OpenMW Morrowind engine - [UPDATE: terrain plugin]

brick · Post by **brick** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 10:12 am

UPDATE: I have just released version 0.3 of OpenMW. And yes, it runs on Windows!

You can get the compiled binaries here:
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/openmw ... h_ogre.zip (29Mb) - includes all Ogre DLLs
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/openmw ... o_ogre.zip (802Kb) - if you already have Ogre

You can also get the source code from http://sourceforge.net/projects/openmw

This version should be easier to compile too, since I've cut some of the dependencies.

Note that you must have Morrowind installed before OpenMW will run. Check the README.txt for instructions.

KungFuHungSu · Post by **KungFuHungSu** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 11:57 am

This looks amazing.

Some questions here...I'm currently a 3rd year software engineering student and would love to get some real programming experience. I've considered making contributions to the open source community before but never really really wanted to, but this looks like something I could find myself staying up late to help with. =)

I don't know anything about how the open source works though. About how work is coordinated, distributed or anything like that. Are you the only person who's working on this? And if so, would you want help?

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 2:22 pm

OpenMW is down, need backup, need backup!

When I try to run OpenMW, that what happens:

Sys spec:
Intel Core2 Duo E2160 1,8GHz @ 2,8GHz
2GB DDR2 RAM
Radeon x1950GT @ x1950 Pro
WinXP Pro + SP2
DX 9.0C Jun 2008
ATI Catalyst 8.6

I have Morrowind+Tribunal+Bloodmoon PL, ver 1.6.0.1820.

My .INI file:

Code: Select all

; Don't write your own comments in this file, they
; will disappear when the file is rewritten.
[General]
Data Directory=D:\Gry\TES III - Morrowind Zlota Edycja\Data Files/
Screenshots=0
Default Cell=Balmora
Show Ogre Config=yes
First Run=no

[Controls]
Mouse Sensitivity X=0.2
Mouse Sensitivity Y=0.2
Flip Mouse Y Axis=no

[Bindings]
; Key bindings. The strings must match exactly.
Move Left=a,left
Move Right=d,right
Turn Left=
Turn Right=
Move Forward=w,up
Move Backward=s,down
Move Up=left_shift
Move Down=left_ctrl
Increase Main Volume=numpad_plus
Decrease Main Volume=numpad_minus
Increase Music Volume=2
Decrease Music Volume=1
Increase SFX Volume=4
Decrease SFX Volume=3
Mute Sound=m
Toggle Battle Music=space
OGRE Test Action=g
Pause=pause,p
Screen Shot=print_screen
Quick Exit=q,escape

[Sound]
Main Volume=0.7
Music Volume=0.5
SFX Volume=0.5
Enable Music=yes

I hope someone can help me

brick · Post by **brick** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 12:37 pm

@Lothar: Hey, this seems to be a problem with some localized (non-english) versions. The problem is that the character encoding used in the files (windows code pages) are not the same as openmw wants (currently unicode.) I will work on this for the next relese, but currently the only quick fix is to remove the debug output that causes the error.

I've done this in SVN, so if you want to try compiling from source, it's possible it will work. Otherwise, I can make a work-in-progress release for you - maybe tonight or tomorrow.

brick · Post by **brick** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 1:08 pm

@KungFu:

Hi, it's great that you're interested! There are a couple of us working on openmw right now, but I'm currently the main developer. I'd be very grateful for your help! I guess the first thing you should do is download the source and try to compile it. The code is distributed with subversion, so you can get it with:

svn co https://openmw.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/openmw/trunk openmw

So far there's no mailing list or similar, but I'm planning on setting one up (google groups?) if there's interest for it. So far, patches and updates have been sent to me by email (korslund@gmail.com)

Let me know if you have any questions

Baddcog · Post by **Baddcog** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 8:40 pm

brick wrote:

Hey, those are my scrolls

Good to see they are still getting some use.

Sarudak · Post by **Sarudak** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:56 pm

Wow this looks awesome! I'm a software developer also and would like to help on this project if I could. What tools are being used right now? My primary experience has been with Java and C# but I can learn anything.

brick · Post by **brick** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 11:23 am

To Sarudak and KungFu: Hey, that's great!

I'd appreciate if you could send me an email (korslund(at)gmail.com) so I have your address.

Also, if you have any ideas for what you would like to see implemented in openmw, I'm interested in hearing them.

Cheers

Zini · Post by **Zini** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:31 pm

Very impressive, indeed. Up to what level are you planning compatibility with the original MW? Just enough to run the original game and both add-ons? Or full compatibility regarding all the documented and undocumented features, so that even the most complex mods would run on it?

Pahanilmanlintu · Post by **Pahanilmanlintu** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:49 pm

brick wrote: Also, if you have any ideas for what you would like to see implemented in openmw, I'm interested in hearing them.

Assuming that question was for everyone (?):

- Music system, as in different music for town, wilderness and dungeon. The Red Mountain area might be classified as dungeon for the duration of main quest. Also a very important detail about music is the ability to resume playback after combat has stopped, returning to the same spot in the same track as was going on before combat state.

