D2X-XL suggestions thread

Pumo · Post by **Pumo** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 6:32 pm

Diedel, for the MVL specs, you can found them in http://www.descent2.com

The site has the Developer section containing specs of many D2 file formats. The MVL is just an archive (like the HOG files) containing the MVE files inside. So D2X-XL already supports MVE, the only thing that could be neat, is if D2X-XL could play MVE files outside the MVL archive.

Suncho · Post by **Suncho** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 10:26 am

I'd like to see the SVN updated more regularly. I'd rather get source updates from the SVN than download them from the site manually.

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 3:50 pm

Suncho,

are you kidding?! I am updating the SVN virtually every night!

RoBoT · Post by **RoBoT** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 5:28 pm

Uh-oh! Suncho, you've angered the beast!

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 6:26 pm

rrrrooooAAAAARRRRRRRR!

Valin Halcyon · Post by **Valin Halcyon** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 7:33 am

Deidel, that D1Demo data is that massive tablefile I've been talking to you about. If my current project suceeds, I'll be able to compile a \"demo\" set of files that would work with, and be distributed with, D2X-XL.

As for ideas...is there ANY way you can take a little time off from making new features/options and clean up your option menus a bit? I'm the kinda guy who loves large menus of options...and even *I* am becoming intimidated a bit. Move the techie options to D2X.ini and leave the more user friendly stuff in the game menus. We don't need the lightmaps options in the game menu...for example.

Also, please clean up the main menu a bit..else, crank the menu resolution up to 640x480 (relatively speaking). Scrolling + main menu = UGH!

Can you simplify the multiplayer menus by compounding the join/create game options into a single pair of options, then adding the TYPE of connection to the game creation page...while cleaning that page itself of excessive options?

Anyway..I LOVE options..but..well.

Suncho · Post by **Suncho** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 8:11 am

Hehe Valin... all the stuff you just requested I'm in the process of trying to figure out how to do myself. =)

Valin Halcyon · Post by **Valin Halcyon** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 8:28 am

Suncho, look in the ui.c file..you'll find the thread starts from there. You aught to be able to trace most of the menu options from it.

I'd do it myself, but I'm busy with the resource file management code.

Suncho · Post by **Suncho** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 8:57 am

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 9:07 am

Valin,

I don't really know what a 'table file' is for you. The pig files contain the data in some order. Additionally, D1 has a table description saying e.g. which textures etc. are in the demo, and which in the full version. D2 does not work like that though, and I am not gonna sift through it just to make D1 demo run with D2X-XL. There's enough left to be done with regular D1 support in D2X-XL.

Suncho · Post by **Suncho** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 3:09 pm

Valin Halcyon wrote:Suncho, look in the ui.c file..you'll find the thread starts from there.

ui.c is in the unused folder. I think menu.c is a better bet. =)

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 4:57 pm

Most menus are created in main/menu.c, some in main/network.c, some in arch/sdl/joydefs.c.

I have tiedied up the multiplayer menu.

Seppel · Post by **Seppel** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 5:17 am

Hello,

first of all: many thanx for that perfect work! Its really great to play D2 again

I'm flying through the mines using a 32\" Widescreen TFT and a gamepad. And for optimizing this configuration I have two small (?) suggestions:

1) how about a 1360x768 widescreen resolution? Thats the native resolution for a lot of TV-LCDs...

2) Is there a way to invoke the \"Automap\" using a gamepad or a joystick? That way I would need the keyboard only to start a game...

Thanx in advance,
Seppel

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 5:51 am

You're not the first asking for a way to map automap to a joy button ... and adding such a feature is a major PITA ... sigh ...

Btw, are you German speaking (guessing from your nick here)?

Seppel · Post by **Seppel** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 7:01 am

Diedel wrote:You're not the first asking for a way to map automap to a joy button ... and adding such a feature is a major PITA ... sigh ...

P.I.T.A. ?
If it's somewhere on the Todo-list, it's ok - I can wait

Diedel wrote:Btw, are you German speaking (guessing from your nick here)?

yepp - bin ich.

Best regards,
Seppel

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:14 am

PITA = Pain In The A$$.

Some things have to wait forever ...

... but: Alle Deine Wünsche wurden in v1.5.165 erfüllt.

If at least two people request a feature to be added to D2X-XL, I usually do it (if it's feasible with an acceptable amount of work).

Seppel · Post by **Seppel** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 10:45 am

Diedel wrote: Some things have to wait forever ... ... but: Alle Deine Wünsche wurden in v1.5.165 erfüllt.

wow! Das war fix

Thanx a lot!

just gone - testing...

