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Suggestions for World Editor


Collier

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This post is meant to start a discussion and suggestion thread for those of us who spent the majority of our time building worlds (and objects). I realize there have been quite a few different suggestion threads for the game itself, but I would like for this one to be restricted to suggestions regarding the World Editor.

To wit, here are mine (not in any prioritized order):

  1. Source of music (radio) and/or pre-cached sound effects (e.g. sound of running water, hissing steam, traffic noise, generic sounds of crowd voices, etc.) implemented as an object along the lines of how 360° light sources work. The idea would be that instead of being able to change its color, you'd be able to choose the source of the sound/or music, and scale a spherical object to adjust the limit between where the sound/music can be heard in the world and where it cannot. Ideally there would be context menu for this control, with the possibility of adjusting the drop-off and strength of the sound via a graph/curvature tool (see attached mockup). For larger rooms, the possibility of synchronizing certain sound sources with one another would probably be quite useful. 
  2. Having light sources respect the collision boxes of object with non-translucent materials, so that light in one room is not rendered in the next. I've noticed that light from the moon/sun cast shadows that respect this fairly well, but other light sources seem to disregard it entirely. This might be a rendering issue on my end (I'm not sure).
  3. This is probably something I miss the most in this editor; the ability to lock an object or a group of objects. Locked meaning that left-clicking on them will no trigger a selection of said object(s). This would be tremendously beneficial in my building process, but would like require a listed overview of the object within the .world file with options to lock and unlock the objects or groups.

Thoughts? Let me know if you could see the benefits having my suggestions implemented (fingers crossed). Better yet, bring on your own suggestions. If we can get something resembling a consensus going, maybe we should make a poll of priorities. That way, the devs would have a handy way of seeing which features are missed the most by the userbase.

/tata

 

soundcontrol_example.png

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1 hour ago, Collier said:

Having light sources respect the collision boxes of object with non-translucent materials, so that light in one room is not rendered in the next. I've noticed that light from the moon/sun cast shadows that respect this fairly well, but other light sources seem to disregard it entirely. This might be a rendering issue on my end (I'm not sure).

This please. 

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2 hours ago, Collier said:

Having light sources respect the collision boxes of object with non-translucent materials, so that light in one room is not rendered in the next. I've noticed that light from the moon/sun cast shadows that respect this fairly well, but other light sources seem to disregard it entirely. This might be a rendering issue on my end (I'm not sure).

Light from the moon/sun doesn't respect this at all too. it's just static light, always in the same position separated and independent from building area and way too far away in comparison to light source right behind wall. 

I wouldn't expect any changes on that part in foreseeable future as this would require time and resources to actually rework some core parts of the engine 3DX was built on and most likely they don't have any of that or either we won't see any content updates for another year while they'll focus just on that game element. It's not a big deal to enable correct shadowing in Unity. The main part stays in necessary optimization of that feature later or it will simply cut off majority of 3DX members from comfortable gameplay as hardware requirements will change well above capabilities of built-in CPU graphic cards. At the moment 8 up to 10 year old PC can easly run 3DX at maximum setting without even getting too hot. Even some older are capable to. Considering frequency of updates even if they actually have more than 2 developers it's still small, indie studio. Last time asked about this Gizmo only said "maybe in future".

Edited by StellaXOXO
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On 11/28/2020 at 2:28 AM, StellaXOXO said:

Light from the moon/sun doesn't respect this at all too. it's just static light, always in the same position separated and independent from building area and way too far away in comparison to light source right behind wall. 

image.thumb.png.5c7b9302e3e15912970317fdcdfcd2dd.png

That screenshot is from one of my maps. Looks like the moon at least renders a distinction between light and shadow that I can live with. Other light sources, not so much.

Quote

I wouldn't expect any changes on that part in foreseeable future as this would require time and resources to actually rework some core parts of the engine 3DX was built on and most likely they don't have any of that or either we won't see any content updates for another year while they'll focus just on that game element. It's not a big deal to enable correct shadowing in Unity. The main part stays in necessary optimization of that feature later or it will simply cut off majority of 3DX members from comfortable gameplay as hardware requirements will change well above capabilities of built-in CPU graphic cards. At the moment 8 up to 10 year old PC can easly run 3DX at maximum setting without even getting too hot. 

Fair points. Still be nice to have. Doesn't mean it has to be forced on every graphics setting?

Edited by Collier
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I would love to have Bezier curves and the possibility to import jpeg or png pics. One of the official club rooms has a picture at its entrance.

And an in-game-text editor that uses all your Windows fonts. That would make creating logos so much easier...

And while we are on it: how about "negative objects" that create holes in other objects. Like a negative cube would create a window in a wall.

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With the world light source, I found this out as I used a huge block up in the sky on my old Scottish back alley pub, and someone asked me why the block was up there in the sky, I said to block the moonlight so this scene was darker, which for me worked as I indented it to but for him it didn't and he argued that it never worked. That made me think what was going on, and after some mucking about found that the lower graphic settings, namely shadows, meant the lighting effects within rooms looked dramatically different depending on your settings.

As for the local light tools, it would be lovely if the blocks would cut the source, but as mentioned, I cant see it happening. We just have to work around it the best you can, usually by using lots of smaller ones over trying to illuminate an area with only one or two.

The sound boxes have been suggested before and would be a wonderful addition, having the music become louder as you move closer to the source and other effects depending on the scene would add another layer of awesomeness to the rooms.

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14 hours ago, StellaXOXO said:

Light from the moon/sun doesn't respect this at all too. it's just static light, always in the same position separated and independent from building area and way too far away in comparison to light source right behind wall. 

The sun and the moon does respect walls. If you make a box with 6 walls and without window, the inside is dark

Edited by Leeloo
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1 hour ago, Leeloo said:

The sun and the moon does respect walls. If you make a box with 6 walls and without window, the inside is dark

No, it doesn't 🤦‍♀️

It's just too far away, static, always in the same position and completely independent from building area in comparison to custom light sources so effect is less noticable than with custom lights. Build that "box" and you'll see that wall from sun/moon side is always slightly brighter than rest.

You can put custom light source right in front of the wall or wherever you want and if closer then issue is more annoying. But you can't move that static in-game sun/moon position at all, neither get your build closer to it. 

At that distance it's just too weak to go annoyingly through walls like custom light but it's still making wall and corners brighter unless walls of that "box" are really huge.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yeah a lighting and shaders overhaul would be really nice and make things a hell of a lot nicer without builders having to get creative to light their spaces correctly.

While this would increase the minimum requirements for playing 3DX, as it evolves that is going to happen sooner or later.  It happens with every multiplayer environment that exists for a long time.  EverQuest and World of Warcraft for example have eventually had full graphic overhauls which increased minimum requirements.  And this is just asking for a lighting and shader update.

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6 minutes ago, Rhonda Rox said:

Yeah a lighting and shaders overhaul would be really nice and make things a hell of a lot nicer without builders having to get creative to light their spaces correctly.

While this would increase the minimum requirements for playing 3DX, as it evolves that is going to happen sooner or later.  It happens with every multiplayer environment that exists for a long time.  EverQuest and World of Warcraft for example have eventually had full graphic overhauls which increased minimum requirements.  And this is just asking for a lighting and shader update.

I agree, but it will for sure cause some outrage. At least if there will not be an option to play with old shaders/lights. I remember some people on the forum being mad about game stopping to support 32bit client and going full 64bit. In 2019. 

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