Bizarre but interesting idea

Sat May 20, 2006 7:25 am by Freedom9

Ok... this might be a little confusing but read anyways.

What we are all used too in freelancer, is docking at a planet
and then going through the landing sequence scene.
We are also used to jumping from one system to another.

What if....

Rather than docking at a planet.... we jump to a system, that
looks like the planet surface? I know people can import landscapes
into the game, its been done before.

Once your in the system or should we call it, the planet surface,
we can then dock, potentially.... not in one city, but a variety of
cities, all within the one system, or.. planet? And... It opens the
way for planetary warfare and since people have now figured out how
to buy spacestations, we could buy cities aswell?

Im not much of a programmer, but generating landscapes and
the textures to go with them, is a piece of cake, even I can do that.

Edited by - freedom9 on 5/20/2006 8:25:42 AM

Sat May 20, 2006 7:38 am by opwnageo

I've thought about that being a feature for Freelancer 2 if it was ever made.

I would be an interesting idea, but I doubt it's possible in Freelancer...

Sat May 20, 2006 7:42 am by Freedom9

What I know is this... some chap a year or two back made a mod for this game that allowed you to fly around in WW1 planes blasting each other, there was sky and there was landscape.

so I would like to hear some of the mod guys ideas on this, if it can be done, it would be a whooping achievement, but you know... most of my ideas for this game, dont become a reality untill years later LOL! So Im hoping im more lucky this time.

Sat May 20, 2006 7:42 am by Bejaymac

It's actually not that bizarre an idea, it could probably be done to some extent although the planets surface wouldn't be solid.

**shuffles of with a new headache**

Sat May 20, 2006 7:47 am by Freedom9

ok.... well lets suppose you import a funky landscape, proper mountains and all of that, textures, the lot...But then, put one of those Sur File thingymabobbies just above the mountain tops, so that we cant fly below it... your restricted.

Fair enough, we dont get to play cat mouse through the mountains, but at least you get a proper planet landscape with a real feel of flight.

Sat May 20, 2006 10:24 am by Bejaymac

Planet scape won't need a SUR as who's heard of bouncing off a planets surface

, death zones are whats needed. The only drawback is the more detailed you make it the more death zones will have to be worked into place.
The Texture in the starsphere can be replaced with one from a skydome to get your sky.
Make a model of a city, code it as a planet and park it on the surface then use Louva Deus's planetary beacon (invisable docking funnel) to dock with it.

Like I said not a Bizarre Idea when you think about.

**shuffles of with a new headache**

Sat May 20, 2006 5:55 pm by RimShot

yeap, i had the same idea quite some time time ago..
i even extracted some buildings from the cityscapes and made them to solid objects, however, i froze this project and didnt continue as of yet.
i remember that i ran across a rendering issue with the ground, altho it might be solved with the maximum distance hack posted in tutorials section. if not, me thinks a nebula like in the dyson systems would be required to cover it.
anyways, definitely a great idea, just has to be made right.

Sun May 21, 2006 12:33 am by erkolos

What about making an "asteroid field" with surface tiles, then you dont need to make big or many models and eventually sur files. The "asteroid field" would ofcourse be in a box zone with less height. Bases and such could may be a problem, but my suggestion is to just have their models high or somehow able to touch ground.

<edit>

By the way, I would love flying through narrow canyons, but only if there is a risk in it, anything else is unforgivable.

Edited by - erkolos on 5/21/2006 1:45:44 AM

Sun May 21, 2006 5:25 am by Freedom9

Once upon a time there was only one, now there is two of us, add a few more interested parties and we might have a snazzy new up and comming mod

Im gonna play around with landscapes and textures for a while, see if I can come up with a fairly large landscape that features a relativly low polygon count.

Sun May 21, 2006 9:21 am by 1001

Well, seems like Bejamac and Rimshot have found the point, since the very Dyson Sphere, and the Nomad city inside it, can actually be considered as a planet.

Either you could set up a docking ring that leads you to a place like outside the DS, so that the needed fog is the atmosphere (and you're in it), and the DS surface is actually the planet surface, and you can even dock with it! Then you can land either on your city or in a subterranean base (the Nomad city could be considered like that, or something like the inside of an asteroid).

All you need is some good texture...

EDIT: Uops! It's "Bejaymac"

Edited by - 1001 on 5/21/2006 10:26:42 AM

Sun May 21, 2006 2:30 pm by The_Big_Fish

wow this sounds cool i hope you lot figure this out

Sun May 21, 2006 2:45 pm by opwnageo

The only problem I see is the stars effect you have... those little white lines ala star trek when you move at speed. Are those able to be cut out?

Sun May 21, 2006 4:13 pm by Freedom9

Thats an excellent point about the speed trails..... I never thought about that. Hows this texture for a planet with a populated area?
Click here

I figure, by wraping this around a fairly, but not totally flat landscape mesh, it could pass as a reasonable Planet manhatten? To add additional realism, we could add some primitive objects to act as buildings. I have tried to simulate this in a 3D package
Click here - For desert type landscapes (planet pitsburg as an example) we could use google mars as a decent reference for creating the textures.

Google Mars
Click here

Edited by - freedom9 on 5/22/2006 3:47:30 AM

Mon May 22, 2006 3:10 am by Aldebaran28

Is the speed lines caused by the dust type? So if you remove the dust line from the system, would this not remove the speed lines?

Mon May 22, 2006 11:06 am by 1001

Yes, speed lines are a kind of dust, precisely the dust named "Dust"

Also, if you put your entire system in a big nebula, you can add those puffs effects (those you see when flying in clouds) to make your planetary atmosphere more realistic.

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