Moving Water.....

[pompey]

Howdy,
ive a map with moving water, its a canal u see, the water goes up and down just a little bit, the problem is that when i swim in it as it goes down sam kinda falls of the surface and underwater a couple of metres!
Does anyone know how to fix this please?

oh, LSD are u aware of this problem, ur tutorial has been invaluable so far!

[LSD]

arg. yes, this is on account of the physics in ss. sam moves extremely fast, like a human automobile perhaps. You will notice the same problem on lifts that move two quickly, he'll jump at the top, and also fall if the lift goes down too fast. It's just a result of the unrealistic speed and physics which sam uses. The only workaround I can think of is to slow the speed at which your water moves considerably, so as to make the effect less noticeable.

[pompey]

i was afraid that might be the reply. ill have to decide whether to keep the movin water and just accept this problem or just have it still, which wont look so good,

cheers lsd.

[LSD]

how much does it move up and down.. like a few centimeters, or are we talking meters?

[pompey]

it moves 2m from the lowest point to the top most point at the mo, could move it less, but if much less then it may not be worth it, cos the change would be difficult to see. why? do u have an idea?

[LSD]

well, what if you just rotate it slightly, rocking back and forth, you know, instead of moving it up and down. that would probably look good too

[pompey]

ill try it

[pompey]

Was a good idea LSD, but doesnt work, the problem is the amount the tools box lets u change pitch has to be in intervals of 2.5 degrees, and the water is sufficiently big that it that equates to a BIG movement.
also sam still falls when his side rocks down, and if u go to the middle (apex of the rocking motion) it goes all haywire, he cant reach the surface and stuff.

The effect was really good tho and if it had been a smaller area it would have been wicked! cheers

[Michael Harris]

Don't know if this would help or not, but you might consider the possibility of using two gravity markers (and a gravity router) to change the gravity (and/or the gravity markers' optional forcefields) in synchronization with the water rise/fall.

[pompey]

yeh i was thinking about that, tho i was hoping for a simpler way, the main problem with doing this is my water has a smooth(ish) movement, ie. ive set the markers so that as they reach either the top or bottom the water slows its movement rate, if u see what i mean. Anyway this means i'd need loads of grav markers and routers cos the strength would need to change.
That is Unless I can manage to parent them to the waterbrush, whilst still enabling the player to be able to reach the surface.

[LSD]

they should parent to the moving brush just fine

[pompey]

yes, but i dont want them to force sam down underwater, cos that would seem equally strange. Im not sure if that makes sense, but ill explain later once i have a chance to see if i can get it to work. i.e. i think i can forsee a problem in doing this but words defeat me! l8r

[pompey]

right ive got a grav marker, at strength 5 and accel 15 this stops sam 'falling' thru the water when it goes down. but how can i make it go on and off, since the moving brush markers have to target the next marker in the sequence?
what is weird is that if i increse the strength beyond 5, sam cant break the surface to swim underwater! weird!

[Michael Harris]

Use a gravity router entity, to select/alternate between two different gravity marker entities.  The trick will be in triggering (?) the gravity router each time you need it to switch between gravity markers.

For a discussion of using a gravity router to switch between two gravity markers, see
C:\Program Files\Croteam\Serious Sam\Help\Extras\MichaelHarris\GravityAndSectoring\ MEH_Tutorial_02_Gravity_Router.doc

[pompey]

This is giving me a headache!
cheers MH, ive now got a router and 2 grav markers, one for up, and one for down, the problem is i still cant figure a way to change between them.

what i need is an auto switch or trigger to change them every 5 seconds, say. unless im missing something (im pretty tired) u cant do this using switches or triggers, and i cant find any other entities that might help.

there must be someway of doing it! Anybody?

[Michael Harris]

Check out the following thread, which mentions that movingbrush markers can be made to activate trigger(s).....(which in turn can activate the gravity router)
http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~serioussam/ikonboard/topic.cgi?forum=5&topic=996
I assume you are using movingbrush(s) to implement your water, so you presumably have associated markers.  They, or some new additional markers properly places could presumably be modified to activate a trigger when the water touches them.......

Don't know if that will do the trick or not.  Check out the discussions in the forum of triggers and wait/delay settings (and possibly movingbrushes and ..?????......) and implementing repetition/looping through their use.

[pompey]

cheers MH, ill look into that tomorrow, it looks as tho that may do the trick.