Read by Council Increased Options for Hazard Blocks

[Jerry_Brinefield]

Right now, there are to my knowledge, two hazard block designs, Danger Yellow and Black and Peppermint Green. I have never felt the need to use the green, as it's kind of a strange sort of color for a hazard block. A color I HAVE really wanted is red and white (Road safety design).

Additionally, construction orange might be nice for people who like to do more realistic builds.

,
While this would be a nice addition, I was thinking of a more permanent solution. I'll preface by saying that I am by no means a coder. My knowledge of how blocks are made is that they're assigned a numerical value and the amount of numbers is limited.

With that out of the way, it'd be really cool if we could have customizable color blocks. So, you find the color block in your inventory, click on it or something, and a prompt menu could come up asking for the primary and secondary color. This would allow people to be able to make color blocks for any hull or any color hull, instead of being limited to the two options we have right now. having a white primary with yellow or red as a secondary would look really cool, and be great for hangar builds. I am guessing that implementing a system like this would be fairly complicated, but it'd be invaluable for builders like me, who could use the hazard striping for just about everything.

 

[Lecic]

Orange/White and Red/White hazard hull would be very nice.

With that out of the way, it'd be really cool if we could have customizable color blocks. So, you find the color block in your inventory, click on it or something, and a prompt menu could come up asking for the primary and secondary color. This would allow people to be able to make color blocks for any hull or any color hull, instead of being limited to the two options we have right now. having a white primary with yellow or red as a secondary would look really cool, and be great for hangar builds. I am guessing that implementing a system like this would be fairly complicated, but it'd be invaluable for builders like me, who could use the hazard striping for just about everything.

This is not possible to implement with the game in its current form. It would require increasing the amount of bytes per block, which, while not a huge problem for RAM usage, would increase the amount of storage space used (which is already big for servers) even more. Additionally, such a change would require a massive amount of code to be rewritten.

 

[Reilly Reese]

Orange/White and Red/White hazard hull would be very nice.



This is not possible to implement with the game in its current form. It would require increasing the amount of bytes per block, which, while not a huge problem for RAM usage, would increase the amount of storage space used (which is already big for servers) even more. Additionally, such a change would require a massive amount of code to be rewritten.

Sad to say so Jerry but he is right. When they implemented the pick color feature in SE it really increased strain on those lower end comp players that played it.

 

[Jerry_Brinefield]

Orange/White and Red/White hazard hull would be very nice.



This is not possible to implement with the game in its current form. It would require increasing the amount of bytes per block, which, while not a huge problem for RAM usage, would increase the amount of storage space used (which is already big for servers) even more. Additionally, such a change would require a massive amount of code to be rewritten.

I figured as much. Thought it'd be worth mentioning on the off chance it was.

 

[jayman38]

But... But... We have linking! (As in: with just a little new code, you could link a light to a hazard block and have the game replace the non-white color.)

However, the StarMade solution will probably be to simply introduce two new sets of hazard blocks: red-white and orange-white. It's not like white-white or grey-white hazard blocks would be useful, and purple-white and brown-white would be just as awkward as green-white has proven to be.

 

[Lecic]

But... But... We have linking! (As in: with just a little new code, you could link a light to a hazard block and have the game replace the non-white color.)

However, the StarMade solution will probably be to simply introduce two new sets of hazard blocks: red-white and orange-white. It's not like white-white or grey-white hazard blocks would be useful, and purple-white and brown-white would be just as awkward as green-white has proven to be.

Yeah, uh, you do realize this would require adding another byte to the block, right? Either that, or have each hazard hull block have an entity on it for changing colors, which would be extremely lag inducing.

 

[Megacrafter127]

Yeah, uh, you do realize this would require adding another byte to the block, right? Either that, or have each hazard hull block have an entity on it for changing colors, which would be extremely lag inducing.

False. The data on the color would not be stored in the block, but in the link to the light block, if I understood correctly.

 

[jayman38]

Yeah, uh, you do realize this would require adding another byte to the block, right? Either that, or have each hazard hull block have an entity on it for changing colors, which would be extremely lag inducing.

It's easier just to add two new flavors of hazard block (red and orange), because like I mentioned, the other colors aren't even useful as hazard colors, so implementing a linking function would be less efficient than adding new blocks. I'm not even concerned about possible future Block ID shortages anymore.

 

[jgames666]

This problem should be resolved as technology gets better. I'm a computer tech, and I can tell you the computers being made today are coming out with tons of more space, so really the size issue will not be an issue in a few more years, unless you really can't pay the $300 it will cost to get a re-certified computer with the better technology coming out and prices going down, so it may even be cheaper. For instance, I just sold a Re-certified desktop gaming system with a quad-core 2.7ghz cpu, 8GB of memory, a 1GB video card, and a 1TB hard drive for just $315 (with windows 7 installed)

 

[kiraen]

the other colors aren't even useful as hazard colors,

I use them both all the time. Y/B (physical hazard) in docking areas and around moving platforms. G/W (Safety) to indicate cargo pallets and generic 'do not stand here' areas.

Having said that, more colors would be nice for coding. kupu would be the guy to ask about these ideas.

On side note, the current texture orientations need some work. The actual direction of the slope really means something. If you scan down and follow the slope, that's the direction you are supposed to go to avoid the hazard. So that first pic is actually pointing cars to have an accident and will result in a fine for the crew that set up that monstrosity. The sidewalk sign is telling pedestrians to walk into the street.

OSHA/ANSI standards for barricade color codes.

 

[ltmauve]

This problem should be resolved as technology gets better. I'm a computer tech, and I can tell you the computers being made today are coming out with tons of more space, so really the size issue will not be an issue in a few more years, unless you really can't pay the $300 it will cost to get a re-certified computer with the better technology coming out and prices going down, so it may even be cheaper. For instance, I just sold a Re-certified desktop gaming system with a quad-core 2.7ghz cpu, 8GB of memory, a 1GB video card, and a 1TB hard drive for just $315 (with windows 7 installed)

Yes, but the devs don't want players to have to upgrade their computers.

 

[jgames666]

Yes, but the devs don't want players to have to upgrade their computers.

My point is the average life span of a computer is 3 - 5 years, so after this the problem will be solved for the vast majority of players, and the game should not hold back for a few and punish the vast majority who are ready for the game to move forward.

Eventually everyone will have to upgrade; that is the progression of technology. If you do not, then you cannot expect your system to be useful with updated software.

 

[jayman38]

I use them both all the time. Y/B (physical hazard) in docking areas and around moving platforms. G/W (Safety) to indicate cargo pallets and generic 'do not stand here' areas.

Having said that, more colors would be nice for coding. kupu would be the guy to ask about these ideas.

On side note, the current texture orientations need some work. The actual direction of the slope really means something. If you scan down and follow the slope, that's the direction you are supposed to go to avoid the hazard. So that first pic is actually pointing cars to have an accident and will result in a fine for the crew that set up that monstrosity. The sidewalk sign is telling pedestrians to walk into the street.

OSHA/ANSI standards for barricade color codes.

I apologize for not being clear. I think the current yellow and green colors are fine. The darker colors, like brown/white, purple/white, and black/white would not be as useful. Even blue/white would be weird and hard to find a good use for, when you can just use the green/white instead. So I think Red and Orange should be added to the current Yellow and Green color pallet for hazard blocks.

Orientation tells me that we should have not just two new sets of blocks, but 6 new sets: yellow and green going in the other direction, and red and orange in both directions.