Controlling Character Controller Character Movement.

[reepblue]

For the past 4 months, of my game, I've been simply just applying velocity on my player/forcing the player to Jump. Since like 99% of my game is centered around throwing the player controller around, I decided now would be the best time to perfect the air movement.

Before, applying force/velocity to the player caused this motion. The player would reach a velocity limit and then just fall to the floor.

I wanted a nice arch. I tried setting up a predefined calculation but my push math was terrible. I noticed that if I held the forward key down I got my arch I wanted. Right now I have something like this:

Here's my current code.

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Purpose:
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
void FPSPlayer::HandleCharacterController()
{
	if (GetStage()->ConsoleShowing() || m_bSuspendMovement)
		return;

	if (GetEntity()->GetPhysicsMode() == Entity::RigidBodyPhysics)
		return;

	float jumpinput = 0;
	Vec2 movement = Input::GetActionAxis(Input::ToActionAxis(ACTION_MOVEFORWARD, ACTION_MOVEBACKWARD, ACTION_MOVELEFT, ACTION_MOVERIGHT, GAMEPADAXIS_LSTICK));
	float speed = g_player_walkspeed;


	// Handle Crouching
	HandleCrouching();

	if (IsCrouched()) speed = g_player_walkspeed / 2;

	auto l = movement.Length();
	if (l > 0.0)
	{
		movement.x = (movement.x / l) * speed;
		movement.y = (movement.y / l) * speed;
	}

	// Handle Jumping
	if (ActionHit(ACTION_JUMP))
	{
		if (!GetEntity()->GetAirborne())
		{
			jumpinput = g_player_jumpforce;
			ChangeMovementState(CHARACTERSTATE_JUMPING);
			OnJump();

			if (movement.y != 0) movement.y = movement.y * 1.6;
			if (movement.x == 0 || movement.y == 0) OnPerStep();
		}
	}

	if (GetMovementState() == CHARACTERSTATE_FLYING)
	{
		auto force = GetVelocity().xz();
		UpdateMovement(force);
		GetEntity()->SetInput(0, force.y, force.x, 0, false, 0.50, 0.25, true);
	}
	else
	{
		UpdateMovement(movement);
		GetEntity()->SetInput(GetEyeAngles().y, movement.y, movement.x, jumpinput, m_bCrouched, 0.50, 0.25, true);
	}
}

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Purpose:
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vec3 PlayerActor::GetVelocity()
{
	Vec3 r = GetEntity()->GetVelocity();
	auto cc = GetEntity()->charactercontroller;
	if (cc != NULL)
	{
		r = cc->GetVelocity();
	}

	return r;
}

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Purpose:
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
void PlayerActor::Push(const int x, const int y, const int z)
{
	auto v = Vec3(x, y, z);
	SetVelocity(v);
	if (y != 0) ChangeMovementState(CHARACTERSTATE_FLYING);
}

 

What I have now is more acceptable that my previous code. What I'm asking is for any suggestions to improve this. Should I be using AddForce instead and just multiple the entity's mass? Also any information about if there are any differences between applying/getting the velocity from character controller instead of the entity would be nice. 

If I can't make anything better, I'm probably going to call it here.

[reepblue]

Ok, I think I got something decent. First, I redid my Push function now including a new vector and uint64_t member.

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Purpose:
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
void FPSPlayer::Push(const int x, const int y, const int z)
{
	m_vPushForce = Vec3(x, y, z);
	GetEntity()->SetVelocity(m_vPushForce.x, m_vPushForce.y, m_vPushForce.z);
	m_u64PushLaunchTime = GetStage()->GetTime();
	ChangeMovementState(CHARACTERSTATE_FLYING);
}

Added this to my UpdatePhysics function.

	// Stop moving me if we're landed and it's been a bit since we were last pushed.
	if (m_u64PushLaunchTime > 0)
	{
		if (GetStage()->GetTime() > m_u64PushLaunchTime + 100)
		{
			if (m_vPushForce != Vec3(0) && !IsAirbone())
			{
				m_vPushForce = Vec3(0);
				m_u64PushLaunchTime = 0;
			}
		}
	}

My new move function

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Purpose:
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
void FPSPlayer::HandleCharacterController()
{
	if (GetStage()->ConsoleShowing() || m_bSuspendMovement)
		return;

	if (GetEntity()->GetPhysicsMode() == Entity::RigidBodyPhysics)
		return;

	float jumpinput = 0;
	Vec2 movement = Input::GetActionAxis(Input::ToActionAxis(ACTION_MOVEFORWARD, ACTION_MOVEBACKWARD, ACTION_MOVELEFT, ACTION_MOVERIGHT, GAMEPADAXIS_LSTICK));
	float speed = g_player_walkspeed;

	// Handle Crouching
	HandleCrouching();

	if (IsCrouched()) speed = g_player_walkspeed / 2;

	auto l = movement.Length();
	if (l > 0.0)
	{
		movement.x = (movement.x / l) * speed;
		movement.y = (movement.y / l) * speed;
	}

	// Handle Jumping
	if (ActionHit(ACTION_JUMP))
	{
		if (!IsAirbone())
		{
			jumpinput = g_player_jumpforce;
			ChangeMovementState(CHARACTERSTATE_JUMPING);
			OnJump();

			if (movement.y != 0) movement.y = movement.y * 1.6;
			if (movement.x == 0 || movement.y == 0) OnPerStep();
		}
	}
	else if (m_vPushForce.y != 0)
	{
		jumpinput = m_vPushForce.y;
		m_vPushForce.y = 0;
		if (movement.y != 0) movement.y = movement.y * 1.6;
		if (movement.x == 0 || movement.y == 0) OnPerStep();
	}

	UpdateMovement(movement);

	if (m_vPushForce.x > 0 || m_vPushForce.z > 0)
	{
		movement += GetEntity()->GetVelocity(false).xz();
	}

	GetEntity()->SetInput(GetEyeAngles().y, movement.y, movement.x, jumpinput, m_bCrouched, 0.50, 0.25, true);
}

The player will actually slide a bit but this makes sense and feels more natural than a hard stop. Without any input this is fine but when I add any player input, it's too much.

[reepblue]

My temp fix that'll probably leave as.

	if (m_vPushForce.x > 0 || m_vPushForce.z > 0)
	{
		movement = Vec2(0);
		movement += GetEntity()->GetVelocity(false).xz();
		//DMsg(movement.ToString());
	}