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Looking really, really good! All that effort will definitely be worth it

You'd have to roll your own. Please realise that dkh has provided a super-awesome 3D graphics engine with a tech demo showing off models, lights and shaders, not a full blown FPS engine.

As described earlier in this thread, the plugin replaces rooms and characters, but all the other AGS functionality exists: you can easily put together a health bar using a GUI (as you would expect).

I knocked up something pretty quick just by reading the manual and a couple of searches in the forums. It may not be the best way - I haven't really done anything with AGS before - but I:

• Made graphics to represent the different levels of health: full, 75%, 50%, and 25%
• Made a GUI for the health bar and assigned my full health image as its' backgroundGraphic
• Created a Global Variable to store the player's health (playerHeath)
• In the game_start() function I set the initial value of the player's health (100)
• In the repeatedly_execute() function I had an IF statement set the backgroundGraphic of my health bar GUI based on the current value of playerHealth. I ended that statement with an ELSE setting the graphic to zero, making the graphic invisible (no health)
• So long as playerHealth was above zero, I subtracted from it whenever a condition was met, otherwise I set playerHealth to zero. I chose to subtract health whenever I left-clicked on anything but the lightbulb, but obviously you could use any condition

To keep this thread clean, if you have questions unrelated to the plugin itself, i'd recommend you search the forums and start a new topic if necessary. Good luck!

No problem! Just out of interest, did you ever release the exporter for 3DS Max and can this be found online somewhere?

[** Pre-requisites for using the plugin **]

I never did get around to trying this first time around so here's what i've managed to suss out from this thread and the documentation that comes with the plugin.

I cannot take credit for this as I found all the answers in the original thread/documentation/code/AGS manual, but hopefully a summary is useful to bring it all together. I've made assumptions so please feel free to correct me if i'm wrong as this is my first time using a plugin

** Pre-requisites for using the plugin **

• AGS 3.2.x

** Installing the plugin **

• Download the plugin and extract
• Put the AGS Razorblade Plugin.dll in the main folder where AGS is installed (This is the same folder where the AGS Editor.exe is)

** Running the demo Game **

• Download the demo game and extract
• Start the AGS Editor and choose Open an Existing game
• Find the Razorblade 3D Testgame and select the Game file
• If the plugin is installed correctly you should see the active plugin listed under the Plugins node in the main tree in AGS (right hand side of the program)

Run the game but be aware that if AGS is installed anywhere other than 'C:\ AGS 3.2.1 SP1' (for example, mine is at C:\Program Files\AGS 3.1.2) it will complain about missing textures. This, it seems, is due to the 3DS Max models supplied with the demo game referencing absolute paths. You can dismiss these errors and the game will still run with a default texture. I no longer have 3DS Max on this machine to test the suggestion of changing the setting in the preferences unfortunately.

The demo game features an environment to move around in. WASD keys to move and arrow keys to move the light source around (IJKL can also be used but are commented out in the code). Left mouse click will cast a ray towards the location of the click and report on what was hit (like a gunshot in any FPS). The base model will return "hit nothing" while the lightbulb will tell you the name of the model hit. Note there is no collision detection in the plugin (this is intentional, it's a graphics engine primarily) so you can move through objects.

** Using the plugin in your own games **

• Having installed the plugin, launch the AGS Editor and start a new game
• You should see the plugin listed under the Plugins node in the main tree in AGS - right-click it and choose Use This Plugin
• Make sure that Default Graphics driver is set to Direct 3D 9 Hardware Acceleration
• Any models and shaders you want to use can be placed in subfolders in the main game folder called models and shaders respectively like the demo game.
• Models should be in .dmf format (I haven't seen a link to the exporter previously mentioned)
• The default texture default.png should be placed in the main game directory - I could not get the game to run without this but again presumably this is a path referenced by the demo models themselves?

