help with a demo file

Hey all, I'm working with the demo editor to generate a demo file of a toon marching down the street (I'll be adding the army accompanying him later) with the camera ahead of him, facing back so that it's tracking shot with the toon center frame. Well, I got the camera working. Just I can't get the toon to show up. I was hoping someone would be kind enough to look at the info and see what I jacked up on it. Thanks to all. The demo file is displayed below:
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1 0 Version 2
0 0 Map maps/City_Zones/City_01_01/City_01_01.txt
0 0 Time 22.897227
0 CAM POS -1313.8 5.8 575.9
0 CAM PYR .024 1.406 0
0 100 NEW KNOSSUS
0 100 COSTUME 0 aabbf6 25.000000 -0.047619 -0.015873 -0.047619 -0.047619 -0.015873 -0.047619 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873 -0.015873
0 100 PARTSNAME Tight !x_male_hips_eagle_armor_mask !Hips_V_Pattern_Tribal_Paint_01 000000 ffffff
0 100 PARTSNAME Tight !x_male_chest_eagle_armor_mask !Chest_V_Pattern_Tribal_Paint_01 000000 ffffff
0 100 PARTSNAME V_MALE_HEAD.GEO/GEO_Head_V_Asym_Masked V_Mask_Skull !Face_V_Mask_Angry_01 ffffff 000000
0 100 PARTSNAME V_MALE_GLOVE.GEO/GEO_Larm*_Vangaurd_01 !X_Vanguard_Glove none 000000 ffffff
0 100 PARTSNAME V_MALE_BOOT.GEO/GEO_Lleg*_Rocket_01 !X_male_boot_rocket_01 none 000000 ffffff 000000 000000 AnimatedCharacterParts/RocketBoots.fx
0 100 PARTSNAME V_MALE_BELT.GEO/GEO_Belt_Vangaurd_02 !X_Vanguard_Belt none ffffff 000000
0 100 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 100 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 100 PARTSNAME none none none 737373 ffffff
0 100 PARTSNAME V_MALE_EMBLEM.GEO/GEO_Emblem_Vangaurd_02 !X_Vanguard_Belt none ffffff 000000
0 100 PARTSNAME V_MALE_SPADR.GEO/GEO_Spadr_Justice02 !x_male_spadr_eagle_armor_mask !spadr_v_eagle01_dual 000000 ffffff
0 100 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 100 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 100 PARTSNAME none none none 000000 000000
0 100 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 100 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 100 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 100 PARTSNAME none !X_Wings_Tech_01 none 000000 ffffff 000000 000000 GENERIC/FX_wings_TECH.fx
0 100 PARTSNAME none none none ff894c 000000 3fbeff 00ff95 Auras/Male/Fire/FireHead
0 100 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 100 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 100 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 100 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 100 POS -1345.6 -.5 576.9
0 100 MOV DRILL_MARCH
0 2 PLAYER
0 2 NEW NPC_puddle
0 2 PYR -.024 1.406 0
0 2 POS 1313.8 5.8 575.9
0 CAM POS -1313.8 5.8 575.9
0 CAM PYR -0.024 1.406 0.0
0 2 POS -1313.8 5.8 575.9
0 2 PYR -0.024 1.406 0.0
0 100 POS -1345.6 -0.5 576.9
0 100 PYR 0.0 1.689 0.0
33 CAM POS -1313.331334 5.8 575.9
0 CAM PYR -0.024 1.406 0.0
0 2 POS -1313.331334 5.8 575.9
0 2 PYR -0.024 1.406 0.0
0 100 POS -1345.131334 -0.5 576.899444
0 100 PYR 0.0 1.689 0.0
33 CAM POS -1312.862667 5.8 575.9
0 CAM PYR -0.024 1.406 0.0
0 2 POS -1312.862667 5.8 575.9
0 2 PYR -0.024 1.406 0.0
0 100 POS -1344.662667 -0.5 576.898888
0 100 PYR 0.0 1.689 0.0
33 CAM POS -1312.394 5.8 575.9
0 CAM PYR -0.024 1.406 0.0
0 2 POS -1312.394 5.8 575.9
0 2 PYR -0.024 1.406 0.0
0 100 POS -1344.194 -0.5 576.898333
0 100 PYR 0.0 1.689 0.0
33 CAM POS -1311.925334 5.8 575.9
0 CAM PYR -0.024 1.406 0.0
0 2 POS -1311.925334 5.8 575.9
0 2 PYR -0.024 1.406 0.0
0 100 POS -1343.725334 -0.5 576.897777
0 100 PYR 0.0 1.689 0.0
================================================== ===
Everything below this is simply the chaning POS data. So thoughts? What am I doing wrong?

You need to put this just above the player's name:

0 100 NEW Player

Then remove the PLAYER notation above the puddle.

Also, I noticed your first set of coordinates for your player is missing a PYR line.

Other than that, you should be fine - then again, I'm exhausted and may be missing something.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

You can have the player set as a puddle, though if you're just tracking along with the main character it's really not needed. Also note that if you use Zloth's demo editor it might strip the player tag when it's attached to an NPC, but I'm not sure if it still does this or not. That said, looks like you've got two things wrong with the demo.

