Greyfang

Trust me ... even as a newbie I can tell you that it works fine ... as macklebee wrote, make sure you follow the tutorial. Once you've got your collision shape defined (in the built-in model editor), make sure you save it. I am not 100% sure, but I think you will have to put the newly saved model into your map, in order for it to work. Also make sure, that you have selected the proper collision type (I think it needs to be "Scene", not "Prop") ... Cheers, Greyfang

OK ... that is going to be a challenge, because of the size ... given the "random assets" I have thrown onto the map, I would probably have to upload it to dropbox or something similar and then send a link as a PM. Cheers, Greyfang

I was aware of that and changed that in the built-in model viewer / editor ---- KUDOS to Leadwerks for that ... the improvement Josh made to the (animation) pipeline are a real time saver ... This is turning out to be more fun than I had anticipated a bit frustrating at times, but fun ... Cheers, Greyfang

OK ... thanks for the input ... got the DEX_Test01 map "fixed" ... And the other map includes a quadruped "monster" (cavemonster from Dexsoft), and as soon as it collides with another AI-character, it appears that the map freezes. Looking at the collision cage, I see a cylinder "straight up" (Y-axis ?), centered in the middle of the mesh. I had assigned "Charactercontroller & character" in the physics section ... is there some other setting I should have used ? Or do I need to go in and make a specialized version of the AI script ? Cheers, Greyfang

Point well made ... Thank you for taking the time to look at my problem map and for posting a response. I agree that it will be exceedingly helpful, if all "non-standard" shaders etc. are mentioned in such a post. Since I am a newbie with shaders, how did you work out that shadmar's shader is interfering with the inherent water ? I wouldn't even know where to begin the error analysis. Thanks again, Greyfang

@macklebee: Thanks for taking a look at the second map. If I have water enabled, do I not need a water shader in order to have the waterplane show properly ? Or am I just completely on the wrong track here ????

Thanks ... I'll try to keep that in mind ... still will be a while, I think, since I am still struggling with some of the basics ...

OK ... very strange ... now I have a map that worked fine yesterday (testing some of the Dexsoft models) and today, I am getting the "run window", but it is all black. I can still "walk" (WASD keys) because I can hear the sound. But I don't see anything ... CPU shows 16% usage for the "Test001.exe", 129 MB RAM usage ... Here are my system specs: Windows 10 (latest update) 16 GB RAM AMD 8350 Octacore Nvidea GTX980 (latest drivers installed) 2x SAMSUNG 1 TB SSDs 1 Hitachi 2 TB harddisk ... I am perfectly willing to say "mea culpa ... I did something I shouldn't have done !" ... but I just have no clue what that could be ... I've attached the MAP (as above) ... Cheers, Greyfang DEX_Test01.zip

Here is the MAP file (zipped, because it is 14 MB in size) ... Let me know if you need anything else ... Cheers, Greyfang Test002.zip

So let me guess ... you don't want anyone else to use your model ? Just kidding ...

I have created a (small) test map and loaded a few characters and a few "scene objects" (models) into the map. When I start the map, things look OK ... but without a warning, at some time, it will just freeze ... end of game. The editor is still accessable, so it's not the entire PC that freezes. I have tried running it in debugging mode, but there it doesn't even start the level. It just sitzt there with a "busy cursor" ... and that's the end of it. Since I am still a newbie (just playing around, really), I do not doubt for a second, that it is something I have done. But I just don't know where to look. I suspect that the newly discoved WAYPOINTS are a potential issue. I understand that when I place a waypoint, I can drag&drop it to the AI character target field and it will go/run their. When I look at the waypoint entity, I see that the script has a number of "target" fields. I can't figure out what they are used for (looked at waypoint.lua, but that confused me more than clarify anything). Any help would be appreciated. Cheers, Greyfang

Since I'm still new to Leadwerks, I don't know if it is a problem with the FBX file itself (coming from ZBrush, it may be too big ?). One "quick fix" could be to copy another (small) FBX file into the directory that you copied the ZBrush FBX file into. Since Leadwerks detects any changes in the directories (e.g. when you put a FBX file into a model directory), it may always try to convert it into a MDL file and fail (freeze) ... maybe putting a small / simple FBX file there might help. I've imported quite a few FBX files and most of them were converted by Leadwerks without a hitch. The biggest problems I have had so far are: one (character) FBX file had the textures wrong - although they looked fine in UU3D and Fragmotion one (monster) FBX file always had screwed up polys - again, it looked fine in Fragmotion and I exported it from Fragmotion in order to fix the poly problem Over all, the process has been VERY painless (compared to some of the other pipelines) ... not perfect, but pretty darn close. I think you will like some of the stuff you can do with the model, once it has been converted (like creating a custom collision object or resizing it to a specific size / height) ... Cheers, Greyfang

