[Mod] Possibility of a New Stargate Mod.....Please Read Details Before Getting Excited.

[MajorPayne]

Hello all.

I know I'm more known for my BI projects so it may come as a surprise to some to learn that I've been collecting model and texture assets for the creation of some sort of Stargate project. I understand that there has been a couple of attempts before but none seem to be in progress. Even looking on MODDB it seems the only game without a SG project is Armada 1 or 2 which is a bit disappointing. So some may get excited at this point with the prospect but I'm more looking to see who might have some sort of interest in it. In essence I would put this project together at my own pace so it could be months before anything surfaces with regards to a Beta or such, but to begin with I've have gotten to grips with a couple of models which should be recognised:

Spoiler: atlantis

Spoiler: achilles

For those that don't know. The top is obviously Atlantis City ship. The model has been tested in Armada 1 and is reasonably happy as long as there aren't to many on screen at once and there isn't heavy combat going. The second is the BB67 Achilles Class. Yes I know its not canon, but I really don't care. I love the design and Alnair did an amazing job with the original. I've yet to decide any kind of name or any kind of story to compliment it. Suffice to say, I've been scouring more than just the Armada archives for models. I've also approached several project leaders for other games and I'm happy to say that permissions have been fairly easy to obtain. Its just a matter now, of working my own mod plan out. Anyway, thats it for the moment, I'll get another update as soon as I can.

 

[Dan1025]

I always get excited at the mention of a SG mod The A2 community is in dire need of one I feel.

I have a file of old stuff from the very first SG Project mod that ColdDarkParanoia was running, RJB was kind enough to send it all to me in the hope of one day getting it finished up. I'd be happy to donate everything I have stored away to this project, not all the models are textured but obviously that's not a problem for someone of your talents.

Have you tried dropping Epytron_Omega a line? His SG mod for SoaSE is amazing even though it's still a WIP, and he already has ties to the A2 community.

Looking forward to seeing what comes of this

 

[MajorPayne]

LOL. Funny you should mention EO, Dan. His mod was the first to test my 10k poly Achilles. He did remake it in favour of one much lower but I've redone my own model since then.

 

[Dan1025]

Yeah that team has done some great work in terms of modelling, and now they have a talented texturer as well so things are catching up. I think their mod has the only game playable version of a Wraith Cruiser I've ever seen (converted it for personal use). Most of the models aren't too unreasonable in terms of polys though some of the newer ones are a tad too high for mass use in A2.

It'd be great to see some content from that mod, or your own (lower poly) versions

 

[MajorPayne]

Hmmmm, you might want to take a look at MerlinGalgotta's SG project for Star Wars Empire At War. Its pretty dam good and model quality is quite high. Thankfully EaW models are extremely similair to Armada's in terms of poly counts and hardpointing isn't that different either. Textures start of as TGA's so just need to be converted back to TGA from DDS (an easy matter with photoshop), so theres quite a selection to get hold of

I've also been looking over BC, SFC3, Freelancer and Homeworld mods for their content as well, so its just a matter of gathering what resources I can. I'm probably going to be going with FO as a possible base, so it just means re-learning their ODF file structure.

 

[Majestic]

A stargate mod would be nice I have only done a few models myself, never textured them though. I find many mod groups who have started one either didn't have the skills to complete or even get far into it or lost interest motivation.

Naturally being Stargate, one will have to include many fan-designed ships, as Stargate wasn't renown for having many different classes.

 

[Borg_Queen]

Looks interesting, and those models looks great. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[Starfox1701]

I beleive there was a recet upload of Stargate meshes over on Legacy files a month or so ago for Enemies at the Gate which I think was cannceled. Might take a look. I know theres a massive Wraith Hive over on BC files.. I look forward to seeing more man

 

[MajorPayne]

Well rest assured that once I start a project, I don't cancel it unless theres serious problems of some kind (BI3 was soon superceeded by BIVR). I seriously will need to become creative though with ship classes as looking over my own list theres about 23 canon ships, but isn't that the fun of modding.

