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1) The FAQ says that there is no terrain, but also says that we can load any object that we want. Can't I just load a terrain 3DS? Or does that have adverse effects on performance or something? Obviously it's possible somehow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaqGru1ia4c, although that looks like a tiny map.

2) The FAQ says that maps can be 40x40x20 3D grid sections in size. Are the grid sections user defined? If not how big is that in meters?

3) How does the renderer work? Does it take out pieces that aren't in view or does it put the entire map into a BSP Tree? Is it possible to have zones that load in other parts of the map and remove unneeded parts so that I can have large and detailed maps without slowdown.

4) Along those lines can I have zones that remove and add enemies, weapons. I'm planning a game right now that may have thousands of sprites on any given level, but obviously only a few are needed at any given time.

5) I think I know that answer to this, but I'm not sure. AI is entirely programmable right, including the character's memory? How much memory does it have?

6) Does the engine multithread? Can I have the backend loading things while an AVI is playing?

7) Does the engine use relative paths. If I move the main folder holding a game, but leave the internal file structure the same, will it still work?

8) Can I make a zone save a temporary checkpoint that will be loaded if the player dies.

9) Can I have global variables? I want multiple difficulty levels, and depending on which difficulty level it is I'll need to load different AI for enemies and different maps with more enemies, less ammo...

10) Can I adjust textures for the entire map on the fly? I want both night vision and infrared views, night vision I can do with lights, but infrared means loading different textures for every surface (ones that show a heat signature.)

Sorry for all of the questions. I have a specific idea for a game in mind and I'm wondering if I should get FPSCreator or DBPro.

1) Yes and Yes

2) I think each grid section is about 1meter x 1meter x 1.5meters

3) Objects outside of view are culled. This saves some speed. Your map is not a BSP file, nor is it a BSP tree. And... no.

4) No.

5) AI is scriptable, not programmable. And what are you referring to here with "memory"? If you're talking about how big of a script file you're allowed to use, I haven't seen a limit defined anywhere.

6) Not from what I've seen. An AVI playing in the background of any menu/loading screen would require a Mod... to my knowledge at least.

7) Yes

8) Yes

9) Yes to the initial question, and as for the reast of it... You're going to be hard pressed to load in different AI for enemies based upon difficulty. It's entirely possible from my perspective, you just set up a triggerzone where the player starts the map and have it activate all necessary enemies in order to spawn them. This goes for weapons and ammo too.

10) No. There have been many nightvision scripts around the boards, though. Heatvision, I wouldn't be too certain about that one. I have seen some heatvision shaders around, but that would require you to actively change the special effects applied to entities and segments on the fly, which can't be done. (Hey, that'd be a great idea for the efxMod, guys! *wink wink* @ Nighthawk, lol)


The one and only,

just a reminder,

Look at EFX mod, it has water effects and bloom, but it is written with the old source so dosent have the TGC store

(P.S. whats with the PI)

Hmm...that one about difficulty would be possible with your mod as far as how much health the entity has Ply, and what script it would use....

Like:

:Varequal=Difficulty 1:setvar=$EH 100,runfpi=coward.fpi
:Varequal=Difficulty 2:setvar=$EH 200,runfpi=cover.fpi
:Varequal=Difficulty 3:setvar=$EH 300,runfpi=darkai.fpi

This could actually work, you click START GAME in the menu, and with a little extra scripting, (and removing the resumegame command from that line), it removes the menu and gives a choice of easy, difficult, or hard.....

:hudselectionmade=1:setvar=Difficulty 1,resumegame
:hudselectionmade=2:setvar=Difficulty 2,resumegame
:hudselectionmade=3:setvar=Difficulty 3,resumegame

I'm unsure if variables are recognised and processed in the loading page.fpi script, and if their values will carry over to the setuplevel.fpi script, but it works in theory.....

@Ocho Geak:

The pi? Uhmmmmm, that's where pi came from!


@coffee grunt:

Yup, it's entirely possible with V1.09 as well. I completely forgot about the command to run specific scripts, so I'm glad you did, lol.

What you've shown there should work just fine. Except, the "setvar=$EH 100" action wouldn't work. You'd have to utilize "entityaddhealth". (Hmmmm, manipulating internal vars is a good idea, though, perhaps that'll make it into V1.07 )


The one and only,

Oh, so you can't manipulate player and entity health that way....