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Author Topic: Latest beta: WME 1.6 beta 4  (Read 67311 times)

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Mnemonic

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Latest beta: WME 1.6 beta 4
« on: February 07, 2006, 10:24:03 PM »

Hello wintermuties,

I'm working on a new WME version, 1.6. This release should improve the 3D characters support and address some problems and suggestions the developers had.

The first step was to add support for the Microsoft X format instead MS3D format used in previous WME versions. And since some of you were eager to test the X format support, I decided to release a beta version of WME 1.6. I'm planning many more changes for 1.6, so I'll be probably releasing more beta versions as more features are added. But for now, here you are... Enjoy and please report any bugs/problems you might encounter.

Warning: This beta version is intended for testing purposes only, not for production. Don't install this update if you're not comfortable with using beta versions.

Use at your own risk and expect bugs! Backup your project first!!!



http://dead-code.org/download/wme_update_16beta4.exe
(5.8MB, updated documentation included)


Changes in WME 1.6 beta 4 (May 8, 2006)
  • Particle system additions. New attributes for setting particle rotation, angular velocity, growth rate, random alpha and the ability to mask particles by a scene region. Breaking change warning: to keep the API consistent, the behavior of Alpha1 and Alpha2 attributes has changed. You must now set the AlphaTimeBased attribute to true to get the same functionality as in beta 3.
  • New Game.SuspendedRendering attribute to temporarily disable screen refreshes. Useful when you need to run multiple script updates in one frame.
  • Accessibility support. WME now provides options for improving accessibility for visually-impaired players. These include sending written text to text-to-speech synthesizer and manually highlighting active areas on screen using keyboard shortcuts. There are also some new scripting methods and attributes to support accessibility. See the Accessibility chapter in the documentation for a detailed discussion.
  • The startup settings window has been redesigned to accommodate new options. Note: The standard string table now contains new localizable strings. Please update the string table of your game.
  • Multi-monitor support improvements. WME window now opens on the correct monitor in both windowed and full-screen mode. The mouse pointer is locked on the correct monitor in full-screen mode. WME tools now use the right video device depending on which monitor they are displayed.
  • WME is now more bullet-proof to common developer mistakes. Some of the engine/tools crashes caused by developer mistakes have been handled (syntax errors in definition files etc.). Missing images and sprites are now replaced by a generic "invalid image" picture making them immediately obvious to the developer. WME now issues a log-file warning if the game references some file using an absolute path, which will cause problems after compiling the game and running it on a different computer.
  • ProjectMan no longer tries to check for WME updates if there's no active internet connection.
  • The debugging settings file formerly named dcgf.ini has been renamed to wme.ini.
  • BUGFIX: Blending mode is now correctly restored after Alt-Tabbing.
  • BUGFIX: Division by decimal numbers lesser than 1.0 no longer causes "Division by zero" error.

Changes in WME 1.6 beta 3 (Apr 17, 2006)
  • new particle generator system; see the "Particle effects" chapter in the documentation for more details
  • new "wme_particles" demo project with several predefined particle effects
  • new BlendMode attribute for actors, entities and particle emitters, which allows you to set the drawing more (normal, additive blending, subtractive blending)
  • all inventory items are now accessible using the new Game.TotalNumItems attribute and Game.QueryItem() method
  • new Game.SmartItemCursor property to only highlight the mouse pointer with selected item if the object can handle the item
  • BUGFIX: Inventory items animations didn't work correctly after saving game and loading it after restarting Windows
  • BUGFIX: PlayTheora() method ignored the Scale after restarting video playback
  • BUGFIX: 3D actors with multiple X models weren't properly restored when loading a saved game
  • BUGFIX: 3D actors' direction/angle became broken after using the keyboard rotation
  • BUGFIX: Item.GetHoverSprite() and Item.GetSprite() methods were broken
  • BUGFIX: The PlayAnimAsync() method for 3D actors didn't always work properly
  • BUGFIX: WME should now remember previously selected device on dual-screen systems

