[Sushi]

Hi!

I've actually already posted this question in both the SCP forum and the BTRL forum, but I haven't gotten any responses so I'm trying here too. You can read the linked threads for some more details, but most of it is repeated here:

In the BTRL demo, sidethrust is much, much less powerful in glide mode than in normal flight. In fact, the effectiveness of all thrusters varies quite a bit between normal and glide. This, to me, seems like an unfortunate flaw in the otherwise near-perfect flight dynamics.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, simply do the following to reproduce the effect:
1. Load some mission in the BTRL demo (or anything else using the BTRL demo's flight mechanics).
2. Bring the ship to a dead stop, preferably with some sort of stationary reference object in front of you (like one of those huge asteroids).
3. Sidethrust left and right under normal flight, noting how long it takes to reverse direction. Then, activate glide mode and do the same.

The main things I'd like to know:

1. Is anyone aware of or working on this "bug"? If so, who?
2. Is there a solution that involves .tbl tweaks, or is a source change needed?

I suspect pretty strongly that I already know the answer to #2. After playing around with the source (current HEAD revision), it looks like the wierd sidethrust behavior is an artifact of the way glide is currently implemented.

Please note that I am not trying to criticize anyone's work: I recognize that getting any sort of semi-newtonian motion in an engine not designed for it is plenty praiseworthy.

If nobody is currently tackling this, I probably will. The glide implementation is so close to perfect, it drives me crazy!

P.S. This happens in The Babylon Project too (which shouldn't be surprising). Maybe I'll ask them about it next.

[StarSlayer]

Does this behavior occur in the fully patched version of the BTRL Demo?  If I recall correctly there was further refinement done to the flight model in the patches.  If so I will bring it up with the rest of the team, its entirely possibly we may have tweaked it in Diaspora.

[Sushi]

I believe I have the fully patched version. The autoupdate wasn't working, so I downloaded the files from this thread:

http://www.game-warden.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6705

So if that represents the latest patch, then yes.

[karajorma]

That's the most up to date version.

The people to ask about this are Turey and Backslash but unfortunately neither of them have been active recently.

[JGZinv]

Bax is alive after having numerous problems, but he's not online at any sort
of normal hours unless you're on the west coast.

Usually able to catch him by IM around 3 am EST. Sort of depends on the day.

[Sushi]

I went ahead and implemented some tweaks. Details here:

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,62235.0.html

[karajorma]

I'll get the rest of the team to try it out and see if we like the changes.

[Sushi]

Cool!

While you're at it, have them check out SushiGlide v3 as well (linked to in the same post).

[Sushi]

In case you Diaspora folks missed it:

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,62485.0.html

SushiGlide v5 for your check-it-out pleasure. It even includes a sample mod for the BTRL Demo!