Prims, Ships, Systems, Scripts, etc.

Hi Xav. Well, Alia said she is offering us a ship design and Id like to try it out. Its liw prim cost so should be a good thing.

We need the fighters and transport built, I asked Leslie Lightworker if she was up to the challenge. She seemed interested. Ive got a Mk VII model fully scripted to a combat system like what BSG82 is using. Alia recommended it, said its easy to mod and full perm, I passed it along to Anax, I suggest contacting him.

What I know were building is an arena/training area for the Patriot Games though if we get a low interest in that portion of the game we can do away with it.

In a perfect setting, we would start with your Hades model only. Maybe put Mercury away at first. Then we gain the ship Alia is building, which is the ship mentioned in the Stardust Stories intro. So the Rustbucket and the new ship (open to names) go out and retrieve fuel from the asteroid belt and eventually test the FTL drive on both the newly built ship and the salvaged/repaired Galactica. This brings us the Cylons, which is another build that I havnt even thought about much. First things first right? Im figuring we have something cool we can use.

We will need a Cylon like avatar. Im figuring that in all the time between Earth one and the Colonies, the Centurions didnt change much. Contrary to critics opinions, even in the series, after all that time the Cylon they found looked similar to Cylons in the Colonies. So Cylons are not known for much change.

Im pretty sure serp has the pistols and rifles were wanting. We will need equipment like holsters and stuff. Also need uniforms and of course, the technical details like groups made, character backgrounds and someone to watch the day to day stuff to keep out the griefers and trouble makers

Its a big list. I know it seems impossible, but Battlestar Pacifica had to start off with nothing and build up, it can be done, but I know its a lot.

Oh before I forget, the Cylons will eventually get into it with us. This will heavily damage Hades abd we will return to Earth to repair her. Thats when we find out about tge Mercury (open to renaming her Genesis)

Thats the ship we use for the rest of the game unless we can get both genesis and hades somehow redone as mesh modeks cutting the prim cost down so we can actually have multiple battlestars

Cool. I would like to make my own primary focus something a little different than what I have focussed on in the past, and I may need a little help to pull it off. Before I had been pulled away from BSG with real life work I had been working on a fully rezzable Mercury class battlestar, which I think I have about 95% done, making it jump capable(easy), trying to get small ships inside the pods to jump with the battlestar (not so easy), and creating an interactive damage control system that would keep non-pilots busy during combat and non-combat scenarios (almost ready). Its the damage control system that really interests me……

The damage control system is complex in the sense that I need to get “control” items to rezz in the right spot, create a logical order for the repair of typical ship systems, and manage to cause more problems if the “damage” is just ignored. I don’t think this sort of interactive stuff has been done yet in any of the role play sims, so I think it would be to our advantage to figure something like this out and have a working model. I have tons of ideas regarding this, and if we are planning to use something like the spellfire hud system that I can interact with by using the right channel and the right code then the sky is the limit with our level of interaction. Fires that do damage. Radiation leaks that poison. Non-lethal damage. Lethal damage. Fatigue. Its on like Donkey Kong. But, I need to know what we are going to be working with as far as personal huds go, and what our planes will be using for a combat system.

Well for combat system stuff, I think maybe we defer to you on what you think us best. I suppose you can ask Ito or Alia how they did it, since shes been uber helpful. Shes really nice, so if she can help with suggestions, Im sure she will.

I like your ideas. Run with them and lets see what we come up with. Since this whole project is a shot in the dark anyhow, we may as well aim for the fence. If you can just do a little favor…

The ships we use will be British Space Agency. If you can maybe change the logos from Colonial to BSA and from Colonies flags and stuff to the Union Jack. After all, this whole thing revolves around Earth (space joke, get it? Revolves…) then it should look and feel Earth like.

While we arnt out to compete with anyone, this whole thing being rather unique, its still nice to know we offer something really new and challenging. Best of luck to the other BSG sims, but nobody else is even close to trying a continuation style storyline so really we have no competition. Hopefully, if our sim operates, meter wise and all, similar to Alia’s sim, then players might migrate back and forth feeling familiar with the way things work. As far as spellfire, Im not sure if we should use that. There are some who might use it as a way to cry foul and claim we stoled this or that and try to make drama. Is there another way to do it, perhaps with another meter or something? The first rule we need to operate under is, avoid drama.

I know it sucks, but this whole project is only possible because of past drama. Too many people wanting to take credit for this or that, but not this time. It doesnt matter who did what or gets credit for any of this, our sim isnt going to be about who did what. Lets just build it and we can all take credit with having built something that we enjoy. And if nobody ahows up on opening day and it doesnt take off, at least we had fun trying something truly new in BSG and we can enjoy it ourselves.

So I guess, do what you gotta do, but if we can avoid any unintentional brushs with less friendly sims over some claim of this or that, then lets try to avoid it. Let them find their drama elsewhere. We are here to play and have fun not sing the same tired old songs.

If anyone knows a way to do what you wanna do that wouldnt give anyone the opening to start drama, then go with that, but if we must use spellfire, then I suppose we must. Ok?

We are not locked into using Spellfire, but a system with similar interactive capabilities is what I would prefer. With Spellfire I can create all sorts of interesting problems for the players.

As far as the planes/vipers/raiders go, are we using the old scripting that Agent Tairov did? I have no problem with using the old scripts, but they often times are complex and not easy to modify without a great deal of effort from those of us that do not share Agent’s level of skill with scripts.

As you can tell, I have tons of questions. Who is the current lead builder, and when can we have a builder’s meeting to determine who is capable of doing what? Are we semi-organized yet? I feel like I have been out of the loop far too long. I would seriously like to get together with the builders as soon as possible.

