KEEP_TOGETHER on visual contents is ignored unless the items are all FLOAT_PLANE

ID:2300436
 
Oct 1 2017, 12:26 pm
Not a bug
BYOND Version:512.1388
Operating System:Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Web Browser:Chrome 60.0.3112.113
Applies to:Dream Seeker
Status: Not a bug
This is not a bug. It may be an incorrect use of syntax or a limitation in the software. For further discussion on the matter, please consult the BYOND forums.
Descriptive Problem Summary:
When using 512's new visual contents, You can't do any KEEP_TOGETHER stuff unless you have FLOAT_PLANE on *everything*. If you don't then you lose the ability to transform your visual contents properly or choose their layering.

With FLOAT_PLANE:


Without FLOAT_PLANE:


In the second screenshot you can see that the everything is rotating around it's own center instead of rotating around the common center as a group. You can also see that in the second screenshot the stuff appears over other stuff while in the first screenshot it appears under because the main object is plane -10, the second screenshot it appears over because the plane of the main object is ignored and KEEP_TOGETHER simply is not happening period.
Oct 1 2017, 1:51 pm
Good catch here. Any chance you can whip up a quick demo of this? I'll take a look at it tomorrow.
Oct 1 2017, 1:54 pm
Oct 1 2017, 1:56 pm
Thanks.
Oct 2 2017, 1:36 pm
Argh. I just spent all kinds of time trying to debug this when I finally realized what you were talking about with the parent object's plane being -10.

The object and its visual contents are on different planes, so KEEP_TOGETHER automatically will not work. That's entirely by design. Using FLOAT_PLANE on the turfs and other objects means that they take on the plane of any parent, so that's why you're seeing the differing behavior.

There is currently no setting to override the plane of objects in visual contents.
Oct 2 2017, 1:36 pm
Lummox JR resolved issue (Not a bug)
Oct 2 2017, 1:50 pm
Yes, but can you make it so that it transforms properly? I really can't think of many situations in which you actually *want* that kind of behavior with transforms, they really ought to transform around the original origin instead of that origin

If you need help with the math end I can help you.

Also even if it is on plane 0 it doesn't work.
Oct 2 2017, 3:20 pm
"they really ought to transform around the original origin instead of that origin"

you probably shouldn't generalize about what other developers want to do.

if i wanted to make a stickman with bodyparts that can rotate about, then yes, i would want them to rotate around their respective origins

or if i wanted to make an airship with functional rotary blades that rotate about different parts of the ship, etc.

Video of a 2D game where objects rotate irrespective of their parents being useful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1OURX9hKrw (not byond, but you get the point)
Oct 2 2017, 3:34 pm
Yes, but not all at the same time. You'd want to be able to transform the stickman as a whole and have the body parts move individually

The problem is if you try to rotate the thing *as a whole* it rotates each individual piece instead unless you do KEEP_TOGETHER which doesn't work here.