Screenshots Release Thread
- Thread starter Tolwyn
- Start date
Viper61 said:
No, since the Raptor was invented in 2639 and it the Cutlass a medium fighter, so it has other roles to perform as a Raptor. And no ship after the Cutlass would have the problems as her because as said, the failure-ridden tech was abandoned and replaced with older and reliable tech. As you see, in my tech description, I provided an esplanation, why confed Pilots still have too eject manually after all the years.
Tolwyn
Vice Admiral
Quarto said:A corvette that had, until that point, been known only as a corvette. We didn't change its name, we merely gave it one.
the point is that right now we have a different name for the Corvette as UE, and changing it may render our mission unstable... but I'll see what I can do
Eder
Mr. Standoff
Tell the voiceover people to direct all their bitching towards me at standoff@solsector.net
There can't be that many voiceover lines, anyway... I mean, did we ever hear anyone say "This is the Concordia-class TCS Lexington, we need help"? The only place where class names show up more frequently are briefings... and as for the written text, well, if you can't change a couple of characters here and there in Freespace, I'd have to say source codes are really overrated.
There can't be that many voiceover lines, anyway... I mean, did we ever hear anyone say "This is the Concordia-class TCS Lexington, we need help"? The only place where class names show up more frequently are briefings... and as for the written text, well, if you can't change a couple of characters here and there in Freespace, I'd have to say source codes are really overrated.
Quarto
Unknown Enemy
While I wouldn't suggest that you should use our name for the corvette (mind you, we did make ours up firstTolwyn said:
), I am curious about this issue - why would changing a ship's name cause instability. I mean, in WCP such changes are extremely easy... does Freespace handle such names in some sort of really annoying manner?Lynx: Well, is an explanation really needed? Relying on a computer-controlled ejection system to get out of a fighter whose computer is probably no longer functioning doesn't seem like the most ideal of options
.It's actually not that difficult, but a pain in the ass. In freespace, ship are known to the missions only by their name specified in the table files(it's some sort of config file for the ships) and not bythe modelfiles name or ship slot(this system is used in WCP IIRC) If you change the name from Khorsan to Wake for example, the mission file still looks for a Khorsan because it doesn't know that it's been renamed until you reload the mission to the editor and change it. We'd have to do it with every mission file involving this ship, sincce all the mission files are seperate, changes on one aren't applied to the other. It's not that hard but annoying, still.
Eder
Mr. Standoff
Uh, so the problem is the name of each individual ship, and not of the class?
Then I can't see how changing the name of the class would affect this. If you have the Khorsan in a mission, you can still keep the Khorsan in this mission... just don't say the name of the class is Khorsan. (Unless you're using ship IDs like "Khorsan-Class CVE - TCS Khorsan")
In Standoff, changing a class name was as easy as editing the Tech Database string files... I didn't rename the Guadalcanal, or the Firekka, or anything. The actual class name wasn't used anywhere (even in the fiction and in the voiceovers, I think we only call the Guadalcanal and the Firekka "CVE" or "escort carrier", so we didn't have anything with the class name on it).
I'm pretty sure I have some misnamed files, but they aren't a problem either. At least in the WCP engine, the player will never see the names of the files being used, only what we set in the string files (in the case of class, names, the only string file to change is the one for the tech database).
Then I can't see how changing the name of the class would affect this. If you have the Khorsan in a mission, you can still keep the Khorsan in this mission... just don't say the name of the class is Khorsan. (Unless you're using ship IDs like "Khorsan-Class CVE - TCS Khorsan"
)In Standoff, changing a class name was as easy as editing the Tech Database string files... I didn't rename the Guadalcanal, or the Firekka, or anything. The actual class name wasn't used anywhere (even in the fiction and in the voiceovers, I think we only call the Guadalcanal and the Firekka "CVE" or "escort carrier", so we didn't have anything with the class name on it).
I'm pretty sure I have some misnamed files, but they aren't a problem either. At least in the WCP engine, the player will never see the names of the files being used, only what we set in the string files (in the case of class, names, the only string file to change is the one for the tech database).