Well if you get ahold of anax he has a full perm copy of my viper with the scripting. You can use that scripting. If you need help with it, you can contact Alia or Ito.

Im asking Tex Kelberwitz to try coordinating things. Hes online more and as long as we let him know what we need, he can try to make it happen.

I dunno who is technically in charge. Ive been going under the concept of “if nobody cares who gets credit, its amazing what can get done”. Maybe we dont have a true leader. I think were all mature enough to just do what we can and trust others to do what should be done.

If anyone wants to be in charge say so. Its sorta just an honorific since were all pretty much doing the best we can anyhow.

Is anyone besides you and I following these posts, Lindsay? Where is all the chatter?

Yea it can seem that way. Were sorta unorganized and kinda catch as catch can. Im sure things will start to come together as we get into this. Big projects can be intimidating at first but as things get done and people start feeling like it can really get done, I think more people will get active. But yea, at first its going to be the few who are really wanting to make it all work.

It would be simple if all we were doing is recycling props and only changing the setting, but to build a whole new world (so to speak) will be harder and is scary. But in the end, wether we succeed or fail, at least we dared to try. Audacity at its finest!

*waves* I’m here! LOL

I built the ground build. (Ok – can’t take credit for all the “builds” – but… HAHAHA) I do hope that the “feel” of the build is atleast close to what was imagined. I had tried to get answers about what was wanted and then went with my gut feeling. Of course, one of my main objectives was to keep the prims down as much as possible. Some of the buildings are “multi-function” – I just don’t know what functions they need to multi. That is why they are not furnished.

I am currently building (what I hope is) the training area/arena for the Patriot Games at home. I know I’m not in anybody’s way with my prims there. LOL Since the plans are for it to be in a rezzer I have to make sure all of the prims are atleast copy. That’s no problem with the build itself because, well, they are my prims and I can set’em however I wanna. *stomps foot*

The only problems I see in the horizon are the same ones that Xav faces with jumpable ships: any no-mod objects. If a rez-script can’t be put inside, they can’t be rezzed/derezzed. So it means looking for/making low-prim items to flesh out the inside of the build. My goal is to stay under 100 prims in total – but I do have a definite feeling that ain’t happening (I’m at 40 without having set up any living quarters). Which leaves me to ask: How many prims should I aim to stay under for that build?

Xav: I’ll definitely be looking towards you for ideas and possibilities to set up stuff for the training area in form of what we can add as animations. For instance, I noticed in one of the pics that they were doing “jungle gym” type excersizes for instance. Before I go out looking for stuff I’d like to coordinate what is already available. And what is even needed.

Good ideas. I defer to xav and the builders/scripters when it comes to builds because I dont gave the experience to make those decisions. Not sure but I doubt I have the authority either lol

Well, if anybody else out there decides to read this and wants to be proactive, I am looking to start gathering a collection of simple, seemingly mundane (full perm) items that I can add some coding to so that it will be interactive with the players. This of course assumes that we will stick to spellfire huds for the time being. I will give a few examples of items and what we could make them effect on the spellfire hud. I am sure we can come up with tons of other ideas for items too….

Healing: Morphine Needle, First Aid Kit, Medical Bed
Resurrection: First Aid Kit? Adrenaline Needle?
Damage: Falling Beams, Falling Pipes
Fire Damage: Burning Barrels, Fuel spills, Electrical Cables`
Stamina – : Time spent in work zones, also could be used as non-lethal damage (boxing)
Stamina + : Bunks, Chairs, Time in Rest Areas
Poison: Chemical Spill, Radiation Leak
Food + : Time in Mess Hall, Food Trays, Military MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat)

These represent a only a few of the many possibilities. The Damage Control System That I am working on can rezz the items listed above. Some of the items could be placed on timers, or require the players to do something to repair the problem such as go to a specific location and find the valve to shut of the fuel flow through a pipe to stop a fire. But, that is just one example. Other examples that I think might be interesting include coming up with an actual procedure that players must follow to get the reactor going, or repair the FTL, run here or there to get tools and parts, turn valves, switch electrical panels on or off…. etc.

Of course, this requires me to think my way through every conceivable scenario with the ship’s systems and come up with logical locations for the interactive rezz items to appear, and create an order for the repair tasks to follow. Additionally, to sometimes throw a monkey wrench into the mix of typical repairs, a second Damage Control System can be running in the background which could rezz scripted “blocker” prims over the rezzed repair items from the main Damage Control System to simulate unforseen problems that must be dealt with before a repair can fully occur. Let me see if I can give you guys a decent example….

The Battlestar gets hit by a barrage of missiles from some cylon raiders. One of those missiles happens to trigger a short curcuit in the back-up power feed for the FTL drive. This is a problem that will go unnoticed because technically the FTL is still online. However, lets pretend that later on the Battlestar gets attacked a second time and some lucky Cylon Raider gets a missile hit that damages the main power feed for the FTL drive. Our unknowing deck-hands follow the procedures for a quick repair to get the FTL active, which might involve rerouting power through the back-up system. Our deck-hands go from electrical panel to electrical panel switching things on and off and just when they think they have the problem solved they throw a switch and the electrical panel bursts into flames, possibly injuring some of them. Then, in order to get the FTL running, they need to repair that electrical panel before they can proceed, which may involve them running around to get parts. The goal is to create events that inject possibilities for role play. Injured deck-hands would need to go to Sick-Bay, or Medical personnel would need to go down to the FTL room, etc.

Thoughts?????

Xav: All I can say is “WOW”.

