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Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

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Author Topic: The white screen explosions are annoying  (Read 5052 times)

miljan

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The white screen explosions are annoying
« on: December 02, 2014, 06:42:58 AM »

A option to disable it would really be nice, because it's really annoying for my screen to go white for a sec, every time a big ships explodes. I generally think its very cheap way  to implement big ship explosions to feel powerful ad that there are better way of implementing it.
« Last Edit: December 02, 2014, 06:45:04 AM by miljan »
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SafariJohn

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Re: The white screen explosions are annoying
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2014, 08:13:50 AM »

Man, I remember back in Empire Earth I, when a nuclear bomb went off the screen would go white if you were close. It was amazing and perfect.

It still really makes it feel like "OMG NUKE!", to use the phrasing that Running with Rifles likes.

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Wyvern

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Re: The white screen explosions are annoying
« Reply #2 on: December 02, 2014, 08:23:27 AM »

This comes up every now and again.  I still support this suggestion - I too find the bright flashes annoying (not for the loss of visibility, just for the optical effect - depending on ambient lighting it can actually be painful to look at) - but also acknowledge that it'd be a lot of work to do right, since you'd need to come up with some other way to give ship deaths some weight - multiple smaller explosions, flames and smoke trails, maybe ships breaking apart, or even re-doing death mechanics entirely as in Gothars' sinking ships suggestion.
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Megas

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Re: The white screen explosions are annoying
« Reply #3 on: December 02, 2014, 11:06:32 AM »

While I like the flash, it lasts for too long, blinding me but not the AI, and the obscure the lack of other effects.  Even the old 1980 vector arcade game Star Castle has better explosion effects (sans flash).  Also, if the flash occurs when I bring up the map, the map is totally obscured, and it is impossible to give orders because I cannot see the ships or buttons.  The flash should be gone there.

Come to think of it, the white flash should happen only when a ship is destroyed, not disabled; and when a ship is destroyed, we should see pieces flying, not a puny little fireball that makes primitive early 80's arcade game effects look more impressive.
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TheOverWhelming

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Re: The white screen explosions are annoying
« Reply #4 on: December 03, 2014, 12:56:27 AM »

The "Sinking Ships" idea is wonderful and should definitely be looked at more / expanded more

In vanilla, I always thought it was weird to have a ship explode and have the ship still.. be .. there..

Yet, I do really enjoy the bright explosions.  When I make a ship go boom, it feels good to have it make a very large boom (even if it's blinding to the player).  The duration of the boom is hardly long enough to have a problem with anything the AI is simultaneously throwing at you.  You can predict where the missile is about to hit even if you can no longer see.  PD acts independently (unless you want to try and control that) of the player.  Regardless of what happens, you should be shielding from the explosion and if a missile hits you a moment or two after it happens there is little chance that anything would change if you could watch the missile hit you versus being blinded. 
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Andy H.K.

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Re: The white screen explosions are annoying
« Reply #5 on: December 03, 2014, 07:37:30 AM »

I like the big explosions, though the glare can interfere with gameplay at times.

What I'd like to like is some kind of "blast filter" mode, where the glare is reduced, with some kind of color shift to indicate its use. I think any space-faring captain would have a pair of those protecting goggles ready.

It would look something like this:

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After
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Actually it's more important for the CIC mode, it also look nicer

Before
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After
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WKOB

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Re: The white screen explosions are annoying
« Reply #6 on: December 03, 2014, 09:22:37 AM »

Yeah, I'm not sure about particular filter/pallette-shift but the concept is good. Like how nukes in games/movies are some times preceded by a strong desaturation or orange gradient.
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SafariJohn

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Re: The white screen explosions are annoying
« Reply #7 on: December 03, 2014, 12:48:23 PM »

At the very least, it shouldn't white out the UI.
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SatchelCharge

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Re: The white screen explosions are annoying
« Reply #8 on: December 03, 2014, 04:28:02 PM »

I think it's fine as is. The 'sinking ship' thing is cool and has been acknowledged by Alex as a distant-future improvement with a decent chance of happening, or that's my impression.

If the explosions are bright enough to hurt your eyes then your ambient lighting is far too little and causing eyestrain even when the screen hasn't turned bright. Just saying. Hide a small light behind your monitor... no glare that way, and no more eyestrain
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Morsealworth

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Re: The white screen explosions are annoying
« Reply #9 on: October 03, 2022, 02:31:59 PM »

I'm necroing this because my eyes hurt, and I'm scared.

To me, the problem isn't about gameplay. It's about the fact that most of the time battles are happening against a pitch black background (the exceptions, like the fight inside a star corona, are less of an issue) and when all of that black suddenly becomes white my pupils physically can't keep up. I love the game, and I want my retinae to stay able to see it.

So it's less of "annoying" and more of a genuine health concern. Not as important as the blinking lights that require a seizure warning, but still a hazard, especially on IPS displays.
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cytokine

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Re: The white screen explosions are annoying
« Reply #10 on: October 03, 2022, 03:21:40 PM »

I'm necroing this because my eyes hurt

Open \starsector-core\data\config\settings.json in notepad, find the line with "enableShipExplosionWhiteout", and replace "true" with "false".

It really should mentioned in a FAQ somewhere. And be in the GUI settings. I had the same problem as you have now, I just happened to find the forum thread with the answer. (this one)
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Grievous69

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Re: The white screen explosions are annoying
« Reply #11 on: October 03, 2022, 11:11:37 PM »

You really shouldn't need to go in the game files and mess with them (doesn't matter if it's simple) to change something that's very annoying and even painful for some people.

I keep saying the game won't reach 1.0 until this is changed somehow.
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koprus

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Re: The white screen explosions are annoying
« Reply #12 on: October 04, 2022, 07:39:39 AM »

You are late at night with low ambient light chilling in the game and u see bright white flashes coming out of your 32'' screen literally killing your eyes and your melatonin. How hard is it to have a switch in options to disable this thing without having to search the internet on how to do it.
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Grievous69

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Re: The white screen explosions are annoying
« Reply #13 on: October 04, 2022, 08:32:15 AM »

You are late at night with low ambient light chilling in the game and u see bright white flashes coming out of your 32'' screen literally killing your eyes and your melatonin. How hard is it to have a switch in options to disable this thing without having to search the internet on how to do it.
Because Alex keeps repeating the same answer: "It looks ugly without it", hence why it's not in in-game options. On one hand, yeah it looks really bad when you just turn it off, on the other, just make a normal good looking explosion effect that doesn't hurt people. GraphicsLib is a good example. I get so worked up over this topic since it's a genuine complaint that's been repeated since I started playing the game, yet it's always "just go into the game files xD".

I know it's not an easy task to make a good looking visual that conveys the action and has the same feeling as the old one, but I want literally anything else that doesn't hurt and doesn't obstruct the UI (can't believe I forgot this point until now).
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Alex

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Re: The white screen explosions are annoying
« Reply #14 on: October 04, 2022, 09:36:50 AM »

... let me have a look and see if just scaling the explosion size up a bit for the larger ships is "good enough". Because, yeah, the main stumbling block here is not wanting to spend like a week+ on a more comprehensively new effect.
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