[MOD] Lower Poly Asteroids v2.04: Less Fat, More FPS [UPDATED 03.05.07]

Schabernack · Post by **Schabernack** » Thu, 26. Apr 07, 14:27

k

i could have made the list bit shorter and say look at arcana75s sig

to the factories, what about the "reduced bodies" which i have read shortly about http://www.xwiki.chaos.net.nz/index.php/Body
how could they be activated? how can i see if there are any?
how can i proof that they fit to my needs?

arcana75 · Post by **arcana75** » Fri, 27. Apr 07, 04:05

I may be wrong in this, but I think that refers to LOD, or Level of Detail, where models are swapped or polys are reduced based on distance. If I'm not wrong, LOD is usually hardcoded into the engine.

But the models themselves aren't I think. I suppose it's possible to replace all the LOD models with the lowest LOD model. Like how most texture replacement mods (in other games like Oblivion) replace the entire mipmap with lighter versions.

Modelling experts like RedSpot and doubleshadow can give insight on this.

halo112358 · Post by **halo112358** » Sat, 28. Apr 07, 12:00

You really don't want to replace everything with the lowest LOD available. The lowest LOD is usually designed to be visible when the object takes up 2-5% of the screen (often it's a vaguely shaped blob).

The default asteroid_A_ClassMine LOD 1 (highest detail) has 1700~ polygons. The last lod for a typical asteroid has around _68_. The difference is ridiculous. Yes it would run faster if you used the 68 poly version but you' wouldn't be playing X3 any longer - you'd be playing TRON.

edit:

Thanks for bringing up LOD, I realized that I destroyed most of the LOD when I created this package. The updated files have all LOD levels restored (and a couple extra LOD levels for the very low poly package). So, uh,

http://rapidshare.com/files/28350286/Lo ... 4.2007.spk
http://rapidshare.com/files/28350339/Lo ... 4.2007.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/28350380/Lo ... 4.2007.spk
http://rapidshare.com/files/28350416/Lo ... 4.2007.zip

Schabernack · Post by **Schabernack** » Sat, 28. Apr 07, 17:29

you'd be playing TRON.

hey TRON was fun to play

bcz of the facs i will go the way of Gazz
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=172847
this in combination with TCM helps a lot, too.

thx&solong

Squelch · Post by **Squelch** » Wed, 2. May 07, 12:35

Hi halo112358,

You might like to look at Boron Ore Mine M model. The collision geometry seems to have broken.

I entered Rolks Leagacy to find lots of goodies everywhere, then found everyone was crashing into them, including my Hyperion.

I'm running the latest Medium Spk. The problem goes away if I disable it.

halo112358 · Post by **halo112358** » Wed, 2. May 07, 13:00

Is the ore mine S, M or L?

Squelch · Post by **Squelch** » Wed, 2. May 07, 16:35

I did say the M flavour ore mines.

I haven't checked any other mine types yet, but the problem was present in version 1 too. I just checked back, and also made sure there were not any conlicts with other packages. Non that I can see that touch asteroids or mines.

arcana75 · Post by **arcana75** » Wed, 2. May 07, 16:49

Could the files NOT be placed in rapidshare? Ugh that's like the worst fileshare site in existence.

Could u pm or email me the spk so I could mirror them?

EDIT: O M G, I just went thru at least 50 invalid sessions and reached limits trying to download this 200KILOBYTE file on my TEN MEGABIT line... and I still haven't gotten the file

Squelch · Post by **Squelch** » Wed, 2. May 07, 17:19

Just to add to my previous post. The mine superstructure seems to have correct collision geometry. It's just the asteroid body that has gone.

I have to agree about rapidshare. Too many hoops to jump through with too many timeouts.

Mod Hosting?? topic by Endremion Has some other suggestions.

ttl · Post by **ttl** » Wed, 2. May 07, 18:30

I second Squelch. This mod breaks the collision avoidance at least with some mines. I had the low poly version, and collision avoidance returned to normal when I removed this mod. Hope this can be fixed, the idea is great.

A Teladi Ore mine M in the route between the west and south gates in Mines of Fortune has a paintjob of wreckages. Ships just ram into it without ever trying to evade. And this includes the player ship on autopilot, as I found out

halo112358 · Post by **halo112358** » Wed, 2. May 07, 22:13

I think what's happening is that the LOD bodies are slightly bigger than the default body (lod 0) - so when you're very far away from the asteroid the docking superstructure ends up inside the asteroid's collision box.

