Just watched the uploaded video, it didn't upload well! It got all distorted. Tried uploading another one, but its stuck in processing. The footsteps are actually manually synced by me. So it is going to be off. :)
For solo play, there's minor latency and lag over b.net. No idea if its going to be laggy with 8 players though, its impossible to get 8+ players. It is even impossible to get a SINGLE player with b.net open map listing!!! And all the chat channels have emptied out. No one ever responds in group channels either. Did try it with a friend, and the lag was minimal and playable with only 2 people in game.
There's already a game like Call of Shadows, its Lost Vikings! Its available in the bar in your Hyperion cruiser in Wings of Liberty campaign.
Another video has been added! (see original post) HoTS has lots nice background models. Those backgrounds look pretty cool when viewed from the side.
Next big challenge for this project is adding in physics behaviors. This includes long hair that flows in air as the player moves. And long stretch of cloth like cloaks. The flying pose is still a bit stiff, might add physics to the legs so they dangle in mid air.
Finally started to use the startool, and here's a little sidescroller platformer video! It uses splitbody animation which allows 2 animations to play at the same time. The flying animation is still stiff, it actually isn't animating right now.
another video added: oct 19, 2013, showing background and the player flying around
3rd video added: oct 23, 2013, showing hair + cloth physics!
Well, I wouldn't even know how to begin to work with data editor for the complex set of animations I'm using. Its much easier to use triggers to activate animations. The project is a side scroller with character able to rotate gun 360 degrees. But its not a simple turret rotation, its full body 360 animation rotation. There's 3 states, flying, running, and standing. And the character has to be able to rotate gun in all 3 states.
After further testing, it turns out that the game can't pick and choose the anim tracks. It just uses them all, so if the animation has 10 bones, 1, 2, 3 ... 9, 10. Anim track A uses bones 1, 2, and 3. And anim track uses 7 and 8. The game will use both tracks 1, 2, 3, 7, and 8. Its not what I want...
I managed to find a quick fix though, I just make an entire new 'reverse' animation on bones I don't want. So I ended up with 1) Original animation 2) rotation animation on selected bones and 3) reverse fixed animation on selected bones I don't want to rotate.. Sounds confusing? It is.
After further testing, apparently the identifier field isn't used to play the anim track. It just plays the whatever is first anim track in the list. So I can name it anything - I thought it was used to reference the anim track name.
So the new question is, in my example above, how do I play the SReady anim track?
I have two Anim Tracks set up for an animation, "Ready" and "SReady".
To get it to play in game, I use the Animation trigger "Animation - Play Ready A animation for (Actor for unit) as "Ready", using Full Match, Play Forever options and Default Time blend time."
I also have another trigger "Animation - Play Ready A animation for (Actor for unit) as "SReady", using Full Match, Play Forever options and Default Time blend time."
Now here's the problem, the second animation trigger will not work! It won't use the SReady anim track, it keeps using the Ready anim track. Anyone know what I have done wrong? Or am I not allowed to use 2 anim tracks per animation?
The two anim tracks use different bones which is very important. I am using different bones for the same animation, but it doesn't look like its letting me using the second set of bones...
edit: the screenshot shows Ready R animation, but that's irelavant. I couldn't get the bones set in SReady to move for any animation, it just keeps using bones set in Ready instead.
Hope someone answers soon, I can get around this problem by duplicating the animation and just have SReady as its only anim track, but that's a lot of duplicated work... btw, this project using splitbody animation is going to be amazing! Cannot wait for it to finish so I can enjoy it. :)
Nebuli2, yup! Full custom UI is in! The goal is to make the UI have that spaceship simulator feel.
Seeing success of warships has inspired me to continue Starcruisers once again! I'm funny that way, seeing similar well made maps really helps me want to work on my own maps. A new video is uploaded showing the latest features. A lot was changed from the original test version. And way more has changed from the original starcruisers.
This game no longer has ship design as part of the battle. Instead, all players will enter battle with pre-built ships. Ship design will take place as a separate game to be played solo.
