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 Missile trails
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| prithvi19 |
Posted on 09-02-2007 19:52
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 Posts: 59 Joined: November 28 2006 |
So i was messing around with the missile trails on pds7.3.2. its absolutely beautiful. Specially with strikecraft trails turned off, it looks pretty realistic when they start launching the missiles. Ive attached a pic of 2 hostile strikecraft groups letting them fly at first it lagged like bloody hell. So i was messing around with my system graphics and found that turning off AA almost negated any fps drops due to the trails. wierd, but not complaining. thx a lot to suntzu and tel for their help!
prithvi19 attached the following image:
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| prithvi19 |
Posted on 09-02-2007 19:54
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Posts: 59 Joined: November 28 2006 |
but then the light show commences... 
prithvi19 attached the following image:
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| prithvi19 |
Posted on 09-02-2007 20:16
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Posts: 59 Joined: November 28 2006 |
and a closeup... scratch one!
prithvi19 attached the following image:
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| mrWHO |
Posted on 09-02-2007 20:35
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 Posts: 485 Joined: September 02 2005 |
Nice, but I like those red/green HUD crosses in place of missile (at bigger zoom out) much more. |
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| mrWHO |
Posted on 09-02-2007 20:45
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Posts: 485 Joined: September 02 2005 |
Anyway I think that I would rather like to put those few FPS to more ship that some missile trails.
Edited by mrWHO on 09-02-2007 20:51 |
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| prithvi19 |
Posted on 09-02-2007 21:46
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Posts: 59 Joined: November 28 2006 |
crosses or not, for me its the same. i could tell whos shooting from the trail color, though ill admit the crosses are pretty handy at times. As far as the fps is concerned, the trails arent too much of a hit really. Im still running at an average bout 28-31 fps with 3 comp opponents, down from around 33. while higher unit caps are fun (3 al khalids = oodles of fun), its kinda impractical given the high level of detail on the ships. my poor 2,8 pentium chokes and dies at that level. i tried, and i could swear i saw smoke coming out of the edges of the computer  .what i really wanna do is do the damage effects for strikecraft like on the cap ships if thats even possible. like when they start leaking atmoshere. considering the little guys live for a while in this mod, i thibk that would look pretty cool. |
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| Ironwatsas |
Posted on 09-02-2007 23:20
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 Posts: 856 Joined: October 21 2005 |
The only problem I have with trails aside from the lagzroz is the fact that they chance the same color as the ship's teamcolors. Now why in the world would two identical spaceships/missiles with identical engines burning identical fuel have diffrent trail colors just based on their paintjob?
Edited by Ironwatsas on 09-02-2007 23:21 |
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| Sun Tzu |
Posted on 10-02-2007 00:17
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 Posts: 528 Joined: September 08 2005 |
I like very much those missile trails. They always look good on missiles. In the "classic" flight model the trails often look crap on the ships due to their limited speed and their use of thruster and agility. They're much more fitted to higher velocity fighters like in NGCS or UE or v11 based on Tel's dev picture. Lag is a pity, but you can reduce it by cutting down the missile fire rate, cutting down the missile life time and/or the number of missile launchers. The problem with v7 is that even every single fighter shoots HVRs with a life span of 30secs at a relatively high rate. I'll try prithvi19's solution and see if my mac survives. If it does not, I'll sue him or Steve Jobs The colours are not more irrealistic than navlights, and they can be a FF code created by your "visual" combat interface. |
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| prithvi19 |
Posted on 10-02-2007 00:48
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Posts: 59 Joined: November 28 2006 |
Ironwatas got a fair point there on the realism. Imagine the mayhem and confusion that would result from having same colored trails though (from a gaming standpoint at least) ead:. The lag isnt really that bad. Im going to try to find out exactly how hw2 renders these trails. That should give us some insight into what the limiting factor (hardware wise) is. Other than that im trying to acquire some basic HOD skills so i can work with some damage effects. I know this stuff doesnt really add to the playability of the mod (actually may make it worse with fps issues) but lets admit it; deep down inside, we are all graphics whores .
