The Alpha 9 Preview-Thread

[JuliusColtranePille]

hey dear community,

as february gets older the next alpha release gets closer.

i would like to accumulate pics, general news, alpha 9 related discussions (concerning rather alpha-9-specific issues), roadmap-wiki-tickets-comments and stuff here.

let it begin,

cheers!

[Pureon]

Here's a clip showing the Roman ballista and some of the Roman units

It's quite likely that some of those units have changed since I filmed this.

Another video showing some of the ships that we've animated for Alpha 9:

Most of the existing rowing ships now have rowing animations.

Here's a Roman helmet I modeled and textured recently:

Before anyone comments about it being low res - in-game the helmet is tiny

[Mythos_Ruler]

Sworn enemies.

[MishFTW]

Nice clips Pureon, I'm gonna have some fun with the new Roman ballista

And Michael, that could be some really good PR stuff. (hi-res implied)

[L'ethu]

Awesome, i can't wait to see the release.

[ribez]

+1 for rowing animations

now ships lacks of only 3 things:

1. smooth rotation when the ship change direction
2. wakes
3. graphic of row that enter the water

[Guest afeder]

now ships lacks of only 3 things:

1. smooth rotation when the ship change direction
2. wakes
3. graphic of row that enter the water

Can we do this? I hope we can.

[Wijitmaker]

Maybe this has been pointed out somewhere else... but, just in case, it is kind of odd how when the origin of a particle leaves the screen it makes all of the particles disappear that are attached to it.

Is there a way to treat particles different than models for when they are clipped from rendering in the view?

[Jeru]

Holy crap!

[historic_bruno]

Can we do this? I hope we can.

Yes.

Maybe this has been pointed out somewhere else... but, just in case, it is kind of odd how when the origin of a particle leaves the screen it makes all of the particles disappear that are attached to it.

Is there a way to treat particles different than models for when they are clipped from rendering in the view?

Sounds like the same type of issue as for shadows, the model is arbitrarily culled at a certain distance outside the camera view, which doesn't always look correct

[Pureon]

+1 for rowing animations

now ships lacks of only 3 things:

1. smooth rotation when the ship change direction
2. wakes
3. graphic of row that enter the water

The next improvement I'd like to see is dynamic sail animations - When a ship begins to move the sail will inflate based on the ship's speed.

Sounds like the same type of issue as for shadows, the model is arbitrarily culled at a certain distance outside the camera view, which doesn't always look correct

Although to be fair, I was fully zoomed in when recording that video, and I doubt any gamer would be that close to the action in a real match. Since the reason it gets culled is to benefit performance, I'd leave it as it is at present

[Ykkrosh]

We compute bounding boxes of particle emitters correctly (I think), and treat them like any other prop on the model. The problem might be that we ignore the bounding boxes of all props when deciding to cull a unit during rendering (and if the unit is culled then no props are drawn). That should be fixed to either use the correct bounding box, or to cull and submit each prop model independently.

[Mythos_Ruler]

I think the issue is when there is a registered "hit." The smoke from the catapult projectile instantly disappears.

[Echelon9]

1329094569' post='234107']

I think the issue is when there is a registered "hit." The smoke from the catapult projectile instantly disappears.

It also happens when closely zoomed and the projectile moves off the edge of the screen during flight. The trailing particles disappear concurrently due to culling.

[hhyloc]

Sworn enemies.

Nice screenshot!

[vts]

We compute bounding boxes of particle emitters correctly (I think), and treat them like any other prop on the model. The problem might be that we ignore the bounding boxes of all props when deciding to cull a unit during rendering (and if the unit is culled then no props are drawn). That should be fixed to either use the correct bounding box, or to cull and submit each prop model independently.

I'm quite confident that the particle emitter bounds are computed correctly; I remember inspecting them during the selection box update. I believe that update also added a method to grab a recursive version of a model's box (before that I think the bounds didn't include props recursively), so perhaps there's still an old call to the non-recursive version lingering somewhere in the projectile code. I'll have a look and see if it's an easy fix.

