Obsidian Games
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Posts posted by Obsidian Games
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oh goodie gotta get that software
poo no support for 11.1 and below that is sad news!
i only have 10.5
i like the pdf layout!
Thanks, I thought the PDF help file looked a lot better than the old version.
As for the old versions of AMXtex, they will continue to remain available on the website, I just won't be working on them anymore. Other than any new features which may be introduced in the new versions, the old ones should continue to work just fine.
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so if i pay via credit card , whats the turn around for the software to be sent to me?
You won't get the software sent to you -- you need to download that from the Obsidian Games website. Once you make the purchase, you should get an email within minutes containing your registration information. Just enter it into the plugin, and you should be all set.
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AMXtex version 2.10 is now available for Animation:Master v12 and v13. You can download the new version from the Obsidian Games Download Page.
This new version has a fix for a problem with repeating decals. It also incorporates the license agreement and registration dialog directly into the plugin, so there's no more clunky installer to run. Simply download the appropriate zip file, copy the AMXtex hxt file to your A:M "hxt" subdirectory, and restart A:M.
I also removed the help button from the plugin (the license info button is now in it's place). I've replaced the old help file with an updated PDF version, which is also available from the download page.
If anyone finds any issues with the new versions, please let me know.
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On the AMXdtsPlus front, I am currently working on finishing up a beta version, which I hope to have available soon. I'm working out some bugs now, and need to install the new OSX v13 SDK and get it running there, but hopefully that won't take too long. I'll post as soon as I have more news.
Also, I'm anticipating that the DTS plugin will have the same setup as the .X plugin -- the unregistered version will not export textures and will only export a few frames of animation, and the registered version will have all features enabled.
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chris , whats the best way to buy your software?
The best way to get it is to go to the Obsidian Games Purchase Page, and follow the link and directions found there. You can pay by credit card, paypal, check, etc. The vendor that handles the sales takes pretty much anything.
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Hi Chris,
are there any news about the CP weights issue ? It would be terrific to use A:M for game modeling & animation !!
Fred
I believe Hash is looking at it right now, but I don't know if it will definitely get done, what the timeframe is, etc. Just keeping my fingers crossed at the moment, and if I find out more, I'll be sure to post an update.
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Thanks again everyone!
More great news -- I heard back from Garage Games, and have the go ahead on their end for AMXdtsPlus. I'll be working on both updated versions (PC & Mac) to get something ready as soon as possible.
dborruso - I don't think it will take very long. In fact, I have a version of AMXtex already compiled for A:M V13 (it didn't require too many changes), and I'm just waiting for my V13 CD to arrive so I can test it before releasing it.
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Thank everyone, I appreciate the support. It looks like A:M has gone through some impressive updates while I was gone, and I can't wait to play around with V13!
Chris; Are you getting everything you need in the SDK? What about CP weights? Do you got that figured out now?
Martin -- I don't think that CP weights have been added to the Import/Export section of the SDK. So far it looks like it's only available for live model editing. I'm still looking into it though, and will report back with what I find. If it's not there, I will probably put a feeler out on the A:M Reports ticket I opened about adding CP weights last year (unless you'd prefer I go about it a different way). I know there's a lot going on with A:M right now (not the least of which is now Intel Macs!), but I think it would be a big win for A:M if game modellers were able to make use of CP weights on model exporting/importing.
Thanks,
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triath - Best of luck with the other publishers! I'm sure it can be frustrating, but keep at it. It's really cool to see someone finishing up some games with A:M content (Action Bird, Super Slam Ball) and actually getting them out there.
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Thanks for the heads up Zach, I had not noticed that earlier. Keeping my fingers crossed for the OSX SDK update.
I've modified my original post (changes are in italics) to add the v13 info, and also what I've found since I first posted.
Also, I want to thank everyone for their patience these last few months. I'm really looking forward to getting back into A:M and programming again!
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I wanted to let everyone know that I am resuming work on my A:M export plugins effective immediately. I've recieved the approvals that I needed, and am clear to work on them again. This doesn't mean that I will have everything available today or tomorrow. A lot has changed in the last few months, and now that I'm back, I have a number of things to do before I'll be fully up to speed:
General
* Purchase A:M 2006 Subscription
* Install and look into the A:M V12 SDK
* Install and look into the A:M V13 SDK
* Look into the A:M SDK's ability to write plugins for OSX Tiger
- Plugins written with current OSX SDK do not work with Tiger versions of A:M.- Current OSX Panther SDK (v11.1) seem to be at least partially compatible with A:M v12 on Panther- It appears that Hash is releasing a new Mac SDK next week (fingers crossed for Tiger support)* Check back in with Hash about adding weighted CPs to the Import/Export portion of the SDK.
