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  • Can't export Blender model for use in jMonkeyEngine SDK

    - by Nathan Sabruka
    I have a scene rendered in blender called "civ1.blend" which contains multiple materials (for example, I have one called "white"). I want to use this model in jMonkeyEngine, so I used the OGRE exporter to create .scene and .material files. This gives me, for example, a civ1.scene file and a white.material file.However, when I then try to import civ1.scene into the jMonkeyEngine SDK, I get an error along the lines of "Cannot find material file 'civ1.material'". Like I said, I have a white.material file, but I do not have a civ1.material file. Did anyone encounter this problem? How do I fix this?

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  • Import 3ds into JMonkeyEngine 3

    - by Yanick Rochon
    I have asked this question on SO, but I think it will be more suitable here. Basically, we are trying to import an animated character body (with skeleton) from 3D Studio Max to JMonkeyEngine 3, but while we succeeded at importing some animations, we cannot seem to export the skeleton to .skeleton.xml using OgreXML format. Since OgreXML seems to be the favored way to import models into JME, we dropped .obj files and such. Any help appreciated.

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  • JMonkeyEngine display a spatial in a Nifty GUI interface

    - by Yanick Rochon
    I want to display a spatial (or the rendering of a spatial/scene) in my HUD interface. I'm really not sure how to go with this. I have search the documentation, but all the queries I search yields no result, and all I could find about images is that one can specify one with the setBackgroundImage method in the builder and setImage from the ImageRenderer class. The latter takes a String or a NiftyImage, but I'm not sure how to create one without loading an image file. Any help to understand this (if even possible) is appreciated. Thanks!

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  • Models with more than one mesh in JMonkeyEngine

    - by Andrea Tucci
    I’m a new jmonkey engine developer and I’m beginning to import models. I tried to import simple models and no problems appeared, but when I export some obj models having more than one mesh in the OgreXML format, Blender saves multiple meshes with their own materials (e.g. one mesh for face, another for body etc). Can I export all the meshes in one? I’ve tried to join all the meshes to a major one with blender (face joins body), but when I export the model and then create the Spatial in jme(loading the path of the “merged” mesh), all the meshes that are joined to the major doesn’t have their materials! I give a more clear example: I have an .obj model with 3 meshes and I export it. I have : mesh1.mesh.xml , mesh2.mesh.xml , mesh3.mesh.xml and their materials mesh1.material, mesh2.material mesh3.material so I import the folder in Assets/Models/Test and now I have to create something like: Spatial head = assetManager.loadModel( [path] ); Spatial face = assetManager.loadModel( [path] ) one for each mesh and than attach them to a common node. I think there is a way to merge those mesh maintaining their materials! What do you think? Thanks

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  • How can I import models from Blender into jMonkeyEngine?

    - by Nathan Sabruka
    I have some blender model files (Blender version 2.6) which I would like to use with the jMonkeyEngine SDK. However, when I use Blender's native .obj exporter, I can't import it in jMonkeyEngine (the model simply fails to import or looks messed up). I've tried importing .obj files or .blend files directly into the jMonkeyEngine SDK to no avail. I've also tried to use various OGRE exporters to export .scene and .material files, but only the .scene file is created. Is there a simple way to simply export files from Blender into the jMonkeyEngine SDK? EDIT: I seem to have found something in Blender. When I go under addons, there's a warning in the OGRE exporter; "'.mesh' output requires OgreCommandLineTools". However, I have already installed those tools under the C drive. Has anyone else encountered this issue?

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  • When attaching AI to a vehicle should I define all steps or try Line of Sight?

