Work In Progress / New Beginnings WIP

Author
Message
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 17th Aug 2016 14:03 Edited at: 17th Aug 2016 17:22
Hi all. I've decided to put this little project in the WIP section for a change. I may actually get it completed then! At least this level anyway We will see how things turn out.

Premise: (still early days as yet)
You have been left an inheritance by your father. A simple pager and a short letter. The letter explains the pager will activate at some time in the future, when it does, follow it's instructions to the letter. DO NOT LOSE IT! You will not want to miss this party.

The game starts when you arrive at the destination ready to find out what this is all about...

Here's a few screenshots of the first level (Perhaps a touch dark at present, but I am going for a moody dark look to begin with). Video to come soon. Thanks to Rolfy for the excellent cave models and help with the lighthouse light effect.









SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.

Attachments

Login to view attachments
granada
Forum Support
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 17th Aug 2016 18:08
Great start,Like the idea of the under ground level ,Speed up the lift though .

Dave
PM
nuncio
GameGuru TGC Backer
9
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2015
Location: Schleswig Holstein, Germany
Posted: 17th Aug 2016 18:30
wow, very impressing lighting!
http://www.nuncio-rap.de
intel core i5-3570K CPU @ 3.40GHz; 8GB RAM // NVIDIA GeForce GTX560Ti
Jerry Tremble
GameGuru TGC Backer
12
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 5th Nov 2012
Location: Sonoran Desert
Posted: 18th Aug 2016 01:58
That looks great! Especially considering how outdated GG is. I mean really, a pager? No cellular service in GG? Hey Lee! The 20th century called and they want their pager back! And yeah, the lift is a tad slow, lol!
Desktop: i7 4770@3.4Ghz, 12GB RAM, Win 10/64, GeForce GTX 1080, 1TB SSD, 1TB HDD; Laptop: i7 4800MQ@2.7Ghz, 16GB RAM, Win 10/64, GeForce GTX870M , 1TB SSD.
PM
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 18th Aug 2016 13:03
Yeah the lift is as I say not finished, until I know how long my sound snippet will be is temporary. I do however want you to get the impression you are going deep underground, so it has to take some time at least! The pager is for secrecy in the storyline, so only select people get beeped so to speak. Also one way, you get the message and have to follow the instructions, no way to communicate back. In fairness it's probably more complicated than a pager, I just called it that in my description


SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.
Mortt
8
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th May 2016
Location:
Posted: 18th Aug 2016 15:43
I Just love the underground cave tunnels.
So much want them. Are they available in the store?

The overall graphics, textures and lighting are so good.

Nice.
(Custom) Intel i7 3.3 Mhz. 16 GB fast ram. EVGA Nvidia 560 Ti 4GB. Dell US27 2560 x 1440. AOC 24 1920 x 1080. Awesome.
Next G. Card EVGA GeForce GTX 970 Superclocked ACX 2.0 Gaming 4GB GDDR5 PCIe3.0 Graphics Card.
Would Like EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5X PCIe3.0 Graphics Card
PM
Jerry Tremble
GameGuru TGC Backer
12
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 5th Nov 2012
Location: Sonoran Desert
Posted: 18th Aug 2016 18:28
I think rolfy gave those caves away some time ago, or maybe it was in the store. i have them somewhere! I only remember getting lost very easily in them!
Desktop: i7 4770@3.4Ghz, 12GB RAM, Win 10/64, GeForce GTX 1080, 1TB SSD, 1TB HDD; Laptop: i7 4800MQ@2.7Ghz, 16GB RAM, Win 10/64, GeForce GTX870M , 1TB SSD.
PM
darimc
GameGuru TGC Backer
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 19th Jan 2007
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Posted: 18th Aug 2016 22:49
Awesome work so far! I love the atmosphere you've created, and the level design seems very polished, especially for the early stages of development. I think the effort gone into the lighthouse was well worth it. I look forward to seeing what's to come.
Signatures are overrated.
SpaceWurm
Game Guru Backer
13
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Nov 2011
Playing:
Posted: 19th Aug 2016 12:53
All in all, I love how this looks! Great atmosphere! What kind of gameplay are you going for with this?
Youtube.com/c/Landmanhd1080p - LandmanHD Youtube Gaming Channel | chrislandman.mypixelbox.net - My Design Portfolio | Artrift.com - Digital Art Community
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 19th Aug 2016 18:25
Quote: "I Just love the underground cave tunnels.
So much want them. Are they available in the store?"


The first caves are in the store. The second deeper caves were off Rolfy. Both are good imo, but Rolfy's certainly suit the deeper sections well.

Thanks again all. I spent a lot of time on the lighthouse and the surrounding objects getting it to look suitably realistic. I'm still not quite happy with it but I probably never will be, it's almost there, not sure about the shader for the water yet, or the brightness, I may lighten it up a tiny bit more yet.

