Oolite Bulletins

On A- Elite and the likes of Elite plus, there were atmospheric images on the various screens when docked. Such things as pictures of guys who gave you the missions etc. Has anyone any thought to including this in oolite, or would it be too much hassle etc with the programming. How would, if it could, be incorporated into the game. It could be another avenue of expansion> Just a thought, as i dont know how, through the programming the screens are accessed at the mo, so i cant appreciate the difficulty this may cause.
Does anyone else have any opinions on this?

Some mission briefing screens already do this (see the Nova and Trumble missions for examples).

I don't know if many OXP writers have used this...

A cool !

But is it possible to add a picture for the station in general (and system, or station specific ?)

aegidian wrote:

I don't know if many OXP writers have used this...

I guess that's more a question of artistic capability, it'd be cool to ressurect a request for some artwork for people to use in OXP's, made by Oolite/Elite fans that are good w/ graphics, but less w/ scripting... The wiki might be a good place for requests.

But is it possible to add a picture for the station in general (and system, or station specific ?)

As a background to the text, you mean? Should be possible,
if Giles added some 'hooks' so OXP's can fill in the background, but probably not for all screens, or it would become hard to read/interact w/ some stuff. or restrict it 'around' text, w/ a diffused central picture...

Hmmm...

How would the screens be incorporated? Would this be done directly via an OXP. Not knowing how Oolite is programmed etc, what commands would be used to alter the screens, so that images could be included such as this:



I have some time to mess with creating images but i don't know how to incorporate the images so that they can be seen on screen etc. If someone could give some basic pointers i would be so grateful.

promise not to make supermuscular rodents?

better wait for a word from Giles before I contend that it is easily manageable to use the current systems conditions while docked to elegantly slip in background png's behind, FI, the system data screen.

Even the mention of a furry addition would be enough to get me chucked!! As a complete novice on how to do this, i would obviouslylike to understand how the docked screens are created within the package etc, so that i have a greater understanding of hwo to create and implement new ones. Im browsing through the OXPs Giles mentioned earlier to see if i can learn more.

yes, those will show the use of a missionimage, but the key being if you can set the likes of condidions=(show_systemDataScreen equal YES) or something. otherwise it would have to be a mission of its own, not complimenting any of the regular screens..

I would like to see some sort of background images in the station screen, but it’d require code changes as well as quite a lot of artwork. (To start with, the HUD would have to be hidden… I’m liking it already.) An issue to consider is that Oolite can run at any resolution.

Considder also the problems in the windows builds when changing that resolution.

The planet in that screeny could be the planet model as it is defined in the planet.plist.

It would be fun to have a modular design for race-pictures.
e.g. chainmail for feudal, punk outfit for anarchy, jewels or interesting devices for rich etc. also different morphology for furry (sideburns) or fat (fatface) etc.
To start out: just basic the races of elite, but keep the system modular, so that other description factors can also be used to change the portraits in due time.


In the case of fierce anarchic rodents I'd expect a muscular rodent as the one shown.

Im fiercely reading through the MissionScreen items to see how this can be done, as i'm playing catch up. I have spare time on my hands and can throw myself around PSP etc. I have the time to create but not the know how. If anyone can point me in the direction of what to read to have an idea of what to do I'll try n do the rest lol!

I suspect the 'inhabitants preview' thing would be quite a lot of work, actually. I say this, because I was in half a mind to make a similar suggestion, about a year or more back, concerning passsengers (i.e. could we have a preview of who we were about to pick up, and see if it influenced our decision), but I soon realised that the very nature of Bell and Braben's original options, was designed so that the number of variations produced by the Fibonacci sequence was already dizzyingly high. There could be fierce red bony insects, large black bug-eyed lobsters, small harmless slimy frogs, large yellow horned humanoids, small green fat birds, fierce blue furry felines, small harmless fat lizards, large blue bug-eyed rodents, etc. It' s not merely a question of whether to have a Mr Universe or a Mr Punyverse torso, you see? Never mind, adding punk-chic outfits, for anarchic systems, or sumptuous velvet jerkins, for rich civilisations, over the top.

What does a 'bony insect' even look like, anyway? What does a punk-chic one look like? I only ask, since I'm pretty sure I've had several, as passengers!

'You'll never guess who I had in the back of here, the other day... Sorry about the slime - that was from the last passenger!'

in theory it's possible to assemble pictures from part-transparent pngs following the Fibonacci sequence. 8 race outline mainframes, 6 varying characteristics, in grayscale (coloured á la Trumble method, except harmless isn't a colour, maybe anaemically colourless?..) with 3 torso sizes, large, fierce and small.

it's a little tricky but not impossible.

That is why I'd suggest strting out with just the major classes:
colonist
humanoid
insect
rodent
lobster
bird
lizard
feline
and frogs
But try to have placeholders for all the variants.
It would be a LOT of work. Certainly if every species would have it's own bodytype.
Calculating how many variations are in there (Fibonacci sequence ) just about 865 itterations.
We would be blessed with even a few alternatives.

How about the pic is determined by %R (race).
only if a picture better fitted to i1,i2,i3,%R, would the other decribing factors be considdered.

ie race description: large yellow bony frog [=i1(1),i2(3),i3(4),%R(2)]
Initially the generic frog image will be chosen,
Only if a picture for a yellow frog is available will that one be show preferentially.


To consider government and economy would indeed be madness.
I was just thinking of a frog with a confederate cap on,
Pino in a bussiness suit.

I may go and look what there is to be robbed of the web.

I could have been more clear. this is what I suggested. all have outlined head and coarse features. 8 pics. contribute generic central facial features to fit any of the races. 6 pics adds 3 upper torsos to each race. 24 pics, or maybe more funny, just 3 pics to fit them all. to be determined by colour overlay.

yes, political and economic theme clothing is overkill I think.