Author Topic: RELEASE - The Procyon Insurgency  (Read 289651 times)

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Re: RELEASE - The Procyon Insurgency
As far as the campaign length is concerned, the number of missions is 17 or 21 (depending on how you look at it), which is indeed on the shorter side compared to some other campaigns. However, the lengthy briefings and a fairly long average mission time of about 12 minutes make up for that to some degree. I also wanted to try to have every mission present its own unique gameplay situation and be memorable in some way, which becomes much harder to do if you have a large number of missions. Quality over quantity, in other words. :D

Sometimes it's okay to have a lot of repetitive missions. Most people seem to disagree, but I liked Sync/Transcend where you get that "journey through hell" feeling after fighting through 40+ repetitive missions. However, about half the missions in Derelict, for example, where totally unnecessary, apparently thrown in so "our campaign is longer than yours". PI, WCP, and BRShivans are good examples of the quality against quantity approach.

Makes me worried about TVWP and other "monster" projects.

i  have a problem with the mission when i pilot a pegasus..
i get caugt in serveral seconds without moving etc just listing what the pilot 3 says..
its this normal?

Don't remember it happening to me. If you're really stuck you should be able to cheat, though.

 

Offline Goober5000

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Re: RELEASE - The Procyon Insurgency
"you're a thief"
Which one is that?

Makes me worried about TVWP and other "monster" projects.
TVWP isn't repetitive.

 
Re: RELEASE - The Procyon Insurgency
Quote
I liked Sync/Transcend where you get that "journey through hell" feeling after fighting through 40+ repetitive missions.

The only fighting I recall experiencing in Sync was to stay awake.  Chatter, jump, chatter, jump, chatter, jump.  By the time I quit, the only mystery I was interested in was whether I'd get to hit the jump button, or if the mission's scripting would do it for me.

Ten to twenty mission campaigns have a lot of appeal to me for two basic reasons.  First, you know you'll be doing something meaningful and exciting in each mission.  If somebody puts out a ten mission campaign, they're probably not wasting missions with scenarios like, "Oh, look!  Yet another Knossos!  Let us jump, for there is obviously nothing to do on this side."  You might have part of a mission set aside for chatter, but the rest will involve an actual fight.  The other big reason I like shorter campaigns is because they're less apt to be canceled or abandoned.  At this point, I get a lot more excited when somebody says they're going to pump out a four-mission minicampaign because that's something I can expect to see released in a couple months or less.  When I hear an announcement for 30-40 missions with a new faction, a far-advanced GTVA fleet, uber-Ancients vessels (for a dead race, they're awfully prolific), etc., etc., etc., I laugh, and I laugh, and I laugh, and I say a few things that would probably get my account suspended, if I were to repeat them on the boards.

Anyway, to the point of the thread, thank you for the release, CP.  I look forward to playing Procyon Insurgency, though I've had some other obligations preventing me from playing it just to date.  (I might end up having my first romp through it in 3.6.10, at this rate....)

 

Offline CP5670

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Re: RELEASE - The Procyon Insurgency
Quote
i  have a problem with the mission when i pilot a pegasus..
i get caugt in serveral seconds without moving etc just listing what the pilot 3 says..
its this normal?

Which mission is this? 13 or 14?

Make sure you aren't using afterburners or weapons, since those alert the enemy as described in the briefings.

Quote
Which one is that?

It's in the debrief_mdmm1_9.wav file in the Silent Threat vp. Don't you know about it already? I distinctly remember you laughing when I told you about it a while ago. :p

Quote
Sometimes it's okay to have a lot of repetitive missions. Most people seem to disagree, but I liked Sync/Transcend where you get that "journey through hell" feeling after fighting through 40+ repetitive missions. However, about half the missions in Derelict, for example, where totally unnecessary, apparently thrown in so "our campaign is longer than yours". PI, WCP, and BRShivans are good examples of the quality against quantity approach.

Yes, as a player I definitely prefer short or medium-sized campaigns with more variety and attention to detail in each mission. STL for example is one of my favorite campaigns even though it's not very long, while I found myself getting somewhat bored with the longer ones like Derelict and Transcend.

In PI, I ended up ditching two additional missions I had planned at one point. Apart from delaying the campaign's release even further, I felt they would be too similar to some existing missions and wouldn't have added a lot to the story to make up for that either.

Quote
Quality is good, but when combined with quantity like the big projects that have both quality and quantity, you have the ultimate campaign.

