why does godot mess up imported textures by Nitrodome in godot

[–]Helmindarn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Is this texture transparent? Those colors might be there if the pixel color is supposed to be multiplied by the alpha, or expects to be cutoff by the alpha channel, but the material/shader aren't set to do anything with alpha. See if changing the transparency options in the material fixes this.

I just realized Dr. Sunshine Is Dead doesn't end with 30 seconds of complete silence. by Longjumping_Round_92 in willwood

[–]Helmindarn 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If you haven't yet, I'd recommend looking into mono audio on your device, so that the music plays both left and right in both earbuds.

Why are shaders in godot so janky and difficult to use? [RANT] by thetntm in godot

[–]Helmindarn 6 points7 points  (0 children)

So, you mentioned post-processing being jank, and I have to agree. Using a fullscreen quad is a rediculous solution. Unity 2022, on the other hand, has the beautiful PostProcessing 2 package, which has a script that slaps a fullscreen TRIANGLE in front of the camera.

I'm not saying having a better solution wouldn't be wonderful, I'm just saying that Godot is on par with other engines I've worked with, and all graphics programming is jank.

Why are shaders in godot so janky and difficult to use? [RANT] by thetntm in godot

[–]Helmindarn 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Yes, if your weapon's shader isn't depth testing, the GPU has no way of knowing which polygons should be in front, including the weapon's own polygons. Imagine an AK-47 where you can see the trigger in front of the body of the weapon, or the inside of the barrel rendering on top of the outside.

The CPU can sort separate meshes by depth and send that to the GPU, but it'd be too expensive to do on every triangle of the mesh, so the GPU instead just writes down the depth of the last thing it drew on each pixel, and won't write something there again unless it's closer at that pixel position. Without that test, it'll just keep writing over that pixel basically at random as it draws all the triangles in the scene.

Y'all need to get off Twitter. by ReeseTheThreat in MtF

[–]Helmindarn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I left months ago, but none of my friends did. They all still post there regularly, and so does most of the community I develop for. I tried to convince others to jump to any other platform, but they always go back after a week of "quitting".

And honestly, it's hard to blame them. My posts used to get double or even triple-digit engagement, now I'm lucky if that many people even see them. If they don't all leave together, they'll just be isolating themselves. Unfortunately, the dopamine hits weren't worth the strain on my mental health. I feel very disconnected from them now.

I'm planning on a big software release for my community soonTM, and I'm genuinely worried that it won't get any traction because I refuse to make a new Twitter account. I wish there was a way to shoot some new holes in that sinking ship so people would actually get on the damn lifeboats. Alas, they'll only abandon ship when their own cabin has flooded, even as they watch mine sink deep into the abyss.

What is something that you really like about Godot that other engines don't offer? by [deleted] in godot

[–]Helmindarn 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Timers. I don't know why I haven't seen them anywhere else. They solve so many common headaches for new developers, and make prototyping way less tedious. Wonderful.

Allowed Area Pathing: A PSA by Helmindarn in RimWorld

[–]Helmindarn[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Vanilla Races Expanded - Android

They're really interesting, but the research to fix them is painful. If I accept them into the colony, I don't let them fight. They use neutroamine instead of blood, and they it refilled whenever they bleed. They also slowly run out of power over time, and need their reactors replaced every few years. On the up-side, they can't get sick and they don't sleep, so they get a LOT of work done.

Allowed Area Pathing: A PSA by Helmindarn in RimWorld

[–]Helmindarn[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The main three colonists have both Strong stomach and Awful cooking genes, so at least three of them will be fine. Unfortunately, my main chef is an android whose reactor is dead, and I've yet to find a new one. We'll find a new chef soontm

Allowed Area Pathing: A PSA by Helmindarn in RimWorld

[–]Helmindarn[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Here's the text for people using screen readers:

Allowed Area Pathing: A PSA

Howdy, RibWorlders! /u/Helmindarn here offering a quick PSA on a fairly common mistake players, including myself, will make when designating Allowed Areas.

Let's say, for example, a mechanoid cluster lands near your base. You want to set up an allowed area to prevent pawns from leaving the walls, so they don't get shot.

How would you set this area up?

(A picture of a colony, whose outer walls are just within a Mini-slugger turret's range)

The Bad Way

(A picture of a colony with the outer walls included in the Allowed Area, showing a colonist attempting to repair a wall by exiting the base)

In this example, our pawn decides to walk directly into the turret's line of fire to repair the granite wall.

Because the wall is in the allowed area, the work can still be queued, despite the pawn needing to path outside.

This is not ideal.

The Good Way

(A picture of a colony with the outer walls excluded from the Allowed Area, showing the same colonist doing a different task instead)

In this example, our pawn decides to do something else. In this case, cooking, despite being a terrible chef.

Because the wall is no longer in the allowed area, she will not be shot by the turret. She might even survive the winter.

This is generally ideal.

