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net3d - a networked, multiplayer 3d combat game Copyright (C) 1994 by Jamie Cameron thanatos@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au jcam2@ccds.cc.monash.edu.au This is version 0.08 of net3d, a simple multiplayer game written for Unix and X11. At the moment, I have only successfully tested net3d on the following systems - Ultrix 4.4 / 4.3 (DECstation) OSF/1 (DEC Alpha) HP-UX SunOS Solaris (Sun Sparc Classic) Irix 5.2 (SGI) If you are using either of the above, then it should work. As for anything else... if you get it to compile and run then tell me about it, and any changes / bug fixes needed to get it up and running. COMPILING NET3D Net3d now uses an Imakefile, so it should be possible to compile by running: xmkmf followed by: make If nothing goes wrong, two executables will be produced, net3d and net3dserv. net3dserv is the server for multiplayer games, and net3d the client run by each player. If you have any problems compiling, mail me and tell me what kind of system you are using, what the error was and (hopefully :) how to fix it, so I can include the fix in the next version. There are several compile-time options that can be changed in config.h, that may have to be adjusted to get net3d to compile on your system. The important ones are: CPPPATH - the full path and filename for the C pre-processor on your system. Should be found automatically by Imake USEINLINES - determines if inline functions are used (only with gcc). Some versions of gcc don't seem to work with them properly. Note - if you plan on modifying the code, then it will be necessary to run: makedepend *.c to add include file dependencies to the makefile. RUNNING NET3D net3d can by played in each single or multiplayer modes. To start a single player game, just type : net3d <vehicle files> ... For example, if you type net3d map2.v heli.v then you will be flying a helicopter around a simple 3d map. Controls for the vehicle you are piloting will be displayed before the game starts, and are by default something like : rotate left - left rotate right - right accellerate - up decellerate - down climb - a dive - z halt - s gun left - o gun right - p gun up - j gun down - i fire - return lock on - l eject - j quit - q wireframe toggle - w build menu toggle - b long range view - 1 view from stationary point - 2 view from behind vehicle - 3 inside view - 4 above view - 5 turret view - 6 short range view - 7 missile view - 8 interesting thing view - 9 Not all controls will be appropriate for all vehicles. For example, a vehicle like a tank (in tank.v) cannot fly, so the climb and dive keys have no effect. Similarly, in a vehicle with no separate gun turret, the keys for contolling the turret won't do anything. Using the controls, you can fly or drive a vehicle around the game world. Most objects in the game, including the hills, will cause damage if your vehicle hits them. Also, other computer controlled vehicles may open fire on you or accidentally collide with you. Locking on ---------- When in viewing mode 4 or 6, the lock key (usually 'l') will lock on to the closest vehicle in your gunsights. A short description of the vehicle you have locked onto is displayed, and if your vehicle is armed with missiles, then any missiles fired will home in on the target you have chosen. Leaving your vehicle -------------------- At any time you can eject from the vehicle you are driving, if it is a tank, helicopter or other similar piloted machine. Once you have ejected, you will be controlling a small fish (until I can create something better). Outside your vehicle you are extremely vulnerable, however you can board any unoccupied vehicle and collect trees for later use in building things. Leaving a helicopter or other flying machine at a high altitude is not recommended. Building things --------------- The 'menu' key brings up a row of buttons along the bottom of the screen, for building various types of walls. If you have enough resources, then clicking the mouse button on one of the icons will construct the item chosen in front of your current vehicle. In addition to walls on various angles, it is also possible to build mines (which explode when hit) and autocannons (which fire at the nearest target, apart from the vehicle that created them). Resources for building can only be obtained by collecting trees, as described above. Head-up displays ---------------- When in view-mode 4 (pilot view) or 6 (gun view), the following are displayed on screen : lock information (top left) radar (top right) hit points (below radar) ammunition (below hit points) resources (below ammo) velocity (bottom left) altitude (top right) VEHICLE FILES Several vehicle files are provided with net3d, some of which define vehicles for players to drive and some which define worlds with scenery to fly/drive around. There are also files that combine a map and a number of vehicles, for easily starting a multi-player battle. The scenery files are: map.v - A complex, mountainous world with several buildings and roads, as well as a few strange creatures inhabiting it. Good for multi-player games on fast machines. map2.v - A simple map, suitable for machines with less processing power to throw around. map3.v - A coastal area, with a few buildings and flying creatures. Good for air combat. The battle files are: battle.v - Fought on map.v, between a helicopter, two tanks and a cosmosphere. Includes an initially unmanned helicopter on a helipad in the top right corner of the map. battle2.v - Fought on map2.v, between a tank and two helicopters. Good for a simple multi-player game. battle3.v - Fought on map3.v, between 3 helicopters and a speedboat. Also includes a large battleship with 2 cannons a short distance out to sea. space.v - A space battle between 3 starfighters. At the moment there isn't much scenery in this one, though this will change when I create a few more suitable vehicles. The vehicle files are: amigaball.v - amigaball.def.v - A bouncing red and white amiga beachball. Useful for scenery, but not much else. eye.v - eye.def.v - A flying eyeball with a tail and wings. Armed with a light tracer weapon firing from it's tail. heli.v - heli.def.v - A small helicopter with gun turret, firing homing missiles. tank.v - tank.def.v - A small tank with gun turret and reasonably heavy armour, and armed with a cannon. boat.def.v - A small speedboat with a roof mounted gun fish.def.v - A large, flying fish. Used in map.v as scenery, where it chases small birds around. house.def.v - Scenery object, used in all the map files. cannon.def.v - A large