Experimental v1.3

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by Pantera, Dec 1, 2020.

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  1. LiftPizzas

    LiftPizzas Rear Admiral

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    F=ma, so Acceleration is force divided by mass. We can't reach light speed because special relativity shows that mass increases with velocity. However it is not linear, and this effect is negligible at anything less than absurd velocities. For example relativistic mass at half the speed of light is still only an extra 15%. At 100 meters per second special relativity is not a factor and has nothing to do with the speed limits in Empyrion.
     
    #81
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  2. Kassonnade

    Kassonnade Rear Admiral

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    In Empyrion we can go faster than light, but I guess you already noticed that...

    I knew someone would give me the "realistic" explanation, I just didn't expect it would be you.
     
    #82
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  3. Pantera

    Pantera Administrator Staff Member

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    Patch 2020-12-07 v1.3 B3191

    Changes:
    - Decals on Blueprints: added new block class 'DecalControl' that can be connected to decals via their name in CP. This block will switch these decals on/off according to its activated state. No default block was added yet to BlocksConfig.ecf, so only for modding yet.
    - Updated BP groups CivilMain, CivilSettlement and Waystations with Commodity Traders
    - DialogueSystem: added convenience function SetBlockActive(string name, bool bActive) to allow setting a block by its name to active/deactive
    - Added Santa Claus Hat and Snowmans Head as usable items (will be equipped automatically when carried in inventory or toolbar)
    - Updated TSO and TSP with barking, trader dialogue and some NPC/trader changes
    - Removed most of the shader warnings on playfield server logs (Shader XXX shader is not supported on this GPU) by disabling fallback shader
    - Added Santa Claus Hat and Snowmans Head to EscapePod inventory. Will be equipped automatically.
    > Note: If you have both, drag the one you want to show to a "higher" slot number. Enjoy and have fun!
    - PDA: implemented new chapter Group and Faction properties
    - PDA: changed window to use grouping instead of a tab per faction (as we now have more factions)
    - CP opened through registry: also added 'warp check' (do not open during warping)
    - Player window: the day count calculation is now different in SP (total time spent in the game) than to MP (total time spent on server)
    - SharedData client download: showing status message about files that need to be downloaded when connecting to a server
    - Removed obsolote GrassGree01 blocks to free up BLOCKIds (free areas are marked with 'available free' in the document)
    > PLZ watch out if something looks like it is missing grass (or is said so in the logs/console) and report!
    - Added Decal Control Unit block (Place in Creative to use with decals: on/off of the block defines on/off of the linked decal)
    - Updated main localization
    - Updated/added commodity traders to Polaris, Pirates, Colonists & Trader factions planet and space POIs (where applicable/appropriate; first pass)
    - SharedData client download: loading small files first now to show better status update on client side
    - SuitPropsExt: removed the need for 90° z rotation in modded player suit head props
    - Added: PDA Chapter group names can now be loca keys
    - Added: PDA group lines now show number of activatable chapters in group
    - Changed: PDA content now hierarchically indented
    - Factions can now be discovered as soon as any of their POIs get discovered. To enable that a faction is 'discoverable', add 'Discovery: true' to the faction in Faction.ecf. Use console cmd 'faction discover <faction>' to debug that.

    Fixes:

    - Fixed: PDA window cached content between games
    - Fixed: PDA Journeybook tab is only displayed if there are respective chapters in the PDA.yaml
    - Fixed: Pressing Escape in main menu removes any options and the client must be restarted
    - Fixed: Aluminium definition for Resource Trader being wrong
    - Fixed: ESC key not working anymore after using 'Text Color' of an LCD
    - Fixed: Colonists faction was not visible in faction screen
    - Fixed: Trader discount was set to 80% instead of 8%
    - Fixed: Rolling with vessels is not working when there is enough thrust & RCS is turned off
     
    #83
  4. Andre Merrick

    Andre Merrick Commander

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    What about this error that floods the logs over and over and over...

    Warning/GameAnalytics: Event queue: Failed to send events to collector - Retrying next time
    (Filename: C:\buildslave\unity\build\Runtime/Export/Debug/Debug.bindings.h Line: 35)
     
    #84
  5. Pantera

    Pantera Administrator Staff Member

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    I don't see this message in any recent logs when searching for it.
    What version of the game are you running ?
     
