It's on the RGT forum... annoying avi file... but I have a summary here...
DBPro Chat Log (Revised Version 1)
29 August 2002, 8:00pm - 9:00pm Eastern Time
This log has been created by SiN
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Announcements
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- Mike has agreed to make a true 3D pick command.
- Patch 1 is nearly done, it should be no larger than 5/6 MB.
- DBPro is currently using a 3D rendering pipeline that is about as efficient as DB1.x's (although faster). With coming patches, Mike and Lee will overhaul the pipeline for mulitfold speed increase.
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Questions & Answers
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Q : When will the Dark Basic Pro CD's be stocked
A : The plan is this coming Tuesday or Wednesday. The date is not set in stone
Q : Will there ever be a media viewer in the DBPro IDE (for viewing X files)
A : Yes, it will be added once DBPro is out. And it will be far more advanced than the DarkEDIT media browser.
Q : Will DBPro come with standard shaders.
A : No. But the shaders can be easily downloaded off the nVida or ATI site
Q : What types of collision will there be?
A : There will be sphere, box and polygon collision. Having two high-polygon objects using polygon collision is messy, but using polygon to sphere/cube collision works fast.
Q : What types of collision responses are there?
A : The responses are slide, back up or ignore. Slide is self-explainitory. Back up makes the object bounce back to the position it was at.
Q : Can you give us some speed tests?
A : Indi - I have 80 distance checks for about 50 objects and I'm getting a 70fps average.
Q : How much room is there for improvement in the DBPro Compiler
A : There is a TON of room for optimization/speed ups.
Q : Can you tell us about the new Terrain commands?
A : The terrain commands are still in their infancy, currently you can create a landscape using a hightmap with one texture. With a coming patch, they will become EXTREMELY functional.
Q : Does DBPro have an automatic LOD function for normal models?
A : No. Although it shouldn't be too difficult to program one.
Q : How stable is the retail version of DBPro
A : Some areas are completely stable, other areas are simply broken. The decision was made to go gold, and have a patch waiting by the time the CD reaches you.
Example - The BSP commands were partly functional, the patch has made this much better.
Q : Will BSP maps be able to use Half-Life's trigger capabilities?
A : Currently, BSP maps are only geometry, but entity support will be added. Trigger capabilities have not been planned.
Q : What are the maximum amount of players in a mulitplayer game?
A : 255 players.
Q : What are types of tutorials that will ship with DBPro?
A : The tutorials will be pretty basic. There will be a First Person Shooter tutorial among others.
Q : Are there any plans for Windows GUI's in DBPro
A : Yes, there are. Guy Savoie is working on a DLL-Based Dialog Window Support Tool. You can create a true windows environment (CommandButtons, TextBoxes, etc) with multiple windows. This will be done through a text script or a visual tool.
Q : Can EXE icons be changed directly from the DBPro IDE
A : Yes, they can.
Q : Are there any speech commands being planned?
A : No. But a DLL could be created to do that.
Q : What type of media will ship with DBPro?
A : None, except for the media in the examples.
Q : What is the DBPro SDK?
A : Its Lee's tool for creating new DBPro Commands. These are in-built commands, NOT DLL calls.
Q : Will there be another competition any time soon?
A : Yes, on the DBPro Site. The theme might be retro games, but nothing is confirmed yet.
Q : Are there any automatic exit routines (which would flush the memory, etc) ?
A : No.
Q : Will DBPro run old technology games smoothly on old PCs ?
A : Yes. As long as you dont use a bunch of advanced commands, it'll run fine.
Q : What type of graphics card will you need?
A : Guy Savoie develops his demos on his laptop with an 8MB Graphics Card
Q : How compatible is DBPro with Windows XP?
A : DBPro has been developed on XP, so it's safe to say it should work fine.
Q : Will MAKE OBJECT PLAIN be changed to MAKE OBJECT PLANE?
A : No. This is for DB1.x compatibility and because either spelling is correct.
Q : Will DBPro take advantage of DirectX 9.0 commands?
A : Yes, when DX9 is released.
Q : Is there a size limit on BSP maps?
A : No. The largest BSP map in Quake 3 Arena has been loaded with no problems.
Cheers
I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing
