[TESTREQUEST] Station Editor

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DocAce
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[TESTREQUEST] Station Editor

Post by DocAce » Tue, 27. Jul 21, 12:10

The most recent update to 4.10 adds a new way to control the camera in the Station Editor.

In order to switch to the experimental free camera controls in the Station Editor, add the following to your config.xml (located in \Documents\Egosoft\X4\YourSteamID):
<stationeditor_freecam>true</stationeditor_freecam>

Image

Here is how the camera controls work in this new mode:
  • Use the WASD keys to move the camera vertically and horizontally. Z and X move the camera backwards and forwards, respectively. The movement speed accelerates depending on how long you keep moving.
  • Hold down the right mouse button and then drag the mouse to change the view direction. The numbers on the numpad do this, too, but they are currently inverted.
Image

We have also made the station editing more freeform, allowing you to freely rotate modules.
  • First click a placed module to select it. Keep the cursor on it.
  • Hold the left mouse button and move the mouse to drag the module on the plane perpendicular to the camera's forward direction. You can hold Control while doing so to disable snapping to connection points.
  • Hold the right mouse button and move the mouse to rotate an unconnected module around the axis that's most parallel to the camera's forward direction, or a connected module around the axis of the connection is has been snapped to. You can hold Shift while doing so to rotate in discrete steps of 30 degrees.
Image

Additional fixes and improvements to come in a later update:
  • Ability to toggle collision detection off and on
  • Ability to configure the rotation snap angle
  • Improved accuracy of collision detection between modules and dock exclusion areas
  • Fix inverted numpad controls in free camera view
  • Fix jump in angle when starting to rotate a module


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Tamina
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Re: [TESTREQUEST] Station Editor

Post by Tamina » Wed, 28. Jul 21, 17:58

Rotation: (I can't test the camera)
First thoughts: Rotating is going to confuse a lot of people in the first minutes. :D .. but it works very well and easy when you have figured it out. The key is to understand that you can only rotate it around one of the three main axis at a time, by dragging the mouse cursor in a circle around the center of a module.

After a couple of minutes I already see this small feature enabling huge potential.

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Re: [TESTREQUEST] Station Editor

Post by Vertigo 7 » Wed, 28. Jul 21, 18:01

omg! you mean station orientation isn't tied to the galactic plane anymore?! AND we can move the camera anywhere we want in the station build menu?! <3 this soooo much!
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Re: [TESTREQUEST] Station Editor

Post by G315t » Wed, 28. Jul 21, 18:04

The new sector view background on station building is very cool. But it has a downside.

I loaded up my already existing headquarter station that is located in getsu fune. And this sector has a strong Sun / Shadow. And that makes it hard to work in the station build menu because it becomes hard to see. Its probaply no problem if you build a small station with a few modules but expanding a huge station in that environment will become confusing. I suggest to add a checkbox in the build menu that will replace the background sector view with a black screen.

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Re: [TESTREQUEST] Station Editor

Post by G315t » Wed, 28. Jul 21, 18:17

Here is my example

Image

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Re: [TESTREQUEST] Station Editor

Post by Shuulo » Wed, 28. Jul 21, 18:29

G315t wrote:
Wed, 28. Jul 21, 18:17
Here is my example

Image
I think switching to real and dummy background/lighting should be optional (a switch somewhere in UI) as it can make building stations really difficult in some sectors, like the ones with strong big red sun and heavy shadows.

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can't connect to HQ anymore

Post by WoodyAut » Wed, 28. Jul 21, 18:37

Hi,

Did not add the line in the config xml yet...
Tried to add a luxury dock to the HQ and it looks like i can only rotate it vertically anymore with the mouse, so i can't connect it anymore to all available connection points.

Best regards
WoodyAut

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Re: [TESTREQUEST] Station Editor

Post by G315t » Wed, 28. Jul 21, 18:49

I also would like to advice to add rotation and movement Ui elements to the station build mode.

Like the Blender Transform Widget. (or whatever 3d Modeling software you prefer, usualy all of them have it)

Image

That would make it much easier to understand and work with the station editor.

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Re: [TESTREQUEST] Station Editor

Post by adeine » Wed, 28. Jul 21, 18:55

Shuulo wrote:
Wed, 28. Jul 21, 18:29
G315t wrote:
Wed, 28. Jul 21, 18:17
Here is my example

Image
I think switching to real and dummy background/lighting should be optional (a switch somewhere in UI) as it can make building stations really difficult in some sectors, like the ones with strong big red sun and heavy shadows.
I think a better thing to do would be having a toggle for the station modules rather than the background. The unbuilt/colour previews will show up fine anywhere so having a "wireframe"/colour block toggle for already built modules would solve this issue in a simpler way.

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Re: [TESTREQUEST] Station Editor

Post by G315t » Wed, 28. Jul 21, 19:03

adeine wrote:
Wed, 28. Jul 21, 18:55


I think a better thing to do would be having a toggle for the station modules rather than the background. The unbuilt/colour previews will show up fine anywhere so having a "wireframe"/colour block toggle for already built modules would solve this issue in a simpler way.


Yes that would also be a good solution.

