More realistic/different character models?

[thomasthespacefox]

I've had thoughts about this topic for a long time... Minetest as an engine is certainly capable of some interesting things, but im curious, just how realistic (ignoring textures & lighting) can a character model in Minetest be?

On another note, why don't more games have custom player character models?

[Andrey01]

How realistic? Well, all depends from how you make your model in Blender or elsewhere. Blender allows potentially make meshes from an infinite number of faces, edges, vertices, only the more all of that the worse lags will be in the game.

[sorcerykid]

A few months ago I experimented with higher poly character models for my virtual nightclub. I purchased some pre-textured sets from TurboSquid. CGTrader, and Sketchfab and then imported them into Blender for rigging and animation. For the most part, the results were acceptable. The main drawback I noticed is that the entire mesh is lighted uniformly, apparently based on the light level at the center. So that somewhat undermines the realism.

Here are a couple screenshots that I found from my earliest tests.





Another more serious issue I encountered was that if the models were too large, the engine would would output continuous warnings or even crash during the media transfer stage.

Code: Select all

2020-09-30 11:08:56: WARNING[ConnectionSend]: con(4/1) Packet quota used up for peer_id=2, was 180 pkts
2020-09-30 11:08:56: WARNING[ConnectionSend]: con(4/1) Packet quota used up for peer_id=2, was 180 pkts
2020-09-30 11:08:56: WARNING[ConnectionSend]: con(4/1) Packet quota used up for peer_id=2, was 180 pkts
2020-09-30 11:08:56: WARNING[ConnectionSend]: con(4/1) Packet quota used up for peer_id=2, was 180 pkts
2020-09-30 11:08:56: WARNING[ConnectionSend]: con(4/1) Packet quota used up for peer_id=2, was 180 pkts
2020-09-30 11:08:56: WARNING[ConnectionSend]: con(4/1) Packet quota used up for peer_id=2, was 180 pkts
2020-09-30 11:08:56: WARNING[ConnectionSend]: con(4/1) Packet quota used up after re-sending packets, max=180
2020-09-30 11:08:56: WARNING[ConnectionSend]: con(4/1) Packet quota used up for peer_id=2, was 126 pkts
2020-09-30 11:08:57: WARNING[ConnectionSend]: con(4/1) Packet quota used up for peer_id=2, was 180 pkts
2020-09-30 11:08:57: ERROR[ConnectionSend]: In thread 7f865994b700:
2020-09-30 11:08:57: ERROR[ConnectionSend]: /root/rpmbuild/SOURCES/minetest-5.1.1/minetest/src/network/connection.cpp:3f9: bool con::UDPPeer::processReliableSendCommand(con::ConnectionCommand&, unsigned int): An engine assumption 'c.data.getSize() < 0x8000*512' failed.

Due to these shortcomings, I abandoned the higher poly models until further engine improvements can be made. There's definitely promise, but for the time being it doesn't seem worth the extra effort.

[thomasthespacefox]

im curious if anyone knows what the practical data size limits (polygon count, etc) of character models in the engine right now...

it be nice to see ps1 or ps2 level character models... as the blocky default just looks too... blocky?

[Steamed_Punk]

Although it's not a Player Model, but still low poly models approx 30 for the moment and so far no noticeable lag or drop in frame rate and I am using my 256x256 texture_pack. The images on the 3 buildings are not low resolution either.
You can see the images here. viewtopic.php?p=381450#p381450

[maikerumine]

A few months ago I experimented with higher poly character models for my virtual nightclub. I purchased some pre-textured sets from TurboSquid. CGTrader, and Sketchfab and then imported them into Blender for rigging and animation. For the most part, the results were acceptable. The main drawback I noticed is that the entire mesh is lighted uniformly, apparently based on the light level at the center. So that somewhat undermines the realism.

Here are a couple screenshots that I found from my earliest tests.





Another more serious issue I encountered was that if the models were too large, the engine would would output continuous warnings or even crash during the media transfer stage.

Code: Select all

2020-09-30 11:08:56: WARNING[ConnectionSend]: con(4/1) Packet quota used up for peer_id=2, was 180 pkts
2020-09-30 11:08:56: WARNING[ConnectionSend]: con(4/1) Packet quota used up for peer_id=2, was 180 pkts
2020-09-30 11:08:56: WARNING[ConnectionSend]: con(4/1) Packet quota used up for peer_id=2, was 180 pkts
2020-09-30 11:08:56: WARNING[ConnectionSend]: con(4/1) Packet quota used up for peer_id=2, was 180 pkts
2020-09-30 11:08:56: WARNING[ConnectionSend]: con(4/1) Packet quota used up for peer_id=2, was 180 pkts
2020-09-30 11:08:56: WARNING[ConnectionSend]: con(4/1) Packet quota used up for peer_id=2, was 180 pkts
2020-09-30 11:08:56: WARNING[ConnectionSend]: con(4/1) Packet quota used up after re-sending packets, max=180
2020-09-30 11:08:56: WARNING[ConnectionSend]: con(4/1) Packet quota used up for peer_id=2, was 126 pkts
2020-09-30 11:08:57: WARNING[ConnectionSend]: con(4/1) Packet quota used up for peer_id=2, was 180 pkts
2020-09-30 11:08:57: ERROR[ConnectionSend]: In thread 7f865994b700:
2020-09-30 11:08:57: ERROR[ConnectionSend]: /root/rpmbuild/SOURCES/minetest-5.1.1/minetest/src/network/connection.cpp:3f9: bool con::UDPPeer::processReliableSendCommand(con::ConnectionCommand&, unsigned int): An engine assumption 'c.data.getSize() < 0x8000*512' failed.

Due to these shortcomings, I abandoned the higher poly models until further engine improvements can be made. There's definitely promise, but for the time being it doesn't seem worth the extra effort.

Cutting edge as usual. :) So crashes would happen more often with more players or just poly count per model?

[ShadMOrdre]

The look like Opensim / Second Life.

As such, there are ways to decrease poly count.

I once tried to create a MT blocky world in an Opensim region. This could work with LOD. Only the region containing the user needs to be displayed to that user, the neighboring regions being a single object rendered version of that region.

When MT and Opensim realize how much could be accomplished by simply combining efforts, we'd have THE vr killer app.

Let the Opensim suite serve up little 256mX256m region spaces, generated by the MT engine.

This is on point folks, so if you don't understand what I'm talking about, just ask. There are more than a few of us crossovers around.


Shad