- I just checked the new V13 SDK, and they do not appear to be available. I asked Hash about this in the V13 SDK announcement threadAMXtex
* Update AMXtex to fully work with A:M V12
* Update AMXtex to fully work with A:M V13
AMXdtsPlus
* Download and install the new version of the Torque Game Engine (v1.4); examine any changes to DTS portion of TGE
* Communicating with Garage Games about the sale of the AMXdtsPlus exporter
* Re-examine the AMXdtsPlus exporter, and get it in shape for public use
- AMXdtsPlus works with newest version of A:M v12 on Windows- AMXdtsPlus works with newest version of A:M v11.1 on OSX Panther. It hangs during export on V12, but appears to be working (just need to find and fix the hang)- AMXdtsPlus does *not* work with A:M on OSX Tiger (hopefully the new SDK will fix that)I will be working on these as fast as possible, and will continue to post updates as I get more information.
Thanks,
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chris another question for you , why is it that the plugin of .x only shows when a model is there? and how do you also show the animation .x plugin instead of the static .x plugin?
the reason i say this is because the screenshots in the help file show different named .x plugins!
one for static models and one for anaimtion models.
There are a number of options available in the Hash SDK for setting specific names and choosing when to display the export option. They're all coming from the same plugin file, though. Since the user can choose different export methods (single model, multiple models, or animation), I just set it to use a different name for each export option. It just seemed to make more sense to specify exactly what option the user is choosing.
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hi Chris, i realise this is alittle off topic, but since you are active in this thread cuurently I will ask. How are things going wwith your new job? And is it still effecting your development of AM plugins? If so I hope it is resolved soon. I can only speak on my behalf, but I'm sure others will agree, that we sure appreciate your support of AM and your dedication to putting out impressive exporters.
Things are going great, thanks for asking. As for the plugin issue, I'm 3/4 of the way through the process, and still going. I just need to hear back from one more group, and I'll be able to move forward (one way or the other). Keep your fingers crossed!
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no matter problem solved , forgot it was a plugin hahahaha
just out of interest , why does it not like 9.51b when 9.51e is ok?
cheers
groper
I don't remember the specifics at the moment, but I believe Hash put out something in the 9.51e patch that fixed some problems with all of the earlier 9.5 versions, which was causing some issues with all of the exporters.
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http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11369
This sounds SDK is now accessible to bone weight...
If it is true, please update AMXtex for exporting bone weighted .x model!
With that function, AMXtex would be a perfect tool for me. (I believe it is not only for me.)
It looks like that link is from July, and I believe that at that point, weights were not available for the export portion of the SDK. I also have an AM report in with Hash that has not been closed out, so I'm not sure that it's been added yet. I will take a look at the V12 SDK and see if it's been added though, as this would indeed be a great feature for people making characters for games.
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fafnir312 - So far, so good, but I'm still waiting to hear the final decision. As soon as I know, I will let everyone know.
Greg - Unfortunately, it's a bit more complicated than that, and I do actually have to get approval. If there were any way that I could have released the plugin before now, I would have. Believe me, I want to get it out there more than anyone. I hate that it's just sitting on my hard drive unused, but I need to be sure before I continue. If and when the time comes though, I appreciate your offer to help out with Garage Games.
Thanks again to everyone for their patience. Hopefully I will have some good news in the near future.
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coderedsim, thank you for the kind words. I know I won't be able to turn out the next great 3d game, but I enjoy being able to help others work towards their own. And that's great news that you've had some better luck with other 3D engines. As always, if you find any issues with AMXtex, please let me know.
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It would definitely be a help to have the default Torque skeleton available for A:M users. I'm still waiting to hear about whether or not I can continue work on this, so please hold off on emailing to me. If you can find it the project file though, I'm sure everyone would appreciate it down the road.
And yes, the TSE engine does look pretty amazing, though I haven't had a chance to use it. Assuming I can continue working on the exporter, I would certainly try to make sure it stays compatible with any TSE changes to the DTS/DSQ format.
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Thanks everyone, I appreciate your patience. Trust me, I hope this gets resolved soon just as much as you do.
As soon as I know anything, I will let you know.As for being free or not, assuming I can continue my work on the exporter, I will need to talk to the Garage Games team about any possible licensing issues with plugins. Depending on how that goes, I will know better if I will charge for the DTS exporter or if it will be free.
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Thanks for checking in Gus. I've been meaning to post on what I've been up to, but just haven't had the chance yet. I've had a lot going on this past month, but I do apologize for my lack of updates. A great job opportunity recently came up, and I switched jobs. However, my new employer requires me to get approval for all outside work that I do, including my plugin work. I've been told that my A:M work should not be an issue, but I still need to get official approval.
In any case, this should not prevent the release of the DTS plugin, only perhaps delay it a bit longer. To be safe, I have not touched my plugin code since I started at my new position. This way, if my request is denied, I can still pass on the code to someone else. Hopefully it won't come to this, but I just want to be sure. I will let everyone know as soon as I know more.
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triath - Well, I've only been using XCode & OSX for a few weeks, so I still have plenty to learn!
Greg - Thank you, and I definitely agree. The company mentality for both Hash and Garage Games does seem similar. Both put out great products, and work hard with their respective user bases to improve their product. As a customer, it's great to see.
As for the OSX exporter, things are going well. Everything seems to be exporting properly -- billboards, LoD, Detail Textures, IFL materials, 2-sided materials, etc. I've had to work around a few issues with IFL materials, but the changes I've made should actually work well on the PC side too.
