Mobile vehicles

[Shep]

This may be a little much but couldn't you make a mobile vehicle using the same method as the platform at the end of the game that elevated you to the next level? Well what if you could make a tour vehicle or Hammond's oooh so special monorail. Yes if you were surrounded by objects pressing on you then you would likely lag through them but in something like a monorail you could have some empty space and you could walk around with little problem. But ofcourse I would guess it could go about 10mph without trespasser being trespasser.

[machf]

Hmmm... try playing The Four Towers, maybe there you'll find something you may like.

[TheIdiot]

This may be a little much but couldn't you make a mobile vehicle using the same method as the platform at the end of the game that elevated you to the next level? Well what if you could make a tour vehicle or Hammond's oooh so special monorail. Yes if you were surrounded by objects pressing on you then you would likely lag through them but in something like a monorail you could have some empty space and you could walk around with little problem. But ofcourse I would guess it could go about 10mph without trespasser being trespasser.

There are many ways I've thought of or (as machf pointed out in his Four Towers level) seen done, but the problem is that it's kind of tricky to pull off. You can use ASA animations, which are a pain to script and cause all sorts of physics problems (though it works fine for vehicles you won't interact with; see the helicopter in Christmas Crisis or the jeep in the JPDS test level) to give the vehicle a set path. I've also seen cars that you pick up by the steering wheel and walk around with to simulate a moving vehicle, though it sort of ended up looking like a goofy, Flintstones-style feet-car rather than true driving. Aside from that, you can definitely use the same sort of trigger used for the elevator movement-style to make it happen, though the way it's set up sort of limits it to a linear movement pattern from what I understand. Things like the TC Isle pteranodon are a good example of a way you could set up a vehicle moving in a circular motion however.

In essence, you just need to be extremely creative to circumvent the fact that we can't simply order an object to move along a multi-node path with physics intact. ASA animation would work great if only the friggen object kept its physics! It CAN be done, it would just require a ton of triggers set up in a very specific manner.

Hmmm... try playing The Four Towers, maybe there you'll find something you may like.

I still can't work out how you pulled that off! It works so strangely well that it seems too good to be true.

[Fenris]

Got a little surprise coming for you all when Drac and I can wrap our combined heads round the matter, it won't be a drivable vehicle as such but it will be transport of a fashion and it does give me an idea for how one might make a jeep "drive" easily... Chances are my idea would just go hilariously wrong and shoot you into space though As it is I've already had conversations today about a wide range of ideas you don't see much of and the possibility of beheading the player with an accidentally flung Eodromeus.

[machf]

(as machf pointed out in his Four Towers level)

I still can't work out how you pulled that off! It works so strangely well that it seems too good to be true.

Wait, that's not my level, it was made by TptDac, I'm just a big fan of that level.
And in fact it was the inspiration for my (still unreleased) Pens level...

[Shep]

Thank you all for telling me some examples and I will make sure to try those games.

[Draconisaurus]

I want to note that objects in ASA animations DO NOT LOSE THEIR PHYSICS! It's a common misinterpretation of the description that ASA animated objs follow a strict path that is heedless of physical interation. ASA animated objs will still hit things and cause them to move etc. So in theory an ASA car is possible.

I personally like the handheld car thingy Then again it is my creation..
Also the moving jeep in JPDS~testing is NOT ASA, it is a physics script that tells the jeep to move on a specific direction at a specific speed, with a moving block that rolls around with local physics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOjx-xvAM1M

[machf]

I personally like the handheld car thingy Then again it is my creation..

Hmmm, don't know which one you mean, but I certainly made one myself long ago... I don't remember if the video I made was among the ones that got lost when Webshots was "reorganized", but I still have it on my HDD, found it last week.

[TheIdiot]

I want to note that objects in ASA animations DO NOT LOSE THEIR PHYSICS! It's a common misinterpretation of the description that ASA animated objs follow a strict path that is heedless of physical interation. ASA animated objs will still hit things and cause them to move etc. So in theory an ASA car is possible.

Hmm, I've never been able to pull it off. I've tried animating a helicopter that the player was supposed to stand inside, but she ended up falling straight through it every time. When the script wasn't running, it was fine, but as soon as the trigger for the ASA went off, you dropped right through the floor.

Also the moving jeep in JPDS~testing is NOT ASA, it is a physics script that tells the jeep to move on a specific direction at a specific speed, with a moving block that rolls around with local physics.

