Vehicle Tutorial with Custom Vehicle

Download Code File

I posted this because some people are still having trouble
I Think this might clear some of that up :)

ok First I wanna thanks GarageGames for the great job everyone is doing on the team there
.. this is the Best thing since Linux :)(not a joke)

nuff said lets get started...

ok quite simply I think covering the basics of the vehicle are important
after resolving actually getting a shape to use as a valid vehicle
anything will do really as long as it has col-1 and a detail mesh

but if we cant get our hands on one I will provide a shape my modeler is willing to part with that I exported :)
(this means dont expect All the bells and whistles .. just enuff to werk)


the Next thing that is important is defining the script.
the script must define a datablock for the vehicle of choice
one can examine the VehicleData class and the desired vehicle type's class and the corresponding function(s) initPersistFields()
as this function exports the variables (and sometimes functions) available to the script


the script must also define functions that the code can callback upon to relate to the vehicle



the important ones are :
create()
onAdd()
onRemove()
onImpact()
onDamage()
damage()
onDestroyed()

there are more dont expect a full list here I havent even found em all yet myself im sure
there is still much more to vehicles I will delve a little deeper ..

Sounds : are easy to setup by simply declaring an AudioProfile datablock
and having it available by the time you run the vehicle script
simply associate the AudioProfile to the particular field you wish to fill
also you will notice EffectProfile has been removed it was for Force Feedback.(I think)

Particle Systems : can be defined for the vehicle are extensive
but not necessary .. tho easy to setup :)


here are some example's :

datablock AudioProfile(DroneSoftImpactSound)
{
    filename = "~/data/sound/Vehicles/Drone/SoftHit.wav";
    description = AudioClose3d;
    preload = true;
};

now simply when declaring the datablock that I wish to have this profile be used :
impactWaterEasy = DroneSoftImpactSound;
impactWaterEasy is an exported variable from the VehicleData datablock class type

Now for Particle Systems
we will need to define two seperate datablocks one for the particle we wish to use
one for the emitter that will release the particle
here is an example :

datablock ParticleData(DroneExplosionParticle)
{
    dragCoefficient = 2;
    gravityCoefficient = 0.2;
    inheritedVelFactor = 0.2;
    constantAcceleration = 0.0;
    lifetimeMS = 750;
    lifetimeVarianceMS = 150;
    textureName = "~/data/shapes/rifle/smokeParticle";
    colors[0] = "0 0.2 1 1.0";
    colors[1] = "0 0.2 1 0.0";
    sizes[0] = 0.5;
    sizes[1] = 1.0;
};

datablock ParticleEmitterData(DroneExplosionEmitter)
{
    ejectionPeriodMS = 7;
    periodVarianceMS = 0;
    ejectionVelocity = 1;
    velocityVariance = 1.0;
    ejectionOffset = 0.0;
    thetaMin = 0;
    thetaMax = 60;
    phiReferenceVel = 0;
    phiVariance = 360;
    overrideAdvances = false;
    particles = "DroneExplosionParticle";
};

now to make use of this particlar explosion emmiter Particle system we will need one more datablock :

datablock ExplosionData(DroneVehicleExplosion)
{
    explosionShape = "~/data/shapes/vehicles/Drone/explosion.dts";

    particleEmitter = DroneExplosionEmitter;
    particleDensity = 50;
    particleRadius = 0.2;

    faceViewer = true;
    explosionScale = "1 1 1";

    shakeCamera = true;
    camShakeFreq = "10.0 11.0 10.0";
    camShakeAmp = "1.0 1.0 1.0";
    camShakeDuration = 0.5;
    camShakeRadius = 10.0;
};

there now we have gone all the way to explosion im sure your all with me on this as it is so simple weve covered sounds particle systems explosions and are ready to actually dive in and define the datablock and write the functions to support it


ok well I think it is best for all of us if at this point I just provide a couple files as converting all the code to html is a pain...
and I dont think i can convert the *.dts ,max file and the png to html :)
ok im providing :
Drone.dts
Drone.max
Drone.png
Vehicle.cs (a Simple beggining)
Drone.cs (another Simple beggining)

found at the bottom of this page

add the vehicle.cs and the Drone.cs to be executed in
/server/scripts/game.cs I executed mine just before player.cs as such :

exec("./Vehicles/Vehicles.cs");
   exec("./Vehicles/Drone.cs");
   exec("./player.cs");

be sure to have the files in the place you specify....

