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Topics - Bandobras

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1
Discussion / Robrecht, I'm sorry for what just happened to you
« on: August 20, 2007, 01:21:14 pm »
Robrecht, I'm sorry for what just happened to you at

http://ufoai.ninex.info/forum/index.php?topic=1793.0

I don't try to tell whose storyline is better or if your current or future proposals could be used to make the existing story better (I agree with devs creating a wholly new storyline is a bad idea at this time, whether replacing the existing one or as a fork), or even if your suggestions made any sense, as such.

What I say is I'm really ashamed how you were treated and I sympathize with you. That's all I can do, and being somewhat (historically) involved in the project, I felt I owe it to you and to the people that will ever see the thread and wonder why nobody said nothing.

2
Mapping / Impressions about base defence
« on: August 16, 2006, 01:29:10 am »
Base defence is set as the first mission in revision 2736, for testing. Please test!

I really enjoyed it. There were no civilians, and only 9 aliens, but it was a lot of fun.

It is bad that aliens and soldiers can't move to where there are no buildings. At least a fence is needed to make this somewhat justifiable. Perhaps enable all base squares that are adjacent (even diagonally) with the base squares and put a fence on them. Perhaps also a few alien spawn points there (on the inner side of the fence).

Very nice play. I played it to the end. Sometimes, outside the Entrance building, camera does not switch to the surface level when aliens are shooting (outsiede the wall opposite to Entrance door). Also the top platform of the stairs seems to belong to the cellar level.

To make base defense even more interesting when it's repeated, one random alien should spawn in a random room, or the aliens should have a small chance to bash doors with each shot at them, with lots of noise, to attract player's attention. Also alien spawn points should be outside all buildings, so that they storm the Power Plant doors from many directions. There should be no alien spawn points around or inside the Power Plant and there should be especially many around and inside the Entrance, and slightly less for Dropship Hangar, Interceptor Hangar, Radar, UFO Hangar. Civilian spawn points should be only inside buildings and not in those that many aliens spawn in. There should also be some things for hiding behind on top of Storage building and perhaps elsewhere on top of buildings.

3
Coding / MSG_Write errors - stricter typing?
« on: July 18, 2006, 12:28:10 pm »
In SVN trunk there is currently lots of MSG_Write errors. Perhaps we should devise a strict typing for MSG_Write? How to do it? Here is a preliminary discussion. Respond here, please.

