Bukkit

Fixed a rather nasty bug where left clicking no longer worked unless you were in command of a ship. Sorry if you downloaded the dev version from last night, its fixed now.

Also fixed 2 more null pointer error bugs.

Ok, very cool stuff in the new dev version, I would appreciate some help testing it.

First, the boring stuff:

1. Acacia and Dark Oak stairs will now rotate correctly
2. right clicking the pilot tool on a sign will now not process movement, only the sign
3. right clicking the pilot tool on a button or lever will not activate it while flying (no more accidentally blowing up your ship with redstone cannons)
4. fixed a few misc bugs
5. changed player movement with ships to hopefully cut down on falling out of crafts

Now the cool part: There is now an alternative method of controlling a craft. Direct Control. If you command a craft and then left click the pilot tool, you will get a message that you have entered direct control (left click again to leave it). You will be locked into place, and if you move the ship will move. Up and down is controlled by the right mouse button. Right mouse is climb, shift-right mouse is dive. This is particularly useful for fighter pilots, as you have much better control over maneuvering. Aiming is MUCH easier, since you can be looking forward while strafing side to side or up and down to line up your torpedo/cannon/whatever. It is a little jerky, because of course bukkit doesn't really allow me to completely take over player movement. But it still allows much more precise control than the standard method. Much testing is needed as this is a major new feature.

So, in the dev version there is now 3 possible methods of controlling crafts you can choose from.

1. The standard method (right click with the pilot tool in the intended direction of travel)
2. A signs-only config, where you use static move signs for maneuvering and cruise signs for forward
3. Direct control, where your player movement controls the ship directly

Dev version is updated, and at the usual download location.

@JacsAnimations

Yeah, the jerky movement has been a constant problem. I'm trying to figure out how to make this better. Until then, here are some tips:

1 - use low speeds and compensate with a high cruiseskipblocks
2 - make smaller or more streamlined ships
3 - manually type /release, which will always stop your ship

@WolfeBersahd

It *should* only ignore pilot induced vertical movement. Falling and hovering effects should still work fine. Some testing here would be appreciated.

I've PM'd you the link, if anyone else wants it let me know.

Ok, I have made some progress. There is a new dev version up at the usual place. If anyone else wants to test it, PM me and I'll get you a link. Here is what is in so far:

1 - cruiseOnPilot - This might be the biggest change so far. If you set this to true in the .craft file, then the moment you hit the command sign, the craft will begin moving forward. This is primarily for torpedoes, but could be used for anything. So you can now launch a torpedo with just one click. But, whats more, is that it does not count as the players craft. So you can launch torpedoes while not releasing your primary craft. Also, you can fire as many at once as you like.

2 - maxStaticMove - Use this for things like sails and elevators or missiles you can direct in flight using static move signs. Basically it just limits how far you can move with one click, to prevent abuse by people making a craft that moves 1000 blocks with every click.

3 - allowVerticalMovement - Set this to false, and it will ignore any vertical movement by the pilot. Basically use this for ships to cut down on heightlimit spam.

4 - allowHorizontalMovement - Same thing, but prevents horizontal movement. Use for elevators or periscopes or similar sub-crafts.

@AlexSmith49 Maybe I have misunderstood what you were asking. Were you saying it would behave just like it already does, but you would use shift rather than right click to move? What would be the purpose? What are you trying to do?

@AlexSmith49

Its actually alot harder to figure out the direction the craft aims than you might think. I mean, just looking at the blocks, how do you know the difference between the nose or the tail or the sides? What way is "forward"?

Cruise works somewhat similar to what you describe, albeit more clunkily. I'm trying to add another control method that will be more smooth, more on that to come.

@Ceriella

As WolfeBersahd described, you can get the link to the .craft files from any of my youtube videos for the plugin. Here is the latest:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5wur3G2kM0

Unfortunately we are not permitted to link to outside downloads on this site, so we have to use the youtube links until an alternative is found.

I have finally finished the third episode of Airship Pirates. This one has a lot of warship versus warship combat, with torpedoes, cannons, and even a nuke. It took forever to make, but its finally done. Check it out and tell me what you think: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5wur3G2kM0

Now I'll be able to devote a little more time to Movecraft development. So I should have some more news on that front over the next week or so.

@rctfan1999

How many craft types does Movecraft say it detects when it starts up? Check on the server console when it boots up.
EDIT: oh, and check permissions too. Try it as an OP.

@GodsDead

You could use forbidden blocks, that's a good idea. Its covered in the "advanced customization features", along with most of the other options that aren't completely necessary. I agree the documentation could use some work. I haven't thought of a clean and efficient way of doing it yet. I'm open to ideas.

@VariousArtist

Well, that should be reasonably easy to add, and I suppose it would lessen the spam from people accidentally trying to tell their surface ships to go up. I'm thinking of something like:
allowVerticalMovement: false
allowHorizontalMovement: false
Both would default to true if not present. Another use for not allowing horizontal movement would be a periscope on a submarine, so you could use it without using static move signs, and it would have a variable depth.

Another thing I think I will throw in there is a "autoCruise" option. If true, the craft starts cruising the moment you click the command sign. So you can fire torpedoes with just one click.