you will need to mount the vehicle with the player
this can be done in :
/server/scripts/player.cs

find the function

[b]Armor::onCollision(..)[/b]
and change :
   if((%this.className $= WheeledVehicleData) && %obj.mountVehicle 
       && obj.getState() $= "Move" && %col.mountable)
[b]and the corresponding codeblock[/b]
  to...

   if((%this.className $= WheeledVehicleData || %this.className $= FlyingVehicleData) 
      && %obj.mountVehicle && %obj.getState() $= "Move")
   {
        if(%col.mountable)
       {
// Only mount drivers for now.
            %node = 0;
            %col.mountable=false;// Set Vehicle Unmountable
            %col.mountObject(%obj,%node);
            %obj.mVehicle = %col;
         }
      else
      {
         %obj.damage(0, VectorAdd(%obj.getPosition(),%vec), 20, "Impact");// to Run over players
         // %vecLen * %this.speedDamageScale
      }
   }

and then you will need to make sure you can unmount and remount over and over
this is done by fixing in player.cs first find the function doDismount()
then after :

if (%forced && %success == -1)
    %pos = %oldPos;
[/b]
[b]insert[/b] :
      %obj.unmount();
      %obj.setControlObject(%obj);
      if(%obj.mVehicle)
          %obj.mVehicle.getDataBlock().playerDismounted(%obj.mVehicle, %obj);
      %obj.mountVehicle = false;
      %obj.schedule(4000, "MountVehicles", true);

[b]Notice : the change in the schedule function
as im sure a typo was left after the changes
was trying to call nonexhistant function setMountVehicle(..) which is now named MountVehicles(..):)

ok one more thing .. add the booster so you can right click for boost
simply find ../client/scripts/default.bind.cs
and below alttrigger(..) place :

function mouseJet(%val)
{
   $mvTriggerCount3++;
}

first Find and copy a config.cs into your ../client/.. folder (which I recommend for client binds) or you can add to the default.bind.cs

moveMap.bind(mouse, "button1", mouseJet);

as I havent done any work towards spawning the vehicle
you can either add it with the editor
...or add a function ill give thats hacker to ctrl-f for a vehicle placed at your spot :)
then add to it

moveMap.bindCmd(keyboard, "ctrl f", "commandToServer(\'addflyer\');", "");

insert in commands.cs :

function serverCmdAddFlyer(%client)
{
    if(%client.player$="")
      return;
    if(%client.player)
      if(%client.player.isMounted())
         return;
    %vehicle = new FlyingVehicle() 
    {
       dataBlock = Drone;
    };
    %vehicle.mountable = true;
    %vehicle.setEnergyLevel(60);
    %vehicle.setTransform( %client.player.getEyeTransform() );
   // %vehicle.setGravity(0);// Optional recommended :)
    %vehicle.nextWeaponFire = 1;
    %vehicle.schedule(5500, "playThread", $ActivateThread, "activate");
    messageAll('BadguyOutPut','%1 Added a %2!',%client.name, %vehicle.getDataBlock().getName());
    MissionCleanup.add(%vehicle);
}

ok so noone is perfect im sure there are maybe more errors .. I hope not :)
it should be all good tho and anyone should be able to work thru this and get satisfactory vehicles running ... Goodluck

oh yeah .. and stay away from the organics as thier collision detail is not valid
I recommendassert after the following :

AssertFatal(pAccel != NULL, "Error, no accel!");

found in ../engine/game/tsStatic.cc line 488
might I suggest

AssertFatal(pAccel->vertexList[0] != NULL, "Error, no accel vertexList!");

to hopefully allow the program to back out gracefully using the platform defined methods

P.S. this engine is great the couple weeks ive had it have been really exciting
as me and my team mold to fill its needs ill be here reading the forums and hopefully learning lots and helping out lots :)

not all functionality is provided ..
for example you must write your own damage(..) function
Updated Zip file with changes and max file