Well, the problem with those campaigns is that they usually become too ambitious and don't get released at all. I don't think any of the old high profile ones hosted here, for example, are complete yet. People tend to lose interest over time when that happens, especially if they were hyped up a lot in advance.
« Last Edit: July 03, 2007, 12:27:23 am by CP5670 »

 

Offline Cobra

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Re: RELEASE - The Procyon Insurgency
Oh, just to get this out here, it may take some work, but for god's sake, get rid of the ****in' Morning Stars! :mad:
To consider the Earth as the only populated world in infinite space is as absurd as to assert that in an entire field of millet, only one grain will grow. - Metrodorus of Chios
I wept. Mysterious forces beyond my ken had reached into my beautiful mission and energized its pilots with inhuman bomb-firing abilities. I could only imagine the GTVA warriors giving a mighty KIAAIIIIIII shout as they worked their triggers, their biceps bulging with sinew after years of Ivan Drago-esque steroid therapy and weight training. - General Battuta

 

Offline lefkos

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Re: RELEASE - The Procyon Insurgency
As far as the campaign length is concerned, the number of missions is 17 or 21 (depending on how you look at it), which is indeed on the shorter side compared to some other campaigns. However, the lengthy briefings and a fairly long average mission time of about 12 minutes make up for that to some degree. I also wanted to try to have every mission present its own unique gameplay situation and be memorable in some way, which becomes much harder to do if you have a large number of missions. Quality over quantity, in other words. :D

Sometimes it's okay to have a lot of repetitive missions. Most people seem to disagree, but I liked Sync/Transcend where you get that "journey through hell" feeling after fighting through 40+ repetitive missions. However, about half the missions in Derelict, for example, where totally unnecessary, apparently thrown in so "our campaign is longer than yours". PI, WCP, and BRShivans are good examples of the quality against quantity approach.

Makes me worried about TVWP and other "monster" projects.

i  have a problem with the mission when i pilot a pegasus..
i get caugt in serveral seconds without moving etc just listing what the pilot 3 says..
its this normal?

Don't remember it happening to me. If you're really stuck you should be able to cheat, though.
Lol wel i dont suck in freespace :P but the mission is just weird...  even from a distance of 5 km ive been caught...
and i already tried to cheat and cloacking is disabled so(thats invisible right?:P)
Music is an expression of our inner creativity.

 
Re: RELEASE - The Procyon Insurgency
Procyon's stealth missions are impossibly difficult. I had to skip them unfortunately and missed out on what im sure is a great deal of plot. Do you guys actually TEST these missions before playing them? I mean, its so damn difficult. I'm a heck of a pilot. I finished Freespace 2 on hard , which i consider no small feat, but damn!

I'm just not one for subtlety i guess. Give me a wing of boangerses and i'll take down a fleet for you. (though by the end of it, i'm like  :mad2: DIE !)

 

Offline CKid

Re: RELEASE - The Procyon Insurgency
Procyon's stealth missions are impossibly difficult. I had to skip them unfortunately and missed out on what im sure is a great deal of plot. Do you guys actually TEST these missions before playing them? I mean, its so damn difficult. I'm a heck of a pilot. I finished Freespace 2 on hard , which i consider no small feat, but damn!

I'm just not one for subtlety i guess. Give me a wing of boangerses and i'll take down a fleet for you. (though by the end of it, i'm like  :mad2: DIE !)

Dude, go back and complete those stealth missions. By missing them I think you missed about 60% of the plot. I liked the stealth missions the the most just because of what you learn about the plot.
If I agreed with you, we would both be wrong

 

Offline Snail

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Re: RELEASE - The Procyon Insurgency
Procyon's stealth missions are impossibly difficult. I had to skip them unfortunately and missed out on what im sure is a great deal of plot. Do you guys actually TEST these missions before playing them? I mean, its so damn difficult. I'm a heck of a pilot. I finished Freespace 2 on hard , which i consider no small feat, but damn!

I'm just not one for subtlety i guess. Give me a wing of boangerses and i'll take down a fleet for you. (though by the end of it, i'm like  :mad2: DIE !)

They're not that hard... After skipping it, I played it again later and got through it.

 

Offline CP5670

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Re: RELEASE - The Procyon Insurgency
Quote
Oh, just to get this out here, it may take some work, but for god's sake, get rid of the ****in' Morning Stars!

Those guys go down very easily against Thunders or even Rockeyes. Use the Thunders against them. They only appear in one or two missions anyway, which are otherwise pretty easy.

Quote
Procyon's stealth missions are impossibly difficult. I had to skip them unfortunately and missed out on what im sure is a great deal of plot. Do you guys actually TEST these missions before playing them? I mean, its so damn difficult. I'm a heck of a pilot. I finished Freespace 2 on hard , which i consider no small feat, but damn!

