Re: [Plib-users] plib for a game engine..

[Wolfram K. <w_...@rz...>]

<ha...@sl...> wrote:

>
>I'm designing a 3D RPG and am considering plib as the one of the options
>for a 3D library.
>
>I'm wondering if there is currently any mechanism to convert or load
>worlds from any of the decent game editors (worldcraft, quake editor,
>etc).

Thanks to Jon Anderson it can load Quakes MD2. It can also load:

3ds (3D Studio, works most of the time)
ASE (3DSMAX ASCII EXPORT Version 2.00, well tested)
DXF (well tested)
AC, TRI (Andy Colbourne Editor. well tested)
MDL (the format for Micro$ofts Flight simulator, some features
missing)
OBJ (wavefront, works well)
SSG (native format, well tested)
VRML (VRML, fairly basic right now)
X (Microsofts DirectX-Format. Loading of geometry works. I had to
interrupt working on it, but am now at it again, the rest like
textures, saving etc  should be working next week)
FLT (OpenFlight, work in progress)

BTW, it would be nice if a) all of these would be mentioned on the web
site and b) we had a table showing which format and which loader has
which features.

>I was also wondering what the general differences are between plib and
>crystal space. (e.g. what advantages does plib have over CS?)

Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to really look into CS.
Therefore the answer to this question would interest me also :-).

>Two differences I've noticed are:
>1) plib looks *much* simpler with a much smaller learning curve than
>   crystal space.

Yes, looks like it.

>2) plib provides tree based rendering and culling, where crystal space
>   focuses on a "portal engine" for performance.  Does this theoretically
>   make plib perform better than crystal space in an open area scene,
>   while CS performs better in a closed quake-style engine?

To take a wild guess:
CS is probably faster indoors.
Outdoors the difference is probably smaller.
But of course the portals engine adds quite a lot of code complexity.

>3) crystal space has more functionality:
>     *      a decent software renderer

We have one too, namely Mesa :-).

>     *      more file loaders

Which do they have?
Looking at their site, I just see two (3DS and MD2).


>thanks,
>Brian Hayward

Bye bye,
Wolfram Kuss.