• Valve "days away" from releasing a VR SDK standard at Steam Dev Days
    48 replies, posted
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25661997[/url] [quote=BBC]There's no doubt that 2013 was good for gamers. The indie gaming scene thrived, there were big launches of established franchises to keep the fanboys happy and the end of the year brought the launch of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. 2014 looks like it will be another banner year, perhaps because it might signal a significant shift in the way people play. It might be the year that virtual reality (VR) becomes established as a popular way to go gaming. Hi-tech firm Oculus Rift is the poster child for this movement. Interest in the VR headset it is developing has been feverish since its debut on Kickstarter in August 2012. That crowdfunding campaign raised $2.4m (£1.5m), 10 times as much as Oculus Rift sought. Between then and now the firm has raised a further $75m from investors to fund development. [B]Software kit[/B] Help on this front may come from game maker Valve as it pursues its Steam Box project. Valve designer Brian Coomer says the company is "days away" from releasing a VR software development kit that will give game makers a standard way to provide an interface for VR controllers. The kit will be released at Valve's forthcoming Steam Dev Days conference due to take place on 14-15 January in Seattle.[/quote]
B-but I want a new Hammer... One that isn't a massive pain in the ass to get working, and has real time editing. :suicide:
As someone interested in the Oculus Rift, I can't wait to see this become an integrated part of the steam universe.
[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;43467765]B-but I want a new Hammer... One that isn't a massive pain in the ass to get working, and has real time editing. :suicide:[/QUOTE] Ahahaha. Oh, you weren't joking? Well fuck. It's not happening, it's just not really all that possible with any implementations of BSP that Valve use, their lighting system, and their visibility culling system. Well, maybe if you were okay with minor pauses between editing and being able to actually test it while it recompile automatically anyway. Hammer is dated, but it still does its job pretty well I think. It can't really do much more, the engine itself is holding it back more than anything. Dated level formats are great.
I... I think I'm not going to get a WiiU/PS4/etc. now, and instead, my big stupid luxury gaming splurge money is going to go towards a consumer-edition Rift once they're available. I was interested in the Rift before, but this is a different situation now.
[QUOTE=hexpunK;43467798]Ahahaha. Oh, you weren't joking? Well fuck. It's not happening, it's just not really all that possible with any implementations of BSP that Valve use, their lighting system, and their viability culling system. Well, maybe if you were okay with minor pauses between editing and being able to actually test it while it recompile automatically anyway. Hammer is dated, but it still does its job pretty well I think. It can't really do much more, the engine itself is holding it back more than anything. Dated level formats are great.[/QUOTE] I honestly have no idea how they've managed to create as many games with it as they have without one of their mappers having a breakdown That thing crashes/corrupts everything if you look at it wrong
[QUOTE=Tobba;43467826]I honestly have no idea how they've managed to create as many games with it as they have without one of their mappers having a breakdown That thing crashes/corrupts everything if you look at it wrong[/QUOTE] I really do wonder what black magic they use to get some of those maps to compile. I can understand how they work on them, visgroups are amazing for removing useless crap. But there's just so much in most maps, Hammer must be screaming for peace the entire time.
[QUOTE=Tobba;43467826]I honestly have no idea how they've managed to create as many games with it as they have without one of their mappers having a breakdown That thing crashes/corrupts everything if you look at it wrong[/QUOTE] Maybe they use a different program, or a much better version of hammer at Valve.
[QUOTE=Tobba;43467826]I honestly have no idea how they've managed to create as many games with it as they have without one of their mappers having a breakdown That thing crashes/corrupts everything if you look at it wrong[/QUOTE] I'm guessing incredibly comprehensive versioning and backups. Like, save-every-five-minutes-creates-a-new-copy versioning on the work files.
[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;43467765]B-but I want a new Hammer... One that isn't a massive pain in the ass to get working, and has real time editing. :suicide:[/QUOTE] Hammer is dated as fuck and I was actually tempted to make a map editor of my own once. Also real-time editing wouldn't be possible due to the fact that Source maps need to be compiled first.
[QUOTE=elevate;43467877]Hammer is dated as fuck and I was actually tempted to make a map editor of my own once. Also real-time editing wouldn't be possible due to the fact that Source maps need to be compiled first.[/QUOTE] Surely it'd end up just being Hammer V2: "This application has encountered an error and must close" boogaloo? The VMF format itself is quite restrictive, you'd still be making blocks and shit, doing everything Hammer does, just maybe with a nicer UI and less weirdness (and maybe a proper "real-time" lighting preview dammit).
[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;43467765]B-but I want a new Hammer... One that isn't a massive pain in the ass to get working, and has real time editing. :suicide:[/QUOTE] [url]http://gamebanana.com/threads/192903?utm_content=buffera881e&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer[/url] Goldsrc only, but it's the best you can have right now alternatively, there is another custom level editor being developed at TF2maps.net, but it's far from relase
[QUOTE=Tobba;43467826]I honestly have no idea how they've managed to create as many games with it as they have without one of their mappers having a breakdown That thing crashes/corrupts everything if you look at it wrong[/QUOTE] I don't think I ever had Hammer corrupt something on me when I used to use it many years ago, and crashes were pretty rare.