Yeah, I know the feeling ... except that I never even seem to get to REALLY know the software I bought ... I think maybe if the day had 36 hours .... Cheers, Greyfang

Ok ... found a couple of additional features I really, really like : a.) the ability to generate collision shapes in Leadwerks itself ... cool. I would probably be able to manually create a more efficient collision hull for some objects (e.g. a model of a hallway incl. steps), because I have done that before for GameCore, but so many of the objects can be handled through Leadwerks, it is a joy. b.) resizing of an object in the model viewer / editor ... not only by %, but by actually entering the desired "size" in feet or meters ... amazingly useful (I am currently porting some FBX models and some are HUGE and can be resized nicely inside Leadwerks). Two thumbs up ! I realize that these are not complex or "dramatic" features, but I just enjoy the enhanced workflow because they are there ! Cheers, Greyfang

OK ... got the underwater shader to work for the "global water plane" ... looks really good to. How would I need to go about assigning that shader to a block (either CSG or modelled in Blender), so I could "fill" a pool, which is located ABOVE the "global water plane" .... I've tried using the shader on a material, but that didn't seem to work (it certainly didn't look like water). Cheers, Greyfang

Just my 2 cents ... If you want people to use the Workshop (instead of Steam), there has to be a noticable benefit or else you have YACS (yet another content store). This benefit can be "real" or "perceived", but without it, something like the Workshop just is not viable. People use steam (most likely) not only for Leadwerks DLCs, but for a variety of software "stuff" - so they are familiar with it and consider it a "trusted store". Since I have Leadwerks, GameGuru and a slew of games purchased through Steam, I too feel very "comfortable" with Steam. I also like the Workshop, please don't get me wrong. But I also understand why it isn't knocking anyone's socks off. Cheers, Greyfang

No sure, if this is the right forum section - so please feel free to move it, if needed ... I have now used Leadwerks for a few days and have already learned to appreciate some of the strong points of Leadwerks ... you will, of course, know them, but indulge me anyway I really like the way you have implemented materials / textures ... Chapeau ! Easy enough to handle for a novice, complete enough to provide some amazing results ... Importing assets is also easy to do (I've only done static objects ... animated objects will follow). Connection with Blender (Export plugin or FBX) appears to work well. The speed (loading & execution) is also quite impressive. Working with the editor is a breeze ... organization of the map / scene is handled well Leadwerks is more complex than some of the "click & Play" engines (such as GameGuru), but for me definitely easier to handle than Unity or UDK I am quite happy, that I purchased Leadwerks and am looking forward to some fun hours learning and playing - always seeking to broaden my horizon. Cheers, Greyfang

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction ... will have to play with that (after work). Although I have used shaders before, they are still a mystery to me ... sometimes, I think they are pure magic ... Cheers, Greyfang

I understand that ... now the question is: what other method is recommended ... Also, the "normal" water level looks nice enough, until you walk into in (and submerge yourself) ... there is apparently no "underwater shader" aktiv and also no buoyancy ... is that a design limitation ? I remember working with GameCore and there was buoyancy there (which was fun, just throwing barrels into the water ... such are the pleasures of a simple mind ) Cheers, Greyfang

Oh ... duh ... thanks for that ... So I gather from the way it is done, that you can not have a "pool of water" (e.g. in a building) ... But is the method of using a prefab still realistic and possible ? And would I then assign the watershader an object I create ? Oh well, time to play around some more

I have a set of tools that I've downloaded / purchased over the years ... Notepad++ 3D Coat ZBrush Gimp Photoshop Elements Substance Painter Blender Lightwave 3d (11.6) Fragmotion BVHacker Audacity

I am new to Leadwerks ... previous experience includes GameGuru, (a bit of) Unity, 3D GameStudio, GameCore ... So far I am having a lot of fun and have started to really appreciate some aspects of the Leadwerks workflow. While I am currently only doing some "learning by playing", I have hit one stumbling block ... water. I have searched the forum and have found a number of different posts, some of them include links to prefabs (link doesn't work). There is also a post that refers to the use of a plane to do water. But where can I find a definitive "guide" for creating water in Leadwerks ? Do I need to create a "block" and assign it a material with the water shader ? Or does it need to be a plane ? Cheers, Greyfang