Going by the demo game, the 3D scene is created in the GlobalScript file - the main bits to look at are:

• The variables declared at the top of the GlobalScript.asc file (a boolean to track whether the initial setup has been done and integers for the models, lights and shaders).
• The init function which sets some defaults (background colour, camera culling and clip distance), adds the the object models, shaders and lights
• A crosshair GUI (see the example in the demo game under the GUI node) is placed and shown at the end of this function
• The HandleControls() function calls the PlayerControl and AttachWeapon functions found in the Camera script (look under the script node) to allow camera movement and update the placement of the gun
• The rest of the handleControls function sets up key presses to move the light source around
• The GameStart() function sets the max FPS, positions the mouse, camera and shows some debugging info
• The repeatedly_execute() function checks if the initial setup has already been done and if it has does stuff with the shaders that is beyond me It also calls the HandleControl() function described above.
• Finally the mouse_click() function contains the hit testing code (notice we added an extra model for the hit test)

The documentation that comes with the plugin is excellent and lists many of the commands available. This includes a description of what they do so you can work it out just by looking up the function call in that file.

** Publishing the game **

It has been mentioned that the models and shaders folders should be added to the Compiled folder when publishing the game. I have not tested this.

Hope that helps. Thanks again to dkh for the plugin, it's awesome. Here is another link to the mouth-watering video  

I've tried to answer your same question in the original plugin thread here

This looks very interesting. I too like the graphical style you're going with and i'm interested to see what you do with the 'upgrades needed for certain areas' idea. I look forward to seeing this one in action

Thanks for the recommendations folks!

I came across Another Code: R while doing research for one of my modules and filed it away as a future purchase

Play with me

Please. Nobody else does :'(

Awww! Haha, i'll consider it. I need to get in some practice first as i've only played it once before at Uni and my friends kept winning because they knew all the shortcuts!

I agree with the sentiment that alcohol is worse than drugs. I've never taken drugs myself so I can't back that up with any experience, and my understanding is that drugs are very addictive, but I think alcohol is more dangerous than people give it credit for simply because it's more accepted (at least here in the UK).

It's considered normal to want to drink every friday after work and downright strange if you go along on a night out and don't drink. Like Khris, I never drink during the week. I've always associated drinking with an occasion - a birthday party, a nice meal etc - so i've never had the urge to go out and by alcohol to drink at home. I couldn't drink during the day unless it was a pub lunch or something, it just feels wrong.

Her dad drinks every day and not socially. He literally will sit at home with a bottle of wine each night. He doesn't drink for the pleasure of it: he'll drink any kind of paintstripper he can find. He has the compulsion to always be reaching for a bottle and behavioural problems that go with it. To my mind he is an alcoholic, and her mum isn't far behind. She doesn't drink every night but she too feels the need to drink at home alone.

I've called them both out on it, hoping to sort it out now rather than later as my Uncle drank himself to death basically, but it's an uphill struggle. I've tried to get the whole family to recognise there's a problem and do what we can to work it out. The problem is no-one talks about alcoholism. Drink is so much more accepted.

Sorry, on topic: My sympathies to Whitney's friends and family during this difficult time. I wouldn't call myself a fan - although I loved that film *sniff* - but as a human being I can empathise with loss. It's painful for someone no-matter who it is who has died and how they knew them, and we should respect that and comfort them when it happens.

@Atelier Growing up with Sega consoles I was the exact opposite: I missed out on all the Nintendo titles like Mario, Zelda, GoldenEye and Metroid etc. It was Sonic for me It's nice to have a Wii now for those titles I missed, but it's not likely to become my main console anytime soon.

Kinnect is fantastic fun, especially after a few drinks The WiiMote was cool when it first came out - tennis is great on it - but having tried Kinnect there's no motivation for me to get a PS Move. Sony missed the boat there I feel.

If it wasn't a complete indulgence I would certainly add an XBox to my collection. Maybe some day. There are a few exclusives i'd like to try.

@LimpingFish @Selmiak Thanks for the recomendations. I've heard good things about No More Heroes.

