hdparm

OUTDATED. NOT UPDATED SINCE v0.23.0
 
This is the result of running the globals dumping script in-game on constructs that had various elements attached to them.
 
Some exposed functions were called with pcall. The first value indicates whether the call was successful, the second is the actual function return value. All functions that return a vector return it as a table, not as a vec3 structure. Usually such functions will be called like this: local worldGravity = vec3(core.getWorldGravity()). Boolean values are returned as a number 0 or 1, and not as true or false.
 
Element events are not listed here, as they cannot be detected by the dump.lua script. See the codex in-game (press F1) or outside the game (C:\ProgramData\Dual Universe\Game\documentation\web_codex.html) for event and function descriptions and other information.
 
Anti-Gravity Generator
r0.21.0
 
Control unit
r0.23.0
Programming board exposes fewer functions compared to cockpit and seat. The control unit has references to linked elements, which are also available as local variables in each event handler. Event handlers defined in the script editor also get placed inside it. Here the control unit is a hovercraft seat that has 2 linked fuel tanks, a radar and a core.

Core
r0.23.0
Static cores have fewer functions compared to dynamic cores.
 
Databank
r0.21.2
 
Elements with a state
r0.21.2
Detection areas, laser detectors and manual buttons expose the same functions. Their state is accessed using getState().
 
Elements with a toggle-able state
 r0.21.2
Force fields, ship doors, landing gears and manual switches expose the same functions. The state is accessed using getState() and can be changed by activate(), deactivate() or toggle().

Emitter
r0.23.0
 
Engine
r0.21.0
Space engines, atmospheric engines, ailerons, air-brakes, retro-engines and adjustors expose the same functions. Usually engines are controlled through unit.setEngineCommand and do not require linking to the control unit.
 
 Fuel container
 r0.23.0
 
Gyro
 r0.21.2
 
Industry
r0.23.0
 
Item container
 r0.23.0
 
Library
r0.21.2
 
Light
r0.23.0
 
PVP radar (atmospheric and space)
r0.22.0

Radar
not available to craft or buy; for atmosphere and space radars see PVP radar instead
 
Receiver
r0.23.0

Screen
r0.21.2
 
System
r0.23.0
 
Telemeter
r0.21.2
 
Warp Drive
r0.23.0
 
Weapon
r0.21.0

About
This is a short script that prints base max thrust of linked engines. It can serve as an example, and may also be used to detect which engines do not have a technician buff applied to them.
 
Set-up
Place a programming board. Link up to 10 engines to the programming board. In the Lua editor (right-click, "Advanced", "Edit Lua code") create a unit start() event handler with this code: -- detect linked engines local engines = {} for key, value in pairs(unit) do if type(value) == "table" and type(value.export) == "table" then -- `value` is an element and `key` is the slot name if value.getThrust and value.getMaxThrust then -- `value` is an engine engines[#engines + 1] = value end end end -- get engine names local engineNames = {} for _, engine in ipairs(engines) do -- engine name is available in its widget data -- for other elements `core.getElementNameById` would have to be used instead local dataJson = engine.getData() local data = json.decode(dataJson) engineNames[engine] = data.name or "???" end -- sort engines by name table.sort(engines, function (engine1, engine2) return engineNames[engine1] < engineNames[engine2] end) -- print engines and their base max thrust system.print("Linked engines: " .. #engines) for _, engine in ipairs(engines) do local name = engineNames[engine] local maxThrustBase = engine.getMaxThrustBase() system.print(string.format("%s: %.0f N", name, maxThrustBase)) end unit.exit()  
Click "Apply" in the Lua editor, exit build mode and activate the programming board. You should see base max thrust printed in the Lua chat tab.  
Change log
2020-09-13. Posted the first version (tested in r0.21.5).

About
This is a short script that prints base max thrust of linked engines. It can serve as an example, and may also be used to detect which engines do not have a technician buff applied to them.
 
Set-up
Place a programming board. Link up to 10 engines to the programming board. In the Lua editor (right-click, "Advanced", "Edit Lua code") create a unit start() event handler with this code: -- detect linked engines local engines = {} for key, value in pairs(unit) do if type(value) == "table" and type(value.export) == "table" then -- `value` is an element and `key` is the slot name if value.getThrust and value.getMaxThrust then -- `value` is an engine engines[#engines + 1] = value end end end -- get engine names local engineNames = {} for _, engine in ipairs(engines) do -- engine name is available in its widget data -- for other elements `core.getElementNameById` would have to be used instead local dataJson = engine.getData() local data = json.decode(dataJson) engineNames[engine] = data.name or "???" end -- sort engines by name table.sort(engines, function (engine1, engine2) return engineNames[engine1] < engineNames[engine2] end) -- print engines and their base max thrust system.print("Linked engines: " .. #engines) for _, engine in ipairs(engines) do local name = engineNames[engine] local maxThrustBase = engine.getMaxThrustBase() system.print(string.format("%s: %.0f N", name, maxThrustBase)) end unit.exit()  
Click "Apply" in the Lua editor, exit build mode and activate the programming board. You should see base max thrust printed in the Lua chat tab.  
Change log
2020-09-13. Posted the first version (tested in r0.21.5).

Lol - Posting this through Discord and not even on the official forums. Is that the way things are done now?
 
