jHRP Gargoyle-2 v1.0

Psychikon

I'm done with the gargoyle, converted all the models to DMDs and all of that.

EDIT(9/5/2010): Now v1.0
Model particle giblets are added, fire and sparks are toned down, and blood is rendered using one of the pre-defined textures for particles in the jHRP, Particle04, to give it a good, earthy and stained color, rather than one that brightens as they add-blend together.

Get it HERE: http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/4/22/ ... 100906.zip

The following probably doesn't work anymore, and I'm not sure if I have the original .blend file anymore - not the complete one, anyway...
EDIT(5th): The original gargoyle .blend file is here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/268216155/garg.blend

deus-ex

Awesome, just awesome!!! )

I have seen the preview of the Gargoyle released back in November 2008 in action and it was great. But this one surpasses it by far. Unforgettable moment in the start area of E1M1 when the Gargoyle runs across the floor to hunt and attack me. This is the most beautiful looking/animated monster I have ever seen in the Heretic, Hexen and Doom universe. Yes, it's that good!



Thanks a lot for your excellent work and for sharing with us, Psychikon.

PostFatal

I agree, this is a great Gargoyle. If I were to complain about anything it would be the legs running even when it's in flight far above ground level. I hope that you have plans to make a firey Afrit for Hexen or at least adapt this guy to Hexen. Many thanks for this.

DaniJ

I have to agree whole heartedly with deus-ex this is a cracking model, excellent work... and hopefully not your last =D>

Psychikon

Thanks, guys! I feel kind of bad because I used over 2,000 polygons in it... Any further models, I'll try to cap them at around 2,000 at the most. Since I'm a little more into the swing of it, it should definitely not take as long (months?!) to make any further ones.

Psychikon

PostFatal wrote:

I agree, this is a great Gargoyle. If I were to complain about anything it would be the legs running even when it's in flight far above ground level. I hope that you have plans to make a firey Afrit for Hexen or at least adapt this guy to Hexen. Many thanks for this.

Sorry about that. I was at a little odds with what to do, seeing as how with the sprite, his legs kind of go up and down alternatingly. Plus, they use the second sprite again for a fourth sprite, so it might look ok since the wings just go straight up and down(on the sprites), that the legs might do the same thing. However, to make the wings a little more realistic, they were put into more of a fluid, flapping motion. With the legs, they couldn't bob in sync with the wings and sway, so I couldn't really do it; I thought that the scrambling legs might be the best solution, trying to make him look like he's hastily getting around. I know what you mean about it though, but I thought it might be better than if they were just kind of hanging there.

PostFatal

Actually it's my mistake. I just turned off 3d models and had another look at the sprite and he does appear to be running while flying. If your Afrit comes out as great as this I'll be a happy gamer.

Psychikon

PostFatal wrote:

Actually it's my mistake. I just turned off 3d models and had another look at the sprite and he does appear to be running while flying. If your Afrit comes out as great as this I'll be a happy gamer.

I'm just gonna change the shape of the head to suit the Afrit ie. the horns pointing up and back rather than curled. Also, I might try to make a very simplified layer for the fire. There should also be particles, but particles by themselves might not do it justice is all. We'll see how it goes...
Since it's basically a rig of the gargoyle, the only things needed to be changed are the head and also the stomach. Was gonna make the stomach look more like a six-pack than a serpentine belly. That and new ashpiles for when it dies. I think new fireballs, too. Besides that, the thing is already rigged, so it's just a matter of making a few animations for it. If things go well, it could be out within the week. We'll see...just don't hold your breath!

PostFatal

As long as the wings work like the Garg that you did I'll be happy. I don't think it's horns though, more like bat ears I think. I could be wrong though, it's hard to tell from the sprites. (a matter of interpretation?)

g6672D

It doesn't need to be totally faithful to the original if it looks really good, which this one definitely does! Now if only I could view it myself...

Psychikon

g6672D wrote:

It doesn't need to be totally faithful to the original if it looks really good, which this one definitely does! Now if only I could view it myself...

