Project
1:
Advanced Computer Graphics: A
Quick Overview of the 3D GameStudio software package
(for the impatient)
Reference for this project:
Chapter 1 (Link to page of draft book
chapter.)
WARNING:
Due to some complexities in our
afs filesystems, you may have to re-open any of
your game files using the path:
"U:/pc/win_data/whoever'sDocuments/mydirectory/"
instead of from the "MyDocuments"
folder. Otherwise you may find that you get an
error such as "damaged at line -1"
when trying to open the file. So, it may be safest
to always open and save files in
"U:/pc/win_data/whoever'sDocuments/mydirectory/ "
instead of "MyDocuments." It
may be necessary to adjust/add your wdl script path such as:
path "U:\\pc\\win_data\\my
documents\\3dGameStudio07\\p7"; // Path to game
directory
Also, IF you WORK FORM HOME
using MOSAICAnywhere, you may encounter
an error in rendering that causes WED to crash with "Warning: nothing
rendered... install DirectX."
To workaround the error, close and restart WED, then before doing
anyhting else change the
graphics driver by MenuBar::File::Preferences::MainTab::VideoOut and
select the GXLbase.dll
optin for 2D and 3D. Then try MenuBar::File::NEw and WED should
not crash. Unfortunately,
this low-level driver may make models/players invisible, and will often
be insufficient to display
video when you run the game. You may wish to experiment with the
next highest or higher
level drivers in the list of opptions. Otherwise, consider
downloading the same version of
3D GameStudio from Conitec if you must work from home, but be careful
not to get
a version different from the one installed on campus.
- First, Look in the 3D
GameStudio program directory for
the subdirectory that contains the
example game file:
techdemo.wmp (i.e.,
C:\Program_Files\GStudio6\work).
- On the university filesystem, check the location
I:\apps\winnt\3DGStudio\3DGStudio
- Make a copy of the whole "work" subdirectory
containing techdemo.wmp in some other directory where you can
experiment with
the example (i.e., C:\My_Documents\junk\work).
- Make a copy of the whole "template" subdirectory
in the same directory (i.e., C:\My_Documents\junk\template).
- First, run the 3D GameStudio
Level Editor from your Start
Menu in Windows, from the 3D GameStudio submenu.
- When the Level Editor window
pops up, click
on the files menu and load techdemo.wmp from your copy (not
the original copy in C:\Program Files\GStudio6\work).
- Once the file is loaded, the
result should be
something similar to Figure
below. If the views
appear different, then zoom out or reposition the views using the mouse. It may be necessary to press the “camera
move” button on the menu bar. Also, note
that placing the mouse over a button causes the name of the button to
be shown
in the lower left of the main window frame. The upper right pane shows
the
three-dimensional view with shaded surfaces. The
other three panes show wireframe views from the top,
side, and front
perspectives.
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Figure 1. Level editor
(WED) with
techdemo.wmp loaded.
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- Before
leaving the level editor, build the level or
world by clicking the build button in the menu bar:
MenuBar::BuildButton.
- Select the “build level” option in the
pop-up to rebuild the level for simulation, and click OK.
A pop-up window labeled “Map Compiler” will indicate
the progress of the compilation. It may
take 15 minutes to build the game on a 2 GHz machine.
- After the game is finished compiling, click the run
button (exclamation point “!”) in the menu bar: MenuBar::RunButton.
- An intermediate “Run Level” pop-up window
will appear with a command line such as “techdemo.wdl -nx 30.” Click OK to run the program.
- If all goes well, the game should appear in a
new window on screen as in the Figure below.
- However, it
is likely that a popup window will appear indicating several missing
files such
as movement.wdl, messages.wdl, particle.wdl, and doors.wdl. The general procedure would be to search for
the files in the C:\Program Files\GStudio6 directory and copy them to
the local
directory where the program is being built. Most
likely, the problem can be resolved by copying and
pasting the
C:\Program_Files\GStudio6\template directory to the
C:\My_Documents\junk
directory (right along side of the work directory).
If a shortcut is pasted, rename the shortcut
to template, and be careful to not destroy the files there.
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<>Figure
2. Initial screen when
techdemo is
compiled and run.
- When the game window appears, it
may be necessary to
move the mouse to change orientation.
