I apologize for my endless bevy of questions, but I can't seem to figure this one out (either... )
Here is what I've been doing in an attempt to get a basic subworld working in Korman:
* [Subworld] make an empty, add the Subworld modifier to it.
* [Entry Region] make a cube, add Subworld Region modifier, set transition to On Enter (I give it a transparent material so I can visually see it in Uru)
* [Exit Region] make a cube, add Subworld Region modifier, set transition to On Exit (parent this to the empty, also give transparent material)
* [Floor] make a third cube with material and add collision, using the terrain checkbox (parent this to the empty) -- this is the only thing intended to be visible ingame
Problem 1: Cannot get collision working in a subworld
When the avatar enters the [Entry Region] the [Floor]'s collision doesn't work, so the avatar immediately falls through the [Floor]. It continues to fall through the rest of the world (which indicates it entered the [Subworld]).
I'm using the [Subworld] as the direct parent to [Floor} (in Blender). There doesn't seem to be another way to tell Korman "hey, this thing over here should be part of this subworld".
I suspect I'm missing something simple to get this working, but I have no idea what.
I've also noticed two issues that are problematic:
Problem 2: [Entry Region] cannot be parented to [Subworld]
If this is done then the [Entry Region] becomes unusable. I can still see the [Floor] but the avatar falls through it and collides with everything else normally (indicating that the avatar never enters the [Subworld])
(although that also means the [Floor] IS actually being associated with the [Subworld], despite the collision not working for whatever reason)
If parenting is the main way to specify what object belongs to what physics 'world', then this limitation makes some sense: the [Entry Region] part of the 'main' physics world so the player can activate it.
But if you have something like an elevator or vehicle, it's desirable that the entry region travels with that collection of objects. So you need another way to synchronize the movement of the [Entry Region] and [Subworld] (or maybe add several stationary entry points for every stop the [Subworld] makes).
Problem 3: Unexpected behavior when move / animating [Subworld]
In order to work around Problem 2, I thought why not just parent both [Entry Region] and [Subworld] to another object/empty and animated that instead. Then that object becomes a sort of container for the subworld.
So I end up with this hierarchy:
[Container]
-[Subworld]
-[EntryRegion]
--[Floor]
--[ExitRegion]
(FYI, the origin for all 5 objects is actually the same, and of course I applied the scale & rotation (before parenting).
That opened up a can of worms. I was getting a lot of unexpected behavior. The hierarchy was appearing in unexpected places.
Transform Issue 1
It took some troubleshooting, but I figured out that when using Blender's empty objects in a transformation hierarchy and exporting it to Uru (using Korman) that it doesn't give the results you expect. Something goes wrong. You expect objects to be in a particular place, but that is not where they end up in Uru. This does not happen with normal mesh objects, which work exactly as I expect them to. I have no idea why this happens, or whether it's a Plasma / Korman / or Blender-setting issue. It's not really a subworld issue, since this incorrect behavior happens without a subworld involved. But it was having a negative effect on my efforts here. I could make a blend file for reproducing this issue if wanted.
(Edit: see my next post after this for the reproduction -- and how oblivious I can be )
So I stopped using empties, switched them to mesh objects ([Container] is a suzanne mesh and [Subworld] is a cube now). Now I can move the hierarchy (by moving [Container]) around in Blender and when I export to Uru, it is transformed correctly, and appears in the right spot (translate, rotate, and scale all work, and the entry region works correctly too.
[my hierarchy of objects for the subworld] [same hierarchy has been translated/rotated/scaled and looks correct in Uru ]
Transform Issue 2
The next step was to try to animate it. But something peculiar happens. No matter what animation I add, say I simply make it move sideways 10 units, and I export it to Uru, the children of the subworld end up at exactly -2000 units on the z (vertical) axis, far below the 'ground'. I'm guessing this is intended behavior to some degree, since this is similar to how things are set up in Gahreesen. What else is odd is that occasionally when I first link into the age I have seen it for a frame or two as it rapidly moves downward to that position. Not sure what to make of that. The [Container] and the [Subworld] stay in the position where they are supposed to be, and the children are separated and far down there. Both are animated as I specify. The entry region doesn't work. I thought maybe this was related to the Subworld Type setting in the modifier on [Subworld]. I changed it from Separate World to Dynamic Avatar. No luck, it did not seem to change anything (I was hopeful for a moment).
I haven't tried moving the the hierarchy using a python script (which is ultimately what I want to do). Not sure whether that will work.
Even if I could get the animation working properly, doesn't do much good if I just fall through the floor though