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DarkBASIC Professional Discussion / DBP General Questions and Announcements

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Derek Darkly
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Posted: 10th May 2014 20:19
Great stuff Stab, thanks!
This will make placement editors, etc a breeze!



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VisualProg
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Posted: 13th May 2014 11:07 Edited at: 13th May 2014 11:08
GetOpenFileName() in Comdlg32.dll:


see in MSDN:
[href]"http://msdn.microsoft.com/ru-RU/library/windows/desktop/ms646927(v=vs.85).aspx"[/href]

MZh[NUL] <---

Derek Darkly
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Posted: 13th May 2014 21:35
Quote: "see in MSDN:
"http://msdn.microsoft.com/ru-RU/library/windows/desktop/ms646927(v=vs.85).aspx""


Sadly, I never learned C++ so I have to rely on others to translate code like this. I suppose I could make an effort to learn the language, huh?

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Ortu
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Posted: 15th May 2014 23:58 Edited at: 16th May 2014 00:03
@ GG love your seamless texture tool, it has come in very handy over the years and it is the first thing I thought of when I saw the dialog box question

Green Gandalf
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Posted: 17th May 2014 14:31
Quote: "GG love your seamless texture tool, it has come in very handy over the years and it is the first thing I thought of when I saw the dialog box question"


Thanks.

I'm working on a new much faster version which does the image calculations using a shader instead of DBPro code. The basic method works - I merely have to do the UI wrapper for it now. So watch out for a new thread on the Code Snippets board.

My eventual aim is to create a new set of image processing tools which use shaders to do the work - but it would take a lot of work to match what is already available in tools like Texture Maker. However, the shader approach has potential to speed up the image processing task enormously in many cases.



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Derek Darkly
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Posted: 22nd May 2014 01:55 Edited at: 22nd May 2014 02:04
I was just messing around with my favorite sound effects generator A3SXFR and thought I would bump the thread by uploading the SWF file I saved from the website, which runs great in a browser for quick sound effects.

BFXR is probably better, but I usually just mix several A3SFXR wavs together for endless possibilities. Sometimes I'll use effects in Audacity to take it a step further.

I'm also interested in other free apps like this.
An explosions sound generator would be top-shelf!

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Derek Darkly
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Posted: 30th May 2014 21:33
To all,

Is there such a thing as an industry standard when it comes to sync rate/FPS? Does it depend on the size/type of game?

What factors should be considered when setting the framerate?

All opinions are valued!

666GO†O666
Chris Tate
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Posted: 31st May 2014 00:36
I gave up figuring out the answer to that question. There are so many theories out there.

Green Gandalf
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Posted: 31st May 2014 01:57
Quote: "Is there such a thing as an industry standard when it comes to sync rate/FPS? Does it depend on the size/type of game?"


There probably is somewhere - but for PC games an FPS of 30 is usually sufficient to get smooth movement. I believe I read somewhere that the movie industry uses much higher frame rates. Not sure why though. Probably gives slightly smoother movement etc for those with perfect eyesight - I, however, have enough trouble watching a static scene.

Games can be playable with FPS lower than 30 but you tend to get a noticeable jumping or flicker from one frame to the next. Aim for 60 and you should be fine.



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RonsWare
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Posted: 31st May 2014 11:14
Here in the Netherlands they use 24 frames per second (PAL) for movies
The engine that we are working on wil have at least 30 FPS.

Cheers
Ron.

Programming is learning
Green Gandalf
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Posted: 31st May 2014 12:48
Quote: "Here in the Netherlands they use 24 frames per second (PAL) for movies"


That does indeed seem to be a standard - but modern films are often shot at a much faster rate. The Hobbit is perhaps the most well-known example. An interesting discussion of frame rates in both film and games can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_rate



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Derek Darkly
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Posted: 3rd Jun 2014 20:09 Edited at: 3rd Jun 2014 20:17
I made a cheap screen saver out of boredom, which is a really difficult material to work with.
It just uses 9 boxes and a semi-random color change formula.

