Warzone 2100 Forums

I plan on gaming and programing on it... i will say i have looked into making my own, but i havent made my mind yet.

hawkn wrote:Is anyone working on a graphics update? if so i think that more weapon types should be added, along with better textures on the maps. I don't care for the way the cities look in the game, and i think more lighting, and less color would look better. Is it possible to create new models of everything without messing with the code too much?

Actually, the game looks good now, and this game ( Unlike some others) is all about the unique gameplay experience, and if you think these graphics are bad, you should try the Playstation version!

Don't get me wrong, its good for the console, but compared to the pc version... Its also the version I played the most.

Long live Warzone!

I'm not saying the gameplay isn't great, and that's what it's all about. But it kinda sucks when you get a headache trying to figure out what those pixels are supposed to be... JK But the gameplay is so great, i think it would do great as a next gen game. Considering how much work goes into that, why not just revamp the looks a little. My idea was making better trees. instead of 2 flat pieces, why not a few cones stacked on eachother?

Like:
/\
/ \
/ \

theres absolutly NOTHING wrong with updating the graphics... and if people will STOP playing it if the graphics update a bit.. then they really arent hard core players are they?

eyesore.. you call yourself hardcore.. but DEMAND the graphics stay the same.. but WELCOME gameplay changes? you have officially become your own self contradiction.

changing the game play makes it a different game.. changing the graphics simply makes it prettier.. or uglier.

as for the rest.. NOBODY is expecting dawn of war 2 graphics... but nothing is wrong with improving visuals where able.

i grew up and love diablo 2 and starcraft.. tried them recently.. and gods.. they have NOT aged well. and with so many games out there just like them with the same game play and better presentation.. i couldent bring myself to play them any more.

and for any other "purist" thats freaking about a few LIGHT graphical improvements.. keep this in your head... this game can never be fiercly changed without a new game engine and code overhaul.. which would not only alow for a much greater range of graphical improvements.. but alow the fixing of alot of the bugs and pathfinding that has plagued this game since day one.

not to mention i dont ever recall anyone "complaining" when the version of warzone came out that fixed the rocket graphics bug that finally allowed you to SEE the rockets being fired instead of just thier flame trails.

and look into a lil engine called Spring... it was created and used for the primary reason of recreating and updating another classic RTS.. total annhilation. and happens to be doing VERY well i might add. the graphics are updated.. but the core game has remained unchanged.

lav_coyote25 wrote:pick something old - and make an updated version or make the next version in line... however you want.

A couple questions:

1)What type of poly count is acceptable
2)Do you need propulsion modeled to fit all bodies and vice versa?
3)Does the model get scaled with code, or does modeling it to scale matter.
4)What file format? I use ac3d, and it can export in a variety.
5)How do textures work in the game, just a model + texture pic + material file?

You might want to look at some of the links under the Development tab here.

I really wish models would get updated little by little.

I tried to find the info I needed on the dev page, but didnt have any luck. I guess i'll just model a few things and deal with sizing and what not later.

12valve wrote:I tried to find the info I needed on the dev page, but didnt have any luck. I guess i'll just model a few things and deal with sizing and what not later.

http://developer.wz2100.net/wiki/Artwork

as well as here... http://docs.wz2100.net/utilities/notyet.html

also read all the pie slicer stuff - will give you some idea of what is and what isnt. xD

Tenoh wrote:I really wish models would get updated little by little.

That would be just alot more work for whoever is doing the models. I am currently trying to learn blender, so i can mod a game called torch light, and from what little experience i have, i can tell you it would be much easier to just create the model you wanted in the first place instead of slowly making new models every update.

however you wish to do it - its just that with warzone - importing to the game is a bit of a ... pita. the tutorials may or may not give you assistance... if they dont - ask the ones that are doing all the modeling... i just did the documents project to put all the knowledge in one place... xD use it or dont...

I started working on some propulsion models, starting with tracks.

Here's a thread i'll keep it in

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3825#p37564

eyestrain92 wrote: I know, it's to keep it modern and competitive versus all the modern games we have, but a complete overhaul? I want to play the same game. I'd rather see people working entirely on the mechanics and gameplay than making it "flashier." That kind of aesthetic focus is a turn that many games took that leads to a downward spiral.

I disagree. a hundred percent to be exact.

Once you start messing with the mechanics and gameplay - THAT's when you'll see WZ2100 spiraling down to a piece of software no-one will recognize as the good old game we used to play ten (?) years ago.

1. Better textures.
2. better models.

As for gameplay, I think it should be done like this:
1. Fix bugs, (units getting stuck in the map - that's abuot the only real bug i can think of, plus the game suddenly quits sometimes)
2. Extend campaign, and/or tech-tree... don't change what's there, but add more at the end! that would be cool.

There are absolutely no side-effects with this, except if people are playing it on 10 years old computers. And then the game probably wouldn't run anyway, because of gfx-card driver problems etc in relation to the GL drivers used today.

While I haven't looked too much on the code yet, I'll call BS on the claim that 'the WZ engine was never made to handle high poly models'. That is not the way a rendering engine work these days, and since WZ runs on openGL (and used to run on 3dfx IIRC), that 'engine' is just a routine that tells GL where to put the models, and then gives a short command to render that model. All vertices, polys, textures etc are already loaded into the GL system, which these days mean they are all in the GFXcard's memory (at least the textures).

What bogs down video cards these days are pixel shaders, 'rubber' models (like in the modern first-person games), cloth simulations, advanced physics and stuff like that. That's not what we are talking about here, but to remodel the old units and weapons with smoother edges and more polys + better textures would be absolutely no trouble at all [for the engine]. The challenge will be to keep the old game's look and feel, and not make every unit look like something completely different, different colors etc. Also one must not go bananas with the polys, remember that sometimes you'll have several hundred units + buldings on the screen, they multiply fast....

I must say I love the backgrounds in the menus, they are new, right? Imagine graphics (more) like that in-game. That would be a whole new experience!

Regards,
Enthusiastic

Amund wrote:That is not the way a rendering engine work these days

Where "these days" is the keyword. The Warzone engine is ten years old and works by the "draw single triangles/quads" principle. This worked well with both Direct3D and Glide, since those also worked that way. But since they drew single triangles which had to be sent to the card every frame anyway, they used a few features that don't work well with the current "load a bunch of vertices/texture coordinates, and then just tell the card where to draw them each frame" GPU mechanics. So while the engine is not in principle limited to low-poly models (see the 1300 faces tank someone posted for example), it is quite a bit slower than the looks of the game suggest (see the same tank, where a significant drop in framerate was noted).

The terrain rendering was already modernized somewhat, but for units that requires a fundamental overhaul of the engine, because abovementioned tricks have to be redone with modern techniques.

Me and MaNGust are working on a graphical enchancement mod (don't tell anybody ) xD
Here's the link to the topic:
We're currently remaking bodies, so propulsions and weapons are specially welcome. I'll talk with MaNGusT and see what he thinks about getting extra hands on our mod. Anyone can send pretty much any kind of model or texture format to me ([email protected]), I can convert it. I like your tracks texture pretty much, 12valve, I couldn't stop wondering if you had any ideas of wheeles propulsions in mind? :rolleyes:

When I'm done talking with MaNGusT, I'll post news here.

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