What will be fixed

[Mr.Reak]

Okay guys, over the PC Gamer, SgtBilko posted this info:

"Anyway, just a few more FACTS about Half-Life 2:

-The strange "mistimed" events in the e3 demos are due to demo playback (which is NOT an accurate pixel or frame by frame representation of game events) rather than engine problems.

-Multiplayer physics is controlable at the object level: someone (mapmakers at the least, and maybe individual clients) can decide what objects exist server side, and which are client side effects only (confirmed by email from Gabe and Yahn)

-Bullet sparks showing through solid objects are on the list to be fixed (confirmed by email from Gabe)

-Enemies simply going limp when they die, making it hard in some cases to tell THAT they've died, is on the list to be fixed (confirmed by email from Gabe)

-Source's scalability in part relies heavily upon a LOD-based system. We can almost certainly assume that this is the system that Valve originally talked about developing for TF2: namely that it doesn't just scale down the complexity of wire meshes for distance, but also scales down complexity based on the number of models on the screen at once, the goal being to maintain a steady framerate at all costs. In multiplayer, distant player models will have fewer animation frames sent across the network to reduce lag: another type of dynamically scaling LOD system. (all first discussed by Valve years ago, and then confirmed by recent discussion at e3)

-At least some enemies can jump over gaps and climb ladders and other sorts of things to prevent the player from artificially getting to a place out of reach of your pursuers. This is almost important for NPC characters: they want them to be able to stay with you for a long time, and when they are blocked from following, it's for a real story reason, rather than that they simply cannot follow your movements. "


I don't know, was it posted here before? I personally didn't know all of this will be fixed, so thx to SgtBilko.

 

[Axyon]

Yep

 

[Mr.Reak]

Damn me, wasn't here for one day and missed out on so much of info! :\

I will ask admins to delete this topic.

 

[Straylight]

Well that other thread's creator wants to keep it technical. So I'll post here.

I think the ragdoll animations for standing soldiers were fine for the purpose of decideing if they are dead or not but like when gordon hits the jumping headcrab (off the zombie) with the crowbar it lands face up so it actually looks alive because of the way it lands. I think this is what they are talking about more then the ragdoll deaths that look fine.

"In multiplayer, distant player models will have fewer animation frames sent across the network to reduce lag" correct me if I'm wrong but I think this means that the server is sending fewer animation frames to your comp when players are distant so no way to turn this off on your client. This doesn't mean you will see less animation or jerky payers when they are far away, only just that the server will not maintain as high a level of animation consistancy at long distance. I'm sure it'll still look fine I just hope they remember to take scoped weapons into account with this.

Besides the MP physics are going to be a strain on the net code at least every major object that must be consistant on all clients (and I assume this means that anything you can get hurt by). I really hope we can get a good number of these going and still have good pings.

-Straylight

 

[Apos]

Yeah, thanks Sgt. bilko, for copying and pasting what I wrote, and then taking credit for it.

 

[Apos]

I agree: the bodies were fairly realistic, though they shouldn't always just go instantly limp and turn into silly putty, the human deaths at least looked very real and obvious. The headcard, however, could have still been alive: there was no way to easily tell that its tiny little legs were "ragged."

 

[dovoxove]

Originally posted by Mr.Reak
Damn me, wasn't here for one day and missed out on so much of info! :\

I will ask admins to delete this topic.

i know that feeling

 

[The Mullinator]

heh heh, this is definatly the most debated and speculated game in the entire Video game industry, and its existance was only revealed close to 2 months ago.

 

[bonanzaguy]

yeah i know what you mean about the bodies... the first time i saw the demo where the zombies get chopped in half i thought the headcrab he hit with the crow bar was still alive... but he didnt hit it anymore and it didnt attack him, so i spose it's dead

 

[Straylight]

Originally posted by THU9EN5TE1N
Believe me the animations frame cut will be noticable. They did it in Morrowind Elder Scrolls and it was terrible. Im just asking if there's a way to turn it off for single player.

This feature isn't going to be in singleplayer if I understand it correctly. It's done only to reduce the amount of information going from server to client in a mplayer and thus reduce lag. No server in splayer so no need for this feature.

-Straylight

 

[Apos]

Believe me the animations frame cut will be noticable.

Not necessarily, if they do it right. First of all, remember that the frames being cut from server-sends are NOT the same thing as it being cut client side. The clients can still render the predicted animations. And this is only on far away characters. Given that HL2 looks to be able to have some huge open spaces, we could easily have players that are barely a few pixels on the screen at any given time: no need to send all their animation data at that point.

And yes, this is a multiplayer thing: it has nothing to do with singleplayer at all.

 

[Apos]

Can you post a direct link to the thread at pcgamer that bilko started?

 

[Bilko]

Originally posted by Apos
Yeah, thanks Sgt. bilko, for copying and pasting what I wrote, and then taking credit for it.

I just posted this into another forum, I never said I wrote it but most people who go there don't read this forum!

Damn you mr reak :flame: