Topics

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Suggestions & Requests / Titanic Project Request: Two-Sided Walls Need to be One Plate Thick

« on: August 11, 2013, 01:41:50 AM »

The Titanic build requires a modification to the vertical plates add-on, so consider this a CQD message from the Blockland Titanic team.

Here is a one-image summary of our problem here:



The blue is where we anticipate that a wall will be located, while the vertical plates are where they will end up unless a change is made. Notice how the white ghost brick is outside of the line. Making the walls 2 units thick will make the rooms significantly more cramped, so we need a set of vertical plates which can be placed back-to-back within the width of a single stud so that both sides able to be painted (or at least planted in) different colors.

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General Discussion / FIXED: I Cannot See the New Shadows

« on: August 10, 2012, 10:30:02 PM »

Hello, I am having a problem with the new update: I cannot see the flagship feature of V21! All of the lighting looks just as it would have in previous versions of Blockland. I have been to a few servers and no one has yet been able to help me, so let me clarify on a few things:

• Before anyone says, "You need to turn them on, idiot!", I have set the shaders to high and hit "done" as well as "apply" without any shadows appearing. I have also tried setting it to minimum, low, and medium.
• Before anyone says "Your computer/graphics card isn't strong enough, idiot!", I am running Windows 7 with an NVidia GeForce GT 550M for a graphics card, with an Intel i7 processor backing it up on a gaming laptop.
• Before anyone says, "You downloaded Blockland for the wrong operating system, dimwit!", I updated to V21 from V20, and V20 gave me no problems.

So, with all of that out of the way, can anyone help me?

I also do not think that I can see the new shaders, either.

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Suggestions & Requests / The Official RMS Titanic Project Add-on Request Thread

« on: May 16, 2012, 12:59:22 AM »

Hello! In this thread, Bones4, Remousamavi, and myself will be requesting add-ons that directly relate to the Titanic build. These requests will very frequently be very specific in terms of design, so be prepared to do a LOT of reading in some cases, such as the two requests below.

Do well enough with these requests and we will likely return to you for other assignments. There are plenty of them, too, from models to JVS to, further down the line, server scripts. When modelling, we prefer more detail than block, as Bones has been doing a lot to give the ship curves where appropriate.

First up on the list is a pair of JVS content that will go into the ship's bridge. These initial assignments carry the unusual property of having a deadline at the end of June. The reason for this is that we want these in time for BlockoWorld, which should take place near the start of July.:

Request 1: Ship's wheels: 2 unique items:

• Titanic had two species of ship's wheels, differing if nothing else in terms of diameter. The larger wheel (which, unless we can find a credible source saying otherwise, will be how we want the smaller wheel to look as well) looked like this: http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/Sterkoder/Album%202/089.jpg. Note that the cap on the top spoke of the wheel, as well as the hub (that measures half a stud in diameter on the large wheel), are brass, with many models, including virtual ones, depicting them as more yellow than any other color. Scale all details from the large wheel down for the small wheel. The wheel diameters, as well as the height of their centers above the floor beneath are as follows:
  
  • Larger wheel (For navigation bridge and docking bridge):
    Diameter: Exactly 3¾ studs wide
    Height of center: 2.26666667 bricks tall
  • Smaller wheel(For wheelhouse):
    Diameter: Exactly 3½ studs wide
    Height of Center: 2.13333333 bricks tall
  When establishing JVS or scripting rules, keep in mind that when turning the wheel from when the ship's rudder is centered to when the rudder is as far over to one side as it will go (40 degrees for the rudder), the ship's wheel is turned 4 full revolutions before being stopped. To put it another way, turning the rudder from hard port to hard starboard, a difference to the rudder of 80 degrees in all, would require 8 complete 360-degree revolutions of the ship's wheels.

Request 2: Bridge telegraphs: 4 unique items:

• This project aims to create a JVS version of Titanic's bridge telegraphs. We need four species of them for the ship's navigation bridge and docking bridge.
  
  Visually, they look like this: http://marconigraph.com/titanic/telegraphs/mgy_eotelegraphs4.html
  
  All we need are the drums. If you really want to, you can ask about working on the stand and making it one unit.
  
