My Future Cold War 1945-1991 Sub Sim Project

[Chad]

Hey nsomnia, have you seen this??

http://www.pcgamer.com/unreal-engine-4-is-now-free/

And as for my Prohibition idea, nah, it went several iterations with playable builds, but never as far as I wanted it.

I saw you were trying to model a old Winchester. That was one of my first ever models boy did the barrel rifling get me for a while back then. We seem to have similar intrests.

It does seem we do! I am a sucker for spaghetti westerns, the anti-hero kind.

Edit: 1 hour 15 minutes in photoshop and you have probably the best 571 prints available to the public (resized 6:1)

That's pretty sharp! I can't wait to see more as you get more done.

I need to download from your GitHub and keep current with what you are working on.

[nsomnia]

Originally Posted by Chad

Hey nsomnia, have you seen this??
http://www.pcgamer.com/unreal-engine-4-is-now-free/

And as for my Prohibition idea, nah, it went several iterations with playable builds, but never as far as I wanted it.

I need to download from your GitHub and keep current with what you are working on.

No I havnt....
Account Balance

$30

Now I have They just revolutionized the gaming industry for the 3rd/4th time.



I didn't really see it coming though. Like I said the whopping 20 dollars kept the people who thought they could create the next call of duty or minecraft in a few clicks away (ala unity forums). Thats great though that means people will really start coming over. Epic is REALLY REALLY great people and I think in a years time most indie games will be built with UE4, excepting mobile, I think Unity has the market there, at least for now. Another thought, they really are not losing money, at last check before they opened the github repository to the public they had 21,000 current subscribers. So they are losing 400 grand over the course of a couple years and gaining who knows how much from the huge amount of games your gonna see on steam/self published etc. with UE4. They follow my strategy. Do the work now for free, and get payment later continuously forever.

I dont keep my github 100% up to date cause I have no worry about anyone needing the latest updates and because I really havnt created anything useful yet save for the compartment models.

Having a bitch with the exterior I hate modelling vehicles, still. Tomorrow morning I'll probably grind on 'er again.

I love spaghetti westerns too haha. See back when I totally shelved my U-boat game more or less I was thinking of game ideas to start on that could involve a story (I was making hobby simulator games at the time only) and a prohibition game could've been a great idea. Then again Mafia II didnt do the greatest.

What did I say about my luck? I update my subscription on UE and then they release it free. Smart smart business move because as indie game devs see the potential of UE4 they are making the switch, of course give it development time, say another 4-6 months before we start seeing a huge influx of Alpha releases but just browsing the Unreal forums makes my jaws drop at the things people are doing already. People have to remember how new UE4 is (UDK cant be compared and UE3 was apparently not easy to use).

A whole 30 dollars credit for the marketplace where there is no assets yet. At least now that people can download it for free the marketplace will get submissions. HOWEVER a big issue right now is that Epic is only accepting Marketplace submissions from people who are known well by the community and company so they can update their Assets in a timely matter for new versions because Epic is going through so many changes so fast they just cant gaurentee new-version-compatibility for some things. (Unless you write your whole game in C++, your own shaders etc.) so alot of people are still using 4.1 and 4.3 for compatibility which were released mid 2014.
Another problem they are discussing right now is if a developer makes a plugin for UE4 should he release the source code along with it so that people can fix it themselves if the creator decides to stop supporting it. Big arguments on the forum. So far the best solution is some assets will be closed source with a "buyer beware" warning and most will be open source and some will be opensource with "special parts" in some sort of a wrapper and lastly people who cant comply with that just sell it themselves. This is only for plugins/blueprints/code though. Props are of course compatible 100%.

I think this is great. I got on the bandwagon at just the right time. Now you have no excuse to download it, drag n drop yer assets in and start playing with blueprinting and node based PBM shaders. (Ive heard the Unreal offical youtube channel tutorials are among the best, and on the wiki search for tutorials by Rama he is amazing).