    #85
  6. Germanicus

    Germanicus Rear Admiral

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    Similar to THIS ->
    Venturer_2020-12-09_11-10-11.png

    It produces in the Logs ->

    857,55 | DType = | Fac = [??? -1] | TUId = 66
    (Filename: C:\buildslave\unity\build\Runtime/Export/Debug/Debug.bindings.h Line: 35)
     
    #86
  7. Andre Merrick

    Andre Merrick Commander

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    I have this error in the current public version.. AND the experimental version that I'm running.. as do several of my friends.

    It appeared a couple of updates ago. I've completely uninstalled.. and re-installed... to no avail.


     
    #87
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  8. Pantera

    Pantera Administrator Staff Member

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    Please send me the client log where this appears it doesn't trigger for me.
     
    #88
  9. Andre Merrick

    Andre Merrick Commander

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    There ya go!
     

    Attached Files:

    #89
  10. Pantera

    Pantera Administrator Staff Member

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    Thanks you may ignore this message.
     
    #90
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  11. Joij

    Joij Lieutenant

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    Wait so the decals just float and are not part of the block's actual texture? I had the impression that these decals would basically just be more textures that would be applied to a block through the texture/color tool in creative.
     
    #91
  12. Kassonnade

    Kassonnade Rear Admiral

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    They are independant from blocks, but we can place them very tightly against blocks, and we can even replace blocks with them since they can have collision (but no damage).

    Here's an example of a small decal placed very close to a block :


    NewGame_1_2020-12-09_18-44-06.png


    This is a 256 x 256 pixels png image, scaled at 1 x 1, which fits one BA/CV block size precisely. Positioning can be done with decimal (floating point) values and the example here is at 0.001 unit (1/1000 th of a block's thickness) from the surface. One block = 2m, so this decal is at 2 mm from the block's face.


    NewGame_1_2020-12-09_18-44-25.png

    But apart from sticking them to blocks, decals can be whatever we can think of that requires planes...


    NewGame_2020-12-09_20-05-33.png


    I saw in today's patch notes that we now have a "control block" to act as switch to disable decals per name in game. I have to check how this works, as it opens yet lots of possibilities.

    .
     
    #92
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2020
  13. Joij

    Joij Lieutenant

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    Is there a limit to how many decals can be placed on a structure? Also can they not be added beyond the 250x250x250 block limit boundary on structures?
     
    #93
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  14. ravien_ff

    ravien_ff Rear Admiral

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    I don't know if there is a technical limit, but I have added 14 mp4 decals to a structure without issue.
    I've also placed 900x900 sized decals fairly far from a structure.

    They can be whatever size you want, though there's no guarantee your computer can handle it. :D
     
    #94
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  15. ravien_ff

    ravien_ff Rear Admiral

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    It's a block that can be accessed in the control panel and you can either manually turn it on or off, or use signal logic to control it.
    There's a text entry field you can add the name of the decals to control. I don't know if multiple names can be added, but you can name all the decals the same so a single control block can control multiple decals.

    It looks like a steel block. Has no shape options but can be textured.
     
    #95
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  16. Kassonnade

    Kassonnade Rear Admiral

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    Yes, they can be placed far from a structure, as I showed on another thread ( post #22905) :

    https://empyriononline.com/threads/what-did-you-do-in-empyrion-today.2826/page-1146

    The amount of decals and impact on performance follows the same rules as all geometry / texturing in the game. There are huge advantages to use decals compared to blocks in certain circumstances, as one big decal can cover an area of thousands of blocks, and they are only 1 plane with a texture scaled on it. Actually it's the image on the decal that takes most resources, and we can follow simple rules like what is done in classic 3d design software to avoid problems. Pure transparency = no pixel to render ( "cutout" option in the decals settings), so the renderer doesn't count all these. Scaling of a small image takes less video memory compared to loading one big, detailed image. Powers of 2 images (256 x 512, 128 x 128, etc) are usually "easier" on rendering and have been used extensively in game design :

    https://software.intel.com/content/...-of-two-textures-have-better-performance.html

    Now that's a funny bit, as many of the terrain "stamps" don't follow that rule, and have strange dimensions when thinking of storage and performance.

    Like @ravien_ff mentioned we can also use mp4 videos, and this means that we can make short animations to be displayed with decals, like animating a "forcefield" effect with transparency, or a thin layer of fog on the ground, etc. No need to have more that 1 to 3 seconds of animation for such small effects, and since they can overlap (with "fade" parameter) we can use very short clips.

    The semi-transparent effects for decals ( "transparent" and "fade" ) may be the most demanding, like fog in the game, because they require the renderer to calculate front and behind pixels and light going through the 1st layer, etc. Best to keep these for closed indoor areas, or empty space. We can use bumpmaps too, but these give mixed results depending on size and player proximity to the texture, so sometimes they just waste performance when another method could have been used.

