Topics

136

Modification Help / Bright flash on impact

« on: July 12, 2007, 06:22:02 PM »

I've noticed some weapons produce a bright flash when they explode (some bombs, the Bot Cannon, Guided Missle). How do you get a weapons to do that? I've dissected the scripts but found nothing.

137

General Discussion / Can't modify posts?

« on: July 12, 2007, 04:29:53 PM »

I can't modify my posts anywhere but in Off Topic, has it always been this way?

138

Modification Help / Blockland's Santa Claus wishlist

« on: July 06, 2007, 02:50:44 PM »

Post things you'd love to see in blockland, but that would be extremely difficult to make, or even almost impossible.
You can post whatever you want, be it maps, add-ons, certain effects, etc.

My wishlist

1. Blocko vehicle creator.

An ingame way of creating working vehicles out of blocks, possibly by building them on a static platform in game, adding weels and seat points and then just riding them around. Or, just entering a special editor where you can build the vehicle in privacy (still out of bricks) and then use it in game. (this could be tough in multiplayer)

2. From Blocko to Solid Object saving

I figure this could help  reduce lag in the bigger builds, simply by introducing an easy way of merging all the bricks in a save file into a single static object and removing all the unnecessary extra faces you will never see, like those inside the brick walls. (this would simply be very difficult I imagine) (would not work)

139

General Discussion / Big Macros help center

« on: April 20, 2007, 09:00:38 PM »

Dunno if this was posted before or not but here goes.

Steps to building huge macroed things
basics
(* Moving during a recording WILL mess up your macro, even looking around will mess it up)

1- Set a ghost block down and remember it's initial position/rotation (in reference to your view, i.e. a slope facing towards you as a starting brick is a good option as it is easily remembered. If you plan on saving the macro, you can also include the starting brick and it's facing direction in the maccro title). This will the first brick you lay down at the beginning of the macro recording so make sure it's where you want it and facing in which direction you want it to face.

2- Hit record and start building the object (do not look around, keep the camera at the exact same angle at all times, do no strafe/move around. Like step 1 says, make sure you do not move/rotate the starting brick after you hit Record Maccro, as this will mess everything up. Where you placed the starting ghost brick before you started recording is where you will lay the starting brick once you begin recording )

3- Once you finished the object, stop the recording (After recording is complete, it's safe to move around).

4- Place the starting ghost brick on the ground, in the exact same angle/rotation as in step 1's brick (in our previous example, starting with the sloped brick facing towards you, the brick you set down when you want to begin the macro sequence should be the very same slope brick facing towards you), replay the macro to see if it works

Notes - Macro building depends on your View direction, not on it's original position on the grid. Say you made a minifig statue that's facing towards you (you built it, without changing camera view, the end result was the statue facing you), when you rebuild it using the macro, the statue will be rebuilt facing you yet again from you camera view perspective.

- Also, I highly recommend you avoid the use 2x2s or any other perfectly symetrical blocks to start the macro sequence with.  This simply because when you're using the finished macro, you need to use the exact same starting brick with it's exact same orientation.
(This only really matters for macros that have slope bricks in them)
Say you start with a 2x4x1 (regular brick)
           Original Macro                    N                       Bad Orientation                   S
            Starting position                 ____                     To begin the macro               ____
                                                  |O O|                          sequence                      |O O|
                                                  |O O|                                                             |O O|
                                                  |O O|                                                             |O O|
                                                  |O O|                                                             |O O|
                                                   
                                                     S                                                                    N
                                                Camera facing     North

The difference between the block rotated so it's north face faces northwards and the one where it's rotated in the opposite direction is pretty easy to see in this illustration, however in blockland you can't tell which way it's facing (north side north or South side north? Who knows). This usually calls for Trial and error where you set the ghost brick, rotate it one way and try out the macro. If it succeeds, hurray, if it doesn't, set another ghost starting brick in front of you and try again this time rotating in the opposite direction. If it still doesn't work, then the problem lies elsewhere.

- Stuff your brick inventory with all the bricks you will need. Macros record the bricks you have in your inventory (Not sure if this is at the end or in the beginning, assume it's at the beginning) and then the macroing process will select the bricks from the inventory when you  use the macro. (Macros using more than 10 bricks will need to be 2 seperated macros)

Hope this helps

140

Modification Help / Offset rotating particles

« on: April 20, 2007, 05:13:46 PM »

I want to make something like an electrical storm type of particle emitter, how do I get particles to spin around the object they spawn from?

