Oolite Bulletins

another_commander wrote: ↑Thu Mar 12, 2020 6:28 am

For anyone considering using the new materials system on their own creations but may be unfamiliar with what it is all about

Thank you, much appreciated. I will have a look at it but probably earlier or later ask you for advice.

another_commander wrote: ↑Tue Mar 10, 2020 7:16 pm

It now contains also the previously forgotten Constrictor.

Any chance of a pic, Admiral?

Sure, Cody. Here it is, straight from the OXP's wiki page:

Ah, I'd missed the Wiki link - thanks!

Just a quick note to announce that this OXP is now available for download from the in-game Expansion Manager.

Can someone help me here as I am a little confused, is this oxp for versions greater than the stable 1.88 release or does it include the stable 1.88?
Only I am struggling to install this oxp via the download manager As it reports that the pack is manually installed and cannot be automatically installed.

At first I thought that this maybe a result of already having griff shipset installed as a replacement using Griff's Normalmapped Ships (Replace) 1.14 oxp bundle. So I duly set about removing all my Griff & gsagostinho retextures as I wasn't sure how if any retextures that I have may cause issues so figured it would be better to start with a default clean slate (texture wise).

Sadly this appears to have made no difference (see thumbnail of screenshot of download manager below)



Am I doing something wrong or is this oxp not compatible with the current stable release

Do you have this OXP installed already in AddOns? It is compatible with versions 1.88 and higher.

Which part of the textures in this oxp are you using for this oxp?

Some of the specular maps contain diffuse information but you used the 'main' diffuse maps?

I am not sure I understand the first question, can you expand a bit?

For the second question, all spec and gloss maps are based on the diffuse ones from the core game. Some are deliberately colored to represent either special metallic or impossible materials (thargoid ships' case).

I extracted the oxz as oxp then i opened the specular map and saw it contained diffuse information and thought the oxp was using this
diffuse information. An opportunity to experiment.
I changed this diffuse information ( see Tionisla thread ) but the ship did not changed ingame.
Then i read the shipdata override list and saw the oxp using the original diffuse map.

So i bit got confused, so rephrased which part of which texturemap are you using for which function...

cbr wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 3:20 pm

I extracted the oxz as oxp then i opened the specular map and saw it contained diffuse information and thought the oxp was using this
diffuse information. An opportunity to experiment.
I changed this diffuse information ( see Tionisla thread ) but the ship did not changed ingame.
Then i read the shipdata override list and saw the oxp using the original diffuse map.

So i bit got confused, so rephrased which part of which texturemap are you using for which function...

Ah OK, yes, the OXP is using the default game's diffuse maps. It is meant to demonstrate the (huge sometimes) effect that dedicated specular and combined gloss maps can achieve in the new materials model. Most spec/gloss maps are simple grayscale retouches of the diffuse maps without any further processing, just adjusting the amount of shiny for each ship and which areas get more / less shiny than others.

another_commander wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 12:56 pm

Do you have this OXP installed already in AddOns? It is compatible with versions 1.88 and higher.

I am such a ****ing eejit!

You're absolutely right

I really don't remember installing it, then again it has been some time since I last played and memory doesn't seem great with many things atm (a sign of advancing years, although I am a little worried).

Apologies for my query and for my Irish outburst (although I feel my incompetence warranted it).

Thanks for your help another commander.

Just on a side note can I ask if there is benefit to using this oxp with Griffs retexture pack or is it better to save the disk space and use the default textures for standard ships?

Damocles Edge wrote: ↑Wed Jul 29, 2020 1:06 pm

Just on a side note can I ask if there is benefit to using this oxp with Griffs retexture pack or is it better to save the disk space and use the default textures for standard ships?

I cannot guarantee that Griff's ships and this one can coexist, since they are both replacing the original set. I believe one will stomp the other depending on which one gets loaded first / last. You can choose whether you want to have the special fx of the Griff set or the new lighting model of this one. Or try to see if they can play nicely together first, I have not really tested that part.

Ahh - thank you.

Really enjoying the look of this oxp

Would there be any chance of renaming this one? It took me well over half a year to work out what it was supposed to be (and only because I worked out some of the jargon from working on the wiki).

How about: Retextures Pack (using the improved graphics of v.1.88+)?

For non-programmers such as myself "Maps" is misleading, and "Normal, Specular & Gloss" is incomprehensible jargon... Sorry!



Edited to add emphasis!