Sim:WTF/Blog

When I was setting aside the Java code for Fleet Action Imminent, I made a few prototypes of the proper game I wanted to create. The first was based in Torque Game Engine, and the second built atop Ogre3D. The prototypes were the first to feature my use of voice-over-IP, but never got very naval. I did not enjoy working in these environment.

I since have looked at Unity3D, and continue in fits and starts into 2019. With demonstrable networking in place, I consider the present work to be a prototype of With the Fleet. This blog progress from FAI on JME3 (2011-2014) through WTF on Unity (2014-to date).

Developer Blog

January, 2019

I have dusted off the demo and polished it up a bit and re-invigorated the "Naval Simulation on Unity" Slack. The app is still comprised of a couple of destroyers steaming about a world with a few islands. Its primary subcomponents include:

• Opus codec for VOIP. I can't imagine changing from this
• Enviro for sky and weather -- much better looking than Tenkoku
• World Political Map 2D - a 2D world map
• Ceto (Scrawk's) Ocean -- now deprecated. Possible replacement: Community Ocean "Next Gen"?
• SREC for speech recognition. This is a placeholder; it is poor at rejecting noise and supports only US English. Replacing it would cost "multiple dollars".
• Networking is hand-rolled atop Pnet2/Lidgren. Perhaps I should look at Blackwake or similar.

I still lack talented artists and a coder. Contact me if you like the vision and feel you can help.

September 20, 2016

I tossed out UFPS. I hated that code.

An AI helmsman can steer the destroyer when given commands. It looks pretty stable and demonstrable now, for what it is. I notice that the ShipNode locks up if the destroyer attempts to move in reverse. Puzzling!

August 2, 2016

I've been working on the sim. It is now a multiplayer-only sim and has just a little stuff to demonstrate.

The main components are now:

• UFPS for First-person camera and control. I hope to toss this, as it is incredibly complex.
• Lidgren for networking. I tossed out Forge, which was poorly documented and not designed for flexible use
• Tenkoku for sky, sun and weather
• Ceto (Scrawk's) Ocean -- a phenomenal and cheap ocean.
• World Political Map 2D - a [b]very[/b] nice 2D world map asset

I hope to soon show it to people who might be able to help me take it to the next level, such as a 3D modeler, etc.

The WorldServer has a GUI for setting the locale and weather conditions, and these data propagate to the ShipNodes and PlayerClients.

You can control the destroyers by a simple placeholder GUI on their ShipNode. Multiple sailors can spawn aboard the ships or an island and chat and walk about.

It has some novel features I want to keep secret for now.

My next step is to get an AI sailor working a helm and engine telegraph, and to allow the players to also use these items. This will replace, of course, the GUI for these items on the ShipNode.

January 28, 2016

I posted another demo with limited multiplayer function... embarrassing, really, but...

You can launch as server if you simply want single player mode. If you wish, however, a second user can join the first player if he wishes as a client.

You cannot do anything more than observe woeful implementation of networking I tested to evaluate Forge (ships, sailors, sea, weather, time of day) and Lidgren (chat).

User interface cheat sheet:

• left Apple/Windows key == show mouse
• right click to squint
• WASD to move (shift == go faster)
• space jumps
• \ cycles chat window size (small, large, none)
• / opens the chat composer -- escape to cancel or enter to send

You can jump overboard if you wish... you will randomly be respawned on one of the three destroyers.

There is no means of controlling the destroyers.

January 12, 2016

I posted a single-player build that has addressed deck-walking issues in which the sailor could cause his own ship to capsize.

I've done some testing of networking with Forge and with the Lidgren Library. In the first case, I got a client to join the server, producing two "sailors" who could roam the deck (very poorly). The sea and weather were also synchronized.

I consider UFPS and Forge to now be in the "iffy" category. I find both to be complex, and Forge has mission drift and "small game" fixation.

December 17, 2015

I have started to bring some networking into play. There are deck walking bugs that cause outrageous capsizing of the ship you are on, and the halyards also go unstable at times. However, the weather system is synchronized and two sailors can walk the deck of the same ship, poorly. Main deck, foredeck and bridge are walkable. Much fixing to do.

The main components are now:

• UFPS for First-person camera and control.
• Forge Networking for multiplayer
• Silverlining for a good sky/weather system
• Ceto (Scrawk's) Ocean -- a phenomenal and cheap ocean.
• WorldComposer and TerrainComposer (a love-hate thing here)

Components I found to be near-misses were:

• ActionController/MotionController - very well done and superbly documented, but seemingly not up to deck-walking
• Unistorm - nice precipitation effects, but atrocious API and most clouds inferior to Silverlining's. May go back and bring in the precipitation stuff later.

November 28, 2015

I have posted a tech demo that runs on OS X and on WIndows to show to the development team. The content is essentially a stripped-down H.M.S. Acheron model -- a good place to start.

