Space Engineers

Space Engineers

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Raster LED Display
   
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11 Jan, 2015 @ 2:17pm
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Raster LED Display

Description
As the users requested after the first version of the screen, the Syndicate is ready with a new solution.

Primary functions

- Displaying images. Sherlock is a little bit hyperactive nowadays...
- Displaying motion picture in a quality that's unknown for the MPAA.

Planned functions

- Displaying minigames, streamed video and stuff. Stuff is important...

Current limitations

- The screen can only show a maximum amount of 1190 pixels. That's a bug, the script doesn't say the too complex thing.

Setting up a screen

Name your screen ("LED" for programmers), then put an interior light at each corner, and name them like <screenname> top left. Then fill the inside with other interior lights (you can also use thrusters if you'd like), rename them too (we have a mass rename script that can help you here, they must start with screen name), run the display script, and yeah, you're pretty much done. If you'd like to use a video, you'll need to run it once per frame, but a timer can easily solve that problem. You can also put solar panels in front of the lights, and set both radius, falloff, and intensity to max, that makes the best result.

If you're too lazy, there's a blueprint for you with a standard 32x20 solar screen. It's already set up to give you the best results.

Image format (can be considered as technical info)

The screen uses the Syndicate Image Format, which is basically a string with spaces and numbers. Example:

3 2 1 2 1 001000 100000

The first four numbers are basic info about the image, width, height, bits per pixel, and frame count. This example image is 3 pixels wide, 2 pixels high, has 1 bit pixels and two frames. The fifth number is the ID of the standard, which is currently 1 - you cannot change it and the bit count. (Well, you can, but you shouldn't, that can mess up your images in the future.)
According to Standard 1, the next parts are the frame data entries separated by spaces. This is the data for each pixel, from left to right and then from up to down. This example image has a top right pixel in the first frame and a top left in the second.

Todo:

- Make the minigame.
- Implement the planned functions as soon as possible
- Create an image converter to easily import pixel data
- Edit and upload the tutorial video

Credits
Reptavian and leventex97 gave me the idea of a screen with motion picture. Also thank you all who supported my previous screen project by viewing, subscribing, commenting, and making it a favorite. You guys were really helpful for me...
16 Comments
Master Yoda The Evil Hobo 21 Feb, 2015 @ 8:45pm 
Thanks ben for coming back. I was scrathing my head for a while thinking if it was binary, hex, some random addin for c#. But thanks for the clarifycation, and good luck with the game concepts!
Ben Snow  [author] 21 Feb, 2015 @ 3:39pm 
This is the first version, the bits are either 1 or 0, and going from left to right and then from top to bottom. (The header is described in the thread.) There is also a second version with base64-encoded RGB pixels (24 bits per pixel, same order), check my workshop. And sorry for the inconvenience, I actually have a tutorial, but I never had the time cutting and uploading it. Maybe someday I can come back, but now I'm busy with my own game concepts.
Master Yoda The Evil Hobo 13 Feb, 2015 @ 1:24am 
So can you clearify Syndicate Image Format? Is there any easy way of doing this?
ppumkin 31 Jan, 2015 @ 8:46am 
You can access the full API via creating a dedicated MOD in Visual Studio. I think they blocked allot for safety reasons. They still developing the ingame API. hopefully it will become much better.
Ben Snow  [author] 31 Jan, 2015 @ 4:50am 
It was tested about two versions ago, since then I haven't played. Sorry... I have a lot of ideas, but this time I'm too busy coding my own game engine, and I cannot express how much better is C++ than C#. Both is quite challenging, but these blocked functions are really annoying, so right now I just can't return to Space Engineers...
ppumkin 30 Jan, 2015 @ 9:22am 
"common language runtime detected an invalid program" is not a C# error. Its a restriction put in by the developers. There are allot of cool C# things that are blocked, for no good reason. like foreach(var item in items) for simple iterations, or beloved Linq.. sob and some other stupid stuff. Every time I try to use thos it gives me that stupid error. But that is ingame mode only, I htink making proper mods let you do anything you want.
Democracy Officer Keaton 18 Jan, 2015 @ 10:28pm 
Frell yes. This. Unf. I would hump your face if I could my good man.
JCapt 17 Jan, 2015 @ 1:55pm 
that is cool!
Ben Snow  [author] 17 Jan, 2015 @ 11:08am 
Oh, the image generator? That'll be a webpage, and I'm adding Standard 2 support too. I have a newer version down here on my computer that can display RGB images, but I'm currently trying to decide to publish it or not. It's extremely performance intense and there's also a strange bug, you need an external timer to display images correctly...
Baryonyx 17 Jan, 2015 @ 7:56am 
Hey great, once there is an easy way to make such images on my own I will definitely use it.