I know I can test it locally too,I just didn't want to test it with idiot bots
And on the last sentences of Alien:
+1 !

Ok people. I have two different versions now, one with 1 flag and one with 3 flags. Try them out and see which one you like the best:

1 flag: http://ai.planetnexuiz.de/Models/z_aiFl ... V0.4.2.pk3

3 flags: http://ai.planetnexuiz.de/Models/z_aiFl ... E_V0.4.pk3

Sa far it's:
1 flag = 4 votes
3 flags = 4 votes

-------------------------------------
I write this up here just as a reminder, however later on I'll prob make a vote which will have a big (if not the final) impact.

1 flag:
Z
Fisume
Brutail
MirceaKitsune

3 flags:
ai
Morfar
Tweak (I think it was)
A guy on IRC (forgot his name, possibly Dib or something like that)

I like the "1 flag" version ai, but it looks a bit strange when you're running with it. I don't know how to change that, but it wouldn't be that easy.

Anyway, good job. Keep it up.

Q3 flags examples:





You can see how the part of the flag which is outside bb pokes inside the wall.
It seems q3 walls were specially made thick in order not to allow the flag protrude.

I'll check UT too to see how flag problem was solved there.

UT99 had an awesome flag animation iirc.

Could anyone else try the flags out and vote? So I get a more general idea of how many wants what.

WHAT is that thing holding the flag?????

KillaGrunt wrote:WHAT is that thing holding the flag?????

Lasers, glow isn't there yet so it looks strange. But this is just a beta stage yet.

Can you angle the (single) flag ~20-45 degress to give it more visual understanding?

I can try 35 degrees to be a bit random. However you can change the rotation on the flags when building maps. So I can only give a "standard" rotation. But to get arbitrary it would be up to the mappers.

UT:



Ai, you can see that in UT flag was attached to the player similarly to yours model. As well, you can see that the stick changes direction & height depending on the players position. Yet, the flag gets inside the wall again. Probably it was solved by using thick walls (again).

Maybe it would be possible to check if flag pokes into some solid object and change it's placement when that happens (eg. like moving the flag from back to front of the player - eg. placing flag in his left hand, and bringing back to the back when players get's away from the wall\bunker). Or maybe using a backpack for flag carrying?

That would need some coding right? Would it be hard to do and are people willing to do that?

Maybe there much better options then those I said (these are just my guesses what can be done). You need to ask REAL coder (probably div0).

EDIT:

Div0 probably has developed more sophisticated functions, but in standard quakec
there is a function traceline() which could check if traceline (vector from source to destination) met an obstacle and how far away that obstacle is. And there is player origin and angles fields which shows where the player is positioned and looks at (at which angle and yaw). Knowing flag dimensions, each cycle check could be done if flag pokes any object, and if that's true, location could be changed.

I'm not sure how hard that would be to do and if it is practically possible.

Can be done once player entities are CSQC networked. In the meantime, don't let flag-visible-through-wall annoy you. It happens already with the current flag. Just don't make the model take more space than the current one.

Ai's flag looks very differently (and better) from the current one. I doubt it is possible to keep his flag in previous flag space cause this one has thickness (like UT one).

Yeah, if I would stick to the current flags dimensions it would look really weird. If I scale it down to at least the same height it would not be as visible and hard to detect the flag carrier.

Just letting you know, I love the flag model. I've featured it with Tenshihan's sounds in 2 of my latest youtube videos.

They just need some smoke and laser effects.

Cool.

I've been rather busy lately so I haven't been able to find much time for the flags. I have to redo my portfolio site completely as some other work. But once it calms down I'm gonna try doing some glows, and possibly normalmaps if people want.

Ok, my portfolio site is almost done. I figure another day or so work on it and it would be totally finished.
However, I've also entered a 'Digital Artist Competition' over at 3D Buzz. I will need to focus on that as well. The contest ends at the end of the month. But I hope that once I've done some on that I will have time over for the flags.
I just got stuff piled up like crazy the last few weeks now.