I am surprised they are not using smoke signals or cave paintings.
 
 

Skill injectors were the worst thing that ever happened with EvE. It will be a big disappointment if they appear in DU. 
This mechanics allows to create skill point farms with actually dead characters just to resell sp.  
Why not to sell skill points directly from ingame store then, along with premium ships and modules.

I made a simple template to use fennel, a lisp to lua transpiler, for dual universe programming.
 
Basic compilation seems to work, but there are still some things missing. (like parameter exports)
 
The template can be found here:
https://github.com/du-codeforce/du-fennel-template

This is the output of a script that dumps all global variables. Lua coders may find this somewhat useful.
 
The script was run in r0.21.2 on a hovercraft seat that has 2 fuel tanks and a radar linked. Some functions were called with pcall. The first value indicates whether the call was successful, the second is the actual return value or the error message.
 
 
To see only elements' functions, visit this topic.
 
Dumping script
The script used for dumping is based on something I found on Stack Overflow, with some extensions.
 
In unit start(): https://gist.github.com/d-lua-stuff/180707c172382d06d2c80213a1638f66
In system update():
coroutine.resume(dumping_coroutine) The script will run for a few seconds and then automatically turn off. Output is saved to Dual Universe 's log files in %LOCALAPPDATA%\NQ\DualUniverse\log
 
Dump analyzer
To avoid having to look through the logs manually, a Python script was written. It extracts the output of the globals dumping script from Dual Universe's log files, and creates separate files for dumped globals and for members of each linked element.
 
Usage:
pip install six python dump_analyzer.py C:\Path\To\Log\File.xml Change log
2020-09-01. Posted the first version outside the NDA forums section.

+1 to all this!

Well NQ, to be honest, yes these steps you made are totally necessary, BUT the DLLs gave us features you still didn't gave us and that are absolutely required.
 
These are for example:
- external requests for receiving and sending data to our own apis (VERY IMPORTANT)
- a json encoding/deconding that is not stupidly slow
- communication between programming boards
- and more
 
The coder community in this game is big and needs more specialized features to make this game as great as it deserves to be. But if you restrict everything and give us nothing back, I don't know how long coders will stick to the game.
 
I am actually quiet disappointed how coders get ignored and handled like 2nd class people.

Congrats Yamamushi for joining the Novaquark team!  
If you want to join us in congratulating Yamamushi (and/or give your feedback on the Novaquark Employee Policy), you can post below in this topic!  
 
Best Regards,
Nyzaltar.

Hi everyone!
 
With the Alpha 3 deployment around the corner and the RDMS implementation, we had to make significant changes in the background by connecting organizations data available on the Community Portal to the organizations data that will be available in-game. As it is a "Work in Progress", the Community Portal will switch in "Read Only" mode for the time being, to limit the probability of technical issues.
 
During this transitional period, All management actions for the organizations will be done in-game.
You will also note that the number of legates per organizations isn't displayed anymore.
We are aware the situation isn't ideal, but it's a temporary and necessary step.
 
Update: Wednesday, January 22th, 16:15 UTC
 
What's the current situation?
To be clear:
- Posting/Editing News have been deactivated on the Community Portal.
- It will still be possible to post/edit News on the Community Portal through the in-game User Interface (assuming you have the proper rights to do such thing).
- Posting/Editing News will remain in a minimal state for the time being (only simple text. HTML code for formating options and image insertion will came back later).
- Posting/Editing News directly through the Community Portal should come back at a later stage.
- The "Join Organization / Accept application" feature remains active.
- The applications pending before the maintenance today should still be there after.
- Features such promoting or demoting a member will now exclusively in-game (as the process may now involve other game mechanics).
- Displaying the number of legates on the Organization Ranking page has been deactivated (as an intermediary step of the coming changes in the future).
 
What's coming in the future?
(please keep in mind that the features described below are work in progress and might change before their release)
 
Organization Ranking by the number of Active Members.
As the Community Portal will evolve, we plan to display the number "Active Members" and the number "Honorary Members" for each organization in the future.
The Organization Ranking will be done by the number of Active Members in decreasing order.
 
What will be "Active Members" and "Honorary Members"?
"Honorary Members" accounts will be accounts that have joined an organization on the Community Portal but haven't access to the game.
"Active Members" accounts will be accounts that have joined an organization on the Community Portal and have access to the game.
Accounts joining an organization directly in-game will be automatically validated as "Active Members" in an organization.
Only "Active Members" will be eligible to legate status, as most organization management actions will be only possible in-game.
 
Why planning this?
This is planned for two reasons:
1) To give a better visibility for newcomers regarding the activity potential of each organization (which can impact the decision of joining one organization or another).
2) To discourage unfair practices such as creating ghost accounts and making them join an org to inflate artificially its size (and get undeserved visibility).
 
Best Regards,
The Novaquark Team.
 

Hi everyone!
 
Sorry for the late reply!
So to answer your questions...

@Vyz Ejstu
1) and 6) Aphelia is dematerialized in the simulation. She doesn't forbid anything as long as it is not an attempt to impact/attack her own integrity. However, she won't facilitate nor encourage any violence. That's also why colonists haven't any hand weapon given to them once you "wake up" in the simulation. Consider that a loophole exists as colonists really wanting to resort to violence can bypass this interdiction by making constructs with weapons. It's up to you to take into account only everything you had so far in-game, or to include in your story what will be possible/available with Alpha3 coming soon.
 
