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Dogs and Wildlife... Soon™... Now taking tester applications.


MisterInSayne

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*epic music starts playing*

 

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This thread will get more info along the making of the mod. And eventually the mod itself... for now... enjoy this teaser.

 

There will be no public test versions untill we feel content with the state of the mod. However, starting now, people can submit applications if they are interested in being a tester through private messaging.

 

This project is being done in collaboration with the amazingly epic WolfeClaw!

Edited by MisterInSayne
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Still if you left him out there even if the zombies leave him alive he could die of cold starvation etc

 

(Now I think of it would be interesting for dogs to randomly spawn some wild some used to have owners and the not as tuff weather resistant dogs say the pug and chuwawa would be the first home pets to die out followed by then next weakest with only after a few months a few breeds will remain in the wild of course you can save the weaker breeds by acting fast and making them your pet and keeping care of them well maybe put a sweater over them when its cold lol)

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I have one big question, how are you putting new animations or the 3D model of the dog in the game?

Glad you asked. Right now I'm animating different animations for the dog over 60 frames in Maya, then setting it to specific intervals to then render each image. Put simply, we're currently using sprites that are made from 3d models. I actually have a camera that looks down on the model from an orthographic view that matches the isometric perspective in the game, which I then rotate by 45 degrees each time to get the next direction (North, North East, East, etc.).

The fact that I'm doing this in 3d and converting the results into sprites means that it looks pretty damn close to the original style of the game (which I think is awesome!) but it also means that a single frame of animation requires 9 individually rendered images that I then have to scale down manually and refine before finally saving, naming properly and uploading them. It's very tedious, but I think it's worth it. :D

This way, of course, isn't the ideal way of doing things, but it definitely works for now. If we ever get custom models with animations working in-game, everything I've made so far has actually been rigged and animated, so I don't see why we wouldn't be able to throw it in without much effort if such a thing was possible in the future. Hopefully that clears that up! :P

(Also, if you were asking more specifically about the coding aspects, I'm sorry, I'm just the artist ;))

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I have one big question, how are you putting new animations or the 3D model of the dog in the game?

Glad you asked. Right now I'm animating different animations for the dog over 60 frames in Maya, then setting it to specific intervals to then render each image. Put simply, we're currently using sprites that are made from 3d models. I actually have a camera that looks down on the model from an orthographic view that matches the isometric perspective in the game, which I then rotate by 45 degrees each time to get the next direction (North, North East, East, etc.).

The fact that I'm doing this in 3d and converting the results into sprites means that it looks pretty damn close to the original style of the game (which I think is awesome!) but it also means that a single frame of animation requires 9 individually rendered images that I then have to scale down manually and refine before finally saving, naming properly and uploading them. It's very tedious, but I think it's worth it. :D

This way, of course, isn't the ideal way of doing things, but it definitely works for now. If we ever get custom animations working in-game, everything so far has actually been rigged and animated, so I don't see why we wouldn't be able to throw it in properly without much effort if such a thing was possible in the future. Hopefully that clears that up! :P

(Also, if you were asking more specifically about the coding aspects, I'm sorry, I'm just the artist ;))

 

That one well detailed description! :D And you're more than 'just' the artist! You're my collaborator! ^__^ <3 If it wasn't for you, this wouldn't have been possible! So, guys, give WolfeClaw all the praise for the amazing sprite work and animations!

 

Here are some technical specs we have so far for those among us that are interested!

The current code is only 500 lines of work, efficiency was a focus aspect. (even though I've written over thousands of lines for this, to test stuff out, then made it more compact, found better ways, etc). Most coding is custom coding. It currently uses the native pathfinding, which is only temporary. I plan to write my own pathfinding system, which at this point isn't decided to be an overlay onto the native pathfinding, a hybrid, or a full custom system.

 

For my fellow coders. Here is something you will like;

-- Added Events:LuaEventManager.AddEvent("OnAnimalDead");LuaEventManager.AddEvent("OnAnimalUpdate");LuaEventManager.AddEvent("OnAnimalCreated");

The animal object has it's own custom update tick, and will send it's data over to any triggers you hook to these events. So modders will be able to mod this, or add to this. However, it's not allowed to adjust or use the original coding, but anything a mod needs for their additions will be added by request ofcourse.

In other words, the mod itself will be on lockdown permission. However, I will make sure it is moddable further, and using the event's or hooks will be free for all. I will also add a full section that is specifically for modders to use without the need of permissions. This is not because I want to keep people from using my code, rather because this infact makes it easier to use it for other modders.

 

The Animals use a custom LOS system I've previously mentioned in a different thread. Having custom LOS system instead of the native one means I can add triggers to specific things per animal, and change what specifications will be classified as 'enemy', 'prey', 'friendly', 'danger', etc per animal. This again, will have hooks other mods can use, which may be set up a little different than the normal event system. This are things like "onSpottedDanger" or reversed "onSpottedPrey" when for example a "Wolf" and a "Bunny" spot one another.

 

Animals will not "randomly" spawn in the world. Instead, they will be logically spawned into the world.

What I mean with that is, bunnies and such will spawn in forests, rats and such will spawn around houses and shops with food. It will still have a random factor to it ofcourse, but it won't be completely random.

 

For right now the behaviours for animals is restricted due to it being impossible to customise or influence the native pathfinding. One of the issues this causes currently is that dogs think that windows aren't a wall, and get stuck on them. The same goes for climbable fences. So untill I write a completely new pathfinding system, or have a way to customize, adjust or influence the native pathfinding, there won't be any behaviours to animals, and they will be getting stuck a lot.

The pathfinding and behaviours will be the most time consuming part of the coding, aswell as the most difficult part to get right. And will take a lot of consideration and research. The A* pathfinding algorithm the native pathfinding system uses is the fastest pathfinding algorithm there is... That is, if you don't allow it to use other data you can apply to it to make a more efficient and faster, but complexer, and ultimately a more controlable system. Which can then be intigrated into the enviouromental awareness of the animals, aswell as behaviourism.

Yes, it's as big as it sounds.

 

I hope this shines some light on any technical questions people have so far. ^__^ <3

 

There will be no public test versions untill we feel content with the state of the mod. However, starting now, people can submit applications if they are interested in being a tester through private messaging.

 

~ MisterInSayne

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WolfeClaw I am so glad you are working with MisterInSayne on this. Your help in the early days of Hydrocraft really got it going. I know you do great art, so thank you for wanting to help with this mod now.

 

I only work with the best mods, it seems.  ^_^

 

Thank you for giving me the opportunity back then. As of right now, I can balance college and modding and the fact that my 3D/2D work can be taken advantage of by this community feels fantastic! I'm always happy to help people with projects, especially when it means that Project Zomboid as a whole gets more content and helps the game grow in popularity. :D

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That's great to hear. I was originally sad/disappointed when you stopped working on the 2D art for Hydrocraft. However now with artist like DeadlyStr1ke, Cyrrent Eiledoll, StalkerCZ (and others), I have more art than I can possibly add each update. I feel very lucky to be in such a situation now. And it looks like you are in the right spot for you now, which makes me happy to see.

 

Also I would not mind taking a peak at this mod if you guys would let me. I do not have time for testing but I would really like to see it in action for myself.

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