Search found 4385 matches

by Sirius
Fri Jan 12, 2018 11:35 am
Forum: Descent Development
Topic: Pressing Shift and Moving Mouse?
Replies: 8
Views: 3869

Re: Pressing Shift and Moving Mouse?

It's just a "select" mode. The idea is you can select any side of any segment even if it's obscured, has no wall, or something like that. I don't use it heavily but sometimes that's a bit quicker than just clicking on something nearby and navigating to the side you really wanted with the a...
by Sirius
Sun Jan 07, 2018 6:28 pm
Forum: Descent Level Spotlight
Topic: Descent 1 1/2
Replies: 2094
Views: 912634

Re: Descent 1 1/2

it's a pity you cannot just put the sng file into the mission hog. Would be a very useful feature. Yeah, I think it was a mistake for the original game not to support that. It's not a huge amount of work and it's almost essential for custom soundtracks. For D1.5 specifically, the best route is prob...
by Sirius
Sat Jan 06, 2018 9:41 am
Forum: Descent Single Player
Topic: Lou Guards vs Super Medium Hulks
Replies: 75
Views: 14698

Re: Lou Guards vs Super Medium Hulks

Yeah but the question is how to do it on a per-mission basis. The most natural way would be to modify the weapon type format, but then you need to patch users' .HAM files, and that would stop other versions of D2 from loading them. So you'd need some extra files somewhere that only Rebirth understan...
by Sirius
Sat Jan 06, 2018 9:38 am
Forum: Descent Level Spotlight
Topic: Descent 1 1/2
Replies: 2094
Views: 912634

Re: Descent 1 1/2

You need a .sng file anyway or it will just loop after level 4, so I would use that.
by Sirius
Sat Jan 06, 2018 9:31 am
Forum: Descent Multiplayer
Topic: Do people still play this game?
Replies: 21
Views: 14890

Re: Do people still play this game?

It's not a hard-and-fast rule, just a general observation :)
The D3 single-player mode has some gameplay issues (mainly that almost all the robots are hard to hit), but if you have the game it's probably at least worth trying.
by Sirius
Fri Jan 05, 2018 10:07 pm
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: Desktops 2018
Replies: 4
Views: 9976

Re: Desktops 2018

This reminds me, are there any utilities that do panoramic wallpapers across monitors with different scaling factors? It looks kind of weird if I just use span mode. Sort of looking for something for work, I have a central 4K screen (150%) and two 1920x1200 screens (100%) to either side...
by Sirius
Fri Jan 05, 2018 5:05 pm
Forum: Descent Single Player
Topic: Lou Guards vs Super Medium Hulks
Replies: 75
Views: 14698

Re: Lou Guards vs Super Medium Hulks

The main reason I can think of is that it makes the in-built missions significantly harder than they were designed to be by Parallax. Rebirth historically has been very reluctant to mess with existing gameplay.

Since the in-built missions didn't use the D1 bosses, that change has less impact.
by Sirius
Thu Jan 04, 2018 11:04 am
Forum: Descent Multiplayer
Topic: Do people still play this game?
Replies: 21
Views: 14890

Re: Do people still play this game?

There are two types of people who play this game... those who forget D3 is a thing, and those who forget D1/2 are a thing.
by Sirius
Tue Jan 02, 2018 11:12 pm
Forum: Descent Single Player
Topic: Lou Guards vs Super Medium Hulks
Replies: 75
Views: 14698

Re: Lou Guards vs Super Medium Hulks

It is quite easy to dodge. But it's not really fixable unless you convince the Rebirth and/or Retro devs to modify the value or, more plausibly, add a toggle for it. Which doesn't feel like something players will opt into. They wouldn't have to if a per-mission setting were added to either the level...
by Sirius
Tue Jan 02, 2018 11:07 pm
Forum: Descent Multiplayer
Topic: Can't play Multiplayer.
Replies: 11
Views: 8806

Re: Can't play Multiplayer.

Vortex doesn't work with D1/2, but it isn't needed for them either since they have independent game trackers (or at least the currently-used source ports do).
by Sirius
Sat Dec 30, 2017 9:45 am
Forum: Descent Level Spotlight
Topic: Introducing 'Silent Fury', a D3 mod project
Replies: 31
Views: 21465

Re: Introducing 'Silent Fury', a D3 mod project

There was an official Linux port for D3, but I'm not sure how you can get it these days. I did hear that the company that developed it is now defunct.
by Sirius
Thu Dec 28, 2017 3:11 pm
Forum: Descent Development
Topic: Error: Unable to open temporary file and RL2 disappeared
Replies: 17
Views: 7894

Re: Error: Unable to open temporary file and RL2 disappeared

Could I get a copy of the level? (Assuming I didn't already ask for this... I forget now)
It isn't an error I've encountered personally, and it sounds like it's specific to this level somehow.
by Sirius
Sat Dec 23, 2017 9:58 am
Forum: DBB Feedback Forum
Topic: Board update.
Replies: 21
Views: 13723

Re: Board update.