gun installation, used for scenery in map3.v glassfish.v - glassfish.def.v - Like fish.def.v, but made of transparent polygons m2.v - m2.def.v - A lightly armed armoured personell carrier. Has a turret mounted machinegun. cosmosphere.def.v - A huge, flying cosmosphere, inspired by the lunatic rantings of McElwaine. :) gunship.v - gunship.def.v - A more heavily armed helicopter, but without a gun turret. ptero.v - ptero.def.v - A flying pterodactyl-like bird. Used as scenery in map.v and map3.v asteroid.def.v - A slowly spinning chunk of rock, used as scenery in space.v stingship.v stingship.def.v - A small spacegoing fighter, armed with a plama ball cannon. Note that vehicle files can be grouped into two types, definitions (ending with .def.v) and usable vehicles (ending with .v). Typically, the vehicle is fully defined and described in the .def.v file, with is included in the .v file, and instantiated. All the .def.v files are used in the various map and battle files to create vehicles or creatures living in that particular world. In addition to the .v files that can be used as command line arguments, there is one additional file, extras.v, that is used by net3d. extras.v is contains the definitions of all the bullets, walls, missiles, fireballs and commonly used miscellaneous objects used in the game. However, extras.v is not read in by net3d at run time, and thus simply modifying it will not change the appearance of objects in the game. Instead, the file is converted to a .c file during compilation and linked into the final executable program. This means that after changing extras.v, you must re-compile net3d for the changes to take effect. STARTING A MULTI-PLAYER GAME 1) Choose a machine that you want to be the game server, and on it run : net3dserv <vehicle file> ... For example, to start a simple game, you might run net3dserv battle.v 2) Each person who wants to join the game should run : net3d <server> <name> on their machine, where <server> is the address of the machine the server was run on, and <name> is the name this player wants to use in the game. If <name> is omitted, then net3d uses your current login name. For example, to connect to a server on the machine foo.cc, using the name Joe Smeg in the game, type : net3d foo.cc Joe Smeg 3) The server will receive connections from players and display info about each new player on the screen. When return is hit, the server sends information about the game world and vehicles to each player, assigns vehicles to players and starts the game. If there are not enough vehicles for players, then vehicles are assigned on a 'first- come, first-served' basis. 4) Once the game begins, the players can fight it out until only one only remains, who will be informed of victory by a message in their window. Once that final player hits the 'quit' key, the server and all the clients will exit. COMPATABILITY PROBLEMS This version of net3d will almost certainly fail on anything other than a 8-bit pseudocolour display, as it's the only kind of display I've got access to. Hopefully, the next version will include support for 24-bit displays, as well as grey-scale. All the networking code in net3d makes use of tcp/ip sockets, so if your version of unix doesn't support sockets then the multi-player version won't work. Hopefully single player mode will, though. Net3d also needs cpp to pre-process it's vehicle files, and looks for it in /lib/cpp by default. If you don't have cpp, then you're out of luck. If you do, but it's not in /lib, then change CPPPATH in config.h, and re-compile. HISTORY version 0.01 - net3d is first let loose on the net version 0.02 - fixed bugs and hp-ux compatability problems suggested by R.K.Lloyd@csc.liv.ac.uk, such as division by zero if a vehicle has max velocity zero, and core dumps when no vehicles are given. version 0.03 - sphere polygons are now drawn correctly - fireballs stored in the extra vehicle file - the server displays the name of the machine each player connects from - clients don't kill the whole game when killed by ctrl-c - HP-UX compatability (hopefully :) - Sun compatability (even more hopefully) - the 'single' variable renamed to 'single_player' - strerror() kludged up for suns which are missing this function version 0.04 - improved depthsorting algorithm - "ground none" option in map files - "stars" option in map files - Linux compatability (maybe?) - new .v files and weapons - fixed problem with dropping keystrokes version 0.05 - added 'scale' statement for vehicles in .v files - added a workaround for problems with mmult under linux - improved space.v a bit version 0.06 - minor release to fix bugs and warning messages version 0.07 - minor bug fixes version 0.08 - fixed core dumps under linux (at last) - added weapon and ammuntion prizes - fixed Solaris compile-time bugs - fixed a few other minor niggles - changes the way movement works internally - started on support for brains - added version number checking between clients and server TODO * make depth sort order settable in .v file * support greyscale and 24-bit graphics * creator info for maps * add missions and some kind of points system * add various interesting things to collect * make movement vector-based * create some Star Trek vehicles * optimise the 3-d graphics routines (perhaps using shared memory) * net3d home page? * use lex / yacc for parsing the vehicle file * clean up the source code :-) * add texture mapped polygons * allow players to send one another messages * improve the intelligence of computer-controlled vehicles * anything else anyone suggests to me... BUGS * Matrix multiplication dumps core under linux * Problems with depthsorting causing some polygons to dissapear / reappear * Computer controlled vehicles are stupid CONTRIBUTORS - acb (the cosmosphere, pterodactyl, fish, chicken and bouncing ball vehicles) - warthog (the m2 tank) - gothic (useful suggestions for the 3d algorithms) - R.K.Lloyd@csc.liv.ac.uk (HPUX combatability, bug fixes, Imakefile) - lendl@cosy.sbg.ac.at (Sun & Linux compatability, bug fixes) - humpy (Linux compatability) - germond@ensta.fr (Bug reports and suggestions) - jucoons@ursula.uoregon.edu (Bug reports) - jaggy@purplet.demon.co.uk (Bug fixes for linux) - ma_lwk@stu.ust.hk (Bug reports and help with Solaris) LEGAL STUFF Net3d is freely distributable and modifyable, on the condition that no fee is charged for it's distribution (except for the cost of a disc or other media). In other words, you can't sell net3d for profit. Net3d comes with no warranty, so if something goes horribly wrong with the program, causing your computer to explode... tough :).