No, I should've been more precisely. It is the class name in the table file(it specifies the stats for each ship type, it isn't responsible for each ships individual name)....it's like this:
$name: SupermegakickassDreadnought MKXXII
$POF(model)file:Kickass.pof
.
.
The mission file always searches for the class name when looking for a ship. the ships name itself isn't the problem. So if we change the class name from Khorsan to Wake class, the mission still looks for a Khorsan class if you don't edit the mission. Hope that makes it more understandable.
$name: SupermegakickassDreadnought MKXXII
$POF(model)file:Kickass.pof
.
.
The mission file always searches for the class name when looking for a ship. the ships name itself isn't the problem. So if we change the class name from Khorsan to Wake class, the mission still looks for a Khorsan class if you don't edit the mission. Hope that makes it more understandable.
Why shoulf that suck? It shows the ships name and it's class to the player nothing more. I have the feeling that I still could not make my point understandable. 
Pictures say more than words: Look into the lower left of the pic, the VDU shows the name of the ship, it's class nothing more, it's a bit grainy; it says BWS Silcer Star,
and under the name there is the class,the BWS Khorsan class:
Pictures say more than words: Look into the lower left of the pic, the VDU shows the name of the ship, it's class nothing more, it's a bit grainy; it says BWS Silcer Star,and under the name there is the class,the BWS Khorsan class:
Eder
Mr. Standoff
Uh, seems like *I* haven't made myself clear, man...
It sucks that whenever you want to change a simple piece of text shown to the player, such as a ship class ID in the HUD, you have to reprogram parts of the game (in this case, missions) accordingly.
In the WCP engine, I can rename any ship, pilot, or navpoint to whatever I want by just editing the according entry in a string file. Missions and comms don't look for "TCS Firekka", "Nexus Jump Point" or "Concordia's comm officer" - they look for meaningless stuff which doesn't ever have to be changed, since nobody will ever see it... like a number, or a filename like "cve_fk.iff" and "custom09.iff"... so everything that the player is able to see is kept in simple string library files and referenced to by numbers, which means that you can change all the text that the player will see in the last day before the release if you want to.
If I decide to rename the Firekka right now, I just have to change one entry in one string file (well, apart from the textures), and that's it. All the missions will still look for "cve_fk.iff", even though the "fk" part might not have anything to do with the ship's new name. If I decide to change the tech database entry to read "Lollypop-class" instead of "Wake-class", I just have to edit string #137 of "oviewer.str"... no matter what I put in that line, the tech database will still point to it.
So, what I meant is that it sucks that, by what you've told me about FS, the IDs the player sees aren't separate from the IDs that the game uses internally... Get it?
And about that screenshot... Damn, I'm good
It sucks that whenever you want to change a simple piece of text shown to the player, such as a ship class ID in the HUD, you have to reprogram parts of the game (in this case, missions) accordingly.
In the WCP engine, I can rename any ship, pilot, or navpoint to whatever I want by just editing the according entry in a string file. Missions and comms don't look for "TCS Firekka", "Nexus Jump Point" or "Concordia's comm officer" - they look for meaningless stuff which doesn't ever have to be changed, since nobody will ever see it... like a number, or a filename like "cve_fk.iff" and "custom09.iff"... so everything that the player is able to see is kept in simple string library files and referenced to by numbers, which means that you can change all the text that the player will see in the last day before the release if you want to.
If I decide to rename the Firekka right now, I just have to change one entry in one string file (well, apart from the textures
), and that's it. All the missions will still look for "cve_fk.iff", even though the "fk" part might not have anything to do with the ship's new name. If I decide to change the tech database entry to read "Lollypop-class" instead of "Wake-class", I just have to edit string #137 of "oviewer.str"... no matter what I put in that line, the tech database will still point to it.So, what I meant is that it sucks that, by what you've told me about FS, the IDs the player sees aren't separate from the IDs that the game uses internally... Get it?
And about that screenshot... Damn, I'm good
anyway, the only problem I see is changing already written missions... there are a few specifical issues there...