(I know, I know... all your dreams are finally fulfilled.)




This could have been done in way less lines probably, but a program this small generally isn't going to run into performance issues.

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chafari
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Posted: 4th Jun 2014 15:49
Quote: "I know, I know... all your dreams are finally fulfilled."


Nice one ! Here's my two cents...something like a big ball of hair. Try to look at the center of the screen and let it work.



Cheers.

I'm not a grumpy grandpa
Derek Darkly
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Posted: 4th Jun 2014 17:57
Holy Spectral Phenomena!
That might be the coolest, most psychedelic thing I've ever seen, Chafari!!!

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Chris Tate
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Posted: 4th Jun 2014 18:22
Very cool

chafari
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Posted: 4th Jun 2014 20:58
Thank you guys for your comments! codes that we make when we get bored

Cheers.

I'm not a grumpy grandpa
Derek Darkly
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Posted: 4th Jun 2014 21:18
It's absolutely great!

I wondered how you got the "streaming" effect, but then I realized it's because the object is duplicated 60 times, but stepped up in size each time, and the various sizes are what makes the blurry, winding, streaming effect.

Simplicity always impresses me more than complexity.
Thanks for sharing!

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Green Gandalf
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Posted: 4th Jun 2014 21:43
Quote: "Simplicity always impresses me more than complexity."




Chafari: Nice effect too.

Perhaps we should keep you bored?



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chafari
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Posted: 4th Jun 2014 22:12
Thanks GG.
Quote: "
Perhaps we should keep you bored?"


Yeah! now I get bored easily... just a few question to answer from time to time.

I'm not a grumpy grandpa
Derek Darkly
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Posted: 13th Jun 2014 19:26 Edited at: 13th Jun 2014 19:26
HAPPY F-13 TO EVERYONE!!



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Derek Darkly
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Posted: 19th Jun 2014 21:19
This dungeon kit looks awesome!

I've been contemplating trying to make a basic kit for personal use. Something like this would be a worthy goal to aim for. Add in a random generator and you've got hours of dungeon crawling fun.







Looks quite seamless, and the artwork and modeling are very pleasing to the eye. Very inspiring!

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wattywatts
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Posted: 20th Jun 2014 00:10
That is pretty cool!
Derek Darkly
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Posted: 20th Jun 2014 17:16 Edited at: 20th Jun 2014 17:20
Quote: "That is pretty cool!"



And I think the price is fair for so many models and textures!

Honestly - most of those models wouldn't be too hard to reproduce with a little elbow grease. It might even make for a cool community project to come up with an original kit.

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Derek Darkly
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Posted: 23rd Jun 2014 17:39 Edited at: 23rd Jun 2014 23:45
Check out this unlicensed WoW theme park in China!

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wattywatts
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Posted: 23rd Jun 2014 22:13
Quote: "most of those models wouldn't be too hard to reproduce"

They look pretty low poly and not much texture variety, I'd guess it would take a day tops if we were just trying to copy them.
Derek Darkly
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Posted: 23rd Jun 2014 23:44
Quote: "They look pretty low poly and not much texture variety, I'd guess it would take a day tops if we were just trying to copy them."


A day for each piece, or a day for all of them? LoL

I was looking at those curved walls (really good for alleviating the blocky look of standard dungeons) and, while I'm sure I could easily bend a straight wall with Blender, I think it might be more fun to try and use DBPro's vertexdata commands to achieve the same thing.

Lately I've been putting some time into a personal placement editor. This will include a "weld" feature to combine several objects into a single mesh or a multi-limbed object. Once I get it in working order, snap-together kits would be perfect for use with it!

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wattywatts
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Posted: 24th Jun 2014 02:50
All of them dude, that's easy stuff. I just made that octagonal column on the right side for fun, it only took 3 minutes. I didn't UV it, but still. For the two statues I'd probably just use Sculptris and reduce poly's so that would be quick as well.
Chris Tate
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Posted: 24th Jun 2014 09:52
One day? Wow you are fast.

