Hard Light Productions Forums
Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The FRED Workshop => Topic started by: Trivial Psychic on November 13, 2016, 09:38:06 pm
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This is not associated with the FS Port, though I plan on using the Port platform to base this on. I plan on going though the Freespace campaign and doing a few changes, but I was hoping for some feedback and opinions first. I know others have proposed doing this before, but I plan on doing it. I am currently playing through the Port, getting ideas as I go, so I may add more to this list, and the first post will be updated with the list of changes. Most consist of simply adding bonus objectives, many of which have been proposed before *cough*Plato*cough*.
For any mission that involves adding more cruisers to broaden the engagement, I have decided that several ships in the game context will be assigned to specific destroyers as part of their fleet. I haven't decided if all of these ships will make appearances, but I put together the list as a point of reference. I have also made preliminary plans to support Betrayal's suggestion of additional warship types.
GTD Galatea Fleet:
GTD Nimitz - Henderson
GTC Orff – Fenris
GTC Fortune – Fenris
GTC Neptune – Leviathan
GTCv Tychon – Morana
GTD Bastion Fleet:
GTD Rommel - Henderson
GTC Ravage – Fenris
GTC Oberon – Fenris
GTC Rampart – Leviathan
GTCv Tibertus – Morana
GTD Krios Fleet
GTD Patton - Henderson
GTC Metis - Leviathan
GTC Eurybia - Leviathan
GTC Adamant - Fenris
GTC Hecaterus - Fenris
GTCv Thalassa - Morana
PVD Pinnacle Fleet:
PVD Duamutef - Atum
PVC Taurus – Aten (I know, it was lost early on)
PVC Wosyet – Aten
PVC Hemen – Seker (Aten Mk2)
PVD Pakhet - Seker
PVD Hope Fleet:
PVD Imsety - Atum
PVC Mecross – Aten
PVC Pvemkin – Aten
PVC Khepri – Seker (Aten Mk2)
PVC Hemsut - Seker
M1-01 – Eve of Destruction
-I've decided to simply swap out for the more intensive demo version of this mission.
M1-02 - Field of Battle
-Added additional audio messages from VPs not used in standard mission.
-Added Aten class and freighter acting as C&C for fighter wing, & Debrief.
M1-03 - Small Deadly Space
-Added freighters arriving to dock with cargo.
-Added orders to scan Omega 1
-Added Zeta wing that arrives with Orff acting as your relief.
M01-04 - Avenging Angels
-Added active turrets for Omega and Rasputin, as well as orders to disarm the Omega and delay arrival of Comet and Intelligence until disarmed
-Separated out the transport from Intelligence wing. Freighter is now GTT Cryos (transport used in Silent Threat) and the fighter wing escorting (now 2 Valks) is Tyr wing.
-Changed Rasputin's evasive path so it will go towards a pair of Vasudan cruisers (one Aten and one Seker) that jump in to pick up Rasputin. Command deploys a Morana and a Leviathan to engage them. Mission debrief has additional data.
M1-05 – Out of Dark, Into The Night
-Add bonus objective for destruction of Shivan Bomber
-Add departure orders for Plato if it survives to the node.
-Add departure message for Plato (Same as escape pod)
-Add Bonus objective for Plato survival
-Add mega bonus objective if all Shivan fighters from Plato Attack are destroyed AND Plato survives.
-Adjust debrief
-Add mission chatter for beginning
-Add Shaitan wing to quickly destroy Taurus.
M1-06 – Paving the Way
-Add Bonus if one Shivan bomber is destroyed and mission success
-Add Bonus if both Shaitans are destroyed
M1-07 – Pandora’s Box
-Add Bonus if rest of Alpha wing survive the mission (Debrief added)
-Add Bonus if remaining cargo is destroyed once scanned (Debrief added)
-Add random self-destruct sequence for cargo using one argument-based event, and removal of separate events.
-Add Bonus objective if first wave of Scorpions are destroyed. Added longer interval between waves.
==Insert Chapter 1 Loop, 3x Missions==
Chapter 1 Loop: Aboard GTI Krios in Ikeya system
M1-loop-01 - The Door
Flying Modified Angel class with 2nd seat for Electronic Warfare Officer. Player discovers new jumpnode the Shivans are arriving through in Ikeya, as well as identifies new ship classes.
M1-loop-02 - Clouded Vision
Still piloting Angel class, player recons and scans enemy ships within atmosphere of gas giant, and makes an unsettling discovery
M1-loop-03 - Heist Under Fire
Terran fleet attempts to intercept Shivan fleet before it leaves Ikeya for Ribos. At the same time, player supports cargo recovery from a depot near the node while the Shivans are occupied. Cargo in question includes Shivan shield units which are later modified for Terran use and are escorted in M1-08.
M1-08 – The Hammer and the Anvil
-Add docking orders for Andromeda and Omega wing to dock with station (current is to depart)
-Add Bonus objective if all 4 of these ships make it (Debrief added)
M1-09 – The Darkness and the Light
-Add Mega Bonus if all 4 freighters are destroyed.
M1-10 – First Strike
-Add objective to destroy Taranis Coms to prevent reinforcements
-Add either transports or multiple strike wings jump in when Taranis is near jump node, and Comms not destroyed. The arrival of one or the other is dictated by Is-Previous, as indicated in briefing if Taranis is resupplying (transports) or mounting an offensive (strike wings). If transports dock, Taranis is at full heath and all turrets repaired, and can escape. If strike wings arrive, they are Ace pilots and provide extra cover for the Taranis until it escapes.
M2-01 – Aftermath
-Add secondary objective for all Iota transports to survive (currently only one has to survive for primary)
-Add Bonus objective if all transports survive
-Add mega bonus if GTFr Nelson survives
-Add jumpnode as convoy's ultimate destination
-Added 2 HoL cruisers + escort arriving before Pinnacle does, posing as ships from the Pinnacle's support fleet.
M2-02 – The Big Bang
-Disable Asimov
-Bring in 2 Elysiums to repair the science cruiser’s engines after the battle is over. Asimov withdraws when repaired.
-Add more Shivans
-Add escape pods if both recover transports are destroyed before docking, and if engine repair is foiled as well.
M2-03 - La Ruota della Fortuna
-Changed it so HoL cruiser is still intact when mission begins, but is destroyed almost immediately
-Added 2 Shivan cruisers attacking HoL
-Added Shivan bomber waves attacking Galatea
-Added HoL cargo to destroy after mission, as well as 2 Terran units among them for plot intrigue and capture.
M02-04 – Where Eagles Dare
-Delay end of mission until after Kappa wing freighters have departed with their cargo.
-Add orders to escort Kappa
-Add enemy wings to harass Kappa
-Added another freighter wing along with Kappa
-Add orders for Kappa wing transports to depart when they have captured their cargo unit.
-Added terran cargo among HoL cargo for further plot intrigue and capture.
-Added Terran pirates departing as mission opens, for further plot intrigue.
Chapter 2 Loop======
Flying from PVD Duamutef in Antares, infiltrating and disrupting HoL activities. Terran cargo and Terran pirates involve GTI with Vasudan directorate to figure out what's going on.
Loop2-M01 - Intercept, capture and impersonate HoL ships to reach an HoL meeting.
Loop2-M02 - Continued from M01. Scan HoL ships at meeting, as well as Pirate ships delivering cargo
M02-08 - Playing Judas
-Add more cargo so freighters are full when departing
-Have Alpha 1 scan Lucifer subsystems, including reactors.
-Have Manticore wing re-spawn
-Adjust position of sentries so they don't get caught by Lucifer arrival.
M02-09 - Evangelist
-Have more cruisers involved in the engagement for both sides, since Eva is supposed to be leading a fleet.
M02-10 - Doomsday
-Expand the number of forces attacking the Galatea from the get-go, since the Red-Alert briefing indicates that she looks sure to be lost, but aside from being disabled, its hull is actually pretty good when you get there.
Chapter 3 Loop: Aboard GTD Soyokaze?
Player flies captured Shivan craft in attempt to destroy Lucifer
That's all for the moment. I'll hopefully add more as I progress through the campaign.
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I would suggest adding Fury AI to the campaign (to every campaign, really, it makes the game so much better), and altering the SSLBeam to look like an LRed.
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I'm going off what I've heard from others here:
I've heard it said that the in game tech reports misrepresent the Prometheus vs. the Avenger cannon. They said in actuality that the Avenger gives higher damage despite the description on the weapon select screen.
I'm not saying the Prom. should be better in EVERY respect than the Avenger, but perhaps the Prom should get a buff.
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I would suggest that the Avenger get its shield damage cut in half or thereabouts, because the fluff says it's supposed to be of only marginal effectiveness against shields.
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Changing weapon values and Fury AI could negatively affect balance, and potentially add significant workload to compensate. That said, I may give it a try.
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Have you consider some new classes of ships? Something to reflect warships from previous generations of warship design, or terran-vasudan war era ships? That's what I sorely missed when I play first Freespace after rethinking that matter. For example we still have Orions, Fenrises, Typhons and Atens in FS2, 32 years after the Great War so most of GTA warships from GW are probably relatively new designs. There are a lot of niches between classes of ships.
I was thinking about something like that with Col.Hornet. We called it Great War: Reimagined and we wanted to include some old classes like Zagreus as Unification War-era destroyer slowly phased out from service by Orion and some other classes.
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If older classes of ships were to be added to this project, they would have to be background ships. Also, the only ones I know about would be from the Unification War mod.
BTW, update adding in M02-08 through 10.
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Changing weapon values and Fury AI could negatively affect balance, and potentially add significant workload to compensate. That said, I may give it a try.
I was suggesting it to get gameplay to accurately reflect game text/plot.
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M02-09 - Evangelist
-Have more cruisers involved in the engagement for both sides, since Eva is supposed to be leading a fleet.
That's avery labour intensive task as of the five FS1-era cruiser types only the terran ones make good combatants before extensive maneuvers are planned into this - and that is even before you consider the poor hp count on what is labeled "Main Turret" for each in the retail.pofs (and their turrets overall)
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Although I haven't settled on it, I have considered Betrayal's suggestion of additional ship classes and have identified 3 that look FS1-era-ish. The first is Trashman's Aten MK2 (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/GVC_Aten_Mk2). It could be a beefier cousin of the Aten, perhaps in the Leviathan class with enough speed to make it a threat. I would need to change the name though. The other two would be more legacy ships. One is the Henderson (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/GTD_Henderson), which is either a destroyer or a dreadnought. Anyway, it looks like an older class to me. The other is the Morana (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/GTCv_Morana) class corvette. I could easily reskin it with Orion blue & window lights. The engine stock is a bit un-freespacy, but as it is an older design, elements like this can be overlooked. I considered the Calypso (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/GTCv_Calypso), but I don't like those weird fins on the ventral. Also, th engine stocks look weird. The Reliant (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/TD_Reliant) and Constellation (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/TCa_Constellation) designs are established in Unification War (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/The_Unification_War) as pre-FS1, but I think that they would be too old to still be in service. I know the Faustus dates back to that era, but UT says that it was state of the art when it was introduced.
Again, if I chose to include new ships, they would need to be in heavily-modified missions, such as the proposed Eva fleet-on-fleet engagement, or as background pieces such as in M1-08, near the Arcadia.
Edit: Sorry, I meant the Sagittarius (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/TCa_Sagittarius), not the Constellation.
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I know that double-posting is considered somewhat of a faux-pas, but since this is MY thread, I feel justified.
I am considering the possibility of inserting loops with the campaign. I'm thinking of doing one per chapter. The first would start just after "Pandora's Box" and include missions investigating where the Shivans are coming in from, make the first discovery of the Eva, and the capture of the first shivan shield units. I'm thinking it will involve using the Angel scout fighter during recon missions, and since it's after the scanning of the cargo in Pandora's Box, you're able to target the Shivans, and you get the Avenger. You would also be stationed on either the Kiros or the Soyokaze during this loop.
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Hmmm... Aten mk.2 is quite old and low poly. What about using Neith (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=92716.msg1833055#msg1833055) instead? It has similar turret layout, but it's way cooler than Aten Mk.2. BW did a really outstanding job with this.
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Thanks, but Blowfish deserves most of the credit for building an outstanding model.
Trivial Psychic: I like the loops idea, as long as you can get the voice acting to line up, and given that you're off ship, that shouldn't be to tricky. If you decide you definitely need new, era-appropriate ships (and personally, I'd only introduce things like that if they were specifically called for by a given mission) keep an eye on the FL forum, or PM me and I'll show you what I'm working on. There are a couple of ships being textured now that might fit your era.
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I've given the other two loops some thought. The chapter two loop would involve the player being briefly assigned to the PVD Pinnacle to eliminate HOL activity in a system (which one I haven't decided on yet). The VPE has been destroying HOL cargo depots but for some reason they keep getting resupplied. Then a they caught a break when they captured a freighter and its captain caved. It seems that while some join the HOL to worship the Shivans, others (him included) just hate Terrans. Then he found out that the HOL brass were working WITH Terrans and he saw them as hypocrites, so he decided to roll on them. Using captured HOL fighters and the freighter, you try to track down where the supplies are coming from. It turns out that Terran mercenaries are being used as intermediaries to disguise the fact that a few high-placed VPE government and military officials are actually supporting the HOL. The exposure of these traitors forces them on the run and this leads the official defection of the Ptah to the HOL. The mercenaries are captured but GTI snaps them up. I was also hoping to include hints that the Hades group were using them to try to get some intel on HOL, possibly Shivan-related.
The chapter 3 loop could include a secret commando-style attempt to destroy the Lucifer. I was thinking that SpecOps uses the freighter they captured from the cutscene loaded with explosives to dock with the Lucifer and blow up to somehow disrupt its shields. Obviously the plan is unsuccessful.
My choice of the Aten Mk2 is because it looks much less FS2 than some other designs I've seen, and I just didn't feel like using the Mekhet design.
As for voice acting, I've been stealing audio files from other missions, but I can't always find what I want, and debriefings are a total wright-off. I'm still keeping the original debriefings, but my added bonus objective stuff is just gonna have to be sim-speech... unless this gets enough positive attention to warrant a voice acting drive, but something like that isn't even on the radar yet. This is just me fiddling with some existing missions, and taking input from the community.
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So I was recently tinkering with Aftermath, and found that it may have been possible in retail to save the Nelson. Apparently no-one unticked the player orders for it, so as soon as it arrives, you should only need to order it to depart and it won't be destroyed. That said, I plan on making the player work for the bonus and have removed the player orders for the Nelson. However, in the original mission, the player is prevented from saving it by destroying the attacking fighters, by ensuring that it jumps in too far out to take them out in time, by having its arrival location listed as in front of Alpha 1, so no matter how far you fly out ahead, you won't get there in time. I plan on balancing this by keying its position from Iota 1. The only problem will be if Iota 1 is destroyed first. Then there won't be an arrival anchor. I could try to set up a string-variable that changes as each ship is lost. Anyway, I only see that becoming a problem if the player is either really unskilled, or is playing on high-difficulty, to have Iota 1 lost that early on.
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Actually, I am a bit puzzled here. Aren't the Manticores chasing the Nelson actually the first enemies to be seen in that mission? If this is true, then how Iota 1 could be even destroyed in the first place? (okay, the player could go mad or just test the mission pretty hard)
And some questions about others:
M1-01: perhaps adding a bomber or any heavier fighter to make it a bit more challenging (and logical, several of those paper fighters against a cruiser?)... Or perhaps just use the Eve of Destruction Redux - it's somewhere in the Mission Simulator.
M1-05: I've always approached the mission with a Valkyrie, fitted with Fury missiles. It is somewhat reliable, but the player needs to focus on a single Shivan fighter/bomber for a few minutes when, thanks to the AI, his wingmen are destroyed by them. Some strange stuff here: four enemy fighters roll over a vasudan attack force with ease, Plato has some very important stuff aboard... no, four fighters guarding a paper-thin armored transport absolutely can protect it from the new, unknown aliens (after fighting a vasudan attack unit) without any support. I am suggesting giving the player a possibility of calling in two fighters, teaching wingmen how to take evasive actions and perhaps forcing Shivan fighters to stay after Plato departed until one of the sides is eliminated. Killing one with the weaponry available is already a bit of a pain, not mentioning four.
M1-06: same thing here: should the bombers depart right away after Galatea jumps out?
M1-08: I attempted to save Andromeda and its accompanying vessels several times - if I recall correctly, I had to abandon the freighters right at the beginning to get there in time, which means mostly counting on luck with the containers... Perhaps moving their arrival a bit closer so the player actually has some chances to reach them in time without abandoning the cargo for too long?
Note that these are only suggestions.
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You might be right about Iota. I never checked on that.
I might take a look at the Redux mission 01 and see what its got.
I was just recently playing through my updates to M04 and agreed that without the damage hacks it takes too long for the Shivans to take out the Taurus, so I've added another wing of 4 Shaitans that jump in after Virgo is destroyed and use a good-secondary-time event for them to fire volleys of Shivan Trebuchets on the Taurus. That seems to work to take her down quickly enough. Also, the Plato can now escape, though it may be a bit too easy for that now, so I might add another fighter to harass either the Plato some more, or the player so they can't interfere with the bombers. I did decide that there's too much uncomfortable silence at the beginning of that mission, and right after the first Vasudan wave is down, so I've added some fluff messages.
For M08, I have managed to save the Andromeda and its transports by running towards them as soon as they arrive. In the existing mission, if they survive, the Andromeda warps out at the end of its waypoints but runs into the station as it completes its warp acceleration. The Isis just loiter around the last waypoint, bumping into one another, though they're supposed to jump out when they reach it... I guess they don't as far as the game is concerned.
I've also begun work on the first loop mission. So far, I am running into a slight problem with multi-docking. I've got freighters jumping in through an uncharted jumpnode, fully loaded with cargo. I'd like them to drop all the cargo at once, and attempted to use the Jettison-cargo-delay, but they scrape against the ship as they detach. I've tried to tell it to undock from one and jettison the others at the same time, but its not working out. I've tried adding a delay, but I haven't tested it out yet.
FYI, it will be a 3-mission loop.
Loop1-1 - In Ikeya, player finds Shivan ships arriving form the same spot, which is discovered to be a jumpnode that sensors weren't able to detect. Freighters w/cargo, 2x Cain, 1x Lilith, and 1x Demon are seen entering the system.
Loop1-2 - Player gets scans of these ships in the atmosphere of a Gas Giant.
Loop1-3 - Player provides escort during the heist of cargo units carrying Shivan shields.
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Although I haven't settled on it, I have considered Betrayal's suggestion of additional ship classes and have identified 3 that look FS1-era-ish. The first is Trashman's Aten MK2 (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/GVC_Aten_Mk2). It could be a beefier cousin of the Aten, perhaps in the Leviathan class with enough speed to make it a threat. I would need to change the name though. The other two would be more legacy ships. One is the Henderson (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/GTD_Henderson), which is either a destroyer or a dreadnought. Anyway, it looks like an older class to me. The other is the Morana (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/GTCv_Morana) class corvette. I could easily reskin it with Orion blue & window lights. The engine stock is a bit un-freespacy, but as it is an older design, elements like this can be overlooked. I considered the Calypso (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/GTCv_Calypso), but I don't like those weird fins on the ventral. Also, th engine stocks look weird. The Reliant (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/TD_Reliant) and Constellation (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/TCa_Constellation) designs are established in Unification War (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/The_Unification_War) as pre-FS1, but I think that they would be too old to still be in service. I know the Faustus dates back to that era, but UT says that it was state of the art when it was introduced.
Again, if I chose to include new ships, they would need to be in heavily-modified missions, such as the proposed Eva fleet-on-fleet engagement, or as background pieces such as in M1-08, near the Arcadia.
Edit: Sorry, I meant the Sagittarius (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/TCa_Sagittarius), not the Constellation.
You just reminded me I have this on my HDD:
(https://s14.postimg.org/ipfrqx9bh/pocket_destroyer3.jpg) (https://postimg.org/image/ipfrqx9bh/)
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Interesting. Is that a corvette class? Does it have a fighterbay?
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Update: First mission of Loop 1 nearly done. Just working on some polish
BTW, would people prefer that I release each chapter separately at first, or wait until I've re done the entire campaign?
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Interesting. Is that a corvette class? Does it have a fighterbay?
Half the size of an Orion. About 1km long.
And it does have fighterbays - 3 small ones (one bottom, two on one side).
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Update: First mission of Loop 1 nearly done. Just working on some polish
BTW, would people prefer that I release each chapter separately at first, or wait until I've re done the entire campaign?
Go with separate acts, for me. Less testing at once, and more frequent releases.
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Here's the (now christened) GD Auriga if you want it
https://www.mediafire.com/?l82d1h4idt5kjh9
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Looks interesting. I'm not sure if I'm gonna be using it though.
I've recently decided to add in a few more fighters. I've decided to follow suit with the FS2 campaign, and have a new fighter become available if you complete the loop. This means that even if I release chapter by chapter, I will have to merge as I go so the new fighter stays with you. Instead of giving earlier access to later fighters, or introduce ones from Silent Threat, I've decided that the player will get access to some limited production fighters. For example, if an ace pilot nowadays was given a YF-23 to fly.
I'm currently adjusting the first loop mission to use the new cargo dump sexp (thanks Goob). I still need to test that all of my failure contingencies are working properly.
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Loop1 Mission 2 is mostly done, though I still have to play-test my failure contingencies and add debriefings. I've also been having trouble with a fancy trick I was trying to pull at the end. The player is launched and recovered from a Sagittarius class light carrier and as the player approaches the fighterbay, the screen briefly fades to black, the carrier is relocated, the player's craft is changed to that of the light carrier, any damage the carrier had is transferred to the player's ship, it is moved to the same course and speed that the carrier had, then the original carrier is removed entirely, the player's ship is put under AI control, and follows the same waypoint, then the view is supposed to to external so the player can see their own ship as the carrier, then the screen fades back in, then a message is played saying that the player's fighter is aboard and they are jumping out, then I use force-jump to end the mission. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get the view that I want, and the ship never warps. It tells me that its warping out, but it just sits there plugging along on its original course. Is there something to do with it not being a player ship that is preventing it from accelerating to capital-class warping speeds? Because it is forced as a player ship, is the game expecting that warpout speed is to be within the ship's standard engine speed, in this case 30 m/s, but since it's too slow it will never reach warpout speed?
