Delayed SFoil animation on the X-Wing

Lol, lets clear up some confusion.
Note: Tarcoon and I tested the stuff below extensivly online useing voice communication via "TeamSpeak" so the information is reliable.

I don't understand what this means. What is it that's hardcoded? And LOD2 is the lowest LOD model. Did you mean LOD1 and closer (LOD0)?

Sorry, Yes, I meant LOD1 (I translated the 0, 1, 2, in my mind to 1, 2, 3).
The Hud target window apparently only renders the LOD1:
You can watch another Players wings open on the wire mesh image in the Hud target target window if you have him targeted and are between exactly 100 and 150 meters from him (Even if your ship isn't pointed at him.) If you are closer you won't see them actuate in the Hud target window and if you are farther away you won't see it either.
You can, say from 50 meters distance, watch the the other player actuate 'live' but although you've seen them open visually the Hud target window won't show the wings as open until you withdraw to a distance of between 100 and 150 meters.
Based on the small size of the model, I am guessing that the range of 100 to 150 meters represents LOD1 of the X-Wing. Thats why I refer to the second level of detail and hardcoded (in reference to the Hud Target window).

I guess it must be, and all players are only seeing local versions of everyone else's avatars

Yes! You always see your own representation (based on the .ini file in your game) of the other players ships. i.e to save bandwidth, the objects you "see" are not rendered directly to your screen. (It's not like when you are on the highway where the image of other cars is 'rendered' directly to your retina )
You could , for example, rename your TieFighter.ini to X_Wing.ini and any other players that may have selected to play in an X-Wing would be rendered in your game as a TieFighter. (in practice though, the cheat prevention functions in the game will prevent this).

Further on this: The MP game only tells you where the other player ships are and what they are doing like changing position, fireing, docking, actuating Sfoils, ect.. Note (!): actuating SFoils doesn't mean visually opening the wings.

What exactly is another player looking at when he sees the first players animation?

He's looking at the animation of a model of the other players ship which is created briefly in his own instance of the game.

In practice, your instance of the game recieves information (and stores it) in reference to the value of the avatar switch for every other player in the game individually, depending on the position they have selected.
By targeting the other players ship and pressing F3 twice a LOD0 model of the other players ship is created in your instance of the game. Flux will then commence to display the Wing position dependent on the avatar switch value it has stored for that players ship; i.e. the engine can't actuate (or display) the change of position earlier because the LOD0 model wasn't exsistant previously.
Once the engine has rendered the LOD0 model it's avatar (wing position) is stored and no longer active when you switch your view away from that model. If you switch back you will see it with opened wings from the start. If the other player has closed them in the meantime, the engine will start to close them on your instance the moment the LOD0 model is avaliable to it.

This effect is what I meant with "hardcoded" but I think there is no other way it could be done unless all LODs for all ships were constantly active in memory (which would negate the purpose of having different LODs, in the first place wouldn't it?)

If you could change the current animation scene to include the LOD2 that might solve (half of) the issue on the Wire mesh in the Hud Target window, but I dunno if you would/could really influence that by putting it in the scene?


Iwar2 Multiplayer Fan Site

Ok, thanks for the info. It all makes sense now. See how important it is to get things clear? I wish we had known this stuff before (as you'll see below).

If you could change the current animation scene to include the LOD2 that might solve (half of) the issue on the Wire mesh in the Hud Target window

Shoot, I hate to tell you this (especially because I apparently wasted a huge amount of time), but I added the animation to all the LODs. Only to find out now that only LOD1 uses animation. Drat, foiled again [xx(].

Well, at least I know better now for the B-Wing.

btw - That's pretty freakin cool that you can see the animation in the HUD target view. Are you and Tarcoon having a good time playing? How does it look with a bunch of SW ships in the game?

mailto:second_chance@cox.net
The Ultimate Guide To Modding: I-War 2 - Edge Of Chaos (on hold during SW MP mod)
cartoons.sev.com.au/index.php?catid=4
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Sorry, but I didn't know about the avatar/LOD stuff either until we started on this.

You will need the LOD0 of course for the F3 view and when the players see themselves in the game. It looks though, like you can forget teh LOD2 as far as animation goes. [:]

Tarcoon and I aren't playing!
We've been seriously testing functionality all the time and never indulge in any personal interest such as fun or stuff like that! [;]
Unfortunatly though we'll be starting on the weapons balancing soon, which means we'll have to shoot each other and the bots too. [^]

When all the ships are in the game it is fun and exciting, you hear and see the battle around you, Tie laser bolts mingling with X-Wing bolts, the typical A wing engine sound as they buzz past and (if you're in the X-Wing your R2 screams when you get hit by an ion gun disruptor

<font color="red">Edit/</font id="red"> Yesterday, I noticed something new while using F3 to view the ship as it opens SFoils; once they are open, if you use the mouse wheel to "back off" from the model, at a certain distance, they will 'flap' shut and them immediatly open again. (thereafter they stay open as far as you can see the model.
I'm guessing that is the LOD1 cutting in and wonder what would happen if we didn't have LOD1 animated (would they just flap shut and stay like that? Anyhow, thought this observation might be usefull for us <font color="red">\Edit</font id="red">.


Iwar2 Multiplayer Fan Site

That's a good observation to remember for planning future animation.

would they just flap shut and stay like that?

Yes, they would flap closed and stay that way, they would have to if there was no animation to open them. I actually had something similar to this during testing of the model. I wanted to see what it looked like with the wings open, but I just opened the LOD 0 model's wings. So they flapped open and closed when viewing distance changed.

I find it interesting that they didn't go through the animation sequence, but just slapped closed then open. I wonder why. Well, stuff to watch for I guess.

mailto:second_chance@cox.net
The Ultimate Guide To Modding: I-War 2 - Edge Of Chaos (on hold during SW MP mod)
cartoons.sev.com.au/index.php?catid=4
.

Originally posted by Second Chance

I find it interesting that they didn't go through the animation sequence, but just slapped closed then open. I wonder why. Well, stuff to watch for I guess.

No, the sequence is the same. They slap shut but open slowly, at the same speed as the animation when you see it at LOD0 distance.

Could/should we consider having the LOD1 always open? Is that even possible? You would practically never see the model visually during combat at LOD1 (except as the mesh in the Hud target window)

You can try it out tonight as I expect to have a new DL avaliable for you guys by then.



Iwar2 Multiplayer Fan Site

As always problems do crop up.

We can have a beautiful shot of the wings opening: It shows the a nearly full screen close up view of the X-Wing as the wings open and pans across the front of the ship. Looks absolutly gorgeous!

But the Player ship is stopped dead in its tracks (!) when the external view is over (as iDirector is turned off), darn it! You have to re-apply throttle to get it moving again.


Do we want to accept this? Any ideas?



Iwar2 Multiplayer Fan Site