Is the favicon tied into the theme? Looks like that's gone as well.
by Sirius
Fri Dec 22, 2017 12:29 am
Forum: Descent Development
Topic: A Few Questions about Textures
Replies: 45
Views: 10523

Re: A Few Questions about Textures

Yes. You'll want to load up the .PIG whose palette you want to use in DLE first (it's in the drop-down list at the bottom of the custom texture manager), since the textures are saved using the current palette.
by Sirius
Fri Dec 22, 2017 12:26 am
Forum: Descent Single Player
Topic: Lou Guards vs Super Medium Hulks
Replies: 75
Views: 14698

Re: Lou Guards vs Super Medium Hulks

Yeah, the flash missile blast radius is often overlooked, but quite an important detail in head-to-head games because you can often use it to deal damage around corners.
by Sirius
Thu Dec 21, 2017 11:19 am
Forum: Descent Single Player
Topic: Lou Guards vs Super Medium Hulks
Replies: 75
Views: 14698

Re: Lou Guards vs Super Medium Hulks

Most likely the admin issue is because it tries to write to files in protected locations (probably the root directory of the drive). That was totally allowed in Windows 9x, but when Vista brought in UAC it started clamping down on the practice.
by Sirius
Thu Dec 21, 2017 11:12 am
Forum: Descent Development
Topic: A Few Questions about Textures
Replies: 45
Views: 10523

Re: A Few Questions about Textures

Ah... yes it's probably easiest to do that from one of the BMPs since they store palette information. Since it's a pain to find anything in GIMP, here are the steps :) Word of warning - I have GIMP 2.8.10 which is several years old, so it's possible they've changed the layout since. 1. Open the .bmp...
by Sirius
Wed Dec 20, 2017 10:43 pm
Forum: Descent Development
Topic: A Few Questions about Textures
Replies: 45
Views: 10523

Re: A Few Questions about Textures

DLE does allow you to bulk-export textures through the custom texture manager - it will always save them to .BMP but if that's what you want... :)
by Sirius
Wed Dec 13, 2017 11:13 pm
Forum: Descent Development
Topic: A Few Questions about Textures
Replies: 45
Views: 10523

Re: A Few Questions about Textures

Isn't XCF a GIMP format? If so, GIMP would be the tool for the job - it'll have an option to export to BMP.
by Sirius
Wed Dec 13, 2017 11:01 pm
Forum: Descent Single Player
Topic: Obsidian level 12 boss
Replies: 1
Views: 1112

Re: Obsidian level 12 boss

I don't recall, and odds are I was the one who set the flag, so... probably nobody knows.
by Sirius
Sat Dec 09, 2017 11:42 pm
Forum: Descent Single Player
Topic: Lou Guards vs Super Medium Hulks
Replies: 75
Views: 14698

Re: Lou Guards vs Super Medium Hulks

Yeah, Descent does some additional hard-coded scaling for weapon damage from/to robots, and in D2 I recall hearing there were some further tweaks on certain difficulty settings (Trainee) to make it even easier. I believe missiles and Gauss do double damage to robots or something. Haven't really look...
by Sirius
Fri Nov 17, 2017 12:44 am
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: How Many Coders Does It Take to Turn On a Lightbulb?
Replies: 9
Views: 2696

Re: How Many Coders Does It Take to Turn On a Lightbulb?

I program computers for a living, and I still just reach for the light switch...
by Sirius
Mon Nov 13, 2017 9:37 pm
Forum: Descent Level Spotlight
Topic: Descent 1 1/2
Replies: 2094
Views: 912634

Re: Descent 1 1/2

Xfing wrote: Sun Nov 12, 2017 5:25 amWell, that's assuming Kp is Diedel. He changes his name quite regularly, mind you :D
Most probably not. Diedel is not a Rebirth fan and I wouldn't expect him to work on it.
by Sirius
Sat Nov 11, 2017 8:23 pm
Forum: Descent Level Spotlight
Topic: Descent 1 1/2
Replies: 2094
Views: 912634

Re: Descent 1 1/2

Xfing wrote: Sat Nov 11, 2017 4:35 pm Also, I've asked on the DXX forum and Diedel says that when the codebase unification is done,
That would be a bit of a surprise. :wink:
by Sirius
Tue Nov 07, 2017 10:11 am
Forum: PTMC Cafe
Topic: Why is Descent so popular in Germany?
Replies: 10
Views: 5776

Re: Why is Descent so popular in Germany?