As for game play, I'm going for an adventure/action game. Still working on that side. Mostly I wanted the intro to be decent, seems I have started well


SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.
Wolf
Forum Support
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Nov 2007
Location: Luxemburg
Posted: 22nd Aug 2016 04:06
Very well done!! The lighthouse, the descent. Its massively moody and I'd feel very inclined to play it.
You know very well what you are doing and it shows

Complaints I'd have would be the fire effects...not really sold on those...and some very strong light colours that look kinda odd to me.

I'll be keeping an eye on this for sure! Also big plus for having the video here.



-Wolf

"When I contradict myself, I am telling the truth"
"absurdity has become necessity"
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 22nd Aug 2016 12:41
Thanks Wolf. I know what you mean about the flames, just a single light at the moment, rather than for each pair, as GG struggles with more than that (with the others around). It's all real-time, I'm trying to keep it that way if possible, but once I am 100% finished on the level I may try a bake. An earlier test looked little different though, of course I could add many more lights if I went the baked route. Not sure which strong light colours you mean as there are a few, possibly the lift part before you get on it? But I agree the lighting is not to my satisfaction as yet, and possibly won't be, but I will keep chipping away. I have an idea to improve the torches light, just not implemented it yet. I've also added a bit more scripting to it since the video. Got a few sounds to test as well later today that should get it that bit closer to completion.


SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 22nd Sep 2016 01:09 Edited at: 22nd Sep 2016 01:15
Just an update on progress so far. I've included a few screenshots of the next section. Probably a bit dark in places, but hard to get a decent balance as yet. I've been having issues getting this part of the game to run as fast as I would like as well. At the moment it holds around 30 fps in this section, sometimes a lot higher but I'd say the average is down to 30 It's taken a fair bit of work to keep it that high, normal methods I would use being useless in this scenario I've done what I can, but not sure I can grab much more fps back and I'm not finished making the level yet. Not to mention no actual game mechanics are in place yet or NPC's So a long way to go and no fps to spare...











SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.

Attachments

Login to view attachments
Wolf
Forum Support
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Nov 2007
Location: Luxemburg
Posted: 22nd Sep 2016 16:40
The floor kills these scenes. All I can see is that molten plastic.



-Wolf
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 22nd Sep 2016 17:18
Yeah, not keen on the floor either, I need to remake the texture. I was going to wait, but as it's a WIP thought I'd show it anyway, warts and all. Then you can see when it improves At minimum I need to reduce the normal and spec maps a little, but I want to get the main diffuse better as well. For some reason it doesn't carry over on a standalone either, not sure why as yet.

It's got a way to go, I've spend some time on this map but no doubt it will end up looking quite different by the time it's finished. After keeping good speed on first level, the second seems a bit too slow, I may have to break it into smaller areas rather than the big cave at present in the end.


SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.
Belidos
3D Media Maker
9
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Nov 2015
Playing: The Game
Posted: 22nd Sep 2016 19:17
There's a bug with standalone where custom terrains don't copy over to stabdalone you just have to copy them over like for like and it will work

i5, NV960 2GB, 16GB memory, 2x 2TB Hybrid, Win10.
i3 , Intel integrated graphics, 6GB memory, 512GB Generic SATAIII Win8.1.
Intel Celeron (duel Core), Radeon integrated graphics, 4GB memory, 180gB Generic SATAII, WinVista.
Q6600, Intel integrated graphics, 8GB memory, 512GB Generic SATAII, Win7.
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 23rd Sep 2016 21:50
It's not a custom terrain. I removed the terrain altogether for speed reasons and replaced with planes. It must be copying over some data as I see the floor and some reflection on it, but it can't be lit by flashlight and the diffuse is not visible. As I haven't been massively bothered by it, I haven't looked in the standalone folder to see what is and isn't copying over yet. It looks like a few other objects which are multi-textured do the same. I can understand the multi-textures not working, (wasn't exactly overjoyed to see they were multi-texture, as I got them off the store) but my floor is only a diffuse, normal and specular.

As said I am thinking of starting over anyway, as the speed drop from 50 odd to 30 or less fps is not desirable. So I may not even need it for the future. These speed issues are always killing my projects I can't abide fps drops in games I play and I don't see why I should with my own games. I can't see this level running any better with lot's of npc's walking about. I was sort of happy with 30 fps, until I made a standalone and saw how fast my first level plays, it's noticeably slower when you get off the train on level 2. Apart from losing the whole " This is a big cave effect ",I wanted the game should work fine in smaller sections.

I posted these images to show a bit of progress. If I wait till I'm 100% happy with em it will be locked before I get back to posting


SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 3rd Dec 2016 18:19 Edited at: 3rd Dec 2016 18:21
A few more screenshots of progress so far. I took a break with this for awhile as performance was an issue. I've returned over the last few weeks and continued onwards. I have reasonable FPS, but am still battling that at present. The scene hasn't changed drastically since the last shots, but I have replaced numerous objects to improve speed, improved the floors look somewhat and added a little more detail in places.





SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.

Attachments

Login to view attachments
Gtox
3D Media Maker
10
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 5th Jun 2014
Location: South Africa
Posted: 4th Dec 2016 04:27
Like the first screenshot - really grabs your attention.
Tarkus1971
Audio Media Maker
9
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 24th Feb 2015
Location: England, UK
Posted: 4th Dec 2016 11:25
wow this is fantastic great stuff.
Aftershock Quad Core AMD FM2+ 3.5 GHz 8GB Motherboard and Processor, A7700k apu, Asus GT970 STRIX 4gb Nvidia gfx card.
King Korg Synth, Alesis SR18 Drum Machine, Akai MPX8 sample player, Roland Fantom XA Synth, Axus Digital AXK2 Digital Drum Kit, Novation Ultranova Synth, Waldorf Blofeld Synth.
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 4th Dec 2016 13:49
Quote: "Like the first screenshot - really grabs your attention."


That's the view when you first enter the underground complex Glad you like it.

Quote: "wow this is fantastic great stuff."


Thanks! Although compared to a few other WIPS here my graphics are a little dull. I'm mostly concerned it runs well though at present. I use pretty much all of the map, so it's a struggle to get it fast as I would like.

I was aiming for and still want 60 fps, but I think I will have to settle for 30 in places unless I make a dramatic improvement or delete half the map If only I could transfer the unneeded 30 FPS extra I get at the edges of the map to the places I need it :p


SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.
Bolt Action Gaming
GameGuru Tool Maker
11
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 24th Oct 2013
Location: Harrisburg, PA (USA)
Posted: 7th Dec 2016 16:31
It's tough to pull good FPS with this engine being so CPU-dependent.

So thoughts?
I like the design, the placement of objects, the shapes you use. Your use of illumination mapped objects is good.
The overall color, however, is depressing.
It's rather dreary, which is probably by design. I just can't think of too many games I enjoy that use that theme so heavily.
I'm also not sure how I'd adjust it.
Minor criticism aside, it's a good looking project. I'd keep at it.
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 7th Dec 2016 17:44
It is dark and yes that is sort of how I want it, but not quite, I can certainly understand your criticism. I've mostly, avoided adding many lights, but have been testing some over the last few days. Game Guru Lighting is somewhat limited and as expected makes this type of level hard to pull off. Even after baking the level, I still get lights that pop on and off in my vision, which to me is a little jarring, although it solves some other light flicker issues I see in real time occasionally.

It certainly needs lighting up and lights are not the best way to go about it from my tests so far. Perhaps there's something I'm missing with the bake and the lights? I though setting them to static would cause them to bake permanently on the scene, but it seems that is not the case.

Once I get/force myself to make some more media for it, I will continue my quest of adding light sources with illumination maps. I've added a few already, else you would really be in the dark at points! I think the map will look much better when I have that all in place. I just keep tweaking, editing and ripping entire sections out as I go

Thanks for your thoughts, I agree, I think, if I am understanding your meaning of dreary, and mean to improve the overall look along the way. Feel free to let me know if I am on the wrong track. All critique is welcome here, it's a WIP and is the reason I am showing stuff along the way. I'm taking my time with this one, so progress may seem slow on occasion.

A video will show it off a lot better, but I'd like to remove a few more rough edges before I do that


SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.
Belidos
3D Media Maker
9
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Nov 2015
Playing: The Game
Posted: 7th Dec 2016 17:50
Quote: "Nice, I hope that works,. I edit the x file if I can get one of my programs to accept the x file then make the entity double sided, that always fixes the issue."


They do bake if they're static, however you need to turn up bloom for them to show.

i5, NV960 2GB, 16GB memory, 2x 2TB Hybrid, Win10.
i3 , Intel integrated graphics, 6GB memory, 512GB Generic SATAIII Win8.1.
Intel Celeron (duel Core), Radeon integrated graphics, 4GB memory, 180gB Generic SATAII, WinVista.
Q6600, Intel integrated graphics, 8GB memory, 512GB Generic SATAII, Win7.
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 7th Dec 2016 20:05
Hmm, I do have the bloom at about 70 and can't really go much higher without it looking wrong so not sure why they fail to work here. I do have light rays set to 0, as it slows things noticeably. I'll have to keep playing, but that's a pointer to why I'm having trouble with lights hopefully. Cheers!


SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.
Belidos
3D Media Maker
9
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Nov 2015
Playing: The Game
Posted: 7th Dec 2016 21:30
Sorry, I should have been more clear

Bloom controls the radius of the baked light source, Surface Level controls how bright it is.

i5, NV960 2GB, 16GB memory, 2x 2TB Hybrid, Win10.
i3 , Intel integrated graphics, 6GB memory, 512GB Generic SATAIII Win8.1.
Intel Celeron (duel Core), Radeon integrated graphics, 4GB memory, 180gB Generic SATAII, WinVista.
Q6600, Intel integrated graphics, 8GB memory, 512GB Generic SATAII, Win7.
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 8th Dec 2016 15:30
Had a bit of a play with a small scene yesterday (baking this map takes hours) The lighting did work, but it ended up lighting the entirety of the floorplane I used, rather than a tiny pool of light that should have been visible. It's definitely a bit dodgy. At the same time a similar light could barely illuminate a rock in the middle of the floor plane. I'll try a bit more, but this is the main reason I hate baking in GG. Nothing close to WISIWIG and you can end up messing up the realtime look while trying to adjust things to look better in a bake.

Perhaps if I ever get a faster machine I'll have more use for it. At least my level does bake now, I had it crashing at about 60 odd percent everytime at one point. One object was at fault it seems, once I deleted it, baking works fine. Of course it had to be a major object for the scene!

I think for now I'll go back to the job of finishing my road, it needs some more sections to make it complete. I also think it might be better wider than it is currently. Any thoughts?


SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 8th Dec 2016 23:01 Edited at: 8th Dec 2016 23:02
Another screenie just to show a different perspective...


SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.

Attachments

Login to view attachments
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 11th Dec 2016 22:18
Here's a video of how it's looking so far. Put a lot of work into performance here and I get a reasonable speed overall. Unfortunately, the video does not look as good as it does when playing, but it's not far off.

More to be done, the scene is far from complete, but so far, so good AI is a worry though down the line


SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.
Earthling45
8
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Sep 2016
Location: Zuid Holland Nederland
Posted: 11th Dec 2016 22:56
Now i know who the guy behind retrogameblock is
I have watched quite some of your videos, this really looks good.
Belidos
3D Media Maker
9
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Nov 2015
Playing: The Game
Posted: 11th Dec 2016 23:10 Edited at: 11th Dec 2016 23:16
Nice one Dvader, looking good. Love the small tatooine houses

If you want me to check out the frame rate on my i5 with a 960 i'm happy to help out.

i5, NV960 2GB, 16GB memory, 2x 2TB Hybrid, Win10.
i3 , Intel integrated graphics, 6GB memory, 512GB Generic SATAIII Win8.1.
Intel Celeron (duel Core), Radeon integrated graphics, 4GB memory, 180gB Generic SATAII, WinVista.
Q6600, Intel integrated graphics, 8GB memory, 512GB Generic SATAII, Win7.
Wolf
Forum Support
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Nov 2007
Location: Luxemburg
Posted: 12th Dec 2016 00:22
I like this a lot!
The repetition of buildings and assets is however rubbing me wrong. You plan on keeping it this way?
I didn't think I would but I do like the moonish grey colourscheme of this. Your voice is still relaxing! Do you also do voice acting?



-Wolf
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 12th Dec 2016 16:07
@ Earthling45. Now you know Thanks!
@ Belidos. I'll see what I can get together, this was all in GG, I've yet to try a standalone with this version.
@ Wolf. Thanks! I think

Not quite sure which objects you mean entirely when you mention repetition of assets. Some are intended that way, warehouses don't tend to be all shapes and sizes, a new industrial park tends to be very similar with the buildings generally. Others are just lack of media on my part, for instance the tatooine houses, quite possibly need re-texturing to look more in line with the rest of the map, or even changing entirely. However they do give a bit of change to the mostly grey entities I have. I'm still unsure about them and obviously they are repeated a lot in the old farming section. Obviously the domes are needed, although I may drop a couple later on. I'd love to have lot's more unique custom media for it but that is one of my weakest area's so I have to live with what I have and can occasionally make myself. I still, haven't got round to texturing my lift on level 1!!

I also will lose some speed, if I go too mad on having too many different objects around. This is however a WIP and I am still only getting the map together. Most things can change and indeed, I'm sure will before it's finished. I think it's the longest I have spent on one map to date (especially with the fact of having no scripts and such in yet) I want it to look good and run on my system (at a playable frame rate). I think I'm doing pretty well so far. Considering many GG games out there run at below 20 fps for me, to get a map this big running so well on my CPU has been very hard, fiddly work. There's still a few of the buildings that are multi textured (tsk,tsk TGC) out of the buildings pack, that will probably need replacing. Considering multi texture is frowned upon in GG for TGC to then release objects that are multi texture is a bit of a derpy move... Of course there is no way I can make replacements for them myself, or at least not as good replacements.

It's tough when relying on store assets in general, there are just never many that are in theme. I've done my best to keep it looking reasonable, with nothing too out of place stuck around.

