Clippers OXZ

[another_commander]

Smivs, I guess you can check easily what happens in different aspect ratios by running in windowed mode and dragging the borders of the window accordingly.

[Albee]

[...] it might be that if you are using a 'taller' aspect-ratio screen the game is adding a bit at the bottom (and presumably top as well). [...]

Whatever the cause, your suggestion...

[...] Try something like

Code: Select all

view_position_forward = "0.0 18.0 19.4375";

... certainly did the trick. Not only has the sliver of hull disappeared, the laser's nose has, too. (I did notice it wasn't visible at all in your screenshot). My HUD is now completely clear -- better than ever. Thanks!

[Smivs]

That's great Albee, and thanks for the report.
As nobody else has mentioned this I'm minded to leave the OXP as it is for now, and anyone else who may have this issue can at least sort it out by tweaking the shipdata as mentioned above.

@ another_commander...thanks for the advice. I hadn't considered this problem before, but you've suggested a quick and easy way of checking which could be useful to all ship developers.

[Talisker]

My Boa Clipper's external fuel tanks got shot up... they show up as N/A but I never seem to be able to get them fixed no matter where I go (other battle damage is sorted).

I've installed External Fuel Tanks OXP and been offered the 500CR upgrade, but weirdly the battle damage vanished when I installed it (I was wondering if I could make it a repair option if it was a purchase option, but no such luck).

No biggie, just worth mentioning.

[Smivs]

This was a problem with the previous version and was bugfixed in v1.3.1. (I hope ). Can you check that you have the current version (v1.3.1) installed please?

[Talisker]

*ding* we have a winner! I still had 1.2.

Clearly, you rock.

[Smivs]

Glad it's sorted

[Woot]

Hi, Smivs -

Strange! The screenshot I took was taken this morning, using v1.3.1 of Clippers and Oolite v1.76.1, and there is no part of the ship visible at all as you can see.
I've just checked and in fact I did slightly raise the view position between v1.2 and 1.3 to avoid anything like this happening. So I'd expect it to be more noticeable if using v1.2! Stranger and stranger.
If yours is a full-screen image this suggests that our screen aspect ratios are different (mine is 16:9 at 1360x768px), and it might be that if you are using a 'taller' aspect-ratio screen the game is adding a bit at the bottom (and presumably top as well).

If this is the case others with a 'squarer' aspect ratio screen will also be seeing a part of the ship, and a tweak to the shipdata might be in order. Has anybody else who is using this OXP on a 'square' screen seen the same thing?

Confirming that I get the same behaviour as Albee on my 2008 Unibody MacBook Pro (NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT, 1440x900 native resolution, OSX 10.6.8, Oolite 1.76.1, ClippersV1.3.1.oxp). I also see a sliver of the ship's aft in the rear view:

1.3.1 unmodified, 1440 x 900
Front / Rear



When I edit the shipdata.plist as you direct, the Boa Clipper's front and nose is no longer visible:

1.3.1 with modified front view, 1440 x 900
Front / Rear



I think you are right when you say it might be related to the display's aspect ratio - here is the unmodified 1.3.1 OXP when fullscreen resolution is set to 1024 x 768. The hull is starting to get rather obtrusive:

1.3.1 unmodified, 1024 x 768
Front / Rear



I guess it will be a case of trial and error to establish viewpoints that work well for all screen sizes...

Incidentally, the readme.rtf file in clippers.zip 1.3.1 does not open for me.

Cheers,

Woot (Boa Clipper driver for about a year now)

[marcusrg]

Downloaded and updated!

[Smivs]

Hi Woot, and welcome to the friendliest board this side of Riedquat. Thanks for your report.
Now this is a funny thing. The Boa Clipper has exactly the same hull as the 'core' Boa Class Cruiser, and was originally modelled on the Boa CC included in Oolite v1.65. The standard view positions were not changed, so will be the same as the core ship, and indeed this is the case. The only difference you will notice is the raising of the forward view by 0.5m in the Clipper which is a tweak I added to compensate for the gun sub-entity.
From Oolite v1.76.1

Code: Select all

		view_position_aft = "0.0 22.875 -47.375";
		view_position_forward = "0.0 12.5 19.4375";
		view_position_port = "-20.67 11.17 -14.67";
		view_position_starboard = "20.67 11.17 -14.67";

From Boa Clipper

Code: Select all

		view_position_aft = "0.0 22.875 -47.375";
		view_position_forward = "0.0 13.0 19.4375";
		view_position_port = "-20.67 11.17 -14.67";
		view_position_starboard = "20.67 11.17 -14.67";

I other words, I would expect the same problem to be there if you were flying a standard Boa CC...the aft view is the same and the forward view is all but identical.
Has anybody who has this problem tried a standard Boa CC? Can you see parts of the ship?

