What do I need to do?

[Ultraken]

I had changed the way hover vehicles interacted with the ground, cutting out code that clamped the vehicle to at least ground height, thus reducing the "wall-climbing" behavior.  However, this led to noticeable terrain collisions (which people didn't like), so I had to modify the hover physics to treat the vehicle like an ellipsoid, reducing the chance of striking the ground when you weren't flying level.  But that fix also made hover vehicles fly slightly higher over rough terrain, decreasing the sensation of speed (which people didn't like either).  So, Nathan commented out that fix, but that brought back the terrain collision problem.  D'oh!  (I'm tempted to put it back in, but I'd like to make sure it's okay first.)

[General BlackDragon]

i like it, its like in BZ1, the ground hurts again

god i love slamming into a cliff as a pilot in BZ1....

[Spawn]

It's worth a try ken

[Avatar]

I can't speak to 1.2 vs 1.3, but I still prefer BZ1 physics to BZ2 because:

1. Less terrain 'messing with me', in that I can sit on a hill without sliding and cruise over rough terrain without bumping all over the place.  BZ2 Walkers especially need more 'cotton' under their feet.
2. More in-air control, or at least it feels like it.  BZ2 feels like my momentum is all I have, BZ1 feels like my thrusters are actually doing something.


Oops, here comes the boss...


-Av-

[BZ FeebleEffort]

"i like it, its like in BZ1, the ground hurts again"

well now count you in the group of 2 players who like this effect....

Seriously.....It does seem RD is making progress on the ship physics via the ODF route, I hope this continues.

But IF this ground bumping needs to be corrected at "hard code" level I don't know..I suppose the best route is to see if it can be improved via the RD(ODF) route..before hoping Ken steps back in to "find a fix to fix the fix that the last fix didn't fix"

If he was forced to do that...then RD would have to start all over on the fix via ODF approach.

[Spawn]

He wouldn't need to start over, probablly just lower the ships or raise the speeds.

[APCs r evil]

well now count you in the group of 2 players who like this effect....

Am I in that group? I should be...

[Red Devil]

The collisions can be minimized by changing some old and new ODF entries, but they still do collide with the terrain sometimes.  I made the collision sound a silent.wav that Nathan made.  Minimizing the collision via ODF also made them a bit bouncier, but I'm pretty sure I can adjust that too.

The thing that would be really nice to have fixed is the walker step/animal step collision.  It sounds like a machine gun when they are on uneven terrain. I think it's a default step sound too as I've substituted one in there.

Also, the default engine sound for hovercraft (and maybe all craft) is the Walker engine.

I had changed the way hover vehicles interacted with the ground, cutting out code that clamped the vehicle to at least ground height, thus reducing the "wall-climbing" behavior. However, this led to noticeable terrain collisions (which people didn't like), so I had to modify the hover physics to treat the vehicle like an ellipsoid, reducing the chance of striking the ground when you weren't flying level. But that fix also made hover vehicles fly slightly higher over rough terrain, decreasing the sensation of speed (which people didn't like either). So, Nathan commented out that fix, but that brought back the terrain collision problem. D'oh! (I'm tempted to put it back in, but I'd like to make sure it's okay first.)

[appel]

I was asked to give my opinion on this, and here it is

Terrain collision is stupid, remove it.

Ty



Seriously, if this is one of those GSH's new *features* then I can't be bothered trying to convince him of fixing it, even if all the BZ2 players in the past and present would sign their name on a petition... it's impossible.
If it can be disabled somehow in the ODF's or other config files, then cool!

[OvermindDL1]

Personally I like it, after all, if you hit something hard with any kind of speed, it is going to hurt...

[lucky_foot]

Agreed. That's something I liked when I was playing BZ1, but my personal thought (though doesn't mean anything) is that you should me going close to like max speed of the ship or falling off something high for it to hurt you. In places on BZ1 you got hurt by simple collisions that should have just pushed you away.

[Avatar]

If the repulsion force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the two masses it could be that the closer you get the harder you're pushed away, possibly even resulting in the two bodies being never able to actually touch...

Right?  It's been a long time since math class, although I think I still have those tablets around here somewhere...



-Av-

[Spawn]

Well, because the whole property of bz2 hoverphysics is completely unknown as to how it works, I would have to say "kitten" is the correct answer.

Generally it wouldn't matter, too little of a change in distance to effect things for gravity, and the whole not touch ever would depend on how steeply the curve acts.

[Dirty Rooster]

I do not like terrain bumps causing damage
or hindering the speed of the craft.
Why?
Because I am used to bz2 after maybe
three years playing it that way.

[Avatar]

And, if you believe the whole "we know a LOT more about biometal now" bit the BZ2 ships should handle hovering a LOT better than the BZ1 ships do...   

-Av-