2) Alpha team members can interact to the limit explained in the 2nd special rule for this NovaWriMo Contest:
"The contender can write about conflicts, however, it should only involve fictional opponents/organizations, not real players or organizations run by real players (to avoid any disagreement between the players mentioned about how the narrative direction is going)". At the very least, if several Alpha team members interact in a story, you must make sure beforehand that all the involved ones agree with the direction taken by your story.
 
3) No, pets aren't included in the Alpha simulation. 
 
4) It's a bit like the film Matrix: They don't "log out". They sleep in the simulation to be fully immersed in it.
 
5) You can consider that if wildlife is in the simulation for storytelling purpose, it would be quite similar to what you find on Earth (don't go overboard on that point though, as it's not something that will get a very strong focus in the game, at least for now), based on Aphelia's database knowledge.
 
7) Physical limitations in terms of travel would be the whole Helios system. Players can't go outside this solar system in the simulation, just as it is currently in-game.
 
@Keejhle
Many things currently in game are subject to change a lot until the official release.
You can present that by adding a narrative disclaimer about "Aphelia's virtual simulation" not being representative of the "real world" in which the players will land once the official release is reached. Regarding "mysteries"... Yes, they are mysteries in the virtual simulation, and that might be obviously source of many questions: are those "mysteries" really put there by Aphelia just to test the colonists adaptability skills (in any case, it will be the official answer she will give them)?  Will there be similar mysteries in the "real world" they will land on? If so, how can Aphelia know so much about said mysteries without having been over there first? 
 
We hope this answer your questions.
If you have other questions, don't hesitate to ask!
 
Best Regards,
Nyzaltar.

Was bored, so I took some notes of all the curious and interesting stuff I heard during the podcast in the latest news update. If you don't want to listen through the whole hour and forty-six minutes, feel free to read everything I skimmed off and enjoy. Also, feel free to post or message me if you got something I should add to the OP.
 
Here's a quick rundown on what I got.
 
PVP Social Features Piloting Revamp Industry Changes Surface Gathering Territory Units Visual improvements UI Roadmap Update Player Questions NDA Lift  
PVP ===
CVC is on track for January.
 
First version of CVC:
Large -temporary- arena in space only Will be expanded to atmospheres, then the entire game world. More versions in the future?  
Pillars of CVC:
Lock+Target - operating at long range, one way of dealing with lag Destruction - piece by piece, physical holes Multi-crew - No battleships controlled by one person  
Future Improvements to CVC:
Repair Units - Rebuild your ship at 'last snapshot', Shipyards Separation between PVP space and safe zones.  
Construct vs Avatar: 
If a player is hiding behind a wall and you shoot the wall, the player will die because of the blast radius. Explicit player targeting will come later (if needed).  
 
 
Social Features ===
Some features may be coming sooner.
 
Legates:
Legates will have the right to decide who should do what in an organization. A voting system for Legates You can have other organizations among Legates Someone in an organization can be chosen as a representative - A Super Legate  
Ownership: Everything in the game has an owner.
Will be expanded to individual items in the player's inventory. An engine belonging to a specific player can be held in another player's inventory. New filters will be applicable. Organizations can now own constructs. Players can formally trade and transfer construct rights between each other and organizations.  
Partial revamp of RDMS:
New types of rights introduced Legates will have rights to manage an organizations RDMS Three specific groups: Actors: Groups of people put together to define people. Miners, pilots, etc Rights: Construct based, territory-based, item-based, and more. Tags: Ability to tag items, constructs, territories, etc, to target a policy Chat system being worked on. A solution will be made for people in organizations that are non-testers.  
 
 
Piloting Revamp ===
All changes will be given a dedicated dev blog, this is just some of them
Wings will be able to cause torque
Script generation in control units redone
Flight with mouse
Autoconfig script will need to be run on A3 release
"G" will trigger gears without the need for scripting.
Cruise control will control your ship with velocity instead of thrust
 Different 'mode'  Easier to control ship  Easier for new players in space, more feedback, easier to understand what you're doing  Not a 'better way' Balancing
 Space engines unbalanced, very overpowered  Rocket booster fuel cost and materials adjusted  Player specialization will start to increase  
 
Industry Changes ===
New Modes:
Maintain - Indy linked to out container, will attempt to keep a number set of whatever the unit is building (always maintaining a set 30 ore then stopping) Set Number - Indy will make a specific number of parts, then stop. Recipes revamped, will now make sense, parts will have actual names, "burner", "case housing", etc
Ore distribution altered
New Specialized Indy Units: Glass, metal, etc
New Indy designs, animations soon.
 