Sorry! I forgot to add a readme.txt and a copyleft license! Try again on the edited link!

Vermil

A very nice model, especially the flapping wings. Though I might have darkened the skin a bit and made him a little smaller in game (perhaps 4 or maybe even 3.5, rather than 5 and the fireball being 0.6 instead of 0.8) to better match the original.

It's a pity that the melee gargoyle bad guy it'self has that "glitch" (it was in the original game) in it's ranged attack though that leads to it entering it's ranged attack for fractions of a second all the time though.

Psychikon

Vermil wrote:

A very nice model, especially the flapping wings. Though I might have darkened the skin a bit and made him a little smaller in game (perhaps 4 or maybe even 3.5, rather than 5 and the fireball being 0.6 instead of 0.8) to better match the original.

It's a pity that the melee gargoyle bad guy it'self has that "glitch" (it was in the original game) in it's ranged attack though that leads to it entering it's ranged attack for fractions of a second all the time though.

It can probably be fixed by modifying the last state to point to an added extra state which points to the second state, then make the first state appear normal, and possibly have less tics.

DaniJ

As addons can have optional sub-addons perhaps you could attempt a fix along those lines that you could include with it. With a correctly configured addon you have the DED containing the fix loaded conditionally according to the state of control in an addon-specific option page in Snowberry (for an example, see the jDRP 1.1 HUD chaingun with it's optional wind-down effect).

Vermil

On inspecting the 1.8.6 source. It isn't actually a "glitch", but the intended behaviour of the Gargoyle.

When the Gargoyle enters its attack state, it pauses for a moment in IMP_MSATK1_1, then decides whether to attack or not in IMP_MSATK1_2 (if P_Random comes up less than 64). If it decides not to attack, the Gargoyle instantly returns to it's see state "IMP_FLY1".

So, Psychikon has set up the model animations incorrectly for the Gargoyles attack. As in the model is currently entering the "dive" animation during IMP_MSATK1_1, where as it should be entering it later, at IMP_MSATK1_2.

Also, currently, the Gargoyle model immediately enters its "dive" animation, but given that the Gargoyle's attack states loop back to IMP_MSATK1_3 rather than IMP_MSATK1_2, one could use IMP_MSATAK1_2 for a little animation of it putting its head down as the state is only called once right at the very start of the attack.

State {
  ID = "IMP_MSATK1_1";
  Sprite = "IMPX";
  Frame = 0;
  Tics = 10;
  Action = "A_FaceTarget";
  Next state = "IMP_MSATK1_2";
}

State {
  ID = "IMP_MSATK1_2";
  Sprite = "IMPX";
  Frame = 1;
  Tics = 6;
  Action = "A_ImpMsAttack";
  Next state = "IMP_MSATK1_3";
}

State {
  ID = "IMP_MSATK1_3";
  Sprite = "IMPX";
  Frame = 2;
  Tics = 6;
  Next state = "IMP_MSATK1_4";
}

State {
  ID = "IMP_MSATK1_4";
  Sprite = "IMPX";
  Frame = 1;
  Tics = 6;
  Next state = "IMP_MSATK1_5";
}

State {
  ID = "IMP_MSATK1_5";
  Sprite = "IMPX";
  Frame = 0;
  Tics = 6;
  Next state = "IMP_MSATK1_6";
}

State {
  ID = "IMP_MSATK1_6";
  Sprite = "IMPX";
  Frame = 1;
  Tics = 6;
  Next state = "IMP_MSATK1_3";
}

void C_DECL A_ImpMsAttack(mobj_t *actor)
{
	mobj_t *dest;
	angle_t an;
	int     dist;

	if(!actor->target || P_Random() > 64)
	{
		P_SetMobjState(actor, actor->info->seestate);
		return;
	}
	dest = actor->target;
	actor->flags |= MF_SKULLFLY;
	S_StartSound(actor->info->attacksound, actor);
	A_FaceTarget(actor);
	an = actor->angle >> ANGLETOFINESHIFT;
	actor->momx = FixedMul(12 * FRACUNIT, finecosine[an]);
	actor->momy = FixedMul(12 * FRACUNIT, finesine[an]);
	dist = P_ApproxDistance(dest->x - actor->x, dest->y - actor->y);
	dist = dist / (12 * FRACUNIT);
	if(dist < 1)
	{
		dist = 1;
	}
	actor->momz = (dest->z + (dest->height >> 1) - actor->z) / dist;
}

Psychikon

Thanks for looking up the oversight, Vermil. I didn't realize that it went back to frame 3, 'cause I never looked at the object info - I just looked at the frames and the amounts on the wiki page.

