[Darkhill]

Its been awhile since I've posted anything about what we are doing.  But we have slowly been getting it done.  A new beta was released a few days ago on IRC. This one has vast number of updates to the old one. The big one being peer to peer MP fully working. You can start working on your skills now for future COO comps. With this release the game is about 80% on its way to being a stand alone game. The executable in this version is already outdated. But there probably won't be another release until the stand alone, which I'm hoping for two to three weeks.

A few things to note about this release.

- This has got Spearhawk's nice front/back radar in it. To enable it goto the 'Flags' tab on the launcher and scroll to the bottom and check the 'radar' box. If you don't the game will default to the original single radar style.

- This is a limited MP3 jukebox/CD player in this game. To enable it goto the 'Flags' tab on the launcher and scroll to the botton and check the 'ogg' box. It says Ogg Vorbis but it will play either. Then goto the 'Sound' tab to chose either CD or Ogg playback. CDs will only work now if your CDROM happens to be E:. Make sure that you create a mp3 playlist and you will have music in game. F9 - previous song, F10 - next song, F11 -volume down, F12 - volume up.

- After installing make sure that you create a new pilot. You will find the controls a lot more like the Xwing series then the Freespace series.

To install this new beta, just open up the zip, make sure you have the 'keep directories' selected and just unzip to your root FS2 folder. This will copy everything where it needs to be. This doesn't backup anything so if you are worried about it install the game in a new location and unzip there. Do not use the WinXP built in zip utility, it likes to mess up the folder structure, only use WinZip etc. Its around 16 megs so if you are on dialup fire up the download manager and have at it.

You can find the zip here

I know how you guys like to use the MOD options on the launcher but IA really isn't setup for that.  But I think it should still work.  Create a folder for the mod and copy all the files into it.  Use the IA launcher to create the registry (as its different from FS2).  Click the 'use flags when running Imperial Alliance normally' so that any flags you want are kept.  Then use the FSO launcher to run IA as a mod and it *should* work.

[aldo_14]

Is there a webbysite with further info for this, perchance?

[Darkhill]

Everybody is to lazy to do a website.  We do have a message board that gets activity whenever something new comes out.  You can check it out at the IA Message Board

[Black Wolf]

Link doesn;t work - sends me to the front page of a website.

[Darkhill]

The name got changed, try the link in the original post again.

[Ypoknons]

Man that is a cool hud.

[TIMMAY]

Just a note, you will most likley get a performance drop with a lot of the ships because they haven't been UVMapped properly.. But I am currently going thru and Mapping them properly

[Black Wolf]

OK... I have...lots of issues with this one I'm sorry to say.

First, and most obviously, you need to warn people that it only works in 640x480. I was going to come in here and tell you that it was buggy as hell and didn't work at all at first, but then I thought about it for a second and switched down the res and got it to work. There are still lots of problems IMO though.

First off, you changed the keyboard controls for no readily discernable reason. It took me a fair old bit of fiddling around in the controls menu (which is really difficult to navigate BTW) just to get them back into a semblance of normality.

Secondly, the mission design is... overly simplistic at best. I realize this is a Beta and all, but a few well put together missions with slightly more complex briefings and debriefs wouldn't have gone astray. Certainly a few in mission messages so that I could at least have a vague idea of what was going on would have helped.

Thirdly, you don't seem to be pushing the limits of the FSO engine in the slightest. There's no spec, no glow, and I very much doubt there's even HTL (since the models look like they were pulled direct from XWA, and with the number of texs they have, they'd break the standard HTL system).

Basically the question I have to ask is... if you're not using the engine to its full capacity, why bother? Is this an early version that's slowly going to be upgraded, or is it a straight port of an existing SW game into FS2? If the second case is true... wouldn;t it be better to simply play whichever game the inspiration came from, the game that this sort of thing was designed for?

That said, I do intend to keep fiddling about with this one, just to see if I can get a bit more functionality out of it (and learn these new controls). It looks like you've put a lot of work into it (just turreting all the XWA ships would have been hell) and I'd like to explore it as completely as possible before I didmiss it entirely.

[Darkhill]

Originally posted by Black Wolf
OK... I have...lots of issues with this one I'm sorry to say.

First, and most obviously, you need to warn people that it only works in 640x480. I was going to come in here and tell you that it was buggy as hell and didn't work at all at first, but then I thought about it for a second and switched down the res and got it to work. There are still lots of problems IMO though.

This is one I forgot to mention.

First off, you changed the keyboard controls for no readily discernable reason. It took me a fair old bit of fiddling around in the controls menu (which is really difficult to navigate BTW) just to get them back into a semblance of normality.

The controls were changed for a reason.  For all intends and purposes Imperial Alliance is supposed to be TIE Fighter 2.  If you just got done playing TIE Fighter and used to its controls would you want to learn a complete new set or having something thats like what you are used to?  You being a Freespace person your opinion of the matter is just the opposite.  If you got a problem with the control menu then you got a problem with the FS2 control menu.  As its just a reskin of the original with a few of the buttons moved.  And all of the buttons say what they do when the mouse is passed over them.

Secondly, the mission design is... overly simplistic at best. I realize this is a Beta and all, but a few well put together missions with slightly more complex briefings and debriefs wouldn't have gone astray. Certainly a few in mission messages so that I could at least have a vague idea of what was going on would have helped.

Here it seems you are just looking for things to nitpick.

