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Back to Hogwarts - Walk and fly around the school - V.0755

gunair
Explorer
Hello Rifters,

am I the only one, who wants to walk and fly around Hogwarts castle? I don't think so - so here's my solution:

BACK TO HOGWARTS
- a free, non-commercial fan project -


HogwartsFlugsmall.jpg

It's Version 0.755, but the FINAL VERSION, because I'm running out of my trial license. :cry:

Being an absolute beginner, - with no idea of programming -, to the whole topic, don't expect too much. It's just a (huge) demo to walk around Hogwarts on 4 terrains (only 2 more or less "finished") with a great looking Hogwarts model (made by DANIO MORENO), music (by HORRORPEN) a lake with an island and a tower on it, forests, animals, farm etc, etc ... and of course a working flying broomstick to fly over it all...

Although there would be so much to do (stop the "funny moving" of the trees (!), terrain design, repair the corrupted and adds the rest of the Hogwarts model; Adding: animations, Hogsmeade station, Hogsmeade village, more animated animals, a unicorn, griffon, dumbledore, more sounds, more interaction, game components etc, etc.....), but as I said, I'm running out of the license...

Before you start 2 things: :!:
1) !!!! ATTENTION: Takes a long time after the "Powered by Unity" sign to start !!!!!!
2) Two issues (without solution yet): :oops:

The tunnel: Normally it takes just a few seconds, but sometimes it seems, that you are stuck in there. You might have to wait to get to your destination. Wait and don't move!
Mounting the broomstick for the first time: Sometimes it doesn’t work! No idea, why. No solution yet. You have to start the demo again. !!!! GAMEPAD must be ready before starting the demo to work correctly!!!!

I recommend to read the "READ ME" PDF before starting (while downlaoding the demo e.g.). Download it here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6gftfhfgnfhsd9d/Back%20to%20Hogwarts%20V0.755-%20README.pdf

And the Demo of course - "Back to Hogwarts - V.0755"


WINDOWS 32-Bit :

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8nd52x7m9hibf0k/BackToHogwartsV0755.zip
mirror:
https://www.mediafire.com/?debkh1ej9di253y


Linux built:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/o2cveavkjc1fdwk/BacktoHogwartsLinux.zip

Mac built:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/w5bp20cj27dh7e8/BacktoHogwartsV0755MAC.app.zip


BACK TO HOGWARTS - THE DEMO

"LEVEL 1" - In the mood

You are at a - very well known - place, enjoying your holidays. While watching the sea and mountains, listening to the seagulls you get in a mood and remember the time at your old school of witchcraft and wizardry. Perhaps there's a way..... Well, why not visiting the OWL statue in the garden....

(BTW: Do you know, what the floo network is ??? )

"LEVEL 2" - Back again

Of course you know, that there is no direct way to Hogwarts castle, whether by apparation nor by floo network. And so the network transports you to a forest nearby. Follow the way down to Hogwarts Lake. Being there, you have the choice:

Go left and follow the way around the lake, passing some sheep and may visit a small farm and follow the way to the Boathouse (you should visit it!) and climb up the stairs to castle Hogwarts – and/or

Go right to the "Crow Tower" on the island in the lake. Find your hidden broomstick (if you need a way to reach the island - there will be one – remember, it’s Hogwarts nearby 😉 )

Of course, if you fly on your broomstick, you can land everywhere on - even as possible - ground (Terrain & Crow Tower & big courtyard at the entrance of Hogwarts & inside Quidditch stadium & in ONE Hogwarts tower – with the dark brown wooden floor)

But don't smash Hagrid's pumpkins with your broomstick !!! 😉 )



I recommend to walk around first and then fly over the scene you have seen as a pedestrian before. But that's up to you. And the terrains on the right aren't finished (and so "empty") yet...

I also recommend to stay while walking around and to sit while flying...

For Game Controls - read the "Read Me" file please!!!!

