BSG Half Race Mod Error Reporting and Help

[thunderfoot]

Gonna steal an idea here from Dan1025. He always starts a thread such as this whenever he releases a large mod. It works very well for getting the word out about problems and fixes. This will also help with keeping the same mistakes out of future versions of this and the Cylon Half Race Mod I am thinking of doing. I'd like to remind everyone once again there are no Colonial AI files currently in the mod and kjc733 has been working very hard on making some. If you do have some ideas along this line, please share them with the rest of us. I will make every effort to respond to and help any problem or critique of this. None of the people mentioned in the Credits file are responsible for any mistakes found in the mod. These are my primary contribution to this project. Of course, compliments will be appreciated.
*drops baited hook over large concentration of A2/BSG fans*
I suppose there may be one or two of these, .

 

[Terra_Inc]

Maybe it's just me...
The gui_global_addons and weapon_addons (I think that those were meant to be files) which are named in the installation instructions are not present. There are only modified sprite files in the Sprites folder. The added sprite file entries are not marked as being new. While I was able to find them and put them into the stock file, I don't think it was intended to be like this. Also, if you use the provided weapons.spr instead of adding the entries to the stock file, some stock weapons seem to be mis-tiled (like they were put under the wrong size reference).
No other error found yet. It's a great mod, TF, probably the best single race mod (aside from Dan's epic Spoonheads).

 

[thunderfoot]

Thanks Terra! Looks like I goofed! The files you've mentioned aren't present and they are supposed to be. They are listed as add_ons so people could copy/paste them into their own files. Pretty Big Screw Up on my part. Mod's not even been up one whole day and I'm already working on a patch for it. As to the weapons being mistiled, I am unsure as to why this has happened. Probably for the same reason. This will also be addressed in the patch. Thanks for the info. Here are the hotfixes for the Weapons.spr file.

Find this entry in the file:

# Federation Photon torpedo
//quantum torpedo only
wbluephoton		wfbluetorp	0	0	32	32	@anim=tex4x4

Place these lines above it:

@reference=128
@tmaterial=additive

This fixes the stock photon torps.
Now for the fix for the pulses. Find this entry:

#  Federation Pulse phaser
pphaser		wpulse		0	0	128	32

Place these lines above it:

@reference=128
@tmaterial=additive

Both of these should repair any problems with the Weapons.spr file.

 

[Knight]

My feedback will have to wait till wednesday when I finally get a long awaited upgrade to my internet capability. Soon as new internet is installed, first thing im doing is downloading and installing the mod!

 

[thunderfoot]

Found another error. The texture for one of the Hero battlestars, Mercury does not have the correct lightmap applied. This will be addressed in the patch as well.

 

[Terra_Inc]

I think I found a few GUI problems, but I didn't have the time to look at it. Nothing fatal, though. Full report coming in a few hours.

 

[thunderfoot]

There are a few things which I'd like to improve in the GUI. To recap, we have the following, ahem, "unanticipated features". Yeah! That's what we're callin' 'em. Unanticipated features.

1) Errors with the mistiled weapons. Note: please look Here for the hotfix.

2) Battlestar Mercury texture has an incorrect, lightmap.

3) GUI may need some tweaking. Majestic did offer to allow me to use a new improved version of the Colonial GUI. I kinda like this one, though. It matches what is already in game fairly well.

 

[Majestic]

2) Battlestar Mercury texture has an incorrect, lightmap.

3) GUI may need some tweaking. Majestic did offer to allow me to use a new improved version of the Colonial GUI. I kinda like this one, though. It matches what is already in game fairly well.

Those would probably both me my fault there. My bad. Uncle Thunder will fix them you watch.

I still have a bit to do on that new GUI but it's pretty close to completion. Ultimately it's up to you if you use it or not when I get it finished and released, I must say it's a great deal better than the current GUI. Achilles himself helped me a little with it as it's based off his Metathran GUI.

 

[Terra_Inc]

Those would probably both me my fault there. My bad. Uncle Thunder will fix them you watch.

I still have a bit to do on that new GUI but it's pretty close to completion. Ultimately it's up to you if you use it or not when I get it finished and released, I must say it's a great deal better than the current GUI. Achilles himself helped me a little with it as it's based off his Metathran GUI.

The GUI itself is great. It really fits the mod's mood. The problems I was talking about have to do with parts of the GUI... misbehaving.
The exact problems are 1) the Race Icon not being where it's supposed to be and 2) something that looks like an unused resource counter in the upper left corner (you can see only a part of what looks a lot like a zero.)
As usual, this may be just me doing stuff wrong, so please counter-check my report.

