Toby Haynes

I'm delighted to see this being done. I've added some inferred information to a couple of entries the wiki in the past, so I hope you'll proof read what I wrote to ensure I got it right! Thanks, Toby Haynes

I'm glad you like it (and judging from the screenshots I got the right files into the tarball!). I now have permission from the company I work for to release the source code. The source code has nothing to do with the company I work for but we still have to notify them about any extra curricular activities. I'll tidy up the source code and get it up on my Googlepages website in the next few days. The source code will be licensed under the GPL (partly because it uses some GPL code for the PNG file loaders but also because that is the license I prefer). At the moment, all the code has been developed on a 64bit Linux box so I'll try and get it to compile on a 32bit Linux box. I write code for many platforms for a living so I'm hopeful that porting shouldn't be too much of a burden. Once that is done, I'll try and write a tutorial on creating a scenario from scratch. Beware - I'm a UNIX developer and the tools I wrote are all command line. I might add a GUI later but my interest is in good algorithms first, interface later. Oh and performance MUCH later! Some of the processing is of the "go and have coffee" school. I'll probably stick the tutorial straight into the DropTeam wiki. That seems to be a natural place for it. Cheers, Toby Haynes

It's time for a new scenario. Here's my latest production - Sea Cliffs - featuring CTF and Objective game modes. This scenario features a sea port, a military base, steep hillsides and a research base. Finally I have a technique that produces sane roads (so no more extreme slopes to one side) and my erosion tools are ticking over nicely. Even the shadows appear to be working correctly. You can get it from this page: http://tjwhaynes.googlepages.com/dropteamresource Please let me know if there are any problems. The files are taken directly from my own data directory and so hopefully there shouldn't be a repeat of the Volcanic Deposits flipflop.... Cheers, Toby Haynes

Given these are NASA pictures, they are probably covered by a fairly liberal license. So a map could probably be created directly from the real height and colour image. From a DropTeam perspective, it probably makes more sense to use this as the inspiration and create something visually similar. It certainly would work well - low areas to hide tanks in, with higher positions for arty or similar to rain terror on the forces below. The scale might be better off reduced a little too or only a portion used - the scale on this image is about 40 km East-to-West which would be too big for a 30 minute game. I'll stick on my "ideas" list. My next map is nearly complete so I'll have a few days off map-making before picking up a new idea. Cheers!

Any chance of squeezing the "fixed" volcanic.raw heightfield into that release?

Okay - I've put version 1.1 of VolcanicDeposits up on my website. If someone would test it and make sure it looks right, I'd be really grateful. This time I pulled the files straight out of the data directory so I hope there are no screw ups. The 2 minute test is as follows: Standalone->pick Volcanic Deposits in CTF mode. Click Play Both bases should be in the craters of the highest volcanoes. The default base should have two roads out through cuttings to your left and right. Click Quit (or play the level) But beware - you will almost certainly have problems if you try and play this online against the files on Delta Pavonis. As Clay mentions above, you can force the updater to retrieve the DropTeam 1.1.6 files by tweaking your ini files.

Clay - I took the step of moving all the Volcanic* files out of the "data" directory and ran runUpdate.sh to pick up the originals. Poesel - thanks for the check. I must have put the wrong volcanic.raw file into the archive when I uploaded it. I flipped the heightmap north/south on my own copy and it looks as I intended - higher areas are rockier, with the highest peak being covered in snow. Plants grow in the meadows in the valley floor and most of the rocks are grouped on the sides of the mountains. Clay - I'll fix up the tarball on my website. Any chance of getting the correct volcanic.raw into 1.1.7? And as penance, I'll try and finish my next scenario in the next couple of days. Thanks, Toby Haynes

I've just played this online and realised that something wasn't quite right about the correspondence between the raw heightmap and the colourmap. Now it's possible that my setup is messed up because I already had the VolcanicDeposits scenario in my data directory. Or it's possible that I screwed up when I converted from PNG to JPG formats. Still, there is an easy way to check. I need someone else to take a good hard look at the VolcanicIntro.jpg loader screen and then see if the actual terrain looks like that. Loading Volcanic Deposits in standalone mode should suffice for this experiment. If all appears to be good for you folks, then I'll expunge my own files. If it's not right, then I'll fix it up and hopefully Clay will include the update in 1.1.7? Thanks, Toby Haynes

Delta Pavonis appears to be crashing at the end of the Swamp level (nice level by Hub) and restarting that level again. I've witnessed it three times now. Can someone take a look? Thanks, Toby Haynes

Actually, the colour maps are often the best guide. Then you need to find the scenario that they come from. ... On reflection - a thumbnail of the map somewhere would be really useful!

I'd like to add my appreciation for Hub's work. Having some new scenarios has piqued my interest levels up a notch and encouraged me to start making my own scenarios.

