A8 improvements worth it?

Posted By: Carlos3DGS

A8 improvements worth it? - 09/25/11 18:20

So im thinking of upgrading from A7comm to A8 and wanted to know the opinions of users that have already made the change to A8.

I have been reading the announcement from when it was comming out (and the 22 pages of posts that followed it) and am still not sure if its worth it or not.
http://www.opserver.de/ubb7/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=317104&page=1

From what I have understood there has been an improvement to shadows which is nice, also to the phisics but I never really used phisics in my project anyway (unless you count basic collision detection with c_move as phisics lol).

The multiplayer system has been changed to Enet which is usless to me because I already use an Enet plugin (ANet pro).

Sprite instancing, which is extremely usefull for my current project, but I think im only upgrading my version to A8comm and I have heard this is only a pro feature.

And a bunch of speed improvements in several areas (this also sounds very very nice).

So my questions for people that have already upgraded are:
-Are the speed improvements noticable?
-Is sprite instancing only available for pro? If so, is there any way to get this working in comm with a plugin or something?
-Have there been any improvements to the editors?
-Any improvements for importing into med? (bones, weights, etc...)
-Is there a list of new functions in A8 I can read somewhere?

And a personal preference question for each of you:
What new features/functions have been more usefull for you so far?

And of course the ultimate question:
-Do you think it is worth the 83€ / 99USD / 70GBP it costs for the upgrade from A7comm to A8comm?
Posted By: painkiller

Re: A8 improvements worth it? - 09/25/11 18:57

In A8 there are new shaders such as HDR (High dynamic Range Rendering) or PSSM (Parallel Split Shadowmapping). The really cool new features are yet to come, such as the new WED, take a look at the forecast page: http://manual.3dgamestudio.net/forecast.htm

I think is worth the money because of those new features, mainly new WED, and remember that there are more bugfixes and you can ask for new features or bugs to be fixed with an A8 license.
Posted By: Pappenheimer

Re: A8 improvements worth it? - 09/25/11 19:32

"-Is there a list of new functions in A8 I can read somewhere?"

http://manual.3dgamestudio.net/beta.htm
Posted By: Quad

Re: A8 improvements worth it? - 09/25/11 19:35

You can check the new version of MED by downloading free version. as far as i can remember there is a new version of fbx importer in a8 which is not available in a7. So far most useful improvement for me is ent_animatefrom function. Everyone has different needs so different improvements are more useful for different people.

Imo it worth the money.
Posted By: Quad

Re: A8 improvements worth it? - 09/25/11 19:37

http://manual.3dgamestudio.net/newfeatures8.html

a7 to a8 part tells the main differences.
Posted By: Carlos3DGS

Re: A8 improvements worth it? - 09/26/11 12:21

I finally decided to upgrade to A8.
I must admit I wasn't totally objective when deciding, even before posting this thread. For me the best selling "feature" of 3DGS has always been you guys (the community on the forums). Ever since I got 3DGS around 3 years ago this forum has been extremely helpfull for anything I was having trouble with, and to me that alone was worth buying 3DGS over most other engines.
So I was already leaning towards upgrading even before starting this thread. After carefully reading all the links you guys provided I am already sold on it. Mabe that was just the "extra push" I needed to justify to myself investing more money into gamestudio (and in that process contribute to help keep it going as long as we can).

Now where did I leave my wallet... brb
Posted By: Carlos3DGS

Re: A8 improvements worth it? - 10/01/11 09:21

I am having trouble getting my new A8comm working properly, any help would be appreciated.
Details on my problems with A8 not recognizing "ack6c.key" file in this thread: http://www.opserver.de/ubb7/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=384248#Post384248
Posted By: Quad

Re: A8 improvements worth it? - 10/01/11 10:14

a8 uses a different key with .dta extension, ask support for your new key.

it should be key8c.dta
Posted By: Carlos3DGS

Re: A8 improvements worth it? - 10/02/11 09:33

thanks, I just receved a fourth email with the new "key8c.dta" file
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