Hellball Visual "Improvements"

[Legacy_HipMaestro]

               

 

If it crashes, it crashes as soon as the animation begins.  I set up a testing script that just repeatedly played the animation over and over again every 3 seconds until the game crashed and tracked how many times it occurred.  This is in a tiny module, single player, no haks.  Here are my results:

 

55, 197, 199, 7, 32, 6, 31

 

Just curious.  What video card and driver are you testing it with?  I'd be interested to see if test results varied from nVidia to ATI  (not that any difference would or should influence the effort to address the global community rather than a hardware subgroup).

 

Also, I'd like to amend my original preference to #1 & #4.  Actually, I think #4 is very good and more Hellball-ish even than #1.  To me.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MagicalMaster]

               

NVidia GeForce GTX 460 SE.  Used to have a laptop with an nVidia 9700M or something like that.  Same issue on both computers.

 

Desktop's driver is 337.88 at the moment.

 

Sounds like #4 is popular and I should refine it to be less random and clean it up a bit.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_The Amethyst Dragon]

               

So theoretically, for the 2da stuff, I'd need new VFX entries that are copies but with no sound...then what do I attach the the Hellball sound to?  Some invisible (or non-visible) VFX that gets called once at the start of the explosion?

Yup.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Aelis Eine]

               

I think what's hard to see here is that there's no hostile targets so you're kind of limited in where you can put the VFX. Try experimenting with a field of hostile training dummies, then you can play with other effects like beams or lightning bolts arcing towards targets from the center and VFX_IMP effects on the targets themselves. I see Lightning and Fire but not a lot of Cold and Acid so it doesn't really reflect what Hellball does, although that's understandably due to the game's lack of those visuals.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_WhiZard]

               

 I see Lightning and Fire but not a lot of Cold and Acid so it doesn't really reflect what Hellball does, although that's understandably due to the game's lack of those visuals.

 

Sonic, not cold.  And it is easy to call some of the howl animations (which I think are used in #4) sonic.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MagicalMaster]

               

Yeah, I'm using Sonic/Fire/Lightning visuals, only missing Acid.  I tried using howl but I didn't really like it.  #1 and #4 only use the Mystic Explosion from Great Thunderclap.

 

There's not really any good acid visuals, sadly.  Small impacts and a small acid arrow mainly.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_WhiZard]

               

There's not really any good acid visuals, sadly.  Small impacts and a small acid arrow mainly.

 

I know AoEs are expensive, but a few cloud of bewilderment hazes could give the impression of acid and leave a fading debris feeling after the explosion.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_leo_x]

               

I haven't, but I suppose I could if people had ideas.

 

Just an idea.  You've made some cool stuff, both here and your module.  If you enjoy making them, I can't imagine there wouldn't be users.

 

Would you prefer to see attempt 2 (video 1 second half) with radiating impact versus single blast and a longer duration?

 

I think it would be interesting to see, but I don't want to nitpick.  I would say a good duration would be something proportional to the time from cast to impact from a typical distance, say 20 meters.  Original Hellball is visually present for I'd say a almost a full round.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MagicalMaster]

               

I know AoEs are expensive, but a few cloud of bewilderment hazes could give the impression of acid and leave a fading debris feeling after the explosion.

 

Perhaps.  May play around with it.

 

Just an idea.  You've made some cool stuff, both here and your module.  If you enjoy making them, I can't imagine there wouldn't be users.

 

I wouldn't say I enjoy it, really.  More that I needed the visuals so I created them.  I don't sit around daydreaming about making visuals, I sit around daydreaming about using the visuals for something.

 

I think it would be interesting to see, but I don't want to nitpick.  I would say a good duration would be something proportional to the time from cast to impact from a typical distance, say 20 meters.  Original Hellball is visually present for I'd say a almost a full round.

 

Well, *I* want you to nitpick!  Iterative development.  I throw some ideas together that are very different, get feedback on them, and adjust stuff according or create new ideas.  This is precisely the time *to* "nitpick!"  I could have made all of the original visuals expanding or present for a set amount of time but I wanted people's reaction to ideas that are substantially different.

 

Original Hellball is about 3-4 seconds total, for reference.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Grani]

               

I never really noticed any problem with Hellball visuals, though I like the second version you came up with the most. It's simple, certainly does look powerful, yet without the overdose of effects.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_NWN_baba yaga]

               

I like all of them but video 2 the one with the pillars has something "epic" i realy like. A little hell created in that place once the pillars appear that strikes also fear into the hearts of the enemys. Love that one!

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MagicalMaster]

               

Grani, the problem with the default Hellball is this '>

 

If it crashes, it crashes as soon as the animation begins.  I set up a testing script that just repeatedly played the animation over and over again every 3 seconds until the game crashed and tracked how many times it occurred.  This is in a tiny module, single player, no haks.  Here are my results:

 

55, 197, 199, 7, 32, 6, 31

 

It's low enough of a chance that it doesn't affect single player so much since you can save and reload if you crash, but for multiplayer...

 

I like all of them but video 2 the one with the pillars has something "epic" i realy like. A little hell created in that place once the pillars appear that strikes also fear into the hearts of the enemys. Love that one!

Thanks!

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Grani]

               Never knew. about ir, but if that's so, then it's a nice idea to replace that animation. '>


As I said, I like te second version the most, but all of them are fine. Whatever you decide on in the end, I'll be looking forward to its release, if you plan on releasing it. '>