Spring RTS Engine

ever realize, how perfect springs first person mode is for VR?

I mean- right hand fire, left button walk into current direction?


Imagine the army on your carpet, you the giant towering over them.. and then you press C

Someone needs to bring back first person for BA. And maybe we should even get some FPS games for the engine

You mean liek the recently famous Red Alert 2 VR edition that appeared on youtube?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGtrJaiUZaA

But yeah BA could use a better camera system, but unit FPS mode isn't part of that...

There is this game called WarShift that actually offers this partly, for their hero unit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MoPVfbYRmw&t=1167s

Commands given in FPS mode bypass lua -> its not useable for development, and is rich pickings for cheats/hacks.

The fps mode still only allows for shooting at terrain. I cannot stand it. It used to be great to test fire animations and aiming.

I wish they would bring back free look.

That mode has been devprecated since years, still everbody loves it for glamour shots and giggles

- no customizable UI
- default UI cannot be prevented
- no callbacks for controls
- completely bypasses lua
- entire classes of units completely uncontrollable (try using a bomber)
- crippled into oblivion by hardwired ground/unit targeting restriction to prevent ballistic overshoot
- is a steaming pile of bitrot that has not been maintained for almost a decade (except to cripple and restrict it further)
- Spring itself does not support VR
- Range ratios in most Spring games don't make sense from first-person view
- Terrain level of detail is crap (though DNTS has promise)
- Unit physics and terrain interaction being crap becomes really visible in FPS (imagine the jitter you see when somet unti is rubbing against impassable edge, but you're INSIDE)

So. I'd love a VR-capable RTS with an FPS sidearm. But it's not happening in Spring any time soon.

Anarchid wrote:- no customizable UI
- default UI cannot be prevented
- no callbacks for controls
- completely bypasses lua
- entire classes of units completely uncontrollable (try using a bomber)
- crippled into oblivion by hardwired ground/unit targeting restriction to prevent ballistic overshoot
- is a steaming pile of bitrot that has not been maintained for almost a decade (except to cripple and restrict it further)
- Spring itself does support VR
- Range ratios in most Spring games don't make sense from first-person view
- Terrain level of detail is crap (though DNTS has promise)
- Unit physics and terrain interaction being crap becomes really visible in FPS (imagine the jitter you see when somet unti is rubbing against impassable edge, but you're INSIDE)

So. I'd love a VR-capable RTS with an FPS sidearm. But it's not happening in Spring any time soon.

So to sum it up- you could castrate it to view only, and then rewire it to at least have commands via lua?
Spring does support VR- that is great. Shy devs are shy as usual!
- Terrain level of detail is crap (though DNTS has promise)
Well, thats too bad but in this trosuers it shall dance. Cant stop tech nust because of ugly.

- Unit physics and terrain interaction being crap becomes really visible in FPS (imagine the jitter you see when somet unti is rubbing against impassable edge, but you're INSIDE)
So its Movement Aliasing if only a change of direction occurs? Fine by me.

I really think the direct control mode is a severly underrated potential feature, the ability to control your unit like that is really cool and many new gameplay features could be made.
Though i think it would be ideal if it would be rewritten in such a way that it allows for regular control in addition to being a fps style thing.
Just like in battlezone where you control a force like in a regular rts game but from a within a unit.
I would really like to see and possibly make a fps/rts hybrid game on spring, the potential is there certainly.

Its a shame its that buggy and clumsy as it is, maybe in the "future(TM)" "someone" "will" "work on it".

Also LOS/fog of war doesn't show up properly in fps view.

Anarchid wrote:- Spring itself does not support VR
-So. I'd love a VR-capable RTS with an FPS sidearm. But it's not happening in Spring any time soon.

lol, why does everything have to be vr these days? amirite? It is the latest thing to be a big buzzword in gaming.

Anarchid wrote:- crippled into oblivion by hardwired ground/unit targeting restriction to prevent ballistic overshoot
- Range ratios in most Spring games don't make sense from first-person view

take away restrictions and enable in /cheat mode. It was really good for testing stuff. also game specific problem. fang and I made mini mods with aircraft and would dogfight using it, was a lot of fun.

Anarchid wrote:- is a steaming pile of bitrot that has not been maintained for almost a decade (except to cripple and restrict it further)

Lua based implementations are incapable of replicating it. is that possible now?

I honestly think it should be stripped out of engine. It is garbage and useless. it was a fun play around feature until they started hamstring it. I REALLY LIKED IT. Not my problem the *A lot lost their minds over it. It was REALLY useful to test with.

smoth wrote:

Anarchid wrote:- Spring itself does not support VR
-So. I'd love a VR-capable RTS with an FPS sidearm. But it's not happening in Spring any time soon.

lol, why does everything have to be vr these days? amirite? It is the latest thing to be a big buzzword in gaming.

Because VR is one of those few genres that might work in the long-run. It requires little movement in a rectangular space. It does not add motion-sickness hazards like sudden fast accelerations. Basically - they made a whole apparatus which is ideal for rts- and they just ignore it to suck elsewhere.

smoth wrote:

Anarchid wrote:- crippled into oblivion by hardwired ground/unit targeting restriction to prevent ballistic overshoot
- Range ratios in most Spring games don't make sense from first-person view

take away restrictions and enable in /cheat mode. It was really good for testing stuff. also game specific problem. fang and I made mini mods with aircraft and would dogfight using it, was a lot of fun.

Yes. And it will be more, but even in vr- it will be just a gimick.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqgy3B7qsdU

smoth wrote:

Anarchid wrote:- is a steaming pile of bitrot that has not been maintained for almost a decade (except to cripple and restrict it further)

Lua based implementations are incapable of replicating it. is that possible now?

Forget First Person, go Collos of Rhodos on the spring.

smoth wrote: I honestly think it should be stripped out of engine. It is garbage and useless. it was a fun play around feature until they started hamstring it. I REALLY LIKED IT. Not my problem the *A lot lost their minds over it. It was REALLY useful to test with.

Notice how its discussed intensively. Beeing discussed intensively suggests, that a lot of people wresteled in theire minds with it allready. Which means, some guy out there, is already preparing a ambush-repo. Scream all you want- the roller coaster of open source will take you for a ride.

You are being a little over optimistic about how vr actually will work.

FPS view is dead code, like many things in spring it is just a forgotten side project.

Yes, but then again.. who cares? VR standing over the battlefield, walking over dsd- with the tanks like beetles at your feet.
FPS would be nice to have with that- but its just a extra.
The real juice is in being the conductor of the strategic opera-orchestra at your feet. All that remains is a huge UI-Obstacle.

Fps view was an excellent tool to test fire/aim animation poses for different situations