Hey guys i'm new to the whole scripting thing and had some questions... i'd like to make a multiplayer train level and have it so the train is static and from the train the players can see the terrain and trees and what not flying by. So to make it easy for you guys, i'm wondering

1.Should i try and find/make a texture that emulates moving trees, etc or should i script actual trees passing by?

2a.If i should use a texture, how would i go about making/acquiring one?

2b.If i should script the actual moving objects, what are the commands to create certain models at a point and then make them disappear (i've got the whole movement thing down :-D )

Thanks.

Is the entire playing area for your map the train? If not you have the issue of what the moving surfaces would look like to anyone not on the train.

but...

if the entire "map" is in the train, I could see you moving the "relative world" in a circular manner around the train. Of course movement would be one direction on one side, the other direction on the other side of the train. (Picture yourself standing in the middle of a merry go round with only a small portal to look out of).

I'd think there would be resource issues moving that much.

As for making a texture that emulates trees, as far as I know you can't have movement in tga or dds files (the texture formats).

I commend you for your creativity, but I suspect you have some challenges ahead...

Yes, the map would be played on the train and nothing else.

The texture ordeal i wasnt sure about, and i'm sure if it was possible it would be a pain to make anyways.

As for the resource issue, i was thinking of perhaps having it set at night with a thick fog, making it so there wouldn't be that much going on. Rather than a whole "moving environment" persay, I was envisioning single trees randomly passing and a bridge. Just single models and objects.

BTW Any suggestions whatsoever on how i could do this or perhaps even a better method of "faking" a passing environment would be greatly appreciated

edited on May. 30, 2005 10:13 pm by ARabidWeasel

There are quake engine experts here that can speak with more authority (even, unlike me, get the answer right!) but I think fog actually increases resource loads.

But since you're not recreating an entire world but just a few select elements, doesn't seem like it'd be an issue.

I'd say give it a try on some test maps, wouldn't be too hard to build a long room and put some windows in it. Check out "mp_amusement park" and look at the merry-go-round of sorts they have. Take that idea and expand it to be much larger.

There may be a more elegant way to handle it though. I'm sure some brighter folks will stop by with some good ideas.

Great idea. Here's my input:

Are you using the existing train models or creating your own from brushes/etc? My guess is the latter since the existing train models would allow a person to exit the train and has no method of moving from car to car "inside" the train.

If this is correct, am I also correct in guessing that you will have some "windows"? Obviously since you have the ability to look out at the scenery.

Here's my thoughts: Cover most of the windows with curtains or something. The other "windows" actually make animaged gif textures. There was a thread (not sure if it was here or another board) that showed how to do this using the example of a radar screen. If you keep the number of visible windows per train car to 1 or 2, noone should connect the fact that the scenery doesn't synch up.

I think he means moving the terrian like a conveyer belt (think treadmill), it keeps repeating. If you can sctipt a water texture to "wave" im sure its possible to make it move one way rapidly. Also, can you spawn and delete tree models that move along the terrain?

I know this can be done, A mod for Half-Life (a western mod) had this general idea and had the moving terrain and trees, ect. And I do believe that Half-Life was on a quake engine.

I made a train ones my self, not for cod however.

Make brushes that are close to te train. Like rails and some ground. Make these brushes about the lengt of the total train it self. These brushes must move faster then brushes that are more in the distans. The brushes that are more in the distans must can be bigger then the lengt of the train. Also you can make rocks, homes, the britch, etc... If you make 4 ore more of the same brushes you can put them in a row and make this row moving. Now you must be sure a player can't see the point where a brush is going up or down. So fog can be a option. Now only at the visible site the brushes must line up. at the bottum side a brush can travel the whole way back in just 0.01 sec. I dit this by lowering the brush at the end moving it back and rasing it at begging. This only took 0.03 sec. The same can be done with X-models so you don't have the delete them if you juse them often. Also you would have a problem with the sadow of train moving allong with it. I made a brush myself where the sadow of the train was on and this brush was stasionare like the train. Also DON'T led the train be at the rails when compiling this way you would make a train shadow only on 1 brush thed is flashing by. So you must make a box around the train with the same sky as the level it self. After compiling the script will set the level around the train. Good luck.

the single player mission where you are in a bomber aircraft has terrain moving below...and I can't remembe rexactly how it was done, but perhaps you could investigate that and try to tweak it for your train...or make an airplane map.

I made a fast train map for Cod just to try it out. Now its working for Cod to.

There are only 2 things I dis like about it. 1: If the player jups from the train he will die by the hurt trigger under the train but as he is dead the body of the player stays on that spot and isn't moved form the train. 2: Nates, Smoke nates, weapons and health packets are moved around on the train and com back to the train if the gound comes back to the train. This I can solve I think by just making a block so the stuff is blocked by this block. But the boddy problemen is more difficult to solve.

Well I'm glad to hear that it can be done! Unfortunately i'm nowhere as skilled as you guys. I understand exactly what i have to do with the scripting, but I have no idea how to go about writing the script lol. I'm doing my best to figure it out, but i still have no clue to be honest. Blizzard (or anyone else for that matter), i would be forever indebted to you if you could provide an example of your script for me. I know how to move a single object, but making it so different brushes move in a synchronized way is beyond me. This is a direct result of my lack of knowledge of scripting. So to clear it up here are my newset questions as of yet-

Should the scripting for the objects at a certain distance (IE the objects that pass quickly right by the train as opposed to the objects in the distance that move slowly) be contained in one function?

Is it possible to script terrain meshes to move? I tried converting them to brushmodels, which didnt work (though its completely feasible that im a moron and did it incorrectly).

How would i go about looping functions? (a simple question, i know)

Also, an example script of how i could tie it all together would be much appreciated. Thanks for the posts already made, theyve helped me out immensely