Agh, re-md2ing->dmding the model... les sigh...

EDIT: The first post is updated with information and a replaced (and should be more reliable) download link

Lightning Hunter

How did I miss this? You did an awesome job with this Gargoyle! I thought progress on Heretic modeling had pretty much come to an end, until I saw this thread. Psychikon, I sure hope you do the rest of the missing effects in Heretic! The Heretic resource pack was soooo close to completion. There were just a few missing models and effects. Will you please finish them? I would be forever happy!

(well, I might not be happy if Doomsday stays in its current "unplayable" state forever - rendering all these new models useless).

Psychikon

Lightning Hunter wrote:

How did I miss this? You did an awesome job with this Gargoyle! I thought progress on Heretic modeling had pretty much come to an end, until I saw this thread. Psychikon, I sure hope you do the rest of the missing effects in Heretic! The Heretic resource pack was soooo close to completion. There were just a few missing models and effects. Will you please finish them? I would be forever happy!

(well, I might not be happy if Doomsday stays in its current "unplayable" state forever - rendering all these new models useless).

Well, I'm almost done with the HUD wand model replacement. Whenever I do stuff like that, I want to add the effects into it as well. I almost feel like I'm on a mission with jHeretic, kind of like DaniJ was on with the jDRP I suppose - although I would not compare my stuff to his. Anyway, if you notice on the screenshots on that post, the sprites for the powered-up wand shots are model-replaced, as are the splash hits from it. Also there are texture particles involved, and all of that. I really DO plan to change the jHRP as far as generators go, because it's come to my attention all of the dead-end generators, such as:
Ophidian:
TWO -1 max age state-based generators
Disciple:
TWO MORE! -1 max age state-based generators
D'Sparil:
four -1 max age state-based generators - although one is meant to constantly rain after he's killed, and I suppose that wouldn't bog down the experience since it's a one-time deal
and maybe some others that I don't remember. I think that was also a problem with the gargoyle fireballs a while back - DaniJ had said something to me, and when they were fixed, I was thinking "how come they're still disappearing?!"

Vermil

IIRC, there is a bug that particle generators with the static flag aren't unfreed if the mobj they are attached to is no longer present.

Psychikon

Vermil wrote:

IIRC, there is a bug that particle generators with the static flag aren't unfreed if the mobj they are attached to is no longer present.

So at the end of the level, they wouldn't be freed? That sounds vaguely familiar... Well I suppose there's no reason really to set it to static if the generators were all managed properly within the various packs, huh?

DaniJ

Vermil wrote:

IIRC, there is a bug that particle generators with the static flag aren't unfreed if the mobj they are attached to is no longer present.

Thats news to me.

Psychikon

If I remember right, I think where I heard it was on the other forums back when there were complaints about the particle generators running out. Not just that they were running out, but that they would stay gone even after the level was completed. Is that what it was? This was a long time ago, though...

DaniJ

"Static" generators are supposed to live on after the mobj which spawned them. They remain in the map until they themselves expire.

In Doomsday there is a fixed limit on the maximum number of active generators (256) at any given time and once this limit is breached no more generators will be spawned until a free slot is available.

I seem to recall that there are numerous generators defined in the jHRP and jXRP addons that are marked as static but have also been given exceptionally long life times. This frequently leads to a breach of the active generator limit.

So basically, its not a bug but a static limit that is in place to prevent possible performance degradation due to excessive numbers of generators.

Originally, the jDRP suffered from this issue until I redesigned most of the particle fx so as to make better use of the features available (and in a few extreme cases I had to be more conservative with the effects themselves).