    - by ThorDivDev
    This problem is related to an intersection simulation I am building for university. I will try to make it as general as possible. I am trying to assign AI to a vehicle using the JMonkeyEngine platform. AIGama_JmonkeyEngine explains that if you wish to create a car that follows a path you can define the path in steps. If there was no physics attached whatsoever then all you need to do is define the x,y,z values of where you want the object to appear in all subsequent steps. I am attaching the vehicleControl that implements jBullet. In this case the author mentions that I would need to define the steering and accelerating behaviors at each step. I was trying to use ghost controls that represented waypoints and when on colliding the car would decide what to do next like stopping at a red light. This didn't work so well. Car doesn't face right. public void update(float tpf) { Vector3f currentPos = aiVehicle.getPhysicsLocation(); Vector3f baseforwardVector = currentPos.clone(); Vector3f forwardVector; Vector3f subsVector; if (currentState == ObjectState.Running) { aiVehicle.accelerate(-800); } else if (currentState == ObjectState.Seeking) { baseforwardVector = baseforwardVector.normalize(); forwardVector = aiVehicle.getForwardVector(baseforwardVector); subsVector = pointToSeek.subtract(currentPos.clone()); System.out.printf("baseforwardVector: %f, %f, %f\n", baseforwardVector.x, baseforwardVector.y, baseforwardVector.z); System.out.printf("subsVector: %f, %f, %f\n", subsVector.x, subsVector.y, subsVector.z); System.out.printf("ForwardVector: %f, %f, %f\n", forwardVector.x, forwardVector.y, forwardVector.z); if (pointToSeek != null && pointToSeek.x + 3 >= currentPos.x && pointToSeek.x - 3 <= currentPos.x) { aiVehicle.steer(0.0f); aiVehicle.accelerate(-40); } else if (pointToSeek != null && pointToSeek.x > currentPos.x) { aiVehicle.steer(-0.5f); aiVehicle.accelerate(-40); } else if (pointToSeek != null && pointToSeek.x < currentPos.x) { aiVehicle.steer(0.5f); aiVehicle.accelerate(-40); } } else if (currentState == ObjectState.Stopped) { aiVehicle.accelerate(0); aiVehicle.brake(40); } }

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  • Endless terrain in jMonkey using TerrainGrid fails to render

    - by nightcrawler23
    I have started to learn game development using jMonkey engine. I am able to create single tile of terrain using TerrainQuad but as the next step I'm stuck at making it infinite. I have gone through the wiki and want to use the TerrainGrid class but my code does not seem to work. I have looked around on the web and searched other forums but cannot find any other code example to help. I believe in the below code, ImageTileLoader returns an image which is the heightmap for that tile. I have modified it to return the same image every time. But all I see is a black window. The Namer method is not even called. terrain = new TerrainGrid("terrain", patchSize, 513, new ImageTileLoader(assetManager, new Namer() { public String getName(int x, int y) { //return "Scenes/TerrainMountains/terrain_" + x + "_" + y + ".png"; System.out.println("X = " + x + ", Y = " + y); return "Textures/heightmap.png"; } })); These are my sources: jMonkeyEngine 3 Tutorial (10) - Hello Terrain TerrainGridTest.java ImageTileLoader This is the result when i use TerrainQuad: , My full code: // Sample 10 - How to create fast-rendering terrains from heightmaps, and how to // use texture splatting to make the terrain look good. public class HelloTerrain extends SimpleApplication { private TerrainQuad terrain; Material mat_terrain; private float grassScale = 64; private float dirtScale = 32; private float rockScale = 64; public static void main(String[] args) { HelloTerrain app = new HelloTerrain(); app.start(); } private FractalSum base; private PerturbFilter perturb; private OptimizedErode therm; private SmoothFilter smooth; private IterativeFilter iterate; @Override public void simpleInitApp() { flyCam.setMoveSpeed(200); initMaterial(); AbstractHeightMap heightmap = null; Texture heightMapImage = assetManager.loadTexture("Textures/heightmap.png"); heightmap = new ImageBasedHeightMap(heightMapImage.getImage()); heightmap.load(); int patchSize = 65; //terrain = new TerrainQuad("my terrain", patchSize, 513, heightmap.getHeightMap()); // * This Works but below doesnt work* terrain = new TerrainGrid("terrain", patchSize, 513, new ImageTileLoader(assetManager, new Namer() { public String getName(int x, int y) { //return "Scenes/TerrainMountains/terrain_" + x + "_" + y + ".png"; System.out.println("X = " + x + ", Y = " + y); return "Textures/heightmap.png"; // set to return the sme hieghtmap image. } })); terrain.setMaterial(mat_terrain); terrain.setLocalTranslation(0,-100, 0); terrain.setLocalScale(2f, 1f, 2f); rootNode.attachChild(terrain); TerrainLodControl control = new TerrainLodControl(terrain, getCamera()); terrain.addControl(control); } public void initMaterial() { // TERRAIN TEXTURE material this.mat_terrain = new Material(this.assetManager, "Common/MatDefs/Terrain/HeightBasedTerrain.j3md"); // GRASS texture Texture grass = this.assetManager.loadTexture("Textures/white.png"); grass.setWrap(WrapMode.Repeat); this.mat_terrain.setTexture("region1ColorMap", grass); this.mat_terrain.setVector3("region1", new Vector3f(-10, 0, this.grassScale)); // DIRT texture Texture dirt = this.assetManager.loadTexture("Textures/white.png"); dirt.setWrap(WrapMode.Repeat); this.mat_terrain.setTexture("region2ColorMap", dirt); this.mat_terrain.setVector3("region2", new Vector3f(0, 900, this.dirtScale)); Texture building = this.assetManager.loadTexture("Textures/building.png"); building.setWrap(WrapMode.Repeat); this.mat_terrain.setTexture("slopeColorMap", building); this.mat_terrain.setFloat("slopeTileFactor", 32); this.mat_terrain.setFloat("terrainSize", 513); } }

