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OWA

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Posts posted by OWA

  1. 16 hours ago, Raap said:

    But curious things happens when you separate "C&C Renegade" and "W3D Engine", it becomes a different kind of topic then.

    It's all dependant on whether the original game's content is being used or not. That's the difference in rhetoric and sentiment.

  2. 3 hours ago, Raap said:

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Renegade can be considered abandonware as long as EA still makes sales on it through collection packages.

    You are correct @Raap. Though unfortunately that hasn't stopped these guys from declaring it as such.

    I attempted to contact EA about the page that I linked above a while ago, but didn't get a reply back. I guess they don't care at this stage, but we're going to keep respecting their IP ownership until an official statement on Renegade's status comes through (though it probably won't at this stage).

  3. 20 hours ago, saberhawk said:

    You are. The purpose of WWskin was to make the content in the content authoring tool behave like content in the engine does. Things like inverse kinematics (i.e. feet following terrain) require engine level support when not faked via baked hierarchy transform animations. Which is what mocap data generally is, until you get into facecap, and already supported by the engine.

    I figured as much. Though fake bake was generally what I was alluding to, since the artist would still need to export with a skin modifier in the stack. It's just a lot easier to convert IK to be used with the much more broader-used Skin modifier rather than W3D engine-specific WWSkin.

  4. 6 minutes ago, Raap said:

    How do you intend to solve character animation in W3D though? From my understanding using video card memory is a very outdated method and newer cards don't care for it much - correct me if I am mistaken here. As for the actual animations, well by eliminating WWskin on the modeling side, and utilizing a more mainstream solution, wouldn't that, theoretically speaking, open the door to motion captured animations?

    I'm also not grasping how you can make W3D understand non-WWskin animated meshes, I presume that engine-side developments are to be paired with this?

    I'm not sure about the memory-allocation stuff, so I can't really answer that one.

    So as far as I'm aware, W3D looks for skinned meshes within the file format and WWSkin is used to translate skinned weights into the W3D file format. So if the Max Skin Modifier is able to be exported and translated to skinned weights within the W3D file format, we eliminate the need for WWSkin. This does open up W3D for motion capture, CAT rigging, Inverse Kinematics and all of that good stuff. :)  Basically the key is how the skinning data is exported to the W3D file format rather than how the engine interprets it.

    I could be totally wrong, though. @cfehunter knows more about the technical side of things so I'll try and get him to comment.

  5. 5 hours ago, Raap said:

    And this is why I hate this forum software: I cannot edit the above post properly anymore... The "Edit" isn't what Pushwall said but something I added below the quote, but this forum added it to the quote post-submission and in a form that is completely un-editable. Just to clarify, I hate miss-quoting. Try moderator editing that TLDR line... You cannot even access it because it is embedded into the quote frame itself. This is what I asked source view for a while ago!

    ... Anyhow, infantry models are a pet annoyance for me. I consider it the doorway into any W3D game, it is the first thing players get to see. In a perfect world, WWskin is removed and a new animation system entirely is created. With WWskin out of the way, the door is opened for much more infantry detail and mechanics.

    I've found a fixed a bug that was preventing members from editing their own posts, so that should be working now. We did investigate adding source view, but with IPB deprecating BBCode and the only way to enable a source view is to expose the HTML viewer, then it could be a bit of a security risk.

    You'll be delighted to know that WWSkin has been completely annihilated by the new exporter. When the new tools are ready we will be using Max's native skin modifier for rigging, which is a whole lot better. Currently WWSkin allows us to interpolate between two bones, but the Max Skin modifier could allow us to interpolate between more than that which could be really good for characters.

    As for performance concerns, AR uses high poly (for the W3D Engine) characters for the Conscript and GI and the performance impact is negligible.

    Posing infantry has always been awkward because we lack animators, but if we were to recruit just one competent animator, then a lot of our weapon pose issues would be solved.

  6. Happy Birthday to Kane's Wrath, which turns 10 years old today! Kane's Wrath is one of our personal favourites out of the C&C series here at W3D Hub because it's just an absolute blast to play in multiplayer! In the past we've had some epic games with the likes of @Voe, @madrox8@Killing_You@VERTi60 and others which we've gotten a lot of fun and laughs from over the years.

