Josh

No, it's not, but alpha masking with antialias doesn't have any of the z-order issues alpha blending has. I think alpha blending was more appropriate when texture resolutions were lower. With higher resolution textures I don't think alpha-blending of leaves and things like that is as useful.

Because in LE a model is the only scripted entity, so a model and a script allow you to create any kind of object you want. Particle emitters, lights, roads, etc., can all be implemented using this convention. If you want to get rid of the extra model when your game loads it, this is pretty simple to do. It shouldn't make any difference though, since the model is invisible and normally will have no collision set. If you want to make the model so it isn't even pickable, replace it with a GMF file that has no surfaces...then you would only be able to select the object by clicking on its node in the objects tree in the side panel.

All orders are processed. Thank you.

This thread is marred. Feel free to try again in a more polite manner.

If you just save the script every instance in the scene will be freed (with the old script) and reloaded (with the new script). You should not run a class script.

Probably not.

The reason these entities are linked to a model is because a model has a script, and can be moved around and deleted again. This allows you to make lights, particle emitters, or anything else in script, and the editor doesn't have to have everything hard-coded. If you want to get rid of the model component in your own game loading routine, you can just modify the script to remove the model when your game loads the scene. Something like this: if MyGameIsRunning==1 then object.light:SetParent(nil,1) object.light=nil object.model:Free() end

This indicates the modelreference value equals nil.

See attached. Arial9.zip

Add a call to GCCollect() in your main loop. I don't recommend using the auto GC mode because it is possible for it to cause crashes. The problem is object Delete() methods might be called at any time, and in the case of OpenGL or Newton objects, it might cause the program to delete these things during a sensitive routine when they are being used. It might do something like delete an OpenGL buffer while another buffer is being set, and it is possible this might cause a crash in some situations. In the future I will add the deleted objects to a queue to be deleted during the UpdateWorld() routine, so they will be more safe in auto GC mode, instead of deleting them in the Object Delete() method.

The reason I ask for a demo of your problem is because I suspect you either have some very unoptimal physics shapes or you are using a high value for the update iterations for the controller. Or there may be some other problem. It doesn't make sense for someone else to try to guess and recreate your program. It's much more efficient to see what you are doing and then see if there are any problems.

Well, we're clearly not in the real world of programming, and I guess this engine is not on an equal plane to other engines on the market today.

There's a crazy sale on Steam right now. If you haven't played STALKER yet, you can get it for $10: http://store.steampo...check/app/4500/ In other news... Framework is being compiled into the engine DLL and being made an official part of the engine API. It will remain a separate piece of code for BlitzMax programmers they can just import. A mechanism will be added to add your own custom post-processing effects, though this will not be available immediately. It will be something like this: CreateEffect( callback ) EnableEffect() DisableEffect() FreeEffect( effect ) If you prefer to use the existing C++ code you are free to do so. However, the integrated framework code will allow Lua to access the Framework commands, so your scenes will work seamlessly between the editor and any programming language you choose. The whole design of our buffer/shader system and framework makes a heck of a lot of sense now. It just had to be allowed to evolve so we could determine the best solution. You've got an the easy-to-use framework commands, but still have the low-level buffer and shader stuff which can be used to do many things. The Lua command set is also slowly being exposed. At first, it will just have the bare minimum commands you need to set the variable "fw" to the framework object you create in your program. In time the entire Lua API will be exposed through the DLL. This will allow limitless extensibility for whatever you want to do with Lua. You can expose your own C++ or other functions and classes, or do whatever you want.

I think for nighttime scenes a somewhat desaturated dark blue is good for ambient light, and a white slightly blue light is good for moonlight, with the intensity set pretty low. Unless you want it to be dark for a reason, don't make it too dark. Rely on the blue tint and keep it bright enough to see. You'll notice this technique used in movies a lot.

There may be some fixes for 2.28 but there's lots of other stuff I need to do first.

Well, I don't think you are giving away any valuable secrets in this thread. I just moved it because it seemed like an editor question. There should still be some discussion in the general forum because then the existing users will still go there and it doesn't become silent. And it also gives people a glimpse at how the community interacts, and how people go about making a game. Now if an unknown user starts asking programming questions in the general forum, that's when I become suspicious, but those cases are pretty obvious.

