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DarkBASIC Professional Discussion / Pre-Rendered Backdrops

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M00NSHiNE
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Posted: 5th Oct 2003 14:47
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Can anybody tell me if its possible to have 3d characters on top of a 2d level?

I want to make a game like fallout tactics or something similar, but more like commandos 2 where the level is a rendered 2d image and the characters/objects are all 3d, using invisible boundaries to give the effect of a 3d world. Resident evil used the same method, only the images were the size of the screen, not large scrollable levels.

This would be much easier to do than a 3d world I think. Can anybody enlighten me?

Cheers.

"It's amazin' what you can do with a computer and access to t'internet"
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David T
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Posted: 5th Oct 2003 14:51
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ESC made a great demo to demonstrate prerendered backdrops, I'll try and find / upload it.

c:/dos
c:/dos run
run dos run
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M00NSHiNE
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Posted: 5th Oct 2003 14:52
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Thanks David.

"It's amazin' what you can do with a computer and access to t'internet"
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David T
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Posted: 5th Oct 2003 15:32
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http://www.davidtattersall.me.uk/temp/prerendered.zip

There you are, source is included too

c:/dos
c:/dos run
run dos run
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M00NSHiNE
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Posted: 5th Oct 2003 17:12
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Thankyou very much David, very kind of you.

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ESC_
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Posted: 5th Oct 2003 17:23 Edited at: 5th Oct 2003 17:23
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hehe, I had forgoten about that. I didn't exactly use a good method when I came up with that demo, as the collisions were set up by hand, but it gives you an idea of how prerendered backdrops work. It might be smart to use a lowpoly version of the mesh you rendered to handle collision (maybe with sonic's dll) Another challenge is positioning and lining up the camera correctly. Depending on what modeler you use you can probably find out the angle of the camera, but converting its position to DB units could be a little more challenging

"That's not a bug, it's a feature!"
"Variables won't, constants aren't."
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M00NSHiNE
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Posted: 5th Oct 2003 18:19
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Yep, thanks, it was a pretty impressive demo. My only minor gripe is the fact that it slows down due to the 2d/3d draw thing - it ran at 30fps with just one object on screen. Maybe pro could speed this up, but there must be some way around it. Pasting the image every frame is responsible for this, but is there a way around it?

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ESC_
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Posted: 5th Oct 2003 18:25
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Hmm..I have a feeling it's be much faster in pro. I haven't tried it yet, though

"That's not a bug, it's a feature!"
"Variables won't, constants aren't."
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M00NSHiNE
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Posted: 5th Oct 2003 18:30
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Yep.... I might have to settle on 3d levels anyway, as I'd have no way to obscure 3d objects when they walked behind a wall for example.

Thats a shame though, I really wanted to pack in the 2d detail.

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ESC_
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Posted: 5th Oct 2003 18:34
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Well, what you can do for objects that the player can walk behind is to just prerender sprites and place htose as well, although it could be a little cumbersome

"That's not a bug, it's a feature!"
"Variables won't, constants aren't."
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M00NSHiNE
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Posted: 5th Oct 2003 18:39
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Yes thats the problem, more slowdown and it would be messy and hard to keep track of. I might put this idea on hold and come back to it when Ive got some more basic projects done. It seems every time I come up with a great idea, theres ALWAYS ONE little incey-wincey problem that casts a huge shadow of doubt over everything.

"It's amazin' what you can do with a computer and access to t'internet"
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Ian T
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Posted: 5th Oct 2003 20:53
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Pre-rendered backdrops seem simple in concept, but they are an insane amount of trouble to implement... and decent looking ones take up loads of file space, and take a while to load (in general, not just DB), and tend to have little clipping problems in the end anyhow (judging from commercial titles; Diablo II, Baldur's Gate). 3d seems to be the better way all around as far as I can tell .

--Mouse: Famous (Avatarless) Fighting Furball

A very nice %it, indeed.
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