Insane:

I have a couple of suggestions for this:

1) Pixel Shaders. FX and HLSL, that would pwn.

2) Raytracing. We need some more raytracing scripts like raytrace until it intersects a certain object (such as the terrain - for rts games), and they should return a Vector3 or similar with x/y/z coordinates of the collision.
Also nice would be the reverse of the ScreenToRay() function, this time something along the lines of Vector2ToScreen(), which (I guess) returns a vector2 containing screen co-ordinates.

If those two were implemented, it would also easen up RTS games a lot, too.

-Insane

1. Custom shaders are already being used for most of the rendering.
2. Ray-tracing into the scene will be supported in the new framework.
   

The new framework will hopefully be up and running the current engine within a couple weeks, many new features will come soon after. Currently most of the team is working on getting the framework designed and then integrated with the current engine, however once that is done we will all be working on new features. I predict within a 6-8 weeks you will see the amount of features grow exponentially. Hopefully :)

Update, new version (0.178), changes:

• Normal mapped terrain and water should now be working again. Be aware that I'm testing out using semi-accurate normal mapping, and although I tested it there is a chance for artifacts.
• Using semi-accurate normal mapping allowed for a 30% reduction in memory usage for terrains.
• Mouse can now control the camera, much easier to look around now.
• Mouse scroll wheel now controls zoom, although it is very sensitive.
• Mouse left-click to create entities.
• Fixed bugs with terrain collision and shadowing inaccuracies while using terrain scaling.
• Camera controls abstacted somewhat to make it easier to create your own camera system. Full abstraction will be implemented with the new framework (v0.19).

I'm not sure if you fixed this already or not as I have an older version, but there is a bug if you hold down the spacebar while pushing any of the arrow keys, it will shoot hundreds of balls at a time in a straight line depending on which arrow key you are pressing...

Fixed 3 versions ago I believe. Quite a bit has changed since then, most of it was performance.

The fix you're talking about required simply putting a delay timer on the keyboard input. If you're ever at the codeplex site there is an issues section which lists all the current and fixed bugs.

Oh ok. I just downloaded the newest version and it looks a ton better!

To go with the tide such as high tide/low tide, my suggestion would be to make waves, rather than just a tide, that come every 5 to 10 seconds or somthing like that...

Here's another problem I'm having: Using the normal antialiasing doesn't seem to work. Here's my code:

Graphics.PreferMultiSampling = true;

However, this seems to just crash the game. What would be the correct solution?

The best place to report the bug would be on the codeplex site where we'd see it right away. This is a new issue, you're the first to bring it to our attention. If never tried forcing AA before, I'll take a look at it when I get a chance.

 

And for the post above, the water component is still in an alpha phase, it was first experimenting with water reflection and refraction. To get true waves I would need to use more than 2 triangles to represent the water, and then calculate the waves each frame. To get dynamic reacting water would be another story. I've seen it in demos, but let me put it this way, I was playing the Crysis pre-release on a DX10 card and the waves didn't react to my character. However the bullets could hit the water. I was considering a splash particle emitter that would occur whenever something hit the water and would be dependant on the speed, mass, and size ( bounding sphere maybe? ) of what hit it. For semi-dynamic ripples there are several techniques you can do with normal mapping and texturing onto the water where something hit, but this is very advanced stuff. If I were creating ONLY a water component I might try it, but unfortunately I need to spread my time over the whole engine. Luckily there are a few others helping out now so I won't be responsible for the physics component anymore, or the messaging system, etc...

Insane:

Here's another problem I'm having: Using the normal antialiasing doesn't seem to work. Here's my code:

Graphics.PreferMultiSampling = true;

However, this seems to just crash the game. What would be the correct solution?

I've found the cause of your bug, and am working on it. It is because the render targets used for water reflection/refraction are not set for multisampling. If you would like to test multisampling for now you must disable the water component by simply commenting it out in the Initialize() inside GameMain.cs

Update, new version (0.179), changes:

• Added Bloom component
• Added SkyBox component
• Many small optimizations, framerate increase (5-15%)
• Added graphic detail option in CommonVars.cs
• Created QSVector3
• For full list checkout http://www.codeplex.com/quickstartengine and go to release tab.