    CNCNZ has also reported on this, providing some of the history behind the game in their coverage as well. Be sure to check out that article here!

    Also, on top of that, GameReplays.org have organized the Decade Cup and it's all culminating today with the final being held today! Catch it being streamed here live on Twitch by bikerushownz and kochevnik (if you're a Russian speaker)! The finalists are Phoenix and Masterleaf, and the prize pool is $2200, which is the largest since the EA-sponsored Ladder Season 3! More information on the event is available here and last week's semifinals and quarterfinals are also available to watch. Look out for the replays of the finals somewhere soon!

    Here's to another 10 years to this great expansion for this great game! Here's hoping that C&C Online is still serving the community by then as well, so that we can continue to play online. :)  [blurb]Happy Birthday to Kane's Wrath, which turns 10 years old today![/blurb][thumb]custom_thumb_kaneswrath.png[/thumb]

  7. 1 minute ago, Pushwall said:

    Seems the mine logic is just "is this target an infantry preset" or "is this target a vehicle preset". I just tried giving Volkov the AI script marker for heavy vehicles and he doesn't trip AT mines.

    It's presumably possible somehow, seeing as Cyborgs can trip EMP mines in Reborn, but other infantry cannot. We could also always submit a request for a scripts modification if we wanted to prototype it.

  8. 2 hours ago, Pushwall said:

    I'm not too sure on that. V2 already isn't devalued by Kovtillery - likely because it kills buildings twice as fast, can reliably snipe vehicles and base defenses from afar due to its accuracy, can also one-shot arties (so a mech arty that laughs at ranged Kovtillery attack gets hard countered by this), has much more range (225m vs Kovtillery's 170m which also isn't reflected by the target box), and also puts pressure on infantry from that range. I see a lot of V2 use on Camos Canyon, Coastal Influence, KOTG, Pipeline, Siege, Stormy Valley and Zama despite the dominance of Volkov on those maps.

    Bear in mind Kovtillery itself wouldn't gain that much out of this specialisation change under my current plan for him - like 5-10% more DPS (I mentioned before that this is a problem but really it's the combination of his original siege prowess combined with annihilating any unit that gets within his range), being a bit more accurate and thus not so unreliable at sniping unmeched vehicles (but definitely not V2 tier), and his target box actually properly reflecting his range, in exchange for firing one shot at a time with 3x the ROF (both a blessing and a curse, misses are less punishing but he has less time to hide behind cover against arties/snipers) and possibly a little less range (150m or so) to compensate for his target box not being a lie anymore - I was surprised when I did a test just now and found out how insanely long Kovtillery range is. It probably would devalue V2 somewhat if the target box revealed how far it could actually shoot while retaining its current range.

    It would probably be more likely to make Volkov+V2 a more common combo than what you suggested because it means that when someone shows up to kill your V2 when you're one shot away from killing a building, you now know how close you really need to get for Volkov to finish it off, or at least keep applying pressure if it does get repaired.

    Grenadier "wasn't as good"? Huh? He was actually better in the siege role than current Volkov is (but obviously worse at everything else). All he suffered in was durability, but he had more anti-building damage (in fact more than the RPG), was harder to detect due to his trailless projectile, had a laser-accurate projectile, had a usable target box, and cost less than the V2. And V2s were still viable with him around.

    The V2 isn't devalued by Kovtillery currently because artillery isn't Kov's primary role. The Kovtillery also takes a large amount of ammo to fire and has a pretty long reload time. If artillery becomes more of a primary purpose for Kov, then I can see the V2 being devalued.

    When I say the Grenadier "wasn't as good", I'm talking about in relation to the V2, not to Volkov. The alpha damage that the V2 deals along with the decent splash radius makes up for the fact that it's got papier-mâché for armour. Putting Kov in the position of the old Grenadier devalues the V2 because Kov is basically a walking tank. It's almost like saying "hey, you know what would be great is if we crossed characteristics from the heavy tank and artillery into one unit that has super range and the armour of a tank".