I should've started this model first before I did all that work on the interior. Then I would've had it done by now and then some. Oh well you cant expect a whole ship model in a couple days by someone who likes to take naps often.

Edit: The unreal forums are exploding already. I hope you downloaded the source (If you have Visual Studio 2013, or 2013 Community Edition) or the compiled binary to at least say "I have it" incase they change their mind and start learning it before Unity becomes for mobile games only

[Chad]

I see you are still online, do you happen to have an Instant Messaging tool, or another way we can chat without continually writing on the forum?

I have Steam, you can find me with the username of FuriousChad. I also have Playfire with the same name.

[nsomnia]

Originally Posted by Chad

I see you are still online, do you happen to have an Instant Messaging tool, or another way we can chat without continually writing on the forum?

I have Steam, you can find me with the username of FuriousChad. I also have Playfire with the same name.

I'll add you to Steam I really dont have anyone to instant message with these days so I dont even have Skype intalled (have an account though). I'm a lone wolf.

Edit: Added. I dont particularily like Steams resource hogging. I'll download playfire and see how laggy it is.

The person that welcomed me to help co-develop the community ocean project who is a forum moderator says this is the most crazy time he has ever seen in his history of Unreal and the free version was only released 5 hours ago. I love that even free, you get EVERYTHING even the source code. Anyone with enough time and skills, or skills and money, or time and money can create blockbuster games in their free-time now.

Edit2: Ehhh playfire is buggy and uses up more memory than Blender! Steam it is. Wow I did not realize I've been on Steam for 10 years. A decade badge is kinda cool. It looks like Epic Games implemented a small friends messanger in their Epic Games Launcher (tracks your projects/installed engine vesrions/assets & more)

Edit3: Worked on the sail and got the deck bevel down. Gonna work on it with a clear mind tommorrow. I lose my steam (no pun intended) after dinner. Updates on the hull tomorrow!

You can see the wrinkles clearly here as I struggle to get the bow "to shape" its a very very interesting shape progression.



Edit4: Ok worked a bit more and just guessed on the bow. Still lots of wrinkles to iron out but the topology is still perfect which I take pride in so it can be pushed and pulled and geometry added or taken away anywhere. Not bad for a days work. You could use that in a game alpha (which I will be doing. soon. (perfectionist))


I came up with an idea for some acheivments feel free to add a list of creative or funny ones: im keeping a list of them on github for the beta 1.0 release.

