Hard Light Productions Forums
Community Projects => The FreeSpace Upgrade Project => Topic started by: Nighteyes on May 22, 2011, 12:26:05 pm
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strange, didn't know its possible to change the thread title...
anyway, as I said the moment I'll get it working I'll release it, so here it is!
this effect is quite demanding and would likely kill very old cards, I have a geforce 9600gt(pretty old these days) and it runs fine...
tell me what you think and post feedback :)
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Finally had some time to work on this a bit, the effect is now 1024x1024 120 frames for subspacebig, and 60 frames 512x512 for subspace small, all converted to dds, tiling problem fixed is moving in the "right" direction, enjoy :yes:
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NEW download link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?qm5uxqlkir3akdb
download link: (old version)
http://www.mediafire.com/?t7xxv1d9onpi0xb
-installation:
-all DDS+EFF files should go in data/maps folder(not effects folder)
-POF files should go in models folder
(http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/998/screen1745.jpg)
--------old post--------
Hi guys, I was trying to create a moving tunnel effect in subspace, as it always seemed very static to me, after a bit of testing, I have tiling animated maps for the subspace corridor, and they animate in-game in a very cool looking way.
now, I'm posting this as I need help to fix something, there are "seams" in the tunnel where it tiles, I have no idea why because my maps tile perfectly, so I assume its more to do with the way it renders, or the way the model is set up...
when you guys help me solve this hopefully small problem, I'll release the effect in this thread :)
(http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/3089/screen1741.jpg)
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Wow. Ok, I don't know anything about effects, but here's definitely hoping somebody can get that bug ironed out; that tunnel looks absolutely kick-ass!
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looks like some kind of UV issue.
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seems like a cylinder mesh, I've never done a thing as that, but maybe you need to get the original model and make the seams go away by uv'ing manually.
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Yeah, looks like thats were the seems are on the UV map, as Rodo says think your going to have to do it manually, my 3d modelling tutor at uni says that when it comes to cylinders. Thats a cool effect though, reminds me of the hyperspace affect from stargate
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That effects looks bamf, sans the issue you're having. Hope it gets fixed. :D
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How does the retail effect do it? Is your map the same ratio as the retail effect?
If yours loops perfectly outside FSO, then it's a UV issue for sure.
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yeah it loops perfectly outside FSO, its the same ratio(1024x1024 map), I'm pretty sure its a UV map error but I'm having problems exporting a new tunnel I made in 3ds max.
the original tiles the static "noise01a" map 3 times along the mesh, the place where it tiles is where the seams happen...
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I reconverted the subspace mesh, it did have UV problems indeed, now its all fixed, and looks perfect in-game, currently converting to DDS, will update the main thread with the release shortly :)
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Sweeeeet.
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took the whole night to convert all the TGA files to DDS, first post edited with download link.
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This is the COOLEST ****ING THING
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awesome subspace is awesome
one thing I noticed: it's not exactly seamless. There are small but noticeable periodic breaks in the animation every few seconds, mostly noticeable in subspace_big. I think they happen in subspace_small as well but if it does it's not as bad.
The effect is pure win though. Subspace missions just got twice as awesome. :D
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Sweet, downloading. Any chance of fixing that small glitch? I wonder if they'll put this in the MVPs / FSPort MVPs... ;7
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:jaw:
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:D Awesome, even if it reminds me a bit of Apple's RSS feed screensaver :warp:
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That is indeed quite awesome. I did notice a couple of breaks in the animation too, and the effect was running backwards in "Good Luck", but still... very, very nice.
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Just to poke... I don't suppose anyone would happen to record a vid ya? :)
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Sorry for necro, but I just got pointed towards this from the FS1>FS2 thread.
Will this ever be optimized and included in the MVPs? It's aeons better than the current effect, despite being not quite canon.
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Would like to see the noticable loop in it sorted out
looks great otherwise
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It also appears to run the wrong way, with subspace white glowy things zipping forward instead of backward.
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It also appears to run the wrong way, with subspace white glowy things zipping forward instead of backward.
there is no "wrong way" for it to move, its space, just turn your ship/mission around :P
when I'll have time I'll fix the looping issue, but unless someone actually wants to use this, it wont be anytime soon...
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Yes, see, but some missions from like derelict, FSPort, WiH assume the tunnel is moving a certain way. Yours moves opposite to the default :P
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Should be a simple fix in PCS2, just turn the tunnel 180 degrees around x or y axis and swap rotations.