- Combat system with manual blocking and oblivion-style one-click spellcasting.

- AI system that could handle schedules.

What i'm probably most interested about, though, is the ability to play it on my linux desktop. I wish i had some coding skills so i could participate.

Zini · Post by **Zini** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:56 pm

- Music system, as in different music for town, wilderness and dungeon. The Red Mountain area might be classified as dungeon for the duration of main quest.

I am pretty sure, that this is already possible with the original MW (can't be too hard to script this feature).

- AI system that could handle schedules.

You would need a modified editor for that (how else are you going to get the schedules into a masterfile/plugin?). Besides, implementing schedules in MW is possible too with scripts (at least to some degree).

Pahanilmanlintu · Post by **Pahanilmanlintu** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 1:50 pm

Zini wrote:

- Music system, as in different music for town, wilderness and dungeon. The Red Mountain area might be classified as dungeon for the duration of main quest.
I am pretty sure, that this is already possible with the original MW (can't be too hard to script this feature).

TBH i'm not very familiar with what's been going on in MW modding for the past ~3 years or so, so it's possible i've missed something. Anyway, the music system in MW has very minimal interaction, with afaik no means to specify different music folders or resume previously played tracks based on some conditions.

The last time i checked, the best attempt involved an external little program that on certain key combinations would rename a bunch of tracks to *.mp3 and *.somethingelse so as to keep the music player from finding certain tracks. So that way the player could manually switch between playlists, but imho that left something to be desired, so to speak.

Audiere seems to have seeking capability with ogg files but not mp3's. I'm fine with that as i prefere oggs everywhere anyway.

Zini wrote:
- AI system that could handle schedules.
You would need a modified editor for that (how else are you going to get the schedules into a masterfile/plugin?). Besides, implementing schedules in MW is possible too with scripts (at least to some degree).

MW has around 3000 npcs iirc, so a LOD based AI engine might be needed. There used to be a project with the aim to give full schedules to all npcs through regular scripting but i doubt anything came of it. I'm not sure though.

brick · Post by **brick** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:05 pm

@Zini: The plan is to support the original game, the addons, and all mods. The es-file backend can already load any combination of esm/esp I've thrown at it, and I've tried loading some 100 random mods (from the net) simultaneously without problems. The thing that will probably take the most time to add support for is the scripts, and I guess that's where the "undocumented features" are. I haven't started to implement scripting yet, but if you know of any particularly complex mod (scripting or otherwise), I'd really appreciate it if you let me know, so I can have a look. The same goes for links to any undocumented features.

There's also various "script extenders" around, that let mods add more variables and functions and whatever. I don't see any problem with supporting all of them, too.

@Pahanilmanlintu: Thanks for the ideas, they've been noted! The ideas and the thinking is what is difficult to come by - the coding part is easy really (although time consuming.)

I've also thought about the concept of music varying between places, it's a good idea. And OpenMW already does resume music where it stopped

Even though there's no real "battle" yet, you can test it by pressing space.

Zini · Post by **Zini** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:08 pm

I hope, I am not breaking any forum rules by posting this link (to a non-Ogre related project):

http://www.cfkasper.de/ultima/

If you look at the feature list, you will find NPC schedules (which are indeed using some kind of LOD technique).And they work (within certain limitations). I know for sure, because I wrote them.

@brick: If you ever need a really demanding test-case (especially for the more arcane features, the project linked above should be the right choice. I can't hand out the masterfile right now, but I would be happy to run some tests once your engine has reached a state, where this makes sense.

Zini · Post by **Zini** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:23 pm

Oops, took me to long to write my last post, so I missed your last post.

Unfortunately I don't have any links, that describe the less known internals of the script language and the AI system. I found out most of it the hard way and didn't take notes.

One thing you might look into are the various limitations of the scripting language, e.g.:if you have too many instructions between an IF and an ENDIF, the whole script will stop working (without giving any warning or error message). That is probably a limitation of the script compiler or the underlying byte-code format, so your engine wouldn't be able to fix it. But if you could at least find a way to detect such a situation and issue a warning message, it would make some people's life a lot easier.
The debugging situation in general is pretty bad, so any helper functions in this area would be highly welcome.

Edit: I assume you have Scripting for Dummies? It's not exactly comprehensive, but it offers a good starting point. I can't find a good link right now (only very old versions or sites, where you have to register first). If you don't have it, I could email you a copy (though my local copy isn't completely up to date either).

gwathlobal · Post by **gwathlobal** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:08 am

One more bug report.
Windows version.
I have Russian copy of Morrowind, and that seems to be a problem.