After some thought a proposed title is:

Stargate: New Offensive

Proposed sides are likely to be:

- Tauri: It would be utterly rediculous not to include the well know human side.
- Goa'uld: Again, another no brainer.
- Asgard: and where would a Stargate game be without those small aliens who were so helpful in SG1 and Atlantis (is it me or do the Asgard have a very dry, sarcastic way of putting things!!).
- Ori: Okay so they weren't that much used in any other series outside of SG1 but what the hell. The Ori Mothership was a beast.
- Ancient: Should be a fun race to work with and I have some interesting ideas for structures.
- Wraith: My personal favourite race. Someone get me a dart to go shopping in.

Now as this is almost certainly for Armada 2 (built on the v1.2.5 patch or possibly FO itself as I've yet to decide), each side will have a specific planet, and colonising that particular planet will be of significant benefit to that particular side. Theres a good possibility of other race ships and structures making an appearance (such as the Replicators) but these details are pretty sparse at the moment. It actually usually takes several weeks of planning before I even start gathering resources and my personal time frame for any mod is normally between 6 and 24 months. Yes. I know this is a significant time frame but I prefer to work at a pace which minimises any possible mod bugs (BI: Aftermath was released with, to my knowledge, zero bugs and no-ones actually sent any bug reports to me).

In the meantime, if theres any suggestions of any kind (no matter how ludicrous it might sound) then feel free to yell at me.

 

[Starfox1701]

Depending on when you set the mod you have the opption of useing free Jafa forces and the Lucian Alliance which is like the mob with all the toys of the Goa'uld

 

[Avon]

Payne, you would make me a very happy old man if you pull this off. Been wanting a Stargate mod for soooooooo long

look at MerlinGalgotta's SG project for Star Wars Empire At War

Yeah that's where I have to get my Stargate fix. It's an awesome mod...........but it's not Armada

 

[Majestic]

I would hate to sound like a fanboy, but your mod would really benefit from the advances that the FO team has made.

Sounds like a solid start to me personally. You got all the main players there, you could even have the Ancients as the Pegasus Replicators so they can fit in with the other races you got going. Also have you checked out Stargate - Empire at War: Pegasus Chronicles, it's still a WIP but they have some awesome looking Wraith units, including stations. I've been waiting for them to release that so I can make up my own personal Wraith side. They can be found on ModDB, in the Star Wars Empire at War - Forces of Corruption section.

Also KJC has been doing a fair bit of Stargate modelling recently, mainly the Wraith, you might want to see if he is interested in helping out.

 

[Dominus_Noctis]

Just as an aside, the ODF structure for FO will revert to the original A2 system next patch with like ODFs grouped in each folder type.

Always nice to see a new - and different - mod out there

 

[kjc733]

As Maj said, I've been working on the Wraith and have meshes with polycounts designed specifically for stock A2. I've got complete meshes for 7 Wraith vessels (only two of them are not from the series), of these four are currently textured, hp'd and work in game. I was going to complete the whole batch, work up some weapons and release them here as a ship pack.

I also have a 302 I'm rather proud of, and a bunch of other meshes for us Earthers. I have a thread in 3D modeling, so you can see exactly what I have.

If you're interested, let me know.

 

[MajorPayne]

Well although I have always tried to build my own models I'm always open to any donations from any source so anything is welcome.

Speaking of 302s I already have one but the textures fairly old, same with the bc304 and x303 I have (they were originally done for SFC3 a good while ago) and the quality isn't fantastic, so they'll need to be relooked at. Now I know that my Atlantis (which is just a snatch over 20k in polys) works fine in A1 I'm going to be attempting to stretch the game a bit.

Dominus. I'm glad to read that bit of news. I just wish that DoCa could get his mits on the A1/A2 source code though. He did give me some info about what could be done with it.

