Oolite Bulletins

I find the sun glare in Oolite 1.79 to be a cool, but sometimes annoying effect. Especially flying towards the sun in search for asteroids made me wonder if there could be a sun glare filter of some sort. And thanks to the Oolite devs there is now .

This oxz adds an equipment that offers three levels of filtering.

Here's the difference in Lave without and with the filter.



Download from the expansion pack manager.

Cool

spara wrote:

This simple oxz enhances the External Heat Shielding equipment so that there is a 50 % sun glare filter included.

Does the heat shielding cost more then? I wouldn't want to see the price of the shield go up, but I think this should be something you have to pay for. Could you make it a seperate piece of eq?

Stormrider wrote:

Does the heat shielding cost more then? I wouldn't want to see the price of the shield go up, but I think this should be something you have to pay for. Could you make it a seperate piece of eq?

Or even more than one ... a cheapo, low-tech version that gives you 10% reduction, a mid-range one at 30%, and a top-notch, high-tech, high price 50% filter.

There are a lot of possibilities here. I'll need to ponder a bit. Don't want to make it too complicated or overwhelming.

At the moment I'm thinking that there could be a small filter coming with the external heat shield (20 %?). Something that is noticeable. Then there could be a separate equipment to enhances that to 50 %. The filter would be primeable, and it would wear out over time and you would have to buy it again. Priming also makes it possible to create a nice transition effect when the filter goes on or off.

Needs a bit experimentation. And all ideas are welcome.

spara wrote:

I'm thinking that there could be a small filter coming with the external heat shield (20 %?). Something that is noticeable. Then there could be a separate equipment to enhances that to 50 %. The filter would be primeable, and it would wear out over time and you would have to buy it again. Priming also makes it possible to create a nice transition effect when the filter goes on or off.

This sounds like a good plan!

I'd like to see a user-adjustable filter.. dial in the setting you want, on the fly, using the 'n' and 'b' keys.

Diziet Sma wrote:

I'd like to see a user-adjustable filter.. dial in the setting you want, on the fly, using the 'n' and 'b' keys.

After experimenting with different solutions, this one seems to be the way to go. The filter will wear out faster if you use it on a higher setting. Needs balancing and polishing, but it's coming.

Very good idea. Maybe a fictional temperature readout (the further the Sun the hotter) for extra ambience?

spara wrote:

Diziet Sma wrote:

I'd like to see a user-adjustable filter.. dial in the setting you want, on the fly, using the 'n' and 'b' keys.

After experimenting with different solutions, this one seems to be the way to go. The filter will wear out faster if you use it on a higher setting. Needs balancing and polishing, but it's coming.

Presumably it only degrades whilst actually in use? As in, if you only enable it when needed, you can extend the life of the filter?

Yes. If the filter is set to off, it won't degrade. It will be very cheap, comparable to a missile, but it will wear out at the highest setting in a couple of minutes.

Ok. Total overhaul of the oxz. Download from the first post. * A standalone equipment, no need for External Heat Shielding.
* Primable with three levels of filtering. Lower the setting with 'b' and raise with 'n'. Higher the setting, more rapidly it degrades.
* Coating will last for full 2 minutes with the highest setting. And 6 minutes with the lowest.
* Cheap to replace. Costs the same as a missile. Then again, it won't last for long.
* Available practically at all stations. It's a simple liquid compound anyway.

Have fun. Needs testing and testing. Oh and testing.

Seems to work okay, but I could buy multiples in F3 (I actually only got one, of course).

Cody wrote:

Seems to work okay, but I could buy multiples in F3 (I actually only got one, of course).

Good point. It's a side effect of making it possible to replace the filter before it's worn out. Simple to fix, I'll put it into the next version.

Another change that will go in is a small change of behaviour to the dial. Now you can't go past the highest setting (or the lowest). In the next version it will go from High to Off and vice versa. Feels more practical.

<nods> Makes sense - is this in the managed OXZ list, btw?

Cody wrote:

<nods> Makes sense - is this in the managed OXZ list, btw?

Not yet. I'm still making big changes. The more I test it, more it needs tweaking . In practice I seem to be solely using the the highest setting briefly turning it on when I need to see. As a result, the best control method so far seems to be to put the dial into 'b' and on-off functionality to 'n'. So you adjust it to your liking and then just toggle it on and off.