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FreeSpace Releases => Mission & Campaign Releases => Topic started by: Admiral Nelson on February 07, 2017, 01:20:42 pm

Title: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: Admiral Nelson on February 07, 2017, 01:20:42 pm
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/FS2/CSDoom_zpsp70ia0by.jpg)

In the tenth year of our war against the Vasudans, humanity had attempted one last desperate strike to end the war outright - a spear in the dark.  The Cardinal Fleet had been laid ruin, and the crew of the GTD Agamemnon was being hunted by a Vasudan general.  It was too late for victory, but not too late for vengeance...

This re-release of Cardinal Spear is intended to bring Cardinal Spear, originally created by Ace some 18 years ago, more up to date graphically as well as to remove some text to speech voice acting that was present in the original release. Note that this version of the campaign is not retail compatible, which is why I haven't put this in the official FS port release section.

Requires the Freespace Port and FS Port media VPs (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=89121.0).

NEW in this release
Voice acting from Blaise Russel and Mad Bomber
Replaced a retextured terran model with fightermedic's Nefertum
Added new graphics for the Terran Plasma cannon

Additional credits:
Mission/table edits   Admiral Nelson
Voice Acting: Blaise Russel, Mad Bomber
Nefertum model: fightermedic, Aldo
Plasma effect: Star Trek mod author (Omniscaper?)

Original Release thread (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=47337.0)

Click for Download (http://www.filedropper.com/cardinalspearforscp_1)

Extract the folder to your main Freespace directory and activate "Cardinal Spear for SCP".
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: HLD_Prophecy on February 07, 2017, 01:25:50 pm
Awesome, thanks a ton contributors! I always wanted to see this redone. :D
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: Nyctaeus on February 07, 2017, 01:30:00 pm
I've seen this title numerous times. Now I'm wondering why I never managed to play that.

Perfect opportunity to change that ^^
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: deathspeed on February 07, 2017, 02:45:54 pm
Thanks!  I downloaded it, but I'm not sure where to put the VP file.  In my existing fsport cardinal spear folder?
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: T-Man on February 07, 2017, 03:01:14 pm
Oooooooh. Was a big fan of the old Cardinal Spear so definitely DLing this. Nice one guys and huge thanks! :yes:
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: Admiral Nelson on February 07, 2017, 03:05:02 pm
Thanks!  I downloaded it, but I'm not sure where to put the VP file.  In my existing fsport cardinal spear folder?
Hi deathspeed, I goofed in packing the file.  Please just download again and I added the instructions as the last line of my post.
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: deathspeed on February 07, 2017, 04:26:03 pm
Perfect; thank you!  I hope to give this a spin tonight!
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: Solatar on February 07, 2017, 05:57:10 pm
Ooh, it's been years since I played this. Downloading now. I always enjoyed the mission designs.

If you've never played Cardinal Spear, try this! It's a Freespace Classic.

Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: Ace on February 07, 2017, 06:15:24 pm
It's a bit weird nearly 20 years after the fact seeing a remaster of the campaign done by other people :)
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: Goober5000 on February 08, 2017, 12:21:20 am
Hey, cool. :)
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: Grizzly on February 08, 2017, 05:54:12 am
When I first played Cardinal Spear, when it was released as part of the FSPort, I was impressed. The high variety in weaponry and the shieldless fighters meant combat that was still quite freespace, yet refreshingly different, and I recall I found it a lot more fun then FS1 or FS2 vanilla. I highly recommend that people play it on that basis: There's a lot of interesting ideas here that are not explored anywhere else.

I also just remember it being really good so play it! I'll definitely will when I get home. I was 14 years old last time I played this!  :eek:
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: Crashdown117 on February 08, 2017, 05:55:40 am
Downloaded the file via download link, extracted it into Freespace directory, set up the mod in the launcher using 2014 MediaVPs and FSO 3.7.4 and got the following error:

