Author Topic: BP Mod for HW2 (old thread)  (Read 37632 times)

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How do you deal with destroyed turrets ?
    -Do they rebuild themselves over time ?
    -Do you have to rebuild them manually ?
    -Or do they stay dead ?

( ps.I like the background noise on your video :P )

 

Offline Satellight

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OMG ! Pretty awesome video  :yes:

I want a demo NAOW  :D
Never far away from HLP and from a computer with an installed FreeSpace.

 

Offline MatthTheGeek

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You don't destroy turrets, you disable them. They stay offline for a while and then start repairing themselves.
People are stupid, therefore anything popular is at best suspicious.

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666maslo666: Releasing a finished product is not a good thing! It is a modern fad.

SpardaSon21: it seems like you exist in a permanent state of half-joking misanthropy

Axem: when you put it like that, i sound like an insane person

bigchunk1: it's not retarded it's american!
bigchunk1: ...

batwota: steele's maneuvering for the coup de gras
MatthTheGeek: you mispelled grâce
Awaesaar: grace
batwota: oh right :P
Darius: ah!
Darius: yes, i like that
MatthTheGeek: the way you just spelled it it means fat
Awaesaar: +accent I forgot how to keyboard
MatthTheGeek: or grease
Darius: the killing fat!
Axem: jabba does the coup de gras
MatthTheGeek: XD
Axem: bring me solo and a cookie

 

Offline Buckshee Rounds

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God, Orions are so sexy...

 

Offline MatthTheGeek

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Leaving for a week with no internets, so I leave you a little christmas gift in advance :)

People are stupid, therefore anything popular is at best suspicious.

Mod management tools     -     Wiki stuff!     -     Help us help you

666maslo666: Releasing a finished product is not a good thing! It is a modern fad.

SpardaSon21: it seems like you exist in a permanent state of half-joking misanthropy

Axem: when you put it like that, i sound like an insane person

bigchunk1: it's not retarded it's american!
bigchunk1: ...

batwota: steele's maneuvering for the coup de gras
MatthTheGeek: you mispelled grâce
Awaesaar: grace
batwota: oh right :P
Darius: ah!
Darius: yes, i like that
MatthTheGeek: the way you just spelled it it means fat
Awaesaar: +accent I forgot how to keyboard
MatthTheGeek: or grease
Darius: the killing fat!
Axem: jabba does the coup de gras
MatthTheGeek: XD
Axem: bring me solo and a cookie

 

Offline Satellight

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Joyeux Noël et bonnes vacances !

Happy holiday and Merry Christmas !

OH OH OH !   :pimp: (sorry, but there is no Santa smiley !)
Never far away from HLP and from a computer with an installed FreeSpace.

 

Offline Buckshee Rounds

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God, Solaris' are so sexy...

 

Offline T-Man

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Have a good Chrimbo MatthTheGeek, and thanks for your work on this; i truly can't wait to play it! I just wish i had the know-how to be able to help in some way :(.
Also goes by 'Murasaki-Tatsu' outside of Hard-Light

UEF fanboy. Rabid Imagination.

 
I've always wanted to ask a HW2 modder this, but for some reason just never got around to doing it: how moddable is it, really? Because it seems like every HW2 mod ever has been rather crude, especially when it came to the UI. PDS, the newer TFS mod, the BSG mod, pretty much everything I've ever downloaded for the game has has a virtually unchanged GUI, and used crude workarounds to introduce new gameplay mechanics. For example in the BSG mod you change firing modes (direct ship-to-ship fire or anti-missile saturation) by switching tactics modes, rather than having a new button added just for it. And both the PDS and TFS mods have every ship able to lay mines, or at least as far as the GUI is concerned they can.

The only time I've seen the GUI modified at all was the Complex mod. So, what's the deal? Is it just really hard to do, or are modmakers for HW2 just really lazy by and large for some reason? Note that I'm not saying you're lazy.

 

Offline MatthTheGeek

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The big problem with HW2 is that it's just very undocumented. You have to find out a lot of stuff by trial and error, and there isn't much commentaries in files to help you out with this. One significant thing is also that HW2 modding is basically dead, or dying for the most part. We are only a handful to still be actively modding it, literally.

To be honest, the UI is most of the time the least of the modders' worries when making a new mod. Getting assets ingame, creating effects, balancing stuff and creating gameplay mechanics are the most painful overall.

However if you look closely, HW2 is very moddable and powerful for a 7 years-old engine. Nearly all aspects of the game can be altered, ranging from effects, ships, AI, maps or yes, the UI itself. It is even superior to FSO in term of optimization and consistency of framerate, with similar assets, at least according to those who tested my mod.

One of the main problem is that it's a RTS, and hence you need to completely rethink the gameplay mechanics, the balance and the gametypes to have something that doesn't feel like a simple swap of models over the retail game. This aspect is much more sensible than in a game like FS, where having new ships and new missions is more than enough to enjoy a new experience - especially since single-player campaign scripting is virtually nonexistant in HW2 modding. Not that it's impossible, only that noone has attempted it yet, and because until very recently, we didn't have any properly decompiled campaign scripts to base ourself on.

The second main problem is that the engine isn't going anywhere now, whereas FSO has still a bright future before it. The new shaders are a substantial upgrade over the engine, but you often encounter hardcoded barriers that you have to find your way around when trying to implement new features - for example, slash beams, that I still have no idea how to implement in HW2.

