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Experimenting with lightmaps

Monica21

Scholar
Joined
Oct 16, 2005
Messages
214
DarkSign said:
After looking at it again, the light source seems uber-directional...as in...from every direction at the same time.
I agree, and maybe that's because of the shadows? There are candles placed on tabletops, but it looks like the light is coming from overhead, and not like the candles are a light source at all.

Otherwise, it really is a great improvement. :)
 

Pegultagol

Erudite
Joined
Feb 4, 2005
Messages
1,183
Location
General Gaming
That looks much better. Good job, Vault Dweller. Where did you get the texture for the carpet / rug by the way? It has the exact same pattern as the one in the house.
 

Nick

Iron Tower Studio
Developer
Joined
Apr 21, 2004
Messages
317
Location
Over the hills and far away
DarkSign said:
Yes, I know. But it's working in both. I work with the developers of the Dream Project who are using it daily and have assured me it's working. Of course the developer of the LK trumps everyone else, but other people have interior dynamic shadows working.

Never saw it working on TGE, and judging by John Kabus' words, he agreed that this is a well-known porblem and he's *trying* to find a solution. It's hard to believe that someone solved it faster than that guy :) Anyway, if you can post any pictures of indoor DTS shadows working on TGE, it would be interesting to see.

Maybe this could be done by merging TSE rendering code with TGE codebase, but this a pure waste of time.

EDIT: DarkSign, are you sure that those guys use DTSs as interiors, not DIFs? You said nothing about it. 'cause there is no problem with shadows on DIF objects, but that's not what we need, unfortunately.
 

Ivy Mike

Scholar
Joined
Jun 28, 2005
Messages
495
Location
Ground Zero
Vault Dweller said:
Because you fuckers have been impossibly hard to please for the last 18 months:

I don't like the interface, I don't like the dialogue screen setup - make it bigger, make it smaller, make it transparent, add a background, move the gold to the left, no, to the right, no, back to the left; OMG! Teh game has no shadows - fix it immediately;, it doesn't look lively / Roman / fantasy / post-apocalyptic enough; you call THIS writing - I wrote a better Sailor Moon fan fiction story in 3rd grade, I can only read something written by a certified writer with at least 2 published books; it's not atmospheric enough - why can't you, lazy fucker, make AoD look like Gothic 3? Hmm?

:lol:

There's so much love in this post that I don't know where to begin. Hey, you wouldn't mind adding the life sim aspect idea of Kult 2 while you're at it? Come on, it can't be that hard - The Sims did that several years ago.

On a more serious note, you get a grade A from me for actually paying attention to the horde. You, if anyone, should know they're hard to please. Personally I think that any major tinkering with the graphics from now on will see you guys facing diminishing returns. There's always something more to do, some aspect to be fixed, but I'm not sure that it'll add anything to the experience of the game.
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
Monica21 said:
...but it looks like the light is coming from overhead, and not like the candles are a light source at all.
It's magic. Duh! :lol:

Pegultagol said:
Where did you get the texture for the carpet / rug by the way? It has the exact same pattern as the one in the house.
That's a real carpet. We used real ancient maps and schematics that you see on the walls.

Ivy Mike said:
On a more serious note, you get a grade A from me for actually paying attention to the horde.
It would be a mistake not to. Sure, it's hard sometimes, when you do something that you think looks pretty good, show it to your "best friends" and they tear it apart in seconds. Once you get used to the "process", you realize that it's the best way to develop a game. Seriously.

Personally I think that any major tinkering with the graphics from now on will see you guys facing diminishing returns.
Agree.
 

android

Novice
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
Messages
78
Flashback said:
2) Skylight-ed lightmaps can be used both for night and day time. In the case of directional light and light bleeding, we will have to export two different DTS objects - same geometry, different textures. Rendering two sets of lighmaps and re-exporting models takes time, I'm not sure we have it.
You should have a look at the dirtmap shader (docs), it's basically fake global illumination, almost same results, but much much faster. It's also called ambient occlusion, 3DSMax 8 has native support for rendering it into textures, but I haven't tried that yet. Also there are alternatives if you're not working with Max.

Anyway, it looks much better now. If you would only change the UI... :)
 

Ladonna

Arcane
Joined
Aug 27, 2006
Messages
10,578
Added overhead text?....like in Fallout??

As in Combat taunts? And little NPC remarks? Yes? Damn I loved those taunts...

If not, its still great the way you are handling things. Trying to please the crowd while still saying 'no' to anything absurd. You better go give Wolf some tips, he can be too nice sometimes. :lol:
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
Ladonna said:
Added overhead text?....like in Fallout??

As in Combat taunts? And little NPC remarks? Yes? Damn I loved those taunts...
Yep.
 

Top Hat

Scholar
Joined
May 24, 2006
Messages
476
Don't forget to add in all those game-crippling bugs. No game is up-to-date if I go longer than an hour before a crash to desktop or it causes my computer to simulate Alzheimers.

The picture looks nice. At least I'm not blinded every time I look at a character. Is that the in-game mouse pointer? (I'm assuming not.)
 

