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RE: !! Pioneer Question Time !! - Ask them here
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 8:39 pm
by Brianetta
Nope. It's not doing it for me. In Pioneer, you don't right-click on stuff anyway. Holding right mouse button hides the cursor and lets you steer the ship. It doesn't matter what's under it.That said, I fly with keys. Far more control.
RE: !! Pioneer Question Time !! - Ask them here
Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 1:59 am
by wishcraft
Hmmm strange, Im sure that I get the rotation matching thing... Maybe I dont actually need to right click.I'd make a video of it if I had experience with that. Another thing, I just had a taxi mission to a binary system where the stars were about 100 AU away from each other. I jumped in on a spot about 140 AU away from the destination. I guess it's because I enter near star A and the colony is by star B? Needless to say, my client wasnt very content as I arrived a couple months later than agreed. I should just have checked the destination system beforehand of course...Is there some way around this? Some way to enter a system closer to the inner system destination?
RE: !! Pioneer Question Time !! - Ask them here
Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 3:51 pm
by Brianetta
There used to be, over a year ago. Not any more.
RE: !! Pioneer Question Time !! - Ask them here
Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2013 6:20 am
by mikehgentry
...Another thing, I just had a taxi mission to a binary system where the stars were about 100 AU away from each other. I jumped in on a spot about 140 AU away from the destination. I guess it's because I enter near star A and the colony is by star B?... The record so far is 23,319 AU, which takes ~19 months to cross. If you could just charge by the hour...

[url]https://github.com/pioneerspacesim/pioneer/issues/1912[/url]
RE: !! Pioneer Question Time !! - Ask them here
Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2013 6:27 am
by robn
The record so far is 23,319 AU, which takes ~19 months to cross. If you could just charge by the hour... :)This is the kind of shenanigans I get up to when I work from home. Don't tell my boss

RE: !! Pioneer Question Time !! - Ask them here
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 1:17 am
by Styggron
I wrote this for personal use. I'm not going to push it, and it's not an officially supported script.[url][/url] the file in data/modules. Hi Brianetta. Was just wondering if you could let us know if you ever update this as I would like to use it for as many future releases I can. I have not downloaded Alpha 30 yet but I'll put this file in when I do. Hopefully it will still work. :biggrin: As usual..... damn brilliant work to the team. It is going forward in leaps and bounds.
RE: !! Pioneer Question Time !! - Ask them here
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 3:59 am
by Brianetta
Um, I keep it up to date. Each Gist on Github is a mini git repository, and I push changes whenever they're made.I don't make announcements, because the changes that I push are often to keep it working with the latest version of master. This can mean that it stops working for an alpha even before that alpha is released. Alphas are old. (-:If you're on master, and your cheat script stops working, try looking for an updated version. If you're on an alpha, and it stops working, try older versions of the script in the Gist history.
RE: !! Pioneer Question Time !! - Ask them here
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 4:59 am
by Styggron
Thank you Brianetta. Looking forward to helping out in the future when things are more fleshed out. I would like to be involved in writing the manual. Robn said there was no point starting to even writing little guides because things change etc.

RE: !! Pioneer Question Time !! - Ask them here
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 6:03 am
by shadmar
Does someone have an BMP or PNG to hmap converter laying around? I started working on my own BMP->hmap converter, it's almost working, but the heightmaps gets streched in places it shouldn't.What is the excpected ratio width/height of a heightmap so it looks correctly, any info would be appreciated.
RE: !! Pioneer Question Time !! - Ask them here
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 6:43 am
by fluffyfreak
They're hardcoded, and can be either signed or unsigned depending on the terrain generator used :(I can dig out the values later but be warned the format is going to change to something more sane just as soon as I get time to change it!
RE: !! Pioneer Question Time !! - Ask them here
Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 11:57 am
by fluffyfreak
No it doesn't affect their flight. There is no "flight model" as it would be called. Even if there were a flight model it wouldn't work based on the collision mesh and that would be far too complex