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It also appears to run the wrong way, with subspace white glowy things zipping forward instead of backward.
there is no "wrong way" for it to move, its space, just turn your ship/mission around :P
when I'll have time I'll fix the looping issue, but unless someone actually wants to use this, it wont be anytime soon...
I'm using it.
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Is this going in the MVPs if it gets fixed?
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didn't the author of transcend do this kind of thing for one of his missions? I like to think that should be standard.
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didn't the author of transcend do this kind of thing for one of his missions? I like to think that should be standard.
(the last mission of) Transcend makes use of the normal subspace tunnel, not this new effect.
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Actually it's styled like the original but the effect is noticably different.
It's been said to look more metallic.
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It also appears to run the wrong way, with subspace white glowy things zipping forward instead of backward.
there is no "wrong way" for it to move, its space, just turn your ship/mission around :P
when I'll have time I'll fix the looping issue, but unless someone actually wants to use this, it wont be anytime soon...
I'm using it.
Wings of Dawn related?
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For those who haven't seen it yet, here's a little video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7ZmyA0dsh4
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It also appears to run the wrong way, with subspace white glowy things zipping forward instead of backward.
there is no "wrong way" for it to move, its space, just turn your ship/mission around :P
when I'll have time I'll fix the looping issue, but unless someone actually wants to use this, it wont be anytime soon...
I'm using it.
Wings of Dawn related?
Aye
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I'll probably end up either using it for a starting point for a new Tachyon gate tube or at least an
interm warp tube once we've got a gate.
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I don't remember the Tachyon tunnel effect but I think this would fit it, especially if you can do the jump sequence externally like Tachyon does.
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just for the sake of WoD alone its worth fixing this, loved the first one :)
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Easily convinced for an awesome cause. :D
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just for the sake of WoD alone its worth fixing this, loved the first one :)
:D
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I don't remember the Tachyon tunnel effect but I think this would fit it, especially if you can do the jump sequence externally like Tachyon does.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYcYTtiOZI4&feature=player_detailpage#t=39s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg6u5o0Fonk&feature=player_detailpage#t=28s
A pink and blue tunnel is in tach, one for multi and one for SP. They were made using 3-4 tubes
with partially transparent textures, rotating at different directions. This looks pretty close to the
blue one, just maybe throw in some particles and purple in the texture...
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I'd like to have this effect but on my laptop it crashes my game.
Also doesn't seem to work when I load the fsport mediavps with it.
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It probably uses huge textures, try reducing the textures by 50% and see if that helps.
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Bumping this for prosperity
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Wow thanks for the bump, this is really something else. It gives you the feeling like you're going really freakin fast. Like you might crash into something... hard. Also a lot tighter, like you are actually in a subspace tunnel. Really cool effect, feels dangerous.
I could not run it in debug due to the assertion spam. Here's the tail end of the debug log if you want to see it, if you don't then don't worry about it.
It runs fine on a release build.
GS_EVENT_ENTER_GAME (2) in state GS_STATE_BRIEFING (10)
Entering game at time = 31.905
Loading model 'subspace_small.pof'
BMPMAN: Found EFF (noisesmall01.eff) with 100 frames at 45 fps.
Model subspace_small.pof has a null moment of inertia! (This is only a problem if the model is a ship.)
IBX: Warning! Found invalid IBX file: 'subspace_small.bx'
IBX: Starting a new IBX for 'subspace_small.pof'.
Loading model 'subspace_big.pof'
BMPMAN: Found EFF (noisebig01.eff) with 200 frames at 30 fps.
Model subspace_big.pof has a null moment of inertia! (This is only a problem if the model is a ship.)
IBX: Warning! Found invalid IBX file: 'subspace_big.bx'
IBX: Starting a new IBX for 'subspace_big.pof'.
