Warsmash General Discussion

[Retera]

This is a thread where anybody can post their thoughts and opinions on Warsmash, and relax and talk about this project and have fun!

I'm hoping that by April 2022 we will have working multiplayer on this engine, personally.

 

[Retera]

>> APRIL FOOLS <<

I'm hoping that by April 2022 we will have working multiplayer on this engine, personally.

Guess what, guys!? It's April 1st, and you know that means! Time to release an update.

Today to celebrate April 1st, we want to celebrate Warsmash and everything it means. And what Warsmash means is to take the Warcraft III inspiration, and the passion that we have, and then make it all again from scratch in rebellion.

So, today we are announcing a new website for Warsmash:

The Jive Workshop
The Jive Workshop will be a new place to experience your Warsmash modding community social life!

This is a next-level innovation. Jive Workshop will do for Hive Workshop what Warsmash does for Warcraft III.

 

[1053831109]

I want to participate in this 。 how can Contact you

 

[Retera]

Hi! I sent you a message on discord about it

 

[1053831109]

Where is the world light adjusted? The model is too dark。 i use WarsmashPreviewApplication

 

[Retera]

WarsmashPreviewApplication has a member field named "viewer". That's the java-based port of the viewer originally written in javascript that I was copying from (GitHub - flowtsohg/mdx-m3-viewer: A WebGL viewer for MDX and M3 files used by the games Warcraft 3 and Starcraft 2 respectively.)

After I copied it I had to add the lighting system since his original work did not have that system. So, for a world view (w3x/ map) I use the War3MapViewer class, but you may notice that when WarsmashPreviewApplication initializes his member field named "viewer" he creates an instance of "MdxViewer" and not an instance of "War3MapViewer" like the overworld gameplay stuff that I most often show videos of on Warsmash.

When using "MdxViewer", the lighting is then getting set based on a light direction passed to the constructor of that class (it's exact value is controllabe here, currently the vector {0.3f, 0.3f, -0.25f} with a negative Z so that it's light coming down from above), which is then given to the light manager that gets created later. Currently it reuses the same light manager that the overworld gameplay view uses for Unit Portraits at the bottom of the screen in the UI. The "portrait light manager" class then uses this direction given to fill the light data buffer with a hardcoded light who generally is formatted onto that buffer in the same format as what we see in LightInstance.bind. If you wanted to refactor the code to be more readable, maybe the hardcoded light could be setup using a call to LightInstance.bind so that there is only one place in the code that turns the meaningful variable names into buffer contents in this format. Looks like I did not bother to set it up that way.

The formatted data in that buffer is then read from GLSL code on the GPU stuff here if you're interested in the math of what those numbers get used for. Not sure if that's relevant to your problem. As you have probably seen, the math itself should support brighter lights and we just need to configure it to be brighter. Honestly I'm forgetting what causes the issue with models being dark that you are facing.

Have you tried changing this line CURRENT_SHADER_TYPE = MENU to instead assign CURRENT_SHADER_TYPE = GAME:
WarsmashModEngine/MdxViewer.java at ba2eb05207e8a7543076c6c48b3fbe2f296f8c00 · Retera/WarsmashModEngine

I'm not certain but something like that might be what you're looking for. Although the Portrait Light Manager stuff is shared between the ingame portrait and the general MDX viewer, I put in this static boolean as a hack to make the lighting on the menu screens match more closely to the War3 experience. I don't exactly understand why, but it's as though the srgb conversion is accidentally run 2x on the menus in Warcraft III but only 1x correctly in game or something like that. A lot of this is a fairly inexact science and I'm pretty sure the original game War3 is probably hacked together around the edges anyway. I just sometimes get inspired to put in hacks to increase how much mine reminds me of the experience that I want visually.


Edit:

Here is an example screenshot comparing why I did this:

Obviously in both cases I am not yet previewing the fog effects, but I assume that if I ever add those, then it would probably become as similar as I am ever going to get it, I assume.

Edit 2:
Did you try git checkout experimental for the experimental branch, also? In that version, the main method for WarsmashPreviewApplication is already setting it to GAME shader type, actually. But if you are building the main/master branch then it's probably not fixed.

