Spring RTS Engine

Recently there have been a lot of games I've been in where at least one player complains about the accuracy of dgun - either saying 'it went straight through', or even the nightmare situation where it completely misses the (Immobile!!!) target. I'm aware that this has been a longstanding problem, but is it foreseeable that a fix is on the way?

I can't see a report of "I heard that X said that Y didn't work" going far, especially not when Y is #2 on the list of stuff that X blames when they misclick.

If the issue exists, reproduce in a replay in single player mode.

It's entirely possible for collision to miss (pass straight through). Recently I found an issue with evo where units that were 2x2 or slightly smaller would have projectiles pass right through their hitspheres, including (interestingly enough) a lightning weapon.

I'm not saying that that is what is happening here, but don't immediately discount it.

I'll see what I can do to replicate it.

Edit: I couldn't get it to miss the llt (good) but I showed an example of it missing peewee and flea as an example. I've also seen it miss banthas before. And even once a krogoth. This should show what might be the root of the problem - the targeting system.

It's compressed and will need to be un-compressed - I couldn't just incude a normal replay.

Without watching it I can say with relative ease that the targeting system is fine and that it's more likely collision testing.

Edit: From independent testing, it's the custom collision volumes that BA is using.

Unit scales in BA are really off kilter and it looks like someone set custom boxes and cylinders in an attempt to make collisions more exact, but the problem is that it's actually causing problems.

For example, the flash tank profile is damn near impossible to hit and it's box center is almost in the ground. I was able to reproduce dgun shots going right through them.

Its a dgun problem, after an engine change long ago that caused behaviour change. Its bad but don't change unit hitboxes lol.

It is not an engine problem. This is a dumb hitboxing problem:



Spring does not do well with tiny hitboxes.

Also dgunning rectors - you just can't. The dgun completely misses, and is obviously in completely the wrong area. And you're saying this is a hitbox problem? I get how that explains some things, but I don't get how it explains targeting issues.

Purplish pink dot is the centerpoint of the model (and where weapons aim)


Seems to work fine vs armfus


Corfus has a proper sphere:


Dgun on target:


Dgun hits properly:

So this behaviour is the fault of hitboxes not targeting: I can somewhat see your point, but it still looks like there's a targeting issue aswell as a hitbox issue here.
Aside: How do you show hitboxes etc?
Aside no.2: BA's graphics are amazing. It's almost going to be a shame to leave it behind when we move to BAR

Also looking at the dgunning of the armfus it's slightly off. To the left in the behind shot. Am I wrong?

But also, whatever the problem is, how should it be fixed? It's lost me (and countless others) games.

Seriously? BA is beautiful? BA looks like shit. Go have a look at Evolution RTS if you want to see a game that has really good looking effects.

As chance would have it, I'm adding niceties to BA though, so it's about to get a pretty serious kick in the ass effectwise, and it will result in a very major performance boost as well.

Basically the way targeting works is that it aims at the center of the model. I have a _post fix for this, but BA's issue is the fact that friendlies block shots, hence the issue. As you can see in 9.46 there is a modoption that you can enable to allow fire through friendlies, which results in significantly better gameplay, but it also allows for using hitspheres again (however I have not integrated the hitspheres fix into that yet).

So could you explain why a hitsphere would be better? Because wouldn't that mean that the unit 'takes up' a lot more space than it should? And yes, it'll be easier to hit, but also harder to not hit.

And what I like about BA is how everything looks real - evo effects are really cool, I love it, but it's how the metal plating on BA units looks so real (especially arm)

MasterBel2 wrote:...Because wouldn't that mean that the unit 'takes up' a lot more space than it should? And yes, it'll be easier to hit, but also harder to not hit.

MasterBel2 wrote:...it's how the metal plating on BA units looks so real (especially arm)

Look, I'm not trying to be a jerk, but you're kidding me, right? I find your comment very frustrating.

Yes I worded it horribly, but currently I don't see how a hitsphere on an object, say an aircraft repair pad, is going to be any more realistic. Based on what I've seen the issue is prettey much targetting. I just don't understand. But I'll have to take your word for it because, I guess, I'm relatively new to all this sort of stuff.

And on BA's models: I'm not saying it's the best, but the lack of texture on models of non *A mods makes them look… well… not real. The flash isn't a masterpiece, but it's close enough to reality that it looks real to me. Most other mods have their units fall into… well… the uncanny valley. Sure, it looks real, but like made out of flimsy plastic. I'm also a really picky so-and-so :)