Hard Light Productions Forums
Hosted Projects - FS2 Required => The Aftermath: Reboot => Topic started by: herkie423 on May 03, 2017, 08:38:15 pm
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This post will serve as development blog for now.
I am currently working on this sequel with CT27. The story is set just 2 years later where, at this point, the Terran forces are diminished and devastated from the Third Shivan War.
Unlike the reboot campaign where our protagonist, John Richer was mostly silent in-game, this time the story revolves around a lady pilot and this will be a character-driven campaign like BP so more dialogue this time. When I say "story revolves around," it means it really does. She will witness her extremely personal struggle, her wingmen's agony, the political strife between governments, and an unknown force of unstoppable power.
EDIT: I'm not sure whether I should post this in the "Missions and Campaign Releases" or not so just post it here.
CURRENT PROGRESS: (as of March 29, 2020)
I HAVE RELEASED THE MOD!
The campaign is 37 missions divided into 5 Acts.
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To people who like "The Aftermath: Reboot", don't worry. There is somewhat more focus on the protagonist character this time, but there will still be lots of action. :)
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EDIT: I'm not sure whether I should post this in the "Missions and Campaign Releases" or not so just post it here.
Usually something is posted there when it's closer to release. I think it's fine here.
A minor question: should we put a 2 (or the Roman numeral II) after 'The Aftermath' in the title since this is a sequel?
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Super excited, I can't wait!
Is there a meaning to the subtitle the blue guardian? Or will that have to remain a secret until it's released?
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Spoiler alert! :)
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Super excited, I can't wait!
Is there a meaning to the subtitle the blue guardian? Or will that have to remain a secret until it's released?
It's fairly important so I don't think we want to spoil it just yet. :)
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EDIT: I'm not sure whether I should post this in the "Missions and Campaign Releases" or not so just post it here.
Usually something is posted there when it's closer to release. I think it's fine here.
A minor question: should we put a 2 (or the Roman numeral II) after 'The Aftermath' in the title since this is a sequel?
I now combine it. Added a "II" in the title.
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What more can you reveal about Aftermath 2? Do we know the new protagonist's name and story or will we have to find out in the game?
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I've PMed Herkie and asked if I can make a 'teaser' posts that will reveal who certain characters in the campaign will be (the names I believe won't be spoilers).
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What more can you reveal about Aftermath 2? Do we know the new protagonist's name and story or will we have to find out in the game?
I can't tell you just yet but I can say that it will have a twisting plot. In Aftermath I, it was straightforward, a strategic war campaign. But in part 2, it will be politically driven, it will involve an extremely personal issue which will be based on my actual life experience, it will introduce an enigmatic element with shocking results, and, finally, the story will seal the fate of the galaxies (plural) not just the GTVA.
You will encounter characters from the first story. John Richter for starters but he will no longer be our protagonist. I had alrrady hinted these characters in the first campaign. If you read between the lines, you will get the idea. Remember, Donald Esquire? He will be back.
In the first campaign, it was all about destroying things although there were many missions that involved tactics like cap ship command, commading tactical engagements, capture missions, scanning, tagging, stealth, the usual. This time, there will be more gameplay elements especially in a very complex storyline.
When I say "very complex storyline," I meant it literally. I myself is getting surprises while doing this. We have to be careful of not getting stuck in our web of ideas or confusing players most importantly.
EDIT: corrected the spelling "plotically." It is "politically." And the first words of the post. I had misunderstood JSR. Sorry. :)
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What more can you reveal about Aftermath 2? Do we know the new protagonist's name and story or will we have to find out in the game?
Our main character will be named Courtney Aguilar this time around.
Herkie mentioned some returning characters from The Aftermath: Reboot.
If anyone has played the campaign "Shrouding The Light: Origins and its sequel Shrouding The Light", they will recognize a character we are bringing in from those campaigns. Tet from STL (he was Alpha 2 I believe in STL) will be in Blue Guardian.
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I tried the HUD message it's very good. Nice. But it blocks the training message. I may have to tweak the script a little to reduce its size a bit. Please Axem, help (begging). :)
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Ok. This is a spoiler. I will add a player-usable Erebus destroyer and a Chimera corvette (maybe more depending on the plot). I will also modify the HUD turret command script so that these piloted cap ships will have the proper display. The credit of the script belongs to the creator of course.
Can anyone tell me the absolute ship list limit in a TBL file?
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500
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Whoa! I only needed at least 10. Ok. Nice to know. Thanks
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People also seem to like the character of Christopher Snipes. He was in Reboot and the original so we'll try to find a way for him to appear in Blue Guardian as well. Is that cool Herkie?
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Yeah, we can. We'll squeeze him in the plot.
I'm still in the process of weaving both your work and mine. Hopefully in 2 weeks, I will finish the storyline for Act 1 and 2. Then I can start FREDing. My estimate the 2 Acts will be at least 20 missions. I don't want this campaign to be long like the first one.
EDIT: By the way, Acts 1 and 2 is just the first part of the campaign.
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By the way, to all of you pilots out there, this campaign will feel different.
In the first, it was all big battles, blasting, blasting, blasting. Because it must be. It was a massive war. Clash of the titans. More on brawns than brains.
This time, it is more on brains. Tactics. But still with lots of action.
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I'm still in the process of weaving both your work and mine. Hopefully in 2 weeks, I will finish the storyline for Act 1 and 2. Then I can start FREDing. My estimate the 2 Acts will be at least 20 missions. I don't want this campaign to be long like the first one.
Perhaps the campaign doesn't need to be 60+ missions like the first one, but I think a long campaign can convey the sense of scale that this is a big conflict (I don't mind long campaigns like Derelict or Reboot). So I hope there's at least one more act or two planned beyond what I sent you.
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I will try not lengthen the campaign but we'll never know. With our brains lighting up like Time Square, anything can happen.
I mean, I started with just one mission, the last mission of the Reboot then it became 10, the Acts 1 and 2 which was Act 1 in the original. Later, I hit the Third Shivan War idea so the original campaign grew to 43. Now, the Reboot. The campaign exploded to its present length. So you can imagine how it can be.
But the longer it is, the more meaningful it becomes.
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Weaving both CT's ideas and my mine is going smoothly. We are on the same page.
NOTE: the OP is updated.
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As of today, I completed the plot for Acts 1 and 2. All the written material, the briefings and dialogues, and additional intel entries. Now working on Act 3.
I may also insert a system viewer. If I can then the Reboot will have additional material as well like strategic war campaign maps. Now, this is nice. This move is not yet final. I will have to do a great deal of experimenting and learning.
The OP is updated with the current progress.
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To the owner of Guiness world record in FS campaign length division: please make it shorter :P. More focus on crucial events, rather than too much random battles. Trust me, I'm owner of previous world record and I know what I'm saying :D.
Good luck Dude. I'm awaiting for more news!
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To the owner of Guiness world record in FS campaign length division: please make it shorter :P. More focus on crucial events, rather than too much random battles. Trust me, I'm owner of previous world record and I know what I'm saying :D.
Good luck Dude. I'm awaiting for more news!
I thought Derelict was the longest?
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To the owner of Guiness world record in FS campaign length division: please make it shorter :P. More focus on crucial events, rather than too much random battles. Trust me, I'm owner of previous world record and I know what I'm saying :D.