  Firstly, we should establish that the drum will sit atop a 1x1 pole, so model the drum's attachment point accordingly. The drum's face is 48 inches in diameter, meaning that in-game, the outer faces of the drum will be the equivalent of 2 studs wide, precisely 4.8 flat bricks in height, and roughly (feel free to either use this as an exact value in your model or slightly narrower, as you choose) 2 studs wide. Due to the taper on the sides, I encourage you to have a round white piece (that blends in with the 1x1 pole) emerge from the center of the bottom to keep the telegram from hovering.
  
  Include the markings on the telegraphs. Enlist outside help for the textures if needed.
  
  Please note how the dials on the backs of the two side telegrams are not on the central one, and note the lantern on the front of every diagram (you can see them when you click on each telegram's image on the page linked).
  
  My thought is for the large handles you see to be JVS. If you prefer working with scripts and/or GUI for giving the player more options, by all means do it. As far as JVS is concerned, you can either apply the following to both handles of a drum, and have the whole drum as one unit, or be trickier and divide the telegraphs if possible and let the two handles on each one be adjusted individually. Here are the effects that I picture could/should result, broken down by type of telegraph labeled in the main image, in order from port to starboard (left to right):
  
  
  • Main engine: When activated CW, the lever(s) moves from the uppermost position, backwards towards the "Stand By" marking on the "Astern" side of the drum, then forward all the way to "Full" on the "Ahead" side. The respective needle(s) on the telegraph's "tell tale" (see the telegraph's page for appearance and description) snaps to its position on the "Ahead" section of its label as soon as the handle leaves the forward "standby" marker. When ordered CCW, the same happens but with the ahead "Stand by," the astern "Full," and "Astern" on the tell tale. Content Stop reverses these animations.
    
    If you are going to use a GUI, each time the player changes commands, have the dial ring back to the furthest "Stand By" position before traveling to the new command, in cases where they are having the new engine command be in the same direction (forward versus astern) as the one before. For commands that change direction, have the bell ring to the furthest "Stand By" on the telegraph, then to the other "Stand By," then to the command on the other side of the telegraph. If the handle is heading to or leaving the "Stop" position, treat it as if it's changing directions. For "Stand By" as a command, have the telegraph ring to the other "Stand By" before coming to rest on whichever "Stand By" the player chooses. Also please note and incorporate the "tell tale" mentioned in both the above paragraph and in the article linked.
    Please keep in mind that if you are using a GUI, I plan on having all of these options accessible to bots, who may act as the ship's crew once the project is done (Players will be using the telegraphs at BlockoWorld, and while Titanic is under construction, and even then, bots will be relaying commands in the engine room.), so be sure that you can find a way, or find someone else who can find a way, to make the setup bot-accessible through some means.
  • Docking: For JVS: CW sends the handle all the way to the "40" mark on the forward side of the telegraph, the front-most position on the orders; CCW goes to the backmost position. Simple as that.
    Script/GUI: Simply have the handle travel directly to any of the commands (the towing commands in large print should be the primary concern. For an extra chance to impress us, also include the small numbers along the way on the starboard side as recognized positions for the handle and needle on that side.
  • Emergency: Same as Main Engines, just without the "tell tale" (dial attached to the back of the drum) attachment.
  • Manoeuvering: Same type of animation as Docking, just with fewer commands to be clicked/rung forward and back.
  
  Preferably, each time the handle passes a command, a ding is timed to sound, meaning that the "contentstart" and "contentstop" (or other change in command) sound would be a rapid set of dings, at the rate of dialing in rotary phone, if you wish to imagine the noise that way.
  
  It should be noted that the arrow within the handles' displays, that actually points to each command on a given side of a given telegraph, is a separate entity. If you can somehow separate the animations of the arrow and handle, do so, giving the arrow a name where it can be ordered to start or stop content separately, commanded (most likely through events or scripts) by another set of telegraphs in another part of the ship (i.e., either the docking bridge or the engine room). If necessary (and I imagine that it probably would be), you can make the arrow a rendering that does not collide with other bricks, able to be placed either on top of, below, or behind each telegraph in order to render in the proper location.

If you have any questions, feel free to post here or to PM the person who placed the request. Also by all means either post here or PM me with progress if you choose to work on any request posted by Remousamavi, Bones4, or myself. Any add-on request not posted by the three aforementioned users should be ignored unless otherwise confirmed by the three aforementioned posters to be authentically related to Bones4's Titanic.