Let me know which objects struck you are too repeated. This is why I post the vids. As much as I enjoy a bit of praise, ultimately I'm trying to make this as good as I can Although I'm never going to compete with the graphics in certain WIP's


SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.
cybernescence
GameGuru Master
11
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2013
Playing: Cogwheel Chronicles
Posted: 13th Dec 2016 19:53
The level in the last video feels HUGE. Massive sense of space and areas to explore. Like it.

Feels a bit like the film the maze runner in places.

Some of the repetition works well - the machine blocks. I'm having same kind of tussles trade offs I think between textures models and speeds. I managed to get a full GG level of buildings and roads and was getting 60 fps but now starting to come down a lot as I add clutter and AI. It's tough

BTW how did you get your lighthouse beam in game (top of thread). That looks great.

Cheers.
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 14th Dec 2016 17:47 Edited at: 14th Dec 2016 18:05
Quote: "The level in the last video feels HUGE. Massive sense of space and areas to explore. Like it."


Thanks! That was the effect I've been going for, but the last few months has been finding a way to get the map to run at a decent speed. I almost started a smaller scale level at one point in despair, but I've persevered and ended up with a decent running map in the end. Of course I need to add quite a bit more to finish it or the place will be the most uncomfortable living area ever, no furniture etc I also need a game in there somewhere as well at some point.

Quote: "Feels a bit like the film the maze runner in places. "


The King Kong walls I presume I actually really like the walls, great looking assets.

Quote: "Some of the repetition works well - the machine blocks"


I'm reasonably happy with those myself although I may need a little more in that area before it's finished, but too not much I think. Are there areas that you didn't like? I'm reasonably happy with most the map on average but I am kinda blinkered after working on it for what seems forever

Quote: "BTW how did you get your lighthouse beam in game (top of thread). That looks great."


With great difficulty, lol. Made it in Blender, had a nightmare getting it to look correct in GG. Rolfy helped me with the texture fade in the end I'd imported it in near 100 times by that point, only to find half the model missing where the fade started. I found it most frustrating as in DB for example it would have been done in minutes. It was my attempt to get a light beam effect without a real light. My recycle bin had never seen so many of the same named file before, lol.

Quote: "I managed to get a full GG level of buildings and roads and was getting 60 fps but now starting to come down a lot as I add clutter and AI. It's tough"


Yes it is. That sounds like it was running well as well, of course, it depends on your machine I'm betting you have a better CPU than I have, which always helps with high object counts. I'm hoping this will play at similar or faster speeds on a decent machine. My aim throughout has to be to make my system the minimum spec needed to get a half decent experience. This is in the hope that a faster PC will run it flawlessly. The video doesn't give it a full showing as it was encoded to 24 fps, so is not quite a silky as the game itself. Of course I keep adding and slowing it down again, but I hope to get some of that speed back.

I'm still looking a getting a basic demo together for level 2, was going to look into it yesterday, but ended up spending all night and a lot of morning making a new object to put in. Still not happy with it and it seems I have found a new GG bug along the way, the joys of game dev! A demo may be a lot better way for people to have a look and see how it runs

@ Wolf
Quote: "Do you also do voice acting?"

Sorry missed that one. I have done for my own stuff on occasion, no doubt I will do some here as well at some point. There's a bit in the first level now, but it needs to be redone in places, and I'm still waiting for inspiration or an update so I can get timing sorted on different speed machines. GG doesn't seem to have any way I can see to get my animations and sound to sync properly on different speed machines. I may be missing a simple lua command of course, but the GG specific commands don't cut it so far in that regard.


SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 17th Dec 2016 19:00
Nothing much more done at the moment, but had some feedback on speed thanks to Belidos

Specification:
i5 3.5ghz
16gb Memory
NVidia 960 (asus strix) 2gb
2tb Hybrid HDD
27" AOC monitor running at 1920x1080(60)

FPS rates:
In the first area (where the glass towers are: between 90 and 110 fps
In the area with the "tatooine" style houses: between 120 and 170 fps
In the area with all the machines: between 130 and 180 fps
In the small area with the houses with porches: between 100 and 120 fps
In the area with the high rise buildings: between 115 and 140 fps
In the area with domed buildings: between 170 and 200 fp

I'm pretty happy with that, makes all the time spent speeding it up worthwhile. I knew I had got some good speed with how it ran on my setup, but always nice to know faster machines have plenty of manoeuvre room

I'm considering putting the demo up here to get a more varied set of results. I'm a little reluctant as it's still rough in places, but if your willing to accept that, I may put it up for people to test out.


SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.
Honkeyboy
3D Media Maker
9
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Sep 2015
Location: Doesnt know half the time ;)
Posted: 17th Dec 2016 22:19
wow those are pretty impressive speeds especially with the content i found with a city scene things tended to slow down, so nice one m8 a lovely looking start with decent fps ....sweet
Intel i5 4950 Quad core 3.3ghz AMD FX 6300 x6 cores 3.5ghz(unclocked)
8gb Ram 8gb Ram
AMD Radeon 7570 1gb AMD Radeon HD 6670 2gb
and a well fed mouse on a wheel

I only smile because i have absolutely no idea whats going on
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 19th Dec 2016 02:38 Edited at: 19th Dec 2016 02:46
Thanks Honkeyboy, I'm pretty happy with the performance I have got here, I'd like more of course, the demo here is mostly optimised, but there are a few parts I have not got round to yet, thought not many and they won't make a huge difference even when implemented, but every frame counts right? Especially in Game Guru. I'd like to think this is a good example of what CAN be done in Game Guru with a lot of time and effort. I hate seeing these quickly knocked up games that anyone with half a brain could make. There simply cash ins and done quickly to take advantage of any new free media GG adds. I hope to release this one day, but I am 100% committed to a quality game. I have the performance almost done, but there's still a long way to go.

It may seem to many I have spent an awful amount of time on this one level here. Especially if you compare it to my first level. Both levels have undergone deep scrutiny regarding FPS however and thus it seems slow work in many ways. I know for instance, I can speed up level 1 quite a bit if I need to, although it runs fairly well anyway at the moment, so I am not worried about that until I am a bit closer to finishing the game. Level 2 however, being pretty massive, needed a lot more work, I'm fairly happy at the moment with this now. Just need to finalise the level, hide any obvious smoke and mirror parts that are still showing in places and finally get to work on game play!

I'm both really looking forward to this and also dreading it I know the AI will not work with my level out the box, and also will slow things dramatically (at least on my ageing beast) It's a huge level and so I need a decent population inside it. Quick early tests dropped my FPS by 10 fps or so with only 5 AI around. Although on faster machines this will be very negligible, my aim is to keep it playable on my machine and I need a few more people around than five
I'm still unsure if it's simply the extra entities, or the added scripting strain when it is slightly confused, or a combination of both, as it probably is. The problem I have here is I can't simply spawn enemies when I am in their range as they are generally just going to be doing their thing. So I am currently deliberating how best to go forward with this, without killing the frame rate, while also keeping the local populace looking authentic.

Still, although it is not finished. Has key areas you can spot the smoke and mirrors stuff (updated the level for speed but not re-enclosed areas since). I've decided to release the current demo to all interested in trying it out. I'm hoping many will be ale to see the performance difference to any GG map out there more easily than watching a video of me running around it. Proof is in the pudding so they say and to get the full effect of the work undertaken, you need to run around the level yourself Then and only then will people be able to see the work put in, or at least hopefully.

I have ideas about AI and how to speed it up, but they are only ideas at present and as I've mentioned before am hoping the AI update to come will help out a lot here. It's definitely a bit hoggy at present and although we want it to be better, at the same time I am hoping for better speed as well. Certainly an optimistic view here, but really, if we are limited to 4 enemies at a time and spawning as and when they are close, then this game is sunk

Here's the demo. Please let me know your FPS results, or, if it just seems smooth and you haven't any program to record the FPS, just let me know your view of it so far in comparison to other maps of similar size I'm hoping everyone has good speed in general, so I can slap myself in the face and say enough is enough, time to get to the game Although I DO need to add a few more items ;p

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4qIchrlXIZrVTR3TFBUZ3FpaDA


SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.
25-WATTS
8
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Feb 2016
Location:
Posted: 20th Dec 2016 14:48
Hello DVader

Below is a set of FPS Marks I got with your map in the same format as Belidos.

Laptop
Windows 10
AMD A8 4500m 1.9Mhz-2.8Mhz with Turbo
8GB System RAM
Screen 1366x768
OnBoard AMD HD 7640g Videocard with a Average G3D Mark of 607

FPS rates:
In the first area (where the glass towers are: between 16 and 19 fps
In the area with the "tatooine" style houses: between 20 and 23 fps
In the area with all the machines: between 19 and 24 fps
In the small area with the houses with porches: between 16 and 18 fps
In the area with the high rise buildings: between 18 and 20 fps
In the area with domed buildings: between 21 and 33 fps

I saw your video of this map and thought ok not too bad looks nice etc, but it was not until I played it that I could see how good it was, just the size of it, I felt lost and forgot I was playing a video game and just had to keep exploring, this is really a good bit of work. Shows you shouldn't judge a game just by a video.

I've used this laptop a lot for GameGuru and not seen a level with this draw distant and size run so well, the frame rate stayed much the same looking in all directions. Low frame rate on this laptop yes, but was smooth and played OK for me. hope this little test helps.

I can do a test with a GTX 750 Ti and Intel G2020 if you wish?
PM
Belidos
3D Media Maker
9
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Nov 2015
Playing: The Game
Posted: 20th Dec 2016 16:48
25-Watts, the FPS you are getting may be very low for some people, but considering the specs of the machine you are running it from, they're pretty good, i'd never have expected it to be able to run it. Very nice, goes to show what you can really do with some decent optimizations.