Code: [Select]
<Bandobras> hi ssianky, you were right all along!
<ssianky> i know this.
<angel_7th> :) [09:50]
<Bandobras> so now I know this too ;) [09:52]
<CIA-18> tlh2000 * r1933 /ufoai/trunk/contrib/intl.dll: * intl.dll: Update to
version 0.14.5.0 [09:53]
<Bandobras> despite your msvc 2005
<ssianky> but nobody found this bug before. so msvc helped much more than
 other debuggers. [09:57]
<CIA-18> tlh2000 * r1934 /ufoai/trunk/contrib/jpeg62.dll: * jpeg62.dll: Update
to version 6.2.1473.36469 [09:58]
<Bandobras> ok, I admit
<Bandobras> I hope no more looping lists after yesterday's party [09:59]
* Bandobras dances around
<CIA-18> tlh2000 * r1935 /ufoai/trunk/base/pics/armor/ (4 files): * new armor
images for blue and ortnok [10:13]
<CIA-18> tlh2000 * r1936 /ufoai/trunk/base/models/aliens/ (12 files in 4 dirs):
[10:26]
<CIA-18> * renamed dirs alien4_* to blue_*
<CIA-18> * exported the 3dsmax files to md2
<CIA-18>  NOTE: Skinpaths needs to be set (see md2.pl)
<ssianky> i think next step is to change all MSG_Write* to typesafe
 MSG_Write(U)Int8/16/32 [10:27]
<ssianky> and Msg_Read* too. [10:28]
<Bandobras> what would that do?
<Bandobras> currently there are tons of MSG_Write errors in my logs... [10:29]
<ssianky> fix type range problems. [10:30]
<ssianky> and tons of possible bugs.
<Bandobras> so I won't get MSG_Write errors in my logs?
<Bandobras> instantly?
<Bandobras> they even crash the game...
<Bandobras> or something with them
<ssianky> instantly what? fix possible bugs?  no, not instantly but this will
 greatly help to find them. [10:34]
<ssianky> now i dont know if a value is good or not.
<Bandobras> so will compiler tell? [10:35]
<Bandobras> or will this cause more readable runtime bugs?
<ssianky> both. [10:36]
<Bandobras> oh [10:37]
<Bandobras> good
<ssianky> msvc compiler have a good option for this - "smaller type check",
 that perform runtime check if a value is truncated when
 assigned. but it dosnot work because all values are ints.
[10:41]
<Bandobras> is the MSG_Write change a hard work and does mattn approve? [11:11]
<Bandobras> perhaps we could start it right now...
<Bandobras> the inventory code is still very buggy [11:12]
* Bandobras cringes
<Bandobras> is it possible in C to make MSG_Write even more typesafe than
   MSG_Write(U)Int8/16/32? [11:35]
<Bandobras> for example type it so that only given structs can be send...
[11:36]
<Bandobras> then we would need separate types for separate events that can be
   sent
<Bandobras> the types would describe the struts that have to be supplied
[11:37]
<Bandobras> together with the even
<Bandobras> _that_ would be type-safe...
<ssianky> i agree that structs are better. much better. [11:38]
<Bandobras> lots of writing, but should pay off [11:40]
<Bandobras> what do we do to start this?
<Bandobras> hey, mattn, come over here! [11:43]
* Bandobras waves [11:44]
<ssianky> structs should have also a begin and end magic numbers. [11:46]
<Bandobras> ssianky, should we post this on the Coding subforum?
<Bandobras> to get things started
<Bandobras> magic what for?
<Bandobras> so that they are incompatible between one another? [11:47]
<ssianky> like a guid for each struct.
<Bandobras> what is guid?
<ssianky> ID
<ssianky> typeID [11:48]
<Bandobras> ok, id for each struct type?
<ssianky> yes.
<angel_7th> uhm... if you want type safety... why not port part of it to c++ ?
<Bandobras> c++ sucks
<Bandobras> lots
<Bandobras> porting sucks
<ssianky> c sucks much more.
* angel_7th agrees with ssianky :)
<Bandobras> depends what for
<ssianky> for big projects.
<angel_7th> c++ is quite an improvement over c, if you ask me...
<Bandobras> frankly, I'd port it to OCaml
<Bandobras> fight that! [11:49]
<Bandobras> I'm not sure Object Oriented is especially good here
<Bandobras> Java, OTOH is too slow
<Bandobras> what else? [11:50]
<angel_7th> c++ isn't necessarily OO? it has some other nice features as
   well... such as templates :)
<Bandobras> oh, come on
<Bandobras> perhaps c++ without OO
<Bandobras> but what are advantages of c++ without OO?
<Bandobras> better typing? [11:51]
<Bandobras> (I don't know either C or C++, so I ask)
<angel_7th> well, it's a bit easier to split your project in modules using
   namespace etc. as well [11:53]
<Bandobras> k
<angel_7th> anyways, I'm back to work again, bbl~
<Bandobras> don't you need  typeID magic?
<angel_7th> (btw, it has a standard collection framework as well, saves a lot
   of home-brew lists/arrays/maps etc. etc.)
<Bandobras> k
<Bandobras> ssianky, why begin and end magic numbers? [11:54]
<Bandobras> why not just one?
<Bandobras> they would induce some more net traffic... [11:55]
<Bandobras> if structs have differently named fields
<Bandobras> cannot compiler catch their incompatibility?
<Bandobras> do we need typeID magic anyway?
<Bandobras> oh, I see [11:57]
<Bandobras> this is serialized over the network
<Bandobras> and the magic number is manual way of doing intelligent
   deserialization [11:58]
<Bandobras> aren't there nice libraries for that, though?
<Bandobras> why would I implement serialization manually?
<Bandobras> that's stone age...
<ssianky> who cres about trafic? [12:03]
<ssianky> cares, i mean. [12:04]
<Bandobras> sure
*** fatty (n=rotkaepp@W05f2.w.pppool.de) has joined channel #ufo:ai
<Bandobras> UFO:AI over telephone modem ;>
<Bandobras> anyway, one typeID or two does not matter [12:05]
<Bandobras> that's a tiny fraction of data
<Bandobras> so [12:08]
<Bandobras> are there any good serialization libraries for C?
<Bandobras> or any mod of q2 or q3 with civilized protocol at the cost of
   magic? [12:12]
* Bandobras sniffs [12:15]
* Bandobras coughs [12:23]
<Bandobras> so I guess I'll post it on the Coding subforum... [12:29]
<Bandobras> smile, you are on the Coding subforum :) [12:30]


http:-------a_hack_to_let_the_log_format_better--------------------------------

4
Coding / Bug squashing party
« on: July 17, 2006, 01:21:45 pm »
Hello guys! We are having a bug-squashing party on IRC channel #ufo:ai. Would you like to join? You don't even need to irc, you can share your ideas here...

