Tactical Combat Space Background (Starfield)

Tactical Combat Space Background (Starfield); support/discussion/questions

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Spocks-cuddly-tribble
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Tactical Combat Space Background (Starfield)

Post by Spocks-cuddly-tribble »

Due to the outstanding progress made in increasing game resolution, here is how to avoid empty-looking backgrounds in tactical combat. :)


Base values for number of stars in the background: (min. 1, else crash)

Code: Select all

00495C6E                 mov     edx, 0FAh  // multiplier for random value
00495C81                 add     edx, 2EEh  // static bonus
After that sub_499C70 determines the positions (and colors?) of the stars.



An interesting option would be changing the whole background f.e. for nebulars (even better using something like the calamarain effect).

If some one wants to look into this: :wink:

Tactical combat screen setup:

Code: Select all

00471BF5                 mov     eax, 1 // screen ID *tactscn.wdf
00471BFA                 call    4B9180
00471BFF                 mov     eax, 1 // screen ID *tactscn.wdf
00471C04                 xor     edx, edx
00471C06                 call    4B9030
Directly above we find: (to create a switch marker)

Code: Select all

00471BC0                 call    Nebular_Effects
The old nebular Hob can be disabled in sub_4957D0 (Stellar_object_HOBs).
off_4957A0: case2 loc_495864 (nebula1.hob) -> loc_49581E (exit)
I don't know how many bugs is too many but that point is reached somewhere before however many in BotF is.
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Tethys
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Re: Tactical Combat Space Background (Starfield)

Post by Tethys »

http://i40.tinypic.com/2hfngie.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/23igmky.jpg

But Ive not been able to figure out how to adjust their positions to be more dispersed :( (dont worry too much about it I know you dont anyways ;))

Thanks for all the info too SCT
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Re: Tactical Combat Space Background (Starfield)

Post by Flocke »

Tethys wrote:http://i40.tinypic.com/2hfngie.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/23igmky.jpg

But Ive not been able to figure out how to adjust their positions to be more dispersed :( (dont worry too much about it I know you dont anyways ;))
LOL, what an effect. :D
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Re: Tactical Combat Space Background (Starfield)

Post by Tethys »

Its definitely spherical from what I can tell? Or has my eyes tricked me?
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Re: Tactical Combat Space Background (Starfield)

Post by QuasarDonkey »

Thanks for this SCT. I'm including it in the resolution patch tool, so we'll have uniform star density across all resolutions. :D

Also, this might help out the less technical folk:

Code: Select all

00495C81           add     edx, 750  // minimum number of stars
00495C6E           mov     edx, 250  // random number of stars to add
So 750 is the min, 1000 is the max.
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Re: Tactical Combat Space Background (Starfield)

Post by Tethys »

That helps a little, but does not solve the "stripes" issue, but I wouldnt worry too much about it, Ive found that a value of 2000 (D0 07) and 255 (FF) seems to do the trick pretty nicely :)
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Kurn
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Re: Tactical Combat Space Background (Starfield)

Post by Kurn »

Is it possible to have more stars?
Tethys wrote: Thu Nov 10, 2011 11:03 pm That helps a little, but does not solve the "stripes" issue, but I wouldnt worry too much about it, Ive found that a value of 2000 (D0 07) and 255 (FF) seems to do the trick pretty nicely :)
Which file do I have to edit?
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Re: Tactical Combat Space Background (Starfield)

Post by thunderchero »

you edit the trek.exe, I added hex address to code below

Code: Select all

00495C81 0x95081          add     edx, 750  // minimum number of stars
00495C6E 0x9506e          mov     edx, 250  // random number of stars to add
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Re: Tactical Combat Space Background (Starfield)

Post by Spocks-cuddly-tribble »

If you convert the trek.exe asm addresses to hex you get the starting positions of the opcodes. The values themselves are slightly off:

Code: Select all

00495C6E  mov  edx, 0FAh  // multiplier for random value -> random number of stars to add 0x9506F
00495C81  add  edx, 2EEh  // static bonus -> minimum number of stars 0x95083
I don't know how many bugs is too many but that point is reached somewhere before however many in BotF is.
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Re: Tactical Combat Space Background (Starfield)

Post by Kurn »

Thank you guys! :smile:
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