Hi All,

Here is today's broadcast recording:


And here are the answers I could not get to in the live chat:

Q> Every time when I launch a test level, my player clips through the terrain and falls into infinity?
A> Yes this is fixed in this weeks build, but do post any issues you find related to the physics in our issues board if you find any.

Q> ​Will this engine beat unity or unreal?
A> We do not expect to beat Unity or Unreal as they are large powerful professional engines. We are a small indie game engine that takes some of the sting out of making your own games.

Q> ​Does this engine have any modular build system?
A> You can create larger things out of smaller objects, and we also have a Developer Mode Structure Editor for small structure creation, but nothing is planned on the scale of say The Sims Editor.

Q> Will it be possible, to create cutscenes in MAX?
A> There are no plans to add a cutscene editor into MAX, but you could possibly contrive something like a cutscene using the visual logic system and the behavior editor.

Q> Can you turn off physics in gameguru max?
A> There are currently no controls to turn off physics as this would effectively send the player plummeting through the floor. We are not planning vehicles, flying or otherwise for the initial release so if you can expand on why physics should be switched off, I can get a clearer idea of what you are aiming to do.

Q> ​The new terrain only generating physics around the tiny starting area seems kinda counter-intuitive to me. Will there be an option to generate physics for the entire editable area as it is currently?
A> If you place an object at each corner of the editable area, it will create physics for anything within that border, but right now it's not as fast as I would like. Currently takes about 60 seconds on my PC which is an unacceptable waiting time. My plan is to have a rolling physics generation system to reduce physics generation wait time and keep it memory efficient.

Q> Any Information about the Multiplayer, what game modes, and so on..?
A> No details on the multiplayer side at present, only that it is highly likely we will be using Photon for the API.

Q> ​I wonder if there could be a free demo where you are limited to do things? (Sorry if it sounds confusing)
A> We are planning a free trial version of MAX after the release so you can try it for free before deciding to buy.

Q> Do you have plans to add different building types that will go well with the game themes you choose when available, ex: a Mansion for a Puzzle Game or Castle for RPG?
A> Yes the plan is to populate the core product with enough assets to represent a few good game themes, which includes locations and buildings when required. For example, you will find wooden huts and shanty buildings that will work well with our Jungle demo.

Q> Could making portal guns (like in the portal game) be possible?
A> There are no plans to include a portal gun in MAX, and it would be difficult to implement as it requires rendering control inside the game, which is not available through the current set of LUA commands.

Q> Customizability is a very important part of any engine, what is the reason behind not having shader scripting support and support to make character creator work during runtime?
A> Character creator works in the software and used when you are editing your levels. We saw no reason for editing characters while playtesting the game-level, but we would like to learn more about this feature request. The primary target for GameGuru MAX is casual users who do not necessarily want to code or create art (or script shaders) in order to make a game. You technically can edit, compile and replace the Wicked/MAX shaders but it is a highly technical process, and the chances of breaking the graphics engine would be high.

Q> ​Why is the interface blue? ?
A> You can change the interface color/style in the SETTINGS option from the menu. We chose blue as the default as we liked it

Q> Does GGMax is going to support opacity maps?
A> There are no plans to support opacity maps. We do support the inclusion of an alpha channel in the _color texture file for semi-transparent effects on objects, but there is no specific support for an opacity texture file.

Thanks for all your questions, more answers next Wednesday 4 PM BST

@ Lee


I would like it since most of the time this alpha slider makes transparent i.e. the whole tree rather than just the leaves. So, those leaves with an opacity map, the transparency just affect the leaves, not the whole tree.

Thanks for the reply.

Excellent broadcast. looking forward to the speedier terrain loading, looks so slick now.

I believe most of the transparency is based in the textures so as to the transparency should be no issues. not understand your issue i have a house with glass windows and it is transparent to what is needed and it does not need a new texture map at all. Be good to know what you mean if ok?


Some of the questions are fantastic some others not that much ie why a colour fornthe interface and challenging unreal and unity. WSte of questions theres loads i would of asked if i could of been on

Although thanks dvader for asking about the boundaries thats a good one. And liked the fact physics will pretty much work in a zonal way or distance to player this will free up so much and speed up so much. So thats great to know.

So i hope they do the wander on past the edit zone and come up with physics and editing pockets to help spread it further

But a good day for the max I think

Also i think rather than give a go on the demo of max maybe send out game demos with a video of hiw gmax works.

