reepblue

September 23, 2023

On 9/21/2023 at 5:25 PM, Josh said:

Working on docs:
https://www.ultraengine.com/learn/Map_Reload?lang=cpp

While this example works, it's not working in the way needed for game saves. The reload function throws an exception when trying to read a file and you get a bufferstream overflow with the example below. Also, since Reload doesn't create anything, would I need to load the map file before the save file? If so, what's the best way to know way to know what save file goes to which map?

#include "UltraEngine.h"

using namespace UltraEngine;

int main(int argc, const char* argv[])
{
    //Get the displays
    auto displays = GetDisplays();

    //Create a window
    auto window = CreateWindow("Ultra Engine", 0, 0, 1280, 720, displays[0], WINDOW_CENTER | WINDOW_TITLEBAR);

    //Create a world
    auto world = CreateWorld();

    //Create a framebuffer
    auto framebuffer = CreateFramebuffer(window);

    //Create a scene
    auto scene = LoadMap(world, "Maps/savetest.ultra");

    //Save the starting scene to memory
    shared_ptr<BufferStream> stream = NULL;
    shared_ptr<BufferStream> binstream = NULL;

    //Main loop
    while (window->Closed() == false and window->KeyDown(KEY_ESCAPE) == false)
    {
        if (window->KeyHit(KEY_F5))
        {
            Print("SAVE");
            if (stream) stream = NULL;
            if (binstream) binstream = NULL;
            stream = CreateBufferStream();
            binstream = CreateBufferStream();
            scene->Save(stream, binstream);
        }

        //Reload the starting scene when space key is pressed
        if (window->KeyHit(KEY_F6))
        {
            if (stream and binstream)
            {
                stream->Seek(0);
                binstream->Seek(0);
                scene->Reload(stream, binstream);
            }
        }

        world->Update();
        world->Render(framebuffer);
    }
    return 0;
}

September 22, 2023

I now see the updated example. I'll implement this tonight, thank you!

September 22, 2023

The example needs to be updated but I think I know how it works.

September 21, 2023

Ok, I'll probably wait until the update before returning to this.

September 20, 2023

How would I use World::GetFrameCaptures() to have my app take a screenshot of the game? I know Steam can do this, but I'd like the application to be able to do this alone.

    void Program::TakeScreenshot()
    {
        if (mainapp != NULL)
        {
            auto f = stage->gameworld->GetFrameCaptures();
            //auto game = mainapp->As<GraphicsWindow>();
            //if (game) game->framebuffer->Capture();
        }
    }

September 20, 2023

Regarding components. they don't seem to get updated upon a reload and I have no idea why. This save file has the Mover and a CameraControls component defined in the map file but upon a reload, it's like the components aren't actually being attached for some reason. Does the editor do something different?

quicksave.zip

September 20, 2023

Noticed the following:

~~Entity's Static checkbox doesn't get saved,~~
~~Spinner widget for the the entity's mass cannot return back to 0 if ever given mass.~~
~~Collision Type dropdown can't revert back to "None" when changed.~~
~~Friction Spinners swap x and y values. upon deselection and reselection.~~
~~Spinner widget for the entity's Elasticity value just doesn't get to be saved.~~

I tested this by making a brush and then edit each widget, changed one setting, unselected it, then reselected it to see if the value was the same. I didn't test all component type widgets since I only have the default two at the moment.

~~Also, the window title leaves a * at the end of the map name,~~

September 19, 2023

Ok, so can just for loop all the entities within the world, and then add it to the scene? I'll give it a try and play around with it. My goal is to have Half Life 2 like save/load states almost transparent to the end user.

Might want to do this for every save call since things like bullets or instanced objects can spawn at any time.

September 18, 2023

I hope this will be demonstrated in the documentation. I was under the impression we would have "snapshot" saves by default with the world/scene::Save() function.

It probably only worked with Lua components, but I'm looking forward to an example.

September 17, 2023

The properties panel is very broken in the latest build. Changes don't get applied or saved anymore. I tried adding another component to an entity in a map and although the panel says it's there, reloading the map and rechecking it shows that the changes were not saved.

Also manually changing properties such as the entity's position in the panel doesn't apply the changes.

The editor is kind of unusable outside of making brushes at this point.

September 17, 2023

Note: Scene::Save() works fine but doesn't copy over component data.

The current map doesn't load any components in this test, but it should be worth testing.