For this pair of requests, I would recommend making sure that both of them are covered by one person or another, to ensure that they are ready for BlockoWorld.

If the end result turns out to be INCREDIBLY complex to set up, don't worry about it. You can PM us the instructions on how to assemble them, or, if we're still not getting it or you would personally prefer, come to the server we're using and set it up yourself.

If you found the above post TL;DR, or if you wonder if you will be permitted to work on Titanic, take note: This is the kind of work, concentration, and attention to detail that goes into contributions to this build.[/list]

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Gallery / RMS Gigantic Finally Applies to AoB

« on: April 15, 2012, 05:48:43 PM »

When applying to AoB, I intended to build a mansion to apply.

My end result was just a house.

The appliances, with the exception of the home hot tub, outdoor grill, and potentially the automobile, are largely themed around devices one might find around the turn of the 20th century.

Here's the facade:


And here are two images of the rear of the building:




Upon entering, the first thing you will see is the foyer. A bathroom is in the door to the left, and a closet is in the door to the right:


To the immediate left would be the entertainment room (a closet lies through the double doors to the right):


And to the right is the dining room (with the kitchen being in the background):


Up the stairs, one finds a balcony overlooking the foyer, with a primary balcony out the door:


The door to the right  holds a servant's or guest bedroom with respective bathroom, as well as an office.

The door to the left in the above picture leads to the master bedroom:


Through the door at the right edge of the picture is the largest bathroom in the house:


The idea is that when hosting social events, the entire first floor along with the lobby and primary balcony of the second floor would be open to guests, while the office and bedrooms are locked and off limits.



Ratings are permitted.
This is building a little bit outside of my comfort zone: normally, I just recreate things....

5

Gallery / The Back to the Future Time Machines

« on: June 15, 2011, 11:04:58 PM »

I completed the DeLorean quite a while ago, but decided it was too small to have a gallery post. Today, however, I completed the exterior of the Jules Verne Train. I need more references before working on any train interior, and the tender is not well documented, but I should have enough to work with. But first, I decided I would upload this train before working at the tender.

So here they are!

If you do not get the reference in placing the vehicles in this manner relative to each other, you are missing out on an excellent trilogy:


Hind view of the DeLorean:


Side view of the DeLorean:


The Jules Verne Train thus far:


Side profile of the train's engine:


A closer look at the details that line the engine's sides:


If you don't know what the next two images are pictures of, you need to watch better movies:







The DeLorean was made by mapping various dimensions of the 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 into Blockland, while the train was largely approximations based on the diameter of the drive (large) wheel.

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General Discussion / Bones4's Titanic - FAQ

« on: June 14, 2011, 06:25:25 AM »

In the time Bones4 and I have worked on Titanic, we find that we tend to get asked (and by asked I mean pestered) certain questions frequently. We therefore agreed that an FAQ was an effective solution, so here it is!

How long have you been working on it?
Bones says since late 2007, which is before I joined Blockland. I know I joined Blockland because of this build.

When will you finish it?
Not within this year. No certain answer can be given for anything past that.

How did you build this?
By utilizing a lot of patience, a good eye for approximation and resemblance, and a LOT of research.

What kind of research did you use?
No less than all of the following:

• A half dozen or so websites
• Three books containing nothing but information on Titanic's layout and how the ship would have been operated
• Hundreds or more pictures between them
• Two sets of plans to the ship

In other words, more information than the internet alone could ever supply.

Can I help?
We are not looking for any more members to our little team, but we have added members in the past if we are tremendously impressed by a skill of theirs that we see as practical to the project. I would not recommend banking on that, though.

So who makes up this "little team"?
Thus far, the following people have contributed:

• Bones4 - Project founder and lead builder
• RMS Gigantic - Lead research Support
• TicTac - Slave (He does the repetitive jobs)
• Remousavi - Achiever of the impossible (He has built propellers, slanted cranes, etc.
• Hugums - Copier
• Orthone - eventer
• Computermix - JVS modder

If you have a skill in a field not listed above, you have an above average chance of landing yourself on the team.

I see that you and Bones4 have the same clan tags. Is this tied to the project at all? If so, how?
The clan tags in question are "ANtR" before our screen names, and "BLNW" after them. These are related to the project, as a matter of fact: "ANtR" stands for "A Night to Remember," a famous book by Walter Lord recounting, to the best of his ability, the events on the night of the sinking of the Titanic. It was also made into a similarly famous movie in 1958.
"BLNW" keeps the theme of remembrance, as it stands for Belfast, Liverpool, New York, and Washington DC, four cities with major Titanic monuments.
Anyone on the list above may wear the clan tags, but anyone not on the list caught wearing the clan tags should be reported to either Bones or myself.

