Hurtle: the ballistic RTS (physics RTS game)

[nicolas]

Didn't work on the project the last few days as I had some other things to do.

I've toyed around with TV3D on another system though, and found 2 things:

-this laptop is sloooowwww. Where the other system would get 150 FPS in certain scenes, this laptop gets...7

-TV3D works on a triplehead2go system. That resulted in a TV3D scene shown over 3 projectors (3072*768 resolution) on a screen of more than 6 meters wide. 

[asia]

This time the merit belongs to triplehead2go not to TV3d. By the way I use it with the desktop “extention” on 3 monitors. I have some problem like the following:

The FOV is only 30 degree otherwise the effect is much worst…
The effect is worst as you look down or up...
I tried to adjust the camera with SetCustomProjection with no much success.
What do you think?

[nicolas]

What's your screen resolution?

What's your TVcamera FOV angle?

What is your physical monitor layout?

Our setup has 3 projectors covering in total 60°. I've set the camera to 60° and it looks nice.

It's normal to have poles not straight if you're not using isometric projection.  That's perspective for you. Just look at this HL1 screenshot:

[asia]

 

[ZaPPZion]

if your fov is 60 degrees with a ratio of 4:1, your horizontal fov is 240 degrees, of course that looks odd, i've never been able to see that much
Even teh 30 degrees with 4:1 gives you 120 degrees, which still is quite a lot, i'd go for a 90-100 degree horizontal fov, so 25 fov in the engine max. It's the vertical fov you're setting (iirc)

[asia]

OK, you are right!

[ZaPPZion]

New screenshot ?
Glad it works

[asia]

For your information this is the Catania airport (Sicily-Italy). The Etna (Vulcano) is in the background...

[ZaPPZion]

very nice

[nicolas]

if your fov is 60 degrees with a ratio of 4:1, your horizontal fov is 240 degrees, of course that looks odd, i've never been able to see that much
Even teh 30 degrees with 4:1 gives you 120 degrees, which still is quite a lot, i'd go for a 90-100 degree horizontal fov, so 25 fov in the engine max. It's the vertical fov you're setting (iirc)

While your explanation sounds very logical, when I experimented with it I set 60° on a 3072 * 768 (4:1) it didn't look like I was seeing more than 180°... I think the FOV setting is the horizontal FOV?

[ZaPPZion]

Just looked at the directx docs, when creating a perspective matrix in directx, you specify it as follows:

public static Matrix PerspectiveFovLH (
    float fieldOfViewY,
    float aspectRatio,
    float znearPlane,
    float zfarPlane
)

So FoV is the vertical one. Of course the devs of TV could have changed it, but doesn't seem logical to me

[nicolas]

From looking at that, it should be the vertical one indeed, but still I certainly did not get a 240° FOV from 60°FOV set at 4:1 display.

Do I have to set the screen ratio myself in TV3D or does it by default take the screen resolution ratio?

[nicolas]

And in the meantime, you dirty thread hijackers , I have made a simple minimap and compass for Hurtle.

[nicolas]

I've implemented the first rough test of throwing stones with the catapult. It's very basic at the moment, but the principle works. Things get hit and tumble over.

[nicolas]

I'm extending the code of throwing stones with the catapults.

I use mouse picking to select a catapult. That way, I can find which actor (catapult) I've clicked.

However, I also need to find which physics object is linked to that actor. It should be an easy thing to do I guess, but I can't find the code...

[Mithrandir]

You can store the body ID as Tag (Atcor.SetTag) when creating the actor.

Alternatively you can derive your own class from Actor and add the body ID property.

[nicolas]

As far as I understand it, the physics body ID and its related 3D actor ID are not the same though? So I don't see how the first suggestion would work...

I can get the clicked actor's entityID. In fact, that's how I determine which actor has been clicked. But I don't know how to use that entityID to refer to the actor's physics object...

[Mithrandir]

As far as I understand it, the physics body ID and its related 3D actor ID are not the same though? So I don't see how the first suggestion would work...

Yes but upon creation you can set Actor.SetTag(BodyID) and after getting the actor id from mouse picking you can do: BodyID = Actor(AcotorID).GetTag

[nicolas]

That makes a lot of sense! I'll try it out when I find the time, and report back. Might take some time though.

But thanks for the input!

[nicolas]

I'm running into a problem trying to implement your solution...

I can set the actor's tag (a string) upon creation and can read the selected actor's tag when selecting it, no problem.

However, I don't know what and how I should write into the tag that makes it possible for me to get the physics object's bodyID from reading the tag...