Oolite Bulletins

So I got a new monitor, going from a 17 inch LCD and a fresnel magnifier to a 22 inch widescreen LCD. First off I'll say that Oolite looks great, as always, and seeing a broader view of it is really cool.

But it sure does have a bit of a different feel to it. The widescreen is a rather different view than I'm used to (nice, though). I kind of miss the depth effect from the fresnel, but I haven't seen a lot of fresnels for this size of screen. Oh well, the fresnel and the old monitor can join the older WinXP computer I use for my Orbiter project.

Oolite had a resolution that matched the monitor, but I noted that the bottom of the picture of the HUD/control-panel I use seems to go off the bottom of the screen a little. It's not so much that I lost enough of the displays to be missing any important data, but I'm wondering if I got it set a little wrong or something.

Motly, I wonder if I could hook up a second monitor and maybe be able to pick up the bottom of an Oolite screen on the other monitor. My graphics card can handle 2 monitors, though I haven't ever played with that capability. I guess the best way to find that out will be to actually try it.

I also figure I'll have to change from the Fighter HUD MK I I've used for many months, since with the extra view alongside, it sort of looks like half a console/control panel. LOL But there are many nice HUDs and "cockpits", so I figure I'll have to try some and see what looks/feels right.

When I ran Oolite on a Matrox Triple Head 2 Go (TH2G) - 3840x1024, and I showed the screenshots on the BB, Ahruman noted that Oolite copes with the odd screen ratio by effectively letterboxing the screen - the width is correct but it chops more and more off the top and bottom of the screen. So going from 4:3 to 16:9 or 16:10 this is what you're experiencing I guess.

I use a 19" widescreen monitor and Oolite is fine......seems to fit nicely.

Running it on my 13" widescreen lappy at 1280x800 with no problems at all.

Not tried it on my 22" screen yet.

Makes me wonder if a mod it viable to show other views on separate screens. Multi head tastic!!!

!m!

I found the link! (Praise be Google!)

https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=84962

EDIT: Additional thread with the TH2G being used (but only on my crummy mobile phone camera)

https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=90253

maaarcooose wrote:

Running it on my 13" widescreen lappy at 1280x800 with no problems at all.

Not tried it on my 22" screen yet.

Makes me wonder if a mod it viable to show other views on separate screens. Multi head tastic!!!

!m!

As Ahruman said to me once: "No"

The idea I've been toying with is to use more than one monitor for Oolite not to get more views, but to sort of separate it into a viewscreen and an instrument panel. This would be a very crude pic of that idea *kinda* working..



Ok, sure, not something everybody (or even anybody else) might be interested in. And I don't know much of anything about multi-monitor stuff. The crude setup in the pic took me about 45 min of tinkering to get working in Ubuntu with an nVidia graphics card and two different sized monitors, and only a bit over an hour to get everything "back to normal".

My thought is that if I can get a sort of "glass cockpit" going, then maybe make an overlay out of plexiglass/perspex with cutouts and some bezels, it would.. well.. Ok, basically I just think it'd look cool and be fun for playing Oolite. Kind of looking in at least a limited simpit sort of direction. I suppose we all go crazy in our own particular ways.

Excellent idea and well done for implementing it (sort of)

I did try on my laptop to span down two screens rather than across two screens (external monitor plugged into the DVI) but nvidia driver just wouldn't play. I was sure in the old days of nvidia drivers you could literally move one screen relative to the other in any of the four cardinal directions - so either I've mis-remembered or that's a backwards step in functionality.

My solution is a little different. I actually am a big fan of the default HUD. It's clear, simple layout is perfect already, and being transparent it doesn't 'waste' any of the visible screen. It's surprising how much happens right at the bottom of the screen.
And it is supposed to be a HUD, not a control panel. Having a panel with buttons you can't press and knobs you can't twiddle obscuring a large chunk of the screen seems pointless to me.
The keyboard is the control panel, and so I use two. I have the standard keyboard, but also use a second one adapted as a control panel on which I've grouped the controls into a logical order. All the weapons and missile functions are grouped, as are speed/torus drive etc. I have re-mapped the keyboard to allow this, and the un-used keys have all been removed. This keyboard now has a new top panel with the legends for the keys on it (just a temporary paper one at the moment pending something a bit more professional) and the whole arrangement works really well. Both my joystick and 'control panel' keyboard are USB, so I just plug them in when playing.
When I've finished the control panel I'll post a picture or two.

