Oolite Bulletins

Can we have nice engine trails somehow, so that it's easier to see where some npc went?

EDIT: More precisely, something similar to the "runway light" in Dock Assist System.oxp ...

Zireael wrote:

Posting in this thread since I didn't want to create a new one:
Can we have nice engine trails somehow, so that it's easier to see where some npc went?

EDIT: More precisely, something similar to the "runway light" in Dock Assist System.oxp ...

Personally I find nothing wrong with these exhausts. What exactly do you want to improve (I don't have the Dock Assist oxp myself)?

Hey Cody, hope you don't mind me taking your ship for a ride, do you?

another_commander wrote:

Hey Cody, hope you don't mind me taking your ship for a ride, do you?

<chortles> For a moment, I was perplexed by seeing my hud - then I saw the above. You are more than welcome, Admiral.
I wonder if Zireael is talking about something like contrails in space? I dislike such things, myself.

You mean like the trails aircraft leave behind or the trails seen in the E:D alpha videos?

I don't like those in space sims either.

another_commander wrote:

... or the trails seen in the E:D alpha videos?

Yep! One of the things that will annoy me about E: D, that's for sure!

Splitting this discussion to its own thread, since engine trails are not quite the same thing as exhaust plumes.

Something similar to E: D alpha vids, although maybe shorter and less distinctive, that's why I remembered the "runway lights".

I find it hard to pinpoint a npc after it whizzes past me...

Zireael wrote:

I find it hard to pinpoint a npc after it whizzes past me...

Use the scanner - especially its zoom function.

If I recall correctly, COTB's shields OXP had a special effect where sometimes NPCs were suffering fuel leaks after taking damage in combat and the effect was very similar to engine trails. He was using flashers to achieve this if I'm not mistaken, so I guess that something similar to what you want might already be achievable via OXP.

another_commander wrote:

If I recall correctly, COTB's shields OXP had a special effect where sometimes NPCs were suffering fuel leaks after taking damage in combat and the effect was very similar to engine trails.

You recall correctly. Although I couldn't say off the top of my head whether the effect is achieved with flashers or with visual effects.

It's weird that this thread should materialize just when I'm thinking something vaguely similar...

I was thinking how cool it would be to have missile con-trails, generated in the same way as the aforementioned fuel leak but less diffuse, maybe fading out after 15-30 seconds. Locking up several targets with the required targeting kit then launching salvo-style would look immense.

Just a passing thought!

Capt. Reynolds wrote:

It's weird that this thread should materialize just when I'm thinking something vaguely similar...

I was thinking how cool it would be to have missile con-trails, generated in the same way as the aforementioned fuel leak but less diffuse, maybe fading out after 15-30 seconds. Locking up several targets with the required targeting kit then launching salvo-style would look immense.

Just a passing thought!

I think we're all influenced by the amazing eye-candy E:D is

Zireael wrote:

I think we're all influenced by the amazing eye-candy E:D is

To be fair, I've not even looked at it.

Capt. Reynolds wrote:

I was thinking how cool it would be to have missile con-trails, generated in the same way as the aforementioned fuel leak but less diffuse, maybe fading out after 15-30 seconds. Locking up several targets with the required targeting kit then launching salvo-style would look immense.

The fade time is the tricky bit, really. You need to store 15 seconds worth of coordinates, with enough smoothing to stop the trail getting corners (and missiles fly and turn fast, needing a lot of smoothing), so you either need to be generating and dynamically altering every second an object with more polygons than most ships - even the short duration exhausts take quite some processing - or you need to be creating a bunch of smaller "contrail cloud segment" objects and fading them in and out as needed, which is also expensive.

Take a look at the scripting cove thread, I attempted a very quick and dirty script based on CSOB's fuel leaks.

Something similar could certainly be done for missiles, although it would require much more optimizing and JavaScript-fu than I have...