Oolite Bulletins

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 4:24 pm

So, stellar serpent (not a ship) would fit in as "Variable geometry" then?

Watch what happens when it dies...
Head explodes but body/tail remains and sections slowly drift apart.

AFAIK that's not typical subentity behaviour. I'd have to check out the code to see what's being done there.
Unusual 'escort' behaviour via AI (with scan class allocation so that only the head shows on scanner)?
Can subentities have subentities?
Subentity option I'm unaware of?
I'm just guessing right now.

Redspear wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 8:14 pm

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 4:24 pm

So, stellar serpent (not a ship) would fit in as "Variable geometry" then?

Watch what happens when it dies...
Head explodes but body/tail remains and sections slowly drift apart.

AFAIK that's not typical subentity behaviour. I'd have to check out the code to see what's being done there.
Unusual 'escort' behaviour via AI (with scan class allocation so that only the head shows on scanner)?
Can subentities have subentities?
Subentity option I'm unaware of?
I'm just guessing right now.

Up until a couple of months ago, I'd never heard the term sub-entity. It does sound like fun... I understand that in Aristotelian metaphysics, the organs and limbs of a living being would count as subentities (subordinated to the master form of the living being...), so I rather think Aristotle might say that I was spot on!

Redspear wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 8:14 pm

Can subentities have subentities?

Perhaps...

aegidian wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2006 6:50 pm

I originally wrote sub-entities to permit multiple levels. But the code got increasingly arcane and prone to crashing, so I opted for the simplest-is-best approach.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 8:56 pm

Up until a couple of months ago, I'd never heard the term sub-entity. It does sound like fun... I understand that in Aristotelian metaphysics, the organs and limbs of a living being would count as subentities (subordinated to the master form of the living being...), so I rather think Aristotle might say that I was spot on!

Not to knock Aristotelian metaphysics but in terms of oolite (very much the lesser of the two disciplines I suspect ) subentities I think are a bit more like accessories. A body (model) wearing clothes (texture) with perhaps a hat and coat that could be removed in public (subentities).

Like most analogies that became a stretch sooner than I would have liked
Alright, a parent carrying a baby then. Both have a body/model and both wear clothes/textures but the parent can put down the baby.
...Not sure if that's an improvement or not

Cody wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 9:29 pm

Redspear wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 8:14 pm

Can subentities have subentities?

Perhaps...

aegidian wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2006 6:50 pm

I originally wrote sub-entities to permit multiple levels. But the code got increasingly arcane and prone to crashing, so I opted for the simplest-is-best approach.

Good find

Redspear wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 8:14 pm

Can subentities have subentities?

Yes they can, it's not supported by the game, but it's working. I am using a subentity including all flashers to later attach to a ship.

Redspear wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 11:15 am

"Sufficient frames" (in this case subentities) would be determined by the range and speed ("timing") of motion desired.

If hiran imagines "moving wings" that change position slowly then that could be a lot of subentries but if it happens pretty fast then five might be enough for an in-game effect.

I totally agree. Noone said it has to be animated, I more enquired whether it would be possible.

Redspear wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 11:15 am

Given that it would be the same wing in different positions then it might be possible to even use the same subentity just recorded in various slightly different positions withon the shipdata file.

Reading the thread, I also had that very same idea which would mean only few subentities could be reused even for smooth animation.

hiran wrote: ↑Fri Jun 11, 2021 7:30 am

congratulations on making it to Elite ranking!

By the way, if you ever try Strangers World and dock with an orbital station around a moon, say, you will notice that his sub-entities leave a certain something to be desired.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Fri Jun 11, 2021 10:01 am

congratulations on making it to Elite ranking!

What? Already?
I liked to be considered 'deadly'. That sounds so much better than 'mostly harmless'.

Now my forum status is fairly out of sync with my Oolite commander's career...

hiran wrote: ↑Fri Jun 11, 2021 10:10 am

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Fri Jun 11, 2021 10:01 am

congratulations on making it to Elite ranking!

What? Already?
I liked to be considered 'deadly'. That sounds so much better than 'mostly harmless'.