If anybody has some free time and would like to help me with the damage control stuff regarding specific ship systems, please let me know. What I am looking for is a general list of problems that could occur with each system and some logical steps to fix those problems. These problems can range from simple to complex, but I would suggest starting with one particular system and think it all the way through.

Example of a Simple Problem:
Tylium Reactor is running hot. Possible solutions include: Increasing coolant flow through the reactor. Reducing Tylium flow into the Reactor. Reducing the strength of the magnetic containment field.

Each one of the solutions above would probably include a simple walk over to the correct control panel and touching it. But, if there was an unknown secondary problem then it would involve a few extra steps.

Example of a Simple Problem with a Minor Secondary Issue:
Tylium Reactor is running hot, and a secondary coolant pump motor is not working so additional coolant cannot be added.

Now, the other 2 ways to fix the problem would still work and bring the reactor temperature down. But, if the deck-hands chose to add more coolant they would have discovered the secondary problem and they would be kind of obligated to get it fixed. A Major Secondary Issue might include something like a stuck pressure relief valve. When the deck hands went to add more reactor coolant they might get a message that there is a pressure spike in the coolant system. If they do not go and turn the right valves then the result might be a burst pipe spewing reactor coolant or steam across the engine room. This could result in burns or chemical poisoning for our unfortunate deck-hands.

Example of a Major Problem:
Tylium Reactor Scrammed and needs a complete restart. The solution requires a complex series of steps that must be performed in an exact order. Example: Prime the Coolant Pumps. Transfer Battery Power to Reactor Coils. Initiate Magnetic Containment Field. Start Coolant Flow. Start Tylium Flow. Increase Magnetic Containment Field Strength. Monitor Tylium Plasma Temperature. Direct Hot Coolant to the Main Generators. Bring Main Generators online. Feed Generator power Back to Reactor. Relay Generator power to the rest of the ship.

That was the procedure to restart the reactor. Now Imagine if there were some secondary problems thrown in there. In a combat scenario it would become a race to get the reactor back online so that the ship could jump out of harms way. So, the deck-hands get to be the ones that save the day for a change.

If you have read this far and are still awake, feel free to come up with problems and solutions for any ship system you can think of, from Life Support right on down to Waste Water Storage. (I hear pilots can get irritable when they don’t have hot water for their showers.)

Worked on making the Battlestar jump able today. So far, 60 parts out of about 125 are done. This will take a little while. Bear with me.

A question about the living quarters for the arena: Is it more military boot camp/barracks style, college dorms, or a fancy place with separate bedrooms, etc. And, how many people are on one team? (I have the arena planned out for 2 teams atm. I sorta need to know now for sure how many there are/will be to reconfigure the build.

I would suggest planning for 2 teams to start with, and then seeing how popular it gets. We could always decide to expand to more teams from there. Could you make a modular build so that additional quarters could simply be dropped out?

As for the living quarters, I would suggest keeping it as spartan as possible, unless we are expecting people to rent rooms. (Usually doesn’t happen on the scale we would like.) I would suggest dormitory style to try and keep people together for role play. But, I am not really certain of what was envisioned for arena and the players involved.

Worked on making the Battlestar jump able today. So far, 100 parts out of about 125 are done. This will take a little while. Bear with me.

In my storyline, I didnt include any teams in the Patriot Games training. The “Patriots” train individually and compete to the last Patriot in the arena. If they form teams in the Arena, they face the awkward moment when they are the only ones left and must disband and fight to the death amongst each other.

As for other builds, I was wondering, Rhonda, is there enough room left to make the ground build look something like a future London? The initial setting, in my mind at least, was set in England. Maybe it can be in some place like Cardiff? Just wondering.

Lindsay

a) So basically it is one open training area? And one large dorm for the players? One common area? And one access to the arena? And the arena: an arena like the movie poster (colloseum type)? Or more of a big rocky, foresty area with no spectators?

b) The problem is not (really) the room – it’s the prims. And finding the appropriate builds – especially with low prims (and yes, prices). I will go through what is out and try to find something by and by to replace the present buildings to look more English. I’d say it’s mainly the residential buildings that look “American”. Since there are no signs etc. for the roads, it doesn’t matter which side to drive on. LOL

Well, it looks as if we have a jumping battlestar now. Everything appears to work properly. The button is green and on a CIC console. I will set it to the BSG-21 Leadership Team group so that only the sim leaders can jump the ship. Everyone needs to be seated for the jump, at least for now. I am working on a way around that via a scripted belt or something. Not sitting down on something means you get left behind……. As of right now there are not all that many places to sit, but I will be adding animated duty stations that people can “sit” on and be safe during a jump. Also, I am having some difficulty with the seats in CIC, possibly because they are mesh and linked. If you do not right click on a seat cushion you could end up sitting in an entirely different location on the ship…… One problem at a time…….

If anybody plans to add furnishings to the battlestar, please, please, please, make sure that everything is modifiable and make sure I get a copy of it so that I can get it the rezzer. This includes all of the launch and landing control mechanisms. Each one will need a jump script or it will be left behind.

I emailed this weblog URL to all my contacts, if they like it my contacts will send it to their friends too.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am officially home sick. LOL That means either a) I will feel better and be bored out of my skull and spend a lot of time building, or b) I will continue to feel awful and SLEEP. *waves and crawls off to bed*

I have seen other Battlestar Galactica games but this is the most original idea yet. Good luck with this and I hope you succeed.

I have good news. I contacted the maker of my Tal-Tech Firing Range (which is no mod) and she agreed to add a jump script to it for us. So, now the battlestar can have its own permanent firing range for the crew to use to test their skills. It will likely be added tomorrow or Monday.