Chernobyl: Reactor Meltdown on your sub
GlobeTrotter: 60,000km travelled
Swimmer: Get back to port with 75% flooding or more
Mechanic: Fix 10 breakdowns
No Potato: Go an entire patrol without any starch foods
No Broccilli: Go an entire patrol with no vegetables
Scurvy: Go an entire patrol with no fruits
Expensive Yacht: Spend 10 hours on the bridge
A Pin Drop: Man the sonar station for 10 hours
Ring around the rosie: Get back to port >100km with a stuck rudder by using one engine at 110% output when needed
Duracell: Have 2 hydrogen explosions on one patrol
The Hunt for Red October: Drop a seal team directly in Mamirsk port for no reason
Back Emergency: Travel 500km backwards
Stuck in Reverse: Travel 5000km backwards
Flank Speed: Exceed your subs rated max speed
Extreme Depths: Exceed your subs rated max depth by 100ft
Pounds Per Square Inch: Exceed your subs rated max depth by 250ft
Tons per Square Inch: Exceed your subs rated max depth by 500ft
Duct Tape and Hose Clamps: Repair a system failure without spare parts
The Red Green Guy: Repair 250 system failures
Surely don't call me Shirley: Skip the tutorial 3 times
Driver: Go an entire patrol without firing a shot
Fuel economy: Go an entire patrol without exceeding 1/3 speed
U-571 - Fix a radiation leak
U-571 re-told: - Fix a radiation leak that kills 8 or more crew members
Say Cheese: Take 50 screenshots
Showoff: Take 250 screenshots
Movie Star: Take 1000 screenshots
Whale waiting for a whale: Identify 5 biologic signitures into the computes.
From Russia With Love: Identify every single Russian vessel in the game
Uncle Sam Wants You: Identify every US vessel in the game
Fish n Chips: Identify every UK vessel in the game
Wasteland: Go an entire patrol without letting your crew shower
Rollover Rickover: Take a nuclear powred vessel to 100% power
Luck is my middle name: Take reactor level to 125% without damage
Red Light, Green Light: Go an entire patrol with red lights on only
Eyes like a cat: Go an entire patrol without using the red lights
AA Ace: Shoot down 10 planes
Ack ack: Shoot down 25 planes
Ice Station Zebra: Get to 90deg N 0deg W under the polar ice cap
Gone Fishin': Command a wire guided torpedo its full length until the cable breaks
Broken Line: Snap a torpedo door shut on a wire guided torpedo
Snapshot 2500: Hit a ship without using the TDC over 2500m
Snapshot 5000: Hit a ship without using the TDC over 5000m
Red to black or is it black to red: Wire the batterys in series for at least 15% more amps
Its Red to Red and Black to Black: Wire the batteries in series for at least 25% more amps
Watch your fire: Hit 1 friendly target
Friendly Fire: Hit 3 friendly targets
5 minutes to Nuclear Midnight: Fire 50 nuclear missles
1 minute to Nuclear Midnight: Fire 100 nuclear missles
MIG Hunter: Shoot down 25 fighter planes in the US Campaign
The Bear Hunter: Shoot down 25 bombers in the US Campaign
Good Morning Vietnam: Survive the Vietnam conflict without firing a single shot in-land
This is your captain speaking: Call general quarters 100 times
Inflate the autopilot: Make a plotted route over 10,000 km
Red Party Victory: Lose the US Campaign or win the Russian Campaign
Stars and Stripes: Win the US Campaign or lose the Russian Campaign
Doctor Please: Last an entire patrol without a medical trained crewmember and no injuries
Vacation time: Cross the equator 25 times
World Traveller: Dock on every continent
Enemy at the Gates: Attack an enemy vessel from within an enemy port

[nsomnia]

UGH UNITY 5 IS RELEASED NOW BECAUSE OF EPIC GAMES! I saw this in a dream last night I swear. Now I have a really hard choice. Chad? Input? I'd switch to Unity 5 if I had a co-creator on board, but even then its really really close since the Unreal Engine Community Ocean project is so beautiful and all blueprinted. Otherwise I'm loving UE4, but havnt started a project for this in it yet so the switch wouldn't have me lose anything except the c++ coding I learned so far [which is moot since most people are doing everything in blueprint except extreme cases like really complicated algorithms]
Gonna turn up the tunes, forget about the whole engine debate, and work on 571.

PS adding skype as a contact option for anyone. IM username - blendertek

Heres the list of major changes I added to the wiki

Unity 5 released for free on March 3rd, 2015 added the much anticipated real-time global illumination based on the Geomerics Enlighten technology. Other major changes include physically-based shaders, HDR sky-boxes, reflection probes, a new audio mixer with effects and enhanced animator workflows. PhysX was updated to 3.3, whereas Unity 4.x had an aging version. Unitys Cloud Build system was introduced (for $25/month for non-pro users) as well as 'Game Performance Reporting' and the beta 'Game Analytics' (also 25$/month for non-pro users) which logs players usage and performance on released games, something that many developers found hard to implement in Unity 4.x. Previously, a game developer needed to code support for player logging directly into their game engine.
Smaller additons include: A 64-bit editor to handle large projects, iOS 64-bit support, new deferred rendering, graphics command buffers, improved linear lighting, HDR, skybox and cubemap workflows, improved job scheduling system, a new 'CPU Timeline Profiler' lets you see and investigate multicore usage, improved NavMesh pathfinding system, integrated SpeedTree (a 3rd-party vegetation creation program) support to create lush, rich and dynamic vegetation, new Frame Debugger to track down graphical issues in your projects, Improved Project Wizard, updated standard assets, new UI and scripting APIs for AssetBundle Build system and lastly, access to the new Asset Store Level 11 program: Available for free to Unity 5 Professional customers, and soon to be available to Unity Personal Edition users for $19/month.

