Spacebuild Development - Garry's Mod

Since it's been a while since there have been any updates on Spacebuild I decided to create a new thread for it. This thread will be used for any version of spacebuild, life support and resource distribution starting from SB2 and up. [U][B]What is spacebuild? [/B][/U]As noted in the original thread [URL]http://www.facepunch.com/threads/289298[/URL]. Build spaceships and land on distant worlds, perhaps building settlements or space stations. It comes with one demo map which includes all of the near-solar terrestrial planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth(and Moon), Mars(and moons.) Gravity only applies when standing on a planet, and the Moon has less than half normal gravity. Mercury is so close to the sun that you will receive burning damage if you do not find shade quickly. It is difficult to build due to the planet's instability causing frequent tremors. Venus has such a heavy atmosphere that you will be instantly crushed if you venture onto the surface without a Life Support System(Air Exchanger) to stabilize your atmospheric pressure. Both Earth and Mars have regular day and night cycles, though Earth's atmosphere is so thick that you cannot see anything in space during the daytime, while on Mars you can faintly see the outline of objects and other planets in the ruddy daytime atmospheric haze. [U][B]What versions are there? [/B][/U]The following only list some of the major changes between the versions and is by no means a complete feature set. Spacebuild 1 ([URL]http://www.facepunch.com/threads/289298[/URL]): [CODE] The original spacebuild created by [B][COLOR=#A06000][URL="http://www.facepunch.com/members/1302-Shanjaq"]Shanjaq[/URL] [/COLOR][/B][COLOR=#A06000][/COLOR]which isn't operational anymore. Provides support for static environments, gravity changes and creating generators and storage devices to survive in space. [/CODE] Spacebuild 2 ([URL]http://gmodsnakesvx.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/dev/2.0/[/URL]) NOTE: don't checkout this folder, but only the subfolders you need [CODE] The successor to the original spacebuild after a garry'smod update broke it. It added support for more types of environments and also allowed to have 2 or more environments inside of eachother where the smallest environment got the biggest priority. Next to changes to SB itself, RD and LS got an overhaul to, including the addion of link junctions. [/CODE] Spacebuild 3 ([URL]http://gmodsnakesvx.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/dev/3.0/[/URL]) NOTE: don't checkout this folder, but only the subfolders you need [CODE] A rewrite of the entire Spacebuild code to make it more "realistic" and allow "artificial" environments to be added (next to the static ones provided in SB1 and SB2) The way RD works was altered and instead of being able to link devices to eachother a Resource Node got introduced (the updated version of a junction) to link everything together. Some resources such as "coolant" and "air" where replaced by "water", "nitrogen", "oxygen" and extra resources such as CO2, ... where added. Environments are also able to run out of resources (such as oxygen now) unless disabled by a concommand (which got introduced to keep a SB2-like environment) As a side note: an extra addon (CAF) got introduced which provided a shared code base for the different addons and provided support for people to enable/disable these addons easily while ingame. [/CODE] Spacebuild 4 (WIP) [CODE] The current work in progress version of Spacebuild. Since it's still a WIP I can't really give out much details (and the details I do give are still open to change): 1. Removal of CAF in favor of a simpler more integrated solution 2. Unification of the addons, since you will be able to enable/disable the features ingame the 3 addons are packed into one big addon now. 3. RD rewrite: atm it will work as RD3 works using the Resource Nodes (networks), but plans are to add RD2-style linking back to (in favor of nodes though). 4. SB rewrite: rewrite the base code to easily allow changing between different "engines" (this means the default engine will be SB2/SB3 like, while other engines such as the Environments (AKA SB2.5 engine TAD2020 was working on a couple of years back, but recreated from "scratch" by CmdrMatthew) can easily be integrated and selected by the server owner (config file, maybe ingame option to). 5. LS Suite changes, temperature will be handled differently allow people to survive harsh environments longer (but with some other setbacks when doing so) in place. 6. much more [/CODE] [U][B]What is this thread for?[/B][/U] Well I need some feedback: * What did you like best about SB (any version) and what are the changes/new features you would like to see in spacebuild 4. * If there are any bugs/problems you are having with the current versions SB2/SB3 what are they?

I loved Spacebuild 1/2 because it was so simple yet fun. You only needed a few things, so getting up to go and explore and see what everyone else was doing on other planets was fun. Spacebuild 3 lost that with complexity. You had to have 7 different generators just to breathe in space not to mention climate controls out the wazoo. The servers would get laggy before you knew it and it became difficult to explore. It was more about the life support and less about the exploration. People would have 50 microchip sized fusion gens and shit on their ships. It was rediculous.

[QUOTE=Smoot;33293388] Spacebuild 3 lost that with complexity. You had to have 7 different generators just to breathe in space not to mention climate controls out the wazoo. [/QUOTE] This is both good and bad. I get by with a wind turbine connected to an oxygen compresser and a water pump, as all you really need is oxygen, energy, and water. perhaps i'm doing something wrong, but nitrogen and co2 don't seem to be used at all. [QUOTE=Smoot;33293388]The servers would get laggy before you knew it and it became difficult to explore. [/QUOTE] This is my biggest problem. By the time I finish the life support I need or a space station, i'm lagging too much to even enjoy building the other. [QUOTE=Smoot;33293388] People would have 50 microchip sized fusion gens and shit on their ships[/QUOTE] Guessing this was done with a prop resizer? but what kind of noobs would need that many fusion gens? o.o i'm a freaking horder sometimes, but just one fusion gen seems to fill up the ultra large batteries really fast.

[QUOTE=Smoot;33293388].. Spacebuild 1/2 because it was .. simple[/QUOTE] Doped around for a bit, made multiroom spaceships etc.

[QUOTE=Smoot;33293388]I loved Spacebuild 1/2 because it was so simple yet fun. You only needed a few things, so getting up to go and explore and see what everyone else was doing on other planets was fun. Spacebuild 3 lost that with complexity. You had to have 7 different generators just to breathe in space not to mention climate controls out the wazoo. The servers would get laggy before you knew it and it became difficult to explore. It was more about the life support and less about the exploration. People would have 50 microchip sized fusion gens and shit on their ships. It was rediculous.[/QUOTE] You're actually able to disabled most of the resource stuff in SB itself (causing planets to keep their infinite resource supply of the resources they had when they spawned). But I agree, there were to many devices and trying to simplify them atm. (Even though you didn't have to use all of them). [editline]17th November 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=jb_aero;33303323]This is both good and bad. I get by with a wind turbine connected to an oxygen compresser and a water pump, as all you really need is oxygen, energy, and water. perhaps i'm doing something wrong, but nitrogen and co2 don't seem to be used at all. This is my biggest problem. By the time I finish the life support I need or a space station, i'm lagging too much to even enjoy building the other. Guessing this was done with a prop resizer? but what kind of noobs would need that many fusion gens? o.o i'm a freaking horder sometimes, but just one fusion gen seems to fill up the ultra large batteries really fast.[/QUOTE] Once possible solution to reduce the entity amount in LS would be making some sort of "generator" plates on which you can add say 4 "normal" devices. This device would then do what the other 4 devices did, but with only 1 entity. Not sure though and depends on what you guys think about the idea... [editline]17th November 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Smoot;33293388]I loved Spacebuild 1/2 because it was so simple yet fun. You only needed a few things, so getting up to go and explore and see what everyone else was doing on other planets was fun. Spacebuild 3 lost that with complexity. You had to have 7 different generators just to breathe in space not to mention climate controls out the wazoo. The servers would get laggy before you knew it and it became difficult to explore. It was more about the life support and less about the exploration. People would have 50 microchip sized fusion gens and shit on their ships. It was rediculous.[/QUOTE] For SB4 there will probably be 2 modes: 1. SB Lite: which should work like SB1/2 2. SB Regular: which should work like SB3 Server owners will be able to decide which of these 2 modes they use, by setting up a config file or changing it ingame.

[quote] Once possible solution to reduce the entity amount in LS would be making some sort of "generator" plates on which you can add say 4 "normal" devices. This device would then do what the other 4 devices did, but with only 1 entity. Not sure though and depends on what you guys think about the idea... [/quote] I'd go for it. Beats the hell out of morons who have unnecessary amounts of LS entities in their crap ship thinking it is not killing the server. [quote] For SB4 there will probably be 2 modes: 1. SB Lite: which should work like SB1/2 2. SB Regular: which should work like SB3 Server owners will be able to decide which of these 2 modes they use, by setting up a config file or changing it ingame.[/QUOTE] Is it possible to have a mix and match? Just curious, maybe a future thing but its not important. Will this new SB be modular? I speak of the ability to add new resources and such. The extra resource addons that were available for SB2 & 3 such as Gas/Oil/Water/Transit were fun to mess around with. I am not asking to make it compatible with those, hell don't even bother, I rather see people fix their content for the GM, not visa versa. My reason for this is that playing with resources is pretty fun. I remember using resource powered thrusters/wheels/etc for contraptions (regardless of maps). I always wanted to make a specific resource addon for SB2 but I found it a cumbersome at times. I never bothered with SB3. Will there be any sort of framework to go upon?

[QUOTE=Datsun;33413166]I'd go for it. Beats the hell out of morons who have unnecessary amounts of LS entities in their crap ship thinking it is not killing the server. Is it possible to have a mix and match? Just curious, maybe a future thing but its not important. Will this new SB be modular? I speak of the ability to add new resources and such. The extra resource addons that were available for SB2 & 3 such as Gas/Oil/Water/Transit were fun to mess around with. I am not asking to make it compatible with those, hell don't even bother, I rather see people fix their content for the GM, not visa versa. My reason for this is that playing with resources is pretty fun. I remember using resource powered thrusters/wheels/etc for contraptions (regardless of maps). I always wanted to make a specific resource addon for SB2 but I found it a cumbersome at times. I never bothered with SB3. Will there be any sort of framework to go upon?[/QUOTE] SB regular will use the SB lite code as it's base so everything in there should be available in the "regular" version. If you mean getting somewhere to a level in between (like some features enabled and others are not) that might be possible to, but it will depends on feedback probably. Which settings people want to see, and which would be useless. For the resources, you'll still be able to add new resources to RD devices just like you did before, the only difference when it comes to resource registration is that I'm going to make it easier to place new resources on planet (in SB3 it was mostly hardcoded, with some extra functions to provide support for others). When it comes to some of the addons you mentioned, I might update some of them myself once I'm done with the core, since their original developers seem to have mostly left gmod.

I thought SB3 was way too messy and complicated. SB2 was ideal for me; simple, structured och fun in all possible ways.

[QUOTE=RonPaul4ever;33421946]I thought SB3 was way too messy and complicated. SB2 was ideal for me; simple, structured och fun in all possible ways.[/QUOTE] That's the thing, some people prefer simple, others want more. Hence why there will be a lite (simple) and a regular version for SB4.

I loved SB3, the complexity removed alot of "noobs" because they couldn't be arsed to learn it, which in term ended up to less "trolling", and it created alot more variables in the game, which added to the atmosphere, in all, i like the idea that you have proposed for SB4. Brilliant, and Bravo i must say for the gamemodes produced so far, they're brilliant.

Sounds awesome. Makes me want to play again.

Will SB ever be a stand alone game? There's so much potential for it. It would be the ultimate space sim.

[QUOTE=Chicano3000X;33644473]Will SB ever be a stand alone game? There's so much potential for it. It would be the ultimate space sim.[/QUOTE] Maybe, if enough people would want to work on it, but I highly doubt it.

Could be a source mod written in lua, but I agree, it would require a lot of work. Through, I could see it being a strategy game, but the first person element would kind of break it.

[QUOTE=DrasarSalman;33654756]Could be a source mod written in lua, but I agree, it would require a lot of work. Through, I could see it being a strategy game, but the first person element would kind of break it.[/QUOTE] I dont think it would. Of course we will need a better building system. Possibly an editor where it puts the parts together for you. The whole thing I love about SB is that you can walk around inside your ship, and have a crew aswell. You can physically walk to the deck, to the pods, and then fly down, drop your crew and have a ground war. FPS(or TPS), builder, space combat and strategy elements combined. SB4 should have an option for teams. And respawn platforms so if you land on a planet, build your station and have an accident, you wont have trouble getting back your base.

[QUOTE=Chicano3000X;33665639]I dont think it would. Of course we will need a better building system. Possibly an editor where it puts the parts together for you. The whole thing I love about SB is that you can walk around inside your ship, and have a crew aswell. You can physically walk to the deck, to the pods, and then fly down, drop your crew and have a ground war. FPS(or TPS), builder, space combat and strategy elements combined. SB4 should have an option for teams. And respawn platforms so if you land on a planet, build your station and have an accident, you wont have trouble getting back your base.[/QUOTE] Tnx for the suggestion, could put something like that in. But might only allow it to work on sandbox or through some config file. Otherwise it might mess with the team system of other gamemodes.

Hope you guys can get that to work. For teams, you should look into battlefield. Each planet being a territory. The game will randomly chose home planets. The first team to occupy a planet will have to defend, the team with the less planets loses. As for building and fighting, players who are not ready and still building should be invisible(along with their pros) to ready players. But one very important thing, that should not be as complicated. Add a jetpack to the suit dispensers with limited fuel atleast giving the player a chance to make it to the nearest planet. And also a grappling hook to latch on to the nearest astroid or ship. Anyway, whatever you guys add to it, keep up the good work. This game mode needs more attention from the gaming community. I'd like to help aswell, I'm good with 3D modeling, hope to find time to learn more about creating props for GMod. Glad to see atleast 2 servers still running.