RE: !! Pioneer Question Time !! - Ask them here
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 2:41 pm
by E10
Hello, first post here so a brief intro. I'm from the Netherlands and made some games in the 80's and 90's, just for fun. I am a network engineer, spending my spare time with guitar, art, science and a little 3D modelling and programming. I re-discovered Pioneer a few weeks ago and I think you did an excellent job. Elite II has always been a favorite game to me because of its integration of fairly simple maths to accomplish a complex universe. Elite II got me interested in fractals and mathematics. For years I've been thinking about a space sim somewhat like Elite2. Spaceships with 3D cockpits as in Orbiter, which really adds to the illusion of the vastness of space. Movement of the cockpit like in FSX adds to the illusion of acting g forces. I see huge spaceships to freely move/live in, with all kinds of equipment and devices to do some research on stars and planets. Scanners, analyzers, shuttles, rovers, probes. Data collected scientifically correct, as far as it goes. Of course with a "star log" and a growing ships database. A sim to let the player discover the galaxy, or just fly around, or do all the other things in Elite II and much more. For exploring the galaxy I had something like this in mind: at first only a few star systems are colonized, the player can travel to empty neighbor systems, do some research, and when a certain score is reached the system is ready to be colonized and (automatically) gets its star ports/gas stations. Another hub. Or not, if the system is not interesting. On the longer shot I see a multiplayer 24/7 game like that. As more players participate a slightly higher score must be achieved to get a system ready for colonization. Players may move out and pick new worlds as their home planet where they have their own room with a view on board of an orbiter or in their spaceship. Several players could crew a big spaceship doing team work. What has been discovered is accessible to everybody. In order to deal with time differences there would be a universal time to which the local ship time is reset. You don't really have to run a heavy server, clients would be server-clients themselves, a bit like how ARMA II works. Players only see other players in their system. Players occasionally share new entries in their ships database to the server database so the universe is updated to everyone. Semi-multiplayer would also be possible. Discoveries and messages and such in singleplayer uploaded and shared to the rest. Anyway, I could go on with shipyards with hundreds of parts o chose from, procedural generation of underground cities, weather, integration of social media, a 'communicator' app on your smart phone to check your character, contests, frequently added actual scientific data from i.e. NASA, expanding the types of bodies and phenomena to visit, players being able to start fractions and set rules and so on. I've read some posts on the forum here and it seems to me that Pioneer is meant to be 'just' a modern version of Elite II, which is great. But I'm writing this because I am very impressed to see that the engine of Pioneer seems quite suitable for that more extended sim I have in mind. So basically my question to the developers is, do you want to stick to the pure Elite II idea, like no 3D cockpits/g forces, no walking/driving on terrain, limited number of ship parts, limited data living out there? If so, would it be interesting to think about a spin off? With Alpha30 the planets are breathtaking. Just exploring planets and star systems is addictive on it's own. And every time I'm somewhere I am curious. What's the temperature, what's that liquid, what are those rocks, how old. In a (semi) multiplayer environment I'd want to set beacons for other people "hey check this out!" and visit places others discovered. Anyay, thanks for your time and thanks for Pioneer. PS For people who did not know these titles:Orbiter: a freeware realistic (and difficult) space sim, but fortunately it comes with prerecorded flights: [url]http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/[/url] excellent 3D fractal explorer. Instructions+dowload link here: [url]http://gemnets.blogspot.nl/search/label/Mandelbulb3D[/url] Et
RE: !! Pioneer Question Time !! - Ask them here
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 3:04 pm
by robn
I've read some posts on the forum here and it seems to me that Pioneer is meant to be 'just' a modern version of Elite II, which is great. But I'm writing this because I am very impressed to see that the engine of Pioneer seems quite suitable for that more extended sim I have in mind. So basically my question to the developers is, do you want to stick to the pure Elite II idea, like no 3D cockpits/g forces, no walking/driving on terrain, limited number of ship parts, limited data living out there? If so, would it be interesting to think about a spin off? With Alpha30 the planets are breathtaking. Just exploring planets and star systems is addictive on it's own. And every time I'm somewhere I am curious. What's the temperature, what's that liquid, what are those rocks, how old. In a (semi) multiplayer environment I'd want to set beacons for other people "hey check this out!" and visit places others discovered.In concept we're aiming at a modernised version of Frontier. We like to say we're "inspired by" Frontier, because we don't limit ourselves if we have a good idea, but aiming for Frontier does provide some useful constraints (like no multiplayer). Its good to be constrained - we're making a game , not trying to accurately simulate the entire universe and everything in it.Doing realistic geological analysis (an idea I haven't heard before, well done) requires a very complex simulation that takes a lot of time to write and maintain but doesn't do much to enhance the game. And that's the same reason we push back on things like walking/driving around on planets, EVA, etc. Pioneer is a space game - we can't be all things to all men (or women!).That said, we're fond of saying "patches welcome". If you or someone else were to turn up with code to implement a good geological model, I doubt you'd find much opposition to including it in the game. But for now, the current devs all have todo lists to last them years, and unless one of them have a particular interest in something weird like this its not ever likely to go anywhere.
RE: !! Pioneer Question Time !! - Ask them here
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 4:13 am
by Metamartian
Question - Ranks and Medals, is this something that can be awarded through modding missions etc or is it coded in the core game? I was just thinking about walterar's scout mod and wondered if it was possible to add scouting ranks and medals for accomplishing a certain amount of tasks?
RE: !! Pioneer Question Time !! - Ask them here
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 5:28 am
by Brianetta
That sort of thing would be done through the Character class. It's written in Lua, and is simple to script for.
RE: !! Pioneer Question Time !! - Ask them here
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 6:18 am
by robn
Indeed. And its also on my list somewhere, though not anywhere near the top

