Legacy:Chazums/Developer Journal

Trystan

He's the other guy i'm coding with, if you want to see an a broader view of the classes we're working on in an easy to follow and structured manner go to Trystan/Developer Journal

The Journal

I plan on updating this as i learn more about programming for UT2003.

I also plan to do a tutorial for creating and adding Immersion (Ifeel effects) - if thats ok that is :)

Moving to UT

Before the project i worked with the Half-Life code and its certainly a culture shock when you first start. Its pretty much like moving to from c++ to Java, if fact to me its just like that.

After the initial panic I started to look around it a little and i'm growing to really like its structured nature, it makes moving through areas of the code very fast.

The main problem i'm having with it, being a beginner is finding out where to start and trying not to get lost as there are so many files to open.

So if you're a newbie like me i can highly recommend a pencil, paper, rubber, packet of buscuits, a whole lot of drink and a comfy chair. Try and find a small part of the code that has obvious effect and get to know it alter a few values and see what happens. I found that when taken in small pieces its easier to get my mind around.

Axis

I'm not sure if this is actualy documented anywhere but i'll stick it here just incase.

I just have spent a good few hours trying to get a model to show up properly ingame, the break through came when i discovered the following:

x = z

y = x

z = y

so.....

Increasing x will make things move forward / into the scene

Increasing y will make things move to the right of the screen

Increasing z will make things move down the screen

IMO thats crazy :D

PlayerViewOffset

This is contained with the DefaultProperties of <weaponname>.u (see Weapon Properties )and relates to positioning the weapon model on screen

PlayerViewOffset=(X,Y,Z)

When altering this there are 2 things to remember

1. This value is multiplied later in the code (by 100)

2. That the Axis are set out as above.

PlayerViewPivot

This is also in the DefaultProperties of <weaponname>.u (see Weapon Properties)

PlayerViewPivot(Pitch,Yaw,Roll)

16834 = 90 Degree turn

Karmic Quirk

It would seem that having a very high value for the speed of a Projectile can have some side effects when interacting with Players. When a player is killed by a high-speed Projectile it can cause the player to gib or get their limbs torn off. This can be conpensated by setting a very low value for MomentumTransfer.

Custom Bot Code

This, for the moment, is will be a very, very rough note on how to get bots to use custom pawn settings.

You will need the following things:

custom Pawn

custom Game

custom Roster

custom RosterEntry

so we have in our own .u called MyPackage

MyPawn

MyGame

MyRoster

MyRosterEntry

set MyGame > DefaultProperties > DefaultEnemyRosterClass = MyPackage.MyRoster

make MyRoster a duplicate of a current roster e.g. xTeamRoster.uc

then Replace all the instances of xRosterEntry with MyRosterEntry

make MyRosterEntry a duplicate of a current rosterentry e.g.xRosterEntry.uc

then in the functions :

 static function xRosterEntry CreateRosterEntry(int prIdx)
 static function xRosterEntry CreateRosterEntryCharacter(string CharName)

set xre.PawnClassName = "MyPackage.MyPawn" in both functions

ta-da.

i appologise for the complete mess that this is, but i shall clean it up and make it a proper wiki page - unless someone else wants too.

PokeTerrain()

This comes with the new 2225 patch (i think) and allows you to alter the hightmap of a level on the fly - can you say 'deformable terrain'? :D

Leaving

Because i'm not going to be developing for ut2k3 any more i'm, going to up all the work i've done so people can use it :D

should be up mid-week ish.

What its got:

Projectile based bullets (with bullet drop)

Weapon Recoil

Timed respawns (like RtCW)

Re-inforcements (like battlefield)

Reloading

Iron-Sights

Texture specific hit decals and hit effects

Bullet Penetration

Locational Damage

Deformable Terrain (grens will leave craters etc)

maybe other stuff that i've forgot :P

• note this is work in progress code so its not perfect*

if you want me to go through and explain some of the mess leave a comment and i'll reply

The Code

The Code and Art ( 2 maps, 4 weapons, Slightly Modified Karma model and various art for effects etc)

I would ask that you don't re-use the Art tho please as it will be used on the new project.

---

EntropicLqd: What you going to be up to then? Surely you are not quitting modding altogether?

Chazums: For now i am at the end of my final year of University, the rest of the mod team want to wait and mod for HL2 so maybe that :/

TFfF_Renoir Thanks, Chazums, for posting your code so that others may learn. I've been coding an UT2k3 mod for a little while, on and off, and these wiki pages are where I've learnt most of the interesting stuff. Can I just check that you don't mind if I use some of your code (appropriately marked as such) in our mod? I've just about learnt enough to start contributing to the wiki, and everyone's leaving to do HL2 :)

Chazums: Sure thats what its here for. Personally i don't think that HL2 can do anything that ut2k3 can't and with the rumours of ut2k4 being at E3 i wouldn't be supprised if UT ends up being better. Still, you go where the boss says :P

Riddler: How about .int files and your test map to go with the code? Looking at code is great, but it would be nice to see it in-engine so we can see what it plays like.

Chazums: I'll talk to the other guys and see if they mind having their art released.

Riddler: Thanks, appreciate that. You can e-mail me at riddler@megamod.d2g.com, or MSN Messenger at MegaRiddler@hotmail.com if you need

Chazums: There we go all there now ( i think )