Delayed SFoil animation on the X-Wing

As mentioned on several occasions the Sfoil animation only happens when the player is actually "looking". The other coupled functions like unlocking the weapons and the slower max speed are triggered independent of the visual wing position.

It's kinda wierd to open the sFoils and fly around at the reduced speed shooting down bots or other players and then several minutes later, press F3 and watch your Sfoils start to open.

It is possible to briefly switch to an outside view of the players ship for the duration of the animation. But this could be frustrating as you might get shot during the external view (like the docking view in the "trouble with the gunstars mission".
On the other hand, one could say this (the time spent in the external view) is the price you pay for flying the X-Wing!
The animation only takes 2-3 secs. So, if you open them soon enough before attacking you shouldn't get shot (it's not like the 10-15 sec docking view).

My idea is to use the 'switch to outside view' approach at least for the beta and then see what people say.

Whats your vote?




Iwar2 Multiplayer Fan Site

I agree, the animation must be seen immediately. Let's get it overwith now, because we'll be heavily criticised for it later. The B-wing will have the same situation, so people will have to use some common sense and realize that if they want to fight they'd better have their wings open before they go into battle. I guarantee that after three or four times of waiting too long and getting shot during the animation, they'll never forget again. The price you pay for flying the most popular fighter ever.

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ok! we'll do it that way. We'll have our old buddy "iDirector" do a couple of secs work there.

We may have to take the weapon subsims off the ship when the wings are closed anyway.
That might work as an even better reminder because if you don't have a weapon to select, going into battle is rather senseless.


Iwar2 Multiplayer Fan Site

Will doing it this way allow the other players to see it as well? That would nicely kill two birds with one stone.

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Originally posted by Second Chance

That would nicely kill two birds with one stone.

yeah, and several other pilots too if they happened to be in battle at the moment someone else opens his SFoils.

The brief "outside view" would only be for the player who is actuating, as he actuates.

You're right about other players ships though. That remains an issue. If you did target another X-Wing pilot and press F3 twice you would see the wings open, or close, depending on the last avatar value that player had set.
I don't think we can do much about it as the animation is apparently hardcoded for the LOD2 (and closer) view. []

Since you never really know when someone else has actuated it's only a slight annoyance though, imo. [?]




Iwar2 Multiplayer Fan Site

Ok, I shouldn't have said all the other players. I know the outside view is for the animating player only. I meant the other players who happen to be looking at the animating ship.

So, what you're saying is that anyone who doesn't see the animation won't see it until...? What? They target the player and F3 them? What if they're facing the player during the animation, will they see it then? There's got to be a way around this. Do the original ships have this same problem? This stinks. [xx(]

...the animation is apparently hardcoded for the LOD2 (and closer) view.

I don't understand what this means. What is it that's hardcoded? And LOD2 is the lowest LOD model. Did you mean LOD1 and closer (LOD0)?

So here's a new question: What exactly is another player looking at when he sees the first players animation? Since the first players ship is already "wings-open". What is the other player actually looking at in those few seconds that he sees the first player with "wings-closed"? Is it just the local representation of the first players avatar? I guess it must be, and all players are only seeing local versions of everyone else's avatars. No need for PS to code for this if there's no animated MP ships. Oh well, I guess we're just screwed on this point.

mailto:second_chance@cox.net
The Ultimate Guide To Modding: I-War 2 - Edge Of Chaos (on hold during SW MP mod)
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