The battle itself will have more of that spaceship simulator feel. I never liked the RTS feel of the original map. It was cool to design custom ships, but I think gameplay-wise, its just a very complicated version of Star Battle which Star Battle still does better.
But beyond gameplay, the most important thing about Starcruisers is showcasing awesome visuals! That had always been the goal, visuals above gameplay first. Then gameplay can be improved later. I think visually, this new test version goes beyond older test versions. Even the UI has more of that natural spaceship feel with readout displays embedded in the map.
Another goal of this map is to have a more user-friendly interface. For example, a 'smart fire' button is added. Instead of pressing different buttons to activate abilities, players just swirl the camera and depending on camera angle vs starship facing, different abilities will be activated. Furthermore, for plans in the future, special direct ship to ship ability will be displayed as part of the ship readout. To board an enemy ship for example, just get close until the 'boarding icon' appears and press the hotkey on that boarding icon. This would work for tractoring ships, storming neutral space stations, or picking up special items and loots.
Ship design is still the main focus of the map. So far, the test version is just focusing on the battle portion of the map. Enough weapon systems and ship hulls have to be added before Ship Design can begin. Right now, only the default starting cruiser is made. The yamato battleship and space carriers will be made next. The base models for them are already completed.
This concludes the current starcruiser update. Depending on how much inspiration I have for Starcruisers and how much interest in this map, the next update may or may not ever happen. :)
edit: Wow, I just realized the last post was over a year ago! Didn't know starcruiser Test was that old. Probably should just let Starcruisers die... :p
Anyone else getting major lag? I didn't get any lag at all. A way to reduce lag would be to divide the world map into small segments. The image file is 2000x1000 file. So its a lot of work, but its possible to cut the world map into very small files and then put it together in the editor like a puzzle.
I'm guessing the huge image file is lagging low graphic setting computers.
Yup, I thought it looked cool. Another hope in releasing this mod is to get other mappers to put up a REAL world map for their risk, diplo, ww2, zombie invasion, etc games. I'm tired of seeing deformed 'world maps', hehe. Its actually quite easy to do, super easy.
Defcon ONE is a strategic thermo-nuclear war game. Players begin in Defcon 5 and slowly build up toward defcon 1 status. The map is mostly complete; however, I'm not going to complete it. So this map project is released to public domain for anyone who wishes to continue it! The map probably needs a lot of work and balance to be really playable. But it looks pretty cool!
The map is uploaded to sc2mapster as well as unlocked in b.net. Here's a sample video.
Wow, thank god I read your post sometime in the past and just remembered. I just got the same problem! My current map is going nuts loading up actors more and more slowly. Sometimes it takes up to 1+ minutes to save.
So I checked the actordata.xml, and its up to 66k! And as you said, its filled with "Invalid Link" all over the place. I figured out what fields and was able to go into the actor tab and remove all invalid links.
So mappers should beware, often check the actors to make sure there are no invalid links, they do add up each save until your map is pretty much 'destroyed'.
Most of the popular maps had been there for what, 2 years now? Everyone who thinks they suck already played it and have no interest to play them again. So when 1.5 hits, everyone who hates those 'popular' maps are avoiding them so they aren't rating them 1s. If they had implemented the rating system 2 years ago, all the popular maps would have tons of 1 ratings to drag it down to 3-4 stars.
And beta population is tiny. Most of current custom map population do enjoy popular maps. After all, b.net had 2 years to weed out popular map haters. So popular map haters are outnumbered and those who do hate won't be bothered to rate them. The popular map fans are too busy playing to try out beta too. I don't think they are idiots, its just that the haters aren't here because they probably don't know 1.5 is out. And they may never will or care.
Wow, I"m making a map doing the exact same thing. Looks like you have the same idea as I do. Here's my method.
In my most recent starcruisers private map, I use invisible units that's attached to the main unit using triggers. The triggers constantly move these invisible units around the main unit every 0.04 seconds. Having faster periodic timer has no effect. Having slower periodic timer will improve lag, 0.1 is a good number to use too.