Good luck Dude. I'm awaiting for more news!
I thought Derelict was the longest?
Derelict is 45+1 credits mission long. Extended SG is 47 :P. It's nothing compared to 68-mission long Aftermath anyway.
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We're planning on cutting that down for the sequel. It should be closer to 50 this time.
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Well, it will be around 35. Only relevant crucial events to justify the plot. Creating another 60+ missions campaign is daunting. I learned that lesson. At least that worked good the first time plus the story might tend to "digres" if it is very long when it should be focused.
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I AM BACK FROM THE WAR.
For those who have not heard, I was reactivated to active military duty (after a long time) two days after our president declared Martial Law on the island of Mindanao. I was doing battle assessment in the conflict in Marawi City, away from home. Meaning, I was right in the battlefield and expected to help in the fighting as I was also fully armed. My role over there is not direct combat but to analyze rebel movement and civilians then sending sitreps to HQ. Since I was attached to a combat platoon, I was also doing combat. Knocked down a dozen rebels and saved quite a number of civilians. It was hell as expected in a war. Felt scared everyday but that only heightened my awareness and reflexes. It was years since my last tour but I still have it considering my age. There were a lot of soldiers killed, all heroes in my book. There were a lot of wounded and, eventually, I was one of them. I got hit in my leg by granade shrapnel. Just a flesh wound.
They sent me home. Another officer replaced me. I treasured the happy looks on my daughters happy face when I came back still alive. I am glad to be alive. I thought I will be discharged but, apparently not. I am even due for promotion to Captain. I will be active until I retire in 4 years. This will be an added daily routine because I will be reporting to HQ regularly and I have 2 grocery stores to run.
Now, I am back to modding. I may use what I have learned in making the sequel especially the rebel's guerilla tactics, their ruthlessness.
PS: Even my ex-wife is glad to see me. That's new. :lol:
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For those of you who are wondering about who the characters in this campaign will be, I can tell you some of their names here (at least on the protagonist side...revealing who some of the bad guys are would be a plot spoiler at this point I think):
Protagonist faction main cast list:
Lt. Commander Courtney Aguilar (player character)
Admiral Neil Cartwright
Admiral John Richter
Captain Khenti
Commander Christopher Snipes
Admiral Tet
Commodore Robert Prescott
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I am resuming my study and experiments on the "Journal System" and the "System Viewer." Speaking of the system viewer with the in-game jumping, this has the potential to revive the game "Freelancer"
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I AM BACK FROM THE WAR.
For those who have not heard, I was reactivated to active military duty (after a long time) two days after our president declared Martial Law on the island of Mindanao. I was doing battle assessment in the conflict in Marawi City, away from home. Meaning, I was right in the battlefield and expected to help in the fighting as I was also fully armed. My role over there is not direct combat but to analyze rebel movement and civilians then sending sitreps to HQ. Since I was attached to a combat platoon, I was also doing combat. Knocked down a dozen rebels and saved quite a number of civilians. It was hell as expected in a war. Felt scared everyday but that only heightened my awareness and reflexes. It was years since my last tour but I still have it considering my age. There were a lot of soldiers killed, all heroes in my book. There were a lot of wounded and, eventually, I was one of them. I got hit in my leg by granade shrapnel. Just a flesh wound.
They sent me home. Another officer replaced me. I treasured the happy looks on my daughters happy face when I came back still alive. I am glad to be alive. I thought I will be discharged but, apparently not. I am even due for promotion to Captain. I will be active until I retire in 4 years. This will be an added daily routine because I will be reporting to HQ regularly and I have 2 grocery stores to run.
Now, I am back to modding. I may use what I have learned in making the sequel especially the rebel's guerilla tactics, their ruthlessness.
PS: Even my ex-wife is glad to see me. That's new. :lol:
I don't live in that part of the world, I don't know the politics of the situation, and while I know of the Philippines I've never heard of the areas you've referred to. All that said, I applaud you for your service to your country and your willingness to put yourself in harm's way to protect civilians. I am relieved to hear that you came away without any serious or long-lasting injury and congratulate you on your pending promotion. HLP welcomes you back.
We salute you.
Beam-free-all!
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Thank you very much. It means a lot to me...
I am back to modding. Firing all beams.
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Jesus. Really glad to hear you made it back okay.
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Ok. I cracked the "Journal Viewer" system. I tweaked the scripts a little and made a new journal screen and buttons and new font color. This is already added to the mod. Only the contents left to be added. It took me around 5 mind-cracking hours last night.
OP is updated
The new buttons and placement in the briefing screen:
(http://i66.tinypic.com/29dwxap.jpg)
The new journal screen:
(http://i66.tinypic.com/vxgj08.jpg)
EDIT: The journal system will be implemented for the Reboot Campaign as well. Since everything will be in the same mod folder, why not apply it. After I finish added the journal content for the Reboot, I will have it ready for download.
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I have downloaded quite a number of models from the startrek universe (from FSFiles). I will focus on the romulan ship models and choose which I can use for the sequel. by the way, I will not be calling them "Romulans."
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God damn. You must be the most hardcore modder on the planet.
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Really, I don't think so. He he. I'm still learning new tricks. But I have some moments. Thanks for the compliment. Let me have the privilege to say this to the creator of Blue Planet: Thank you for the inspiration. BP is the catalyst for me to start modding.
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Now, on to the work...
I have completed the Journal system with all the contents (images and texts) and Message Box system which I tweaked a little. I will have it ready for the Reboot update.
There is an intermittent internet shut down in my location. Oh yes, I back in the war again. Unbelievable! But I brought my laptop to continue working on the sequel. Modding is stress reliever for me especially now. It helps me take my mind off the danger.
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No dice with the downloaded Romulan (or the others) ship models. The are extremely low-poly, single-skeleton pieces and no turrets. Not even a single object I can use a turret. If I import a goemetry using the POF editor, it will not have a texture link. I can edit it using Blender but I don't know how to texture it there (assigning texture to the vertex faces).
The only model I found acceptable is the Kazon R which is almost 1mb with turret objects that are basically single-faced sheets of squares!
I am going to redirect my search elsewhere. Any acceptable and complete alien destroyer model I can find will do. I need only one.
The OP is updated.
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I'll add that another character from "Reboot" will be returning to the sequel in addition to those I mentioned previously:
Robert Prescott
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A new update for the Reboot is released. Check the Release OP.
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There are a whole bunch of Ancient destroyers out there that you can probably easily retexture green to make them look Romulan.
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Hmm... That's a good idea. I didn't thought about it. Maybe I will use one of those Ancient ships. Transformed it and add more turrets then re-texture it. Thanks JSR.
By the way, I am "dissecting" the BTA missions to learn some techniques in mission designs. There's a lot of good stuff in there. I practically merorized every SEXP and know what its for but I don't how to apply some of them in a design. I tend to use the simpler approach.
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For what it's worth, I'm working on writing the plot of the first mission of Act 3 now and am awaiting approval for the script from Herkie.
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I'm sorry there hasn't been an update recently, I hope Herkie is okay.