#include "UltraEngine.h"
using namespace UltraEngine;

void main(const char* args, const int argc)
{
    //Get the displays
    auto displays = GetDisplays();

    //Create a window
    auto window = CreateWindow("Ultra Engine", 0, 0, 1280, 720, displays[0], WINDOW_TITLEBAR | WINDOW_CENTER);

    //Create a framebuffer
    auto framebuffer = CreateFramebuffer(window);

    //Create a world
    auto world = CreateWorld();

    //Load a scene
    auto scene = LoadMap(world, "Maps/savetest.ultra");

    //Main loop
    while (!window->Closed() and !window->KeyHit(KEY_ESCAPE))
    {
        // Save 
        if (window->KeyHit(KEY_F5))
        {
            world->Save("save.ultra", SAVE_DEFAULT);
        }

        //Load
        if (window->KeyHit(KEY_F6))
        {
            scene = NULL;
            scene = LoadMap(world, "save.ultra");
        }

        //Update world
        world->Update();

        //Render world
        world->Render(framebuffer, true);
    }
}

savetest.zip

September 17, 2023

This example no longer works. The EVENT_FRAMECAPTURE doesn't seem like it gets emitted anymore.

#include "UltraEngine.h"

using namespace UltraEngine;

void main(const char* args, const int argc)
{
    //Get the displays
    auto displays = GetDisplays();

    //Create a window
    auto window = CreateWindow("Ultra Engine", 0, 0, 1280, 720, displays[0], WINDOW_TITLEBAR | WINDOW_CENTER);

    //Create a framebuffer
    auto framebuffer = CreateFramebuffer(window);

    //Create a world
    auto world = CreateWorld();

    //Create a camera
    auto camera = CreateCamera(world);
    camera->SetClearColor(0.125f);
    camera->SetPosition(0, 0, -2);

    //Create a light
    auto light = CreateBoxLight(world);
    light->SetRotation(45, 35, 0);
    light->SetRange(-10, 10);
    light->SetColor(2);

    //Create a model
    auto box = CreateBox(world);
    box->SetColor(0, 0, 1);

    //Load the FreeImage plugin
    auto plugin = LoadPlugin("Plugins/FITextureLoader");

    //Main loop
    while (!window->Closed() and !window->KeyHit(KEY_ESCAPE))
    {
        //Rotate the model
        box->Turn(0, 1, 0);

        //Press the space key to queue a screenshot
        if (window->KeyHit(KEY_SPACE)) 
            framebuffer->Capture();

        //Look for captured frames
        while (PeekEvent())
        {
            const auto e = WaitEvent();
            if (e.id == EVENT_FRAMECAPTURE)
            {
                //Get the pixmap containing the captured frame, save and open it
                auto pixmap = e.extra->As<Pixmap>();
                WString path = GetPath(PATH_DESKTOP) + "/screenshot" + String(e.data + 1) + ".jpg";
                pixmap->Save(path);
                RunFile(path);
            }
        }

        //Update world
        world->Update();

        //Render world
        world->Render(framebuffer, true);
    }
}

September 16, 2023

Back in July, I talked about the idea of building a compartmentalized base application for Ultra Engine. I now want to share what I've been working on and my future plans going forward.

This foundation in which I'm dubbing "The Ultra Game Template" is base code and assets to help developers start their next project right. The goal was to have a base layer that did all the "not so fun" but critical elements when building a game such as scene management, input handling, window resizing, etc.

The scene/map space is left alone and attaching components works the same if you started your project from scratch and a lot of the back-end stuff can be customized via the config.json file. Here's a list of some of the features.

Splash Screen

A splash screen is sometimes required for displaying legal notices and is useful for showing the end user that the application is loading in the background. The splash screen can be customized via the config file or disabled entirely. It should also look very familiar. :^)

Built-In Settings

All engine settings are exposed file the built-in settings window. You no longer need to tell testers to edit any config files ever again! They can now freely change their target display, resolution, graphic settings, and key bindings!

Dynamic, Configurable and Easy-To-Use Input System.

Coming from the input system from Cyclone, the template has support for key bindings. This is modeled after Steam Input where everything is defined as an action and can be contained in action sets. You can bind the same key to different actions in separated sets.

Defining a base scheme is simple as making a function in the main.cpp file and passing the game controller pointer through it.

