[karx11erx]

Hi,

I would like to ask for permission to use some of the textures from MediaVPS for D2X-XL (e.g. the nice concentric shockwave effect, or some smoke textures). D2X-XL is a free, non-profit community project just like FSOpen. I would of course give due credit in the program and the program's credits screen.

karx11erx

[The E]

Sure, go right ahead. As long as credit is given, we have no problem with you using stuff from the mvps.

[karx11erx]

Yo, thanks, that's great!

[Ulala]

Been awhile since I've played Descent II / D2X-XL, but I'm excited to see what you guys come up with.

[Mars]

Been awhile since I've played Descent II / D2X-XL, but I'm excited to see what you guys come up with.

Man, too long.

[karx11erx]

This is what I've done so far: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQYuhLC-GHY

[General Battuta]

Looks good to me!

[Kolgena]

That looks great.

You know what would be neat? Those smoke trails on top of the flaming debris script.

[jr2]

Hey karx, nice work! 

I was wondering, would this be of any use to you?  Or does DII not use the same skybox mechanism?

1st post quoted below for your convenience.

Some of you may already be familiar with the limitation of cube-shaped skyboxen; the ugly seams visible between the cube faces. The technical issue behind the problem is a rather deep one and suffice to say, perfect solution is not available without DirectX 10 level of rendering engine if I recall correctly*. However, things can be done to get over this issue, and today, after an IRC discussion on the subject, blowfish put together a model that uses a bit different mapping than the typical face=texture style that would seem logical and most straightforward to use. As a result, skyboxes with no seams can now be used with a generic skybox model, with a negligible texture resolution sacrifice.

This model can be, if desired, put inside the mediaVP starfield skysphere, and with alpha blended textures pretty much limitless amount of options is now available. Things like being in atmosphere, or having rings of a planet reach behind you, are now possible without seams and with supreme quality.

The mapping scheme used is as follows: When using texture resolution of 2048^2, the actual part of the texture mapped to the side of the cube is now 2040^2. The remaining edge of the texture space is used to border the texture with the corresponding edges from the textures next to it, which will negate the issue that caused the seam edge issue to begin with.

Here is a sample image of how to edit the textures to get the correct results in-game:



This is a 1024^2 texture, so the area used by the actual texture is 1020^2 and the two pixel border between is filled with adjacent sides' textures, as you can see from here. The darkened areas are shown here just for clarity.

In-game screenshots just for the hell of it (this skybox isn't especially high quality, since I just put it together for the purpose of testing the seamless skybox model):







DOWNLOADS HERE

Here is a simple version to get the skybox and a batch of test maps:

generic-skybox-redist.7z

And here is a more complete version that contains .xcf files (native GIMP format, PSD can be provided if requested) and the source 1024^2 textures for the sample skybox:

generic-skybox-dev.7z


Credits:

Model: blowfish
Maps: Hipshot @ www.zfight.com, edited by Herra Tohtori, source image available at http://www.zfight.com/misc/images/textures/envmaps/stormydays_large.jpg

Enjoy your new seamless skyboxen, everyone!

EDIT:
* As per discussion later in the thread, this turns out to be bogus partially incorrect. There is apparently a new feature that will be in 3.6.12 that will allow the use of standard six-side skybox cubes without the seam issues, by setting the skybox rendering to clamp the textures via a FRED flag. However, there are other issues associated to this method - mainly environmental mapping still suffering from the seams and dependancy on a graphics card that can actually do the required stuff.

The technique mentioned in this post is still applicable if you want to avoid envmapping issues or when using an older build that doesn't support the force clamp flag.

[karx11erx]

You can build arbitrarily shaped "sky boxes" in D2X-XL, which is why I prefer to name them "environment areas". Actually they can form a complete (inaccessible) level around the actual "level" (i.e. playground). You can clamp textures when rendering them with OpenGL.

How do I enable that 3D radar in FS2Open please? I had noticed code for it when browsing through the source, but hadn't found any hint how to enable it - neither in the launcher nor the game's setup screens.

[General Battuta]

There should be an 'enable 3D radar' checkbox under the 'gameplay' or 'hud' tab of the launcher - I don't remember which.

[jr2]

the command line was something like -orbradar ... let me look it up.

EDIT: yup

[karx11erx]

I always wanted D2X-XL's radar have some 'orb' look too. Finally I have been coming around to add that (I didn't take any of the FS2 code for it - just seeing screenshots with it inspired me to finally do it ).

[Ulala]

Damn, looking good karx.

[karx11erx]

My latest production with (once again) improved smoke rendering and effects:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X-Y41kVbBQ&feature=channel_video_title

[jr2]

Random question:  How does the Descent AI handle not having robots bounce into walls when moving through the level?  FS apparently can't do that (or we'd have a few missions take place on the inside of larger ships).

[General Battuta]

Random question:  How does the Descent AI handle not having robots bounce into walls when moving through the level?  FS apparently can't do that (or we'd have a few missions take place on the inside of larger ships).

We already do have such missions! (though it more works around the AI than works with it)

[jr2]

Ah... I thought they pretty much didn't work.  Where are said missions?  Blue Planet?

[General Battuta]

Ah... I thought they pretty much didn't work.  Where are said missions?  Blue Planet?

There is one in the fantabulous Wings of Dawn. Though it is not a crazed Descent level at all, there are actually a couple missions involving navigation inside big ships.

[jr2]

Nice... maybe I'll play WoD before BP.