Evochron Mercenary 2.908 available...

Official SW3DG related announcements and news.
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Vice
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Evochron Mercenary 2.908 available...

Post by Vice »

Version 2.908 is now available for download. As usual, the installer can also be used to update older versions of the game. It can be downloaded here:
http://www.starwraith.com/evochronmerce ... nloads.htm

This update includes the following improvements:

- Loading data performance for item descriptions in inventory console improved.
- Passenger transport range based pay limit increased, providing higher potential pay for longer distances.
- Passenger transport rate of pay decrease reduced, giving more time to reach required destination.
- Asteroids could sometimes incorrectly appear at the borders of certain sectors, now fixed.
- Option to select full negative and positive range of motion for throttle control added.


For the new throttle control option an additional checkbox has been added to the axis configuration menu labeled 'Full Range'. When enabled, the option will allow the player to use their throttle control axis for both forward and reverse levels with center being zero throttle. This should be a useful option for gamepad users who can only use thumbsticks that auto center themselves as well as for any joystick users who might want to have full range throttle control without having to use the reverse throttle toggle option.

By default, the game provides a small auto-center region to help accommodate slight imprecision in a device, making it a little easier to set throttle to zero at/near the center of the axis range. As an option, the game also supports using a custom file to specify a wider center zone for devices that may have additional unwanted imprecision near center. To use this option, create a file in the save data folder (c:\\sw3dg\\EvochronMercenary by default) named throttlecenter.txt and in the first line enter a value from 0 to 900. A roughly 10% deadzone would use a value of 100, a 50% deadzone would use a value of 500.
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Evochron Mercenary 2.908 available...

Post by PaulB »

For the new throttle control option an additional checkbox has been added to the axis configuration menu labeled 'Full Range'. When enabled, the option will allow the player to use their throttle control axis for both forward and reverse levels with center being zero throttle. This should be a useful option for gamepad users who can only use thumbsticks that auto center themselves as well as for any joystick users who might want to have full range throttle control without having to use the reverse throttle toggle option.
I guess I'm not following you here. If (with a gamepad) you use a stick that of course autocenters then isn't your speed going to drop to zero?? or is this only for Inertial mode or something??
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Evochron Mercenary 2.908 available...

Post by Vice »

Yes, they auto-center, that's indeed how they are designed. Some players have requested this approach to throttle input so that when they release the thumbstick and it returns to center, the throttle level is set to 0, rather than being somewhere in the middle. Then they can hold the thumbstick up for positive throttle or down for negative throttle. IDS on/off control will also still apply, so they can continue to use variable forward/reverse thruster control with the IDS off or throttle set control with the IDS on using the full range of negative and positive values.
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Evochron Mercenary 2.908 available...

Post by Iron man »

Thx Sir. Downloaded too :)
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Evochron Mercenary 2.908 available...

Post by LuisPR »

Thank you for the update, these are great news :)

Downloaded and installed!


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Evochron Mercenary 2.908 available...

Post by Beta_ver »

Cool, will be testing this shortly, hopefully tonight.
Regarding the throttle, as I mentioned in an earlier post, this is actually not really throttle control but speed control in the current design.

Throttle model with middle 0 point would be :
+ 50% of axis = 50% of engine power = constant acceleration
+100% of axis = 100% of engine power = constant acceleration, but higher
0% of axis = 0% of engine power = constant speed (in space)
-50% of axis = 50% of engine power, reverse = constant deceleration

reach a desired speed : x% of throttle until speed is reached, the higher the x the more thrust power the faster the speed is reached, then set throttle to 0 to maintain that speed, in space. In atmosphere, obviously need to have some constant throttle set to compensate air friction and gravity.

Whether IDS or inertial doesn't make a difference, except IDS would limit max speed by cutting off the engine when the max speed is reached.

Current model : adjust speed with throttle, engine uses 100% power to achieve the speed in IDS, up to the limit of the IDS setting value (1-5).
No throttle available on main engine in inertial mode except the afterburner.

I think it would be nice to be able to choose between thrust model or speed regulator (current) model on throttle axis, and the throttle "engine thrust control" model would make inertial piloting quite different if that big engine could be used, but maybe too big of a modification to the current flight model ?

In any case, this game rocks, thanks for your work there !
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Evochron Mercenary 2.908 available...

Post by 9T9 »

Hi Vice,

in the text.dat you added line 1188. It is there now two times. This may cause trouble.
Furthermore you removed line

Code: Select all

1186=Numpad +
wich seems to be unintentional since the key description/name is now missing if you bind that key.

Thanks for your effort.
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Evochron Mercenary 2.908 available...

Post by Vice »

Thanks for catching that. The duplicate line 1188 won't cause trouble (I'll clear it out for the next update anyway), but the missing 1186 should have been included.
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Evochron Mercenary 2.908 available...

Post by Vice »

Fixes to the text file have been uploaded (direct download and Steam).
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Evochron Mercenary 2.908 available...

Post by Minuteman »

Too cool. It's awesome to continually see player input implemented. It's also awesome to see that we are nearing a 3.0 release. Way cool, Thanks, Vice.
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