MD2 Animations

When using the AnimateMD2 command can anyone explain what the speed parameter actually equates to?

I initially thought it might be the frame increment per UpdateWorld but it appears independant of this.

Also is there a way to query XYZ coords of verts in a MD2 animation?

I want to make a simple brawler with swords and have a 3D line/sphere intersect routine to test for sword damage. It'd be great if I could query the position of verts at either end of the blade to form my 3D line.

GetSurface doesn't work with MD2s so I suspect it's not possible.

Shame if this is the case. MD2 is a nice simple and efficient format for hobbyist developers. If only it had a little more support in Blitz3D.

BTW, my plan Z is to store the vert coords in a data file and reference them in-game. Could get very messy though with interpolation. :(

Nope. It's a memory hog unless the model has only few animations and very few polygons... ancient format that has a lot of problems like vertex wobbling and lighting problems.

You're right of course, Mustang.

The `technique' is a little retro and you are restricted to characters under 1000 polys ideally. But it worked well for games like Crash Bandicoot and Spyro on the PS1 not to mention Quake II.

I suppose it depends on what kind of game you're developing. I'm after lots of characters on screen and a decent frame rate.

Yes, well it does have it's uses even today... I was thinking of modern FPS games with 3000+ polygon per character which would be too much for MD2 format.

Personally I liked MD2 morphing and easy animation changing, so it's not like I'd hate the format or something. :)

Cool. Thanks for the interest Mustang. :)

I'm still keen to know what the speed parameter actually represents, if anyone knows the answer.

It's not fps, that obvious. Maybe it's a multiplier, but of what?

If I want to playback anims at 30fps what should I set speed to?

Can anyone help?