Author Topic: SOON TO BE RELEASED: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17  (Read 50819 times)

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Offline CT27

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Re: WIP: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17
That was the third mission where you got to control a Strike Group Alpha craft (and overall the second-to-last mission in the campaign), right?

If so, that mission sounds like it's going to be a lot longer now...taking out just one Sathanas at the end of that mission took a while even with the Avenger.

 

Offline herkie423

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Re: WIP: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17
No it won't. I tried my best to cut the length of the missions under 12 minutes, more or less. Like the mission on the Shivan planet, before it was like 17 minutes, now its under 7. The "Dragon Slayer" will only take 14 minutes at most regardless of skill level. I will not spoil it for you but at that point in the campaign, the Avenger will be much deadlier and there will be surprises in that mission, events that will make the story more relevant.

 

Offline CT27

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Re: WIP: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17
Can I tell about a minor technical problem I ran into sometimes on the first Strike Group Alpha mission ("Sicilian Defense" I believe it was called).

There would be two Sathanas juggernauts in the game and I had just reduced one's strength to zero% and it began to explode.  So I moved onto the newer one.  However, the Archangel would begin to charge up its beam and fire at the one that was exploding instead of the one that wasn't dead.

 

Offline herkie423

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Re: WIP: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17
I have noticed that too. Quite annoying.  Its not just the Archangel. Its the same with all beam-packing ships. I tried to rectify that but unsuccessful. Its the FSO engine. Ships that are going through their death throes are still being targeted and fired upon. The problem goes both ways, actually. Exploding ships can still fire their beams. I tried SEXPs like "ignore orders" or "beam protect" but still the same. It seems that the AI command has already been given. I tried the "clear goals" SEXP, it seems to take effect but then those ship have main 'goals' too (AI orders) and to issue them back will hamper their intended actions.

In the "Sicilian Defense" mission, I can give a "clear goal" SEXP and paired with it with "ignore ship" since the Archangel is just parked there. Thanks for the observation, CT.
« Last Edit: May 07, 2016, 12:31:59 am by herkie423 »

 

Offline herkie423

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Re: WIP: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17
PROJECT UPDATE:
I have finished working through 30 game and cutscene missions. Some had major changes and some were totally re-made especially the "escort" missions (actually up to this point, there are only 2). That means I'm half way through the campaign. From here on, it will take a bit longer because the missions will be quite complex and more intense. Plus, there will additional missions for the plot holes. Most of the old missions will also be revised from scratch. My estimate for the length of the completed canpaign will be more than 50 missions with an average of 12 minutes each. An intergalactic war takes a long time.

It's surprising how many times the word "missions" is mentioned in the paragraph above. It tells me what my life is going to be like in the next couple of weeks or so. "Missions, missions, missions..." :banghead:
« Last Edit: May 07, 2016, 12:14:05 am by herkie423 »

 

Offline CT27

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Re: WIP: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17
Thanks for all the hard work you're putting into this.

 

Offline herkie423

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Re: WIP: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17
I do this for the HLP community, contributing quality works. I also do this as a legacy before I will leave my younger side behind me. I'm already in my 40's. My two teenage daughters are actually two of my beta testers. They love games like this aside from the Resident Evil series and Tomb Raiders.

 

Offline herkie423

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Re: WIP: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17
Now back to modding...

I mostly avoid tightly scripted battles. I prefer moderately loose and lots of things happening in a mission where players can win the objective in different ways. Later as the campaign progresses, the player will have access to every arsenal available (except for instances when the story demands certain scenario like lack of supply).

Basically, when designing missions, I think of an overall plot then throw the pieces all over the place and see what happens without taking part in the battle, placing my ship far in a safe distance. Once I get the picture of the most probable outcome, I tweak them further, placing waypoints, adjusting their orientation, stuff like that so events will happen acording to the plot, generally. Then I place elements, triggered events, or additional pieces that can influence the battle and sway it to a losing situation. I will then figure out how to win it in-game and discovering many tactics to do it. It's like creating a difficult problem then solving it. It's crazy but that is the way I do it.

