Particle Systems Update

[Sadez]

The editor is also done (as a new window for the map editor)... But how do I make a diff when I want to add new files?

Use diff with -N, it will treat absent files as empty.

[Umrion]

The editor is also done (as a new window for the map editor)... But how do I make a diff when I want to add new files?

Use diff with -N, it will treat absent files as empty.

Thanks, but it doesn't seem to work

[tomas: ~/source/c/el/map_editor]$ cvs diff -Nu particles_window.c
cvs server: I know nothing about particles_window.c

 

[tomas: ~/source/c/el/map_editor]$ cvs diff -Nu
? particles_window.c

and so on...

 

I think I'll have to fix this later; I have guests coming over soon...

[Sadez]

Then, download the map editor cvs again to other directory and diff the 2 dirs.

 

*Edit* Or just put the file somewhere to download, it's not a big problem

[Entropy]

Umrion, I added you to the members section, now you can add your own patches. Hope this helps.

[Umrion]

Cool, thanks!

 

Anyway, I can't seem to login to cvs/shell at BerliOS at the moment - I guess I have to wait for a while before it's enabled - so I uploaded the new files here and the patch is here: https://developer.berlios.de/patch/index.ph...3&group_id=1256

[Sadez]

Berlios updates 4 times per day, so it can take up to 6 hours to have your account ready.

[Umrion]

I could finally log on, so the changes are now applied to CVS

 

Let me know if anything doesn't work as it should

[duran]

hmm, cant wait for the maps to be redone with support of this as right now the teleports are a bit harder to find (the anoying ringing sound is still there tho, odd how that rings when the camera is near even tho the character is on way near it).

[Sadez]

Added the windows particle save dialog, there was only the GTK one .

[Entropy]

Well, we can use some particles for various spells, such as fireball, etc. We can also use some laser like particles, that go in a straight line from a to b, for other spells.

But I think you should work at the gui particle editor, it would be easier to add new particles that way.

[Keknehv]

Thanks Umrion.

 

So could we do percentage of 200% (for a faster system)?

 

Also, I'm still trying to get it to compile, so could someone please post a windows exe?

 

(BTW, why not make a new release of EL? It's been at least a month since the last one and we've got particles and everything... maybe when Roja updates the maps...)

[Entropy]

We are waiting for the last map of the continent, untill we make a new release.

Also, this is experimental stuff, it's a bad idea to release a client until things are properly tested and such.

[frak]

Added the windows particle save dialog, there was only the GTK one .

i wonder if any of the mapp makers use linux =D

[Umrion]

hmm, cant wait for the maps to be redone with support of this as right now the teleports are a bit harder to find (the anoying ringing sound is still there tho, odd how that rings when the camera is near even tho the character is on way near it).

Er... How are they harder to find now? Remember that you need .part files (which are available here: http://www.cs.umu.se/~dva97tha/particles.zip) to get particle systems.

 

So could we do percentage of 200% (for a faster system)?

You can set percentage to 200 (or whatever.) However, since the systems are designed for a certain number of particles it probably looks best at 100%.

 

We are waiting for the last map of the continent, untill we make a new release.

Also, this is experimental stuff, it's a bad idea to release a client until things are properly tested and such.

We might as well try to get shadows working properly while we're at it. I think I'll take a look at that next

 

Added the windows particle save dialog, there was only the GTK one .

As you might have guessed by now, I use Linux. I don't want to add code that I can't easily test

[Umrion]

Particle system editor

General

Press CTRL+P to toggle.

To load a particle system definition, load a particle system as usual (i.e. go to particle mode and click the load button.) If the particle window is opened with a particle system selected, its definition will be copied.

To save a definition, click the save button in the lower left part of the particle window. You can't add a definition to a map before you've saved it!

Systems with a ttl will be recreated when they die. To reset (i.e. kill and recreate) a system, click on the icon next to the save button.

System

At the top left part of the window you can change system type. This decides how particles are updated. The currently available types are:

0 Teleporter. "Acceleration" is used as a random modifier to speed each fram. Particles die when at z>2.0 (relative to the system.) Particles created to replace dead particles have z set to 0 (relative ...) if negative.

1 Teleport in or out. Acceleration used as for teleporter. Particles die at z>2.0 (relative ...) Particles created to replace dead particles appear at (0,0,0) (relative ...)