 

[Dominus_Noctis]

Have you yet thought of a tech progression for each faction (given that the Tauri are in general very much the weakling of that group)? It seems almost more feasible to have the Ancients and Ori some sort of map event faction, with the Goauld, Wraith, and Tauri as your mainline factions (as they are at least far more even by the end of the last SG seasons), and some "uber special" Asgard support. Anyway, looking forward to any schema on this front

20k polies should be fine for FO: I should note that the high resolution textures might cause you a few problems in general (FO 326 and below still use a slightly modified A2 render and texture system), but as long as you follow some conversion rules for the next FO patch that should also be an issue of the past.

Yes, obtaining the source would of course be quite nice: I have been attempting for quite some time to do so, however I have hit several walls which at the present time do not seem promising.

 

[MajorPayne]

Details are still sketchy but I'm not looking for canon specs for the ships. its the essence of RTS games that you do have to lose some sort of canon aspect in favour of balanced gameplay, but don't worry. I'll be heavily micromanaging the ships in terms of their capabilities. One thing that I do need though is FO's ability to limit the amount of a particular ship type that can be built. That particular thing will prove very useful to this mod.

As for textures. I've yet to see any significant problem with them but then I've only played FO itself and not tried modding it in any way so only ingame testing will tell whether it works or not. I take it here is some sort of written "bible" for modding FO??

 

[Terra_Inc]

As for textures. I've yet to see any significant problem with them but then I've only played FO itself and not tried modding it in any way so only ingame testing will tell whether it works or not. I take it here is some sort of written "bible" for modding FO??

Well, there's the guide. It has a pretty extensive modding section, which you should check out if you want to do any FO modding. Easy to find on the FOnet homepage.

Also, if you're a programming person you might want to give MMM a try. Lua isn't that hard to get into, and as a reward for learning it you get to write a new campaign for your mod.

 

[MajorPayne]

Hmmmm. Thats a useful and good idea Terra. However, a campaign is something that would be very low on the list of priorities. Getting my details worked out is the primary goal at the moment.

It amazes me just how much work goes into any kind of mod, even the smaller, text file ones. I think my biggest problem is going to be projectiles and weapons and the sprites are something I'm not to well versed with. Being a jack of most modding trades means you lose something from other aspects. In my case its texture creation and weapons creation. The rest I've a reasonably good grasp with.

 

[Majestic]

The FO Guide is also an affiliate here and is found at the bottom of the forum index page.

Most modding for FO is like modding A2, there isn't a great different until you hit the odf's, as there are new commands, no more #include = "cruise.odf" as all that info is in the ship's main odf to save on processing time and now the stock FO odfs are in an archive but you can still have them located for your mod in the odf/system folder.

The mod feature is a great addition as now you only need one install, rather than one for each mod. It's got a similar set up to now EAW mods run, with having the mods in a separate folder under a new mod folder. However instead of having to create shortcuts like in EAW, one gets a new option in the options menu where they can launch the mod or automatically create a desktop icon for that mod so next time they can launch directly into it.

Just as an aside, the ODF structure for FO will revert to the original A2 system next patch with like ODFs grouped in each folder type.

I'm curious, is there a reason for the revert to folders again?

 

[Dominus_Noctis]

Yes, the reversion was done basically because a number of people requested it and due to the ever increasing number of ODFs and especially invisible weapons and special weapons, it's actually a bit nicer/easier to search for files in this subdivided format. The previous version of FOscript also could not handle the increased complexity of subdivided folders if I recall correctly, and the redone version doesn't have that issue

The texture issue is really an age-old one for A2, but it seems that not many modifications follow (or can follow) the limitations for multiplayer : basically the issue is that A2 is a memory hog and in any multiplayer game (and to an extent, singleplayer), the more large textures that are out there on more units will eventually eat up memory too much. A lot of modders like to use 1024*1024 textures, but as a result even singleplayer gets a pretty big drop in FPS when moving over these units. As I recall, the Atlantis you made there has quite a big texture set, which will likely cause some issues in that regard. LODing will obviously help considerably, but FO 326 - like A2 - cannot handle a large quantity of high resolution textures without having a frame drop in single or multiplayer (that's the cause for some lag you might notice when certain units are built etc). The next version of FO will offer a solution to fix this, but if you plan on releasing something before then on FO, it is a good idea to keep the high resolution textures (anything much above 512*512) for temporary safekeeping.