Now my forum status is fairly out of sync with my Oolite commander's career...

Heh! The best I've managed was competent - and then he had to go whizzing off to the second galaxy chasing after the Constrictor when he'd not even finished mooching about Digebiti in Galaxy 1. Retired.

An alternative way would be to tweak the vertices in the vertex shader. Basic proof of concept can be found here: https://app.box.com/s/nekj1u0rhcf59hx08yjgw4r4x65bjpp1 Note: I've just zipped up an oxp; I haven't bothered looking up new things like an oxz as of yet.

Using the debug console simply It just rotates the x and y coordinates based on the game clock. A more interesting and achievable application would be to modify the vertices based on the ship's current speed.

Point to consider - if the collision detection works using the unmodified values from the .dat file then things will become... strange...

Mauiby de Fug wrote: ↑Thu Aug 12, 2021 1:10 pm

An alternative way would be to tweak the vertices in the vertex shader. Basic proof of concept can be found here: https://app.box.com/s/nekj1u0rhcf59hx08yjgw4r4x65bjpp1 Note: I've just zipped up an oxp; I haven't bothered looking up new things like an oxz as of yet.

Using the debug console simply

Code: Select all

:spawn mdf-test-cobra

It just rotates the x and y coordinates based on the game clock. A more interesting and achievable application would be to modify the vertices based on the ship's current speed.

Point to consider - if the collision detection works using the unmodified values from the .dat file then things will become... strange...

Welcome back! I hope the prolonged encounter with Real Life did not prove too searing...

Should I list it on the Guide to Unlisted OXPs page in the wiki? (http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Guide_to_Unlisted_OXPs). Or on one of the .oxp ship design pages? And if you can provide a screen shot (my capabilities there are worse than useless), I can bung up a wiki page for it too...

Oh! And have you seen this: DGill's Feudal States adaptations?

I wouldn't bother with putting it on the wiki myself - it's little more than a proof of concept I've whipped up this afternoon to serve as inspiration! I changed a tiny handful of lines in the default vertex shader and shoved it onto a default cobby. And in the process it's lost its textures.

_____________________

Over the last week and a half I have caught up with every unread post that I had not seen since the last time I logged in and did a deep dive through the boards, which from the looks of things was sometime in 2019. I was inspired to have a look and see what's changed as I was sorting out my hard drive, which has backups from each of the various laptops I've used over the past 10 years, and was dropping various things into an Oolite folder. I'm pretty sure that most of the oxps are Quite out of date now - some of them were from a computer I used probably 10 years ago or so?

Mauiby de Fug wrote: ↑Thu Aug 12, 2021 2:11 pm

Over the last week and a half I have caught up with every unread post that I had not seen since the last time I logged in and did a deep dive through the boards, which from the looks of things was sometime in 2019. I was inspired to have a look and see what's changed as I was sorting out my hard drive, which has backups from each of the various laptops I've used over the past 10 years, and was dropping various things into an Oolite folder. I'm pretty sure that most of the oxps are Quite out of date now - some of them were from a computer I used probably 10 years ago or so?

Welcome back, I was always a fan of your feudal.oxp

montana05 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 12, 2021 3:27 pm

Welcome back, I was always a fan of your feudal.oxp

That wasn't me - that was Ramirez! I suspect that Cholmondely pointed me there as my user statistics show that as my most active topic. So a reasonable thing that I might be interested in. IIRC, 'twas the reason I joined the forums - ran into a number of bugs in the early days of the oxp and was reporting issues!

Of course, one starts off merely reporting issues, then of bughunting in the Latest.log, and from there, it's only a short hop to delving down the rabbit hole of working out how everything works and being able to help others fix things!

Thanks for the welcome from everyone - the place seems a little quieter now but still as friendly as ever!

Mauiby de Fug wrote: ↑Thu Aug 12, 2021 3:57 pm

Thanks for the welcome from everyone - the place seems a little quieter now but still as friendly as ever!

Just make sure that you keep on this side of Riedquat...