 
 
Surface Gathering ===
Extension of existing game play
Collect surface resources, fairly low value
Resources may, depending on where they are, but not always regenerate
Intended to be a more casual experience and help new players
Rocks, crystals, trees
Initial seeding will be done, then more refined over time
New Tool: Surface Gathering Tool
Walk up to a surface element, activate the tool, charge up, gather resource  
 
 
Territory Units ===
Making a comeback
Who has rights to mine, build, etc
 
 
 
Visual improvements ===
Space lighting 'too dark'
Nebula added to brighten things
Will be able to see other ships at a distance in space

 
UI ===
Not all UI elements will be changed in A3, all however will be improved over time.
Entire revamp planned for more consistent interfaces
 
 
 
Roadmap Update ===
Consolidation and stabilization will be focused on after A3
Some beta features may be postponed New things will still be added User Experience
Ensuring things work well Information provided when the player needs it Onboarding process further polished Beta 2
Need to introduce features really important to coherence for all gameplay pillars Release will be an acknowledgment of the maturation of the game, not necessarily addressing more issues. This was done with the unannounced 'pre-alpha' stage.  
Fast Travel Options:
Visit a place once, unlock a 'fast travel' option. Planets moved closer together. Speed limit increased. Other ideas open to player feedback  
Planet Revamp: Exploring in DU gives a sense of wonder. Well underway. Destined for alpha 3 but was pushed back. Biome design, more realistic textures. How things look today are still considered placeholders. Ongoing effort. The geometry of planets will not be changed after the beta, no wipe, no regeneration. It will be the final version of where mountains, forests are, etc.
 
Mining: Bigger variety of mining veins. From mega veins over multiple territories, to tiny pebbles, regular nodes, etc.
 
Territory Warfare: Design not completely set. Claim enough territories around a territory you own, one in the center becomes a 'temporary safe zone'. Destroy the territory unit to claim it for your own. Evolution of combat V2. Expanded to the whole system, not just the PVP arena.
 
Mission System: Nothing more than a player given quest system allowing players or orgs to design missions for others to complete for rewards. Will help address the need for things for new players to do, mine ore for an organization, etc. Exploring 'NPC type' missions that only new players can do (TBD).
 
Release and Post Release: An indication of what NQ wants for release with some features coming after release. Some features might be ready earlier. 
Player-owned markets were pushed back due to challenges; what happens if you store your market in your inventory, destruction occurs, having player owned markets be in PVP areas or not. Energy management will come with specific challenges. Create groups of people who are not parts of the same organization to work, play, fight together.  
 
 
Player Questions ===
Will Beta be feature complete:
What is 'feature complete'? It's really hard to say for a game like DU. What do we need to make a release ready game? We have our priorities for release. As company size increases, we'll be able to do more things. Things will get better the more successes occur for the game.
 
Will gameplay look much different after release from alpha? Crafting times, recipes, talent costs, space station placement, restrictions, and so on. When will we see these changes before release:
Balancing things will always be occurring, new things will always be here to fix for changes to old features and after introducing new ones. As much balance will be pushed as needed to keep the health of the game where it needs to be.
We try not to revisit things that we consider are 'in a good state'. How many features we need vs how many we want. When there is a feature that is pretty good or where it needs to be, great, let's shelve it and work on other features that need help. Loopback if we need to.
 
Preception of less communication in NQ since Kickstarter ended:
It's been busy, the team hasn't exactly been happy with this lack of communication. Dev diaries reintroduced, would like to do one every month, but we need to gather high enough quality footage for these videos, this is why we introduced the podcasts, we're still trying to find the tone and type of content for podcasts, but the idea was to have a forum where we can speak to the community, talk about the game, give them an inside look at what we're doing, give them access to the developers. 
 
We've had a great reception, this is something we'd like to do more frequently. Hopefully all this we've been putting out to answer more questions from the community. We have a second podcast, we're planning an AMA, all to reinitiate that communication. Hopefully, this is something we'll be doing in the next few months as we head into another incredible year. Maybe as a reassurance, we spend quite a bit of time reading the forums, maybe we don't respond always, but when we think about new features and are balancing things, we spend quite a lot of time on the forums seeing what you're thinking and saying. As often as we can, we make changes to act positively to what you're saying.
 
Our ticket system is carefully monitored and various things are given priorities where everything will be handled at some point. The problem is the limit of how much we can do in a given time so sometimes it might take a lot of time to fix something you think would be easy to fix, that's not the problem. The problem is other things need to be done before this because we've judged there are more needing. Think of it as a hospital, you deal with the most urgent first so even though you are in pain, you're not going to die, you're not first.
 
Not just on the forums, we also spend time reading YouTube and Discord, something I can say and I'm going to give them credit, we have a team of community managers who are advocates for the players inside the company. They are extremely vocal about making sure the community and its concerns are heard, and you can be assured they have your best interests at heart. 
 
NQ-Nomad is one of them, he works on this podcast. I want to thank them and close this podcast by thanking the community for helping us move forward and for their support. We put that in every video and communication, we want you to know that we mean it and its not just a gimmick. This is something we all believe in, starting with JC and that culture of 'community first'. The community is our most precious asset as what this game and vision are based on, and this is distilled to all employees at NovaQuark.
 
Nothing pleases me more than reading Discord on release days. Sometimes the feedback is good, sometimes bad, but as someone who works on the game, when players get their hands on what you've been working on and just break it instantly, we expect that, I just love reading everyone talking about the features and things I've had my hands on for a while.
 
 
 
More community questions will be answered later in the second podcast along with the AMA.
 
 
 
NDA Lift ===
Will come next year when the game is ready, closer to early March after A3 is released. We need to make sure people outside the community are ready to enter the game. Stabilizing everything, improving user experience. These new players won't spend as much time as Alpha players understanding the development process and will just jump in and judge the game by its current state.
 
