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Newcomers DBPro Corner / A few questions from a begginer.......

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John H
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Posted: 14th Oct 2002 19:24
Hey everybody. I recently bought DB and DM, and I really love both of them. I have (somewhat) started making a game. So far I have a matrix textured with grass and a (sortof) nice sky. For a character I have the Ninja available through Dark Matter. I have made the Ninja move (without moving legs, hehe) and I have got the camera to follow him. Now my first problem comes along. I cant get my camera to follow his BACK. I want my camera to follow the character from BEHIND HIM. If he is walking torwards the camera, the camera just backs up. I was wondering how I would make the camera follow my character from behind.
Now, my next question. I made a separate program, just to test things, and I loaded my Ninja and enabled him to walk and stop. When I tried to add my Ninja walking into my real game I just got a message saying "Could not append object to model" How come in my other program I did not get this message? If anyone could tell me how to get my ninja walking, that would be a HUGE help (right now he just sortof slides everywhere, lol.)
OK, problem number 3. Like I said before, I have an OK sky. I need a sky that is seamless so it doesnt look so messed up. Like a bitmap that would look right if the same thing was right next to it.
Well with those out of the way, I have my last rather large problem. This game is an RPG, so I have my matrix, and for towns I am going to make a house, that when the character collides with it, you enter the town. I tried to make cubes, but they didnt appear ANYWHERE on my matrix, even when I placed the object right next to where my Ninja starts (center of matrix.) Would using the SHOW OBJECT command fix this bug? Not sure......
If anyone could help me with any of these problems, I would be thankful beyond your belief! I am trying to make a game, but with these diffuculties it's getting, well, difficult!
Thanks everyone,
RPGgamer

Final Fantasy, the best series ever made.
John H
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Posted: 14th Oct 2002 23:52
Hey everyone, its me again. I worked all day and sorted out a couple of those problems. I got my character to walk on land and the camera to follow him from behind. I still have my problem with the sky though. I sort of fixed the box thing too. I got my box to appear on land but it wouldnt let me texture it with the texture I loaded. It said "object does not exist" but- it highlights my Ninja line that loads the Ninja into the game, whats up with that!
Since this game will have a menu, I already made one. I made a blue box and divided it with lines and such and put text where I wanted it (examples: Items, Equipment, Magic etc.) The thing is I cant figure out how to make it so when I click on a word the screen clears and comes up with a new screen for the category you click on. For instance if you clicked on Items I would want a new screen with your items your carrying on it. How would I make it so I could click on the word and this would happen? I know that I have to make another menu to link to but how do I make it so when I click the word it clears? I have looked around darkbasic and cant find a way.
If anyone could help me with any of my problems that would be great....
Thanks

CD On CD
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Posted: 15th Oct 2002 01:04
rpggamer:
i havent even gotten to the point you are now at

if ya dont mind,,,,could ya list some of the source for your camera, matirx, etc????

i too someday will wanna do these types of things you are doing, but right now i'm stuck (determined) to see the BSP thingy thru.

thanx

United We (Still) Stand
John H
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Posted: 15th Oct 2002 02:17
Hey- Yep, I struggled to get where I am. I basicly just looked at every single tutorial in darkbasic (the ones where the camera follows the little ball) to get where I am. They really have a lot to them, like making an object adjust to landscape, and the camera sticks behind it. I looked through these and took little snippets of code to compile my (simple) game. I wouldn't mind putting up some code for you. What do you need? I have all the specifications for my Ninja, so the camera is pointed slightly downwards but following him from behind. So, what do you need for code?

(PS: If anyone could help with my menu 'issue' it would be greatly appreciated. Mouse or keyboard controls, anything that will get me moving, I would thank you from the bottom of my heart!)

Sly D
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Posted: 15th Oct 2002 23:31
WOW!! You have really started a good game.I myself am i begginer too so i can help as much as i learnt so far but there is one thing i have to ask you.Isn't it better and easier to make a map in that Cartography Shop than to make a matrix in DB. And could you specify what menu "issue" are you having?
Good luck with making your game.

John H
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Posted: 16th Oct 2002 01:41
Hey, ya I was a little unspecified. Well the only thing with Cartography shop is that its hard to make a matrix with lots of bumps. In DB alls you have to do is type

randomize matrix x,how much

Cartography shot is really better I think to make like a house, or something that doesnt require really any curves. Also, I find it hard to texture an object in CShop, the seams just appear too much. I know that there is a way to fix this with automapping but I cant really figure it out....

