******Official Star Citizen / Squadron 42 Thread******

*looks around at the tumbleweed*

Strange how quiet it can go in here. Looking good, Tumbril mechanics seems to be working nicely too which was a surprise tbh although some of that will be built in Cryengine I guess or are they too far along the fork for that on the moving objects in space etc?
 
So, I updated everything gamewise yesterday to have a quick nose around but never actually got as far as booting into a game as it just timed out. However a few hours later I've received 2 emails requesting I join a Test org then Corp org. Did everyone get these? Are they spam? Phishing or legit?
 
So, I updated everything gamewise yesterday to have a quick nose around but never actually got as far as booting into a game as it just timed out. However a few hours later I've received 2 emails requesting I join a Test org then Corp org. Did everyone get these? Are they spam? Phishing or legit?

impossible to know without seeing them.
 
That's actually pretty cool and has annoyed me in so many games. Props to them if they solved it, well worth the development time spent.

It's not exactly an unsolved problem. Plenty of games have excellent animation systems that deal with irregular terrain. Take For Honor for instance that has to deal with vastly more complicated animations. This isn't on that issue in particular, but gives some perspective.

http://www.gameanim.com/2016/05/03/motion-matching-ubisofts-honor/

It's cool that SC gives people get an idea of the amount of effort involved in AAA development...but sheesh, the Kool Aid is a bit strong sometimes.
 
It's not exactly an unsolved problem. Plenty of games have excellent animation systems that deal with irregular terrain. Take For Honor for instance that has to deal with vastly more complicated animations. This isn't on that issue in particular, but gives some perspective.

http://www.gameanim.com/2016/05/03/motion-matching-ubisofts-honor/

It's cool that SC gives people get an idea of the amount of effort involved in AAA development...but sheesh, the Kool Aid is a bit strong sometimes.

You're missing the point, good terrain animation is one thing but that rock is not terrain, its a brush object, it doesn't have terrain tessellation, it has very little tessellation of any sort.

Read what i said.


tavern_upload_large.jpg


The IK animation system is still one my favorite parts. It just helps make things look better in game instead of odd super weird clipping.

Yeah there is even more to it than that, the player does not normally know the contours of that rock because the collision physics don't follow the visual contours to that extent, its much more of just a roughly shaped block underneath. And this sums up Star Citizen, for better or worse....

Anyother game he would be standing normally with his left foot on the side of the steep hanging in mid air or his right foot clipping into the rock, its the sort of thing where Chris would look at that and say "i don't like it, do something about it" and so they invented a system where the CPU will tessellate the geometry directly under the player so it can calculate collision and then program the players animation in so many ways and with such granularity and physics to react accordingly, the result is that subtle detail you see in that clip, depending on your perspective its what makes this game and project so impressive, or over the top waste of time.... i think the former.

Just like the image i posted a few days ago, i'm no expert but i do know enough about Ridged Body Physics in game development to know what they did here in getting the physics to behave in the way they do on this ship is incredible, and it looks awesome.

https://i.imgur.com/hEZ2pbW.mp4

Anyway, the video..... it may not be high res, still processing, should be 1440P.

 
You're missing the point, good terrain animation is one thing but that rock is not terrain, its a brush object, it doesn't have terrain tessellation, it has very little tessellation of any sort.

Read what i said.

Brush, terrain, it's all just a mesh. Nice little touch sure. But every AAA game under the sun is full of little details like this that people have poured hours, days, weeks into. They'll maybe get a GDC talk...but otherwise most people just take it for granted.

SC isn't 'special' in this regard...

The difference is that you don't get a running commentary pointing out all of these things so you don't notice them.

*and those other AAA games have actually been released ;)
 
*and those other AAA games have actually been released ;)

Most "AAA" games are worse than the indie games being released, they are rushed, full of bugs and generally lack any sort of imagination or ambition until someone else, usually an indie game does it first.

EA are now looking at developing an SC style game btw.
 
Most "AAA" games are worse than the indie games being released, they are rushed, full of bugs and generally lack any sort of imagination or ambition until someone else, usually an indie game does it first.

EA are now looking at developing an SC style game btw.

oh? link?
 