You actually can get antialiasing right now, and not the edge antialias shader. Just render to a double-size buffer, then draw this onto a buffer half that size, with the smooth texture filter set. This will produce about the same results as 2x MSAA. I don't recommend using this technique for anything you release, because the bandwidth usage would be ridiculous, but its okay for testing.

The space limit is raised. Please use better compression for your images.

Can you post a demo showing how 20 character controllers are slow?

I think you will get the most bang for your time with Lua.

To edit the terrain heightmap on the GPU, I create a small buffer and copy part of the heightmap to this. Then I enable the terrain editor shader and draw this small buffer back onto the same spot on the heightmap buffer: Strict Import leadwerks.ENGINE Import "terrain.bmx" Import "Globals.bmx" Global oldTerrainToolPosition:TVec3=Vec3(-1000) Global terrainfilter:TShader[10] Global terrainchanged:Int Global editterrainaabb:TAABB TTerrain.highresheightmap=1 Function UpdateTerrain(terrain:TTerrain) Local x:Int,z:Int,size:Int If terrainchanged 'terrain.generatecolormap() If terrainchanged=2 terrain.getheightmap() If TerrainSectorAABBUpdate size=Int(Sqr(TerrainSectorAABBUpdate.length)+0.5) For x=0 To size-1 For z=0 To size-1 If TerrainSectorAABBUpdate[x,z] terrain.sector[x,z].UpdateAABB() TerrainSectorAABBUpdate[x,z]=0 EndIf Next Next EndIf If editterrainaabb ForEachEntityInAABBDo(editterrainaabb,callback,terrain,ENTITY_MODEL) terrain.quadtree.root.ForEachLeafInAABBDo(editterrainaabb,func,Null) terrain.quadtree.root.UpdateAABB() EndIf EndIf editterrainaabb=Null terrainchanged=False EndIf Function func(leaf:TQuadTreeLeaf,o:Object) leaf.UpdateInstanceHeights(terrain) EndFunction Function Callback:Int(entity:TEntity,extra:Object) If Int(entity.GetKey("aligntoground")) entity.AlignToTerrain(TTerrain(extra)) EndIf Return 1 EndFunction EndFunction Global TerrainSectorAABBUpdate:Byte[,] Function AddVegetationInstance(terrain:TTerrain,x:Float,z:Float,layer:Int,density:Float,randrotation:Int,randscale:Float,aligntonormal:Int,tilt:Float) Local pitch#,yaw#,dist# Local dir:TVec3 Local roll:Float=0.0 Local mat:TMat4 Local scale:Float Local alignmat:TMat4 If terrain.quadtree.layers[layer]=Null Return If terrain.quadtree.layers[layer].model=Null Return If randrotation mat=TMat4.FromYawPitchRoll(Rnd(0.0,360.0),Rnd(-tilt,tilt),Rnd(-tilt,tilt)) Else 'SeedRnd (mat.ix+mat.iy+mat.iz+mat.jx+mat.jy+mat.jz+mat.kx+mat.ky+mat.kz+mat.tx+mat.ty+mat.tz)*1000.0 mat=TMat4.FromYawPitchRoll(0.0,Rnd(-tilt,tilt),Rnd(-tilt,tilt)) EndIf 'SeedRnd (mat.ix+mat.iy+mat.iz+mat.jx+mat.jy+mat.jz+mat.kx+mat.ky+mat.kz+mat.tx+mat.ty+mat.tz)*1000.0 scale=Rnd(1.0-randscale,1.0+randscale) mat.ix:*scale mat.iy:*scale mat.iz:*scale mat.jx:*scale mat.jy:*scale mat.jz:*scale mat.kx:*scale mat.ky:*scale mat.kz:*scale mat.tx=x'x+x0*density+Rnd(-density*0.5,density*0.5) mat.tz=z'z+z0*density+Rnd(-density*0.5,density*0.5) mat.ty=terrain.GetElevation(mat.tx,mat.tz) If