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+--- Thread: "Scale" planets and such (/showthread.php?tid=94213)
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"Scale" planets and such - Rusty_Raven - 02-16-2013
I was wondering if it might be possible to make "scale" systems and planets. I put scale in quotations because I realize if everything was to actual scale the game would be all traveling from place to place and nothing else.
Anyways, what I was thinking about was something g similar to what was done with scaling in Freelancer: Combat evolved mod, I anyone has played that (its been dead for awhile) but instead of scaling the ship models down would it e pissible to scale the planet, some asteroids and distance up?
Any feedback would be welcome I'm really trying to see if this is a realistic idea that I would try to persue and build a demo system of.
RE: "Scale" planets and such - Jinx - 02-16-2013
i think i heard that overlarge objects may break or mess with the engine. - planets that are not even close to - but belieably huge would need to be painted on the starboxes rather than modelled - which reduces the systems to represent just a fraction of the orbit of a planet - not to mention an entire system.
everything in that respect would need to remain a compromise - so things might get larger - but by no means closer to realism.
however - even if overlarge objects and enormous distances may work. - it would require every system to be rebuild, rebalanced.
if that was done - the effect might be that playerinteractions become much rarer. - in the vastness of space, meeting another person becomes a lot harder than in compressed space.
all in all - it might look good for the the occasion of "feeling in space" but it severely hurts the gameplay of both - the action and the roleplay/interaction.
games with near realistic sizes:
- elite frontier - that one makes a serious attempt at realistic distances and sizes
- nexus ( well, thats a compromise )
if you try either of them, you ll see how interaction cannot really happen much on a spontanous basis. in elite: frontier, when you travel with several AU/second, you can imagine that dogfights cannot happen at those speeds. dogfights, the heart of freelancer, happen at extremely low speeds ( cause it reflects ww1 combat rather than anything else ) - ships that can travel real distances cannot be shot down that way.
RE: "Scale" planets and such - Remilia Scarlet - 02-18-2013
There was a game called "the war tomorrow" made after the book with more or less realistic planets where you have to approach it, enter the atmosphere and then land somewhere at surface in the end. All by yourself.
However I doubt something can be done to freelancer in that field because of the, probable, engine limitations and also because of the, certain, lack of the source code.
Actual footage without payment and sms
RE: "Scale" planets and such - Mayazcherquoi - 02-18-2013
Flying into the atmosphere of a planet/satellite and landing isn't possible. But I doubt that the engine would deny having larger planets, as long as their poly count is kept within its limits (or, go the opposite direction, and scale everything else down).
RE: "Scale" planets and such - Cris - 02-18-2013
Scaling planets would require to relocate everything else; means that the next mod version would be released in 10 years.
RE: "Scale" planets and such - jonfreelanc - 02-18-2013
I agree with this. the scaling in Freelancer is one of the things that I have a bit of issue with but it's not a huge thing. but any time you come near a planet you can notice it. not so much with the larger planets but definitely with the smaller planets
this is nothing next to the suns though. the scaling of them is just blatantly bad. the suns should all be off to one side of the system so you can't get near them. if you wanted player interaction around them you could have "dwarf stars" as well in the system to play around. this is why I like systems with lots of little stars. one example is nagano
I haven't played the Freeworlds mod but in that one it seems the planets are all much larger and the suns are off to one side so the layout of the systems is much better.
realistically I think a lot of planets could be fixed without much effort. all you would have to do is just scale them up and move them back as many don't have lanes on all sides. you would need to adjust the docking ring maybe. you could also move them off z a bit.
RE: "Scale" planets and such - Rusty_Raven - 02-28-2013
I'm not talking about actual scale planets here, just something bigger perhaps along the lines of something like 10-15k in diameter. I'd like to see something large enough to make me feel smaller or like I'm actually in space, but not so large to where it would cause problems or be a HUGE issue to think about putting in the game.
RE: "Scale" planets and such - Alvin - 02-28-2013
Is it possible to shrink the size ships, and station smaller instead? and maybe have the camera zoomed more than than normal ?
RE: "Scale" planets and such - Jinx - 02-28-2013
it is possible - but impractical
if - lets say - you shrink everything by 50% - things get impossible to hit - if you reduce speeds ( shots, and ship speeds ) by 50%, too - you still need range - reduce that, too....
then you come to solar obstructions - like battleships in asteroids. - right now - they pose an obstruction - that would not be there at half the size - hence an advantage.
also - balance is not linear - reducing every stat by 50% does not work.
all in all - even IF it worked it would be a huge amount of work
- models
- hardpoints
- effects
- NPC scripts
and more
and all jsut to get ships vs. planets a "bit" more realistic - but nowhere near realistic. - so you d end up with just another compromise - just like we have now.
the idea is good - but more applicable to a really new game developement not so much for a seasoned mod.
RE: "Scale" planets and such - Luscinia Hafez - 03-30-2013
Seeing a border station that's smaller than a destroyer is very jarring.