Need to polish performance, visuals, improve onboarding, etc. This needs to happen before beta which creates a hard limit. We hope to be able to do this in March but it is hard to say if we will be able to meet this deadline.

 

Log out and log back in then try it 

Using LUA scripts will not impede the builds of other individuals, they still have all the tools to create what they wish--they just have a tool in their toolbox that they do not wish to use.  If I have a toolbox and refuse to use an adjustable wrench, that should not preclude my neighbor from using that adjustable wrench.  Especially since both of our toolboxes are exactly the same and provided by the same manufacturer.  If the wrench can be either manually operated, or automatic (with the insertion of a small battery), and I don't want to insert the battery to take advantage of the extra option, that is my choice.  
 
We are talking about the expansion of an existing system in the software--a system that is one that differentiates it from similar games.  Placing restrictions on that asset because some people chose not to use it does not seem like a viable option to me.  Saying that one must use LUA to get the maximum out of one's constructs is like saying that you have to practice flying in order to be good at it. 
 
Yep, a tool requires study in order to be good at it.  If you chose to not use that tool, or chose not to become as proficient in it as someone else, then you really cannot complain that their constructs do things that yours cannot. 
 
Besides, those constructs would probably be available for purchase, so they would be available to whomever wishes to purchase it and they would receive the benefit of the craftsman's skill.  In the end, it would just be a matter of someone purchasing  a)  something that does the job, and probably does it well, or  b) something that does the job as well as "a" but has some extra bells and whistles.  Welcome to a diverse economy with widespread options for customers to make choices.

I think that an ability of setting a position and/or an orientation of the voxel elements by a Lua script is pretty essential feature. Just imagine what fantastic creations could be made. Static elements are fine, but moving elements would be so much more interesting. Any user defined/created doors, elevators, ships changing an angle of their wings and so on.

Hi guys, 
 
Following up the release of the third Alpha 2 DevBlog about Lua, we wanted to develop things further for the most curious, dedicated and skilled among you. The API has changed so you guys will have to redo a certain amount of stuff. This being said, you'll find below some documentation that will allow you to do pretty neat stuff so knock yourselves out!
 
Thanks to NQ-Arlequin for his help and for writing this! 
 
How does it work
 
All ControlUnits (Cockpits, HovercraftSeats and ProgramingBoards) can display information on the screen when activated by the current player. CockpitUnits and PilotingSeats have predefined behavior that should suit most players. However advanced players can edit the ControlUnit LUA script to adapt the display to their needs.
There are different levels of customization possible:
 
 
Intermediate Difficulty: Show/hide the default widget of an element linked to the Control Unit. Advanced Difficulty: Mixing those widgets in custom panels. (New in Alpha 2) Expert Difficulty: Create custom widgets from your own data or existing elements data. (New in Alpha 2) Expert Difficulty: Create your own HTML code to display custom content on your screen. (Modified in Alpha 2)  
 
Default behavior
 
Cockpit view

 
Hovercraft Seat

 
Programing Board

 
Hovercraft Seat and Programming Board widgets do stack:

 
 
Adding/removing element widgets in Lua
 
API:
slot.show() slot.hide()  
Default Cockpit LUA Script

 
 
We can instead only show the Core Unit widget, and hide the Control Unit widget (shown by default):
core.show() unit.hide()
 

 
 
NEW - Reorganizing Element widgets within panels in Lua
 
API:
system.createWidgetPanel(title) → panelId system.destroyWidgetPanel(panelId) system.createWidget(panelId, type) → widgetId system.destroyWidget(widgetId) system.addDataToWidget(dataId, widgetId) system.removeDataFromWidget(dataId, widgetId) slot.getDataId() → dataId slot.getWidgetType() → type  
Instead of having all the fuel container widgets in different panels, I can create my own panel and add all fuel widgets to this panel:
fuelPanel = system.createWidgetPanel("Fuel Tanks") for i=1,container_size do widget = system.createWidget(fuelPanel, container[i].getWidgetType()) system.addDataToWidget(container[i].getDataId(), widget) end
 

 
 
NEW - Creating custom widgets in Lua
 
API:
system.createData(json) → dataId system.destroyData(dataId) system.updateData(dataId, json) slot.getData() → json  
You can finally write your own custom data, and display them using predefined custom widget types. 4 exist for now: text, title, value, and gauge.
 panel = system.createWidgetPanel("Panel")     -- Display “Hello World” widgetText = system.createWidget(panel, "text") dataText = system.createData('{"text": "Hello World"}') system.addDataToWidget(dataText, widgetText) -- Display a title “Title” widgetTitle = system.createWidget(panel, "title") dataTitle = system.createData('{"text": "Title"}') system.addDataToWidget(dataTitle, widgetTitle) -- Display a gauge filled at 60% widgetGauge = system.createWidget(panel, "gauge") dataGauge = system.createData('{"percentage": 60}') system.addDataToWidget(dataGauge, widgetGauge) -- Display “Weight  80 kg” widgetValue = system.createWidget(panel, "value") dataValue = system.createData('{"label": "Weight", "value": "80", "unit": "kg"}') system.addDataToWidget(dataValue, widgetValue)
 

 
You can now combine all those methods to create your own customized panels.
 
 
CHANGED- Customize screen using html code.
 