Anyway, I'm also laying the groundwork for Loop1 mission 3, in which a large-scale fleet-on-fleet action takes place some distance away from the player, who is performing a recovery of Shivan cargo while they are distracted.
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Well, I found away around my player-becomes-carrier warping problem. I just attached a camera to the carrier and relocated the player outside the combat zone, then tell the carrier to warp out and end the mission once it does.
I was having a bit of trouble with the eyepoints on the carrier however. I was surprised that if I added an eyepoint to the main hull in PCS2, that the set-camera-host sexp wouldn't use it when defaulting to the hull. It seems to ignore that kind of eyepoint and instead chose a view from within the hull. I had to attach it to a turret, which for some reason looked backwards when the eyepoint was looking forwards. Switching the normal to face backwards overcame that problem, but I was surprised that it wasn't facing in the direction of the normal.
Edit:
Well, that didn't go quite as planned. Despite the fact that I had the eyepoint slaved to a single part turret, the fact that that turret was actively tracking target prior to the jump-out meant that its eyepoint changed direction, and my view was straight down. I'm gonna try to lock that turret and see if it does anything.
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Loop1 Mission 2 is mostly done, though I still have to play-test my failure contingencies and add debriefings. I've also been having trouble with a fancy trick I was trying to pull at the end. The player is launched and recovered from a Sagittarius class light carrier and as the player approaches the fighterbay, the screen briefly fades to black, the carrier is relocated, the player's craft is changed to that of the light carrier, any damage the carrier had is transferred to the player's ship, it is moved to the same course and speed that the carrier had, then the original carrier is removed entirely, the player's ship is put under AI control, and follows the same waypoint, then the view is supposed to to external so the player can see their own ship as the carrier, then the screen fades back in, then a message is played saying that the player's fighter is aboard and they are jumping out, then I use force-jump to end the mission.
Why are you even doing that?
What's the point of switching to the carrier when the mission ends immediately?
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Yeah, I don't get it...why bother with all this model and eyepoint switching when you could just use a cinematic camera?
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Within the context of the mission, fighter class jumpdrives don't work within the planet's atmosphere, hence the carrier to drop off and pick up.
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Then why would player have the camera attached to the carrier? Why not just set up an event that detects if the player is close enough to the fighterbay and if he is, throws the player's fighter somewhere far away, places the AI with play-dead orders in comand of the fighter, forces the camera out in the space, near the carrier and facing it? Then the carrier departs, and end-mission.
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I do throw the player to another spot, but given the fact that it takes place in an atmosphere... AKA, nebula, there is a limited visual range. The ship could easily get out of that range before the jump is complete.
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With SEXPs from "Camera" (or "Cutscenes" IIRC) section you can move the camera around independently from player's vessel. With them you could make the camera follow the carrier, move sideways to it, make it go spiral around the ship... Anything you want, basically. BP cutscenes, the ending of Delenda Est, any in-mission "highlights" (WiH "The Darkest Hour") are the example. I'd say you just need a single position with camera sitting there and centering on the carrier or a single line, parallel to the carrier's departure path, on which the camera would move at certain speed while centering the view on the vessel.
When I played around with FRED I actually made a single mission, which began with a single cutscene segment with a few transitions, so I'm not that much of a beginner with it.
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I've created a few new cap-ship weapons to make fleet engagements a bit more interesting. All sides have been given some swarm versions of turret weapons. I've got 8 and 4-shot swarm versions of the Shivan Megafunk, as well as a 4-shot of the standard turret weapon, and a 6-shot light turret for anti-fighter. I've also given the Terrans a 6-shot huge and 3-shot standard, and for the Vasudans a 4-shot huge and a 5-shot standard. I've also created a couple of new turret missiles. A quad-swarm heavy fusion mortar for the terrans, and for the Shivans a cluster bomb that splits into 4 phoenix V sized missiles with medium explosive charges.
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You should use burst instead of swarm, probably - really easy change, better on performance.
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What are the advantages of Burst over Swarm?
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What are the advantages of Burst over Swarm?
Burst weapons fire few projectiles with very short delay between each one, and independent from overall cooldown. They are mostly good at dealing lots of damage to single target. Swarm fires multiple projectiles in the same time, so with FOF set, you can create shotgun-like turret with area on effect impact.
Without FOF, swarm turrets generate stacked projectiles, if used on the same firepoint. It may look a little bit off, while burst may give you similar damage output with balanced look. Both features are cool, but burst looks better for me.
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The engine has a limit on the number of swarm weapons that can be fired per frame. Burst avoids that.
More importantly, burst turrets will adjust their aim to track during the burst. Swarm will fire everything in a straight line.
-
So, burst is probably better for anti-fighter weapons.
-
For both actually. Exile has burst plasma cannons used by Earth faction, and they are cool! Burst turrets works well and looks cool as anti-cap weapon anyway.
-
So, I'm still working on this. My 3 mission loop is pretty much done, and now I've got some ideas for changing some of the earlier missions. I've also been making use of unused mission chatter wav files and some messages that were actually in the event editor, but not used in any events. I've added a cruiser acting as a base for the fighters in mission 2, a bit more elaborate cargo recovery to mission 3, as well as give the Omega transport's suspect activities a bit more focus, and for mission 4, I've got a pair of Vasudan cruisers arrive to recover the Rasputin, prompting Terran warships to respond. I've made every attempt to retain the original dialogue for briefings, in mission, and in debriefings, so that limits how much I can overhaul a mission.
So, still plugging away.
Looking forward to an eventual Chapter 1 release.
-
Double Post.
I've strung the first chapter into a mini-campaign, complete with my first attempt at a loop integration, but I've still got a few changes and tests to run.
-
So I tried loading up the first chapter through the campaign screen, and as it begins to load the first mission (1st training) and it quickly dies with the following error message:
Error: Argument count is illegal.
In sexpression: ( cond )
(Error appears to be: cond)
File: missionparse.cpp
Line: 5762
ntdll.dll! ZwWaitForSingleObject + 10 bytes
KERNELBASE.dll! WaitForSingleObjectEx + 156 bytes
fs2_open_3_8_0_RC1_x64_SSE2-FASTDBG.exe! <no symbol>
kernel32.dll! BaseThreadInitThunk + 13 bytes
ntdll.dll! RtlUserThreadStart + 33 bytes
-
Where have you got "cond" in the mission file? Pretty sure that's not a valid sexp.
-
I loaded up the mission in text editor and did a search for "cond" but it only came up as part of "secondary" with no additional instances.
-
Could you post the sexp with secondary in it? Or the whole mission if possible.
-
While I was out later today, it hit me that perhaps it wasn't complaining about the mission file, but rather the campaign file, and sure enough, there is the use of "comp" for every mission in the line. Oddly enough, when I use the supplied port campaign file, it gives no complaints. I even copied pretty much everything line by line for the first missions and it still gives the error. I may have to troubleshoot a few more approaches and see how I can get around this.
EDIT:
Well, troubleshooting attempt No.1 failed. I tried a more straightforward adjustment of a fresh copy of the Port's campaign file, just adding in the loop. It seems that the campaign editor erases a lot of the commented lines designed to activate the higher res mainhalls when later FSO builds are used. It also seems to randomly add loop flags and change position of the repeat lines prompting error messages. Has anyone else encountered this?
My next troubleshoot attempt is to create a new campaign file from scratch.