Yay. Things are coming together. Despite nay-sayers, we sure are proving that it can be done. Large projects with scant resources and everyone just doing what they feel comfortable doing can really get the job done. Im really proud of you all.

No drama, no arguements, no complaints, we have a great team and its going to be so fun to see a finished project. No matter what happens opening day, things will never be like they were. We know now that it CAN be done.

Got the FTL to start spinning when the battlestar is preparing to jump, and it stops shortly after a jump. Jump sound currently plays in CIC. I will add ship speakers that will relay the FTL count-down and play the jump sound ship-wide. Been working in the CO and XO quarters. Looking for decent furniture for the crew lounge. Any objections to romance items in the lounge? What about romance/adult animated furniture in the individual/private rooms like the CO, XO, and CAG’s quarters? Are we keeping it totally PG, or can we push the limits, within reason?

Well the only concern I have is if were getting too many scripts. I know squat about that kinda stuff but Ive heard something about having too many scripts running can lag a sim to death.

As for the adult stuff, I think we should designate the sim Mature or Adult only. I like Shaw’s idea for a really killer security system. We can designate that only group members can even get to the sim. We might consider creating a Battlestar Genesis group at some point just for that purpose.

Essentially we can use the web site to filter players and prevent too much trouble, or would that be bad?

I want it to work, but Im aware of the haters out there that would sabatage us, again, as they do everything they touch. An ounce of prevention and all…

Maybe we can set up a small reception area where guests can get a temporary group membership, like Genesis Guest. That allows them to look around but not rez or anything else until an admin has assisted them into joining, or asked them to try a sim more appropriate for them.

But as far as sex on the sim, Im nervous about it, but I think we should vote on it as a group and Ill agree to however the vote turns out.

I am a little on the fence about adult stuff too, but only because knuckleheads will have a tendency to abuse it. But, sexuality was a big part of the BSG story.

Lots of people will come and RP the combat and then run off to their own land for romance and sex if it is not available for them in our sim. We should have at least some stuff available for them to use during the non-combat times to keep people hanging around, even if it is just romance based.

Some of the limitations and rules for the use of the adult areas/items could include keeping the sex related chat in private IMs. Keeping the activity behind closed doors. And, making sure that everybody knows harassment and pestering people to adult play will be seriously frowned upon and may come with penalties.

Like Lindsay said, it should be voted on. But, we may want to discuss the pros and cons before we all decide to lean one way or the other.

Added playable “space-battle” pinball machine to battlestar’s mess hall. Added CO and XO quarters, working on getting animated low prim furnishings from X-clusives Animations. CO’s dining table seats 8 and rezzes food. Will get a similar smaller table for the XO. Its a work in progress……

Still need medical equipment. I know I have medical beds burried somewhere in my inventory……..

Upgraded the FTL to spool up a little slower and make sounds. Starts slow, gets faster gradually. Going to add ship speakers to relay the jump countdown and play the jump sound. Need ideas for the extra rooms…….

It’s kind of lonely in the sim…… working by myself and all…….might be nice to have some company.

Once Im done with tuition and all in March, Ill be around. I hope we last that long hahaha.

When I’m working on the arena rather than the ground build, I am at home. Just found it easier to work there. Too much space debris in sime. HAHAHA

I have been busy updating the Battlestar Rezzer with every little change I am making. Progress is slow and tedious. I know that many of us are focusing our talents on the overall story, but I am hoping for some input in some of the more technical areas. As I have said before, I am working on an interactive damage control system. I had Agent script it with multiple functions, and now it is up to me to utilize those functions in a logical manner. If anyone has any suggestions for damage scenarios, please speak up. For example, a fire that cuts off access to the hangar. Falling objects that can do damage. Things of that nature. I am going to script everything as if we plan to use Spellfire huds. If there is any debate as to what personal huds we plan to use, now would be the time to let me know. It would suck to have to go back and re-do stuff. But, I am not just asking for input regarding damage control stuff, I am also wanting input on the subtle details that will make the Battlestar feel more authentic. Like, right now, the phones on each end of the command table allow for announcements to be made over the ship speakers. (There are a few dead-zones, but not in any major role play area.) Does CIC need a dedicated line to the engine room, or maybe the LSO overlooks for air operations? What do should we be adding?

Room rezzers? We could use room rezzers to rez furniture and role play items when they are wanted on the Battlestar, and when the Battlestar prepares for jump, we could automatically de-rezz those items. Could save prims. Thoughts?

Rental rooms? Yes? No? What’s the plan?

Additionally, I would like to get the small craft up and running. I will require assistance for this. I have no doubt that I will need to get access to the script libraries again, and since I am on a different computer, I think I need to start all over.

Shmuel, if you are listening….. what’s the plan? Are we going to ask for Agent’s assistance with the launch/landing scripts and general set-up?

Im waiting on Alia or Leslie to get back to me on the models for the Tigerhawk fighters and the Pawnee transports. When they are done, we can get the rezzers installed and finish their scripting. Sorry, cant rush them.

Hi Lindsay. I am not so much concerned with the new fighters/transports themselves as much as I am concerned with the launch and landing mechanisms/scripts. The reason is, the last time I tried messing with the launch/landing scripts I needed to go into the script library to make even minor changes to simple things like launch distances. It’s a pity that each rezzer/launcher/trap-lander could not have been set up to read specific details from a notecard. It might not be a bad idea to have Agent make it work like that. It would allow us to make small changes to notecards without needing to be so “script-smart”.

