How do I make a simple FPS ?

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 3:34 pm

it's been a long time since i've had a chance to do any work in rf. the memory is a tad fuzzy. so i'm not a lot of help but...

1. staticentityproxies are capable of stencil shadows. staticmeshes aren't(?). be sure to use the right one. in both the entity and the envsetup you need to enable stencil shadows. not sure on the flashlight. i'd think so because it will for level geo but seps are a different beast.

2. seen the problem before but can't remember how to solve it.

i'd think qod's demo - house of shadows - would be good to look at. not sure if it's online any more though. i know i've got it some where. i'll post it to one of the ftps when i get a chance to find it... ok with you qod (or do you have it handy)?

and yeah you can make something cool without all the glitzy stuff! but it's in there. just gotta figure out how to use it!

sriram · Post by **sriram** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 4:19 pm

@Pete : Thx for the tips....I've tried those options....but I still couldnt get stencils

Well,for now,I've decided to start an outdoor environment...without using any fancy bumpmap pants

I've just started working on this...note that its not even 5 % done...just some walls with some temporary lighting. I'm gonna add LOTS of staticmeshes to this[grass,barrels,garbage,old vehicles,electricity poles,tents,decals,lots of other shit that we usually find in an "Arabian" style street...]

I've created all the textures using Photoshop...the Skycube is created using Terragen...

What do you guys think of the level sofar ?

This is my "first" ever level thats gonna be actually something more than a "hollow block with a few cylinders"[which I must've made in a gazillion games that shipped with mod tools].....I'm glad i've found RF..hehe...its taknig me a step further in terms of level design

I plan on making a "Survival/Horror" game with this...hehe...there is nothing like trying to scare ppl in daylight

As usual,more questions

:

1) How do I get the damn stencil shadows to work ?

2) I plan on maknig my own player model.....and I'd like to know th basic animations that are required for the player[I see lots of animations for the Virgil.act model

I dont want to make them all....] Also,is a .bip of Virgil's motions available anywhere ? That way i can simply use the same motions for my model..

PS : I would like to thank the Admin for putting my test level as the IOTW

I was shocked and at the same time VERY happy when I saw it

I will try to comeup with something cool with my street.hehe..by next week

hike1 · Post by **hike1** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 5:21 pm

line 1150 rf faq

to enable stencil shadows you have to call
geEngine_SetStencilShadowsEnable(geEngine *Engine, geBoolean Enable, int NumLights, geFloat r, geFloat g, geFloat b, geFloat a)
and for each actor you want to cast shadows
geActor_SetStencilShadow(geActor *A, geBoolean DoStencilShadow)

sorry, totally forgot to mention that you need an additional entry in the menu.ini file to be able to turn on/off the stencil shadows from the menu

to the video options menu add

; define Shadow Box
; format : screen_X screen_Y image# width height image_X image_Y mouseover_X mouseover_Y set_X set_Y Animation# AnimationOver# AnimationSet#

shadowbox=100 352 1 19 19 38 85 19 85 0 85 -1 -1 -1

; define Shadow text
; format : screen_X screen_Y font

shadowtext=150 354 FONT17

to change the default text "Enable Stencil Shadows" add
vshadowtext=your text

To control the alpha and color of the stencil shadows and the maximum number of lights that cast shadows there are some new entries in the EnvironmentSetup entity:
SShadowsAlpha-I put 200
SShadowsColor- I put 0 0 0 all black
SShadowsMaxLightToUse- I put 8 the maximum

to enable stencil shadows for pawns add
stencilshadows=true
to the pawn definition in the pawn.ini file

I think, but I'm not sure that FSantialiasing must be set to =0 in the D3d24.ini,
at least I got the stencils back when I did that..

in the entities you just have to set UseStencilShadows to true, you don't need a shadowbitmap

This would be static entity proxies, static
meshes don't have this.

