[REQUEST] Station tutorial

[commanderxairon]

first off thanks in advance

what i neead is a tutorial where i can see the process in order to make a station, a simple one what i want is to make a resource for the players who like big ships to have a way to dock them at any planet i know that there is lots of solutions for that but i want to offer ANNOTHER and focus on the fact of unlimited size i have a couple of ideas and id like to release them just all again thanks for your help and time..

[Thargoid]

There's the start of one  on the wiki.

Beyond that it's not so different from making a ship, except for the sub-entity dock.

[Shipbuilder]

There's the start of one  on the wiki.

Beyond that it's not so different from making a ship, except for the sub-entity dock.

There is some good info here in chapter 1. Are chapters 2 to 4 under development ?

[Thargoid]

No idea - I wasn't writing it.

From the history I think Svengali was involved, although I guess he's more focussed on lovely cut-scenes and such at the moment.

[Svengali]

Yes, I've written the first bits. But as you can see it's from 2009 - a lot of things have changed in the meantime. And no, I'm not gonna revisit it atm, because I have enough projects right now .-)

Luckily the WIKI is a collaboration tool and every members can fill in the missing bits. Additionally searching the forum will give you a lot of answers.
The Shipyard at the End of the Ooniverse. Modeller's bit. is always a good starting point.

Just one example -> https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f= ... &start=103

[Shipbuilder]

Svengali - Thanks for the info/links. A station is one of the projects I intend to work on sometime in the coming months so this will help.

Who knows I may also produce a guide on building stations for Oolite.

[Commander McLane]

I don't really understand what the fuzz is about.

To emphasize what Thargoid already wrote: there is no difference whatsoever in designing a ship or a station (or an asteroid, or a cargo container, or an escape pod, or a flat rectangle) for Oolite. You need a model and a texture. Period.

[Shipbuilder]

@ Commander McLane - I haven't looked in detail at designing a station yet as I have been working on other things however I think that the queries probably relate to the way you set up a dock as a sub entity.

As you say once this part is done the rest should be like producing a ship.

[Commander McLane]

@ Commander McLane - I haven't looked in detail at designing a station yet as I have been working on other things however I think that the queries probably relate to the way you set up a dock as a sub entity.

A subentity is a subentity. There is no difference between a dock, a wing, a turret, or a flasher, as far as designing, constructing, or "setting up" is concerned. The miracle: as soon as there is one subentity that has the string "dock" in its name, the whole thing becomes dockable.

Note: it's probably better to use the new-style subentity definition, where you can declare the dock-property explicitly.

Or do you collectively want to say that all your combined ships so far haven't used a single subentity, and therefore you are all new to the very concept of subentities? Given the complexity of some of the models which have been showcased here on the boards that would be amazing.

[Thargoid]

I'm not sure I'd quite agree there - docks are slightly more complex than normal sub-entities:

• You have to texture the inside of them not the outside, hence the thing has to be "turned inside out" during modelling to get the textured surfaces right.
• You have to get the orientation and position right to sit correctly within the main model, and you need to include a specific hole in the main model to accommodate it.
• You need a suitable AI to make the entity accept docking properly, although there are several in the trunk AIs that are suitable.
• If you get it wrong (and many have, including me) you can get weird effects like flying through the ship and docking in odd places, or the dock appearing in a strange place.

All that said the new definition of sub-entities makes things simpler, although again the new-new capability of multiple docks could add another layer of things to screw up.

But if you start with a simple station and perhaps even re-use the trunk dock for it, then you can have a very good and workable station-replacement up and running quite quickly (give or take fancy texturing or shaders).[/color]

[Shipbuilder]

Thanks for the info Thargoid.

As noted earlier I have not, as yet, given station desing a go but it is certainly on my list of things to do so all this will help.

although again the new-new capability of multiple docks could add another layer

Do you know when multiple docks will be avalable ?

This is, I suppose, the next stage to get in to and it is certainly something that interests me (I have a few ideas regarding the use of multiple docks).

[Thargoid]

It's already in trunk (1.77), and the wiki is already updated on how to set them up within shipdata.plist. Note that to use them the dock must be defined via the new method (both old and new methods are detailed in the linked page).

Cim also has put together a demo OXP for trunk which can be downloaded via his wiki page.

So it should be available when 1.77 comes out, although using a nightly or a self build you can get a preview.

[commanderxairon]

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?1p21uvrzawdt2h8

this make the game freeze and dont run and i can't quess why.. it is a replacement for the buoy for it to act as a mooring point o.o

[JazHaz]

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?1p21uvrzawdt2h8

this make the game freeze and dont run and i can't quess why.. it is a replacement for the buoy for it to act as a mooring point o.o

Is there anything in your Latest.log?

[Svengali]

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?1p21uvrzawdt2h8

this make the game freeze and dont run and i can't quess why.. it is a replacement for the buoy for it to act as a mooring point o.o

Change the dockmoor.dat. Give the first two vertices a 1.000000 as z position.