Seppel

Steel · Post by **Steel** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 10:55 am

Hi everyone;
I've been hanging around for a while and decided finally to request a couple things.

Better MVE handling: the *-h.mvl movies SHOULD be able to run good on my Athlon XP 1700. But they run at approximatly 2 fps. (No I do not have HQ Movies turned on.)

Diedel wrote:If at least two people request a feature to be added to D2X-XL, I usually do it (if it's feasible with an acceptable amount of work).

Valin Halcyon wrote:...how about simply adding OOF support to D2X-XL?

New model support. Although I would like to see a newer format like MD5 be used, I will take whatever I can get.

Edit: By the way, Great work Diedel for everything added to this point.

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 11:24 am

Adding OOF looks like a lot of work.

The movies run very well on my Athlon XP 1800+ Linux box with a lowly GF 2 MX 400. Maybe it's your gfx card/driver?

Suncho · Post by **Suncho** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 11:32 am

Here's my feature request:

Let's not add any new features to the code that require the creation of new data.

Example of features not to add:

1. New Models
2. New Game types that require different level design.
3. Anything that hurts the framerate and doesn't significantly improve gameplay.
4. Anything that does not improve the game when the player is using the default data from a fresh install of D2, D1, Vertigo, or either of the demos.

Instead, I request the following:

A complete code overhaul. I've been reading the code and it's somewhat disorganized not very well documented. I'm working on trying to get all this stuff sorted out, myself.

Features that I've seen implemented that I like:
1. Radar
2. UDP/IP Multiplayer
3. Colored Weapon Lighting
4. Custom Weapon Hot Keys
5. Ping meter
6. Crazy Big Resolutions =)
7. Keyboard Ramping, Joystick/Mouse sensitivity control etc.

Features I've seen implemented that I don't care about:
1. All the new stuff in levels... high res textures... wind tunnels etc... fluid dynamics... etc.
2. Entropy support.
3. Advanced CTF support.

This stuff might be fun to use later on after the game becomes popular, but right now there aren't many people playing it.

Steel · Post by **Steel** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 11:57 am

Adding *support* for something does not mean it has to be used.

Clarification on MVE's: robot movies are slow. Other movies play fine. Video Card= Nvidia Geforce FX 5700LE, driver 81.98 official.

Edit: Dediel, some of the stuff you have added was a lot of work; and seeing hi-poly pyro's and robots made would be a big plus.

Suncho · Post by **Suncho** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 12:05 pm

Steel wrote:Adding *support* for something does not mean it has to be used.

Right. But it does mean that Diedel spends his time working on that instead of working on other things.

It's completely up to him, of course. But I'd prefer to see the code get organized. Organized code makes it easier to add these features in the future.

Steel · Post by **Steel** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 12:09 pm

Mabye he could add it to the 'when I'm really bored' todo list

And, Suncho, I agree to the organized code thing. I have worked with C++ some and realize how quickly code can get disorgainzed. Then changing things can get really ugly.

Seppel · Post by **Seppel** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 3:08 pm

Hi Diedel,

I think a little bug sneaked into the last release:
I've selected a joy-button for \"Automap\" - but in the game the button doesn't work, instead the button I assigned for \"Slide on\" now works as a Slide/Automap-combination

After some further joystick-config exploration it seems like the Automap-feature is hardcoded to Button0 - no matter what you assign to it...

And just cosmetical: you forgot to rename the new 1360-resolution. In the resolution-dialog appear 2x \"12??x768\" - and the second entry is the 1360x768 resolution...

Anyway - thanx for your great & fast work,
Seppel

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 3:52 pm

Suncho,

I will definitely not reorganize all that code. If I really started that, I'd end up with recoding everything in C++, and I definitely do not have the time for that.

I prefer adding stuff like particle systems (just finishing these

), high res models (that's something I'd really love to see and would be willing to spend some more work on), or shadows.

Suncho · Post by **Suncho** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 3:56 pm

Ok. =)

Steel · Post by **Steel** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 5:33 pm

Diedel wrote:I prefer adding stuff like particle systems (just finishing these ), high res models (that's something I'd really love to see and would be willing to spend some more work on), or shadows.

Yay! With a few level makers, Valin Halcyon's models, and stuff like this, I see great things ahead.

Valin Halcyon · Post by **Valin Halcyon** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 6:56 am

Ok...yeah, sorry Suncho, my main source of source code knowledge is from D1src original, when I was working on Descent.NET. ui.c is very much obsolete.

In D2X-XL, try looking in game.c for the keyboard shortcuts as well...good for creating a debug menu, of which in fact, there were a few in the original D1 source. Just make a c file with the menu function in it..be sure to include the files needed for the menu function protos and then include the new file's header in the game.c and then setup a alt or debug key combination to invoke it.