- Pressing the arrow keys will
move the player within the game.
- Holding
the shift key down while pressing the
arrow keys will increase speed.
- Other
options and help can be obtained by pressing the escape key to make a
hidden
set of menus and options visible.
- The
option toggled by the F7 key is of particular interest.
- On university computers, the SED editor may freeze
temporarily. To
avoid this problem, disable automatic backup with
MenuBar->Options->Preferences and uncheck the backup item, click
OK. If SED crashes, open SED a second time and check that the
preference was
set.
You may also need to do this each time that you log in.
- The C-Script allows the video
game programmer to
modify many of the functions of the game.
- To see the contents of the
techdemo C-script file, double-click on the
file techdemo.wdl in the directory C:\My Documents\junk\work\. This should automatically open the file in
the 3D GameStudio C-Script Editor, as shown below.
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<>Figure
3. C-Script Editor window showing the top of
the techdemo.wdl script.
- In the top of the techdemo.wdl
script, the path
statement to the template directory is “path = ..\\template.”
- the path statement will cause
the
compiler to search in for files in a directory named template located
in the
parent of the directory containing techdemo.wdl.
- The
include statements
call out other functionality needed for this particular game. The
C-Script syntax is similar to C++ syntax.
- Each of the players and
opponents in a game are
implemented as models.
- These models can
be created using the MED model editor in 3D GameStudio.
- To see one of the models used in
the techdemo
example, double-click on the file elf.mdl in the directory C:\My
Documents\junk\work\. The MED window
should appear with contents similar to the Figure below.
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<>Figure 4. MED
model editor showing elf.mdl model.
- In the model editor, the four
panes are similar to the
four panes in the level editor.
- If the
3D view is too dark, the lighting can be adjusted by
right-double-clicking
within the 3D view and adjusting the DefaultSun and DefaultAmbient
settings in
the GXL Properties submenu.
- By clicking
the AnimateButton on the bottom menu bar, then clicking the
RunPlayButton in
the lower left, the 3D frame will show the animation with the wings
flapping on
the character.
- As in the
other editor,
click the MenuBar::EyePositionButton to enable the mouse to move the
views with
the left button or right button depressed.
- The frame containing 3D image of the model is
constructed from the wireframes illustrated in the other three frames. The wireframe sets the basic three-dimensional
shape of the model. The skin of the
model is mapped onto the three dimensional wireframe to color and
pattern the
model. This is referred to as
texture-mapping
or skinning.
- To see the skin that is
applied to the wireframe, use the MenuBar::View::Skins command to pop
up a
window that shows the skin that was mapped to the wireframe.
Report and demonstration:
- Here is template example
for your report (and in pdf
format).
- Prepare a 8-page report exactly in the following format and
sequence;
- Cover sheet with names
- 1 Page summary of project
- 1 Page Printout of WED showing techdemo
- 1 Page Printout of MED showing elf
- 1 Page Printout of MED showing elf skin
- 1 Page Printout of Cscript editor showing top lines of
techdemo.wdl
- 1 Page Printout of your gamescreen of techdemo
- 1 Page Short answers to the following questions:
- What company made the first microprocessor, and what was the
part number?
- In what year was the first microprocessor made?
- Whose initials "F. F." are on the die of the first
microprocessor?
- Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce left what company to start
Intel in 1968?
- In what year did Steve Russel and his team write the
Spacewars game on a DEC PDP-1 computer at MIT?
- In what year did Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney start Atari
Computers and release the arcade game Pong (later released as for home
use in 1975)?
- Who was Mario named after?
- What was Mario's original name?
- What is the largest selling game of all time (in units
shipped), and how many units have been shipped?
- What company created Pac-man, and in what year?
- Demonstration
- Show your final game
- Show your animation of elf code
Copyright © 2005 - 2007 by Thomas Paul
Weldon
ACKNEX,
WED, MED, and 3D GameStudio are trademarks of Conitec Corporation.
Microsoft, DOS, MS-Dos, Windows, DirectX,
Halo, and
Direct3D are trademarks of Microsoft, Inc.
PAC-MAN trademarks or registered trademarks of Namco Limited
Nintendo, Mario, are trademarks of Nintendo
Atari, Pong, are trademarks of Atari
Intel, 8086, are trademarks of Intel Corporation