Sword of Moonlight Forum

Sword Of Moonlight Games => Games (Dormant Projects) => Mytrosia & Fallen By The Way => Topic started by: dmpdesign on September 01, 2010, 01:50:53 pm

Title: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: dmpdesign on September 01, 2010, 01:50:53 pm
Just posting to see if you pop on here, havent heard from you in about a month.

Anyone hear from Madison Lastrega?
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Holy_Diver on September 01, 2010, 04:57:31 pm
If he does manifest... he mentioned once what the scale of the model units was to the in game 1.0 = 1m scale. I think I need to know that to wrap up the .cp file work. You may know it yourself since you have some experience making new MDO files... which I'm assuming are in the same whole number coordinates :ninja:
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Verdite on September 02, 2010, 02:28:59 pm
I mailed Joe a while ago but got nothing back.

I'd say he's busy... Though it has been a while hasnt it...
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Holy_Diver on September 10, 2010, 01:34:38 am
Anyone seen Todd lately :rolleyes:
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Verdite on September 10, 2010, 08:13:09 am
Nope. :confused:
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Holy_Diver on September 14, 2010, 02:10:21 pm
Let me guess. He's had a computastrophe!! Or maybe he fell victim to his oft alluded to familial curse.... or maybe he's sipping cocktails in the Bahamas with John :rolleyes:
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Verdite on September 14, 2010, 05:53:27 pm
Its possible. Joe mentioned a while ago that he'd felt pressured and attacked, and said he may very well dissapear like John did. Well, i really hope he hasnt, because it would be a huge waste of friendship and talent if he did.

Joe, if your around, keep in touch.
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Holy_Diver on September 15, 2010, 03:05:55 am
I think ML is too much of a queen to disappear without a speech. And John, well his computer just busted, and probably he just hasn't found a new one or got caught up in some other fancy in the meantime. In both cases it's a shame people don't share more of their work (and that we don't really have a clear channel for doing that kind of thing) so it's not lost when they have a change in heart / circumstance / neglect to backup their personal data.

I would make all of my work available except I'm pretty convinced I'd be wasting my time because it's all too esoteric for anyone we know of interested in the case of Som. From time to time I do upload/attach source code archives. However I'm afraid finding them might prove difficult (especially since Todd's server won't stay alive long enough to finish a search) but someone might stumble across them someday if indeed I do ever suddenly expire in the course of duty (which is pretty much the only way I'll be gotten rid of short of Todd's yearly banning frenzy)

This time last year Todd was talking about ditching this website within about half a years time. He seems to have changed his tune, but I would personally not mind if he'd consider migrating the forum over to my website so features like search and Unicode would work (and because presumably that's where we'll all end up anyway / it's more secure)

My website is not ready but this forum could be setup to seamlessly redirect over to it without any URL changes (edited: and for new people; I set this forum up / so drama aside, a move to "my forum" would not change anything you're used to)
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Holy_Diver on September 15, 2010, 09:11:38 am
This time last year Todd was talking about ditching this website within about half a years time. He seems to have changed his tune, but I would personally not mind if he'd consider migrating the forum over to my website so features like search and Unicode would work (and because presumably that's where we'll all end up anyway / it's more secure)

My website is not ready but this forum could be setup to seamlessly redirect over to it without any URL changes (edited: and for new people; I set this forum up / so drama aside, a move to "my forum" would not change anything you're used to)

Oh I just remembered the #1 reason this would make perfect sense...

The "loading" times on this server are cruel and inhuman torture :evil:
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Verdite on September 16, 2010, 08:40:08 pm
I've got nothing bad to say against Joe, i liked his company alot and his game looked amazing.

To me, i dont feel that there was anything really to gain or lose other than a great gaming experience. Joe was an active poster, so its a bit strange not seeing his posts.

He'l be back though. All that work for nothing? I dont think so.
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Holy_Diver on September 17, 2010, 07:40:30 am
He mentioned taking a break on a number of occasions. Most people are quitters though. So I'd not be surprised either way.

I think you're jumping to conclusions. He has a family from what I understand so there could be any number of reasons for his absence. Since he's not even talking though my guess is his computer went kaput and he only had the one / is too good for the public library like John / may be depressed because he didn't have the sense to back his stuff up.

