SyntaxBomb - Indie Coders

Languages & Coding => Blitz2D, BlitzPlus, Blitz3D => Topic started by: RemiD on August 11, 2019, 12:31:18

Title: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: RemiD on August 11, 2019, 12:31:18
hi :)

i have some money to spend, so why not fix / improve the good old Blitz3d... That i will probably continue to use for many many many years ( i still use windows 7 :P )

from what i remember of my past experiments, i needed these fixes / mods :

->remove direct play dependency
->merge the addons by Bobysait (to create bones, to create skinned vertices, to set weights)
->separate the collisions system and the animation system ( updateworld()  -> updateanimations() updatecollisions() )
->separate animation system (update of skinned vertices depending on bones positions / orientations) and renderworld()
->be able to get the rigid mesh after a skinned mesh has been animated
->simplify the procedure / functions to be able to merge different riggs (bones) / skinned meshes / weights
->mod the stencil shadows system (devil shadow system) to make it work with rigid meshes and skinned meshes
->remove / increase the limit of vertices / triangles per surface (32000 ? 64000 ?)
->be able to customize the properties of a directx light (color, intensity, falloff, max range)
->render to texture and auto set each rendered black pixels with a alpha value of 0
->texture blendmode similar to drawimage (all black pixels are invisible)
->implement a fast glow (with 8 directions offsets for the outline)
->fix linepick which sometimes fails on terrain (ROAM)
->be able to update or not the terrain (ROAM)
->be able to get the built terrain mesh (ROAM)
->rename some functions names to make them more meaningful

so for the remaining users, what are your suggestions of fixes / mods ?

the base will still be directx7, i just want to make it even more easy to use and flawless.
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: Santiago on August 12, 2019, 15:24:49
Hi RemiD, I am in the same situation.

I still use B3d, and Windows7, I will continue using it for many years, because that is what works for me.

I currently do some work for museums, and I always use b3d, since it is 100% stable and I can use low-performance PCs to run the games.

I don't know how much money it would take to develop a Blitz that has dx9 or dx11, it would be ideal to have Shaders, itineraries to generate soft-mesh.

My biggest problem now is that with the Naval Simulator, with Laptops + Windows 10, it runs very slow b3d, and there are several MAVs that I can't replicate on my computers.

Some things, I solved them by creating my own functions, but everything you mention, and many other things, I suppose only a genius could achieve them.

but without a doubt, if I left a Blitz with dx11 or something, I would happily put money that I don't have to be able to use it.

regards!!!!
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: Naughty Alien on August 12, 2019, 15:32:52
Quote from: Santiago on August 12, 2019, 15:24:49
Hi RemiD, I am in the same situation.

I still use B3d, and Windows7, I will continue using it for many years, because that is what works for me.

I currently do some work for museums, and I always use b3d, since it is 100% stable and I can use low-performance PCs to run the games.

I don't know how much money it would take to develop a Blitz that has dx9 or dx11, it would be ideal to have Shaders, itineraries to generate soft-mesh.

My biggest problem now is that with the Naval Simulator, with Laptops + Windows 10, it runs very slow b3d, and there are several MAVs that I can't replicate on my computers.

Some things, I solved them by creating my own functions, but everything you mention, and many other things, I suppose only a genius could achieve them.

but without a doubt, if I left a Blitz with dx11 or something, I would happily put money that I don't have to be able to use it.

regards!!!!

Then you are looking no further than NB..its basically abandoned as B3D(except its not released in same way as B3D), but its very stable system, dx9/11 powered and very very fast on both low and high end hardware, while syntax is almost identical to B3D
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: Santiago on August 12, 2019, 16:24:19
:) NB?

