Guild of Writers

Nadnerb wrote: However, I refuse to manually attach visregions to ~640 objects, so that will have to wait until we have better options.

Well there's that new-fangled thing called libPlasma, you might want to have a look at that.

Seriously, with the scripts I have made using prpPack, following your tips, such a batch job is possible.
Using UltraEdit, it is possible to add an XML node to a bunch of XML files.
Can you post here the PRC file for one such object with the visregion attached, along with the list of objects to process?

Actually, I was hoping to be able to use another method of rendering optimization soon. Hopefully we can get plOccluders working.. predictably, and this should offer a considerably simpler (for the builder) method of culling the scene.

I downloaded the file manually, put the data in the dat folder and added the book through ULM. When I tried linking, I got a message saying that the files were corrupted and to please reinstall Uru. I tried downloading the Age through the ULM and to no avail. When I checked the age properties I saw that three files were labeled as missing. I re-extracted them and inserted them in the dat folder, only for them to "disappear" after another aborted link. Yeah, the properties stated after each play that the three files mentioned earlier were "missing".

I even deleted all the files, re-downloaded the Age through ULM and the same thing happened.

This sounds like a sequence prefix conflict. If this is the same install you've been using for a while, I think it may be fighting with one or more of the earlier test ages I made for Odema with different names. (but same prefix)

Nadnerb wrote:Actually, I was hoping to be able to use another method of rendering optimization soon. Hopefully we can get plOccluders working.. predictably, and this should offer a considerably simpler (for the builder) method of culling the scene.

For the curious, can you explain in a sentence or two what a plOccluder is, or point to such a description? Or does that fall under the documentation embargo? Neither the wiki nor a forum search bring up anything (though I don't trust the latter since your post clearly does contain the word, and Google finds a few more).

Christian Walther wrote:

Nadnerb wrote:Actually, I was hoping to be able to use another method of rendering optimization soon. Hopefully we can get plOccluders working.. predictably, and this should offer a considerably simpler (for the builder) method of culling the scene.

For the curious, can you explain in a sentence or two what a plOccluder is, or point to such a description? Or does that fall under the documentation embargo? Neither the wiki nor a forum search bring up anything (though I don't trust the latter since your post clearly does contain the word, and Google finds a few more).

Occluders are not unique to Plasma. I found this article (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2 ... php?page=3) to be best at explaining what they are and what they do.

Simply put, I believe he's referring to a method by which the graphics engine determines visible regions. It's a rather difficult optimization problem currently undergoing much experimentation.

Amazing! I saw that you modeled the smoker! I even tried finding the key and seeing if I could get in to see that smoker, but alas no. Great work!

Ok, some touch ups:

The path from the hut to the bridge is a lot longer. Imagine you're hiking in the woods and locations of importance take some serious exercise to get to. The Age is really meant to be an echoing of a hike trail through a largely vegetative area. It should feel real in that sense that great distances bridge sights of interest. Basically, that means extending the path mucho and adding a lot more trees, grass, rocks, etc.

Before the bridge, the dead end path forks off leading to the shroom infested ravine. The shrooms are the kind in the original sketch - long, twisting, and tall, and brightly colored with primary colors - red, blue, green, yellow, purple.

The actual bridge is found after a rough descent from the plateau the hut is on. The river falls off this rockface, meeting the path a quarter of the way to the bottom.

Oh, and I love the lantern post design. Actually, the key lantern would be found loosely hung off the end of the bottom of the bridge, close to the river as to be well hidden. The post could appear as a decoy.

Great stuff!

Oh, and when we get that source code, I'd like to see a day/night cycle. 19 hours sounds just about right.

Andy is not the only one getting green flashes I am too. The regularity takes on a timing like a sound file being searched for and using resources in the process.

Do you have any music running I don't hear any but I do hear the water. Just a thought.

Paradox wrote:I found this article (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2 ... php?page=3) to be best at explaining what they are and what they do.

Thanks - that article, together with the PyPRP code, allows me some educated guesses about how they work. Now to see if I can muster the time to try it out...

teedyo wrote:Simply put, I believe he's referring to a method by which the graphics engine determines visible regions.

That much is apparent from the name and Nadnerb's usage of it. I guess I should have said "for the curious and computer-graphically educated but plasmatically clueless".