I'm going to try and fix it fully now, back soonish.

halo112358 · Post by **halo112358** » Wed, 2. May 07, 22:48

edit: hmm if this happened in v1 also then it's not a LOD related problem, I'll have a look at the medium ore mine scene file.

Have any of you seen this behavior on other mines or is it exclusive to medium ore mines?

edit2: I think I found the problem, have a look:

[ external image ]

see how the rotation for all but one of the bodies is off? I'll fix this ASAP

Squelch · Post by **Squelch** » Thu, 3. May 07, 00:05

I'm glad I read the last edit before trying it.

halo112358 wrote: edit2: I think I found the problem, have a look:

[ external image ]

see how the rotation for all but one of the bodies is off? I'll fix this ASAP

Ha!

That would explain the ship doing a shimmie as though it was avoiding at first, before ploughing into it.

arcana75 · Post by **arcana75** » Thu, 3. May 07, 00:14

Remember to modify ur 1st post!

Squelch · Post by **Squelch** » Thu, 3. May 07, 00:48

It's worth pointing out (for those that don't use Cycrow's package installer) that the archived downloads contain Cat/Dat pairs which are already numbered. These should be changed to the next highest number in the X3 root folder.

If you don't, you might overwrite another mod's files.

halo112358 · Post by **halo112358** » Thu, 3. May 07, 04:20

I'll post back when I have something for people to test (and I've tested it myself), until then you can do one of two things.

A: Disable the patch

B: open the cat/dat files and rename the asteroid_A_ClassMine and asteroid_B_ClassMine files to something else (I usually just put a couple of __ at the beginning of the file name). The game will use the default files once you do this.

Sorry for the inconvenience, I'm working to fix it.

arcana75 · Post by **arcana75** » Thu, 3. May 07, 05:24

I didn't know the mines use the same models as the roids... exactly how many roid models are there?

While u're at it, *could* be cool if u changed the S mines to use smaller roids with M and L bigger and biggest...

halo112358 · Post by **halo112358** » Thu, 3. May 07, 06:25

I'd like to replicate the problem locally so I can work on it, I'm having trouble finding any broken mines in my game.

Can someone send me a save file to test? Send a pm, I'll also need to know which mine you've found that is broken.

For now I'd rename the asteroid_A_ClassMine and asteroid_B_ClassMine files inside the .cat, that will solve the problem for you until I can figure out why the collision geometry is off.

ugh

arcana75 wrote:I didn't know the mines use the same models as the roids... exactly how many roid models are there?

While u're at it, *could* be cool if u changed the S mines to use smaller roids with M and L bigger and biggest...

You're forgetting that size only dictates the size of the factory, not the rock, you can build a small mine on a 63 yeild asteroid

Squelch · Post by **Squelch** » Thu, 3. May 07, 13:00

halo112358 wrote:I'd like to replicate the problem locally so I can work on it, I'm having trouble finding any broken mines in my game.

Can someone send me a save file to test? Send a pm, I'll also need to know which mine you've found that is broken.

For now I'd rename the asteroid_A_ClassMine and asteroid_B_ClassMine files inside the .cat, that will solve the problem for you until I can figure out why the collision geometry is off.

I'd gladly send a savgame, but it might not be as simple as that.

For it to work you will need the same mods and patches as I use. The best thing I can suggest, is for me to disable or remove as many patches as possible before making the save in an attempt to make it easier to trace, or start a new clean game to see if the problem is still there. If it is, great, otherwise it's going to be difficult.

The M type mines I have noticed the problem on are in Rolks Legacy. One in particular, Ore Mine Gamma, which is near the west gate and roughly on the ecliptic. If an autopilot course is set to fly to the opposite side from the west gate, the ship will first manoever as though it's avoiding, before flying directly into it.

This is the only test I know of short of seeing other ships fly into mines. The problem may have been long standing but I have only just recently noticed it. Disabling the LPA restores normal behaviour, so it's probably safe to assume it is not an autopliot problem.

Don't beat yourself up over this. This patch definately improves performance, and I will continue to support and help wherever I can.

arcana75 · Post by **arcana75** » Thu, 3. May 07, 13:16

halo112358 wrote:
arcana75 wrote:I didn't know the mines use the same models as the roids... exactly how many roid models are there?

While u're at it, *could* be cool if u changed the S mines to use smaller roids with M and L bigger and biggest...
You're forgetting that size only dictates the size of the factory, not the rock, you can build a small mine on a 63 yeild asteroid

No I didn't

I guess I didn't word it right. I meant, all mines appear as big ass mines on big ass asteroids, regardless of the size of the original asteroid.

It would be cool if the original size of the roid were taken into account when building the mine.