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Re: [TESTREQUEST] Station Editor

Post by Fazmaster » Wed, 28. Jul 21, 19:29

Pretty grear to have the real backdrops and relevant objects displayed now! Would love this for the ship buy menu aswell.

There is currently a bug with the objects though: when flying with autopilot in the background all objects rotate with the rotating ship.

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Re: [TESTREQUEST] Station Editor

Post by Sengar » Wed, 28. Jul 21, 20:54

Couple of things I noticed thus far, while using the Station Editor:

1. New background - Lighting can be overpowering:
Spoiler
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Image
Spoiler
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2. The background turns, when you are in a AI controlled ship, which is changing direction.

3. There seem to be some color glitches, when certain criteria are met:
Spoiler
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Regarding #3:

You can reproduce this by using the save from: viewtopic.php?p=5071995#p5071995
  • Teleport yourself to a station in "Eighteen Billion" (The sector may not matter, as long as you are not in "Zyarth's Dominion IV")
  • Open Map and go to sector "Zyarth's Dominion IV".
  • Select "Plan Build" on "WAY Engine Parts Seller".
  • Enjoy your trip :)

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Re: [TESTREQUEST] Station Editor

Post by Phenom__64 » Wed, 28. Jul 21, 21:00

DocAce wrote:
Tue, 27. Jul 21, 12:10
Z and X move the camera backwards and forwards,
Would it be possible to put this on the mousewheel?

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Re: [TESTREQUEST] Station Editor

Post by adeine » Wed, 28. Jul 21, 22:05

Fazmaster wrote:
Wed, 28. Jul 21, 19:29
Pretty grear to have the real backdrops and relevant objects displayed now! Would love this for the ship buy menu aswell.
Yep, would be great to have ship building/equipment show the prospective ship docked at the production/maintenance module in question. You could even have construction drones orbiting around it for added effect.

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Re: [TESTREQUEST] Station Editor

Post by rudi_pioneer » Wed, 28. Jul 21, 22:17

It would be great to add keyboard modifiers hit on bottom of the UI, since it's not as easy to remember especially if not played for a while. For example, here's how Affinity Designer does it:

Image

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Re: [TESTREQUEST] Station Editor

Post by alt3rn1ty » Thu, 29. Jul 21, 02:17

It doesn't feel as intuitive as previous map editing, but if I recall correctly that initially took some getting used to, so I guess we will get used to this less intuitive way of editing.

Nice to be able to place things upside down, I just placed an extra Teladi habitat the wrong way up to experiment in the following video .. I'm sure there will be much more creative stations being made, and from my own experiences in the past there have been many occasions when I wished we could do this to lessen the amount of connectors we needed and make stations have less impact on game performance.

Anyway, on to the video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYHvsL-xPHw

Its really weird having the background of the station editor following the orientation of the AI Piloted ship I am currently stood in.
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Re: [TESTREQUEST] Station Editor

Post by ubuntufreakdragon » Thu, 29. Jul 21, 04:06

rotating a module into eulearian angles polar sungularity an snapping it or its parents results in many unexpected rotation around the polar axis, switch to quaternions please.
Changing the camera height would be the most needed feature for the new editor.

applying a custom loadout to all modules of the same type would be a nice function. Also using custom loadouts by name for the whole station would be nice.

The stationeditor Gamestart doesn't allow HQ drafts, and could profit from an insta build function, so you can see your station in real.
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Re: [TESTREQUEST] Station Editor

Post by adeine » Thu, 29. Jul 21, 04:19

ubuntufreakdragon wrote:
Thu, 29. Jul 21, 04:06

applying a custom loadout to all modules of the same type would be a nice function. Also using custom loadouts by name for the whole station would be nice.
YES. This would be fantastic.

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Re: [TESTREQUEST] Station Editor

Post by Zloth2 » Thu, 29. Jul 21, 07:26

I tried it tonight and loved it. (End result here: https://youtu.be/Xczm-yXkJk8 )

I didn't know about the shift-rotate to jump 30 degrees at a time - that would have helped. Still, I was trying to rotate around an axis that wasn't lined up with X, Y, or Z but still managed to get the station to come together at the top. You can do a lot once you get the swing of things.

I ran into problems trying to delete modules, particularly piers. I would right click, select the menu option to delete, but the module would stick around. Trying to right click on it again just made it rotate. I was able to work around the problem simply by shoving the part outside of the station box then start placing another module.
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Re: [TESTREQUEST] Station Editor

Post by G315t » Thu, 29. Jul 21, 08:29

Zloth2 wrote:
Thu, 29. Jul 21, 07:26
I tried it tonight and loved it. (End result here: https://youtu.be/Xczm-yXkJk8 )

I didn't know about the shift-rotate to jump 30 degrees at a time - that would have helped. Still, I was trying to rotate around an axis that wasn't lined up with X, Y, or Z but still managed to get the station to come together at the top. You can do a lot once you get the swing of things.

I ran into problems trying to delete modules, particularly piers. I would right click, select the menu option to delete, but the module would stick around. Trying to right click on it again just made it rotate. I was able to work around the problem simply by shoving the part outside of the station box then start placing another module.
I had the same issue with a defence module yesterday

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