 

[1053831109]

got it. Thank you for answering such a long text.

 

[namelessly]

The Linux community loves your project:

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/uaz7br

 

[Retera]

Thanks for the note, by the way! Was fun to see the positive responses.

 

[namelessly]

Hi there,
to avoid Bobby and his Arclight syndrome, you could fork Warsmash into a direction, that it becomes its own thing (& yet stays fundamentally the same as WC3).

Maybe you can borrow the assets from this open source game GitHub - 0ad/0ad: Git mirror of the 0 A.D. source code (http://trac.wildfiregames.com/browser) for now, till the fork has its own assets in the unforeseen future. ( A YouTube video about the game:

)


0 A.D. license: 0ad/LICENSE.txt at master · 0ad/0ad

 

[Sumned]

Is true, that fkng Blizz killed your project?

 

[Lon-ami]

Is true, that fkng Blizz killed your project?

Just saw this:

The github page seems to be down, that's so sad, hope Retera continues it privately or something, I don't think Blizzard has any legal ground here, but I wouldn't expect a single individual to stand against them :/.

WarSmash still has potential to become its own independent game, I really hope this isn't the end.

 

[namelessly]

Just saw this:

The github page seems to be down, that's so sad, hope Retera continues it privately or something, I don't think Blizzard has any legal ground here, but I wouldn't expect a single individual to stand against them :/.

WarSmash still has potential to become its own independent game, I really hope this isn't the end.

He doesn't have to stand alone against them: Legal Assistance from EFF

Also, maybe the Hive can represent as a group the modding community by supporting one of their beloved modders. This case seems also important not only for Retera's project, but also for the modding community in general.

 

[HerlySQR]

That's curious, after months of reflexing and improving my programming skills I wanted to return to this project, but I came with this notice.

 

[Tal'Rarity]

Should try standing together against this tyrannical king and behead activision. Bring back the hype of modding and show why games should include as well need it.

 

[HerlySQR]

Should try standing together against this tyrannical king and behead activision. Bring back the hype of modding and show why games should include as well need it.

We could do that, but this is a legal problem, he needs a lawer and to fight against a millionaire company will take a lot of money.

 

[Dr Super Good]

I grabbed a copy of the GIT off someone who still had it forked on GitHub.

If there is enough attention/support the project could still be continued. Just care would be needed to make sure the project is clearly distinct from Warcraft III. Specifically anything that forces it to imitate the look and feel of Warcraft III should not be associated directly with the engine or promotional material there of and instead be a separate project. Additionally the engine should not be limited to the exact feature set of Warcraft III, and instead have "new" features to distinguish itself.

 

[namelessly]

I grabbed a copy of the GIT off someone who still had it forked on GitHub.

If there is enough attention/support the project could still be continued. Just care would be needed to make sure the project is clearly distinct from Warcraft III. Specifically anything that forces it to imitate the look and feel of Warcraft III should not be associated directly with the engine or promotional material there of and instead be a separate project. Additionally the engine should not be limited to the exact feature set of Warcraft III, and instead have "new" features to distinguish itself.

Warcraft III Future - What is our plan?

The future of Warcraft 3 seems rather uncertain, and often I find people do not agree on what they want for this game. But to be honest, when I look at Patch 1.33 and the extensive amount of work it needs to eliminate all bugs that it would otherwise introduce, I just have a sense of foreboding...

www.hiveworkshop.com

Maybe this could be useful?

 

[HerlySQR]

Retera was absent for more a week, what do you think he is doing?

 

[Dr Super Good]

Maybe this could be useful?

If people wanted to make an open source data set for it then such things could be useful. However still the Warcraft III support and references would need to be decoupled from the base engine which would be quite a bit of work.

 

[HerlySQR]

I was wondering, if this is a "Fight that Retera could win, because there is no legal reason to do that", maybe this is the chance of him being considerated by Blizzard, or at least that I was hoping Retera is doing in his absence.

 

[Arious]

Retera has been inactive on Hive, wc3 forums, Youtube, discord & github for more than a week. He used to be very active on all these platforms.

This absence doesn't seem normal to me. What do you guys think?