API:
system.setScreen(htmlContent) system.showScreen(1/0) You can write your own html code to change the appearance of the control unit screen. It will be displayed below the widgets, so if you want full control: you can hide all widgets.
 
html = '<div class="monitor_left window">' html = html .. '<div class="center window">monitor_left</div>' html = html .. '</div>' html = html .. '<div class="monitor_right" style="background-color: red;">' html = html .. '<div class="center window">monitor_right</div>' html = html .. '</div>' system.setScreen(html) system.showScreen(1)
 

 
Predefined style classes
 

 
class=”monitor_left”         defines the area of the left monitor.
class=”monitor_right”        defines the area of the right monitor.
 

 
class=”grid”         stacks all its child elements on an invisible wrapping vertical grid.
class=”center”        positions an element centered to its parent. Can be the viewport.
 

 
class=”window”        applies the Dual Universe background and border.
 
Well, that's it for this time! We hope you'll enjoy the info here to surprise us
 
Cheers,
Nomad

Disclaimer: All ideas are based on the publicly available info, not under NDA.

Hello, so one of my biggest concerns with the voxel building tools so far, is the lack of support for curved shapes. I really think it would be sad to see an amazing game like this, filled with only Minecraft Box spaceships. Because curved shapes are so impossible to make. So here are a few basic additions I think could really improve on the current voxel building system. I know, more advanced voxel editing are planned like being able to edit control points, and a Voxel Element Library for more complex shapes. But, there are other, more simple things I think that can be done to get curved shapes into the game sooner rather then later. So, the basic idea is to make curved voxel shapes easily available so players would be encouraged to build none box shaped ships and constructs. I did some artwork to help illustrate my ideas. Please feel free to discuss and give feedback on this thread in the comments. Ok, So lets dive right into it.
 
 
These pictures are examples of designs that can be made with these shapes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Starting Primitives
So, there are several shapes to begin with when using the voxel deploy tool. Here are some important primitives I suggest should be added as voxel brush shapes. Those shapes are Oblate Sphere, Prolate Sphere, Cone, Torus, Elbow Joint.

Why these shapes?
The reason I chose these shapes is because they are nearly impossible to make with with the current tools. An even with advanced editing options, they would still be difficult to get right. So it seems like a no-brainer to have these shapes as starting primitives for the voxel brush. It would make it much easier to start creating curved shaped constructs, and encourage more creative designs.
 
This picture is of the voxel shapes I think should be added to the voxel brush tool.

 
 
Voxel Shape Options
So the next thing is an a expansion on the voxel shapes, by adding parameters before/after the shapes is deployed. For example, having an option like size, and diameter of the TORUS shape before/after you deploy it, or option to set how extreme the elongation is on the SPHERE or CONE before/after you deploy it, and even maybe set the angle of the Elbow joint. So, the way I imagine it would work is, when you select a starting primitive shape, shortcuts like arrow keys, numbers keys are used to set the value of the shape options, then you can deploy it as normal. Also, having an option box that would stay on screen as long as you're using that shape could work too, so that you can continue to change options and deploy new shapes.

This pictures give an example of what changing the options would look like on each shape.
          
 
 
Bevel, Fillet, sharpen edge tool
So, we currently have a tool that allows builder to smooth edges, but to expand on that idea, I think we should also have the option to Bevel, Fillet, or sharpen edges as needs. The issue is that most times the smooth tool does not give the desired result, or maybe you only want to bevel an edge but not smooth it, or maybe you want some edges with a fillet and some edges sharpen. I imagine it working exactly like the current smooth edge tool, except you would be able to Bevel an edge, Fillet an edge, or Sharpen an edge.
 
 
This pictures below illustrates how the tool would effect the edge. This is the current smooth tool.
           
 
 
Additional Ideas
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Scale Axes
I think this is a simple, but vary important option that needs to be available. Basically we have the option to scale the size of voxel primitives, but we should also have the option to scale voxel primitives on a specific axis (X, Y, Z). This I think would definitely add greater control to create the desired shapes, as well as enhance the freedom of creativity.
 
Hollow Primitives
So, this thought came to me last minute, but I think its something that shouldn't be overlooked. The ability to start with hollow voxel primitives. Either a voxel brush option to deploy hollow voxels, or solid, and set the wall thickness, or have hollow voxel shapes as a standard starting shape to choose from. I know that there is an option to cut out voxels using primitives shapes, but the main issue is that cutting out voxels gives a very ugly looking result, most times the edges don't look right at all, or you need a hard edge but the cut out has a rounded edge with a messy texture. Also, hollow primitive shapes would improve the speed, and ease of use when building constructs. Especially when working with curved shapes. Trying to hollow out a curved shape would be a nightmare, so starting with a hollow shape would be great.
 
Voxel Elements
So my last suggestion is in regard to Voxel Elements. Novaquark mention in this DevBlog that will have a Library of detail, or complex voxel shapes that players could use in their constructs. They mentioned a spiral staircase as an example. Well, here are a few shapes that I think should be included in that database of Voxel Elements.

Pictures of suggested Voxel Elements to add to the Voxel Library.

 

I know that a voxel point cloud editing system is in development, list on trello Here. That will really open up lots of possibilities for builders. But, in addition to that, having a variety of voxel brush shapes to start with is still needed to give builders alternative options, because sometimes doing things one way just may not work out how you need it to, so having other ways to create shapes is a big help.
 
