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31

Discussions / Re: Rage venting thread.

« on: September 08, 2012, 05:49:58 PM »

I can select among many chronic, soul-draining, aggravation-inducing events or conditions, but for the moment I'll stick with Eternal September (19 years and counting).

32

Suggestions / Re: Slight change to the EMP Emitter

« on: September 07, 2012, 04:14:36 PM »

I think the idea is they decloak among a swarm of fighters and fire up the bug-zapper

Like you, that's also the overriding viewpoint I've had about the Shade since it first went public. It's one hell of a potent method of swinging in on a vine at the last second like Tarzan and saving a friendly ship from massed fighters or missiles. While the Omen can accomplish some of that goal, the sudden-ambush capability of the phaseable Shade makes it even sweeter.

33

Mods / Re: Nyan Cat Mod v0.1

« on: September 07, 2012, 03:15:49 PM »

This made my day.

Speaking of Monsters from MOO2, when are we going to see some space dragons? (They can have kitty ears, if they must).

Space Crystals! Oh, I mean, Crystalline Pop-Tart Sprinkle Monsters. Much more topical for this mod...and still retains the MoO2 homage.

34

Modding / Re: Starfarer PSA #1: Your Ship's Bounds Polygon Is Too Detailed

« on: September 07, 2012, 01:12:03 PM »

Addendum to the Public Service Announcement:

There's been some worry here about the desire to have hard guidelines about how many boundary-box vertices are enough vs. too much. To echo Trylobot's advice, there can be no absolute limits here because the solution is not a single number value; it's a relative range of effect, dependent upon the complexity of the sprite in question. But total surrender to the over-intricate aesthetics of any given modded-made sprite is definitely not in anyone's best interests.

At this point in the discussion, I thought it would be helpful to provide some concrete examples of what to aim for. Here are some examples of the bounds polygons for official Starfarer units. These guides should help greatly -- please compare them to your own modder-made creations, and you'll quickly get a better feel for "how many is too many". Official ships often have quite a lot fewer bounds points than you might assume they do.....

Spoiler

[close]

This is a superb example of what Alex mentioned about keeping the bounds well inside of the sprite. And I bet some of you are shocked that a shape as visually irregular as this sprite can be satisfactorily bounded within only 19 vertices. Designers of 100-plus vertex bounds, please take note.

Spoiler

[close]

Oh, those lovely high-tech curves! Yet in bounds terms, it's treated like a hand-held gardening trowel. No computer performance hit from this bounds box!

Spoiler

[close]

Even with this fearsome hull, one can see a few places where this boundary box can be simplified further with no ill effects. Check out those side missile slots.

Spoiler

[close]

Perfect demonstration of what Alex meant when he counseled ValkyriaL about how to handle the gap in the bow: just zig-zag straight to the bottom, and right back out again.

Spoiler

[close]

It's a brick! Sure, it's a streamlined hull of pure awesome, but still a brick of only 5 bounds. Imitate it.

Everyone can now see how when it comes to bounds, additional data does not necessarily equal additional useful information. Ships can and do get by just fine on surprisingly few boundary points. Coverage of engine exhausts does not need to be encyclopedic in its scope; that's often the first place one can delete several vertices from modder-made ships.

And even some official ships can afford to lose a few bounds, as we saw with the Conquest. The Astral is difficult to meaningfully slim down its vertex count further, while the Paragon can definitely afford to give up as many as 8 of them.

There are many customers of Fractal Softworks who do not fit the assumed profile of "serious gamer" from a hardware standpoint. It is very important to remember that. Even if someone does have a moderate-performance box  -- instead of a 10-year-old computer stuck with WinXP SP1 and only 1024MB RAM (how soon we forget) -- their graphics card may still be well behind the curve by a rather wide margin. For reasons of technical know-how as well as basic finance, many of these acceptable but unspectacular machines are unlikely to improve. It is not reasonable to cut these folks out of your audience when you spec out mods which include ships of fiendishly-clever but also unnecessary complexity.

The RAM, CPU and video card of many older computers thank you for your friendly restraint.

35

Modding / Re: Starfarer PSA #1: Your Ship's Bounds Polygon Is Too Detailed

« on: September 07, 2012, 12:50:56 PM »

The energy weapons coming out of the eyes is what brings it all together.

