Discovery and Questions

[Scythifuge]

Greetings!

First, a quick note:

Its been a few weeks since I last posted. I took a break over the majority of the summer from the Savage Empire T.C. project, in order to avoid burnout. While my "skills" at creating pixel art are increasing, the pace is too slow, and I have taken to rendering certain U7 graphics from real pictures. Though if the project is to continue, I will probably very soon set out to create a team, to help accomplish that which I cannot. I will post more info on the official S.E.T.C. thread regarding this, very soon.

Now, with that said...

I just discovered that I can have more than 32 frames of animation for objects. YEA!!! My question is, is there a limit to the number of frames per object? This discovery will change a lot of things for any project I work on within E.S.

Another question I have is how do I make something interactive? I know next to nothing about usecode/scripting, but I have an object that is "off", but I would like it to display an animation when the player double clicks on it. Can someone walk me through the process, step by step? I figure that I'm going to have to somehow learn some usecode if I am going to get even a demo completed. The object in question is currently 41 frames, with the final version being at around 60 frames. I am also wondering how difficult it would be to make destructible environments ala Crusader? I imagine that instead of having a door or box disappear when destroyed, a script could display an explosion animation, then replace the object with a new frame that represents the same object as damaged.

Yet another question is, can npcs be made to use barges, say as part of a modified schedule? For example, would it be possible to have npcs operating carriages in Britannia, going from one town to another? Possibly stopping the carriage to engage the player in combat?

And finally (for this post, anyway!), is it possible, say in the future, to upgrade Exult/Exult Studio to have more modern features, such as colored lighting and other effects? I have done some rudimentary experimentation trying to achieve certain effects using translucency, and have some alpha-version parallax shadows for a couple of objects. But being able to assign certain features such as "this object gives off a blue glow for x-amount of tiles around it" would be excellent.

[marzo]

I just discovered that I can have more than 32 frames of animation for objects.

There is a catch, though: objects with more than 32 frames cannot be rotated like the others. They would best be left for fixed objects or fixed animations or strange things would occur if you placed one in a boat or carpet. Other than that, there is no real limit on the number of frames (i.e., you are more likely to run out of memory than to reach the limit).

Another question I have is how do I make something interactive?

Usecode. Specifically, you need to write a function which is declared with "shape#(nnn)" (where 'nnn' is the shape number) which animates the object.

I am also wondering how difficult it would be to make destructible environments ala Crusader?

Do you mean: you attack something and it displays a destroyed graphic instead of vanishing? If yes, then it is not possible.

Yet another question is, can npcs be made to use barges, say as part of a modified schedule?

If you make a custom schedule (with usecode; I don't know if they are even working yet), you *could* make it use a barge instead of an NPC. Otherwise no, you can't.

[Scythifuge]

Thank you Marzo, for your reply!

Quote:

There is a catch, though: objects with more than 32 frames cannot be rotated like the others. They would best be left for fixed objects or fixed animations or strange things would occur if you placed one in a boat or carpet. Other than that, there is no real limit on the number of frames (i.e., you are more likely to run out of memory than to reach the limit).

Thanks for letting me know! So far, the objects with more than 32 frames are meant to me stationary. Right now I have an animated computer monitor at about 101 frames, and pieces for a digital clock that has 12 pieces for the hours, 60 pieces for the minutes, and 2 pieces of an animated colon for in between. I have some other computer and tv screens that will be animated with more than 32 frames.


Quote:

Usecode. Specifically, you need to write a function which is declared with "shape#(nnn)" (where 'nnn' is the shape number) which animates the object.

Sounds excellent, but I'm still clueless when it comes to usecode. I'm going to try to study the few examples that I know of, to see if I can make heads or tales of it!


Quote:

Do you mean: you attack something and it displays a destroyed graphic instead of vanishing? If yes, then it is not possible.


Thats a shame, but I was more curious than actually considering it. I vaguely remember a scene from Serpent Isle during an in-game cutscene, in which I believe that an NPC gets exploded, and a charred corpse replaced the NPC, and I ignorantly assumed that something like that could be used with any object. I tend to think big when I am unaware of an engine's capabilities!


Quote:

If you make a custom schedule (with usecode; I don't know if they are even working yet), you *could* make it use a barge instead of an NPC. Otherwise no, you can't.

Hopefully in the future it can be worked out. I have some story situations that involve npc's pulling over to the side of the road, getting out and engaging the player.

[Donfrow]

In SI there is the brass doors that you blow up with a powder keg in the one city in the icy mountains. I know it's not an NPC but perhaps you were thinking of that?

[marzo]

In SI there is the brass doors that you blow up with a powder keg

That particular bit is in the powder keg's usecode; when you blow one up in the correct area, the brass doors get replaced by their destroyed versions.

Hm. Now that I think of it, it *would* be possible to have weapons destroy objects by giving them usecode functions to call when they hit something; you then could replace the attacked object with a destroyed version.

[Scythifuge]

Quote:


In SI there is the brass doors that you blow up with a powder keg in the one city in the icy mountains. I know it's not an NPC but perhaps you were thinking of that?

Hmmm...not sure. I'm going to have to replay S.I., when I go through my next Ultima marathon (play 4-8 in a row). I vaguely remember a bone dragin being involved...

Quote:


Hm. Now that I think of it, it *would* be possible to have weapons destroy objects by giving them usecode functions to call when they hit something; you then could replace the attacked object with a destroyed version.

Sweet! Where there is a will, there is a way I always say! Well that could make for some interesting situations and cutscenes.