Dev meeting minutes 2017-07-07 - Page 2

Dev meeting minutes 2017-07-07

Minutes of the meetings between Spring developers are archived here.
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Floris
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Joined: 04 Jan 2011, 20:00

Re: Dev meeting minutes 2017-07-07

Post by Floris »

Not all games seem to produce such a luamsg however. I've seen it in BA and EvoRTS, not in TechA or ZK, didn't test others.
I've created a gadget that gets all that info from the infolog and then shares it to lua (advplayerslist shows when hovering player fps number)
Only BA and Evo have this indeed.

The new platform functionality isnt a sufficient replacement yet...
dansan
Server Owner & Developer
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Joined: 29 May 2010, 23:40

Re: Dev meeting minutes 2017-07-07

Post by dansan »

Floris wrote:
Not all games seem to produce such a luamsg however. I've seen it in BA and EvoRTS, not in TechA or ZK, didn't test others.
I've created a gadget that gets all that info from the infolog and then shares it to lua (advplayerslist shows when hovering player fps number)
Only BA and Evo have this indeed.

The new platform functionality isnt a sufficient replacement yet...
That's nifty :)
So this could fetch the gfx driver info in use too!
Actually everything between "<User Config>" and "[StartScript]" is potentially interesting, and the only personal data I see there is the name of my home directory.
The data in "<User Config>" could be an indication about desirable defaults - depending on hardware specs - for lobbies. Below that is hardware and library info.
gajop
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Re: Dev meeting minutes 2017-07-07

Post by gajop »

Floris wrote:The new platform functionality isnt a sufficient replacement yet...
What is missing? Give some examples?
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Floris
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Joined: 04 Jan 2011, 20:00

Re: Dev meeting minutes 2017-07-07

Post by Floris »

CPU: Intel i7-7700K CPU @ 4.20GHz
CPU cores: 4 / 8
RAM: 32727MB
GPU: GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
GPU VRAM: 11264MB
1732x1150:24bit @59Hz (windowed)
OS: Windows
That is what it gathers... and platform can only offer the GPU / GPU VRAM / OS parts
gajop
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Re: Dev meeting minutes 2017-07-07

Post by gajop »

I assume we would like to have access to:
CPU: Intel i7-7700K CPU @ 4.20GHz
CPU cores: 4 / 8
RAM: 32727MB
?

Resolution and FPS can already be accessed and aren't constant.
Methuselas
Posts: 17
Joined: 27 Nov 2017, 07:42

Re: Dev meeting minutes 2017-07-07

Post by Methuselas »

If I may:


As someone that's worked professionally as an animator, I can tell you right now that one of the biggest turn-offs for the engine, at least for me, is the lack of bones/IK support. Nobody animates using locators and FK anymore. At best, they'll use hybrid IK/FK rigs, like I do for character rigs. Sometimes, there ARE things you want to animate using FK (arms for example), but for the most part, you're animating using IK as it's much faster. If you want to draw people in, bone support, at the very least is a must.

Also, while I *LOVE* the engine so far (I've been playing with Zero-K), the tools leave a lot to be desired. I'm not the best coder in the world. In fact, I haven't really done any scripting since my Bio-Ware days. That being said, when I look at the engine and realize that I need to REALLY be able to code in order to use it, it takes my interest away.

That being said, anything I can do, to help with animation issues, don't hesitate to ask me. If I help you guys out, I won't feel so bad nagging you about coding issues I have at a later date, using your engine. ;P

Just my 2p.

-M
Last edited by Methuselas on 28 Nov 2017, 23:45, edited 1 time in total.
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FLOZi
MC: Legacy & Spring 1944 Developer
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Joined: 29 Apr 2005, 01:14

Re: Dev meeting minutes 2017-07-07

Post by FLOZi »

Methuselas wrote:If I may:


As someone that's worked professionally as an animator, I can tell you right now that one of the biggest turn-offs for the engine, at least for me, is the lack of bones/IK support. Nobody animates using locators and FK anymore. At best, they'll use hybrid IK/FK rigs, like I do for character rigs. Sometimes, there ARE things you want to animate using FK (arms for example), but for the most part, you're animating using IK as it's much faster. If you want to draw people in, bone support, at the very least is a must.
This has been the case more or less since Spring first launched, and as much as it has progressed it's hard to see quite how it will ever change. Perhaps I am overly pessimistic. There have been various attempts over the years (i remember someone running an animated Quake model many years ago and jk's shader based shark animation) and with the big upcoming changes away from the FFP and towards shaders perhaps the time is nigh afterall for an easy to use framework that can link in with the existing lua infrastructure somehow.
Also, while I *LOVE* the engine so far (I've been playing with Zero-K), the tools leave a lot to be desired. I'm not the best coder in the world. In fact, I haven't really done any scripting since my Bio-Ware days. That being said, when I look at the engine and realize that I need to REALLY be able to code in order to use it, it takes my interest away.
To produce a workable game that is not just Total Annihilation you will have to do some coding, for sure. It's hard to see how that barrier would not be present in any other engine though - but perhaps not a barrier to artists (i.e. animators) in other engines.
Methuselas
Posts: 17
Joined: 27 Nov 2017, 07:42

Re: Dev meeting minutes 2017-07-07

Post by Methuselas »

FLOZi wrote:
This has been the case more or less since Spring first launched, and as much as it has progressed it's hard to see quite how it will ever change. Perhaps I am overly pessimistic. There have been various attempts over the years (i remember someone running an animated Quake model many years ago and jk's shader based shark animation) and with the big upcoming changes away from the FFP and towards shaders perhaps the time is nigh afterall for an easy to use framework that can link in with the existing lua infrastructure somehow.
As I stated in the Art Forums, I do have a workaround to allow people to use bones, but it would only work for Maya (and possibly Max - Max handles constraints differently than Maya and I focus solely on Maya now) and not in Blender, at all. The problem is, I don't know how to label body parts to get them to work, nor do I know all the animations needed to not break the game and I have no way to get them *IN* the engine, as it's beyond my ability, for now, to make a test bed. It's also pointless, if blender won't use burned keyframes from a dae file.

Keep in mind, this is all theory craft. However, if it *DID* work (which it honestly, should), It would be as simple as my creating a humanoid rig, chicken walker rig and then a tank/turret rig. Then, anyone could just parent their mesh parts to the base rig and use prefab animations. Easy peasy.

I'm trying to find something that I can basically clone the MC2 engine, but with more modern features. So far, out of all the ones I've seen, Spring is the most robust for what I want to accomplish. I'm probably going to have to break down and go back to learning code again. XD
To produce a workable game that is not just Total Annihilation you will have to do some coding, for sure. It's hard to see how that barrier would not be present in any other engine though - but perhaps not a barrier to artists (i.e. animators) in other engines.
Being from the Industry, I guess I'm just used to having all the tools I need accessible. That or it was just simple animation projects in Maya that are passed back and forth between departments. I do the animating, after a rigger (or myself) built the rig, I scrub it to make sure it looks clean and then it's off to the VFX guys, before final touches by the rendering team.
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