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Messing with Nebulas... |
Gideon
Cadet
Joined: September 14, 2001
Posts: 4604
From: Oregon, USA
|  Posted: 2004-08-26 15:34
I've been messing with the nebula art. I would like your feedback. Compare these to the more recent pics in the Screenshots section of the home page, to get an idea of the change.
Most of these are of the nebula in Luyten, though number Five is of the nebula in Cygnus 61.
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
[ This Message was edited by: Gideon on 2004-08-26 15:35 ]
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Novacat
Grand Admiral
Joined: October 30, 2001
Posts: 2337
From: Starleague Cache
| Posted: 2004-08-26 15:43
Interesting, although, I think the central 'clutter' should have a bit of red in it, instead of it being just pure blue.
Try experimenting with other colors, too. Something other than the bland Blue/Red nebulae.
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[ This Message was edited by: RedXIII on 2004-08-26 15:46 ]
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_x$witchBladex_ [1.480 Fanboy]
Grand Admiral
Joined: February 26, 2003
Posts: 849
From: Upstate New York
| Posted: 2004-08-26 15:48
WOW!!!Excellent job Gid, I love these. I would like to see these in MV over the flat ones  .
~Switch
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Axianda The Royal
Fleet Admiral
Terra Squadron
Joined: November 20, 2001
Posts: 4273
From: Axianda
| Posted: 2004-08-26 15:51
Truely amazing, although i like the Red whit blue the most they are all great works.....
they kinda remind me of the OLD nebula's
although yours look a bit more realistic to me 
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Lark of Serenity
Grand Admiral
Raven Warriors
Joined: June 02, 2002
Posts: 2516
| Posted: 2004-08-26 16:32
u couldnt call the old nebulae nebulae, more of a dust cloud about the size of a dread/station
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Thrie
Fleet Admiral
Raven Warriors
Joined: October 28, 2002
Posts: 760
| Posted: 2004-08-26 16:54
Sweetness! Prettyyyyyyy
Ooooo Im loving that
I got a suggestion: Make visual a little Thicker. Have you play FreeSpace2? Well, thats where im getting it.
Nebula has got to be worth its use other then lowers sig, IMO. It would be interesting to see a Dessie sortie in a Nebula; where both sides cant see nor track the other side because of Nebula interference.
And maybe dreads can survive by hiding in the Nebs!
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Doran
Chief Marshal
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 29, 2003
Posts: 4032
From: The Gideon Unit
| Posted: 2004-08-26 17:44
it looks purty but....
be nice to see a color other than Red and Blue (and purple by association)
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Demorian
Fleet Admiral
Galactic Navy
Joined: October 06, 2001
Posts: 3406
From: Charlotte, North Carolina
| Posted: 2004-08-26 17:47
Excellent job, but... if I'm not mistaken, those vertical "face-on" nebula clouds you appear to have reinserted were removed for a reason.
Or has that problem been resolved?
-Dem
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UnknownWarrior
Grand Admiral
Raven Warriors
Joined: July 18, 2002
Posts: 724
From: North Carolina, USA
| Posted: 2004-08-26 18:00
Very nice mate. Just make them a little bit more "Foggy" and add in some colors like dark blue, purple etc and itll look very nice. But all and all, very sweet looking
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Gideon
Cadet
Joined: September 14, 2001
Posts: 4604
From: Oregon, USA
| Posted: 2004-08-26 18:58
I've had several people request thicker nebulas. Some points:
1 - You will never be able to hide in them. turn down the graphic settings, and you can see through them. So, if you want to see people trying to hide, just turn down the settings.
2 - Any higher in particle count, and it will butcher client machines. True, people can just turn it down to play, but it's better to try to shoot for the middle level of client capacity to begin with.
3 - Tried some thick nebulas. The way our particle system works, what happens is, the colors become blindingly bright. It actually physically hurts to look at them, they are so bright.
As to the color:
This is a revamp of the nebulas we have. We have four kinds of nebulas: Blue/Red, Blue, Blue/Red (that's right, two blue/red), and White/Red. I used Luyten for most of the pics, because it's the first map up on the beta scenario side, so it's really easy for me to get to. Anywho, I do anticipate adding more nebula colors in the future, but it's not as much a priority as getting the nebulas we already have up to snuff.
As a side note, I've got a nebula particle that is a color somewhere between vomit and baby poop. I'm not sure if I want to use that one...
Some people have asked for dark colored nebulas. The darker the color, the more transparent the game engine draws something. Really dark clouds are basically invisable, and black is COMPLETELY invisable.
People have suggested a scheme to turn down visability range while within nebulas. The Medusa engine does not posses this feature, sorry. Otherwise, I would do it in a heartbeat.
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Fattierob
Vice Admiral
Joined: April 25, 2003
Posts: 4059
| Posted: 2004-08-26 20:08
awwww. now us pirates can pilfer and hide :/
...can't you do a noun/script thing gideon?
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Daylight \"The Beginning\"
Grand Admiral
Joined: July 24, 2002
Posts: 608
From: Oregon, USA
| Posted: 2004-08-27 00:48
Number 6 is my fav. Can't wait for the other colors. To bad we can't hide. Ever play freelancer..they had great neb and cloud stuff in that....ANYWAY...looks great and good job!
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Shigernafy
Admiral
Joined: May 29, 2001
Posts: 5726
From: The Land of Taxation without Representation
| Posted: 2004-08-27 00:57
As more or less a 'bump' to Demorian's question... did you notice any loss of fps or increased lagging or anything with these spiffy versions/
Being the owner of an older computer, I'm just concerned what that might do for my game play.
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Gideon
Cadet
Joined: September 14, 2001
Posts: 4604
From: Oregon, USA
| Posted: 2004-08-28 12:06
Okay, here is the skinny on potential slowdown.
I did notice slowdown on my computer. My system is low-medium power, and would drop to 25-16 fps at the lowest. Acceptable to me, but certainly not to others. In addition, it would probably hammer systems less powerful than mine.
So, to take care of this...
Faustus showed me how to set the effect so that players can modify just how much of it is used.
In your setup screen there are two settings which modify this effect.
First one is your Texture Detail setting.
FYI, looks like nothing uses this setting at all currently, so the nebula effects will be the first thing to actually utilize this setting. Also, it should be called Graphic Detail, not Texture Detail, since it controls the overall graphic...em...details.
Anyways, on HIGH, you will get the full effect.
On MEDIUM, only half of the particles will draw.
On LOW, only the 2D nebula art, which we use in release, will be shown.
A second setting that will affect this is the Particle/Explosion Detail slider. This one controls the number of particles your game will draw at any one time. This does affect ALL particle effects, including explosions, so keep that in mind when messing with it. It can be used to tweak the fullness of all particle effects from in game, but it affects all particle effects equally.
Hope that answers your question.
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Forseth (Ret)
Fleet Admiral
Joined: June 01, 2003
Posts: 828
From: Forseth
| Posted: 2004-08-28 12:08
they are alot better then the ones we have now, i hope we get to see them ingame soon great work
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