Can you convert static meshes to models?

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J

jc!

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Jun 10, 2004
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I am working on maps for a stealth shooter my mates and I are working on. The maps are being designed with FDE, or Fully Dynamic Environments. This reflects our mantra, "If you expect it, it should happen." All lights can be destroyed, all furniture can be overturned, and all doors respond to real physics (i.e. you can push or pull open doors, then watch them creak to a stop due to friction).

Is it possible to convert static meshes to models? All the office furniture at Static Reality are static meshes (duh), but as you know, static meshes are glued to the map and do not respond to physics. If I convert all of them to models, then we can start having some real fun, like barricading doors with tables and watching doors ricochet back and forth when bullets slam into them. Is it possible?
 
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T

T2A`

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With Karma objects, yes, but it's slow (i.e. can really slow down the computer) and pretty unrealistic. It's best used in moderation, so I think having everything in your map with physics attached will pretty much kill frame rates. Plus, I'm think KActors (meshes with physics attached) stop functioning after a certain time, so a sofa you flip over won't be able to be flipped over later. Someone correct me on this if I'm wrong, but the bunch of barrels I used to play with Karma stopped moving after awhile and I couldn't do anything to get them to move again...

http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/wiki/Karma
 
J

jc!

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Jun 10, 2004
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What about doors that respond to physics, i.e. being able to pull open doors, push them shut, watch them creak (decelerate) to a stop, and see them bounce against their, uh, rubber stoppers (what the hell are those things called, the ones the stop doors from hitting the wall?) as bullets slam into them?
 
J

jc!

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Does the Ut2004 engine's swinging doors even support what I'm trying to do? Or do I need to create a new map object of a door hinged to a door frame, with the door responding to Karma physics so you can push it, pull it, or watch it creak to a stop?
 
T

T2A`

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Jan 10, 2004
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You should be able to do all that with Karma constraints like hinges and so forth. Just search the Wiki for that.
 
J

jc!

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Jun 10, 2004
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But can I do that with standard swinging doors, or do I need to create a new map objects of a Karma-powered swinging door to substitute for standard swinging doors?
 
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Mychaeel

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This thread should better have gone into the Coding forum... perhaps a mod could kindly move it there.

Anyway, static meshes are only "glued to the map" if they're used by means of a StaticMeshActor, which is what happens when you place them directly in UnrealEd. A static mesh as such can be moved, rotated and scaled at will; just look at movers which are static meshes too after all.

So, for solid objects like a table or a chair you could try to code your own physics; as long as it's only about pushing those objects through a room or tipping them over, that should be quite within reach of UnrealScript... at least as long as you don't want several movable objects to interact with each other. For that you should resort to Karma, but as others have said already Karma is pretty resource-expensive (for a reason) and should generally only be used sparingly.
 
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jc!

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Jun 10, 2004
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Thanks for the advice, but I still need to know: Is it possible to set the parameters of a swinging door in UT2004 so it responds to Karma physics (pushing, pulling, creaking, etc)? Or do I need to create a completely new map object of a swinging door, one that responds to Karma physics?
 
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