Edited by prithvi19 on 10-02-2007 00:49 |
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| prithvi19 |
Posted on 10-02-2007 01:34
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Posts: 59 Joined: November 28 2006 |
holy crap im so happy Gorgeous effect that visually lets you see which stricrafts have taken heavy damage. Best part is I have yet to see any lag issues .So far I only have it on the Hiigaran interceptor. You're the man Suntzu. Thx a lot.
prithvi19 attached the following image:
Edited by prithvi19 on 10-02-2007 01:38 |
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| prithvi19 |
Posted on 10-02-2007 01:46
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Posts: 59 Joined: November 28 2006 |
breaking off the attack...
prithvi19 attached the following image:
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| Knare |
Posted on 10-02-2007 02:45
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Posts: 75 Joined: December 31 2006 |
That is a lot of fire on for a fighter sized craft. |
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| prithvi19 |
Posted on 10-02-2007 03:05
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Posts: 59 Joined: November 28 2006 |
That is true. All that space grade fuel, what can I say  . Ill see if I can tone it down, though honestly it looks better in action. You dont notice it as much then.Also if you have ever seen a fully loaded fighter's engine light up in real life it can get very messy. It either just leaves a smoke trail if the fuel doesnt ignite or behaves like the interceptor in the screenshot and puts on a real light show. and speaking of light shows... what the the hell do they put in these missiles?
prithvi19 attached the following image:
Edited by prithvi19 on 10-02-2007 03:47 |
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| prithvi19 |
Posted on 10-02-2007 03:51
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Posts: 59 Joined: November 28 2006 |
Improved death effects for the hgn interceptor. They look somewhat 'richer' due do the preexisting damage effects. The pioneers are on fire hehe. Alright sry, bad joke. Sorry for spamming the screenshots but its really the only way to realize this stuff.
prithvi19 attached the following image:
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| Brit |
Posted on 10-02-2007 06:04
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Posts: 43 Joined: November 04 2005 |
Wow great work with the death fx and new trails, it adds a lot visually. Hopefully it won't detract from the framerate too much. |
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| Sun Tzu |
Posted on 10-02-2007 09:05
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Posts: 528 Joined: September 08 2005 |
Fun! You can reduce the size of the effect in the event file (fxscale parameter). |
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| prithvi19 |
Posted on 10-02-2007 23:17
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Posts: 59 Joined: November 28 2006 |
It barely dents the framerates if you have a half decent computer (something that can run a game like FEAR on low-medium lets say). Anything better and you wont even notice it. Anyways, ive been messing around with the effects scale and theres a bit of a dilemma. While lowering the effects scale may present a better visual experience (for some, i like it where it is), it detracts from its gameplay effect. I intended this to be a quick guide of sorts as to which squadrons are hurting, same as the capitals. Well lowering the scale negates the effect almost fully when zoomed out to a capital ship duel situation, which is most of the time really. At that point its better to just select the crafts and check their damage instead of straining your eyes trying see where that puff of smoke came from. So I really dont know what to do there. Im just trying to get this effect on all the strikecraft right now. I have got it on only the 2 low level interceptors so far. |
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| Sun Tzu |
Posted on 11-02-2007 00:12
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Posts: 528 Joined: September 08 2005 |
Perhaps you might make them different from cap ship fire and puffs, like damage trails for example. You should try it before generalising the model to all fighters. |
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| prithvi19 |
Posted on 11-02-2007 00:23
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Posts: 59 Joined: November 28 2006 |
hmm...not a bad idea. Maybe a 'looser' or a lighter version of the death trail. Ill see what i can do. Meanwhile, working off of the existing effects, ive been able to put in battle scars for the corvette class ships.
prithvi19 attached the following image:
Edited by prithvi19 on 11-02-2007 01:25 |
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| Knare |
Posted on 11-02-2007 13:58
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Posts: 75 Joined: December 31 2006 |
I wonder what all this plays like. |
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