Wolfram

@NQ-Nyota I've missed this, are there any recordings of the event?

Have you tried the STL files NQ provides when you export? My tool is mainly aimed at the other option, the glTF, since it mostly fixes colors etc, but I wonder if I could add something similar to make it a solid thing instead?

Hello fellow noveans! Today I bring to you the latest of my creations, which is made to work along with NQ's official Mesh Exporter, the Mesh Transformer! The Mesh Transformer is an unofficial tool meant for improving how the exported glTF files look like and also making them easier to work with in 3D apps like Blender. It works by reading the exported files, adjusting materials so they match what they would look like in-game, generating UVs and also isolating elements from honeycomb materials. You can also use it to later customize how your ships look like inside 3D apps, such as changing material colors, etc. Some features you will find using it: Cross-platform, as long you have a copy of the game directory; Supports simple usage as a CLI utility or advanced/integration use as a Node.js library; Able to restore materials close to what they look in-game, mainly colors and textures; Able to separate voxels/honeycomb from elements, allowing those to have different materials; Imports/exports as glTF, which can be used in a variety of software; NOTE: One requirement for using it is having the game installed, as it reads material data from the game's directory when applying the fixes, as it feels obviously wrong to share game assets in my own project. For games installed in different locations, it also provides a way to set this. You can find the whole source-code plus instructions on how to install and use on GitHub, the only requirement other than having the game installed is having Node.js: https://github.com/wolfe-labs/DU-Mesh-Transformer Here's an introductory video showing it in action:

@Adrbin as much as it could sound a good idea, the way the game currently works today would heavily exploit having subscriptions that only count while you play, example, one could leave a character amassing talent points indefinitely or have HQs that essentially would never get abandoned since their sub would not run out, simply by not logging in. Being really honest, I feel that a better monetization approach for DU would have been doing something similar to Second Life, where you can have your account and play inside the world at no cost, but some parts of the gameplay are only available for subscription. In that case, owning territories outside of Haven could be something only allowed for subscribed players, along with no passive talent point generation for free accounts (but in that case, you could generate talent points by doing other thing in the game) and smaller limits on things they could have (constructs, orgs, etc). Those players could still play is most aspects of the game and could also "rent" territories from subscription players if they wanted to, the limits would be mainly to prevent abuse. IMO, that would allow for more people to experience the game, which in turn would mean more people could actually enjoy it and subscribe for longer periods, and at same time the game would have way more players around and feel more "alive" overall. In the end, this is an MMO, we can't forget the "massive" aspect of it. Another good monetization approach (that could combine with above) would be selling cosmetics, like pets, skins (elements/characters), etc. Those have absolutely zero impact in the gameplay to the point they can't be considered P2W, and would still give them some decent money flow, as many people end up buying cosmetics in games. DU has a good proposal as a game, and I can understand if they slowed down development for lack of funds, but that kind of change could help creating a feedback loop where they get more players, more subscriptions and end up being able to create more content, which repeats the cycle.

Hey Nyota! Thanks for your reply! Really happy to hear back! I'm not sure if you heard anything from the team, but I ended up improving my script so it can actually separate stuff (kind of roughly, though it does separate the elements from the voxels) and it seems to be working well in my Blender tests Here's some other previews on what I've done, using a wreck and a ship I bought at UEF for testing. They are both imported from my script to Blender, no extra editing required: Looking forward for more updates on the exporter feature, really nice to have that around! Update: here's an example of how it looks importing it into Blender, might have exaggerated the "no editing" since I still changed the color, but yeah, no manual selections or anything Update 2: it's out, I've also posted a more detailed guide in the Dual Universe Open Source Discord, all code and instructions on my GitHub: https://github.com/wolfe-labs/DU-Mesh-Transformer

@NQ-Nyota I noticed there's an glTF option to export the constructs in, which is awesome! I've been looking at ways to work with those files so they have matching colors to what was originally in-game, to avoid doing it by hand, and while it seems to work well for the voxels/honeycomb, I've noticed the elements share some material with the rest of the mesh. Here's an example of two blueprints I had in my inventory, one from a wreck and another from a personal project: The wreck looks good, the elements seem to have the same material as some gray parts from the ship (I think it's gray plastic), but the other one the elements seem to have got the same material as my lumin details, making it look really weird Any chances we can at least have a separate material that doesn't map to any honeycomb for those elements, just so this doesn't happen?

I missed the one from yesterday, but I have two clips from the ones that happened last year and shortly after release: It's quite a unique experience, DU is literally the only game I've seen to actually have eclipses on it!

Basically, add a new set of functions similar to what we have today when we have a container or fuel tank directly connected to our board: core.getContainerMaxVolumeById core.getContainerItemVolumeById core.getContainerItemMassById The idea would allow, for example, getting the volume and mass of a container or fuel tank without having it connected, just by specifying its id, and could improve A LOT the usability and performance of flight and factory management scripts, since instead of having to resort to using math to figure out what each fuel tank or container has, based on its mass, we could just have the exact values from start, without having them linked directly (important for larger ships).

Those are amazing news! I'm happy to know there's stuff planned for DU in 2024! For NQ team and all fellow noveans, wish you all a good holiday season and a great new year!

This, or at least add an option for recycling stuff in our inventory in batches. Recyclers kind of make more sense, though I can understand it being way more complex to implement.

Honestly, we don't need adverts for DU, at least not in the current stage. What is really needed is a way to retain players aka reasons for one to keep a sub and stay active. Without that, they can spend as much money as they have advertising the game and it will result in people leaving after the first months. We need content, and by that I mean actual content. Having an ongoing lore event like we had for the PvE is cool and gives everyone an objective, adding new stuff to the game (even if that's just QoL) also helps a lot and gives a feeling that the game is being taken care of, even if there isn't a solid roadmap. Taking care of the public image of the game is also another thing that helps, if the company actually listens and implements changes that are popular and well-received, there's a good chance players will recommend the game to others and the player base will grow organically, not to say that it also helps on retention. This is also important if they decide to advertise, since one might click the ad, but give up after reading too much negative stuff online. Advertising works well for single purchase games, but for subscription stuff like DU, retention is king.

So... Should we expect anything else from this? Maybe extra lore about the aliens and the Astrophage? What about the missing planets? The PvE stuff was fun, good way to make some cash too, but the way the boss event happened was weird, everyone got coordinates to what seemed like an empty point in the world. Maybe next time give everyone an actual date/time? Maybe even send a newsletter inviting everyone to it or post on social media? Anyways, it was nice to have something different to do in-game, good job on that.

@Tordan correct. Nowadays, that's how I do the voxel recoloring when I need it, but it's still quite time consuming, specially when the voxels are offset and close to other voxels, the selection tool only being able to work with rectangles makes it quite hard to do right.

Yes, it's still impossible, that's by design, though you aren't really supposed to stay in Haven any longer than the first hours into the game, so that shouldn't matter. I'm not sure about Sanctuary though, maybe if you pull a ticket with NQ, since those tiles are only for backers...

I know the game has a built-in replace voxel tool, it works somewhat okay, but still has a few limitations: Sometimes the voxels get completely messed up when you replace them; You can only ever select voxels in a rectangular shape; It doesn't work very nicely with offset voxels; The amount of honeycomb isn't very accurate, sometimes it will fail saying you don't have enough of it, since it's calculating the entire rectangle volume instead of actual voxels; With those above in mind, what I wanted to suggest is something similar to the paint tool in games like SE. It would work similar to the Repair tool, you would equip it and select the voxel you want to use (in place of scrap) and point to the voxel you want to replace. It would then use a raycast to detect the right voxel and also optionally select connected voxels of the same type, and show a preview before replacing. So for example, let's say you have a ship with decorative panels, made out of offset white plastic, and you wanted to paint them with gold. You would simply select that tool, select the gold honeycomb, point to the panel and it would detect all the voxels composing that panel and show you a preview on what it would look like. After clicking, it would apply the voxel replacement. This would be a MASSIVE quality of life improvement, not only for builders but anyone who buys a ship token and wants to customize it in some way.