141

Gallery / Space Elevator Superstructure complete!

« on: April 16, 2007, 12:22:16 PM »

Yup, the structure is finally done (woop!!). Block count is somewhere around 49500 bricks, I forget.

Allthough it looks complete, it's pretty bare, so I wouldn't say it's a done deal just yet.

What I'm planning on doing is straightforward, but it's going to require alot more time

1- Create a Visit-type version of it
       This will be the completely furnished build for people interrested in visiting it.

2- Create a DM-Friendly version
       Cut down on emitters, strategically positioned furnishing for cover, etc.  This will be alot less laggy in some cases than the visiting version. This version will also be much better for visitors with comps that simply can't handle the shear amount of emitters and special bricks (undolu/glowing bricks) No bulky stuff or things that could get in the way in a fire fight.

All this might take, oh I don't know, another 3 weeks at best (Exams end for me the 23rd)


Here's the low down on the station, it has 5 sections (an Agri-dome, Research lab, Factory, military hangar and the main core)
There's also a Base facility, this is pretty much where you board the happy fun elevator that leads to the station.
Here's another fun fact: This thing is positively huge

The base facility
side

front


The elevator


The station
Factory



Agri-dome



Research lab



Military hangar




The Core



You might also be wondering why it took so long, well I kept macroing to a minimum, moslty because I never got over that time it took me 3 hours to macro a 200 brick mech.

Key features

- Optional Sheild load
   This is the secret defensive mechanism I was talking about. It's a giant sheild that envelops most of the station (excluding the core tower).  It is effectively and almost completely invisible (visible from far away), and it Loads under invisible paint as well.
Problems: The lag! Oh my god the lag is terrible!
Answers: Build it with 4 single gigantic bricks as walls instead of 1000 2x12x5 bricks, but I'm too lazy to measure and use Brick mods.
...Why?: To keep stunt plane greifers at bay (it works pretty well too, The lag kills them)

-The structure is mostly rocket proof
  Unless you're using a ridiculously powerful weapon (Sniper Rifle against bricks = automatic bricksplosion) you won't have much luck blasting through this thing.

Oh yeah, here's a teaser save http://www.mediafire.com/?ejm4ddzmtjt

Some other stuff
I MIGHT be doing a preopening to let other builders help me with the furnishing. IF I decide to do this, I'll post another thread to advise people of the date/time and how it's going to work.

Some problems
It finally outgrew the Slopes map. Outgrew as in the high altitude spawn point is no longer high enough for all the bricks to spawn correctly.  What this means is that visitors, who will probably not be aware of this, will either
1- Jump off the mountain, leading to the entire build not loading correctly for them
2- stay on the hill, in which case will cause most of the build to load correctly, but the top of the core tower will glitch out
3- Jetpack immediately to the correct altitude, allowing the build to load correctly

I was planning initialy to build a warning box around the spawn point telling visitors to stay in the box until they see a green light appear (still in testing).  Now that the spawn point is no longer high enough, this simply means that I'll need to get a slopes map with a higher spawn point (any help offered with this would be well appreciated)

Another issue is that people will absolutely want to drive vehicles off the station (I really don't blame them, it's pretty fun). What happens is that the vehicles actualy pass through the grid sometimes and this will tend to mess up brick positioning for the client side (or maybe even the server, although I'm not exaclty sure)

Other suggestions/ideas/comments are very welcome.  Also feel free to rate the build so far.

142

Modification Help / Making a 3-D explosion

« on: April 14, 2007, 08:40:04 PM »

How do I make 3-D explosions when a bullet/projectile hits something? (i.e. like the one from the rocket launcher)  I made my own explosion using Milkshape but it won't appear when the weapon's projectile hits the ground.  The weapon script I used is based off of the regular gun script.