    After reading Raap's post and seeing him mention cinematic attacks, maybe giving Kov something a bit more interesting like an Airstrike/Parabomb beacon would serve to be a neat anti-building tool as well as allowing him to keep his weaponry somewhat similar to what it is now.

    I guess you have to ask yourself whether it's worth drastically changing 10+ years of Kov-gameplay consistency to give him a more defined artillery role, rather than just let him be what he is and tune him based on how he's doing. I personally wouldn't mind seeing the Flamer or Shocky get brought up to be premier building killing units for the Soviets. The Flamer seems like the obvious choice because of his role in the original Red Alert.

  9. Wouldn't pushing Volkov into more of a siege role de-value the V2 Launcher? Having a unit that is fairly well armoured, more mobile (can strafe and use infantry tunnels) and can out-range base defences would surely make players choose the much more fragile V2 Launcher less if they can simply Kov+Heavy or Kov+Supply Truck for roughly the same results. Granted that Kov is more expensive, but I don't believe this to be as much of an issue when compared to encroaching on the V2's siege role.

    It worked with the Grenadier because he was cheaper than the V2 and wasn't as good, meaning that the V2 was still viable, but when you have a high tier unit like Volkov potentially stepping into that role, that's when the V2 would probably start to see less games played at high tiers. Just my 2 cents anyway.

  10. We are currently experiencing a TeamSpeak Server outage. We're not quite sure what's causing it just yet, but we'll try and get it fixed as soon as possible. Please bear with us as we work to rectify the issue.

    For now, please feel free to use our Discord server as an alternative for VOIP. Cheers![blurb]We are currently experiencing a TeamSpeak Server outage. Please bear with us as we work to rectify this issue.
    Edit: This has now been resolved! Thankyou for your patience![/blurb]
    [thumb]thumb_tsr.0.png[/thumb]

  11. 2 minutes ago, Pushwall said:

    I don't see how that AT secondary would solve the "can siege base defenses/buildings" problem. Unless it does no damage to buildings despite being a rocket-propelled explosive, but then that falls back into the "not well communicated" problem, especially since the secondary fire travels beyond the primary's targeting range so people wouldn't be able to see that they're not damaging the buildings that they're trying to snipe. Oh, and of course, if it's a tracking rocket-propelled explosive, you get the same drunk-fire problem that every single AA weapon in Reborn has making it completely useless for engaging at the range it's meant for.

    And making the AP secondary act like that would basically just mean taking the kovnades and removing the burn damage. Don't see how that would make it any easier to use. Can't do the "explosion is actually a 180 degree spray of bullets" thing in this engine either.

    The suggestion for the AT cannon was offered pretty much as a clear alternative to what we have now (1 shell/3 shells) since a rocket projectile would be different enough for players to understand the difference. The point of range is a fair one though as well as one that I hadn't considered.

    The suggestion for the AP secondary is technically the same as what it is now but without the burn damage I guess. Although, something that really bugs me currently is how fiddly that weapon is to aim (as previously mentioned). Making the projectile nice and big as well as slowing it down a bit and reducing the velocity/altering the trajectory might help the secondary become a bit easier to fire. Currently it's quite tricky to judge.

  12. I think the primary fires are in a good place mechanically; the AP cannon could do with something akin to the dragon's breath for visibility (since it's hard to see currently), but the primary fire on the AT cannon is just fine to be fair. 

    I've got a couple of suggestions to make the alt-fires feel a bit more intuitive though. I haven't got much time to flesh out a ton of description, so I'll just throw them up.

    AT Cannon Secondary - Ranged RocketGiving Volk a rocket on his secondary fire that is longer range than his primary fire, but deals less damage would help him to hit things like boats and aircraft that are far out, whilst providing a visual distinction that's easy enough for players to understand. When we were talking about this the other day @Pushwall, I agreed with you in saying that secondary fire modes that do different types of damage are really hard to communicate, but I feel that they can work if the visual look of the projectile is different enough.

