The Force Engine

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The Force Engine "XL Engine Lives Again"

luciusDXL

#31 Posted 27 May 2020 - 08:50 PM

Another build has been released and there is a new blog post talking about the next large upcoming build.

Pre-Release Build Version 0.01.006; Win64 has been released.
https://theforceengi.../downloads.html

Changes:

* Fixes a “freeze” in “Prelude to Harkov’s Defection” when shooting at certain walls.
* Fixes hardcoded GOG game source data paths for Dark Forces.
* Fixes Steam game source data paths for Outlaws.
* Outlaws paths are always filled out now if possible, though only Dark Forces is playable.
* Now uses the registry to find Steam and GOG game paths, making auto-detecting the game data much more robust - similar to Doom ports like ZDoom and Chocolate Doom.

This is another small "quality of life" release that fixes a freeze in at least one mod when shooting and makes auto-detecting source game data much more robust.

gibfrag

Honored Donor

#32 Posted 27 May 2020 - 09:16 PM

So far so good. I am curious how customizable will the keyboard and mouse controls be in the first official release?

luciusDXL

#33 Posted 27 May 2020 - 10:29 PM

gerolf, on 27 May 2020 - 09:16 PM, said:

So far so good. I am curious how customizable will the keyboard and mouse controls be in the first official release?

I'm expecting most controls to be re-bindable using the UI. There will be options for classic vs modern controls (i.e. does the mouse work like it does in the original or has full mouselook) and controller support. Of course, that will tie into adjusting the auto-aim from original to no auto-aim at all (like the current test builds).

MrFlibble

#34 Posted 28 May 2020 - 02:44 AM

Phredreeke, on 27 May 2020 - 01:31 AM, said:

Saturn Powerslave? - except it's kind of a reverse 2.5D in that the world is 3D but the enemies and objects are sprites.

Usually I think of such cases as true 3D because the level architecture is rendered in 3D, and the rest is details. There are true 3D models in Dark Forces but the engine is still 2.5D, right? Also there's the XnGine, we have everything in true 3D in XCar, monster sprites in Daggerfall but only decoration and pickup sprites in Future Shock and SkyNET with polygon robot models. But the XnGine is a true 3D engine in every case.

Radar

King of SOVL

#35 Posted 28 May 2020 - 01:44 PM

MARTYR, on 27 May 2020 - 07:25 PM, said:

I would think that Painbrawl wouldn't be far from 1.4/5 or Redneck Rampage, tech wise. Maybe Rednukem could support it in the future?

From what little knowledge I have of this game (and I might be totally wrong about this), the game's executable isn't Build. After you're done in the menu, it loads Build externally. I suspect it's not difficult to get the Build portion working, but nobody wants to deal with the menu system that is completely foreign to everything Build.

Oh yeah, AND IT TOTALLY SUCKS.

Jimmy

Let's go Brandon!

#36 Posted 28 May 2020 - 03:33 PM

The maps aren't that bad really but yeah it's quite shit.

-1

Dzierzan

#37 Posted 29 May 2020 - 01:46 PM

So yeah, when this project will be done, I hope to be the first person to mod it

This post has been edited by Dzierzan: 29 May 2020 - 01:46 PM

Fantinaikos

#38 Posted 07 June 2020 - 07:07 PM

All the stuff I can find for Dark Forces and Outlaws, in particular for Dark Forces which I find that the hosting situation on DF-21.net and jkdf2.net swinging (infact this instability has already led to the loss of some content in the years). I regrouped all the single and multimission fan-levels, tools and tutorials, including stuff retrivable only trough aimed webarchive, into a single pack, trying to repair and recreate where it was possible. I'd suggest to test the Force Engine with many custom levels as possible, to detect any eventual basic compatibility and loading problem to fix. Hopefully the documentation still valid for any mapper that want to create new content.

Dark Forces
Download: https://ufile.io/40esi35i (not permanent, I'd need one)

Projects that never maked or just remained demos

Spoiler

Unretrivable levels

Spoiler

Documentation and Tutorials for level and mods making

Spoiler

Nicholas Jankowski aka njankowski Python based extraction and convertion Tools for Star Wars Dark Forces and Outlaws

Dark Forces DeHacker 1.3 - -=CHE@TER=-
Application that allows additional features such as Mouse-look

Latest version of the unfinished open community project "Docking Station Reno: The Krelen Incident". More informations here and here.

Outlaws (+ "A Handful of Missions" official Level Pack)
Custom Levels
LawMaker Editor Tool and other resources
LawMaker videotutorials playlist by the Outlaws Hub YT channel
Scans of the official Strategy Guide by Lunick

luciusDXL

#39 Posted 08 June 2020 - 12:18 AM

Thanks, Fantinaikos for gathering all of that. Fortunately, The Force Engine will include tools such as the level editor and tools for exporting and importing assets.

As for the other items, I do need to download the various levels and mods (that I am still missing). And I agree about testing with mods and have been doing so. Though some still have issues those should be resolved before release.

Malgon

#40 Posted 09 June 2020 - 01:08 AM

I keep meaning to post in this to say that it's awesome that someone is tackling this, as Dark Forces and Outlaws could really benefit from it and it would be great for more people to play them (and especially hear that amazing Outlaws soundtrack!).

luciusDXL

#41 Posted 08 July 2020 - 06:07 PM

It's about time to post another update regarding the progress towards the Classic Renderer Release.

Task List
The following task list shows the items required for the release. The biggest remaining items are Object/Sector assignment and RE Object 3D rendering. Once those are complete the remaining tasks will be completed quickly. The release is still on track for this month. Also note that the reverse engineering efforts touch many systems in the DOS exe, so this work is also laying the foundation for the rest of the reverse-engineering effort, accelerating this project towards release.

. . . .

Read the post here: https://theforceengi...rProgress2.html

This post has been edited by luciusDXL: 08 July 2020 - 06:08 PM

Dzierzan

#42 Posted 04 August 2020 - 02:03 PM

This project also inspired me to start Dark Forces Voxel Pack:

Posted Image

I think it's gonna be a good idea to make Github for that, just like Blood or Duke Nukem.

Obviously Dark Forces didn't support voxels and nether TFE does that currently. But I believe it's a matter of time when it's gonna be supported.

Fantinaikos

#43 Posted 04 August 2020 - 03:02 PM

Quote

Obviously Dark Forces didn't support voxels and nether TFE does that currently. But I believe it's a matter of time when it's gonna be supported.

In the meantime both Duke Forces and Xim's Star Wars can benefit by it immediately. Actually even an MD3 pack would be possible, if you convert the stuff from unfinished Dark Forces 1 mod for Dark Forces 2 JK (or even better from Jedi Knight Remastered pack) that anyway is getting his continuation apparently.

Plus, if my bridge contact is still there, your Smooth Dark Forces project may be object of interest for Xim. The only inconvenient is that It should be done even with the zillion of weapons his mod adds.

NightFright

The Truth is in here

#44 Posted 04 August 2020 - 09:10 PM

@Dzierzan
If you don't want to create a Github for that by yourself, I can create one and give you access. This is exactly what the project needed. Thanks a lot for starting it!

This post has been edited by NightFright: 04 August 2020 - 09:11 PM

Dzierzan

#45 Posted 05 August 2020 - 02:39 AM

As a matter of fact, I've made the github repository for this https://github.com/D...rces-Voxel-Pack

I can't wait to try them one day in TFE. Of course I don't mind if people use them for other mods as long as it's properly credited.

Phredreeke

#46 Posted 06 September 2020 - 09:35 PM

Lucius posted an update on the renderers

https://theforceengi...rer-Design.html

NightFright

The Truth is in here

#47 Posted 06 September 2020 - 10:03 PM

RTX in Dark Forces sounds neat, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Right now I'd already be satisfied with a fully functional port.

Phredreeke

#48 Posted 06 September 2020 - 11:16 PM

Quote

It also opens up new possibilities such as raytracing effects without requiring RTX hardware. However, this is a non-trivial endeavor and WILL NOT happen until after the gameplay is complete. So, it is included for completeness and future planning only.

jkas789

#49 Posted 08 September 2020 - 02:13 AM

Fantinaikos, on 07 June 2020 - 07:07 PM, said:

Dark Forces
Download: https://ufile.io/40esi35i (not permanent, I'd need one)

Thanks fantanaikos! Unfortunately the link is dead. have you thought of uploading it to Mega?

Also this is fantastic news! I totally did not know there was a Outlaws + Dark Forces source port incoming. Saw the thread for the Dark forces voxels and that only amkes me wish someone started a Outlaws voxel project.

MetHy

#50 Posted 21 September 2020 - 05:53 AM

Hello, I'm very interested in this project.
I love this game and I even went to hell & back just to try and emulate the Mac version properly to get that groundbreaking 640*400 resolution, with no success, to my knowledge there is no way to emulate that version properly: either it will lag a lot or you'll get no sound.

Anyway, here is a small issue report. I have set my Steam directories to my D drive, not my C drive. The config menu of the Force Engine startup window however won't let me change the path: that error message just won't go away.
There doesn't seem to be any config file I could edit the path in manually either.