Oh and whoops! I had just put up another post which I had mentioned my little problem in and I forgot this wasnt that one! My little (big) menu issue is that I cant make it so you can go to different parts in the menu. For instance, if I clicked on "Items" in my menu, I would want a new screen to load with my Items page, the same for equipment and spells and such. If anyone could help me that would be great. If anyone needs any code from me, I would be glad to post it. So far I have a raw menu, Its just like a final fantasy menu but not opperational,,,yet. Just a nice blue background with some nice thick lines as separators and some text to the right (Items, Equipment, Magic, etc.) Its posted under the "Code Snippets" section as well.
Oh man I dont even want to think about what it will be like programming for when you get a new item to put it in the game. No one tell me please, dont ruin my hopes LOL!!! I'll never give up!!
Well I hope this answers any questions, If anyone has any answers to my questions stated in my first post PLEASE TELL ME! I will be forever grateful!
Thanks in advance,
RPGgamer

Dont mind this, it is a test (how do smileys work?)
Is this how?
;p :p

Lol if that didnt work I look pretty stupid!

Final Fantasy, best series ever made.
John H
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Posted: 16th Oct 2002 01:42
Hey, 3 for 5, not bad!
How do you do other smileys?

Final Fantasy, best series ever made.
CD On CD
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Posted: 16th Oct 2002 04:24
rpggamer:
i'm interested in the camera movements....how it follows the character, etc. also any help on the matrix issue would be great

my biggest thing right now is being able to BUILD any type of world/town let alone having a character in it to move around. so, any help to me i'm sure would help to others as well


thanx in advance

United We (Still) Stand
John H
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Posted: 16th Oct 2002 05:20
Ok, here is what I have so far for my matrix and my character camera following. If you dont have the ninja just make a new object (ball) and replace my loading ninja with make object sphere 1

Ok here it is----------



Just post here if you have a problem
Thanks,,,

Final Fantasy, best series ever made.
Milamber
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Posted: 16th Oct 2002 07:33
For the menu system, assign each menu a number, eg main=1, magic=2, items=3, etc. then when you click on a menu option, have the option give you the menu number to load. Either that, or have each option contain a goto command, which jumps to the label for the code for the new menu. The second one is probably actually easier. For keyboard control of menus, just have a variable for position. If upkey=1 then pos=pos-1, if downkey=1 then pos=pos+1, if pos<1 then pos=5, if pos>5 then pos=1. To use the mouse is a bit different. You have to use the mouse x and y positions on screen to determine what it's over, or use sprites for your menu and have a 1x1 sprite at the mouse pointer to detect collision with, then determine what to do based on what word it's over. This gets a bit more complex, so personally, I'd probably just stick with keyboard.
PS with keyboard, keep a variable to tell when a button has been pressed, and don't allow any more commands to be given with that key until it's been released or a certain amount of time or you'll go through 3 layers of menu at once.

System Specs: AMD Athlon 1700+ XP, GA-7VRX motherboard, 128MB DDR RAM, GeForce2 MX400 64MB VRAM
John H
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Posted: 16th Oct 2002 16:39
OK thanks, Ill try that out. May take me a little to toggle with it. Thanks a bunch man! If anyone wants to see my menu go to the code snippets section. It is the "Beginning of a Menu, Like final fantasy."
Thanks
RPGgamer

Final Fantasy, best series ever made.
Sly D
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Posted: 16th Oct 2002 21:52
Yeah GOTO command is good choice.And stick to keyboard.Also texturing in Car.Shop is VERY VERY easy and bumps aren't hard to make.But its your choice.Anyway do you have MSN or Yahoo!
messenger.Easyer to speak than here

John H
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Posted: 18th Oct 2002 00:50
Not MSN or Yahoo, only AIM (did that work?)
I have my menu SOO close to done! Its great! I will post it as soon as I finish, its looking great! I am using the

if inkey$()="e" then gosub equipment

at least I think thats it, I may have screwed it up. Well youll see it in a little bit!
RPGgamer

Final Fantasy, best series ever made.
John H
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Posted: 18th Oct 2002 00:53
Oh and one more thing, CD on CD, if your going to make a town, I suggest buying the Cartography Shop, pretty cheap, SUPER POWERFUL! Look at the examples and it will say everything for itself. Im still learning how do use it.
RPGgamer

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Posted: 18th Oct 2002 01:36
rpggamer:
thanx for the info/snippet

BTW: i DO have CShop....havent gotten it to do much with it as yet

QUESTION: do you have problems running DBP while CShop is running??? it seems that IF CShop is running & i do a COMPILE with DBP,,,,it takes forever to compile so i just CANCEL the DBP compile, close CShop & recompile & all works fine.