Anyways, just for fun, here's a list of the conflicts that have occurred in "The Aftermath: Reboot" universe up to Aftermath II (basically this universe's canon):
The Terran-Vasudan War (FS1)
The Great War (FS1)
Operation Templar
Hades Rebellion (ST/ST:R)
Deneb counterinsurgency campaign (Shrouding The Light)
NTF Rebellion (FS2)
Second Incursion (FS2)
Unified Pirate Coalition War (The Aftermath: Reboot)
Third Shivan War (The Aftermath: Reboot)
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This ship pack contains a few Romulan ships.
https://porphyrion.feralhosting.com/datacorder/fsmods_files/Star%20Trek%20ships%20pack.rar
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Thank you for that, but I'm not sure if this will get made now. I guess I'm kind of defacto 2nd in command of this project but Herkie (project leader) was going to do all the designing/etc (I was plot writer for this). We were working at a good rate and had about half the storyline wrote out...if we kept working at that pace it's likely this could have been out a couple months ago.
Herkie hasn't posted here in almost a year unfortunately. Last I heard he was involved in some dangerous military work in the Philippines (I had permission to post that general statement) so I hope he's okay and it's just that he's too busy with work to post right now and that he'll come back eventually.
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Thank you for that, but I'm not sure if this will get made now. I guess I'm kind of defacto 2nd in command of this project but Herkie (project leader) was going to do all the designing/etc (I was plot writer for this). We were working at a good rate and had about half the storyline wrote out...if we kept working at that pace it's likely this could have been out a couple months ago.
Herkie hasn't posted here in almost a year unfortunately. Last I heard he was involved in some dangerous military work in the Philippines (I had permission to post that general statement) so I hope he's okay and it's just that he's too busy with work to post right now and that he'll come back eventually.
As this may never get made, are you allowed to give a few tidbits of information? Like what the story for this campaign could have been about, possible locations and star systems, are the shivans still the enemy? Stuff like that if you can.
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:wtf: bad taste much?
I for one would much rather hope for the best and wait for Herkie’s triumphant return whenever his tour is over. It’s a bit early yet to be asking about his stereo, right?
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1 year might be a long time, but BengalTiger (TotT) and Raven (BWO) haven't been around for longer and they still intend to finish their projects.
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In the past Herkie has managed to post even when he was in the hospital or field so I'm hoping it's just he decided to wait until he can fully come back.
How about this as kind of a compromise between waiting for Herkie to come back and revealing some details for interested parties: If Herkie hasn't posted by the new year, I could post a partial Order Of Battle for the new 7th Battlegroup (that the player character will fly in in the campaign)?
It wouldn't be actually that huge of a spoiler because we were planning to have this be the very first mission of the campaign anyways. Do you remember mission 3-0 from The Aftermath: Reboot (where Richter met the ships of the 7th BG and could see who the COs of the ships were)? This will basically be an identical version of that except this has new ships and new COs commanding said ships. It will also reveal some of the characters in this new campaign.
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Do you think this little bit would be okay or should I say nothing and wait?
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Did you contact any other staff members, atleast those still around? I've asked for the story of some projects myself (TotT and MG), but those were (at that point) considered dead for several years, yet Karajorma didn't gave me MGs plot as he still intends to finish it one day, although it appears to me like that would be MANY years off. It's a hobby thing after all.
On the other hand, if you say it wouldn't be a big spoiler anyway, you could post at some point it to keep people interested. Although the campaign is rather recent, this board has seen only 20 posts or so this year so far.
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Herkie hasn't been around in a year and I guess I'm technically the only other staff member. I'd like to post a little something to keep people possibly interested...so that the board doesn't go years without a post.
I'll contact Cyborg17 and see what he has to say. He's not an 'official' team member of The Aftermath II: The Blue Guardian, but he was a huge part of The Aftermath: Reboot. If it wasn't for him, the original The Aftermath wouldn't have got made into a playable state and Herkie might not have thought there was enough interest to do Reboot and The Blue Guardian.
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I AM BACK... from the dead so to speak.
What can I say? I was waylaid for 6 months. And it had nothing to do my military work. I was, my doctor told me, in a state of severe depression and I had to undergo a regular therapy. It took me months to get to a normal cycle and all I ever did was FB. I am fortunate my brother took care of things. But I getting my life back.
As of the status of the project, everything is set. The assets, which is mostly from the Reboot. The storyline is set until the ending. CT has the credit for the first half of the plot, although he does not know the second half, he dosen't want to, he wants to be surprise I guess. The only thing to do now is mission design. I would appreciate some input from you, guys. I got to have something new other than scanning, escorting and blowing things up.
It's been a while since I have done some Fredding but it's like riding a bike and I still have my work files.
I am resuming the work on my project. So my estimate for completion will be at least 3 months or less. But it will take longer if I have to update for the latest version.
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:D WELCOME BACK DUDE!! :D
Very glad to hear you are alive and well!
My sympathies with regard to depression. I can personally attest to how brutal that can be. I am glad you got help!
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Welcome back! Sorry to hear about your depression, but at least it sounds like things are getting better.
If you ever need help with parts of writing in the second half, I'd be willing to help. True, I wanted there to be a degree of surprise, but that was for the ending; so if you need help on anything before the last few missions or so I can help there.
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I AM BACK... from the dead so to speak.
What can I say? I was waylaid for 6 months. And it had nothing to do my military work. I was, my doctor told me, in a state of severe depression and I had to undergo a regular therapy. It took me months to get to a normal cycle and all I ever did was FB. I am fortunate my brother took care of things. But I getting my life back.
As of the status of the project, everything is set. The assets, which is mostly from the Reboot. The storyline is set until the ending. CT has the credit for the first half of the plot, although he does not know the second half, he dosen't want to, he wants to be surprise I guess. The only thing to do now is mission design. I would appreciate some input from you, guys. I got to have something new other than scanning, escorting and blowing things up.
It's been a while since I have done some Fredding but it's like riding a bike and I still have my work files.
I am resuming the work on my project. So my estimate for completion will be at least 3 months or less. But it will take longer if I have to update for the latest version.
Hey depression can be real terrible, so praying for that. Glad to hear you have some strength back. :)
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Welcome back Herkie! I'm sorry to hear about your depression but I am glad you are back and getting over it.
If you want suggestions for future missions outside of the norm, how about command missions where you can make tactical decisions that influence the outcome of the battle? Such as maybe a capship or even fleet command mission.
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:yes:
I feel relieved to see you back around here. Seems like you've been through a lot. I wish you only the best :P
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My thanks to all... I am still recovering.
I am leaning to the idea of "Fleet Manuevering" mission. Not in the RTS style but realistically while in your capital ship. A year ago, I have completed the pilotable Erebus and Chimera, complete with the HUD. And a test mission where you command you fleet. I have 4 maneuvers at this time; flanking, straight attack, left and right attack. This where I need more ideas. The options will be in the HUD. I did this in the Reboot. As there are only 4 possible buttons, pads 1 to 4, it will be daunting to do this in the mission code itself, it is doable but tedious. If you edit the "steath" mission in the Reboot, you will see the almost 100 lines of code to just incorporate the "proximity" and "enemy detection" element. If only someone will give a script template for the fleet command. I can't do scripting but I am talented in deciphering and modifying scripts.
