Dev/Integration
To integrate the creation of the other poles in an exportable kit towards the Ryzom server, we will need to make the tools and infrastructures necessary to the developement of the zone available to the community of the project.
Making the Ryzom, NEL and RyzomCore tools available on the various platforms (OVQT/WorldEditor): on the project Khaganat, a dedicated linux server makes possible to compile linux 32 bits, linux 64 bits, windows 32 bits and windows 64 bits clients (using wine): http://buildbot.khaganat.net/. This experiment is directly related the the Linux pole project of Ryzom, but integrates the windows platform. We need to focus on that experience to globalise this project of a compiling farm to all of the NEL/Ryzom tools necessary to the New Zone project. It would be sad not to take advantage of the extended user base of those tools to stabilize or improve them, taking advantage of the users feedback and their patches. With that in mind, a coordination with the RyzomCore group would be a plus (especially since a GSoC project about the adjustment and improvement of OVQT has been approved for 2014).
- The graphic pipeline: this comprises the tools and scripts permitting the generation (but not only the generation) of the client's graphic files. This pipeline uses 3DSMax to export 3D models towards NEL. Two approches are envisioned here:
- Client comp solution: as for the NEL/Ryzom tools, we need to make available to the community a way for everybody to configure at home a pipeline for the files necessary to the server. We also need to provide an adequate configuration for the New Zone project and a unified assets base.
- Server solution: the Ryzom pipeline configuration isn't a meager task. In addition, it requires a owner tool. The 3D modelisation being mostly the field of an artist community whose not necessarily all that good with informatics, the idea is to propose a "pipeline" public server permitting the automatic generation of the NEL files following the sending of the originals by this community. Take note that offline tools like OVQT permits us to see those 3D models in NEL format without needing to place them in a game server.
""Note"": The Khaganat team has already configured a virtual machine with 3DSMax to be able to work under linux, they use of Wine for the cross compilation with Microsoft Visual C++ under linux. The idea is to see if it's possible to get the pipline to work on a linux server with 3DSMax using wine for exporting the ".max" files.
Another note: the pipeline's scripts have been reprogrammed in Python and work under Linux.
- The test server: the organisation surrounding a test server depends on the choice made for its hosting: either on the Ryzom test server or by the community. The experience of the Khaganat team could also be adapted to this project. The have a virtual machine (VM) virtualbox with a game server that could function at the same time as a game client on a user computer for testing. This VM also disposes of a script to regenerate the client's datasheets of the game without needing to use the pipeline (except for the graphic files). It's used by the members of the project Khaganat for their object insertion tests and the elements of the world: armors, mobs, etc.
To contact on IRC