chris330

Thanks for the reply. If we were for example, to produce (or more likely acquire-which I have) a basic flight sim engine, then in theory couldn't we - using player input commands - create our own flight model and use an integrator to turn calculated forces and accelerations into positional changes, where said positional changes (yaw,bank,pitch) could then be implemented using your method or the matrix method? Just a thought of a big project which could be undertaken were one so inclined. I'll have a read through my Ian Millington book again and see if I'm still so keen on the idea after reading his matrix part of it I'll be it did mate. You should have seen the amount of time I wasted working on a setpitch function for OFP. I don't even want to talk about it

Hi, Quick question about multi-axis animations, well two axes to be precise. Does ArmA support such animations or does it only support single axis anims like Flashpoint. I had an idea for something which would only work with multi-axis animations. If ArmA is much better in flexibility than Flashpoint then I think I will buy it

Might one ask how a trasnformation matrix would make this easier? I have a good book on the subject relating to games by Ian Millington I could scan a load of the pages in and send them to you UNN if you wanted? It's all about transformation matrices. Would a matrix method be required if one were to want an aircraft to goto any pitch and bank in any given direction? I assume the current solution has some large limitations?

Sounds awesome! [random thought]If one were so inclined could one make a plane body roll and pitch simultaneously using a dual axes scripted animation with a setvelocity loop to make it behave like an aircraft class even if it were of a different base class to an aircraft?[/random thought] This is great news to see this has been radically improved

That's a bit of a shame to hear lads. I looked deep into this in Flashpoint and found that the soldiers had a base animation for whatever they were doing such as walking or whatever and the animation once started absolutely had to complete even if that meant them walking through walls and the like. Try putting an AI at the top of some stairs in flashpoint and scripting a running animation and he'll run straight out of the building into thin air and remain suspended. I'm sure I could script something if only an animation could be made small enough which of course means having to edit anims which as I'm sure you lads will know aint easy. Of course the scope would be limited. It sounds like they're using a very similar platform to Flashpoint on this one which is a little disappointing. Would it be worth me bothering or should I look for another game to try and edit?

I see, thanks for the replies lads

Hi Buzzard, Age don't bother me pal BGE is several years old and its graphics are poop! It's the experience I really like so age wouldn't put me off Planetside

Thanks alot for the help

I'm afraid I've been sucked right back in by Battleground Europe! Never got the chance to give planetside a go. What are it's FPS issues like because BGE's FPS issue are terrible yet I still play!

Sincere apologies I do not have the motherboard manual anymore It came as fitted in a Fujitsu Siemens Scaleo 600 5 years ago. I am not even aware of what CMOS is so again I apologise for my ignorance, but I'm trying to learn about all this cool stuff. Thanks for your reply, sorry I couldn't give a more concrete answer. Is it possible that there is some aspect of the motherboard which is simply not compatible with a modern graphics card? *Edit* Ah I think I do know what that means (the CMOS part). I just loaded up the part where you access that and the aperture is configurable from 4MB to 256MB. Currently it was set on 128MB. Could this be it? The motherboard was trying to talk to the graphics card with an aperture setting too low? Is that possible?

Hi, Following from my earlier question I have a new question! I won't start a new topic as it'll just get locked! I'm curious (purely for the sake of curiousity) to know why a graphics card which physically fits an AGP slot (an AGP card) would not run on an old PC? I've noticed that there are several things quoted with graphics card specs like: 1)Memory Interface 2)DDR rating such as DDR/DDR2/DDR3 Which I don't understand. For my own education, exactly what has to be compatible with what for a graphics card to run on any given machine. I'd like to know this for the future when making more upgrades. I've become quite intriuged with the subject since my AGP motherboard rejected a modern AGP card. The plot thickens as it were. Would someone enlighten me please, thanks

Ah shashman sorry I never saw your reply in the other thread. Thanks for the advice lads.

