Random records and ruminations by Damon V. Caskey.
Scripted HUD allows infinite design possibilities, but is processor intensive and requires careful update script coding.
Further refinements made to update.c script. Overall use of variables reduced and some variant retrieval moved out of nested secondary loops. A bit of general cleaning done as well.
Probably just micro optimization, but update.c’s two hundred per second execution frequency makes any trimming worth while.
HUD generation no longer requires alternate weapon models to display correct icons.
The mpicon icon concept was successful, albeit as iconmp. It is now possible for enemy and player versions of any character to use same weapon model. Fitted to Amazon, Longmoan, Bad Brothers, and Henninger models. Will fit to others during individual retooling.
Unique HUD elements seen are now generated by single loop.
Single pass optimizing successful in update script. Separate loops displaying HUD objects for players and enemies are now consolidated, with redundant code parsed into smaller functions. Had added benefit of only needing to check death status instead of “KO” palette for toggling enemy HUD display; dead enemies not yet configured with KO palette no longer clog HUD row. Now need to try mpicon in place of icon for enemy HUD icons. This is due to weapon models requiring their own icons. In addition player and enemy icon images are of differing size and style. Therefore a separate weapon model would be needed for player/enemy versions of every character, resulting in unacceptable levels of bloat and redundancy. Wall shunting also proved successful. When called, function bind0018 shunts binding entity away from wall if any bound entity is current within wall bounds. By calling just before bind release, this will prevent bound entities from being stuck inside wall or infinity juggled by wall bounce function. Main purpose is to make sure grapple moves deposit defender(s) outside of walled area. With some refining, could also be adapted to create specific wall based grapple moves. bind0018_05262010
So this is the first real entry. Well, not counting the “About” thing.
It really just hit me this morning; for the past couple of months I’ve been sleeping really well, and by that I mean only waking up twice a night instead of ten. It’s also been a bit easier to go to bed in the first place. On a good night, I might lay down at 23:00, whereas before I’d consider 01:00 an accomplishment.
The difference it seems, is Cammy, our newest addition to the family. As it happens, I’ve been surrounded by German Shepherds since literately before I could walk. The first was Suppy. I gave her the name when I was eight months old. Must have been going for “Snoopy”, but my mother went with what came out. Poor dog. Through the years there was Kissy, Jackie, Whistle, Bret, Sybil, Moose, Chong, Zero, Shauna, Rambo, Shady, G.G., Hanzou, and Hixon. Each and every one was a dear friend, in some ways far closer then any humans I knew.
When the last generation died off I cried like a baby for the first time in twenty years. Sure there is Spike and Coco now, but that’s in Morehead and they aren’t mine.
For a lot of reasons I wish sometimes I could go “home”; just one more time I’d like to run up that driveway, backpack in tow and be tackled by a flurry of paws, tongues and fur. Of course, those days are long gone and there are more pertinent things to think about. Still, having Cammy is like having a little piece of home back. Just like all the others before, Cammy will never replace the hole they left, but has already made a place of her own. She’s long since won over Nichole, who before had always been scared of so called “big” dogs.
It’s also great knowing she’s there to help watch over Nichole and the kids just like the previous generations helped watch over me. That’s no small comfort, and for that I can look forward to getting six a night for the first time in fifteen years.
DC
Just getting started here, and right as blogging has gone out of style no less. Ahh well. I’ll have something more substantial soon.