Cartography Shop Paging System w/ download

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anwserman

15

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Joined: 20th May 2011

Location: Wisconsin

Posted: 1st Aug 2011 13:46 Edited at: 1st Aug 2011 13:53

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I figured I'd post this here as the majority of my code could easily be applied to other level formats.

* multiple maps - load multiple maps into the application and interact with them all at the same time. if a couple maps are there just for scenery or for far-away graphical detail, you can choose which entities and properties you'd like to parse from the map.

facilitates map re-use, if needed =)

* Zone system - if a mesh is assigned to a zone, you can have it toggle visibility and/or collision states for objects based on where you are in the map.

~~~~~~visibility is automatically toggled w/ exclude object on and exclude object off.
~~~~~~ as there are multiple collision detection systems, I have made blank functions w/ parameters that should provide all you need to apply collision detection to said objects. (all that happens right now is a debug console print out that says "enabling/disabling collision for obj# i)

Also, as enabling and disabling collisions can be a computer intensive process, you can customize how many objects will be activated per frame. E.g., if you need to activate 100 objects when moving into a new zone, you can choose to activate 10 objects per frame of gameplay.

ALSO: Forgot to implement a 'priority' system, so that objects with a higher priority get their collision enabled before others. Easy fix

* Animated textures - apply four flags to a group and you can have animated textures for your meshes. If need be, you can also have the texture be influenced by the cartography shop lightmap, so that the animation will be shadowed as well.

* hardware lights - allows you to remove an object from the lightmapping system in the map and be influenced by hardware lights.

* dynamic shadows - allows you to allow an object to cast dynamic shadows from the primary hardware light in the map. e.g, the one you'd pick as the 'sun'

* eXtends Virtual Lights - partially implemented for now - (forgot to include the update code so the lights render, heh). Allows you to move through the map and toggle which hardware lights are active, so any and all light entities have the ability to illuminate local dynamic objects when within range.

This code also includes my module that will use a timer to return the time in seconds since the last frame was rendered. e.g., 10 frames per second would result in .1 being the time since the last frame.

I've included an executable with sample media. To run this, you need these plugins:

Extends
Ian M's Matrix1 utility plugins
Ian M's cartography shop .X exporter
Apex Now's CSM importer

Please provide me feedback =)

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anwserman

15

Years of Service

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Joined: 20th May 2011

Location: Wisconsin

Posted: 2nd Aug 2011 12:51

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Updated. Rewritten major portions of the code!
Also provided functions very similar to the lighting system in eXtends =)

Feel free to parse and cannabilize for your own needs

HOW TO USE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In order for an object to use this system, you must make a managed object 'profile' to go with it.
This will store all information necessary for this zoning system to work.

For this example, "n" means an object number.
    
Create a profile for the managed object.  you must do this or the other functions will silently fail
------> Create_Managed_Object(n)

Once this is done, we can add other features to it simply by calling the approperiate functions.
These are all ala-carte; an object can use any combination of them.  Just run the update methods per frame and the rest is
done for you. nHow you decide to divy zones is up to you, just pass in a value and you're good to go.
Pass in a -1 to allow an object to always be 'on'

------> Create_Managed_Rendering_Object(n, pZoneID)
This allows you to disable and enable rendering of the object based on what 'zone' the player is in.

----->  Create_Managed_Collision_Object(n, pZoneID, pPriority, pCollisionType, pCollisionFlag, pRadiusX#, pRadiusY#, pRadiusZ#, pOffsetX#, pOffsetY#, pOffsetZ#)
This allows you to disable and enable collision detection of an object based on zones as well.
You have to provide code that will work with your collision system, but there are templates that are called that you just need to fill in.
Higher priority objects will get activated before lower priority ones

-----> Set_Object_Hardware_Lighting(n, pLightValue)
Sets whether or not an object will receive hardware lighting.  Independent from managed lighting,
this just sets whether or not an object uses hardware lights.

