[madaboutgames]

Here i go again, the cockpit view, the most vital missing part of the mod.  This would be an awesome and more realistic add on to tbp/fs2.  I mentioned this many times in the past, I have modelled a star fury cockpit in Max and can model the Nial, Narn, etc cockpits which would be needed.  To put accross the importance and benefits of having a cockpit view i will upload some screen shots and a video with this in on monday, hopefulloy it will tempt "somebody" to impliment this into the new engine.

Shaun

[Sigma957]

Well I certainly would be interested in adding it to TBP,anything to add to the atmosphere of the mod would be greatly appreciated.

[madaboutgames]

You got a deal, I have already modeled the fury & Nial cockpits, i will post screens and vid on these monday.  Reading previous threads on this subject and the main problem we may come accross may be the implementation of the hud displays onto the clockpit.  I would suggest that each part of the hud eg. speed, radar, weapon power etc could be implimented onto the cockpit as a realtime video graphic onto the desired poly on the cockpit.

[Fury]

Well I certainly would be interested in adding it to TBP,anything to add to the atmosphere of the mod would be greatly appreciated.

I would prefer it to be optional if I am ever again to play TBP.

[madaboutgames]

Hopefully it should be optional.  It would be another view.  Like with the chase view where the model of the ship is just infront of you, the cockpit view should adopt the same technique.  If the model of the cockpit is right in front of the camera it would give the impression of the cockpit view, and when the player moves around space the cockpit will move slightly as in the chase view.  With glo maps assigned to the clockpit and the model being able to recieve shine maps, the cockpit should look very real and impressive.

[Prophet]

the cockpit should look very real and impressive.

Anyway... for cockpits!

[Sigma957]

Well I certainly would be interested in adding it to TBP,anything to add to the atmosphere of the mod would be greatly appreciated.

I would prefer it to be optional if I am ever again to play TBP.

Well that is always an option,might have it as an optional download or something. ;

[IPAndrews]

You would just have a -usecockpits command line option or something. Can't see this happening though. I spoke to one of the SCP team about it. Can't remember who. Anyhow to do the job properly, so that the radar and little screens and such appear as named textures on the cockpit model, would mean rewriting a lot of the HUD code. This obviously involves lots of work, which is bad.

[Prophet]

Anyhow to do the job properly, so that the radar and little screens and such appear as named textures on the cockpit model, would mean rewriting a lot of the HUD code. This obviously involves lots of work, which is bad.

You are thinking way too uber cool...

It sould be done like other space sims have done it. Keep the hud as it is, and just add the cockpit. So as thus the cockpit would be "below" the hud.

[RavenTS]

Anyhow to do the job properly, so that the radar and little screens and such appear as named textures on the cockpit model, would mean rewriting a lot of the HUD code. This obviously involves lots of work, which is bad.

You are thinking way too uber cool...

It sould be done like other space sims have done it. Keep the hud as it is, and just add the cockpit. So as thus the cockpit would be "below" the hud.

Yes...so the Hud could be seen as a feature of a helmet and not of the cockpit itself...

[IPAndrews]

I guess you could explain it away like that but a cockpit is going to look a bit dull without some kind of working electronics. Take the Star Fury for example, what are you going to do about that screen in the middle right in front of the pilot? If you're not going to do something useful with it like stick the radar in there or the ship target view then what's the point in having the cockpit?

[madaboutgames]

Havnt had time to post the screens and vid of the cockpit yet. been a bit busy over weekend finishing some of the season 2 cut scenes.

I suggest that in light of all the work involved to obtain a cockpit in tbp, is to use the radar, speed and weapon panels onto the cockpit.  It would be too much work to put all working parts of the hud onto the cockpit and to be totally honest many arnt even necessary.

[Prophet]

I guess you could explain it away like that but a cockpit is going to look a bit dull without some kind of working electronics. Take the Star Fury for example, what are you going to do about that screen in the middle right in front of the pilot? If you're not going to do something useful with it like stick the radar in there or the ship target view then what's the point in having the cockpit?

Thats a helluva lot of work...
The cockpit doesnt really need any gadgets. Just think of X-Wing, Starlancer, Tachyon, Edge of Chaos and Freelancer (to name a few), they dont have any gizmos on their dashboards. Just a few lights and genric screens (that don't do anything) at the most. And I don't find anything worth complaining about them.

EDIT: And keep in mind that the Starflurry isn't the only one needin' the cockpit...

[starfox]

Speaking of other ships, I dont remember ever seeing Nial from inside...or Sentri for that matter.
Cockpit of Nial particulary interests me, does anyone have any renders or screenshots at their disposal ?

[CaptJosh]

The Nial was shown from the inside in one of the B5 eps where Lennier is training to be a ranger. I don't remember which season it is, or the ep title, just that the person he was training with panicked and Lennier did not when the ship they were launched from left them behind.

[starfox]

I think it's from season 5
*Hurries to hunt down and capture the last season*

[madaboutgames]

Yeah ive already modeled the nial fighter from that exact epsiode.  The nial is just like a big bubble where the window is placed with a few gadgets on the rest of the cockpit. The Centauri fighter will have to go off guess work same for the lintra, narn heavy fighter and Valkryn.  Still havnt had much time to finish modelling the star fury.  But here is how it should look





The red texture will give the feel of the red light inside the cockpit.  Glow maps can be used as in the pic as well as shine maps so when the player moves the sun will light up the part of the cockpit in the light.   The radar should be placed in the centre piece.  



There are 2 polys at either side of the radar which would be ideal to put weapon energy and afterburner thrust.  The lights just on top of radar could be the speed indicator with the match speed icon at the side of this or underneath the radar.  The rest of the hud doesnt need to be used which will save a lot of time.  




The rest of the unsused hud can remain as it is which could act as a helmet tactical display.  Just the contre brackets could be removed as these serve no purpose.

 

[madaboutgames]

Can any one see the pics, not sure wheather its my browser or not cos they arnt coming up on mine.

[IPAndrews]

I think you've hit the nail on the head, a mix of assigning important hud guages to cockpit polys (using textures) and leaving less important ones floating (tactical helmet) would work very nicely. It ain't going to happen though. It is a lot of work and nobody is even positive about the idea. So if you've modelling cockpits with this in mind you're probably wasting your time . Maybe you can just slap some generic animating texture on the radar bit of the cockpit. How about a rotating 3D model of Valen's ass?

[madaboutgames]

LOL   or Rebo and Zooty

What sort of time do you think we would be looking at just to have the radar on the fury cockpit???