Sonic 3D Robo Blast; A working tittle

Dark Metal said:

What is making a 3d model of the pipe gonna do?

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Well, I'm not sure. Tell ya' what I do know; I wanna make a fun loopy pipe for a zoomtube. The one im building out of FOFs is crashing my game. If I can't find a way to make it work, it will be the 2nd massive compromise I've had to make building Spring Stadium.

Sparkz said:

That sounds like a fantastic idea! Any suggestions on which program would make a good loopy thingy? I'm looking at Milkshape. The interface feels similar to the doom builders.

Would it work on the spikes?

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I find Lightwave easy to use, but it's not free. I have a fair amount of experience in the program so I can make it for you (in a couple of days when I'm less busy) if you want. There's lots of neat tools that make it a really fast and easy process once you know your way around the program.

I'm not so sure about the spikes though. Probably if you make it rest on top of the spike block and model the spikes under the ground, then, like the pipe, make it a scenery object with no collision

Sparkz said:

Are talking about Volcano Valley? Cause' it's gonna be epic!

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No I'm talking about the entire mod as a whole...

Dark Metal said:

What is making a 3d model of the pipe gonna do?

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Linedefs and FOFs are expensive on processing power. Making a 3D scenery Thing should fix that, and because he's using a zoom tube he doesn't have to worry about collision inside the tube either, just place an invisible, hollow box around the thing and it's fine.

I'll Begin said:

I find Lightwave easy to use, but it's not free. I have a fair amount of experience in the program so I can make it for you (in a couple of days when I'm less busy) if you want. There's lots of neat tools that make it a really fast and easy process once you know your way around the program.

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Let me start by saying, you've already been a big help with a good bit of this jazz! I really appreciate it! If you've already got the tools and the know- how, I would love to have your work in my mod! If you need measurements/ color pallet for the pipe just let me know, as I figured all that out a while ago.

I'll Begin said:

I'm not so sure about the spikes though.

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I've cut my losses and compromised on my spikes. An upgraded version later is definitely worth talking about but the first release is going to feature the static spike pits that I hated every minute building:( but they finally stabilized the map!

I'll Begin said:

No I'm talking about the entire mod as a whole...

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Oh... Well, thanks:D I'm looking forward to it too! I appreciate your support!

Ooh, yes :D measurements would help, especially since I'm unfamiliar with the scale for this engine. Maybe a drawing too.

And no problem! Happy to help. Just don't always have the time is all.

Seriously though, with the spikes, any design that minimises linedefs/sectors is good. You can really just do it with a regular spike block and my scenery object idea. Heck, you could even just use the existing sprites but offset them to clip with the floor. It's not like this mod'll be played in Software so you can get away with stuff like that.

the concept sounds awesome. Can't wait to see this.

I'll Begin said:

Ooh, yes :D measurements would help, especially since I'm unfamiliar with the scale for this engine. Maybe a drawing too.

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Woot! Most of my measurements are drawings:D I'll clean 'em up for you and put a package together filled with everything my educated guesses might think you need. If you think of anything else I should include just lemme know!

Currently the package will include;
*Detailed drawings including measurements
*More measurements and dimensions (most likely a line graph illustrating the incline at each junction)
*color pallet
*A test map with the sectors for the loop drawn (you'll see what I almost made out of FOFs)

I'm a graphic artist (among other mediums) and as far as I can tell about scale; what the SRB2 community knows as a fracunit is a pixel in any other language. I could be wrong... but I seriously doubt it;D We'll operate under this assumption and it will guide us to victory!

I'll Begin said:

Seriously though, with the spikes, any design that minimises linedefs/sectors is good. You can really just do it with a regular spike block and my scenery object idea. Heck, you could even just use the existing sprites but offset them to clip with the floor. It's not like this mod'll be played in Software so you can get away with stuff like that.

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I'm not sure what you mean exactly by "clip with the floor" but when I tried using spike sprites and a spike FOF to do my dirty work I found that sprites don't move up and down with a floor. In any case, the sectors drawn just to move the floors was lagging the system enough already. Can scenery things behave any differently? Could I get them to move up and down without the floor moving? (i.e. not having to draw a bunch of tiny 4-6 sided sectors with textures. the game just hated me for that!)

I always thought scenery objects had weight.

And by clip with the floor I mean offset to be underground, so when the spikes are retracted you can't see them, and when they're up you can. It'll follow the collision of the spike block. You'll have to copy the sprite into an empty slot to do it, by the way, if you don't want to break existing spikes.

Your scenery pipe will be the crown on Spring Stadium!