I think that covers the general ideas I had. My overall goal is to see more spaceships and constructs that aren't just limited to boxed shapes, and enable creative builders to really unleash their imagination. An I feel adding additional shapes to the Voxel Brush tool would be a good way to accomplish that goal. Please feel free to give feedback in the comments.

Thanks for reading, see you in the next thread.
 
 

We are proud to finally announce the launch of our new website.    
 
www.infinitycorporation.org
 
 
 
 

I would love to see a planet with caves big enough to fly through possibly all the way to the core so you can get lost trying to get back to the surface. Basically a planet with like 30%cave and 70%matter. I imagine you could make really nice structures or cave cities in there and have a different challenge in finding and mining resources. It may not be very realistic but hey that's what games are for right.
 

Today, Lord JC hosted an Ask Me Anything event in the official community discord. Below is a transcript of the questions and answers for those of you that missed it.  ?
 
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NQ-SophonToday at 11:01 AM
hi guys! This is JC, the creative director of Dual Universe! Just wanted to come here and spend a moment with you, to celebrate the fact we now have an official discord!
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:03 AM
hey, no big announcement today, but a chance to chat, so let's go! I met some of you guys at Gamescom but I wanted to have the opportunity to talk to all of you guys online
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:05 AM
a huge thank you to the community and the discord moderators too, by the way! This discord is just amazing!
 
[N.C.] ZerroxToday at 11:05 AM
What about Alpha 1 starting in november, will you be able to stick to the roadmap?
Timing wise?
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:06 AM
@[N.C.] Zerrox so far, we are on track for the alpha in the second half of November, as planned
 
DreamcatcherToday at 11:04 AM
Well always bugged me, how long did it take for you guys to build that giant space station above alioth ?
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:06 AM
@Dreamcatcher a long time!
 
ZetamanToday at 11:07 AM
can you tell us if it will be along the same format as pre alpha or will the sessions be longer?
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:09 AM
@Zetaman no big changes in the access times so far, expect still the usual weekly access
vonboyToday at 11:07 AM
What's some random bug that's made you laugh out loud the most at it happening?
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:10 AM
@vonboy no bug makes me laugh ?
 
[N.C.] ZerroxToday at 11:08 AM
Short question: What happened to the group picture we took at the gamescom meetup? I really wanna have a copy of that!
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:12 AM
@[N.C.] Zerrox we... lost the camera in the train. Sorry about that, no pic!
 
[HYP] z0KngToday at 11:10 AM
Are Astreoids planned in deep space? And if so will they have ressources?
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:14 AM
@[HYP] z0Kng too soon for the asteroids in Nov, but definitely will be a thing at some point. Well actually, there are some asteroids already around Thades, but nothing to mine yet.
Masc™ of AvacynToday at 11:12 AM
 
@NQ-Sophon Hey JC, is there any plans for collision physics in space? (ships colliding with each other and causing voxel destruction, etc)
NQ-SophonToday at 11:16 AM
 
@Masc™ of Avacyn no destructive collision is planned. This would lead to problematic gameplay side effects.
AgecomToday at 11:12 AM
Is it going to be possible to create his own currency?
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:17 AM
@Agecom no, there is only one official currency (quanta). Stabilizing a currency that would work for commerce would be to slow a process otherwise, and we need a fully functional economy right from the start.
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:20 AM
about PvP: it's a bit too soon to go into details, we are working on the precise game mechanics.

[HYP] SkeletmasterToday at 11:18 AM
what can you say about that we get in the near future except from crafting
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:22 AM
@[HYP] Skeletmaster the crafting will most likely come as a first iteration that "gets the job done", but it still far from the integrated gameplay we have in mind.
 
hdparmToday at 11:19 AM
@JC some  players are investigating atmospheric drag. Does DU use this equation https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/drageq.html , or some other?
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:23 AM
@hdparm we use both quadratic and linear drag, but otherwise yes, it's based on this equation (for the quadratic side at least)
 
Einu VeiToday at 11:19 AM
@NQ-Sophon Will market units be synchronised with a central system/cache of resources, or will each one have an individual storage limit and market forces dictated by that storage limit?
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:24 AM
@Einu Vei markets will have their own containers attached, so how much you can trade on them will depend on the aggregated size of these containers
 
wakamaToday at 11:21 AM
Is ground combat actually going to be a thing to for example take over zones on planets?
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:25 AM
@wakama yes, territory units will be attackable, if they are not deployed at a safe zone/sanctuary moon.
 
[N.C] Infinite GamerToday at 11:17 AM
so what are the main goals you are hoping to achieve by Alpha 1?
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:28 AM
@[N.C] Infinite Gamer so far, the development is on check, but we can NEVER be sure there will be no unforeseen problem, because we are doing very innovative stuffs.
 
ChronoToday at 11:25 AM
will be there tool for mining that help to find ores over 400m ? or tool crafting for mining ?
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:28 AM
@Chrono yes, there will be more tools for mining added, at least ways to inform you better about what's in a given region.
 