Haha, have no fear, both are already on my list 

So I already have a PS3, but today I booted up the Wii that I got herself for Christmas (which she has never played - thank goodness that wasn't her only present* ) and I find myself quite disappointed with it!

We only have a couple of games - Mario Kart and a Zumba Fitness thing (hey, it looked like fun alright!) - and I have a few GameCube titles kicking around, so I thought I would see what downloadable games there were. It turns out there are no demos of boxed games, unlike the PS3, and only 2 WiiWare demos. The Virtual Console games are most appealing - in particular the Zelda and Donkey Kong games - but a lot require a Classic Controller it seems. I could use my GameCube controller but lounging on the couch with a wireless controller has become so satisfying

I know there are good boxed games on the Wii, and i'll pick up a Classic Controller next week simply so I can play A Link To The Past, but compared to the amount of free content on the PS3, I find myself thinking "is that it?!"

I know the Wii is more kid/family oriented (still I think the interface leaves a lot to be desired), but there's not much there to occupy my little nephew, for example, compared to the PS3. It seems like a bit of con for parents considering they'd have to reach for their wallets almost immediately.

Am I missing the obvious? Does anyone else have a Wii and how do you find it? Game recomendations would be most welcome

* I don't know if i've mentioned it round these parts but this by our very own SookieSock was her main present and has pride of place in our room

That's very cool. I've seen videos of self assembling robots like chairs etc but the flat-packed printing of these is very promising

@Tabata Haha, thanks! You have a smiley for every occasion

Hey, straydogstrut, you have 33 messages, 0 are new.

Nobody loves me :'(

Yeah, I didn't mention it before because I thought it would be more work than necessary, but if you wanted to create your own textfields, PDF Escape is really good (and free). Just upload the pdf, add some text boxes, and export it again. The pdf is deleted from their servers after a limited time too.

I've never heard of such an issue myself and a quick Google hasn't shed much light on it, sorry!

Perhaps it's something to do with autocomplete, in which case you should be able to turn it off or remove the saved autocomplete entries in the preferences (you may have already tried this though). There's a bit on the Adobe site for the autocomplete options in Adobe Reader 8. Adobe Reader 9 is probably similar.

Sorry I can't be more help. Do feel free to pm me a link to the form and I can have a play with it.

I would also query how you will be submitting the form? I believe you can only save the details you've entered in a form if the form author allows it so I wouldn't want you to lose all that information you've entered. You should be able to 'print to pdf' to keep the details you've entered.

Wow, this is mind-blowing quite frankly! Not sure if I fall into the right coding experience level you mentioned, but I definitely want to have a fiddle with this

On my feature wishlist would be:

- moveable blocks (elevators, push/pull-able crates etc)
- semi-solid blocks (liquids, crumbling platforms, platfoms that are non-solid from below)
- blocks that affect the player character*

*These could, for example, propel the player character in a given direction (conveyor belts), or could be invisible blocks that could be placed according to the layering you mentioned to work with other blocks to create an effect such as quicksand

I haven't  had a chance to play with this yet so may be missing the mark but this shows a lot of promise.

Good work!

Very nice (I watched the vid from your original link with no trouble here in the UK).

2 hours is a little too long for me to watch it in real time right now but I scrubbed through the timeline to get an overall impression There's lots of nice little details in there and I like the way you darkened the room using another layer rather than going over the individual pixels.

I agree with anian about the music. Your choice of music didn't bother me but so many tutorial videos do seem to be overwhelmed by pounding music. I can't work with that so I find it difficult to follow videos like that. Thanks for the jamendo.com link, i'll check it out 

Wow, this is exciting!! Sadly I really can't treat myself until next friday - seriously - but will definitely gift myself and friends some bundles when it comes around

FYI, not really important but the Copyright date on the website is showing code rather than the year. I really love the website, it's fantastic

I believe the final 'term' of the sale was 6 weeks.

That's FANTASTIC  Anything beyond the end of January means I can splurge more of my hard earned cash on these mouthwatering goodies