I like the idea of room-rezzers. Since all of the prims going in to the ship are copy/mod (atleast I figure they are due to the jumping), that would work well. And save prims. Don’t need the chapel using 40 prims if no one is near it.

That brings me to a question: Can a rezzer work on “collision” rather than “click”? I’m thinking of it working like doors: Some open when you get close enough; some you have to actually click to open. (I don’t know if the “collision” is a higher script time, i.e. if it uses listeners).

As for rental rooms: I know I can’t answer that. I do have several houses on the ground that can be rented out as well though.

I just had a thought pop up: I was reading your post, Xav, and you had asked what would make a battlestar feel more authentic. Without adding much script time (if it takes any): adding more atmospheric sounds for different areas. I don’t know how loud the inside of a normal battlestar would be as far as hearing the engines, etc. throughout the ship. But maybe things like clanking, voices, engines in the pods. Or talking and plate clatter in mess. Etc. Just things to remind us that when we are only in a room with 2-3 AVs that we are not alone. It probably would take a lot of work to even find the non-insane-making sound loops, but it might be an idea to implement at some time.

Can you tie the rezzer into the door opening?

Also, I agree with the sound effects, Ive always felt that sound was key to full immersion.

As far as the launch tubes, Id like to start getting feedback on an idea to simplify the launching.

I propose we nix the tubes altogether and instead, the aircraft all are rezzed in a hanger like area, the pilot taxies them forward to a lift, the elevator raises them up to the top flight pod and releases them. They launch like normal aircraft using “magnetic catapults” which we can RP. This would simplify things so much more.

The bottom deck of the pod would be the opposite. We land and it flips us and lifts us back into the hanger area. With this method, we free up hald the entire maintence bay for mock “repairs” which could be static modrls with missing parts that deck crews must work on in order to maintain the number of operating aricraft. This gives the devk crews a real purpose.

Also, this is for you Xav…

If you get a chance to Youtube The New Captain Scarlett, they have a robot launch trigger piller, hes basically mimicing the LCO. We could have him rez on the deck when the aircraft are ready to launch. Maybe you could animate him like on the Captain Scarlett show. That was a really awesomely coolish effect.

Im just thinking, we would get rid of a lot of scripting, and in later versions of BSG21 where we tell a different story, the launch tubes can just be dropped back in.

I hope you consider these ideas…

Well, that is a lot to think about. Most people think that I am stuck on keeping everything “canon” regarding Battlestar stuff, but I really am open to new ideas. The problems that I have regarding making certain physical changes to the battlestar fall under the category of: Are we still a Battlestar sim if we change it? What I mean to say is, if we eliminate some of those things that are categorically Battlestar related, will we lose any appeal to those people that come to our sim because they are Battlestar fans? I think we are expected to have a certain “feel”. I am certainly open to change, but there is some invisible line out there, and if we cross it we may as well forget about Battlestar and start something else entirely. Right now I think our battlestar may be the most “canon” battlestar out there, and it took a large degree of effort from multiple people to get it to the state where it currently is. I guess part of me is just scared to change it now. (Getting rid of the tubes would just eat me up on the inside.) But, some of the things mentioned above are possible and can be implemented with ease……….

I will start with the mass launching of ships from the flight deck. Small craft, in normal rezzers with only the VICE scripts inside, could launch from the flight deck with out any scripting glitches. We are all familiar with the very annoying “you need to contact the LSO” messages we got when we used tube launch, needed to stop someplace, and then tried to restart the old vipers. That would not be a problem with launches from the flight deck. Upside-down landings would be another matter completely and would require the use of the old trap scripts.

As for door activated rezzers, yes we can do that. There would only be minor hiccups which would include people sitting on rezzed objects when somebody new activates the doors to enter. This would essentially de-rezz the objects and then replace them with the same objects, causing people to be un-sit. These rezzed objects could also be scripted to jump with the ship.

Regarding the fear of having too many scripts running…. The battlestar is currently made up of 130 link sets. Each link set has a listen/jump script. The entire battlestar jumps in under 1 second, with any delay actually being caused by the speed of our individual processors in our home computers. The real lag comes with physics. Multiple flying ships firing multiple flying bullets is what really slows things down.

Sounds: I encourage anybody with the skill to grab some sound effects from the series. I currently have the raptor FTL sound, and the sound for the FTL drive machinery. I could certainly add any specially made sounds as well, such as someone saying “Action Stations”, “Set condition One”, “Prepare for jump”, or “Launch all vipers.”

Oh, and Rhonda, thank you for the suggestions you made regarding Damage Control related stuff. Keep the ideas coming.

Sorry for suggesting it. I just figured, were going to lose a lot of players who want canon everything, to the sims that just retell the same old storylines. With all new ships, all new stories and all new uniforms, equipment, enemies, and picking up at a point where nobodies ever heard of a Cylon or been to some mythical Colonies… I figured we passed canon light years ago and didnt look back.

Its not too late to scrap my idea if it makes people uncomfortable. Change can be like that. So I would understand.

I think the real question is, what kind of sim do we really want to be. In my opinion, if we want to be a Battlestar Galactica based sim then we should endeavor to be easily recognized as such. What I mean by that is, we should not be using things that are easily recognized as something other than BSG in our builds, such as Robotech uniforms, X-wing fighters, or Firefly looking transport ships. The story itself is quite flexible in many regards. “All of this has happened before, and it will happen again, and again.” There is nothing non-canon about the direction we are taking thus-far. It is expected that Earth-2 will suffer the same fate as Earth-1, Kobol, and the Colonies. But, as noted in the BSG series, the Cylon Centurions of Earth-1 were strikingly similar to the older model centurions that were created in the Colonies. Can we also assume that the Earth-1 battlestars were similar to Colonial battlestars? Would Earth-2 Battlestars be similar as well? If the answer is yes, then we will be OK. If the answer is no, then we may as well be making entirely new ships and scrap the BSG part all together because we really cannot claim to be a BSG sim if we change so much of the set design that it becomes unrecognizable as such.