Changes in WME 1.6 beta 2 (Feb 12, 2006)
  • new SetTexture() method for 3D actors; you can assign either a static image or an animated WME sprite as a texture
  • new standard animations for 3D actors, "TurnLeft" and "TurnRight", used when the actor is turning counter clockwise or clockwise
  • new DrawBackfaces attribute for 3D actors which specifies whether the 3D model should display polygons facing away from the camera
  • 3D scenes can now be setup to use 2D-based pathfinding, i.e. you can use the same way of designing blocked areas and waypoints as you would use for 2D actors; see the "Additional 3D options" chapter in the documentation for details
  • if you are using multiple inventories, each inventory remembers its scroll offset, so when switching from one inventory to another the original scroll offset is restored
  • new Game.InventoryScrollOffset attribute for setting and querying current scroll offset of the inventory box
  • new Game.SetSceneViewport() and Scene.SetViewport() methods for changing the scene viewport at runtime
  • new Game.SoundBufferSize attribute for setting the size of sound buffer used for streamed sounds/music
  • the GUI buttons no longer display mouse-hover effects when game isn't in interactive state


Changes in WME 1.6 beta 1 (Feb 07, 2006)
  • new format of 3D actor definition files (see the docs)
  • support for Microsoft X for 3D actors
  • smooth animation transitions for X files
  • new demo project "wme_demo_3d_2", built on the old 3D demo, but with the new actor format
  • new RightDoubleClick event
  • PlayTheora() method for entities now takes Entity.Scale into account, video is scaled appropriately
  • BUGFIX: Custom camera FOV is correctly restored when loading a saved game
  • BUGFIX: Changes to save/load to prevent memory leak causing long save/load times under certain conditions


Q&A:
Q: Why the X format?
A: X format has several major advantages over the previously used MS3D format:
-X format supports weighted vertices. Your 3D artist will love that.
-X format natively supports multiple animations stored in a single file.
-X format is widely supported by various 3D packages.

Q: What do I need to know when switching from MS3D to X?
A: The 3D actors definition file format and scripting support have changed for X actors.
-3D actor definition file starts with ACTOR3DX, not ACTOR3D, to distinguish between X actors and MS3D actors.
-Animations no longer need to be defined by their frame ranges, because the X format supports named animation sets directly. You only specify additional properties of the animation in the act3d files (see the docs for details).
-The AddMesh(), RemoveMesh(), HideMesh() and ShowMesh() methods are deprecated. The attachments are now treated as autonomous scriptable objects. You add an attachment using the AddAttachment() method and remove it using RemoveAttachment(). The GetAttachment() method returns a reference to an attachment object, which provides it's own set of methods and properties (e.g. using the Active property you can show or hide the attachment).
-Unlike MS3D actors, the PlayAnimChannel() now blocks script execution even if the animation plays in other channel than channel zero. Use PlayAnimChannelAsync() if you want to play the animation without blocking script.

Q: How do I export/convert my model to X format?
A: I have started a Wiki page on X file support in various 3D programs. Feel free to expand the article if you have any additional info or experience with other programs.

Q: The old 3D actors format using MS3D models is marked as "deprecated" in the docs. What does it mean?
A: It means this old format is not going to be expanded. All the new features will be added for the new format only (the one using X files).The old format will stay in place for backward compatibility, but the plan is to completely remove it in WME 2.0. Hopefully the advantages of the new format will be worth the trouble with converting your models.
« Last Edit: May 13, 2006, 12:11:11 PM by Mnemonic »
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Re: WME 1.6 beta 1
« Reply #1 on: February 07, 2006, 10:37:38 PM »

You're amazing as usually. I am off to try it.

Huge thanks from Destnies team.  ::beer ::beer ::beer ::rock ::rock ::rock
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Re: WME 1.6 beta 1
« Reply #2 on: February 07, 2006, 10:56:51 PM »

hmm, WME crashes and in log file there is

Error: no suitable loader found for file 'actors\test\testik.x'

I checked trinity and mine definition and both looks very similar. Any help? :)

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Mnemonic

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Re: WME 1.6 beta 1
« Reply #3 on: February 07, 2006, 10:58:50 PM »

Make sure the actor definition file starts with ACTOR3DX. The act3d file format is different for X models.
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Re: WME 1.6 beta 1
« Reply #4 on: February 07, 2006, 11:08:56 PM »

yup. that was it. :) Model shows and animation too. And it's great that now animation names are taken from the .X file directly. Thanks :D
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Re: WME 1.6 beta 1
« Reply #5 on: February 08, 2006, 08:41:42 AM »

