I have a couple of suggestions for the moon that I thought I'd express. Let me know what you think. (Oh, and I'm long-winded... sorry...)
I'm actually okay with there being sound while out and about on the lunar surface despite the vacuum (I would suppose that one might have the vague impression of sound as the vibrations travel through one's spacesuit and body as one steps into the regolith, though it would likely be extremely subtle). And I would suspect that eliminating the sounds while outside an air-filled space only might be complex to code. But I do wonder if the hard sound like walking on rock is the best choice. There are cited examples, admittedly, of a hard crust in some areas of the regolith, but for the most part, it is of a sandy, gravelly, or dirt-like texture and I would think that the sand or gravel/dirt noise might be better. I would refer you to the material safety data sheet for JSC-1A Lunar Regolith Simulant for a good description of the the composition of lunar soil (regolith simulant is the stuff the world's space agencies use to simulate lunar soil for testing purposes; it was designed to closely mimic the chemistry and physical characteristics of the soil). Quoting the passage most relevant to my point, "Appearance: JSC-1A and JSC-1AC: Gray material similar to sand or dirt". Here is a link to the entire document if anyone is interested: http://www.orbitec.com/store/JSC-1a_Material_Safety_Datasheet.pdf
Also, it might be nice if the the "Moon Turf" and/or "Dirt" blocks were named "Regolith" as that is the commonly used name for the substance. Martian soil is likewise commonly referred to as regolith, so perhaps calling it "Lunar Regolith" would be appropriate to differentiate it from the future Mars regolith.
I would also have suggested the removal of the parachute landing mechanic from the moon, but looking at the recent commits it seems that you're already addressing that.
Regarding the look of the "Moon Turf" blocks, I would start by saying that look neat, but no pictures from any of the Apollo landings show that sort of variation in color. I'm referring to the brown sides of the blocks. It mimics the look of Minecraft grass blocks, and I understand the aesthetics of trying to liven up what is otherwise a barren landscape, but the moon truly IS a barren landscape and mostly devoid of color variations like that in small scale.
Which brings me to another suggestion (please don't think I'm trying to be overly critical here... I LOVE the mod and what you're doing). As the landscape looks now, it has the overall color of the "lunar highland" regions of the moon on the surface. That's fine and I can certainly live with it as-is, but on the larger scale (and quite visible even from my backyard), the moon as two readily obvious color schemes: the light areas of the highlands and the darker areas of the mares. Most of the Apollo landings took place in the mare regions. Apollo 11's sample 10084 is very iconic of the look of mare regolith (here's a pic: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/sampl...on=Apollo 11&sample=10084&source_id=S97-16100). It was the reference sample used in the design of the original JSC-1 regolith simulant. Ultimately I guess what I'm suggesting is that maybe there should be two moon biomes: mare and highland, with the mares being darker in color and and highlands being lighter. I can just imagine how a rendered map of the two biomes would mimic the look of the moon as seen in the night sky
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I've gone on far too long about something I'm probably over-examining anyway, so I'll it all up nice and quick: I think that moon turf should be called regolith and have either the dirt/gravel noise or the sand noise, I think the turf blocks shouldn't have side color variation, and I think that the moon needs two biomes, one darker in color, one lighter.
Oh, and could we have grass blocks on the moon be some shade of green? Maybe it's a bug for me, but grass is utterly black on the moon for me.
Keep up the awesome work!
I'm actually okay with there being sound while out and about on the lunar surface despite the vacuum (I would suppose that one might have the vague impression of sound as the vibrations travel through one's spacesuit and body as one steps into the regolith, though it would likely be extremely subtle). And I would suspect that eliminating the sounds while outside an air-filled space only might be complex to code. But I do wonder if the hard sound like walking on rock is the best choice. There are cited examples, admittedly, of a hard crust in some areas of the regolith, but for the most part, it is of a sandy, gravelly, or dirt-like texture and I would think that the sand or gravel/dirt noise might be better. I would refer you to the material safety data sheet for JSC-1A Lunar Regolith Simulant for a good description of the the composition of lunar soil (regolith simulant is the stuff the world's space agencies use to simulate lunar soil for testing purposes; it was designed to closely mimic the chemistry and physical characteristics of the soil). Quoting the passage most relevant to my point, "Appearance: JSC-1A and JSC-1AC: Gray material similar to sand or dirt". Here is a link to the entire document if anyone is interested: http://www.orbitec.com/store/JSC-1a_Material_Safety_Datasheet.pdf
Also, it might be nice if the the "Moon Turf" and/or "Dirt" blocks were named "Regolith" as that is the commonly used name for the substance. Martian soil is likewise commonly referred to as regolith, so perhaps calling it "Lunar Regolith" would be appropriate to differentiate it from the future Mars regolith.
I would also have suggested the removal of the parachute landing mechanic from the moon, but looking at the recent commits it seems that you're already addressing that.
Regarding the look of the "Moon Turf" blocks, I would start by saying that look neat, but no pictures from any of the Apollo landings show that sort of variation in color. I'm referring to the brown sides of the blocks. It mimics the look of Minecraft grass blocks, and I understand the aesthetics of trying to liven up what is otherwise a barren landscape, but the moon truly IS a barren landscape and mostly devoid of color variations like that in small scale.
Which brings me to another suggestion (please don't think I'm trying to be overly critical here... I LOVE the mod and what you're doing). As the landscape looks now, it has the overall color of the "lunar highland" regions of the moon on the surface. That's fine and I can certainly live with it as-is, but on the larger scale (and quite visible even from my backyard), the moon as two readily obvious color schemes: the light areas of the highlands and the darker areas of the mares. Most of the Apollo landings took place in the mare regions. Apollo 11's sample 10084 is very iconic of the look of mare regolith (here's a pic: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/sampl...on=Apollo 11&sample=10084&source_id=S97-16100). It was the reference sample used in the design of the original JSC-1 regolith simulant. Ultimately I guess what I'm suggesting is that maybe there should be two moon biomes: mare and highland, with the mares being darker in color and and highlands being lighter. I can just imagine how a rendered map of the two biomes would mimic the look of the moon as seen in the night sky
.I've gone on far too long about something I'm probably over-examining anyway, so I'll it all up nice and quick: I think that moon turf should be called regolith and have either the dirt/gravel noise or the sand noise, I think the turf blocks shouldn't have side color variation, and I think that the moon needs two biomes, one darker in color, one lighter.
Oh, and could we have grass blocks on the moon be some shade of green? Maybe it's a bug for me, but grass is utterly black on the moon for me.
Keep up the awesome work!