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  • Convenience of mySQL over xml

    - by Bonechilla
    Currently I use XML to store specific information to correctly load a few things such as a list of specfied characters, scenes and music, Once more I use JAXB in combination with standard compression/decompression(ZIP) functionality to store a list of extrenous data. This data is called to add functionality to the character, somewhat like Skills in an RPG. Each skill is seperated into its own XML file with a grandlist which contains the names of each file with their extensions omitted and zipped in folder that gets encrypted. At first using xml was working fine however as the skill list grow i worry about its stability. I was wondering if I should begin storing the data in mySQL. Originally I planned to simply convert everything to JSON over xml but i think possibly mySQL would be a better move. Can anyone inform me of the key difference and pros and cons of each I guess i'm looking for the best way to store the data more conviently and would be easier to operate on. The data is mostly primatives and strings and the only arraylist of values i have i can just concat into a single field and parse later Edit: If I am going in the right direction with XML would it make sense to convert it to JSON and use maybe Kyro or EclipseLink JAXB (MOXy)

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  • jMonkey Quest Database

    - by theJollySin
    I am building a game in jMonkey (Java) and I have so far only used default quest text. But now I need to start populating a lot of quests with text. My design requires A LOT of quests texts. What is the best way to build a database of quest texts in jMonkey? I don't have a lot of real experience with databases. Is there a database that integrates well with jMonkey? Here are the ideal properties I want in my database, in order of priority: Reasonably light learning curve Easy portability (in Java) to Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX Good interface with Java Good interface with jMonkey The ability to add properties to the quests: ID, level, gender, quest chain ID, etc. Or am I wrong in thinking I need to use some giant monster like SQL? I haven't been able to find much information on this, so are people using some non-database methods for storing things like quest text in jMonkey?

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  • Convience of mySQL over xml

    - by Bonechilla
    Currently I use XML to store specific information to correctly load a few things such as a list of specfied characters, scenes and music, Once more I use JAXB in combination with standard compression/decompression(ZIP) functionality to store a list of extrenous data. This data is called to add functionality to the character, somewhat like Skills in an RPG. Each skill is seperated into its own XML file with a grandlist which contains the names of each file with their extensions omitted and zipped in folder that gets encrypted. At first using xml was working fine however as the skill list grow i worry about its stability. I was wondering if I should begin storing the data in mySQL. Originally I planned to simply convert everything to JSON over xml but i think possibly mySQL would be a better move. Can anyone inform me of the key difference and pros and cons of each I guess i'm looking for the best way to store the data more conviently and would be easier to operate on. The data is mostly primatives and strings and the only arraylist of values i have i can just concat into a single field and parse later

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  • JMonkey Engine (JME) load Blender scene with textures?

    - by leigero
    I am having the hardest time trying to accomplish the simplest task. I have created a floor and 4 walls (not that complicated) in Blender. I added a basic material and cloud texture so they have something to look at other than gray. When I import them into JMonkey they show up as solid white objects with no shading or depth. White silhouettes. I thought this may be a lighting issue, but I have ambient light added to the scene. I can remove that light or adjust its intensity and it has no affect on the scene. I exported all Blender files into OgreXML format, then converted them to .j3o format in JMonkey. I renamed the textures to match their corresponding mesh and this didn't do anything. Does anybody know how to create a flat object and put it into JMonkey with a texture? This sounds simple and there is absolutely no information on this. This should be step 1!

