[RELEASE] Darkspace.oxp v0.9.1

[Gimi]

This little OXP came to be because clearskies.oxp by johnsmith is broken and lacks a license, so I thought I would learn a little OXPing by redoing the OXP. Johnsmith has been informed of my little endeavour and does not object.

 Darkspace.oxp removes the nebula from the sky and limits the number of stars visible, and thus should reduce strain on slower computer systems. These settings will be overridden by any OXP that sets the equivalent values for single systems.

Darkspace.oxp does pretty much the same as clearskies.oxp did, using the same method, but the script is written in openstep rather than XML and should be easy for the player to adjust to his or her liking.

Requires:
Oolite 1.65 or later.

Download: Darkspace_0.9.1_2011-12-07.zip

Versions.
Version 0.9: Initial release using pretty much the same properties and values as johnsmith's clearskies.oxp
Version 0.9.1: Tidied up the tiny bit of code and now use some different properties to achieve same thing after having been kindly told off by Wildblood and Switech for my mistakes.

Version 1.0 will come when someone tells me what else I have done wrong. There is bound to be something. (Even in something as simple as this.)

Dependencies:
None

Known conflicts with other OXP’s:
This OXP will not work if you have System_Redux.oxp or System_Demux_2_oxp installed, as these set some of the same universal values and the one loaded last is most likely to win. Same goes for any other oxp that sets the same values universally.

License:
Darkspace.oxp by Gimi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/)
If you use all or any part of this work, attributions should be made to johnsmith and Gimi, in that order.

[Cmdr. Maegil]

Maybe marking the ones that are mutually exclusive on, for instance, [wiki]OXP List[/wiki] or [wiki]Category:Ambience OXPs[/wiki] could be a good idea?

[Gimi]

Maybe marking the ones that are mutually exclusive on, for instance, [wiki]OXP List[/wiki] or [wiki]Category:Ambience OXPs[/wiki] could be a good idea?

Agree, not sure how though as conflicting OXP's is, and probably always will be, an issue. Keeping track of all the conflicts on the Wiki will be a monumental task. I have done a search inside all the OXP's I have on my HD (including inside zip-files for those I don't have installed) for conflicting keys. Only two came up, but even though I have a large library, I probably don't have them all. So there is always the possibility that there are more.

I added a short description for Maik and the OXP List that includes conflicts though.

[maik]

I don't have a good idea how to use the OXP List for that. I'd much rather create a wiki page for Darkspace based on the content that Gimi provided which lists the known incompatibilities.

[Gimi]

I don't have a good idea how to use the OXP List for that. I'd much rather create a wiki page for Darkspace based on the content that Gimi provided which lists the known incompatibilities.

If you set up the framework with the text i provided, I can meddle with the page myself. (I have a logon).
I can learn some more OXPing stuff.

[maik]

If you set up the framework with the text i provided, I can meddle with the page myself. (I have a logon).
I can learn some more OXPing stuff.

Oh great!

Well, setting up the framework is the easiest part:

• Navigate to a non-existent Wiki page, e.g. http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Darkspace
• Say that you want to create this page.
• Copy & paste the content of your first post in this thread
• Put two equal signs left and right of the headings, e.g. ==Dependencies==
• Wikify the links. If you link to another Wiki page, use double square brackets around the name. If you link to an outside URL, use single square brackets, like so:

  Code: Select all

  [[OXP List]], [[different name for OXP List|OXP List]], [http://www.somewhere.de This gets printed and will all be one link to the URL before the first space]

That should cover the most important parts.

PM me if you have further questions.

[Gimi]

Thanks for the info Maik. I have created the page,blatantly copying templates from around the Wiki, and also added it to the OXP List. Please shoot if I have broken anything. (Pulse laser only)

[maik]

Thanks for the info Maik. I have created the page,blatantly copying templates from around the Wiki, and also added it to the OXP List. Please shoot if I have broken anything. (Pulse laser only)

Excellent job!

Small suggestions for the [wiki]OXP List[/wiki] entry: I would start with a lower case letter after the OXP name (as you sort of continue a sentence) and leave out the compatibility information. It belongs to the Wiki page (where it already is), not into an overview.

[Wildeblood]

This little OXP came to be because clearskies.oxp by johnsmith is broken and lacks a license. Johnsmith is a little hard to get hold of, so I thought I would learn a little OXPing by redoing the OXP.

 Darkspace.oxp removes the nebula from the sky and limits the number of stars visible, and thus should reduce strain on slower computer systems...

Version 1.0 will come when someone tells me what I have done wrong. There is bound to be something. (Even in something as simple as this.)

Okay, I reckon you've done it wrongly. I would have just set sky_n_blurs to 0, rather than setting sky_blur_alpha to 0. If the intention is to reduce the workload on slower computers, not drawing any "blurs" (nebulosity) at all has to be the better option than drawing the usual number then making them transparent. (That depends on whether or not Oolite has enough sense to "know" that there's no point in drawing fully transparent details. One of the devs will need to answer that.) To be fair to johnsmith and Clear Skies, I think sky_n_stars and sky_n_blurs are recent additions that aren't in Oolite 1.65.

[Gimi]

Okay, I reckon you've done it wrongly. I would have just set sky_n_blurs to 0, rather than setting sky_blur_alpha to 0. If the intention is to reduce the workload on slower computers, not drawing any "blurs" (nebulosity) at all has to be the better option than drawing the usual number then making them transparent. (That depends on whether or not Oolite has enough sense to "know" that there's no point in drawing fully transparent details. One of the devs will need to answer that.) To be fair to johnsmith and Clear Skies, I think sky_n_stars and sky_n_blurs are recent additions that aren't in Oolite 1.65.

Thanks Wildblood. I did check the Wiki quite thoroughly, and from what I could find, all the settings I used were implemented before 1.65. However the Wiki is a bit short on information on some of the settings, both on what they do and on when they came to be, so I may well be wrong. I'll be playing about with some of the settings, and I will implement your suggestion. Thanks again.

[Switeck]

I'm having a bit of variable confusion.
The original XML defined the variables as reals.

Code: Select all

<key>ambient_level</key>
<real>2</real>

This puts quotes around the numbers as though they're strings.

Code: Select all

ambient_level = "1.75";

Are the quotes needed?

[Kaks]

no.

[Gimi]

I'm having a bit of variable confusion.
The original XML defined the variables as reals.

Code: Select all

<key>ambient_level</key>
<real>2</real>

This puts quotes around the numbers as though they're strings.

Code: Select all

ambient_level = "1.75";

Are the quotes needed?

You tell me. I struggled quite a bit to understand this, and I probably still don't. I peeked into System Redux to find something that worked, and in there you will find quotes around all the values.
When you do a xml to openstep convert using xml2ns.py you get this:

Code: Select all

{
	"universal" = {
		"ambient_level" = 2.0;
		"sky_blur_alpha" = 0.0;
		"sky_blur_cluster_chance" = 0.0;
	};
}

Well, that diden't work, so I basically started peeking (and pokeing) around to see what other people did and followed that.

[Switeck]

When you do a xml to openstep convert using xml2ns.py you get this:

Code: Select all

{
	"universal" = {
		"ambient_level" = 2.0;
		"sky_blur_alpha" = 0.0;
		"sky_blur_cluster_chance" = 0.0;
	};
}

Well, that diden't work, so I basically started peeking (and pokeing) around to see what other people did and followed that.

It didn't work in the sense that Oolite threw up errors in the log?

[Gimi]

Some of the things I tried threw error, and some didn't. I would have to go back and check to find out. I'm totally new to this, so my assumption was that I had done something stupid, and then I went looking fore examples.