Possible new idea?

[wd-40]

This comes straight from my heart...because I could find myself using this thing daily. Especially in fortress.....maybe it could be a fortress only change. I think it also works well to many other players, especially with our odd camera angles.

How about creating some sort of "beam" that is semi-trasparent (opaque) color customized of course, that would emit straight out in front of the cycle for up to 5 grid lengths or something like that. I find myself running into the very edge of walls that have been broken or even sometimes corners when I'm trying to be on the wall when I turn on it to keep from using rubber. Having a feature like this would help us determine where we will be after a turn or when trying to go through a hole in a wall. That way if it shows that the cycle will collide, we can correct and stay alive.

[Z-Man]

We have such a thing in the code, but it isn't activated in the regular distributions. It's eating quite a lot of performance because it's using pixel shaders to render the beam. And, of course, it's hopelessly faked The other cycles get a light, too, so you can see who is following you as well.

We can experimentally compile it in for one of the next alphas.

[Jonathan]

Actually that pixel shader isn't all that heavy. Sure, it's not like drawing simpler things, but it seems to me that any GPU capable of pixel shading can do this at good framerates as long as it doesn't have to draw many millions of pixels (i.e. many headlights filling the screen, drawn over each other - we could reduce the chances of that happening by reducing the maximum draw distance).

I found all those sensors to be more of a problem once the grid gets filled. Any insights in the grid data structure? I still haven't bothered to read through the heaps of code.

If it's going towards a real release, it definitely needs error checking (pixel shader support checking) and probably some cleaning up.

[Tank Program]

Or depending on level replace it with a simple line?

[Jonathan]

I was already thinking about that, but the idea seemed too obvious (and trivial to implement) to me that I simply didn't mention it. It'd be like a laser beam that's visible somehow without anything to reflect off (also without losing power), and grows/shrinks depending on the distance from the viewpoint, emitting more light when it's large. Scary!

[wd-40]

when this feature gets turned back on ill be the first to try it out (not really) but at least now i know it wasnt such a stupid idea since it was already in the existing code. a simple line would work also....i think basically its only useful to those of us that have the custom camera where the camera may sit back further than normal. i keep mine this way and it helps when someone is coming up from behind i can see them a lot quicker than i would with the smart cam for instance...

[Luke-Jr]

I want sensors that warn me when someone is about to attack. And a smarter chat bot that keeps me alive. That way I can just hit Esc when I see the warning and avoid dying.

[Phytotron]

Yeah, I think there should be something that would significantly reduce or completely eliminate any need for timing and aim on the part of players. Likewise for having to pay attention to your surroundings.

[wd-40]

i sense a bit of sarcasm.........i dont see you popping any ideas out of your head....and besides.....it obviously isnt too stupid of an idea if the code is already there

[Phytotron]

Yeah, sorry, I'm new. I've never suggested anything before.

(And by the way, my comment wasn't specifically about the headlight feature. It was a response in line with Luke-jr's comment (unless I misread it).)