Most "AAA" games are worse than the indie games being released, they are rushed, full of bugs and generally lack any sort of imagination or ambition until someone else, usually an indie game does it first.

EA are now looking at developing an SC style game btw.

Uh-huh.

Well I keep coming back every now and then to see if Star Citizen is any closer to release and any less full of bugs....and just find people repeating their Kool Aid justifications for the thing never being released. Foot IK...jeez no one's ever done that before.
 
Yeah there is even more to it than that, the player does not normally know the contours of that rock because the collision physics don't follow the visual contours to that extent, its much more of just a roughly shaped block underneath. And this sums up Star Citizen, for better or worse....

Anyother game he would be standing normally with his left foot on the side of the steep hanging in mid air or his right foot clipping into the rock, its the sort of thing where Chris would look at that and say "i don't like it, do something about it" and so they invented a system where the CPU will tessellate the geometry directly under the player so it can calculate collision and then program the players animation in so many ways and with such granularity and physics to react accordingly, the result is that subtle detail you see in that clip, depending on your perspective its what makes this game and project so impressive, or over the top waste of time.... i think the former.

Just like the image i posted a few days ago, i'm no expert but i do know enough about Ridged Body Physics in game development to know what they did here in getting the physics to behave in the way they do on this ship is incredible, and it looks awesome.

https://i.imgur.com/hEZ2pbW.mp4

Anyway, the video..... it may not be high res, still processing, should be 1440P.


that is undoubtedly some very clever and inventive stuff, but isn't it just a total waste of effort and CPU power etc? unless you're in 3rd person looking at your feet, or happen to have a bunch of other characters around you and there's no action going on that's taking your attention, it just seems another example of a lot of wasted effort to produce a clever effect to wow people at conventions that doesn't really do anything useful to progess the game to a playable version.
 
that is undoubtedly some very clever and inventive stuff, but isn't it just a total waste of effort and CPU power etc? unless you're in 3rd person looking at your feet, or happen to have a bunch of other characters around you and there's no action going on that's taking your attention, it just seems another example of a lot of wasted effort to produce a clever effect to wow people at conventions that doesn't really do anything useful to progess the game to a playable version.

Since it is meant to be aiming for an MMO then surely seeing 100 others clipping up and down stairs like a 90's game isn't it good to finally get that sorted. The ability to do this and the way they are doing it is reasonably light weight. It adds the ability to traverse terrain that is tessellated correctly so that you are not floating through the ground whilst your moving about. Yeah it isn't the most needed feature but it is things like this that all add up to make a new experience. As gamers we ask for new and next gen but someone starts to do parts of that and then we moan it takes too long to develop. We are very fickle tbh with this.
 
Brush, terrain, it's all just a mesh. Nice little touch sure. But every AAA game under the sun is full of little details like this that people have poured hours, days, weeks into. They'll maybe get a GDC talk...but otherwise most people just take it for granted.

SC isn't 'special' in this regard...

The difference is that you don't get a running commentary pointing out all of these things so you don't notice them.

*and those other AAA games have actually been released ;)

You don't really seem to understand what is being done, how it is achieved and why it is a big deal not purely for SC but for games in general. And yeah these details are what start to take games from current gen to next gen stuff. You can do so much but all the little details add up fo hopefully a more immersive feeling game.

Tbh I haven't played much and not been interested in testing. I purchased the cheapest package in 2014 and just follow the development and pop on for a few hours for each patch and then wait for the next to see how it feels. With that when 3.0 was working for a little while during Xmas it was very enjoyable and had more content than a few games I have brought. Problem is of course stability. That is no surprise being in development.

From 3.1 and the first half of the weeks patches was really good with being able to play on mates rig with pretty solid 40-60fps and was really fun to play with some others. If they can get some more content and the network stuff over the next 12 months then tbh there is a heck of a lot in there to make it for me worthwhile. It isn't to do with kool-aid just what some of us happen to enjoy playing.
 