__________________
Well, it is surely a problem with the mission-building, if our ship-stuck is growing
or changing every week, and we haven't always the possibiltiy to take this into
planing.
The problem is, when loading a mission that includes ship-classes which aren't
at the necessacry location, the mission is replacing the missing ship with the
default-ship (or crashes instantly in the SCP-Way)
But a little hint from me, maybe you know it already: Just rename the mission file
from *.fs2 to *.txt (make copy first of course, just in case..)
Then you can easily search the old ship-class-entry, replace it with the new
shipclass-entry, save and rename it back to *.fs2 (be sure to keep the lines right in
the TXT-file) and voila !
That's the way they created most of FREESPACE-PORT as far as I know. I already did
this sometimes (never tried with the fred_open, but should work anyway), It could be
helpful.
Greetings
Starman©
__________________
Well, it is surely a problem with the mission-building, if our ship-stuck is growing
or changing every week, and we haven't always the possibiltiy to take this into
planing.
The problem is, when loading a mission that includes ship-classes which aren't
at the necessacry location, the mission is replacing the missing ship with the
default-ship (or crashes instantly in the SCP-Way)
But a little hint from me, maybe you know it already: Just rename the mission file
from *.fs2 to *.txt (make copy first of course, just in case..)
Then you can easily search the old ship-class-entry, replace it with the new
shipclass-entry, save and rename it back to *.fs2 (be sure to keep the lines right in
the TXT-file) and voila !
That's the way they created most of FREESPACE-PORT as far as I know. I already did
this sometimes (never tried with the fred_open, but should work anyway), It could be
helpful.
Greetings
Starman©
Tolwyn
Vice Admiral
Eder said:
you see it the other way round. in FS2 we have a generic skin for every ship class (like BWS Khorsan). Ships in the mission have different names however. In this case BWS Silver Star. This means it is easy to change the name of a ship in a mission, but it is something else if you replace a ship (or change its name) in the ini file. It is if I would take Freelancer and remove Defender fighter from the ini file. You have to agree that the game is no longer playable, is it? But we do not have to reprogram missions as you call it. We have a nice mission editor to work with
And besides this small disadvantage FS2 engine is technically more advanced than its Vision counterpart. It has its own teething problems and some gameplay issues can not be implemented, but the overall game feeling is like the good old Wing Commander 4.
As for the Tarawa model_ nice job Eder, and our textures are almost as good as yours
Eder
Mr. Standoff
Eh, so you have to reprogram missions via a GUI - big dealTolwyn said:
Anyway, what I've been trying to say all along is that no matter which system the game uses, it sucks because the ship IDs are shared between missions and on-screen descriptions. I can rename the Firekka in its mesh file, stat file, component files, in the missions AND in the "ship ID table" (of course, WCP has one too) and you'd still never find out I've done anything, cause the text shown to the player is independent from all of this - it's stored in a simple string library file. This is what I've been trying to say.
Without navpointsTolwyn said:
Anyway, I wasn't saying WCP is better. I was merely saying that it's apparently a lot easier to rename stuff in WCP.
If 10 minutes before Standoff's release someone from Origin comes out and says "Hey, the official class name for the Tarawa-style CVEs is now Aardvark-class" I can update the necessary files, go eat a filling lunch, and still not miss the deadline - yes, I do eat that fast
Well, the new ones, with specular maps on... maybeTolwyn said:As for the Tarawa model_ nice job Eder, and our textures are almost as good as yours
Did you ever think that WC recreates history somewhat. There is the Temblor Bomb, which is reminiscent of the Atomic bomb, there is the attack on McAuiffle, and the attack on Pearl Harbor. The creators were probably inspired by past events. And did that remark have anything to do with the thread?
Andropolos
Spaceman
Well, WC is WW2 on space.
Kilrathi are the Japanese.
Terrans are the allies.
Ships fly much like ww2's did,
Only thing different are the seeking missiles. Other than that you are good to go!
Kilrathi are the Japanese.
Terrans are the allies.
Ships fly much like ww2's did,
Only thing different are the seeking missiles. Other than that you are good to go!