Cyclone Officially Reborn

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Cyclone Officially Reborn
Topic Started: Jul 23 2008, 01:08 PM (181 Views)
Super_llama	Jul 23 2008, 01:08 PM Post #1
Game Engine Programmer Posts: 438 Group: Admin Member #3 Joined: April 17, 2008	The First prototype of Cyclone (the VB.NET version) had lots of problems that were too late to fix. It is for this reason and others, specifically that VB.NET does not support Xbox, and that C# is simply cleaner, that I have officially restarted Cyclone from the ground up. I hope to make it MUCH better than the original prototype, but still using the same basic ideas and file types. Since the general Idea of Cyclone has already been completed, the C# version should be at the point that the VB version was MUCH faster. I estimate less than a week at best, about 3 weeks at most, depending on how much I work on it. After working a few hours with XNA, I have a much better idea how the Cyclone Pipeline will work and be optimized, and a way to actually COMPILE Cyscript into a binary format that can be read much faster. While this will require me to rewrite all my tools, I don't think that's much of a problem or hindrance given all the new abilities that switching to C# has given us. The Single-player PC version of Cyclone will be independant from the xna libraries, while the Mulitplayer version will have 2 dlls: CycloneMultiplayer_win.dll and CycloneMultiplayer_xna.dll. Games can choose which version they want. If a game is set to use win.dll, it doesn't need XNA, but can only play with other computers. If the game uses xna.dll, it needs XNA but can play both with other computers and xboxes. On the Xbox, however, Games only use CycloneMultiplayer_xna, because the win version uses the windows internet connection. Xboxes cannot join the PC-only world, but PC's can join the Xbox world. Anyway I hope that Cyclone will move much more smoothly through C#, and be far better than its original prototype was now that I have considered optimization.
	TYFR (thank you for reading :P)


modman	Jul 23 2008, 05:26 PM Post #2
Resigned admin Posts: 447 Group: Team Members Member #1 Joined: March 16, 2008	Super_llama Jul 23 2008, 06:08 PM The First prototype of Cyclone (the VB.NET version) had lots of problems that were too late to fix. It is for this reason and others, specifically that VB.NET does not support Xbox, and that C# is simply cleaner, that I have officially restarted Cyclone from the ground up. I hope to make it MUCH better than the original prototype, but still using the same basic ideas and file types. Since the general Idea of Cyclone has already been completed, the C# version should be at the point that the VB version was MUCH faster. I estimate less than a week at best, about 3 weeks at most, depending on how much I work on it. After working a few hours with XNA, I have a much better idea how the Cyclone Pipeline will work and be optimized, and a way to actually COMPILE Cyscript into a binary format that can be read much faster. While this will require me to rewrite all my tools, I don't think that's much of a problem or hindrance given all the new abilities that switching to C# has given us. The Single-player PC version of Cyclone will be independant from the xna libraries, while the Mulitplayer version will have 2 dlls: CycloneMultiplayer_win.dll and CycloneMultiplayer_xna.dll. Games can choose which version they want. If a game is set to use win.dll, it doesn't need XNA, but can only play with other computers. If the game uses xna.dll, it needs XNA but can play both with other computers and xboxes. On the Xbox, however, Games only use CycloneMultiplayer_xna, because the win version uses the windows internet connection. Xboxes cannot join the PC-only world, but PC's can join the Xbox world. Anyway I hope that Cyclone will move much more smoothly through C#, and be far better than its original prototype was now that I have considered optimization. you are brilliant. keep up the good work, and every day brings us closer to gaming
	Darkstar Gaming studios, Striving to Improve your Gaming Experience


Super_llama	Jul 24 2008, 09:34 AM Post #3
Game Engine Programmer Posts: 438 Group: Admin Member #3 Joined: April 17, 2008	Also I'm not sure if the approach I'm using will work correctly on the XBox, because I don't know what libraries xbox has and which ones it doesn't. Of course with Dfritz' help we can just try a million things until it works Another problem: C# apparently has no way to save a complex Structure (like a model) to a file. The way I'm getting around that is this: I have 'token bytes' set up like this: 1 = Start of String (text) 2 = Start of UInt (positive 4-byte number) etc So I start by giving the file a byte token, then I put in one of the values of the mesh (like the name). Then when read we can figure out what does what and where it starts and ends, etc. A different way to do this would simply be to make all the file formats Text-based. This would make them editable in a text editor, meaning that if modders knew the text-based language, they could edit them without Cytools. I'm not sure what approach to use...
	TYFR (thank you for reading :P)


modman	Jul 24 2008, 11:28 AM Post #4
Resigned admin Posts: 447 Group: Team Members Member #1 Joined: March 16, 2008	we need cytools
	Darkstar Gaming studios, Striving to Improve your Gaming Experience


Super_llama	Jul 24 2008, 08:01 PM Post #5
Game Engine Programmer Posts: 438 Group: Admin Member #3 Joined: April 17, 2008	I know, but I mean if we used text-based data types, people who don't have the cytools could still edit them. We would have them.
	TYFR (thank you for reading :P)


modman	Jul 25 2008, 06:35 AM Post #6
Resigned admin Posts: 447 Group: Team Members Member #1 Joined: March 16, 2008	Super_llama Jul 25 2008, 01:01 AM I know, but I mean if we used text-based data types, people who don't have the cytools could still edit them. We would have them. thats cool, but can Cytools edit text based data types VISUALLY, as VISUAL IMGS NOT TEXT?
	Darkstar Gaming studios, Striving to Improve your Gaming Experience


Super_llama	Jul 25 2008, 08:33 AM Post #7
Game Engine Programmer Posts: 438 Group: Admin Member #3 Joined: April 17, 2008	Yes. That's what I meant.
	TYFR (thank you for reading :P)


modman	Jul 25 2008, 09:20 AM Post #8
Resigned admin Posts: 447 Group: Team Members Member #1 Joined: March 16, 2008	Super_llama Jul 25 2008, 01:33 PM Yes. That's what I meant. then great im happy ur happy(i think) that means DO IT QUICKLY AND WELL SO I CAN PLAY!
	Darkstar Gaming studios, Striving to Improve your Gaming Experience


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