Oolite Bulletins

Cargo canisters that're too good at hiding in the dark and evading every effort to scoop 'em driving you up the cabin wall?
Give this little trick a try:

Search for the barrel key in shipdata.plist. Graft this in under that key -

<key>subentities</key>
<array>
<string>*FLASHER* 0 0 0 60 1 -0.50 6</string>
</array>

Now those canisters have a flashing yellow road marker effect. It's a bit dim, you'll have to get kinda close to see it, but it sure beats a canister hiding in the dark.

Like a duct tape hull patch, it's a simple, inelegant fix to a small, persistant problem, and it gets the job done till something better comes along.

Cmdr Wyvern wrote:

Cargo canisters that're too good at hiding in the dark and evading every effort to scoop 'em driving you up the cabin wall?
Give this little trick a try:

Search for the barrel key in shipdata.plist. Graft this in under that key -

<key>subentities</key>
<array>
<string>*FLASHER* 0 0 0 60 1 -0.50 6</string>
</array>

Now those canisters have a flashing yellow road marker effect. It's a bit dim, you'll have to get kinda close to see it, but it sure beats a canister hiding in the dark.

Like a duct tape hull patch, it's a simple, inelegant fix to a small, persistant problem, and it gets the job done till something better comes along.

What about new equipment item - "subspace scanning radar", when activated it should switch the picture to familliar wireframe view without textures and light modeling

headlights was another good idea

If I put this under shipdata.plist in an OXP, will that override the built-in defaults? I'm trying to put together all the visibility stuff I can find in one place.

I would love a wireframe view. I've seen some older OpenGL games implement this, like Batallion. Means I could use Oolite on my SGI with more than 5fps. Plus it make things so much easier to see. And has a nice retro thing going. Wonder how hard it is to code.

johnsmith wrote:

I would love a wireframe view.

Ssshhhhh! Don't tell Giles that. He's just spent the last three years implementing 3d surface rendering and ray-tracing.....

Wireframe? You're joking, right?

If you want wireframe, then I have a Commodore 64, a copy of Elite for it, and a POS Atari stick in my attic. I didn't, and would not, download Oolite for wireframe.
The 80's are dead, and good riddance to 'em. Let Oolite move towards the future, not obsolecence.

Hmmm, I kind of agree on having the wireframe as a viewing option...

Oolite should be available to all! Besides, I remember having Wireframe as a viewing mode in Mechwarrior 2 - I miss it in MW4, was handy for spotting things in amongst the debris.

Also, the world we see in Oolite is computer generated via cameras located around the ship - thus preventing pilot blindness from the sun or lasers, the computer should have a filter mode to do wireframe surely.

how about an "image enhancer" mode, which bumps up the contrast, but leaves the dust trails and stars as big blobby trails. Oh, and tint it all green

Or maybe it just reduces the frame rate to 5fps, which is actually something that you can (in principle) do with CCD based cameras to increase sensitivity. In that mode you'd take 200 milliseconds of images and add them all together. Anything that's too bright just goes to white, the rest just get brighter. The 5fps would be the trade off for this mode - got to be some downside.

Basically it would be a "camera gain" control.

cmdr drayton wrote:

how about an "image enhancer" mode, which bumps up the contrast, but leaves the dust trails and stars as big blobby trails. Oh, and tint it all green

There's the right direction. An infrared nightvision mode, that ignores ambient light - or lack of it - and shows objects in shades of green and black, like modern nightvision goggles. Possibly as a buyable upgrade.

I did code up a prototype "Naval targeting enhancement" which put a white targeting reticle over unpowered targets (like canisters), which made it vastly easier to see things like canisters, but Giles didn't like the idea at the time. Personally, I liked it, but then again, I'm biased

I liked it too, I'm having to wear glasses fulltime now, and there's no doubt that Oolite/Elite etc is tough on your sight. I tend to play in a darkened room with just sufficient light to see the keyboard (mind you I can just about touch type all the controls now). Any enhancement to aid the visuals gets my support.

winston wrote:

I did code up a prototype "Naval targeting enhancement" which put a white targeting reticle over unpowered targets (like canisters), which made it vastly easier to see things like canisters, but Giles didn't like the idea at the time. Personally, I liked it, but then again, I'm biased

That was a neat piece of code, but if I remember it put a lead reticule on the selected target, and maybe Giles didn't like that particular feature. Oh well...

Like TG, my Mk1s need a little shaped glass assistance, as well as cranking the brightness way up on the monitor - and I still can't make out dark objects worth a damn! And apparently this is a common issue with many pilots, glasses or no glasses. Hacking little flashers on cargo pods helps, but there has to be a better way...

Hey Winston, want to give a crack at a nightvision device? Please?

It's quite remarkable, the difference when you turn the room lights out, the space dust, clouds colours etc are really enhanced, Oolite space is quite beautiful (but there again so is 'er indoors with the light out!).

/me dives into a foxhole!

I'd like a big forward mounted spotlight, that just lights up the ships in front of you!

Cmdr Wyvern wrote:

Hey Winston, want to give a crack at a nightvision device? Please?

I've been thinking a bit about a "fishfinder" device - not quite as high powered as the prototype "Advanced Naval Targeting System" that the last one was.

I'll try to find some tuits over the coming weeks. Then maybe I will be able to persuade Giles that this one won't upset play balance and should be in the main stream build