simulating crowds (screenshots)

[clu]

Hey people

 

I'm wondering if anyone here has some ideas for the best way of simulating crowds. I have a map that is going to be a large Roman arena (The Colosseum) and I need a way to efficiently make it look like there is a big crowd in the stands.

 

Here's a screenshots of the Colosseum WIP:

 

http://www.jakekeating.com/thesis/screenshots/colosseum/02february/shot0012.jpg

 

Obviously I can't really put a bunch of models there, so I was thinking of just creating a opacity masked texture of just a bunch of 2D people and putting it on a bunch of brushes.

 

Anyway, I'd love to hear other ideas before I get started.

 

-clu

[irishpump]

I wish i new the exact website but im adding a lot of custom sounds into my next map and what i did was i just did a search on yahoo.com for funny .wav sounds and i was able to get such a large variety of sounds and i found some cheering and clapping sounds and laugh track sounds. As i recall it wasnt too hard to find. Im assuming you know how to add custom sounds to a map its very easy but just incase you dont go here:

http://mapping.jediknightii.net/tutorials.htm

[clu]

Cool, thanks, but actually what I am trying to do is simulate the visual appearance of crowds and people (not the sounds).

 

I will end up adding sounds as well, but right now I'm just trying to brainstorm ways of making it look like there are actual people in the stands.

 

 

-clu

[irishpump]

oh lol yeah i miss read that. Im sorry ;o(. Have you tried putting several G2Models in the stands?

[clu]

I'm not sure...are G2 models just un-animated JK2 models (like luke, desann, etc?).

 

I could probably get away with a couple, but I imagine my framerate will get killed if I put too many there. Maybe I'll put a few low-detail ones in the front rows, then use a 2d texture for the rest. I'm just afraid the 2D texture will look cheesy (paper cut-outs a-la FIFA soccer):

 

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/filters/products/screens/0,11105,914517,00.html?page=79

 

-clu

[-Chrono_MOT-]

If you want to have crowd sounds, then do this:

 

Make your wave file, name it

 

sound/misc/mapname/soundname.wav

 

Then in your map, make a target_speaker (global is preffered, or you can use several target_speakers) and use the key:

 

noise sound/misc/mapname/soundname.wav

 

And you will be set.

[irishpump]

Yeah the g2 models are lifeless and just sit there. I believe your framerate would drop too if you put too many. Like you said a combination of the two might work out great for ya.

[clu]

I'll probably do that (mostly 2D crowds like the FIFA 2003). Probably the only way to do it without killing framerate.

 

Thanks gents (for the sound info too...it''s not the problem I needed solved, but I'll end up putting it in later so it's definitely useful).

 

-clu

[Dragarius]

I would recommend a flat 2 dimensional brush with a picture of a crowd and a shader to make it seem to move.

 

But shaders aren't my area...

 

And, of course, if you intend players to be able to go there...this wont work well.

[Eldritch]

Or you can just make them static textures - they don't have to be shaders.

 

But like Dragarius said, if you're planning to have players go up into the stands, it's probably best not to have flat, 2-d "crowds."

 

BTW, the one screenshot you showed looks very impressive. Nice work!

[clu]

Awesome, thanks. I know how to do shaders that have transparencies (like grates) which would work well for people cutouts. I like the idea of animating them. I wonder how to do this. Are there any current shaders that are animated that I can take a look at?

 

Thanks again people.

 

-clu

[Leslie Judge]

Aru-Wen: that screenshot is an EA Sports screenshot. And there are half people.

 

Clu: please don't make half people in your version!

 

You can animate a max. of 8 images in a shader with the

animMap <image1> <image2> <image3> ... <image8> command.

[clu]

Aw...I like to think Aru-Wen was refering to the first screenie posted (the one of my level). Well, if he wasn't...don't tell me!

 

Yeah the half-people in the FIFA game look cheese! I'll try to avoid that nonsense. I'm definitely going to try animating the shader. You ever try that out Leslie?

 

Thanks for all the suggestions, people.

 

-clu

[Leslie Judge]

Yep, you are right. I didn't scrolled up so high. Now I did. That shot is really good. And what I saw from the map on that shot, well, very good.

 

No, I've never tried animating a texture but I can if you will have problems with it.

[clu]

Thanks man. Actually I should get off my butt and post some screenies in the showcase forum to get some suggestions. Anyway I'm going to mess around with animated textures and I'll post back when (if) I get it working. Thanks again for all the posts.

 

-clu

[Tigris]

Nothing as easy as this

OK, here you go- only make sure your bystanders have a working alpha-channel and you should have the desired effect.

 

NOTE: I'm not totally convinced this will work, if not just send me an email and I'll look into it- just did this on-the-fly...

 

textures/crowd/animcrowd

{

qer_editorimage textures/crowd/animcrowd.tga

surfaceparm alphashadow

surfaceparm noimpact

surfaceparm nomarks

surfaceparm nonsolid

surfaceparm trans

cull disable

nopicmip

{

map textures/crowd/animcrowd1.tga

rgbGen identity

depthWrite

alphaFunc GE128

}

{

map $lightmap

blendfunc filter

rgbGen identity

tcGen lightmap

depthFunc equal

}

{

map textures/crowd/animcrowd1.tga

blendfunc add

}

{

animmap 2 textures/crowd/animcrowd1.tga textures/crowd/animcrowd2.tga textures/crowd/animcrowd3.tga textures/crowd/animcrowd4.tga

}

}

 

 

You now only need to make the animated frames- animcrowd1-4 and the texture you want to be shown in your Radiant (animcrowd). Make sure you supply them with a alpha-channel (one that works- so for PS you would need PS 6.0 since 7.0 forgets to save it ).

 

I set the animation-speed to 2 fps, just change the number behind the animmap (last paragraph) to whatever fps speed you like.

[clu]

Tigris, thanks a ton. That looks sweet, I can't wait to try it out. two questions:

 

1) Are there any overhead issues with animated textures (read: are they going to kill my framerate)?

 

2) What do you mean about Photoshop 7? I never really had trouble with alphas, but I'm a bit ignorant about them.

 

-clu

[lassev]

Do func_breakables work in MP (your map is MP, right?). If they do, you should give some people in the crowd breakable heads. So that the players could shoot some heads off. In Photoshop there were some save file issues in the first version 7.0, I think. They are corrected in later versions (7.#). Although I prefer Paint Shop Pro.

[clu]

you should give some people in the crowd breakable heads

 

Shooting heads off...sweeeeet. Actually, no one in my game will have guns (it's a swords-and-sandles SP story set in the Colosseum of ancient Rome), but I like the idea.

 

Thanks for the info about Photoshop too. I'll make sure I'm up-to-date.

 

-clu

[Eldritch]

Originally posted by Leslie Judge

Yep, you are right. I didn't scrolled up so high. Now I did. That shot is really good. And what I saw from the map on that shot, well, very good.

 

You dang right! Like I wouldn't know the difference between JO and EA Sport's FIFA.

 

Too funny, Leslie. Thanks for a good laugh.

[Leslie Judge]

Sorry, Aru. I was at home this week. Maybe I had too much rest.

[Tigris]

As far as I know the FPS will on drop slightly- all textures are loaded on startup of the map, so there isn't much that could slow down the game.

 

I use some animated textures in my map but it doesn't seem to slow anything down- Just try it out and see how much it does for you. Then you can always delete some of the crowd so that it runs more smoothly.