By the way, I've played a few rounds now and I am impressed by the careful balancing. Well done, TF, this was really worth the wait!

 

[Majestic]

Yes I know about the resource issue, I released the GUI as almost complete but not quite complete file due to wanting to get the content out to the community. I never really liked that GUI personally, it's rather bad I feel. I've done much better GUI's since then. Hence why I have been doing the updated GUI the last few months before I lost computer access.

So don't worry it isn't you, it's the file. I am hoping when I complete the new GUI, Thunder might prefer that one as I think it will fit in better than the one that he is currently using.

 

[Terra_Inc]

Yes I know about the resource issue, I released the GUI as almost complete but not quite complete file due to wanting to get the content out to the community. I never really liked that GUI personally, it's rather bad I feel. I've done much better GUI's since then. Hence why I have been doing the updated GUI the last few months before I lost computer access.

So don't worry it isn't you, it's the file. I am hoping when I complete the new GUI, Thunder might prefer that one as I think it will fit in better than the one that he is currently using.

Sounds good. A great GUI makes the game even more fun!

Well, these were all the problems I could find. Well done, TF, a great mod and the best compilation of BSG material for A2! (as if we didn't already know that... )

 

[thunderfoot]

The following Hotfix will remove the red zero from the upper left corner of the GUI. This is an "unanticipated feature" which Terra_Inc located. We are grateful he found it and even more so he posted something here. After looking hard, we have discovered the repair for it. Once again, A2 surprised me with the peculiar things it will do in response to not paying enough attention to details. Here is the fix.

Open the following file using Notepad:
C:/ Activision/ Star Trek Armada II/ misc/ gui_col.cfg

Find the following line at the very bottom of the file and remove it:

noBiomatter = 0

This will remove the red "0" which can be partially seen in the upper left corner of the GUI, next to the Resource Panels.

I hope this will serve also as reminder to those of us who code to remember the A2 game engine takes everything as literally as possible. Since the original GUI coding told the game engine, "Bio-Matter = 0", the bug was not really a bug. Rather, the game engine was attempting to inform the player he/she had no Bio-Matter available.

 

[Majestic]

I hope this will serve also as reminder to those of us who code to remember the A2 game engine takes everything as literally as possible. Since the original GUI coding told the game engine, "Bio-Matter = 0", the bug was not really a bug. Rather, the game engine was attempting to inform the player he/she had no Bio-Matter available.

That would've been my fault. I apologise for releasing something buggy like that and will try extra hard not to do so in the future. I may just stick to modelling from now on as my coding hasn't been up to scratch for the past couple of years.

Thanks for finding the fix Thunderfoot.

 

[thunderfoot]

Some thoughts on BSG Half Race Mod Version 2.0

Arise, Necrothread! I command thee!

Recently began thinking about the Half Race Mod again. Something to do between MW4 bouts where I get my head handed to me. (No, I am not, 'sulking' lol.) I'd like to share these thoughts with you and see if you have any advice or suggestions. I was trying to recreate for the player the feeling of quiet desperation Adama and Roslin mus have when they get up in the morning and I may have done so a little too well. The Rag Tag Fleet may not be as bad off as ver1.0 makes out. Anyway here are some things I am thinking about. Please do not hesitate to kick in your two cents. I only ask that critiques be constructive and you offer possible solutions as well. If all you're capable of posting is something like, "this sucks, lol", please do not bother. Of course people whose ideas are will receive credit

- kjc733 did a superb job on the flak weapons I showed off lately. I promise I will make "Bambi eyes" at him as long as it takes for him to include these. They are about as close as the A2 engine will allow us to get.

- kjc733 will once again be co author on this. As much as he wants or can handle. I can be pretty overbearing and obnoxious sometimes. As well as impatient. Kinda grates on my modding partners. I mod at a far faster speed than most do. It is like I am afraid the idea will vanish before I get done if I do not work fast enough. This is nerve wracking for my mod partners. (You don't believe me? Fine. Go ask TSK if I am being truthful here, lol!) I'd like to thank kjc733 for exercising his remarkable restraint in not shooting me yet. Especially when I deserve it.

- Not entirely satisfied with the cost/balance system. Ships seem to cost too much. I have already implemented some changes in my personal mod and these seem to work better. Further adjustments will be needed but these are minor in scope.

- Ships take a little too long to build, except Vipers and Raptors. There will be some minor adjustments to the buildTime numbers to address this.

- Resource gathering is a pain! Takes too long for too little and the player is constantly having to cancel ships because of insufficient resources available and then has to reselect them because currently there seems to be no delay in the build queue. Adjusting the amounts the miners gather and the rate the refinery processe at should help this.