I hope you enjoy hiking at hogwarts lake and flying over Hogwarts as much as I do.... 😄

Gunair

PS: Again, big "Thank You" to DANI MORENO and "HORRORPEN" and to all makers of the used assets...
LocomotionVR.de - Virtual reality in eMotion http://www.locomotionVr.de Organizer of HANNOVER VIRTUAL REALITY MEETUP & Member of COLOGNE VIRTUAL REALITY MEETUP DK2 Status: OWNER SINCE 04.AUG.14 Ordered: Mar 19, 2014 09:52 AM PDT
44 REPLIES 44

RiftXdev
Explorer
It'd be good if the demo had some puzzle elements. Do one thing to lead to another etc.


Start with finding the broom. Use the broom at the quidditch area to find a snich flying around the area that, when caught (with a key for 'catch') opens a new piece of content, say it gives you access to a wand you can find on the dorm roof. Once you have the wand you can go and blow Voldemort away who is waiting on the bridge between hogwarts and the forest bit (bridge over waterfall) and then end the demo there.

Up to that point have voldemort kill you if you get too close.
DK1 | DK2
"The question isn't who is going to let me but rather who is going to stop me"

Darius
Honored Guest
An artist impression of things that might be 😄

grodenglaive
Honored Guest
crap - dropbox has disabled downloads. You're too popular! :cry:
GA-Z97X-gaming gt; i5-4670k; Nvidia780Ti; 16GB PC3-17066; win7-64 bit; DK2

gunair
Explorer
:oops: :oops: :oops: OOOPS!!!!

I'm so sorry!

I will add an alternative Mirror Link...

Problem is, that I'm not at home at the moment - and it will take another 24 hours, before I'm back home.... So it will take a day, before I can give you a second link...

Ooops... bad timing...

Gunair

PS: Although it's a great feedback in a way 😉
LocomotionVR.de - Virtual reality in eMotion http://www.locomotionVr.de Organizer of HANNOVER VIRTUAL REALITY MEETUP & Member of COLOGNE VIRTUAL REALITY MEETUP DK2 Status: OWNER SINCE 04.AUG.14 Ordered: Mar 19, 2014 09:52 AM PDT

gunair
Explorer
:!: :!: :!: Fortune favours fools :!: :!: :!:

I've found a file copy here... So I set up a Mediafire mirror:


https://www.mediafire.com/?debkh1ej9di253y

Have fun - and feedback is welcome 😉
LocomotionVR.de - Virtual reality in eMotion http://www.locomotionVr.de Organizer of HANNOVER VIRTUAL REALITY MEETUP & Member of COLOGNE VIRTUAL REALITY MEETUP DK2 Status: OWNER SINCE 04.AUG.14 Ordered: Mar 19, 2014 09:52 AM PDT

grodenglaive
Honored Guest
that was cool, thanks for sharing! 😄
GA-Z97X-gaming gt; i5-4670k; Nvidia780Ti; 16GB PC3-17066; win7-64 bit; DK2

mrboggieman
Honored Guest
I like to comment on demos that I enjoyed. I think the demo is awesome. I had to play several times as I missed the broom on the first go. I couldn't seem to land the broom but flying around is awesome and was great after getting familiar with the controls. The main thing in the demo that hindered the immersion for me was the lack of lighting on the models - can unity bake some global illumination in?

I think a wander around the great hall using a more complete mesh of Hogwarts would be cool too. The demo loaded fine and I could fly around without any drop in frame rate so nice one there. Couple of ideas: it would be awesome to travel to Hogwarts by carriage or by boat at night. Playing a version of the harry potter theme song whilst walking up to the castle would be nice.

grodenglaive
Honored Guest
Hi Gunair,
Did you figure out a fix for the weird bending trees - I just ran into the same problem. It seems to just be the more distant trees, maybe at the billboard transition?
GA-Z97X-gaming gt; i5-4670k; Nvidia780Ti; 16GB PC3-17066; win7-64 bit; DK2

gunair
Explorer
Hello rifters,

it's time for a status update of "Back to Hogwarts" I think. So, as I wrote before, the most important thing is to move the whole project to the new location on the Windows 8 partition. Because of the memory problems and the crashing of the project every time, I decided to not just copy the old parts of the project, but to check every asset and every part I've used, to remove unused parts to make the whole project leaner. Especially, because new content is making the way in it...

