[diamondgeezer]

This may well have been thunk of already, but whatever.

Nameplates! Big ships, and probably just Terrans ones such as the Deimos, Hecate and Orion (natch), could have their object name appear as a nameplate. I'd guess the squadron badge code could be pinched, and pcxs of the various Bank Gothic charatcers would be displayed in a certain area on the model, spelling out its name. Ideally, you'd tick a box in FRED if you want the name displyed, thus a ship would be flagged if the model could display a name, causing said check box to appear

[Anaz]

already added to FRED...in the next version you can change individual textures on the ships...

[diamondgeezer]

Excellent

[Killfrenzy]

Originally posted by Analazon
already added to FRED

In what way?

This would REALLY help me!

And how do you specify nameplate locations?

[StratComm]

Originally posted by Killfrenzy


In what way?

This would REALLY help me!

And how do you specify nameplate locations?

I don't have anything to do with the code, but the original idea that I have been working from in my modeling is that there is a specific texture that is replaced for custom nameplates.  The Orion (Bastion and Galatea anyway) already support this, as does the Nike corvette (custom) and my Hyperion cruiser.  For default, there would be a copy of the base hull texture with a different name applied in a specific section of the ship.  Download the Hyperion from my sig and look at textures in Modview, that should give you an idea of how to impliment it in models.

[Goober5000]

Voila...

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,12764.0.html

[Killfrenzy]

Will it be in 3.5?

[Goober5000]

Although, unfortunately, there's no FRED way to put the texture replacement stuff in.  You'll have to add it once you finish FREDding the mission.  I'm not sure of the best way to implement it.

[diamondgeezer]

Er... okay, I appreciate I'm pushing a bit here, but what I was really hoping for was something like this: FS2 has access to various pcx files or characters on coloured backgrounds. So, each letter of the alpahabet would be drawn in white Bank Gothic on a blue background (for Orions) and that dark grey/green (for the Deimos), etc. Then, when the mission designer enters the object's name and ticks a box marked 'nameplate', the game will take the correct pcx files and string them together to make an instant nameplate. Each capital ship would have a base set of skins, with an area of the model defined for nameplates.

The advantage is that a new nameplate pcx wouldn't be needed for each ship. If I wanted a namplate with the current system I'd have to badger an artist each and every time, and they'd get fed up eventually.

Limiting factors include the size available for nameplates (thus the GTD Supercallafragalisticexpealladocious is out ofthe question), the range of characaters that have been produced (But then who'd want $, # and ! in their ship names?). And, of course, wheter it could actually be done or not.

Sorry if I'm being a bit cheeky with my request here, but hey - I like to keep you guys on your toes

[Killfrenzy]

Originally posted by diamondgeezer
GTD Supercallafragalisticexpealladocious

Surely you mean the:

GTD Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious? :D:D



*Hides*

[StratComm]

I think that this would run in to the same problem as damage decals, a tremendous amount of work (for the programmer and processor) required for little productive gain.  Plus, if you just defined an area there are al kinds of things to be taken into consideration for such a system, including scaling of the letters and centering, neither of which would be easy to impliment.  If someone actually working on the code sees a way, then ignore me, but from a simplicity standpoint you're not looking at an easy add.

As for making custom nameplates, that's the one bit of texture work that I actually can do.  It really isn't that hard, especially if you have a base example saved in a layered format so all you have to do is change the lettering.  Microsoft PictureIt actually does a good job if you remember to reduce the image size when you are done.

[Goober5000]

Originally posted by diamondgeezer
...

Umm, this would be rather hard to implement.  You'd have to create a new graphics texture on the fly by copying text onto a duplicate of an existing one.  

Just take the texture you want and type words on it, using any paint program.  Then use the texture replace method.

[diamondgeezer]

Well, I tried

[penguin]

What DG is saying, though, wouldn't require any graphics tools at all.  Even the lowliest Fredder could do it  And you wouldn't need to keep a dozen almost-identical models floating around for each different ship (e.g., the Galatae and Bastion models in FS1)

The tricky part would be deciding where to put it on the ship, and telling the renderer about it.  Actually rendering the text onto an existing map isn't too tough, and it could be done at model load time (part of the mission load process).  The ship would then have a different skin, but it would only be in memory, and not need to be saved onto disk.

[Goober5000]

Penguin, read the thread I linked to.  The most complicated Paint program you'll ever need with my method is Microsoft Paint, and you don't need any complicated modelling programs at all.  All you need to do is put three little lines at the end of your mission file, and you're all set.

EDIT: Has anyone (besides DG) read the thread I linked to? There's already a very simple source code feature that allows you to juggle textures on any ship you want.  What diamondgeezer wants is text generation on the fly, while the mission is loading.  This would be too much trouble to implement in the source code, but with only minimal effort you can edit an existing texture in any paint program and have basically the same effect.

[penguin]

I just read the thread you linked to  You still need a paint program, but otherwise, I retract my original post.  

Nice addition, Goober5000, I wasn't aware of it. Sorry, I'm still getting my toes back in the water here...

[Goober5000]

That's okay.  It's weird rejoining a project when you've been out of the loop for a while.

This is just a helpful reminder to everyone to read carefully.

[Inquisitor]

We're all guilty of skimming

[Raptor]

So, if I get you correctly, then I would be able to remove three of my four Orion tbl entries, and use FRED to change the nameplate texture on the side to which ever one I want. Right?

still half asleep, bad night

[Bobboau]

yes,
and if someone could merge fred back in I could probly add an interface