- Latinum will be included in the resources and players will be allowed to trade it for metal and dilithium, at a severely disadvantageous rate. The Fleet should have an economy which is about 60% barter and 40% cash. I haven't made up my mind if I will implement a complete trading option where a Colonial player can trade with other player controlled or AI races. This may not be a bad idea, but I think the Colonials have unique feel to themselves right now and I'd rather not make them into, 'Starfleet, mkII'

- There will be minor tweaks to the techtrees so the availability of ships will now make a little more sense. We didn't get it wrong in ver1.0 but we surely could have been closer to right than we were.

- The no shields option stays but ship hit points may need to be adjusted so that sensors do not fail after the enemy's second shot. Not sure if an increase in hitpoint amounts is needed but there may be some major adjustments to make the Colonials have a little more staying power.

- The Assault Marines special weapon will now be allowed to take over enemy planets. Obviously, there will need to be some adjustment to the amount of crew gathered this way. So a player will not have all the crew one needs to build one hundred battlestars. Just got done watching the New Caprica episodes so there is plenty of justification for allowing the Colonials to occupy a planet or two.

- Cylons! Cylons will be making an appearance in ver2.0! They will be map units only. And they will be pre installed on a map. Just because we cannot get the AI to build Cylons does not mean it does not know how to use them if they are already placed. I've got some ideas for set piece battles based on the series and on the Tool Tips Maj included in his PRP ships. I have the following ships which are already in SOD format: Base Ship, Raider, Heavy Raider. I'd like to have a Resurrection Ship and a Hub Ship as well. If no one has either one or I cannot get permissions, I'll figure something out. I also am planning on finding a TOS Raider to use with Ryder Storm's TOS Base Ship. This is a beautiful piece of work which I'd like very much to include. Kreeargh's versions of the others come to mind but I'd rather have some brand new ones form scratch which have no politics attached.

- I have a small version of the Scorpion Shipyards in SOD format. I'd really like to do a version of Pegasus' escape from the yards as a set piece battle. It is a pretty ambitious project, but hey, dream small = live small.

- I'd like to have some sort of trading vessel included in the fleet. Maybe the ship seen in the episode, "Black Market" or whatever it was called. If anyone can suggest a ship which is already available and fits in with BSG aesthetic, this will be acceptable.

This is all I have for now. Please feel free to comment and suggest away from this point.

 

[Majestic]

It's great to see you're planning on continuing with this project. It's the only real BSG mod out and I am glad you plan on further developing it.

Down the road I do plan to get back to making BSG models, but it won't be till both the Cardassian COE and Yesteryears are sitting in the Downloads Section and on your hard drives.

 

[Lord_Trekie]

I'm not certain Thunderfoot, but I believe that Chiletrek may have a Resurrection Ship, I seem to remember him showing me one some time ago, probably over a year past.

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
Lord_Trekie is correct, my Resurrection ship was updated and it more accurate thanks to "The Plan" and a view of the ship I did not have. I also made a model of the Black Market ship and of the Demetrius too. Those two I can give them to you.

About the Resurrection Ship, I would ask for some patience, because even though Score has not re-appeared (and the fact that for I made bored (and almost angry) of waiting) I will first retouch the texture a bit.

I also made two Colonial shipyards following the layout of the Scorpion Fleetyards that can be found on the Internet, so I may end-up making the whole complex too .

 

[Adm_Z]

I sure hope, at some point, you are able to publicly release this stuff!

 

[Majestic]

Indeed I think it would really benefit all of us, as you have some of the best BSG work I've ever seen for A2 Chile.

 

[thunderfoot]

Chiletrek's work is jaw droppingly beautiful. No need to emphasize the text or write all in caps or anything else to announce this fact. I truly wish he will release everything BSG he has. Imagine a Galactica with turrets. Or a Valkyrie which is an exact match for the one seen in Razor. I have been very privileged to have seen some of this magnificent material firsthand. He has even shared some of his things with me. Viewing Chiletrek's BSG ships as they move through an A2 map which is enhanced by Yacuzza's Midnight Universe can only be described as stunningly awesome. It is indeed a shame the BSA Team seems to have never gotten around to releasing their long awaited and much ballyhooed mod. I would have snapped it up in a New York second. And just as promptly harvested everything Chiletrek did from it. The rest? Meh.

Chiletrek is one of the quiet heroes in the Community. Certainly he is one of mine. Honourable to a fault. Talented in the extreme. Modest beyond reason. Friendly and helpful to all whom ask a question. He has never been so busy or tired of me he would not answer a question or ten or offer some excellent advice. His work gets overlooked by a large part of the Community because he goes and does, rather than loudly announce and then continuously disappoint. Most of the newer Community members tend to not see his work because the flash of some mods is far louder than the superb quality Chiletrek places into everything he touches. He is an excellent A2 modder because first and foremost he is an excellent man. I consider his friendship and guidance to be beyond price. And I will never, ever do anything which would cause him to lose respect for me.

