[Quincy]

Wouldn't it be quite cool and useful to have actual numeric data on the strength of your shields. Perhaps this has already been suggested (I did a search), perhaps it already exists!


Can someone enlighten me plz....

1. Does this tweak exist anywhere?

2. If not, is it being created?

3. If not, is it possible to actually implement in FS2?

[beatspete]

*takes aim*

*fires*



Emergency exits are to the left and the rear, but dont use the one to the right, its just a door painted on the wall. Incase of emergeny, you may be used as a flotation device.  Under you chair you may find a flamethrower, or alternatively, a few coins and a bit of old chewing gum.  And if you see a shivan in the air vents, its just Carl - give him your lunchbox and he should leave you alone.



...first time i've done that. Cool.

[Sesquipedalian]

That could be handy information to have on the hud, yes.  I like the idea!  The question is only how best to implement it.

[Stryke 9]

Numbers on the graphic? I know it's just a bitmap, making that tricky, but there are ways to integrate text data with images (I'm just not at all familiar with any of the coding ones), and hence numeric.

I kinda like the shield info the way it is- you know if it's high, suffering, or you're about to be deep-fried, and there's no information overload. I suppose, for kicks, we could go the route of a complete HUD, a realistic model that simulated all sorts of crap and gave you every piece of information you'd ever want to know about your ship, but that'd involve creating more information to tell, and would only appeal to realism nuts like me- and then only sometimes.

[Quincy]

*takes aim*

*fires*

Thank you sir, may I have another?
Yeah, yeah I'm the newbie whipping boy:D



Anyway this is where I thought the data could go (the little white box) Sorry 56ker's.....




Since you can see numbers representing your weapon energy when it gets really low, I thought what the hell, maybe it's possible to integrate some other numbers.

[Terorist]

A nice, clean percentage display for the shield quadrants could be done and given as an option in the settings... Maybe as an additional rather than a replacing option, since the current style is good too for quick glances.

Edit: The numbers should be right next to each associated shield graphic, not together in a separate box crammed somewhere.

[Stryke 9]

**** 56kers, apologise to me!!!:D

Ach, but in such a small box you couldn't show all four quads, now could ye, laddie?

[Goober5000]

Suppose the shield display only showed overall shield integrity for the entire ship, and then only when it was 50% or below?

And a quick glance at the quadrant allocation could tell distribution better than four numbers, I would think.

[Quincy]

Ach, but in such a small box you couldn't show all four quads, now could ye, laddie?

Very true, but I'm not a greedy man! Instead of four, lets just have the overall one value like Goober said.
And this is where I thought we'd get that one number from.....



Now that is a single value. Am I right in thinking while hitpoints of a ship are exactly that - points; the shield value is always a percentage? And the 4 quadrants share that percentage??

Question is how do we get it into the HUD?

[Nico]

since it's a subject about shields, I wanted to ask:
is it possible to "add" a new kind of shield like the one in privateer2? the new shield wouldn't use a shield mesh, you'd see kind of shield impacts directly on the hull. that would be enabled with a new tag, something like fittingshield.
I'll try to find pics if my description is not clear enough.

[Kazan]

venom: i dont think that would look good and sheild flares would require an immensely greater amount of calculating because it has to find neighbors instead of having precompiled lists of neighbors, etc

[KARMA]

Originally posted by Kazan
venom: i dont think that would look good and sheild flares would require an immensely greater amount of calculating because it has to find neighbors instead of having precompiled lists of neighbors, etc

that's bad
but it will require this amount of calculations even if the effect is very limited(like in the other space sims)? more than applying the shield ani on the hull geometry, i'm thinking at something like a "dispersion ring", a  small, simple and circular glow (like xwing alliance for example) where the laser hits

[Nico]

Originally posted by Kazan
venom: i dont think that would look good and sheild flares would require an immensely greater amount of calculating because it has to find neighbors instead of having precompiled lists of neighbors, etc

mmh? I don't understand what you mean about neighbours or anything, it's probably code stuff. But to take privateer 2 exemple, it looks quite great. I couldn't say how it works, but if I was a coder, I guess what I would do for that would e like when you render an explosion, but instead of the bitmap always facing the screen, it aligns to the normal of the polygon it has made contact with.
Well this is just a suggestion coz for some stuff I think of it might be interesting, plus that would be much more efficient for all those shielded capships, but it's merely a cosmetic thing and if it's not possible or if it's a bother to do, I really don't mind .

[castor]

Interesting...

How about a visual low-shields alarm?
Like the quadrants turning red when one of them drops below 20%, or so.
The ship image at the middle could visualize hull integrity (shifting from green to red as % go).

[Kazan]

the shield mesh is comprised entirely of triangles with the following basic structure


3 points (corner verts)
1 normal plane
3 indexes into the shield mesh poly list pointing to neighbors (triangles with share 2 verts)

the texturing of the shield impact anim occurs over multiple shield polygons so it needs to find the neighbors very fast -- hence indexes because you can afford the expensive operation of finding the neighbors in pre-game setup (ie it's stored in the .pof)

[Darkage]

Maby a audio warning when the shields are below 20%. With a interval 0f 10 seconds for the audio warning. With a small Male/female voice saying *Warning shields at 20%*. Would save a extra box or a modified Shield ani file.

[Sandwich]

Originally posted by Darkage
Maby a audio warning when the shields are below 20%. With a interval 0f 10 seconds for the audio warning. With a small Male/female voice saying *Warning shields at 20%*.  

Wow, what an incredibly annoying idea you've come up with!

[Terorist]

Yeah, *****ing Betty ought to be useful and increase efficiency, not drive pilots mad, making them shoot at friendly ships just to make the voices stop... (By the "Invalid target! Hold your fire!")

[Fineus]

Well the code must be in there somewhere... doesn't the hull damage indicator turn red upon reaching 25% or something close? And that can count to any number from 99% to 0%, surely that information can be altered slightly and referenced to information regarding shield damage... of course shields recharge so it'd be hard to view the numbers rapidly - but a good idea could be maintained nevertheless.

[Darkage]

Originally posted by Sandwich


Wow, what an incredibly annoying idea you've come up with!

Like Thunder said ( yes i wil keep calling you Thunder:D ) shields charge prety fast so you won't hear it to much. Unless you are beeing blasted to oblivion and by flak/AAF/missiles etc:D

But atleast i get something to complain at when i have abad day:p