Keep also in mind that this mod is still a one-man-made Total Conversion. You can guess how a huge amount of work it is. And feature creeping and real life are eating most of my time.
« Last Edit: January 03, 2011, 05:23:30 pm by MatthTheGeek »
People are stupid, therefore anything popular is at best suspicious.

Mod management tools     -     Wiki stuff!     -     Help us help you

666maslo666: Releasing a finished product is not a good thing! It is a modern fad.

SpardaSon21: it seems like you exist in a permanent state of half-joking misanthropy

Axem: when you put it like that, i sound like an insane person

bigchunk1: it's not retarded it's american!
bigchunk1: ...

batwota: steele's maneuvering for the coup de gras
MatthTheGeek: you mispelled grâce
Awaesaar: grace
batwota: oh right :P
Darius: ah!
Darius: yes, i like that
MatthTheGeek: the way you just spelled it it means fat
Awaesaar: +accent I forgot how to keyboard
MatthTheGeek: or grease
Darius: the killing fat!
Axem: jabba does the coup de gras
MatthTheGeek: XD
Axem: bring me solo and a cookie

 

Offline MatthTheGeek

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DoublePostNess

« Last Edit: January 05, 2011, 12:58:08 pm by MatthTheGeek »
People are stupid, therefore anything popular is at best suspicious.

Mod management tools     -     Wiki stuff!     -     Help us help you

666maslo666: Releasing a finished product is not a good thing! It is a modern fad.

SpardaSon21: it seems like you exist in a permanent state of half-joking misanthropy

Axem: when you put it like that, i sound like an insane person

bigchunk1: it's not retarded it's american!
bigchunk1: ...

batwota: steele's maneuvering for the coup de gras
MatthTheGeek: you mispelled grâce
Awaesaar: grace
batwota: oh right :P
Darius: ah!
Darius: yes, i like that
MatthTheGeek: the way you just spelled it it means fat
Awaesaar: +accent I forgot how to keyboard
MatthTheGeek: or grease
Darius: the killing fat!
Axem: jabba does the coup de gras
MatthTheGeek: XD
Axem: bring me solo and a cookie

 

Offline pecenipicek

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We has normals in. Not working as intended tho. My guess is that they need a heightmap to stabilise. Currently they are a bit floaty.
Skype: vrganjko
Ho, ho, ho, to the bottle I go
to heal my heart and drown my woe!
Rain may fall and wind may blow,
and many miles be still to go,
but under a tall tree I will lie!

The Apocalypse Project needs YOU! - recruiting info thread.

 

Offline Buckshee Rounds

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Man I'm just drooling over the thought of all this. I wish there was some way I could helpbut I can't mod for sh*t.

 
Hey Matth, if you have a team, why don't you ask for hosting here on HLP? ;)
17:37:02   Quanto: I want to have sexual intercourse with every space elf in existence
17:37:11   SpardaSon21: even the males?
17:37:22   Quanto: its not gay if its an elf

[21:51] <@Droid803> I now realize
[21:51] <@Droid803> this will be SLIIIIIGHTLY awkward
[21:51] <@Droid803> as this rich psychic girl will now be tsundere for a loli.
[21:51] <@Droid803> OH WELLL.

See what you're missing in #WoD and #Fsquest?

[07:57:32] <Caiaphas> inspired by HerraTohtori i built a supermaneuverable plane in ksp
[07:57:43] <Caiaphas> i just killed my pilots with a high-g maneuver
[07:58:19] <Caiaphas> apparently people can't take 20 gees for 5 continuous seconds
[08:00:11] <Caiaphas> the plane however performed admirably, and only crashed because it no longer had any guidance systems

 

Offline General Battuta

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Hey Matth, if you have a team, why don't you ask for hosting here on HLP? ;)

Request has been made already, in fact.

 
Woah.  And I was semi-joking about that statement.
17:37:02   Quanto: I want to have sexual intercourse with every space elf in existence
17:37:11   SpardaSon21: even the males?
17:37:22   Quanto: its not gay if its an elf

[21:51] <@Droid803> I now realize
[21:51] <@Droid803> this will be SLIIIIIGHTLY awkward
[21:51] <@Droid803> as this rich psychic girl will now be tsundere for a loli.
[21:51] <@Droid803> OH WELLL.

See what you're missing in #WoD and #Fsquest?

[07:57:32] <Caiaphas> inspired by HerraTohtori i built a supermaneuverable plane in ksp
[07:57:43] <Caiaphas> i just killed my pilots with a high-g maneuver
[07:58:19] <Caiaphas> apparently people can't take 20 gees for 5 continuous seconds
[08:00:11] <Caiaphas> the plane however performed admirably, and only crashed because it no longer had any guidance systems

 

Offline pecenipicek

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Skype: vrganjko
Ho, ho, ho, to the bottle I go
to heal my heart and drown my woe!
Rain may fall and wind may blow,
and many miles be still to go,
but under a tall tree I will lie!

The Apocalypse Project needs YOU! - recruiting info thread.

 

Offline Commander Zane

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Ah shadows, the one thing FreeSpace doesn't have. :P

 

Offline Snail

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This might be a stupid question, are the red flare things Apocalypse torps?

 

Offline pecenipicek

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i believe they are.
Skype: vrganjko
Ho, ho, ho, to the bottle I go
to heal my heart and drown my woe!
Rain may fall and wind may blow,
and many miles be still to go,
but under a tall tree I will lie!

The Apocalypse Project needs YOU! - recruiting info thread.