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I was going through the trouble of creating an animated tall grass model. When I mean trouble I have created the model in 3DSMax 7, given each grouping of grass blades it's own animation, and have spent a lot of time getting it to look perfect

I then started to think will it even be useable in FPSC, which maybe should have been my first thought, but anyway...

I will I be able to use the animation in V1. I wanted to go for a wind-swept "sea of grass" look. Where the it would would play the animation for the model in a loop, or via a trigger zone. Will this be possible at all?

If not, could weights be assinged to the model using the physics engine, to have the grass sway and bend as the player walked through it?

If both are possible, could the two options be combined?

If anyone has any information if any of this will work, please let me know so I can either delete the thing or keep working on it.

Thank you

Why delete it? If nothing else, you could always sell it, provided it's of commercial quality.

(I dunno either)

Irrespective of whether or not a sea of grass look could be achieved inside FPSC using an animated entity you need to try and ascertain how that would affect FPSC frame rates.

If you want a dense looking area that is of any considerable size - this could conceivably require a large number of entities to be placed. It might be a good idea to estimate how many such entities you might need and test out FPSC using some other default entity placing them in large numbers and see how that affects fps in a realistic simulation.

Large nunmbers of dynamic entities do affect frame rates in FPSC and its not the most efficient engine around in terms of handling such entities by any means.

If you were to need to test this I would suggest that to do so you would first have to build a world which might be similar and relatively accurate to any you may require the grass to appear in so that you are putting the grass entities into a level which already has a lot of content as would a real game level.

Looking at the overall total of world objects both static and dynamic you might require is the only way to know find any limit that FPSC provides before fps drops off unacceptably.

If you have no idea of the way large numbers of dynamic entities affect fps then you could well be wasting your time trying to achieve your objective. If you will be building real game levels anyway you might as well do this first and find the best method of inserting grass at a later date.

Of course as has been pointed out...making an animated grass model could be said not to be a waste of your time as it would certainly be a useful excerscise from which you may learn a great deal and you would have something that might be useable in certain circumstances I am sure.

I had taken the frame rate strain a large patch of the grass would cause. That is why I went with an ornamental or prairie grass. It wouldn't be so dense, more spread out. At the moment, I have just the one section of 5-7 blades of grass. I do intend to make reference copies, group them, and animate a number of sections within the group slightly varied. This will cut down on the number of entities placed in the level, but will increase the poly count by a great deal. The poly count per section is so low though, I think I could have many sections before it started to be problem.

I guess what I need to know is: Can FPSC "play" the animated grass model(as in a wind swept look) without the player causing the grass to move via physics, and with the player walking through it?

I will be able to know for sure in a few days, but if anyone has anymore info, it would be appreciated.

Thank you uman for your insight and tips

Not sure that you can do it actually, as I see it your entity will require to be a dynamic entity in order to animate and as such may be impassable.

Unfortunately there is no passable/non passable as such command as I am aware in FPSC but there may well be a way to achieve what you want. I cant remember all the scripting commands off hand so you might find something that can be used.

Physics will have an influence if they are applied - though as far as I am aware again they would only allow you to push an object - there is no way I dont think the current physics system will allow an object to bend as such whilst it pivots if you like from an anchored point. "actually if you note this - there is an enemy idle animation frame set - not sure which number off hand which if applied to an enemy will cause the enemy to do just that - pivot like a top if the player bumps into him - so you may be able to work out something from that" (might be a bug) I could get the animation set number if you get stuck. You may be able to turn off collision in script if it will work with your entity thats if the engine dont overide you - you will have to actually try it I am afraid to be sure.

If you dont get a problem with FPS then I should think the only other you may encounter is the passable problem when a player walks into the grass, otherwise I dont see why its not doable.

Personally I will probably use decals for grass as well as some static models.

FPSC is pretty good with handling reasonable numbers of entities its the portals on world objects that seem to be the worst eater of fps apart from thinking AI that is.

Good Luck and if you dont mind - let us see how any result goes -
I understand if you cant do that of course - and you dont want to tell everyone

Yeah, the more I think about it...I don't think it can be done. That's not saying I won't try I'm a sucker for punishment that way I will finish the model at least, so if I actually ever continue work on my other FPS games(outside of FPSC) maybe I can use it there. When I have it fully completed, I will make a movie of the effect I wanted to create, and some shots of the model itself.

Thanks again uman