I'm just not one for subtlety i guess. Give me a wing of boangerses and i'll take down a fleet for you. (though by the end of it, i'm like  DIE !)

You can turn down the difficulty to make 13 easier. It's trivial to beat on very easy. The 14 parts don't get changed, but those are so easy already that reducing the difficulty further would have been superfluous (and I had run into the event limit in one of them anyway).

They're pretty simple once you get the hang of it though. I have played through 13 about 25 times on medium and 14b and 14c around 40-50 times each. The key is to flip through your escort list constantly and be aware of the distances at all times.

I am assuming that escort list issue is fixed now, as I haven't heard anyone complain about it since the 1.03 patch.

 

Offline Cobra

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Re: RELEASE - The Procyon Insurgency
Quote
Oh, just to get this out here, it may take some work, but for god's sake, get rid of the ****in' Morning Stars!

Those guys go down very easily against Thunders or even Rockeyes. Use the Thunders against them. They only appear in one or two missions anyway, which are otherwise pretty easy.

Try about 6 or so, and their EMP missiles make it hard to get a target.
To consider the Earth as the only populated world in infinite space is as absurd as to assert that in an entire field of millet, only one grain will grow. - Metrodorus of Chios
I wept. Mysterious forces beyond my ken had reached into my beautiful mission and energized its pilots with inhuman bomb-firing abilities. I could only imagine the GTVA warriors giving a mighty KIAAIIIIIII shout as they worked their triggers, their biceps bulging with sinew after years of Ivan Drago-esque steroid therapy and weight training. - General Battuta

 
Re: RELEASE - The Procyon Insurgency
Its not that, its trying to keep your distance from those damn patrols and AWAC's. I did the walkthrough, and i still cant get anywhere near the targets i need to get to.

 

Offline Goober5000

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Re: RELEASE - The Procyon Insurgency
It's in the debrief_mdmm1_9.wav file in the Silent Threat vp. Don't you know about it already? I distinctly remember you laughing when I told you about it a while ago. :p
Yes, I do remember you telling me. :p I just didn't remember which voice file it was.  I was somewhat reluctant to ask again actually. :)

Yeah, found it...

 

Offline CP5670

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Re: RELEASE - The Procyon Insurgency
Quote
Try about 6 or so, and their EMP missiles make it hard to get a target.

Well, the EMP missiles are easy to dodge, but you don't need to target them. The Thunders will hit them anyway as long as they're near your reticle. I find them pretty manageable, at any rate. Actually, one of the main reasons I added the Thunders into the campaign was to have a way to deal with those guys easily.

Quote
Its not that, its trying to keep your distance from those damn patrols and AWAC's. I did the walkthrough, and i still cant get anywhere near the targets i need to get to.

If you're talking about 14b, the fighter screen basically only consists of a large rectangle on one side of the installation (the side facing you), so you can always just fly down and around the entire thing.

Although I can't imagine how anyone could find 14b hard if you leave aside the bonus objective. I sometimes end up reaching the target without anyone even coming into the "warning" range.

Quote
Yes, I do remember you telling me. :p I just didn't remember which voice file it was.  I was somewhat reluctant to ask again actually. :)

Yeah, found it...

Check out the mdmm1_8 file while you're at it. I don't think I have ever heard a Vasudan get so angry. :D
« Last Edit: July 05, 2007, 10:53:02 am by CP5670 »

 

Offline Goober5000

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Re: RELEASE - The Procyon Insurgency
Check out the mdmm1_8 file while you're at it. I don't think I have ever heard a Vasudan get so angry. :D
That's not that angry.  Listen to 6_oops2. :)

 

Offline CP5670

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Re: RELEASE - The Procyon Insurgency
I think it sounds even more angry than that one. The pitch of the voice is higher.

That oops2 piece is actually used several times in the FS2 command briefings. You can hear it if you listen carefully. I guess the distances from the Emperor are different, as it means completely different things. :p

 

Offline SATtva

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PI campaign crash at mission 14/2
Hello guys! First of all thank you for the great campaign, it got me really excited. On the level of Derelict I would say.  ;)

However I've stumbled upon a problem that blocks my progress near the end. In multipart mission 14/2 (PCA Knossos base) I've got Freespace crash just after the premission briefing whenever I click the Continue button. It's not goes to SCP debugging messages as usual, just crashes with the Windows message "Error encountered. Application will be closed..." and a proposal to send a crash report to developers. :)

I'm running SCP 3.6.9 Final (with full MediaVP 3.6.8 Zeta package + mp-710s; PI v. 1.03 with patch), however, build 3.6.9 RC7.9X exhibits  the same problem. I've ran Freespace in debugging mode, and, to my surprise, mission started (with a few errors I will provide below), but crashed with the same symptoms a minute after the first PCA convoy (that you have to scan to got a bonus point) departed through the Knossos.