* EDIT: committed r11062, try again now.

[JuliusColtranePille]

+1 for rowing animations

now ships lacks of only 3 things:

1. smooth rotation when the ship change direction
2. wakes
3. graphic of row that enter the water

and a little bit of swell (sea disturbance) as it was in AOE III would be very nice!

regards!

are there any updates on q-bot?

and i think spahbod's supernice random-maps should be implemented

[gudo]

(Apologies for poor image quality - using a phone to take a photo of itself is seemingly not a good idea.)

I wouldn't hold your breath hoping for the android port to be ready for Alpha 9

[Guest afeder]

I wouldn't hold your breath hoping for the android port to be ready for Alpha 9

Rotate the window 90 degress and fix the font rendering and that screen will look exactly like on PC. Still eager to see how broken the 3D stuff is though, and if the performance is even bearable.

[Wijitmaker]

Rotate the window 90 degress and fix the font rendering and that screen will look exactly like on PC. Still eager to see how broken the 3D stuff is though, and if the performance is even bearable.

Sounds like a good excuse to implement Level of Detail in the game. Replace existing (now very high poly - by standards 5 years ago) models with low poly versions. Remove animations, and make units move around like chess pieces if needed. Use mip-mapping features, and change the defaults for shadows and water rendering.

I'm sure you guys can get it to work, and it would be an awesome platform to add to list of compatible OSs.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Sounds like a good excuse to implement Level of Detail in the game. Replace existing (now very high poly - by standards 5 years ago) models with low poly versions. Remove animations, and make units move around like chess pieces if needed. Use mip-mapping features, and change the defaults for shadows and water rendering.

I'm sure you guys can get it to work, and it would be an awesome platform to add to list of compatible OSs.

I want features, not Android compatibility. IMHO, this whole Android thing is just a distraction.

[k776]

I want features, not Android compatibility. IMHO, this whole Android thing is just a distraction.

I couldn't agree more, esp when it's halted the development of the new path finder... :-(

Philip, please re-assess priorities:

Pathfinder affects all

Android compatability affects only a few

[Kazu Kun]

Honestly, I find it pointless to even try to start for the android system.. My phone will NEVER be able to run this game due to the simple fact that phones ARE NOT MEANT TO PLAY 2-24 hour GAMES..

Just sayin..

Don't get me wrong.. being able to play this game on my phone would be AMAZING.. but i want to play it on my Computer to the games fullest compatibly before i even want to attempt to think of looking at software for my phone..

Edited February 15, 2012 by Kazu Kun

[Wijitmaker]

I couldn't agree more, esp when it's halted the development of the new path finder... :-(

I respectfully disagree. 0 A.D. already is filling in a niche market as a free open source RTS (with a small number of competitors). If 0 A.D. could get on the Android it would be without comparison to any other strategy game available in that market. The Android community would eat that up, and surely run with this bringing more publicity and attention to the project - with the hope that more programmers/animators would be interested in joining as well.

Also, people who volunteer on this game tend to do what they find to be fun and enjoyable work to them. Self satisfaction is often the greatest motivator to continue contributing. Philip obviously enjoys this and seems some benefit because if he didn't - he wouldn't be doing so. Perhaps he just needs a break from tedious pathfinding coding - only Philip can say for sure.

I understand you guys have a plan and it is deviating, so that is a bit annoying - but I say, cut the guy a bit of slack

I too would like to see gameplay features implemented too, but there are more programmers on the team besides Philip aren't there?

Oh, and don't just think phones - think tablets.

[Mythos_Ruler]

We don't even have the game working 100% on OSX yet.

Oh, and don't just think phones - think tablets.

Indeed, and a whole new UI control scheme, artwork, et al. This is way beyond your garden variety feature creep.