Just got a nice email saying the following







Really can you direct me to this version I ask that we have more performance please its ok running small maps like The Escape which is a good demo on its own but 30fps on high dosen't give you great gameplay and when you start making your own more complex maps the engine just bottles out and melts my £450 graphics card



Perhaps i need to take a break and return when it goes live on steam.



And before anyone says but its Beta/Alpha i know this I just don't think the things that matter the most are being dealt with in the right order and believe quality is being taken away to gain performance where if you start of with a solid base there shouldn't be any need to.



Again this is just my opinion and wanted to share

Im sorry to say, I have to agree here. Fully understanding that this is an Alpha/Beta program, releasing to Steam at this point with so little of what it takes to make any real games worth the time to even think about selling isnt going to go over very well on Steam and the users. Ive seen a video by TGC about the Reloaded program back when it was in kick starter. It was quite impressive and clearly was NOT built with anything from reloaded. If that video was made with reloaded, I want to know why we dont have it now? Lighting control, particle effects, bugs flying around the lights, RATS running about. Its all stuff the community has been begging for.The Steam community is WAY more harsh than you guys ever think I ever am. With out the conkit, CHARACTERS (not reskinned 5 times, character creator, interior lighting control and the particle system in place, I feel that Reloaded is going to get eaten alive to the point no one will buy it based on the reviews.

I support the efforts of TGC and the reloaded program and will continue to support it.

The above statements are my opinion and are in no way meant to hurt any ones feelings but on the contrary. I mean well and wish the best for the Reloaded program and its success. Nothing i have stated above should be misconstrued into meaning anything other than my opinion.

The video referenced above can be seen here,

Agreed.

That video nailed what we all wanted and it is there. Yet hardly any as made it. A week spent on making a demo which is fair but not when we can do it and a week wasted

Have too be honest here I think...

I also have Leadwerks that does much much less straight out of the box and it really isn't any faster ...

In fact the default is a window mode ... in full screen I get a lot of slowdown...I actually just gave up with it in the end.



Although I wouldn't recommend steam just yet .... I think it would still blow the others out of the water that are on steam ..

Hi Guys,

'Core of the Engine' is a world apart from 'Everything We Need', and I don't think you'll ever see me hanging my hat up and say 'that's it, we're finished' The demo represents a foundation now, which allows you to have a title page, game set-up, winning and losing, game replay, clean standalone and protected media. Before this demo, we did not have these basic ingredients, now we have a core to build on.

I appreciate your eagerness to see this product finished, and with continued feedback and support, we can add the features we need to go from good to great. That means more performance with improvements to the shadow and occlusion system, more weapon mechanisms, more LUA commands for greater control, even easier editing tools when in the IDE and F9 modes and raising the bar yet further on visual quality, both in the shaders and the assets we add to the library.

The rocket trails and explosion are both examples of a new particle system we developed for the demo, and that will shortly be making it's way into the editor so you can add them to your own games, with the addition of smoke and fire assets too.

Things like bug and flies can be done right now with a combination of asset creation and the current LUA command set, but we will be creating more official model packs so all you need to do is pick and place. Once we're released V1.008, you will be able to re-create the features found in the demo, and our V.1009 version will be building on that to add more ingredients to the pot. We are aiming for September to have a Steam Early Access build ready, but we will be involving the whole community in what that should look like and in what order makes sense. Releasing on Steam does not end the development! In fact, with the additional revenue from Early Access pledgers, we will have the resources to hire more artists, which means more assets showing off all manner of dynamic entity types as mentioned above.

I don't think we're going to get 100% satisfaction from every single user, both here and on Steam, as the universe does not work that way, but we are in it to win it, and I am personally quite thrilled at the progress made recently, and looking forward to building on what we have created so far. I wanted to get the major blocks in place so you could press a button and export a whole, complete game with a beginning, middle and an end. It's a major milestone for any game developer, and for the Reloaded project it was vital we solidified what the end result should resemble, and the only way I could see to do that was to build it.

I know your wish list is still pretty long, but we're ticking them off, one by one and if you stick with us a while longer, we'll have more goodies for you in the future. We can also keep the dialog open about the wisdom of releasing on Steam, and if the community can make a case that the version we put out is a pile of rat droppings, we're going to listen to it. My hope is that you will help us steer clear of that outcome and give us your insights into what it will take to make Steam users want to know more.

If that means adding parallax shaders, flies and rat entities and a very grumpy Slenderman, so be it

For me its more performance for example on my pc i get 30fps on high and on my standard laptop i get 28fps lol i am unsure why or how this is the case but it is what it is in this stage. Can you tell us when there will be another performance overall so to speak also i notice when you start packing you level as well as the game slowing down the editor gets sluggish also, should this be the case as i would guess it wouldn't be using that much.