aligntonormal dir=terrain.CalcNormal(x,z) dist#=Sqr(dir.x#*dir.x#+dir.z#*dir.z#) pitch#=ATan2(-dir.y#,dist#) yaw#=ATan2(-dir.x#,dir.z#) If randrotation 'SeedRnd (mat.ix+mat.iy+mat.iz+mat.jx+mat.jy+mat.jz+mat.kx+mat.ky+mat.kz+mat.tx+mat.ty+mat.tz)*1000.0 roll=Rnd(0.0,360.0) EndIf alignmat=TMat4.FromYawPitchRoll(yaw,pitch,roll) alignmat.tx=mat.tx alignmat.ty=mat.ty alignmat.tz=mat.tz mat.ix=-alignmat.ix*scale mat.iy=-alignmat.iy*scale mat.iz=-alignmat.iz*scale mat.jx=alignmat.kx*scale mat.jy=alignmat.ky*scale mat.jz=alignmat.kz*scale mat.kx=alignmat.jx*scale mat.ky=alignmat.jy*scale mat.kz=alignmat.jz*scale If randrotation 'SeedRnd (mat.ix+mat.iy+mat.iz+mat.jx+mat.jy+mat.jz+mat.kx+mat.ky+mat.kz+mat.tx+mat.ty+mat.tz)*1000.0 mat=mat.times(TMat4.FromYawPitchRoll(0.0,Rnd(-tilt,tilt),Rnd(-tilt,tilt))) EndIf EndIf terrain.quadtree.addinstance(mat,layer,density) EndFunction Global toolimage:TTexture Function EditTerrain(terrain:TTerrain,x:Float,z:Float,outerradius:Float,innerradius:Float,editmode:Int=0,strength:Float=1.0,channel:Int=0,flattenheight:Float,toolfloor#=0.0,toolceiling#=1.0) Global toolimagebuffer:TBuffer Global channelmask:Float[4] Local x0:Float,z0:Float,x1:Float,z1:Float Local w:Int,h:Int Local tw:Int,th:Int Local cx:Float,cy:Float Local terrainsize:Float Local buffer:TBuffer Local format:Int Local terrbuffer:TBuffer Local texture:TTexture Local constraints:Float[2] Local i:Int Local scale:Float Local ix:Float=x Local iz:Float=z scenechanged=1 If editmode=4 Local gx0:Int,gy0:Int Local gx1:Int,gy1:Int x=Round(x/terrain.scale.x+0.5)+terrain.resolution/2-1 z=Round(z/terrain.scale.z+0.5)+terrain.resolution/2-1 gx0=x-outerradius gx1=x+outerradius gy0=z-outerradius gy1=z+outerradius gx0=Max(0,gx0) gx0=Min(gx0,terrain.resolution-1) gy0=Max(0,gy0) gy0=Min(gy0,terrain.resolution-1) gx1=Max(0,gx1) gx1=Min(gx1,terrain.resolution-1) gy1=Max(0,gy1) gy1=Min(gy1,terrain.resolution-1) w=(gx1-gx0)/2 For x0=gx0 To gx1 For z0=gy0 To gy1 If strength>0 terrain.SetTileVisibility(x0,z0,0,0) Else terrain.SetTileVisibility(x0,z0,1,0) EndIf Next Next terrain.UpdateVisibilityTexture(gx0,gy0,gx1-gx0+1,gy1-gy0+1) Return EndIf If editmode=5 If Not CurrentVegetationLayer Return 'If Not terrain.quadtree.layers[TerrainVegetationLayer] Return 'If Not terrain.quadtree.layers[TerrainVegetationLayer].model Return 'If SelectedGadgetItem(Gadget_VegetationList)=-1 Return If strength>0.0 'Add instances Local tilt:Float=CurrentVegetationLayer.randomtilt'VegetationTilt[TerrainVegetationLayer] Local density:Float=CurrentVegetationLayer.density'VegetationDensity[TerrainVegetationLayer]'Float(GadgetText(Gadget_VegetationDensity)) For x0=-outerradius/density To outerradius/density For z0=-outerradius/density To outerradius/density If Sqr(x0*density*x0*density+z0*density*z0*density)>outerradius Continue 'SeedRnd x+x0*density+z+z0*density