Request Better Monitors/Screens

[673f89c415450SadnessContinued]

Hello everyone!

I have been a System Shock fan since the early 2000's and I am finally here. (what a ride)

I have a little request to make (if you would accept it that is). I love System Shock 2, but even with the amazing improvements you guys made, the slapped on look of those monitors/screens always looked weird to me. The way they look bothered me, even back then. They just look bad, even compared to some of the older games.

I am talking about these and others like it: http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/5264/rotatedtexturesas3.jpg

They just look extremely slapped on there. There should be a proper monitor/screen border around them (preferably with rounded edges) to make them more natural. Could someone make this happen?

Thank you.

[673f89c4156a7ZylonBane]

99% of the screens in the game are world geometry. They're not independently moddable objects. You have to modify the base level map to change them.

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Perhaps I wasn't clear, I am not talking about better monitor/screen models. This is something that could be done just with textures. Just a border around monitors/screens.

I will make a mockup of what I am talking about tonight. (and in all likelihood it will not look pretty)

[673f89c415999voodoo47]

hires monitor screens are already part of SHTUP-ND, and don't require any level modifications, just a mtl file that will set the scale properly.

so it's already done (for all the screens that are used in the vanilla game, that is).
[screens.jpg expired]

[673f89c415adaZylonBane]

He's not talking about resolution. He apparently wants a frame around all the screens.

It's doable, I guess, but it would require...
- Two render passes for each screen texture, because you'd need the fullbright screen, and the lit frame.
- Scaling down most screen textures to occupy a smaller space, so the frame wouldn't overlap the display.

Certainly not a project I have any interest in.

[673f89c415c05lastonearound]

It would certainly look nicer. The way he says it, I doubt he is talking about those screens on the wall. I wouldn't say they look slapped on at all. I believe he is talking about the ones in the picture he sent. (would they be considered terminals or consoles or something?) Because those do look really weird.

Either, I believe ZylonBane is right on the money.

[673f89c415ea9Olfred]

We have borders on monitors because we have to. And the technologial strife is to get rid of them.
Just look at current OLED screens, they are pretty close to what can be seen ingame. So I wouldn't see a reason why the monitors should need a border.

[673f89c415fc0voodoo47]

ta-daa!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ds7QvDrTqk

[673f89c4162acZylonBane]

We have borders on monitors because we have to. And the technologial strife is to get rid of them.
Just look at current OLED screens, they are pretty close to what can be seen ingame. So I wouldn't see a reason why the monitors should need a border.

Irrational was also no doubt inspired by Star Trek TNG's screens, which are just slapped everywhere.

That being said, a thing that does bother me is how incredibly abstract most of the workstations are. You'll have a keyboard at knee level (usually a whole strip of them), and then a monitor somewhere way overhead. And if you're working at your desk, forget about a full-size keyboard and monitor... the best they have available are those little netbook-looking things.

The crew of the VB must have chronic neck cramps.

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TNG screens did have borders though: https://i0.wp.com/www.tor.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/thenextphase2.jpg

Borders are related to not only the screen, but how the screen is mounted to the desk. (or workstation or whatever you call it) Screens in SS2 just comes and abruptly ends at the edge, making it obvious it is just a slapped on texture which looks horrible and aged no matter how you look at it.

Also, as promised, I did a few mock ups to show what I mean and as I said, they look bad because it is just a photoshopped image: https://imgur.com/a/2rs1QA2

It shouldn't be as thick and preferably it would be a color closer to the rest of the workstation, but they should work well enough to make my point. (or to break my point as they look horrible the way I was able to make them.

Also, voodoo47 I appreciate the joke, but I wasn't talking about the screens on the walls as they already have natural borders. (they are literally in the wall, not slapped on the wall like the desk/workstation screens I was talking about)

It seem no one is interested, but I appreciate all your comments. Again, thank you all and farewell.

[673f89c416b60lastonearound]

ta-daa!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ds7QvDrTqk

You made me spit my drink, you magnificent bastard I lost it when I read the bored part on the left corner.

TNG screens did have borders though: https://i0.wp.com/www.tor.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/thenextphase2.jpg

Borders are related to not only the screen, but how the screen is mounted to the desk. (or workstation or whatever you call it) Screens in SS2 just comes and abruptly ends at the edge, making it obvious it is just a slapped on texture which looks horrible and aged no matter how you look at it.

Also, as promised, I did a few mock ups to show what I mean and as I said, they look bad because it is just a photoshopped image: https://imgur.com/a/2rs1QA2

It shouldn't be as thick and preferably it would be a color closer to the rest of the workstation, but they should work well enough to make my point. (or to break my point as they look horrible the way I was able to make them.