Wrote it. And meant every single word, Mi compadre.

But I have now hijacked my own thread. Does this mean I must report myself to Staff and demand I get punished for behaving so heinously?
Hmmm, an interesting conundrum, lol.

 

[StarBlade]

Chiletrek is one of the quiet heroes in the Community. Certainly he is one of mine. Honourable to a fault. Talented in the extreme. Modest beyond reason. Friendly and helpful to all whom ask a question. He has never been so busy or tired of me he would not answer a question or ten or offer some excellent advice. His work gets overlooked by a large part of the Community because he goes and does, rather than loudly announce and then continuously disappoint. Most of the newer Community members tend to not see his work because the flash of some mods is far louder than the superb quality Chiletrek places into everything he touches.

Quoted for truth. Chiletrek is the kind of person that makes this community so special. His work makes A2 better, but his presence --and example-- makes simply being here so much better.

 

[Starfox1701]

Thirded

 

[Terra_Inc]

Chiletrek's work is jaw droppingly beautiful. No need to emphasize the text or write all in caps or anything else to announce this fact. I truly wish he will release everything BSG he has. Imagine a Galactica with turrets. Or a Valkyrie which is an exact match for the one seen in Razor. I have been very privileged to have seen some of this magnificent material firsthand. He has even shared some of his things with me. Viewing Chiletrek's BSG ships as they move through an A2 map which is enhanced by Yacuzza's Midnight Universe can only be described as stunningly awesome. It is indeed a shame the BSA Team seems to have never gotten around to releasing their long awaited and much ballyhooed mod. I would have snapped it up in a New York second. And just as promptly harvested everything Chiletrek did from it. The rest? Meh.

Me agrees. We've been waiting a long time for Battlestar Someday (as you call it) and it's about time that we see some hi-quality BSG content instead of just promises and demands by people who don't release.

Chiletrek is one of the quiet heroes in the Community. Certainly he is one of mine. Honourable to a fault. Talented in the extreme. Modest beyond reason. Friendly and helpful to all whom ask a question. He has never been so busy or tired of me he would not answer a question or ten or offer some excellent advice. His work gets overlooked by a large part of the Community because he goes and does, rather than loudly announce and then continuously disappoint. Most of the newer Community members tend to not see his work because the flash of some mods is far louder than the superb quality Chiletrek places into everything he touches. He is an excellent A2 modder because first and foremost he is an excellent man. I consider his friendship and guidance to be beyond price. And I will never, ever do anything which would cause him to lose respect for me.

I second that. His Species 8472 rework is of much higher quality and quantity than the stuff other people will release in their whole life. And don't even get me started on his Farscape material... Yet he never boasts with his skills, or hesitates to give and accept help to/from other people. Yay for Chiletrek.

 

[Majestic]

Indeed he has some of the best stuff I have seen, I do feel Score will never release the mod unfortunately. I don't even see him on A2Files anymore, I remember the mod starting a few months after I announced Parallels and while I never finished the mod I have slowly been releasing as much as possible I have even given Dan the Peacekeeper stuff to convert as I know I won't get around to it.

However if anyone else wants to do it, feel free to speak up as I know Dan is one very busy man and has some other work to convert as well.

But yes go Chile, I love your 8472 stuff, it's in my private install replacing stock. I have even considered with permission releasing the lost in the one mod all tied in together so all one has to do is throw it in and off they go.

But I have now hijacked my own thread. Does this mean I must report myself to Staff and demand I get punished for behaving so heinously?
Hmmm, an interesting conundrum, lol.

Well considering I also went off topic, how about we all get back on topic, and I will not tell myself about this off topicness and if I don't know how can I do anything about it?

 

[thunderfoot]

Me agrees. We've been waiting a long time for Battlestar Someday (as you call it) and it's about time that we see some hi-quality BSG content instead of just promises and demands by people who don't release.

Terra, IIRC, the full title I gave it was:Battlestar Someday, After I feel like it.​

I am very upset with the lot of them because they went to Chiletrek and asked him to help. For the last three years, all they've done is sit on whatever material they've gotten from him and made vague promises about something somewhere down the line. Not fair to Chiletrek at all. However, an excellent example of Community politics at its very finest.

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
I just don't know what to say. I have talked with Thunderfoot on many occasions and the truth is that I didn't know so many people think like him and have that image of me. Thank you very much, I really appreciate it.

