I've noticed two odd things while testing the A8 beta, I thought I would post them here. Tested both in A7, and this didn't occur.

-With ent_animate, it seems that after about roughly 30 seconds, it stops animating the specified scene and starts cycling through all of the entities frames. I tested this in an empty level and the same occurred.

-It seems that any Map Entity (added to a level) that was compiled with the "create meshes" box unchecked, produces an Error E1513 "Crash in main:SYS". I also tested this with an empty level and bare minimum test script with the same result. If the same map is run from WED, Windows reports the program has stopped responding.

Map entities that are compiled without the create mesh box are used to create passable water entities / volumes, detected as passble_ent by c_ functions. If Create Meshes is checked, they are not detected by c_trace or c_move at all, and are not usable as water entities. (same in A7).


***EDIT : I have created two sample projects that demonstrate this issue, for easy testing, thanks. zip file

I can not confirm the ent_animate problem here. Do you use the free or trial version? Maybe it's model dependent, can you upload an example?

A8 does not support A6 maps anymore, but should not crash. We'll look into this.

Thanks for your reply, I have uploaded example projects for both here .

I tested it with the old guard.mdl to make sure it wasn't one of my models, but it still happened.

Will it still be possible to use passable map entities or model entities with the passable_ent pointer (for water volumes, ect)? It doesn't seem to work with anything but A6 maps.

Thanks again.

Also I have made a video showing what happens with the animation problem, incase it can't be replicated:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd-qeAy30CM

I can not confirm the animation problem with your demo either. Are you sure that you have the free version? The trial version does not properly work yet - there is a time expiration on the actions that can very well cause such a problem.

As to the map problem, the crash will be fixed, but you must compile maps without unchecking the mesh flag. A5 and A6 maps are not supported anymore. For water in A7 and A8, use passable terrain.

I tested the animation issue on a second computer and it did NOT occur... then I added the free version key you uploaded and it started happening again. So I am guessing it has to do with that.

As for the water volumes, that is a shame, is there perhaps a way I convince you to implement a way to detect invisible passable entities (when inside) either block or model, as I am not using this function for water volumes, but physics volumes, trigger zones, ect. I have a video of this working here, hopefully this demonstartes its usefulness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVYnrP32gFk
(the wireframe cubes you see are passable map blocks with data attached) terrain just wouldn't work for this. Worth a shot, thanks.

Ah, I see. We'll implement a solution for that.

- Update: We've also found the reason of the ent_animate bug. Thanks for reporting!

I'm using a model with a lower push value set (and invisible as well) then the player, and run it's push event for this kind of thing.

regards,
I do that all the time for triggers and works fine.

Thanks for the suggestion :), but that doesn't seem to work as well for the entire volume as passable_ent did. But works nice for triggers.

Thanks for taking up the suggestion JCL.

When you were using passable maps just as trigger volumes, you can now use region functions for that.

Place trigger regions in WED, and then call region_find for checking if an entity is inside a trigger region.

Thanks, I actually thought about that when I first saw them on the forecaset, but It seems like it would be a little slower, and less flexible.

Right now I am using my gravity trace to detect the passable entity (getting multiple use from one trace). I then store that pointer to a skill, where I manipulate gravity, damage, set triggers, ect all right in the player's code, based on the passable entity's properties (skills). Regions don't have any skills or properties other than a string and location. And they are listed as being medium in speed.

I think the solution for this project is to continue to use A7 for the time being. I've put much time into getting it to work properly . Thanks though I do appreciate your reply!

I think I'll still test out the regions at some point and see what kind of impact it has.