WARNING: "Null vec3d in vec3d normalize. Trace out of vecmat.cpp and find offending code." at vecmat.cpp:449
WARNING: "Null vec3d in vec3d normalize. Trace out of vecmat.cpp and find offending code." at vecmat.cpp:449
WARNING: "Null vec3d in vec3d normalize. Trace out of vecmat.cpp and find offending code." at vecmat.cpp:449
WARNING: "Null vec3d in vec3d normalize. Trace out of vecmat.cpp and find offending code." at vecmat.cpp:449
Frame 1 too long!!: frametime = 7.458 (7.458)
WARNING: "Null vec3d in vec3d normalize. Trace out of vecmat.cpp and find offending code." at vecmat.cpp:449
WARNING: "Null vec3d in vec3d normalize. Trace out of vecmat.cpp and find offending code." at vecmat.cpp:449
WARNING: "Null vec3d in vec3d normalize. Trace out of vecmat.cpp and find offending code." at vecmat.cpp:449
WARNING: "Null vec3d in vec3d normalize. Trace out of vecmat.cpp and find offending code." at vecmat.cpp:449
Frame 2 too long!!: frametime = 3.708 (3.708)
WARNING: "Null vec3d in vec3d normalize. Trace out of vecmat.cpp and find offending code." at vecmat.cpp:449
WARNING: "Null vec3d in vec3d normalize. Trace out of vecmat.cpp and find offending code." at vecmat.cpp:449
WARNING: "Null vec3d in vec3d normalize. Trace out of vecmat.cpp and find offending code." at vecmat.cpp:449
WARNING: "Null vec3d in vec3d normalize. Trace out of vecmat.cpp and find offending code." at vecmat.cpp:449
Frame 3 too long!!: frametime = 2.672 (2.672)
WARNING: "Null vec3d in vec3d normalize. Trace out of vecmat.cpp and find offending code." at vecmat.cpp:449
WARNING: "Null vec3d in vec3d normalize. Trace out of vecmat.cpp and find offending code." at vecmat.cpp:449
Freeing all existing models...
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I really love this effect, except for the going backwards part. It reminds me of that MST3K line " Boldly backing away from where no man has backed away before!". :lol:
Could someone describe what needs to be done in PCS2 to switch it around? Or would renaming all the textures backwards do it?
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Or would renaming all the textures backwards do it?
Possibly, but you must really like torture lots of manual labor tedium and carpal tunnel.
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Well, how is it done in PCS2 then? Dragon said to turn it 180 on x or y and flip the rotation but I don't know how to do either of those things. The wiki has two articles on PCS2, here (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/PCS2) and here (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/POFCS2Help/HelpHome), and neither one helps you figure out how to use it. Could someone point me towards the documentation and then I could figure it out on my own?
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Double post for the :bump:.
Well that was in fact quite tedious but not as bad as I thought. Once i got into a rhythm it practically did itself.
Here are the maps so that you are moving forward when you start the mission.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/0p5qi4rooy3wh9u/subspace_it_forward.7z (http://www.mediafire.com/file/0p5qi4rooy3wh9u/subspace_it_forward.7z)
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I think it looks brilliant, but there are several things I reckon it would look better with.
1) It seems to lack a sense of 'scale'. In Freespace, when you're in the subspace tunnel and bearing down on the Lucifer, you feel like you're in this MASSIVE unending tunnel... It feels mind bendingly wide and infinitely long, whereas with this current animation it does feel more like you're just staring at a more or less 'flat' but pretty looking texture rather than being in some massively vast tunnel. The tunnel aspect is what I think appealed to me most about it in Freespace.
2) It's probably animated a bit too fast. In Freespace, the tunnel walls animated fairly quickly, the but the sheer 'scale' of it made it feel slower than it really was. That's an effect that I think absolutely needs recreating...
Just my 2c. I think it's a fantastic start. Also, the little 'bits' flying past the player in the video The E posted - are those the usual 2d sprites that are always zipping past you, or is that a starfield beyond the subspace tunnel that's just showing through because of transparency? I think those probably need to go to really consolidate the effect.
Man I sound like I'm *****ing, don't I? :lol:
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Hmm, looks like I missed this one...
Well, here are my thoughts:
It does look quite nice. I don't mind that it looks a bit different from the original.
It's as inefficent as it gets though. 300 frames eating 150MB memory is just not good enough.
The texture res is too high.
Noisesmall01 looks already streched. You could reduce the height to at least 25% without too much loss of quality.
Setting the fps to 45 is also an indication for too many frames. If your effect is too slow, because you have too many frames, you shouldn't just speed it up, but do something about the numer of frames. Imo EFFs should never have more than 30 fps.
I know it sucks that we're stuck with frame animations for effects like this at the moment. This would be a perfect place to use texture translation and get the effect done with 2-4 textures at a perfect frame rate.