Sounds good! But I can't find it on Google, what does NB mean? Sometimes I feel like I'm coming from another planet, sorry for my ignorance.

saludos!
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: Santiago on August 12, 2019, 16:36:38
i respond to my self. NB = Nuclear Basic :) i found it!! :) thanks
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: RemiD on August 12, 2019, 19:31:24
Quote
and there are several MAVs that I can't replicate on my computers.
this is most likely due to too many rendered vertices / triangles in a surface, but apparently the limit that blitz3d has is not necessary, and was set to increase compatibility with old computers. but i plan to remove this limit (if it is not a directx 7 limit)...
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: GrindalfGames on August 14, 2019, 08:50:22
You should check out Blitz3D-NG. I know Kevin removed dependency on DirectPlay Im not sure if he crossed off any others on your list there but its a good place to start.
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: STEVIE G on August 14, 2019, 17:13:32
Quote from: RemiD on August 12, 2019, 19:31:24
Quote
and there are several MAVs that I can't replicate on my computers.
this is most likely due to too many rendered vertices / triangles in a surface, but apparently the limit that blitz3d has is not necessary, and was set to increase compatibility with old computers. but i plan to remove this limit (if it is not a directx 7 limit)...

I'm pretty sure this was a DX7 limitation so you would expect a MAV on all machines.  One thing which can cause a MAV on some machines but not others is trying to write to or read from a texture/image outwith the image size.
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: RemiD on August 14, 2019, 19:47:10
or another cause of a MAV is trying to do something with an entity / pivot / mesh / surface which does not exist anymore (so an error in your code)
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: RemiD on August 14, 2019, 19:52:54
about Blitz3d-NG, the goal of kfprimm is apparently to make it cross platform and more modern (quite a quest !), i just want to fix a few bugs and add some useful functionalities, but i don't plan to rewrite the whole thing...

and honestly i don't know if i will do it, because my motivation to make games is very low these days...
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: GrindalfGames on August 15, 2019, 08:57:33
Oh and it also appears as if Kevin got rid of the NaN object bug as that was causing me some problems until I switched across to NG
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: Omnicode on September 09, 2019, 20:56:23
Hello,
I managed to find this site after all this time since the official Blitz site went down. With regards to improving B3D, should someone want to contribute or need explanation of how to change the application/exe could this info be provided? I've always wanted to hunker down and add some unique functionality to my programs while still utilizing B3D.
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: RemiD on September 12, 2019, 20:43:49
@omnicode>>bobysait did it, to add a few functionalities to blitz3d (create bones, create skinned vertices + set influences)
you can find some explanations about the necessary files here :
http://mojolabs.nz/posts.php?topic=105408 (#60, #61, #62)
https://github.com/blitz-research/blitz3d

however, after a first test, when i try to compile the source code of blitz3d in a exe, there are many errors (some apprently due to the use of external libs, some i don't know)

good luck
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: MikeHart on September 12, 2019, 21:24:36
Quote from: RemiD on September 12, 2019, 20:43:49

however, after a first test, when i try to compile the source code of blitz3d in a exe, there are many errors (some apprently due to the use of external libs, some i don't know)

good luck


the latest github release from BRL (For MSVC 2010 and later) compiles without a problem for me.
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: 3DzForMe on September 13, 2019, 07:36:59
Quotethe latest github release from BRL (For MSVC 2010 and later) compiles without a problem for me.

Blitz3D:  You just can't keep a good programming language down.

Although I confess..... I'm tempted by Python, dipped my toe into Unity, Nuclear Basic also sounds appealing. Oh and there is AGK as well - just need a lottery win to get my head around all these creation tools.
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: RemiD on September 13, 2019, 20:56:10
Quotethe latest github release from BRL (For MSVC 2010 and later) compiles without a problem for me.
thank you for telling me this because i have used an older version of MSVC... so that may be why...
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: MikeHart on September 14, 2019, 07:18:51
I think their last commit stated that it was done to make it compatible with a specific version. I used the community version 2013 or 2015 back then. Make sure you install the needed libs. Then it builds smoothly.
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: Amanda Dearheart on September 16, 2019, 23:39:39
I do not know if this interests you, but I am working on a Visual scripting interface for B3d, as well as CerberusX.  Since I am working on this in my spare time alone, it will take over a year to complete.
I am open to suggestions.
If you like, I can start posting updates on the forum.
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: 3DzForMe on September 17, 2019, 07:10:59
Good luck bsisko
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: MikeHart on September 17, 2019, 13:43:20
Quote from: bsisko on September 16, 2019, 23:39:39
I do not know if this interests you, but I am working on a Visual scripting interface for B3d, as well as CerberusX.  Since I am working on this in my spare time alone, it will take over a year to complete.
I am open to suggestions.
If you like, I can start posting updates on the forum.


