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Springheel

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Very cool to see it in action!

However, I'd like to add some remarks about distance and the quality settings.

 

The menu settings are mean to be setup so that "Normal" is a compromise between quality and speed - one will notice the occasional graphical imperfection, esp. with the Spyglass (as this bypasses the distance settings), but it is faster. "High" and "Highest" are meant to improve on that by sacrificing speed, while "Low" sacrifices even more graphical quality for speed.

 

The current settings as shown in the video are IMO to high on the graphical quality. There is very little difference between "Low" and "Highest", esp. when you notice things only in the Spyglass. This is problematic, because "Low" does not really help people with slower machines, while "High" and"Higher" offer almost no benefit graphical wise.

 

You can see the effect most clearly on distant AI with showTris on, the AI is an almost entire white area. Having such "whiteout" areas is bad in these ways:

 

* performance - it wastes drawing hundreds of triangles that are only a few pixels across - maybe aceptable for "High quality", but should definitly not happen on "Normal", and never on "Low".

* performance and quality suffer if the triangles are very small, because the antialisting on the edges covers a much larger area than if you have only a few larger tris. It also increases overdraw compared to a few larger triangles

* the small triangles can cause alias effects compared to other flat areas (like the floor)

 

Basically, one does not want to little tris on every screen area, but also not too many. It should be more evenly spread.

 

I recon that an even lower-poly version would help with the distance - it might look crude from 5 m, but from 20m afar nobody will spot the difference, even with the Spyglass. Especially the helmets and other round parts could probaby cut down a lot as long as the silouette stays close.

 

Also, the distances where the switch occur to lower levels could be somewhat closer.

 

Mind you, the switch on the "near" distance is probably good - it was a bit hard to see with the light/shadow combinations in the video, but here a few more or less triangles make not much difference. But again, on "Low" it is expected that you actually see the switch - otherwise, if "Low" is already perfect, we don't need "Normal" and higher :)

 

Again, thanx for the video, and to Springheel for the models - wonderful to see it in action!

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"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

 

"Remember: If the game lets you do it, it's not cheating." -- Xarax

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Yes excellent work there Springs and whoever coded the LOD system (Tels?)

 

Yeah, LOD was me, except for AI, which SteveL added. Cheers to him :)

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"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

 

"Remember: If the game lets you do it, it's not cheating." -- Xarax

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Yeah, I really need to get around to researching squad behavior.

 

Sergent Miller, you are hereby promotod to Major. Major Miller, take control.

 

Aye, aye, sir. Alpha squad, investigate body, Beta squad, perimeter defense, Delta squad, come with me.

 

:D

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"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

 

"Remember: If the game lets you do it, it's not cheating." -- Xarax

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Vision was set to Hardcore.

 

That just affects how quickly AI recognize you as an intruder once they get a glimpse of you. It doesn't affect the distance or level of darkness they can see you in.

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You can make one easily by selecting an existing archer and swapping the "model" for a builder. I don't want to provide one by default because using a bow doesn't really seem suited to the Builders--if they were going to use a missile weapon they would use something more metallic/mechanical, like a crossbow.

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I was working on a model once upon a time. It's definitely something on my list of things to do, but not very near the top, I'm afraid. It would require a couple new animations as well.

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I know it is the wrong thread, but as we are talking about ai, what has happened with the werebeast model Diego was working on?

FM's: Builder Roads, Old Habits, Old Habits Rebuild

Mapping and Scripting: Apples and Peaches

Sculptris Models and Tutorials: Obsttortes Models

My wiki articles: Obstipedia

Texture Blending in DR: DR ASE Blend Exporter

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@Springs, I have just noticed something about the stove with the openable doors - its much taller and deaper than the original stove. The depth isnt an issue but the hieght is because any pot_stiring animation a mapper has used will have the Ai moving thier arm through-the-cooking pot (thats on the stove) instead of above the pot etc.

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There are two different-sized stove models. I forget which one I used to make the openable version.

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