How do I make a simple FPS ?

sriram · Post by **sriram** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 12:36 pm

OK,I've just discovered this great peice of software that allows me to make games without programming...I've went through the basic level building tutorials,played around a bit and all excited at the fact that I've actually "made" a small game

But,what I actually wish to make is a simple,really basic FPS..

What i'd managed to do sofar is simply make levels...empty ones...what I wish to know is :

1)How to export an object from 3ds max 8 to Reality Factory [with textures]
2)How to export "players"[which I'll create in 3ds max 8 and rig them with Biped]
3)How to use NormalMapped textures for the level geometry and for my player

and most importantly,

4)How to give my player a "weapon" ,add a few "enemies" who "attack" my player...you know the basic shooter stuff[HUD showing health/ammo] and after my player kills all the enemies,the game should end...

Well,if anyone can plz help me with these points,I'd be really thankful

I tried downloading the "demos" but none of them ran on my PC[all of them hang at the "Genesis 3D" logo..the gears wont rotate...]

Also,inorder to get RF[using .75] to work,I had to set the "fullscreen" option in the ini to "false"....otherwise the menu screen simply flickers and I cant see anything properly...

hike1 · Post by **hike1** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 1:38 pm

rf faq http://terrymorgan.net/rffaq.zip

http://www.dhost.info/realityfactory/docs.htm

asylumdemo.exe is a 'simple' fps
http://terrymorgan.net/download.htm

Post by **federico** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 2:20 pm

About the genesis gear freezing and crashing the app, click the right mouse button on the realityfactory.exe, cick properties, and then set the compatibility setting to Windows98.

Post by **AndyCR** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 2:56 pm

to my knowledge nobody has created an exporter for 3ds max 8 yet, you can try one for an older version but it likely wont work, youll probably need milkshape3d or something similar to get them into rf correctly if you really want to make them in max.

pretty much everything else is covered in the manual, check under pawn scripting for enemies, and weapons for weapons.

welcome to the forums!

sriram · Post by **sriram** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 1:19 pm

Thx a lot guys !! I've just started using RFEditPro and currently getting used to it...here are a few screens from my first level with RF...its really basic...just fooling around :

hike1 : Thx...i've downloaded them already...but I thoought that the procedure for using AI script for an actor would be a lot simpler than going through a ten thousand line text file

Also,I couldnt use the weapons in the asylum demo

I've tried pressing all the numbers,but none of the weapons showedup...mouseclicks didnt do anything...is this because i ran the demo with Win 98 compatibility mode ? The demo has the AI that i'm looking for[the melee and shooting enemies]...and i did find some .s scripts..Just gotta know how to use them once I finish making my level

federico : Thx !!! That worked !!

AndyCR : I've managed to find the requried plugins on Jet3D site,which worked with RF

I've imported a simple textured cube but i had to apply the "Physique" modifier to get it to work...well,this is a bit annoying as I wish to export lots of static meshes from max and applying physique to a mesh that doesnt move is a bit meaningless...
...I do have Milkshape 3D...so how do I go about exporting static meshes using 3ds max and Milkshape 3D ?

And a few more questions for now,
1)How do I check my framerate ingame ?
2)Will there be a huge performance hit if I use normalmapped level geometry ?[can i do this atall ? I dont see any demos with normalmapped geometry]

I'll bug you guys with scripting queries once I make a decent level

Thx again

Post by **AndyCR** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 2:30 pm

thats an incredible looking first level!

dont worry about the physique stuff, rf needs at least one bone in every model.

1) there is a debug menu you can enable in one of the inis, but i reccomend down loading another program like fraps to check the framerate because rf's framerate checked isnt very accurate from what i hear.

2)in the current version you cant jhave normal mapped geometry, theyre working on it, for now you can use embm, its in the manual under bumpmapping or something similar. ir shouldnt be a terrible performance hit, in irrlicht tests ive only seen a 20 fps decrease from your average wall to a parallax (one generation above normal mapping) mapped room.

sriram · Post by **sriram** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 11:27 am

Thanks AndyCR

I've managed to get EMBM working for the level geometry[though the result is not quite what I'd expected...maybe I should tweak the maps a bit]...well,I've tried using bumpmapping for the actors by following the procedure mentioned in the doc,but its not working on my actor

Check this screen[all the walls have EMBM..except for one wall]...and my T-Rex actor doesnt seem to have any lighting atall...and definitely no normal/EMBM...

This is how the normalmapped model is supposed to look[these are 3ds max renders] :

And this is the provedure that I've followed while exporting my actor from max :
1)Applied physique and the default material [BN0_rex.bmp]
2)Exported the .NFO
3)Created a new project in AStudio,added my .NFO,and in the extra materials tab,I've added BNB_rex.bmp[with name as BNB_rex] and BNS_rex.bmp[with name as BNS_rex]...and then built my .act file[successfully..and going by the file size,my extra textures are included in the .act file..]