It took a bit of tinkering. But to it's credit, it flew ok. I was able to switch between IRC and Oolite by just clicking between them with the mouse in the loser monitor screen. Workable, but a bit clumsy since I had the lower monitor half propped and half held up with one hand (and still managed to take out a pirate! LOL). The first thing I think of would be to put together a custom stand for the monitors. Second thing is maybe use a CRT monitor for the lower screen, since the viewing angle borders on being a bit too oblique for being able to see the LCD well.

Smivs, well.. *supposed to be* is kind of a subjective phrase, and entirely dependent on how much bother one is willing to go to. I do agree that having a control panel that's a computer graphic and has switches that don't do anything is a bit redundant. But I could hack a usb gamepad and build functional switches into the physical overlay for the screen I was talking about. At present, I already have a "control panel" keyboard (also relabeled and re-mapped) mounted over the monitor at a comfortable angle to reach up to. An overhead control panel. That way all I usually have on the desk when I "fly" is the joyustick and a nostromo pad (so I don't need the mouse). But I'd still like to have a functional "instrument panel" separate from the "main viewscreen".

In the pic there's a graphic of a control panel because I happened to have one loaded, but for the concept I'm talking about, all one would need would be the displays themselves. The physical overlay that would sit on the monitor screen to provide the bezels would just cover any other graphics anyway.

I'm not a big fan of the default HUD, I'd prefer things laid out a bit differently. But that'd be a concern that'd be a bit down the road for me at this point. I'm just considering possibilities.

Ganelon wrote:

Oolite had a resolution that matched the monitor, but I noted that the bottom of the picture of the HUD/control-panel I use seems to go off the bottom of the screen a little. It's not so much that I lost enough of the displays to be missing any important data, but I'm wondering if I got it set a little wrong or something.

I think it should always be correct. Maybe you did set a wrong resolution in OOlite? I remember that when I got a new computer, I also had problems with the size of the screen and bits falling off. It took me more than a day before I realised that I had to inform Oolite in the preferences about the new screen size.

@ Ganelon,
I agree it's a very personal thing, and some of the 'panel' HUDs are very nice, they're just not for me.
Maybe I'm just set in my ways, but I've often thought about how the default HUD could be improved (in my terms) and I've concluded it couldn't. It shows everything clearly (including the eight energy bars for my Clipper), and is as unobtrusive as it could be without being too small. The only feature it doesn't have that I would like is a 'low energy' (10%?) warning light right next to the target reticule, as in the heat of battle it is easy to 'ignore' the HUD occasionally, sometimes leading to a fatal conclusion
As you say, what we are looking at is a viewscreen, so I want as much 'view' as possible, while being able to check the vital functions of the ship, and the default set up is as near perfect as it could be for that role.
Re the overhead control panel.....stop giving me ideas

Smivs wrote:

Re the overhead control panel.....stop giving me ideas

Sorry Smivs. Giving people ideas is part of my job as a "Ooniversal bad influence".



That's my Oolite overhead control panel so far. If you see any ideas you can use, great! It's obviously kind of a WIP, as you can tell from the mixture of styles and ages. The areas taped over in black are where I plan to remove keys and cover the holes with either metal or plexiglass/perspex with labels for the "buttons". At the moment, it's functional enough, since I know where everything is, but eventually it'll have labels. I'm also thinking of pulling the keys under the "systems overview screen" so I can put in a thin bezel and a clear plastic cover for the "display". Some of the panel is "just for looks", like the whole MFD and the "raise and Lower" buttons for landing gear we don't actually have. LOL

Anyway, it's an ok 10$ control panel for a 400$ spaceship.

Heh! Already looks better than mine, which has a sheet of paper with cut-out holes and badly pen-written legends. I've made it very temporary while I'm checking I like the layout, then I'll do a proper facia for it.