    Perhaps even keep the tri-shot for more distinction from the primary and do something like this:

    AP Cannon Secondary - Flak BallVolk's AP cannon works much like the Unreal Tournament Flak Cannon right now, but the secondary fire is unreliable and tricky to aim (at least from my perspective). We could try altering the secondary to act more like the UT Flak Ball which would make it more tactile and reliable to use. Obviously liberties need to be taken on the splash damage to prevent Volk from becoming the go-to-guy for all your corridor clearing needs, but I think it could help to tighten up that secondary fire so that it isn't haphazard to use.

    Reference:

     

    Anyway, just a couple of ideas. Lemme know what you think.

  13. Gamefront is officially back from the dead! The team over at DBolical (ModDB & IndieDB) bought the rights to it back in 2016 and now the dream of re-hosting it has now come to pass! Back before it's untimely closure, Gamefront was one of the best places to find game-related files on the interent.

    There's a ton of old C&C content hosted over there and they are hoping that the community can help them fill in the blanks! Check out their announcement video!

    Check out this post here to find out more! There's also an FAQ here![thumb]custom_thumb_gamefront.0.png[/thumb]

    [blurb]Gamefront is officially back from the dead thanks to the guys over at DBolical![/blurb]

  14. LdDJ5GO.png

    Renegade turns 16 years old today! This game has shaped all of our lives in some way and is the reason why W3D Hub exists as a community today! This odd little game released and captured the hearts of many C&C fans with it's unique multiplayer mode back in 2002 (and during the beta before that).

    The fact that the game was so flexible from a modding standpoint has pretty much brought us to where we are now. Here's a nice article about Greg Hjelstrom developing the modding tools for Renegade, most of which we still use today: http://uk.ign.com/articles/2002/02/01/cc-renegade-designer-diary-pt-7

    Consequently Renegade X, the UDK re-imagining of C&C Renegade also turns 4 years old today! Big congrats to the team over at https://renegade-x.com for all of their hard work! :) 

    I think Renegade X developer (and C&C Reborn alumni) FobbyGen said it best on the Renegade X Facebook page earlier today, so here's a slice of what he wrote. Check out the full post here: https://www.facebook.com/CNCRenX/posts/10156246743512431

    Quote

    C&C Renegade was the "failed game" with the not-so-special singleplayer campaign that was completely overshadowed by titles like Medal of Honour, Halo, and Battlefield 1942. But Renegade had a unique multiplayer formula that most reviewers seemed to have ignored. Perhaps C&C Renegade was no good for 56k players, or for players connecting to servers from different continents. Hosting online games was too difficult, unless you wanted a 4 player server on your computer, and the game was virtually unsupported just a few months after release. Renegade 2 was dropped, and by 2005, EA gave the community control over the server browser and the forums.

    Despite the poor sales, the sub-par graphics, the mediocre singleplayer, the slow internet speeds, and the lack of support, players recognised that Renegade possessed a hidden gem. C&C mode was enough to feed a thriving community for years, and beget many custom maps, skin and model packs, an anti-cheat system, custom community patches, serverside mods, more ambitious mods, total conversions, and even indie games.

    I think that it's astonishing that even today Renegade continues to get a somewhat small but steady stream of players that keep the game alive for anyone wishing to return to it. Renegade Forums may be very quiet these days, but that hasn't stopped communities like W3D Hub from flourishing and building our own fan-bases.

    Keep your eyes peeled in the next few days for some more exciting announcements about some of the stuff we've got planned for this year!

    [thumb]custom_thumb_ren.png[/thumb][blurb]Happy 16th birthday to Command and Conquer Renegade! Also a happy 4th birthday to Renegade X![/blurb]

  15. 18 minutes ago, Raptor29aa said:

    You mean having a repair hut with a repair terminal that uses 100% a golden wrench/ 58 seconds techie?

    sounds more RA 2 than RA 1 but I could go for it.

    I do agree with Raap on route being key, but my main point is was not having the bridge within artillery distance of any base.

    Something along those lines yeah. Battlefield 2 does it slightly differently where you actually repair the bridge itself using a spanner/wrench so that could be a possibility too. Although it might look a bit strange since our repair tools are the little keypad multi-metres.

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