Computers are about the most unreliable thing in the world... you should have access to at least 3 at all times or shit like that will happen.


PS: Did Joe share any of his work with you? Also if you're not using Ex, you're just causing more work for yourself. If you're spending a lot of time working with Som you should be using Ex. You might not get burned out so quickly.
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Verdite on September 19, 2010, 12:27:45 pm
I just backup all my stuff. Well, selectively. I try not to put too much on my plate at once, or i wouldnt get anything done...

Whatever happens, i was just trying to justify the dissapearance... A bit of notice woulda been nice. I'll just drop it until i hear otherwise...

I got very little from Joe, we were both planning on sharing models etc after game completion.

Without any offensive intent, what is ex used for? I used the SoMimp you made. I'm taking things steadily and having breaks when i need them. If i didnt love 3d design id have given up.  :smug:

Maybe.
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Holy_Diver on September 19, 2010, 01:22:24 pm
Ex is an extension framework for Som. It does pretty much everything I ever talk about unless it's expressly said otherwise. It's for extending Som. At this point it only extends the actual game part of Som. But will probably eventually be adapted in a limited fashion to help the editors cope with future shock.

It extends Som, so you can't say what it does other than to list off every single extension, which even now is a fairly large number. Basically it works thru an additional .ini file that is added to your game. The only other stuff you should be aware of is the font folder and the localization folder. The font folder you can include the fonts your game needs so the player doesn't have to install them. By default Som needs Japanese fonts which most people don't have on their computer, so that's essential. The ini file is a lot more elaborate than Som's config file. But that's what the author uses to configure Ex for their game. Some very basic stuff Ex does is make your game playable off a CD or over a readonly network, and I'll probably add via a compressed game... without at least one bugfix playing off a USB drive can be very frustrating. It fixes the countless bugs that plague Som. And makes your game just work for everyone and feel like a quality product. Whereas without Ex maybe as few as one out of three people would be able to get your stoneage game to even work.

If your working with Vista or 7 you can use the new D3D9 mode to avoid having your desktop jacked up everytime you launch a game/test. And you can run your game inside a window so you can do other stuff at the same time. Of course there are countless other extensions and before it's done there may be a hundred times that.

PS: That's not an offensive question. It just makes you seem dull. If you're making a game with Som, Ex is pretty much more indispensable than Som itself (and most certainly better software)
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Verdite on September 19, 2010, 05:59:23 pm
Dull? Well i havent looked into ex at all, it sounds like it might be worth downloading, which ill do at some point before demo release.
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Holy_Diver on September 20, 2010, 08:25:11 am
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dull :evil:
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Verdite on September 21, 2010, 08:02:31 am
I know what dull means... I just dont know what context you placed it in, i was more unaware in my opinion.
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Holy_Diver on September 21, 2010, 09:10:25 am
When you're highly invested in a technology it helps to pay attention to developments within the technology. There are no shortage of posts pertaining to Ex in these forums (probably more than half are... for instance the D3D9 thread) ...so for you to miss all of that is not offensive, it only demonstrates a general aloofness on your part.

If you'd like to keep tabs on all posts in the forums, there is for the time being anyway, a link towards the top of every page which says, "Show most recent posts to the forum.", which you might want to bookmark.
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Verdite on September 21, 2010, 01:15:22 pm
Thanks for the info.

I'm not making excuses, but my project is time consuming, and alot of my time spent on the pc is time on my project, so i generally dont keep up to date in some fields.
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Madison Lastrega on January 02, 2011, 01:23:54 am
Hi all, First of all I am no quitter, and thank you Ben for all your kindness............. I have been so busy with that thing called life and family , that som sorta fell on the wayside......(No pun intended)...... But I love modeling, And I still LOVE SOM........ So I still am working, and working on ways to make it more fun, if only to a select few......... Anyway I have a quick item for ben, we were talking last night, on the phone, and he asked me a questrion....... At the time I had forgot the answer, now I remember, so Ben to answer your question, to have tranparetcy in map pieces it is simple....... Have a sky selected, any sky....... I notice most of your screens are black (with out a sky) turn on any sky, and BAM, the black becomes transparent......... I think it has something to do with the fact that the sky itself, is an object, and ALL objects are like that so when the sky is engaged , the map acts like an object.................. Anyway I had to play with it for a few and then I remembered...............Any way I will be here way more now so , get ready for some fun times to had by all.............. ps I made this for a friend with a local production company over the holidays........ never mind the theme or anything else, just wanted you all to know that I always am modeling and working, even if it's not all for SOM, sorry you have to see this after the holidays, but you should still get major giggles from this all the same........ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cuk8FgokdG0    Love ML
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: dmpdesign on January 02, 2011, 02:02:59 am
Goddamn its good to see you post.