cx=x+x0*density+Rnd(-density*0.5,density*0.5) cy=z+z0*density+Rnd(-density*0.5,density*0.5) AddVegetationInstance(terrain,cx,cy,CurrentVegetationLayer.index,CurrentVegetationLayer.density,CurrentVegetationLayer.randomrotation,CurrentVegetationLayer.randomscale,CurrentVegetationLayer.aligntoterrain,CurrentVegetationLayer.randomtilt) Next GCCollect() Next Else 'Remove instances Local aabb:TAABB=New TAABB aabb.x0=x-outerradius aabb.x1=x+outerradius aabb.y0=-infinity aabb.y1=infinity aabb.z0=z-outerradius aabb.z1=z+outerradius aabb.update() terrain.quadtree.root.ForEachLeafInAABBDo(aabb,func,vec3(x,outerradius,z)) Function func(leaf:TQuadTreeLeaf,o:Object) Local n:Int Local dx:Float,dz:Float Local t:TVec3 Local count:Int t=TVec3(o) count=leaf.instance_count[CurrentVegetationLayer.index] n=0 If count Repeat dx=Abs(leaf.instances[CurrentVegetationLayer.index][n*16+12]-t.x) dz=Abs(leaf.instances[CurrentVegetationLayer.index][n*16+14]-t.z) If Sqr(dx*dx+dz*dz)<t.y leaf.DeleteInstance(n,CurrentVegetationLayer.index) n:-1 count:-1 EndIf If n>=count-1 Exit If count<1 Exit n:+1 Forever EndIf EndFunction EndIf Return EndIf If editmode=1 terrainchanged=1 Else terrainchanged=2 EndIf If Not TerrainSectorAABBUpdate Or TerrainSectorAABBUpdate.length<>terrain.sectors*terrain.sectors TerrainSectorAABBUpdate=New Byte[terrain.sectors,terrain.sectors] EndIf If editmode<>1 terrbuffer=terrain.heightbuffer texture=terrain.heightmap Else terrbuffer=terrain.alphabuffer texture=terrain.alphatexture EndIf x0=Floor((0.5+(x-outerradius+0.5*terrain.scale.x)/(Float(terrain.resolution)*terrain.meterspertile))*(terrain.resolution-1)) x1=Ceil((0.5+(x+outerradius+0.5*terrain.scale.x)/(Float(terrain.resolution)*terrain.meterspertile))*(terrain.resolution-1)) z0=Floor((0.5+(z-outerradius+0.5*terrain.scale.x)/(Float(terrain.resolution)*terrain.meterspertile))*(terrain.resolution-1)) z1=Ceil((0.5+(z+outerradius+0.5*terrain.scale.x)/(Float(terrain.resolution)*terrain.meterspertile))*(terrain.resolution-1)) 'Figure out which sectors are affected and need their AABBs updated (skip for paint edit mode) If editmode<>1 And editmode<>4 And editmode<>5 Local sx0:Int,sx1:Int,sz0:Int,sz1:Int sx0=Floor(x0/Float(terrain.sectorresolution)) sx1=Ceil(x1/Float(terrain.sectorresolution))-1 sz0=Floor(z0/Float(terrain.sectorresolution)) sz1=Ceil(z1/Float(terrain.sectorresolution))-1 If sx0<0 sx0=0 If sz0<0 sz0=0 If sx1>terrain.sectors-1 sx1=terrain.sectors-1 If sz1>terrain.sectors-1 sz1=terrain.sectors-1 For x=sx0 To sx1 For z=sz0 To sz1 TerrainSectorAABBUpdate[x,z]=1 Next Next EndIf 'Create small image If editmode=1 format=TEXTURE_RGBA8 Else If GetGraphicsVendor()=VENDOR_NVIDIA If GetShaderModel()=4 format=TEXTURE_FLOAT32 Else format=TEXTURE_FLOAT Print 1 EndIf Else format=TEXTURE_FLOAT32 EndIf EndIf w=x1-x0+1+1+1 h=z1-z0+1+1+1 tw=Pow2(w,1) th=Pow2(h,1) If tw<2 tw=2 If th<2 th=2 'If tw<64 tw=64 'If th<64 th=64 If toolimage If toolimage.width()<>tw Or toolimage.height()<>th toolimage=Null EndIf EndIf If toolimage If TextureFormat(toolimage)<>format toolimage=Null EndIf If Not toolimage toolimage=CreateTexture(tw,th,format) 'If TextureFormat(toolimage)<>format Notify 1 