Make sure the actor definition file starts with ACTOR3DX. The act3d file format is different for X models.
Oh and it's without the "X" in the docs, sorry.. :)
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WME 1.6 beta 2
« Reply #6 on: February 12, 2006, 02:46:45 PM »

WME 1.6 beta 2 has been released. See the original post for details.
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varnama

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Re: Latest beta: WME 1.6 beta 2
« Reply #7 on: February 12, 2006, 08:05:09 PM »

Cool Update!! ::rock
I have several problems to migrate characters and for now i have obtained to see my character without any animation.. ::hijack
I can see a little problem with speed in X files for now, the same character in general slow down my frame rate in 20 ftp.. But for a beta release it's a good beginning!! :D
Good work Mnemonic! ;)
P.D: It's possible also that my problem with ftp come with exporter, i don't know.. :-\
« Last Edit: February 13, 2006, 11:24:16 AM by Mnemonic »
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Re: Latest beta: WME 1.6 beta 2
« Reply #8 on: February 12, 2006, 11:52:29 PM »

that's quite godly update! Thanks for many things which will ease my life!

 ::beer ::beer ::beer ::beer

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Re: Latest beta: WME 1.6 beta 2
« Reply #9 on: February 13, 2006, 11:26:37 AM »

I have several problems to migrate characters and for now i have obtained to see my character without any animation..
How are you converting the model? In what program?

I can see a little problem with speed in X files for now, the same character in general slow down my frame rate in 20 ftp..
If it doesn't get better, I'd like to take a look at that model, if possible.

Anyone else noticed any performance problems?
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Re: Latest beta: WME 1.6 beta 2
« Reply #10 on: February 13, 2006, 12:16:15 PM »

nope going with full frame rate with 4500 polys model with 2 textures 1024x1024. My problem is when antialiasing is set, framerate drops
if I use 5 layers of fog, big overlays and this model. But of course - if you find some way how to push more polys on screen, we'll be more than happy. :)
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Re: Latest beta: WME 1.6 beta 2
« Reply #11 on: February 13, 2006, 01:14:07 PM »

Hi Mnemonic i try to explain my experimentation since my first post (I think can help), First with milkshape export (I don't have fragmotion)
   - i try to export to 3dmax 6 with panda plugin but don't work i can't export anything in x, i don't know why..
   - i try to export with characterFx, but don't display nothing (adding textures and exporting wme have and error and it's close)
   - i try with LithUnwrap (but all combination with text, binary and compress wme have and error and it's close)
   - MilkShape -> Directx (JT) can export well static model but with animation... Woww! my character it's deformer (frames down but no more, it oscillates between 2 and 7 fps, it's down frecuently when character is walking) (the same file in ms3d don't down fps only i can see 1 or 2 fps but it's stranger)
   - MilkShape -> Directx 8 file can export but static model too (it's possible it import animation, but I don't know what name have animation in this export), Frame rate same as Directx JT
   - And last, and with responsibility of 20 fps in his back, it's maya and microsoft directx sdk plugin for maya, i remark Microsoft (who was going to be? ;D), in directx viewer it's show very well, but in wme fps go down..

  + Some Info extra, My character have 4780 triangles, and in my tests the most polycounts in scene are 30000.. I will continue with tests.. That's all, and thanks!! ;)

P.D: Sorry with or without AntiAlias, drop same 15, 20 frames
« Last Edit: February 13, 2006, 01:59:18 PM by varnama »
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Re: Latest beta: WME 1.6 beta 2
« Reply #12 on: February 13, 2006, 02:42:54 PM »

Actually 30000 polygons is really a lot. If your main actor has 4780 what are those other 25220 polys? Try reducing them since
it will be IMO the reason of your framedrop. Not your actor.
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Re: Latest beta: WME 1.6 beta 2
« Reply #13 on: February 13, 2006, 03:14:00 PM »

Sorry i don't explain well, i do some tests with various characters in scene and all sum 30000 (it's max i test), but with ms3d model don't have any problem with fps..
Only my first character in a scene, in X format from maya export can framedrop it.. I'm doing some test, i'll hope that the problem is a bad configuration of plugin..  :-\
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Re: Latest beta: WME 1.6 beta 2
« Reply #14 on: February 13, 2006, 04:00:09 PM »

Actually I am using panda for exporting. Why it doesn't work for you? I already had to tweak the setup a bit so it's a bit different then the setup presented on this forum.
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