RE: !! Pioneer Question Time !! - Ask them here
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 8:59 am
by Metamartian
any chance of pointing me in the right direction on how I could fiddle with the ranks and medals awards via a mod. I might as well try to learn lua and see if I can kill two birds with one stone. if not, I'll leave the investigation till I get more time. I know you guys are busy...
RE: !! Pioneer Question Time !! - Ask them here
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 9:52 am
by pagroove
I've relocated my question from the Alpha 30 topic: In the first couple of Alpha's the mountains where of (how do I describe it right) of another character. They where a bit more extreme and sharp and the snow was mixed with rocks. More fractal noise in the border lines between (for example) snow and rocks. Also you've had a couple of lonely peaks. Some even 30 km high. For example Alpha Centauri AB had a fantastic planet with some spectacular mountain scenery. In the latest Alpha's I can not find such planets. On a certain moment the terrain engine was changed to provide more variation. But with that Alpha Centauri and also the rendering of the mountains changed. First it became more extreme to the extent that you had planets with artificial looking spikes and now everything looks soft and rounded with the exception op canyons. If you can find an early alpha and travel to the Alpha Centauri planet then you see what I mean. Is it possible to get a bit from that character back while maintaining variation?
RE: !! Pioneer Question Time !! - Ask them here
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 11:36 am
by Brianetta
any chance of pointing me in the right direction on how I could fiddle with the ranks and medals awards via a mod. I might as well try to learn lua and see if I can kill two birds with one stone. if not, I'll leave the investigation till I get more time. I know you guys are busy...First, you'd have to implement ranks and medals. This would involve an addition to the player info page (written in lua), and any necessary tweaks to the Character class (such as promotion methods, etc) - also in Lua. We have a ranking system for Elite combat rating (not that any of the missions currently demand any sort of rating) but nothing else.Once you've implemented them, you can tweak them to your heart's content...Seriously, if you do want to have a look at doing this, you'd probably need some assistance from the devs. The new UI isn't fully documented yet (or at all, in fact) but is understood by a number of us. You'll need a decent working knowledge of Lua, and you'd need to familiarise yourself with the existing libs.We'd need a design of some sort. Is a rank or a medal something specific to the player, or is it something availabe to any character in the game? You'd need to decide if you want to have some sort of dynamic, extensible medal system (semi-random names for awards from different factions) or a bunch of hard-coded stuff.It's a lot of work. It's the sort of thing I'd get onto eventually, but if somebody else gets started on it first I'm happy to see that happen.Do talk to people. Try things out, and be prepared to bin things and start again. Ask specific questions when you have them. Remember that any code you write will be reviewed by other developers, so be ready for the inevitable criticism (we do try to be positive there).Jump in, though. If you think you could be the one to write it, then there's no need to wait for somebody else. I didn't ! (-:
RE: !! Pioneer Question Time !! - Ask them here
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 12:16 pm
by Metamartian
Guess I misunderstood your " and is simple to script for" meaning the base exists but nothing has been implemented regarding the actual medals and ranks! I best log back into github and take a copy and have alook at jumping in the deepend! I fear this may not come to anything, but you don't learn without trying I guess. Thanks for the heads up, I hope I can make sense of it all. oh and I accept I will be taught many lessons by the devs throughout all of this (-: