A series of questions from a new player

General discussion for players of Oolite.

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phkb
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Re: A series of questions from a new player

Post by phkb »

Not sure but I think rgb_color = (0.0, 0.5, 1.0); in the selector = "drawASCTarget:" should control the color of the text.

Love the look of the HUD, though.
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Re: A series of questions from a new player

Post by Norby »

Vincentz wrote:
upload my 3dFont.oxz to oolite.org
If you already read The All-in-One Guide to OXZ Packaging and Distribution then please wait until cim create an account for you.

Nice HUDs, the red design can be shown at red alert and blue otherwise imho.
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Re: A series of questions from a new player

Post by Disembodied »

Norby wrote:
Nice HUDs, the red design can be shown at red alert and blue otherwise imho.
Great idea - and the HUDs look pretty fantastic, too!
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Re: A series of questions from a new player

Post by cim »

Vincentz wrote:
Q1) Alignment : I'd like to either Center the Compass (Ororqu) / Jumpdrive (Gerege) destinations or right align Jumpdrive.
While I can align the compass to the left, it doesnt seem to work for jumpdrive (for right align)?
Right-align is relatively new and not available for most items.
Vincentz wrote:
Q2) Is it possible to make a bar go the opposite way?
I can't remember off-hand. Negative size might work. If not I'll add it to the list.
Vincentz wrote:
I send a PM asking for Username/Password a couple of days ago, so I can upload my 3dFont.oxz to oolite.org, but its not marked as sent, it sits in the Outbox.
No further action required - that's where PMs go until they are read by the recipient (and I've been away from the internet a few days)
Vincentz wrote:
It overlays the menues, comms and F5-F8 menues.
In the next version, viewscreen_only = 1;will make it not appear on F5-F8.
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Re: A series of questions from a new player

Post by Commander_X »

Vincentz wrote:
Please also let me know what you think about the HUD. Pros/Cons the sort.
I name thee the worthy successor of the Deepspace HUD ! :D

Cons wise, though, you actually managed to make (what I'd call) one of the only mistakes that hud has, as well: hardcoding fonts in the hud. Although your choice lines up pretty well with the default Helvetica, it ends up like a font disaster for people using customized set of fonts.

Another observation would be regarding the radar size: as can be seen in your "red" screenshot, there are 2 flags (a yellow and a green one) of which you can see only the "poles".
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Re: A series of questions from a new player

Post by Vincentz »

phkb wrote:
Not sure but I think rgb_color = (0.0, 0.5, 1.0); in the selector = "drawASCTarget:" should control the color of the text.

Love the look of the HUD, though.
mmm. strange, I thought I'd tried that, but it works now, for both the clock and ASC Target. Thanks :D
cim wrote:
Vincentz wrote:
Q1) Alignment : I'd like to either Center the Compass (Ororqu) / Jumpdrive (Gerege) destinations or right align Jumpdrive.
While I can align the compass to the left, it doesnt seem to work for jumpdrive (for right align)?
1) Right-align is relatively new and not available for most items.
Vincentz wrote:
Q2) Is it possible to make a bar go the opposite way?
2) I can't remember off-hand. Negative size might work. If not I'll add it to the list.
Vincentz wrote:
3) I send a PM asking for Username/Password a couple of days ago, so I can upload my 3dFont.oxz to oolite.org, but its not marked as sent, it sits in the Outbox.
No further action required - that's where PMs go until they are read by the recipient (and I've been away from the internet a few days)
Vincentz wrote:
It overlays the menues, comms and F5-F8 menues.
4)In the next version, viewscreen_only = 1;will make it not appear on F5-F8.
1) Rgr. Tbh I think I'm the only one who notices that its not center aligned. It was just if it was an available feature.
2) Just tried it again. It makes it disappear. It would be a really nice (graphical) feature :D
3) I hope it didnt come out like I was impatient. Just not sure if I had done something wrong ;)
4) Nice :D Though I thought it would be really cool with a fullscreen HUD in the beginning, now I'm just enjoying the view, and with MFDs there is already a somewhat obscured view.
Commander_X wrote:
Vincentz wrote:
Please also let me know what you think about the HUD. Pros/Cons the sort.
I name thee the worthy successor of the Deepspace HUD ! :D

1) Cons wise, though, you actually managed to make (what I'd call) one of the only mistakes that hud has, as well: hardcoding fonts in the hud. Although your choice lines up pretty well with the default Helvetica, it ends up like a font disaster for people using customized set of fonts.

2) Another observation would be regarding the radar size: as can be seen in your "red" screenshot, there are 2 flags (a yellow and a green one) of which you can see only the "poles".
1) I'm not sure I understand. Can u give me a screenie? The only places I use text font is in the top minihud (Primed Equipment/Missiles/Target) and the ASC and JumpDrive destinations (where there should be plenty of space).