Sorry to have to ask this here but a mod locked my thread and told me to post my question in here I have recently (after a recommendation) bought an ATI Sapphire X1650 Pro of the AGP type. My 5 year old motherboard has an AGP slot which housed my old graphics card a Radeon 9600. Problem is although the new card physically fits the slot on the motherboard, the computer rejects it by refusing even to start up when it's fitted. The full title of the new card is as follows: X1650 Pro 512Mb DDR2 Is it possible that my 5 year old motherboard is simply not compatible with this new technology? I'm getting a new computer in the near-ish future so the card will still find a home just wondering if there's anyway to make it work with the present motherboard? Would appreciate any advice cheers

Hi, Currently I use a 2GHz processor and a Radeon 9600 graphics card. I'll be buying my own new computer soon with a bigger processor but between now and then I'd like to buy a graphics card with a bit more bang for my buck to speed up my games. I play a game called Battleground Europe and my FPS can drop to sometimes as low as 5! Only when looking at large amounts of buildings does this happen so I'm guessing it's the graphics card which is the bottleneck (please do correct me if I'm wrong). Obviously upgrading the processor is out of the question because I'm buying a new computer but I could do with some advice on what graphics card to buy. I have no knowledge at all of the current market! I don't even know the difference between AGP and PCI! So could someone please give me a good recommendation for a decent graphics card which will give me a few more FPS without breaking the bank. I'd be most thankful. Cheers, Chris

Thanks for the reply! Just one question though, will the five year old computer I use have a PCI-Express slot? I suspect not but could use some advice on that one. Thanks again for your reply.

Thanks for all the replies!

Thanks for the info mate

I'm downloading it now, thanks chaps *Edit* When trying to login it says that they cannot consume an account key at this time. Anyone know what that means?

Thanks for the recommendation

Hi, I'm currently at a bit of a cross-roads in my life and I've dibbled and dabbled a bit and even wrote a few things for Flashpoint whilst I played it but I've decided it's time to get serious about games. I've already been to Uni and don't wish to pursue a career in what I graduated in (engineering). I've picked up a couple of C++ books and read them which have grounded me in the subject plus I've dusted off my calculus knowledge and even had a look at matrices. Problem is the physics engine textbook I bought has opened up a large can of worms in the sense that it is: 1)Too hard to follow at times. and 2)Demonstrates a real lack of understanding (in me) of game basics. So.... Can anyone who has trodden or is treading a similar path recommend me a decent textbook and or/course I could take to ground myself in the basics so I don't have to slog through bitterly hard stuff for 12 months just to find my feet? I really don't like doing things that way I prefer a more gentle gradient. I don't think I've ever known a forum with so much knowledge in it as this one so surely someone can point me in the right direction as I'm at a bit of a dead end at the moment. Thanks in advance

Lol that's true! I started out wanting to write my own physics engine. Put loads of work into researching and bought a Morgan Kaufman book on it too. Several weeks in realised it just aint practical to do and have decided to go with the physics engine which already comes with Torque. Reason I've gone with Torque is because it short-cuts me past years of stuff which would kill morale trying to learn. I'd rather do something which gives a quicker payback and yet allows me to complete the more complex blanks as I go. Torque is an amazing engine and its script is very close to C++ so alot of the stuff you learn in TorqueScript is also teaching you C++. Spot on. Exactly why I chose to go with Torque. Fear not mate I've pissed into the wind enough times in my life to know that the sensible thing to do, really is the sensible thing to do. Thanks Crashdome for the help! That was a great reply. I've bought the Game Programmer's Guide to Torque and it's positively great at explaining things. Using a pre-existing engine will I think avoid many of the exhaustion problems faced by new game developers. Thanks again.

Hi, Sorry to ask a dumb question but I was wondering if I could pick someone's brains about something. How do DirectX and OpenGL relate to C++ and what are they used for? I know someone on here is bound to know. Thanks

Thanks havocsquad

Thanks baddo! I've decided to go with Torque as the graphics engine and utilise a third party physics engine (an open source one) to save time. Best I learn to tweak existing stuff than writing from scratch I have enough work ahead of me as it is Thanks for the pointer (no pun intended lol) to the physics engine you mention. Sounds like you got alot out of it and thus so could I, I think. I'll head over and register there today. Nice to see so much help being offered it seems there are many of us into the same thing!

Some great replies there fellas thanks Do you think I should really then (all things considered) use an existing engine and tweak bits of it instead of starting from scratch? If so which if those mentioned is the best documented? I'm thinking of ODE given the first two replies. Sorry to ask more questions after so many answers but as I'm sure you'll agree it's a deep subject