United We (Still) Stand
John H
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Posted: 18th Oct 2002 01:46
Hmm, I havent ever really run CShop and DarkBasic at the same time, but Id imagine youd have some lagging issues. Dont worry, I havent got far at all with CShop either. I actually finished the Prototype version of my menu (Full version being released.... Tonight- LOL )
Well later everyone
RPGgamer

Final Fantasy, best series ever made.
John H
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Posted: 18th Oct 2002 01:49
Time to test some more smileys! Dont mind this post----
;D how do you make the one where he sticks his tounge out?

Final Fantasy, best series ever made.
Mirthin
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Posted: 18th Oct 2002 02:39
:0 :o ) ;@) . Excuse me, I've never tried these before!
John H
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Posted: 18th Oct 2002 04:54
Hmm was that one

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John H
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Posted: 18th Oct 2002 04:55
Lol guess not! Maybe <

Final Fantasy, best series ever made.
John H
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Posted: 18th Oct 2002 04:55
Nope not that either- how about :/

Final Fantasy, best series ever made.
John H
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Posted: 18th Oct 2002 04:57
Ahhh forget it- anyone have any idea on smileys? like post them like this :_( (use _ to separate symbols) so it would be :_( = or :_) = and >_:_( =
etc.
Anyone know the smileys very well?

Final Fantasy, best series ever made.
Mirthin
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Posted: 18th Oct 2002 06:26
Perhaps we should get a little list posted somewhere. Your guess is as good as mine.
Sly D
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Posted: 18th Oct 2002 16:19
I know how to work in Cshop if you need help just ask.

John H
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Posted: 18th Oct 2002 23:46
OK- when I have to make some towns, I'll know who to look for!
RPGgamer

Final Fantasy, best series ever made.
The Darthster
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Posted: 19th Oct 2002 00:37
Hmm... :p :o :$ 8) To get your ninja animated, load all the animations as separate files and put the different ones in the ninja position to get him to switch aniimations. That isn't a very smooth or efficient way of doing it but at least it will be animated. I do most of my animation by hand, using arrays of limb rotations and interpolations. I really should write a tool to do that.
John H
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Posted: 19th Oct 2002 00:57
Hey- I already coded this! Lol- just forgot to post. Yep, Im using the arrays command. When I figure out how to post screenshots I will put some up!
RPGgamer

Final Fantasy, best series ever made.
John H
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Posted: 19th Oct 2002 00:58
Hmm. lets see if this works! Dont mind it if it doesnt!

[img]C:\Program Files\Dark Basic Software\Dark Basic[/img]

Final Fantasy, best series ever made.
John H
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Posted: 19th Oct 2002 00:59
NOPE!
[img]
C:\Program Files\Dark Basic Software\Dark Basic\snapshot18.bmp[/img]
what about that?

Final Fantasy, best series ever made.
John H
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Posted: 19th Oct 2002 01:01
How DO you post screenshots? I have mine in a bitmap form. Anyone know?
RPGgamer

Final Fantasy, best series ever made.
Mirthin
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Posted: 19th Oct 2002 01:08
maybe you require it to be online in which case I'm screwed.
CD On CD
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Posted: 19th Oct 2002 05:19
Cyber_Freak:
thanx for your offer!
(since there is really a LACK of support for it)

here's a few needs i currently have that their tech support HAS NOT answered:

1) when & if I put any MORE than 21 files in the TEXTURES/MISC folder CShop WILL NOT run at all,,,it will error out & close! i dont care what i add to that folder,,,if there are MORE than 21 objects in there,,,look out!

2) so,,,,how can i ADD my OWN textures (w/o having to delete some already in that folder & GROUP them? if i add a DIR to the TEXTURES dir,,,same thing,,,CShop errors out!

3) if i have BOTH DBP & CShop running at the same time, i can not compile anything in DBP UNTIL i close CShop. do you have problems like this?

3) using say the 'level.csm' default & when you compile to the .X file,,,,,how do you ultimately use it in DBP that includes ALL textures from that .X file & so that it will display right in DBP (including all textures)

4) if i compile my .X file from CSHop & then converted that file to BSP what ALL would i need to include to get the world to display correctly in DBP?

hope these arent too many questions for now

BTW: i'm using W2K Pro

thanx a milion

United We (Still) Stand

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