Wow, I guess I'll have to look at that and see if that concept can be taken further. I'll have to watch the rest of your videos, too, since I've never seen them before.

[Draconisaurus]

Hmm, I've never been able to pull it off. I've tried animating a helicopter that the player was supposed to stand inside, but she ended up falling straight through it every time. When the script wasn't running, it was fine, but as soon as the trigger for the ASA went off, you dropped right through the floor.

Urg, I don't know what to say. For example in TC~Isle, I am quite sure that you cannot walk through the crater facility doors while they are opening. There might be a connection with whether or not the animated objs' physics are originally set as Moveable or not. I can easily imagine Tres not liking it when non-moveable objects are moving ingame. Don't suppose you can check this detail on your helicopter?

Also the moving jeep in JPDS~testing is NOT ASA, it is a physics script that tells the jeep to move on a specific direction at a specific speed, with a moving block that rolls around with local physics.

Wow, I guess I'll have to look at that and see if that concept can be taken further. I'll have to watch the rest of your videos, too, since I've never seen them before.

Let me know what you think! (I don't check youtube comments, btw..)

[Slugger]

Hmm, I've never been able to pull it off. I've tried animating a helicopter that the player was supposed to stand inside, but she ended up falling straight through it every time. When the script wasn't running, it was fine, but as soon as the trigger for the ASA went off, you dropped right through the floor.

Urg, I don't know what to say. For example in TC~Isle, I am quite sure that you cannot walk through the crater facility doors while they are opening. There might be a connection with whether or not the animated objs' physics are originally set as Moveable or not. I can easily imagine Tres not liking it when non-moveable objects are moving ingame. Don't suppose you can check this detail on your helicopter?

Sorry for the resurrection, but Draco, you are referring to the crater's elevator's doors? The opening of the doors is not a physical animation; it's an animated texture. The door is composed of the animating surface and an additional solid core (which is invisible) that is immovable, which I assume is to prevent the player from moving through the doors while the animation is playing. When the animation finishes both objects are teleported so the player can enter the elevator's cage.

TheIdiot, I don't believe that Anne's mesh itself is moved in any way when using ASA animations, unless you specifically include it in the ASA script. What I mean by that, is if Anne is standing inside a box, and you move the box via an ASA animation, only the box will be moved -- the ASA animation system seems to be distinct from the physics-driven world and it ignores any object's physics (and physics interactions) until the animation has completed. Which is different than a physics-driven event (recall that TC Isle's elevators are not moved by an ASA script but rather by having an impulse applied along their vertical axis).

[TheIdiot]

TheIdiot, I don't believe that Anne's mesh itself is moved in any way when using ASA animations, unless you specifically include it in the ASA script. What I mean by that, is if Anne is standing inside a box, and you move the box via an ASA animation, only the box will be moved -- the ASA animation system seems to be distinct from the physics-driven world and it ignores any object's physics (and physics interactions) until the animation has completed. Which is different than a physics-driven event (recall that TC Isle's elevators are not moved by an ASA script but rather by having an impulse applied along their vertical axis).

Exactly as I thought. Thanks for clearing that up. Having done more testing, it seems the physics remain in their original position until the object has ended the animation. It's as if the object stops existing while animating and teleports to where the animation has finished. But the teleportation at the end seems to work absolutely fine, to the point that the player will retain all of her bones and such without issue. I wonder what would happen if you ASA animated a CAnimal dinosaur...

[Slugger]

I wonder what would happen if you ASA animated a CAnimal dinosaur...

I do recall experimenting with that, however I can't recall the exact outcome. I think what happened is that the dinosaur in a physical-sense became deactivated and the appearance it took when being moved was that of what it is its 'neutral' state (i.e. the unactivated mesh that you import in). Like you've noted, after the ASA animation finished then the physics took over just fine. I could be mistaken though, it's been a while (I think I was experimenting to see if I could make a stampede).

[Draconisaurus]

Urgh... I trust you guys on this the-physics-teleport thing. That sucks What about animating moveable physics boxes specifically? Something to test...

[Slugger]

Urgh... I trust you guys on this the-physics-teleport thing. That sucks What about animating moveable physics boxes specifically? Something to test...

You knew $-objects and solid instances? I'd imagine you'd get the same result. I think the physics is disabled during those ASA animations regardless of the origin of the object. But never hurts to try.