SneaksieDave on 23/9/2004 at 18:44
Perhaps also, when editing, you can set a door's properties to block sound or not, and in some cases the designer forgot? May sound like I'm reaching for hope, but I sure as hell hope that's the case with Thief 3 full as well, because it's sure not working right in the T3 demo. Also, it might be that it can exist in varying degrees - I've heard some sound through a door, and other times (the two guys), nothing through a door.
Anyway, my point with the 3-4 AIs was not that that's a good limit or such, but that my below-minimum-spec machine handled it without problem, so machines within spec would certainly do even better. Besides, the team will (presumably) finish The Dark Mod in the future, when machine specs will be higher.
The jumpsuit guys are in the demo levels, so early on. I can't recall if it's after the pair of guys where one is in the wall conduit or not. Oh! It's the two working just beyond a door which is right next to the kitchen, I think. With them, the closed door blocks their sound for me completely.
I'm itching(!) to get to my PC and try this again.
Edit: Argh! too late. :) Well, I'm still itching. Maybe it's this rash, though.
Renzatic on 23/9/2004 at 19:10
Quote Posted by jay pettitt
Renz, Imps with fire balls vs guards with torches? My concern is mostly that the amount of modding required will cause a processor hit. Calculating how well hidden by shadow the player is will require a function to be called at least every few ticks. Thats a whole extra process that Doom 3 presumeably doesn't bother with. I'd guess that would be the worst culpret for a speed hit because you'll need to do that process continually. Extra work for dealing with noise and AI, for instance, need only happen when a noise is made, rather than every few ticks, but it will still add up to slower performance than Doom.
Right, but while all imps have fireballs not all guards will have torches. It's an admittedly small balancing effect that might give us some extra play in other areas.
I have no doubts that the mod will have a few framerate hits due to the AI and other required checks (shouldn't have told Fingernail that we probably wouldn't need extra CPU requirements now that I think about it), but as long as the coding isn't too sloppy they won't be severe. We won't know that or anything for a fact til we get the SDK, but to me it seems more of a concern to keep in mind rather than a severe obstacle to overcome.
I'm also planning on keeping performance up by limiting the amount of brushes and moving lights in an area to somewhat modest amounts. But once we get some basic AI in place I'm gonna build an ultra highpoly room and throw about 4 or 5 guards in it to see how it handles.
jay pettitt on 23/9/2004 at 19:12
There is an unexpected feature with sound occlusion and doors in theif 3. Leaning against a closed door will fix the bug and the sound will occlude properly once you lean away. Shame that.
Fingernail on 23/9/2004 at 19:30
Meh...in the future, people will be slower, so framerate will be less of an issue. :erm:
Darkness_Falls on 24/9/2004 at 04:21
You all needn't worry. I'm sure DarkMod will rock your worlds!
SneaksieDave on 24/9/2004 at 14:15
Quote Posted by jay pettitt
There is an unexpected feature with sound occlusion and doors in theif 3. Leaning against a closed door will fix the bug and the sound will occlude properly once you lean away. Shame that.
I guess that carries throughout the game. :erg:
Well, a question with regard to that, if anyone knows - does that affect only the player's hearing of sound, or does it also affect AI hearing of sound, and thus their behavior? If the former, it's a cosmetic annoyance. If the latter, that is a major defect ISA needs to fix.
jay pettitt on 24/9/2004 at 17:34
It's cosmetic. I don't know for sure if AI are affected, but it certainly doesn't notice.
io organic industrialism on 24/9/2004 at 17:53
for those worried about framerates in areas more wide open than most of the corridors throughout the first 80%+ of doom3, you should know that the last part of doom3 takes place in hell, which has considerably larger open spaces with higher poly counts, jagged rocks and cliffs and pits of lava, and it still runs just as well out there
Renzatic on 24/9/2004 at 18:43
Plus you have the monorail ride over the surface of Mars, that's the highest poly portion of the game and comes close to rivaling UT2k landscapes as far as details go....but there isn't any AI on display there besides the guy in the back.
io organic industrialism on 26/9/2004 at 04:29
Quote Posted by Renzatic
Plus you have the monorail ride over the surface of Mars, that's the highest poly portion of the game and comes close to rivaling UT2k landscapes as far as details go....but there isn't any AI on display there besides the guy in the back.
yeah i noticed that it looked quite nice and still got great fps.. i wish you could have ridden outside for a little longer to watch the scenery