Since that already works for the thruster distortion, I'm sure it won't take long before we can use it for other effects as well.
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this release wasn't meant to be something final, I tested it out and thought it looked cool enough to release it so people know stuff like this are possible.
now that we have some more advanced shaders, its indeed possible to get the same effect/feel using shaders alone, this is why for now I won't be releasing a newer more efficient effect.
I know 300 frames at 1024x1024 rez at 150mb is really bad, but as I said, this is a proof of concept and wasn't made for use in anything else apart from testing, and whoever does decide to use this, its very easy to cut the frame count and resolution by half, I'm sure it will still look good then...
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Totally Games called, they want their X-wing Alliance effect back.
Seriously though, this looks way cooler than that ugly blue blob thing they did in XWA.
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The new subspace texture is just awesomesauce. The older model made a strange humming sound, just pointing that out.
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The new subspace texture is just awesomesauce. The older model made a strange humming sound, just pointing that out.
:wtf:
Models and textures have nothing to do with the sound played by the game.
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*Sighs* Your right, mjn.mixael.
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The new subspace texture is just awesomesauce. The older model made a strange humming sound, just pointing that out.
You sure that wasn't the power supply giving out? :p
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I'm very sure it wasn't my power supply giving out. Go ahead and play the last mission of FS1. I'm quite sure it made a humming noise.
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Holy **** man, it's a joke. We all know there's a humming noise but it isn't part of the damn model. It's a bit of code that plays a looping sound when "Takes place inside subspace" is checked.
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oh man! New member epic fail!
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New members have an allowed maximum number of epic fails of 6, so you are safe.... so far. :P
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I'll keep that in mind, Rodo.
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Reminds me of....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_thfaCiW_Q&feature=player_detailpage#t=265s
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this release wasn't meant to be something final, I tested it out and thought it looked cool enough to release it so people know stuff like this are possible.
now that we have some more advanced shaders, its indeed possible to get the same effect/feel using shaders alone, this is why for now I won't be releasing a newer more efficient effect.
I know 300 frames at 1024x1024 rez at 150mb is really bad, but as I said, this is a proof of concept and wasn't made for use in anything else apart from testing, and whoever does decide to use this, its very easy to cut the frame count and resolution by half, I'm sure it will still look good then...
I know im slightly late replying to this but...
I uh, don't think shaders will do what you think they will do :p
I really like this tunnel effect but (as with the majority of your effects) its badly optimized, so I'm kinda hesitating if I actually want to use it at this point. Seeing as its a few months later and you flat out said that you aren't interested in doing anything else with this effect, I probably wont...
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thing is, apart that I'm really busy in RL atm, I've spoke with Valathil about this effect, and it is indeed possible to simple move a tiling map along a UV space direction, creating the movement feel with only 1 single texture... if its a long texture(1024x4096) the tiling wont be noticeable and we will be able to have greater detail with less performance strain.
if you want to use this effect as is, I would suggest cutting the framerate by half as well as the resolution by half.
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a new, more optimized version is up, all issues fixed, main thread updated
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:cool: :nod: :D :pimp:
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Amazing work!
The only drawback is that some of the lines from the geometry seem to pop up to existence (it's very VERY subtle) when a white/clear portion of the texture is rendered on top.
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ahh I thought I saw something like that... I think it might be the pof model, something to do with the UV's or smoothing? might need to re-export them.
the textures themselves tile perfectly this time, so its not a texture thing
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Sweet, gonna check this out asap.
Thanks for the heads up!
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Yes, It's definitely something related to the model. The smoothing thing is the first thing that came to my mind, I actually opened the model on PCS2 to check it out and tried to export it to some blender format to check, I didn't get that far I must say.
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anyone tested this out? I would like feedback and to know if I can call it "final"
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anyone tested this out? I would like feedback and to know if I can call it "final"
Works perfectly and smooth. Good job. :yes:
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Two things
First, as Rodo already pointed out, there are a few visible lines from the mesh which rotate around.
(http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/8718/screen0144.png)
Second, Compared to the old version it feels like the new version is 'smaller'. I think this is because the old version had smaller white parts on the exits, making it seem like the exit was farther in the distance (compare above pic with the picture in the opening post: http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/998/screen1745.jpg). I personally prefer the feel of the old version here. I also like the old, more saturated light blue noise more than the new, more subdued purplish color.
