Under the Hood with SWTOR

[HKtheindomitable]

Awesome stuff! Thank you for what is to come! Thank you for the detailed description too. I am so hopping on the PTS to check this stuff out. The biggest thing I've been wanting is to be able to inspect companions. I want to be able to see what they're wearing. I saw someone that looked like Ezra, and their companion looked like Kanan Jarrus (post eye injury), Vette as Hera. As in they were 100% exact replicas down to the last detail. But I couldn't see what was used for the companion. It would be nice if the new found flexibility makes it possible. Though I feel there also would need to be a change to companions too.

 

For those that always say "it's an easy fix": "Taking our mentioned NPC, let’s say when you interact with it, a nearby wall blows up. That wall is another DYN with its own set of effects, connected to this sequence of events, each of which may be tied to yet another DYN with its own set of effects. You can see how this could quickly get out of hand and require hours of work for what would be, in theory, an otherwise “simple” fix." is why folks have said that it's not an easy fix. It's also why fixing one thing causes bugs somewhere else that seem separate or even totally unrelated.

Also, look at the item name for the A7 droid in the updated preview window. That's what names of things in a game look like. Everything has that type of name setup. Weapons, companions, heads, hair, color, effects, textures, sounds, animations, eyes, tattoos, horns, armor, etc. Imagine having to sift through hundreds or thousands of similar versions of that just to find the one having an issue. That is why you must be detailed in your bug reports. Do not assume they don't listen. It takes long enough with detailed reports. Having vague reports makes it take longer to track down the issue and correct it.

 

(This part, I'm 87% sure is correct (since I don't work there, I can't be 100%) about what they do. I don't have the BWA SWTOR employee prestige class. However, I am 100% sure that I'm 100% correct about the rest as I have put points into my coding and game editing tool skills (games like KotOR, JKDF2, MOTS).)

For those that say they "code it", this is one of the few times code is rewritten or done. 99% of the time, the developers are using tools. For an idea of what game developers use, search Unity 2018.3. Skim through it (it's super long, but very informative), and you'll notice that none of the pictures show code. They're all tools. That's what developers use the majority of the time. The bit mentioned above about DYNs and bugs, is a major reason they use tools, and don't "code it". The reason the preview window needed a rewrite was because it wasn't flexible. In simple terms: the way the old Preview Window was built was not modular. It had to be rebuilt to be modular. Don't take that to mean that's how they do things. After all, he did say "Optimizing DYNs and rebuilding the Preview Window allows us to move forward with some exciting plans we have in the future, all while improving the efficiency of the tools we work with."

 

For reference, this is what code looks like. This is a simple python script that copies text from file A to file B. It comes from Learn Python 3 the Hard Way.

 

from sys import argv

script, from_file, to_file = argv

in_file = open(from_file, 'r'); out_file = open(to_file, 'w')

print("Ready. \nHit RETURN to continue, CTRL-C to abort.")

input()

 

Notice that it doesn't say "copy from here to here". Even so, this is extremely simple compared to what 1/100th or less of the simplest thing in SWTOR is like, let alone the preview window in it's entirety.

Edited March 20, 2019 by HKtheindomitable

[DuskIsNotAmused]

Thanks for this, it is always fun to get a peak behind the curtain It also helps to reaffirm that just because we don't see it, doesn't mean something isn't happening Which helps me with my (im)patient waiting -settles back to watch door-

[Luinthoron]

Excellent update. And since no one has yet and someone inevitably will, I may just ask myself. Will this update under the hood also help us with the hoods of our outfits? Specifically, that long-requested toggle. While it is nice that we do have some headgear that forces it down even now, those sadly often get removed in conversations/cutscenes.

[JattaGin]

Interesting read, thanks.

 

In order to lay the groundwork to make our system sustainable for years to come, we wanted to rebuild the Preview Window at the same time we were updating our DYNs.

 

For years to come... interesting.

 

Nonetheless, without new content to play asap, features like that won't help much keeping the game itself sustainable. No one will resub because of that feature.

[IanArgent]

Interesting read, thanks.

 

 

 

For years to come... interesting.

 

Nonetheless, without new content to play asap, features like that won't help much keeping the game itself sustainable. No one will resub because of that feature.

 

The main point of the fix is to make it easier to develop content in the future by reducing and automating a lot of the handwork of developing interactables.

 

(20 years ago I did zone development for a never-launched MMO. Handcrafting interactables was the bane of my job; and I could get away with a lot "simpler" interactables because of the state of the art of computer games at the time.)

[TUXs]

Lol, can't release actual game content so lets call this game content... What it means for the future is that you ppl can't provide quality content nor quantity to keep players engaged more than 1 hour...

Ossus was quality content. The Queen was quality content. This is a needed update too. I'm with you in wishing there was something more to do, I ALWAYS feel that way as well, but I'm not upset that they're actually taking the time to make improvements like this. It's not my first choice, but it is needed...

[ApollosNight]

So I tend to wear the armor set used in this post; does this mean the cape glitch is finally fixed? It's literally the worst with this set: if you do any sort of spin the cape glitches through you and gets stuck in front of your legs. Very annoying in cutscenes.

[ddttor]

Judging by the GIF, our capes are still glued to our legs in prewiev, or that'll be fixed too?

[Pscyon]

Liking the new preview window so far I think, keep it up.

[OlBuzzard]

One quick question: will this update on even product reviews include not just sight (which BTW is VERY cool improvement) ... butr sounds as well.

