[Lukeskywalkie]

I'm not sure if this is a bug or not, moreover all I have is hotmail at the moment, so...

In the newest CVS build (as of 29th), optimized and standard, the vasudan engine trail effect (orange lines receding and fanning out) is missing, whereas in the official build (3.6.7), optimized and standard, the effect is there, but the shield effect is missing, and the last offical build is naturally missing a few of the new features (warpin/warput flash, missle flare, etc) that are present in the newest cvs. the new cvs is very stable for me otherwise, why the missing engine effect?
I really don't want to have to decide between shield effect and engine trail, the old engine trails are really ugly. all I see is the old style of vasudan engine glow, without the 'tail', in CVS. all pertinent and useful flags, minus the debug, cell, and speed tags, are ticked. OGL.


And, also, I have another question on the subject of beautifulnessness:
What is the applicable difference between Direct3d and OpenGL? I understand some of the rendering differences, at least in the literal sense, but I'm having trouble visualising it.Why isn't one preferred over the other, and why do some features work for one and not the other? I stick with OGL, as it seems to run better, but this could just be because it doesn't have the env mapping, which I always turn on in D3D.

[Nuke]

it has more to doo with the default spiecies_defs.tbl in the code not containing the extra textures. you can fix this by creating a species_defs.tbl file in your data\tables directory, and paste the following into it:

Code: [Select]

#SPECIES DEFS

;------------------------
; Terran
;------------------------

$Species_Name: Terran
$Default IFF: Friendly
$FRED Color: ( 0, 0, 192 )
$MiscAnims:
 +Debris_Texture: debris01a
 +Shield_Hit_ani: shieldhit01a
$ThrustAnims:
 +Pri_Normal: thruster01
 +Pri_Afterburn: thruster01a
 +Sec_Normal: thruster02-01
 +Sec_Afterburn: thruster02-01a
 +Ter_Normal: thruster03-01
 +Ter_Afterburn: thruster03-01a
$ThrustGlows:
 +Normal: thrusterglow01
 +Afterburn: thrusterglow01a
$AwacsMultiplier: 1.00

;------------------------
; Vasudan
;------------------------

$Species_Name: Vasudan
$Default IFF: Friendly
$FRED Color: ( 0, 128, 0 )
$MiscAnims:
 +Debris_Texture: debris01b
 +Shield_Hit_ani: shieldhit01a
$ThrustAnims:
 +Pri_Normal: thruster02
 +Pri_Afterburn: thruster02a
 +Sec_Normal: thruster02-02
 +Sec_Afterburn: thruster02-02a
 +Ter_Normal: thruster03-02
 +Ter_Afterburn: thruster03-02a
$ThrustGlows:
 +Normal: thrusterglow02
 +Afterburn: thrusterglow02a
$AwacsMultiplier: 1.25

;------------------------
; Shivan
;------------------------

$Species_Name: Shivan
$Default IFF: Hostile
$FRED Color: ( 192, 0, 0 )
$MiscAnims:
 +Debris_Texture: debris01c
 +Shield_Hit_ani: shieldhit01a
$ThrustAnims:
 +Pri_Normal: thruster03
 +Pri_Afterburn: thruster03a
 +Sec_Normal: thruster02-03
 +Sec_Afterburn: thruster02-03a
 +Ter_Normal: thruster03-03
 +Ter_Afterburn: thruster03-03a
$ThrustGlows:
 +Normal: thrusterglow03
 +Afterburn: thrusterglow03a
$AwacsMultiplier: 1.50


#End

btw thats the new syntax so it might not work in some older builds. the bitmaps are in one of the vp files, i forget which one.

[Goober5000]

No kidding?  Mantis this.

[Wanderer]

With species_defs.tbl i get the FSO thruster effects into the game but with retail thruster cones. Looks absolutely horrible. i put something about this to Mantis.

[taylor]

I don't think that the extra thruster effects should be default personally.  That's 4 effects (primary animation plus 3 glows) that need to be rendered in that case for most fighters and I think we should just stick to the retail method by default.  It's easy enough to make a species_defs TBM for the MediaVPs or for mods.

The thruster cone graphic is specified in the same table so if you want that gone you'll have to make the change there too, or change the model to not let them render.  The animated thruster cones are the thruster01, thruster01a, thruster02, ... effects in the table.  The primary ones (they are animations, not static images like the glows).


(I started to put this response in the Mantis bug but decided this was a better place to discuss it for now, will add it to the bug later)

[Wanderer]

Hmm. How am i supposed to set the thruster as gone? If i comment out the entry in the species_defs.tbl i get errors, if i set the animation to 'none' i get a total crash (no way back to the desktop) when mission begins.

[taylor]

Umm, well "none" should work but the code isn't setup to handle that apparently.  The code doesn't handle the case where the anim couldn't load normally either so that is certainly a bug.  I'll try and get that fixed tonight.

