Chronic Logic

Here goes...

- Map Pack support is nice. Why not allow putting each map pack in a separate subfolder? Otherwise the user gets a cluttered level folder pretty fast with several map packs...

- A minor glitch: when there's a hill or something right in the middle of the terrain of a level, the camera starting position is 'inside' the hill upon loading the level. I suggest making it start further up in such cases.

- Maybe allow the player to view the bridge from the other side while testing it (on those Z-asymmetric levels, this can sometimes be really useful). Implement some 'switch sides' toggle, kind of thing ;)

- Would it be possible to leave the beam 'lighting' on when stress display is on (as an option)? Know what I mean?

- Some of the 'inner' beams in a joint stay light-gray ( :biggrin: ), no matter what color you set as joint/beam color. Easy one.

- I have already suggested it to Alex, just posting it here to get some opinions: Implement X-Symmetry, much in the same way that the Z-Symmetry works now. relative to level center. Scrolling from the left side of MP1 L16 to the right side just to remove a cable can take some time on a slow PC...

P.S. Wow! I got post nr. 100! :biggrin:

(Edited by Gray at 7:23 pm on Oct. 13, 2001)

(Edited by Gray at 7:50 pm on Oct. 13, 2001)

What I miss in pontifex is some kind of a pivot link part. A pivot link between two decks of a hanging bridge wold make it behave more realistic. You would have the joyce if two beams have to be bound together rigid (like it is now) or labil. (Is that english?). I loved this in BB. So weird mechanical bridges would be possible, like my solution for BB mappack 9, level 15. (see BB records).
I guess Grey knows what I mean.

those gray joints are cable joints . . . . you can't set the color in the menu, but it would be easy to implement, or easy to hack change it .

Nice to see anther BB veteran here!
For everyone who wants see that spectaculer mechanical bridge: the records page for BB MP9 is here.
I guess the English word for 'labil' would be 'elastic' or 'non-rigid' in this case...
As I understand it, Oldie means you should have the choice of making joints rigid like they are now or elastic like in BB. I guess this has been suggested somewhere else, too, I'm not sure... I think this would make the game much easier, since you'd use elastic joints almost all the time (but not always).
Anyway, this would drastically change the game, so IMO it would only be an option for the next major version or even Pontifex 2...

also, somebody else mentioned this elsewhere:
-- being able to move the HAV while physics are paused
-- perhaps dampen interia on HAV to remove drift

The ability to flip the level really would come in handy on some of my "uglier" bridges. BTW, nice job responding to user requests, I can remeber most of the additions to the current version being suggested earlier in forums.

I don't think you can have lighting active when you're viewing stress.  Stress is shown by setting vertex colors for each beam, and usually you don't want to mix vertex colors with lighting.  Lighting uses the material settings, and that gets mixed in with the vertex colors and doesn't really look right.  You can tell OpenGL to use vertex colors as the material color, though, and that might work.

I run windowed too.. I just press start to "get out" of the Pfx window.

However, you have to keep the mouse still for like half a second before hitting start, though, or the mouse will drift all the way to the edge of the screen and scroll your view to the edge of the map

Yes, I agree, CL has done a great job of lurking in the community and making the requested changes!!!!

The "delete file" function is better placed on the description screen; on the load level/bridge screen it's just a delete by filename, which I can do better with explorer since I see a file date. But to look at the description, see the rotating bridge and decide you don't need to see that crappy thing again calls for a "delete file" button right there. It would delete the file and then "Back" you to the load menu you came from.

(Edited by mendel at 12:43 pm on Oct. 29, 2001)

Andy24: I sure know you can delete bridges manually, but my point was the game needs a built-in delete function, because I'm one of those who can't Alt-Tab AND I must run Pfx fullscreen for it to be fast...

One more thought on the Map Pack support:

Besides from moving each pack to a separate folder, let the user choose the Map Pack right on the level selection screen (New Game), with a 'browse' tool instead of typing it in. The game should just check what packs are available and offer a list.
Now that I have more than one pack installed, it's a hassle to have to go to the options screen and type the stuff every time I wanna switch packs.

If you want to delete a file you can just delete it from the registry

You should also have seperate saves for each map pack, e.g. I got to level 12 on map pack X and to level 6 in map pack Y.

Registry? Files in the registry? Or do you mean I go into the registry and delete it from inside there? :confused: (the confused smiley needs editing)

Another note,  as far as the building of a level goes, how about the ability to make the bridge one-way (with multiple passes). I know it defaults to one-way when you choose 1 pass, but I would like some of my one-way levels to be like 3-4 pass.  

DarkWolfNine

Whuah?!?!?!  I think he's talking about the load bridge screen.  At least, I hope so.

Also,
-- figure out why internally braced columns fail
-- fix alt-tab/inactive program issues in WinNT/2k

If you set the number of passes as an odd number, the train will only be run in one direction.

you can open the folders and find the one which bridges are saved in then you can delete the ones you want to.

Two more ideas:

- Add a 'delete file' function to the 'load bridge' and 'load level' menu. I think everyone agrees this would be useful.
- Limit the level name string so it can't overlap the 'Bridge Name' text on the bridge info screen.

I wonder why Pontifex don't have a minimize boutton. When ever I like to switch ower to another program, like the explorer, or if I like to take a look to one this forums (to find a hint to a problem I might have), I need to quit the game and restart it after.
I actually did just bevore, but I forgot to toggle to the autosave....
Got it?

I usually run Pontifex windowed. If I need to minimize it, I Alt-Space the system menu open and choose "minimize".