Dissapearing Client Updates
by Jay Barnson · in Torque Game Engine · 12/27/2005 (10:26 pm) · 7 replies
What does Torque key off of for determining the period of updates or when objects such as items dissapear from scope? The control object, or the camera?
I've got moving items dissapearing as they cross a terrain tile threshold, and projectile updates losing fidelity at a certain point beyond the start position. The controlling object (also an item subclass) is close by, but my camera code is all new and is almost entirely client-side (thus no warps or jitters, but the server-side camera object still thinks its at the starting position).
Thanks!
I've got moving items dissapearing as they cross a terrain tile threshold, and projectile updates losing fidelity at a certain point beyond the start position. The controlling object (also an item subclass) is close by, but my camera code is all new and is almost entirely client-side (thus no warps or jitters, but the server-side camera object still thinks its at the starting position).
Thanks!
About the author
Jay has been a mainstream and indie game developer for a... uh, long time. His professional start came in 1994 developing titles for the then-unknown and upcoming Sony Playstation. He runs Rampant Games and blogs at Tales of the Rampant Coyote.
#2
12/29/2005 (9:34 am)
FYI, the method you are looking for is ::onCameraScopeQuery(), which determines which objects get scoped to the client. IIRC, it is in reference to the camera, which is either the control object, or attached to the control object in all cases (most cases?).
#3
My function forces the player object to remain in scope (which is why I didn't see it dissapear when the other vehicles and projectiles started going). But it's still an independent object controlled by the client that tries to keep the control object "in frame"
(Pardon the ugly lightling... oh when oh when will the TLK for 1.4 be released... *grin* ) (And note the use of the helicopter from a recent resource here on GG --- it's not final, but it works great for stand-in).
Thanks for the suggestion. This will help me if I need to do further tweaking (almost guaranteed).
12/29/2005 (10:44 am)
Thanks, Stephen. I have that from a cut & paste I did with another resource, but I've completely modified the camera to make it client-driven. I was pulling stuff from the RTS Starter Kit and the Advanced Camera resource when I created it, but there was a lot of missing details I didn't quite "get".My function forces the player object to remain in scope (which is why I didn't see it dissapear when the other vehicles and projectiles started going). But it's still an independent object controlled by the client that tries to keep the control object "in frame"
(Pardon the ugly lightling... oh when oh when will the TLK for 1.4 be released... *grin* ) (And note the use of the helicopter from a recent resource here on GG --- it's not final, but it works great for stand-in).Thanks for the suggestion. This will help me if I need to do further tweaking (almost guaranteed).
#4
02/21/2006 (6:34 am)
Wow, happy to see my crappy helicopter model being put to good use. There's an update coming out soon for the heli reaource. If you go to the resource and scroll down to one of the last comments I made there's a link to a video showing some of the new stuff.
#5
02/21/2006 (7:48 am)
Ah cool! Yes, thanks a ton for the helicopter - it's been functioning as a very valuable stand-in for many weeks now :) We're going for a more cartoony look, so we can't keep it... but I will miss it when it's gone.
#6
02/21/2006 (9:08 am)
Just out of interest Jay, is the heli in the above screeny acting as a path object???
#7
02/21/2006 (9:28 am)
Nope. The helicopter is actually the player-controlled object of a custom class (derived from the ITEM class, if you can believe that!) I'm not actually using any of your scripts - just the model. 
Torque 3D Owner Jay Barnson