toolimagebuffer=CreateBuffer(tw,th,BUFFER_COLOR) toolimage.setfilter(TEXFILTER_PIXEL) toolimage.bind() SetColorBuffer(toolimagebuffer,toolimage) EndIf If editmode=1 Select channel Case 0 If strength>0.0 channelmask[0]=-1.0 channelmask[1]=-1.0 channelmask[2]=-1.0 channelmask[3]=-1.0 Else channelmask[0]=0.0 channelmask[1]=0.0 channelmask[2]=0.0 channelmask[3]=0.0 EndIf Case 1 If strength>0.0 channelmask[0]=1.0 channelmask[1]=-1.0 channelmask[2]=-1.0 channelmask[3]=-1.0 Else channelmask[0]=1.0 channelmask[1]=0.0 channelmask[2]=0.0 channelmask[3]=0.0 EndIf Case 2 If strength>0.0 channelmask[0]=0.0 channelmask[1]=1.0 channelmask[2]=-1.0 channelmask[3]=-1.0 Else channelmask[0]=0.0 channelmask[1]=1.0 channelmask[2]=0.0 channelmask[3]=0.0 EndIf Case 3 If strength>0.0 channelmask[0]=0.0 channelmask[1]=0.0 channelmask[2]=1.0 channelmask[3]=-1.0 Else channelmask[0]=0.0 channelmask[1]=0.0 channelmask[2]=1.0 channelmask[3]=0.0 EndIf Case 4 If strength>0.0 channelmask[0]=0.0 channelmask[1]=0.0 channelmask[2]=0.0 channelmask[3]=1.0 Else channelmask[0]=0.0 channelmask[1]=0.0 channelmask[2]=0.0 channelmask[3]=1.0 EndIf EndSelect Else channelmask[0]=1.0 channelmask[1]=1.0 channelmask[2]=1.0 channelmask[3]=1.0 If Not editterrainaabb editterrainaabb=New TAABB editterrainaabb.x0=-infinity editterrainaabb.y0=-infinity editterrainaabb.z0=-infinity editterrainaabb.x1=infinity editterrainaabb.y1=infinity editterrainaabb.z1=infinity EndIf editterrainaabb.x0=Min(editterrainaabb.x0,x-outerradius) editterrainaabb.z0=Min(editterrainaabb.z0,z-outerradius) editterrainaabb.x1=Max(editterrainaabb.x1,x+outerradius) editterrainaabb.z1=Max(editterrainaabb.z1,z+outerradius) EndIf 'Disable heightmap linear filter glActiveTextureARB GL_TEXTURE15 glTexParameteri GL_TEXTURE_2D,GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER,GL_NEAREST glTexParameteri GL_TEXTURE_2D,GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER,GL_NEAREST glActiveTextureARB GL_TEXTURE0 'Draw heightmap onto small image SetBuffer(toolimagebuffer) SetShader Null 'Global Texture_Contour:TTexture 'If Not Texture_Contour Texture_Contour=LoadTexture("abstract::crysisocean_DISP.dds") 'BindTexture Texture_Contour,1 SetColor vec4(1) FlipImage(texture,-x0+1.0,-z0+1.0) SetColor vec4(1) SetBuffer(BackBuffer()) terrainsize=(Float(terrain.resolution)*Terrain.meterspertile) ix:-terrain.scale.x*0.5 iz:-1 cx=((ix/terrain.scale.x+0.5*Float(terrain.resolution))/Float(terrain.resolution))+0.5/Float(terrain.resolution) cy=((iz/terrain.scale.z+0.5*Float(terrain.resolution))/Float(terrain.resolution))+0.5/Float(terrain.resolution) 'Load terrain edit shader If Not terrainfilter[editmode] terrainfilter[editmode]=LoadShader("abstract::generic.vert","abstract::terraintool.frag","#define TOOLMODE "+editmode+"~n") EndIf 'Set shader uniforms toolceiling=Min(1.0,toolceiling) toolfloor=Max(0.0,toolfloor) constraints[0]=toolfloor'0'Float(SliderValue(Gadget_TerrainToolFloor)-1)/29.0 constraints[1]=toolceiling'1'Float(SliderValue(Gadget_TerrainToolCeiling)-1)/29.0 