Its best features are a very realistic ocean asset, a very nice weather/sky system, and some rudimentary deck walking behavior.

September, 2015

Unity3D continues to be a difficult tool for me.

August, 2015

Back working on Unity. I've licensed some third-party components to work with:

• UFPS for First-person camera and control
• Forge Networking for multiplayer
• Silverlining for a good sky/weather system

I may also license

• Triton for ocean modeling, but that will also require that I spring for Unity Pro.

July, 2014

Looking again at Unity3D, not sure I like it. They have some nice videos to show you the ropes now, but they persist in some bad usability stuff. An example: there is a "play mode/edit mode" dichotomy that can cause your work to be silently discarded if it is done in the play mode, and the graphical control buttons for this ignore standards of usability that have existed since VCRs and tape recorders. When in PLAY mode, there is a lit PLAY delta pointing to the right. Why is this not an unlit STOP icon (the block known around the world)? A nit, I know, but ... ayiyi.

June, 2014

I spent some time looking at licensed libraries to improve the hydrodynamic and environmental appeal of the work, but the JME3 developers say that they really cannot support middleware of this type. I'm thoroughly sick of JME3 now. The developers seem content to have cameras that are handled differently than any other Spatial object in their system, and their lack of understanding that this would be the simplest way to treat them is reflected in the fact that the object they provide to tie them to a spatial within their system presumes, oddly, that the camera will control the spatial rather than the other way around (which would HALVE the complexity of this part of the code), and the camera faces BACKWARD when it is set up. This is the sort of usability that gives me hives.

2013

I worked some with Marsden and with Arjen on various aspects of the sim in JME3, but work abated.

<video id="UknqrX89T_w" height="450" width="800" desc="New hydrodynamics" frame="true" position="center"/>

2012

The battlecruiser is up and running on JME3. The wireless systems work, the Dreyer tables and rangefinders. A good many bugs, but some shooting is possible.

Some parts I am leaving for later:

• the ShipsLogPlayback app is in real disrepair. If it comes back, it will be in Java2D
• particle effects of gunfire and shell splashes leaves much to be desired
• flags don't work very well (native physic libraries would help)
• some of my secret features are shelved for now
• multiplayer
• PC compatibility was demonstrated briefly and lost. I hate Windows like mad.

Right now, the following stuff works:

Fore Top accessible by magic portal on gundeck

• Range Officer (w/ telaupad to Top network)
• Spotter (w/ telaupad to Top network)
• Voicepipe to Conn

Director Platform accessible by magic portal on gundeck

• Vickers Light Aloft director manned by

• Phone Man (w/ telaupad to Top network)
• Sightsetter
• Director Layer
• Director Trainer

Transmitting Station accessible by magic portal on gundeck

• TS Officer
• Top Talker (w/ telaupad to Top network)
• Main Talker (w/ telaupad to Main network)
• Dreyer Table Mark III (c1918 sans Wind Dumaresq), manned by

• Range Plotter (w/ six overhead single range receivers, two functioning)
• Bearing Plotter
• Range Tuner
• Spotting Corrector
• Dumaresq Operator
• Totaliser Operator

• Range Master Transmitter w/operator
• Deflection Master Transmitter w/operator
• Bearing Transmitter w/operator
• Gun Ready Board with Fire push

Conning Tower accessible by hatch to signal deck

• Captain
• Helmsman
• Voicepipe to Fore Top
• Captain's Cease Fire push

Gun Control Tower accessible by hatch on its top

• Rangetaker (w/telaupad to Main network and nine-foot coincidence rangefinder)
• Gunnery Officer (with bearing and rate transmitters)
• placeholder sailor
• placeholder sailor

Torpedo Control Tower accessible by hatch if you trek back there!

• Rangetaker (w/telaupad to Main network and nine-foot coincidence rangefinder)
• Two Torpedo Director Pattern 2006s

Signal Deck

• Semaphore Signaller (partly functional)
• Flag Signaller (broken)

Four Twin 13.5-in Turrets, each with

• Officer of Quarters
• Turret Talker (w/ telaupad to Main network)
• Two loaders (abstractly representing the entire loading process)
• Two gun layers with elevation receivers, controls for elevating gun, sighting scopes and triggers
• Turret trainer with 2 telescopes and trainer's switch, controls for training the turret
• Turret Director Trainer with training receiver
• Four sightsetters
• a few miscellaneous receivers

Marsden Samuel helped me with some art. I set him up with what I hope is a runnable WIndows version of my sim so he can walk around the Queen Mary and see whether textures are right or wrong, and check on geometry, etc. It's encouraging to consider someone other than me running my sim!

2011

I have converted FAI to run on JME3 (Java Monkey Engine). Portions are working, especially the destroyers.

<video id="mUofK0auqGI" height="300" width="400" desc="4-in gun fire" frame="true" position="center"/>