Oolite Bulletins

RockDoctor wrote: ↑Sun Jan 31, 2021 6:36 pm

stranger wrote: ↑Sun Jan 31, 2021 1:44 pm

You have only first K letter on ASC indeed, but having Navigation MFD you'll have full index like KOS-RJ / KOS-M etc on Navigation MFD panel. Just tested in Zaonce system - there are several orbiters in this rich high-tech system.

I've made little use of the MFD system. Too much screen space used, not really enough functionality for my use ... damn - could that "Navigation MFD" have helped me finding the damned Collector's hideout? Well, regardless of that ... is it possible for the MFDs to be displayed in a separate game window - possibly on a literal side screen in my "cockpit"?

Is that a question for the main game program?

It would be really super to be able to bung the MFD's on a second screen.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun Jan 31, 2021 7:25 pm

It would be really super to be able to bung the MFD's on a second screen.

Even with only the one physical display, your "anciliary data" window would only be an Alt-Tab away.

Until you discover that switching back to the "flight and fight" window triggers the energy bomb (or whatever else is on the TAB button.

I have a vague memory that there is an "SDL" limitation that it can only display one window, but I'm not sure if that is a secure memory. Come to think if of, the DosBox emulator produces a status window and a DosBox window, and I think that's bolted on top of SDL too.

Two things about M.F.D.'s.

First there is M.F.D. FAST CONFIGURATION which allows for all sorts of possibilities. If you wanted you could set it up so that the M.F.D.'s vanish when in combat giving you the extra viewable screen space you might desire. Read that wiki page as it explains all that this OXZ can do much better than will be attempted here.

Second is that M.F.D.'s are fairly transparent once you get accustom to having them around the periphery of your H.U.D. of choice. My H.U.D. of choice has been modified to handle 9 of them on screen at a time not using the above mentioned OXZ to turn them on and off at any given time. Much prefer having them up all the time as some of them give useful combat information. No problems seeing enemy ships during combat as they pass behind an M.F.D., which is a rare occurrence anyway as the goal during combat is to keep that enemy ship in the center of your screen.

Your desire, your Ooniverse. Configure it as you wish. The goal here is only to make everyone aware of the possibilities.

Perhaps information could be exchanged via the same connection used by the debug consoles,
an information exchange console.py par example which would feed information to a second program running on the second or third screen,
highly experimental 'mindspin' indeed.

Ah, Orbital Stations ...

RockDoctor wrote: ↑Sun Jan 31, 2021 7:28 pm

I have a vague memory that there is an "SDL" limitation that it can only display one window, but I'm not sure if that is a secure memory. Come to think if of, the DosBox emulator produces a status window and a DosBox window, and I think that's bolted on top of SDL too.

SDL 1.2, which is what we use, restricts us to one window only, so we cannot have the MFDs or anything else on a separate window. DosBox is most likely running on SDL 2, which does allow for more than one windows per application.

MFDs has limitations but it is the only way to provide refreshing info during flight.
Personally I'm not fun of multi-MFD layouts. Using layout with only two MFDs - Navigation MFD and second dependent on situation.
Navigation MFD is very useful in in-system flights, especially if you have in-system mission like In-System Cargo Delivery or In-System Taxi. Exact identification of destination port is crucial for mission success in these OXPs.

another_commander wrote: ↑Sun Jan 31, 2021 8:58 pm

RockDoctor wrote: ↑Sun Jan 31, 2021 7:28 pm

I have a vague memory that there is an "SDL" limitation that it can only display one window, but I'm not sure if that is a secure memory. Come to think if of, the DosBox emulator produces a status window and a DosBox window, and I think that's bolted on top of SDL too.

SDL 1.2, which is what we use, restricts us to one window only, so we cannot have the MFDs or anything else on a separate window. DosBox is most likely running on SDL 2, which does allow for more than one windows per application.

Let me guess - SLD 2 is not backwards compatible with SDL 1.2. Well, no more than French is backwards compatible with Latin.

Since my fingers are making typos, I wonder what "backwards contemptible" would look like.

RockDoctor wrote: ↑Mon Feb 01, 2021 1:45 am

Let me guess - SLD 2 is not backwards compatible with SDL 1.2. Well, no more than French is backwards compatible with Latin.

The guess is correct. It's not that no attempts were made to transition to 2.0, though. Unfortunately the results were less than satisfying. If you have time in your hands and are interested in all the gory details, this is the recommended read: https://github.com/OoliteProject/oolite/issues/222

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun Jan 31, 2021 2:14 pm

stranger wrote: ↑Sun Jan 31, 2021 1:54 pm

Thank you for feedback!
I'll inspect code tomorrow - seems it is possible to display more than one letter on ASC.

I had several letters displayed back when I was mooching about in SW when you added in SWEconomics (and before). But when I added Diplomancy a few days ago (together with several other OXPs), I was down to the one letter "K". Must be the mystic side of Day's OXP. For mysticism "less is better", yes?

I don't think I modified anything concerning the ASP. If it was related, it would be mysterious indeed

Of course, should it be related, I would fix it

Just to note Phkb's texture update: Wildships Facelift which should also work here.

It will presumably not affect the issue with cronkiness for the KOS-P Orbiter as it orbits a moon (a timer problem?).

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sat Nov 11, 2023 9:23 pm

It will presumably not affect the issue with cronkiness for the KOS-P Orbiter as it orbits a moon (a timer problem?).

No, that’s definitely a separate issue in Orbital Stations.