As for the main unit itself, its a custom model that's invisible too. Instead, the game put up a bunch of model actor attached to the main unit to achieve an appearance of a ship. A variable is assigned to each model actor. Here's the tricky part, whenever an invisible unit surrounds the ship is destroyed, the trigger will destroy the corresponding model actor on the main unit and replace it with a 'destroyed' actor model. So it looks like a part of that ship is destroyed.
It works really well for my map, I'm still impressed with the destruitible modular ship mechanic. :)
[lastly, the reason invisible units are used to surround the ship because due to the nature of sc2 game engine...any units you use via trigger attachment will be 'jumpy'. For any visual attachment to look smooth, it has to be attached via data editor, and that's why model actors are used instead.]
Here's a little video demo of hardpoints being destroyed:
Here's another preliminary look at a new spaceship, the space carrier. It's just a rough draft of the ship, the lights haven't been added. (the attachment points haven't been set for this model, and the lights all use attachement points) The bay doors will open and close to let out probes and scout crafts. Elevators will open up to let out fighter crafts and they'll launch on top of the carrier to quickly accelerate the fighters to combat speed. Likewise, the fighter crafts will land on the carrier and move to an elevator where they'll are lowered to the second deck.
Also not a gameplay video, but it shows the destructibiliy of the ship which is a big part of the game.
Here's a preview of the second ship, a Yamato class battle cruiser. The cruiser will feature 5 Larger Weapon mount and a side cluster of auto cannons (on both sides). It'll also come with a super beam installed, but overall, it'll have less weapon slots. It'll also only have 1 reactor and a weaker power generation. The ship is more skinny but a bit longer than the standard cruiser.
The model still needs some refining, and its got some errors like the front of the ship needs fixing as well as better texturing for the back portion where the main engine is. Its not an exact replica, but a copy in design. If you are wondering what those 'boxes' are on the side of the ship, those are fixed weapon mounts where side weapons shoot out. Side+reverse thrusters are also added since the ship needs them to move and rotate.
0
Just watched the uploaded video, it didn't upload well! It got all distorted. Tried uploading another one, but its stuck in processing. The footsteps are actually manually synced by me. So it is going to be off. :)
For solo play, there's minor latency and lag over b.net. No idea if its going to be laggy with 8 players though, its impossible to get 8+ players. It is even impossible to get a SINGLE player with b.net open map listing!!! And all the chat channels have emptied out. No one ever responds in group channels either. Did try it with a friend, and the lag was minimal and playable with only 2 people in game.
0
There's already a game like Call of Shadows, its Lost Vikings! Its available in the bar in your Hyperion cruiser in Wings of Liberty campaign.
Another video has been added! (see original post) HoTS has lots nice background models. Those backgrounds look pretty cool when viewed from the side.
Next big challenge for this project is adding in physics behaviors. This includes long hair that flows in air as the player moves. And long stretch of cloth like cloaks. The flying pose is still a bit stiff, might add physics to the legs so they dangle in mid air.
0
Finally started to use the startool, and here's a little sidescroller platformer video! It uses splitbody animation which allows 2 animations to play at the same time. The flying animation is still stiff, it actually isn't animating right now.
another video added: oct 19, 2013, showing background and the player flying around
3rd video added: oct 23, 2013, showing hair + cloth physics!
0
Well, I wouldn't even know how to begin to work with data editor for the complex set of animations I'm using. Its much easier to use triggers to activate animations. The project is a side scroller with character able to rotate gun 360 degrees. But its not a simple turret rotation, its full body 360 animation rotation. There's 3 states, flying, running, and standing. And the character has to be able to rotate gun in all 3 states.
After further testing, it turns out that the game can't pick and choose the anim tracks. It just uses them all, so if the animation has 10 bones, 1, 2, 3 ... 9, 10. Anim track A uses bones 1, 2, and 3. And anim track uses 7 and 8. The game will use both tracks 1, 2, 3, 7, and 8. Its not what I want...
I managed to find a quick fix though, I just make an entire new 'reverse' animation on bones I don't want. So I ended up with 1) Original animation 2) rotation animation on selected bones and 3) reverse fixed animation on selected bones I don't want to rotate.. Sounds confusing? It is.
