The name of the rocket... ON the rocket

[vger]

A handful of games have done this type of thing now. A perfect example is ST:O where after you have designated the name of the ship, you actually get to see it printed on the hull. In addition to being able to slap a flag on random parts, the name of the vessel should also be an option. Having the name on the fuselage would just look so bloody cool.

[Supernovy]

You know what would be really cool? An in-game flag creator. Then you could put the name on the flag, and then have the flagdecals on the ship.

[theend3r]

Yeah, that would be nice. Flag creator is redundant though, as even MS Paint should be sufficient.

[Deathsoul097]

While this is good, I have a couple of things to say:

I think a better idea would be a set of Decal parts, that are mass-less, physics-less, and drag-less, that you could right click on to type something, or display a flag, or an image for a mission patch (Mission patch folder anyone?). You would have multiple of each size, and they would have to be made to fit flush with stock parts (all tank sizes, flat for wings and structural panels, and large medium and small of each, as well as portrait and landscape, and of course vertical, and it's appropriate sizes.) of course. I would personally love this kind of thing, and those of us who like to recreate real rockets, or make real looking rockets, this would be perfect. The good thing would be that it would be independent of anything you actually had set for the rocket, like the name or mission flag, as some people have some very weird names for rockets, and some are just named as the payload, so then your standard "Raptor" launcher that has it's name on the side, gets changed to be called like Ulysses DRM probe or something. If it is done as an editable part, then you can also pick and choose exactly where you want it, and possibly do some very weird and fun things.

Also, I understand something would probably not be made until much closer to 1.0, but keep in mind SQUAD: This would be one of the most epic things et!

[Comrade Jenkens]

Sounds like a really good idea and I reckon that it wouldn't be too difficult to program in as well.

[Thomas988]

...(Mission patch folder anyone?)...

YES! I second that!

[Red Iron Crown]

There used to be a Decals tab in the VAB part list, but there were never any parts for it. The tab is gone now, so I'm guessing it was an idea that was scrapped.

[vger]

While this is good, I have a couple of things to say:

I think a better idea would be a set of Decal parts, that are mass-less, physics-less, and drag-less, that you could right click on to type something, or display a flag, or an image for a mission patch (Mission patch folder anyone?). You would have multiple of each size, and they would have to be made to fit flush with stock parts (all tank sizes, flat for wings and structural panels, and large medium and small of each, as well as portrait and landscape, and of course vertical, and it's appropriate sizes.) of course.

Yeah, I kinda wondered how much trouble it was to implement the ability to toggle the flag on and off for any piece of fuselage. It may not have been hard at all though. I don't "think" you would need to make pieces that fit each part, like you're suggesting. With the way UV mapping works, all you're doing is adding an extra layer to the texture, and it should just be flush with whatever part you slap it on (the only drawback might be that you'd get a mirror image on the opposite side).

And if it couldn't be done that way, the parts could just be made procedural, so they automatically bend to the surface of whatever you're applying it to.

I'd prefer they NOT be 'parts' though, as a lot of folks are already struggling with lag issues when building complex rockets. More parts will only aggravate it further.

[John FX]

I`d like decals.

I`d like to rotate decals, have multiple decals which are separate from flags, place decals anywhere on any part at any scale.

I`d like decals that are lights so they could shine at night but in the shape of our sponsor, try the great taste of krung!

I`d like decals that emboss or indent the surface of whatever part they are on based on the alpha channel. Then you could simulate crash/impact damage by changing a greyscale bitmap...

Along with the OP I would like to be able to place text on any part, at any angle and in whichever font and colour I choose.

Other stuff

This could ALL be a single part with a good interface...

[neamerjell]

They have already implemented a small flag for the command module, if they could expand that functionality to all fuselage style parts (fuel tanks, mobile processing lab, etc.), perhaps that would be a step in the direction of customizable decals.

As for the added memory requirements of the parts, that could mean anything from graphics memory used by the texture of the flag to totally overhauling the part file system, like converting everything to XML so that they could be handled more like a modular database. It is unknown if there would be any performance gain by switching the part system over to XML.

Hey, devs! Care to comment on that idea? Could it be feasible, or too much work for too little gain? Or would such a change even be required to accommodate a custom decal for the parts?

[Capt Snuggler]

Has anyone seen the way badge creation is done in Battlefield4?

You are given a catalog of shapes, icons and numbers etc and combine, rotate and scale them to make your logo.

I guess the badges are saved as shape position and scale info rather than images.

These logos are visible in multiplayer so the file size must be quite small.

[comham]

Isn't there a mod that allows you to type in a button label in the VAB somewhere, and then its printed on the IVA above that particular button? (I think it's ALCOR) Perhaps that approach could work here.