The syntax of adding the puddle is off, this is how you want to put it:

0 2 Player
0 2 NEW Puddle
0 2 NPC Puddle
0 2 POS -1313.8 5.8 575.9
0 2 PYR .024 1.406 0

Though PYR doesn't really matter here since it's an invisible object.

The only other thing I see is that the MOV command you're using may not work right, since he turns to the side every few seconds. I suppose you could work around this by repeating the MOV command before he turns, but it may turn out looking a little choppy unless you time it just right.

[ QUOTE ]
You need to put this just above the player's name:

0 100 NEW Player

Then remove the PLAYER notation above the puddle.

Also, I noticed your first set of coordinates for your player is missing a PYR line.

Other than that, you should be fine - then again, I'm exhausted and may be missing something.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

[/ QUOTE ]

Okay. I must have misunderstood something somewhere along the line. I want the NPC_puddle to be the player, cause the game engin renderes based on what the player can see, right? So I want the engin to render based on the POV of the camera (Hence the Puddle tracking with the camera being designated as the player). Or am I totally off base with my understanding here?

Yeah it can be a bit confusing sometimes...

For myself, I've kept the PLAYER notification over the character even when I want the camera to track something else, and for myself, I've not noticed it being a problem. So either I'm doing it wrong and still getting lucky, or it doesn't really matter where the PLAYER designation goes.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
You need to put this just above the player's name:

0 100 NEW Player

Then remove the PLAYER notation above the puddle.

Also, I noticed your first set of coordinates for your player is missing a PYR line.

Other than that, you should be fine - then again, I'm exhausted and may be missing something.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

[/ QUOTE ]

Okay. I must have misunderstood something somewhere along the line. I want the NPC_puddle to be the player, cause the game engin renderes based on what the player can see, right? So I want the engin to render based on the POV of the camera (Hence the Puddle tracking with the camera being designated as the player). Or am I totally off base with my understanding here?

[/ QUOTE ]

The POV is all controlled by the CAM commands (CAM POS & CAM PYR). What entity/character you designate as the player doesn't matter with regards to your POV.

Unnecessary detail:

The one exception to this is that the POV of the entity designated as the Player does control the render distance, so if you have your Player in one corner of the map and your camera in another, that can cause problems, but as long as the camera is fairly close to whatever you've designated as the Player, you should be fine.

I suspect that's what is going on here. You're Player code is a little off, so it probably isn't reading the location of the Player correctly, leading to things not showing up because your CAM is outside the render distance.

I think it also controls where the sound is, doesn't it? Or is that the camera? (Really wish you could just make the camera the player!)

Demo Edit will probably strip the Player command if you stick it on an NPC. I should fix that.

[ QUOTE ]
I think it also controls where the sound is, doesn't it? Or is that the camera? (Really wish you could just make the camera the player!)

[/ QUOTE ]

Could be. Hadn't thought to check for sound.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
You need to put this just above the player's name:

0 100 NEW Player

Then remove the PLAYER notation above the puddle.

Also, I noticed your first set of coordinates for your player is missing a PYR line.

Other than that, you should be fine - then again, I'm exhausted and may be missing something.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

[/ QUOTE ]

Okay. I must have misunderstood something somewhere along the line. I want the NPC_puddle to be the player, cause the game engin renderes based on what the player can see, right? So I want the engin to render based on the POV of the camera (Hence the Puddle tracking with the camera being designated as the player). Or am I totally off base with my understanding here?

[/ QUOTE ]

The POV is all controlled by the CAM commands (CAM POS & CAM PYR). What entity/character you designate as the player doesn't matter with regards to your POV.

Unnecessary detail:

The one exception to this is that the POV of the entity designated as the Player does control the render distance, so if you have your Player in one corner of the map and your camera in another, that can cause problems, but as long as the camera is fairly close to whatever you've designated as the Player, you should be fine.

I suspect that's what is going on here. You're Player code is a little off, so it probably isn't reading the location of the Player correctly, leading to things not showing up because your CAM is outside the render distance.

[/ QUOTE ]

So how can I go about checking that possibility?

[ QUOTE ]


So how can I go about checking that possibility?

[/ QUOTE ]

Fix the Player tag as suggested by either Dark_Respite or Relentless. Currently, you have no model attached to the Player code. Try that and see if it fixes the problem. I think either should work.

If you're planning something long, where the objects/models are going to be moving a long distance, I'd recommend Michelle's solution of just re-attaching the Player code to your PC -- the character you're going to be following with the camera (or else you may have to move the puddle from time to time to stay close to the camera).

If you want to keep it attached to a Puddle, splice in the code Relentless provided. If you want to reattach it to the PC, move the Player code to the PC as Michelle instructed.

Basically if you plan on moving the camera around a lot much like Nemesis on parade, you'll want the puddle moving around with the camera like it seems you're doing now. However if the camera is staying pretty close to your main character it really isn't necessary.