What do I really want? What do I really want? Ok. In a different game (which we nickname SL) I was able to upload textures from my hard disk in image formats, then apply them to textures. That meant that if I want my house to display Vermeer, or Minara I could. I was able to apply wallpaper of my choice, textures are quite an amazing way to expand the possibilities of the look of your stuff. I like pretty stuff.
I spent 5 years of my 12 year SL "life" doing tech support for one of the third party viewers. Emerald/Phoenix/Firestorm But yes, my sentiments exactly. Including the terrain tool. Even better would be if we could have our own object/texture paths like what they have in Active Worlds. Yes, I was a citizen of AW long before I became a resident of SL.
I was a total Emerald/Phoenix/Firestorm loyalist. I found that I really enjoyed laying out and decorating a house. A major part of that was using art and texture to make the place come alive. I miss that very much.
Yes I miss it too. Very much so. I don't miss all the drama though. I've been avoiding firing up my own little grid again because every time I do and then go back to building in Empyrion, I just get frustrated. I never thought I would be in a position to think that the SL tools are more "advanced" then a 3 year old alpha game that uses a much newer engine. SL is 15 years old now and AW is 23 years old. How is it even possible that LL tools are better than what Empyrion currently has, given LL's reputation?
I'm with you there, SL roleplay became a drama fest that eventually made me leave it forever. I think the reason that their building tools are more advanced is due to the in game economy that drives a need for top notch avatar, clothing and building abilities. Mesh and such are total game changers. As a result of that amazing capability the building is so complex that most people, myself included, are simply not able to invest the time to learn how. EGS and similar block building games make it possible for someone like me to have the pleasure of designing and using my own stuff, without needing a huge investment in time and software to make it work. I like that. With simplicity comes limits, and I'm fine with that too. I'm just asking for the ability to upload my own textures. Oh, and yeah, I know that is really hard to do.
I'd imagine there is a wall (called multi-player) which would be preventing such a feature for reasons like bandwidth, abuse, exploits, inappropriate material, or whatever. Its one thing when its 'just you in your solo world having fun' ... but sadly, they have to consider the whole affect of such an addition, no matter how cool it may be. Also, it doesn't really affect HOW you build (which I thought is what the topic is about, maybe I misread)... but more of how can we make nicer things. Which is why I left off my LONG desire/wish to have custom color palettes based per entity (like an indexed palette in a graphics program per document).
I recognize that you are correct, in MP the textures need to be rendered for everyone, and that brings up a list of issues. Yet it is my one true desire, so I put it in. I can dream...
Dont get me wrong, I would love for it as well. And I guess it would fit the topic of how does it help you build... it helps because it allows for more creativity and with that, a better desire TO build!
More 'Corner' blocks, please! It is not actualy 'more', is just the missing ones. Texture Arrangements, by that i mean that textures goes more seemless over 45° or 22.5° '2 diagonal slopes' when using the same texturs 'single diagnoal slopes', or 'full flat areas'. (See screenshot, the 'extra texture lines') I understand that the texture Arrangement is lower priority, as in beta Phase. Blocks on the other hand would be great to have 'early' - as it would allow us to do more 'stealth' or 'rounded' or 'seemless' designs. Thank you
We're discussing what we would like to see in Empyrion via using examples from other games and sandbox genres. And just for grins and giggles: SL = Second Life LL - Linden Lab, owner/operator of SL AW = Active Worlds, an older 3d environment similar to SL. I'm not ashamed.
I don't always build using symmetry and sometimes I find that when building I would like to invert what I have copied. I would suggest that after pasting along with the arrows for rotation that there is a button to invert the selection as well.
Uploading your own textures could work in SP. Typically, most multiplayer games that allow players to upload textures also forces players to download all of those textures when joining games.
