Character collision

[Josellis]

Hello

I know a MMOFPS which is just like PlaneShift in the way that it is totally free and open: Tremulous

They have a very good (from a user's point of view) colliding system between characters. Now I thought that PlaneShift team might want to ask the Tremulous team if they could get the code for the colliding system.


PS: I am not a true coder, although I like playing with scripts, so I do not know if this is feasible at all

[Karyuu]

Could you describe the system they use?

[Idoru]

If we are talking about collision detection as in characters cannot move through each other, then I cant think of anything that would be more frustrating. Imagine the DR if someone goes AFK on a bridge or at the exit of the first room. I think it would certainly be 'hell' then. I can also envision GMs constantly being asked to move the offending character and also having to unstick lots of players stuck together

[LARAGORN]

Good points Idoru, and for those reasons I can see some maps not enableing this feature, such as the DR and the Mines.

[Kecey Ghost]

With people getting in the way in mind, one way round it would be to push them out of the way slowly which could take alot of efort for exsample.  You could then say that you could be pushed of a cliff and be killed but thats more realistic to having people run through you.  I oftern find it anoying that people can run through me and try my best to go around people, unless huge amounts of lag stop me from having full control.

[Socius Rockus]

  I think I would give also a lot of trouble with comming back from the DR spots, as sometimes people tend to stay there....
But maybe it can be used for all the creatures, Like you can't walk through a Ulber and so, and maybeeven in a challenge mode that only there you can't walk through each other that is what i call a nice and fit solution 

[Idoru]

I wonder if the Devs would then implement 'Tele-Frags' when people dont get off spawn points quickly enough

[Socius Rockus]

If they don't  Well it would be funy to see a pile of Enkidukais or any other race

[Kaerli]

I wonder if the Devs would then implement 'Tele-Frags' when people dont get off spawn points quickly enough

Ah...telefragged

Spawnpoints in PS should implement search logic in order to find a nearby empty spot if someone is standing on the actual spawnpoint though;  that (and not killing those who fall through the map; hint: you only die when you hit the ground, not 1 moment before) would save people some DR hassles that aren't really in line with RP

[Josellis]

Could you describe the system they use?

ehh, I don't really get what you mean... is it how characters collide into each other?

Anyway, in Tremulous, I have never seen at any time anyone being stuck in each other ... Nor did I see anyone stuck in a wall.


For the Death Realm, I believe it could be disabled. Anyway, it would still fit IC, with the "souls".


For the spawn point problem, in Tremulous, they have a waiting list for the spawns, so if 10 people die at the same time, all 10 won't respawn at the same time, they will respawn one after each other (bad luck for the 10th ...), so I guess this could be implemented in PS, although I often see people just staying on the spawn spot, not knowing what to do, or just being lazy.

Another thing with spawns (not only in DR, but also when a player spawns by joining PlaneShift), I guess it would be possible for them to fit into each other, because none of them moved (therefore, no collision), and as soon as one of the player moves, the collision system would bump that player out. I have seen that in other games, so I believe it should be possible.


About the problem of people staying in one place just to annoy ... I guess that it would be possible to make a system which disable the collision system with that person after X amount of time. Also, I like the idea of pushing, however I do not know how this might be implemented.

Another thing we would be possible to prevent characters from staying in one place, is to disable the collision system in areas very likely to be blocked (doors, stairs, etc.)

maybe it can be used for all the creatures, Like you can't walk through a Ulber and so

Yes, that would be really great way of implementing it, it would also avoid that cheat of walking through the creature and making damage without receiving any ...


Another "positive" thing about this would be that it would prevent 200 crafters from occupying just one single square meter (like you see near Harnquist ...). It would be much more realistic, however, I guess it will annoy the crafters ...

[Karyuu]

We've had multiple wishlist threads on collision detection, and I believe the general dev consensus was that it's too open for abuse to bother including it in the game. And if it's not going to be consistent in the world (certain parts of a street have it enabled, but a few feet away it's off) then it loses much of its point - which I presume to be realism.

[Josellis]

So, you're saying that a collision will never be implemented ingame for moving things?

well I must say, that is a shame...

it's too open for abuse to bother

I guess you mean that people will just stay in one place and block a door/path. Well:

pushing

Wouldn't that solve it? And this:

I guess that it would be possible to make a system which disable the collision system with that person after X amount of time.

That would also solve the problem.

Now for the realism, I guess you're right, it is not very realistic to have one meter without collision and then, you bump into players, but I must say that you'll have to decide between realism and avoiding big problems (personnaly, I wold sacrifice the realism there, for the player's pleasure).

[Karyuu]

"Never" is too certain of a word, I think. I said that in previous discussions, the stance of the dev team was that collision detection is too likely to be abused. Let's try to avoid turning this into a Wishlist thread, though. We have quite a few of those.

So back on topic: If Tremulous is open-source as well, our devs would be able to look at their code and take what they need anyway. And if it's not, asking for it would be pointless.

[Josellis]

well, I'm not into all that legal stuff about copyright, GNU, GPL or whatever it is. But they host their project on SourceForge, and it is found here. They have a CVS, so I guess you should be able to find all the codes you want there.

But as I said, I am not a coder (even though I like playing with scripts, and try), nor am I a lawyer.

[Kecey Ghost]

It would have to be used everywhere apart from death realm, as said above about the souls.  It is realistick for people to block a door way, and strength would play a part with pushing them out the way.  But you have to know when its being abused, maby a spell could be used to walk through living things (not walls or it could all go wrong in a falling kind of way)