Most asked questions

Q: I'm making a model of a helicopter, but I want the player to be able to go inside it (similar to delta force). I have found out that the bounding box prohibits this; I'm sure there's a way around it anyone know?

A: As soon as the player approaches the helicopter, move the player by changing its xyz coordinates (without using ent_move) until it is placed inside the chopper. Use a while loop to keep the player inside the helicopter:

function player_flies()

{

   ............

   while (flying)

   {

       player.x = helicopter.x;

       player.y = helicopter.y;

       player.z = helicopter.z;

       player.pan = helicopter.pan;

       player.tilt = helicopter.tilt;

       player.roll = helicopter.roll;

       wait (1);

   }

}

Q: When I run my map all I get is nothing but a black screen with "A5" written in the far top right corner and nothing shows up, even after about fifteen minutes.

A: The camera (your "eye" inside the 3D world) is placed outside the level - that's why you can't see anything. Place a model inside the level and assign it the action named "player_walk_fight".

Q: I use your Resident Evil camera from Aum4 in my game and everything works swell until I move to the 2nd floor of the building. If my player gets closer to one of the ground floor cameras, it will switch to it (even though I am still on the 2nd floor above the camera). How can I fix that?

A: Add another statement to the "if" instruction in function fixed_cameras():

if ((camera_position[temp_counter] < winner && camera_position[temp_counter] > 0) && (player.z < 200))

{

   ...

}

The idea is to trigger the cameras at the floor level only if the player has a similar z position. You should also add:

while(player == null) {wait (1);}

as the first line of code in function fixed_cameras() to prevent the player = null error message.

Q: Some models (quake2 mdl files) don't run properly in 3DGS; when I assign them the function "player_walk" they don't show walking animation when I walk with them. The models include walking animations.

A: If you want to use the template scripts you have to make sure that the names of the frames are identical with the ones required by the templates: "stand", "walk", "run", "duck", "swim", "dive", "jump", "crawl". If your walking animation has 12 frames, the names of these frames should be walk01...walk12 and so on. If your md2 file uses move01..move12 for its walking animation, it won't work.

Q: I would like to have an enemy generator; when I kill an enemy, another one should replace it and so on. Is it possible?

A: Sure. Copy and paste the code below at the end of your office.wdl file, place any model in Wed and attach it action enemy_generator:

string guard_mdl = <guard.mdl>;

entity* my_enemy;

action enemy_generator

{

    my.invisible = on;

    my.passable = on;

    while (1)

    {

         my_enemy = ent_create(guard_mdl, my.pos, actor_ai_one);

         while (my_enemy != null) {wait (1);}

         wait (1);

    }

}

Q: If you want mipmaps on your model, do the skin measurements have to be a power of 2 and / or be square?

A: No, it isn't necessary; however, using rectangular or square textures with sizes that are powers of 2 will increase the speed a little.

Q: How can I change the keys to jump in player_walk_fight?

A: Open input.wdl and look for this line of code in function _player_intentions().:

force.Z = strength.Z*(KEY_HOME-KEY_END);         // up and down

The following example changes the keys for jump and crouch to "S" and "X".

force.Z = strength.Z*(KEY_S-KEY_X);         // up and down

Q: I get an error 041 - lightmap space overrun, but I don't see this anywhere in the manual. What does this mean?

A: Your level is too big and the memory used for the lightmaps is huge. Use one of these two methods:

- Decrease the size of the level;

- Select the big level blocks (or all the blocks) and set their surfaces to "flat".

Q: I have a var defined this way:      var force[3];      let say I execute this line      force = 4;      will the content of force be 4, 4, 4 or 4, 0, 0?

A: The var named force will be set to (4, 0, 0); by the way    var force[3];   is similar (and works the same) with    var force;

Q: I would like to know if anyone has an example for custom acknex.wdf files.

A: Here's my simple yet fully working wdf template. Make sure that the picture has 256 colors (shouldn't be true color).

WINDOW WINSTART

{

   TITLE "(c) Your company 2003";

   SIZE 576, 288; // size of the image in pixels

   MODE image; // standard

   BG_COLOR RGB(0,0,0); // black background

   FRAME FTYP1, 0, 0, 576, 288; // same size here

   SET FONT "Arial", RGB(0,0,0); // draw black text

   PICTURE <your_image.bmp> , opaque, 0, 0;

}

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