[DaBrain]

@ Raa

I think I just had a good idea.
LS is doing his best to make the tunnels appearance less solid.

But I think that's not 100% possible if you only change the textures.

How about some other "thrusters" in the model ?
I imagine them to create somekind of "fade-out" nebula.

This is used in most games to create a better feeling of distance.
Well, volumetric nabulas are not required for a space-sim, with some exceptions. The subspace is one of this exceptions.

This is a cheap trick, but as the player can never reach the thrustermap, nobody will notice it.

Here is my idea:

[Taristin]

I don't think I follow you.

What is it, exactly, that you want modelled/poffed?

[Lightspeed]

It would be an ugly looking concept so screw it. (you would get clear colour edges, yuck)

Looks like the tunnel got shorter...
Could you do me a favour ? Please disable the layer with the water effect on it and take an in-game shot.

I think this is what I don't like. Because it looks pixelated near your ship. I'd like it more cloudy somehow...


BTW did you replace the outer layer with 's inner layer ?
I can see noise01b clouds
 

1) It did not get shorter. The centre is 'spewing out' the lighter specks of the texture which gives it a kinda cool effect as if the whole thing was thrust out of the glow in the middle. Hard to explain, but really nice effect.

2) Without that effect it would look pretty boring. It would be some dark blue-ish clouds without any white on it. You seem to be missing the fact that the whole *texture* is based on the watery effect. I see the problem with it getting pixelated, and although you dont notice it much from viewing at the latest two screenies (see your own post) I have worked to solve this issue a lot - and it's quite better already (hard to see, but notice the bit of detail near you in the second image). I have faith that with a bit more of fiddling I can get it to look decent both at short and long range... In theory

3) No, they're rendered in the same order as V's maps were, unless Raa's models change the textures - something I don't think that happens.

[WMCoolmon]

Could you do something about the refracting/water effect on the black areas? That would give it more class, IMHO.

[ShadowDrakken]

perhaps a sort of misty effect within the tunnel, similar to nebulas, but more translucent and smoky feeling? like a swirling haze of white and/or blue

[Taristin]

Originally posted by Lightspeed

3) No, they're rendered in the same order as V's maps were, unless Raa's models change the textures - something I don't think that happens.

As closely to V's model as I could go. There is some discrepency, but the inegral data is correct.

[Starks]

If subspace tunnels are realspace, why was the Lucifer vulnerable?

[redsniper]

because they're subspace and not realspace

[Unknown Target]

Obviously it's not realspace, hence the term subspace

[Gregster2k]

Okay, this is pissing me off. Go make your own thread for debating why subspace is the way it is somewhere else, this thread is for subspace improvements, not silly discussions of "how subspace works" when its a SCI-FI game and it makes stuff up in the first place.

Why Lucy vulnerable? WHO CARES? Why do you care? It's subspace, its a faster than light tunnel, shields dont work in it. Period. Who cares about WHY? It's a GAME, and subspace is only the way it is because [V] made it that way. Trying to justify WHY [V] made it that way will just clog this thread with random speculations.

(And as you can tell, I REALLY hate reading threads full of offtopic stuff.)

Now, back on topic, I think I understand what DaBrain was getting at: a very light fog of some kind in the subspace tunnel that is gathered most near the ends and stays there, you can never reach the fog, but it obscures both ends and makes a "distance haze" effect on them. I'm pretty darn sure that's what he meant...

[redsniper]

fog would look weird in subspace

[Trivial Psychic]

I always thought that the rotating bright sections of the subspace walls were supposed to be energy clouds of some kind... at least in appearance, sort of swirling around the tunnel.  If the lightning effects suggested in another similar thread were to be implimented, they would look far more at home with cloudy surrounding.

On another note, when looking at Lightspeed's subspace diagram, it brought to mind of a way to (potentially) alowing a player to play a mission that starts in normal space, enters a subspace corridor, then exits on the other side.  It would require a massive pof that is the corridor tunnel in the center, then opens out on either end.  It would have to be small enough that the player could concievable fly from one end to the other within the space of a mission.  The corridor would actually close on either end, but be made so that ships would fly right through it instead of colliding with it.  That way the ship would seem to suddenly jump from subspace, back to normal space.  Now there are problems of ships and the model being visible from outside subspace.  Either some kind of method would need to be make sure it and anything inside it couldn't be seen or collided with when approached from outside, or have this pof as an object in the ships table file, so that it can be given a departure time, linked to your departure from the corridor.  Either that, or just use a series of red-alert missions .

Later!

[DaBrain]

Originally posted by Gregster2k


Now, back on topic, I think I understand what DaBrain was getting at: a very light fog of some kind in the subspace tunnel that is gathered most near the ends and stays there, you can never reach the fog, but it obscures both ends and makes a "distance haze" effect on them. I'm pretty darn sure that's what he meant...

That's it. And there shouldn'd be any visible edges.
And it shouldn't look weird also. This no nebula, it won't move or something.
 
I could create textures for it. But everybody else can do it too.

The best way (I think) is to use 1 color maps. From bright to dark-blue.




And I'm with Trivial Psychic in this one. I like the idea of energy clouds, and a lightningstorm would be great.

[Sandwich]

Ok, two points:

1) Where's the multiple-layer subspace model? I wanna have an impression of DEPTH when I peer through the first (innermost) layer of effects.

2) Coders, what's the chances of adding in a couple of flags to control lightning in subspace? There are 2 kinds - one is the surface-skittering electricity you get when a ship is badly damaged, and the other is the EMP nebula lightning. Both those would look awesome in subspace IMO.

[Lightspeed]

This is the latest version of it.

And....

Here is the release

I will keep working on it, but I think it's good enough for a release (and I dont want to keep you waiting )

[Lightspeed]

Some battle shots:

[DaBrain]

They're not perfectly tileable.




Looks better in screenshots than in-game. The two layers look too seperated...

The stock one is much better in this point.

[Lightspeed]

Boo

You should have seen the earlier versions - it's *much* better already, I dont even notice it in-game anymore. And eventually i'll manage to fix it completely.

BTW, use the lvlshot tags or resize the screenies.

[DaBrain]

You should merge some parts of the two layers.

Perhaps some rays on the outer layer.


IMHO we won't get around animated layers. (at least one of them)

As soon as this is possible, or as soon somebody assures that this will be possible, I'll start to work on it.
I think I'm getting used to anis.

But that could take quite some time.




Uhm, I don't like lvlshots

[Lightspeed]

no problem, Goober will jump at it and lvlshot it anyway

Animated layers would of course, offer more variety, but this is something not possible currently, so...

And how the hell am I supposed to merge two models together? 0.o

You know, theres one texture for each model, they are tiling, and the models rotate against each other.