"Mario Kart" style perspective rendering help

[mobichan]

I am not really sure where to start with this or what extension is most appropriate. I'd like to be able to render objects from a top down map into a perspective view, similar to the way mario kart uses mode 7 for the track. But the difference here is that I would like to have an active object (a targeting reticule) that is moveable by the player that is also drawn on the floor. Is this possible with any current extensions? Can anyone point me to an example file or resource on how to start implementing this?

Thanks in advance,

Mobichan

[Fanotherpg]

Raycaster? OpenGL?

[King_Cool]

I dont know if im understanding you correctly...
...But there is actually a Mod7 extencion for MMF2
Does that information help? :P

[Pixelthief]

mode7ex.mfx is what you are looking for; its in extension pack 2
Its just mode 7 itself

[mobichan]

I have noticed the mode7 extension, but wasn't sure where to start with it. I'll check it out and hopefully there is an example to go with it.

[King_Cool]

I also noticed the Mod7 extencion a long time ago. I was very excited but fount it very hard to understand the examples ( how Mod7 worked ) as well as find other individuals who were familiar and experienced with the extencion ( Mod7 ).
...
I have however leart how it works now and should have almost a handfull of examples, showing you the basics. ( I am not an expert )
- The logic behind how objects/ sprites are placed, moved and resized ( X, Y and Z axis ) around in the 3D map/ environment
- How you move and rotate the camera around in the 3D environment

From playing Mariocart ( SNES ) you may have noticed that the map is completly flat. bushes, borders, walls and boxes are all flat.
In Mod7 you do have the option to add a 'height map', meaning you could create elevation ( walls, buildings, pyramids, hills ) in your flat 3D world.

I will strongly recomend you to not use the height mapping function! This will created massive lag! Even if you halv the size of the frame and reduce the graphic resulution of the Mod7, lag will be noticable even in the simplest of examples ( it may be that my computer is not good enought, but im pretty sure im generally speaking ).
However, you are off cource free to experiment with it, but keep it in mind if your planing to create indoor environments or a massive outdoor world with lots of ( or any ) mountains, structures, hills and ditches.
...
I know ( from having ben in your situation once ) that understanding the example applications can be hard, and i will be happy to help you out ( when i have time ) and explain how Mod7 works ( even throw you some simple examples illustrating it ) so you will be able understand and not fuble around in the dark. Its realy not that hard to understand if someone just explain it to you.

I will however suggest that you give it a try first, who knows maybe youll get it all by yourself without any help

[Fanotherpg]

Disthron got it working lastly, so you can talk with him. Together we sorted out Raycater one (Tutorial in the works) so it should be cool.

[Keyboarder]

Hey king, could i get some of those examples? I was trying to create a 3d game a while back with Mode 7, but couldn't get anything working. Maybe this will get me back into that

[King_Cool]

When creating a game using Mod7EX, the best way to do it ( and also the way it is done in many of the example applications if you analyse them ) is to create a top down type of game.

I understand you dont want to create a top down game but a 3D game using Mod7X. When you have created the top down version of your game, Mod7EX can use the data ( basically objects positions ) from the 2D top down version of your game to represent the same game objects inside the Mod7EX 3D map.

So the top down 2D version of your game will off cource be invissible, but will also act as the 'actuall' game ( only not the visual game ).
...
Her is a very simple example showing you what i have talked about and how Mod7Ex is used.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3537859/Mod7EXsimpleDemo.mfa
...
Only thing i would warn you about is how i scale the 'cursor object' in the 3D map. This is a quite old example, and i havent really understood how to correcly scale objects in the Mod7EX 3D map ( hench the wide and stretched 'Cursor object ( 3Dmap )' object, and divisions at the end of scaling calculation in line 24 ) so i would not advice you to trust my scaling method.

I have tried to keep this example very simple and basic, but there is more that can be done us Mod7EX.

[Keyboarder]

...I think i'll stick to my pathfinding engine hehe o.o'' that was a little complex.

Maybe i'll understand it in a few years, when i sift through my huge downloads folder.