Heya People
It’s been ages since I joined these forums and now I think I’ve got some stuff worth showing.
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Info on the smoke and flames demo here !
First off is my smoke a flames demo (screenshot below) please, if you downloaded it post a response
stating what kind of fps you are getting and your spec(unless its in your sig.)
Any comments would be welcome (you can be brutal if need be!), as I still need to improve this.
The main selling feature of this demo, other than looking rather
groovy is the fact it will/should work at the same speed on all
machines (other than maybe a commodore 64) due to the fact it
takes fps into account. This has also given way to groovy way you
can slow down or pause time for the particles, give it a go.
Also is the way that the smoke particles bounce off objects
giving some really nice effects against complex objects.
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I’ve stuck a zipped version for you old fashion types out there, and also a 7zip file for those out there who use that (if you don’t use it already… Start using it, it saves me space!)
Ok the Links
http://www.baggers.lowftp.com/FlamesSmoke.zip
http://www.baggers.lowftp.com/SmokeFlames.7z
(Special thanks to Paul Johnston <Sparky> for the collision dll, without it my physics engine would not be and thus neither would this demo…Sparky, take a bow *the masses applaud*)
Next on the agenda – Throw cat out window for sitting on keyboard.
…Done
Next on the To-Do list – Pathfinding
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Pathfinding info here
Over the past 2 days I decided it was about time I wrote one of these so here is the first demo.
Being a lazy man at heart, when I code I always try to write
routines to make life simpler, thus I have a system that does
this for pathfinding. For those who like a little jargon this
is an A* routine that uses binary heaping to organise the open
list and makes use of the ‘diagonal shortcut’ heuristic.
For the mere mortals of the pathfinding world here are the
basics of the engine.
SetupBinStar(map width, map height,number of characters, memlength)
Memlength
This is how many steps ahead on the current path it remembers,
this is used to give a nice boost of speed to pathfinding.
Basically if it sees your on the same path as your lats call for
pathfinidng it gives the answer instantly instead of running the
whole routine again.
And too call this routine the command is:
GetNextXY(starting x position, starting y position,ending x
position,ending y position,map number,character number)
Map number allows for several maps to be stored so you can pick
from one of them (handy if you want multiple floors to a building
for example)
Phew !
Suffice to say its pretty easy to use I have included a bit of
the source code at the bottom of this post
(wherever the hell it is !) it does not include the engine it
is just to show how easy it is to call the engine.
I will almost defiantly release this free source soon, but I
have a major thing against downloading even slightly buggy code
so I am not releasing it yet.
When I say buggy I refer to a few problems left unresolved.
Speed, currently though it is fast it can stutter (as you may
have noticed from the demo) and so I currently developing a
solution to this, should be done soon (depending on how much
chance I get to work on it)
Also it can be too effective, this happens when it finds a route
and as it is moving find what it thinks is a better one so heads
off to that one then realises the old one is still there and
heads for that etc etc.. nice loop, this is due to the fact that
it is not just finding a route like some pathfinding routines
but also taking into account the destination can move at any time,
I will solve it eventually though.
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Ok so, as before the files, in zip and .7z formats
http://www.baggers.lowftp.com/BinaryStar.7z
http://www.baggers.lowftp.com/BinaryStar.zip
And for those who wont download without a screenshot (I don’t blame you !)
http://img77.exs.cx/img77/4681/Pathfinding1.jpg
And Lastly…
I have a glass demo on the way soon, in which a piece of glass with specified width and height and polycount can be made and textured and then shards broken out from it which will cascade down. Its coming along pretty well, I think it looks ok but I would appreciate your opinion on the following screenshots (oh they look better in motion trust me !)
http://img82.exs.cx/img82/3121/Glass1.jpg
http://img96.exs.cx/img96/6899/Glass3.jpg
Ok Everyone, that’s it from me, im gonna shut up and let you take over….now all I have to do is get that cat fixed !
Cya
Baggers
Ps. I am just starting to use lowftp.com for storing my files, I have no idea how suitable this will be so if you have any problems please inform me, and any suggestions on what to do, I am a complete newbie to the world of hosting. Thanks.