[chief1983]

That's where a lot of development has been taking place lately.  Did you guys see this?  We've also still got ongoing campaign progress, and we've been writing a lot of Tech Room data lately.  I wanted to make a video with the new HUD code that's now in testing combined with our selectable primary firepoint grouping code, using the code that nearly doubled frame rates for many users, but my main PC has been out of commission for several weeks.  New PSU is in the mail though, so hopefully next week I'll be making a new video.  If I'm not too busy playing Minecraft or IL-2 anyway

[SpardaSon21]

Minecraft

[Angelus]

... If I'm not too busy playing Minecraft or IL-2 anyway

*waves with hand

you don't want to play Minecraft or IL-2. You want to spend your time on more important things... like the video.


 

[Vector Leader]

Tell you what, release some pics of the cockpit interiors and we'll be more patient.

[brandx0]

Thanks for volunteering to make them Vector Leader!

[chief1983]

Who said anything about cockpit interiors?  I thought everyone just turns those off anyway? 

[Vector Leader]

Thanks for volunteering to make them Vector Leader!

lol I would like to formally retract my previous statement.

Who said anything about cockpit interiors?  I thought everyone just turns those off anyway? 

Blasphemy!

[Sushi]

Minecraft

FTFY

Halloween update is almost here! Woohoo!

[JGZinv]

Good luck with the new part chief... I know your pain.
New mobo, ram, and cpu on the way for me....

[MR_T3D]

Who said anything about cockpit interiors?  I thought everyone just turns those off anyway? 

what, WHAT!??!

[chief1983]

That comment was obviously mostly tongue in cheek, but there's a hint of seriousness there.  Cockpits do add to the realism, and are great eye candy, but when given the option between having them on, and having just the HUD on my screen while playing competitive multiplayer, I'd want to have the least view obstruction possible and would probably have them turned off if given a choice.  But don't worry, we do still hope to have cockpits eventually.

[Angelus]

i prefer cockpits in every situation.

Also, how hard can it be to make a cockpit? All you have to do is to create displays, buttons, keys, switches, wires, circuit boards, modulators, stabilizers, safeguards, ... uhm... nevermind.

[CountBuggula]

That comment was obviously mostly tongue in cheek, but there's a hint of seriousness there.  Cockpits do add to the realism, and are great eye candy, but when given the option between having them on, and having just the HUD on my screen while playing competitive multiplayer, I'd want to have the least view obstruction possible and would probably have them turned off if given a choice.  But don't worry, we do still hope to have cockpits eventually.

I like cockpits, but agree that there is some truth here.  The only way I like having cockpits in competitive multiplayer is if there's a server setting disables the option to turn them off so everyone is on an even playingfield.  Is there, or could there be such an option in FS2?

[TopAce]

That feature isn't necessary. If you prefer graphics over gameplay, and it affects your multiplayer performance, it's your fault.

[Thaeris]

i prefer cockpits in every situation.

Also, how hard can it be to make a cockpit? All you have to do is to create displays, buttons, keys, switches, wires, circuit boards, modulators, stabilizers, safeguards, ... uhm... nevermind.

I know you're being sarcastic, but indeed, cockpits are quite a labor to do - If you've ever been to a flight sim forum, making a good and useful (aka reasonable polycount or an otherwise fancy trick to make the cockppit look higher-poly than it actually is) cockpit is a pretty extensive task.

However, I do have a suggestion... At some point, Stellar Assault will have actual cockpits. To make the process of making them easier and more realistic, I've started building an object library of standardized parts, including panels and switches, all of which are properly sized. When we're ready, we can then rapidly put controls where we need them and go from there. I understand there's a huge diversity gap in FotG, but if you can do something like this, it may help you greatly.

[General Battuta]

Like...cockpits where you actually have to click stuff, a la Falcon 4.0? Or just controls that react to your keypresses?

[Thaeris]

As far as I know, interactive cockpits are not possible in FSO, and in most cases, even if they were, the player would not want to use them due to the usual gameplay of FreeSpace. Now, it would be quite cool to have things in the cockpit that change due to your own actions, but the main thing you'd want would be working displays.

FSO doesn't lend itself to clickable controls, and if it did, using them would be inconveniant. I'm speaking of something different here - having a control object library is useful as it lets the modeler rapidly build the cockpit from a library of standard parts which an aircraft or spacecraft would most assumably have at some level. Again, this is probably something which wouldn't work as well for FotG due to the diversity in cockpit design, but if you can pull it off, it might speed the process up quite a bit.

[Vector Leader]

That comment was obviously mostly tongue in cheek, but there's a hint of seriousness there.  Cockpits do add to the realism, and are great eye candy, but when given the option between having them on, and having just the HUD on my screen while playing competitive multiplayer, I'd want to have the least view obstruction possible and would probably have them turned off if given a choice.  But don't worry, we do still hope to have cockpits eventually.

*Whew* My comment was tongue in cheek too, but I really do want cockpits. After some of the latter comments on this thread, I was beginning to think they really had been canned. I LOVE the extra layer of authenticity that truly immerses the player.

Having a few screens of the cockpit interiors would be epic, but even having some exterior screens of the craft with the cockpit interior and pilot visible through a transparent canopy would be awesome, as well. I can't wait to see that.

That feature isn't necessary. If you prefer graphics over gameplay, and it affects your multiplayer performance, it's your fault.

Ouch! I was going to ask the same thing CountBuggula did.

[Angelus]

i prefer cockpits in every situation.

Also, how hard can it be to make a cockpit? All you have to do is to create displays, buttons, keys, switches, wires, circuit boards, modulators, stabilizers, safeguards, ... uhm... nevermind.

I know you're being sarcastic, but indeed, cockpits are quite a labor to do - If you've ever been to a flight sim forum, making a good and useful (aka reasonable polycount or an otherwise fancy trick to make the cockppit look higher-poly than it actually is) cockpit is a pretty extensive task.

However, I do have a suggestion... At some point, Stellar Assault will have actual cockpits. To make the process of making them easier and more realistic, I've started building an object library of standardized parts, including panels and switches, all of which are properly sized. When we're ready, we can then rapidly put controls where we need them and go from there. I understand there's a huge diversity gap in FotG, but if you can do something like this, it may help you greatly.

It was meant as joke actually, as i know how much work it takes to create a lp cockpit, not to mention a hp one.

The idea with an cockpit object library sounds cool though.

[chief1983]

Well luckily in our universe, the TIE cockpit fully covers about 6 of our ships we already have in the game.  The rebel fleet is a bit more diverse of course, but we could probably share cockpits or most of cockpits between manufacturers, so Z/X could probably have a very similar or identical cockpit, etc.