Author Topic: Blockland vs Roblox: Vehicles  (Read 10585 times)

Hmm... So the brick collision thing is based on a grid with each cell the size of a 1x1F, right? Now, if we could make a vehicle that spawns as a, say, small baseplate with wheels, and has its own brick grid (possibly of a limited size depending on A: whether the collision grids can be limited to certain X/Y/Z size, and B: whether it's any easier to accomplish as opposed to an unlimited grid) which would rotate along with the vehicle.

Now there would be the issue of how to tell the game which grid we're trying to build in ('though I think there could be a GUI, a tool, or some keybinding(s) for that), not to forget the question of how many grids the engine could handle before coming crashing down.
I imagine something like that would be possible, but would require a lot of editing to brick rendering/collisions to allow for rotated grids, which most likely won't be happening any time soon.

The "fake" model with everything on it sounds like it would work but it wouldn't be very customisable. (How much lag does hiding/transmitting nodes take? If you put every possible type of slope/curve/decoration in every position on the vehicle, it's going to lag a lot)

Ok, then, here's an idea:
We know the bricks don't move.  Give it up, people; without extensive retooling, we can't magically turn bricks into cars.  What about a vehicle-maker application?  I think either Badspot or someone with access to the source code would have to do this. 
Either...
We make a stipped-down version of BL that is just a slate-style room with a ghost cursor and access to the build menu to make a small build file, then press a button and turn that pattern into a vehicle model, based on all the BL pieces, like how you make such models out of geometric shapes in the first place.  Then it assigns it a generic script, and maybe gives you a menu to customize its features; thrust, stall speed, turning radius, etc.
Or...
We make a quick-app file that cand accept a build file, decide where tthe center is, and convert that into a model, as above.  The build would need to be just the vehicle, no buildings, etc.

Both options will exist in the BL directory and make use of BL's files and mods, and both versions will make vehicle files as they exist now.  We're not changing Blockland, we're simply adding the ability to easily craft our own vehicles that act lie any others.  It will, sadly, not be possible to make them 'on the fly' as we're building, but it will still be easy to make whatever we want, easily.  Eventually, this should come as a standard component in future versions of BL.

It should be really easy to make a Blockland save to LDraw model converter, provided Blockland only uses bricks from it's parts set. I think the only bricks that would give you any trouble are the tree and spawn bricks and custom bricks of course, but you don't need to use those in a vehicle anyway. From LDraw you should be able to export it. A quick google search of LDraw 3ds exporter brings up tons of pages explaining how to export LDraw files in 3ds format, the LDraw Wikipedia article also links to a few exporters.

From .3ds is just a stones throw away to .dts.

Alternatively, if what you were looking for was just a vehicle editor, and you don't care if it's made in Blockland or not, you can just skip straight to LDraw and model your vehicle in that. You'll still need to texture it in another program, and add the mount points or whatever else you need to in another editor.

Note, LDraw is just a parts library, and the only way to make models in it is by entering brick names and their co-ordinates. It's comparable to opening up a Blockland Save in Notepad and trying to build just by entering numbers. Whenever I say LDraw, I really mean one of the many CAD programs designed for it that you need if you want to do anything useful.

I thought LDraw models had the problem of extra/invisible/laggy faces when exported to any other format?

Like Blockland v0002, touching faces weren't hidden or something.

I don't know, do they? I've never done it.

I'd expect they do but it shouldn't be hard to remove them and join the faces that you do see. Or is that really hard?

It's probably quite easy to remove them, but if people forget to then we'll end up with some really bad render lag on some peoples' computers.

« Last Edit: July 07, 2008, 02:06:33 PM by Harm94 »


more grids= more data to transfer




Also, to some extent bricks can be moved by deleting a brick and replacing it nearby-- I have water bricks that "flow" by replacing themselves on adjacent squares.

Also, to some extent bricks can be moved by deleting a brick and replacing it nearby-- I have water bricks that "flow" by replacing themselves on adjacent squares.
That seems like a ridiculous amount of data to calculate if you were to use that method to create a build able vehicle, not to mention it would only be able to move in 8 different ways, not a full circle.