Believe it or not, once I completed a mission and test it, I have no idea what to do. The moment I feel a certain degree of panic, I'm satisfied. At this point, dialogues, directives and other details are added. In this way, there is randomness which is good for replay value.

If I can get my "random" SEXP right, I might place some random events, like a destroyer popping up suddenly, additional enemy squadron or friendly reinforcements. Some of the ships themselves will choose one from a number of predetermined waypoints and even behave differently so that every replay is different.

 

Offline FlamingCobra

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Re: WIP: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17
Wait, isn't Aftermath the campaign that takes place right after FS1 and has to do with the plague?

 
Re: WIP: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17
Aftermath - yes.
The Aftermath - no.
Two different campaigns.

 

Offline CT27

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Re: WIP: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17
It also looks like this project is officially named "The Aftermath:  Reboot" now.

 

Offline herkie423

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Re: WIP: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17
PROJECT UPDATE:

I am already in Act 6 and that is still 60% of the campaign. 3 new missions were inserted to the list. Below is the summary list of the changes made so far (some of these, I have already posted).

The number of assets:

Dreadnaughts       ---  6
Destroyers         --- 11
Corvettes         --- 14
Cruisers          --- 11
Fighters           --- 15
Logistics ships      ---  2
Transports, Medicraft,
Miners, freighters
and cargo pods     ---  8   

Installations    `   ---  9
space suit  `      ---  1

Total Objects            --- 77 Assets


-- Some missions are refined further. I saw some mistakes in the code.

-- All the 7th BG ships were updated or replaced. The GTL Enterpise was also replaced and  the old one still retained and renamed as the GTL Opulence.  Most of the other destroyers and  corvettes in the old mod are replaced. The old GTD Hercules (Sirona) becomes the GTD Stromberg, the old GTCv Copernicus becomes the GTCv Rigel. These new assets have their own Briefing Icons. The Radar modular table is also updated.

-- Replaced the model for the Armageddon bombers and its table entries adjusted.

-- Added weapons. The Antimatter Cannon for the GTD Galileo, GTCv Copernicus and the GTD Hercules  complete with new sound and looks. The Neutron Beams for the Avenger and Boreas. And the Meson Projectile Cannon for other destroyers.

-- Added weapons. The GTW Blizzard SDG, a powerful subsystem disruptor. The GTW SG-50 Starfury rapid fire scatter gun, very effective in close quarter dogfights but woefully inaccurate at long range. The GTM MX-109 Hellstorm smart-lock fast high yield missiles. It fires a volley of 60 projectiles in rapid succession and it is used for defensive purposes when  you are swarmed with hostile fighters. And the GTM-750 Widowmaker, one shot - one kill also a subsystem disruptor and can incapacitate a corvette for a few seconds. Weapons are tested. Complete with tech anims, database entries and static CB anim. I wanted to add more weapons but it will not be realistic since the campaign only took place 3 years from Capella. The emergence of new destroyers, corvettes cruisers is already bad enough. Plus it will ruin the  game balance in missions already made.

-- Replaced the Ship GTD Alexander with a new ship (GTD Moscow), new table entries made. I have edited the new model, though. I got an error saying that 4-firing-points turrets for big capital  ship weapons ("huge weapon" flag) are not supported. SCP supports only 3. I have to cut them to 2.  Edited the model's turret subsystems that prevented them from rotating in-game. There are also 2  turrets that are inverted when they rotate, I corrected them. Also fixed the null moment inertia  and replace its textures for story consistency.

-- I have replaced the Archangel with a model by Vengeance and AdmiralRalwood, the GTVA Titan. I made some fixes like invalid model subojects, Model_num error (subsystem not present in table), and null inertia. I have also added a beam turret and enlarged it for the main beam cannon.

-- Replaced the cruiser Vigilant with new GTC Hyperion of BP. I edited the model to add more turrets. The old Vigilant is not discarded it is now a new asset, the GTC Khitomer.

