FIRST FRC Game Simulator for the HL2 Engine

[cbale2000]

Introducing...



Background
A while back I saw a need for something that would allow drivers to practice without having a robot to drive, and for teams to test out and train new drivers without risking damage to robots they do have. So as my Senior Project for my school, decided to create a game simulation that utilizes the HalfLife 2 Game engine to make a 3D recreation of a FIRST Robotics match at a regional event.

With the assistance of a partner to help me with the coding aspect of the project, I have begun work on this project, which should be done late this spring.


The Project

The simulation itself will be based off of the 2006 Aim High game (it was one of the more simple games to recreate and due to limited time constraints I just picked that) though the code structure will be expandable to allow for the inclusion of other FIRST games as well. The software it will run on (for the time being) is "Garry's Mod", which is a sandbox mod for HL2, this allowed for easier coding in the limited time alloted for Senior Project (my future plans are to expand the software to be it's own HL2 mod). Using the HL2 Havok physics engine, we plan on creating a close to realistic representation of the 2006 game, complete with a to-scale map and robots based off of real ones!

The map is being build using the blueprints from the 2006 game field and is 100% accurate to the dimensions of its real life counterpart.
The robots use 3D models of actual robots from the event, as well as functional characteristics and stats from each, which will correspond to their performance on the simulated playing field.
The Software will also be expandable to allow for the additions of other robots and maps.

All scoring will be done according to the 2006 rules, and there will be simulated positions for each team. If you choose to be the robot driver, than you can opt to use a viewpoint from the driver station. Alternatively, you can be a copilot, or just someone watching in the stands.

The game will have multiplayer support so that you can play with other drivers either on a LAN, or hundreds of miles away.


The FIRST Community

This brings me to the reason I'm posting here. Though we have the mapping, coding, and other aspects of the software under control, we could still use some help with models. I have a 3D model of our teams 2006 robot, but that only gives us one. Not knowing much about any other teams robots gives me limited details to work with for including other robots into the game (which, truly is essential for an accurate simulation.


YOU can Help!

So I ask you, the FIRST community, does anyone have 3D models of their 2006 Aim High robots? If you do I would greatly appreciate it if you wouldn't mind sharing it with me, along with some of the stats from your robot that year so I can include it into the game. I'm not looking for super detailed (though I would certainly take any if you have them), just something that I can use to represent other robots that played in the 2006 game. Robots will be used with their corresponding team name and numbers and all credit will go to their creators.


Any help is greatly appreciated!




Release information

The program is still in an early BETA stage, but I am planning on bringing a working version of it with me to the Championship Event so you can all see it (probably in the Team 703 pit area, but possibly elsewhere depending on space restrictions). After that the final version will be released early June.


Thats all, please feel free to post any thoughts, feedback, ect. about the project, I'm always open to suggestions. Also, here's some images of some of the work we've done so far (though these ones are a bit out of date, expect newer ones soon).

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/2...gfield2hq5.jpg
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/7...gfield3yv4.jpg
http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/2...gfield1ks3.jpg


Thanks!

Chris Bale
Team 703

[EHaskins]

Sounds like a very intersting project, and I hope you finish it. It would be a fantastic tool for teams.

Unfortunatly, I don't have any models of 2006 robots.

[Cleinhun]

You, sir, just broke the awesome gauge. Our Aim High robot was pretty bad, but I'll see if we can get a model to you anyway.

[commodoredl]

I think 174 (The Arctic Warriors) did something like this with Overdrive. I was able to download a map for this year's arena from their site. They had some code available if anyone wanted to see it, so if you can find them you might want to check it out.

Looks very cool otherwise, now I wish we used Inventor for our robot designs.

[danshaffer]

This sounds AWESOME!
I have to check our servers and talk to our 06 captains, but I think we could go for this!

[Leav]

sounds like a great project! Let us know when your'e done!

just a side note: from what I remember making CS maps with hammer: the Hollow tool sucks.
Look at that spiral it created for you on the first pic.