Since it is meant to be aiming for an MMO then surely seeing 100 others clipping up and down stairs like a 90's game isn't it good to finally get that sorted. The ability to do this and the way they are doing it is reasonably light weight. It adds the ability to traverse terrain that is tessellated correctly so that you are not floating through the ground whilst your moving about. Yeah it isn't the most needed feature but it is things like this that all add up to make a new experience. As gamers we ask for new and next gen but someone starts to do parts of that and then we moan it takes too long to develop. We are very fickle tbh with this.
no, i think we ask for a game that's playable. ****** about w/ all this icing is still leaving the cake unmade, someone in CG needs to look up the word "priorities". if the game was up and running anywhere like it was supposed to be, not a single shage would be given about the odd time you MIGHT see a blit clipping whilst running about on uneven terrain w/out having your attention taking by shooting/being shot at, exploring or whatever. trying to claim a detial like this is important and of priority is stupid, and that's why people moan.
 
You don't really seem to understand what is being done, how it is achieved and why it is a big deal not purely for SC but for games in general. And yeah these details are what start to take games from current gen to next gen stuff. You can do so much but all the little details add up fo hopefully a more immersive feeling game.

I do understand what is being done. The game I'm working on already has far more impressive animation features for much more complex rigs. Hence I don't buy this BS that CiG is unique in 'pushing the boundaries'. They're just spinning the sort of work that is totally ho-hum current gen for anyone in the AAA space as some bold frontier pushing, for the good of all gamerkind....as justification for their inability to ship a product.

Correct foot placement is a solved problem. So they had to tesselate their collision geometry, big whoop. Praise be Chris Roberts :rolleyes:

All this stuff will be cool when they actually ship a game. Until then it's all fluff. They are 5+ years into building an MMO and their network stack is still an utter turd....but hey look at the feet!
 
I do understand what is being done. The game I'm working on already has far more impressive animation features for much more complex rigs.

Lets see what you've done then. I am not suggesting you haven't done so but I have yet to see it or play a game with what you claim in. Is your game able to be tested in Alpha/EA or similar? Can you show a video of it working in game?

It isn't they are unique to pushing tech either. Again no one is suggesting that.

Loads of companies are pushing the boundary of tech and how it works and whats going on and that's fine. However that doesn't mean CIG are not either. It also doesn't mean someone isn't going to better it. But at this time I am not aware of another game that can produce the same results and be utilised in all situations for that specific mechanic of trying to remove clipping issues and allow better and more realistic freedom of movement.

These details to get into a game that I can test at moment and play with friends rather than being on a Dev build hidden from site till release.

For Honour was brought up earlier and they have some excellent transition animations with fluid movements. That is pretty similar to the speed adjustment to what CIG done with the slow walk to sprint system also to make things fluid and they will be adding more as time goes through but why compare a finished animated rig to something in development?

They don't use the same tech or system and For Honour isn't dealing with nearly as much terrain or similar to traverse. In fact most of the areas interaction surfaces are completely flat because of this issue.

Edit: Current gen is also shipped products. I pointed out that I am not aware of any shipped products. If you are working on something now system wise that is as good or surpasses what they are doing that is cool but that also is next gen since it isn't out. That is where the basic understanding is missing with your point.

People work on tech all the time but getting it shipped to players to experience is a different thing. Since I can log into 3.1 and test the experience in the game then that is currently closer to reality than unknown products with unknown tech I cannot see being developed.
 
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no, i think we ask for a game that's playable. ****** about w/ all this icing is still leaving the cake unmade, someone in CG needs to look up the word "priorities". if the game was up and running anywhere like it was supposed to be, not a single shage would be given about the odd time you MIGHT see a blit clipping whilst running about on uneven terrain w/out having your attention taking by shooting/being shot at, exploring or whatever. trying to claim a detial like this is important and of priority is stupid, and that's why people moan.

Then you are probably missing why you have different teams working on different things. There was one person who put together the movement IK system in CIG's team and that is his job to do. It is also fundamental in them working all the animations to the systems for all the characters so they can utilise it in more complex animations later.

This is the foundation part of the animation system that goes with the motion capture system and getting the different parts hooked up before fleshing it out with hundreds of animations for all the mechanics. You seem to be under the impression that its taken 200 people or something to put these details in which just isn't the case.
 
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