-
While I was out later today, it hit me that perhaps it wasn't complaining about the mission file, but rather the campaign file, and sure enough, there is the use of "comp" for every mission in the line. Oddly enough, when I use the supplied port campaign file, it gives no complaints. I even copied pretty much everything line by line for the first missions and it still gives the error. I may have to troubleshoot a few more approaches and see how I can get around this.
EDIT:
Well, troubleshooting attempt No.1 failed. I tried a more straightforward adjustment of a fresh copy of the Port's campaign file, just adding in the loop. It seems that the campaign editor erases a lot of the commented lines designed to activate the higher res mainhalls when later FSO builds are used. It also seems to randomly add loop flags and change position of the repeat lines prompting error messages. Has anyone else encountered this?
My next troubleshoot attempt is to create a new campaign file from scratch.
Remove version-specific comments before you attempt editing it and see if it still screws up.
-
Creating a new campaign file from scratch seems to have resolved the issue. I'm currently doing a play-though of the first chapter and hope to have a release soon. Given that I'm on vacation this week, it could be out QUITE soon.
-
Well, I'm pretty much ready for Chapter 1 release, though this being my first release of anything other than a single mission, if anyone encounters anything buggy I'd appreciate some feedback.
Now, as I've never released anything like this, where does one go to get hosting. My zip file is 80 MB.
-
Send me your file, I'll gladly host it for you.
-
Thanks. I made a few more adjustments tonight, so I'll give it another play-through tomorrow to see that everything is where I want it.
Do I include it as an IM attachment or something?
-
There's all kinds of temporary file hosting places... Or use Dropbox or something.
-
Well, I uploaded CH1 to Freespace Files, but as it was my first upload, I mistakenly uploaded it to the "Project - Campaigns - TC" root folder, as opposed to choosing the "FreeSpace Port" or "FS1 Campaigns" sub-folders of "Campaigns" where something like this should have gone. Oops.
The Great War - Augmented - Chapter 1 (https://sectorgame.com/fsfiles/uploads/Projects%20-%20Campaigns%20-%20TCs/FSP-TGW-Augmented-CH1-R1.rar)
Criticisms welcome.
Now, onward to Chapter 2!
-
I'm not sure how, but I got a "this campaign is over" after Small Deadly Space. I don't think that's intended.
Speaking of, the Poseidon freighters in that mission act kinda... weird.
-
I'm not sure how, but I got a "this campaign is over" after Small Deadly Space. I don't think that's intended.
Me too. Also, it seems like the Core VP file is corrupted or something.
-
You mean it dumped you to the mainhall and wouldn't proceed to any later missions?
What kind of odd behavior for the freighters are you referring to? The only odd thing I recall was that they sorta scatter as they jump out, which I think is a side effect of wing behavior and larger ships.
-
You mean it dumped you to the mainhall and wouldn't proceed to any later missions?
What kind of odd behavior for the freighters are you referring to? The only odd thing I recall was that they sorta scatter as they jump out, which I think is a side effect of wing behavior and larger ships.
The campaign file in the download only goes to level 5 (sm1-03a) after which the game would do that. For reference:
$Name: FreeSpace: Augmented
$Type: single
+Description:
XSTR("The Original FreeSpace campaign, converted to the FreeSpace 2 engine by the FreeSpace Port team, featuring adjustments and additions by The Trivial Psychic", -1)
$end_multi_text
$Flags: 1
+Starting Ships: ( "GTF Apollo" )
+Starting Weapons: ( "ML-16 Laser" "Disruptor" "MX-50" "Fury" )
$Mission: btm-01.fs2
+Flags: 0
+Main Hall: Galatea B
+Debriefing Persona Index: 1
+Formula: ( cond
(
( is-previous-goal-true
"btm-01.fs2"
"Flight Training"
)
( next-mission "btm-02.fs2" )
)
( ( true ) ( next-mission "btm-01.fs2" ) )
)
+Level: 0
+Position: 0
$Mission: btm-02.fs2
+Flags: 0
+Main Hall: Galatea B
+Debriefing Persona Index: 1
+Formula: ( cond
(
( is-previous-goal-true
"btm-02.fs2"
"Combat Training"
)
( next-mission "btm-03.fs2" )
)
( ( true ) ( next-mission "btm-02.fs2" ) )
)
+Level: 1
+Position: 0
$Mission: btm-03.fs2
+Flags: 0
+Main Hall: Galatea B
+Debriefing Persona Index: 1
+Formula: ( cond
(
( is-previous-goal-true
"btm-03.fs2"
"Dogfight Training"
)
( next-mission "sm1-01a.fs2" )
)
( ( true ) ( next-mission "btm-03.fs2" ) )
)
+Level: 2
+Position: 0
$Mission: sm1-01a.fs2
+Flags: 0
+Main Hall: Galatea B
+Debriefing Persona Index: 1
+Formula: ( cond
(
( is-previous-goal-true
"sm1-01a.fs2"
"Protect the Orff"
)
( next-mission "sm1-02a.fs2" )
)
( ( true ) ( next-mission "sm1-01a.fs2" ) )
)
+Level: 3
+Position: 0
$Mission: sm1-02a.fs2
+Flags: 0
+Main Hall: Galatea B
+Debriefing Persona Index: 1
+Formula: ( cond
(
( is-previous-event-true
"sm1-02a.fs2"
"Stop dicking around"
)
( next-mission "sm1-03a.fs2" )
)
)
+Level: 4
+Position: 0
$Mission: sm1-03a.fs2
+Flags: 0
+Main Hall:
+Level: 5
+Position: 0
#End
I am currently looking into the Iotas/Poseidons: their change to waypoints and their departure does not trigger unless they dock with very specific containers, despite the fact that you defined alternative containers for them to dock.
If you disband the wing and give them individual orders the roation ballett should go away too - just use a when-argument to check if they docked one their containters.
-
I guess I need to add some "or" alternatives to the waypoint cues. As for the campaign file, I'll take a look on my end. I guess that's what I get for trying to post my first campaign (kinda) that late at night. I was quite tired at the time.
-
So in one of the CH2 missions I'm working on, I have a couple of ships that use the hide-ship-name flag combined with the use of a callsign, then sexps to reverse these so that the ship appears to have one name, but once a certain trigger has occurred, it will switch to another name. Unfortunately, the hidden ship name and callsign trick doesn't prevent the ship from appearing with its true name on an escort list, as well as showing the true name for friendly ships whose orders pertain to the ship in question. For example, if the ship is named Quack and I use the hide name+callsign trick to make the player think its name is Woof, if I have friendly ships ordered to guard it, the listed orders will say "guard Quack". I thought there might be an option to hide a ship's orders from the player, but I couldn't find one. I've performed a few hacks to avoid these two issues, but I'd like to know if there is any way (outside of scripting) to do this?
-
So in one of the CH2 missions I'm working on, I have a couple of ships that use the hide-ship-name flag combined with the use of a callsign, then sexps to reverse these so that the ship appears to have one name, but once a certain trigger has occurred, it will switch to another name. Unfortunately, the hidden ship name and callsign trick doesn't prevent the ship from appearing with its true name on an escort list, as well as showing the true name for friendly ships whose orders pertain to the ship in question. For example, if the ship is named Quack and I use the hide name+callsign trick to make the player think its name is Woof, if I have friendly ships ordered to guard it, the listed orders will say "guard Quack". I thought there might be an option to hide a ship's orders from the player, but I couldn't find one. I've performed a few hacks to avoid these two issues, but I'd like to know if there is any way (outside of scripting) to do this?