Derek Darkly
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Posted: 24th Jun 2014 17:44
Quote: "One day? Wow you are fast."


Now that I think about it, I have gotten extremely "ornery" regarding my own productivity. I suppose Watty has a point... with a full day of real productivity a kit like that could be at least modeled if not UV textured, which may take an extra day or two if one isn't a natural artist.

I'm hoping to complete a working version of my placement editor by this weekend. I'll definitely have a go at making some useful dungeon assets then!

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Chris Tate
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Posted: 24th Jun 2014 20:56
If you can make that kind of thing in one day you seriously need to make some model packs. With about 3 or 4 of such packs created each week there many applications and developers in need of such assets which you could sell.

wattywatts
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Posted: 24th Jun 2014 21:42
Quote: "If you can make that kind of thing in one day you seriously need to make some model packs."

The thing is these models are already designed, so copying them would be quick. It would take me a bit longer to design them from scratch, as I'd need to think about what designs would work best for keeping the polygon count low and what not.

I might look into what sort of model packs people are buying now.
Chris Tate
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Posted: 25th Jun 2014 06:49
Sites like Turbosquid are a good place to start. The more useful the model pack is, the more sales.

wattywatts
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Posted: 26th Jun 2014 06:52 Edited at: 26th Jun 2014 06:52
I think I might see if I can sell this handsome gentleman.
Chris Tate
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Posted: 26th Jun 2014 16:29
Most likely; you may even be able to rig him for FPSCR.

Derek Darkly
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Posted: 26th Jun 2014 18:07
Nice Watty!

That's your modeling work?
What program(s) did you use, if you don't mind me asking?

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wattywatts
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Posted: 26th Jun 2014 18:29
Quote: "What program(s) did you use, if you don't mind me asking?"

Not at all, I usually start out with a good base mesh for the more realistic characters. For things like the teeth I use Anim8or (free). I import that into Sculptris (free) and add some detail, import into 3d-coat and UV, then paint either in 3d-coat or sculptris.
Sometimes I model from scratch in sculptris but it takes a lot of touch up work if I need good edge loops.

@Chris do you know what a good triangle count would be for reloaded characters?
Chris Tate
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Posted: 26th Jun 2014 19:14
Quote: "do you know what a good triangle count would be for reloaded characters? "


Good question; I am not the ideal person to answer, but my best guess is between 2,000 and 5,000.

wattywatts
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Posted: 26th Jun 2014 21:49 Edited at: 26th Jun 2014 21:51
Quote: "between 2,000 and 5,000"

I hope that's inaccurate, those are basically Playstation 2 graphics.
Here's a good article on poly counts if interested: http://www.rsart.co.uk/2007/08/27/yes-but-how-many-polygons/
Chris Tate
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Posted: 26th Jun 2014 22:04 Edited at: 26th Jun 2014 22:06
Thanks, my guess was too low judging by your recommended document. Even Link from Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess had 6,500 polys; so I should not feel so bad about my 10,000 poly characters, although when they are finished they will have more.

gamerboots
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Posted: 27th Jun 2014 00:20
Quote: "This dungeon kit looks awesome!"

Yes it truly does look awesome but has a heck of a price tag!

--------
DBP Archive
Derek Darkly
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Posted: 27th Jun 2014 19:34
Quote: "Yes it truly does look awesome but has a heck of a price tag!"


Yeah, too rich for my blood at the moment, but that's probably a good thing... if it were only $30 then everyone and their grandmother would have the same kit.

If I had money to burn I'd buy it just to play with though!

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Derek Darkly
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Posted: 27th Jun 2014 19:43 Edited at: 27th Jun 2014 19:49
Speaking of the polycount for character models, is there also an industry standard when it comes to the final scale of a humanoid model?