You don't need it, Max used alpha transparency so all you need to do is add the transparency to the color texture and it will work.

@ science boy + @ Belidos

I will try to explain what I am referring to, with an example.
1- My mesh is a winter tree.
2- It is an object composed of 2 parts (trunk and leaves)
3- The trunk has a snowy texture, without transparency.
4- The leaves have a texture with a transparent background (alpha channel)
5- Transparency = 3 in the FPE file:

GGMax unlist all my textures, rather comes with "Noname" material, and just 1 rather than 2, this behavior obligated me to choose just 1 texture for the whole tree, of course, if I choose the transparent one, all the tree becomes transparent.

You can see all this in the video below.



Therefore I consider that given the circumstances, and only in certain special cases such as a tree, comes in handy the opacity texture support, might help to bypass that issue, although I know it might be better to fix the issue.
It is already posted on GitHub. Nothing wrong with this, those guys are working hard on terrain systems, and even AI systems; this issue most likely will be fixed soon.

Yeah, ideally the trunk and leaves should be separate, and you would use alpha clipping for the leaves, that would also work if the model is one mesh.

This is great feature, can be used for other things:


OldFlak....

That is a problem with the model not max. If you still using the older version of fragmotion you can add and assign textures new version as well just the old version has DBO support still.

The reason you only get one texture assign slot is because the information is missing from the model. You don't need fancy stuff like clipping fix the model as that is the problem.

Additionally Max casts shadow perfectly well from transparency just ain't cheap to on a large scale.

MAX doesn't use transparency for trees it uses alpha Clipping:


It will work even if model is one mesh.

You only need transparency for things that are semi transparent - like windows for example.


OldFlak....

You are right, for any reason, it doesn't have the material info; now it is fixed. Ty for the tip.

@ OldFlak
You are right, trees use alpha Clipping, anyway, it should be texture-based, though. I keep on my thought, opacity texture might help. LOL

Hi All
I thought Lee announced back in the early days of these broadcast that the maps would load in a dynamic way, so as you moved across the terrain a new playable area would load in background as you approached the edge of the current area. Making it possible to have your level any size or shape (with in reason). Has this idea been dropped? (if the broadcasts did not occur at 2 am Australian Easter standard time I would have joined in and enquired about this)

I am quite impress by the progress so far though I do fear that retaining a single source with GGclassic will result in reduced modularity, excessive use of globals and a tendency to patch round problems rather than fixing their original cause.

Q> Can you turn off physics in gameguru max?
Lee; "No... why?!"

Not my question, but a valid question.
I think a certain 10-20% of the users at least at some point will actually be concerned
and asking; Could we please have a selectable project type where all terrain and water,
grass, physics and inferred BLOAT is NOT loaded into the project?
Maybe a certain few will want to do a 2-D game in MAX. Primarily if other certain features
are accessible (beyond the above) such as spawned objects via script Not supported ):

So the test in MAX will be this... load an empty map and then without placing anything else,
zero, nada, compile a stand-alone redistributable. What is the size? 1 Gig, 2 Gig?
The minimum for Classic sits @ about ~200-220 MB. I'd like to see it + MAX fall to < 50 MB.
What if the only thing a person did was put a black screen with the words "Hello World"?

Project types might be something to discuss for those interested in using MAX for game
developing. Might sound insane to these forums but it's rather common in Unity I hear.
Unity forum reference:- (2019); "now this is a surprise, I just created this project without anything in it except for a camera and yet it already has 8mb on it...I am using Unity 5.6 for 32 bit by the way... "

https://conceptartempire.com/unity-2d-tutorials/

Lol I have imported over 500 models to max so far. I have it down to a T, when it comes to troublesome models.

@ wizard of id
What dya do is it add object within the software or dya sort it in folders and let max find it?

Yes but that is pretty much all engine ..
The empty map with a Start Marker is about 40k .. Less than an email.
in fact an empty map with a start marker and default terrain stands at 12.7 meg for Max
Less than a big email with a file attached
The full minimum standalone size for Max is currently 280 meg ( although that will get bigger )
The full minimum standalone size for Classic is 371 meg
Like GG everything else is required engine files and whatever else you add to your game.