I also have ideas for artllery strike missions (tag and target), gate defense mission (piloting and commanding sentry cannons), and "beat the clock" missions. I had those ideas figured out a year ago before my unfortunate spell. Now, how to apply it with the story is the main task.
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I am also thinking of scanning a ship that is in motion at high velocities. SPOILER: there will be enemy capships with fighter craft speeds and maneuverability.
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I am also thinking of scanning a ship that is in motion at high velocities. SPOILER: there will be enemy capships with fighter craft speeds and maneuverability.
If you do this and the ship you must scan is small enough, it may be literally unpossible.
Scratch that I know it's literally unpossible, I have a hard enough time scanning stationary ships!
My thanks to all... I am still recovering.
I am leaning to the idea of "Fleet Manuevering" mission. Not in the RTS style but realistically while in your capital ship. A year ago, I have completed the pilotable Erebus and Chimera, complete with the HUD. And a test mission where you command you fleet. I have 4 maneuvers at this time; flanking, straight attack, left and right attack. This where I need more ideas. The options will be in the HUD. I did this in the Reboot. As there are only 4 possible buttons, pads 1 to 4, it will be daunting to do this in the mission code itself, it is doable but tedious. If you edit the "steath" mission in the Reboot, you will see the almost 100 lines of code to just incorporate the "proximity" and "enemy detection" element. If only someone will give a script template for the fleet command. I can't do scripting but I am talented in deciphering and modifying scripts.
I also have ideas for artllery strike missions (tag and target), gate defense mission (piloting and commanding sentry cannons), and "beat the clock" missions. I had those ideas figured out a year ago before my unfortunate spell. Now, how to apply it with the story is the main task.
If your ship doesn't have shields you can use the shield keys (arrow keys and Q) for special abilities. If your ship doesn't have countermeasures you can use the countermeasure key (X) for a special ability. I only ask that for your capship command missions you please give the ship weapons for the player to fire, it's much more fun than watching the AI shoot.
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To JSR:
Now, why didn't think about that. That will give me 9 options in total. Thanks.
About scanning. It will be a capship going at high velocities.
And about the capship command. Oh defintely we'll have weapons. It will be the same as the Reboot with added interface for fleet commands.
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I will be using the new FSO 380. I have played the Reboot again with it and so far no problems. Maybe because I designed the mod to be completely independent of the MediaVPs. And AI reaction is quicker this time, that's great. Except for the "show ship" flag. You can no longer see the Avenger (your piloted capship) in the first person view. Does anyone have this problem?
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I will be using the new FSO 380. I have played the Reboot again with it and so far no problems. Maybe because I designed the mod to be completely independent of the MediaVPs. And AI reaction is quicker this time, that's great. Except for the "show ship" flag. You can no longer see the Avenger (your piloted capship) in the first person view. Does anyone have this problem?
The "Show Ship" flag is not functional in FSO 380. You must use a nightly build from June 2018 or more recent.
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Ok thanks.
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just to know. does this act is the last one?
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Actually, does FSO allow for custom scan times?
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Actually, does FSO allow for custom scan times?
Yes (http://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/Ships.tbl#.24Scan_Time:)
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Actually, does FSO allow for custom scan times?
You can set in the Ship.tbl, every ship on the table has that parameter.
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As of recently you can also set scan (http://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/Ships.tbl#.24Scan_range_Normal:) distances (http://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/Ships.tbl#.24Scan_range_Capital:)
/shameless plug :D
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That should be very useful with scanning targets moving at high speed, especially when there is only a brief window of time to actually scan the target before it goes too far away to chase it down. You could even make the scan time dependant on difficulty level.
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That should be very useful with scanning targets moving at high speed, especially when there is only a brief window of time to actually scan the target before it goes too far away to chase it down. You could even make the scan time dependant on difficulty level.
Yeah, I was thinking of that problem. However, I may had solve this before in the Reboot. I remember placing an SEXP for the Lamia. I will check. But if it is implemented on the table then so much the better.
EDIT: Unfortunately, I decided to still use the FSO 374 in making this sequel. So the scan range is still the default. But I don't see that as
a problem. And it is an added pressure for the player to keep up. I will test it, of course.
And I will work in updating the whole mod for FSO 382 after I release the sequel. And it will be pretty soon.
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just to know. does this act is the last one?
This sequel, you mean. Maybe. The sequel is intended to reveal some mysteries in the Reboot and the presence of the Blue Guardian that appeared in the last couple of missions in the Reboot and Richter was always mentioning in his logs.
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just to know. does this act is the last one?
If you're asking will there be a "The Aftermath III" someday...probably not.
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Just a little info:
Except for the asset models which I also modified and the creators were credited, there were only 2 staff members in the Reboot, Cyborg17, who did the fixes and asset testing, and me, who did practically everything else
In this sequel, I have a co-writer (well most it will be his idea), CT27 and... me who will be doing everything else.
Forgive me for my pride. :) :) :) I can't help it... :)
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As of recently you can also set scan (http://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/Ships.tbl#.24Scan_range_Normal:) distances (http://wiki.hard-light.net/index.php/Ships.tbl#.24Scan_range_Capital:)
/shameless plug :D
I approve of this plug.
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just to know. does this act is the last one?
If you're asking will there be a "The Aftermath III" someday...probably not.
I'm with CT, probably not.
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Hurray! I got the Romulan Warbird! Downloaded it and editing it now. It is good model, fairly detailed. I like it. Thank you Kazan and many thanks to Ple!
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I am now experimenting on fast cruiser and corvette sized assets that are flagged as "fighter" in the ship table. They behave correctly as I intended them. Taking out capital ships. They are really fast, the player has to keep up to disable them! Insane! Perfect!
The problem is that capital weapons will not target them. But this can be worked around. So research, research, research.
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That should be very useful with scanning targets moving at high speed, especially when there is only a brief window of time to actually scan the target before it goes too far away to chase it down. You could even make the scan time dependant on difficulty level.
Really? Oh man, this will be interesting. I wonder if this implemented on 3.7.4. I hope it does.
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UPDATE:
Presently experimenting on cruiser-sized and corvette-sized fast moving ships that behaves like fighters. I will add an item in the Target Priorities table (***-obt.tbm) and try to get capital beam weapons to bear on them. Of course, the beams will not hit them because of their agility but that's the point of the story.
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UPDATE:
Presently experimenting on cruiser-sized and corvette-sized fast moving ships that behaves like fighters. I will add an item in the Target Priorities table (***-obt.tbm) and try to get capital beam weapons to bear on them. Of course, the beams will not hit them because of their agility but that's the point of the story.
Makes me think of the role the defiant, bird of prey, or jem'hadar attack ships play in DS9.
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UPDATE:
Presently experimenting on cruiser-sized and corvette-sized fast moving ships that behaves like fighters. I will add an item in the Target Priorities table (***-obt.tbm) and try to get capital beam weapons to bear on them. Of course, the beams will not hit them because of their agility but that's the point of the story.
Makes me think of the role the defiant, bird of prey, or jem'hadar attack ships play in DS9.
Yeah, kinda like that. I am a huge trekkie fan even since 1975.
The Reboot is heavily influnced by Startrek, from the names of the ships, the tech entries, to the weapons. Even the sounds.
