I'm having trouble making a 3d mouse cursor. I want a view entity to represent the mouse on screen.

this link will help you http://www.coniserver.net/ubb7/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=166944#Post166944

This isn't what I need. This code converts 2d screen coordinates into 3d world coordinates and places an object at that location.

What I need is help with code that places a view entity at the mouse location in the view, not the 3d world; the thing that gets me is that the x/y/z locations for a view entity are different than the x/y/z locations in the 3d world.

X is the depth, how close the view entity is to the screen.

Y is the horizontal placement, setting it to 0 puts the view entity in the middle of the screen on the Y axis instead of at the left side.

Z is the vertical placement, setting it to 0 puts the view entity in the middle of the screen on the Z instead of the top.

So what I need help with is converting the regular screen coordinates (mouse_pos.x, mouse_pos.y) to a number that can place the view entity at the mouse position.

What I tried to do is set the view entity to mouse_pos.x and mouse_pos.y, needless to say that lead to a messed up result. I then subtracted half of the screen width and height which worked, but the vector was inverted: pushing the mouse left moved the view entity right, moving the mouse up moved the view entity down, etc... I tried to invert the vector again to make negatives positive and positives negative, but the result was the view entity being really messed up.

i tried to do it myself many time but all tryes wher a bit wrong but came close

i gues you are searching for this

vec_for_screen ( VECTOR*, VIEW*);

I actually HAVE done it before! It was great, the cursor worked wonderfully and had effects like it spun around and always pointed away from the center of the screen. I cannot for the life of me remember. Heck, I even found the old cursor model that I used, just can't find the code.

vec_for_screen doesn't really do what I need, it would work for using the mouse map or a panel. Using a view entity means that coordinates 0,0 would be in the exact center of the screen; with my screen size (1280x1024), it would mean that I would need screen coordinates of -640 to +640 for the horizontal placement and -512 to +512 for the verticle placement;if I was using a panel, then 0,0 would be in the upper left. I'm sure that you know what I mean now.

I will take a good look at this again tonight, I'll see what memories I can jog. I am also compiling my cool achievements into a wdl file to distribute. I have altered a lot of code for personal use and have come up with some really nice functions. Like I have a rotational function for a 3rd person space ship shooter that boils down to one function and will roll with the pan angles and correct itself when the ship isn't turning so hard, etc.

EDIT: CRAP! I think I remembered! LOL I'll post later.

That is so easy!
Of course when i first time try get models in view that was quit difficulty, but now peace of cake!

Then code here:

ENTITY peksi ////////this is model in view - that mean when it
//never will make trobles in game world!
{
type = "earth.mdl";
layer = 11;
view = camera;
}

//this write into your mouse function behind pos and cursor
//sinhronyzing!
temp.x = mouse_pos.x;//we now give three vectors for model
temp.y = mouse_pos.y;
temp.z=500;
vec_for_screen(temp,camera);//convert them in view
peksi.x = temp.x;//give new coordinates to model in view
peksi.y = temp.y;
peksi.z = temp.z;
//and vuala - model moves together with mouse positions

if you want that model rolling and doing all kind effects then i hope how to done it!

I had to change it to rel_for_screen to get it to work properly. I'll work on the rotational effects and re-post.