I think letting just anyone upload textures would lead to some abuse. They should make it so that modders can add textures and block shapes to go with their mod, then people can potentially create POI or additional building textures/shapes that people can choose to include in their game or not. I'd love to see more textures, but more importantly, more colors. The color palette is terrible. For example, let's say you want to paint some steel green. There is basically no shade between "really bright obnoxious" green and "so dark it is almost black" green. All the colors are too saturated, there is no "blue grey" or "reddish grey", there are no pastel colors. They may have some reason to limit the number of colors to something finite but there should be several pages of colors. There should be metallic colors, so you can paint something shiny gold, silver, or copper (so it looks like chrome). It should show reflections if possible. You should be able to paint windows, which tints them. I don't like the current mechanic, where it is always tinted on one side and clear on the other. I want to be able to make them 100% clear both ways, or tinted both ways, and yes, I'd like to be able to stain them colors in some cases. The current painting mechanic would make this hard since you always paint one "side" and right now that changes the frame color, not the glass color. Maybe the color tool needs different modes like the multitool has, where you can: Paint Blocks - this is the current behavior. Tint Glass - allows you to apply a color and darkness (or no color) to glass, either one side or both sides. This ALSO lets you change the color of lights without needing to go to the control panel (which is tedious if you've ever done multiple lights at once) Color Symbol - this lets you change the color of a symbol that was applied with the texture & symbol tool, such as the letters
I like this. Much like 'flip horizontal' and 'vertical' in a graphics program? It basically does a mirror ON the selected set of blocks in one way or the other (not create more blocks that are mirrored)... then you can move it to a position to attach. I agree, and its a single most hindrance to me when building. ... something I've kept pushing for eons: https://empyriononline.com/threads/color-pallet.12073/#post-141890 --- Collision issues in building: Another thing on my wish list is addressing the collision zones of device blocks. Its a pain to try and build, when you are 'looking through gaping areas' only to hit the device block in front of you (either with the color/texture gun, or removal tool, or otherwise). I had a thread about all the 'current' devices here: https://empyriononline.com/threads/bad-block-collision-meshes.9948/ (sorry, link is for hummel only)... but it needs to be redone to cover all the new broken blocks and the ones still existing. --- Doors, I wish: Checkbox for airtight - Let the builder decide when a door should have the airtight forcefield. A checkbox could allow people to toggle it at whim, and use any door for any purpose. Maybe even down the line, this checkbox could be linked with signal logic! (if this is impossible, then please, airtight and non-airtight variants of ALL doors! put a lil o2 symbol over the door icons in the picker for those that are airtight)
Full color palate and way more texture letter fonts that can be colored. A special construction bay with a control console that when activated creates a droneless construction interface that is similar to drone building but without drift/mass. Can maybe incorporate repair into it too? Maybe the lowest tier a requirement for BP factory?
There are so many things that I'd like to see added block and/or texture-wise ... but working within this restriction, I have to add my voice to the ones asking to be able to invert a copied selection. Sometimes I come up with a design and don't have the mirror plane on. A straight copy and paste won't work, because I need the part mirrored. But if I could copy it , mirror it, and then paste, it would be very helpful
The ability to "Remove all items containing X base ingredient" For example, say the Devs change the ingredients for devices (like the 8.0 patch did), and you had a bunch of nice early game ships, you could just remove all devices / blocks requiring Zacozium, or say, Sathium, and then tune your items down again. Another in the same lines is "Show limited / forbidden blocks", because it can be a pig as to what's causing your ship to be unspawnable. I spent two hours working out that you can't have anything in your grow plots or it'll flag the blueprint.
Suggested by a friend who just got the game: "Pipette" action for paint/texture guns. Hotkey: Middle click? What does it do? Copy the color / texture / symbol / whatever properties of the target block surface onto the held gun for quick re-application at another location. BONUS: APPLY THIS BEHAVIOR TO BLOCK STACKS, SO WE CAN COPY THE SHAPE OF AN EXISTING BLOCK INSTANTLY AS WELL! Edit: For blocks, rotation should also be copied as well as the shape.