Vermil

Once upon a time there was a major issue in the JHRP with every Phoenix rod ammo pickup calling 3 new 16tic long state based generators every 11tics. This meant any map with rod ammo would slowly eat up a very large number of generators as time progressed.

Once those generators were replaced with mobj based generators, the JHRP seems to no longer overrun the generator limit in the original maps.

That said, some of the projectiles in the JHRP do use allot of generators.

Each Ophidian fireball in flight uses two generators for instance. Multiple that by the 4 fireballs an Ophidian fires and multiple that by half a dozen Ophidians attacking and you have conceivably 48 generators being used up.

Another major one is the Phoenix rod trail. Each of the up to 10 smoke puff's that make up the trail call a state based generator. Multiply that by the player firing several shots and you are using up a lot of generators.

Given that the Phoenix rod is a player weapon, there isn't going to be a huge ammount of rod missiles flying around at once. Hence the trail generators could probably be replaced with a mobj based generator with little to no visual impact.

Psychikon

Vermil wrote:

Each Ophidian fireball in flight uses two generators for instance. Multiple that by the 4 fireballs an Ophidian fires and multiple that by half a dozen Ophidians attacking and you have conceivably 48 generators being used up.

Another major one is the Phoenix rod trail. Each of the up to 10 smoke puff's that make up the trail call a state based generator. Multiply that by the player firing several shots and you are using up a lot of generators.

Given that the Phoenix rod is a player weapon, there isn't going to be a huge ammount of rod missiles flying around at once. Hence the trail generators could probably be replaced with a mobj based generator with little to no visual impact.

In my own .box, I ended up modifying the DEDs of the Ophidian and Disciple to where those state-based -1 max age generators were converted to mobj generators. So then they would only take two generators, just that you need to appropriately define a lot of particles reserved for them. At least the generators themselves won't eat each other up.

That basically needs to be done wherever it can. Apparently mobj generators are wiped at the end of the level, according to the documentation, so if they're set to spawn only when the source mobj is spawned, that might also help in keeping the generators limited, and 256 for the limit really seems more than sufficient in such a case.
I also fixed the animation in the staff - anyone want that too? I got tired of it clicking back, and then smoothly moving forward...

EDIT:
@DaniJ: It's too bad that I can't see the model particles... I think that what I can see of the barrel looks smashing, and smashing the barrel would be barrels of fun.

JonusC

DaniJ wrote:

Originally, the jDRP suffered from this issue until I redesigned most of the particle fx so as to make better use of the features available (and in a few extreme cases I had to be more conservative with the effects themselves).

I think you missed something in the Mancubus Projectile while doing that Or maybe not, it's all Greek to me. Psychikon, you understood it, you know what thread i'm talking about. How do we fix it man!?!?! Lol. Is it just one value that needs to be dropped?

Sinael

Any chance to get reupload?

reg

Sinael wrote:

Any chance to get reupload?

Yes. Go to this thread and get "Miscellanous small addons".

Psychikon

The gargoyle is now completed:
The gibs were added, the blood refined, the sparks and flames calibrated, and the fireball texture is much better and implemented PROPERLY now, so it doesn't look awkward.

The link is updated at the beginning of the thread, and the file should stay there and not run out after so many days UNLIKE RAPID SHARE!

PVS

Great model, and the effects of fire - especially!
A small question. I see this line in my Doomsday.out - ( R_SetupModel: Undefined state 'IMP_XCRASH4' ). I see this state in Gargoyle.ded, but i don't find this state 'IMP_XCRASH4' in the main Objects.ded file, there are only three states 'IMP_XCRASH1-3'. Could this have at some point, which I do not understand?

Psychikon

Whoops! Yeah, I may have copied other definitions' states to do that, or I might have accidentally done that copying my own, earlier definitions. Why? Because both imp_crashx3 and 4 have the same frame definition. There may or may not have been a reason for it, but it doesn't really hurt anything as far as I can tell. Still, try deleting it and see if that does anything. If not, then it's just an extra state definition.