Feature Requests

This page is primarily to serve as a database for feature requests for the Source Code Project.

New Requests

Toggleable subsystems

Support for subsystems that can be turned on and off (ie when 'off', act as though they never existed - are untargetable, leave behind no damage LOD, do not take damage, cannot be collided with, etc.) This would be useful for ships where someone might want to remove or swap a subsystem (ie fighter cockpits could have Terran and Vasudan versions). The ability to do this with turrets too would be great.

• Supported By: Shadows of Lylat, Twisted Infinities

Side Multipart Turrets

Support for fully rotating turrets on the sides of ships.

• Supported By: Battlestar Galactica, The Babylon Project, Wing Commander Saga, Nukemod - Children of Shiva

Gatling Turrets

Support for Gatling gun turrets, which work same as a regular multipart turret but has an extra subobject (child of the barel) that rotates while the turret is firing.

• Supported By: Nukemod - Children of Shiva

Submodel Animation Triggers & Upgrades

Trigger Requests:

• Subspace - Performs animation on entrance to supspace, and undoes when a ship comes out of subspace, and acts as a initial position if the "mission takes place in subspace" flag is set.
• Weapon Fire - Performs animation when weapon is fired and undoes it before the weapon can fire again.
• Sexp - Animation triggered by sexp.
• Flight Control - Triggered by the the activation, toggle or motion of a particular flight control.

Requested Upgrades:

• Support for "model-relative" movement in addition to "current submodel position-relative" movement that already exists.
• Incremental movement - moves a submodel to the position indicated, but does not undo the motion.
• Glowpoint linking - Make it possible to activate/deactivate/toggel a certain bank/slot of glowpoint(s).
• Counter-rotate option - allow an object to inherit its parent's motion while counter-rotating, usefull for translation effect.
• Increase heirarchy depth instance limit to at least 10 levels of heirarchy.
• Simple linked animation support - Support for animations liked with flight controls and other variable setting ship controls, usefull for making animated cockpit controls, control surfaces, and thrust vectoring nozzels.
• Supported By: Nukemod - Children of Shiva, Twisted Infinities, Shadows of Lylat

3D Muzzle Flashes

Support for pof based 3d muzzel flashes. perhaps also add variables for scale factor and fade speed.

• Supported By: Nukemod - Children of Shiva

Arrays and Other Collections

Support for FRED using arrays or other collections (or both) in a similar fashion to variables as there is currently no way to directly associate two variables with each other. Obviously some way to search the collection for a certain value would be needed.

• Supported By: MindGames, The Babylon Project, Twisted Infinities

Warping Without Vortex

Adds another checkbox to the arrival and departure cues for ships and wings, to disable rendering of the warp vortex, but will preserve all other aspescts of conventional warping, such as the arrival/departure speeds and deceleration/accelleration. Current option to disable warp rendering, will cause ship to appear and disappear without movement.

• Supported By: The Babylon Project

Convergence Firing

Also called "X-Firing", allows a weapon to have secondary source effects so that a weapon can appear to gain a charge boost from converging fire from other sources on the model. Could be either a beam or a standard primary. Would require additional data in the weapon table entry, for effects to be used and timing of the secondary prior to the main firing sequence, as well as data on the turret entry in the ships table, indicating co-ords for where the secondary effects will originate, and the number of secondary sources.

• Supported By: The Babylon Project

Ship Fade Out/In

This would require completely rewriting the way ship models are drawn -- per extension meaning no-one will take it upon themselves to actually do it -- but being able to fade in/out ship models would be incredibly kewl. It requires the possibility to set transparency for the entire model, but it would allow an additional "Special Warp" setting; "Fade warp". Again, per extension it could allow Cloaking Devices™ and such.

In Progress

Customizable ship types

Add a new table (or an addendum to ships.tbl) that would allow modders to turn on and off individual aspects of ship types, as well as define new ones. Type should be settable in the $Flags: variable, just as it is now, and the :V: defaults should be integrated so that they may be overriden by mods.

• Supported By: The Babylon Project, Twisted Infinities

Implemented

Flak Screen

Ability to set detonation range/time for flak shots so that flak weapons could fire at approaching ships beyond their 'detonation range' thus generating a flak screen in front of the approaching ships with the flak explosions. Preferably with little variance in the exact detonation time as there is always a little variance in normal flak explosions. Beams already support this sort of firing with +range: option.
Wanderer 10:56, 9 Dec 2005 (GMT)

• Supported By: The Apocalypse Project

Submodel Animation Triggers & Upgrades

• Afterburners - Performs animation when afterburners are used and undoes the anumation when they go off.
• Turret Fire - Performs animation when a particular turret is fired and undoes it before the turret can fire again.

Muzzle Flashes and Turrets

Extented support for muzzle flashes so that all turreted weapons could use the muzzle flashes.

• Supported By: Starfox mod, Twisted Infinities