CardinalSpear-shp.tbm(line 936):
Error: Required token = [#End], [$Subsystem:], or [$Name], found []

ntdll.dll! ZwWaitForSingleObject + 12 bytes
KERNELBASE.dll! WaitForSingleObject + 18 bytes
fs2_open_3_7_4_SSE2.exe! SCP_DumpStack + 213 bytes
fs2_open_3_7_4_SSE2.exe! Error + 230 bytes
fs2_open_3_7_4_SSE2.exe! error_display + 202 bytes
fs2_open_3_7_4_SSE2.exe! required_string_one_of + 429 bytes
fs2_open_3_7_4_SSE2.exe! parse_ship_values + 20183 bytes
fs2_open_3_7_4_SSE2.exe! parse_ship + 728 bytes
fs2_open_3_7_4_SSE2.exe! parse_shiptbl + 442 bytes
fs2_open_3_7_4_SSE2.exe! parse_modular_table + 157 bytes
fs2_open_3_7_4_SSE2.exe! ship_init + 969 bytes
fs2_open_3_7_4_SSE2.exe! game_init + 1423 bytes
fs2_open_3_7_4_SSE2.exe! game_main + 330 bytes
fs2_open_3_7_4_SSE2.exe! WinMain + 222 bytes
fs2_open_3_7_4_SSE2.exe! __scrt_common_main_seh + 253 bytes
KERNEL32.DLL! BaseThreadInitThunk + 36 bytes
ntdll.dll! RtlSubscribeWnfStateChangeNotification + 1081 bytes
ntdll.dll! RtlSubscribeWnfStateChangeNotification + 1028 bytes

Is it anything I could have done wrong or am I that one unpopular guy reporting the first bug?
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: Admiral Nelson on February 08, 2017, 06:25:08 am
Nothing you did wrong -- somehow the ships.tbm included in the pack was truncated in the VP itself (but not in the source file).  I repacked the vp and reuploaded the file.  Please download and try again.
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: Crashdown117 on February 08, 2017, 06:52:09 am
Works perfectly fine now.
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: CT27 on February 09, 2017, 03:09:15 pm
Could someone give some advice on the very first mission (defeating the PVD Alexandria)?  In this version my bombers launch torpedoes early before they're even in range (the torpedoes explode before they're hit by lasers or hit the PVD Alexandria).  All my escorting fighters and bombers seem to get wiped out before the enemy destroyer suffers much damage.  I've tried different strategies (attacking enemy fighters, attacking bombers, trying to disarm some enemy turrets but the result is basically the same).

I hope it's not a bug and I'm somehow playing the mission wrong.  I was only able to complete the mission by going to x64 and eventually my escort cruiser destroyed the enemy destroyer.  I honestly don't remember this mission being that hard in the previous version of Cardinal Spear (i.e. I didn't have much of a problem in the one that is listed as "fsport-cardinalspear va" in the mod list in wxlauncher).
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: Admiral Nelson on February 09, 2017, 03:56:34 pm
I tried the earlier one again and saw the same thing -- the bombers launch and detonate their missiles well short of target.  Did you play the earlier one recently?  I wonder if something has changed recently in how the AI handles remote detonate weapons.  I didn't change anything in this particular mission from the previous version other than the debriefing music and voice files.
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: CT27 on February 09, 2017, 07:19:09 pm
It's been a while since I played the earlier version.  All I remember is that this first mission wasn't as challenging as it is on the current version.  For instance, in the earlier version I remember allied bombers doing a ton of damage to the Typhon and at the end of the mission actually having some allied fighters and bombers surviving. 

I can't say for sure but I was probably using 3.7.4 (final) on the earlier version too.


Any suggestions?
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: Admiral Nelson on February 10, 2017, 01:11:53 pm
So I went thru the tables -- it seems that the combination of speed and lifetime put the range of the torpedoes in the mod out to around 6km.  The result was that the bombers would sort of muck about far outside of range of their other weapons and not engage.  I reduced the range of the torpedo weapon to around 3KM, and so the bombers seem to actually fight closer now.  Please try this version (http://www.filedropper.com/cardinalspearforscp_2) and let me know if it is better now, or if you have any other feedback.
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: CT27 on February 10, 2017, 02:38:54 pm
It seems to work better now.  Allied bombers got a number of hits on the Typhon.  However, all allied fighters and bombers were dead by the end of the mission.  I still had to use the x64 method to finish off the Typhon but not nearly as much compared to the version right before this.