PhysX 3.3 Update Up until Unity 5 the engine was using a fairly outdated version of Nvidias PhysX physics middleware. The 3.3 version included in Unity 5, which is standard among triple-a quality video games includes the following features: multithreaded simulation for platforms that support it, a new cloth component for character clothing. New wheel colliders make better support for suspension and tire force simulation in vehicle based games. Collision mesh detection is improved and bake-free scaled MeshCollider support as well. All these features means the physics will be much more realistic in Unity 5 and no longer prone to the problems and bugs that plagues developers in Unreal 4.x.
Supported Platforms in Unity 5 Unity 5 brings support for Windows, Mac, Linux/Steam OS, Unity Webplayer, Android, iOS, Blackberry 10, Windows Phone 8, Tizen, Windows Store apps, WebGL, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Playstation Vita, Wii U. Xbox One, Xbox 360, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Oculus Rift, and Gear VR for a total of 21 supported platforms.
More Unity 5 Release notes can be found in the Unity 5.0 changelog

Todays goal: Get the hull of 571 game ready.

Edit: Intalled Unity 5 and will do a quick comparison video but the activation server is down for now Unity is now 11 gigs to download and 6 gigs once installed.

Edit2: Yep Epic Games Launcher now has a friends system. If you try out UE4 chad add me: Nsomnia or sderek02@gmail.com I dont know which one it uses.

[nsomnia]

With advice and knowledge of my best veteren crewmember and fixing up the bow with the proper profiles (I was modelling Seawolf instead of Nautilus doh!)

Got the general shape done. I got lucky and lots of the geometry lines up perfectly with the bow tube doors and sonar window.

Still needs lots of cleaning up before I can add any real detail though.



Modern boats will be a breeze.

Ohio class


And I have pictures of the Typhoon class down to her reactors. Go figure. God bless my American brothers...

Worked 7.5 hours straight to get that done and record/edit/post a video and install Unity 5. Time for a break. Well ok 3.3 hours looking at pictures, 2.5 modelling, .5 emailing, .5 video-ing and hte rest misc.

Regarding unity 5: it does run fast, I like that I can now keep my normal, bump, AO, emission, spec, diffuse and masks seperate for materials, but without any assets it still doesnt come close to UE4. Im not sold yet. It looks just as good as UE4 out of the box with realtime GI then UE4 which doesnt have realtime GI. With just a simple model though. More testing required. But it is SERIOUSLY unoptomized. A cube on a plane with a directional light the stock skybox with no materials makes for 60 FPS on my GTX 760 TI. I used to get 130-180 and UE4 gets me above 110-120 with a similar setup. Having it recalculate the lighting drops the fps by 5-10. Bump up the quality settings from fantastic to max and it drops another 5-7.

I do like that duplicating an object increments the name now. And it does feel homely just from all hte hours I've spent in it though. Monodevelop still sucks ass. I will refuse to even try it any more until they update the visual studio plugin. And I got a socket error on startup. And the authentication system was lagging my system bad oddly. The editor is butter smooth though, and you can snap, but its hidden way in a menu. Not a tiny button up top or hotkey like in UE4 and no near the same amount of flexability with snapping. I could of scripted the same snapping system into the Unity 4.x editor in an hour or less.

Unless something seriously changes my mind otherwise: UE4 stays, I'll still continue to use Unity for games that are better built on it. 2D mobile, simple games... etc. For a project as ambitious as mine with hardcore simulation, modding, DLC's, extreme graphics quality... UE4 fits it. If I wanted to build my simcity clone, I'd probly choose Unity in a heartbeat. If I was gonna steal Chads prohibition game idea in FP or TP i'd probly go to UE4. If I wanna build a mobile 'ColdWarSubSim', I'd port everything over to Unity. Why not have both, now that I can?