-- The GTCv Serenity is replaced again with a pretty good model. The new model however is very small like 200 meters so I transformed it and added more turrets. As usual, I changed the textures. I also corrected the turret submodel property entries, the $uvec values are inverted so their rotations in-game are wierd. The table entries are updated. The old Serenity model (Cobra) is assigned to be  the GTCv Euphoria and the old Euporia model (PhobosAdv) is discarded.

-- The old GTCv Phobos is removed. Replaced by the Arpyia ship from Esarai, renamed it to GTCv Coronis. I also transformed this ship to make it slightly bigger.

-- The Raynor model is added back to the list and it is renamed the GTD Sovereign with an interesting tech description. Of course, it is re-textured but not back to the old look. The raynor new looks is consistent with story now.

-- I have replaced the GTCv Alexandria with the Hecatos Destroyer. I have reduced it's size and cut the number of turrets. and I have modified its texture (too colorful for my taste).

-- Replaced the inferno GTD Taurus with a model, GTCv Reyena, that I have transformed (enlarged  and stretched, edited and fixed. The Reyena is renamed to GTD Excalibur.

-- Replaced the GTD Jupiter with a model by Aldo, Betrayal and Teeraal, the Anchorage. Made a new table entry for this. This model is also transformed to make it a dreadnaught.

-- Replaced the Avenger and Boreas and added beam weapons native to their type.

-- Added another destroyer which I have downloaded, the GTD Damocles. I have fixed some errors in the model itself. I corrected one of the turret submodels without subsystem properties (&susbsystem, $fov, &name) and place the appropriate data, it will cause a "non-linking error." I corrected the number of firing points in one of the turrets, it has 12 and the minimum is 10. I also created an additional tile map because the model demands for one that is absent in the download. I adjusted the LOD value in the table because transition looks wierd as you zoom out. I modified a little the texture particularly the  color of the ships viewports and, of course, the glow maps for mod consistency.

-- Added a menacing super destroyer, the SD Bhaal. I edited the POF model to add 3 reactor subsystems  and a "power core" subsystem that is inside the destroyer and fighters will have to fly in through the fighter bay to destroy it. It is important for the mission.

-- I turned the SDD Diablo into a corvette! But a powerful, dangerous corvette. I edited the model's subobjects (most of the turrets), took away their "subsystem entries" and transformed them into thorns! So it looks a bit different.

-- Added an over-sized gas miner an unsued model (Demeter) from BPC (Demeter), GTG Pandora.

-- Added 2 installations. Sector Comms and GTVA Headquarters.

-- I also added the SC Asura which I have snatched from Blue Planet. But this ship is a bomber in BPC  table entry and smaller than a cruiser. So I made a new table entry  for it and re-scaled it to make it larger (cruiser size). This ship is a Shivan Jammer craft that  prevents the GTVA Ships from jumping out of a losing battle. I already have mission plots for this  that will feature the cruiser group named "Task Force Omega."


-- Added a new Vasudan destroyer and corvette and both from the same model, The Emperor that I recently downloaded. I also found out that BPC has this asset but not used so I just took the brown textures  (I might modify these texture further). I edited the model for the destroyer adding more turrets and  transformed it to make it a little bit "fatter" so that distinction should be made from the corvette. The corvette on the other hand, I reduced the number of turrets.

-- Added fighters, the GTF Raptor, the new Lao Tze of BP, and the GTF Sparrow (GTF Draco).

-- Added 1 main hall music. It's from an old movie "The American Anthem" but I have re-made it entirely and added my own musical section. This song is programmed and performed by me.  I also added a song that I have written long ago for the credits music (You are going to hear my  voice. You can search it in YouTube. Use the keywords "Could Have Felt Herkie423".

-- Added a species.tbl. I made some tech infos. I set the "AlwaysInTechRoom" flag to 1 in all the tech entries for now so we can view them in game. Later, I will change those flags to 0. They will not appear at the beginning of the campaign, they will be added to the techroom as the campaign progresses. More entries will be added if I have new ideas. This goes for the new assets as well. Ship and weapon info will be added in the techroom as soon as the player encounters them through the campaign.