Code: [Select]
<Bandobras> Hi guys! [13:02]
<Bandobras> the client/cl_parse.c error
<Bandobras> Com_Error (ERR_DROP, "CL_PlaceItem: Fix me!!!");
<Bandobras> seems ripe for fixing, but I have no clue
<Bandobras> first, what's the problem there? [13:03]
<Bandobras> second, what are the commented out fragments in this function?
<Bandobras> the "if" and "le->angles" [13:04]
<Bandobras> third: "The inventory is destroyed twice later!"
<Bandobras> where is "later"?


P.S. The lucky finder of this bug is  ssianky. Who will be the lucky conqueror, with the help of the others, is to be seen. ;)

P.P.S. The bug lurks in http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.cgi/ufoai/ufoai/trunk/src/client/cl_parse.c

5
Discussion / A good chance to contribute...
« on: July 15, 2006, 04:34:12 pm »
See what I  swiped from the UFO:AI IRC channel:

Code: [Select]
<mattn> i don't have time to put more into campaign.ufo for today [16:06]
<mattn> if someone else will continue... i would be glad :-D
<mattn> there is a TODO comment in campaign.ufo
    which indicates the missions that need more work


Now it's your big chance to contribute! See the wiki page

http://ufo.myexp.de/wiki/index.php/Create_campaign

for how to do it. Submit as patches on the sourceforge. Discuss and seek help here. The file to modify is here

http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.cgi/ufoai/ufoai/trunk/base/ufos/campaign.ufo?view=markup&pathrev=1902

UFO:AI waits for you!

:D

6
Artwork / weapon type vs. weapon category
« on: July 14, 2006, 10:40:47 pm »
Does anybody know what is the relation between animation type, weapon type and weapon categories? E.g. how is

http://ufo.myexp.de/wiki/index.php/Modelling#Animation

"biggun" related to

http://ufo.myexp.de/wiki/index.php/UFO-Scripts/weapon_%2A.ufo

type "biggun" and category "3"?

They seem to be related, but they differ for some weapons in human_weapons.ufo...

I would like to document it in the wiki, but nobody seems to know...

7
Design / Idea: Critical Strike
« on: July 14, 2006, 07:08:57 pm »
Melee has currently 100% accuracy (AFAIK). So no skill has any effect whatsoever on melee (no close skill, nor accuracy skill, nor power skill). I wondered how to change this and here is my idea:

Whenever the angles[PITCH] and angles[YAW] happen to be both < .01  assume a critical hit occured and increase damage by (1-acc)*100, where acc is an accuracy factor from the skills. This way melee will always hit critically and sometimes also lucky snipers will, etc.

BTW. We are thinking with BTAxis about the power skill having an effect on close and heavy weapons (just as accuracy has on all weapons). What do you think? Should this be just an average of accuracy and power taken two times, for close and heavy weapons? (See the wiki Skills page.)

P.S. Of course there should be a funny message or a nice eye candy for a critical hit...

8
Artwork / Broken models --- help!
« on: July 13, 2006, 03:45:12 pm »
I need your help, guys.

Some models, e.g. stun rod (base/models/weapons/stunrod), stun grenade, incendiary grenade and flare are broken. E.g. the stun rod is made of some loose triangles and has many holes in it, but looks quite intricate, anyway. They also usually do not fit into the Ufopedia (the best way to see them is for me rotating them by dragging in the Ufopedia after typing research_all on the console).

Is it the bug in the engine, model conversion tools or original models? How to repair them?

9
Design / Are aliens resistant to tachyon?
« on: July 11, 2006, 03:42:47 pm »
Important question: will aliens and alien armor generally be as susceptible to tachyon as human armor is?

If so, tachyon weapons are much better than the damage listings indicate, which would confuse newbies. If not, I wonder how they manage to shield themselves against tachyon. Or perhaps they rather pass the particles through in some way? Anyway, this technology (or biological accomodation) is out of reach for humans and so tachyon weapons are really deadly in hands of aliens and only moderately better than plasma weapons in hands of humans, unless they fight other humans (quite possible, depending on storyline). Yeah, I like this variant more. Thoughts?