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  • Nifty GUI Layout

    - by Jason Crosby
    I am new to JME3 game engine but I know Android XML GUI layouts pretty good. I have a simple layout here and I cant figure out what is wrong. Here is my XML code: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <nifty xmlns="http://nifty-gui.sourceforge.net/nifty-1.3.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://nifty-gui.sourceforge.net/nifty-1.3.xsd http://nifty-gui.sourceforge.net/nifty-1.3.xsd"> <useControls filename="nifty-default-controls.xml" /> <useStyles filename="nifty-default-styles.xml" /> <screen id="start" controller="com.jasoncrosby.game.farkle.gui.MenuScreenGui"> <layer id="layer" backgroundColor="#66CD00" childLayout="center"> <panel id="panel" align="center" valign="center" childLayout="center" visibleToMouse="true"> <image filename="Textures/wood_floor.png" height="95%" width="95%"/> <panel id="panel" align="center" valign="center" childLayout="center" visibleToMouse="true"> <text text="test" font="Interface/Fonts/Eraser.fnt"></text> </panel> </panel> </layer> </screen> Everything works good until I get to displaying the text. I have tried different alignments and tried moving the text into different panels but no matter what I do the text is never in the center of the screen. Its always in the upper left corner so far I can only see the lower right part of the text. I'm sure it has to be something simple but since I'm new to this I'm not noticing anything. Thanks for the help in advance.

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  • Nifty popup fails to register

    - by Snailer
    I'm new to Nifty GUI, so I'm following a tutorial here for making popups. For now, I'm just trying to get a very basic "test" popup to show, but I get multiple errors and none of them make much sense. To show a popup, I believe it is necessary to first have a Nifty Screen already showing, which I do. So here is the ScreenController for the working Nifty Screen: public class WorkingScreen extends AbstractAppState implements ScreenController { //Main is my jme SimpleApplication private Main app; private Nifty nifty; private Screen screen; public WorkingScreen() {} public void equip(String slotstr) { int slot = Integer.valueOf(slotstr); System.out.println("Equipping item in slot "+slot); //Here's where it STOPS working. app.getPlayer().registerPopupScreen(nifty); System.out.println("Registered new popup"); Element ele = nifty.createPopup(app.getPlayer().POPUP); System.out.println("popup is " +ele); nifty.showPopup(nifty.getCurrentScreen(), ele.getId(), null); } @Override public void initialize(AppStateManager stateManager, Application app) { super.initialize(stateManager, app); this.app = (Main)app; } @Override public void update(float tpf) { /** jME update loop! */ } public void bind(Nifty nifty, Screen screen) { this.nifty = nifty; this.screen = screen; } When I call equip(0) the system prints Equipping item in slot 0, then a lot of errors and none of the subsequent println()'s. Clearly it botches somewhere in Player.registerPopupScreen(Nifty nifty). Here's the method: public final String POPUP = "Test Popup"; public void registerPopupScreen(Nifty nifty) { System.out.println("Attempting new popup"); PopupBuilder b = new PopupBuilder(POPUP) {{ childLayoutCenter(); backgroundColor("#000a"); panel(new PanelBuilder() {{ id("List"); childLayoutCenter(); height(percentage(75)); width(percentage(50)); control(new ButtonBuilder("TestButton") {{ label("TestButton"); width("120px"); height("40px"); align(Align.Center); }}); }}); }}; System.out.println("PopupBuilder success."); b.registerPopup(nifty); System.out.println("Registerpopup success."); } Because that first println() doesn't show, it looks like this method isn't even called at all! Edit After removing all calls on the Player object, the popup works. It seems I'm not "allowed" to access the player from the ScreenController. Unfortunate, since I need information on the player for the popup. Is there a workaround?

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  • How do I properly center Nifty GUI elements on screen?

    - by Jason Crosby
    I am new to JME3 game engine but I know Android XML GUI layouts pretty good. I have a simple layout here and I cant figure out what is wrong. Here is my XML code: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <nifty xmlns="http://nifty-gui.sourceforge.net/nifty-1.3.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://nifty-gui.sourceforge.net/nifty-1.3.xsd http://nifty-gui.sourceforge.net/nifty-1.3.xsd"> <useControls filename="nifty-default-controls.xml" /> <useStyles filename="nifty-default-styles.xml" /> <screen id="start" controller="com.jasoncrosby.game.farkle.gui.MenuScreenGui"> <layer id="layer" backgroundColor="#66CD00" childLayout="center"> <panel id="panel" align="center" valign="center" childLayout="center" visibleToMouse="true"> <image filename="Textures/wood_floor.png" height="95%" width="95%"/> <panel id="panel" align="center" valign="center" childLayout="center" visibleToMouse="true"> <text text="test" font="Interface/Fonts/Eraser.fnt"></text> </panel> </panel> </layer> </screen> Everything works well until I get to displaying the text. I have tried different alignments and tried moving the text into different panels but no matter what I do the text is never in the center of the screen. It's always in the upper left corner, so far I can only see the lower right part of the text. How can I center the text element in the center of the screen?