So this is a very time consuming task, and it's a kind of boring, because there is no real progress of the demo. So I decided to do some new things parallel - to have fun again :mrgreen:

And UH, the most important thing is, that because of the new partition, the different OS and the newest version of Unity being installed, it was possible to activate another 4weeks trial !!! :shock: I never thought about it being possible, but I tried it - and it worked! So I haven't needed Drachenherz' trial yet (but I will in a few days...). But nevertheless: "Thank you, Drachenherz".

So, at this point I added (so far) three new things:

1. An underwater effect (100% ready). - I thought for a long time, that something was missing for the immersion, when getting underwater and nothing change. Then out of the blue, the idea of how to do that came to my mind - and in a few minutes it worked. I love that kind of creative things happening... :-))

2. The flight on buckbeak (80%). - As I asked Drachenherz what I can do good for him, for giving me his trial, he said, that it would be nice to fly over the scene by just using the rift. To fly, where you look, like in other Rift demos... So, as the broom was already occupied, I decided to persuade buckbeak, to let us rifters ride on his back.... So, - if you be POLITE - , he will let you... 😉

Here's a picture of buckbeak waiting for you in his place:

GriffonScreenshot.jpg

3. A new tunnel sequence (90%) - The biggest problem of the demo was, that many of you were stuck in the tunnel.. I will "rewrite" the whole part (although you know, that I can't even write one line of code 😉 So let's say find a different way) ... But that's just the game mechanic.

But I also changed the content. From the beginning, I had a totally different looking "floo network tunnel sequence" experience in mind, but couldn't do it then. But now I learned so much, that I could do it that way - and it became even better! It's completely new, no longer (more or less) static, as it was before.... You will love it! I'm so excited about it, that I even consider, to do a "Back to Hogwarts - Floo Network - Spin Off" Demo out of it... Well, you will see...

That's the parts I (more or less) finished yet. There are also new residents waiting..., and the Hogwarts Express arrived too...

@mrboggieman: Thanks for your answer and your posting on riftdev. I hope, that you landed the broom in the meantime 😉 The lack of lighting is indeed a problem. I think I still have to learn a lot about lighting in Unity. I tried it with lightmapping, but because of the memory problems and the crashing, it was impossible to "bake" lightmaps yet... But I keep that in mind...

I'll have to rework parts of Hogwarts. As I mentioned before, some of the mesh was corrupted. And it's very huge (and memory consuming). The problem is, that I have to work with blender on that problem - and I hate that program... But I will fight it... 😉

The carriage travel was already planned - from Hogsmeade station around the lake up to Hogwarts (passing the gates of Hogwarts) near Hagrid's hut (the rough route is already there 😉 ).

To have a night scene - Well ... it would be great, but as I mentioned before - too many questions at the moment.

And I can't use the original Harry Potter music of course, because of copyright violation... But as I'm writing this - the "blue marble" demo comes to my mind... Maybe in the way they did it there to import music (but I have NO idea of doing that at the moment...) Hmmm....

@grodenglaive: Sorry, but I have no solution to the bending tree problem yet. But, to be honest, I haven't worked on that topic in the meantime... But perhaps, someone here has a solution???? And if you find something - please post it here!

So, finally, two things:

There's a youtube video of the user wt7. 15 minutes of walking around in the demo, but without flying... You'll find it here:




And a very cool thing, some guys did: Riding on a broomstick (sounds familiar hmm 😉 ), playing quidditch , but with a Wiimote controller! This was something I had in mind also (because I worked with the Wiimote hack before) - and THAT was the reason, I intentionally decided to use the (not so easy) helicopter-style controller for flying the broomstick in the demo...





So, we're in contact now - and who knows, where it will lead the demo...

That's all for now. Have a nice weekend.

Greetings from Germany,
Gunair
LocomotionVR.de - Virtual reality in eMotion http://www.locomotionVr.de Organizer of HANNOVER VIRTUAL REALITY MEETUP & Member of COLOGNE VIRTUAL REALITY MEETUP DK2 Status: OWNER SINCE 04.AUG.14 Ordered: Mar 19, 2014 09:52 AM PDT

Hi gunair - is this project still ongoing?

How are you getting on with it?

Looks really good and i never got to try it with my dk1 - would be nice to try it in the dk2.
Big PC, all the headsets, now using Quest 3