[QUOTE=hexpunK;43467902]Surely it'd end up just being Hammer V2: "This application has encountered an error and must close" boogaloo? The VMF format itself is quite restrictive, you'd still be making blocks and shit, doing everything Hammer does, just maybe with a nicer UI and less weirdness (and maybe a proper "real-time" lighting preview dammit).[/QUOTE] As of now you have to rely on a lot of cumbersome tricks to get some things done with Hammer, the biggest example being curved brushwork. It'd be nice if there were ways you could do things in Hammer without relying on these tricks.
[QUOTE=hexpunK;43467848]I really do wonder what black magic they use to get some of those maps to compile. I can understand how they work on them, visgroups are amazing for removing useless crap. But there's just so much in most maps, Hammer must be screaming for peace the entire time.[/QUOTE] The more you use the tool the more you learn how to avoid crashing it and how to get around certain limitations or issues you happen to run into. I've been using hammer for about 4-5 years now? I barely run into crash issues compared to how it was when I first started. Oh and there's a level of patience as well with these things.
[QUOTE=elevate;43467951]As of now you have to rely on a lot of cumbersome tricks to get some things done with Hammer, the biggest example being curved brushwork. It'd be nice if there were ways you could do things in Hammer without relying on these tricks.[/QUOTE] Ahh yeah, more convenience stuff like that would be nice. It's quite tedious to make anything with curves look right currently. Admittedly a lot of it can be solved if you do it once for a shape you need and prefab it. [editline]9th January 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=lionheart1066;43467964]The more you use the tool the more you learn how to avoid crashing it and how to get around certain limitations or issues you happen to run into. I've been using hammer for about 4-5 years now? I barely run into crash issues compared to how it was when I first started. Oh and there's a level of patience as well with these things.[/QUOTE] I've personally not had Hammer crash much in the 4 or so years I've used it, it's just when it does it has taken some work with it in the past. The only times I've noticed real instability with it was huge maps with lots of details.
There's nothing wrong with the way Valve implements their mapping system. Tons of engines still use BSP and it's great for a lot of reasons. Valve's biggest problem is their lighting engine, which really isn't all that big of a deal to replace with a modern deferred shading system and would allow for realtime previews. In fact, they already did do that with Dota 2 and people have modded it into Source SDK, although no currently available mods use it as far as I know.
Why is everyone talking about hammer?
[QUOTE=thrawn2787;43468993]Why is everyone talking about hammer?[/QUOTE] because people want a hammer that works versus a VR sdk Also avatar fits.
[QUOTE=thrawn2787;43468993]Why is everyone talking about hammer?[/QUOTE] because people would rather have a new version of hammer i guess
[QUOTE=ss1234;43469091]because people want a hammer that works versus a VR sdk Also avatar fits.[/QUOTE] What does hammer have to do with VR? Methinks people just saw SDK and made a jump to the Source SDK...
[QUOTE=hexpunK;43467798]Ahahaha. Oh, you weren't joking? Well fuck. It's not happening, it's just not really all that possible with any implementations of BSP that Valve use, their lighting system, and their visibility culling system. Well, maybe if you were okay with minor pauses between editing and being able to actually test it while it recompile automatically anyway. Hammer is dated, but it still does its job pretty well I think. It can't really do much more, the engine itself is holding it back more than anything. Dated level formats are great.[/QUOTE] Shit, I'd take whatever lies between "real time" and Hammer's "let's just compile the whole fucking game maybe if nothing goes wrong" if nothing else.
I really want to know why Valve has not fixed all the issues with hammer yet. Do they no longer care about their modding community?
Will that include the Razer Hydra and Sixense STEM? Right now Hydra implementation is a pain in the ass to do any work with and we've been waiting a year and a half for that major Sixense update for Source.
[QUOTE=VinLAURiA;43469447]Will that include the Razer Hydra and Sixense STEM? Right now Hydra implementation is a pain in the ass to do any work with and we've been waiting a year and a half for that major Sixense update for Source.[/QUOTE] No because those have nothing to do with VR
[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;43467765]B-but I want a new Hammer... One that isn't a massive pain in the ass to get working, and has real time editing. :suicide:[/QUOTE] we'll have to wait for source 2
Perhaps this SDK will be a bridge over to future SDKs for say Source 2, they have to have compatibility code for it anyways.
Hammer is shit. I mapped for nearly 5 years and going to Maya from Hammer is insane. Brush based modeling in itself is retarded. Importing models for large portions of the map into the SDK similar to unity would be way better and way more incredibly detailed.
I cant even use hammer anymore, the SDK gives me all sorts of errors related to game files even though i have wiped and reinstalled EVERYTHING.
[QUOTE=thrawn2787;43469121]What does hammer have to do with VR? Methinks people just saw SDK and made a jump to the Source SDK...[/QUOTE] Because frankly, people don't care about new SDKs or additions to it with absolutely niche functions, when the core of the SDK utterly stinks more or less.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.