In the meantime, there's always going to be a place for innovation on top of whatever we currently have as our core. I think my Omega Core plugin is going to make some people here very happy while reloaded is still undergoing enhancements.

The competition only showed how much performance we need almost all were effected by the lack of performance and i don't believe its being impatient and want stuff now i would be happy to work with what i have as long as the performance was there and as you said in your blog stuff may be left out of builds if it brings it down any way i hate to keep banging on about stuff but we need this

So far I think we have jumped to were we are so fast compared to FPS classic.. Every release is highly anticipated and very regular so I have no complaints....Sometimes it has to be a step forward ...then a step back....then a step forward to rectify previous issues and so on.



Although I cant wait for the construction kit I do worry about the strain on the engine and if it may put us back some ?



I suggested before that perhaps the construction kit and character creator would be fantastic as standalone programs that we could export and then import into reloaded hence not actually hindering the editor ...... I would gladly pay for separate programs

But on the other hand it may not strain the editor at all !!!

parallax shaders are a must and this really needs to be available by the time the building creator kit comes out.

Conkit and Character creator should be separate, and easily exportable to reloaded folders. If the programs have been started, perhaps some one else could pick up on it to finish it.
Making it possible to use 3rd party characters and their respective animations would be key here. As well as other entity file types such as those found in other engines.With the current old file type we use, here are the most common and most widely used.FBX (Autodesk, 3DGameStudio)

DAE (Collada) MS3D (MilkShape) X (DirectX) DTS (Torque) UnityPackage B3D (BlitzBasic) PAS, PSK (UDK) DBO (DarkBasic) GMF (Leadwerks) U3D (UltimateUnwrap) UGH (Fragmotion).

I understand keeping everything in house to maximize profit but bringing in other formats and allowing other animations will lessen the load on the dev team and keep them focused on what ever they are doing. Performance or what ever. . . . Please, Lee, Bring down this barrier.

I have yet another concern that I honestly do not understand. To the best of my knowledge, we are still developing under 32 bit yes? If so, why and what limitations are going to arise with future development? Do we need to consider switching to 64 before we reach the limitations threshold? Can everything somehow be fixed to run under the 64 bit system?

Again, this is an area I'm not clear on and am just asking questions as that's how I learn best.

I asked about 64-bit a while back and was told that it would be a major overhaul to go to 64-bit at this stage. They will consider it for a future upgrade, but as I understand it we're talking 8-12 months additional work.

So, basically, this might end as the others have and there will be another engine made maybe in 64? I just don't understand why we aren't working on 64 NOW? Or at least the move to 64 started to get current and open other possibilities.



I'm just not understanding I guess. It's still early in the 2 year development and the sooner the better for the 64 comparability right

I think they want to get everything right first. Working on both 32 and 64 bit right now at the same time is going to be a lot more trial and effort than getting the 32 bit version right then porting it over to 64 bit as most of the work will already be done.

Memory is still a problem when i get to the first line on the memory bar it crashes every time!

well technically you can use 32bit on 64bit systems but not vice versa so it makes more sense to start on 32bit rather than 64bit

Well, since the Windows operating system has had a 64-bit version for 9 years and 64-bit has been pretty much mainstream for at least 5 years, the choice should have been made to develop 32-bit and 64-bit in parallel. But the time to make that decision has come and gone long ago. So, we just need to be patient and wait for 32-bit to be released and fully enhanced before thinking again about 64-bit.

My hand goes up for this. Maybe not all the other formats (since they can be converted using inexpensive modeling software like FragMOTION, MilkShape 3D, or Blender, which most of us already have), but maybe a built in "mender" to allow the other X file formats to be compatible. I don't need the ugh file from FragMOTION to work, just the X file it exports. In conclusion, The inexpensive modeling programs mentioned above are fine for static models in Reloaded, but not animations. I really don't want to buy more software (especially 3DS MAX!) just to make a piece of glass break.



I am glad to hear that the core is done though.

Excellent work Lee. THANKS TGC

Just make the rat entities. The droppings and flies will follow!

Actually i think engine miss some *indispensable* features:
import or use your own textures for terrain, TRANSPARENT texture for terrain, making holes in terrain to go under the surface into caves, bunkers, huge secret base and so on.. it miss an elevator system. has anyone played FAR CRY? (first episode) with FPSCR, at this stage, you can make games really looking like the first FAR CRY, but without bases, tunnels, caves and all theese little big features a 3D game maker *MUST* have. That's my little opinion..