I will type tomorrow when Im not tired :)

Nice modelling in that video, youre coming a looong way, when will you guys tutor me so i can make some 3d xbox games?
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Holy_Diver on January 02, 2011, 04:18:18 pm
Hi all, First of all I am no quitter, and thank you Ben for all your kindness............. I have been so busy with that thing called life and family , that som sorta fell on the wayside......(No pun intended)...... But I love modeling, And I still LOVE SOM........ So I still am working, and working on ways to make it more fun, if only to a select few......... Anyway I have a quick item for ben, we were talking last night, on the phone, and he asked me a questrion....... At the time I had forgot the answer, now I remember, so Ben to answer your question, to have tranparetcy in map pieces it is simple....... Have a sky selected, any sky....... I notice most of your screens are black (with out a sky) turn on any sky, and BAM, the black becomes transparent......... I think it has something to do with the fact that the sky itself, is an object, and ALL objects are like that so when the sky is engaged , the map acts like an object.................. Anyway I had to play with it for a few and then I remembered...............Any way I will be here way more now so , get ready for some fun times to had by all.............. ps I made this for a friend with a local production company over the holidays........ never mind the theme or anything else, just wanted you all to know that I always am modeling and working, even if it's not all for SOM, sorry you have to see this after the holidays, but you should still get major giggles from this all the same........ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cuk8FgokdG0    Love ML

I'm pretty sure that the map pieces will always be transparent after you build your game (ie. run it via som_rt.exe) ... som_db.exe (one of them anyway) just has a bug which prevents it, which is possibly rectified by the changes to the D3D render states which come along with the sky. Anyway, with Ex you don't have to worry about this. But now that you mentioned it's related to the sky, that might make it easier for Ex to correct for this if I don't forget.

Transparency like with the water objects may not be possible... I can't say for sure though without playing around with whatever tools you guys use to make map tiles. Anyway I've never seen a semitransparent map tile. Many pre-patch map tiles (and other textures) have holes in them under som_rt.exe. One of the final patches seems to have corrected their textures. Though there are still a number of objects and stuff with holes that were missed (possibly map tiles as well, though I've never seen any)

With Ex you could make a map tile with transparent elements. You'd just need to make sure the transparent parts have unique textures which Ex can recognize and apply your transparency wishes to. Though map tiles are not z-sorted so if the transparent part is concave it could come out wrong depending on the order Som actually draws it (which is remarkably reliable actually) ... once Ex starts rendering the map tiles so to prevent the tiles from disappearing in widescreen this won't be a problem.
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Verdite on January 02, 2011, 09:01:21 pm
Helloa. Have you had any progress with map tiles vanishing? Strange, i was talking to someone about map tiles and transparency last night...
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Holy_Diver on January 02, 2011, 09:07:08 pm
Helloa. Have you had any progress with map tiles vanishing? Strange, i was talking to someone about map tiles and transparency last night...

No, that's pretty far down my list. Like Ex 2.0 far. My advice is use Ex to restrict the aspect ratio to 4:3 or keep the confines of your maps pretty compact. Much sooner I will be doing some work to fix the widescreen (non 4:3) text layouts... lines overlapping / not fitting in their boxes / etc.

PS: Whether you were addressing me or not, Ex is the only game in town in terms of fixing this stuff :evil:
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Madison Lastrega on January 03, 2011, 08:58:47 am
I almost forgot...........Happy New year , Sorry so late , I made this last night..................ML
Title: Re: Hows it going Joe?
Post by: Verdite on January 03, 2011, 12:49:01 pm
Love it, thanks Joe!