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well I don't know what to do about those lines, is there an option to disable the model rotation and the movement of these seams? I think it might fix this problem
regarding the bright light at the end of the tunnel, the size of these is determined by the size of the glow points in subspace_big.pof, but for some reason when I tried to make them smaller I didn't notice a difference in-game...
as for the coloring, nothing has been changed from the original files, so check your post processing settings it might be because of that :)
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That's because the glowpoints do nothing. The subspace models in the mediavp's don't have them, and if you remove them the light is still there.
Are you absolutely positive that you were using the same effects in that screenshot in the opening post? Cause a bit of bloom doesn't change blue to purple :p
I tried a few things but am unable to fix that visible seam either, anyone else wanna take a shot at it?
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its strange as I remember I put those glow points in especially so I can control that white light, its also very strange thats they don't show up in-game...
I'm 100% sure no color change was made, all I did was reduce the total frame count and fix the tiling errors :P
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I looks really cool. Just a quick question: Qhich mod uses it? I currently have only Shrouding the Light, Derelict and Blue Planet installed as far as custom campaigns are concerned. Any of those could use your subspace tunnel?
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They can all use it, just put it in your mediavps folder.
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Ehrm...what I meant is do they MAKE use of it. As in: Is there a mission with a mid-mission subspace jump? ^^
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War in Heaven does, and I know in Derelict there's a subspace mission.
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Thanks.
BTW: It just dawned to me that there is another campaign that uses subspace. It's a rather unknown one...named Freespace 1 The Great War. XD I guess that uses the new effect, too, doesn't it?
Too bad I already beat FSPort 3.3, but that means I can test the new effect instantly by replaying that mission. :yes:
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none of those campaigns use it AFAIK.
In order to use it you'll have to rename the .pof file to the same name the subspace effect model on the MVP's has, this way it will override the original, then you'll have to place the files on the corresponding folders in the media_vps folder.
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Yeah, I just had a quick test in FSPort 3.3, last mission, and there was no new effect. I thought that it was already designed to replace the old animation...
Does anyone know how to rename and where to place the files in order to replace it correctly? Thanks in advance.
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Homesick uses subspace more than most campaigns.
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Mmmm.. ok.
I think you need to rename the .pof file to "Subspace_Big", then copy the .pof file to data/models, DDS and EEF files to data/maps.
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In the new download the file is already named "subspace_big" and install instructions already point towards these two folders...
But still, the last mission in FS1 does not use it. Well, maybe it can't be helped and maybe, like Cobra said, Derelict and Blue Planet will use it.
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You may be running into how FS handles mods.. try putting the files into your FSPort\data\<folder names here> IIRC that may fix it, as FSPort > MediaVPs > FS2 retail (Anything in FSPort overrides MediaVPs, anything in MediaVPs overrides FS2 retail, based on:
[secondarylist]
MediaVPs
which should be in your FSPort mod.ini (so, FS2 knows you are selecting FSPort, so it puts FSPort, then reads mod.ini and puts MediaVPs next, then ofc retail data is last in the priority list).
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I'll try that, thanks.
/edit: YES, it works and it looks absolutely amazing. It's moving much faster than the old effect, almost sickening, but cool nonetheless.
I did see some kind of a seam running at the edge of the "tube" towards the Lucifer...I'm not sure if this is intentional or a bug, but still wanted to mention it, just in case. It looks like this:
http://s14.directupload.net/images/user/120227/pz2a3if9.jpg
http://s7.directupload.net/images/user/120227/rny82xdg.jpg
As I said it starts from behind me and travels alongside the "tube" towards the Lucifer.
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NEW Download link is broken. What gives?
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-Shameless plug for using gameupdates.org as a backup mirror-
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Any way to still get this? The link isn't working anymore. :(
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-Shameless plug for using gameupdates.org as a backup mirror-
Any way to still get this? The link isn't working anymore. :(
LOL
(sorry, just noticing the irony)
I don't think I have this one, at least not on my laptop. Anyone else have it?
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File deleted?
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indeed media file reports the file is no more
Invalid or Deleted File.
The key you provided for file download was invalid. This is usually caused because the file is no longer stored on Mediafire. This occurs when the file is removed by the originating user or Mediafire.
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Any new links?
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Look on page 3.
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You mean this? http://www.mediafire.com/file/0p5qi4rooy3wh9u/subspace_it_forward.7z