Hi Guys,
It's nearly 4AM in the morning here in the Welsh dungeon, and because I have been hounded by AppUp work during the day my FPSC activities had been forced into the night. That said, it's a good time to work, nice and quiet. I have posted a screenshot of my nights toil, which I think you will like.
The picture shows a typical scene, rendered with some subtle bloom using the new full screen shader system and the candles on the table are using the new decal based particle system which can be externally controlled via the DECALSPEC.TXT file. As it's a simple text file, you can create your own particle effects by changing the values. Here is the new properties:
;DECALPARTICLES (in units of 100th, i.e. 150=1.5f)
randomstartx = 0 : random start position for the particle
randomstarty = 50
randomstartz = 0
linearmotionx = 0 : constant directional motion
linearmotiony = 33
linearmotionz = 0
randommotionx = 10 : additional random direction
randommotiony = 0
randommotionz = 10
mirrormode = 2 : does the decal image mirror or random mirror
camerazshift = 500 : how far to move the particle towards the camera
scaleonlyx = 100 : to much to squash the decal on the X axis
lifeincrement = 100 : how long will the particle live
alphaintensity = 20 : how much alpha to apply to the particle
You also get to specify the decal image and the usual offset and scale values, meaning you have a lot of control over how the particles are generated.
In the screenshot, the alienglobe entity has been given a greensmoke decal particle effect which emits slow green flumes in every direction and is quite cool to watch. Because the alienglobes can be picked up, the particle effect leaves a trail when it moves
I dare say you can pick-up these features and create lots of effects like steam, smoke, big flames, auras and other nice overlays. Because you can control when a particle is generated with the DECALMODE=7 FPI command, you can even have entities trigger particles so you can create things like dust falling off things, impact effects and who knows what else. The particle values are not definitive so some may be removed, but it's likely we'll just keep adding to them so you have 'full' control of what that pesky decal particle does.
Thanks for your kind words and patience. Having read the thread, I have a few answers of those questions I remember repeated a few times:
There is no ETA for the V117 beta, as we're going to spend lots of time testing it internally. You are right there are lots of new features and you all want them to work pretty much out of the box, so this will be our aim.
Levels you make now WILL work in the new V117, you will just have the option of using these extra features. This brings me nicely onto the worry that these new features will slow things down. Not so. We have left flags in the SETUP.INI to switch off pretty much anything that will hurt your performance, and the PS2.0 shaders will only be used if you have Full Effects switched on. Also, because we're now running at monitor refresh using timer logic, your games will actually play faster, not a boast I can make every day but V117 will deliver on this to most users.
Although there are LOTS of feature ideas on the various wish lists, we are targeting the ones that are on most users top five wish-list, and many of them are similar to the migration list we originally started with. More features will follow in the future, but it makes sense to add all the 'must have' features wanted by the majority and then stabilize a version that works well on many different systems.
Eye candy aside, the exciting features for me are the things you do not necessarily see like an improved variable system, smarter entities, more FPI commands, programmable AI, talking characters, puzzle and story gadgets and of course those all important weapon upgrades!
Hopefully that gives you an idea what I have been up to the last few days, and sorry we can't provide a build to you. It would probably just crash and you'd hate me for it
I have just released DBP U75 BETA10 which is what I am using now to compile V117 so if you want to have a go building an EXE, you are welcome to try. Keep checking the google code site if your curiosity gets the better of you, and I am sure there will be more news posted here when it happens.
Thanks again for the encouragement and helping make 'FPS Mega Studio Pro Deluxe With Knobs On' stronger than ever!
I drink tea, and in my spare time I write software.