Blender has several ways to unwrap the model semi-automatically and produce an outline that you can then paint over to texture map an image. The key part is specifying where the seams are (imagine having a paper model of the 3d object and deciding where to cut in order to flatten it out). LSCM unwrap gives the least distortion but may not produce what you want. You can do six projections along the axis and produce UV maps from that - those might be easier to paint. UV unwrapping is a big topic - try these links: http://blender3d.org/cms/UV_Unwrapping.363.0.html http://www.blender.org/modules/documentation/htmlI/x5336.html http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/UV_Map_Basics http://biorust.com/index.php?page=tutorial_detail&tutid=85

JDevlin - that looks really promising (and intimidating). It looks like it's floating a little above the ground? Is there some minor adjustment needed in the modeller to bring it down or can it be done in the physicalobject files? Cheers, Toby Haynes

I like it with ONE caveat. If your cutter gets destroyed, your charges go off. In other words, a deployed digging charge constantly receives a not-yet signal. When the signal is lost, off goes the charge. This also means that charges which are out of range of the cutter would detonate. Of course, if you are dynamiting (antimattering, whatever) the hillside, it's going to scream OVER HERE to the enemy. Not that that is necessarily bad if the deploying team knows what they are doing. Indeed, getting tanks down into newly created holes quickly is then critical. I also think that the range of such digging charges should be carefully considered. If you can fire these things 2-3km, then they could be used to punch holes in existing defensive structures. That needs careful thought. Cheers, Toby Haynes

I have assumed that all the coordinates in the scenario files are in "Real World" coordinates, i.e. centers for procedural objects, team positions, etc. How does that work out for heights? I'm working on the assumption that given the following (taken from VolcanicDeposits.scenario) </font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;"><VertexSpacing>20.0</VertexSpacing> <ElevationScale>0.03</ElevationScale></pre>

I think Hub gets the bonus points - and a free crossing of the Bridge of Death (choice of favourite colour notwithstanding). Actually, active camoflage might be interesting (to pull this back onto thread having totally derailed it). Even if the tanks/infantry just became say 40% transparent with it's influence, it might be enough to be really well hard to spot. Adding a pixel shader to refract the backdrop just a little would be a very neat effect. That would actually make for a cool campaign. Going up against a new fast, light tank with active camoflage that is ripping apart established bases and resources, leading up to some final conflict against an OGRE tank of some description. Cheers,

I did read that post (and of course I agree with it). I don't just want to see an upgraded cutter. The cutter is too narrow to believable dig a tank width trench - having a wider vehicle with a lower profile expressly for the purpose of digging in fast would be a more believable addition. Such a digger could also be believable heavily armoured - after all, it's already tracked and is supposed to be able to move earth - but it doesn't have the weight penalty of carrying a gun system, gunner, etc. Having a v-shaped plough should also be able to move more earth more quickly - after all, it's not pushing the earth ahead of it, just directing it sideways. Actually, that's another issue with the cutter. With a flat shovel, it should push earth up in front of it, not shove it to the left. Cheers, Toby Haynes

Those look really excellent. They also look like the sort of thing a Paladin driver cresting a hill would totally freak out over. It would feel like trying to cut down the largest tree in the forest with a herring. (bonus points available if you can spot the reference).

Ah - so that was the extra server I could see. It has a ping around 160ms for me so I tended to opt for the Delta one. If I see it, I'll log in and see how it goes.

With all the excitement of the new tacmap advances plus the possibilities of group control and comms, there seems to be one area that isn't getting discussed much and that is making better use of deformable terrain. The bots really don't seem to have any clue about how to use the cutters and I'm not 100% convinced that just the one type of digging vehicle is enough. I'd really like to see a more powerful (in terms of digging) engineering vehicle, maybe better armoured and maybe unarmed. Such a vehicle should be capable of digging a trench deep and wide enough for a paladin to get into safetly in one go. At the moment, the best use of digging vehicles seems to be creating a hole for an EWV or Bacchus to hide in, second to using the Cutter to protect the exposed tanks in the base on Forsaken. Even on Forsaken with 5 mins deployment time, a single cutter can only make one complete circuit of the base. If we were to have a new vehicle, it should be lower to the ground (to make it less vulnerable) and have a different type of shovel - maybe more like a V-shaped snow plough. It should probably be wider too, to give it better stability and allow it to cut a wider path. It would also be great to be able to give bots orders to dig in. Any other thoughts? Cheers, Toby Haynes

Can you validate your XML file for the physicalobjectgroup file? There is an XML Schema in the data directory - PhysicalObjectGroup.xsd.

Clay, I'll be delighted if this was added to the next update. If anyone is interested in the techniques I used to create the texture maps, I can write it up. Which reminds me, I must tidy up my tool set and get it up on a website somewhere.

I certainly will be adding some stuff to the wiki about groves and rock groups. Especially the mysterious and useful ColorOverride tag.

There are ads on that page? Thank god for Adblock http://adblock.mozdev.org/ Thanks Iceman - I have it downloading now. Cheers, Toby Haynes

Time to reveal my first drop team map. I've uploaded it to my Googlepages webspace so you can get it from http://tjwhaynes.googlepages.com/dropteamresource Set among the volcanoes of Hopewell, there are precious resources to protect and exploit. The map has LARGE mountains to drive over, craters to hide in, rocks to trip up the unwary driver and trees to hide infantry and tanks. The bases are covered by AA but the craters give plenty of room for excellent hull down positions for attackers - defenders must be vigilant in protecting the crater rim. This map currently has two game modes - CTF and Objective. I might add King of the Hill as soon as I can get hold of Battle Creek to see how it is done (IcemanUSA?) This scenario was entirely created using Linux. I used Geomorph, Cinepaint, Emacs with NXML mode, MLview and GIMP to put the various resources together. I also created a number of tools to convert 16bit grayscale PNG images to RAW format for DropTeam, create lightmaps, perform better erosion of the landscape and create slopemaps to help with texture map creation. As soon as I have the code for those in some sort of installable form (at least for Linux) I'll publish them on the same page. They are command line-based and should be easy to port if anyone feels the urge Cheers, Toby Haynes