Read by Council diagonal duotone blocks

[wanzer]

I was thinking of having 9 new blocks

3 patterns for hull, standard armor and advanced armor

the base color in white
in combination with
.grey
.dark grey
.black

I picked these colors cause they are the most common (quickly hides the photo of my ship)


well something like this

regards,
wanz.

 

[Cornedo]

I like the idea, but it should be for every color combination.

 

[Crimson-Artist]

while I would love new block shapes added to the game I think this seems a little too specific for general use. Could you give some examples of what it could be used for?

 

[MeRobo]

while I would love new block shapes added to the game I think this seems a little too specific for general use. Could you give some examples of what it could be used for?

I'd say the use for this is to achieve coloring effects that can curently only be achieved by using a docked entity (wedge on wedge for example)

 

[Crimson-Artist]

I'd say the use for this is to achieve coloring effects that can curently only be achieved by using a docked entity (wedge on wedge for example)

oh ok that would be cool. Although in terms of implementation we might just have to use docked entities. Block IDs are like a precious resource.

 

[Micro753]

I just use a docked entity currently, but I have to always build it offset by a block and then use the rails to shift it into place. It would make it easier to have one block be able to do this.

Block IDs are like a precious resource.

Yeah, so maybe a system that would just allow you to place two wedges in the same place if their orientation allows it? It would be the same as using docked entities right now, but it is all part of the same entity. However, that would probably be a real pain to get working, so we may be stuck with using docked entities.

 

[Crimson-Artist]

I just use a docked entity currently, but I have to always build it offset by a block and then use the rails to shift it into place. It would make it easier to have one block be able to do this.



Yeah, so maybe a system that would just allow you to place two wedges in the same place if their orientation allows it? It would be the same as using docked entities right now, but it is all part of the same entity. However, that would probably be a real pain to get working, so we may be stuck with using docked entities.

indeed, if I remember correctly schema might have said that atm 2 blocks can not occupy the same space on the same entity. jigsawing block together is something that is often requested but i dont think its possible. Its more of a engine limitation sadly.

 

[Cornedo]

I think I read somewhere that the developers have ideas for greatly increasing the pool of available IDs.

 

[Sgtwisky]

I think I read somewhere that the developers have ideas for greatly increasing the pool of available IDs.

I don't have the quote. But they said they could if need be, but that it would add extra overhead to every block. They basically would have to add an extra few bits (or maybe a byte I don't remember). And if I understand properly it causes file sizes of saves, worlds and everything else to get bigger. I don't have exact numbers though.

What I remember though is they could do it if they thought it was absolutely necessary. and that if they did so, it would increase the total blocks that are in the game quite a bit. If I remember right I think it was more then double. I'm too lazy to find the thread that quote I remember is in though.

 

[MeRobo]

Block IDs are like a precious resource.

Believe me, I know about block IDs at least since I resurrected the ID list by hand (typing every ID in for the coomand, pretty stupid but accurate)

And if I understand properly it causes file sizes of saves, worlds and everything else to get bigger. I don't have exact numbers though.

The data size per block increase would be 1.5 times iirc. I think the impact on SP would be smaller than the impact on MP.

 

[Malacodor]

The Block Data structure consists of three bytes. Adding a fourth byte would be a 33% increase. Adding just a half byte would mean that two blocks had to share a byte, which would make things complicated and probably slower. It's impossible to read or write individual bits directly. One has to read a full byte first, and then extract the part that's needed. To modify bits one has to read the full byte, change some of the bits, then write back the whole byte.

To allow two blocks to occupy the same block space, the bytes per block had to be doubled. A 100% increase in entity data size, just for some fancy shenanigans, is out of the question. The OP's suggestion with a few select color combinations would be a far better solution.

Similar to the hazard stripes, I'd suggest to choose two or three color combinations (e.g. black/white, red/green, purple/orange) and leave it at that, at least until we get that fourth byte.

 

[Dandy]

In a similar vein, has there ever been suggested the possibility to paint block surfaces? If there were a means of segmenting block surfaces purely for texture you could do something similar to what the OP suggests without the need for mixing blocks in the same space or requiring the occupation of further block IDs.

I don't pretend to know the technical requirements of this, but it seems like a logical solution to the highlighted issue if it were possible.

-Dan

 

[Malacodor]

In a similar vein, has there ever been suggested the possibility to paint block surfaces? If there were a means of segmenting block surfaces purely for texture you could do something similar to what the OP suggests without the need for mixing blocks in the same space or requiring the occupation of further block IDs.

I don't pretend to know the technical requirements of this, but it seems like a logical solution to the highlighted issue if it were possible.

-Dan

That would be 4 extra bits per additional color, which would be a complete waste on blocks, that don't have colored variants.

 

[MeRobo]

In a similar vein, has there ever been suggested the possibility to paint block surfaces?

Like this? Read by Schine - Paint Gun and Custom Color Maker
It would be cool but the technical limitations of the game make it propably quite hard to achieve in a way that doesn't harm performance, especially for servers.

Similar to the hazard stripes, I'd suggest to choose two or three color combinations (e.g. black/white, red/green, purple/orange) and leave it at that, at least until we get that fourth byte.

1. I'd prefer some less eye cancery picks for the colors
2. Do we really want that extra byte if it's not really needed? I think befor we start using an extra byte we should take a look at the IDs taken up by not used blocks (even though this would mean rip SCHEMADYNE ADVANCED).

 

[NeonSturm]

Where is the problem?

I only see the build-helper being it because we already have it.

If you had an entity docked at your core and would build on it, it were already possible.
But it is not viable because it's complicated to do.
​

Thus this is not a suggestion about new blocks, but about

1. a mod-able build helper.
2. a default docked entity which shares attributes and exists with each entity using this feature.

 

[MeRobo]

I only see the build-helper being it because we already have it.

I'm sorry, but what does the build helper have to do with anything? It helps you building shapes, it has nothing to do with docked entities or the textures of blocks.

Thus this is not a suggestion about new blocks

This is just completely wrong, the OP is like "hey, I want this 9 new fancy blocks"

 

[NeonSturm]

I'm sorry, but what does the build helper have to do with anything? It helps you building shapes, it has nothing to do with docked entities or the textures of blocks.

You have a very tight view of "help", I could call this tunnel-view (and also jayman38 who agreed).

A build-helper could "help" me "building" by placing an inverse-corner on entity A and a corner on entity B in the right orientations.
The very specific purposes for which SM uses the BH is not defining what a BH is only what it is (currently) used for.

No need of "colour * armour-level * shapes" number of new blocks.​

 

[MeRobo]

Okay, I still think we don't need these build-helper things and that it would be enough that buildmode wouldn't count everything as a full block but treat wedges as wedges, corners as corners and so on. Therefor people wouldn't need to move their docked detailing stuff around.