EntityPlus - A single player Q3 mod

[obsidian]

NOTE: Merged deqer's thread with this one.

[GtkRadiant]

I know this is very off topic and I sound like a noob for asking, but, can someone give me some step-by-step instructions on how to make a AAS file? I can't figure out how...

[GtkRadiant]

nevermind, I found a bat file posted by DaEngineer. (I think that's how you spell it.) I just edited it with the correct paths and now I'm able to make AAS files! ^_^

...if only I could find out why it's leaking...

[deqer]

nevermind, I found a bat file posted by DaEngineer. (I think that's how you spell it.) I just edited it with the correct paths and now I'm able to make AAS files! ^_^

...if only I could find out why it's leaking...

gtkradiant 1.4 shows me where the leak is with a red line.

Eraser,
What are your thoughts about adding "wait" to func_plat, and adding "-2" to make func_plat never return(even if a player is not on it).

I have trigger_multiple (with "wait" "-1" for it to trigger only once). But, the func_plat still has logic/behavior to reset back to it's original position 1 second after a player leaves the platform.

Official notes quote:
"func_plat
targetname: if set, the trigger that points to this will raise the plat each time it fires. The plat raises and comes back down a second later if no player is on it. "

[Ouija]

Wouldn't replacing the plat with a door with sufficient lip provide a quick, dirty fix for this?

[deqer]

Wouldn't replacing the plat with a door with sufficient lip provide a quick, dirty fix for this?

Nah.

[Eraser]

func_plats are a bit weird in Quake 3 so I think that's why no one ever used them. But I suppose for consistency's sake at the very least I should add a wait -2 to func_plat.

[Eraser]

Ok I'll post my thoughts on some of the comments made in recent posts.

When the player dies, I want it to feel like you really died in a single player game. Music plays, screen fades to black, and you click "Continue"

I like the idea of a "neater" way of dying. Fading the screen to black and having the possibility to play a specific music track is a good start.

oh, this would mean i would need a "map_restart" effect (without the 5 second countdown.) to go after the "Press any key to continue." -- because, if the player(you) dies, it's pretty much impossible for them to continue if the map doesn't restart, because some one-way/one-time-only elevators have already gone, and other stuff has already played through, etc. --- the idea is that the player must survive the whole run.

I'm actually a big fan of the map not being restarted when you die. I think the whole backpack game mechanic is an interesting one and I'd hate to just rip that out again.
I could look into making a map restart an optional thing the level designer could set through the worldspawn or something, but it'd take quite a bit more work than one would initially think because of the way things are set up now.

Eraser, can you change the Func_timer so it wont keep firing its target forever... maybe you could have a LOOP spawnflag that makes it fire forever every X seconds. (X being the value set in the wait key.) and a rounds key that can be set which will tell the entity how many times to fire its targeted entity every X seconds.

I think your problem would be solved by implementing a count key for func_timer so that it activates its targets only X number of times. func_timer already loops automatically in the way you suggest. If you want a one time delay, use target_delay instead.

In fact, what you want now is already doable with target_delays, but a count key on func_timer would make it easier to accomplish.

[Eraser]

Oh and I've implemented a linear movement for cutscene cameras as well. It works ok-ish but its still done completely server side and as a result of this (at least, I think that's the reason) it looks a slight bit choppy. I'm still thinking of a way of doing this client-side. I have a feeling it'll be much smoother then.

[cityy]

Q3mme is open source. Maybe you can take some stuff from it.

Edit: http://q3mme.proboards.com/index.cgi?bo ... 351&page=1

[deqer]

Not a high priority, func_plat wait -2. I can work without it, if you want to ignore that feature for now.

---

With regard to the map_restart, it does not completely restart. For example, the screen does not fade-in from black again.

Perhaps it's easier if you implement "map <current_map>" when the player dies. So that the whole map can reload/reinitialize again.

If that is difficult to do, then I suppose I can live without it. I might put instructions in my README to tell the player to restart the map if they die. But, we'll see how things go with my map -- since all func_plat's return anyways. Hmm.

---

Because, you know that Quake 2 or Quake 1, or the old classic Doom -- those games would restart/reload the entire map if the player dies, unless you were in a multi-player co-op game. But since EntityPlus is strictly single-player (no multi-player support anymore), then all the more reason then. : )

---

Idea?

info_player_start
"deathtarget" "restart" (this doesn't exist. i know. just an idea, though)

target_script
"targetname" "restart"
"script" "restart.cfg"

<restart.cfg>
map krep01

---

This would only make sense if the mod remains "single-player only", forever. Otherwise, putting this functionality onto an info_player_start would be wrong. Hehe.