Einu VeiToday at 11:26 AM
@NQ-Sophon Does that mean the prices of those items will vary from market unit to market unit, depending on how much is stored in the containers, or will the market price system be centralised while the inventory system is distributed, aka a hybrid system?(edited)
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:30 AM
@Einu Vei the market system is very similar to Eve Online, so no fixed prices, and local market equilibrium are possible

wakamaToday at 11:26 AM
Also if all players spawn at one planet how will you make sure the terrain won’t end up totally messed up.  Will it respawn or something?
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:30 AM
@wakama the areas around the Arkship spawn point will not be editable (up to a distance we are still discussing)

[N.C.] ZerroxToday at 11:27 AM
@NQ-Sophon , will there be renewable energy? Can you make a base self-sufficient?
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:31 AM
@[N.C.] Zerrox too soon to talk about energy, but energy will be a thing, yes
 
DestrinToday at 11:29 AM
@NQ-Sophon any ETA on anti-grav 
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:32 AM
@Destrin antigrav for Alpha!
 
[HYP] meigrafdToday at 11:31 AM
JC when your planning to add organisations into the game itself?

NQ-SophonToday at 11:33 AM
@[HYP] meigrafd https://www.dualthegame.com/en/news/2018/08/08/release-roadmap-alpha-launch-announcement/
 
hdparmToday at 11:32 AM
@NQ-Sophon last week's patch broke a few lua scripts (due to some functions being moved from one element to another). In the future, could changes like these be announced in advance, so that we can prepare our scripts before the test?
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:35 AM
@hdparm sorry about the LUA change, it should not really happen again, or else we will add a retrocompatibility layer. We mostly add stuff now.
 
CostaniusToday at 11:30 AM
@NQ-Sophon  JC, what tech or feature or accomplishment are You especially proud of so far?
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:36 AM
@Costanius I'm extremely proud of our server tech and voxel tech, and especially proud of our team!
 
[HYP] meigrafdToday at 11:36 AM
JC how tall is the chance to get any kind of move-/rotate- able elements controlled over lua, after release?
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:38 AM
@[HYP] meigrafd I would love to, but it won't happen for now, definitely not in alpha
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:39 AM
guys, let's take a last question, as I've got to go for today!
 
[PRF] MegadddToday at 11:40 AM
@JC I've seen what happens to Minecraft servers with populations of 100-200 people where they are allowed to excavate everything. Absolutely every surface feature is decimated for kilometers from the starting area within weeks. It is conservative to say the DU launch will be orders of magnitude more populated, and mining in DU is much more powerful than in minecraft. Will you implement automatic surface restoration (erosion) algorithms? Suffice to say natural terrain that looks like it was carpet bombed everywhere would not be pleasing new player experience.
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:42 AM
@[PRF] Megaddd it's still in discussion, but we certainly don't want "ore fountains" that are infinite sources of wealth. And damage done to the surface of the planet should be minimal as most ore are deep underground. But we need to test this, and probably come up with many ideas to make it work!
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:43 AM
that's it guys! It was great exchanging with you today!
 
NQ-SophonToday at 11:43 AM
Thanks everyone!

I know that "predefined sounds" is on the "Considered" list on Trello: https://trello.com/c/HVdTjEsH/51-functional-scriptable-speakers-able-to-play-predefined-sounds 
 
While I think that would be cool, I think it would be cooler if we had access to a synth sound module through LUA to build and sequence our own custom sounds. 
 
Writing sound synthesis by hand isn't unheard of in LUA, for example:
 
 
 
And even more, here are some tracks composed entirely with LUA:
https://soundcloud.com/luehi/systemf  https://soundcloud.com/luehi/luacid1 https://soundcloud.com/luehi/early https://soundcloud.com/luehi/selfkitchen https://soundcloud.com/luehi/luaessay5 https://soundcloud.com/luehi/movk  
I think that giving us the flexibility to define our own sounds with such an approach would be incredibly more valuable than choosing from a list of predefined sounds. 
 
In case anyone is wondering, yes I am suggesting this because I want a night club in DU.

This would breathe a new kind of atmosphere to player-made LUA content. It's not just night clubs. Think of all passive and reactive noises that come from a ship control room in your favourite sci-fi movie. 
In My opinion, any MMO where players could create and play their own music, usually through obscure notation systems like .abc or MML was always more engaging for a longer time, compared to those where you could not. 
Needless to say music brings people together. 
 
As a side-note - this would allow me to finish my Super Hexagon recreation in DU's LUA boards. :) 
 
P.s.: I have never seen a large-scale MMO that allowed you to create your own Sounds. They always either have a watered down midi system, or pre-defined sound packs. This would be a first MMO for me personally, where you can write your own synth. Reminds me of the Atari electronic music producing infancy. 
 
P.p.s.: Here's another cool example of what can be done with LUA synth.

For some, the biggest disappointment about the roadmap announcement was the NDA being extended to cover all the Alphas. While it is clear that it was a difficult decision to make, could you elaborate on the reasons for extending the NDA? Could you elaborate on the galaxy that will be available in beta? How many star systems will players have access to? Will there be faster modes of travel, such as warp engines, so that players can get there? Will the star maps be implemented by this time? Will we see volumetric clouds (such as those shown in that first E3 video)? If so, will it be before release? Is there any progress on rotating planets? Are these still in the works? Where can community member send their user generated content, such as videos and screenshots? Are there any guidelines which may make it more likely for their content to be accepted and used as advertising for Dual Universe?