Author Topic: Capship shielding?  (Read 5930 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline TrashMan

  • T-tower Avenger. srsly.
  • 213
  • God-Emperor of your kind!
    • FLAMES OF WAR
I know this has been discussed 100000000 times...but I was wondering were there any new developments on the field?

I know that one can make a hull-shaped shield for a capships, but it doesn't look good and ..well..it has other flaws..

Someone (can't remember who) made it so that if the shield is specified in the tbl, the ship will act as tough it has shields, alltough without no visual effect...

Now I was thinking a bit and parhaps there can be a hybrid solution...
You know how each weapon can have a impact effect (explosin, shockvawe...etc...). The main idea is to have 2 sets of effect...the game checks if the target has working shields, and the shieldHit effect is desplayed upon impact. Once the shield is down, the impact effect is changed to the standard one(of the weapon)..
This could really work... Any toughts?
Nobody dies as a virgin - the life ****s us all!

You're a wrongularity from which no right can escape!

 

Offline Bobboau

  • Just a MODern kinda guy
    Just MODerately cool
    And MODest too
  • 213
after 3.6 I'm going to redo the way sheilds are rendered wich will make them both faster and better looking (particularly for capships)
they'll use a variation of my decal code
« Last Edit: February 26, 2004, 09:20:29 am by 57 »
Bobboau, bringing you products that work... in theory
learn to use PCS
creator of the ProXimus Procedural Texture and Effect Generator
My latest build of PCS2, get it while it's hot!
PCS 2.0.3


DEUTERONOMY 22:11
Thou shalt not wear a garment of diverse sorts, [as] of woollen and linen together

 

Offline diamondgeezer


 

Offline JC Denton

  • Node For Me
  • 27
Am I correct in suspecting that we'll be able to define the shieldhit ani in the ships.tbl, so we'll have more than color to differentiate them?

Canonically speaking, FS2 and many related mods wouldn't need this since Terran and Vasudan shield tech was reverse-engineered from Shivan components.  But the Star Trek mod, or any other non-FS mod, may appreciate such an option, since not every deflector grid will have the same dispersal pattern.
"I condemn false prophets, I condemn the effort to take away the power of rational decision, to drain people of their free will -- and a hell of a lot of money in the bargain. Religions vary in their degree of idiocy, but I reject them all. For most people, religion is nothing more than a substitute for a malfunctioning brain."  - Gene Roddenberry

"Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few." - George Bernard Shaw

 

Offline Fineus

  • ...But you *have* heard of me.
  • Administrator
  • 212
    • Hard Light Productions
Quote
Originally posted by Bobboau
after 3.6 I'm going to redo the way sheilds are rendered wich will make them both faster and better looking (particularly for capships)
they'll use a variation of my decal code

As JC Denton raised (kinda) does that mean we could have a different shield hit for a Subach weapon as opposed to a Cyclops torpedo?

 

Offline TrashMan

  • T-tower Avenger. srsly.
  • 213
  • God-Emperor of your kind!
    • FLAMES OF WAR
That is what I was aiming at...you can have several solutions:

1. different sheldhits for different weapons, different hull_hits for different weapons

2. different sheldhits for different weapons, same hull_hits for different weapons

3. same shieldhits for different weapons, different hull_hits for different weapons


I vote for 1 or 3.....
Nobody dies as a virgin - the life ****s us all!

You're a wrongularity from which no right can escape!

 

Offline Lightspeed

  • Light Years Ahead
  • 212
Quote
Originally posted by TrashMan
That is what I was aiming at...you can have several solutions:

1. different sheldhits for different weapons, different hull_hits for different weapons

2. different sheldhits for different weapons, same hull_hits for different weapons

3. same shieldhits for different weapons, different hull_hits for different weapons


I vote for 1 or 3.....


You know you can have different hit effects for different weapons as it is now, right?

Different shield hits would be nice, tho :)
Modern man is the missing link between ape and human being.