Well, so was this thread... so... never say never?
by Sirius
Thu Nov 02, 2017 9:41 am
Forum: Descent Single Player
Topic: Clipping through Doors/grates
Replies: 5
Views: 1719

Re: Clipping through Doors/grates

Yeah, I've recently used that exploit to kill a reactor the level author mistakenly (I presume) made inaccessible...
by Sirius
Thu Oct 26, 2017 11:20 am
Forum: Descent Single Player
Topic: Impressions on Descent: Insane, cold start, no-death, 100%
Replies: 298
Views: 427524

Re: Impressions on Descent: Insane, cold start, no-death, 100%

Yeah, the reason AF didn't have a soundtrack was that we no longer knew of active composers in the community. It's not something that was done purposely.
by Sirius
Sun Oct 22, 2017 9:51 pm
Forum: Descent Level Spotlight
Topic: Plutonian Shores - Vertigo Single-Player development thread
Replies: 55
Views: 20920

Re: Plutonian Shores - Vertigo Single-Player development thread

It is close, although there is no set release date yet.
by Sirius
Sun Oct 22, 2017 9:46 pm
Forum: Descent Multiplayer
Topic: How to participate in non-competitive D2 anarchy games
Replies: 1
Views: 4983

Re: How to participate in non-competitive D2 anarchy games

Yeah, there are ways... well, kind of. Pick-up games have no formal competition and happen occasionally, though I haven't kept track of the most popular times - maybe weekends? The people who play them most tend to be among the highest skilled though so whether they're fun will be a matter of taste ...
by Sirius
Tue Oct 10, 2017 5:06 pm
Forum: Descent Development
Topic: Custom robots in descent 1 at all possible?
Replies: 10
Views: 4439

Re: Custom robots in descent 1 at all possible?

I don't know of a good one. If I recall correctly you can deduce the order from a couple DLE resource files: https://sourceforge.net/p/d2x-xl/code/HEAD/tree/dle-xp/resource/data/texture.dat https://sourceforge.net/p/d2x-xl/code/HEAD/tree/dle-xp/resource/data/tnames.dat The first one contains the tex...
by Sirius
Tue Oct 10, 2017 4:48 pm
Forum: Coders Corner
Topic: Want to create automatic converter from demo files to videos
Replies: 20
Views: 28162

Re: Want to create automatic converter from demo files to videos

D2 homing missiles had a subtle difference that I don't really remember that kind of crippled them in comparison to D1. Somehow the effects of the Rebirth "smoothing" were flipped because of it. I couldn't figure out where the analysis thread was - that gave better information. Retro uses ...
by Sirius
Mon Oct 09, 2017 10:02 am
Forum: Descent Single Player
Topic: My opinion of Obsidian just dropped significantly...
Replies: 2
Views: 1065

Re: My opinion of Obsidian just dropped significantly...

Yeah, I'm not sure how that area was supposed to work, but it needed some fool-proofing.
by Sirius
Mon Oct 09, 2017 9:58 am
Forum: Coders Corner
Topic: Want to create automatic converter from demo files to videos
Replies: 20
Views: 28162

Re: Want to create automatic converter from demo files to videos

Yes, it's mainly a multiplayer thing. Spreadfire doesn't see that much use in single-player/co-op, but in multi it's heavily used because it's fast and creates a scattered pattern that is more difficult to (mentally) track and thus evade. It's sort of a compromise weapon - not as fast or accurate as...
by Sirius
Mon Oct 09, 2017 9:16 am
Forum: Descent Development
Topic: A Few Questions about Textures
Replies: 45
Views: 10523

Re: A Few Questions about Textures

OK, if it's individual pixels it's not the transparency flag... it must just be using the wrong color... :?
by Sirius
Mon Oct 09, 2017 9:13 am
Forum: Descent Development
Topic: Can a HAM file be embedded into a HOG archive?
Replies: 16
Views: 4590

Re: Can a HAM file be embedded into a HOG archive?

I don't know the distance - it just looks like random spikes - but it's more like the former.
by Sirius
Fri Oct 06, 2017 9:20 am
Forum: Descent Development
Topic: Can a HAM file be embedded into a HOG archive?
Replies: 16
Views: 4590

Re: Can a HAM file be embedded into a HOG archive?

The main one I recall is that a few of the robots seem to be prone to graphical artifacts, specifically that it looks like one of the vertices jumps way off into space at certain angles. My guess was that there were problems with the normals, but attempting to recalculate and fix them didn't seem to...
by Sirius
Fri Oct 06, 2017 9:14 am
Forum: Descent Single Player
Topic: XL - better, worse, or indifferent?
Replies: 20
Views: 2824

Re: XL - better, worse, or indifferent?

Lightmaps are only used for the higher lighting quality settings. If the sliders are hidden it's not using them.

I've used them somewhat sparingly myself since they take so long to calculate, and the visuals without them aren't really that bad anyway.
by Sirius
Wed Oct 04, 2017 10:31 pm
Forum: Coders Corner
Topic: Want to create automatic converter from demo files to videos
Replies: 20
Views: 28162

Re: Want to create automatic converter from demo files to videos

Unfortunately I'm not sure where a changelist is. I can list the stuff I remember though - and it's mostly multiplayer-related. Switched netplay back to mostly peer-to-peer (though it still uses the host as the entry point into a game and a proxy where peer-to-peer isn't possible due to routing issu...
by Sirius
Wed Oct 04, 2017 10:20 pm
Forum: Descent Development
Topic: Can a HAM file be embedded into a HOG archive?
Replies: 16
Views: 4590

Re: Can a HAM file be embedded into a HOG archive?

I... think so. It's been a while. Though I don't think you call the V-HAM "d2x", just missionname.ham.