OpenGFX Mars Xtended

[Twyster]

So with Zephyris' permission/encouragement, I'm hereby announcing OpenGFX Mars Expanded. What is it? It's a few NewGRFs designed to be used with OpenGFX Mars.

I hereby present a link to the OpenGFX Mars Xtended (Extended) #openttdcoop pages, where you can download the current alpha version of the rv set. Links to the repositories of future sets will be posted here.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE LATEST "Mars Xtended RVs" TEST NEWGRF!
CLICK HERE FOR "Mars Xtended RVs" GPL SOURCE ACCESS!

The vehicles in these GRFs will be designed in such a way as to look similar to the main OpenGFX Mars vehicles, but with some added flair. There will be several "eras" and "interludes" for vehicles, with the beginning and end of each era overlapping with the beginning and end of each interlude.

Pre-1944 (steam era), 1930-1959 (diesel interlude), 1945-1969 (atomic era), 1960-1979 (jet interlude), 1970-1989 (star battle era), 1980-1999 (cyber interlude), 1990-2004 (e-Ra), 2000-2009 (iNterlude), 2005-2014 (Metro Era) and "The Weirdening" (2010+).

The following are planned:

RVs - Currently has a small steampunk era goods truck and an atomic era tanker truck
Eye Candy Cars - Will be a challenge to draw due to the small size and complexity of planned vehicles
Guide Rail Trams - Trams designed for running on pavement (pavement will be sprited to be beneath non-road tram tracks in place of dirt) and following a single electric guide rail
Trains - Not sure about this one, I guess we'll see how many trains end up in OpenGFX Mars
Ice Ships - Basically massive amphibious tracked units designed for the "polar" region where the seas get frozen over.
Airships - Mostly zeppelins and blimps. Possibly "Rocket Planes" too, but I'm not sure how realistic that would be.
NewObjects - Futuristic buildings as NewObjects, designed to hook up to the modular buildings of the main set. Will require someone with NFO coding skill (why is such a new feature relying on NFO?!).

Also, this set is open to contributions! If you can draw, feel free to post your graphics here, and I will properly credit you in the following post and in the "finished version" thread. Please remember that graphics should be of vehicles designed to function on Mars, and take note of the four design eras. For the eras and interludes, take inspiration from works of fiction and old "Popular Mechanix" magazine covers.
Examples:
Steam Era - 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, a google image search result of any airtight steampunk vehicle (none of those wooden ships with propellers and balloons instead of sails)
Diesel Interlude - Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The Sky Crawlers
Atomic Era - Fallout 3 or Fallout: New Vegas, The Jetsons
Jet Interlude - Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds, Star Wars (The Naboo vehicles from "The Prequel Trilogy")
"Star Battle" Era - Supertrain, Star Wars ("The Original Trilogy")
Cyber Interlude - Blade Runner, Total Recall (especially the Mars segments)
e-Ra - Cubix: Robots for Everyone, Batman Beyond, Civilization: Call to Power (& "Call to Power II")
iNterlude - Most of the robots in WALL-E (excluding WALL-E himself, funnily enough), post-2000 concept cars, anything smooth and curvy with shiny white/black color and glowing blue bits, anything with brushed aluminum
Metro Era - Not quite sure, but try to stick to "simple shapes and single-color rectangles" like some sort of real-world "Microsoft Metro"
The Weirdening - Anything cool we can't put elsewhere

If you still can't make heads or tails of the eras and just want to draw in "original OpenGFX Mars style", I'll put the vehicle in the jet interlude, star battle era or cyber interlude, depending on how the graphics come out.

If you can't draw, but can code, the nml is available so you can go over it and maybe make it more efficient. And if you can't do either, fear not, just post an image of a futuristic vehicle you'd like to see in the sets, and we'll try and work something out.

Anyway, let me know what you think of this project below.

[Transportman]

If you can't draw, but can code, let me know and I'll PM you the nml so you can go over it and maybe make it more efficient. And if you can't do either, fear not, just post an image of a futuristic vehicle you'd like to see in the sets, and we'll try and work something out.

Interesting project, but why not publish the complete source (so code+graphics) or use the #openttdcoop DevZone? Then everyone can take a look and you fulfill the GPL license requirements in one go. And on top of that, you have a backup.

[Phreeze]

screenshots please

[Twyster]

Interesting project, but why not publish the complete source (so code+graphics) or use the #openttdcoop DevZone? Then everyone can take a look and you fulfill the GPL license requirements in one go. And on top of that, you have a backup.