Thirdly, you don't seem to be pushing the limits of the FSO engine in the slightest. There's no spec, no glow, and I very much doubt there's even HTL (since the models look like they were pulled direct from XWA, and with the number of texs they have, they'd break the standard HTL system).

Models are being UV mapped as I type this.

Basically the question I have to ask is... if you're not using the engine to its full capacity, why bother? Is this an early version that's slowly going to be upgraded, or is it a straight port of an existing SW game into FS2? If the second case is true... wouldn;t it be better to simply play whichever game the inspiration came from, the game that this sort of thing was designed for?

This will make a lot of people mad.  But I have a feeling that SCP is going to turn out like Quake 3, lots of eye candy but no game there.  The whole point of the project is to make a somewhat enjoyable game to play.  I would rather have a game with simpler graphics that a lot of people can play then a game you have to go out and buy the newest graphics card to play.  Anymore people seem more concered with eye candy then actual gameplay.  And actually glows are there, just no artwork was supplied you should be able to find that yourself.  Specular lighting is there but it has been turned off.  HT&L has been turned off until the models have been UV mapped.

That said, I do intend to keep fiddling about with this one, just to see if I can get a bit more functionality out of it (and learn these new controls). It looks like you've put a lot of work into it (just turreting all the XWA ships would have been hell) and I'd like to explore it as completely as possible before I didmiss it entirely.

Sorry, if you don't like it, it ain't no skin off my back.  The only purpose of this game is to give my club a newer flight sim to play.  I've only posted the beta tests here because we are using the SCP as the code base and that its not difficult to more or less make your own game out of it.  But I think you have missed the entire purpose of the project.  Its to actually finish a game and not keep adding in things as we go along.

[Black Wolf]

Originally posted by darkchrono4

The controls were changed for a reason.  For all intends and purposes Imperial Alliance is supposed to be TIE Fighter 2.  If you just got done playing TIE Fighter and used to its controls would you want to learn a complete new set or having something thats like what you are used to?  You being a Freespace person your opinion of the matter is just the opposite.  If you got a problem with the control menu then you got a problem with the FS2 control menu.  As its just a reskin of the original with a few of the buttons moved.  And all of the buttons say what they do when the mouse is passed over them.

Ah. I kind of thought that the change of controls might have had something to do with wanting it to play like another game. It's irritating to relearn. And I'm faily sure you have changed the control menu, even if it was inadvertant. In standard FS2 I can make the minor changes I need whenever I start a new pilot relatively simply - here it takes a lot more fiddling around.

Originally posted by darkchrono4
Here it seems you are just looking for things to nitpick.

Are you serious? Missions are the most importnt part of the experience, since they're what people play. You can have the nicest graphics/story/interface/whatever on earth, and still have your mod fall down if the missions are mediocre, and as an experienced FREDder, I think I'm in a pretty good position to judge. If, since this is a beta, all these missions will be scrapped and replaced with better ones, then feel more than free to ignore me.

Originally posted by darkchrono4
Models are being UV mapped as I type this.

Good

Originally posted by darkchrono4
This will make a lot of people mad.  But I have a feeling that SCP is going to turn out like Quake 3, lots of eye candy but no game there.  The whole point of the project is to make a somewhat enjoyable game to play.  I would rather have a game with simpler graphics that a lot of people can play then a game you have to go out and buy the newest graphics card to play.  Anymore people seem more concered with eye candy then actual gameplay.  And actually glows are there, just no artwork was supplied you should be able to find that yourself.  Specular lighting is there but it has been turned off.  HT&L has been turned off until the models have been UV mapped.

Of course the SCP is all eye candy and no gameplay (though they have made a lot of gameplay changes and enhancements, plus created new sexps to facillitate more complex mission building, as well as fixing a lot of bugs that were a hinderance to gameplay. FSO is an engine - an excellent engine, getting better by the day, but still at its core nothing more than the shell. It's up to us modders and FREDders to put the game into it, and make those games enjoyable to play. Also, all graphical options can be turned off, so the game will look like Vanilla FS2, and only have slightly greater system requirements - there's no need to upgrade to get the enhanced functionality, just the enhanced graphics.

Originally posted by darkchrono4
Sorry, if you don't like it, it ain't no skin off my back.  The only purpose of this game is to give my club a newer flight sim to play.  I've only posted the beta tests here because we are using the SCP as the code base and that its not difficult to more or less make your own game out of it.  But I think you have missed the entire purpose of the project.  Its to actually finish a game and not keep adding in things as we go along.

Yes, but I think you're selling yourselves short if you don't finish that game at its maximum potential. ie. Full res, full in mission graphics functionality, better missions etc. As it turns out, it looks like you're doing a lot of that. Thus, potentially, this could work out to be quite an interesting project.

Also, don't think I'm totally against what you're doing here. It may surprise you, but once I got the controls down and started working on my own quick mission, I actually started having a fair bit of fun with this. I just think it needs a touch more work to be done before it can really be considered up to beta level.

Oh, and one other question - will you be upping the turret counts on the ships? Two on the corellian corvette especially seems rather low.

[TIMMAY]

Originally posted by Black Wolf

Oh, and one other question - will you be upping the turret counts on the ships? Two on the corellian corvette especially seems rather low.[/COLOR]

Yes... before i start UVing the ships I am actually going back to the model and modelling on as many turrets as they should have or something reasonable.