OOF support: Yeah, it'll be a little tough, but look at the longer term rewards. We still have the ability to take a max file and turn it into a Descent-useable OOF model. If we gained OOF support for D2X-XL, taking the game hi-detail would really be MUCH easier.

tablefiles: Yes, I know D2 stopped using it. It took me a bit to figure out what it did differently from D1, now I know. The big change delt with how it managed the multiple pallet pigfiles. It split off the POF model data and moved it into the HAM file, and moved the sound data into the S11 and S22 files. Pigfiles in D2 are strictly texture data.

--I am working on a C++ class that will enable the seamless and logical manaement of Descent resource files--

Oh, and thanks for pointing out that insane double abstraction that the code uses, Deidel.

I just wanted to add the abilty to create a couple of additional ships, but instead found that a good bit needs rennovated first.

By the way..the D3Edit SDK has a LOT of nice tidbits I'm borrowing and/or learning from.

Pumo · Post by **Pumo** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 1:53 am

A few suggestions:

A quick save key like D3 (i said this before

)

Support for high-res TGA briefing images (Yay!)

And the classic and most wanted (although of less priority): OGG support

Weyrman · Post by **Weyrman** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 4:39 pm

Diedel,

As there seems to be confusion as to whether hi-res textures are being used, would you mind putting up two screenshots of the same area, one hi-res, the other standard and list what .ini switches need to be included and which option boxes need to be ticked. This would help by at least making sure that everyone has the \"right\" settings to start with plus knowing what we are looking for.

LOVE the smoke trails

Weyrman

ps v.174 shows v.172

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 4:52 pm

get v1.5.174b.

Screenies see the Win bug report thread.

RoBoT · Post by **RoBoT** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 5:14 pm

How about a \"tinted\" camera monitor view? Like, when you set up a camera, the target monitor is tinted a certain color, or even black and white. You can even make that an option in DLE-XP.

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 5:51 pm

Hires models first. I have already coded preliminary OOF reading functions, but I am not quite sure about the current OOF specs, and I need an OOF file to experiment with (e.g. the D4 Pyro model).

Steel · Post by **Steel** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:33 pm

Diedel wrote:Hires models first. I have already coded preliminary OOF reading functions, but I am not quite sure about the current OOF specs, and I need an OOF file to experiment with (e.g. the D4 Pyro model).

http://www.dfiles.de/download/d4/misc/models/d4gx_2.zip
This is the D4 Pyro GX in a D3 Hog file. Hope this helps.

Edit: Why can't I use HTML in this thread?

RoBoT · Post by **RoBoT** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 7:00 pm

Apparently, HTML is turned off in this forum. My only question is does this apply to everyone or just newer members?

Like the smoke effects!

Dynamite · Post by **Dynamite** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 9:05 pm

My suggestions for triggers:

-A cube type changing trigger
-A trigger type changing trigger

-Having the ability to put more than one trigger in a standard wall.
-A trigger which destroys robots and powerups
-Object triggers for non-robot objects as well as robots
-A texture changing trigger
-Triggers that only activate when certain triggers are pressed
-Triggers which change robot weapons
-Powerup/Shield/Energy reaping triggers for D2 as well
-Song changing triggers

AgentMascan · Post by **AgentMascan** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 9:57 pm

I've come up with a few things I would like to see in the game:

This may be difficult, but it would be great if the map had shared vision in coop mode. When an ally explores a different part of the level, it would automatically update your map as well.

Allow use of separate joystick buttons for turn left and turn right (not just axis control). If nothing else I would like to see this one implemented as I would have no reason not to use my gamepad

.

Support for more mouse buttons, my mouse has 7 buttons if you count mwheelup & mwheeldown.

And last of all, one more vote for mp3/ogg support.

Nice work on improving d2x and keeping its legacy moving. I will definitely be watching as more features and fixes are added.

BUBBALOU · Post by **BUBBALOU** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 5:07 am

why are you attempting to use OOF imports??? ugly broken model format.... BTW they were all .3DS files before they became OOF [nudge]

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 5:17 am

Well ... maybe 3ds would be a better way to go ... but it shouldn't get overly complicated.

d3jake · Post by **d3jake** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 8:34 am

BUBBALOU wrote:why are you attempting to use OOF imports??? ugly broken model format.... BTW they were all .3DS files before they became OOF [nudge]

BTW, not everyone has whatever program creates\\edits .3DS files...

I was wondering if it would be possible to add support from .OGF and .OAF files.

D2X-XL suggestions thread

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How about some suggestions for triggers?

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