Add the object via the import function. Max doesn't like the older DBO files with multi materials, like the trees. Using fragmotion, you convert the object to static OBJ format or if animated an X file. With fragmotion it allows to to set and add textures as needed, MAX correctly picks this up. The benefit is that when using this method it automatically detects the textures names and will be visible in the fields. Which if you have a mesh with 4-5 textures is a blessing.

Additionally if you place all the source files in the entity bank and use fragmotion when assigning the textures ect, when you import into max it will automatically assign the textures as well as shaders, no mess no fuss.

Yes Ratall you are right He did announced it as far as i could remember,
And i also was hoping that, that idea will stay in the final build.

I don't understand why you want to be able to transfer classic games to this supreme delicious engine ?
Surely everyone can start afresh and save any headaches and issues and possible restraints to hold back max just because people may want to load classics games in. Why not just do classic games in classic? If they are that good then why put them in max? I really don't understand why.

@ science boy
Totally agree.

@ all
I know that when you have a large level working well in GG, it sounds like craziness to start again from scratch; however the chance to use new tools, new weathers, skies, water, particles, and so on, worth the try, and you'll notice it just when you start to do it.
I myself am a lazy man, and for me, it is a pain to start from scratch; but I'm confident this is the way to go.
(there is no spoon) LOL

I disagree, but it depends on what sort of level you have created!

If all you have done is taken a random terrain and scattered a bunch of entities willy nilly then not a problem.

But if you have something like Protoscope with many many hours of painstaking positioning of interactive entities then there is no reason you shouldn't expect it to be transferable to MAX.

"The full minimum standalone size for Classic is 371 meg "
Good catch synchro. I think my number came from a zipped standalone I mailed off to someone for testing... I was just scrubbing the ol memory banks from the past. So yeah it's prob more akin to 380-400 if you add a couple barrels and small script or such.
Which brings us standing more ajar at the point being there might be people who would like just a camera and their own scripts, then spawn a few entities on the fly while you also spawn your huds, lights, particles, etc... while keeping the distributable to say < 500 MB if possible. Now it speeds up places like itch.io. But I'm not trying to turn MAX into a 2D maker!
Market... I always try to help TGC @ the market. Hybrid 2D is a huge market. A complex re-write? Not sure. Seems like it shouldn't but perhaps it would.

With zero "clipping" it becomes it extremely hard to place object inside large entities, especially the ones that rely on grid snapping for example.Don't if lee is going to add it but currently it is a hassle to work without it.I much rather design my level in classic, then import to max if clipping doesn't make a come back.

So let me get this right you are happy to make it in classic but dont want to complete it in classic? Also amen i believe you want to transfer a very complex game to max from classic im guessing for the extreme advances in graphics quality is the reason.

Next question guys

I have happily accepted your reasons and fair play but would it have consequences to maxs advances?

nothing to be honest you just have to add the new shader texture maps....and job done.Max even creates them for you automatically you just have to adjust the maps....

no problem at all. Hope you can up the games in max. I prefer the max although not complete or ready i can createnin the bacl ground test and develop as does max. No point making a game yet in my eyes i dropped the original twinworlds project as i knew i can better my work and advances means i can create what i have always wanted. Also version 10,000 of my dungeons houses castles etc have really jumped in quality this year, think that a new start is best for me. But i can also see it would help your cause with all the models you have in the store so it would mean good income rather than loss of income and all that hard work that you have put in is saved (i believe)

I very much doubt any level will just load from Classic into MAX without a ton of work to fix what is broken.
- May as well just finish any Classic game in Classic
- Or just start fresh in MAX if you want to take full advantage of what the new engine offers

If your models snap together in grid mode, it is fine for building complex interior scenes.
It would be good however to add rmb context menus, or use a similar system that Classic uses for fiddling with entities, as going to the right panel and clicking icons to change behaviour is simply not user friendly. To me it is MAX's weakest link.

That said you can still build complex scenes pretty quickly - and way more fun than in Classic.

Within 12 months of release the open Classic Level idea will likely never be used - just a waste of dev time to implement it in the first place.
For me it is simple - Stay with Classic or move to MAX.
jmo


Well already we see things broken in MAX that affect Classic - so the probability of Classic holding MAX back are pretty good.
MAX should just cut all ties and become whatever it can become without being chained to the old flogged horse
Again jmo

OldFlak....