Actually working on computers every day I see there are just as many windows 7 32bit machines out there as there are 64 bit..
Reloaded working on both at the moment is the best call in my opinion....There are still thousands of vista machines out there and not many of those were 64 bit ?

what i also noticed on the demo whats coming is multi player seems to be before things like proper water system, inventory which was up before multi player and occulus rift too. and also dynamic lights ???????



guys can you get the thing finished single player first?



i am patient guy most of the time, nearing 1 3/4 years on it. still some big features missing



but before multi player which i think is needed but sort the world and ai and all the other stuff out first please.

i really think you guys are starting to stray a bit.



water system

inventory

lights that work

indoor

better efx parallax etc

working decent character cross over or ability to get your created animated beasts into the game without the enormous headache that there is at the moment. where are all the masses of promised ready scripts done in lua.





etc

etc

etc



multi player can wait like i do. just a little hope to see you finish the full rounded stuff like a fully functioning aka swimming night day cycles etc anything that will keep you guys sorting that out rather than spending months on 2 player game system which was way down on your list way way way down....



signed mr grumpy plum

The engine and it's features resemble nothing of the kick starter video that I have found and posted! THATS when your ready for steam. More characters, lighting, WAY better performance, and more complete functions. Your only going to hurt yourself by going live on steam!

Blender can export animated Entitys & Characters as well, the only issue atm is that the most recent Blender Version has broken the direct x export but Blender 2.69 can export animated and non-animated Models into the .x format.

Regarding export setings for Blender 2.69 for animated Entitys
follow this, i have included a picture of the export settings for 2.69
http://fpscrforum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=209275&b=8

Thanks J0linar,
I have not tried it yet, because I never used it much.
Maybe I can just use it to convert my X files instead of learning yet another modeling/animation program.
I will try the 2.69, thanks.

As the Kickstarter failed, nothing from that video can be taken for granted, but as Lee has said, if enough people feel that is the direction that we should be heading, we can shift priorities. However, as with everything, if we move to develop a new set of features, others will have to wait.





SC

Can we have the Character used in the kickstarter preview

I like that I'm at least able to run at medium graphics now on a okay sized map. I plan to get a better card in the future that is more standard to what everyone else has. Hopefully by that time I'll be able to play at high with out any noticeable drop of framerates.

Would be a bit silly for me to develop and test a game under lower settings then what my players would be using :p

I'm fine with waiting on the stuff that isn't needed just yet such as MP! What I'm tired of waiting on is more characters, characters that don't fall through the floors, engine improvements, third party support, particle system so fire, smoke and the like can be done to add a bit of realism to a level. All of that was demonstrates in the kick starter video and that's why it was posted!

Great things have happened and great things are going to happen on a continual basis. Personally, I think the visuals, performance and characters along with third party support need to be a priority over much of what is planned.

These are my opinions as both a consumer and a gamer!

I have to agree and that video is what generally pulled me in. However, now I cannot believe I was so blinded. Right now in FPSC Classic, I can mock the same scene with my own particle tweaks, shaders, and import of FPSC Reloaded media. I tried the new Escape demo they released and my rather mid-range gaming PC suffered at High settings <--- This should not be the case. They should be working on making it run AT LEAST 30 fps on lower low-end systems instead of it capping out at 30 on mid-range or high. This program has a long way to go before its going to be able to make anything decent or worthy of a sellable game.

I pledged in hopes of getting a product that FPSC has always been good for- quick game design for those that want that... and then the infrastructure to make something serious. As a veteran FPSC Classic user... I'm not to happy with how this all has been coming about. When will we see true indoor lighting for instance? I LOVE indoor design and I feel like I'm being kicked under the belt with the lack of proper shadowing and lighting for indoor scenarios. Too much focus has gone into making a "broad and outdoor adventure simulator" rather than the corridor style I often enjoy.

We need proper indoor environment support ASAP. Period. Otherwise you are not touching base with the core FPSC veterans who have perfected their work in the previous engine and how they came about their game design style.

I'd be happy with an editor that isn't a pain in the ass to use.

I've been around the community for a very long time. I don't recall ever begging for flies and rats.







You can create your own textures. I tried this myself with the very first beta version. Also I'm sure if you wanted to create transparent textures you could by creating an alpha channel? I've seen semi-transparent objects appearing in the store recently.





What I'd like to see in Reloaded before multiplayer or the character creator:



Swimming system. Currently, stepping in water kills you instantly if it reaches eye level. Kind of funny watching players play The Escape and freak out wondering why they just suddenly died stepping back into water.



Inventory System. Something I have been "begging" for.



Indoor Levels. Basically the Conkit. This is something I think everyone has literally been "begging" for.



Multiple Levels for when you create stand-alone game.

@teabone: when i say "import or use your own textures" i mean i would import dozens of textures and use it when needed: road textures for roads, grass, rocks, sand textures for outdoor environments for example, floor or pavements textures and so on, with

Congratulations! You have made yourself look silly. Its not the rats and flies people want, its that effect. 4 legged character support, the lighting control and the ability to use animations that arent from a character and those animations work correctly.

I understand that some of that can be done but not easily for people that have no modeling and scripting ability.