 

[deepstrasz]

This absence doesn't seem normal to me. What do you guys think?

I think you're wasting too much time on the illusion that Retera is not a human being who may go on vacation or take a break.

 

[Volchachka]

Hello Retera. I saw that Blizzard hadn't come to love the Warsmash which you were making the better than same Blizzard Team has developing a Reforged. Furthermore, I thing You could development another Game (another Warsmash) similar WCIII to which Blizzard couldn't assert nothing. Warsmash with own assets ( ui, sounds, model and etc. ). It certainly it is hard but with right friends you can move mountains. You have every chances to F the Blizzard. Tear the Blizzard bun(butt) into two croissants.

Sorry for my English.

Give the «Retera Games Entertainment Studio»!

 

[deepstrasz]

 

[Dr Super Good]

So was the legal request genuine? Or is he saying that he ignored it (as it was clearly shallow and incorrect)?

 

[deepstrasz]

 

[Retera]

 

[namelessly]

GitHub - stijnherfst/HiveWE: A Warcraft III world editor.

A Warcraft III world editor. Contribute to stijnherfst/HiveWE development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Does this work with Warsmash? Since it's an open-source project, would anything created with it be actually mine then?

 

[Retera]

be actually mine

Generally yes as far as I know. You could ask @eejin to double check but my general understanding is that anything you make in HiveWE is something that you own.

However, I think there will be some challenges for you. HiveWE's primary target, if I'm not mistaken, is to use the latest version of Warcraft III as the source of game assets. However, Warsmash works best when you use an old Warcraft 3 installation (like 1.22 or 1.27) although it can function if you feed it 1.32.10 assets, with a few limitations (less of the sounds work because of sound table changes, and some stuff like that).

Also, HiveWE if I'm not mistaken is looking at incorporating support for Patch 1.33 relatively soon, whereas I am not very motivated to add 1.33 support into Warsmash even though I may do so at some point in the future.

I have also been told that HiveWE's latest version from the GitHub source code is much newer and better than the binary version that you can download on the Hive tools download page. But it has been a very long time since I compiled my own build of HiveWE.

It is also true of Warsmash that the version I run is quite far ahead of the binary version on Hive. I am hopeful at some point in the future to get the Gaming Network Custom Games feature working with a UI so that players can host and join games on Warsmash, although I have not finished making that yet. Obviously in the long term, I assume a user would want a workflow where they could make a custom map file on HiveWE and then host the map and play it with a friend on an instance of the Warsmash Gaming Network server somewhere, without ever editing the source code. But we are probably not quite to that point yet, at least not on the Warsmash side.

 

[Retera]

I tried again last night to make a video that could be shared on my YouTube channel to try to explain to people that Blizzard never took down Warsmash and never sent me any kind of C&D relating to Warsmash, but when I reviewed my video after recording it I did not like it (again) so I did not post it.

As mentioned in my "True History of Warsmash" YouTube video months ago before there was anything really about Patch 1.33 and before Wc3's birthday, back then in that video about 3/4ths of the way through I mention how the same social media effect that spreads negativity around Reforged would inevitably be weaponized to create a future where people did not play Warsmash, eventually, and so we all knew in advance that I was only making the technology for myself or maybe for people who find it and read the code. Maybe the social media spreading of false information saying that Warsmash was taken down is the start to this prediction coming true? Conversely, a friend once told me, "That's not how this works" and said the only conclusion anyone can accept is that I lied directly to them. Is that what happened?

So, one night at midnight I made that Apology thread but I don't think it really achieved anything productive in the end, maybe. I guess one outcome is that one of the Hive Workshop's biggest donors and innovators seemed convinced that my behavior, actions, and nature are generally totally unacceptable and that I should be banned from Hive. There is really nothing more frightening than angry rich people, and so I don't really know what to do about that. I sent him a friendly message asking if he was able to talk to staff and determine if he felt the site and its punishment systems against me were functioning properly, but he never replied so that probably only made it worse. So, anyway I might be gone soon. Maybe that April Fool's Day joke about the Jive Workshop will have to become a reality eventually. The point of social media, and the goal function of those machinations, is a future where people talk about nothing and get nothing done, and that's all this paragraph is. If we think about the technology, interpersonal relationships are of no value to it.