Do you need to use the "ai-guard" order? - If it is just that they will stay with the ship you can set the escort fighters on a "ai-waypoints"-order (not "ai-waypoints-once") and have the waypoints move with the ship.
Like this:
$Formula: ( every-time
( is-event-incomplete
"begin deathroll vasa"
)
( set-object-position
"Drone 1:1"
( - ( get-object-x "Vasa" ) 180 )
( + ( get-object-y "Vasa" ) 425 )
( + ( get-object-z "Vasa" ) 900 )
)
( set-object-position
"Drone 1:2"
( - ( get-object-x "Vasa" ) 180 )
( - ( get-object-y "Vasa" ) 75 )
( + ( get-object-z "Vasa" ) 850 )
)
( set-object-position
"Drone 2:1"
( - ( get-object-x "Vasa" ) 70 )
( + ( get-object-y "Vasa" ) 500 )
( + ( get-object-z "Vasa" ) 900 )
)
( set-object-position
"Drone 2:2"
( - ( get-object-x "Vasa" ) 70 )
( + ( get-object-y "Vasa" ) 0 )
( + ( get-object-z "Vasa" ) 850 )
)
( set-object-position
"Drone 3:1"
( - ( get-object-x "Vasa" ) 525 )
( - ( get-object-y "Vasa" ) 275 )
( + ( get-object-z "Vasa" ) 900 )
)
( set-object-position
"Drone 3:2"
( - ( get-object-x "Vasa" ) 15 )
( - ( get-object-y "Vasa" ) 75 )
( + ( get-object-z "Vasa" ) 850 )
)
( set-object-position
"Drone 4:1"
( - ( get-object-x "Vasa" ) 525 )
( - ( get-object-y "Vasa" ) 375 )
( + ( get-object-z "Vasa" ) 900 )
)
( set-object-position
"Drone 4:2"
( - ( get-object-x "Vasa" ) 120 )
( - ( get-object-y "Vasa" ) 150 )
( + ( get-object-z "Vasa" ) 850 )
)
)
+Name: keep drone wps at position
+Repeat Count: 1
+Interval: 1Note: this example has a slight complication from other events in the mission. But if you keep your escort scenario simple it should work.
EDIT: Note 2: Unless it has changed in the last three years, fighters reset their waypoints everytime they switch to dynamic orders (e.g. are shot at) so you might want to keep the waypoints simple.
-
IIRC, you'll need a script, but it's trivial:
script-eval-block
mn.Ships['Quack']
.Name = 'Woof'
The game will get... weird about SEXPs referring to such a ship, so I recommend using when-argument:
when
is-destroyed-delay Quack 0
send-message
#Command
High
Quack dead
probably won't work, but
when-argument
any-of Quack Woof
is-destroyed-delay <argument> 0
send-message
#Command
High
Quack dead
should.
-
So I'm pretty much ready for R1.1 release, and this time I was intending to create a more proper release thread including screenshots. Unfortunately, my attempts to create screenshots are not working. I tap the PrtScn button, and the screen briefly jumps, but nothing appears in the root directory, nor does hitting the paste button in Paint do the trick either. What am I missing?
-
The SCP has shifted the screenshot directory - I had the same reaction when I last tried taking screenshots. It's in... I'm not in front of my computer atm, but it's in your user directory, under appdata or something - do a search for screen* and you'll find them.
-
%appdata% -> HardLightProductions -> FreespaceOpen
I'm not sure how, but I did find a way to revert the screenshot directory back into Freespace root folder. I think it's somehow related to "Store config in portable location" flag in the launcher.
-
Thanks. That did the trick. :)
-
Well, screenshots are working, but in attempting to create the checksums suggested in the Campaign Pre-Release Checklist Thread (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=68817.0), the debug build doesn't generate the fs2_open.log file. I'm guessing that the fast debug builds have that feature turned off. Do I need to follow the MD5 checksum process, or is there a way to reactivate the debug checksum generator?
-
Again, the log file probably is being generated, but like the screenshots, it has moved to appdata.
-
Thanks again. To anyone with this similar problem, be aware that it stores the error log file in the data subfolder, and not in the root folder.
I've released the first chapter (hopefully a functional version this time) in its own thread, HERE (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=93682.0). Most of the delay since the first release attempt has been due to the fact that I've gone headlong into Chapter 2. I've already got missions 1 through 4 mostly done and I'm on to the second mission of the chapter 2 loop. Be advised that the second loop will be 5 missions long.
Thanks for all your support.
-
First post updated with current status.
So I've been doing some work on a mission involving the Titan class, but a debug build warned me of its lack of MOI, so I imported some from of another model, but now its doing some extremely rapid spinning around on its axis. I'm trying to use the calculation option in PCS2 and hope that works, but I was wondering if anyone knows the best way to get a working MOI.
-
Update:
Loop2 Mission 2 is mostly done. Now well into Mission 3. I've got some pretty funny dialogue I'm using so you should all get a kick out of it when you're playing it.
The auto-generated MOI seemed to have fixed the break-dancing Titan issue. I haven't tried it on any of the other ships that I copied MOI data for, though I haven't played any missions with those ships since I changed them. Time will tell. I've got 2 weeks of vacation coming, so hopefully I'll get some time to do some more serious FREDding, as I have no plans to go anywhere outside the city.
-
Cool that you're using the Titan, though frustrating for me that I forgot to do MoI on at least one of the models. Which one are you using? I can fix it for future DLs.
For your own future reference, PCS2 claims it's not very good at MoI, but it's fine, just autogen it if you ever come across ships without any MoI
-
I'm using the H and R variants. I've included them in the current Ch1 release, though they aren't used in any missions.
-
So I'm on to mission 4 of the ch2 Loop and I've got a group of Losna Heavy fighters that I'd like to fire Phoenix V missiles at a ship, and I tried to use the good-secondary-time sexp, but that missile isn't in the list of weapons available for the sexp. That said, all of the weapons I've created for the mod and beam weapons DO show up, even if they're primaries. What will allow the Phoenix to be available for the good-secondary-time sexp? Will I have to create a special version of the missile to work properly?
-
I believe it only lists secondaries with the "huge" flag, but you should be able to use any weapon if you can tolerate the FRED errors.
-
I tried manually entering in Phoenix V, but not only does FRED give me grief over it, but FSO complains as well. I've had to create a special version of the weapon for the Pirates with the Huge flag. Unfortunately, that mission has proven a bit troublesome in setting its balance properly, so I've decided to temporarily suspend work on that mission and return to modifying the original missions, jumping ahead to M2-5. I've decided to make the HoL ambush of the Galatea a bit more elaborate, but I've run into a bit of an issue with a different sexp and I was hoping for some experienced insight.
I've got a target I want to have destroyed, but not by fighters but by turrets... specifically one turret on a ship. I've tried using the turret-set-target-priorities sexp, and I assume the string entry after "true" is where you list what targets you want the turret to fire on, in order of priority. However, when I put the ship name in this space, FRED complains on mission save (I haven't tried it in mission yet). Am I misunderstanding the purpose of this sexp? Is the data supposed to be entered in a different method somehow? Is it expected to complain but will do as I intend in mission without FSO complaints?