So what would be the big difference between a typical spike thing and a scenery object? How can I get them to move with the floor? How can I get them to move at all?

Well, first you need to prove my theory by placing a tree or flower on top of a up-down-moving platform and tell me what you see. Does it move with the platform?

I'll Begin said:

Well, first you need to prove my theory by placing a tree or flower on top of a up-down-moving platform and tell me what you see. Does it move with the platform?

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The theory holds water! All matter of scenery things move with with the floor:D WOOHOO!!!

I'm sorry but my SOC education sucks (lousy public schools) and I'm not a 100% on how to approach copying, moving, and converting the spike sprites.
Argo, we can assume that all free slots are in fact free.

Again I have to thank you! Spring Stadium was so close to being boring as hell:D

Scenery objects are literally the easiest thing to soc.

Not quite sure how to get models on custom objects though.

I'll Begin said:

Scenery objects are literally the easiest thing to soc.

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Drawing stuff like that is a breeze for me. If you can teach me a thing or two about about socin', I'll be another step closer to making a completely graphically unique wad (next comes the badnicks) and I'll be there if you ever need a graphic artist for your own project:D (I'm there already but you catch my drift)

I'll Begin said:

Not quite sure how to get models on custom objects though.

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It might be handy to add that to our body of knowledge:p

I've prepped a few of my spike pits, ready with moving floors and accompanying FOFs. I stuffed them with budding flower things and the FOF is currently harmless water. (I'm just making sure it all works properly) It's all pretty innocuous, almost cute... for now.

I pulled the spike sprite of the Wiki (considering drawing my own) Now, how do I soc it?

I'd recommend getting it from SRB2.SRB so you know what its offset is, then you just copy that to a free slot and lower it by whatever the height of the spike is (Not the image dimensions but the actual drawing of the spike itself)

I wouldn't bother drawing an entirely new sprite of something already in the game personally, but it needs to be on a new slot so when you offset it it doesn't break the existing spike sprite.

Well Making sprites and getting them to work has proven to be more difficult that I originally thought. I started a new thread to learn about this stuff; scenery items and custom badniks. I have the sprites of my first enemy ready to go but I'm lost when it comes to using freeslots and assigning thingnumbers, mapthingnumbers, sprite names. I'm learning more about SOCs all the time but this freeslot business is new and Greek to me.

It's that weird Goopy Enemy for GGZ

It has legs but I haven't animated them yet.

This looks nice! I'll download it!
*DOWNLOADED*
*TESTED*
I like 200% better. 300% is way too big. 200% is just right

200% is what I decided upon and since I've already constructed 6 of the maps at this scale it is no longer an issue:D

Small tidbit of info, all maps are also scaled down vertically to only 50%. The original maps I made of GGI and RRI (my prototypes and proof of concept, unavailable to the community) were 100% on all dimensions. The maps proved entirely to small and cramped while most jumps to higher ground were imposable. So, I stretched the horizontal plane out to 200% (which was easy) and I shrank everything vertically to 50% (which was much more time consuming given the variance of platforms and FOFs)

This mod is looking pretty sweet so far.

It reminds me of my childhood with Sonic 3D Blast for the Genesis.

I used to just cruse through Green Grove.

This gets the Awesome Seal of Awesomeness (if there even is one).

Keep up the good work.

Nice "tittle" man.
Anyway, this is looking pretty awesome, I hope to see more!

Hi y'all, Sparkz here.

I know the community likes seeing updates and proof of work being done so...

SSZ has been going under some heavy maintenance. The retractable floor spike are not happening there's too much drawing involved for the game to handle & GFZ style spikes are still too much. I'll be using spike things with a tangible invisible FOF. I'm merging sector left and right trying to further reduce lag, as well as sacraficeing some of my favorite slopes from the thok barrier.

I've made a whole bunch of new textures!


Every zone is going to have it own unique water properties.
SSZ's Ring draining pools guarded by lasers!


And those super fantastic, way cool sloped FOF loops I promised:D


Tough it might not look like it should, these next two rooms are producing lag. I guess CB is simply a weaker engine. It even causes lag is vanilla zones were not has been spotted before.



I'm working hard to optimize this area right now and I might even have to cut it up into two paths. I'll let everyone know how it turns out!


EDIT!!!
I can't believe I actually left this out.

RRZ III; Boss Fight!


I'm using the sea Egg for now because it's the only boss that can be made to stay still. However he never seems to face the player. I may eventually soc my own boss and turret.

Really really nice so far I like it also when your adding the music could you please use the Sega Saturn's soundtrack it sounds allot better.