[Gamma39er]

Ok, so here it is. My latest warpmap iteration for both the normal Warpmap and Knossos warpmap. Everything about these warpmaps has been tweaked until I could tweak no more, however, as always, critiques are welcome. I call it the Cinematic Warpmap because some of the changes I made were based on the FS1 intro cutscene, especially my animation changes in the code. I fixed everything I thought was wrong with the one that's in the MVP's right now. The new one is:

• Brighter.
• Bigger.
• Far more secondary and tertiary details.
• The color is perfectly adjusted for the UC2 tonemapper.

For those who haven't seen it, here's a preview video of both warpmaps.

One caveat though. These will not look the same as the video above until I can get my animation changes pushed. My main issue at the moment is trying to find a nice way to make these changes configurable. For those interested, these are the changes I've made to the code. It's a mess. I'll clean it up when it's actually a PR. The prrimary thing that makes it look better is the lens flare sizing fix.

Gammwarp Branch Comparison

Ok, here's the zip. I hope everyone enjoys this, and I'm open to suggestions for improving it.

This zip includes the following:

• Warpmap .eff's, and .png files for both original and knossos warps. (need to convert these to .dds files. I've never done that.)
• warpglow01.png, and warpglow02.png
• A modified warp.pof that's bigger, scaled differently, and positioned differently to avoid models clipping through it.
• A .tbm that attaches warpglow02 and warpball02 to the Knossos warp.

Gamma39er's Cinematic Warpmap 2024


UPDATE: 01/24/2025

As of nightly 2025-01-24, my Warpmap code changes are now part of the engine. In order to take advantage of the new features, you'll have to download this newer Warpmap zip.

Gamma39er's Cinematic Warpmap 2025

This will allow everyone to see the new animations and corrected lens flare sizes.

[perihelion]

That looks really nice!  I mean, I was expecting to like it, but there are a lot of layered details in there that I really like! I’m not normally a big fan of lens flare, but that was very tastefully done.

I can’t wait to see this while I’m playing!

[skdKitsune]

Been waiting for this. Perfect

[Mobius]

The new effect is awesome and I can definitely see it was inspired by the cutscenes.

[Trivial Psychic]

Fantastic!

[Colonol Dekker]

And here I was thinking Christmas was over, yet here you are bestowing the gift of a high quality subspace warp.


Really nice work buddy.

[Goober5000]

[cordova] Excellent job, pilot! [/cordova]

[Nightmare]

Very nice work~
Gotta admit, when I saw this in the past I wasnt exactly sure how the effect would work out on large ships jumping in (with the effect sometimes appearing too small to fit the ships size effectively) but judging by the demonstration video that seems to be solved.

[Gamma39er]

That looks really nice!  I mean, I was expecting to like it, but there are a lot of layered details in there that I really like! I’m not normally a big fan of lens flare, but that was very tastefully done.

I can’t wait to see this while I’m playing!

Thanks for the compliment! I'm not normally a fan of lens flare as well, but based on my observations from FS1, the lens flare is a big part of selling the original effect, so it had to be balanced with the underlying ripples.

[cordova] Excellent job, pilot! [/cordova]

Love the Cordova tags.

Very nice work~
Gotta admit, when I saw this in the past I wasnt exactly sure how the effect would work out on large ships jumping in (with the effect sometimes appearing too small to fit the ships size effectively) but judging by the demonstration video that seems to be solved.

Thanks! And yep, the sizing was something I tweaked a lot. At some point I realized after viewing this in multiple scenarios (inside the nebula, against nebula backdrops, different ships warping in) that the effect appeared too small for some ships. So both through trial and error, and comparing to the classic cutscenes, I realized the effect needed to be somewhat larger. The classic cutscenes, like the Ravana coming through the Knossos in one of the briefing anims or the Bastion warping out at the end of FS2 help inform me on the sizing.

What's interesting is that the subspace effect, I think, got worse between retail FS1 and retail FS2. The original effect seemed to have more white in the middle and usually encompassed the ships passing through it with the lens flare. It's like the original effect was tailored specifically for the limited color space in FS1 and then they didn't update it for FS2. Thus, the effect actually appears dimmer in FS2 and the white part doesn't feel as bright or encompassing.

In my new effect, the circle encompassing the brightest part of the effect is roughly the size of the original warpmap.

[Colonol Dekker]

Thumbs up and approving dad nod.gif

[Gamma39er]

Update: My PR was merged into master yesterday. If you download that nightly, and place the following in mv_effects-fbl.tbm, you can use my new warp animations.

Code: [Select]

$Name:    WarpMap01
    +Warp_Effect
$LOD:        1
$Warp flare style: cinematic
$Warp model style: cinematic

$Name:    WarpMap02
    +Knossos_Effect   
$LOD:        1
$Warp Glow: WarpGlow02
$Warp Ball: WarpBall02
$Warp flare style: cinematic
$Warp model style: cinematic