My concerns lie mostly with the addition of the newer vehicles and equipment. Will the tiger-hawk resemble a viper in any way at all? What will the uniforms look like? Are we going to end up looking like a hodge-podge of multiple sci-fi genres? I honestly think that the story proffered thus far is workable as long as we don’t let our imaginations carry us too far away from what could still be considered BSG. We need to ask ourselves what exactly it is that we are shooting for, and if it isn’t something that could fall into the BSG universe then we need to scrap BSG and start working on our own original content.

Most of what has been requested can be accomplished easily, as I have stated up above. We can even do catapult style launches off the flight deck if we really want to. But, pulling the launch tubes would have very little effect on sim lag and would seriously degrade the overall feel of BSG that you get when standing in the hangar. How far are we willing to go away from BSG?

Ok, youre right. We will just do what we always do. Good luck.

From the start I had said everything is different. I cant count the times I said all new everything. So if were suddenly having buyers remorse, then by all means, do what everyone else does in the name of BSG purity.

Im out..

Look, simply put, I am building the battlestar to be a battlestar and easily recognized as such. If the story requires a simple “space carrier” then why am I breaking my back trying to get the details right? I am not changing anything regarding the construction. When it is done I will hand it over to the sim avatars and then you can rip it apart and change it all you want. Don’t let my line of questioning upset you. I just build. I stay as far away from the story as possible. But, I am not going to convert a battlestar that I have spent over a year piecing together suddenly get turned into a pseudo battlestar. Somebody else can do that.

And quite frankly, I am a little tired of the “I’m done” drama. I was pulled into this at the last minute and I feel like I have already spent more time actually being in the sim and building than all the rest of the build team combined. I have not read all of the material regarding the story so I have no idea what this “vision” comprises. But, I couldn’t care less what the damn story consists of. I am here to build and I will continue to build. All I was saying was that if you do not really want or need a battlestar for this incarnation then I have to wonder why the hell I am here. Is it a battlestar or a space carrier?

I want to apologize for taking such a strong position regarding any changes to the structure of the battlestar. It’s just that I have spent hours and hours trying to make it the most accurate battlestar in Second Life. Asking me to consider changing how it was designed to work got me more than a little frustrated. So, I am sorry for reacting the way I did, and I am sorry, Lindsay, if you feel I was being overly critical of the new ideas. I like the new ideas. I am just resistant to being the one that would need to re-arrange the battlestar to fit whatever the new story line may call for. The old girl is like my baby now, and she has yet to see any kind of role play at all. It would just be nice if she could be used in a manner befitting of what she was designed to be.

Its forgotten. Ok so you got me thinking in a different way. As is, the launch tubes may not fit the Tigerhawks, however, this is SL not reality so the laws of physics can be broken.

We could maybe get them fully functional, if they arnt already, and when the Hawks come, we can make the walls of the tubes phantom and invisible, then drop in some walls that are shaped correctly, just for effect. Then when Merc (Genesis) is used for a different story, just pluck the new walls, turn the old style non phantom and visible, and its back to normal.

That work for you?

That works just fine. The sculpted prims in the launch tube are already phantom. They can be made invisible with relative ease, although I may need to unlink a few sets depending on what other sculpted prims they are attached to. Otherwise the launch tubes are pretty square.

Side note. There are multiple invisible prims in and around the engineering/FTL areas. These are part of the damage control system I am working on. They are not permanent fixtures. They will be rezzed by the damage control system at appropriate times.

Would it be a good idea to go thru the ship and get an idea what areas can be meshed at some point? I was thinking like hallways and stuff that can be copy pasted from place to place and ship to ship. This might save prims and be a valuable building tool that can save time and provide uniformity of construction.

Also, as Rhonda pointed out, not everyone can see mesh on low rez settings. Isnt there a way to enable them? I know that to fly I have to adjust my draw range to like 512 at least, and with sculpts I have to change the rendervolumelode factor or something to 4.0. So there should be something to turn on mesh for people with older video cards.

The problem that I see with re-doing the ship in mesh is that it will require a person who can do the mesh building as well as the textures that go on them. At X-clusives we end up purchasing mesh beds and then trying to texture them ourselves because they do not come with texures made specific for them. It’s not easy and it never looks exactly how you want it to. Somebody that could do both could make the endeavor worthwhile. With the mesh land impact on prims I can’t say for sure if it would benefit us enough to be worth making the effort.

Regarding mesh and old video cards, that is something we should look into. I think you may be correct about being able to turn mesh on. I remember for a while I could not see it, but then I switched to coolviewer and had no problems.

Im hoping to take a course on Blender and hopefully once I know how to use it, I can start making stuff. I discovered theres an add on called Prim.Blender that mimics the tools in SL. I was thinking of using that to build stuff, then convert it to a mesh. Hopefully someone will think up a way to spraypaint the 3D model while in Blender, like a auto painting place in Real Life.

That would make texturing much easier if it was painted in 3D form not as a 1D piece of texture that wraps the model.

If I can get a little skill with Blender, I plan to start building lots of things that right now I dont have the ability to make in world.

That would be awesome. From what I understand, it is a hell of a lot easier to texture a sculpt if you were the one that made it.

@Lindsay: The draw distance has nothing to do with the settings needed to view mesh.

