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lucius

DarkXL Continues

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After a long hiatus, the DarkXL project has been recently resumed. If you want to see what's going on, visit the blog.

I've been reworking the renderer to fix some rendering issues with some sector shapes / overlaps, as well as greatly improving the clipping and culling. The next build will also fix collision issues and have the new in-game console working.

Here's a screenshot of the console:
http://darkxl.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/dxl_console1.png

And a few recent screenshots if you're unfamiliar with the project:
http://www.darkxl.df-21.net/Screenshots/ExtFeatures/DXL_Reticle1.jpg

http://www.darkxl.df-21.net/Screenshots/ExtFeatures/DXL_Reticle3.jpg

http://www.darkxl.df-21.net/Screenshots/ExtFeatures/DXL_Reticle8.jpg

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About how close is this to "completion"? I enjoyed using a prior version but I remember it not working on a certain level so I gave up. I'd be happy with just a workable version that I can complete the game with. :)

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Nomad said:

About how close is this to "completion"? I enjoyed using a prior version but I remember it not working on a certain level so I gave up. I'd be happy with just a workable version that I can complete the game with. :)

It's not quite there yet, but getting the gameplay complete is the next major goal once the next build goes out. I'm hoping to get most if not all of the game playable within the next couple of builds. You'll know when that happens because it'll be the first "Beta" build. :)

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DarkXL Build 9.03 has been released. It's mostly a testing build for the new rendering system, which has a few bugs, but contains some new fixes and features. Once we find and few the few remaining rendering issues than everything else should come online within the next couple of builds.

You can read about it here

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Awesome, glad to see these updates coming. :D This is a wonderful project and I can't wait for future updates.

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DarkXL Build 9.06 Released! This one deals with a lot of smaller but important issues such as falling damage, proper death animation, checkpoints and so on. Read about it and download it here.

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Judging from the changelog, most of the bugs I reported have been fixed. :)

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I recently put up information on how to access the in-game level editor that's been in DarkXL for a while now. It hasn't been worked on for a while, though it'll be revived once DarkXL reaches BETA, so it's raw and unfinished. However it's far enough along that you can create and edit sectors and save levels. Unfortunately 3D mode is broken right now (probably due to all the engine restructuring that has recently happened) but 2D editing still works (mostly - with bugs).

Read about it here.

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I've release Build 9.07, which you can read about on the blog.

It fixes crash issues when loading multiple levels, switch alignment, a variety of INF issues, jumping in liquids and more. Level 4 can be completed fairly as well.

In the next build the next level (or 2) will be completable. Then we'll see where we are, but generally I'll keep fixes problems until the whole game is completable.

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I put up another progress update on Build 9.08 - which is due out in a couple of days on the blog. Read about it here. To summarize - proper texturing on all(?) 3DO's, levels 1-9 most likely fully playable and completable (out of 14) and a variety of other fixes and features. Check it out!

DarkXL is really honing in on the Beta now. After this it's probably about 2 builds away... :D

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Too cool! I haven't dl'd the last couple of builds in eager anticipation of something slightly more fleshed out. It seems the next build is the one for me! Can't wait. :)

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TheUltimateDoomer said:

Bummer. Can't run it on my ancient laptop need at least Pixel shader 1.1. :O

Sorry. Pixel shaders are used to emulate such effects as the character brightening up walls up close and depth cueing, properly supporting full bright "palette" colors, IR goggles and so on. I could probably implement these in fixed function (though more painful due to "shaky" driver support for any of the "advanced" fixed function features) but I didn't want to support a separate fixed function and shader path for this project. However, fixed function support may be added in the future.

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You could try merely not supporting them at all if pixel shaders are missing. Yes, it would mean some features would be missing, but that would be better than not running at all.

The most important is probably the goggles, which could be remedied with a cheat (by just raising light levels globally). It wouldn't be the same, but it would be close enough.

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I will probably add support for fixed function in the near future. There are optimizations that are needed before DarkXL will run acceptably on Pre-Shader 1.1 hardware anyway (the current renderer is completely unoptimized at this time), so adding the broader support at that time makes sense to me. Once the game is fully playable I plan on going through a cleanup and optimization pass to allow DarkXL to run well on a variety of hardware and to get the code ready for release. Obviously not all features will be supported on ancient hardware, but it should be smooth and playable nonetheless.

That said, the GeForce 3 came out in 2001 (the first ps 1.1+ GPU) so most people should not have this problem. :) As for everyone else, support will come about soon.

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BTW. I somehow got it working using 3D-Analyze and emualating most of the stuff, everything worked great until I tried to begin mission.

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TheUltimateDoomer said:

BTW. I somehow got it working using 3D-Analyze and emualating most of the stuff, everything worked great until I tried to begin mission.

Emulation is going to be slow, especially on the hardware you described. I highly doubt you can get it running at playable speeds - if at all - with that setup. I'm afraid that you'll have to try it on more modern hardware or wait for better low-end hardware support. Sorry. :(

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Due to various fixes going faster then I expected, in the next build of DarkXL every level will be playable. You'll be able to play the game from beginning to end, though some logics and weapons will still be missing. The following build will implement the missing elements and the build after that will be the first BETA build. :)

So I've decided to put a two part movie up on YouTube, which shows me playing parts of many of the levels - edited for time (i.e. parts cut out).

Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6osnUL_ekWs&hd=1

Part 2 will come later, I forgot to start the upload before I left the house. I'll put it up tonight.

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