I just had a question about Spacebuild. Did you guys ever use the Independence War games as an influence? I don't know a lot of people besides me who've played it, but I do notice some similarities between ship designs. Not to mention I'm just curious if anyone else has actually heard of it.

[QUOTE=Chicano3000X;33665639]I dont think it would. Of course we will need a better building system. Possibly an editor where it puts the parts together for you.[/QUOTE] Sounds like a lot of work to me to be honest, you can't just make a source mod and grab the lua files from Garry's mod. [QUOTE=Chicano3000X;33665639] The whole thing I love about SB is that you can walk around inside your ship, and have a crew aswell. You can physically walk to the deck, to the pods, and then fly down, drop your crew and have a ground war. FPS(or TPS), builder, space combat and strategy elements combined.[/QUOTE] Well, if this were to be strategy based, most people would prefer a bird view perspective. If the mod would be about sitting in your space ship/station trying to find or defending against the enemy, it would quickly become boring except when it comes to combat. Life support may add to the strategy elements like building bases and defenses, but then it comes to the combat part of that like if Gcombat or any other combat tools get added. You could add a part assembly system to use in FPS like SBEP, but that would require re-inventing the toolgun which, again, would require a lot of work. Short said, the fact that the buildings, space stations and ships can be customized is quite good, but works mostly only because of Gmod's building system. Still, the game may require some bird perspective to move or build them. I'm guessing a assembly system in a window or something to build structures and ships while adding old school bird perspective strategy and first/third person space combat scenes. I can already see it being a mod with slow gameplay, but it sounds interesting even if it would require a whole lot of work.

[QUOTE=Chicano3000X;33669754]Hope you guys can get that to work. For teams, you should look into battlefield. Each planet being a territory. The game will randomly chose home planets. The first team to occupy a planet will have to defend, the team with the less planets loses. As for building and fighting, players who are not ready and still building should be invisible(along with their pros) to ready players. But one very important thing, that should not be as complicated. Add a jetpack to the suit dispensers with limited fuel atleast giving the player a chance to make it to the nearest planet. And also a grappling hook to latch on to the nearest astroid or ship. Anyway, whatever you guys add to it, keep up the good work. This game mode needs more attention from the gaming community. I'd like to help aswell, I'm good with 3D modeling, hope to find time to learn more about creating props for GMod. Glad to see atleast 2 servers still running.[/QUOTE] Thanks, might need someone to model some stuff in the future. :) At the moment (atleast for the first beta version of it) I'll probably do with the models I have from SB3 though.

You should talk to CmdrMatthew about his Environments mod, get some code from that for the planet environments. That was probably the best Space Exploration mod i've ever played just because it was effective and not laggy.

[QUOTE=zombini;33692185]You should talk to CmdrMatthew about his Environments mod, get some code from that for the planet environments. That was probably the best Space Exploration mod i've ever played just because it was effective and not laggy.[/QUOTE] Research a little more and come back on that one.

perhaps he meant single player? i was trying to decide if i wanted to switch to that, and i saw servers had a problem with Environments so i never bothered.

Well the idea is to be able to let people (servers) choose which of both they want. Originaly TAD2020 was working on something similar as Environments for SB2.5, but due to issues with the engine back then (which seem to be solved now) he stopped working on it. For SB4, I plan to build some sort of simple 'engine' mechanism, which would allow people to change the "engine" themselves, it being the (optimised) SB2/SB3 one or the Environments one (or any other type of system people might come up with). This way people can decide which implementation seems to work best on their server (or single player game).

Well, I don't know lua or modeling, but I do know a good mapper, and I can host servers, that are fast and good. I have a 40 up and 40 down internet speed at my house, and run a small hosting business, I could host free. This might be a little early to be saying this, but I can host a server for the testing of SB4......... If you are interested. Then there is the mapper......

The day has finally come... Space Build as a unified addon! My E-life is now complete. edit:Does SB2 still work?

I keep getting a authorization error

[QUOTE=Sales Kital;37878557]I keep getting a authorization error[/QUOTE] Considering this thread has gone nearly a year without an update, you kind of have to wonder why.

[QUOTE=Forumaster;37878649]Considering this thread has gone nearly a year without an update, you kind of have to wonder why.[/QUOTE] Is there a new thread? I hadn't noticed how long it had been when I posted.

now that you can change the sizes of npc's and models you should mess around with making the world bigger :D by making other things smaller .... keep in mind this shoulden't be laggy cause this is a source engine feature (form TF2) and should be stable.