During the last few days, I have posted some pics of BSG stuff I have been retouching in the BSA forums, I suppose I might do that here as well, maybe to show other things I have been making too, specially since I will begin making addon ships for Species8472 (including the Terrapshere) before mocving into other series for a bit too. I do hope you all will like the things I will begin showing.

Well, maybe we should all return in-topic now, the last thing I want is to help hijack Thunderfoot's threat .

 

[thunderfoot]

Arise Necrothread! I command thee!

Thought I'd post all the news about BSGHRM v2.0 in one spot to keep people from hunting high and low for info or posting question threads when answers are available. Version 1.0 may be considered a success. But it is flawed badly by many things. Not least of which is the numerous coding errors missed by yours truly. Below is a list of the things those of you waitng for this can expect to find.

- A fully functional Colonial AI, complete with build lists. It can act just as dumb as a Stock AI sometimes. But for the most part, kjc733 has put together something which can challenge a player.

- New ships by yours truly, Majestic, and Dan1025.
Blackbird - by Thunderfoot. A specialized reconnaissance platform which is jump capable and has stealth capabilities.

Valkyrie class variants - by Majestic. Most people would be happy making one ship. Not Maj, lol. He did three. A complete rework of the standard Valkyrie and a version reconfigured as a support ship for the Colonial Marines. The third is a first for BSG stuff. An electronic warfare battlestar with increased sensor range, ECM package, and a new long ranged heavy missile.

Eros class - by Dan1025. This little jewel is a light unit which complements the rest of the non battlestar Colonial ships very nicely.

- Flak weapons by kjc733. Another project he was working up as version 1.0 was nearing release. Again, time did not allow for testing so we decided to wait for version 2.0. The extra time has allowed for a weapon which has to be seen. Oh wait, I did a video. Here it is.

- General improvements in the overall quality of the mod. Fancy way of saying, "bug hunting", lol. I went back through the files and spotted the obvious errors right off. The not so obvious ones are the next layer down. This is an ongoing process.

- New build buttons and wire frames. The originals were okay. But these are far better! If I do say so myself. Sprite entries will be included as well for copy/paste ease.

- Map Editor ODFs. For those who like to play with the Editor. Didn't make sense to leave these out and they make play testing a whole lot easier.

- Adjustments to the Input.map file which enables BSG ships to have all of the Hot Key functions stock ships do.

- Better techtrees. kjc733's build lists demanded techtrees which are much more sensible. The changes here are slight, but they do improve Colonial Fleet capabilities when compared with version 1.0.

- All ships now have lightmaps.

- Liners now have logos correctly placed and readable. Doing this enabled me to find a ship which I did not know was missing. The Gemon Lines ship. Turns out the SOD I was using referenced the wrong textures and I didn't notice.

- New Sprite textures for some of the weapons.

- Cylons! Yep, that's right. Cylons. Currently I have the Base Ship and the Raider in game and functional. I have made up a race ODF for the Cylons and some very limited build lists. They function best as map units, however. I intend to include everything needed for the Heavy Raider, the Hub and the Resurrection Ship so when, or if, they are ever publicly released, all that will be required is for a player to drop the ODF, SOD and textures into the install and they will be available as map units. I'd like to get a Heavy Raider based off Coxxon's original imported and hardpointed. The one I have has one hardpoint and lots of emitters, lol. I no longer have the capability of doing this for myself. My laptop and MS3D are at war with each other and it is a fatal flaw which even deletion and re installation does not repair.

There are a few other things we are working up but they are currently classified at levels above my pay grade. So I suppose you'll just have to wait for the mod to come out. As to that, it is moving towards release as quickly as we can. I tend to sink my teeth into something and not let go until it is done and released. And when I am not modding BSGHRM v2.0, I am thinking about modding it.

One more thing, ADM_Z has graciously agreed to mutually share BSG stuff with kjc733 and myself. We've all decided whatever one of makes the others can use freely. Between us we have BSG for A2 and Fleet Ops pretty well covered. The competitive side of my nature enjoys the fact MSFC leads the way regarding BSG mods for A2 and Fleet Ops. And it also wants this state of affairs to continue. BSGHRM v1.0 is flawed, yes. But it is available now to MSFC registered members. Sometimes now is better than best. Especially when the people making things like this are so obsessed with BSG in the first place.

 

[Starfox1701]

I'm on the Hvy Raider.

 

[Starfox1701]

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3697428/HeavyRaider.zip

you have 1 sod with 5 lods of mesh and textures. Also got spec and bump maps. tune it up how you want.

 

[thunderfoot]

Thank you, Starfox! Much appreciated!