Technology
As far as the technology of Warsmash, the GitHub is public again and last weekend I thought I would try to program the Immolation hero skill. It did not go too well, because I did not have a BuffUI cache of information to be like AbilityUI. So I tried to program a better version of AddSpellEffectTarget based on that, although the internal engine code is certainly ahead of the JASS2 native for now (which is still not fully featured and was only used in the WarChasers gameplay demo). I can relax on the weekend by adding these game systems improvements even though my long term vision for the next feature development sprint would be to add online multiplayer through the GUI rather than the existing command-line-only multiplayer solution.

Last night I also played the Reforged emulation mode, which got upgraded with some of the same shader improvements as Retera Model Studio a couple weeks ago:

I definitely entertained myself a lot with how shiny the Crypt Lord was. You'd probably need some render edge magic to pull that off on Warcraft III classic!

Does anyone know what part of the shader code causes those black spots on the trees in the video above? I haven't researched that one at all.

 

[namelessly]

It's all cool. If it wasn't for mistakes, we wouldn't learn some things in the first place. Also, one can't satisfy everyone either. There will always be butthurt people.

And see your Hive deeds on a balance in order to check if you are really such a bad person after a single mistake or if you have done more good stuff in total.

I think it will become a real problem, once one repeats a mistake over again & obviously doesn't learn from it.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Maybe the social media spreading of false information saying that Warsmash was taken down is the start to this prediction coming true? Conversely, a friend once told me, "That's not how this works" and said the only conclusion anyone can accept is that I lied directly to them. Is that what happened?

I think a lot of the problem was you seemingly disappeared around the time the incident happened? Instead of clearing it up that it was all a lie before the damage to your reputation was done?

Everyone assumed that you rage quit after receiving the takedown notice based on previous posts you made saying you would do such a thing if it ever happened. This just added credibility to the lie. I think people like Kam even contacted Blizzard about it to defend Warsmash. Needless to say discovering it was all a lie would not go down well with a lot of people...

Does anyone know what part of the shader code causes those black spots on the trees in the video above? I haven't researched that one at all.

As a rough guess being black it would either be due to a lack of calculated light reflecting in those areas, or that for some reason the texture sampler is trying to sample outside the edges of the texture and the texture wrap mode is not set correctly (e.g. extending a black boarder rather than mirroring onto green texels or something silly). Texture coordinates being incorrect could also be a cause.

 

[Retera]

Here's a fun weekend video about Warsmash and Warcraft 3.

 

[namelessly]

Here's a fun weekend video about Warsmash and Warcraft 3.

No offence, but for someone who hasn't read the apology thread it might sound like "I see it solely as my own private project despite of it having been accessible as an open-source project on GitHub & yea I don't care about your feelings. That's why I took it down when I felt like it, oh and btw fuck you."

Maybe you could clarify in a follow-up clip that you didn't expect the project to get that much attention nor that many people would actually be interested into it which is why you assumed that the usual few hundred Retera enjoyers on YouTube gonna watch the clip only and that you felt like your project was still going forward as a rather unnoticed project which is why you couldn't even imagine the impact of you joking around with your few hundred watchers who would turn into a few thousands overnight causing the joke to turn into a big shitstorm against Blizzard.

 

[Retera]

That's why I took it down when I felt like it, oh and btw fuck you.

I specifically edited out the part of the original cut in the blue shirt where I tried to provide some rationalization for why I took it down. It just felt like trying to explain away the problem and blame someone else who doesn't deserve it. It's not that I want you to interpret me as feeling that way about everyone, but really I do not see a better alternative thing to say. Your interpretation here might as well be accurate.

Maybe you could clarify in a follow-up clip that you didn't expect the project to get that much attention

I think this is very true. This was not my first time taking down the github for no particular reason, but almost no one noticed when I took down the first one. You might be able to find it on the wayback machine on a GitHub project called "Warsmash" rather than "WarsmashModEngine," because the first one actually even had a different name. But no one cared about my antics that time.

 

[Retera]

Hi guys. I created a new discord server for Warsmash. The discord invite link is in my signature.