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EXPERIMENT UPDATE:
The corvette-fighters behaved perfectly against the capital ships at first. But after 2 hours of thorough testing, I saw something I did not like. They spin terribly fast and they are funny. Another thing, they attack fighters. I could give them "ignore" order with 101 priority but it is not really reliable. I can solve it by adding a new type of ship in the Objectypes Table aside from fighters, cruisers, corvette, and etc. But then it means, I have to set the Target Priorities and Weapon Target priorities for every ship and weapons in FS2 and my mod. It is workable but I might miss something and cause more bugs.
So, I have to revert and have them classified as corvettes. I guess, I will have to do some pretty elaborate SEXPs using a combination of Waypoints, Ship Maneuver manipulation, chained events and time-elapse element for every single corvette to get them to behave like I want to --- like vultures over a carcass.
EDIT: I can make it simpler but just giving them only waypoints to follow. BUT they decelerate in every path points and I don't like that. I want their movements to be seemless.
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Have you thought about using the "No dynamic goals" flag?
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Have you thought about using the "No dynamic goals" flag?
Yeah, I placed that flag. They don't attack anything else except what they are ordered to. But then again, I saw their funny movements while attempting a broad side attack (set to YES in the OBT table). It's their occasional wierd movements that I don't like.
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A NOTE ON THE SEQUEL
The sequel is an "add on," an expansion of the Reboot and not a separate mod itself. The size of the download will be less than 100mb or even less than 50mb. The VP files will just be added to the Reboot root folder.
NOTE: OP is updated.
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A slight update:
We've pretty much got a rough draft of the entire plot done and will be looking at a final draft over the next week or so. Progress has been going good.
It's possible we could see a release in December 2018/January 2019.
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Uhhh... That's like two to three months from now. I find it hard to believe that two FREDders are able to make a good campaign with about 30 missions (Is it going to be that many?) even if working full time on it. And then you need to have some more time for beta tests.
And I don't want to force my ideas and/or opinions onto your work, but I've got a slight suggestion. The Aftermath Reboot suffered immensely from some issues, mainly very uninteresting escort/defence missions with most of the action being slapping enemy fighter wings and some other ones where you threw hundred after hundred of fighters at the player without any actual reason to... Among other things (have I told you already that the United Pirate Coalition is dumb?).
I just want to suggest to avoid these problematic solutions, even if your campaign developement is slowed down by this.
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To MitoPL
Yeah, I know. If I can rewrite the Reboot, I will cut the United Pirate Coalition part short and start with the Shivans straight away. Those were my early ideas and I was just trying to follow the FS2 story pattern --- the NTF then the Shivans.
Anyway, the sequel is focused on the main characters. Sure, there will be BOE's but it will only be in key moments where the story demands it. I am no longer that liberal. I am finding the correct balance this time.
Regarding with how fast we are doing the projects, there were only few additions to make, few table modules to code, a little POF model tweaks and re-skin, and some LUA scripts, which I already finished. The assets are done. The only thing left to do is mission coding and design and Alpha testing which will done at the same time. It will take me around 3 hours to design a 12 minute fairly complex mission then at that very day, I send them to my 7 Alpha testers who are just living near my house, plus my 2 daughters. I have 5 Beta testers more who are just waitng for the sequel's completion.
CT27 is my writer and he is excellent. Most of the story is his work. On a daily basis, we were sending drafts back and forth and we are basically done.
Yes, two Fredders. You can say that we are in overdrive but not necessarily. We already completed most of the works last year before I temporarily disappeared. We just resume where we left off.
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Yeah, I know. If I can rewrite the Reboot, I will cut the United Pirate Coalition part short and start with the Shivans straight away. Those were my early ideas and I was just trying to follow the FS2 story pattern --- the NTF then the Shivans.
If you did a rewrite of Reboot, maybe it would be better to just call the UPC forces NTF remnants instead (and still take out a few missions if you want).
For MitoPL: We actually had most of the plot written back in summer of 2017.
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If you did a rewrite of Reboot, maybe it would be better to just call the UPC forces NTF remnants
Oh, did he meant the name? Yeah, I should have named them properly. It's already out there, too late.
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This is just hypothetical, but if you did ever do a Reboot new version, I don't think people are asking for all BOE missions to be cut out (I enjoy them)...just that 68 missions is a lot and it could be trimmed down. If you ever did want recommendations on that I'd be glad to help (cutting out most of the UPC missions like you said could be a good start).
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This is just hypothetical, but if you did ever do a Reboot new version, I don't think people are asking for all BOE missions to be cut out (I enjoy them)...just that 68 missions is a lot and it could be trimmed down. If you ever did want recommendations on that I'd be glad to help (cutting out most of the UPC missions like you said could be a good start).
I think I will leave it be. I placed a lot of hard work in that. Anyway, our sequel is just 33 missions. It's the right lenght.
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Reboot has got many issues and I think it would be a good idea for you to get some feedback from people who can compare it to other works of HLP by their experiences. Because stuff like Capella resulting in unrest in GTVA, which results in yet another civil war isn't unlikely. It's just how it's presented at the moment. BoE missions aren't a real issue when compared to long escort missions with no substance to them...
At some point I started to replay it writing down every conclusion I could think of. But a few moments after that you dropped under the radar and I didn't finish even with the first act.
Oh, so you've got a really good foundation for what you're doing, that's awesome! I'm kinda starting to get excited about this. :P
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Reboot has got many issues and I think it would be a good idea for you to get some feedback from people who can compare it to other works of HLP by their experiences. Because stuff like Capella resulting in unrest in GTVA, which results in yet another civil war isn't unlikely. It's just how it's presented at the moment. BoE missions aren't a real issue when compared to long escort missions with no substance to them...
At some point I started to replay it writing down every conclusion I could think of. But a few moments after that you dropped under the radar and I didn't finish even with the first act.
Oh, so you've got a really good foundation for what you're doing, that's awesome! I'm kinda starting to get excited about this. :P
Yeah. The Reboot had some issues but I'm sure it had some good moments as well especially the Third Shivan War chapters. I'm already considering every advise the community gave me in making this sequel. And I am careful. Plus I have a good writer, I am no longer alone.
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We've finished the plot for the campaign and now Herkie will work on mission design.
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We've finished the plot for the campaign and now Herkie will work on mission design.
Good luck with that! :yes:
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Also, unless Herkie decides to add more missions...The Aftermath II: The Blue Guardian will have 30 missions.
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Uhhh... That's like two to three months from now. I find it hard to believe that two FREDders are able to make a good campaign with about 30 missions (Is it going to be that many?) even if working full time on it. And then you need to have some more time for beta tests.
And I don't want to force my ideas and/or opinions onto your work, but I've got a slight suggestion. The Aftermath Reboot suffered immensely from some issues, mainly very uninteresting escort/defence missions with most of the action being slapping enemy fighter wings and some other ones where you threw hundred after hundred of fighters at the player without any actual reason to... Among other things (have I told you already that the United Pirate Coalition is dumb?).
I just want to suggest to avoid these problematic solutions, even if your campaign developement is slowed down by this.