I have several weapons (especially for my Smugglers) that have some much needed updates in that area. I've heard mechanical type writters with more agressive sounds !!

 

That said I will wait paitently for the update .. Looks good. Keep stuff like this coming! I'm gald I returned to SWTOR !

[tummiswtor]

By the Title of Thread i thought they finally gonna add Hood up/down option

[commanderwar]

Very good article Daniel, excited for the game update and to try it out on the PTS Edited March 20, 2019 by commanderwar

[Lhancelot]

Judging by the GIF, our capes are still glued to our legs in prewiev, or that'll be fixed too?

 

You wear capes in the game?!

[DarthSpuds]

Ossus was quality content. The Queen was quality content. This is a needed update too. I'm with you in wishing there was something more to do, I ALWAYS feel that way as well, but I'm not upset that they're actually taking the time to make improvements like this. It's not my first choice, but it is needed...

 

Ossus was "quality" content only if we are happy to accept that "quantity" is not a contributory factor to "quality". I believe it is.

 

I agree that, reading that article, this seems a) an interesting development, and b) very probably needed. But is does then allow Bioware to kick the "real content" can down the road.

 

After this rework of the Preview System they could unlock numerous more bugs (this IS Bioware after all, who would bet against that), that they will then say "ah, we invested in the new preview panel, so we have to fix these bugs or that investment is wasted" and that will allow them to kick the "real content" can even further down the road.

 

The cynic in me sees this as enabling Bioware to use the "cosmetics are content" excuse ever more frequently, rather than delivering actual content.

 

I'd love for the cynic in me to be proven wrong; but Bioware haven't managed that since the first Stronghold update.

 

 

All The Best

[aerockyul]

By the Title of Thread i thought they finally gonna add Hood up/down option

 

I wonder if any of these changes might allow for this to finally become an option?

[IanArgent]

Ossus was "quality" content only if we are happy to accept that "quantity" is not a contributory factor to "quality". I believe it is.

 

I agree that, reading that article, this seems a) an interesting development, and b) very probably needed. But is does then allow Bioware to kick the "real content" can down the road.

 

After this rework of the Preview System they could unlock numerous more bugs (this IS Bioware after all, who would bet against that), that they will then say "ah, we invested in the new preview panel, so we have to fix these bugs or that investment is wasted" and that will allow them to kick the "real content" can even further down the road.

 

The cynic in me sees this as enabling Bioware to use the "cosmetics are content" excuse ever more frequently, rather than delivering actual content.

 

I'd love for the cynic in me to be proven wrong; but Bioware haven't managed that since the first Stronghold update.

 

 

All The Best

 

Anything that saves devs time (which the underlying DYN system change does) makes it cheaper to develop content. This in particular attacks the expensive part of content development: zone implementation. Story is cheap, almost free (Writers work cheap). Voice Acting is inexpensive but time consuming (the second part being why the "classic convos" approach was tried in KotFE, IMO.) Dev time and QA time is both relatively expensive and time consuming (tautology, but I can't think of how to word it better).

 

Anything that trims the amount of time needed to build zones, place models, and have them interact properly with one another is a *huge* force multiplier.

[jjoren]

Thanks for all of the info! Will this also mean we can right click on a chair to sit down?

[DarthSpuds]

Story is cheap, almost free (Writers work cheap).

 

Well, that would explain the quality of the story for the last few years.

 

 

All The Best

[Xina_LA]

This is fantastic news! It's so exciting!

 

Here's hoping for chairs you click to sit in, interactive decorations, additional character customizations, new types of missions... and the destruction of many bugs!

[sharkfishman]

Thanks for the detailed post, and the info. This kind of communication is always welcome and appreciated.

 

Sometimes spending this time on engine optimization tasks is well worth it (like when certain MMOs dropped PS3 support and focused on PS4 instead).

 

However, here's hoping that it doesn't mean a content drought (again).

[Darevsool]

This is great, and I'm sure it's a very welcome addition for many players.

 

Is there any chance you can use this new coding to create a high res window (large window - full screen even) of our character for screenshots? Something that shows head to toe?

Edited March 21, 2019 by Darevsool

[VirSaladin]

Interesting

 

Is there any plans to put an 'auto-route' in place, would really help with completing quest lines.

Another thing I was wondering about is an auto-travel or teleport to test locations, helps for completing the stories without having to do all the legwork.

[alexzk]

Previews are cool thing sure. I use it 2-3 times PER WEEK.

Please, check more important things while u're there

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=9713774

[Viyk]

Is this something that will help add certain ambient elements to the planets and zones? Right now, they feel weirdly soulless. It's my ONE biggest gripe with SWTOR-- these gorgeous planets and the only thing happening are static mobs standing around waiting for you to shoot them. No weather, no night/day cycle, very, very few roaming neutral "critters" (like little ones, birds and bugs and stuff)... it would help a LOT, I think, if the planet ambient elements could be added. These are alien worlds that should really WOW! us, and yet... :/ eh, there's just not much going on with them.

 

Again, not even remotely sure these changes are capable of making those things happen, but one can hope. I log into other MMOs - ESO, LOTRO, WoW (as much as BFA is a mess, ugh), GW2, etc--the worlds feel far more alive somehow.

[Sarova]

Many good questions raised in this thread but no acknowledgements or answers? Are you there Devs? Did the "Gathering Feedback" thread not do anything?