 

Offline Trivial Psychic

  • 212
  • Snoop Junkie
While we're on the subject of shielding, would it be possible to add a flag to a ship such as "shields resistant", so that beams would not pierce it?  I realize that there is a beams_no_pierce_shields flag in the launcher, and a "no_pierce" flag for beam weapons, so that weapon will not to pierce shields, but if I have a new capship with beam resistant shielding, I don't want to use either of the above systems and have all other ships being beam resistant too.  Is something like this possible, or should I run into the washroom and cry my eyes out? :(

Later!
The Trivial Psychic Strikes Again!

 

Offline Woolie Wool

  • 211
  • Fire main batteries
Quote
Originally posted by TrashMan
I know this has been discussed 100000000 times...but I was wondering were there any new developments on the field?

I know that one can make a hull-shaped shield for a capships, but it doesn't look good and ..well..it has other flaws..

Someone (can't remember who) made it so that if the shield is specified in the tbl, the ship will act as tough it has shields, alltough without no visual effect...

Now I was thinking a bit and parhaps there can be a hybrid solution...
You know how each weapon can have a impact effect (explosin, shockvawe...etc...). The main idea is to have 2 sets of effect...the game checks if the target has working shields, and the shieldHit effect is desplayed upon impact. Once the shield is down, the impact effect is changed to the standard one(of the weapon)..
This could really work... Any toughts?


Why yes, let's put big expensive complex shield generators on capital ships even though beam cannons will ignore them completely. Wow, that's such a good idea!:rolleyes:

Sarcasm aside, why bother? Having shields wouldn't have granted even another second of existence to the Belisarius, Psamtik, and Colossus.
16:46   Quanto   ****, a mosquito somehow managed to bite the side of my palm
16:46   Quanto   it itches like hell
16:46   Woolie   !8ball does Quanto have malaria
16:46   BotenAnna   Woolie: The outlook is good.
16:47   Quanto   D:

"did they use anesthetic when they removed your sense of humor or did you have to weep and struggle like a tiny baby"
--General Battuta

 
i find it an interesting point raised on the basis of shields. Although in Freespace 1, there was no shield effect on the Lucifer, but the game stated that it was clearly there. That goes to show that you CAN have a shield on a ship in the Freespace 2 universe, as well as prove to have a potent advantage. lets just say, to make it fair, that a shield could only withstand a mild amount of punishment. One shot from a BGreen would bring it down completely, right? Or how about it is a timed basis. Well, what if command wanted to get a little-ass cruiser from one node, to another, through heavy fire. Or, if you wanted to run a blockade? Simply outfit the ship with the shield, and when you finally reach the blockage, switch it on and make a suicide run for the node. Beam weapons and turrets WILL NOT inflict damage on the ship as it reaches its target and gets the hell out of there. ;7 ;7 ;7

 

Offline Nico

  • Venom
    Parlez-vous Model Magician?
  • 212
Quote
Originally posted by Bobboau
after 3.6 I'm going to redo the way sheilds are rendered wich will make them both faster and better looking (particularly for capships)
they'll use a variation of my decal code


Like in Wing Co and Privateer2? Cool, I've been waiting a long time for that.
SCREW CANON!

 

Offline KARMA

  • Darth Hutt
  • 211
    • http://members.fortunecity.com/aranbanjo
you aren't the only one;)

 

Offline TrashMan

  • T-tower Avenger. srsly.
  • 213
  • God-Emperor of your kind!
    • FLAMES OF WAR
Hmm... some may have not understood what I was proposing...

You might think that this method would drain the CPU a lot, but it can be simplyfied by doing the calculation only for the capships that have a entry in the shield value tbl.

As far as the beam pierce shields stuff...why not have several types of shields? (using a flag) so one type of damage passes trough, other is stopped...
Like Positron sields stop all weapons excep for plasma, some other shields can't stop normal lasers...etc....
However, each weapon would then have  a flag that determines it's damage type..etc..etc...
Might be too complicated..... but even IF beams can pierce shields, a shielded capships is far better protected against bombers/missiles/standard weapons
Nobody dies as a virgin - the life ****s us all!