When i get time i'll also give it a run through on my laptop (i3, 6gb memory, Intel 3000 graphics) and let you know how it fares DVader, i'll also run them memory/cpu usage tests Earthling asked me to do, just need to find the time.

i5, NV960 2GB, 16GB memory, 2x 2TB Hybrid, Win10.
i3 , Intel integrated graphics, 6GB memory, 512GB Generic SATAIII Win8.1.
Intel Celeron (duel Core), Radeon integrated graphics, 4GB memory, 180gB Generic SATAII, WinVista.
Q6600, Intel integrated graphics, 8GB memory, 512GB Generic SATAII, Win7.
granada
Forum Support
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 20th Dec 2016 17:59 Edited at: 20th Dec 2016 18:26
Hi,got this first time



Ran it again in windows 7 compatability mode,and it ran.But not very fast ?,i thought i would be able to run it faster.

Going by fraps
50 fps highest
29 fps lowest

Not sure why,will have to check background programs

(love the underground idea )

EDIT ran it again with antivirus turned of ,checked latest drivers for card,still averaged 50.even when looking at all the tank and mushrooms,ran smooth
all the way through though

Windows 10 pro 64

Rest of specs below

Dave
GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
AMD FX (tm)-9590 Eight-core Processor
31.96 GB RAM
1920x1080,60 Hz
PM
25-WATTS
8
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Feb 2016
Location:
Posted: 20th Dec 2016 20:27
Hi Belidos, Been a good laptop for the last 3 years and runs games well on low detail same sort of power as a Intel HD 5000, Geforce GT 710, GeForce 8800 GTS, GeForce GT 240. I only use it a few hours a week though not something I like to leave on for 16Hrs a day like a desktop.

Hi granada, You FPS looks a bit slow for the Video card you have. I heard on these boards that GameGuru only uses 1 and a bit CPU cores you have a very nice AMD FX (tm)-9590 Eight-core Processor but only the first 2 are running the GameGuru engine the other 6 could be parked. Your Single Thread Rating: 1724 is only a bit higher than my Intel G2020 2 core at 1545 Single Thread Rating, So GameGuru just no getting the best from your card. Other games should fly as most AAA/retail games would mostly use all 8 cores these days.

Also that launcher keeps crashing for me too.
PM
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 20th Dec 2016 21:05 Edited at: 20th Dec 2016 21:19
Thanks guys. All useful to know. I'm aiming to make my machine setup the minimum spec (roughly), but obviously great to see it running on lower spec systems.

25 Watts, any other tests on other systems are always welcome Glad you agree the level translates far better when walking around it, than a video could ever portray (well at least a video I can capture on this machine). It really pops when you get 60+ fps and the true res is displayed

Belidos, sure, I'd like to hear how it runs on that as well when you get chance

Granada., you sound like you get similar speeds to me, a tad slower by the sounds, but it depends where you went on the map. Your processor sounds good with 8 cores, but how does it actually compare to mine I wonder? I very much doubt GG uses more than a couple of cores. Not sure about the error, possibly a Vishnu problem, I've heard some anti virus programs do not like it. I use Windows 10 here, so not sure that would cause issues at all, more likely your antivirus as you mention. As long as it was smooth that's the main thing

I find that the CPU is so close to maximum for me, that disabling every non essential program actually makes a fair difference when running it. So I disable all game services, bar steam (as I'm normally in GG via Steam) and any other messenger apps or unneeded programs for a proper test. It's amazing how many load up on bootup, I really should go sort that I always seem to get a few FPS extra for my troubles.

I do have a little more I can do for speed, but not a huge amount here, most the level was done, bar a few new bits I chucked in at the end before making the demo. I can probably speed things further with some scripts down the line, but unsure, as I have done so much work getting it to work without any hiding of objects it seems almost a shame to start doing so. Plus the Jetpack will certainly complicate matters if I end up using it, so for now I am concentrating on getting the map as good as it will get. Baking does improve speed a bit more as well, but that will be the last job, if I bother. I'm never keen on the extra memory it uses, or the oddities I see in most bakes. Lighting really is GG's weakest area in the graphics dept.

Edit - oh forgot this bit
Quote: "I felt lost and forgot I was playing a video game and just had to keep exploring"

A friend of mine said something similar, I though he was taking the mick, but perhaps I misjudged him If your having fun exploring my empty map I'm on the right track!


SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.
Earthling45
8
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Sep 2016
Location: Zuid Holland Nederland
Posted: 20th Dec 2016 21:12
Quote: "I heard on these boards that GameGuru only uses 1 and a bit CPU cores"


No, it uses multiple cores, GG is not single threaded.