It's not a technical problem anymore, I'm just wondering what's the best method for playing this mission?  I might be remembering things wrong but I remember in the version before this recent revival that I did much better and didn't have to use time compression to have the allied cruiser finish off the Typhon.  Should I try to take out some of the Typhon's turrets?
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: Admiral Nelson on February 10, 2017, 02:57:14 pm
That is always a good thing -- one thing I noticed is that on low difficulty settings the AI aims so poorly that the bombers can't even hit the Typhon with their super damaging primary weapon.  I wonder if you played it on a higher difficulty before?
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: Hunter on February 11, 2017, 11:36:56 pm
I uploaded this to FSFILES for you: http://sectorgame.com/fsfiles/uploads/Projects%20-%20Campaigns%20-%20TCs/Campaigns/FreeSpace%20Port/Cardinal%20Spear%20for%20SCP.zip

Be sure to let me know if it changes :)
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: Admiral Nelson on February 13, 2017, 03:33:43 pm
Thanks very much for that. :)  There will be more soon... :)
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: CT27 on February 13, 2017, 03:41:20 pm
That is always a good thing -- one thing I noticed is that on low difficulty settings the AI aims so poorly that the bombers can't even hit the Typhon with their super damaging primary weapon.  I wonder if you played it on a higher difficulty before?

Perhaps I did but I can't remember exactly.


On another note, in the second mission, allied bombers seemed to do okay at hitting the convoy ships.  Odd they could hit those but not a Typhon.
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: hxazgalor on February 28, 2017, 07:21:27 pm
To clarify, is the new update included with the SectorMods package? Thanks.
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: Mobius on March 30, 2017, 07:57:23 am
My opinion may not be impartial but heh, I'm so willing to post it I can't resist any longer. Just play Cardinal Spear, you won't regret it. :)
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: CT27 on March 21, 2018, 03:36:09 pm
Any advice for the final mission of the first campaign "A Spear In The Dark"?

Often times I have trouble defending the Agamenon.  Should I focus on enemy fighters/bombers or enemy cruisers or disarm the Suez?
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: CT27 on March 22, 2018, 02:40:21 pm
There's also a glitch in that mission:

I was able to accomplish all objectives (I got the primary objectives complete message) and got the order to return to the Agamemnon (which was at 1%).  When the Suez blew up though it finished off the Agamemnon.  When I jumped out I got the successful debriefing music and text though.


Maybe a solution to make this mission easier would be allow the player the option of flying a bomber with one of those heavy plasma cannons that you get in an earlier mission?
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: Goober5000 on March 23, 2018, 12:07:44 am
Any advice for the final mission of the first campaign "A Spear In The Dark"?

Often times I have trouble defending the Agamenon.  Should I focus on enemy fighters/bombers or enemy cruisers or disarm the Suez?

I haven't played Cardinal Spear in a while so I couldn't say for certain.  I think I was able to beat it just by persistent dogfighting, and then handling other tasks as opportunity allowed.


There's also a glitch in that mission:

I was able to accomplish all objectives (I got the primary objectives complete message) and got the order to return to the Agamemnon (which was at 1%).  When the Suez blew up though it finished off the Agamemnon.  When I jumped out I got the successful debriefing music and text though.


Maybe a solution to make this mission easier would be allow the player the option of flying a bomber with one of those heavy plasma cannons that you get in an earlier mission?

We generally like to leave missions as-is in terms of balance and loadout, since they're Ported projects, not re-imagined projects.  But we do fix mission bugs.  This sounds like it could be handled with ship-guardian.


EDIT: Whoops, I missed the fact that this was Admiral Nelson's version, not the Port version.
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: CT27 on March 26, 2018, 08:13:01 pm
I also really liked the neutron gun you got to have in the third mission of the first campaign (where you capture a Typhon).  If anyone ever redoes this campaign, could it be possible to let it be used in more than one mission?
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: Goober5000 on April 13, 2018, 10:46:19 pm
People work on what they are most interested in working on.  If you'd like to use the neutron gun, why not make a mission that uses it yourself?

There are plenty of mods out there that aren't used as much as they deserve to be.  Perhaps you could do something with the Frontlines assets.
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: CT27 on April 14, 2018, 01:32:34 am
Sorry, I'm not that skilled with designing missions.  I've tested missions for campaigns before and I can tell if something's technically wrong (or there's a glitch or something) I can point out what happened but not necessarily how to fix it (I'm not saying this thing with the neutron gun is a technical problem)


Anyways, this wasn't a huge issue so I'm willing to drop the complaint.


CS is a campaign I really like so congrats to those who made it. :)
Title: Re: RERELEASE: Cardinal Spear
Post by: Mobius on November 18, 2020, 02:51:49 am
Anybody else having trouble trying to play Cardinal Spear? I get random CTDs during the very first mission. Folder integrity is ok and I'm using 20201115.

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