Wedges, corners, pentas etc for all building blocks!

[aceface]

Pentas, tetras, corners, and wedges should be available for

- all crystals
- all lights
- plex doors
- hazard stripes
- meshes & grills

 

[OtaOtakulos]

And for the Plex Door!

 

[FunnyBunny14]

Way too many block IDs. Until they increase the max amount of block IDs, I'm voting no.

 

[jayman38]

It would be interesting if the devs could somehow uncouple the Block ID from shapes, and make a shape modifier. However, I don't think it works that way. I'm just saying: it would be nice to have a universal shape system for all blocks without overloading the Block IDs.

 

[NeonSturm]

Way too many block IDs. Until they increase the max amount of block IDs, I'm voting no.

Not if you throw away 5 rotation and 3 HP bits for 2x2x2 sub-blocks worth 3 hp bits (take damage = lose sub-blocks).
Now you can make any shape with 1 block ID - even thin 0.5m walls, 2-edge pentas, diagonal double-wedges...

• You can edit blocks in build mode without needing to rotate them and the shape is dependent on which sub-blocks are set.
• Smooth vs blocky look is dependent on ID

1. Not rotatable full-blocks (like logic blocks) will now have 9 activation bits (a full byte and 1 extra)
2. Rotatable Blocks/Wedges could use 1 bit for wedge/block, 3 or 5 for rotation and 3 bits for rgb light in just one block ID - full blocks still have 2 activation bits left for something else.
3. Free blocks have 1 activation bit and 8 sub-blocks (for more shapes than just wedge/block)

Read more: http://starmadedock.net/threads/1-byte-for-8-sub-blocks-shape-and-byte-logic.2395/

 

[aceface]

Way too many block IDs. Until they increase the max amount of block IDs, I'm voting no.

is there a max amount?

 

[Megacrafter127]

is there a max amount?

Yes, currently it's 1024 I think.

 

[FunnyBunny14]

It apparently has to do with the way the game is coded. Don't worry too much about it, the devs know about it and they probably will fix it before it becomes an issue, but until then, we might want to be careful about how we spend those IDs. The new update got the number of IDs to over 520, so we are starting to get a bit too close for comfort (that is my opinion at least).

Edit: Keep in mind that the devs support mods, and mods will use a lot of IDs, so they are almost certainly going to fix it.

 

[OdraNoel]

So starmade also has a block ID issue like minecraft? id of thought something like that would have been resolved by now :/

Edit: ninjaed by funnybunny

 

[FunnyBunny14]

Well, strictly speaking minecraft had ID issues. In the 1.7 update IDs no longer are just numbers but a string of words combined with a number. Don't know exactly how it works, but mods can no longer conflict unless someone wants them to conflict. Something similar in starmade would be great, but not necessary. More item IDs would work too.

 

[NeonSturm]

IDs are always numbers. If they are words+numbers, they are mapped to numbers (aka compiled) when-ever the game starts. Else it would be a performance sink.

I don't know why we use 3 bytes per block. 4 bytes are much more comfortable. Probably the forth bit is a secret
Or the reason is the negative-sign issue... but then why do we notl use 7 of the first 8 bits?

 

[Lecic]

IDs are always numbers. If they are words+numbers, they are mapped to numbers (aka compiled) when-ever the game starts. Else it would be a performance sink.

I don't know why we use 3 bytes per block. 4 bytes are much more comfortable. Probably the forth bit is a secret
Or the reason is the negative-sign issue... but then why do we notl use 7 of the first 8 bits?

If we used 4 bytes per block instead of 3, memory usage would rapidly increase. Instead of using 30,000 bytes for a 10,000 block ship, you're using 40,000. The disparity only gets larger with bigger and bigger ships.

On topic, that would be quite a lot of IDs, and I'm not sure if we really even need all of those...

 

[ToyotaSupra]

I would love this so much, but you know it ain't happening because of MUH LIMITED ID's

 

[NeonSturm]

If we used 4 bytes per block instead of 3, memory usage would rapidly increase. Instead of using 30,000 bytes for a 10,000 block ship, you're using 40,000. The disparity only gets larger with bigger and bigger ships.

On topic, that would be quite a lot of IDs, and I'm not sure if we really even need all of those...

Don't just assume that it is only for IDs every time.

Why do we need 8 HP bits?

Only hardened uses all 8 and only hull+plex-stuff uses 7 and can get reduced to 6 easily by compensating with armour. But there are 8.
We would only need 2.25 byte per block if hp are stored per 2x2x2 blocks :p​

Just imagine what we could do with 4 activation bits! 1/2 complex logic circuit size. 1/8 hull/glass/crystal/... IDs if you use 3 of them as "ID-extension" for colors - even an LED block with RGB-bits (for 8 possible colors)​

 

[Lecic]

Don't just assume that it is only for IDs every time.

Why do we need 8 HP bits?

Only hardened uses all 8 and only hull+plex-stuff uses 7 and can get reduced to 6 easily by compensating with armour. But there are 8.
We would only need 2.25 byte per block if hp are stored per 2x2x2 blocks :p​

Just imagine what we could do with 4 activation bits! 1/2 complex logic circuit size. 1/8 hull/glass/crystal/... IDs if you use 3 of them as "ID-extension" for colors - even an LED block with RGB-bits (for 8 possible colors)​

Have the devs commented on this suggested system to massively reduce block IDs? And can you provide a link or a quote, if they have?

 

[NeonSturm]

Calbiri commented in http://starmadedock.net/threads/1-byte-for-8-sub-blocks-shape-and-byte-logic.2395/
But I guess Calbiri is the wrong person for this kind of stuff.

 

[Vikarious]

If the devs are willing to add so many new block IDs just for different coloured glass... then why not add more shapes for existing blocks? I mean... I'd choose crystal wedges and plex door wedges over coloured glass any time

 

[NeonSturm]

YOU
I like it.
Just imagine a dark glass in front of a Plex light to make it less bright.

If we currently use 5 different shapes we need 2.25 bits ID. Orientation is 5 bit. All possible shapes only need 8 bit.
I guess we are getting it when Schema realized that and figured out and how ID and orientation bits can be combined dependent on block type.

 

[jayman38]

Just imagine a dark glass in front of a Plex light to make it less bright.

This might be a GREAT way to get the same effect with fewer Block IDs! White light + blue glass = Blue light. The only problem would be it uses much more space for the same effect. The devs will probably only consider this reduction in Blocks worthwhile if we are running out of the Block IDs.

 

[aceface]

just saying but the yogscast complete pack (a minecraft modpack) has over 40 000 different blocks/items