JoeSchmuckatelli Posted January 6, 2023 Share Posted January 6, 2023 I went back and re-watched the Announcement Trailer from 2019 (which is still awesome today). I know it's not gameplay footage. I know that - you know that - we all know that. But this part of the trailer - the rocket launch - shows the classic ice chunks dropping off we've all seen in IRL launches. The question is: how graphically challenging is adding in an effect like that? If KSP 2 doesn't include this kind of thing; is it moddable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_v Posted January 6, 2023 Share Posted January 6, 2023 11 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said: The question is: how graphically challenging is adding in an effect like that? If KSP 2 doesn't include this kind of thing; is it moddable? Disclaimer - I know comparatively little about code, so this answer is not fully informed. As I understand it, rendering the ice chunks and potential mist isn't going to be too graphically challenging - chunks can probably look pretty good as a single 2D polygon, and there won't be an overly high graphics impact compared to other things that are in the game. However, deciding where these ice chunks should be is a much more complicated task. Players will be able to create a huge amount of different craft, with parts angled in different ways, occasionally clipping or interacting in weird ways. Generating ice on these craft will be a big challenge - and then running the colliders so the ice doesn't just pass through them will be a lot on the CPU. As an example, say you want ice on any surface that is a fuel tank or connected to a fuel tank and is less vertical than 60 degrees. Nose cones on side tanks, if they are separated by one or more parts, will not have ice even though they should be cold due to them being clipped into the main tanks. Parts that are inside the craft and surfaces that are clipped together will generate ice, even though they shouldn't. This system could work pretty well for most cases, but will fail in a big way on craft that are not designed in anticipated ways. Then, colliders are a problem. If you want fidelity, you need a good number of ice chunks - some of which will probably be inside the craft due to clipping, fairings, or other bays. These are a lot of objects to track the paths of, and with many situations, the colliders will mess up and produce immersion-breaking results. Even with a lot of effort put into resolving these issues, the final effect will probably look janky a bit too often for comfort. For modding, I guess if someone wanted to do something, it isn't impossible to create a system like this, but the effort to polish it to levels that would be good for official KSP 2 content is probably too high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeekzeek22 Posted January 6, 2023 Share Posted January 6, 2023 I could imagine a 2D animation that is simply wrapped around the diameter of your rocket about 1m off. Animation repeats every ~5m of wrapping, so you could maybe see a pattern on bigger rockets but on smaller ones, less likely. No rendering, just a 2D mostly-transparent animated texture wrapped at a 7m diameter around your 5m rocket. Knowing nothing about programming, this seems like the least processing intensive way to show this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vl3d Posted January 6, 2023 Share Posted January 6, 2023 (edited) Just a quick comment. If memory serves me right, the initial plan was to include everything you see in the cinematic trailer as a feature in the base game.. launch / ship visual effects included. The dev team was pretty straightforward about this.. we'll get everything we see in the trailer at some point. Edited January 6, 2023 by Vl3d Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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