Edited to add :- I have no idea why the readme won't open...it's fine here. I used to present readmes as .txt documents, but following comments that some people were having trouble with .txt I migrated to .rtf as it is a more universal format

[Albee]

Has anybody who has this problem tried a standard Boa CC? Can you see parts of the ship?

The front view of the BCC is totally clear on my MacBook. The standard Boa, however, shows a bit of purple nose along with the red laser stub. Tried to attach a screenshot of the latter, but once again Imjur is giving me grief. (No idea why it works sometimes but not others).

I'm not overly concerned with rear views, personally, so long as the area immediately surrounding the laser sight is clear, but for what it's worth, the BCC has 2 pretty massive chunks of grey hull in the bottom corners of the screen, while the Boa is totally clear.

Odd, innit?

[Smivs]

Odd, innit?

Yes, very!
If you want to sort it out you can tweak the shipdata.plist easily enough. The code I published above comes from this. The numbers are x,y and z co-ordinates and it's the second number you'll need to look at, the x co-ord, which moves the position up/down from the 'centre' of the ship.
Looking at your screenshots you won't have to go up much at all...maybe try something like 25.0 for the aft view and 15 for the forward view.

Code: Select all

      view_position_aft = "0.0 25.0 -47.375";
      view_position_forward = "0.0 15.0 19.4375";

If you've not done this before, the shipdata can be found in the 'Config' folder within the OXP. Open it with a text editor (anything but notepad!) and change the relevent numbers. Save it, then when you re-start Oolite, hold down the 'shift' key until you see the spinning Cobra (to clear the cache).
Let me know how you get on

[Wildeblood]

The numbers are x,y and z co-ordinates and it's the second number you'll need to look at, the x co-ord, which moves the position up/down from the 'centre' of the ship.
Looking at your screenshots you won't have to go up much at all...maybe try something like 25.0 for the aft view and 15 for the forward view.

Code: Select all

      view_position_aft = "0.0 25.0 -47.375";
      view_position_forward = "0.0 15.0 19.4375";

I think you're better advised to change the z value; compare it to the value in the weapon positions to see how far back from the front of the ship it is. And... what the hell, Smivs? 19.4375? You really need the game to calculate that to 4 decimal places? As in, to 1/250th inch accuracy? What's wrong with 20? (Or, since it's too far back from the nose, 25 or 30.)

[Smivs]

I think you're better advised to change the z value; compare it to the value in the weapon positions to see how far back from the front of the ship it is. And... what the hell, Smivs? 19.4375? You really need the game to calculate that to 4 decimal places? As in, to 1/250th inch accuracy? What's wrong with 20? (Or, since it's too far back from the nose, 25 or 30.)

Ahem! From the core Boa Class Cruiser (which I mentioned I hadn't changed except for raising the forward view by 0.5m)

Code: Select all

		view_position_aft = "0.0 22.875 -47.375";
		view_position_forward = "0.0 12.5 19.4375";
		view_position_port = "-20.67 11.17 -14.67";
		view_position_starboard = "20.67 11.17 -14.67";
		weapon_position_aft = "0.0 8.625 -54.125";
		weapon_position_forward = "0.0 1.8 47.5";
		weapon_position_port = "-16.25 1.75 0.0";
		weapon_position_starboard = "16.25 1.75 0.0";

[Wildeblood]

No need to cough and wink, Smivs, I didn't imagine for a second you were the original culprit. But you are guilty of copy/pasting bogosity, and wasting an opportunity to clean it up. Now, getting back to my main point, compare the z position of the forward weapon 47.5 with the forward view 19.5-ish and the "problem" is obvious. It's meant to be a cockpit window view, it's nowhere near the front of the ship, you're supposed to be able to see the ship's nose. If you want a camera style view, move the viewpoint much farther forward, rather than up.

view_position_aft = "0.0 22.875 -47.375";
view_position_forward = "0.0 12.5 19.4375";
view_position_port = "-20.67 11.17 -14.67";
view_position_starboard = "20.67 11.17 -14.67";
weapon_position_aft = "0.0 8.625 -54.125";
weapon_position_forward = "0.0 1.8 47.5";
weapon_position_port = "-16.25 1.75 0.0";
weapon_position_starboard = "16.25 1.75 0.0";