@old flak
Totally on your page with this. Butnif people must push the backwards compatibility at least wait till max is completed with VR etc. It sounds like it could be a pain to do it. If it does hold back max then i will never be more against something in my life except donald trump and the brexit voters. People should not be given a vote to something so complex. Might as well give a 5 yr old a scalpel and ask to do brain surgery on a patient. The exit gang have ruined uk. Anyway rant over and politics aside i hope it doesn't ruin max.

The only reason Max is backward compatible is because it could. No real extra effort needed.
Chances are though as Max moves further along its going to lose more things like the old AI, Waypoint settings etc.
So at best you will be able to import the map and models which may look excellent with the new terrain and sky replacing the old and of course the scripts should work also .. Personally i would be happy if that was all we got.
It would still make classic very useful for Max

BTW ... New build available

So ,
i guess terrain sculpting is not available yet with the new
terrain system ??

UNIRD12B

So I downloaded most of the update for 9/17. It stopped at (554 MB) 178/186 on texture_N.dd 85 MB/85 MB before it threw an install error (cannot download file). I have pretty much been getting these types of errors since the last update. Is this a network related error or does it all have to be wiped and reinstalled?

No idea how that will work yet .
The old tools certainly wont be any good for it so its going to have to be redone whatever we have.

I reinstalled fresh ( just the core ) and no issues downloading in fact it seems a good build so far

@the_blob

It may be
- I verified my install, which went along with no issues at all, but got this when trying to launch MAX:


So I removed MAX completely, and used tiny installer to install fresh. All went good until the end and was stuck on this part of install for about 15 minutes:


It eventually finished, but every time I launch MAX I get about 10-15 seconds of black screen before max shows welcome dialog.

The installer also downloaded the Max Collection even tho it is not selected in the installer window.
All this makes me think the installer still has issues, and some files may be getting corrupted in the process.

OldFlak....

I had a lot of issues and errors until I logged into my tgc account and it all went ok

Early in the Game Guru videos the LUA scripts were covered on how to write your own scripts. With the new way of setting up separate tasks can we get videos on how to move our old scripts into the new system?

Just copy all your scripts to the scriptbank folder and you will be able to assign them in editor.

You have to uncheck the Dynamic Lua tickbox at bottom of screen to see them.


If you create a scriptbank folder in your writable folder location, MAX will find them as well, and you won't have to keep copying them over after an update.

OldFlak....

So a script that contains a statement like - if ai_soldier_state[e] == "patrol" then - will still work? I haven't found any of the old core system modules in the new method of scripting layout.

The AI is being rewritten at the moment, so it's doubtful unless they use the same array layout in Max.

After testing the latest build I have an issue that I can't seem to figure out.

Install completes without issue and all files verify. When GG MAX is launched it spends around 1 minute on a black screen then the editor appears and all seems normal. However if a start marker is dropped and test game is started the editor hangs with spinning mouse pointer for a few seconds, but with low CPU load, then it resolves and appears to run as expected (possibly normal initialisation time ?). If certain entities are added and the level is relaunched there is a long pause ~20s - 1 minute which either ends in a crash to desktop or the level loads but quickly freezes. Pressing Esc. from the frozen state results in immediate CTD, no error messages are shown. The specific entity that always causes this behaviour is the 'Campfire - Dying' from the MAX collection which is a complex object containing particles, notably when multiple instances of it are placed or it is placed along with with other normally non-problematic entities. I haven't exhaustively tested every entity but for me the campfire generates issues that cause the crash.

I've tried this multiple times and always get the same result. I have tried using the default install path, two other custom paths, completely uninstalled and reinstalled with the tiny installer but the result is always the same.

System spec. wise there shouldn't be any reason for it not to cope with MAX. CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X, GPU: RTX 2070 SUPER, RAM: 16 GB DDR4 3600 MHz.

Has anyone else had similar issues or is this repeatable for on other systems I wonder ?

The 'Campfire - Dying' from the MAX collection causes mine to crash also when placed, so your not alone.

The Campfire issue might come because the fire particle, issue is already being fixing, meantime before placing a particle on GGMax, please, first uncheck "Lens flare" in post-processing settings.

Thanks for checking it out. I can confirm that 3com was spot on, disabling lens flare stops the crash. Good to know the bug is known and I don't have some annoying system-specific conflict to try and find !