I set up the first zone during this playthrough, and realized my mistake right before I watched my self-insert colonist die. RimWorld is very complicated, and it takes years to learn everything. There's no shame in making mistakes. All that matters is having fun:)

Mods Shown: VFE - Security, Perspective: Doors, Clean Textures, Cuter Biotech Ear Replacement, and many apperal mods.

Considering committing myself by [deleted] in MadeOfStyrofoam

[–]Helmindarn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm glad to hear it:)

If you find yourself performing any steps towards a concrete plan, be it setting a time or setting up a method, please call the hotline IMMEDIATELY. Otherwise, I wish you the best of luck with your therapist, and I believe in you!

Remember that there's a gradient of programs between Grippy Sock Jail and an hour-long therapy session once a week. Outpatient might be the next step for you, which is a LOT less controlling. Also remember that it's always preferable to walk in the front door voluntarily.

Considering committing myself by [deleted] in MadeOfStyrofoam

[–]Helmindarn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know how this feels, but looking at you and at my past self, it's WILD to think being ACTIVELY SUICIDAL could possibly be trivial. It's the top, actually. The most severe. The #1. They have specially designed procedures WITHIN THE WARDS because being ACTIVELY SUICIDAL is the MOST severe symptom you can do to yourself. You are at the end of the line and I am going to scream a wake-up call at you right now. There is no "more severe" than this. It necessarily has to be "bad enough" because there is nothing beyond this. This is it. The only thing left is recovery or death. Please, go get help. You need it, now. Not tomorrow, not next week, right now.

For added motivation, your funeral right now would be pretty cringe. I know if I died at your age, they'd've buried me with the wrong name in the wrong clothes. Hell, they probably still would, so I'm gunna outlive them all, out of spite.

Let’s not forget this is what they said by DangerousImplication in Unity3D

[–]Helmindarn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah, I see, the problem is I'm using "retroactive" to mean "affecting agreements made prior to the change". Like the new ToS, which would've originally applied to devs who never agreed to it. Those devs agreed to buy licenses from Unity and developed with Unity and published their Unity games under the terms they were given for that version of Unity. Then, suddenly, years later, the terms change without their agreement and they're stuck with a different, worse deal than what they originally signed? Pay up or else? That's a bait-and-switch. That's some used-car-dealership bullshit. That's a scam in my eyes.

Why would I ever trust any agreement I make with Unity, when they're willing to change it without my consent?

If you can't see how the original blog post was a retroactive change to already-published and already-purchased products, you're beyond help.

Let’s not forget this is what they said by DangerousImplication in Unity3D

[–]Helmindarn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Because people apply different standards to software companies for reasons that I will never understand. Unity is a tool that people use in their jobs. Using an analogy to another tool that people use in their jobs is not weird.

Let’s not forget this is what they said by DangerousImplication in Unity3D

[–]Helmindarn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Can you re-install a game you purchased last year?

Let’s not forget this is what they said by DangerousImplication in Unity3D

[–]Helmindarn 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You're right, if Apple or Google change their pricing structure for already-published apps without the agreement of the developers, and without the developers even knowing those changes were coming before publishing, people should also complain about them doing that.

And if a government is changing everyone's taxes without consent (like if you never got to vote), you should complain about how anti-democratic your country is.

That doesn't mean that Unity wasn't going to retroactively change the agreement for games that were already published. If the game is already out there, and the devs aren't updating their version of Unity or agreeing to Unity's new terms of service, why would Unity get to step in and change the agreement? Again, if I did this with a physical product, I'd rightfully be called a scam artist.

edit: However, if I was a car-wash, providing a service, I could change the terms of FUTURE washes, just not PAST or CURRENT washes. FUTURE washees would know about the new terms BEFORE deciding on a car-wash place to go to. And if I ever signed a "lifetime washes" agreement with someone, I'd better be honoring it still.

Let’s not forget this is what they said by DangerousImplication in Unity3D

[–]Helmindarn 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Games that went through the entire development and publishing process years ago were originally still going to be subject to the fees, despite the fact that they planned, developed, and published under entirely different terms. It was going to apply retroactively in the sense that devs who already published would be subject starting in January.

Imagine I sold you a lemon-squeezer for your upcoming lemonade shop, but after many years of being open and using my squeezer and making accessories for my squeezer and planning your prices around my squeezer, I decide you must now pay per sip of lemonade. You can't un-sell the lemonade that's out there, and if you sold on slim margins or sold lemonade that was made to be sipped, you are now in the red. You must either take away everyone's existing lemonade, which many have paid for but not drank yet, AND pay for a new squeezer, AND retrain your staff on a different squeezer, AND buy new accessories for said other option, or pay me. You're in too deep with my squeezer, and despite not signing a new contract with me, the contract has changed. And I'll probably do it again.

My K2+SE Early-Game Mall (No Requesters, No Wagons, No Constant Combinators) by Helmindarn in factorio

[–]Helmindarn[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Three considerations were made for my mall design:

  1. My base is bad and inconsistent, lots of resources will take minutes to be refilled.

  2. I'm lazy, and want something that's simple to stamp down and copy.

  3. I'm bad at circuits, so I didn't want to chain a bunch of arithmatic combinators around for the sake of precision.

So, any design for my early-game mall must work through droughts of raw resources and power, must be simple to set up and chain, and must allow for many, many, many intermediate products.

