[Mod] Simple Hovercraft [0.1.1] [hovercraft]

[stu]

A fun alternative mode of transport for Minetest.

My original idea for this mod was to make a hovercraft racing game with custom circuits and mesecon lap counters. However, with lag being what it is and bugs in the engine, this is not really viable ATM.

Screenshot


Minetest version: 0.4.4-d1 and later

Depends: default

License Source Code: Copyright (C) 2013 Stuart Jones - LGPL

License Tetxures & Models: Copyright (C) 2013 Stuart Jones - CC-BY-SA

License Sounds: Various Creative Commons, see LICENSE.txt

Download: https://github.com/stujones11/hovercraft/archive/master.zip (rename hovercraft-master > hovercraft)

Github: https://github.com/stujones11/hovercraft

Version History

Version [0.1.0] Sat, 27 Jul 2013 (Official Release)

Version [0.1.1] Sun, 28 Jul 2013

Improved placememt handling, item returns to inventory on_punch.
Audio bugfix, stop sound when entity is destroyed.
Added yellow & green hovercraft. All hovercraft have subtly different handling abilities.

Know Issues

'Bouncing' off thin air: This can simply be the result of server lag, even in singleplayer, the client and server can get out of sync. Solution, just be patient and allow the environment to fully load before proceeding.

Problems with bouncing in air and generally getting stuck, being pulled underwater and all manner of other weirdness can also be caused by a rather nasty entity duplication bug in minetest itself. The only solution here is to track down and remove any duplicate entities or by running /clearobjects

Entity Duplication: See above. This usually occurs when you move more than a given distance from where the entity was originally placed. The only solution right now is to restrict the hovercraft to a certain area. For example, create a sunken race track the hovercraft cannot physically escape from.

Given all the above issues this mod is probably not ready for public server use just yet, however, it is quite playable over a LAN setup.

[Sokomine]

Nice idea and good looking models! Hope those entity duplication bugs get solved. Those caused by dropped items are a strain on server and client ressources on several servers.

[Evergreen]

I just tested this in my test world, and this is the most awesome vehicle mod I have ever seen. EDIT: I also love how it bobs up and down when it is parked.

[stu]

Nice idea and good looking models! Hope those entity duplication bugs get solved. Those caused by dropped items are a strain on server and client ressources on several servers.

Thanks, I agree. IMO the entity duplication bug should be a very high priority and fixed before a version 0.4.8 release.

I just tested this in my test world, and this is the most awesome vehicle mod I have ever seen. EDIT: I also love how it bobs up and down when it is parked.

Cheers, glad you like it.

[Excalibur Zero]

This is quite good. A few problems, but overall quite good.

One main thing is that it takes some time to remove it by just punching it, so a better way to destroy it / put it in the inventory would be better. Another is that it is difficult to go up hills with it because it keeps bumping you back when you reach the next step.

It would be interesting if you could make a hovercraft for use on spaceships that would fall fast and have a fast acceleration, and would have an easy way to see below the hovercraft.

[Dan Duncombe]

May I add a camouflage version to my camo mod? I will of course give full credit. Really.

[Evergreen]

May I add a camouflage version to my camo mod? I will of course give full credit. Really.

Really? A hovercraft in a camo mod? -_-

[Dan Duncombe]

May I add a camouflage version to my camo mod? I will of course give full credit. Really.

Really? A hovercraft in a camo mod? -_-

Well. Camouflaged army hovercrafts, obviously :).

[stu]

This is quite good. A few problems, but overall quite good.

One main thing is that it takes some time to remove it by just punching it, so a better way to destroy it / put it in the inventory would be better. Another is that it is difficult to go up hills with it because it keeps bumping you back when you reach the next step.

It would be interesting if you could make a hovercraft for use on spaceships that would fall fast and have a fast acceleration, and would have an easy way to see below the hovercraft.

I have made it so that hovercraft returns to inventory on_punch, I guess that makes sense. As for going up hills, well that is not realy what hovercraft normally do. While i'm not trying to perfectly emulate a real hovercraft, my intention was to make it quite challenging to control. For spaceships see the ufo mod by Zeg9.

May I add a camouflage version to my camo mod? I will of course give full credit. Really.

Absolutely, i have tried to make the licensing as flexible as possible. Although you don't really need to copy the entire mod, simply depend on it and add your own hover:register_hovercraft(). See the new yellow & green 'craft I recently added as an example. Since hover is global you can register hovercraft in your own mod's init.lua

[Dan Duncombe]

Thanks stu. I have added the whole mod anyway, to avoid dependencies. I really have credited you.

