Tcoz Bach
Tyrell Victim
Join date: 10 Dec 2002
Posts: 973
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04-03-2004 05:51
My mHUDs for the Terrain game depended on the old functionality of being able to click on the individual pieces of the mHUD while holding ALT in ML. The reason this worked was because when you held alt, AV movement would be suspended, so the mHUD would not move (as it tracks your rotation). It floats at the level of your jaw, so clicking the pieces (which would also request a second click to confirm setting down a build or bot) was very easy.
Now, it doesn't work. Because when you hold ALT in ML, you continue to move, which means the mHUD continues to move. So when you move your mouse down a couple of inches to click...the mHUD moves down a couple of inches. It is no longer easy to click on. It "runs away" from your mouse.
This is game breaking to the extent that I don't see a workaround. People are either going to have to put up with the inconvenient "chase the mHUD" clicking that currently exists due to this once again unannounced alteration, or I will have to change everything to voice commands, which would be extremely cumbersome (as you would have to issue the command, repeat it to confirm, every time you want to build), or I will have to adjust the height adjustments so that the mHUD floats directly in front of your vision, which previous playtesting in the Vorago indicates is entirely undesirable.
Up until now I was merely disappointed in the lack of communication regarding changes. Now I feel downright punched in the face. This has caused me a game break that I may not be able to recoup from. I do not see an option that enables easy control of the game unless I totally redesign the mechanism, and there is no time for that. It took a great deal of time and testing to figure out the easiest possible control model for this and now it's back to the drawing board, and I just don't know if I have the energy to do it AND fix the Vorago, and god knows what waits for me there.
They changes sensors, they changed listens, they changed ALT ML / AV movement and not one world to prepare, or post-change update. NOTHING.
ANYTHING ELSE for god's sake TELL US. STOP leaving me to find out these things for myself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Adam Zaius
Deus
Join date: 9 Jan 2004
Posts: 1,483
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04-03-2004 06:01
There is however, another option you have yet to consider.
Just track Z rotation.
-Adam
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Tcoz Bach
Tyrell Victim
Join date: 10 Dec 2002
Posts: 973
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04-03-2004 06:05
How do you know I haven't considered it?
Moot anyway, as only Z rotation is tracked, XY is explicitly turned off. That does not fix the issue of Z height or XY loc, which can not remain constant. To work with the mHUD, AV movement needs to be suspended, and ALT ML / AV no move made this possible.
It also does not address if you need to move the mouse to the left or right side of the mHUD, which means you will rotate on your Z, which means the mHUD will attempt to center on your face by also rotating on it's Z with the AV as it's center of orientation (the mHUD rotates around an offset center determined by the pos of the AV). You in effect can not click the left and right sides of the mHUD.
The only alternative I can see is to issue some kind of "lock" command that will freeze the mHUD while you make your selections...which means either issuing another "unlock" command, or having the lock removed after every command is issued. This may test out to be too cumbersome (it complicates use of the mHUD, and the game is already complex...though it was at least easy to use). Point is, I have to somehow test it all over again, and my previous assumptions/completed playtesting are all invalid. So it's back to the drawing board.
Based on these ongoing alterations, I am seriously considering removing Terrain from the competition. I more than likely won't have these issues sorted out by checkpoint one, even with the extension, and would really prefer not to just show up and embarass my team by making excuses and begging for more time.
Essentially, the core game UI needs to be entirely rethought. Yes, this one "minor" change has caused me issue to that extent. In the end I will probably have to abandon using ML altogether.
This really has not made my week.
BTW Adam thanks at least for trying. Keep in mind I have been working on this functionality for months though, have tested a variety of different rotation/usage models, and after compiling all that data, found the one that works the best for ML gaming. All gone now though.
The only other model I came close to implementing, and it took me a lONG time to figure out how to get working, was to actually use X rotation as well (so if you look up or down, you will still be looking directly at your mHUD). However, that model gave me another problem...it's very inconvenient to have to drop out of ML to click things, and if the mHUD is always centered on your view no matter how you look up and down, it's always right in the way, so you have to sort of sneak under and above it, which tested out as a difficult play model. The alternative was to drop out of ML, which if you're being shot at, is disorienting (clicking other objects on the run was nearly impossible). The new ML AV still moves thing has caused me grief in the Vorago as well. In fact, this alteration for me is far more severe than having to find and cut 'n paste a few dozen sensor and listen registrations.
/sigh.
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Huns Valen
Don't PM me here.
Join date: 3 May 2003
Posts: 2,749
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04-03-2004 21:38
That's pretty screwed up. The Lindens keep making all these little tweaks that keep breaking stuff. I suggested before that they consider LSL to be more of a contract than a plaything, dunno what they thought of that.
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Tcoz Bach
Tyrell Victim
Join date: 10 Dec 2002
Posts: 973
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04-04-2004 00:25
Eh I'm tired of this topic. If I find the time to fix things then yay, if not, then pfft. WTF else am I going to do.
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Azelda Garcia
Azelda Garcia
Join date: 3 Nov 2003
Posts: 819
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04-04-2004 03:06
Off-topic for this thread, but just wanted to say your game looks very cool!!!
Azelda
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Dan Linden
Linden Lab Employee
Join date: 31 Dec 1969
Posts: 66
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04-06-2004 12:18
ALT - ML is enabled again in 1.3.3.
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