FX ideas
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Very nice. I just had that twisted idea of, if these dynamic cockpit-textures are possible, displaying the starmap on the cockpit window, like a projector or holo… Wouldn’t be different to the “cockpit controls display” as the only difference is the alpha channel. But then again this has nothing to do with FX once again.
The effects are superb. I just plain like them. Is there any hope to have dynamic lighting work more properly (FL has its limitations), for example, headlights that actually work and can be turned on/off?
As for your reply on flying outside the cockpit - in simulators (not necessarily FL) people tend to fly outside cockpit view, but always return to that to get a good aim (or prepare that missile lock). In FL you don’t need to prepare a missile lock, and don’t even need to aim, as mouse controls will have your guns swivel into position automatically. However, for me, enemy padlock cameras (when you are “looking at” the enemy or friendly fighter) are strictly outside view.
Everything depends on how many controls does the player need to operate. In XvT with the abundance of controls I rely on a “Front” and “Rear” radarscreen, which give you a nice idea on where things are, and only fly in outside view when the radar has been damaged. -
**I am working on making it as easy to use as possible. I will see later on if I can build some of those features you listed above.
Here a are a couple more FX shots I did today**
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It is simply a cross shape object, nothing more. Below you will see the standard style of FL torpedoes.
The texture used above is
Click here for full size image
The texture used here
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**Well, I finally got the collision detection working pretty good. At this time I don’t have to use any type of collision file for any of the models in the game. I also got the trigger FX feature working, what this does is allow one FX to trigger off another one when it collides with something.
Here is a shot of both the triggered FX (the explosions) and 3 of the torps passing through a hole in the city’s foundation…
Here are 2 shots taken within seconds of each other, pictures really don’t do it justice.
As you can see, it is working pretty good now, and I don’t have to make a SUR for it. :)**
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Sooo, we can use this to create something like sparks when parts of an explosion impact nearby objects?
Which part triggers the secondary? Particle, Emitter, or the mesh hosting them?Nice to hear we won’t have to worry about SUR files lol. So we’ll also be able to create concave objects easier? If so, that would do wonders for bases, asteroids, cap ships; all sorts of fun stuff. Interested in how this is handled.
Edit: convex to concave
daaammit jim! cave…meep meep -
**Here is a link to get an idea of how many convex and concave parts the city model has.
http://www.galacticenigma.com/Cpm/displayimage.php?album=1&pos=50
The method I used was to get the path that the emitter is travelling on. Since I only needed the path between the current position and the next position, the length of the path was fairly short. In graphics jargon what I used is a form of ray casting. This is where you send out a straight line from the current position and end at the position you wish to be at. If it collides with something it will return the location, mesh and the face it collided with. DirectX has a ray testing routine but it requires alot of setup to get it to work. Plus each object that has to be checked has to be tested separately. I did speed up the code by making it only check for collisions if a ‘coll =’ command was part of the FX script. Another way I sped it up was by using the final matrix from the object tested and converting the ray into object space. What this means is that I won’t have problems with matrix instability testing collisions for objects near the outer edge of the systems.**
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**Hehehe, so true it isn’t Freelancer at all
Disclaimer
The FX posted above are for Galaxy Empire, I don’t have any idea on how to recreate these FX in Freelancer. GE is of my own design and has no connection with Microsoft in any way. So feel free to post any ideas you have because I may be able to write the code for it.
Anyways, thanks for pointing that out Bejaymac, I’ve seen them mistake it for FL before :)**
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@Lancer:
Anyways, thanks for pointing that out Bejaymac, I’ve seen them mistake it for FL before
Which I think is a great indication of the nice work you’re doing
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Screwing with the nebula scripts
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Added ring nebula support