-
Has anyone come up with a way to confirm if a kamikaze ship has successfully rammed its target? I've got a group of ships charging a destroyer and I want the player to get the bonus objective if all of them get destroyed before they ram. I've tried to use an argument event that checks if they get destroyed outside a certain distance but it seems to be triggering all of them regardless.
when-argument
-any-of
--<6 ships>
-and
--is-destroyed-delay
---0
---<argument>
-not
--<
---distance
----<argument>
----<Destroyer Name Classified>
---400
-modify-variable
--ShipDestroyedCount(0)
--+
---ShipDestroyedCount(0)
---1
-invalidate-argument
--<argument>
I also attached a message with to play that includes the variable, but it plays even if the ship is destroyed within the 400 M limit.
-
I think your problem is that when the ship is destroyed, it no longer exists for distance calculations. Have you tried using the damage-caused SEXP? If the ships don't actually shoot at their target the only damage they can cause is via ramming. That said I don't have time to check if damage caused will include kamikaze damage at the moment so it might not work.
-
Does setting a variable work with an Everytime sexp or does that slow down mission run time too much? If not, maybe you can set a variable equal to the distance between the two ships until the kamikaze ship dies, and then use the variable to compare the last distance recorded?
You would probably need individual events for each ship, but it would probably work.
-
You wouldn't even need an every-time for that. A repeating when with a delay of 0 would have the same effect. But yeah, I could see that method working too.
-
Thanks for the ideas, but I have decided that the bonus objective is contingent on the cap-ship in question's hull staying above a certain level. There's a secondary for that as well but its set lower.
-
Just an update. I'm up to "Enter The Dragon" now. My new job doesn't leave me with a lot of good free time to FRED these days. Most of my free time is spent sleeping or getting ready for my next shift, but I digress. I'll be changing the tables for most of the more advanced fighters and bombers, so they can mount the advanced disruptor, and have disabled the "scramble" mode so you can select your own ship. I've always hated the wide spacing of the Ulysses' firepoints, so now I can mount the D-Advanced on the center-line bank of the Valkyrie and land some serious hits on Arjuna 1. I'm also expanding the number of freighters present with "interesting" cargo.
-
End of year update... or nearly anyways.
I'm actually up to "Doomsday" now. I've added a bunch of more content to "Playing Judas", some of which will make the mission much more challenging, but if you achieve a bonus objective from "Enter the Dragon", you get a boost that helps quite a lot. "Evangelist" now has a more staged mission, rather than just the destroy-the-Eva mission it was before. "Doomsday" includes more ships and some sacrifice. With me having the weekend off, I could very well be done with it by the end of the year, but that still leaves going back through the missions to make sure everything works as I remember, make sure all of the is-previous stuff is in place, change messages and other text content to support any changes I've made in later missions, as well as finish work on my loop missions. I'd also like to create some form of in-game custscene to start the chapter off. I was thinking of something depicting the Tombaugh attack. I created a solo mission of this event a long time ago, but that's not quite right for a cutscene.
-
WOW. So, another year gone... and very little real progress to report. Basically, I took a break from working on my own projects to try out some of the other releases that came out, like Inferno: Nostos, Inferno Classic with upgrades ships, the upgraded Sol: A History, as well as SA. Some of these got interrupted by me needing to replace my computer during August. Fortunately, in terms of Freespace, all I lost was a few of my newer pilots and their campaign progress. On the upside, my new computer leaves my old one in the digital dust.
I've recently begun the process of playing through my complete or semi-complete missions to see if I need to change anything. Again, finishing my loop missions looms over me like that fish that got away that keeps showing up to rub my face in it... that got weird. Anyway, to keep myself working on the project, and at the same time putting off finishing the loop, I've begun doing some more modding updates, such as turret sounds, adjusting subsystem strengths, and even adding new models. Some time ago I decided to include the Shivan Armaros corvette, planning to introduce it for Chapter 3, but after playing SAH I decided to include the Tyr as well. I liked the updated model from SAH and its Fenris-style fits with the time. I've decided to make it a fast attack cruiser with turrets that can switch weapon types on the fly, so light, fast pulses to engage fighters, or heavy pulses against warships. It can switch from FighterKillers to Fusion Mortars or Fusion Swarm missiles. It supposedly a new design built only in Sol so far, so that's why you don't see it later in the GTVA timeline. I've also decided to keep the Neith model, which was in the CH1 release but not used in any missions. I've decided that it's a new Spec Ops cruiser, with advanced long-range sensors (as evidenced by the large ventral array), a networked, redundant NAV system to plot fast and precise jump coordinates (since the model has 6 NAV subsystems), and a special turret on the front that can launch a rapid laser-pulse salvo over great range for providing fire support. Again, to explain why you never see these cruisers in the GTVA time-period, I've decided that their ship-yards were destroyed when the Lucifer attacked Vasuda Prime, and restarting development would be too costly, so the 3 or so in service are the only ones of their class. Some of these new ships will only be see in Loop 3... once I get that far. I am also considering trying to use those asteroid environment models used in SAH to make some asteroid missions feel a bit more real. I haven't done anything on that line yet though.
My New Year's resolution is to complete and release the merged Chapter1&2... with a finished Loop. This I vow!
Merry Christmas to all (if you're OK with it), and may next year not suck as much as this past one did (from a global perspective).
-
Looking forward to the next release. More FS1 era stuff! :D
-
:yes:
Wishing you luck in doing the stuff! :D
-
Well, I don't make New Year's resolutions as a rule... and now I know why. I JUST got back into working on this again... like in the past 2 weeks. I've found a few minor bugs, but one weird one. In one mission, freighters jump in with cargo attached, which get dumped immediately upon jumping. The mission used to work fine for this but on newer builds (don't ask me which older builds this worked for, as they'd be a year old by now), but now when the cargo is dumped, although they are visible, they are intangible... in that they are completely untargettable, can't be hit by weapons fire, and barely make contact if rammed. They also appear blue on radar, as if they were still warping. The event has the cargo jettisoned 2 seconds after their freighters arrive, so I adjusted it to 3 seconds. This allowed me to target them, and they weren't blue on radar anymore, but they still couldn't be hit by weapons as before. Not until I changed the delay to 4 seconds did they become vulnerable when I needed them to be. Weird huh?
-
Glad to hear this is still alive. :)
-
So, for the first time I am attempting to use persistent variables. The new FRED differs from what's listed in the Wiki, but I assumed that marking it as "Save On Mission Complete" would save that. Then, I assumed that all I would need to do would be make another variable in the next mission with the same name, and it would carry the same data. This is meant to transfer various ships' hull strengths and engine status between missions. This is because the ships in question jump out before the mission is done, and are not yet present when the next mission begins, and red-alert-carry-status doesn't seem to work in those instances. Should I do anything special with the variables' default values in the second mission?
-
So, for the first time I am attempting to use persistent variables. The new FRED differs from what's listed in the Wiki, but I assumed that marking it as "Save On Mission Complete" would save that. Then, I assumed that all I would need to do would be make another variable in the next mission with the same name, and it would carry the same data. This is meant to transfer various ships' hull strengths and engine status between missions. This is because the ships in question jump out before the mission is done, and are not yet present when the next mission begins, and red-alert-carry-status doesn't seem to work in those instances. Should I do anything special with the variables' default values in the second mission?
It depends on the mission designer who proposed it before.
-
Thanks. Anyone else?
-
So, for the first time I am attempting to use persistent variables. The new FRED differs from what's listed in the Wiki, but I assumed that marking it as "Save On Mission Complete" would save that. Then, I assumed that all I would need to do would be make another variable in the next mission with the same name, and it would carry the same data. This is meant to transfer various ships' hull strengths and engine status between missions. This is because the ships in question jump out before the mission is done, and are not yet present when the next mission begins, and red-alert-carry-status doesn't seem to work in those instances. Should I do anything special with the variables' default values in the second mission?
