chuck_starchaser's .plan

Development directions, tasks, and features being actively implemented or pursued by the development team.
klauss
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Re: chuck_starchaser's .plan

Post by klauss »

chuck_starchaser wrote:
klauss wrote:
chuck_starchaser wrote:By the way, you were telling me that cloaking was never used; could we get rid of cloaking related code? There's probably megs of it.
Never used in VS or PU. I think vegatrek does use it.

So you can remove it from the techniques and shaders (just remove the corresponding auto_param), but not from the engine.
Okay , but I don't understand how VT are using it, when the blend mode for most things is ONE ZERO. Or, are they just letting the ships snap booleanly to full invisibility at once through alpha-testing?
In any case, what we could use for VS and PU would be to use the existing cloaking code to command silent running mode.
Hm... you're pretty much right... shader-based techniques have broken cloaking functionality. Good catch.
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Re: chuck_starchaser's .plan

Post by safemode »

speaking of star trek. At least we can say for certain that our shaders are way better than star trek Online's. They dont even seem to have lighting correctly coming from the right angle.
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chuck_starchaser
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Re: chuck_starchaser's .plan

Post by chuck_starchaser »

safemode wrote:speaking of star trek. At least we can say for certain that our shaders are way better than star trek Online's. They dont even seem to have lighting correctly coming from the right angle.
Hehehe; that wasn't a tough challenge, judging from their trailer.
You ain't seen nothin yet, anyhow; mt next project is a python tool to fix textutes; guess at the intended materials and replace them with proper diffuse/specular color representations. Right now all texturings are garbage, from a materials POV. Materials of roughly equal specular and diffuse brightness are almost non-existent in the real world; yet they are the most commonly used in Vegastrike...
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Re: chuck_starchaser's .plan

Post by safemode »

One thing i wish VS had when it comes to textures is a distinction between new and old. In the VS universe I imagine in my head when i'm pretending we have the budget that a commercial game has, the universe is a worn out ragged one. War has taken a toll everywhere you look. Most ships show signs of wear and tear from previous skirmishes. many of the smaller ships stuck planetside for too long may show signs of rusting. But overall, just a general sense of " damn, i guess nobody has built a new ship in 30 years" kind of feel. Instead, everything looks new. I just wish it was all grittier, because a protracted war like the ones that have occurred and are occurring in the VS universe should be gritty as hell.
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chuck_starchaser
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Re: chuck_starchaser's .plan

Post by chuck_starchaser »

Hahaha, ask Klauss... Very recently I came to the conclusion that we needed an Age input to the shaders, -a parameter orthogonal to Damage. Cinemut has 4 texture channels dedicated to this in the texture packing, already.
Problem is, this per-unit Age parameter will have to be modelled cpu-side, and will need to be saved and loaded, and I don't want to drive Klauss beyond the breaking point with feature requests. So, if you give me a per-unit Age float, I'll support it in the shaders; you have my commitment in writing.

EDIT: A variable is needed because if you buy a new ship it'd make no sense for it to look rusty already; --and if everything was dirty, you'd miss the fact for lack of contrast, anyway.
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