0
After further testing, apparently the identifier field isn't used to play the anim track. It just plays the whatever is first anim track in the list. So I can name it anything - I thought it was used to reference the anim track name.
So the new question is, in my example above, how do I play the SReady anim track?
0
I have two Anim Tracks set up for an animation, "Ready" and "SReady".
To get it to play in game, I use the Animation trigger "Animation - Play Ready A animation for (Actor for unit) as "Ready", using Full Match, Play Forever options and Default Time blend time."
I also have another trigger "Animation - Play Ready A animation for (Actor for unit) as "SReady", using Full Match, Play Forever options and Default Time blend time."
Now here's the problem, the second animation trigger will not work! It won't use the SReady anim track, it keeps using the Ready anim track. Anyone know what I have done wrong? Or am I not allowed to use 2 anim tracks per animation?
The two anim tracks use different bones which is very important. I am using different bones for the same animation, but it doesn't look like its letting me using the second set of bones...
edit: the screenshot shows Ready R animation, but that's irelavant. I couldn't get the bones set in SReady to move for any animation, it just keeps using bones set in Ready instead.
Hope someone answers soon, I can get around this problem by duplicating the animation and just have SReady as its only anim track, but that's a lot of duplicated work... btw, this project using splitbody animation is going to be amazing! Cannot wait for it to finish so I can enjoy it. :)
0
Starcruiser update! New video:
@Nebuli2: Go
Nebuli2, yup! Full custom UI is in! The goal is to make the UI have that spaceship simulator feel.
Seeing success of warships has inspired me to continue Starcruisers once again! I'm funny that way, seeing similar well made maps really helps me want to work on my own maps. A new video is uploaded showing the latest features. A lot was changed from the original test version. And way more has changed from the original starcruisers.
This game no longer has ship design as part of the battle. Instead, all players will enter battle with pre-built ships. Ship design will take place as a separate game to be played solo.
The battle itself will have more of that spaceship simulator feel. I never liked the RTS feel of the original map. It was cool to design custom ships, but I think gameplay-wise, its just a very complicated version of Star Battle which Star Battle still does better.
But beyond gameplay, the most important thing about Starcruisers is showcasing awesome visuals! That had always been the goal, visuals above gameplay first. Then gameplay can be improved later. I think visually, this new test version goes beyond older test versions. Even the UI has more of that natural spaceship feel with readout displays embedded in the map.
Another goal of this map is to have a more user-friendly interface. For example, a 'smart fire' button is added. Instead of pressing different buttons to activate abilities, players just swirl the camera and depending on camera angle vs starship facing, different abilities will be activated. Furthermore, for plans in the future, special direct ship to ship ability will be displayed as part of the ship readout. To board an enemy ship for example, just get close until the 'boarding icon' appears and press the hotkey on that boarding icon. This would work for tractoring ships, storming neutral space stations, or picking up special items and loots.
Ship design is still the main focus of the map. So far, the test version is just focusing on the battle portion of the map. Enough weapon systems and ship hulls have to be added before Ship Design can begin. Right now, only the default starting cruiser is made. The yamato battleship and space carriers will be made next. The base models for them are already completed.
This concludes the current starcruiser update. Depending on how much inspiration I have for Starcruisers and how much interest in this map, the next update may or may not ever happen. :)
edit: Wow, I just realized the last post was over a year ago! Didn't know starcruiser Test was that old. Probably should just let Starcruisers die... :p
0
@Taintedwisp: Go
Anyone else getting major lag? I didn't get any lag at all. A way to reduce lag would be to divide the world map into small segments. The image file is 2000x1000 file. So its a lot of work, but its possible to cut the world map into very small files and then put it together in the editor like a puzzle.
I'm guessing the huge image file is lagging low graphic setting computers.
0
Yup, I thought it looked cool. Another hope in releasing this mod is to get other mappers to put up a REAL world map for their risk, diplo, ww2, zombie invasion, etc games. I'm tired of seeing deformed 'world maps', hehe. Its actually quite easy to do, super easy.