SShadowMAxLightToUse - max number of lights that will cast shadows at the same time, can be 0 - 8, these are dynamic and static lights and spotlights, no sunlights, they are choosen by distance and bsp-leaf visibility (I think I have to redo this code, since it doesn't work optimally)

one last thing to check is whether your video card supports 8bit stencil buffer or not
open the D3DDrv.log and search for the following line

EnumZBufferFormats: StencilBitDepth>=8... can do 8bit stencil buffer
Also, in Playersetup Entity, lock view must be 'FALSE"

UPdate: Lock View -not true, if you want shadows for the 3rd person player you have to set the level view point to 1 though (not switching views in game via F1, F2, F3 keys)

Note, I haven't tried this in RF 075, only 072a, I turned them
all off because they take 10 FPS off my frame rate.

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 3:26 am

there's a file floating around - maybe in the tools folder nowadays - that decompiles .acts into a .bdy (body) and its .mots (motions). forget which one but one of the actor tools...guh! or you can use milkshape. the bdy contains a mesh and skeleton. the mots contain all the transforms. so if you decompile virgil... in milkshape, delete the mesh in the bdy and import yours. assign verts and save out a new bdy. i think you can just rename all the mots to match your new bdy. then compile in actorstudio. but you may need to bring the mots into milkshape too. either way note... crash often warning! but you can get it to work with some patience (and save oftens).

no animations are required for a player or pawn. just a bone. the list in the ini can be edited to whatever you want. just got to be sure stuff's named correctly.

like the level. i'm telling ya, you're going to do something cool with rf. rock on!

shadows... well let us know how you figured it out!

sriram · Post by **sriram** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 7:03 pm

@hike1 : Thx.but I'd already tried what was mentioned in the FAQ[I've mentioned this on the Flashlight thread]...but I still couldnt get stencil shadows...well,I give up on stencils for now..maybe they dont work in 0.75

Pete : Thx a lot !!! It was the ActorDecompile.exe !!! I've just checked out how to export .mots ..I'll get into it when i start modelling the character models..

For now...
Screenshots of my progress :click to enlarge

I've added some more geometry based models..and 3 static meshes[the electric wires,the barrel and the tyre]..I've used decals as "Shdows" for now[until i figureout stencils]

The static meshes have all the bump+specular+lighting baked in max....and there are still LOTS of meshes left to add to the level....I'll post more updates once the street looks crowded enough

hike1 · Post by **hike1** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 7:18 pm

Nice job on the levels, I was wondering when Indians were going to show up here, they write half the world's software..

Milkshape will automatically add a bone to a mesh when you
export a .bdy file, maybe not where you want it though.

SithMaster · Post by **SithMaster** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 8:02 pm

Has anyone made a moving light source (like the sun for example)? I was just thinking of a day night system for fps games. It would add to imersion and provide a sense of time and such.

Spyrewolf · Post by **Spyrewolf** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 10:39 pm

Wow these are really great scene's very professional looking i can't beleive i've missed this topic!

that t-rex model you posted looks amazing, the levels and lighting look rock solid as well,

the interesting thing i see you have added a third image to the normal map?!?

what is the greyscale one for? i've used RF for sometime now and i was under the impression that Normal maps were created with 2 maps rather than 3?

in regards to the stencil shadows are you using dynamic lights? i'm pretty sure they only work with them i could be wrong though,

Post by **AndyCR** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:12 pm

stencil buffer shadows work with static lights as well.

sriram · Post by **sriram** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 3:07 pm

I was busy with other stuff lately...so I couldnt get a chance to work on this

Anyways,I just added some stuff[antennas,new electricity lines,more barrels and crates..and 2 shops]...
I still need to add lots of shit to it...

Here are a few shots :

Maknig a level wasnt as easy as I thought it'd be...I startedoff without any "blueprint" thinking that I can just add stuff as I go along.....but its all getting out of place now

@hike1 : hehe,well indians might be writing half the world's software,but when it comes to PC game Develpoment they are as good as the Eskimos in Antartica

I'm glad you liked my level

As for MS3D exporting .bdy..hmm...I'll try the .KEY export from max first...but thats after I finish my basic level...

@Spyrewolf : Thx

I'm glad you liked my T-Rex....I love modelling and thats what I plan to do once I'm done with my Masters...As for the level...well,I'm making it without any proper planning...I have no Idea what I'll endup with..and its kinda troubling me now...I might make something completely new[with a proper blueprint] based on the same theme...

@AndyCR : I still couldnt get Stencil Shadows to work.....could it be anything to do with RF 0.75 ?