May I have a copy of all or part of the save and color pallet to practice contributing to the build?
Due to cynicism, we would like to keep this save among as few people as possible.

What will you do with the build once it is complete?
It is still in simply the concept stage, but the idea we are leaning toward right now is to host a dedicated RP with a special server-specific system (though we currently lack a dedicated server or scripter). Everyone starts out in third class, and those who cannot behave themselves stay there. Those who prove they have a reasonable amount of intelligence and maturity can opt to be bumped up to second class, and those who are willing to restrict their behavior beyond that can be in first. Being a crew member, if we decide against making them ENTIRELY bots, would require a first class level of maturity, and a strict set of rules to follow.



That's all for now! More will likely come in the future!

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Help / Prompts not appearing

« on: March 07, 2011, 10:37:05 PM »

The problem is rather simple: Even with the prompt addon downloaded, I only get prompts the first time I join a server, and then nothing ever pops up again. Does anyone know of a possible cause for this?

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Help / My Interactive Switches don't Seem toWork!

« on: January 01, 2011, 01:20:51 AM »

Explaining the problems is easy enough: I downloaded JVS switches packs 1 and 2, and PhyDoors, then activated them. None of them appear in the JVS section of my bricks when I play! And it also seems that RTB shuts off PhyDoors. Any help in solving these issues?

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Gallery / AWVR 777 from "Unstoppable" - Update 3/30 - Complete!

« on: December 30, 2010, 10:15:47 PM »

For those of you who have seen Unstoppable, it is probably hard for you to forget the runaway train at the center of the story, especially its two engines, Allegheny and West Virginia Railroad 777, and its helper engine 767.

I have taken the liberty of recreating these two engines in Blockland scale, by combining plans of its type of engine with a very good deal of math. The following is the result. Feel free to rate!



Look familiar?







767's front windows are big enough to fit a crouching Blocklander, so yes, its front right window breaks on player touch.

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Drama / Clone: Build Stealer

« on: July 12, 2010, 01:54:15 PM »

If any of you have been on my or Surburb's server, particularly near the beginning of the year, you might recall my project to make an international airport. Some of those who have seen it include Darth Volga, Krystal, Kalphiter, Eevee, Nasaboy3000, Remousamavi, Newt24, Orthone, Surburb, a few blockheads, Dirk Pitt (at the time), and clone. the last one on the list made an attempt at stealing Gigantic International Airport: http://blockland.us/detail.php?ip=74.69.203.130&port=28000&blid=4326 ("clone's airport" if the server expired, with a picture of one of the runways and accompanying taxiways). The build consists of somewhere over 60,000 bricks. Clone, in his efforts to erase my work, had wanded or failed to save to the point where the brick count is now around 30,000. And it's not just my work: Several people chipped in to the project and are still working on it.

tl;dr: clone attempted to steal a WIP of what could be one of the largest scale projects in BL history.

Do any of you recognize the airport in question? And what are your thoughts on the theft?

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Drama / ID 16293 seems to have a thing for me. (Name stealer)

« on: June 19, 2010, 12:18:05 AM »

To get straight to the point, http://forum.returntoblockland.com/list.php?cmd=view&id=16293.

This character has made a total of four listest immitation attempts at me. He also apparently tried to take the name of a bloke named "Timer" at one point. Other than that, it's a series of irritating and immature screennames, with the exception of "Blockhead 16293." I figure that if this person cannot think of a good name, just use that default one.

The main point of this topic is to watch out. Also, do not fall for the old name steal attempt trick. My name is not in all caps, it lacks punctuation, and it has a space between the third and fourth letter, precisely as it is on the forum. Most of all, remember that I am BL ID 9597, not 16293.

Your thoughts on the individual, who I will identify as BL ID 16293?

12

General Discussion / I Need a Tough Build Built: 5 People Tried and Failed.

« on: May 13, 2010, 06:21:27 PM »

All right, listen up.

