CegTag!

Snipawolf · Post by **Snipawolf** » 13 Nov 2007, 04:19

*groans*

Gah, I just raised the requirements yet again. My game is going to be too laggy to play soon >___>

It isn't horrible, but it is pretty bad. I really would like MilliSecond timing as well.

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 13 Nov 2007, 04:20

Screenshot, Mr. 30 Seconds?

Snipawolf · Post by **Snipawolf** » 13 Nov 2007, 04:26

In a second, my web has been running slowly for some odd reason. I also wanted to make a plasma artillery to use a different thing than an actual smoketrail.

Forboding Angel · Post by **Forboding Angel** » 13 Nov 2007, 04:44

umm and how do we use this?

Snipawolf · Post by **Snipawolf** » 13 Nov 2007, 05:03

Cegtag=SNIPAS_EFFECT;

That is all.

Oh my gawd, use it for lighting as well!

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 13 Nov 2007, 05:03

It's really simple, Forb. Just add the line cegTag=NAME_OF_YOUR_CEG; to your Weapon's TDF.

This will cause whatever CEG is named to be spawned at the Origin of the model (or 0,0,0, if no S3O is present) every frame that the weapon is alive, with a couple of important (and interesting) exceptions:

1. cegTag doesn't seem to know what to do with the instant-travel weapons. I think it might be best to allow people to set a WeaponVelocity, and have cegTag just spawn from a point along the beam, so that people can do a variety of things.

2. cegTag shuts off on MissileWeapons and StarBurstWeapons if they have exceeded FlightTime. That's actually really kewl- the "engines" shut off, just as the projectile becomes just another Cannon shell. Plus, it allows for some other tricks...

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 13 Nov 2007, 05:05

Ah, you did a "dynamic light"! Great idea! I'll have to use that for a couple of things in PURE

Snipawolf · Post by **Snipawolf** » 13 Nov 2007, 05:05

I noticed this on my missiles, and it made them look much more intelligent, like a smart weapon, almost.

Rocket until the target is locked, then keep going

Chrispin · Post by **Chrispin** » 13 Nov 2007, 05:15

All I have to say is...

RELEASE SVN TO LOBBY

smoth · Post by **smoth** » 13 Nov 2007, 05:53

I am going to cum buckets when I get on this :) Cool! I have been soo busy securing my future job that I have missed all this! Thanks for the update argh, I had heard about it but forgot it shortly there after

.

damnit, kdr, you need to punch my face for not paying attention.

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 13 Nov 2007, 05:58

Ah, the dynamic-light thing is extremely cool, thanks for sharing that idea, Snipawolf! I've already used it for the weapons that are big enough and bright enough, and it's very efficient, so it's not a big deal, in terms of performance costs!

Peet · Post by **Peet** » 13 Nov 2007, 05:58

Snipa, stop taking screens on altored, it detracts from the epic win that is the fx and units

Snipawolf · Post by **Snipawolf** » 13 Nov 2007, 12:44

Yeah, groundflashes are pretty nice on the cost when it comes to particles. Now, I can't wait to make plasma and get to my later techs, this makes everything I've wanted from Spring for a long time possible.

LordMatt · Post by **LordMatt** » 13 Nov 2007, 14:36

Does this stuff eat FPS or not?

smoth · Post by **smoth** » 13 Nov 2007, 16:36

yes it will. Any thing that spring does that it has not done before will EAT FPS. The only time it will not is if your CEG uses less partlcles/is more efficient then the original EG used by the item.

The ones shown in this thread clearly will eat fps.

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 13 Nov 2007, 16:38

Yes. And I don't give a damn, they're too pretty not to use.

smoth · Post by **smoth** » 13 Nov 2007, 17:29

effects sell

effects add to the experience

in my mind it is worth the cost as well.

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 13 Nov 2007, 17:38

Within reason, of course. Which is why I keep harping on certain aspects of how it works. Because I really do believe that non-z-sorted particle systems and a better timing model are both key to achieving better overall efficiency and simpler systems.

With the exception of my uber-fancy missile trails, though, most of this runs quite quickly, and the missile trails will almost certainly run at acceptable framerates when I've had a little more time to optimize them- there are a couple of promising approaches I haven't had time to investigate yet, as I took the opportunity presented by all of this to thoroughly clean house and get all of PURE's FX code neatly organized again...

REVENGE · Post by **REVENGE** » 13 Nov 2007, 18:06

Umm...hot sex.

lesbian

Snipawolf · Post by **Snipawolf** » 13 Nov 2007, 22:48

Hah, my missiles are less laggy because they move faster, and their particles die faster, thus meaning I have less particles

The other things add an almost nil lag. My GC5 (the railgun with lighting effect) is perfectly fine, I was actually expecting a good bit of lag when there were several of them shooting, but it worked fine.

With power comes responsibility. From my studies so far, these can be pretty easily curbed as long as the particles are kept down. Now, if we could control the timing as well, that would be pretty sweet, but it doesn't make much of a difference (to me) currently. It does everything I need it to, and, just to show you, these are now planned effects I will use it for.

Random arcs of lightning on ball lightning
Plasma (both the gassy stuff behind the plasma and little sparks arcing from it)
Missile trails, different kinds for diff missiles. Shubblar are pretty primitive and will use a firey black trail (the one in my pic should do fine

) and humans will use a cleaner looking trail.
My psychic blasts will now come to life. Heh heh heh heh.

Thanks again Kloot!

Spring RTS Engine

CegTag!