Index | FAQ | Search | Memberlist | Usergroups | Profile | Log in to check your private messages | Log in | Register

Ace of Nails Official Release

| Inside3d Forums Forum Index -> General Discussion

View previous topic :: View next topic

Was AoN fun to play?

I loved it! |

60%
[ 3 ]
I enjoyed it |

0%
[ 0 ]
Not bad/Pretty average. |

20%
[ 1 ]
Below average, should have been much better. |

0%
[ 0 ]
I cry for you, Wazat... |

0%
[ 0 ]
What's a "Quake"? |

20%
[ 1 ]

Total Votes : 5

Author | Message
--- | ---
Wazat Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 732 Location: Middle 'o the desert, USA |

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 5:52 pm Post subject: Ace of Nails Official Release |

View screenshots I recently realized I had never released AoN to the public. Some of you saw the early beta/alpha, but that's it. Well, I've put it up on moddb.com for download. You can get it here: Ace of Nails The Darkplaces engine comes highly recommended here. Other engines, like Cheaphack, ought to work too. I haven't tried it with fte or plain tomaz yet, but I assume it won't crash or die and will probably look just fine. Scale and Alpha are the important engine features, and the rest is presentation and seeing things the way they were meant to look.
My apologies to the linux folks, I'm not sure if I need to rename everything to lowercase. Stupid windows obsession with all-caps files and extensions. If this is a problem I can fix it.
AoN, Jeht and Best of the Void are the 3 DM mods I'm proud of, both because I made really cool features (like the AoN gibbable corpses) and because I personally think they're a lot of fun to play. I'd like your feedback!
How did you like it? Please enter the poll and leave comments on what could be improved or removed.
_________________
When my computer inevitably explodes and kills me, my cat inherits everything I own. He may be the only one capable of continuing my work.

Back to top |

Urre Joined: 05 Nov 2004 Posts: 1073 Location: Sweden |

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 6:54 pm Post subject: |

I can say this: although I have little time to try it out, I'm still as puzzled about the math behind curving those sparks today as when I saw the screenshots a couple of years back. Are they truly capable of bending in to touch a given spot, or do they just twist randomly from the muzzle?
_________________
Look out for Twigboy

Back to top |

Wazat Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 732 Location: Middle 'o the desert, USA |

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 7:11 pm Post subject: |

It's really just a daisy chain of straight lightning bolt models. I make sure the tips touch as much as Quake's angle precision will let them, and it ends up looking pretty good. The curving line of straight segments ends up looking pretty nice because the models for the segments are jagged and non-straight, so it ends up being really cool.
If I can work up the will to make a Quake map again, I want to do a map that has lightning striking outside often using this code. The lightning will branch out to hit multiple target locations and could look really nice! I could even tie it to triggers so it strikes right in front of the player as he steps into an area, and even strikes monsters.
Edit: And yes, they can curve in to touch a specific point. In a couple of those screenshots they fire out at an angle from the starting point and curve in at a certain amount per segment until they converge at the destination.
_________________
When my computer inevitably explodes and kills me, my cat inherits everything I own. He may be the only one capable of continuing my work.

Back to top |

leileilol Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 1321 |

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 7:36 pm Post subject: |

I remember this, it hasn't aged too well though. Some of the weapons feel cumbersome to use (particularily the railgun using rocket launcher, and the lavagun)

Back to top |

Urre Joined: 05 Nov 2004 Posts: 1073 Location: Sweden |

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 9:47 pm Post subject: |

Wazat: any chance of seeing code or maths behind the angle turning steps? I take it the segment length can be altered as well, so the math would actually work for a completely segmentless trail as well? EDIT: I'm asking all this because, well, CSQC. Imagine all that coolness, with no server impact at all. And imagine that except using realtime-generated polygons, with randomized jaggyness along a given curved path.
_________________
Look out for Twigboy

Back to top |

ceriux Joined: 06 Sep 2008 Posts: 969 Location: Florida, USA |

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 11:05 pm Post subject: |

looks really cool wazat ill check it out. _________________ QuakeDB - Quake ModDB Group

Back to top |

r00k Joined: 13 Nov 2004 Posts: 483 |

Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 3:30 am Post subject: |

I like the Gauntlet blade; I've always wanted to do something like that for a TRON disc mod http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discs_of_Tron http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/cNNkvtl2_MU

Back to top |

Wazat Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 732 Location: Middle 'o the desert, USA |

Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 4:25 am Post subject: |

leileilol: I hope it hasn't aged too much (I assume that's mostly graphics, right?). I wonder how the lavagun and R&R gun can be improved. r00k: Glad you liked it. I have a couple of similar weapons in my single-player mod Conquest too. It's one of my favorite guns.
Urre:
Yup, the source is included in the mod download. The file you'll want to open is weapon.qc. It all starts when W_FireSparkCannon or W_FireSparkCannonRapid (weapons.qc, line 808) is called from W_Attack (attack.qc). This sets a bunch of global variables (there were too many parameters so I made 'em globals, since only one spark is being created at a time) and it goes from there. SparkLightning() does a little bit of work and then it enters a recursive loop (DoSparkLightning) until it reaches its destination. Really the recursive loop probably isn't necessary, since it could probably be redone easily as a normal while loop. Meh, live and learn.
I think SparkLightningBezier() works too, but I don't remember. It's been a while.
I recommend you look at line 402 (SparkLightning function) and line 808 (W_FireSparkCannonRapid). Those functions will give you a good idea of the parameters and settings that are passed to the sparklightning code. From there the loop in DoSparkLightning() is just working off of those settings and appending one spark model to another and determining who gets shocked.
This could probably be replicated in CSQC, and if so, should be. Currently it creates a lot of entities on the server, and that's not appropriate. If you're doing a non-random formula then a start point, end point, start angle and curve rate might be all you need to give to the client (maybe a few more params for visual effect), and the client-side lightning effect would match the server-side curve of tracelines being used to determine damage.
_________________
When my computer inevitably explodes and kills me, my cat inherits everything I own. He may be the only one capable of continuing my work.

Back to top |

leileilol Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 1321 |

Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 4:50 am Post subject: |

Wazat wrote:
(I assume that's mostly graphics, right?).

Not exactly (EF_ADDITIVE would look nice on some of the existing effects), but more like the whole aesthetic feel, and how much it's like delayed and sluggish.

Back to top |

Display posts from previous:

| Inside3d Forums Forum Index -> General Discussion | All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

Jump to:

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

Powered by phpBB © 2004 phpBB Group