[Zeg9]

Great mod !
This is actually the best vehicle mod I've seen yet (imo).
Also maybe you could fix the bouncing in mid-air issue by loading the chunks around hovercrafts, using the new voxelmanip thing.

[stu]

Great mod !
This is actually the best vehicle mod I've seen yet (imo).
Also maybe you could fix the bouncing in mid-air issue by loading the chunks around hovercrafts, using the new voxelmanip thing.

Thanks, I will look into that voxelmanip thing but I am beginning to think that it doesn't just happen in unloaded areas. I am really not sure what causes the sudden slowdown and subsequent erroneous collision detection. I have just made some updates to the acceleration & velocity physics, you now get a much smoother ride at top speed. It may just be coincidence but my experiences of mid-air bouncing have become greatly reduced, esp. with the slower craft.

I do have other ideas to validate the collistion detection. I would rather avoid having to check all nodes and objects in a radius if possible but that is one possibility.

[Zeg9]

Zeg9 wrote something.

Thanks, I will look into that voxelmanip thing but I am beginning to think that it doesn't just happen in unloaded areas. I am really not sure what causes the sudden slowdown and subsequent erroneous collision detection. I have just made some updates to the acceleration & velocity physics, you now get a much smoother ride at top speed. It may just be coincidence but my experiences of mid-air bouncing have become greatly reduced, esp. with the slower craft.

I do have other ideas to validate the collistion detection. I would rather avoid having to check all nodes and objects in a radius if possible but that is one possibility.

I think it takes more time to load "empty" blocks, with only air inside.

[stu]

I think it takes more time to load "empty" blocks, with only air inside.

That would make sense since, for me, this occurs primarily over large expanses of open water. I did have a look at the voxel_manip thing but I'm still not quite sure how to use this to 'force load' the nodes around the entity.

[Dan Duncombe]

Stu: I have noticed a problem with hovercrafts, if there is more than one of the same colour, they will both move even if only one is being used. If one get stuck against a wall, the one you are riding will go all slow and 'stuck in wall'.

[stu]

Stu: I have noticed a problem with hovercrafts, if there is more than one of the same colour, they will both move even if only one is being used. If one get stuck against a wall, the one you are riding will go all slow and 'stuck in wall'.

Yes, I have noticed that too, at first I thought that it only effected 'duplicate' entities but it seems that it also effects those that have been deliberately placed. Unfortunately I have no idea what is causing this ATM so unless someone else can see a mistake on my part, I can only guess it is problem with the engine, perhaps related to the entity duplication bug.

btw: nice addition of stepheight to the def, I will add that also.

[Bas080]

I have had friends complaining about no vehicles. Carts wasn't impressive enough for them so I am sure your doing many people a favor with this mod assuming that my friends belong to the average when it comes to gaming.

[Element]

SWEET!!!

[Rehlgamer101]

Can you make the craft easier to control and make it go up and down slopes? PLZ!!!

[leetelate]

duplication issue problem, two of the same doing the same thing - .reason found - static data is the same for two or more of the same entity - deactivateFarObjects gets the staticdata for them, when reactivated, it uses the same static data for the original - duplication occurs also when a chunk/block/we is deactivated then reactivated again you get a duplicate entity inside the same position since the static data is the same

workaround is still to only use one entity and remove it when you go more than a few blocks from it

so much for using entities for le fishes, back to nodeboxes >: (

[Element]

i know why the hovercraft bounces in mid air...lets say there are two reds one out at the same time...if you go on one then you control them both....so if one hits something the one your on also feels the bounce

[stu]

i know why the hovercraft bounces in mid air...lets say there are two reds one out at the same time...if you go on one then you control them both....so if one hits something the one your on also feels the bounce

Yes, afaik this is caused by a bug in the minetest engine, aka the entitly dupliaction bug, I do hope it gets fixed soon.
thank you for reporting your findings.

[Element]

your welcome

[balthazariv]

Hello,

Good works, i like it but sometimes I have my character that appears in black.


Thanks

[stu]

Hello,

Good works, i like it but sometimes I have my character that appears in black.


Thanks

Hmm, the meshes must be colliding somehow, there was no third person view when I wrote this.
It's getting late for me right now but I will try to look at it sometime tomorrow. Thank you for reporting it.