10
Design / Weapon ranges in steps instead of abstract?
« on: July 11, 2006, 12:47:25 am »
This must have been talked over many times, but why don't we change the range units in weapon scripts to game steps (e.g., "10") instead of the current abstract units (e.g. the equivalent "331"; is it 331 feet?)? I volunteer to rewrite all scripts (I know them by heart, already). :) Then we may multiply them by 32 to get the old values, if anybody needs them...

The abstract units can be claimed to be independent of game mechanics and so scalable, but it's not so simple. If the Plasma Grenade description says that it has bigger splash damage range (140) than Frag Grenade (120) then the description will be rendered false by scaling ranges not with 32, as it's now, but 29 or 36. Such problems exist also when fine-tuning other weapons and, overall, the units are less readable and look bad in GUI (those strange fractions --- your sniper rifle can fire at 50.1 steps and not at 50.2).

11
Discussion / X-mas links broken
« on: July 10, 2006, 07:24:17 pm »
Hi guys!

DePapas told me and I've just verified that none of the three links for the x-mas relase on the UFO:AI download page work. Could somebody change the links to point to Sourceforge, e.g.
   http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=157793&package_id=188363

Thanks!

12
Design / Multiple ammo types?
« on: July 09, 2006, 12:33:43 pm »
I wonder if we would like to have, say explosive rockets and incendiary rockets for the RPG? Or three grenades fired at once from the Grenade Launcher (I cannot script it right now, because Grenade Launcher seems to be hard-coded, e.g., range is fixed --- will the engine be extended?). Or standard projectiles and armor-piercing projectiles for the Bolter Rifle (already proposed, but not implemented). I think this could be fun for the following weapons:

Rocket Launcher (explosive and incendiary)
Sniper Rifle (some special ammo, less accuracy, bigger damage)
Grenade Launcher (single grenade or triple smaller grenades with smaller range)
Bolter Rifle (standard projectiles and armor-piercing projectiles)
Tachyon Missile Launcher (one big beam upon hit or many small beams in a big splash radius, or perhaps one or three warheads as for the Grenade Launcher)

Of course you will come with better ideas... Is it implementable or even implemented already (just define second ammo type)? Will this clutter inventories? Too much complexity? Are the two fire modes enough (perhaps implement incendiary rockets just as the second fire mode of the Rocket Launcher --- the missile is reconfigured for burning explosion rather than maximum damage explosion).

13
Design / Fusion Cannon and Laser Sniper Rifle --- who's for them?
« on: July 09, 2006, 01:50:21 am »
I don't know what the Fusion Cannon was inteded to be (a primary weapon? stats? technology?) and what is the reason for having yet another sniper weapon type; the Laser Sniper Rifle (the uber sniper weapon slot is already filled with the Tachyon Sniper Rifle). Do you know anything more about these? Do you want them included in one of the imminent releases of UFO:AI?

If nobody cares I will move them to the Trash Can page of the wiki and wait until somebody interested fishes them out.

14
Design / Secondary shot for Grenade Laucher
« on: June 29, 2006, 04:21:47 pm »
Do you have any nice idea for the secondary fire mode for Grenade Laucher? Currently there is none...

I tried an idea (a bit bland, I admit) --- two grenades are fired at once (as in Metal Storm), but with half the range --- and I failed.

The following script code is broken --- range lmitation does not work and the grenades are fired one after another instead of simultanously. Any ideas how to fix that (or, preferabley, encode even nicer secondary fire mode)?

Code: [Select]

secondary
{
name "_Double Shot"
skill explosive
projtl grenl_ammo
impact frag_explosion
hitbody frag_explosion
impsnd misc/big_boom.wav
bodysnd misc/big_boom.wav
bncsnd misc/klonk03.wav
gravity true
delay 1
bounce 10
bncfac 0.5
speed   0
spread "9 9"
range 2.0
shots 2
ammo 2
rof 0
time 14
spldmg "100 30"
splrad 120
dmgtype blast
}

15
Discussion / Havoc in the Wiki
« on: June 29, 2006, 03:41:14 am »
I've made a lot of changes to the Equipment part of the wiki. If I lost your page, please try to find it (using the Search function) and link it where it belongs. If you do not like the new setup, please discuss it here first, before reverting to the old wiki equipment categorization.

Thank you. :)

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