Space is kind of boring.

from Sins Forums
This game is a lot of fun but a lot of areas in space are just boring. And the parts of space that are different aren't really that appealing. For instance, in Sins there are areas with magnetic clouds, asteroid fields, wrecks, etc, but they're so...dull.

Is it possible to increase the special effects for these areas or something like that? Like make an asteroid field look as if it has giant floating boulders in space or even make the magnetic clouds or w/e they are called more dense in visibility/larger?

Or even, would it be possible to make it so that asteroid bases spawn in those kind of nebula-esque clouds? It would add some variety to the game.

I just need some direction on how to go about doing this. What do I have to do?

To give an idea of what I'm trying to do, I want to make something like this:

WWW Link
modding
22,852 views 26 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
You sir have inspired me, will try and get some planets in sectors that have magnetic storms as well, the nebula would give it flavor, a planet that has an additional effect in space makes an interesting gameplay element.
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
Well, thats great! How do you go about doing that though? Is galaxy forge that flexible?
Object Desktop - Get all of our enhancement utilities in one suite
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
i haven noticed any asteroid fields in this game. jsut a few scattered asteroids, not "fields". and welcome to the vastness of space. i dont know what else to say. that's the way it is....
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
I think to spice things up they should add random events, like the cataclysmic event of a rogue black hole clipping the system (for very large maps)
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
Sins is something of a simulation game. Freespace 2 doesn't really represent outer space that well. Not a good reference. If Sins isn't for you, then get out.
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
i had that idea of modding like 3 comets max, per system that would traverse each system on large eliptical orbits. but i was told it was stupid. i thought it would look cool and add even more of a sense of scale...
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
Sins is something of a simulation game. Freespace 2 doesn't really represent outer space that well. Not a good reference. If Sins isn't for you, then get out.
End of quote


I don't really care what you think because I didn't ask for your opinion. I asked for help on how I can go about doing this. If you aren't going to offer me the right direction on how to mod it the way I want it to be, then shut it.
Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
Wow touch luck man because most of space is empty and boring. So I'd have to say they did a 'realistic' representation on that part.
Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top
I like the idea of the "random" events that would occur like the black hole idea or micro meteorite showers. That would a nice touch. Well with the way the devs are these things may just happen.
Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top
Wow touch luck man because most of space is empty and boring. So I'd have to say they did a 'realistic' representation on that part.
End of quote


I don't care if it's realistic or not. Thats not the point. The point is the fact that I want to make my game like this regardless of what is realistic or not.
Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top
The Xtended Mod for the game X3 Reunion had some brilliant space scenes and special effects. Here is a link to show some of their space scenes, perhaps it can give you some ideas on how to make space more visually enticing:

http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/gaming-discussion/24110-xtended-mod-x3-reunion.html
Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top
Those are some really awesome screenshots. I would love to figure out a way to do some similiar stuff.
Reply #13 from Sins Forums Top
I like the idea of the "random" events that would occur like the black hole idea or micro meteorite showers. That would a nice touch. Well with the way the devs are these things may just happen.
End of quote



yea like if you could see micrometeors (very rarely) flashing through a planets atmosphere. that would be a nice touch.
Reply #14 from Sins Forums Top
The Xtended Mod for the game X3 Reunion had some brilliant space scenes and special effects. Here is a link to show some of their space scenes, perhaps it can give you some ideas on how to make space more visually enticing:

http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/gaming-discussion/24110-xtended-mod-x3-reunion.html
End of quote



i just read up on that game, never heard of it till now. does it run good with the patches and does it have widescreen resolutions?

fyi there's a new one coming out Q3 2008. http://www.gamespot.com/pc/sim/x3terranconflict/index.html
Reply #15 from Sins Forums Top
It doesn't cover as much as an area as I would prefer but I'll figure it out I think. I'm going to make the sparks bigger and more noticeable too.