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  • J-Monkey subclass

    - by user2971104
    I'm new in java and J-monkey and I'm trying to make a java game so for the Menu I have made a enum so I can Switch between any of my State but I want to keep the main file shorter so it can be easily to read so I'm making subclass the problem is that when run the game it give me an error that say "Uncaught exception thrown in Thread[LWJGL Renderer Thread,5,main] NullPointerException" I think this problem has to be something whit the pipeline Here is the code of my main file: package mygame; import com.jme3.app.SimpleApplication; import com.jme3.font.BitmapText; import com.jme3.material.Material; import com.jme3.math.ColorRGBA; import com.jme3.math.Vector3f; import com.jme3.renderer.RenderManager; import com.jme3.scene.Spatial; import com.jme3.scene.Geometry; import com.jme3.input.*; import com.jme3.input.controls.*; public class Main extends SimpleApplication { //GameStates enum GameState{Logo, Menu, Playing, Option}; GameState gameState = GameState.Logo; //Class Variables Logo logo; public Main() { logo = new Logo(); } public static void main(String[] args) { Main app = new Main(); app.start(); } public static void logo(String[] args) { Logo app = new Logo(); app.start(); } @Override public void simpleInitApp() { //Load flyCam.setMoveSpeed(20); if(gameState == GameState.Logo){ logo.simpleInitApp(); } } @Override public void simpleUpdate(float tpf) { } @Override public void simpleRender(RenderManager rm) { //TODO: add render code //Load if(gameState == GameState.Logo) { } } } And here is my Logo subclass: package mygame; import com.jme3.app.SimpleApplication; import com.jme3.renderer.RenderManager; import com.jme3.scene.Spatial; public class Logo extends SimpleApplication { @Override public void simpleInitApp() { Spatial Logo_Model = assetManager.loadModel("Models/Teapot/Logo.obj"); rootNode.attachChild(Logo_Model); } public void simpleRender(RenderManager rm) { //Load } }

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  • Recommended main loop style

    - by Frootmig-H
    I've just begun attempting an FPS with JMonkeyEngine, but I'm currently stuck as to the best way to implement the main loop - especially with regards to non-instantaneous user actions. By that, I mean things like reloading a weapon. The user starts the action, and it continues for a while with an animation and some sound, and when it completes, game state updates. (I should mention that it's not technically a loop, it's an update method, called as often as possible. Is that different? Me no understand terminology). So, far I've considered : Animation driven Player presses reload Start reload animation If user stars another action, abort animation, start new action. When the animation_complete event is received (JMonkeyEngine provides this), update ammo counters. Event driven Player presses reload Start reload animation Queue up a out-of-thread method to be called at time t + (duration of reload animation) If user starts another action, cancel both animation and queued method. When queued method executes, update ammo. This avoids relying on the animation event (JMonkeyEngine has a particular quirk), but brings in the possibility of thread problems. 'Blocking' (not sure of the correct term) Player presses reload Start reloading animation reloading = true reloadedStartTime = now while (reloading && ((now - reloadingStartTime) < reloadingDuration)) { If user starts another action, break and cancel reloading. } Update ammo counters reloading = false My main concern is that actions can interrupt each other. Reloading can be interrupted by firing, or by dropping or changing weapon, crouching can be interrupted by running, etc. What's the recommended way to handle this? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each method? I'm leaning towards event-driven, even though it requires more care; failing that, blocking.

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  • Need help drawings planets in Java.

    - by d33j
    I am looking for help/links/notes/agorithms/URLs/examples on drawing/rendering spheres in pure Java (so that I can hopefully, one day, generate/render planets with various surfaces & atmospheres) So for the moment, i'd be pretty happy to be able to start off with just drawing a wireframed sphere(s). ps: I don't want to use external libraries like Java3D, JOGL or aftermarket engines like JMonkeyEngine, Would rather keep it as straight Java.

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  • Linux multiplayer server, need some help.

    - by Viktor
    I need to write a server for a game, which is closer to action type game, so needs fast communication. There must be only one server, I'll just split the world in zones, but this is not the question. Client will be written in java using jMonkeyEngine. In my opinion I should write the server in java. I don't want to implement any low level features such as communication, reliable udp, etc. Can you suggest any java libraries that already implement this? Or maybe there is more suitable languages to implement this project (must run on linux)?