Looking into WoD you don't need to enter anything special there.
-
BTW, I had some idea regarding one of the FS1 missions, is it OK if I post it here?
-
Post away.
-
I had some idea regarding the mission where you scan the Shivan fleet. It seems like the "go next to the Lucifers docking bay", which ends the mission by having the player exposed has no actual explained reason and numerous people here don't get why Command gave that order. I think the best explination would be that there's a plan to sneak into the Lucifers fighterbay with a number of bombers, evading/disabling the shield by blowing a large hole into Lucys hull. However, Command requires more intel to estimate whether that is feasible.
Following: Command orders Alpha 1 to investigate the docking bay. My idea is that both fighterbays aren't open (like on other ships) but secured with a blast door that only opens when fighters come in/out (Possibly Command is intending to re-use the Dragon in another mission where its goal would be to infiltrate and destroy the blastdoors to pave the way for the attack). Before that Command needs to know whether they are shielded too etc. While going very close to them the Dragon is hit by an EMP blast, disabling the engine and causing other subsystems to fail too - having come too close to entrypoint triggered some special defense mechanism.
For the DB I'd add that the officer says (under the hand) that Vasudan Command had secretly already circulated voluntary lists for a kamikaze attack into the fighterbays; however the Lucifer is a flawless design etc...
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I've been considering using a plotline similar to this for the Chapter 3 loop missions, but I've got to release Chapter 2 first. As for "Playing Judas", the new mission includes a lot more scanning, including subsystem scans of the Lucifer. Let me tell you, trying to scan that thing's subsystems while in motion is quite the feat. Fortunately, if you play things right in the previous mission, you can make it much easier on yourself.
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I've finally got my Loop2-04 to work the way I want it with regards to different outcomes and debriefing stages. It still needs a bit of polish and re-balancing of one fighter class, but I've moved on to the last mission in Loop2. Then I can string them in to the campaign file, maybe make a few more enhancements to the rest of the missions, and then she'll be ready for release.
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Progress :yes: :yes:
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I've figured out a trick to doing vasudan in-game messages. I'm using sim-speech for the message, then using play-sound-from-file and using one of the vasudan speech files included in the original Inferno mod. This allows them to play behind the sim-speech. I haven't figured out a way to use it for briefings though. There is no equivalent for it without sacrificing the sim-speech.
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You could try to make that with Audacity.
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So I need some help with my persistent variables. For "The Evangelist" I've got three terran warships participating in the assault... the corvette Tychon, and cruisers Neptune and Orff. My intent is to save the hull strength and engine strength of the three warships, and then have them jump in some time into the next mission "Doomsday" with these matching specs. The ships may jump out at the end of the mission when the Eva objective is accomplished, or earlier on if they take too much damage. Regardless, their hull and engine strength is stored. If they jump out early, then they will already be near the Galatea.
I created six variables... NeptuneHull, NeptuneEngine, OrffHull, OrffEngine, TychonEngine, TychonHull. I gave them default status of 100, and flagged them as "save on mission complete".
For each ship I created two events, one if it departs at the end of the mission and one if it departs because it's taking too much damage.
Event:
TychonJump
-when
--and
---is-destroyed-delay
----0
----Eva
---not
----has-departed-delay
-----0
-----Tychon
---ship-invulnerable (so it won't drop any further from a stay hit)
----Tychon
---modify-variable
----TychonHull(100)
----hits-left
-----Tychon
---modify-variable
----TychonEngine(100)
----hits-left-subsystem-specific
-----Tychon
-----Engine
Event:
TychonRetreat
-when
--<
---hits-left
----Tychon
----15
(insert invulnerable and get ship stats part from the other event)
For "Doomsday"
Event:
TychonStatusCarry
-when
--has-arrived-delay
---0
---Tychon
--set-subsystem-strength
---Tychon
---Hull
---TychonHull(100)
--set-subsystem-strength
---Tychon
---Engine
---TychonEngine(100)
--subsys-set-random
---Tychon
---(-)(that's a minus sign)
----TychonHull(100)
----25
---(-)
----TychonHull(100)
----5
----Engine (subsystem to be overlooked)
In "Doomsday" the variables don't have any persistence flags and are set with a 100 value as default.
Am I doing it right or did I miss something, because my mission is ignoring the variables completely and the ships are arriving with full hull and no subsystem damage.
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In situations like this, it helps greatly to temporarily add an event to the mission that gives you the variables you want to check as subtitles.
To do that you need a) a message like so:
$Name: DEBUG - slot1
$Team: -1
$MessageNew: XSTR("Slot 1 - $h_slot-1", -1)
$end_multi_text
$[variable name] will be replaced with the current value of the variable.
and b) an event that like this:
$Formula: ( when
( true )
( show-subtitle-text
"DEBUG - slot1"
20
20
( false )
( false )
1000
)
( show-subtitle-text
"DEBUG - slot2"
20
22
( false )
( false )
1000
)
( show-subtitle-text
"DEBUG - slot3"
20
24
( false )
( false )
1000
)
( show-subtitle-text
"DEBUG - slot4"
20
26
( false )
( false )
1000
)
( show-subtitle-text
"DEBUG - slot5"
20
28
( false )
( false )
1000
)
( show-subtitle-text
"DEBUG - anchor slot gr 0"
40
20
( false )
( false )
1000
1
100
)
( show-subtitle-text
"DEBUG - anchor slot gr 1"
40
22
( false )
( false )
1000
1
100
)
( show-subtitle-text
"DEBUG - anchor slot gr 2"
40
24
( false )
( false )
1000
1
100
)
( show-subtitle-text
"DEBUG - anchor slot gr 3"
40
26
( false )
( false )
1000
1
100
)
( show-subtitle-text
"DEBUG - anchor slot gr 4"
40
28
( false )
( false )
1000
1
100
)
( show-subtitle-text
"DEBUG - anchor slot gr 5"
40
30
( false )
( false )
1000
1
100
)
( show-subtitle-text
"DEBUG - anchor slot gr 6"
40
32
( false )
( false )
1000
1
100
)
( show-subtitle-text
"DEBUG - anchor slot gr 7"
40
34
( false )
( false )
1000
1
100
)
( show-subtitle-text
"DEBUG - anchor slot gr 8a"
40
36
( false )
( false )
1000
1
100
)
( show-subtitle-text
"DEBUG - anchor slot gr 8b"
40
38
( false )
( false )
1000
1
100
)
( show-subtitle-text
"DEBUG - turn"
15
15
( false )
( false )
1000
1
100
)
( show-subtitle-text
"DEBUG - next group"
15
17
( false )
( false )
1000
1
100
)
( show-subtitle-text
"DEBUG - signals send"
30
15
( false )
( false )
1000
1
100
)
( show-subtitle-text
"DEBUG - signals limit"
30
17
( false )
( false )
1000
1
100
)
( show-subtitle-text
"DEBUG - timer actual"
45
15
( false )
( false )
1000
1
100
)
)
+Name: DEBUG display
+Repeat Count: -1
+Trigger Count: 99999999
+Interval: 1
This should help you to track if and when the variable check occurs and if anything interferres with it.
Oh, and before I forget one of the basics: you are running the missions as a small campaign for testing? - because persistent variables will never work in the mission simulator
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Thanks. I'm gonna try that, though I'll limit the number of listed messages to one per variable.
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That's prudent. I just pulled the shortest example I had (which is a mission with up to 6 groups of targets picked from 8 different configrations arriving each in 1 of 5 possible locations; creating replayability through variation needs a lot more stuff)