// Define default controls.
static void InstallControls(shared_ptr<GameController> controller)
{
    if (controller == NULL) return;

    // Program actions
    controller->SetAction("Pause", BUTTON_KEY_ESCAPE);
    controller->SetAction("Terminate", BUTTON_KEY_END);
    controller->SetAction("ConsoleApp", BUTTON_KEY_F1);
    controller->SetAction("Fullscreen", BUTTON_KEY_F11);
    controller->SetAction("Screenshot", BUTTON_KEY_F2);
    controller->SetAction("Quick Save", BUTTON_KEY_F5);
    controller->SetAction("Quick Load", BUTTON_KEY_F6);

    // Camera
    ButtonAxis moveaxis =
    {
        BUTTON_KEY_W,
        BUTTON_KEY_S,
        BUTTON_KEY_A,
        BUTTON_KEY_D
    };
    controller->SetAction("Movement", moveaxis, "InGameControls");
    controller->SetAction("Sprint", BUTTON_KEY_SHIFT, "InGameControls");
    controller->SetAction("Crouch", BUTTON_KEY_CONTROL, "InGameControls");
    controller->SetAction("Climb", BUTTON_KEY_Q, "InGameControls");
    controller->SetAction("Desent", BUTTON_KEY_E, "InGameControls");
    controller->SetAction("Camera", AXIS_MOUSE, "InGameControls");

    // Settings
    controller->SetSetting("Raw Mouse", false);
    controller->SetSetting("Inverse Mouse", false);
    controller->SetSetting("Mouse Smoothing", 0.0f);
    controller->SetSetting("Mouse Look Speed", 1.0f);
}

Then in the settings application will build the binding list for you separating the sets and settings into their own tabs.

All of this is built using the engine's API so it's cross platform compatible!

Event Based Console

A developer console is something you can't live without when developing a game. When called (Default F1), a console window will pop up and will await your input. The commands are event based and there's no registering of commands required.

Just put something like this in your component's ProcessEvent function.

        if (e.id == EVENT_CONSOLEEXECUTE)
        {
            auto line = e.text.Split(" ");
            auto cmd = line[0].ToString();
            if (line.size() > 1 && !line[1].empty())
            {
                if (cmd == "mycommand")
                {
                    Print("Applied command " + QuoteString(cmd) + " to: " + line[1]);
                }
            }
        }

Existing commands are:

map - loading maps (Example: map box)
restart - Restart the existing map.
clear - Clears the current map.
quit - Terminates the application.

You can download it here.

September 16, 2023

@Josh

This is why:

		shared_ptr<T> AddComponent(const bool start = true)
		{
			auto o = GetComponent<T>();
			if (o) return o;
			o = std::make_shared<T>();
			std::shared_ptr<Component> c = std::dynamic_pointer_cast<Component>(o);
			if (c == NULL) RuntimeError("Type must be a Component.");
			//c->entity = As<Entity>().get();
			if (start) c->Start();
			m_components.push_back(c);
			//c->entity = this;
			c->entityptr = As<Entity>();
			auto world = GetWorld();
			if (world)
			{
				world->entitieswithnewcomponents.insert(As<Entity>());
				InternalRecordCollisions(true);
			}
			return o;
		}

Assign the entity pointer before calling start! Actually make the start function call the LAST thing it does before returning!

September 16, 2023

6 minutes ago, Josh said:

How is the component being added?

By code.

	Stage::Stage()
	{
		// Menu world and camera.
		auto sz = GetProgram()->GetFramebufferSize();
		menuworld = CreateWorld();

		menucamera = CreateCamera(menuworld, PROJECTION_ORTHOGRAPHIC);
		menucamera->SetPosition(float(sz.x) * 0.5f, float(sz.y) * 0.5f);
		menucamera->AddComponent<LoadingScreen>();
		menucamera->SetHidden(false);

		// Create the game world.
		gameworld = CreateWorld();
		gameworld->SetLightQuality(GetProgram()->GetSetting(SETTING_LIGHTQUALITY, 1));

		// Scene
		gamescene = NULL;
		pausestate = false;

		// Set the menu world as the active world.
		activeworld = menuworld;
	}

If you call a function after it that uses GetEntity(), it'll be fine.