Update, new version (0.181), changes:

• Now using XNA 2.0 Beta!
• Simple A.I. Bot class and ControllableEntity added
• Support for up to 4 simultaneous Xbox 360 controllers added.
• 360 controls can now control players or camera, simply press start to switch back and forth.
• More realistic water
• More efficient, but lower detail render targets when you choose a lower graphics detail.
• Skies render more efficiently (however, they lack fog now)
• Balls now "roll" down slopes rather than sticking to them.

This has been fixed for upcoming version v0.183. v0.183 isn't released as of me writing this message, but should be out before December hopefully. Multisample helps with the jagged edges, however, in large scenes I notice about a 20% drop in framerate. I guess that is to be expected though with any game/engine using it.

Update, new version (0.182) available. Requires XNA 2.0 Beta. Changes:

• Event logging system logs whatever you need to file, great for notifications, and warnings. Logging system is fully setup and already in use in this version.
• Unified physics system, while still basic, should now allow you to import any model you'd like (as long as they're exported with their bottom point at a height of 0).
• Many code cleanups to entities due to unified physics. Code cleanups also include separate namespaces for some classes.
• HUD re-vamped quite a bit, much easier to send messages.
• HUD supports images in messages now
• HUD message system allows for multiple messages at a time, which will fade out over time as well.

 

Hi there. It's me, from the other thread.

The engine won't run at all for me. Firstly, I get 14 warnings when building (I am building in Release mode... I think. The drop box says release):

Warning    1    Unreachable expression code detected    S:\Program Files\QuickStart Engine v0.182a\QuickStart Engine\Code\CommonVars.cs    46    86    QuickStart Engine
Warning    2    Member 'QuickStartEngine.ParticleSystem3D.LoadGraphicsContent(bool)' overrides obsolete member 'Microsoft.Xna.Framework.DrawableGameComponent.LoadGraphicsContent(bool)'. Add the Obsolete attribute to 'QuickStartEngine.ParticleSystem3D.LoadGraphicsContent(bool)'.    S:\Program Files\QuickStart Engine v0.182a\QuickStart Engine\Code\Components\ParticleSystem\ParticleSystem3D.cs    194    33    QuickStart Engine
Warning    3    Unreachable code detected    S:\Program Files\QuickStart Engine v0.182a\QuickStart Engine\Code\Components\Terrain\Terrain.cs    601    21    QuickStart Engine
Warning    4    Unreachable code detected    S:\Program Files\QuickStart Engine v0.182a\QuickStart Engine\Code\Components\Water\Water.cs    142    17    QuickStart Engine
Warning    5    Unreachable code detected    S:\Program Files\QuickStart Engine v0.182a\QuickStart Engine\Code\GameMain.cs    167    17    QuickStart Engine
Warning    6    Unreachable code detected    S:\Program Files\QuickStart Engine v0.182a\QuickStart Engine\Code\GameMain.cs    174    17    QuickStart Engine
Warning    7    Unreachable code detected    S:\Program Files\QuickStart Engine v0.182a\QuickStart Engine\Code\GameMain.cs    179    17    QuickStart Engine
Warning    8    Unreachable code detected    S:\Program Files\QuickStart Engine v0.182a\QuickStart Engine\Code\GameMain.cs    232    17    QuickStart Engine
Warning    9    Unreachable code detected    S:\Program Files\QuickStart Engine v0.182a\QuickStart Engine\Code\GameMain.cs    469    17    QuickStart Engine
Warning    10    The private field 'QuickStartEngine.InputSystem.Input.GamepadInvertY' is assigned but its value is never used    S:\Program Files\QuickStart Engine v0.182a\QuickStart Engine\Code\Components\Input\Input.cs    58    13    QuickStart Engine
Warning    11    Mipmapped texture will not work on all graphics cards. This image is sized 12x12, but many cards do not support mipmapped textures that are not a power of two in size.    S:\Program Files\QuickStart Engine v0.182a\QuickStart Engine\Content\Resources\Particles\rainDrop.png    QuickStart Engine
Warning    12    Mipmapped texture will not work on all graphics cards. This image is sized 14x14, but many cards do not support mipmapped textures that are not a power of two in size.    S:\Program Files\QuickStart Engine v0.182a\QuickStart Engine\Content\Resources\Particles\snowflake.png    QuickStart Engine
Warning    13    Asset was built 2 times with different settings:
using TextureImporter and TextureProcessor
using TextureImporter and TextureProcessor, referenced by Resources\Models\Skys\dome.x (ModelProcessor)    S:\Program Files\QuickStart Engine v0.182a\QuickStart Engine\Resources\Models\Textures\clouds.jpg    QuickStart Engine
Warning    14    Project item 'Resources\Models\Textures\skyfog2.png' was not built with the XNA Framework Content Pipeline. Set its Build Action property to Compile to build it.    QuickStart Engine