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  • Where is a good spot to start when writing a LWJGL game engine?

    - by Alcionic
    I'm starting work on a huge game and somewhere along my train of thought I decided it would be a good idea to write my own engine for the game. I was originally going to use JMonkeyEngine but there were some things about it that just didn't work well with me. I wanted full control over every aspect of the entire process. Where would a good place to start be when writing your own engine? I have no experience with LWJGL but I learn quick. Either advice or some place where there is good advice would be nice. Thanks!

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  • Scene graphs and spatial partitioning structures: What do you really need?

    - by tapirath
    I've been fiddling with 2D games for awhile and I'm trying to go into 3D game development. I thought I should get my basics right first. From what I read scene graphs hold your game objects/entities and their relation to each other like 'a tire' would be the child of 'a vehicle'. It's mainly used for frustum/occlusion culling and minimizing the collision checks between the objects. Spatial partitioning structures on the other hand are used to divide a big game object (like the map) to smaller parts so that you can gain performance by only drawing the relevant polygons and again minimizing the collision checks to those polygons only. Also a spatial partitioning data structure can be used as a node in a scene graph. But... I've been reading about both subjects and I've seen a lot of "scene graphs are useless" and "BSP performance gain is irrelevant with modern hardware" kind of articles. Also some of the game engines I've checked like gameplay3d and jmonkeyengine are only using a scene graph (That also may be because they don't want to limit the developers). Whereas games like Quake and Half-Life only use spatial partitioning. I'm aware that the usage of these structures very much depend on the type of the game you're developing so for the sake of clarity let's assume the game is a FPS like Counter-Strike with some better outdoor environment capabilities (like a terrain). The obvious question is which one is needed and why (considering the modern hardware capabilities). Thank you.

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  • Can 3D OpenGL game written in Python look good and run fast?

    - by praavDa
    I am planning to write an simple 3d(isometric view) game in Java using jMonkeyEngine - nothing to fancy, I just want to learn something about OpenGL and writing efficient algorithms (random map generating ones). When I was planning what to do, I started wondering about switching to Python. I know that Python didn't come into existence to be a tool to write 3d games, but is it possible to write good looking games with this language? I have in mind 3d graphics, nice effects and free CPU time to power to rest of game engine? I had seen good looking java games - and too be honest, I was rather shocked when I saw level of detail achieved in Runescape HD. On the other hand, pygame.org has only 2d games, with some starting 3d projects. Are there any efficient 3d game engines for python? Is pyopengl the only alternative? Good looking games in python aren't popular or possible to achieve? I would be grateful for any information / feedback.

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  • “Play Now” via website vs. download & install

    - by Inside
    I've spent some time looking over the various threads here on GDSE and also on the regular Stackoverflow site, and while I saw a lot of posts and threads regarding various engines that could be used in game development, I haven't seen very much discussion regarding the various platforms that they can be used on. In particular, I'm talking about browser games vs. desktop games. I want to develop a simple 3D networked multiplayer game - roughly on the graphics level of Paper Mario and gameplay with roughly the same level of interaction as a hack & slash action/adventure game - and I'm having a hard time deciding what platform I want to target with it. I have some experience with using C++/Ogre3D and Python/Panda3D (and also some synchronized/networked programming), but I'm wondering if it's worth it to spend the extra time to learn another language and another engine/toolkit just so that the game can be played in a browser window (I'm looking at jMonkeyEngine right now). Is it worth it to go with engines that are less-mature, have less documentation, have fewer features, and smaller communities* just so that a (possibly?) larger audience can be reached? Does it make sense to even go with a web-environment for the kind of game that I want to make? Does anyone have any experiences with decisions like this? (* With the exception of Flash-based engines it seems like most of the other approaches have downsides when compared to what is available for desktop-based environments. I'd go with Flash, but I'm worried that Flash's 3D capabilities aren't mature enough right now to do what I want easily. There's also Unity3D, but I'm not sure how I feel about that at all. It seems highly polished, but requires a plugin to be downloaded for the game to be played -- at that rate I might as well have players download my game.) For simple & short games the Newgrounds approach (go to the site, click "play now", instant gratification) seems to work well. What about for more complex games? Is there a point where the complexity of a game is enough for people to say "OK, I'm going to download and play that"?

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