Copy pasting my Dark Forces directory into that same path on my C drive did the trick, however hopefully another solution will present itself at some point. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's keeping his C: SSD drive just for windows files and who'd rather not clog it with hundreds of gigabytes of Steam games.

Edit: this is an early version but good job so far, it's a pleasure to see the game in higher resolutions with such framerates already. I understand it's not a priority but it would be great if you implemented an autorunning option: indeed just like how in Powerslave you can abuse capslock/numlock/scrolllock keys to fake autorunning and freelook, you can have autorunning in the original game by setting the key to Capslock.

Attached thumbnail(s)

This post has been edited by MetHy: 21 September 2020 - 06:05 AM

luciusDXL

#51 Posted 22 September 2020 - 11:43 AM

MetHy, on 21 September 2020 - 05:53 AM, said:

It's interesting that you ran into this problem since TFE should have read the Steam directory from the registry. At any rate, the current imGUI file dialog is going to be replaced with a proper OS file dialog which should fix the error you were getting. Also note that there is an INI file, but it is in Documents/TheForceEngine/settings.ini for Windows.

NightFright, on 06 September 2020 - 10:03 PM, said:

RTX in Dark Forces sounds neat, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Right now I'd already be satisfied with a fully functional port.

The renderer plans in that post stretch past "gameplay complete" - but I find it useful to plan for the future in order to better design things now. Obviously only to a point though as things can evolve during implementation. At any rate, the "Classic Renderer Release" will support Classic_Fixed, Classic_Float and Classic_GPU only with the rest of the rendering work coming after gameplay is complete for Dark Forces and Outlaws. Granted once it is time to port over the Outlaws Jedi extensions, more work will be required for those sub-renderers - but the focus will be on implementing what is required and finishing the gameplay (and associated systems like cutscenes, video playback, etc.).

I tried to make my intentions clear in the blog post, even bolding certain parts to stress what is important now and what is just planning for the future.

This post has been edited by luciusDXL: 22 September 2020 - 11:53 AM

Lunick

#52 Posted 18 October 2020 - 05:09 PM

So I had a look at the roadmap again and November 1st is coming up pretty quickly, I assume the "First Official Release" definitely won't be making that goal at this point?

jkas789

#53 Posted 18 October 2020 - 07:55 PM

I'm just happy it's being worked on.

NightFright

The Truth is in here

#54 Posted 19 October 2020 - 10:32 AM

I just realized they took Dark Forces off the index in Germany on Sep 30 since it happens automatically 25 years afterwards. If you read the report from 1995, you feel compelled to laugh almost instantly due to the way it is written. Everything in this game is demonized, you are "forced" to kill enemies, humans are brutally slain etc. A joke document. Tragic and sad there were never any attempts made to get the game reinstated long before the 25 years deadline.

This post has been edited by NightFright: 19 October 2020 - 10:33 AM

Phredreeke

#55 Posted 19 October 2020 - 11:02 AM

You mean having an index of forbidden games isn't a joke in itself?

NightFright

The Truth is in here

#56 Posted 19 October 2020 - 11:47 AM

Well it wasn't exactly forbidden. You just couldn't sell or advertise it openly (which de facto meant not mentioning it in games magazines by name etc). Admittedly, that's not very far from a general ban. Wolf3D was really completely forbidden, you could be fined or theoretically persecuted legally for selling or owning it. Gratefully those times are over, too.

And yes, the entire concept of having an index for games like Dark Forces, Duke3D, Quake, ROTT or Doom (yes, they were all on the German index) is, or rather was, absolutely ridiculous.

This post has been edited by NightFright: 19 October 2020 - 11:49 AM

Lunick

#57 Posted 02 November 2020 - 05:10 PM

Lunick, on 18 October 2020 - 05:09 PM, said:

So I had a look at the roadmap again and November 1st is coming up pretty quickly, I assume the "First Official Release" definitely won't be making that goal at this point?

The Roadmap page got updated sometime in the past couple of days https://theforceengi...io/Roadmap.html

Update

I’m sure this is clear already, but the original November 1st release has been pushed back. As is always the case with these kinds of projects, the more you work on it, the more clear the scope and size becomes. The original estimate was based on the development velocity at the time of writing, which of course cannot be consistently maintained for various reasons.

That said, the project is still in progress. But there will be no release in November.
Early to Mid 2021 First Official Release

jkas789

#58 Posted 02 November 2020 - 07:21 PM

honestly I think a delay is fine. Life has been getting very complicated and with an upcoming second Covid wave I prefer people take care of themselves first. As long as the dev is alright I can wait all the time in the world of the force engine to come out.

Posted Image