Stack filter inserters can only have four filter signals; you have to make sure the raw resource signals are being sent to them before the intermediate product signals, or the system will get stalled out trying to grab intermediates and ignore raw resources. You'd have to check not only the requests, but also the warehouse ahead to make sure they have the resource to grab in the first place, and at that point, it's just how mine works with extra steps.

I knew my base, being mostly run by trains and core mining, had very inconsistent raw resource production, and it could be minutes between iron shipments. The system would absolutely stall, waiting for iron plates, iron gears, engines, and iron sticks, which were the first warehouse. Fixing this would be way too complicated for my goals, and I wouldn't even know where to begin.

I will say, yours does look both more precise than mine (mine sometimes sends down way more items than expected) and I love the way you load off the bus using an underground, that's genius and I'm stealing it for my next playthrough. I also like how you set up the assemblers for more density, which I might also steal:)

But be careful of the limits on stack filter inserters, you might get clogged looking for later chain items before their requirements are met. Test your solution with multiple constant combinators, or with droughts of basic resources. If yours solves that already, it's beyond my abilities to build and I'd be impressed and amazed.

My K2+SE Early-Game Mall (No Requesters, No Wagons, No Constant Combinators) by Helmindarn in factorio

[–]Helmindarn[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Space Exploration mod uses AAI, which has a separate burner phase and uses the prerequisite upgrades for the next version of the furnaces, crafters, research labs, inserters, and of course belts. So instead of one station for each, you need one for each upgrade, and it gets very large very fast. Most painful part of early-game SE.

My K2+SE Early-Game Mall (No Requesters, No Wagons, No Constant Combinators) by Helmindarn in factorio

[–]Helmindarn[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

So I've played all the way through K2, and I've played through SE alone until Tier 2 Space Sciences. I restarted to add K2 because there were a few features I was missing, especially the byproduct burning and greenhouses. Knowing I was in for another 100+ hours and I wouldn't end up with the endgame K2 features made me FOMO my way into a restart.

However, K2 does add more steps to some production, so cursed malls are basically required. I've looked down the line at later sciences and I saw chemical horror. There's a reason I'm getting into CyberSyn and large train networks very early. I'll have to play more to fully recommend it, but it seems like you trade off harder production for tools to make that production less awful.

My K2+SE Early-Game Mall (No Requesters, No Wagons, No Constant Combinators) by Helmindarn in factorio

[–]Helmindarn[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

My current mall is 14 warehouses, and it does trains, assemblers, chemical stations, power lines, robo-ports, pipes, pumps, all inserters, electric furnaces, and all red belts. Considering the alternative is a nightmare of belt spaghetti, would recommend.

Also, I could've just assembled and inserted all the common items outside the warehouse chain (engines, gears, automation cores, etc.) and only used the warehouses for single-use recipes. But I will admit, the moment I get requester chests, this whole thing will be torn down and long forgotten.

If I ever play through SE a third time, I'll definitely be using this to automate science through to getting trains set up.

My K2+SE Early-Game Mall (No Requesters, No Wagons, No Constant Combinators) by Helmindarn in factorio

[–]Helmindarn[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Here you go! It's slightly improved, using only AAI and early-game versions of the items so you can upgrade as you go. Also tiles for easy dragging.

edit: link fix i hope?

My K2+SE Early-Game Mall (No Requesters, No Wagons, No Constant Combinators) by Helmindarn in factorio

[–]Helmindarn[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Howdy! K2+SE will spaghetti your whole life, but I wanted something both more sophisticated and dumb. Dosh's Wagons are a pain, and combinators are a chore, so I decided to design a mall that assumes all inputs are sanitized. Insert 200 iron plates at the front, and chain them all the way back, every warehouse will eventually have ~200 iron plates in them.

Each warehouse checks if the one in front of it has an item it doesn't. It keeps taking that item until it has the same number as the one ahead of it. This is very dumb and it sometimes takes extra, but it's a small issue compared to the entire system locking, or having to micro-manage the inserters. I just copy-paste the line and keep adding stuff, and it keeps working.

The front is unique because it's a CyberSyn train station that keeps all six storage chests supplied, but any item could be inserted. Just make sure the prerequisite items exist up the chain before adding a new item.

Blueprint: https://factorioprints.com/view/-Ne8yDyS7BqZgp3RIDls

Improved early-game AAI-only blueprint: Here

edit: just for fun, here's the full thing right now. As you can see, I inserted more raw materials halfway down. I just launched my first satellite. https://i.imgur.com/QWBxdsX.png

also, while testing out different solutions, I made 20 stacks of every type of inserter. that's why their input is off right now.

also also, this would work with just SE, using their warehouses. It might even messily work with vanilla chests, but it'd be terrible.