If strength>0.0 constraints[0]=0.0 If strength<0.0 constraints[1]=1.0 If editmode>1 constraints[0]=0.0 constraints[1]=1.0 EndIf SetShaderVec2 terrainfilter[editmode],"toolposition",[cx,cy] SetShaderVec2 terrainfilter[editmode],"toolradius",[outerradius/terrain.size,innerradius/terrain.size] SetShaderFloat terrainfilter[editmode],"toolstrength",strength SetShaderFloat terrainfilter[editmode],"flattenheight",flattenheight SetShaderVec2 terrainfilter[editmode],"heightmapsize",[Float(terrain.resolution),Float(terrain.resolution)] SetShaderVec2 terrainfilter[editmode],"imagesize",[Float(tw),Float(th)] SetShaderVec4 terrainfilter[editmode],"channelmask",channelmask SetShaderVec2 terrainfilter[editmode],"constraints",constraints 'Draw the small image onto the heightmap buffer=GetBuffer() SetBuffer(terrbuffer) SetShader terrainfilter[editmode] glCheckError() flipImage(toolimage,x0-1,z0-1) glCheckError() SetBuffer buffer SetShader(Null) 'Update the normals of the edited area If editmode<>1 terrain.UpdateNormals(x0-1,z0-1,w,h) EndIf 'Restore heightmap linear filter glActiveTextureARB GL_TEXTURE15 glTexParameteri GL_TEXTURE_2D,GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER,GL_LINEAR glTexParameteri GL_TEXTURE_2D,GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER,GL_LINEAR glActiveTextureARB GL_TEXTURE0 terrain.generatecolormap() EndFunction Function FlipImage(image:TTexture,x,y) image.bind(0) glcolor4f 1,1,1,1 glEnable image.target() gldisable GL_CULL_FACE DrawRect x,BufferHeight(GetBuffer())-y,image.width(),-image.height() glDisable image.target() Function DrawRect(x,y,width,height) glBegin GL_QUADS glTexCoord2f 0.0,0.0 glVertex2i x,y glTexCoord2f 0.0,1.0 glVertex2i x,y+height glTexCoord2f 1.0,1.0 glVertex2i x+width,y+height glTexCoord2f 1.0,0.0 glVertex2i x+width,y glEnd EndFunction EndFunction

I think it looks good. They're using a forward renderer in that shot, which can be good in an outdoors scene with one directional light. However, it doesn't allow for shadow-casting point or spot lights. With MSAA the edges of trees and small objects will look a lot smoother, pretty close to that image. MSAA will be added when the engine is updated to use OpenGL 3.

A 4096 shadowmap size means a texture that is 8192x8192 will be used. Grass shadows are adjusted on a global (options>configuration) and per-layer basis.

Yes you can. Turn off shadows. Left 4 dead uses a combination of static lightmaps and single projected shadows, with vertex colors for lighting of dynamic objects. This is the approach I used to use before version 2.0 came out. I will never again implement a bsp-based engine like this. One consequence of a uniform lighting model like STALKER and Crysis use is that on low-end cards the older engines may actually look better than the newer one with settings lowered. The same was true when HL2 came out; the fixed-function renderer was so simple it looked worse than Quake 3.

It's easier to desaturate a saturated image than saturate a desaturated image.