-----> Create_Managed_Lighting_Object(n, pZoneID, pPriority)
Allows you to pass in an object that will dynamically alter the hardware lights
to prevent lights from bleeding into the walls.  Higher priorities outweigh lower ones

-----> Create_Managed_Shadowing_Object(n, pZoneID, pShadowMeshID, pShadowRange, pUseShader)
Allows you to manage whether or not an object will cast shadows within a zone =)
ShadowMeshId is for whether or not you will ue a replacement mesh for the shadow
Range is for the distance the shadow will go until it cuts off
useShader is whether or not to use GPU or CPU shading.  1=gpu, 0=cpu.  use 1 unless the model contains bones, then use 0

-----> Create_Animated_Texture(n, pTexOri, pTexMin, pTexMax, pFPS)
Allows you to make an animated texture for a mesh.  Doesn't rely on zones =P

-----> Init_Virtual_Lights()
-----> Create_Virtual_Light(pPosX#, pPosY#, pPosZ#, pColorR#, pColorG#, pColorB#, pStyle, pRange)
-----> Update_Virtual_Lights(pCameraX#, pCameraY#, pCameraZ#)
Allows you to create as many lights as you want.
The closest 7 lights to the camera will be activated within the scene.
In addition, managed lighting objects will effect the visibility and range of these lights to prevent bleedthrough with solid objects

+ Code Snippet

HOW TO USE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In order for an object to use this system, you must make a managed object 'profile' to go with it.
This will store all information necessary for this zoning system to work.

For this example, "n" means an object number.
    
Create a profile for the managed object.  you must do this or the other functions will silently fail
------> Create_Managed_Object(n)

Once this is done, we can add other features to it simply by calling the approperiate functions.
These are all ala-carte; an object can use any combination of them.  Just run the update methods per frame and the rest is
done for you. nHow you decide to divy zones is up to you, just pass in a value and you're good to go.
Pass in a -1 to allow an object to always be 'on'

------> Create_Managed_Rendering_Object(n, pZoneID)
This allows you to disable and enable rendering of the object based on what 'zone' the player is in.


----->  Create_Managed_Collision_Object(n, pZoneID, pPriority, pCollisionType, pCollisionFlag, pRadiusX#, pRadiusY#, pRadiusZ#, pOffsetX#, pOffsetY#, pOffsetZ#)
This allows you to disable and enable collision detection of an object based on zones as well.
You have to provide code that will work with your collision system, but there are templates that are called that you just need to fill in.
Higher priority objects will get activated before lower priority ones

-----> Set_Object_Hardware_Lighting(n, pLightValue)
Sets whether or not an object will receive hardware lighting.  Independent from managed lighting,
this just sets whether or not an object uses hardware lights.

-----> Create_Managed_Lighting_Object(n, pZoneID, pPriority)
Allows you to pass in an object that will dynamically alter the hardware lights
to prevent lights from bleeding into the walls.  Higher priorities outweigh lower ones

-----> Create_Managed_Shadowing_Object(n, pZoneID, pShadowMeshID, pShadowRange, pUseShader)
Allows you to manage whether or not an object will cast shadows within a zone =)
ShadowMeshId is for whether or not you will ue a replacement mesh for the shadow
Range is for the distance the shadow will go until it cuts off
useShader is whether or not to use GPU or CPU shading.  1=gpu, 0=cpu.  use 1 unless the model contains bones, then use 0

-----> Create_Animated_Texture(n, pTexOri, pTexMin, pTexMax, pFPS)
Allows you to make an animated texture for a mesh.  Doesn't rely on zones =P

-----> Init_Virtual_Lights()
-----> Create_Virtual_Light(pPosX#, pPosY#, pPosZ#, pColorR#, pColorG#, pColorB#, pStyle, pRange)
-----> Update_Virtual_Lights(pCameraX#, pCameraY#, pCameraZ#)
Allows you to create as many lights as you want.
The closest 7 lights to the camera will be activated within the scene.
In addition, managed lighting objects will effect the visibility and range of these lights to prevent bleedthrough with solid objects

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