If anyone is interested, I have showcased the current projects and future planned projects for Nexuiz over at the site.
Link: http://www.kurotorobert.com/?sid=9&p=nexuiz_main

Ignore the sticking through problem as long as the flag sticks through less than the Nex does. This might get fixed at a future point in time, but don't count on it as it requires lots of coding and we don't have enough coders for that kind of stuff now.

Also, note that the sticking through is only visible if the flag carrier is known to the client, that is, if vis and trace culling does not remove him. So it will not be visible on closed maps, only on some open maps that suck anyway (like greatwall).

I have started to pick this project up a bit. I'm currently going to make some glow and bump maps for the flag.
However, I would really love to have an animated texture for the lasers, just glow/gloss don't do it. If anyone has any information on how to do that with models it would be a great help. I've read this thread: http://forums.alientrap.local/viewtopic.php?t=3715 .. But this is for maps as far as I know. I have no idea how to create shaders (what's suppose to be in them) and I hear you would need a shader for that to work.
The thread above might help out but to me it's still a bit hard to understand how to make it work with models (if at all possible).

So a simple howto would be cool or if someone could re-direct me to that material.
I'm also going to see about that special bone and how/if that's possible. Cause, would I have to name that bone something specific and would the code take care of the rest if it were to be created?
I need to know the limitations as they stand right now and what's plausible to work and not work.

Thanks.

Awesome, glad to hear you're getting back into it. I love these flags and I hope they make it into SVN (with a smoke trail).

1. create a shader in nexuiz/data/scripts with something like:

Code: Select all

textures/mydir/myname
{
   surfaceparm nomarks
   surfaceparm trans
   surfaceparm pointlight
   surfaceparm nolightmap   
   nopicmip
   qer_editorimage textures/mydir/myname_edit.jpg

   {
      animmap 10 textures/mydir/myname_first.jpg textures/mydir/myname_second.jpg textures/mydir/myname_third.jpg
   }

}


you need one glowmap/gloww/norm... (if it uses them) for each of the textures in animap ...

if you want transparency add "blendfunc blend" to the animap section:

Code: Select all

   {
      blendfunc blend
      animmap 10 textures/mydir/myname_first.tga textures/mydir/myname_second.tga textures/mydir/myname_third.tga
   }


and use tga images with alpha channel insted.

alternatively, you can use "blendfunc add ", no alpha/tga needed and no _glow map needed. looks less good but are more memory friendly.

2. on your model, name the material for the animated part/s "textures/mydir/myname"

3. export, done.

Hey guys. The competition at 3D Buzz is over for me. I didn't make it in time with my submission as my computer was too weak to what I had planned so I only got half way there. I'll still finish my piece but that will happen over time whenever I have time.
This means I now have freed up more time for Nexuiz and am dead set on finishing these flags. I'm really anxious on starting other Nexuiz projects and learn the process.

tZork wrote:3. export, done.

So to start of, I got everything what you said there tZork, but what do you mean with this export? How do you export? You create a .shader file with the right stuff in it right? But do you compile it somehow into a .zym with the zmodel or is it something else.

Sorry for the lost time guys.

Sorry to hear you were able to complete your entry for the contest but glad to hear you're turning that energy into positive motivation for Nexuiz related projects. I still love your flags and I'm happy to see you working hard to improve them.

Thanks for keeping us posted. Keep up the good work.

+1
Which one will you finish btw?The one or 4 sided variant?

3 sided I hope. It's more visible.

Well, I would still love more votes from people of which they prefer. I think so far the 3-sided is leading, there was one more (or even two more guys) who told me they liked the 3-sided flag better.
However, I might even do both and release them, then people can download whichever they prefer. But if it is going to be included in a official Nexuiz release then we would have to decide which one, hence the voting

Please don't do the 3 sided. It's awkward and imho ugly. The 1 sided is slick as hell and IIRC the only problem was visibility... which can be fixed with a smoke trail and maybe some other effects.

I will have to go with the majority, it really isn't up to me I just do what the people want. You would have to plead to the other peeps