I am working on a very large, very complex international airport build, and Terminal 4 of the passenger section is to resemble John F. Kennedy International Airport Terminal 5, also known as the TWA Flight Center. Those of you who play Grand Theft Auto IV will recognize it as the building that Francis International airport is based off of.

Here is Wikipedia's picture of the building if you are unfamiliar with it.

I want someone to recreate the exterior of this building, using all useful materials they can use in the process. This includes but is not limited to 3D models, Google Earth's measuring feature, GTA IV, visiting the real thing, and so on. I wish for the front to be curved as the real one is. The gate protrusions in the rear of the structure are not needed, as those of us working on the airport will likely add our own to fit our needs. Furthermore, the structure will likely see modification, most likely being suspended further up, and possibly extending the "supports" seen in the building's front, so we may need to stay in touch with you if we choose your construction. If you make the build that gets to be part of the airport, you will be credited via ID on a large planned monument in (the yet to be planned [PM me if you have an idea for its design {I am looking for a design with a curved front and a lot of glass.}.]) Terminal One.

If you are wiling to take on this challenge (No body as of yet could afford to do so much as make a good roof.), give it a try either in single player or on an online server (Make a reference to it here and/or include key words in the server title [e.g. "Soandso's RMS Gigantic's Challenge Attempt" or "Screennamehere's JFK Terminal 5 Construction"] and I might drop in.), then post the finished result here if you like the way it turns out. You may also post the build in a Gallery topic and post a link to it here. Keep in mind that other than poles, I have little to no other add-on bricks, so try to limit your usage of non-default bricks as much as possible.

Good luck to all of you. I hope your builds turn out well!

13

Gallery / The Wright Flyer

« on: May 02, 2010, 01:48:31 AM »

Aviation fans prepare yourselves.

Since I cannot create good-looking orgininal stuff, I research, find dimensions, and use my math skills to recreate existing things.

That is what I did here with the Wright brothers' first powered flight machine, simply known as the Wright Flyer. It will hang from the ceiling as a decoration for my massive-scale international airport build.

I posed in these pictures as Wilbur Wright, while Krystal took the liberty of posing as Orville.



This build contains no invisible bricks. It is a fully self-suporting structure, and conforms to the measurements of the real craft as closely as possible.



And lastly, my attempt at recreating a historic photograph:



Compared to the original:



Feel free to rate.

14

Help / Computer-wide Problem- Might Relate to Drivers

« on: January 23, 2010, 02:23:25 AM »

I cannot recall exactly when it took place, but one day when playing some Blockland online, some of the sounds began to repeat and I would lose responsiveness in the mouse, leaving to me needing to go to task manager to end the game. I know I was on Diggy's server when it started. The problem quickly multiplied. Soon, the repeating sounds did not make me lose mouse responsiveness, but all attempts at terminating the program failed and locked my whole computer up!

Then effects started showing up in other games: FlightGear, another game I play, closes itself out after a scenario launches. In Ship Simulator 2008, if I exit to the menu after a session or two of the game, sections of the menu music will start repeating and have a Blockland-like effect trying to close. TF2 refuses to launch because a section of memory cannot be 'written' (I do not know if this problem causes it, as I only got TF2 after it started). Still, other programs work completely fine. These include Gmod, Rigs of Rod, and some non-DirectX things like Phun and Google Sketchup. Google Chrome, on the other hand, locks up either occasionally, after a period of time, or both, along with Windows Explorer and Microsoft Word. Internet Explorer closes unexpectedly rather often. What makes me think it's driver-related is the fact that Windows called at least one of these crashes a "stop error." The strange thing is, Windows Update said there were no major or minor updates needed.

My DxDiag is attached. I know my printer's drivers are out of date, but this alone is not the problem's source. My graphics card alone is no problem, either, as it kept doing it even when the card was removed. Any and all help is invaluable, and I would like to get this issue fixed ASAP!

15

Suggestions & Requests / Vehicle launcher

« on: December 28, 2009, 12:03:41 PM »

An idea I had for the lulz: Have different weapons that fire different vehicles at considerable speed to bounce around and off of people, buildings, et cetera. I know vehicles are laggy and limited to 20 per server because of that, so there could be the idea that it would have the vehicle appear for 3 seconds before disappearing, and the weapon takes 3 seconds to reload. There could be different launchers for tanks, jeeps et cetera.

I want to know two things:

1) Is this possible?
2) Are you interested in this idea?