The other option is to make a single frame ani that's totally black and then it will be transparent.

[Lukeskywalkie]

where would that be placed? Or is that not something a layman can do?

[Lukeskywalkie]

That did it.  Thank you much. Sorry I didn't mantis this; until today, I only had a hotmail, and the mantis signup wouldn't allow hotmail (to keep people from creating temp emails to register, I guess?).

While I'm not a part of the project, I too would have no problems with thruster glows optional, perhaps in multiple parts (I.E. just the new effects, new/old blend {like now}. old effects. Perhaps this is too picky.

[taylor]

if i set the animation to 'none' i get a total crash (no way back to the desktop) when mission begins.

Should be fixed in CVS now.  Use "<none>" to have no effect.  This works for both the primary thruster anim and the primary glow (under "$ThrusterGlow").  Note that if you specifiy no primary glow then none of the other glow-style effects will render either (secondary and tertiary under "$ThrusterAnim").

[Wanderer]

Works like a dream! With CVS 07/01/06.

[Wanderer]

In the continued ingame tests there seems to be a little problem connected to this:

Code: [Select]

...
$ThrustAnims:
+Pri_Normal:            <none>
+Pri_Afterburn:         <none>
...
As then i get rid of all the retail thrusters as i thought i would ( ) but i also lose all missile engine glows and also, in my case, countermeasure glows (i like them glowing) too. They are clearly connected to this setting. I tried 'thruster01' and i got missile engines glows back and when i swithced those to '<none>' i lost those glows from that particular species totally.

[taylor]

but i also lose all missile engine glows and also, in my case, countermeasure glows

Umm, just a minor oversight. 

I made every fix for both ship and weapon thrusters, but forgot one for the weapons.  That one allows it to still render without the primary bitmap, but with primary glows.  I'm getting ready to commit the fix now so just be sure to check with the next build and if it's still broken let me know.

[Shadow0000]

I see there is a feature for Customized Thruster Effects, but it's only for $ThrustAnims:, and not for $ThrustGlows:, would it be possible to add that, a feature to allow Customized Thruster Glows ? (not Anims, that's already working).

It goes in the Ships.tbl, but it has relation with the species_def.tbl (thanks...)

[taylor]

The secondary and tertiary effects under $ThrustAnims are glows.  I didn't move them to $ThrustGlows during my fixes since that would have broken for a lot of people.  Only the primary under $ThrustAnims is actually a thruster animation, everything else is a glow.

[Unknown Target]

Nuke, what version is that syntax for?

[Nuke]

the more recent cvs builds. thats the one i have for my mod, i ommited the pirate section though. everything else should have the proper graphics in it.

[Shadow0000]

I mean This, speciafically, sorry I can't figure it, in the FS2 WIKI is like this, explained by me:

Customizable Thruster Effects (Anims) Ship.tbl (and xxxx-shp.tbm):

Terran example

$Thruster Bitmap 1: thruster01 (glow, as seen from the rear, standard drive, +Pri_Normal:)
$Thruster Bitmap 1a: thruster01a (glow, as seen from the rear, afterburner, +Pri_Afterburn)
$Thruster Bitmap 2: thruster02-01 (Thruster cone, standard drive, +Sec_Normal)
$Thruster Bitmap 2a: thruster02-01a (Thruster cone, afterburner, +Sec_Afterburn:)
$Thruster Bitmap 3: thruster03-01 (glow, as seen from the front, standard drive, +Ter_Normal:)
$Thruster Bitmap 1: thruster03-01a (glow, as seen from the front afterburner, +Ter_Afterburn:)

I mean a entry to replace this:

$ThrustGlows:
   +Normal:   thrusterglow01  (glow, as seen from the rear/front, while accelerating, standard drive, +Normal:)
   +Afterburn:   thrusterglow01a (glow, as seen from the rear/front, while accelerating, Afteburner, +Afterburn:)

But should be in the Ships.TBL (to allow customizable ThrusterGlows)

---------------------------------

That's what I mean, there is no entry to replace the $ThrusterGlows:, right ?, or I am doing something wrong ?

[Wanderer]

The entry in the wiki...

Code: [Select]

$Thruster Bitmap 1:
$Thruster Bitmap 1a: These handle primary glow effect. The same thing as

Code: [Select]

$ThrustGlows:
   +Normal:
   +Afterburn:
I tested it too.

EDIT: AFAIK there is no way to replace the +Pri_Normal: and +Pri_Afterburn: entries (retail-like ani effect for modelled thrust cones)

[Nuke]

i dont know, i like the bitmap based thrusters better and they dont look right with the modeled cones. perhaps have a way to disable the cones from rendering as they dont really look good anymore. on all my ships i have omitted them.