I have finished Act 1 (fully tested missions) and honestly, I overestimated myself. It will take more time than what I previously declared. Sorry guys. One reason is that I noticed my designs are more complicated now than what I did in the Reboot. The design accounts possible player actions like if the player does this or target that first, the mission will react to counter the player; if the player decides to use a bomber, the mission will deploy hostile interceptors, if the player delays, an event will happen--- something like that. Plus random events. I don't want to design a "tight" mission, forcing players to do the plot line so I build my missions with an "open" feel (but don't be too comfortable). Because of these design elements, my mission coding is indeed much more complicated.
Therefore, MitoPL is right. It will take more time.... Oh, I have not abandoned my tradition... You will still face a lot of fighters. :lol:
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The mission design thing sounds pretty interesting. :) Just take as much time as you need to implement that as long as you don't loose motivation in the meantime. BTW how long is Act 1?
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Seems like a good decision to me. Better release a working and tested mod than whatever you could cobble up together before the first official release date.
And while I don't really have anything against lots of fighters, please make it... sensible. Large fighter battles, with lots of projectiles and particle effects, tank performance very much. And while many people question the amounts of Shivan fighters they face in The Aftermath: Reboot, I find it quite understandable. After all, it's Shivans we're fighting against. Plus it made missions a bit diverse from the Freespace standard, even if these were only escort missions.
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The mission design thing sounds pretty interesting. :) Just take as much time as you need to implement that as long as you don't loose motivation in the meantime. BTW how long is Act 1?
Very short. Just five missions. It is an introductory chapter to link The Aftermath to this sequel, The Blue Guardian which takes place around two years after Part 1's end credits. Act 2 will be my standard 10 mission length. This is where the real meat of the story will start.
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A Vasudan installation I modified, the image here with an Erebus destroyer for comparison. I made it bigger and added some structures. It was originally the Karnak. I altered it to suit the needs of the story plot.
(http://i65.tinypic.com/2vhvtzp.jpg)
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Seems like a good decision to me. Better release a working and tested mod than whatever you could cobble up together before the first official release date.
And while I don't really have anything against lots of fighters, please make it... sensible. Large fighter battles, with lots of projectiles and particle effects, tank performance very much. And while many people question the amounts of Shivan fighters they face in The Aftermath: Reboot, I find it quite understandable. After all, it's Shivans we're fighting against. Plus it made missions a bit diverse from the Freespace standard, even if these were only escort missions.
The hundreds of enemy fighters involve were just to present the feel of the situation, I call them "filler actors" and I design them in such a way that they don't impede the real mission or the player. Sure, you can engage them and they will fight back but you might divert your attention from the actual mission and fail. I have implemented this in most of my missions. There hundreds of fighters and many capital ships in the Reboot like I had a "BOE" fever which I admit of having it. I like chaos. The BOE's were rampant in the Reboot because it should be. It was the Third Shivan War where the GTVA with all it's incredible might was tested against the entire Shivan armada. Now, the sequel is about the main character's personal struggle and a major political shakedown. So the BOE's will just be key missions. Later, the story will be centered around a single fleet facing a terrifying mysterious force that can bring an end to the GTVA.
Take note that having around a dozen corvettes or cruisers slugging each other with several squadrons is not a BOE by my standards. Oh, don't worry, computer performance is foremost in my mind. I am running an avarage PC so I will base the design on this specs. I will do my best to keep the missions running at least 35 FPS (the standard for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3).
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PROJECT UPDATE
I am back again after a long absence but like I said five years ago, I may be lost but I am never gone. The thing is I am not as young as I wish to be. In two years time, I will be sixty. However, age will not stop me doing my only hobby - FS2 Modding. I may not be as fast as before but I still get things done during my offline time. This is what I did...
Originally, The Blue Guardian was intended only as a second campaign, a tiny additional VP file, TBG-Missions.vp with a file size of approximately 2mb. But as I did the actual Fredding and mission editing, the mod evolved and it needed more assets. So I have to build them. Downloaded some models and modified them to suit the missions. At present, I added 2 Destroyers, 2 transports, 2 space stations, 1 bad-ass Shivan sentry beam cannon, 4 miscellaneous objects and 17 weapon classes. Plus 4 completed mission of Act 2 ready for testing. All that in the month of February. The resources have grown to the size of 700mb. Because of this, the sequel will now be in a separate folder. A separate mod that is dependent on the Reboot Mod and MediaVP 2014. It is safe to say that this is a major project.
This march was dedicated for Alpha Testing (bug hunting) and Beta testing (feedback, balancing and improvements). I have a team of testers, my neighbors who are computer games addicts. Most of them had tested the Reboot. I monitor them closely during the testing sessions.
I also added some gameplay features in the missions like random behaviors. Example if you attempt to disable an enemy cruiser, it will direct more fighters to defend it or it will try to evade or even escape. And there is more than one way to prevent them from jumping out. These enemy warships will also react on what subsystem you try to destroy. There is also a quicker way to neutralize (destroying or disarming) bigger ships.
Here are some pictures...
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The space station, GTI Messina. This model is perfect. I modified the textures and edited the POF model. I needed a communication station that connects the known systems into a unified network through subspace. Even in Gamma Draconis, the comm station can link up with Delta Serpentis. While ship travel needed a node tunnel between systems, communication signals do not need this. the tachyon waves will radiate in the subspace dimension and will be picked up by these comm stations.
(http://i65.tinypic.com/2hznvw0.jpg)
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The GVT Petra, an armed transport. This model is the cruiser Imhotep which is bristling with weapon turrets. So I have edit it and removed the excess weapons. I needed transports that are bigger than the ones in MediaAVP and in the Reboot. There may be some additions in the future.
(http://i64.tinypic.com/33kx4z6.jpg)
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GTT Nautilus is actually a model with a length of 1,900 meters, intended as a corvette in the mod Exile. I reduced it to a 500-meter size as a heavily armed transport.
(http://i66.tinypic.com/2mnp4ew.jpg)
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The Rigelian Ships. It took me more than a year to find them. I edited the models, added more turrets, and fixed the game-crashing issue of the D'Deridex---the parent model has nothing in it. By the way, I renamed them from being Arcturians. Why? In my research, I found out that Arcturus (Alpha Bootis) is pretty close to our solar system, closer than Altair and Vega and fairly close to Gamma Draconis. In the story, these enigmatic aliens should be a thousand light-years away. The super giant Rigel (constellation Orion) is just as far. Hence, the change.
(http://i66.tinypic.com/oaynts.jpg)
(http://i66.tinypic.com/m9yt0h.jpg)
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The 4th mission in Act 1. This takes place in the Nebula. As you can see, I can not kick the habit of placing squadrons of hostile fighters. Although, I did tone it down in the first few missions of Act 2. You will notice in this image or if you edit my missions, that I actually organized the mission events because I tend to lose my focus and forget things. And it is an advantage for anyone who wants to modify them or improve them even.
(http://i65.tinypic.com/vqkzg1.jpg)
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...And I still have my crazy, over-compulsive tendencies in mission editing. I had reached the 400 ship/object limit in this one. Well, it should because this is the finale of Act 1. Mind you, I still balance things and considering PC performance. The performance in this one is 35 to 65 FPS with medium-end PC, the specs of my computer. This is also the reason why I don't use Hi-poly models, save for a few.