    @Hummel-o-War : one option that could be added (besides making the decals airtight true/ false) would be tiling ( with amount x, y ), to be able to use a small image on a wide surface and repeating the small image instead of stretching it, which makes big pixels apparent and not nice.

    I guess that asking for simple "triangles" would be too much, but hey... why not !? :D
    .
     
    #96
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2020
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  17. RexXxuS

    RexXxuS Rear Admiral

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    This is important to highlight. Decals are indeed a huge performance boost if used properly. One of the main motivation for decals were the replacement of LCDs. Many don't know HOW expensive such LCDs are, I think.

    Or simply put: Compare the amount of Triangle here (LCD):
    upload_2020-12-10_12-23-14.png

    With a Decal:
    upload_2020-12-10_12-24-23.png

    Hard to see but a Decals contains of 2 triangles.
    An LCD Screen contains 2 multiplied by characters triangles. Example above = 35 Triangles.

    The only untested questions are: what are limits regarding dimensions and VRAM.
    The size of the decals doesn't matter. The dimension of the source file is what makes it problematic.
    A 512x512 .jpg scaled ingame to 256x256 is way better than a 2048x2048 .jpg scaled ingame to 64x64 for example.
    Cause they are rendered on the GPU and kept in the Cache/Memory.

    A lot of tests are still to be made with all of the new stuff, especially in Multiplayer but just a little information.
     
    #97
  18. Kassonnade

    Kassonnade Rear Admiral

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    That is why I asked to add an option to "tile" the image, as we can also replace other geometry, but it will look bad if the image/ texture is stretched many times. By tiling the image we can use pictures of blocks or even make images from screenshots to have the precise color and pattern, then use this as a tiled texture on the decals. This way instead of making a 16 x 512 image to simulate a long pipe with many joints, we can use a 16 x 32 image with one joint at each end, stretch it to 256 in the decals.txt file and tile (repeat) the image 16 times on the X or Y axis, for example.

    Since these will be used in POIs and might be indestructible, we can make large environment/ structures rapidly without using thousand of blocks for simple flat surfaces, or use much smaller images stretched and repeated to get better visual with less impact on performance. Basically, to replace thousands (or millions) of pixels in video ram by hundreds/ few thousands and one or two operations (stretch + tile).
     
    #98
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  19. Kassonnade

    Kassonnade Rear Admiral

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    Ok. I checked it and like you described, we can simply name multiple decals with the same identifier to activate/ deactivate them as a group.

    I have 4 pictures named Decal001.png to Decaloo4.png. In the settings file I will name them as Decal1, Decal2, Decal3 and Decal4. But if I want image 2 and 3 to be triggered I can name them both Decal2, and use that name in the control block's name field.

    All decals active :

    NewGame_2020-12-10_08-45-02.png

    So we use the names in the settings file, not the name of the images :

    [Decal1]
    -Mode=Opaque
    -Pos=0,132,0
    -Rot=0,0,0
    -Size=1,1,1
    -Cull=false
    -ColliderMode=Collision
    -Diffuse=Decal001.png

    [Decal2] << name to be used in the control block's text field

    -Mode=Opaque
    -Pos=0,132,0
    -Rot=0,0,0
    -Size=1,1,1
    -Cull=false
    -ColliderMode=Collision
    -Diffuse=Decal002.png << name of the image file


    [Decal2] << name to be used in the control block's text field
    -Mode=Opaque

    -Pos=2,132,0
    -Rot=0,0,0
    -Size=1,1,1
    -Cull=false
    -ColliderMode=Collision
    -Diffuse=Decal003.png

    [Decal4]
    -Mode=Opaque
    -Pos=3,132,0
    -Rot=0,0,0
    -Size=1,1,1
    -Cull=false
    -ColliderMode=Collision
    -Diffuse=Decal004.png


    NewGame_2020-12-10_08-45-25.png

    When the signal is closed, both decals with the name Decal2 will be turned off :

    NewGame_2020-12-10_08-46-24.png

    The decal is gone and the space is empty, meaning that when the decals has collision, collision is gone when the decal is disabled.

    This is cooooool . ^^
     
    #99
  20. krosbonez

    krosbonez Lieutenant

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    Excuse my simple minding thinking. So in a case like this, it could be used for say - a trap door/floor, and it would save on geometry by not needing an animated block. Or even a barrier that can not be crossed until the signal is activated?
    This is all sounding very interesting but also very complicated to the less experienced.
     
    #100
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