Oolite Bulletins

Is there an OXP or anything than makes textures more complex ie:more real looking? Does Realistic Shipyards do this?

I take a good close look at some ships and feel disappointed with the average graphics this awesome game has. Come on, look at EA games!

Indeed, I recommend you first install practically everything SimonB has done (replacing the original ship set) and then add everything Griff has done (to get some added variety and eye-candy). They are in different styles, for sure, but do wonders to the overall feel of the game.

Are graphics ever "good enough"?

Edit: Let me qualify that - transparent textures for domes, windows etc and proper lighting effects (i.e. you can carry lights that illuminate other objects) - all well outside the current capabilities of the gfx engine and as Ahruman has explained many times in many levels of detail - will almost certainly never happen...

Commander Learner: Have a look at the screenshots at the link below and you will immediately have the answer to your question:
https://developer.berlios.de/screenshots/?group_id=3577

And yes, there is always room for improvement in the graphics. But reading your post, I conclude you have not had a chance to see the full capabilities of the engine yet.

The more 'realistic' graphics are the easier it is to -lose- immersion because of some minor issues. We're still a fair way away from generating realistic graphics even using banks of mainframes to pre-render (let alone real-time render) graphics for movies. Look at any movie which incorporates CG - if you know what you're looking for, you'll spot it almost instantly and even if you don't you'll most likely spot some minor issues.

The less realistic the graphics, the more your imagination is used to fill in the gaps and the less likely you are to lose immersion due to minor issues with those graphics - as long as it's all more or less consistent. Of course this point is 'within reason' - I don't propose we rewrite Oolite to use text graphics.. *G*


Having said that, on the whole I think I still prefer the old-school looks, but also appreciate the new work, which looks simply amazing.


My 2Cr

another_commander wrote:

Have a look at the screenshots at the link below and you will immediately have the answer to your question:
https://developer.berlios.de/screenshots/?group_id=3577

And yes, there is always room for improvement in the graphics. But reading your post, I conclude you have not had a chance to see the full capabilities of the engine yet.

Can I presume this reply is aimed at the instigator of the thread (i.e. Cmdr Learner) and not me?

I think everything Simon B and Griff (and many others too but to name the main two) ship wise is simply stunning - but in the school of thought of "the grass is always greener" - transparent textures and user defined illuminations/lights is all that would stop me giving Oolite 10/10 (in the context of what it is).

@ DH: That in a_c's post the sentence quoted by you is preceded by a "Commander Learner: " should give you the answer.

another_commander wrote:

Commander Learner: Have a look at the screenshots at the link below and you will immediately have the answer to your question:
https://developer.berlios.de/screenshots/?group_id=3577

WOW!! Nice........ Are all of those courtesy of SimonB and Griff? Are they pre-rendered or real-time screenshots?

Commander Learner wrote:

another_commander wrote:

Commander Learner: Have a look at the screenshots at the link below and you will immediately have the answer to your question:
https://developer.berlios.de/screenshots/?group_id=3577

WOW!! Nice........ Are all of those courtesy of SimonB and Griff? Are they pre-rendered or real-time screenshots?

Everything you see there are real time in-game screenshots. The first eight are featuring Griff's ships, while the rest are from older versions of the game.

Commander McLane wrote:

@ DH: That in a_c's post the sentence quoted by you is preceded by a "Commander Learner: " should give you the answer.

Ah, but I know that a_c went back and snuck that tag in, in response to my inquiry (Any potential misunderstanding has been clarified via PM...)

it really depends on what you mean by realistic

to be honest, i cant imagine any spacecraft looking remotely like they do in oolite- there is simply no need to streamline them, thuster units require gravity wells to work, there is nothing in space that could colour a laser, the list goes on

so i take it you dont mean realistic, then if you dont, what do you mean?

Seriously, those screenshots were beyond my imagination, that's good enough....even better than EA already!

Say ,how do you get them again

Here's the easy step-by-step explanation. Be my guest:

1. Download the respective OXPs.
2. Install them.
3. Fire up your game.
4. Turn your main screen to the most beautiful thing you see.
5. Press 'P' to pause the game.
6. Press 'O' to disable your HUD display.
7. Press '*' to take a screenshot.
8. Press 'N' to re-enable your HUD display.
9. Open the screenshot conveniently named 'Oolite-001.png' (or any other number, I leave that to your imagination) and residing in your main Oolite folder in your favorite viewer.
10. Enjoy.