When starting that mission in debug mode SCP throws out five error messages. I couldn't say of their significance or which of them (if any) relates to the problem itself, but in case you find them helpful...

Code: [Select]
Warning: For 'Vepar_Impact', 3 of 4 LODs are missing!
File:J:\src\cvs\fs2_open_3_6_9.final\code\Weapon\Weapons.cpp
Line: 1218
[This filename points to the location of a file on the computer that built this executable]

Call stack:
------------------------------------------------------------------
    parse_weapon()    parse_weaponstbl()    parse_modular_table()    weapon_init()    game_init()    game_main()    WinMain()    WinMainCRTStartup()    kernel32.dll 7c816fd7()
------------------------------------------------------------------






Warning: Couldn't fix up turret indices in spline path

Model: science01.pof
Path: $path04
Vertex: 0
Turret model id:16

This probably means that the turret was not specified in the ship table(s).
File:J:\src\cvs\fs2_open_3_6_9.final\code\ship\Ship.cpp
Line: 8737
[This filename points to the location of a file on the computer that built this executable]

Call stack:
------------------------------------------------------------------
    parse_create_object_sub()    parse_create_object()    mission_parse_maybe_create_parse_object()    post_process_ships_wings()    post_process_mission()    parse_mission()    parse_main()    mission_load()    game_start_mission()    game_enter_state()    gameseq_set_state()    game_process_event()    gameseq_process_events()    game_main()    WinMain()------------------------------------------------------------------








Warning: Couldn't open texture 'still'
referenced by model 'stilettoII.pof'

File:J:\src\cvs\fs2_open_3_6_9.final\code\Model\ModelRead.cpp
Line: 3056
[This filename points to the location of a file on the computer that built this executable]

Call stack:
------------------------------------------------------------------
    read_model_file()    model_load()    weapons_page_in()    level_page_in()    freespace_mission_load_stuff()    game_post_level_init()    game_start_mission()    game_enter_state()    gameseq_set_state()    game_process_event()    gameseq_process_events()    game_main()    WinMain()    WinMainCRTStartup()    kernel32.dll 7c816fd7()
------------------------------------------------------------------








Warning: Couldn't open texture 'crossbow_tech'
referenced by model 'crossbow_tech.pof'

File:J:\src\cvs\fs2_open_3_6_9.final\code\Model\ModelRead.cpp
Line: 3056
[This filename points to the location of a file on the computer that built this executable]

Call stack:
------------------------------------------------------------------
    read_model_file()    model_load()    wl_load_icons()    wl_load_all_icons()    weapon_select_init_team()    weapon_select_common_init()    red_alert_init()    game_enter_state()    gameseq_set_state()    game_process_event()    gameseq_process_events()    game_main()    WinMain()    WinMainCRTStartup()    kernel32.dll 7c816fd7()
------------------------------------------------------------------








Warning: Couldn't open texture 'still_tech'
referenced by model 'stilettoII_tech.pof'

File:J:\src\cvs\fs2_open_3_6_9.final\code\Model\ModelRead.cpp
Line: 3056
[This filename points to the location of a file on the computer that built this executable]

Call stack:
------------------------------------------------------------------
    read_model_file()    model_load()    wl_load_icons()    wl_load_all_icons()    weapon_select_init_team()    weapon_select_common_init()    red_alert_init()    game_enter_state()    gameseq_set_state()    game_process_event()    gameseq_process_events()    game_main()    WinMain()    WinMainCRTStartup()    kernel32.dll 7c816fd7()
------------------------------------------------------------------

What can I do about this situation? Could it be some models/textures missing or such? If a similar situation has already been discussed,  I would appreciate a link to the topic.
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Offline CP5670

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Re: RELEASE - The Procyon Insurgency
Welcome to the forums. :) Most of those error messages indicate that the game cannot read certain data in the media VPs, but I can't see why you're having such problems with only this mission. I think someone else reported a similar issue a while ago, but it appears to be very rare.

Run the debug build on another mission (through the mission simulator) and see if it throws up anything. That should at least indicate whether those particular errors have anything to do with the crash.

 
Re: RELEASE - The Procyon Insurgency
:welcomeblue:
welcome beam, CP! welcome beam!
Fun while it lasted.

Then bitter.

 

Offline SATtva

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Re: RELEASE - The Procyon Insurgency
Hi CP5670! Thank you for a promptly reply. I'll check that and report shortly.
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