Need help making footsteps work, UPGRADED $50 reward

#1 Updated: $20 reward for info that helps me fix the problem

#2 Hello, about the rewards you keep offering, they sound like the perfect thing to post here:

www.indiegamejobs.com/index.php

Its quite new site so the more items that get put up there the better. Of course, putting the rewards up on here will probably get more/quicker responce, as more pople look here then on indiegamejobs but i would be nice to see that site take off ;)

Sorry I don't have any info on the problem, just thought I'd pitch in with that idea, be like a torque market place for coders and artists ;)

Edit: Just becareful about source code obviously! I know this example doesn't have any but somthing to remember.

#3 Tom: I don't want to worry about if my posts are legal or not over there, but if you understand whats legal or not to post you are welcome to copy them over there... good luck with the site, looks great so far!

#4 Reward now $50

#5 A few things to note which may or may not help you with this problem:

1) You do not need the negative values for the triggers in 3DS Max to mark the end of a trigger value. The exporter already assumes that they close after they have been keyframed.

2) Ensure that your animations are exporting with the ground transform included. If the exporter thinks that the model is above the ground plane, it won't try to play the trigger values (since you technicly dont want footpuff emitters and sounds emitting in air). The easiest way to resolve this is to ensure that the feet are hitting the ground plane (z=0 on the bounds pivot location).

3) Check in showtool pro in the sequence info tab to ensure that the triggers have been exported (and same with the ground transform). It will display the necessary information to you.

4) One rather obscure bug with the exporter that is rarely discussed is the fact that if your DSQ does not start at frame 0 in the file being exporter that the triggers fall out of sync with the sequence. What ends up happening is that the exporter for some reason or another forgets that the triggers time value should be relative to the sequence and not the absolute time in the file. Since this is a problem with the exporter dll, you will need to ensure that your sequences start at frame 0.

5) If the sequence looks right in showtool pro, check to see that the footprint.png decal is being drawn in your scene. The sound system in torque is a bit iffy, and there are times when the puff particles wont draw at the right sizes.

#6

Quote:
good luck with the site, looks great so far

Haha it's not my site, just think its a good idea and so I'm getting the word out ;)

#7

Quote:You do not need the negative values for the triggers in 3DS Max to mark the end of a trigger value. The exporter already assumes that they close after they have been keyframed.

i dont quite understand what you mean here "assumes that they close after they have been keyframed". If you put a trigger where the left foot comes off the ground, then a trigger where the right foot comes off later, how does it know that the left foot has come down? does it assume the first foot to leave comes down by the time the second one takes off?

Quote:4) One rather obscure bug with the exporter that is rarely discussed is the fact that if your DSQ does not start at frame 0 in the file being exporter that the triggers fall out of sync with the sequence. What ends up happening is that the exporter for some reason or another forgets that the triggers time value should be relative to the sequence and not the absolute time in the file. Since this is a problem with the exporter dll, you will need to ensure that your sequences start at frame 0.

Im using a walk animation created with biped in MAX using standard footstep keys generated by biped. At frame 0, the biped is not moving yet, it then accelerates and is walking, then stops. So I am using frames 28-54 for my walk cycle. What do I need to do to make frame 28 become frame 0?

#8 Move the keyframes back :)

#9 Logan,

ok I realized you can drag keys, so I did the following:

1) selected all objects, unhid all, unfroze all
2) deleted the keys to the left and right of 53-83 (the range of the walk cycle)
3) dragged a rectangle around the keys from 53-83, selecting them
4) dragged the first key, moving the rest with it, to the left

each time i do this, no matter where i drop them, i get this error:

Bip01
This operation is not possible because it results in illegal timing. Some restrictions are:
-keys on the same track cannot overlap or pass each other
-no keys before the first or after the last footstep
-no keys in negative frames

I'm guessing the error is caused by the second one, but I do not know how to fix it. Any tips?

#10 Hmm guess thats my bad for assuming you were using Max 9 (with the latest addons to it) as the issue of moving keys before frame 0 is fixed there. Oh well no worries.

Try this instead. Select any part of your biped structure. On the motion command panel (right hand side) choose the "save" option under the biped rollout. In the dialog window that appears check the option that says "save segement at current position and rotation" and set the start and end frames to match the start and end frames of your run animation (ie 53 to 83), then save this to a bip.

Now I prefer to do this next step on a clean version of my scene (ie. either a scene with no animation or one you have deleted the previous keyframes from). Simply load the saved bip file back onto your biped. The animation data that you saved out will load itself at frame 0. That should do the trick for you.

#11 Nice job Logan, it works, you win the $50!! Two questions for you:

how do you control the size and width apart of the footsteps. They are tiny right now compared to the model.

how come the puffs only appear once in a while, seemingly only on terrain painted a certain way?

Thanks again.

#12 Woot! Yah me!

Keep the cash, it invest it in your game or donate it to a charity if you really want to part with it :)

As for the footpuff emitters and decals. Check in the server side player.cs file, there shoudl be a line or two that look like :

datablock DecalData(PlayerFootprint)
{
   sizeX       = 0.25;
   sizeY       = 0.25;
   textureName = "~/data/shapes/player/footprint";
};

and

// Foot Prints
   decalData   = PlayerFootprint;
   decalOffset = 0.25;

As for why the puffs only show up on certain terrain textures. This is a variable that you can control via a properlyMap.cs file that is located in the shape/data/terrains folder. This CS file basicly defines the type (ie. grass, metal, dirt, etc) that the textures in the folder should be. I would look there as one possible culprit.

Another could be the trigger values or time positions, I would check that those are right in TST Pro though.


Logan

#13 So, just for future reference, what happens if two people post a working fix for you at the same time, or before you see it? Who gets the money?

#14 Last time this happened I ended up paying multiple people that each actually helped me in getting there

#15 Money talks - bi-ped walks!

Sorry - couldn't help myself