Ah! You're right, the GPL means I have to publicly release the source. Unfortunately, for some reason #openttdcoop won't send me my activation email. For now, here's the complete source and a couple screenshots.

ogfx-mars-exp-rv.rar

(38.25 KiB) Downloaded 111 times

The first vehicle, steampunk era.

screen1.png (7.67 KiB) Viewed 4844 times

The first vehicle, in the atomic era livery it will be constructed in between 1945 and 1955, and the second vehicle which appears in 1946.
EDIT: The second vehicle is now part of the Jet Interlude, and first appears in 1960.

screen2.png (8.33 KiB) Viewed 4844 times

[Transportman]

Two quick things regarding your code:
Why are you using spritegroups? Are you going to provide different graphics for different loading states at a later point? Now you just have the same sprite for each loading and travel state, thus a spritegroup is not needed and you can directly refer to the spriteset from the style-switches.

//Define the cargo translation table, and MAKE SURE to ask Zephyris if this copy-paste of a code section can be used. Otherwise, "copy" it by typing what you see FROM SCRATCH.
//In fact, make sure to ask if typing what you see without copying it is considered to be stealing BEFORE RELEASE.

You already have permission for that, as Zephyris work is GPLv2 and your work also is, there is no problem. And even if the licenses would be different, it is just a simple list of names, so it might even be an exception on copyright laws there. Of course, it is good to stay in touch with Zephyris in case he changes the cargoes of his Mars set, so that you can keep your definitions in line.

[Eddi]

cargo translation table probably counts as "interface" and that can not be protected by copyright. (at least in germany). anyway, you might as well just copy it from the wiki.

[planetmaker]

Unfortunately, for some reason #openttdcoop won't send me my activation email.

I see that the account was registered today. Sometimes e-mails can take some time to arrive. Anyhow, I manually activated your account.

[Twyster]

Two quick things regarding your code:
Why are you using spritegroups? Are you going to provide different graphics for different loading states at a later point? Now you just have the same sprite for each loading and travel state, thus a spritegroup is not needed and you can directly refer to the spriteset from the style-switches.

//Define the cargo translation table, and MAKE SURE to ask Zephyris if this copy-paste of a code section can be used. Otherwise, "copy" it by typing what you see FROM SCRATCH.
//In fact, make sure to ask if typing what you see without copying it is considered to be stealing BEFORE RELEASE.

You already have permission for that, as Zephyris work is GPLv2 and your work also is, there is no problem. And even if the licenses would be different, it is just a simple list of names, so it might even be an exception on copyright laws there. Of course, it is good to stay in touch with Zephyris in case he changes the cargoes of his Mars set, so that you can keep your definitions in line.

In regards to spritegroups: Fixed. This is my first attempt at actually coding, so I thought spritegroups were mandatory.

In regards to permissions: Good to know. Thanks.

Unfortunately, for some reason #openttdcoop won't send me my activation email.

I see that the account was registered today. Sometimes e-mails can take some time to arrive. Anyhow, I manually activated your account.

Thank you. I'll upload everything there right away.

[SquireJames]

screen2.png

The first vehicle in the atomic era livery it will be constructed in between 1945 and 1955, and the second vehicle which appears in 1946.

Awesome! Captain Scarlet LiOX Tanker like I suggested

Made my day, odd as it sounds

[Transportman]

Two quick things regarding your code:
Why are you using spritegroups? Are you going to provide different graphics for different loading states at a later point? Now you just have the same sprite for each loading and travel state, thus a spritegroup is not needed and you can directly refer to the spriteset from the style-switches.

In regards to spritegroups: Fixed. This is my first attempt at actually coding, so I thought spritegroups were mandatory.

You use spritesets to define one complete set of sprites, which you can reference to directly from the graphics-block if you are not doing anything fancy. If you want the graphics to depend on load percentage or if it is loading or moving, you use spritegroups, which references to a spriteset for every state you want and can also be referenced to from the graphics-block. Finally there are switches, where you can do all kinds of fancy stuff, which can also be referenced from the graphics-block, and can reference to other switch-blocks, spritegroups and spritesets. Switch-blocks can also be used to change certain properties of the vehicle depending on a variable, see the second table under this part of the specifications for which properties can be set in this way.

[Twyster]

screen2.png

The first vehicle in the atomic era livery it will be constructed in between 1945 and 1955, and the second vehicle which appears in 1946.

Awesome! Captain Scarlet LiOX Tanker like I suggested

Made my day, odd as it sounds

You're welcome!

Two quick things regarding your code:
Why are you using spritegroups? Are you going to provide different graphics for different loading states at a later point? Now you just have the same sprite for each loading and travel state, thus a spritegroup is not needed and you can directly refer to the spriteset from the style-switches.