WWW Link

I wonder if theres a way to make more colors and then randomize it.
Reply #16 from Sins Forums Top
I can't figure out how to create a large amount of particles without transperancy. I tried making the alpha channel non-existant for the plasma special effects but even then it's transparent...And the reason why I want to figure out how to get rid of it is because of this:



I think it is part of the engine which is causing this (one of the .fx files). Any ideas on how to make it so that the particles do not blend and rather have them be transparent only by their alpha channels?
Reply #17 from Sins Forums Top

Sins is something of a simulation game. Freespace 2 doesn't really represent outer space that well. Not a good reference. If Sins isn't for you, then get out.
End of quote


Fair enough - but wouldn't it be the best of both worlds if it was possible to make a mod to change it between the two?
Reply #18 from Sins Forums Top
Actually, I have a new idea for this. Is there a way so that the skybox changes whenever you enter a plasma storm?
Reply #19 from Sins Forums Top
Sins is something of a simulation game. Freespace 2 doesn't really represent outer space that well. Not a good reference. If Sins isn't for you, then get out.
End of quote


Sins isnt a simulation of space lol. Where are the supernovas? Where are the planetary nebulas? etc. Space Empires V is probably the closest thing to a space simulator there is right now, and thats not very simulation'ish :P
Reply #21 from Sins Forums Top
Sins is something of a simulation game. Freespace 2 doesn't really represent outer space that well. Not a good reference. If Sins isn't for you, then get out.
End of quote


o rly? That must be why I see Ice planets closer to the sun than terrestrial or desert planets all the time, then right? Because it's realistic?

I'm all for realism, but Sins isn't that realistic in terms of space. Still very fun, though.
Reply #22 from Sins Forums Top
Theres several minor penalties/bonuses the appear up on planets such as porous core for decreased gravity well size, expert miners for bonus metal extraction, etc. If the same system was carried to the gravity well/tactical grid level that would be lots of fun and spice up space combat. For example an asteroid system could give fighter/bomber squads a big defensive boost since they can dart and weave between rocks and slow movement to bigger ships as they try to avoid getting hit. Just little things to change it up a bit.
Reply #23 from Sins Forums Top
Ahh freespace2, ill never forget that game. Ill also never forget flying around and coming face to face with a destroyer that i couldnt see 10 feet ago due to the nebula effects. Might take a peek at freelancer for some ideas as well.

There are several things going on in the neublas in sins, if you watch closely you do see lightning and such. Increasing the texture size might do something to help, however most fx or sprites/2d polygons games use for effects have a limit. Might help to check out the "PlanetPlasmaStorm.particle" file to see how they code.

Ill play around with this a bit and post my results ..er if ya want.

Reply #24 from Sins Forums Top
Yeah, I have an idea of what I need to do. The effect of a super dense nebula/storm cannot be achieved really with -just- the plasma particle effects (which I tried doing in the pictures I posted). The reason why is because the sheer amount required slows down the game/does really weird things with the engine because it tries to blend all them since they are somewhat transparent, so the colors get blended until it's pure white.

My idea is this:
1) Make it so that plasma storms have their own skybox ( a super cloudy skybox )
2) Use static fog effects. If you look closely in gravity wells with planets, you can see clouds of fog/dust (either one but the texture is simply called 'fog'). If I can recolor that and make it so that plasma storms have tons of those it should give the effect we're looking for.

Of course, particle effects would still play a major part of the plasma storm to give it that interior 'swirling' look to it but the storm will not be made exclusively of particle effects.

Anyways, any idea how to go about doing this? Do I have to use some sort of 3D modeling tool to get the job done? I sent an email to Ironclad asking for some pointers and hopefully they will get back to me. I really want to get this done but I Just need some direction.

I did increase the size of those textures and I didn't really notice anything different unfortunately.
Reply #25 from Sins Forums Top
ive had a bit of success.



i have not been able to change the skybox when you zoom in to an area, just the one for the star. Ill look into this more when i get back from work.

vol