36

Modding / Re: Starfarer PSA #1: Your Ship's Bounds Polygon Is Too Detailed

« on: September 07, 2012, 11:12:57 AM »

Like Trylobot, I also feel like I'm gonna barf up a couple of ribs from so much laughter. The ISS Edvard Munch is right on target!

37

General Discussion / Re: A hello

« on: September 06, 2012, 06:39:13 PM »

Welcome, Ontogenesis -- enjoy your stay with us.

...Ooo modding!

Indeed! 

38

Announcements / Re: Starfarer 0.53.1a (Released) Patch Notes

« on: September 06, 2012, 05:07:54 PM »

Well, considering that we've all gone WAYY OT (even Alex, from this patch to talking about the next one), I don't think it's out of place.

So, based on that statement, you find it OK to continue the op madness?

funny, because not long ago, Archduke astro and Alex asked you guys to stay on topic.

well, they seem to be enjoying this, don't mention it.

Wrong. STAY ON TOPIC.

39

General Discussion / Re: Streaming on twitch.tv

« on: August 22, 2012, 09:03:00 PM »

That was indeed a fun stream; thanks, Icepick. Sorry about your Enforcer, though! 

40

General Discussion / Re: Gonna miss my Hammerhead :'(

« on: August 22, 2012, 07:38:20 PM »

Thaago, your "Restock" mod is indeed a perfect fit here. Don't leave Corvus II without it, folks!

41

General Discussion / Re: Streaming on twitch.tv

« on: August 22, 2012, 07:33:12 PM »

I will be recording, yes.

I am going live in about 3 hours. Just a reminder.

This should be interesting.

42

General Discussion / MOVED: DIE ADMIRAL DIE!!!

« on: August 21, 2012, 01:07:32 AM »

This topic has been moved to Suggestions.

http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=4052.0

43

Modding Resources / Re: The thread for spriters (ask questions, give answers, submit guides and more..)

« on: August 20, 2012, 02:35:56 PM »

The Happy Face, I've decided to sticky this thread. It's been a broad compendium of informative examples & guides on spriting -- most helpful for reference to have so much linked here. Hopefully it will continue to prosper.

The more topical content you guys can generate here, the better. Moderators will help keep an eye on it to remove off-topic posting, or lend other help as needed.

One thread to beam up! Energize...

44

Bug Reports & Support / No off-topic posts in this Subforum!

« on: August 20, 2012, 12:56:28 PM »

Gentlefolk,

Please make certain that your post concerns ONLY bug reports or support requests before posting it. Off-topic posts of any kind in this subforum makes substantial extra work for Alex. Since we'd all much rather have Alex working on making the Campaign a playable reality instead of wasting time plowing through snow-drifts here, I'm sure you'll see the wisdom of this.

In order to make certain that this crucial subforum is not needlessly littered with distractions and obstacles for him, all off-topic posts are subject to removal by moderators. Going forward from this moment, those members who cannot or will not avoid making off-topic posts here will be subject to possible forum discipline. Thanks for your cooperation!

Here are a few words from the man himself which lend more insight about this problem:

If I can take this opportunity to say something related, in a place where hopefully a good number of people will see it:

Please keep threads in the "Bug Reports" section of the forum on-topic. I've got to read and address these every day before I can make any forward progress in development, and lately there has been a lot of going off-topic. The latest example: here. See other recently-locked threads on that board for more.

Cluttering up this section has a real impact on the time I get to spend actually working on the game. Worse yet, it's harder to keep track of all the issues and make sure I don't miss anything. If you want to say something like "I ran into this bug too", that's fine and actually useful. But going off on a tangent - one that would be absolutely fine in any other section of the forum - is really detrimental there.

Thanks for understanding. Again, this has only become a problem recently, and I'd like to address it before it grows.

45

Announcements / Re: Starfarer 0.53.1a (Released) Patch Notes

« on: August 20, 2012, 04:14:44 AM »

if i comment on the above would that count as on topic or should i make another thread for that

Neither. I'd prefer that you just PM me instead, so this rerailed train can stay rerailed. Thanks, Matt.