The placement editor I'm working on is currently based on a unit size of 1. For example, a standard wall section with a doorway will have a size of something like 1,1,.4 (x,y,z) and I can fit them together seamlessly in the editor, which I've equipped with an offset feature using increments of .125

This would put my humanoid model at a height of around .4 or .5 depending on how high the wall is supposed to be. Is this too small, or does scale truly only matter in relation to the other objects?

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Derek Darkly
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Posted: 9th Jul 2014 20:36 Edited at: 9th Jul 2014 20:36
Off the subject of DBPro for a moment, I'm considering purchasing AppGameKit and trying my hand at creating a small marketable game.

Can anyone confirm whether or not AGK's 3D commands are stable at this point in development? In the trial version, the 3D stuff didn't seem to work at all for me.

(I didn't want to create a new thread for this question, but I will if no one sees this.)

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Green Gandalf
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Posted: 9th Jul 2014 23:18
You'll probably get more informative answers from one of the relevant AppGameKit boards. You might even find an answer there already.



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Derek Darkly
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Posted: 10th Jul 2014 02:00 Edited at: 10th Jul 2014 02:00
According to SoftMotion3D:
Quote: "I have successfully made two games so far using 3d in agk.
what i find the most interesting about it is the ability to alter color of an object after its been textured. Works great for fake lighting systems."


There's also this vid, but it's a year old:


I may give it a go when my tax refund arrives.

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wattywatts
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Posted: 10th Jul 2014 02:58
That's not bad for what it is, but without shader support I don't know how you could compete with other mobile games graphically. Not to say that you couldn't still make an awesome game, of course.
Derek Darkly
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Posted: 10th Jul 2014 17:50
Quote: " without shader support I don't know how you could compete with other mobile games graphically"


Looks like there's some progress on that front but perhaps still an issue with passing variables to a shader..? (I do more skimming than in-depth reading.)

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Rudolpho
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Posted: 11th Jul 2014 12:55 Edited at: 11th Jul 2014 12:56
Quote: "All of them dude, that's easy stuff. I just made that octagonal column on the right side for fun, it only took 3 minutes. I didn't UV it, but still."

The actual modelling may be quick to do but how about creating the textures (not just UV-mapping but actually painting / taking and editing photos)?

Edit: fail, didn't see there was a third page...


"Why do programmers get Halloween and Christmas mixed up?"
Derek Darkly
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Posted: 11th Jul 2014 18:17 Edited at: 11th Jul 2014 18:19
Quote: "Edit: fail, didn't see there was a third page..."


LoL... I didn't think this thread would survive long enough to see a third page. (My shameless bumps may have been a factor. )

That dungeon kit inspires me yet! I started with the intention of making a basic kit - walls, doorways, stairs, pillars, etc. - but instead I've been focusing on a snap-together editor for map/level making. Once a level is finished, it will save all the objects and textures into a chosen folder, with the positions, etc. being saved in a special file with the made up extension *.scene

After I get the editor running smoothly, I'll try adding some basic CSG & primitive features for potentially making objects from scratch. I already have importing/exporting and basic texturing working. Right now I'm using the limb name feature to keep track of the texture paths (although this may not be the intended use..??)

This weekend my goal is to get 7 of the 8 editor buttons working: LOAD, IMPORT, EXPORT, TEXTURE, WELD SCENE, SAVE SCENE and EXIT

The 8th button says "SPECIAL" and will lead to sub-menus like limb scaling, texture scaling & scrolling, FX load, CGS functions, static and dynamic rotation, hovering (or other basic behavior,) basic lighting, flickering lights, collision toggle, basic fog control, level walkthrough, etc.

The real goal is to never have to type a thousand lines to make a simple playing area, but I'm hoping this will also lead to semi-impressive feats of architecture, as I believe that aesthetics is at least 75% of gaming - most everything else is "point and click."

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Derek Darkly
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Posted: 14th Jul 2014 07:05
"The stock textures, texture packs, brush packs, and any other resources available for download on this site are completely free and may be used in commercial or non-commercial applications."

http://www.texturemate.com/category/image-galleries/


Seems legit.

666GO†O666

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