Running down 017 blog - numbersix

.plan - tracks items and notes all the way back to (96 may 28)

My mod time will be split between Archon and Quake-hack.
Right now I'm filling in some Archon details.

If you follow these mods or have an interest, click the title links and go vote.
I am voting for some of yours...

PK3 is released: Moddb.com

Grab that for some botmatch bashing fun. Bot bashing is ok, ROBLab, the robot labour union
ok'ed bashing in the latest contract negotiations. Dont call them "snowflakes" - mostly
because they dont give a crap. They'll be busy gunning you down.

There will be some minor updates and a new hack style DM map system. Eventually.
Other than that I am considering PK3 complete.

I like the idea of an HD style gfx booster. But I doubt I'll have time for that soon.

Finish the port of mk II Archon to the new mk III codebase - qc++.
The big chunk of Archon left is the morph code. Which includes the Archons magic system.

This will mostly be "stick it in qc++" and see if it works. Turn fail to flow.
Some of the code will need to be retooled for the qc++ base redesign, however.
Entity spawning, framer, and admin control all need to fold into the design.

One sticky point - I will be tempted to retool some of the working code.
This is a good place to do that. But this also leads to a slow down.

I may not have a set release schedule, and past fervor for a release is likely
dead after the last hiatus. But it is still nice to be able to "sense" the
end of the tunnel.

I've completed some research and found out my plan to re-assign texture overlay on
the fly is not going to...well fly. The engine is just not geared to assign a model
(bsp or mdl) different override textures for different instances.

The big issue is, say I have a set of six hill shapes. I load a bunch of those with
a grass texture. Later the map changes biome areas and I want to set dirt and rock
textures. The engine will change to texture override assignment for _every_ instance
of a .bsp model! So, even the same shape with grass assigned will change to dirt and rock.

The alternate design is just to compile a ton of map bits for biome building.
I can automate this with a script that re-assigns the needed textures and compiles.
Having a ton of little map chunks is a pain. But it works now and doesnt require
massive engine mods.

One thing I've discovered in years of modding - if you find yourself faced with
convincing an engine to do something contrary to its design or limits... You might
want to consider another engine.

Another thing I'm pondering is bashing together a hack editor and building larger
sections of maps. These would be composed of any number of hacks.
A bit of code could bprint to the console or write a file.

Then a script would convert position data (since each hack centers on '0, 0, 0')
and then compile them. The func_maphack ents to load that config would also
be generated and output. So instead of a whole ton of small ents, a bunch of
big ones.

This pre-edit method has the advantage that I can put togther more conving
biome features and still randomly stitch them together.

Other details:

I have discovered some new inspiring music last summer. I may post a few
links here and there in comments. Tron soundtrack: Daft Punk (Tron Legacy) Rinzler
Like this for writing code.

I've got a visual inspiration series here: Moddb.com and the previous 8 images.
I may edit those into an article. Not sure where to post it yet.

Plans for live streaming my projects have stalled.
I think the setup is ready. Though I may still have a mic issue.
I just dont have any kind of regular schedule I can do streaming on.

Unless people really want to watch me sporadically write code...
And the knowledge that I wont be streaming anything popular enough to
gather the big numbers.

I'm considering a professional return to coding as a freelancer.
This may have a negative impact on modding.
But I think it is high time I found an alternate to the business I run.

Stay frosty and Quake hard my friends!