(http://i67.tinypic.com/k3rxj9.jpg)
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Before starting to build a mission. I make a summary of it. Incorporating the written material made by CT27, making notes for the mission events, the many possibilities that can happen taking into account the player actions (this aspect makes it really complicated). Practically, before I do anything at all, I lay in my bed, close my eyes and run a little private space battle movie in my head---including the voice-acting. I am totally immersed.
(http://i65.tinypic.com/28npzk.jpg)
Here is a couple of videos...
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This is the 3rd mission in Act 2, just a rough draft. The first contact with the Rigelians. This video showcase the weapons, speeds, and their arrival/departure method which is "warping in" using FTL and not "jumping in" from subspace. This encounter confirmed the rumors in the Reboot about the GTCv Avenger. If you read the tech entry, it said about a rumor that the Avengers and Boreas are not of Terran or Vasudan origin.
I know you guys will say that this is a Startrek knock-off. Well, I will not deny that. What can I say? I am a die-hard "trekkie" from the 70's until now. And... I made a dumb move by using the Romulan Valdore model for the GTCv Avenger in the Reboot. I wonder why I did that? Oh well, it's too late now so why not go all the way.
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This is a test mission when I was creating the weapons for the Rigelians which is base on "tracking energy projectile" weapons --- again, the similarity to Photon torpedoes of Startrek. I was also testing and tweaking the "proper" movements of these ships making their waypoints without deccelerating between points in a path. It is pretty messy in mission coding but I finally got the proper effect---Well, close to what I really have in mind.
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Hmm, that looks interesting. But the question is about these new ships - with their sheer speed there are some real issues with beams targeting them, especially the direct-fire ones. Also, I'd say that the green blob cannon (shoots 3 shots in a sequence) is kind of... really underpowered, and now that these ships have got these homing "photon torpedoes" it's much more apparent.
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Looks good! :yes: I particular like it when people put in some new warpin-types into FS. :nod:
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Do the Rigelians have any fighter craft?
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Hmm, that looks interesting. But the question is about these new ships - with their sheer speed there are some real issues with beams targeting them, especially the direct-fire ones. Also, I'd say that the green blob cannon (shoots 3 shots in a sequence) is kind of... really underpowered, and now that these ships have got these homing "photon torpedoes" it's much more apparent.
Actually, that's just it. Beams are useless with these guys. The Anti-matter cannons, the GTVA's green projectiles that fire in bursts of three's, though very damaging themselves, are ineffective against these aliens. The Terrans cannot win but there's a plot twist. Like I said, it is no longer about might and power.
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Do the Rigelians have any fighter craft?
No, they don't. And GTVA fighters cannot do any good either considering the speed of these guys. The battle must be fought (not won) in a non-conventional way. Some gameplay mechanics are added.
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Do the Rigelians have any fighter craft?
No, they don't. And GTVA fighters cannot do any good either considering the speed of these guys. The battle must be fought (not won) in a non-conventional way. Some gameplay mechanics are added.
Interesting, can't wait to see more! Also if it isn't too big of a spoiler, are the rigelians hostile to the shivans as well?
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Do the Rigelians have any fighter craft?
No, they don't. And GTVA fighters cannot do any good either considering the speed of these guys. The battle must be fought (not won) in a non-conventional way. Some gameplay mechanics are added.
Interesting, can't wait to see more! Also if it isn't too big of a spoiler, are the rigelians hostile to the shivans as well?
SPOILER ALERT!!!
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PROJECT UPDATE
I have finished Act 2. It took me a long time because special focus is attended to these missions because they are really complicated. Designing Act 3 is finished and currently undergoing testing. Plus I have added lots of additions like new weapons, installations, ships, background elements, skyboxes, fixed the Mjolnir model of MediaVPs, retextured it and added this as the GTSG Atlas, redone the Reboot's 7th BG beams and MediaVPs Vasudan beams, modified the Reboot's Archanias, Hathors, Anubis cruisers and the Vasudan fighters and bombers, and added a new hunter-killer fighter. Some of those I had already posted here in HLP.
One of the factors that took me time to design the missions is the failure scenario. The way some of the missions are plotted made it very complicated to devise a failure situation in-mission and to come up with a failure debriefing. Because it must be plausible enough.
If you are wondering why I am not online most of the time, I was cut off from my internet service since last year, didn't pay my bills and the reconnection is just ridiculous, you have wait for months if you incur a non-payment. I am embarrassed to say this. The closest internet shop or cafe is not open for months now so I have to go to the city (like what I did now) which is really a long commute. In addition, almost all these net cafes have "data throttling" protocols that prevents large data downloading and uploading. And shops with "full data transfer protocols" are rather rare, I had to search for one. In this country, our internet service providers has bandwidth packages that will depend on monthly payments, setting the limit of data transfers. So most net cafe owners will have these data-regulating implements in place.
Even if I am inactive in HLP, I am doing work on the project. Remember The Aftermath Reboot? I was inactive for two years but in a short time after I was online again in HLP, I released the project.
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Hope to hear from you soon Herkie!
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Are the skyboxes for part 2 as awesome as those in part 1? And where did you get them from (or do you make them yourself)? I'm wondering cause they're certainly among the coolest I've ever seen. :)
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Are the skyboxes for part 2 as awesome as those in part 1? And where did you get them from (or do you make them yourself)? I'm wondering cause they're certainly among the coolest I've ever seen. :)
Well, yes. But I don't want to brag. All I can say there are new skyboxes because they are new star sysyems visited in the missions. However, in settings like the Epsilon Pegasi system or Gamma Draconis, I use the ones from part 1 because I established that already.
I made the skyboxes myself. Compositing cosmic images and adding stars. The tricky part is the placement of the textures on the skybox POF model and I don't use a sphere model but the tried tested cube. Why? Because the texture (single) for "sphere" skyboxes can be huge and the best resolution is at least 9000 pixels in width and the image file can easily be 90mb or more which will certainly take a toll on performamce. Sometimes the missions will not load.
New Skyboxes:
Regulus
Vasuda
Antares
Delta Serpentis
Ross 128 -WIP
Laramis - WIP
Luyten - WIP
Barnard Star - WIP still scratching my head for this one.
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Hope to hear from you soon Herkie!
I'm still here... Having difficulty with my internet.
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UPDATE:
Acts 1,2,3 are finished. Only 10 missions to go. But these are very complicated. Challeging to make.
As of now, I have finished the pilotable Chimera corvette and finished the HUD turret command script, the one used in the Karuna mission in BPC. I improved it, I can now turn it on and off at will in-game! So we can pilot more than one type of cap ship in a single mission and have the corresponding HUD in place. Incidentally, the missions when you pilot the Avenger corvette or Boreas cruiser in Reboot were also updated (especially when there is a cutscene in the mission).
This is just one of the many things I made. I will post a full report later today.
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UPDATE:
I am now in designing the last Act missions, Act 4. And if completed, I will still be halfway to finishing the Mod because I have to make Journal System and the images for it, create the Command Briefing static images (one for each), briefing icons, weapon icons, more background images, some music editing, re-edit and modify a Terran Knossos portal from the old Blue Planet (not the BPC version), search for a suitable model for the Portal Control Station and modify it, of course (I might use the Starbase from Star Trek), more modular table adjustments, debugging, gameplay adjustments, and final Beta testings.
