[An4ximandros]

Yeah, me too, that's why I'm adding stylized radiators to the ships I'm working on!

On a separate note, is it possible to fake a heating up effect on the engine? Like it starts as simple grey metal wing or rod and, as it heats up, starts to glow and turn orange/white?

To clarify, the later is my intention, the former is a bonus.

[MatthTheGeek]

You could always fake something like that with animated textures and texture swap in FRED.

[Dragon]

Except you can't swap textures in-flight, so it won't work.

[MatthTheGeek]

Wat.

Of course you can.

[Dragon]

Since when? There's no "Texture Replacement" SEXP, I'm sure. There's changing ship class, but that's an ugly hack that should be avoided. Unless it's a very recent addition (not unlikely, given the current state of SCP), there's no way to easily swap one texture with another in-flight.

[mjn.mixael]

Since when? There's no "Texture Replacement" SEXP, I'm sure. There's changing ship class, but that's an ugly hack that should be avoided. Unless it's a very recent addition (not unlikely, given the current state of SCP), there's no way to easily swap one texture with another in-flight.

Why is it an ugly hack that should be avoided? That exact system was used very successfully in The Antagonist. In fact why are you speaking with that kind of authority over FREDing? If it were Axem or Battuta, for example, saying to never do that... that's one thing. To my understanding, you just have a simple working knowledge of FRED and SEXPs.

[Dragon]

Well, it does work for occasional, scripted use, but even then, it uses a ton of variables, an additional ship class and a rather complex SEXP. Before Valathil implemented cloaking, I tried to use this hack for this and it took a lot of effort to get working. In general, I've only had problems with this approach.While I'm not an experienced FREDer in the same sense Battuta or Axem are, I've once done some pretty interesting stuff with SEXPs when I was experimenting. I even had a (sort of) system which allowed you to land on a capship and take control of it (though it's about the only thing from that time which isn't deprecated by now). I know my way around FRED, though I never really finished a proper mission (started, on the other hand...).

In short, that method isn't very suitable to use for things like radiators.

[-Norbert-]

It certainly would be hell to debug, if the game had to constantly check the speed and match the textures to that...
Could the engine flare be used for this sort of thing (Let it extend over the actual thruster, but in another color than the flames that come out)?

[mjn.mixael]

Well, it does work for occasional, scripted use, but even then, it uses a ton of variables, an additional ship class and a rather complex SEXP. Before Valathil implemented cloaking, I tried to use this hack for this and it took a lot of effort to get working. In general, I've only had problems with this approach.While I'm not an experienced FREDer in the same sense Battuta or Axem are, I've once done some pretty interesting stuff with SEXPs when I was experimenting. I even had a (sort of) system which allowed you to land on a capship and take control of it (though it's about the only thing from that time which isn't deprecated by now). I know my way around FRED, though I never really finished a proper mission (started, on the other hand...).

In short, that method isn't very suitable to use for things like radiators.

*yawn*

Come back when you've finished a mission. Then I'll consider your opinions on SEXP systems and how hackish they are.

[Dragon]

Well, I've got a mission that could be ready for beta. If you're willing to bear with an outdated, unfinished modpack (back then, it didn't seem that bad), old models, out of context story (I planned to make it a part of a campaign) and cockpit stutter due to distances used (the reason I gave up on the mod idea in first place), and if you'll promise you won't complain about writing (another reason I gave up on that mod was that I realized the story was rubbish), I can send it to you, provided I can find it. A least it's FREDed pretty well, considering I made it for 3.6.10...

I haven't had time to do much FREDing, not was I able to stick to a mission idea long enough to finish it. Part of the problem is that I don't like FS2, and I'm not interested in making missions in this universe. Maybe when WCS releases it's source code, I'll write something for it (I gave up on it upon finding out how limited their build is).

[mjn.mixael]

Part of the problem is that I don't like FS2, and I'm not interested in making missions in this universe.

*Looks at badges.*

 

[Nyctaeus]

Part of the problem is that I don't like FS2, and I'm not interested in making missions in this universe.

[General Battuta]

Part of the problem is that I don't like FS2, and I'm not interested in making missions in this universe.

[Dragon]

Part of the problem is that I don't like FS2, and I'm not interested in making missions in this universe.

*Looks at badges.*

 

If you take a closer look, half of those projects barely have anything to do with FS2. Even mods set in FS2 universe that I joined, are (aside from COW) taking place in a highly modified version of the universe we know from the original campaign (not to mention that for both Inferno and COW nostalgia factor played a big role). I always considered FS (especially FS2) inferior to Wing Commander or Star Wars games. I only took a bigger interest in it after learning about SCP and the modding possibilities it provided. FS2 didn't had any FMVs, aside from mainhall, it's interface was done on some generic screens (as opposed to Wing Commander, which had "in universe" displays), the story was much less interesting and there were only about 2-3 real characters (one of whom I only met recently, when I first played, I wasn't good enough to do SOC missions), which all detracted from the immersion.

[Hades]

If you take a closer look, half of those projects barely have anything to do with FS2. Even mods set in FS2 universe that I joined, are (aside from COW) taking place in a highly modified version of the universe we know from the original campaign (not to mention that for both Inferno and COW nostalgia factor played a big role). I always considered FS (especially FS2) inferior to Wing Commander or Star Wars games. I only took a bigger interest in it after learning about SCP and the modding possibilities it provided. FS2 didn't had any FMVs, aside from mainhall, it's interface was done on some generic screens (as opposed to Wing Commander, which had "in universe" displays), the story was much less interesting and there were only about 2-3 real characters (one of whom I only met recently, when I first played, I wasn't good enough to do SOC missions), which all detracted from the immersion.

(ps it's pretty ironic that you criticise FS for its lack of characters when Inferno has even less, gj being a hypocrite, and WC is duller than my rusted knife)

[Dragon]

Actually, I joined Inferno because I always wanted to. It's a completely different story than with most of my proejcts. It was the first mod I played, and it felt like a good closure to FS2 story (I don't like when the whole plot is simply left hanging, and I was kind of disappointed Inferno was also unfinished). Not to mention it had a lot of huge ships and flashy weapons, which really appealed to me back then. So I liked it, and initially learned modding by trying to use stuff from R1 (for retail) to make my own universe and story. Nothing came out of it, of course (well... almost. I created a weapon concept which I'm using, in one form or another, to this day), but when I learned (much, much later) that Inferno needs help, I just had to apply. It's less about liking the story or not, but about lending a hand to a project that brought me into modding (that, and finally seeing how the thing ends ). I don't get your comment about WC being dull (unless you mean WCS, then I have to give you that one).

[An4ximandros]

Uh, thanks for the ideas guys, it's a shame it would seem to be highly hackish, a la Diaspora launch tubes, but i'll take what I can get.

[General Battuta]

Uh, thanks for the ideas guys, it's a shame it would seem to be highly hackish, a la Diaspora launch tubes, but i'll take what I can get.

Whoa whoa whoa the launch tubes own and work exactly how I would've done them

[Quanto]

I'm with dragon on this one, I didn't like FS2 either. Too much bigship porn. The Nebulas sucked. And there was too much "We're Doomed! We're Doomed!" through the whole story. It just didn't resonate with me the same way FS1 did. Oh, and the whole NTF side-story was a load of garbage.

[General Battuta]

Man I have such feelings about this topic. feelings.