelling programs!

[Zaei]

I know =).

I decided to do a bit of testing around, so i created a 128x128 sized map. However, I forgot to change the map size from 78. The terrain generation simply took it in stride, and just generated any undefined areas as 0 height, default texture areas. It actually looked REALLY neat, because there were cliffs in the terrain :D.

Anyway... still working along with this animation stuff... just need a model to test it on, before i get started with it in the engine =).

Z.

[Zaei]

Ok, I think the converter works (i've verified that the header up to the start of the first frame's data is correct), now I just need to see if I can reload it, and get it to display =).

Z.

[Zaei]

Well, it animates :D

Not quite sure if its working exactly right, but it DOES move, soooo :D.

A few things to add (ie, I forgot to allow animation length settings in the file, so i have to go and fix that...), but it works well so far =).

Z.

[Zaei]

Well, spent some time with the new UI today... MUCH improved =). Still wont build yet (need to implement more stuff), but im getting there =)

Z.

[Zaei]

Ok, I HAVE been working... just havent had any new developments to post at the moment :D

Have been spedning all of my time with the UI, and I finally got the thing to build and run =). However, unfortunately, I did it right this time, so I cant interact with my console (yet), since the UserInterface is catching all of my input, and sending messages off to the window... which arent handled :D. Will probably get taht doen tomorrow =).

More to come =).

Z.

[Sastraxi]

Z, I'm not expecting you to be working :confused: I've given everyone until the summer (maybe mid-June?) to themselves, just so the project doesn't overwhelm. But it's back to work then!

[Sastraxi]

Z, I'm not expecting you to be working :confused: I've given everyone until the summer (maybe mid-June?) to themselves, just so the project doesn't overwhelm. But it's back to work then!

[Zaei]

Puh, It's been summer since May 19th for me =P.

Besides, I've got nearly nothing else to do :D

Z.

[Sastraxi]

I think it's time that we shipped this thread out. I really don't like what's going on here, more than I didn't like it before. It just seems we have no say in what goes on around here anymore, and truth be told I'm getting sick of it. Thinking GalahTech temporarily and then maybe off to our own...?

[Zaei]

Wouldnt be so bad if Dell Deals wasnt a super mod... if it was a normal user we could simply throw it on our Ignore Lists...

Im fine with whatever you guys want to do...

Z.

[PsyVision]

waoh, lots been goign on, i dont hang on these forums and more and i didnt get the updates about people posting. Sounds like progress is still being made, im still with the project and shall be continuing after my exams are over (couple of weeks).

[Sastraxi]

Read my post, we'll all be back up to work on about June 20th or so... :)

[Zaei]

Certainly looks as if this advert stuff is here to stay...

Z.

[Zaei]

Moved the console stuff over to its own DLL... so ill be able to use it in other places =). Need to implement some more of the UI, but as of now, the old system is gone =).

Z.

[Sastraxi]

Okay guys, I'm sorry I'm late for doing this, but let's get this project started up again. After all, late is better than never, no? :D

Zaei I've been getting that GUI sketch all ready for you... It's something of a mixture between wood and metal... Well I'll post it in a day or two anyway ;)

[Algar]

I'm interested in joining the team, what will we use? BitBlt? DX7?

[Zaei]

Ok, I'm alive now =).

When I last left off, I was playing around with the net code again (trying to figure out how I was doing what I was doing with it :D).

Once I get that sketch from Sas, I will figure out what sort of GUI controls I'll need, and start implementing them =).

Z.

[Sastraxi]

You want these to be the actual graphics or just a sketch? I can do both but I don't want to put in a bunch of effort that's not required =/

[Zaei]

Sketch. I'll want textures later though =P.

Basically, I want to know what UI components I need to write, and how flexible they should be.

Z.

[Zaei]

OK!

I've got camera movement working again, and it's restricted to a certain plane/rectangle so that the camera will never be able to see outside of the map =).

I thought about seeing if I couldnt rotate the camera based on the normal of the tile the camera is over at the moment, but we shall see if I really want to do that :D

I'm also setting up the networking server to load the game DLL and get the networking module from that DLL... so while the shell runs the game, the server just utilizes the netwoking part of the game to start the server, and go by the game rules.

I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to run the networking component, but I will probably go with my original idea of sending game object messages through the server, and then off to the objects that they should go to on all client machines.

The UI is back in action, no problems there (had a little screw up with the console, wasn't displaying correctly for some reason after my conversion, but that has been taken care of).

After all of that, I think all that is really left is to flesh out the scripting system (which will involve implementing the particle system, not sure if I want to script particle effects or not, though), and finish up the mesh animation system (just need to add one more thing, I think), and last but not least, get the gameplay stuff in place :D. Since most of that will be data driven, I just need to plan out how I want everything to interact, then code it :D

Ok, that's my update for now =)

Z.

[PsyVision]

Excellent. Sounds like youve been doing a lotta work :)

[Sastraxi]

Sounds good Z ;) Since I have changed my homepage to Galahtech I haven't seen too much of what's been going on here. Should be fun times ahead ;)

[Zaei]

My homepage will always and forever be about:blank :D

Did we ever decide if we want to move over to GT or not?

Z.

[Sastraxi]

I say yes.

[Sastraxi]

Here I'm posting a thread over there now. You all come over now :D

http://www.galahtech.com/forums

Anyway, I've got some news...

[Zaei]

More specifically:
http://www.galahtech.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4335

=)

Z.

[KamiKazeKiwi3]

*Silently crawls in.* Hellooo? I haven't been here in what, 2 years? How is the project doing? I had to leave because there was nothing for me to do until the engine was done.

[PsyVision]

See Zaei's post, new forum ;)

[duc]

What happend to this. I dont see any updates @ crystal rain...

[PsyVision]

http://www.galahtech.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4335