Here's the code I used for the explosion particle

Code: [Select]

datablock ExplosionData(IonCannonExplosion)
{
   //explosionShape = "";
   explosionShape = "./shapes/IonCannonLaserExplosion.dts";
soundProfile = IonCannonExplosionSound;

   lifeTimeMS = 500;

   particleEmitter = IonCannonExplosionEmitter;
   particleDensity = 100;
   particleRadius = 100;

   emitter[0] = IonCannonExplosionRingEmitter;

   faceViewer     = true;
   explosionScale = "10 10 10";

   shakeCamera = true;
   camShakeFreq = "34.0 38.0 34.0";
   camShakeAmp = "25.0 30.0 25.0";
   camShakeDuration = 2.0;
   camShakeRadius = 500.0;

   // Dynamic light
   lightStartRadius = 500;
   lightEndRadius = 300;
   lightStartColor = "1 1 1 1";
   lightEndColor = "0 0 0 0";

   damageRadius = 100;
   radiusDamage = 200;

   impulseRadius = 200;
   impulseForce = 15000;
};

143

Modification Help / Multiple muzzle points

« on: April 02, 2007, 03:18:48 PM »

What code do you use to assign a weapon with multiple muzzle points? I want to make a weapon that fires from 4 turrets at the same time let's say. Also, what name do you have to give to the extra joints you want the weapon to fire from?

144

Modification Help / [Request] State Systems Tutorial

« on: March 31, 2007, 03:42:36 PM »

I'd like to learn how to make my own State Comands for weapons. Right now I don't really know how they work or how to "stack" them one on top of the other in a sequence. I also don't know any of the state functions particularly, or pretty much anything about them.

In case you're wondering or might not know, I'm talking about these

Code: [Select]

   // Initial start up state
stateName[0]                     = "Activate";
stateTimeoutValue[0]             = 0.15;
stateTransitionOnTimeout[0]       = "Ready";
stateSound[0] = weaponSwitchSound;

stateName[1]                     = "Ready";
stateTransitionOnTriggerDown[1]  = "Fire";
stateAllowImageChange[1]         = true;
stateSequence[1] = "Ready";

stateName[2]                    = "Fire";
stateTransitionOnTimeout[2]     = "Smoke";
stateTimeoutValue[2]            = 0.14;
stateFire[2]                    = true;
stateAllowImageChange[2]        = false;
stateSequence[2]                = "Fire";
stateScript[2]                  = "onFire";
stateWaitForTimeout[2] = true;
stateEmitter[2] = gunFlashEmitter;
stateEmitterTime[2] = 0.05;
stateEmitterNode[2] = "muzzleNode";
stateSound[2] = gunShot1Sound;
stateEjectShell[2]       = true;

stateName[3] = "Smoke";
stateEmitter[3] = gunSmokeEmitter;
stateEmitterTime[3] = 0.05;
stateEmitterNode[3] = "muzzleNode";
stateTimeoutValue[3]            = 0.01;
stateTransitionOnTimeout[3]     = "Reload";

stateName[4] = "Reload";
stateSequence[4]                = "Reload";
stateTransitionOnTriggerUp[4]     = "Ready";
stateSequence[4] = "Ready";

};
Any help would be appreciated

145

Modification Help / Need help with Weapon Animation

« on: March 31, 2007, 09:19:21 AM »

I'm trying to create a weapon in Milkshape and add an animation sequence to it (Specificaly a rotation animation). How does it work?

146

Gallery / Space Elevator Project (Very Heavy)

« on: March 11, 2007, 03:12:51 PM »

I've been working on this giant thing for a week now.  The structure itself is made up of 3 parts, the first being the base, the second the elevator shaft itself and the third being the station at the top.

Starting off, a pic of the whole structure
[/img]

Beginning the tour, we'll hit the base facility. Here's the front
[/img]

And a side view of some pipes and valves and stuff
[/img]

And an underside view of the facility
[/img]

Now some interior views, the small hangar
[/img]

And the Elevator shaft entrance
[/img]

Here's a roof top view of the elevator
[/img]

Now we jetpack upwards for about a minute, and reach the station (largely unfinished, but it's getting there)
Starting off with a view of the entrance
[/img]

And a view of the hangar (Yes, you can actualy land Stunt planes back in with reletive ease, it's aweseome!)
[/img]

And to finish things off, a view of the side seeing the Hangar and Soon-to-be occupied factory bay
[/img]

And an overall view of the station from above
[/img]

It's largely unfinished (Need to add furnishing, more lasers, more fire, maybe even more lasers, and Half Life 2 Prints a bit everywhere would be nice). Feel free to rate x/10 of what you think up until now.

147

Help / How do I post images?

« on: March 10, 2007, 03:02:53 PM »

This is a dumb question, but how do I post pictures on the forums?