Well you're going to have to seperate the game
handling code from the frame rendering code anyways.
This code would have to act as a "clutch" between the
two systems so that the game code will always run at
the same speed regardless of how fast the framerate
is.
So couldn't you schedule extra actions during those
frames where not much of anything is really happening
and then either cache the results into memory or to
disk?
Heck you could create a couple unique clouds everytime
the game starts up and then store it to disk. You
could use the time people expend chatting, selecting
character, sitting down, resting, going afk, etc. So
in effect it would be a dynanmic task scheduler that
would schedule non-immediate tasks during behaviorless
cycles.
*shrug* then again, what do I know.
ed
--- David <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Yes Indeed. EQ was the first MMORPG I ever played
> and I really got into it
> for a long time. I won't embarass myself by telling
> you the number of hours
> I logged, but suffice it to say I made a level 51
> wizard plus several
> assorted level 30+ chars. Asheron's call is a very
> different type of game,
> and more solo friendly then EQ. I think Ultima
> Online 2 (also called
> Origin) will be the next interesting one, but there
> are several different
> types coming out next year.
>
> On the subject of clouds. Looks like there are
> several different ways to do
> it, the basic perlin noise algorithm looks nice for
> the generation of the
> textures. Then you can either make your texture and
> use texcoords to move
> it, or rebuild it each time for nicer effects.
> Guess it depends on how much
> processing power you want to spend on clouds
> considering everything else
> that has to be managed.
>
> Dave Yazel
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Ice Bone <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2000 10:16 PM
> Subject: Re: [JAVA3D] Clouds
>
>
> Yeah it's called EverCrack, EverCamp, EverCrap and
> EverQueue too.
>
> No thanks. I played that game for about 5 months
> from
> release and I have had enough of it. The game has a
> number of bugs (called "features" by the design
> company) and it's customer service is second to
> none.
>
> On Mars. :)
>
> Seriously. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless
> you either hate your life, or want to. The entire
> game is based on acquiring stuff, which requires you
> to "camp" critters or places. So everything can be
> rendered into a comparative table where x (item) = y
> (hours) required to acquire x (item). And if it's a
> quest it might take 10-12 items to complete it.
>
> As an example there's one quest where one critter
> has
> an item that you must have to move on to the next
> phase of the quest. This critter only shows up
> (spawns) once per 2 days. And there are 40 people
> waiting to kill it. So you have to take a (drum
> roll)
> ....... number! Hence the "EverQueue" nickname.
> It's
> also called EverWait too. :)
>
> On the other hand.
>
> I think you're right about the clouds. Asheron's
> Call
> does the same thing with the "clouds". It simply
> uses
> two different textured layers and then moves them at
> different speeds across the sky. The only problem
> is
> that, in both games, the clouds are moving at like
> 500
> MPH. ROFL!
>
> ed
>
> --- Steve Pietrowicz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Man, I *wish* Everquest had clouds like that.
> > Phew....that's a really
> > cool URL.
> >
> > The clouds in Everquest are actually just texture
> > maps, done in some paint
> > program. I'm not sure which they use. It could
> > have been generated by 3D
> > Studio Ma. You can turn the clouds off
> completely
> > (I think), or have one
> > layer or two layer clouds. It's been a while
> since
> > I've had one layer
> > going, but I think they have clouds painted on a
> > blue background. The two
> > layer effect is using the one layer texture in
> > conjunction with a second
> > layer of clouds in a texture map with transparency
> > turned on. The texture
> > maps move at different rates, and you get a nice
> > looking cloud
> > effect. ...At least as nice as current Everquest
> > technology can do. I
> > would expect EQ2 and other games will have even
> > nicer effects.
> >
> > Anyway, the cloud textures appear to me to be
> thrown
> > onto the inside of a
> > giant sphere that encapsulates the whole outdoor
> > zone that you're in. The
> > best place to see this effect is on the "good"
> boat
> > to Kunark, right after
> > you zone into the Finora Vie area. If you face
> > away from where the boat
> > will dock, you can see how the sky curves towards
> > the edge of the zone.
> >
> > I believe they change the tint of the background
> on
> > the textures as day
> > progresses to night.
> >
> > It's a pretty simple technique, but fairly
> > effective.
> >
> > ....At least, that's my guess on how they do it,
> > based solely on
> > observation. :-)
> >
> > If anyone here wants to try Everquest, I highly
> > recommend the game. The
> > graphics aren't state of the art by today's
> > standards (They have to deal
> > with system requirements for systems that are a
> year
> > or two old, since
> > that's when they started it), but the game itself
> is
> > very
> > compelling. Pretty addictive too. I saw
> > someone's quote on a message
> > board once... "Everquest makes Crack look like
> Diet
> > Coke". Man, that's
> > the truth.... :-)
> >
> > Steve
> >
> > At 04:02 PM 9/29/2000 -0700, Paul Byrne wrote:
> > >Hi Dave,
> > >
> > >Check out
> > http://vterrain.org/Atmosphere/clouds.html
> > >
> > >Rgds
> > >
> > >Paul
> > >
> > >
> > > >MIME-Version: 1.0
> > > >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> > > >X-Priority: 3
> > > >X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
> > > >X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE
> > V5.00.2615.200
> > > >Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2000 18:51:07 -0400
> > > >From: David <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > > >Subject: [JAVA3D] Clouds
> > > >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > >
> > > >Hi all:
> > > >
> > > >I have scoured the web looking for techniques
> for
> > generating clouds ala
> > > >Asheron's call and Everquest. Even came up
> blank
> > on Gamasutra. Can anyone
> > > >toss me a hint? In particular I am looking for
> > moving clouds. Should I be
> > > >using a multi-texture for highlighting a plasma
> > function?
> > > >
> > > >Dave Yazel
> > > >
> > >
> >
>
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> >
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