2 Bag in or out. Acceleration used as for teleporter. Particles die at z>1.0 (relative...)

3 Spherical or circular burst. Set velocity to zero to make it be calculated by position. If particle has one coordinate set to zero, the burst will be circular, otherwise spherical. Particles die when at a distance of 3 times the constrain radius from the system center.

4 Fire (or smoke etc.) Acceleration used as for teleporter. Particles die when alpha<0.0

5 Fountain. Particles will bounce if they go under z=0 (the ground plane) and die when alpha<0.0

 

(Regarding the "relative" things above, I just noticed that this isn't 100% correctly handled in CVS at the moment. I'll update this today.)

 

Blending modes for source and destination. Just click to cycle through the available modes.

 

#particles - should be obvious Don't go too crazy here - even if the upper limit is 2000 (at the moment) you'll can get good results with a lot fewer.

 

TTL: If negative it's not used (i.e. the system is "permanent") otherwise it limits how long the system will live. When a system's TTL reaches 0 it stops emitting particles, and when all particles are dead, the system dies too.

 

RND: Random function to use when creating particles. 0 is a normal, linear distribution. 1 is.. a bit different. Values are not guaranteed to lie between min and max with method one (though most will - in fact most will be between min/2 and max/2 )

 

The bottom row of the window shows system info; TTL and #particles.

 

Particles

Particle size: 1.0 means the largest available in the old system. While this doesn't have an upper constraint, consider that point particles have a (system dependant) maximum size. It'd probably be best to stay in the range 0.1-3.0 or something like that.

 

Min and max starting colors. Well, the color is randomized to lie between these values. You are allowed to have color values over 1.0, even though these will be clamped to [0.0,1.0] when rendering. Higher values can still be useful if a color value is used to decide when particles should die (e.g. alpha for system type 4.)

 

Color change, min and max. How much color should change each update. Remember to have alpha updates negative if you have a type four system

 

In the upper right corner we have the preview window. You can zoom in and out as usual here, and if you're in particle mode, you can move the system up/down with Insert/Delete. Just below it is a button saying "Display: ..." Click it to cycle through the different displays. This will also cycle through what is shown below: Particle texture selection, starting postion, constraint, velocity and acceleration.

[duran]

oops, missed that particles zip file.

 

looks cool, but on my nvidia board the dots became very small! more like a collections of small insects or something

 

hang on, didnt have the latest cvs. will post more when its compiled...

 

no change

[Umrion]

Are you using point sprites? Try turning them off if you are (F8 toggles, or you can edit the ini file - #use_point_particles) and tell me if it makes any difference.

I'd also need more info about your system and maybe you could post your error_log.txt...

[duran]

i tryed the use point particles setting in the ini but nothing...

 

hang on and ill grab the error log and see if there is anything of interest...

 

hmm, there is a error about not finding particle0.bmp or particle1.bmp. and when i check the textures folder there is no file of that name. and the zip file you linked to dont contain it either. only file it puts in textures are buttons.bmp

[Umrion]

Try these:

http://www.cs.umu.se/~dva97tha/images/particle0.bmp

http://www.cs.umu.se/~dva97tha/images/particle1.bmp

[duran]

thanks

 

hit the f8 some time and cant say i can tell the diff...

[Umrion]

hit the f8 some time and cant say i can tell the diff...

That's a good thing - I tried making the two methods be as similar in appearance as possible

[crusadingknight]

On an intel, there is the same effect...

[Umrion]

On an intel, there is the same effect... 

Thanks for your post - descriptive posts like this really help! I especially like it when you tell exactly what the problem is.

 

Or not.. Same effect as what? The problem duran had was because not all files were installed; it had nothing to do with hardware.

[Entropy]

I finally compiled the new map editor, and, well, you did an impressive job

There are a few problems and some features would eb nice to have:

1. The load doesn't work (Windows)

2. The window can't me moved (not really bad, but it would be nice if it would)

3. We need a "reset" button to reset to the defaults.

4. The 'progress bar' doesn't move, and can't be dragged either.

5. The update is too slow, can't really see how the particle would really look like.

 

Other than that, it's great

[Umrion]

I finally compiled the new map editor, and, well, you did an impressive job

Thanks

There are a few problems and some features would eb nice to have:

1. The load doesn't work (Windows)

I'll let Sadez fix that.

5. The update is too slow, can't really see how the particle would really look like.

It's probably the timer code.. I noticed it didn't look the same in the map editor as in the client.

No time to fix that now - if noone else fixes it, I'll do it when I get back...

 

I'll respond to the rest later this week; got to go now ^_^