Animation export works, but it crashes A:M at the end, so that's what I'm working on now. This also showed up on the PC side occasionially, so hopefully I can get that problem fixed on both platforms once and for all.
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I just now got the first Torque models and animations exported from A:M on OSX - both the box model and the Thom model exported perfectly. I have not tested any of the other ones (IFL, detail texture, etc), but I will do so as soon as I get a chance.
I was wrong about the problems I was having; it turned out to be something else entirely. I think my lack of XCode knowlege was throwing me off. Anyway, the changes that I had made to the Torque code ended up working fine, and though I have a bunch of bugs to work out, things are looking good. From what I've been told, debugging A:M plugins on the Mac should be pretty easy to set up, so hopefully I can find the bugs and fix them on both the PC and Mac.
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Greg,
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it. I'm going to be very busy the rest of this week, but I will definitely contact Jay as soon as I've had a chance to put together my OSX Torque notes.
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No, I haven't posted anything yet on the GG forums. I might wait a little longer, in hopes that I can fix the problem that I'm having right now.
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Hello again! I've been very busy with other real-life work, and have not had a lot of time to work on the exporter recently. Hopefully things will slow down in the next couple of weeks.
In the meantime, I do have some good news to report. As far as the code base goes, I've added two-sided materials, which is a step in being able to add sorted meshes. Two-sided materials effectively double the number of polygons in a model, which is not good, but they are good for smaller models that need it (transparent boxes, flags, etc).
I also have some other news that may be of interest to some A:Mers (Hi GusM!) . I recently purchased a ....<Drumroll>...... Mac Mini. I've done some initial testing, and have been able to get AMXdtsPlus compiled on OSX 10.3 Panther. I've added a screenshot on my website gallery, so feel free to check it out!. Unfortunately I have a *LOT* of work ahead of me on the Mac port. The Hash code works flawlessly, but there are a number of issues that I need to figure out on the Torque side. As I said, I can get it to compile, but it will only export an empty DTS file. This has to do with some critical Torque code that by default, is not very compatible with OSX. Hopefully I'll be able to figure it out though.
Last, but not least, I've had some requests as to what exact features AMXdtsPlus supports. Below is a list of the features that are listed on Alex Swanson's Torque DTS Exporter Matrix. I've added the status of each feature as it applies to AMXdtsPlus. This should give you all an idea as to what features still need to be implemented.
That's all for now, I will report back as soon as I have more news.
AMXdtsPlus DTS Feature Support
Geometry
Meshes - FULL SUPPORT
Custom Bounds - FULL SUPPORT
Auto Bounds - NOT SUPPORTED
Collision Meshes - FULL SUPPORT
LOS Collision Meshes - FULL SUPPORT
Nodes - FULL SUPPORT
Billboards - FULL SUPPORT
Triangle Stripping - FULL SUPPORT
Animation
Bone Animation - FULL SUPPORT
Sequence Export - FULL SUPPORT
Blend Sequences - FULL SUPPORT
DSQ Export - FULL SUPPORT
Ground Transform - FULL SUPPORT
IFL - FULL SUPPORT
Morph Animation (outdated) - NOT SUPPORTED
Mesh Visibility Animation - NOT SUPPORTED
Triggers - FULL SUPPORT
Optimization
Levels of Detail (LOD) - FULL SUPPORT
Auto LOD (eg. MultiRes) - NOT SUPPORTED
Auto Billboard-LOD - NOT SUPPORTED
Textures
Apply Materials - FULL SUPPORT
UV Coords - FULL SUPPORT
UV Animation (outdated) - NOT SUPPORTED
Detail Textures - FULL SUPPORT
Decals (not supported by TGE) - NOT SUPPORTED
Sorted Meshes - PARTIAL SUPPORT
Translucent (Unsorted) - NOT SUPPORTED
Additive - NOT SUPPORTED
Subtractive - NOT SUPPORTED
2-Sided Materials - FULL SUPPORT
Env. Map - NOT SUPPORTED
Bump Map (not supported by TGE) - NOT SUPPORTED
Self Illuminated - NOT SUPPORTED
NoMipMap - NOT SUPPORTED
ZeroBorder MipMap - NOT SUPPORTED
Platforms Supported
Windows - FULL SUPPORT
Mac OS X - PARTIAL SUPPORT
Linux - NOT SUPPORTED
Status Update on Obsidian Games A:M Plugins (AMXtex & AMXdtsPlus)
in Game Development
Posted
Quick update on AMXdtsPlus -- Using the new Hash Mac SDK, I have the initial build working on A:M v12 on OSX Tiger, and have successfully exported DTS models and animations. This is an important step, as I want to release the plugins simultaneously on the Windows and Mac side.
As for A:M v13 on OSX Tiger, it's not looking so good at the moment. A:M uses a newer version of the gcc compiler for v13, and while the AMXdtsPlus plugin will compile just fine using the new version, the Torque code for creating DTS files does not. I'm not sure if and when Garage Games will update the code to work under the new version of gcc, but until then, I'm not sure there's much I can do. I will continue to work on it and see if I can come up with a workaround.