Also, voodoo47 I appreciate the joke, but I wasn't talking about the screens on the walls as they already have natural borders. (they are literally in the wall, not slapped on the wall like the desk/workstation screens I was talking about)

It seem no one is interested, but I appreciate all your comments. Again, thank you all and farewell.

Well, I will admit those do look nice for what they are, but I am not sure how it would actually in the game. I would love to find out but sadly, even though I use a lot of mods, I never tried to mod the game myself, so I can't help you there. You hand in there.

[673f89c416c66voodoo47]

I see. yeah, the answer would be "doable, but not easily, and interest would most likely not be overwhelming".

[673f89c416d5elastonearound]

Maybe one day someone will get bored enough to do it, who knows

[673f89c416e39voodoo47]

well, not like I have any plans for the next few decades I (maybe) have left.

[673f89c416f3dlastonearound]

You once gave Pipe Hybrid a toothbrush as a weapon out of boredom (and thought us the importance of brushing our teeth, lest the Toothbrush Hybrid will get us all), so in my book there is no power here greater than your boredom. If anyone will do this in the next decade, it is probably you, but again like I said, who knows.

[673f89c417282RocketMan]

Easy...  We need to save his talent for cynical remarks on the many failures of our species.  Your request would curtail that effort.

[673f89c417446voodoo47]

and laziness, don't forget laziness - why did the caveman invent the wheel? he was too lazy to drag around all the logs just by themselves.

[673f89c417596lastonearound]

The second you said laziness I felt kinship towards you. But then it just faded away, probably I am too lazy to keep the feeling going.

Either way, this is a nice idea if someone actually does it, but it is not a big deal if no one does. It doesn't really effect the enjoyment you can get out of the game in any way.

But then again not many mods do anyway. For instance, left hand mod is an absolute favorite of mine, it fulfilled a need I didn't even know I had and for me it helps with the immersion greatly, but not many even seems to know about it. Worth it or not depends on the person I suppose.

[673f89c4176e5Kolya]

left hand mod? That one seems to have slipped past me.

[673f89c4179aalastonearound]

left hand mod? That one seems to have slipped past me.

I am talking about this: https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=9436.0

I am sure you know about it. Not many outside of these forums does though.

[673f89c417c97icemann]

why did the caveman invent the wheel?

The wheel came later on after man evolved from caveman era (I think). First came the discovery of fire, then hunting with dogs. Then a bit latet on the wheel (since you'd need at least basic tools to make a wheel). Note that I'm saying all this without wiki searching. Im pretty sure the wheel came later on anyway.

[673f89c417f09lastonearound]

I was bored and I tried to give this "screen with frame" thing a go, but sure enough I ran into a problem.

I tried to give the screens a frame by just editing the texture file to test it and it works. It looks rather good. (considering the frame I created was supposed to be just a placeholder to see how it would look or if it would work or not) And it blends in better than I expected.

But sometimes multiple screens tiled next to one another to create a single larger (or should I say wider) screen like this:

https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=22.0;attach=6490;image

(voodoo47, I am sure you will recognize this screenshot, I was too lazy to take my own and borrowed one of yours)

The way I am doing it would break them up into smaller screens and color of the frame wont match with every workstation.

(Also I noticed that some workstations look like they are just a mess of polygons and the texture on them looks almost like it doesn't belong there. While the one from the screenshot above looks perfect. I know it isn't, but it almost looks like a texture bug)

Can I get some advise on this? I will post screenshots of how it look later tonight. (I am at work right now, I only had time to edit two screens before I left in a hurry, so sorry for not posting them in this post.)

[673f89c41807fvoodoo47]

sure, if you find something that looks off/messy, post it in the SCP topic, we'll check and fix.

the thing with screens is that while they look like that (flat, no borders, thin) because of the limitations of the (original) engine, coincidentally, this is exactly how future screens would look as soon as the technology would be advanced enough to allow it, I think - people are sick and tired of borders even nowadays.

[673f89c418203lastonearound]

While I fully agree with your points about future screens and being sick and tired of screen borders, original post had a point as well. These screens are supposed to be a built in part of the workstation(s). This isn't only about the technology, it is also about how these screens are mounted to those workstations. As they are now, they don't blend in at all and they just look like a a piece of cloth that's just laid on top or stretched over the workstations (wow, it was difficult to find the right words to describe what I mean, they start and end abruptly, like they don't even belong where they are) which looks kind of weird/bad.

This is why I tried to add a thin piece with rounded corners. (frame itself serves just as a border piece this way, so it can blend in and look like it is a part of the whole thing.) They still look like they are large futuristic screen