From what I remember the better technique is to section of the square into trapazoids, with the sloped side towards the inside of the whole.

it will perform better and take up less polygons....

Great work so far! I know how hard it is to model something according to real measurements! (I tried and failed to model my school for a DE_ map )

Good luck!

-Leav

[Popper99]

Originally Posted by Leav

just a side note: from what I remember making CS maps with hammer: the Hollow tool sucks.
Look at that spiral it created for you on the first pic.

From what I remember the better technique is to section of the square into trapazoids, with the sloped side towards the inside of the whole.

it will perform better and take up less polygons....

-Leav

Yes, definitely! Use something like the cut tool (Whatever it's called, second from the bottom) and manipulate the vertexes. Don't carve unless it's something simple like blocks.



But it looks like it will be really fun to play! The best part is that we can build our own bots right in Garry's Mod, too

[SpaceOsc]

i have a model of our 2006 robot, i dont know anything about moding in source.. but what format do you need or want the model in? its currently inventor but very large.

[Tetraman]

Originally Posted by commodoredl

I think 174 (The Arctic Warriors) did something like this with Overdrive. I was able to download a map for this year's arena from their site. They had some code available if anyone wanted to see it, so if you can find them you might want to check it out.

Looks very cool otherwise, now I wish we used Inventor for our robot designs.

Yea. I don't know much about it, but the guys who worked on it are really cool and will make a joint effort with you guys if you ask.

Here is the Overdrive Simulation from the website and the guy's email is at the bottom:
http://snobot.org/snobot/Pages.aspx?page=Simulation

[lachoneus8]

When it rains, it pours Years without a 3d simulation of a FIRST game, and now they're sprouting like weeds.

Team 174's work looks sweet!

[cbale2000]

Originally Posted by Tetraman

Yea. I don't know much about it, but the guys who worked on it are really cool and will make a joint effort with you guys if you ask.

Here is the Overdrive Simulation from the website and the guy's email is at the bottom:
http://snobot.org/snobot/Pages.aspx?page=Simulation

Wow, that looks great! Almost exactly like what I'm working on, but a different year. I would be thrilled if we could work together on this!

[deshirider430]

Originally Posted by Tetraman

Here is the Overdrive Simulation from the website and the guy's email is at the bottom:
http://snobot.org/snobot/Pages.aspx?page=Simulation

seems to me the finish lines are in the wrong places, shouldn't the red one be moved up, as well with the blue?

[richalex2010]

I'll look into making a model of Pandora, Team 540's bot. What are the polygon requirements you're after?
What other things are you in need of? (textures, models, etc.)
I've got The Orange Box and relevant Source SDKs, but not Garry's Mod (for now... plan on getting CS:S with Garry's Mod soon), so if there's anything I can help with, I'd like to give it a try.

[cbale2000]

Originally Posted by richalex2010

I'll look into making a model of Pandora, Team 540's bot. What are the polygon requirements you're after?
What other things are you in need of? (textures, models, etc.)
I've got The Orange Box and relevant Source SDKs, but not Garry's Mod (for now... plan on getting CS:S with Garry's Mod soon), so if there's anything I can help with, I'd like to give it a try.

I believe there is like a 150k poly limit in Source, but I don't really see anyone coming close to that. To be honest, I really don't have any preference as to how many polys so long as it looks decent.

Right now I'm trying to get the FIRST logo as a texture so I can apply it to the field. That and I'd like to try and get a new skin for the red lights so the blue alliance can have indicator lights on the player stations.

If you are familiar with converting graphics to textures, that would be the most useful thing right now.



Also, to those of you who offered models, I'm at a point now that I could use a few to work with so if any of you have a model available that you could email them to me or something it would be very much appreciated.


New Screenshots coming soon (If I can get the latest version to compile sometime this year).

[gblake]

Folks,

A link to a YouTube video of the Overdrive simulation Lockheed Martin folks whipped up this Spring (mentioned in other messages in this thread) is available in the first post in this thread:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?p=743349
The specific message containing the link is here:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...89&postcount=1

Blake