You're a wrongularity from which no right can escape!

 

Offline Bobboau

  • Just a MODern kinda guy
    Just MODerately cool
    And MODest too
  • 213
it would probly be better to handle that sort of thing by a bunch of multable factors (ie, is more powerful agains one type of weapons but less  against another, flags would be less versitile and redundant quick)

when I said I was going to make it more like the decals, I meant it would be like haveing animated decals that only get made on the sheild mesh, they would all be square(ish) and not have distorted UVs if they were too big.
the multable texture thing is a totaly unrelated subject, but while I'm in there I could probly allow this, though I think it would make more sence for each ship to have a specific sheild hit animation for it rather than each weapon, maybe give each ship sevral animations that would be used for diferent types of weapons (bombs, disrupters, mass drivers, ect)
Bobboau, bringing you products that work... in theory
learn to use PCS
creator of the ProXimus Procedural Texture and Effect Generator
My latest build of PCS2, get it while it's hot!
PCS 2.0.3


DEUTERONOMY 22:11
Thou shalt not wear a garment of diverse sorts, [as] of woollen and linen together

 

Offline Turnsky

  • FOXFIRE Artisté
  • 211
  • huh?.. Who?.. hey you kids, git off me lawn!
Omniscaper's gonna love this, since he'd be able to sheild his star-trek ships.. ;)
   //Warning\\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
do not torment the sleep deprived artist, he may be vicious when cornered,
in case of emergency, administer caffeine to the artist,
he will become docile after that,
and less likely to stab you in the eye with a mechanical pencil
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Offline Bobboau

  • Just a MODern kinda guy
    Just MODerately cool
    And MODest too
  • 213
well he can do that already
Bobboau, bringing you products that work... in theory
learn to use PCS
creator of the ProXimus Procedural Texture and Effect Generator
My latest build of PCS2, get it while it's hot!
PCS 2.0.3


DEUTERONOMY 22:11
Thou shalt not wear a garment of diverse sorts, [as] of woollen and linen together

 

Offline KARMA

  • Darth Hutt
  • 211
    • http://members.fortunecity.com/aranbanjo
eh, ST shields are just a blob, not much pain, go add a shield on a star destroyer instead;)

 

Offline TrashMan

  • T-tower Avenger. srsly.
  • 213
  • God-Emperor of your kind!
    • FLAMES OF WAR
Yeah Bobbau, but one will still need to make the shield model...I was talking about shield hits effect on the hull/impact point..
Nobody dies as a virgin - the life ****s us all!

You're a wrongularity from which no right can escape!

 

Offline Nico

  • Venom
    Parlez-vous Model Magician?
  • 212
Quote
Originally posted by Bobboau

when I said I was going to make it more like the decals, I meant it would be like haveing animated decals that only get made on the sheild mesh, they would all be square(ish) and not have distorted UVs if they were too big.  


Ah, then make it so if there's no shield mesh, it does the decals directly on the ships hull. That would be useful.
SCREW CANON!

 

Offline Tolwyn

  • The Admiral
  • Administrator
  • 214
  • Ridiculously Old Fraud
    • Wing Commander Saga
Quote
Originally posted by Nico


Ah, then make it so if there's no shield mesh, it does the decals directly on the ships hull. That would be useful.


exactly: and it will solve crash issue with the shield mesh. As I stated before we had shield mesh on every capital ship in the game. It looked like the engine was able to render a limited number a shield hit effects and crashed afterwards :(
Wing Commander Saga: A Legend Is Reborn | WingCenter
 
Tolwyn’s reputation for risk taking with other people’s lives was considered  to understate the facts. The admiral’s willingness to sacrifice anyone or anything to achieve his objectives had long been lauded in the popular press. He was “the man who got things done”.- Colonel Blair

No errors, no random CTDs, just pure fun and proof of why getting hit with missiles is a bad thing.
-WC Saga's beta tester


Report Wing Commander Saga bugs with Mantis