There are also some observations I made when using FRED 3.7.2. This might not be true with the latest SCP versions but I'll just mention it all the same. Here are four of them:
First observation and it was CT27 who discovered it for me, I found out that SCP did not factor in the energy-to-engines transfer for afterburners. I made a new fighter with a normal maximum speed of 60 and afterburner of 80. If the player devote all energy to engines, it goes up to 90 (max oclk speed) and pushing afterburners will reduce it to 80. All this time I thought this will change as well. So I have to manually adjust it. One lesson learned and learning will not stop here.
Second. When I design some missions involving the hostiles reacting to your wingmate commands, there is one crucial SEXP that is impossible to set in an Event using the FRED editor - the "Query order" and this happens to be very important. No matter what I do, the option is just greyed out. But I solved it by editing the mission file directly using Notepad and viola! All the "Query order" SEXP arguments are available when editing again in FRED. I hope this is not the case in later SCP versions.
Third. When making skyboxes using sphere models, I have to use textures with huge dimensions around 8192x4096 pixels to render the game background beautifully. This image file will easily have a size of around 60mb (PNG format, DDS files will be larger). Now, the game did not start the mission, the computer hanged. Maybe because I have an average PC. Nevertheless, it's an issue for me so I stick to texture maximum size of 2048x2048 resolution and forgo the usage of Sphere models for skyboxes and use the "tried-and-tested" cube model instead.
And Finally. There is also one bother in how FRED implement the Event Log feature. It automatically assigns or check the log option boxes especially the "True" and "False" boxes and how it sometimes rechecks those options again even after you uncheck them and save the mission. One instance, if you don't notice, the editor checks the options in ALL the events. This would be useful in debugging the mission but I found out that the game updates the event log by the milliseconds (except if you also checked the "First Triggered" option). If you're not careful, this will prick you. Imagine each event line in the mission design with their "true" and/or "false" states written in the log over and over again every millisecond. Then imagine if you have a 15-minute mission and just a 100 mission "Events" in the design. The event.log text file will have 90 million event log records written in it (one event will be written 900,000 times). And what is worse is that EACH recorded event will have a number of text lines that will depend on the kind of event; the basic "When-true-do nothing" event, counting with the "time stamp" line, will have 4. So, 90 million times 4 is 360 million lines in a text file, 3.6 million lines for one event, which will be difficult, if not, impossible for the computer to open - the text file will have a size of around 500 to 700 megabytes. And not considering if you can read all of them; it's a full library! AND here is the worst of it --- While playing the game, your hard drive will be constantly writing! At some point, the game crashed when playing one of my missions and it had 300 mission events, the log options for all events checked. Because of this, I make sure all event log options are unchecked before saving and making sure it stays that way when I re-open the mission file then check the size of the "Event.log" text file in the mod's data folder just in case. The game also ran smoothly when releasing this processing burden from my poor computer. I also noticed some of our popular mods have this "problem" and so I have to edit their mission files.
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Good to hear you're making progress :)
Have you thought about providing high res and low res versions of the skyboxes?
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Good to hear you're making progress :)
Have you thought about providing high res and low res versions of the skyboxes?
No. I just stick to 2048x2048 same as the Reboot.
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Ah OK, one way or another I really like your skyboxes - often when I post a pic with them in background people ask me where I got them from. :)
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My image hosting site had shutdown. All pics that i posted are gone. I will have to switch to another site and re-upload my pictures then edit my posts. But not in this phone I'm using, got to do it in a computer.
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Hope to hear from you soon Herkie!
I'm still here... Having difficulty with my internet.
Hope the internet difficulties have lessened, I always look forward to updates on this campaign. Is each act something like 10 missions or so? Reboot was pretty long, and given how complicated this one sounds I doubt there would be as many missions this time around.
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Hope to hear from you soon Herkie!
I'm still here... Having difficulty with my internet.
Hope the internet difficulties have lessened, I always look forward to updates on this campaign. Is each act something like 10 missions or so? Reboot was pretty long, and given how complicated this one sounds I doubt there would be as many missions this time around.
The Aftermath: Reboot had 68 missions IIRC. The Aftermath II: The Blue Guardian should have around half that...about 30.
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So you're going for 100 missions in total?
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Hope to hear from you soon Herkie!
I'm still here... Having difficulty with my internet.
Hope the internet difficulties have lessened, I always look forward to updates on this campaign. Is each act something like 10 missions or so? Reboot was pretty long, and given how complicated this one sounds I doubt there would be as many missions this time around.
I no longer want to make long campaigns. 30 is my number, in this case, 35 (plus the cutscenes). And the present lenght already satisfied CT27's story plot and mine.
Act 1 - 6 missions
Act 2 - 12 missions
Act 3 - 6 missions
Act 4 - 12 misssions
Total 36 missions
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Well 30+ missions is still kinda long~ :D
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Well 30+ missions is still kinda long~ :D
;7 :lol: :lol:
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It has been a long time, hope everything is going ok with this one. Looking really forward to it!
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We had the plot written out and it's up to Herkie now to make the campaign (basically the story was finished and Herkie would work on making the missions). Last I heard he was working on Act 4. (I was the main plot writer for Acts 1-3; Herkie wrote most of the plot for Act 4 and is doing all the technical work on the campaign).
Unfortunately I haven't heard from Herkie either here or on Facebook since September. I too hope he's okay.
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Argh, that's bad. :(
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UPDATE:
I AM BACK!!! WHEW!!!
I have been through hell and I made it back. I missed you people!
So, an update....I AM DONE! FINISHED THE MOD! I will be sending this to CT27 first for his final opinion and I will be ironing out the small wrinkles and then... I will release this sequel.
Take note that I have also made some changes in the Reboot as well. So The Aftermath: Reboot will also have an update. And please do download the Reboot update because The Blue Guardian will be dependent on it. The sequel, The Blue Guardian (TBG) will not work properly unless the Reboot is updated. Anyway, the Reboot update will be included in the TBG release download. The entire mod has 37 missions (including cutscenes) devided into 5 acts.
Aaaarrrg! Plunge into the chaoooosss! #%%&*%... !@#^%$*....*)$^+**.... .... ....
<DATA CORRUPTED>
<END OF FILE>
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YESSSSSS!!!! :D :D :D
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Glad to hear you're fine! :)
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Like others here, I'm glad to see you back.
I'll get to trying out TBG when you send it.
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Aww hells yeah. Gonna self-quarantine with this when its released whether I need to or not :D
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I hope we get to play soon, the suspense is killing me!
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Not knowing the difference between The Aftermath (CE) and The Aftermath Reboot, I'm going to hold off on downloading either until Aftermath: TBG is up and available for download on Knossos.
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The CE one is post-Great war, this one post-Capella.
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CE (Cold Element) is some linked anthology series with Derelict, Warzone, and BWO, set after Silent Threat iirc. Had a different team
Reboot is the post Capella reboot of that made by who we see now. Apparently it's also toned down so it has that going for it and I think evolved to be its own thing. Having never touched CE and just jumping out of wiki I couldn't tell you how it is
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IT IS RELEASED!!! YEEAAH!!!!
See the release page...
It's best that you download the Reboot directly from the Reboot's release page. AND THEN download my latest update ( my recent post in the Reboot thread).
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NOTICE
This "WIP" thread will be locked. Post your replies in the Release thread.