I have a question

[Wildboyz]

Can you lift almost anything you want?
I'm not talking about the weight limit the manipulator has
I'm talking about signs, chairs, barrels, etc..
but also about rocks, and stuff similar.

 

[f|uke]

It has to be tagged,.. You'll probably find you're able to pick up anything you think you should be able to, except living creatures and some corpses.

 

[Wildboyz]

tagged?
just like in cartoons?
like when there are many trees but only one tree is available? :hmph:

I think you know what I mean

 

[DigitalAssassin]

Trees are attached to the ground, I doubt you can pick up any trees. I think you'll be throwing around a lot of debree (trash, like broken signs, crates, etc), and I also expect there will be places with not much around -- places where there aren't things to 'manipulate'.

 

[Wildboyz]

I meant trees as in a metaphor

 

[f|uke]

Not sure about the trees. Err. tagged/flagged, ie for an object to be manipulatable it has to be marked as manipulatable.. so you cant move just anything unless they tagged everything, which I'm fairly sure they didn't. However, I bet they have tagged just about everything that you would think you should be able to manipulate.

 

[cadaveca]

nothing in HL2 is "tagged". Each model is given a certain density and size...and this determines weight. One of the things that took the most time, apparantly, was making it all work. The physics are real....inanimate objects, like unmovable walls, are given the highest density possible, or what they call "steel", i think. Anyway, this can be found in the "info from valve", or one of the interviews, but i'm pretty sure i read that here. They said that when talking about destructable terrain being possible in the engine, i think.

 

[DigitalAssassin]

nothing in HL2 is "tagged". Each model is given a certain density and size...and this determines weight. One of the things that took the most time, apparantly, was making it all work. The physics are real....inanimate objects, like unmovable walls, are given the highest density possible, or what they call "steel", i think. Anyway, this can be found in the "info from valve", or one of the interviews, but i'm pretty sure i read that here. They said that when talking about destructable terrain being possible in the engine, i think.

Are you sure buildings and such are given densities and masses? I would expect that to tax the processor more without adding anything necessary. The texture and physics systems were very thorough. A question though:

Did they add buoyancy to everything? Friction? Bounce? Maybe I ought to read through the info from valve thread again.

 

[f|uke]

nothing in HL2 is "tagged". [...] this can be found in the "info from valve", or one of the interviews,

Well, I may have been wrong about objects, but bodies are tagged. This can also be found in the "info from valve" thread:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: a dude [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2004 2:31 PM
To: Gabe Newell; Rick Ellis
Subject: Just some HL2 Questions...


Hello - I had a few questions I just had to ask...

Will dead NPCs' bodies be 'usable' with the manipulator, dead or alive?

*** Not all of them but the ones the level designers have specifically tagged will be usable with the physcannon.

 

[DigitalAssassin]

I think the best idea is just not to worry about the physics. We know they're the best created to date, and we know every (and I mean every) reviewer has thoroughly enjoyed Half Life 2's interactive world. :E :cheers:

 

[cadaveca]

we are both kind of right...they are tagged, so to speak, but it is by the physics. ragdoll effects apply to all models

"I just wanted to ask If your ragdoll efect is implemented for any creature
or just working for human-like bodies?

or to say it another way, If you kill an ant-lion will you see a ragdoll
effect or a death animation?

thanks, for your time.



pd: I work with Maya and I wonder if it will ever have script or a converter
to be able to export to V-source, Im just not a Xsi user...


Yes, physics applies to pretty much everything, including non-human bodies."

it applies, they say, but it is up to the level designer. How they do it is through the physics system, and unmovable objects are turned into "steel", with the appropriate model skin.


"Yes, we have both server and client side ragdolls. The client side ones re-simulate, the server ones just play back as networked so they would look basically them same on every playback of the demo.-Yahn"

 

[lordoftheroot]

They said that when talking about destructable terrain being possible in the engine, i think.

Is Half-life 2 going to have Destructable Terrain like Red Faction? The Strider bink makes me think this. But i dont know if the strider was preprogramed to destroy the wall. (like a cut scene except in the middle of game play.)

 

[cadaveca]

It's in the engine, but HL2 does not use it.

 

[lordoftheroot]

I wonder why? Hey is the Destructable Terrain part of the engine come from Havok?

 

[DigitalAssassin]

I wonder why? Hey is the Destructable Terrain part of the engine come from Havok?

Havok is a physics engine. Things like gravity, intertia, momentum, etc. For example: You drop a ball, it drops (gravity) it bounces (um... springiness? help me out here) then bounces lower, etc. until it hits the ground.

The way things move when they're hit by your bullet is partly coded with animations (or modeled), and partly determined by physics.

For example: You shoot a wooden plank above the ground, and it splits into to parts. How it broke apart was coded, but whether it broke apart or not was determined by the velocity of your bullet, the force of impact, etcetera. Then it falls to the ground, and splashes in some water by your feet, the splashes were coded, the falling wasn't. Then they float -- determined in Havok by buoyancy.

Hope that helps. :thumbs:

 

[cadaveca]

Dunno....it's probably a performance issue. There are lots of parts of the engine that have been disabled, and from what i understand, each level focuses on different parts of the Source engine. What we get, in the box, or over STEAM...has been optimized, during game testing, to get taht 60fps...at least we know 60fps for sure on the 9800pro. One of the first things that was showcased for the Source engine was the terra-forming.


And yes, Lord of the Root...you will get 64-bit HL2...but we have to await the release of windows-64 before that happens(for those that disbelieve, it already developed, according to Vavle), and according to what I have seen of DirectNext, it may be at least another 6 months before things hit the shelves, and most likely not unitl next september.

 

[lordoftheroot]

And yes, Lord of the Root...you will get 64-bit HL2...but we have to await the release of windows-64 before that happens(for those that disbelieve, it already developed, according to Vavle), and according to what I have seen of DirectNext, it may be at least another 6 months before things hit the shelves, and most likely not unitl next september.

Thank you!! I hope i dont have to buy the 64bit version of the game too. By the way I am useing Beta Window 64x and i love it. But drivers are a pain in the ass to find. :hmph: but still it's worth it.

 

[cadaveca]

Thank you!! I hope i dont have to buy the 64bit version of the game too. By the way I am useing Beta Window 64x and i love it. But drivers are a pain in the ass to find. :hmph: but still it's worth it.

It's drivers that are holding back the release, IMHO.

As well, they said it should be automatically available via STEAM...no extra purchase. Minor code change, so they say.

 

[lordoftheroot]

Very nice. I am so lucky that i am old Nvidia fan and got chipsets for my video card and motherboard. Because all there products have Windows 64x drivers.