Good luck. Anyone can post devlogs on our forum, if they are CX related. Suggestions, nope. I have my own plans to work on. Just heads up, CX might go through some bigger changes in the future. To be safe, you rather work with your own fork as a backend.
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: Derron on September 17, 2019, 19:19:14
Quote from: MikeHart on September 17, 2019, 13:43:20
Good luck. Anyone can post devlogs on our forum, if they are CX related. Suggestions, nope. I have my own plans to work on. Just heads up, CX might go through some bigger changes in the future. To be safe, you rather work with your own fork as a backend.

Feel free to post about this (and your ideas) in a thread here - or link to threads which are worth to get read.


bye
Ron
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: RemiD on October 24, 2019, 18:59:05
after having done a few tests with Blitz3d NG, and noticing a few abnormal crashes and not seeing what is the benefit to use it compared to Blitz3d, i am back at the idea to do some (necessary) mods / addons for Blitz3d.

can somebody, who has managed to build the source in a exe and actually use it (without bugs), explain the tools / libraries / steps necessary to do that

for now i have :
MSVC 6.0 + sp6 for msvc 6.0 (Bobysait apparently used that to create his addons)
dx7 sdk
freeimage 2.4.1
fmod 3.75

and i see that Mikehart suggests to use MSVC 10.0 (version 2013 or 2015), i am going to try that, anything else ?

thanks

(all my mods / addons will be shared and free)
btw, what kind of license do you suggest for my mods / addons ? same as Blitz3d license ? i want it to be free to use / open / read / modify / compile / distribute / make tools games with
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: Derron on October 24, 2019, 19:26:58
BlitzMax NG seems to live fine with "LibPNG/zlib" - a kind of liberal licence without the restrictions of "gpl" or so. MIT is also a nice licence.


bye
Ron
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: RemiD on October 24, 2019, 20:28:16
more info on how to open/build the source code :
Quote
Blitz3D open source release!

Workspace and project files are in MSVC 6.0 format.

Ide and Debugger require MFC which is included with MSVC 6.0, but not with later free/express versions of MSVC.

You can grab the prebuilt free version of blitz3d from www.blitzbasic.com.

Steps to build:

1) Install freeimage241 into same dir as blitz3d: http://monkeycoder.co.nz/downloads/freeimage241.zip

2) Install fmodapi375win into same dir as blitz3d: http://www.fmod.org/files/public/fmodapi375win.zip

3) Open blitz3d workspace in MSVC 6.0.

4) Build project 'bblaunch' using config 'Win32 Blitz3D Release'.

5) Output files should end up in _release subdir.

6) Also copy fmodapi375win/api/fmod.dll to _release/bin.

7) Done?
not sure if this correct, can somebody confirm ?



@Derron>>thanks for the suggestions, i see that Blitz3d is under the zlib/libpng license
Quote
The zlib/libpng License

Copyright (c) 2013 Blitz Research Ltd

This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied warranty. In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages arising from the use of this software.

Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose, including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it freely, subject to the following restrictions:

1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this software in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be appreciated but is not required.

2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be misrepresented as being the original software.

3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.
i like it
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: MikeHart on October 25, 2019, 08:56:47
I think you using the old repository.


Use that one. Easy to build
https://github.com/blitz-research/blitz3d_msvc2017 (https://github.com/blitz-research/blitz3d_msvc2017)
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: RemiD on October 25, 2019, 18:10:56
@MikeHart>>thanks i will take a look
Title: Re: fixing improving Blitz3d
Post by: col on October 25, 2019, 18:42:11
I have a VS 2017 version at

https://github.com/davecamp/blitz3d_msvc2017 (https://github.com/davecamp/blitz3d_msvc2017)

Not sure if it's any good for what you want though.