And then when I run it, I get this thing:

Device does not support multi-level texture width and height values that are not powers of 2.

On the following piece of code:

// Load the particle texture, and set it onto the effect.
Texture2D texture = content.Load<Texture2D>(settings.TextureName);


Uh... Halp? Please? ;_;

My guess is its trying to load a texture that does not have dimensions of power of 2 (16,32,64,128,256,512,1024, etc).  Some cards support textures like that, but I guess yours doesn't.  You could try loading up all the textures in MS Paint and stretching them to the nearest power of two...

Ahhh, I meant to fix this problem.

You need to locate the snowflake.png texture, which is a particle, and change the size to 16x16.

The size is 14x14 by accident, and your video card doesn't support it.

Just wanted to say good work on the engine.  Ran around 130fps at 1680x1050 fullscreen with graphics settings on highest.  Maybe you could just sample the fps once a second or so, it very erratic as it is.  One thing I saw was if you shoot a ball and it flies over water, it gets visually manipulated by the water shader (not the reflection but the actual ball).

Machine:
Quad core (2.5 Ghz per core)
2 GB RAM
Vista Home Premium
Geforce 8800 GTS, 640 MB RAM

Thank you. And thanks for the suggestion, I actually have a much better fps counter in the new prototype engine, thanks to the suggestion from Shaw. I think I will be releasing a fix for the power-of-two issue and I'll put the better FPS counter in there.

The prototype is currently getting about a 30% increase in framerate over v0.182a. I can get around 230 fps while looking from one terrain corner to the other, with MSAA enabled (highest quality). Of course, I'm at 1280x720 on that test. When I don't have all terrain in view I'm getting around 440fps. This is ONLY terrain though (and one ship model), no weather, or water.

Chxfryer:

One thing I saw was if you shoot a ball and it flies over water, it gets visually manipulated by the water shader (not the reflection but the actual ball).

What do you mean manipulated? I know that the reflection in the water is slightly inaccurate for entities, especially at greater distances. But it doesn't sound like that is what you're talking about.

Ball A is flying through the air, B and C are in the water.  The white whispy lines around A move like the reflections in the water, but A is not a reflection, its the object.


Here is another pic with the reflection.


Sorry if thats not clear.  Hard to explain

Then we are talking about the same problem :). The problem is when the reflection is rendered, it is rendered from the point of view of the current camera, this camera sees the ball in the air, so places it on the reflection. This works good for terrain, and in some cases for models, but not for models in the air.

This is an issue I'm not yet sure how to solve. Good eye though, took me a couple weeks after integrating the water component to even notice that kind of reflection.

Oops, posted second pic while you posted response.  Yeah, the terrain looks great..I am thinking of using this engine in a not so massive online rpg I am making.  Networking on the server/client is just about done, just need to make it do something =)

I'm hoping when the new engine is done people can convert over to use it easily (although there will be sustancial changes. It'll look even better, and perform better. Vegetation will help the terrain look by quite a bit. Trees, brush, and models on the terrain as well.

Ok, I've released a new version that fixes the dimensions on the textures that were not power-of-two. I also changed the framerate counter to be easier to read (and more accurate in terms of 'per second', which is what a frames per second counter is made for anyway).

New version is v0.182b, it is really just to fix some stuff, almost no other changes will be noticable.