Model texture on mission screen

[phkb]

I don't know if I've messed up somewhere, but anyway...

On the left is a mission screen with the model set to be "[Casteroid1]" from the Asteroid Storm OXP.
On the right is that same asteroid, but seen in space.



Do I need to do something special to the mission screen to get the texture to appear? Or is this something to do with the Asteroid Storm OXP?

This is in v1.84 and v1.85.

[Cody]

I don't know the answer (though I feel I probably should), but is that a parcel delivery to a rock hermit (or something similar)?

Have you tried with an alternative asteroid - one of Griff's, perhaps?

[Smivs]

It looks a bit 'purple' which suggests it's not finding a texture, but there does seem to be a bit of texture on the 'display' one. Either way, it looks as if the game is calling the wrong asteroid so double check the name etc.

[phkb]

is that a parcel delivery to a rock hermit (or something similar)?

Not quite. It's a standard parcel contract, but I forced the asteroid model onto it to demonstrate the issue.

it looks as if the game is calling the wrong asteroid

In this case I force the same model to be used by setting the model for the mission page to be [Casteroid1] (including the brackets), and I then manually created an asteroid of the same type by doing system.addShips("[Casteroid1]", 1, player.ship.position.add(player.ship.vectorForward.multiply(5000)), 1);

[Cody]

Not quite. It's a standard parcel contract...

Ah... shame!

[phkb]

Ah... shame!

It's got me thinking, though!

[Cody]

If you need any ideas, let me know... I've been thinking about it for years!

[Cody]

Have you solved the texture problem?

[phkb]

No, it's a bit confusing actually. When using Griff's asteroids the issue doesn't seem to occur. I'm going to have a look under the hood at the Asteroid Storm asteroids to see what the differences might be, and see where that leads.

[phkb]

OK, I'm confused (yes, this happens a lot). Here's the shipdata.plist entry for a "Casteroid1"

Code: Select all

Casteroid1 = {
		"ai_type" = "dumbAI.plist";
		bounty = 10;
		"cargo_type" = "CARGO_NOT_CARGO";
		"debris_role" = astormBoulderC;
		density = 5;
		"energy_recharge_rate" = 0;
		"likely_cargo" = 1;
		"max_cargo" = 0;
		"max_energy" = 100;
		"max_flight_pitch" = "0.1";
		"max_flight_roll" = "0.1";
		"max_flight_speed" = 5;
		missiles = 0;
		model = "astormtiled01.dat";
		name = Asteroid;
		roles = "asteroid asasteroid";
		"scan_class" = "CLASS_ROCK";
		script = "AsteroidStormAsteroid.js";
		smooth = YES;
		thrust = 0;
	};

Now, I'm very prepared to admit I'm not very good at modelling, but with the little knowledge I have, something seems to be missing here. The definition includes a model, "astormtiled01.dat". But I'm expecting there to be some reference to materials in order to specify the texture file and normal map. But there's nothing.

Looking at the astormtiled01.dat file, it references "asteroid.png", but I thought that was just a placeholder name that the materials section of the model uses to hook into. That is, I expected to see this:

Code: Select all

		materials = {
			"asteroid.png" = {
				"diffuse_map" = {
					name = "astorm09.png";
					"repeat_s" = true;
					"repeat_t" = true;
				};
				"normal_map" = {
					name = "astorm12_normal.png";
					"repeat_s" = true;
					"repeat_t" = true;
				};
				"specular_map" = {
					name = "astorm_specular.png";
					"repeat_s" = true;
					"repeat_t" = true;
				};
				shininess = 30;
			};
		};

But that definition doesn't appear in "Casteroid1". It's in "Casteroid1-demo". When I create a "Casteroid1" and a "Casteroid1-demo" in space, they look almost identical. But to my way of thinking, "Casteroid1" shouldn't get any texture at all. Or if it does get one, it should get the texture "asteroid.png", which is included in the core game.

To test this, I replaced "asteroid.png" with "asteroid_x.png" in the "astormtiled01.dat" file. And now, if I create a "Casteroid1" I get an un-textured blob.

So, here's what I think is happening: In space, when a "Casteroid1" is created, it will keep the "asteroid.png" reference in the .dat file, an apply the texture accordingly. However, because there is no specific materials definition for "Casteroid1", no texture is applied on a mission screen.

I'm still thinking about how to distill this down to a repeatable test.

[Edit to say] Well, that's not it. I'm really not sure what's happening now. My test OXP didn't do what I expected it to do. I think...

[spara]

Check the script "AsteroidStormAsteroid.js". It's got a shipSpawned event that sets the materials.

[phkb]

Face? Meet palm.

I did notice the script file and even had a brief look at it, but then thought "Why am I looking for material stuff in a script? That stuff is in shipdata.plist!"

Which proves I should probably stay away from modelling.

On a positive note, this explains why using the Casteroid1 key as the model on a mission screen fails, but it works in space. I'll be able to sleep better now, so thanks spara!