Oolite Bulletins

I've wondered for a while why there is a "Z-GrOovY No-Shader Variety Pack", but there isn't a generally available "Shader Variety Pack". So I did some digging and found the original OXP's on which the "no-shader" pack is based. However, I found these older packs didn't work with the newer versions of Oolite. I also noticed that, while the textures for the no-shader pack are brilliant, they're kind of flat, with no bumps or creases on any of the surfaces (which you notice especially when the sun reflects on the ship surfaces).

So I went to work and put together an updated variety pack, utilising Griff's normal map to add bumps, and adding additional references to use the new "gloss" property in 1.87. The pack uses the default shaders, and I think they turned out pretty well. The pack should work in Oolite 1.80 and following, but I think the best effects are seen in 1.87.

(Full disclosure: I actually have no idea what I'm doing with textures and shaders. I can do a reasonable impression of sounding like I know what I'm talking about, but all I can do is, well, not much really. Edit shipdata.plist files. So, if anyone wants to point out how badly I've put things together I'd be very happy to issue an update to correct things.)

Anyway, if you have the "No-Shader" pack, you can install this one right next to it and essentially all the no-shader ships will be replaced by these new ones. You might want to do this if you have a save game that uses one of the no-shader ships, so that you can resave the game after switching over to the new version using Ship Respray (or you can edit the save file directly).

All credit to Griff, dertien and Amah, who put in all the work on the original variety packs.

Here's some screenshots of the ships in 1.87, with bumps and gloss and everything.







Download v2.0: Z-GrOovY_VarietyPack.oxz

Now also available via the download manager.

For reference, here's a link to no-shader wiki page:  No Shaders alternate or extra ships and accessories

these look awesome, a fantastic bit of restoration work phkb

Pack is causing ships for sale on Lave to disappear with a new commander on version 1.90.

From what I've been able to determine, this is purely down to RNG: but increasing the pool of available player ships, the random selection is changed when starting a new game, and therefore different ships are available. In my trunk install, with only this pack installed, I end up with 2 Yellow Cabs available for purchase.

If I get some time I'll investigate the possible solutions here.

phkb wrote: ↑Sun Dec 13, 2020 9:24 pm

this is purely down to RNG: but increasing the pool of available player ships, the random selection is changed when starting a new game, and therefore different ships are available.

It's worth noting that I believe this would happen with the additon of any player ship packs.

Here's a small OXP that aims to add the expected Adder and Cobra Mk I ships to the Lave shipyard if they aren't present for whatever reason. The should be added only at the beginning of a new game, and only if they're not already there.

Link: LaveInitialShipyard.oxz.

This will only work with Oolite 1.89 and following.

Please give this a try and if it's successful in all scenarios, I'll add it to the DM.

Continuing on from my discovery of invalid keys in the materials in my Factory Paint Jobs, I discovered I'd done the same thing in this pack! Anyway, new version (2.1) is now available.

phkb wrote: ↑Fri Nov 17, 2023 4:14 am

Continuing on from my discovery of invalid keys in the materials in my Factory Paint Jobs, I discovered I'd done the same thing in this pack! Anyway, new version (2.1) is now available.

I guess this is something OoliteAddonScanner could look for across all ships/models. But what should it look for?

hiran wrote: ↑Fri Nov 17, 2023 5:46 am

But what should it look for?

I had "effects_map" as one of the keys, which is an invalid key. However, while it might be invalid, it doesn't generate an error - Oolite just ignores it. I'm not sure if it's worth looking specifically for that key, though. Maybe generate a warning for unrecognised keys, perhaps. You can find a list of valid keys here:  Materials in Oolite.

phkb wrote: ↑Fri Nov 17, 2023 6:00 am

hiran wrote: ↑Fri Nov 17, 2023 5:46 am

But what should it look for?

I had "effects_map" as one of the keys, which is an invalid key. However, while it might be invalid, it doesn't generate an error - Oolite just ignores it. I'm not sure if it's worth looking specifically for that key, though. Maybe generate a warning for unrecognised keys, perhaps. You can find a list of valid keys here:  Materials in Oolite.

Good idea. I'll take a look at that.
In essence it is similar o handling the keys in manifest.plist today.