I've tried the same procedure using EMBM instead of dot3...but still no bump

These are the textures that i've used :

BN [Normal Mapping method] :

BM [EMBM Method] :
The Default and Specular textures are the same as above...the Bump texture is :

I did enable the Extratextures option in the ini...and I've tried bringing this actor as both a "StaticMesh" and a "StaticEntityProxy"

Where am I going wrong ?

Also,how do I get the specular maps right[I've tried tweaking the intesity of the maps a lot..but the results arent as good as they might be when using normal maps] ?
[for level geometry]...these are my current maps:

Post by **AndyCR** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 1:34 pm

do you have any lights in your level? make sure you do, and make sure you uncheck default light level in the compile dialog.

sriram · Post by **sriram** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 5:07 pm

Thx Andy CR,I do have a dynamic light..but turningoff that default light level drastically improved the realism of the bumpmap on the level geometry[and also improved my framerate]

EDIT : YAY ! Got the Normal map working

Thanx Andy CR,for your post in THIS thread ...I got the hint from this :

one thing to stress: i went through this to find out what i did wrong: NAME THE MATERIAL IN MILKSHAPE BN0_ SUCHANDSUCH, NOT ONLY THE BMP FILE. i struggled with this.

I've tried the same in 3ds max...changed th name of the material [in theMaterial Browser] from "01 - Default" to "BN0_rex" and that did the trick !

Checkout the screenies :

Finally,i've got my normalmapped Rex into a game engine ! Thx a LOT Andy !!!

Now to get myself the flash light so that I can drool over my model with dynamic light

hike1 · Post by **hike1** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:17 pm

the procedure for using AI script for an actor would be a lot simpler than going through a ten thousand line text file

It is, just read the scripts in the /scripts directory, the FAQ is
for searching. Everything in this thread is referred to in the
FAQ, it's not that easy to search though , if someone wants to put in
keywords here and there, go for it.

Do you mean you couldn't get any weapons to work in
the Asylumdemo.exe? All you get at the begining is a bat.

sriram · Post by **sriram** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:33 pm

@hike1 : Thx for the info,I'll start going through all the .s files now

Also,I didnt mean any offense against the RFFAQ..I highly respect the patience,hardwork and kindness of the author for putting it up in one place...but the only thing it lacked was an "index"....it doesnt matter much...from now,I'll try to huntdown the "solutions" in it first before posting here

And about the Asylum demo,yes,I couldnt use ANY weapons [and I didnt get any bat at the start either]...has it go anything to do with the compatibliblty option ? Anyways,I'm downloading your new Asylum Demo #2 now

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 7:44 pm

sriram?! the zb-er who did jeremy's site? cool to see you round these parts if it's you! rf rocks. i can see you're already getting the hang of it. yeah read the docs/faq on scripting. it's pretty straight forward once it clicks. if you hit a wall just ask. don't know the prob you're hitting on the asylum demo or i'd try to help!

sriram · Post by **sriram** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 3:42 am

@Pete : Yep,thats me !

And its great to see you here

The more time I spend on RF,the more interesting it gets....I'm hoping to make something out of this cool engine using max/ZB/Photoshop

Also,ReplicA might find this interesting...he had problems trying to get his models "ingame" [be it Doom 3 or any other engine]....so,he might be intersted in RF if i show some max>ZB>max>RF stuff

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 2:52 pm

can't wait to see what you come up with. i'm sure it'll be awesome! hope replica gets it sorted out. his stuff's cool. what's he running into? nm i'll ask him!

sriram · Post by **sriram** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 2:13 pm

@Pete : Thx

I'm planning to make somethnig "Doom3ish"..sofar,I'd managed to get a basic,empty room..complete with EMBM and the wonderful Flashlight

Here are a few screens :

Sofar,I'm happy that I got EMBM to look decent and at the same time a good framerate ....the bumpmaps look great with the flashlight...but here are the problems i ran into :

1) Stencil Shadows : How do I get these for my StaticEntitiyProxies ?? I've tried everything mentioned in the FAQ..but still couldnt get it to work Also,do stencil shadows react dynamically to my flashlight[a DSpotLight] ?

2) Lighting of my StaticMeshes : My normalmapped model does react to the flash light...but the problem is,its being lit even in complete darkness....Is there anythnig that i can do so that it showsup ONLY in my flashlight ?

I didnt have problem with EMBM level geometry[i've tried a cylinder],they react to the flashlight as they should and they cast some cool "dynamic" shadows

I plan to bring in many staticentities into my level....but if they dont react to the flashlight.....well,I'll start working on a new level without using EMBM.....I believe that one can comeup with something cool even without using EMBM and normalmapped characters