A lot of engine changes broke things on my end. My camera component loaded by the map file works fine with this,

	virtual void Start()
	{
		// Enable sound.
		GetEntity()->Listen();

		Listen(EVENT_PAUSESTATE, GetProgram());
		Listen(EVENT_GRAPHICSWINDOW, GetProgram());
		GetInput()->CenterCursor();
		GetInput()->SetCursorHidden(true);

		GetInput()->SetActiveSet("InGameControls");
	}

September 16, 2023

GetEntity() isn't valid within the component Start function when the old raw pointer was.

Place this Start function in any Component.

		virtual void Start()
		{
			auto self = GetEntity();
			Assert(self != NULL, "entity is null!");
		}

September 13, 2023

This would be a good editor plug in much like the image generator. This way if people post an example in one language, they can just use GPT to convert the example in the language they are using.

September 11, 2023

27 minutes ago, Josh said:

1. and 2. are fixed. 3. is not technically a bug.

Hopefully I'll see the measurement display soon. 💙

September 10, 2023

This also can happen.

Also, when using an ultra-wide monitor, the grid stops short.

September 9, 2023

I'm trying to fix a bug in my application where if the mouse cursor switching works after the window is rebuilt. What I need to do is reset the cursor to default before I destroy the window and then reapply the old cursor after the window is rebuilt. I need a Window::GetCursor() function to do this and none exists.

	bool GraphicsWindow::Initialize(const WString& title, const int width, const int height, shared_ptr<Display> display, const GraphicWindowStyles style)
	{
		// Release existing pointers so we can rebuild!
		static bool firstwindow = true;

		// Set the cursor to default before we delete the window.
		MouseCursor current_cursor = CURSOR_DEFAULT;
		if (window)
		{
			// I need this function.
			current_cursor = window->GetCursor();
			window->SetCursor(CURSOR_DEFAULT);
		}

		window = NULL;
		framebuffer = NULL;

		int w = width;
		int h = height;

		WindowStyles window_style = WINDOW_TITLEBAR | WINDOW_CENTER | WINDOW_HIDDEN;
		switch (style)
		{
		case GRAPHICSWINDOW_TITLEBAR:
			window_style = WINDOW_TITLEBAR | WINDOW_CENTER | WINDOW_HIDDEN;
			break;

		case GRAPHICSWINDOW_BORDERLESS:
			window_style = WINDOW_CENTER | WINDOW_HIDDEN;
			break;

		case GRAPHICSWINDOW_FULLSCREEN:
			window_style = WINDOW_FULLSCREEN | WINDOW_CENTER | WINDOW_HIDDEN;
			break;

		case GRAPHICSWINDOW_FULLSCREENNATIVE:
			w = display->size.x;
			h = display->size.y;
			window_style = WINDOW_FULLSCREEN | WINDOW_CENTER | WINDOW_HIDDEN;
			break;

		default:
			break;
		}

		windowtitle = title;
		window = CreateWindow(windowtitle, 0, 0, w, h, display, window_style);
		SetWindowTitlebarTheme(window, TITLEBAR_DARK);
		framebuffer = CreateFramebuffer(window);

		if (firstwindow)
		{
			splashscreen = std::make_shared<SplashScreen>();
			splashscreen->Initialize(window, 1500);
			firstwindow = false;
		}
		else
		{
			window->SetHidden(false);
		}

		// Set this to focus!
		window->SetCursor(current_cursor);
		window->Activate();

		// Send this event with the size of the framebuffer.
		EmitEvent(EVENT_GRAPHICSWINDOW, GetProgram(), 0, window->GetPosition().x, window->GetPosition().y, framebuffer->GetSize().x, framebuffer->GetSize().y, window);
		return true;
	}

September 9, 2023

This is what it looks like when attempt to load any previously saved map.

box.zip

September 9, 2023

1. I can't resize the grid with the bracket hot keys ("[" and "]")

2. I don't know if the grid was not adjusted correctly for the unit change a while back, but nothing seems to line up anymore. The texture scale is 0.28 off.

3. When will I get my unit number display for brushes? 😭

September 9, 2023

When attempting to look at a model in the asset browser, you'll receive the "PostEffect is NULL" error message as the compiled post effects are missing in the Shaders folder. The current fix is to copy and paste the Post Effects folder from the Source folder to the Shaders folder.

The fix would involve including the copy the compiled shaders to the Shaders folder.

September 7, 2023

Looks like I need to make sure I'm initializing my game world first and my menu world last.

September 7, 2023

I recall the GUI in the vulkan renderer not looking as good. Glad to hear you plan to fix this soon.

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