Never forget...

[Andrea B Previtera]

...of the selective disappearing rooftops.
I think it was a pretty cool feature request, which could add some realism and make exploration funnier.

The ground shadows also, could add a lot (in terms of pure eye candy) with little effort. Doubling a shape, flipped and redrawn in "trasparent black" over the terrain, shouldn't be hard to implement.

[Gunnar]

Blackening unexplored areas (ala Baldur's gate and others) and having a shade of gray for what is out of visual range might be nice. The last one would also solve the problems you get when you set a higher screen resolution.

[artaxerxes]

Gunnar wrote:
>
> The last one would also solve the problems
> you get when you set a higher screen resolution.

Makes the point of having higher screen resolution kinda moot then, don't you think?

Artaxerxes

[Gunnar]

Makes the point of having higher screen resolution kinda moot then, don't you think?

Possible, I don't see the use in using higher reolutions anyway. However graying out could still be usefull, when standing before a blind walll, you shouldn't be able to see what's behind.

[Andrea B Previtera]

> when standing before a blind walll, you shouldn't be able to see what's behind.

Rather excessive. In that way you're turning a third-person game... in a first-person one. Removing only the rooftop you're actually under, should be more reasonable- in particular when you're in a building near some mountains, it's quite funny that entering a house you can see the insides of a dungeon too...

[Colourless]

Doing that is actually quite difficult. You start needing to implement flood filling algorithms... not too fun. In most games that do that sort of thing they only have roofs that are only at a single level. Ultima can have roofs at multiple hights that makes the problem much more difficult. I'm not saying it's impossible, just it could be quite.... slow.

[Andrea B Previtera]

Well, it would be a calculation done once - only when you move under a rooftop, and it would last until you move /out/ of it.

Yes, you'd have to implement a "floodfill-like" algorithm to check, starting with the first rooftop element you "hit", which other rooftop elements are connected to it. But how many rooftop elements can you have to take into account?

In the end I think it would be faster than pathfinding for example, and it would be called less frequently (unless the player decides to have fun entering and leaving a building N times in a row )

[SB-X]

Makes the point of having higher screen resolution kinda moot then, don't you think?

Possible, I don't see the use in using higher reolutions anyway. However graying out could still be usefull, when standing before a blind walll, you shouldn't be able to see what's behind.

With a high resolution you can keep all your paperdolls open and surrounding the play area.

[Skutarth]

SB-X: Good point. That's one of the only things I liked about UO.

[Belial]

Hey Again... i think to keep adding "stuff" loke grey areas to where you cannot see would be changing ultima 7 too much. i see Exult as an engine for ultima 7. not a engine for an ultima 7 remake, which is what it exult would and will be if too many changes are made. fair enough enhancing certain aspects of the game, crisper graphics and better programing and such. but to change the very look of the game is not doing the game justice. and we all remember justice dont we... just keep the game simple enhance what is already in the game. and then maybe and a very unwanted maybe it would be appropriate to make large changes in the games graphics. I hope what ive just typed doesnt appear as a load of S*#T.

[Gunnar]

i think to keep adding "stuff" loke grey areas to where you cannot see would be changing ultima 7 too much. i see Exult as an engine for ultima 7

All extra things that are added are added as an option, you can put it on or of. Exult is not only meant to play ultima 7 (it still is the primary goal), but is also meant to be an engine to create new games with. And for new games new options could be fun to have.

[Belial]

true it is... but still.... lol
as long as they are all added extras are options then the game itself will remained unchanged... good point and what not...

[trevor_clim3]

hey guys, i think you forgot that sometimes its necessary to watch behind walls! just think of the switches, that have to be manipulated by the telekinesis-spell!

[lanzzz]

having a line of vision is not unheard-of in ultima games. ultima 5 for example had a line of vision, blacking out all that is occluded by walls, mountains and such (actually letting you see a narrow wedge through a hole in a wall).

surrounding paperdolls - wouldn't it be more logical to have an option to make the paperdolls standalone windows when running in windowed mode?