Monica21

Scholar
Joined
Oct 16, 2005
Messages
214
Vault Dweller said:
Monica21 said:
...but it looks like the light is coming from overhead, and not like the candles are a light source at all.
It's magic. Duh! :lol:
The Age of Decadence is an isometric, turn-based, single-player 3D role-playing game set in a low magic, post-apocalyptic fantasy world....
;)
 

The_Pope

Scholar
Joined
Nov 15, 2005
Messages
844
Low magic means no magic fireballs, not no magic lightsources flying high in the air :P
 

Vidder

Liturgist
Joined
Mar 15, 2004
Messages
102
i like it how the romans pinned the posters and notes onto the stone wall.
TEH HISTORICAL IMMERSHUN!
 

Ladonna

Arcane
Joined
Aug 27, 2006
Messages
10,578
Finally a game with the old Combat taunts! I hope you have some good ones that fit into the era....I am guessing that 'Fuck' etc would not go very well.

If you have any probs thinking of any, just chuck a thread up and get some of the codexers to think of a few. Not that I think you will have a problem of course.... :wink:

Very nice addition. Thanks VD.
 

kaizoku

Arcane
Joined
Feb 18, 2006
Messages
4,129
1) what the fuck is a mudcrab?

2) outline the font with a black border

3) use a different text color for each character, like in gmail

4) log those taunts on the textbox

6) the gfx look great! :)

7) change the cursor. I suggest a hand-like cursor similiar to the one in the UI reaching out for the coins. The hand should move when there is the possibility of interaction with an object

8) i guess fuck is a timeless word. No way they would forget it just because of a WW3. Moreover, when individuals are under heavy pressure they tend to curse a lot more.
Ladonna did you meant the use of funny insults as opposed to pointless cursing?
These are just lame puns as i'm not a commedian,
- your momma is so fat she started using a barrel as a dress
- your aim is so bad that you couldn't hit on a druken prostitute even if you wanted to
- you punch like a girl... (hit)... i take that back, you punch worse than a girl
- what's your bra number (said to a fat guy)
- i'm trying to grow a beard just like that (said to a woman)

9) 10

11) lame joke 1: a female plummer that goes by the name of tubgirl

12) lame joke 2: a cowboy who works with cows and goatse (intended typo)

13) Monica21 can i get your IM address?

14) Ladonna can i get your dungeon address?
 

Twinfalls

Erudite
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
3,903
Vault Dweller said:
I don't like the interface, I don't like the dialogue screen setup - make it bigger, make it smaller, make it transparent, add a background, move the gold to the left, no, to the right, no, back to the left; OMG! Teh game has no shadows - fix it immediately;, it doesn't look lively / Roman / fantasy / post-apocalyptic enough; you call THIS writing - I wrote a better Sailor Moon fan fiction story in 3rd grade, I can only read something written by a certified writer with at least 2 published books; it's not atmospheric enough - why can't you, lazy fucker, make AoD look like Gothic 3? Hmm?

Blackadder : Caroline of Brunswick is the only available princess in Europe.
Baldrick : And what's wrong with her?
Blackadder : Get more coffee! It's horrid! Change it! Take me roughly from behind! No, not like that, like this! Trousers off! Tackle out! Walk the dog! Where's my presents!
 

Noceur

Liturgist
Joined
Mar 23, 2006
Messages
199
Location
Tar Pits
Using Lightmaps is a clear improvement :)
And I personally don't care about shadows from characters indoors, if it's too much of a hassle.

If you're baking the light into the textures, couldn't you add lightsources such as from candles?

About using the word fuck in the roman setting... "Origin: 1495–1505; akin to MD fokken to thrust, copulate with, Sw dial. focka to copulate with, strike, push, fock penis" ... the word is pretty old.
In author Guy Gavriel Kay's* The Sarantine Mosaic (set in a world inspired by Byzantium) the word "fuck" is used. I am also pretty sure that the romans, whilst not using the exact word "fuck", would have used words of similar nature to express themselves. They were dirty bastards, after all.

* Guy G. Kay writes "historical fantasy", i.e a fantasy setting inspired by a time in our own history sometimes with the addition of a few mythological creatures and sometimes even some low magic.
 

fraunclein

Novice
Joined
Jan 25, 2006
Messages
67
Two thumbs up. Definitely a great improvement from the original.
As for a curious question: Any conclusions in testing the alternative interface colours/bitmaps?
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
We tried, it didn't work. In my opinion, of course. I'll see if I have any screens left.
 

Sentenza

Scholar
Joined
Sep 10, 2006
Messages
269
Astromarine said:
makes the UI as a whole better
Talking about the UI, wouldn't a darker one (with bright text) will be better? (More athmospheric and less sight stressing or whatever is the expression...)
The_Pope said:
Low magic means no magic fireballs, not no magic lightsources flying high in the air :P
I don't understand a shit of grafix, buut, there isn't a way to simply trigger the skylight OFF/ON when the player enter/exit an interior? (I suppose there are different lightsources associated with candles/torchs/windows (daytime) to bring light in the interiors, if not, nevermind...)
 

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