Read by Schine Decorative Suggestions/Improvements

[Sven_The_Slayer]

kupu "got a request? Tag me in a suggestion post in the suggestion sub-forum. Have i missed one or not responded? Tag me again.... i must of missed it"

Okay I wanted to make a nice list of ideas for decorative blocks that would be nice to add as well as suggestions for improving the ones we already have.

First I think a all the decorative computers could benefit from having a single face like the personal computer. This would make placing them when not buried in a wall much more aesthetic. Secondly if we had the ability to rotate these blocks in every direction like we can do with rails and other blocks that would be amazing. How many times have you stuck a decorative computer in a floor or ceiling only to have it facing the wrong way?

New Blocks:
Radar screen, I'm not sure how well an animated radar screen would look given the 4 frame limit but I think it's worth looking into.

Medial Vitals Monitor

That's all I have for now, feel free to comment your own ideas here.

 

[kupu]

Some good points.

I'll be sure to check through here on my next deco pass.

 

[BDLS]

Good ideas.

Can we get a steel cable sprite "block" too? Would look pretty cool in industrial projects, IMHO. Maybe slightly larger diameter than light rods.

 

[Sha3es]

Perhaps some sort of hologram projector block that could be used to set different warp paths on a pulled up star map.

 

[Xacktar]

I'd love to see some details for interiors such as wall paintings, wood planking, carpets and perhaps framed windows of some type.

 

[Zaphord]

I'd like to see some piping and coolant lines that can be rotated to face in all directions, some wedges for these blocks would be great too.

Right now my engine rooms have piping and coolant lines that only run from side to side. They look wierd running up and down since I can't rotate them.

 

[Malevich]

Blocks with textures of moving pumps and gears
And how hard it would be to make an aquarium with tiny giant space whale swimming inside?

 

[Ithirahad]

Perhaps some sort of hologram projector block that could be used to set different warp paths on a pulled up star map.

This I agree with. Waypoints and course control need to be per-ship, not per-player; the current system is just really inflexible and gets in the way of several features.

 

[Billazilla]

An arrow block (just has an arrow painted on it).
Flight control stick/wheel/waldo/apparatus/doo-jobby.
Keypad/keyboard block (very thin wedge shape).
Block w/porthole showing some sort of fluid (water/coolant/oil/beer/etc) within.
A helmet block. (extra spiffy if a sprite of a suit would hang underneath it in unoccupied area).
Question mark block (just kidding).

 

[Bob_the_dj]

or have it have the ability to project a mini version of a ship that looks like a mini version of the transparent blocks in the ship yard

 

[jstenholt]

Instead of a question mark block, or arrow blocks, how about we just have the ability to use giant text on display blocks? I'm talking 1 character per block.

 

[Aynslei]

Instead of a question mark block, or arrow blocks, how about we just have the ability to use giant text on display blocks? I'm talking 1 character per block.

I think you can do that with formating options (not like super big), let me get back to you once I do some testing.

 

[Ithirahad]

I think you can do that with formating options (not like super big), let me get back to you once I do some testing.

Nope. The only available formatting options are 0 through 2 or something like that. Basically, a tiny bit smaller through a tiny bit larger. Nothing dramatic.

 

[srs008]

Perhaps some sort of hologram projector block that could be used to set different warp paths on a pulled up star map.

or have it have the ability to project a mini version of a ship that looks like a mini version of the transparent blocks in the ship yard

hell yes, how about we "cheat" and simply remove the "monitor" from the display block so it's see-through?
pair it with a "computer" (the other half of it, or those old computer decorations) and we have "holographic" projectors...
I remember the "early" display block bugs, it's a overlay... change the visual to less "screen" and more "holo"
add color variations (light blocks PLEASE, like rods) and we have a 2d holo display.
as for "3d" that is ENTIRELY upto you guys to figure out properly...

An arrow block (just has an arrow painted on it).
Flight control stick/wheel/waldo/apparatus/doo-jobby.
Keypad/keyboard block (very thin wedge shape).
Block w/porthole showing some sort of fluid (water/coolant/oil/beer/etc) within.
A helmet block. (extra spiffy if a sprite of a suit would hang underneath it in unoccupied area).
Question mark block (just kidding).

Instead of a question mark block, or arrow blocks, how about we just have the ability to use giant text on display blocks? I'm talking 1 character per block.

OR we could just poke schine at this "http://starmadedock.net/threads/plusnines-default-pack-extension-for-servers-and-clients.20464/"
which ALREADY does this, i doubt plusnine would object to it's inclusion if asked...

although it's not usable unless installed on CLIENT AND SERVER, I play offline with my brother, we've had zero issues after a few days solid running so far... and to be honest, i doubt we will.
it also has those crystal ciruits in wedge form... LIT... making pretty good lighting.
it also letters on standard hull. which although is only standard hull, probably means we'll see an update to the newer hulls soon enough...
at worst, a schine member could get permission, and update it...

 

[jayman38]

Generic bar graphs in any dimension. Bonus points if they move slightly.

Animated "video snow" block that can be linked to display blocks with logic, to make the display output "fail" according to the logic clock. (Video snow if a certain system is destroyed, intermittent snow based on a clock, snow if a button or other activation block is pressed, snow if an entity travels through a detection gate, etc.)

Animated "Red Alert" block. (The Star Trek guys will love modding this to look just right.) Preferably able to be linked via logic to multiple display blocks to show the Red Alert instead of the original display when a "red alert" switch is activated.

I'd also like to suggest something a little unusual: logic block "painting", where the logic block is linked to a decoration block and receives a different texture, depending on what decoration block it is linked to.

Blue computer link idea example:

Green computer link idea example:

And do the same for radar screens, where it gets a different color, depending on what it is linked to.

 

[Cornedo]

I like a lot of these ideas, that being said, does anyone know offhand how many unused blocks we have left?

 

[jstenholt]

OR we could just poke schine at this "http://starmadedock.net/threads/plusnines-default-pack-extension-for-servers-and-clients.20464/"
which ALREADY does this, i doubt plusnine would object to it's inclusion if asked...

Holy hell, that text is ugly. I'll let Schine solve this one at their own pace.

 

[srs008]

yeah, i grant you that... but that would not be overly hard to fix either, that pack must use a texture file for the new blocks anyway... so it should be fairly easy to mod the mod... or scrap parts...
I think the text was chosen for ease of viewing... remember this text is viewed from multiple angles, and different lighting conditions...
i could easily see fancier writing getting "distorted" from the wrong angle.
if your worried about how ugly it looks, mod your client files... if your worried everyone else will think it's ugly... can't help there.

 

[kiraen]

What I would like to see are decals and/or overlays. That way we don't waste block ids.

 

[Billazilla]

The... uh... the question mark block... thing... that was just a joke... you know... like Mario.... I was kidding...