DescentBB

D2X-XL suggestions Thread

This thread is no longer continued. Please post feature requests in the feature request tracker of the D2X-XL project on SourceForge.net.

Thanks

Diedel

Suggestion: Please show the D2X-XL version number on the menu screen or at least show it under an About option or the Credits menu.

With version 1.5.24 it looks like you've discontinued showing the D2X-XL version on the menu screen. Thankfully, with version 1.5.25 you made sure the .exe file has version info embedded in the property info tabs.

With frequent updates and improvements, it's nice to see the version number on the menu screen (easier to get to than the exe properties).

Wrong thread: That was a bug, and has been fixed.

Aahh Fudge! I tried.

Admittedly that was kind of hard to tell.

How about support for (hi-res?) true-color briefing backgrounds? You could store them in *.tga files instead of *.pcx. Then it would be nice to have RGB color tags in briefings, instead of a specific index; ie "$C#FF0000", "$C#00FF00", and "$C#0000FF", which would produce red, green, and blue respectively.

That's a good idea, yet low prio, as it's a little hard to implement (the briefing code is a mess).

Suggestion: support for custom reticles

the ones in Descent 3 are so awsome, and they are so easy to create, so there should be alot of them

The reticles in D2 are created from several bitmaps to save computing time, so I'd need to rewrite the reticle part of D2X-XL to make easy reticle customization possible. This has very low prio.

How hard would this be to implement? You could name an *.hxm or a *.pog file the same as the *.hog instead of the *.rl2. Then if the *.rl2 had one as well it would take higher precedence. This would be nice so that you could save filespace and time by just having one *.hxm and *.pog file per mission, instead of having to have a whole bunch of identical ones for each level.

I will not implement it, because I believe it's by no way essential or even very desirable.

It's probably easy enough to write an installer that automatically generates the copy .hxm and .pog files anyway...

...well, yeah, for most of you that isn't exactly a solution.

The original Descent 2 and also Descent 3 would output sceenshots as a file saved in the program's folder.

Can D2X-XL be set to do that? Currently, I have to pause, output the capture buffer to a program, and then return to the game in order to get multiple screenshots saved.

It already does and has for a few months.

I'm not sure what the captured file's name is or whether you need a command-line toggle for it, but the functionality is there.

Don't know where it's happening for you, but it's not happening for me. No files of any kind getting created when taking screenshots while in D2X-XL.

RTFM! somewhere on Diedel's Descent page you'll find the key to make screenshots - I think it's Alt+F12, but I'm not sure. Look it up and I'm sure it'll work. The PrintScreen key will only copy the screen to the clipboard.

I couldn't get the printscreen key to work with my D2X version (SDL problem), so I mapped screenshots to Alt+F9. On my system, taking screenshots very often doesn't work though - the resulting images are totally distorted, and I have no clue why.

Whats wrong with just pasting the copied screencapture to MSPaint or something and saving it as *.jpg / *.png / whatever?

TechPro wrote:Currently, I have to pause, output the capture buffer to a program, and then return to the game in order to get multiple screenshots saved.

That would be what's wrong with it.

I am using Fraps. You can set up a screen shot director y for it where it will store the screenies, and it offers several image formats. The full version can also record movies - that would e.g. allow for promo movies w/o needing D2 to play back a demo.

Neumaennl wrote:RTFM!

Been there, done that.

Neumaennl wrote:...Look it up and I'm sure it'll work. The PrintScreen key will only copy the screen to the clipboard.

Obviously, that does work. Because it only copies to the clipboard is the very reason I posted this in the "D2X-XL suggestions thread" ... to make a suggestion.

Another suggestion...

In "Letterbox" view (without any graphics along the bottom) there is text for the weapons, shields, and energy status like the text in the "full screen w/o cockpit" view.

The "letterbox" view is cool (I like it) but would be much more useful if it included the same text as the "fullscreen" view.

Actually this was a bug. Fixed.

Diedel wrote:Actually this was a bug. Fixed.

Oh, man! That makes me two for two at making suggestions that are actually bugs.

No problem. You couldn't really tell, and doesn't matter too much whether you posted the stuff here or in the bug report thread.

In D1x there is this great feature where you can hit control-f7 during multiplayer to see ping and loss figures next to each player name at the bottom. Very handy.

spud

How about message triggers? That could work well for D2X-based single player missions, especially ones with objective-based levels. (i.e. Entropy 2)

Good idea. I'd need to find a way to store those messages in the levels though.

It's possible to use the original D1 cockpit in D1 mode? And use the D1 decals (monitors, panels, etc...) instead of D2's?

Rather not.

Diedel wrote:Rather not.

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHA

i dunno why but that made me laugh so hard!!

i love deidel!

Excuse me if I'm mistaken, but I was always pretty darn sure the cockpits were exactly the same - apart from afterburners, anyway.

It's not big enough to worry about, surely?

Actually I don't know. I'd rather look into sound and AI issues with D1.

I had also thought of ripping the entire data handling stuff out of D2X-XL and replacing it with the D1 data. If that would be easily done, you'd have a D1X-XL in no time.

Replacing the AI could be a little harder though.

IMHO it's better to leave it the way it is - it's working (kinda)
if you separate D1X-XL and D2XL you'd have 2 programs to maintain and the users would have to use 2 programs with 2 profiles and so on
do you really think that it would be easier for you?

Point is that D2X-XL cannot fully emulate D1. There's too many differences just in the data.

Diedel wrote:Point is that D2X-XL cannot fully emulate D1. There's too many differences just in the data.

That would be a very good reason.

I say strip out all the D1 stuff and make D2x what it should be. D2x-XL! Once thats done and more donations flow in..... maybe you could think about doing a D1x project from scratch? **wishful thinking**

I don't want to miss enjoying D1 in HiRes and with preview on savetates etc.

It always amazes me when people express their love of D1. For me D2 >> D1. But to each his own.

I like D1.. I wouldn't say I "love" it though. D2 was the online GAME for me when it came out!