-- Added a TBM to incease the number of directives shown.

-- Modified the fonts and added a font table.

-- Added credit pictures.




HERE ARE SOME SCREENSHOTS OF THE ASSETS:

Other Destroyers in the Campaign---->



Other Corvettes, Cruisers and Civilian ships---->



Fighters and Bombers---->


« Last Edit: June 10, 2016, 02:36:44 am by herkie423 »

 

Offline herkie423

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Re: WIP: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17
COMPARISON OF SOME MISSIONS BETWEEN THE OLD VERSION AND THE NEW:

The old "Adhara Exodus" : Just a typical escort mission...



The new "Adhara Exodus" : With added surprises



The old "Back Again" : A simple mission



Now, the new mission that is totally re-made and much more relevant story-wise.




 

Offline herkie423

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Re: WIP: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17
MORE IMAGES...



The Enterprise and the Odyssey



The new GTCv Serenity



The GTCv Coronis and the Serenity



Awesome light effects that I screen shot by accident


 

Offline Nyctaeus

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Re: WIP: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17
I hope there will be no too much destroyers in missions. Don't make the same mistake as I did with Shadow Genesis :P. So far it looks good!

Could you provide a closer look at retextured Hecatos and SolCommand's model?
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Offline CT27

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Re: WIP: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17
The new Warlock looks cool in the campaign.

Two minor questions:

1-Are you going to use the new Titan and Erebus in this campaign?  You said you're bringing the Raynor back but I'm not sure if that means you're ditching the Erebus.

2-You said you're going to be working on the story for this reboot, can I make a minor suggestion?  Maybe you should talk about how the work to return to Earth is going.  I'm not saying we should return to Sol in this campaign but maybe at least update how the process is going.

 

Offline herkie423

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Re: WIP: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17
I hope there will be no too much destroyers in missions. Don't make the same mistake as I did with Shadow Genesis :P. So far it looks good!

Could you provide a closer look at retextured Hecatos and SolCommand's model?

No. I know the limitations of the game engine and I have already determined that. I will post the close up view later. I have to modify it because it is way too colorful for the story.   

 

Offline herkie423

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Re: WIP: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17
The new Warlock looks cool in the campaign.

Two minor questions:

1-Are you going to use the new Titan and Erebus in this campaign?  You said you're bringing the Raynor back but I'm not sure if that means you're ditching the Erebus.

2-You said you're going to be working on the story for this reboot, can I make a minor suggestion?  Maybe you should talk about how the work to return to Earth is going.  I'm not saying we should return to Sol in this campaign but maybe at least update how the process is going.

The Raynor is a new asset. The GTD Sovereign. For your second question...Maybe. As this mod is closely related to Blue Planet. I will have to consult with Darius and Battuta for this. John Richter have mention this in the introduction. I feel this part of the story might not be emphasized.
« Last Edit: June 07, 2016, 07:47:29 am by herkie423 »

 

Offline CT27

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Re: WIP: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17
I want to make sure I understand things so I'm sorry if I'm kind of repeating myself:

I understand that the Raynor will now be in this campaign.  However, a couple of pages ago you had pictures of the Erebus; will the Erebus still be in this campaign and if so what ship will it be?

 

Offline herkie423

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Re: WIP: The Aftermath:Reboot by Herkie423 and Cyborg17
I want to make sure I understand things so I'm sorry if I'm kind of repeating myself:

I understand that the Raynor will now be in this campaign.  However, a couple of pages ago you had pictures of the Erebus; will the Erebus still be in this campaign and if so what ship will it be?

Of course. It's the Excelsior, the flagship of the 7th BG (formerly a Raynor destroyer until I updated it). In the tech description, it is an Erebus class now. I felt bad to discard the Raynor, so it is a separate ship and not part of the 7th Battlegroup.