[Eraser]

Q3mme is open source. Maybe you can take some stuff from it.

Edit: http://q3mme.proboards.com/index.cgi?bo ... 351&page=1

q3mme is a mod that also makes changes to the Quake 3 engine, so I can't use it. It might be a source of inspiration. The solution to my problem isn't very hard though.
If the calculations and updating of camera positions is done client side, the movement should be smooth. I have a crude way of getting all the required data from the server to the client so from there on out, it's basically copy/pasting the code I already have.

[Ouija]

Server side camera is useless, anyway. Even if you needed netplay (which you don't) the server could just send the points themselves to the player and let the client do the interpolation.
This would be great for the motion if it could be implemented:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_Herm ... Rom_spline

[Eraser]

I've moved my calculations to the client and it works smoooooth now

It's just linear movements still but it's great to focus the player's attention on something. And the camera's are positioned in the editor, so no annoying script files or anything.

Implementing splines would be the next step. As I said before, I'm no maths wizz though so I'm not so sure I can pull that off.

[GtkRadiant]

Eraser, I'm the guy who asked for the holdable_sword. I've made a character model for quake 3, so I could probably make the sword... I just don't know how to import non-character models into q3.

(in case you haven't noticed, I REALLY want a sword in q3. =3 )

[Ouija]

You can always rip code off other things that use splines for camera movement. (in other words, anything)

I have one idea that'd be great for the more distant future, but I gotta ask first: are console commands and variables handled by the mod or the engine?

[obsidian]

GtkRadiant 1.5 and 1.6 has a spline plotter for W:ET, perhaps you can enable it to work with Entity+? You should be able to use the spline for cameras or other movers like vehicles/trains. I think it's part of BobToolz:
https://zerowing.idsoftware.com/svn/rad ... /bobtoolz/

[Eraser]

I have one idea that'd be great for the more distant future, but I gotta ask first: are console commands and variables handled by the mod or the engine?

Depends on the cvar/cmd. All r_ prefixed cvars, for example, is all engine stuff. The cg_ and g_ cvars are client and server mod code respectively.

[Ouija]

Never mind, actually. Was gonna suggest turning some of the functionality into script commands but that'd probably be a crapload of work.
Did you consider the music changing entity I asked about earlieWAIT never mind q3 has a /music command already built in. No more questions.

[Eraser]

Oh yah that music entity shouldnt be hard. Ill implement it anyway.

[Ouija]

I don't know what for... would be more useful if it was a crossfader or in any other way better than using the command itself.

[Eraser]

Eraser, I'm the guy who asked for the holdable_sword. I've made a character model for quake 3, so I could probably make the sword... I just don't know how to import non-character models into q3.

(in case you haven't noticed, I REALLY want a sword in q3. =3 )

Did you read what I wrote about the cel shading here? Maybe some peeps here who know how celshading in q3map2 works can help you out with that.

[Ouija]

I just remembered something... do target_speaker's subtitles work with cg_draw2d off?

[Eraser]

No they don't. But you can pretty selectively remove elements from the hud using commands like cg_drawstatus and cg_drawcrosshair.

edit:
and for that purpose I've just added a cg_drawHoldableItems cvar as well. Set it to 0 to stop drawing icons for holdable items on the HUD. Anything else that needs removing?

edit2:
oh and just for the record: it's target_print that can draw subtitles, not target_speaker. I see I wrote the wrong entity name in a previous post. This has been corrected now. I also wrote in that same post about cg_subtitleTime, but this cvar has been removed because the level designer can determine the amount of time the subtitle should stay on-screen now using the wait key on the target_print. There still is a cg_drawsubtitles cvar which the user can use to enable/disable subtitles altogether.

[GtkRadiant]

Yeah, I read it. thanks for the help! turns out, all you have to do is point the celshader to an empty image path. (i.e "cel/ink2")

I've made a test version of the sword in case you want me to continue making it. (also, I've learned how to import non-player models into q3!)

you can find an image of the sword-model-in-the-making on this post.

notes:
1. the textures will be improved in quality and style.
2. the blade's shape might be changed if so desired.
3. additions/changes will be made to the hilt. (i.e jewel on the bottom of the handle, cooler/more decorative hilt design, ect.)