Some of the key features of the ÜberTools technology are:
- TIKI Model System
- Built-in scripting on a frame-by-frame basis
- Client-side and server-side scripting reduces net-transmission of effects
- 4-part character state system for independent control over eyes, head, torso, and leg orientations
- Low memory footprint Skeletal Animation System
- Bone support for attaching other models or effects
- Variable playback rates for animation
- Movement deltas determined from animation eliminates skating of actors
- Support for movement driven animation (player speed controls rate of animation)
- Improved lighting model correctly lights models from light sources around him rather than at his feet
- Real time interpreted player state system.
- Single skin weighted mesh (deformable meshes)
- Babble Dialog System
- Allows models to lip-sync to audio files
- Coordinated dialog system allows "conversations" between actors
- Dialog system stores variables for characters to react to you based on variables set globally or in level scripts.
- Dynamic Music System
- Allows music changes based on player's actions
- Script control allows music changes depending on events within the game
- In-game Scripted Camera System
- Spline-based path following for dramatic camera movement
- In-game editor allows developer to instantly view and modify the camera's actions
- Full control of camera available from script allows cuts between multiple cameras
- Paths generated in-game can be exported to separate files, or re-imported into game map as object paths
- Camera paths are saved out as external .cam files and can be reloaded by the game script or by the in-game interface for modification and playback
- Morpheus Scripting System
- Simple syntax allows non-programmers to quickly write scripts
- Easily expandable command set
- Gives control over ANY object in the game
- Multi-threaded
- Persistent and temporary variables
- Conditional statements allows complex game and object logic
- Developer can script the movement of objects, character AI, and cameras
- Allows complex control of game flow over multiple levels
- Entirely text-file based, so testing changes can be done by simply reloading the map
- AI
- Fully scriptable
- State based system allows characters to react in a variety of ways to different events
- Developer can override default behavior of any character via script for special events
- Programmers can easily extend the set of complex behaviors through C++ based Behavior objects
- Built-in path following allows characters to traverse map in an intelligent manner
- Built-in behaviors for using cover and hiding
- Characters can react to sound, sight, and triggered events
- Weapon system allows characters to use any weapon in the game
- Node based path following.
- Levels
- Quake III Team Arena Terrain technology implemented with greater map extents than any Quake engine game has seen before.
- Terrain technology extended upon with PVS dependant terrain rendering.
- Dynamic lighting added back into the Quake 3 engine, allowing for dynamic modification of intensity, and day to night transitions.
- Optimized use of light maps and vertex lighting.
- Miles Sound System Integration
- Supports software and hardware accelerated 3D sound mixing
- .wav playback for sounds
- .mp3 playback for music
- DSP effects
- In-Game tool used by sound engineer to place music triggers, sound emitters, and reverb triggers.
- Standardized interface for working with a variety of APIs (DirectSound, Intel, MMX, Auriel)
- Ghost Particle System
- Allows stunning weapon effects and eye candy
- Script-definable allows development of a variety of effects without programmer involvement
- Emitters can be attached to bones on models-allows blood spurts, muzzle flashes, etc.
- In-game Emitter editor allows developer to instantly view and modify the Emitter's properties
- Complex particle movements can be achieved by animating invisible tags within models
- Extended Shader Support
- Allows conditional use of multitexture effects (for cards that don't support multitexture)
- Plug-in to QERadient offers nice intuitive interface for editing shaders
- Extended alpha generating commands such as dot and 1-dot allow view dependent effects
- Extended RGB generating commands gives entity based color modulation of texture passes.
- Indexing of shaders moved off-line to give faster map load times
- Lens Flare System
- Script-based definition of flares gives artist control over lens and sun effects.
- Localization
- Support for localization of all text based dialog and subtitles with extended fonts.
- Far Clipping Plane
- Specify color, distance, and culling options in the level or dynamically at game time.
- Levels can be built with farplane culling instead of Quake style visibility
- Farplane culls world geometry
- Farplane speed optimizations that render limited passes on models drawn in the farplan
- Sky Portals
- Arbitrary real-time rotation of portals (script controllable)
- Allows use of world geometry as sky
- Allows TIKI models to interact with sky
- Script control over objects within sky allows for dynamic changes to the sky
- Allows night/day effects
- Crisper visuals than sky box or textured skies
- LOD System
- As model gets farther away, few polys are drawn
- Non-drawn vertices don't get transformed, saving on CPU time
- Seamless models can reduce down to 0 polys
- Seamed models reduce less, but are supported (many systems do not provide ANY support for seamed models)
- LOD rate can be controlled per-model, allowing some models to reduce at closer or farther distances
- User can reduce detail globally to get faster frame rates
- Improved QERadient
- Improved clipper
- Variable lightmap density set per texture or in a global value by the tools
- TIKI models visible in editor
- Control over level of tessellation of curve meshes
- Area based lights
- In Editor lighting preview
- Surface attributes allow in-game distinction of woods, metals, dirt, etc, for sounds and player interaction
- Improved texture alignment tools
- ShaderED plug-in allowing for easy creation of shaders with a windows interface
- User Interface
- In-game menu's and in-game development tools are created in an external UI menu creation program
- In-game menu's can slide in from any direction at any speed.
- In-game menus have unique specifiable alpha, shader, font, texture, alignment, and variables per widget.
- In-game version of "notepad." Used for editing scripts, tikis, shaders, or just about anything else in-game without exiting.
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