Round Planets!

[aceface]

I think that each planet piece should be slightly smoothed to make the planet resemble more a sphere.

From the image, you can see a dodecahedron perfectly fits in a sphere. Because of this, I think that it will be good to shape each planet segment in a way to fit the sphere frame as accurately as it can with blocks.

 

[ToyotaSupra]

That could smooth it a bit, but you'd have to work on making it happen with blocks. I think the seams would also be more apparent with this.

How would this cope with terrain details, like caves and mountains? I dunno Ace, I think a few problems could come with this. Look at the planet edges...How would the blocks 'shift' to make it more smooth?

 

[BiGEdge]

and the problem might be the gravitation and the thickness of every plate

 

[NeonSturm]

That will be a lot of chunks on large planets.

If we have a smoothed surface and position blocks in Y relative to the lowest possible position it would be very nice.

For edges I suggest that a block can overlap another if it is placed close to the segment border.

 

[aceface]

I mean the general terrain is slightly more sloped than it is now look at the video how the edges of the cookie planet are sloped, structures just generate on top, also the blocks that are at the planet edges could be allowed to intersect other planet blocks to make it more smoother.

 

[starhaiden]

if the planets look better then the people will see how good these planets really are, and how much better they are then the Oreo planets

 

[NeonSturm]

if the planets look better then the people will see how good these planets really are, and how much better they are then the Oreo planets

Agree. but it also needs transition between segments like if you hit the vertical segment wall, your movement and orientation could snap smoothly to a relative of the other segment.

 

[Malacodor]

Why do people complain about how bad the new planets look? They were published after lots of complaints that the update is taking too long, so don't expect them to be final. I'm sure @schema will improve them after more important things are done.

 

[aceface]

-_- I do like the new planets and I did not complain. I just suggested something to make them even better.

 

[Lecic]

http://oldsite.star-made.org/content/starmade-dev-update-why-spherical-planets-dont-fit-block-world

I swear I'm posting this link at least twice a week at this point. This post explains why spherical planets can't work in Starmade.

 

[ResonKinetic]

http://oldsite.star-made.org/content/starmade-dev-update-why-spherical-planets-dont-fit-block-world

I swear I'm posting this link at least twice a week at this point. This post explains why spherical planets can't work in Starmade.

lol, you didn't even read what OP was talking about. He wants the corners of the plates on dodecahedron planets to be generated smoother, like the edges of the old cookie planets.

 

[Lecic]

lol, you didn't even read what OP was talking about. He wants the corners of the plates on dodecahedron planets to be generated smoother, like the edges of the old cookie planets.

I prefer how the planets currently look, personally. I think they could do with a bit more smoothing around the edges (maybe allow a little bit of overlap?), but I like the dodecahedron look.

Also, plonking that link in there early is important, because every thread on planets eventually turns to "starmaid should have SPEARICLE PLANITS" nowadays.

 

[aceface]

exactly!

 

[jath]

with big enough planets, spheres become relatively simple. The overlap at the bottom of the individual blocks wouldn't even be noticeable down to the deepest crust you can mine. No warping required. The block density to area would be slightly higher at the bottom of the crust, and the top may start to spread out a bit, but with a large enough planet, these effects will not have any serious impact on the game.

 

[jzimmerman4]

+1
I am just glad this wasn't a thread on actual round planets haha I like the idea though, it will make planets look a lot more pretty.

 

[Lecic]

with big enough planets, spheres become relatively simple. The overlap at the bottom of the individual blocks wouldn't even be noticeable down to the deepest crust you can mine. No warping required. The block density to area would be slightly higher at the bottom of the crust, and the top may start to spread out a bit, but with a large enough planet, these effects will not have any serious impact on the game.

The lag from the probably hundreds of thousands or even millions of different entities would be insane. No thanks. Don't believe me? Save a ship to the catalogue that's just a core. Spawn just 3000 (a miniscule amount compared to how many you'd get on a full sized planet) and see how that runs.

 

[jath]

You'd program the blocks to exist stuck together just like they are now, but they'd be slightly smaller in the bottom than the top. The unexposed blocks wouldn't even exist until they are revealed. Furthermore, from a distance, you'd use a poly shape in liu of any blocks. It would run just like minecraft now with a slight shape tweak. A good programmer could program it just fine.

 

[NeonSturm]

The greatest problem will be to make shots hit the block which the player aimed at.

If you can ensure this there is no problem.

 

[ResonKinetic]

I prefer how the planets currently look, personally. I think they could do with a bit more smoothing around the edges (maybe allow a little bit of overlap?), but I like the dodecahedron look.

Also, plonking that link in there early is important, because every thread on planets eventually turns to "starmaid should have SPEARICLE PLANITS" nowadays.

that's exactly what the OP is saying: he likes dodecahedrons but wishes they were smoother around the edges.

quit getting hung up on looking for the negatives.

 

[Lecic]

You'd program the blocks to exist stuck together just like they are now, but they'd be slightly smaller in the bottom than the top. The unexposed blocks wouldn't even exist until they are revealed. Furthermore, from a distance, you'd use a poly shape in liu of any blocks. It would run just like minecraft now with a slight shape tweak. A good programmer could program it just fine.

That's not how the game works. You've either got an unbent grid, a spherical coordinates system (which doesn't work here, as shown in my earlier posted link), or millions of individual entities. We've currently got a bunch of unbent grids stuck together in a roughly spherical (dodecahedron, in this case) shape.

that's exactly what the OP is saying: he likes dodecahedrons but wishes they were smoother around the edges.

quit getting hung up on looking for the negatives.

I think we've just got a slight communication error. I want the transitions between plates to be smoother (NOT ROUNDER), instead of the small canyons we have currently. This looks a lot better with recent updates, but it could be better still. The OP wants the plates to be made rounded like the old planets in a way that makes the planet look more spherical, correct?