 

[MajorPayne]

well thankfully I tend to prefer 512*512 pixel sized TGA files so that won't be a problem. Besides. Something like Atlantis won't be built on a massive basis so again its no problem. I'll just have to see how the game runs with it before and after any possible texture resizing.

 

[Majestic]

I build my textures in either 2048x2048 or 1024x1024 but I plan with a mod to use texture lods as Starfox has suggested to me. I always release my single releases at the size I made them, gives downloaders the opportunity to lower them if they so wish.

I personally prefer one 1024x1024 rather than four 512x512, means there is only one texture for the game to load and also helps keeps things neat and tidy.

Yeah a one off station or unit you can get away with a higher poly count and large texture, so Atlantis should be good.

 

[Terra_Inc]

I think my biggest problem is going to be projectiles and weapons and the sprites are something I'm not to well versed with. Being a jack of most modding trades means you lose something from other aspects. In my case its texture creation and weapons creation. The rest I've a reasonably good grasp with.

I can offer you my services I've done some work for Maj's Clash of Empires and Fireball's Dawn of War, and I'd be happy to do some sprites for you if you want. I've also released some stuff you can pick up in the download section (A2 > Misc. Files), take a look and give it a thought. Only if you want, of course.

 

[Starfox1701]

Pulse weapons which are by far the most common in the SG universe are easy to code and you only need one frame so if you can find or make a good screen cap of the actual weapon pulse you can actually use that. Rail gun fire woult proabli work best as an animated beam like I used for the phasers in my Excelsior pack. The Asgaurd and Ori Beams are standard phasers set to move real slow and have a longer lifespan then we commonly use.

 

[kjc733]

I've been experimenting with Asgard plasma beams, I've found the best effect is from a long, slow moving pulse. It does need some careful balancing to ensure it doesn't come out the back of the attacking ship, but it can be done. All my railguns are pulse weapons with a very high RoF but very low damage, also makes a nice stuttering gunfire noise.

MAP, if you pm me your email I'll pack up and send across the completed Wraith so you can take a better look.

 

[Dan1025]

Freyr put these SG weapon effects on FF years ago, I've held on to them since they're such good quality:



There's Wraith and Goa'uld pulses, a railgun, an Ancient drone, and the beam effect from Anubis' super weapon.

 

[Adm_Z]

A race I"m suprised I haven't heard mention of yet are the replicators. If you were to use the Ancients as a full race, and use FO, then I think it would be cool to use the replicators as a second avatar. If not, then you could use just the milky way replicators and their unique ships.

 

[Terra_Inc]

Freyr put these SG weapon effects on FF years ago, I've held on to them since they're such good quality:

View attachment 7559View attachment 7560View attachment 7561

There's Wraith and Goa'uld pulses, a railgun, an Ancient drone, and the beam effect from Anubis' super weapon.

I also have these and liek them a lot, though I don't know about permissions. I actually used the super weapon effect for the 8472 biopulse.

 

[USS_Excalibur]

I am unsure if there is anything against this. But would anyone else be up to maybe adding some ANDROMEDA series into it? It was a series I remember watching when I was 6 and I liked it. But I only saw a few episodes and didn't really get to know it. But I remember I loved the ships that were in that series. And since SG series has primarily only 5 or 6 space faring races and few units of each. Could we add Andromeda to it just to expand from it?