2) Yeah, the radar is definitely the Achilles heel of the HUD :( When I started out, I had plenty of space for the radar, but the HUD was too high, so it was blocking for Tradechart and other F#, so I made it lower. and lower. and lower. and in the end there was too little space left for the radar to be really efficient.
I wish I could make the sticks and "heads" smaller (thinner, perhaps single pixel), so I could reduce radar size and it would still be possible to distinct 2 different vessels, even close to eachother.
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Re: A series of questions from a new player

Post by Commander_X »

Vincentz wrote:
1) I'm not sure I understand. Can u give me a screenie? The only places I use text font is in the top minihud (Primed Equipment/Missiles/Target) and the ASC and JumpDrive destinations (where there should be plenty of space).
Besides the screenshot I pointed at (which has 4 fonts/font variants in it!), you can take a look at this wiki page and pick your own bad font usage examples.
Another option is to randomly browse the Screenshots thread of the forum and get some even more exotic font related ... apocalypse.

*EDIT
To be more specific, here is a set of screenshots using an "en vogue" font (Elite: Dangerous like). The TEMP, FWD, AFT, and ELEV texts on your hud won't match the rest of the screen.
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Re: A series of questions from a new player

Post by Vincentz »

Norby wrote:
Vincentz wrote:
upload my 3dFont.oxz to oolite.org
If you already read The All-in-One Guide to OXZ Packaging and Distribution then please wait until cim create an account for you.

Nice HUDs, the red design can be shown at red alert and blue otherwise imho.
As requested. I added Condition Yellow too, as a reminder when no longer Mass-Locked, as well as a new docking screen.

https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=17330
Commander_X wrote:
Vincentz wrote:
1) I'm not sure I understand. Can u give me a screenie? The only places I use text font is in the top minihud (Primed Equipment/Missiles/Target) and the ASC and JumpDrive destinations (where there should be plenty of space).
Besides the screenshot I pointed at (which has 4 fonts/font variants in it!), you can take a look at this wiki page and pick your own bad font usage examples.
Another option is to randomly browse the Screenshots thread of the forum and get some even more exotic font related ... apocalypse.

*EDIT
To be more specific, here is a set of screenshots using an "en vogue" font (Elite: Dangerous like). The TEMP, FWD, AFT, and ELEV texts on your hud won't match the rest of the screen.
Now I think I understand :D
It was a design decision as well as an optimization choice (less different items drawn on screen=better), though the later is prolly just in my head (game running with 90-100 fps on my 7 year old computer even with highres planets and backdrop+150 mods)
"There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere." - Isaac Asimov
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Re: A series of questions from a new player

Post by Vincentz »

Just a couple of questions, which are somewhat noob'ish, so I leave them here in my beginner thread ;)

1) Is there any way to decrease the time before coms (yellow and the other) disappear. Most of the time they are gone before I read it all.
(I know about the tilt key, but using joypad, I'd rather read the info when there, rather than using the keyboard.)

2) Just got the Nav planner equipment. What is the reason/logic behind short jumps are faster than long ones (doing the same distance)
ex. Xeoner to Reorter :
Distance -> 27.6 LY
Shortest route -> 31.6 LY Est. 174.9 hours (6 jumps)
Shortest jumps -> 36 LY Est. 134.4 hours. (12 jumps)
"There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere." - Isaac Asimov
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Re: A series of questions from a new player

Post by Cody »

Vincentz wrote:
What is the reason/logic behind short jumps are faster than long ones (doing the same distance)
One of the quirks of hyperspace travel is that the duration of a jump is a square of the distance - e.g. a 4ly jump takes 16 hours.
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Re: A series of questions from a new player

Post by Norby »

Vincentz wrote:
they are gone before I read it all.
- [wiki]CommsLogMFD[/wiki] keep green commsMessages in a scrollable list.
- [wiki]LogEvents[/wiki] put these into your Latest.log file.
- You can set permanent=yes; in the comm_log_gui section of your hud.plist to always show the last comms.
- There is not an exact way to extend yellow consoleMessages, you must pause the game or make screenshots. The time of these are set individually but max. 10 seconds.
Last edited by Norby on Sun Apr 26, 2015 7:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: A series of questions from a new player

Post by another_commander »

The time in hours being the square of distance in LY was done to introduce an element of strategy and planning, Will you take the least jumps route to go where you want to, thus mabe avoiding a little bit of danger and taking longer to arrive or would it be worth taking the risk and do more jumps (i.e,. more chances of getting into a combat situation on the way) but arrive sooner and maybe save that contract which is so close to expiration? You get the idea, it makes for a more interesting gameplay.
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Re: A series of questions from a new player

Post by Day »

The time in hours being the square of distance in LY was done to introduce an element of strategy and planning
It's one of Oolite features I like best :-)

Especially as it is graphically easy to plan the route between two points A and B: any system in the circle with diameter A-B let save time.

The only thing is it seems the galactic map doesn't portray the distances exactly accurately, due to depth and historical imprecision.
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Re: A series of questions from a new player

Post by Vincentz »

Kinda like it too. Just wasn't aware of it before. Could be justified by "Short jumps are skimming the surface of witchspace, while longer travels brings you deeper and deeper."
edit : "... and jumps beyond 7 LY drags you so deep into the abyss of witchspace, that there would be no path of return..."

Image
Last edited by Vincentz on Mon Apr 27, 2015 12:52 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: A series of questions from a new player

Post by Day »

I like this explanation :-)
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