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Vehicle extensions applied to planes

Started by Zeno, February 07, 2009, 10:24:32 AM

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Zeno

As many of you know I've drawn a small set of modern planes for pak128 (now under renewal process). One of the biggest issues I found in the set and/or its usage in Simutrans is freighter versions. Talking once ago with someone I remember it was said to codify freighter versions as extensions. I think it's a very good idea, because of two basic things:
1) It's much more like IRL, where a freighter version exists, and each company adapts to whatever they want to transport (usually pallets, cooled goods, cars...).
2) It's nonsense to have 3 planes identically in the depot ready to buy (one for cooled, one for mail and one for goods). And it's hell to my brain painting three different liveries of a plane when I could spend that time to draw another plane.

So the trick is: I hate the post icon following planes as you can see with ships in the bottom image. The only thing I guess it could be done to take it out is to put it as a vehicle without image (or a lonely pixel image if needed), or using an extra image for the depot view (like the icon of the menu, or something similar).
So before I make any request I'd like to discuss it a little here, so you can find good and bad points of it. What do you think? Any more ideas on it?

VS

Firstly, vehicles should be to a reasonable extent distinguishable in some way without having to click on them. With trains it is easy since they either run or a particular track, or have a particular combination of wagons. In other words, with a convoy it is easier. With planes it isn't so. And here I am not sure: if you can not distinguish planes by models, what is the point?

Depending on how much post-processing you do, it might be easier to give these same models for different cargo a unified look, with unified livery, except for some part not adjacent (in 2d) to the areas you repaint (wing tips?). Then just recolour one, cut everything [that did not change] around to transparency and overlay on the coloured variants. Voila, variations and livery. Would that be enough?

Depot images have been already mentioned several times, mostly by Raven. It might be a reasonable method, if it is added.

I dislike the mail icons, too. On the other hand, invisible extensions are even worse. How do you see what is carried? And imho there is no difference from having a few models with the same look in depot, and a few "holes" in depot.

Simutrans (since some 200 revisions back iirc) "merges" identical images, so if you just recycle the graphic twenty times, memory requirements are still as if for just one instance. If you consider distribution, it is done with compressed archives, so chances are this will compress nicely, too. That leaves just unpacked pak files eating more space, and Simutrans is still very modest compared to other modern FLOSS games. And disk space is cheap...

My projects... Tools for messing with Simutrans graphics. Graphic archive - templates and some other stuff for painters. Development logs for most recent information on what is going on. And of course pak128!

Zeno

Quote from: VS on February 07, 2009, 11:18:51 AM
Depending on how much post-processing you do, it might be easier to give these same models for different cargo a unified look, with unified livery, except for some part not adjacent (in 2d) to the areas you repaint (wing tips?).
This is what I first thought. Similar to Haru's 747 or Hibari's planes. It's a good alternative.

Quote from: VS on February 07, 2009, 11:18:51 AM
How do you see what is carried?
I agree. That's the worst consequence of extensions.

Quote from: VS on February 07, 2009, 11:18:51 AM
And imho there is no difference from having a few models with the same look in depot, and a few "holes" in depot.
Well, you can release the "see all vehicles" depot option and you won't see holes :P

Thanks for your opinion. As a conclusion, I'll try to paint wingtips or wings or... something, and see how it looks like. I'll see then ::)

VS

Well, this was one opinion! Why not wait for some more :)

My projects... Tools for messing with Simutrans graphics. Graphic archive - templates and some other stuff for painters. Development logs for most recent information on what is going on. And of course pak128!