Code: Select all

; Don't write your own comments in this file, they
; will disappear when the file is rewritten.
[General]
Data Directory=D:\MuaD\Morrowind\Data Files/
Screenshots=0
Default Cell=Sud
Show Ogre Config=yes
First Run=no

[Controls]
Mouse Sensitivity X=0.2
Mouse Sensitivity Y=0.2
Flip Mouse Y Axis=no

[Bindings]
; Key bindings. The strings must match exactly.
Move Left=a,left
Move Right=d,right
Turn Left=
Turn Right=
Move Forward=w,up
Move Backward=s,down
Move Up=left_shift
Move Down=left_ctrl
Increase Main Volume=numpad_plus
Decrease Main Volume=numpad_minus
Increase Music Volume=2
Decrease Music Volume=1
Increase SFX Volume=4
Decrease SFX Volume=3
Mute Sound=m
Toggle Battle Music=space
OGRE Test Action=g
Pause=pause,p
Screen Shot=print_screen
Quick Exit=q,escape

[Sound]
Main Volume=0.7
Music Volume=0.5
SFX Volume=0.5
Enable Music=yes

Yacoby · Post by **Yacoby** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 5:06 pm

Zini wrote:Edit: I assume you have Scripting for Dummies? It's not exactly comprehensive, but it offers a good starting point. I can't find a good link right now (only very old versions or sites, where you have to register first). If you don't have it, I could email you a copy (though my local copy isn't completely up to date either).

Here is MWSFD 9, which is the most recent version. I don't think you have to register to dl:
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=13969

brick · Post by **brick** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 4:04 pm

Zini: thanks for the info. I guess the real test of OpenMW will be projects like Ultima, and other TCs. If you could drop me a mail (korslund@gmail.com) so I have your address for later, I'd appreciate it! The limitations you mention are definitely something to work on. If the limitation is with the bytecode format, I guess we will have to improve the format and recompile the scripts.

Lothar and gwathlobal: Thanks for reporting the bugs. I think I've managed to fix both of them. I'm releasing version 0.4 soon, which will include both fixes (and some other changes.)

And Yacoby: Thanks once again!

Sslaxx · Post by **Sslaxx** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:31 pm

@Brick: Linked in a bit with Zini, perhaps you should get in touch with the Ultima: Redemption people. I'm sure they'd be at least interested in the possibility of releasing Redemption without the need to have Morrowind installed.

Also, Exult http://exult.sf.net/ in its early days had tried to use its own scripting language, but eventually gave up and implemented the inbuilt Usecode scripting system (albeit having to use their own syntax). You may want to consider implementing TEScript directly and not using a system such as Monster; it might be easier in the sense that the language already exists, so at least you wouldn't have to recreate that (although if its stored as bytecode, then...).

iio · Post by **iio** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 5:43 pm

This is a great idea. I wanted to do this but you're already so far ahead. Need any help? I'm a computer sysytems engineer and I wanted to bring better real-time physics and better AI to Morrowind through standalone apps. How do I join?

I have been looking at the Bullet physics engine and found out tonight that Havok can be downloaded for free for non-commercial use as of May 08. I wanted to hook Bullet into Morrowind but this would be better. Using Ogre would give far more control than someone currently has over modding for it.

brick · Post by **brick** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 8:26 pm

@iio: Thanks, I've replied to your mail as well. I definitely think physics is the way to go, and it's probably the next "big" thing to implement in OpenMW (at least enough physics for normal use.) I haven't looked into Havok yet, but I'll check it out.

@Sslaxx: Thanks for your links. It looks like the Redemption project depends on a few Morrowind assets, so they will need the original data files, at least for the time being.

BTW, I apologize for being a bit slow with releases / responses this summer. I'm working on another project (you know - the sort you get paid for

) - so I'm on a semi-vacation from my pet project at the moment. But things will be back to full speed in a couple of weeks!

Sslaxx · Post by **Sslaxx** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 8:43 pm

brick wrote:@iio: Thanks, I've replied to your mail as well. I definitely think physics is the way to go, and it's probably the next "big" thing to implement in OpenMW (at least enough physics for normal use.) I haven't looked into Havok yet, but I'll check it out.

@Sslaxx: Thanks for your links. It looks like the Redemption project depends on a few Morrowind assets, so they will need the original data files, at least for the time being.

BTW, I apologize for being a bit slow with releases / responses this summer. I'm working on another project (you know - the sort you get paid for ) - so I'm on a semi-vacation from my pet project at the moment. But things will be back to full speed in a couple of weeks!

Money takes precedence, certainly! Hope this project pays for itself, at least.

iio · Post by **iio** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 8:19 am

Groovy. I've had a vision of a proper mage laying waste to Balmora for a long time. Maybe I can do it down the track. I will reply when I get back from work and will see what can be done about Bullet or Havok taking .nif files as inputs.

I'm looking forward to this:) Thanks for taking me onboard and good luck with your job.

Pjstaab · Post by **Pjstaab** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 5:42 pm

I really wish I knew anything that would allow me to help.

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 6:14 pm

Pjstaab wrote:I really wish I knew anything that would allow me to help.

You can download it, test and tell about bugs you found

brick - any news? Just can't wait for final release, because it would be awesome (and great amount of experience for me

) to add realistic grass, phsycs engine support, Caelum day-night cycle, Oogst's Interior Mapping, motion blur, parralax mapping and other crazy effects to the engine, after you release the full version

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