0
Defcon ONE is a strategic thermo-nuclear war game. Players begin in Defcon 5 and slowly build up toward defcon 1 status. The map is mostly complete; however, I'm not going to complete it. So this map project is released to public domain for anyone who wishes to continue it! The map probably needs a lot of work and balance to be really playable. But it looks pretty cool!
The map is uploaded to sc2mapster as well as unlocked in b.net. Here's a sample video.
0
Wow, thank god I read your post sometime in the past and just remembered. I just got the same problem! My current map is going nuts loading up actors more and more slowly. Sometimes it takes up to 1+ minutes to save.
So I checked the actordata.xml, and its up to 66k! And as you said, its filled with "Invalid Link" all over the place. I figured out what fields and was able to go into the actor tab and remove all invalid links.
So mappers should beware, often check the actors to make sure there are no invalid links, they do add up each save until your map is pretty much 'destroyed'.
0
Most of the popular maps had been there for what, 2 years now? Everyone who thinks they suck already played it and have no interest to play them again. So when 1.5 hits, everyone who hates those 'popular' maps are avoiding them so they aren't rating them 1s. If they had implemented the rating system 2 years ago, all the popular maps would have tons of 1 ratings to drag it down to 3-4 stars.
And beta population is tiny. Most of current custom map population do enjoy popular maps. After all, b.net had 2 years to weed out popular map haters. So popular map haters are outnumbered and those who do hate won't be bothered to rate them. The popular map fans are too busy playing to try out beta too. I don't think they are idiots, its just that the haters aren't here because they probably don't know 1.5 is out. And they may never will or care.
0
@Swcompty: Go
Wow, I"m making a map doing the exact same thing. Looks like you have the same idea as I do. Here's my method.
In my most recent starcruisers private map, I use invisible units that's attached to the main unit using triggers. The triggers constantly move these invisible units around the main unit every 0.04 seconds. Having faster periodic timer has no effect. Having slower periodic timer will improve lag, 0.1 is a good number to use too.
As for the main unit itself, its a custom model that's invisible too. Instead, the game put up a bunch of model actor attached to the main unit to achieve an appearance of a ship. A variable is assigned to each model actor. Here's the tricky part, whenever an invisible unit surrounds the ship is destroyed, the trigger will destroy the corresponding model actor on the main unit and replace it with a 'destroyed' actor model. So it looks like a part of that ship is destroyed.
It works really well for my map, I'm still impressed with the destruitible modular ship mechanic. :)
[lastly, the reason invisible units are used to surround the ship because due to the nature of sc2 game engine...any units you use via trigger attachment will be 'jumpy'. For any visual attachment to look smooth, it has to be attached via data editor, and that's why model actors are used instead.]
Here's a little video demo of hardpoints being destroyed:
0
Here's another preliminary look at a new spaceship, the space carrier. It's just a rough draft of the ship, the lights haven't been added. (the attachment points haven't been set for this model, and the lights all use attachement points) The bay doors will open and close to let out probes and scout crafts. Elevators will open up to let out fighter crafts and they'll launch on top of the carrier to quickly accelerate the fighters to combat speed. Likewise, the fighter crafts will land on the carrier and move to an elevator where they'll are lowered to the second deck.
Also not a gameplay video, but it shows the destructibiliy of the ship which is a big part of the game.
0
Here's a preview of the second ship, a Yamato class battle cruiser. The cruiser will feature 5 Larger Weapon mount and a side cluster of auto cannons (on both sides). It'll also come with a super beam installed, but overall, it'll have less weapon slots. It'll also only have 1 reactor and a weaker power generation. The ship is more skinny but a bit longer than the standard cruiser.
The model still needs some refining, and its got some errors like the front of the ship needs fixing as well as better texturing for the back portion where the main engine is. Its not an exact replica, but a copy in design. If you are wondering what those 'boxes' are on the side of the ship, those are fixed weapon mounts where side weapons shoot out. Side+reverse thrusters are also added since the ship needs them to move and rotate.