Dvader, what a beautiful map to explore, it runs really well on the highest settings, a consistent framerate of 80 with one area where it is somewhat lower to 55/60 whereas in other areas it is 100+

Attachments

Login to view attachments
25-WATTS
8
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Feb 2016
Location:
Posted: 20th Dec 2016 21:42 Edited at: 20th Dec 2016 21:57
Hi Earthling45

What you need to look for is

Core #0 Usage = ?
Core #1 Usage = ?
Core #2 Usage = ?
Core #3 Usage = ?

in the Sensor Status panel of HWiNFO64/32

I don't see that in your picture


This is what GameGuru say

When this post was last updated GameGuru does not fully utilize multiple CPU cores, so if you have a Dual Core CPU GameGuru will only fully use one core, this may affect your performance. The team are improving multi-core support
PM
Earthling45
8
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Sep 2016
Location: Zuid Holland Nederland
Posted: 20th Dec 2016 23:31 Edited at: 20th Dec 2016 23:56
Hi 25-watts, i will run a short test with all six cores so we can see what happens

Edit:

Here is the reading, see the attachment.

Attachments

Login to view attachments
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 22nd Dec 2016 00:17
Interesting, I knew GG supported more than one core but thought it only really utilised 2 at max. I imagine you had nothing else running bar the minimum here?


SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.
Earthling45
8
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Sep 2016
Location: Zuid Holland Nederland
Posted: 22nd Dec 2016 12:23
No, there is nothing running in the background.
I've read that the first version was single core, but after the conversion from db to c++ it utilizes multiple cores.

I've also patched the exe file to see if there is any difference, but it already uses 4gb of ram whereas many 32bit programs were only utilizing 2gb in the past.
For a game it should be fine, but i ran into the limitation with MMS after lightmapping and a full green bar afterwards.
So for GG it would be a gain if it becomes 64bit and thus utilizes more ram.
25-WATTS
8
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Feb 2016
Location:
Posted: 22nd Dec 2016 21:39 Edited at: 24th Dec 2016 06:23
Hi Earthling45

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you but been in a bit pain after having a tooth out, and just been feeling sorry for myself.

I see your new picture but as GameGuru has only just started to use the second core all the other cores are running Windows processes and Background Processes just these two account for over 60 programs. I seem to recall them saying Occlusion was using the second core, I will keep digging to see if I can find out more.

I think if Lee had made GameGuru run on six cores he would be singing from the roof tops.

Hi DVader


More Testing marks for you.


Windows 7
Intel G2020 2.9Ghz
8GB System RAM
Screen 1920x1080p
Asus Geforce GTX750 Ti 2GB

FPS rates:
In the first area (where the glass towers are: between 50 and 70 fps
In the area with the "tatooine" style houses: between 50 and 80 fps
In the area with all the machines: between 60 and 80 fps
In the small area with the houses with porches: between 50 and 60 fps
In the area with the high rise buildings: between 50 and 80 fps
In the area with domed buildings: between 60 and 150 fps


This set is for 1280x720p

FPS rates:
In the first area (where the glass towers are: between 60 and 80 fps
In the area with the "tatooine" style houses: between 70 and 90 fps
In the area with all the machines: between 100 and 120 fps
In the small area with the houses with porches: between 60 and 80 fps
In the area with the high rise buildings: between 60 and 90 fps
In the area with domed buildings: between 75 and 165 fps


Running at 1080p is very nice. I like it even more now, if you could make a complete game with this, that would be just great for us and GameGuru.
PM
DVader
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 22nd Dec 2016 23:47 Edited at: 22nd Dec 2016 23:59
Quote: "Running at 1080p is very nice. I like it even more now, if you could make a complete game with this, that would be just great for us and GameGuru."


Thanks! That's the idea, but still working on the level. Not going to be a quick one this. I've managed to slow it down a bit since with more stuff, even though I spent hours adding LOD into some models to make up for it, but seems LOD is not as effective as you would imagine. It seems to me I'm mainly adding bigger memory hogs at the moment than getting any performance gain. Actually most annoying after the hours spent converting models, again I have definitely lowered poly counts with them, but really can't see much if any FPS gain, possibly it's a tad slower in places. Hard to be certain, as I have added a little extra scenery as well.

A couple more screenshots showing the small bar. Wolf's xmas gifts being very useful here to get me started I was meaning to make this one of two, bars, the second being much bigger. However, after testing it with just a half dozen AI doing nothing but standing idle, I figure I'll stick with the one small bar for now. The NPC's hoover FPS even when barely doing anything, which is annoying. I have about 12 in total on the map at present, and have lost just under 10 fps total (although I have added a few other items as well). I need somewhat more people around than that, or it will be a very deserted underground base. I will have to keep experimenting, I can probably speed things up a bit more when I actually start proper scripting for it. Safe to say I probably won't be housing a huge Blade style party anytime soon.




SPECS: Q6600 CPU. Nvidia 660GTX. 8 Gig Memory. Win 7.

Attachments

Login to view attachments

Login to post a reply

Server time is: 2024-12-21 12:36:50
Your offset time is: 2024-12-21 12:36:50