Overlays: wave of the future in BYOND Discussion

ID:138677
 
Mar 26 2000, 12:17 pm
I've been looking at Gabriel's awesome demo of the power of overlays (was that only in the DUNG forum? If so would be great to post it in the snippets area here...)

I hadn't realized that overlays icons could have directional states and that multiple overlays could exist at the same time on one mob.

Combining these things means it's actually possible to let people choose arbitrary sets of clothing and armor...

The one pain is that you have to send overlays to each player you want to see them. Gabriel's demo centers around overcoming that by sending them to each player who logs in.

However, these are powerful enough that I can imagine wanting overlays for all players and many mobs, and I worry that having to send these to all players is a performance/lag hit, especially when the player may never even come in visual contact with 90% of what they are sent.

I know Dantom has been thinking about increased flexibility for overlays (specifying which order they should be drawn in, for example). Would it be possible to support having overlays automatically sent to players when the overlayed mob comes into view?
#1 Mar 26 2000, 12:23 pm
On 3/26/00 12:17 pm Deadron wrote:
I've been looking at Gabriel's awesome demo [snip]

Not mine, though I'd love to take credit :). I went looking to see who did, but I can't seem to find the post.
#2 Mar 26 2000, 12:47 pm
In response to Gabriel (#1)
On 3/26/00 12:23 pm Gabriel wrote:
On 3/26/00 12:17 pm Deadron wrote:
I've been looking at Gabriel's awesome demo [snip]

Not mine, though I'd love to take credit :). I went looking to see who did, but I can't seem to find the post.
#3 Mar 26 2000, 6:33 pm
In response to Spuzzum (#2)
In a few minutes I'll post a pointer to an updated version of PantsQuest in the C&D forum. Now there's a new feature: mud puddles! (Although, just between us, they're really DUNG puddles.)


[Deadron] However, these are powerful enough that I can imagine wanting overlays for all players and many mobs, and I worry that having to send these to all players is a performance/lag hit, especially when the player may never even come in visual contact with 90% of what they are sent.

Yes, performance could become a problem. For my upcoming game I tried using this technique to make tentacles, which required two icons to be combined... it got real slow, but then again, I was updating 36 overlaid icons every 3/10 second. I think it's probably adequate for less frequently-updated things--but I agree it would be nice to have the functionality built-in.

(Actually, the whole idea for PantsQuest started when I was sitting down to write up a feature request... since I didn't actually have a really pressing need for the feature, I figured I'd just write something to handle it in DM instead. :)


I know Dantom has been thinking about increased flexibility for overlays (specifying which order they should be drawn in, for example).

As far as I can tell, the creation order is preserved, at least for overlays on an individual mob. Let me put it this way: so far, in a given list of overlays for a mob, the ones first in the list are under the later ones. Whether that's guaranteed behavior or just luck, I can't say.

Blatant Plug
If you'd like to know more about the subject of mistaken identity, check out "The Fungus Among Us" on the Hub. :) More about it in Code & Demos soon...