In regards to spritegroups: Fixed. This is my first attempt at actually coding, so I thought spritegroups were mandatory.

You use spritesets to define one complete set of sprites, which you can reference to directly from the graphics-block if you are not doing anything fancy. If you want the graphics to depend on load percentage or if it is loading or moving, you use spritegroups, which references to a spriteset for every state you want and can also be referenced to from the graphics-block. Finally there are switches, where you can do all kinds of fancy stuff, which can also be referenced from the graphics-block, and can reference to other switch-blocks, spritegroups and spritesets. Switch-blocks can also be used to change certain properties of the vehicle depending on a variable, see the second table under this part of the specifications for which properties can be set in this way.

Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Thank you.

[Twyster]

Bump! The source code is now uploaded to #openttdcoop!

If you're too lazy to scroll up to the first post: http://dev.openttdcoop.org/projects/ogf ... repository

[Transportman]

I don't know how big this set is going to be, but you might want to look to also use the Makefile system, as you can then split up the big .nml file into multiple .pnml files (and some other nice magic). That makes it easier to manage later on, as you can give every vehicle a separate file.

Also, you need to add a .devzone folder with some files to your repo, as it will not build anything now. Take a look at the .devzone folder for the 2cc TrainsInNML for which files you should have. They are all blank files with just that name (no extension), except for type, which is not blank, but contains "nml" (without the quotes).

[Twyster]

I don't know how big this set is going to be, but you might want to look to also use the Makefile system, as you can then split up the big .nml file into multiple .pnml files (and some other nice magic). That makes it easier to manage later on, as you can give every vehicle a separate file.

Also, you need to add a .devzone folder with some files to your repo, as it will not build anything now. Take a look at the .devzone folder for the 2cc TrainsInNML for which files you should have. They are all blank files with just that name (no extension), except for type, which is not blank, but contains "nml" (without the quotes).

".devzone"? It has to be "DOT devzone"? Because windows can't create folders with a dot at the beginning of the name.

Thanks for the info, regardless.

[planetmaker]

I don't know how big this set is going to be, but you might want to look to also use the Makefile system, as you can then split up the big .nml file into multiple .pnml files (and some other nice magic). That makes it easier to manage later on, as you can give every vehicle a separate file.

Also, you need to add a .devzone folder with some files to your repo, as it will not build anything now. Take a look at the .devzone folder for the 2cc TrainsInNML for which files you should have. They are all blank files with just that name (no extension), except for type, which is not blank, but contains "nml" (without the quotes).

".devzone"? It has to be "DOT devzone"? Because windows can't create folders with a dot at the beginning of the name.

Thanks for the info, regardless.

It has to be. That's where the compile farm and also web translator expects to find info what / if / how they shall handle the project.

http://dev.openttdcoop.org/projects/hom ... UsingTheCF
http://dev.openttdcoop.org/projects/hom ... agingEints

[Twyster]

".devzone"? It has to be "DOT devzone"? Because windows can't create folders with a dot at the beginning of the name.

Thanks for the info, regardless.

It has to be. That's where the compile farm and also web translator expects to find info what / if / how they shall handle the project.

http://dev.openttdcoop.org/projects/hom ... UsingTheCF
http://dev.openttdcoop.org/projects/hom ... agingEints

No, you misunderstand. The user of a Windows 7 computer literally is incapable of creating a folder with a "." at the beginning of the folder name. The following error message pops up when I try to name a folder as ".devzone":

rename.png (4.75 KiB) Viewed 4637 times

Programs can apparently create folders like ".hg" but the user cannot create a folder in a ".???" format. Just ask mart3p.

What do I do when I can't meet this requirement? Or is there something completely different I'm supposed to do?

[Taede]

Use the command prompt (Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> command prompt) to create the directory will circumvent the gui limitation.
Once in the command prompt use CD to change directory to your where your project is located, then do 'mkdir .devzone'

This will create the directory no problem.

(tested on win7 64bit)

[Twyster]

Ah, thanks. Worked just like you said. Okay, I'm not quite sure how the Makefile system works, but I'm going to try and dissect 2ccts via the link you gave me. In the meantime, if anyone knows a guide to learn this system, feel free to post it here.

[mart3p]

In the meantime, if anyone knows a guide to learn this system, feel free to post it here.

The instructions for using the makefile system are here.

[Twyster]

Thank you for the link.

I want to get the files in the repository properly organized, but I think I did something wrong. Why is the old .nml file still there when I've changed everything to use the Makefile system and moved the old .nml out of the repository folder before committing my local version?