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Not really up for posting a team request at the moment, but I'm just curious as to if any of the modeller peeps I talk to or have worked with (Nick, Yellow, Zircher) are available to model?

I was working on a hover racing game a while back (Zircher was going to help me out originally) but it died out. The reason was, collision and physics. Well, I've solved both problems now. I have a sweet collision system in place (Nuclear Glory cunningly adapted to my needs), and the physics is now working perfectly. I'm not limited to 60degrees anymore. My hover racer can even do loop the loops, barrel rolls, jumps, flips etc. You name it. (Also, thanks to Kevil for helping me out with some of the rotational and vector problems).

Basically, the main difficulty I'm gonna have with this is making circuits. I use milkshape, which just isn't powerful enough to make decent circuits, as they need to be big, beautiful, and have banked corners, loops, jumps, corkscrews etc. These are very hard to build with cube and cylinder primitives etc. Plus texturing the circuits will be a bitch. All other models (decals, crafts, characters etc) I can do, now I've got to grips with Milkshape and LithUnwrap.

So this is just a general shout out to those modellers that know I can deliver (even if you haven't seen a finished product, you should've at least seen some tech/alpha projects). If you're available for modelling and interested, let me know. I need to make a decent test track so I can hone the controls and be sure the physics can handle all the stunts we can throw at it. Then I can release an engine demo.

.... otherwise I'll have to go and ..... ... make a team request.

I'm interested, but I don't know if I have the time at this moment. Unfortuantly things keep coming up and my schedule is crammed.

If you need a few things modeled and aren't going to be pressed for time then you can contact me.

If nothing though, Fallout definitly delivers. Perhaps you should show off the project we were working on.

Cheers Yellow. Well, last night I tried to whip up my own test track, but I'm having problems making a banked curve. It sounds easy, and it is easy to make one that looks good, but the ship can't ride them properly.

I did just try and type out an explanation, but it made no sense, so I'll just say the banked curve I've tried to make is bumpy. It turns out, it's really hard to make one smooth. It might look smooth, but as you twist it into position so it goes from flat on the ground (entry and exit) to fully banked (middle of the curve) the two triangles of any given rectangle actually subtley bend in different directions, giving you a nice cattlegrid style banked curve. You can drive round it, but at high speed, you generally get flipped over or cartwheeled by the bumps.

If you could help me out yellow, that'd be sweet. I can make my own tracks/test track for now, but there are certain set pieces I can't make. Namely, ones where the road has to bend around it's z-axis (e.g. corkscrews, banked curves or anything where the road twists). I can't figure out how to do that smoothly, without the triangles bending in opposite ways and creating bumps.

Here's a pic to explain the problem (the corner looks fine smooth shaded, but the flat shaded version shows that, sinse I've bent and pulled it, the triangles have bent in different ways, making it bumpy (you can see from the light and dark shading)).


What I could do with is just some simple set pieces - especially a banked corner. I'm ok to UV and texture, and even build the test level. Once I've done that, I can work on the other features (A.I etc) and probably rally more interest. If you're up for making a few little set pieces (with no fills and spills - I can add walls and detail), I would need:
-A loop the loop (width of road needs to be about 1/3 of the loop height). The loop needs to be quite thick (not like its made out of cardboard )
-A few banked curves (attention needs to be payed to the driving surface, to make sure its smooth (as explained above)):
o 90 degree turn,45 degree bank (approx), long corner
o 135 degree turn,45 degree bank (approx), long corner
o 180 degree turn,45 degree bank (approx), long corner
o 180 degree turn,80 degree bank (approx), sharp quick corner

-A few tube pieces (driving through pipes - so a cylinder primitive won't do, as the faces need to be on the inside, and the tube needs ot have thickness):
o Any length straight tube
o 45 degree bend
o 90 degree bend
o 135 degree bend
o 180 degree bend
Then I can scale them and connect them together.

Any help on those would be great. All need to have smooth driving surfaces, where they bend. All need to have substantial thickness (e.g. the loop needs to be 1/5th to 1/10th as thick (depth of road) as the loop is tall. - this helps collision).

If you only find time to make one banked corner, that's fine mate, as that's my main problem. Then I'll literally swap the banked corners I have in my test track for yours, then throw up a demo for you to check out.

Cheers. If anyone else has more time to spare, let me know.

What about using a half pipe instead of a banked turn? Would that give you a better distribution of triangles?

My son was recently playing a music game called Frequency, the interesting thing about that was that it used a tube-like roller coaster with lots of transparency effects to make it seem more like a wire cage than a sewer. Since each section of track always started or ended in a circular shape, it was quite easy to attach one section to the next no matter how extreme the curves were.
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TAZ

Yeah, the half pipe would work, but I don't want to be limited to not being able to use banked turns. Just need to figure out a way to make it smooth. I'll keep trying.

Also, I had the transparency idea already! I already have plans for transparency on the Red Mountain level. At one point the player will go through a tunnel through the centre of a mountain. Traffic will be coming the other way, seperated by a transparent wall. At the end of the tunnel, the player will zip around a tube which is suspended over the cliff edge and is transparent, before shooting back into the tunnel. Should look funky.

Could you send me the banked curve model?
(in ms3D format if possible)
I'm curious cause i don't understand why it would necessarily be bumpy, there must be a way to fix that

Having 'been there-done that' with banked curves on Alien Conquest, I imagine the solution is to throw more polys at the model. What is a reasonable amount of polys is the question. Also, if you do not model vertical Gs and friction you have to rely on the shape of the curve and the collision system to force the vehicle along. My first attempts with AC resulted in bank curves that would always launch the vehicle into the air. [One reason why I suggested half pipes.]
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TAZ

@Grismald
It's the nature of that type of curve represented by polygons. It's best demonstrated looking at that image I posted above. The triangles bend in alternating directions, and this is because the bottom of the curve is not parellel with the top of the curve. It's really hard to describe, but the triangles with an edge running along the bottom of the curve have smooth graduation between each other, as do the triangles with an edge running along the top. But together, they twist in different ways and create a paper fan effect.

@Zircher
Yep, I think you're right. The solution is just more polys, but that's not that simple with milkshape as its quite limiting on the number of polys you can have. I can't even render a cylinder with more than 32 or so segments, but I've been experimenting with smoothing. I'll give that a go.

At the moment, the physics in the game is really sensitive. There's no dampening or anything on the vehicle, so it feels every bump. A tiny bump, if it's steap, will have a huge effect on the vehicle, so I need to try and sort this out.

Ok, think I've sussed it. I need to add many more polys vertically and laterally. There's still this problem with the triangles, but it seems to be resolved this way. Check this out ...



Sorted. Now I'll start working on my test track.