Rain of Dragons

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               

<luring some hot-headed dragons...>

 

So, in the interest of not clogging up TAD's Forest Dragon thread and collecting the evidence in a search-friendly specific thread, I'd like to start a new one to look into the targetable/animation crash certain models (notably Hardpoint's Dragons) have.

 

I had heard quite a while ago that this bug was due to too many elements, as Cervantes also was told by a dev. But it's looking like it *may* be something to do with specific animations on *some* of Hardpoints models; Carcerian reported a workaround of changing the supermodel for the model.

 

Hardpoints has six "c_Drags_base[2,3,4,5,8]" supermodels in his 2009 update.

 

One of the problem models reported was the Red Dragon (c_drgred[01-12].mdl) which uses the c_Drags_base.mdl (unnumbered) supermodel.

Another one mentioned was the Gold Dragon (c_drggold[01-12].mdl), which uses c_Drags_base for 01 and c_Drags_base3 for 02-12.

 

I'd like to look at these models specifically, then. Are there more specifics?

Carcerian, when you supermodeled to the green dragon, was it the bioware green dragon or to Hardpoint's c_DracoGreen[08-12].mdl, which supermodels c_Drags_base4?

 

<...out of the (flammable) forest>

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Carcerian]

               

 

I just replaced all the c_drags_* bases with renamed bioware c_dragongrn.mdl versions and now they are working like standard dragons '>

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               

<going a little...>

 

Did you by any chance use the fancy-schmancy c_dragongrn.mdl I did for the CCC with the pounce and stomp custom anims? ;-)

Just askin :-)

 

Ok, so I need to see how much I can narrow things down. Is it all Hardpoint's bases, or only one/some. Which anims with which models (i.e. synergy between element count and anim).

 

<...green>

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Carcerian]

               

Nope, I just used the bioware ones, tho yes you could probably use the CCC ones too '>

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_cervantes35]

               I suspect the spell which needs to target the creature also causes the 80 node trigger crash but if the general bioware dragon animations work  with no problems even on the more problematic dragons then  we need to look more closely at the animation models because I kinda like the new animations he had done.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Carcerian]

               

Just tested a battle royale, and yup, it still crashed, so its definatly more than just animation issues...

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MannyJabrielle]

               

Not sure if this bit of info is of any use, but when TAD added Hardpoint's dragons to the Aenea PW, I found that red/green/gold mentioned above caused crashes on two different computers of mine.  However my current piddly lil netbook plays very nicely with them.

 

Specifically, the crash would happen with reverting back to normal form froma  dragonshape/shape shancge dragon appearance (gold, reds, and greens), and also if I used the "taunt" radial emote while in dragon shape.


The only thing I could see that those two things had in common was an animation where the dragon model reared up on it's hind legs a bit and spread it's wings out.  That wing spreading consistently crashed me on my old toshiba and dell computers.  Why it doesn't crash my current HP netbook I can't say.


I also seem to recall a convo with TAD a long while ago where we discussed something similar (one of his reforged crossbows crashing me in the same manner) and I seem to recall something about the wings and the crossbow sharing a similar skinmesh or something.... as I said, it was a long time ago and just a brief conversation.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MannyJabrielle]

               

Oh, and another thing I just remembered.... The HP dragons CAN crash my current computer.... I've added them to a module I'm making, but instead of adding in all the size variations for all the different dragons, I used just one size, and use the invisible/tail method to scale sizes.... While the individual models did not crash, a resized model with target glow does crash should I tab-highlight the creature.  Changing the targetable setting for invisible dragon appearance in the 2da to no highlight glow solved that.


Sorry if any of this info is already known, I haven't read the forest dragon thread or know what is common knowledge on this issue '>

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_cervantes35]

               Then the best plan of action would be to correct the dragons who bust the 80 node threshold and work from there considering your test results.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Jedijax]

               

I actually tried to overrde the white dragon with the fang dragon, and played around with the base models like Carcerian did, and can confirm it doesn't work. I tried different things in 3ds max, but none of them seemed to help. I guess it needs a check up of all animations.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Mecheon]

               

Apply the animations to one of the standard dragon models (Because we know they don't crash the game) and see what happens

 

I thiiiiink most use the unnumbered, but can't be sure

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Pstemarie]

               

Apply the animations to one of the standard dragon models (Because we know they don't crash the game) and see what happens

 

I thiiiiink most use the unnumbered, but can't be sure

 

Been there, done that, crashes on low-end systems. Although I like HP's dragons, this is the primary reason I stopped using them. One thing that I haven't tried is converting all the geometry on the animation supers to dummy nodes. This reduces the size of the animation super considerably. 

 

BTW, if the animation super has more than 80 nodes, you'll crash for sure.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Mecheon]

               

Been there, done that, crashes on low-end systems. Although I like HP's dragons, this is the primary reason I stopped using them. One thing that I haven't tried is converting all the geometry on the animation supers to dummy nodes. This reduces the size of the animation super considerably. 

 

BTW, if the animation super has more than 80 nodes, you'll crash for sure.

Having experimented with that dragon for my failed Zmey a few CCC's ago, I can confirm the super is likely the issue. It has a lot more heads than it needs

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tiberius_Morguhn]

               

One test to try to maybe help with troubleshooting is to either disable shadows within the game options or disable the shadow option for each model (and it's parts).  I found (while experimenting with high poly count imports from other games) that having a high poly shadow would crash both the toolset and the game engine.  I

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Carcerian]

               

More Test Results:

 

With animation changes all gem dragons seem to check out, as well as Saridor, Bahumat, Tiamat, Hellfire, Pyroclastic, Rust, and Tarterian.

 

Fang dragon can be added to list of known crashers.