In fact: For older cards to be able to jack up the draw distance quite often the actual graphics settings need to be set to low (no mesh) to be able to move. (maybe not all viewers)

Phoenix (I know – not supported anymore) only shows mesh starting at medium graphics. Having to set the graphics to medium AND jack up the draw distance can cause heartache, especially for those trying to fly with older cards.

On the side: RL has me bogged under this week. (Including – harmless – hospital stay. (worst part there: NO INTERNET!!!!)) I won’t be able to work on the “Patriot Games” stuff, but it is actually quite far along already.

@Xav: I will need to get in touch with you inworld to see if you have some stuff I could use. And will need help putting it in to a rezzer. I have one, but I am sure yours would be eleganter.

The ground (except for furnishing, and the runway) are basically done. As always: I am open to friendly critique.

Did we lose a lot of posts?

YAY! We have a working forum again! Thank you, Shmuel!

Battlestar Update:

I have added smoke and steam particle generators to the upper 2 decks. The smoke will obscure vision in a few places. The steam will cause damage to the Spell Fire Hud if someone collides with it. Additionally, there will be ceiling panels that open up and drop live electrical cables down as well as some falling objects. Collisions with these live wires or falling objects will also cause damage to register on the Spell Fire Hud. All of these things are easily avoidable by themselves, however, when you combine them you get a deadly concoction. (It is not easy to avoid electrical cables and steam jets when your vision is clouded by smoke.)
There will also be fires that can do damage on collision but which can be extinguished through the use of fire extinguishers or by venting certain areas from the Aft Fire Control Room. As soon as I figure out how to do it, areas that are vented will send messages to the Spell Fire Hud and cause Fatigue damage to players that do not have on a space suit. I figure that we can add a repeating whisper chat command to the space helmets that will refresh the Fatigue damage faster than the vented area can take it away.

I am also working on exterior hull damage. This will mostly include some visual effects. Fire and smoke. Engines not glowing. Things of that nature. Pilots may need to attempt landings through smoke. Turret gunners may have their vision obscured by smoke, or may lose power if the main generator goes down.

I need to stress that all of the things I am working on are not really difficult, but they are tedious and time consuming. I am trying to be diligent about updating the battlestar rezzer with every addition and change that I make. That way, if the bottom falls out, we can always set up again in just a few minutes.

Lastly, we really need to get the launch and landing system set up. I can do that too, if necessary, but frakking with the script library might throw off my rythm. Shmuel, what do you think about asking Agent for a hand? It would probably only take him an hour. The good news is, this should be the last time we ever have to mess with the launch/landing scripts. At least, I hope it will be……

Ok. I think I have finished adding the exterior smoke and fire prims for visual effects. (I am notecarding all of the channels and commands.) I have added steam and smoke prims to the upper two decks as well as the engine room. The lower deck still needs work, and I have yet to add the collision detector scripts to the hull prims. I was thinking about adding a channel command to the hull collision detectors so that a missile impact would cause damage to players within chat range of the impacted prim. When all is said and done I am hoping the sim Admins will have the ability to turn all of the effects on and off via a button with menu options. The damage control system will also automatically provide random problems (10% chance) should the hull be struck with Cylon missiles.

I would like to see more feedback from everyone. I feel like its just Rhonda and myself talking here. Where is everybody?

I got a grand tour of the battlestar the other day. It is AWESOME!!!!

Ok, here is the latest update. I called in some assistance with some scripting and now we have a working LSO monitoring computer screen. When we finally have flying vipers/birds I will equip them with a tiny script that relays some information, very similar to how the dradis already works. It will track up to 5 ships that are behind the battlestar and close enough to the landing strips to be detected. Icons will appear in real time on the LSO’s screen to represent the ships attempting to land. From his screen he will be able to determine if the landing ships are too high/low or too far left/right. The LSO’s screen(s) represent the safe glide paths for landings into the rear of the pods. I thought this might add some flavor because now the LSO (and anybody wanting to perform those duties) can monitor how well pilots land and attempt to assist them via direct communication. The LSO(s) will also know if a bad guy is attempting to land in a pod. I am currently rigging it to display vipers mark 2 and 7, raptors, raiders and heavy raiders, but other ships can be added as needed.

This tech can be applied to all computer screens around the ship for various purposes. I have played around with the dradis displays over the command table and had some decent results with changing textures. Type “/911 nuke” and look closely at the screens. You will see a little red dot appear beneath the basestar symbol and it will descend to the middle of dradis over 30 seconds. On impact the screens will go to static. I was going to do static with all display screens around the ship when a Cylon nuke hits. The point is, we will now have interactive computer screens with real time data. The cost is only a few extra prims per screen.

I am once again amazed.

The LSO Screens can now recognize Viper Mark 2s, Viper Mark 7s, and Raptors. I can add more ships as needed. Each one will get its own Icon that will appear on the LSO screens in a position relevant to the small craft’s position behind the battlestar. I am also thinking about completely remaking the dradis system too. The green and red dots would be replaced by the appropriate dradis icons, so you better know whats what. lol.

ok I have had some thoughts and for the most part I am in agreement with what I have seen so far. I know that in the stories we found one of the rapters I would guess and it led to the development of our ftl. is it not reasonable to assume that the design of the ship might have influenced the design of our small craft. Also one them that seems to appear in the show. The reason they speak English (mostly) and wear suits and ties. is because there is ether a genetic memory or a collective spertual memory that detects or development along simmaler lines. ie the reason Adm can had a Tommy gun on her office wall, as well as a colt cap and ball revolver in her office. The launch tubes do give a number of advantages over the mag catapolt flight deck launch and thats the number of fighters you can launch at one time, Galactica at most could launch 4 well the murcary class could at most launch 8……

Xav a thought on your damage. would it be possible to trap people in compartments maybe pen them under wreckage, to make it necessary for the crew to conduct SAR operations inside damaged sections of the ship. as for the ships phones I thought it was a good idea to have the ships phones able to connect to phones else where in the ship as well for some of them to connect to the ships intercom. so that the commander can call the flight deck cic or enginenering form his caben if needs be

As for the uniforms I dont mind of the look like the bsg unaforms the RN unaforms or some what of a combo of the two… like a transition between the old RN uniforms to the bsg type uniforms if that’s the case it should be fairly clear that its a step to the bsg uniform…. but I do have one request about them…. Head gear please. scifi likes leave that out because it limits camera angles (have the camera angle wrong and we would be looking at the bill of Adoma’s cap not Adoma’s face) we don’t have that issue. and I happen to like the visered cap of an officer and I done not seeing the RA the RAF or the RN giving up on that truidtion in the next 200 years let alone the next 50 -70. if not the piked visered cap, how about brats?

on argument I had is cannon should be a tool to help us tell or story a foundation or bed rock on form which we build are story it gives us a starting point but it should not limit us. if something does not make clear or logical since we should thing about changing it (the centurions that don’t speak in the rmd show it was never explained if the didn’t or couldn’t but that’s an example). does not make since for the story we want to tell then we should think about changing it. not a decision to make lightly to be sure but one that must be thought out carefully

So, I went and did it. New dradis system. Still working out a few bugs, but it will use all of the correct dradis icons, As of right now I can track up to 8 different ships. I will probably take it up to 10 ships. I really don’t think there will be much of a need to track more than that unless I decide to also track missiles fired from the basestar then I might go as high as 12. In the BSG series we saw Vipers shooting down incoming missiles, so maybe I will track them and give the guys in CIC a chance to relay info to the pilots so that they can try to shoot them down. I may also add a chat script to the raptors so that they can automatically jam the missiles if they get close enough. Still a work in progress……

The new Dradis is up and running. All the bugs have been worked out, I think. The LSO station on the Port side has a functioning screen and I will soon be adding a direct line of communication with the pilot helmets. I will try to duplicate everything for the Starboard side LSO station.

The tactical Dradis boards in CIC are currently showing the icons for Vipers, Raiders, Heavy Raiders, and a Basestar. (If anybody wants to go see.) And, the Port side LSO station currently displays the profile of a viper, not an icon. How cool is that? All birds are tracked just like in the show.

I am still working on damage control. I got a little excited about the new Dradis/LSO tracker and I got a little side tracked.

Seriously though, its time for more people to step up and help. Uniforms, helmets, the flight system set-up… there is plenty left to do. Rhonda and I can’t do this alone. Come over, share ideas, keep the talk going. It seems to be only Rhonda and myself building and posting here. Hint. Hint.

Update: So, I am currently working out the finer details of the damage control system, and I am going to notate a few things here for anybody that chooses to read it and offer some ideas.

The damage control virtual computer engine that Agent scripted for me is note card driven for an easy user interface. The main problem that I run into that it will only handle one damage problem at a time. To get around that I plan on having several of these things running at the same time. The benefits of this would include having varying levels of damage that can occur to each particular deck of the ship. Currently there are 4 Decks including the hangar, and each deck can have problems with smoke, fire, electrical cables, and steam. (I may also add decompression at a later time, but I will discuss that later.)So, for now there are 4 things that can go wrong. Every time the Hull is hit by a missile a signal will be sent out to the damage control virtual computers and the computers will determine if damage will occur. The default is 10% per missile hit, but I think I may want to make it 20% so that combat is more interesting for those not flying around. I had originally thought of having a damage control computer for each deck, but with them only being able to handle 1 problem at a time I thought breaking up the possible damage for each deck over multiple computers would allow for a much wider variety of possibilities. So, instead of there only being smoke on deck 2 there could now be smoke, and electrical cables, and on, and on.
I still need to think of the best combination of problems for each computer so that it is as diverse as possible. I will post more about this as time goes on.

This is me still thinking out loud. If I break up the Damage Control Engines by damage type then I would run into not being able to have a similar problem on separate decks. (This is not necessarily a bad thing, and I am giving it serious thought.)The Admins would still have the ability to cause damage deliberately from the command table, so we would be able to trigger similar damage types on separate decks of the battlestar.

To keep things interesting I would like to allow for the possibility of Players to sabotage things as part of very specific missions. This would require me to create bombs that are specific to a particular mission. For example, damaging the FTL. There would need to be a bomb that contained all of the right channels to cause a shut down the FTL until repairs are made. I was thinking the bomb could whisper(5 meter radius)the specific damage command, which would require it to be placed in a location extremely close to the target spot. The only problem that I run into is that it would need to be handled separately from the Damage Control Engines, which is not all that difficult.

My thoughts on sabotage: Cylons and their sympathizers would role play with their Cylon Leaders (Admins). The Admins would leave an object at a pre-determined location. The Cylon players would go to find that object, touch it and get the bomb (at which point the object that gives the bomb would vanish). Hopefully the player must then carry the bomb visibly to the target location and drop it. The player may then need to go to another predetermined location and touch a detonator button to set the bomb off. The detonator button would also be placed by a Cylon Admin, and then perhaps the player must then dispose of the detonator in a way that might allow him/her to be discovered. (Just thinking out loud.) But, the point is to make the Cylon Players nervous when they try to do something on this level.