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FreeSpace Releases => Mission & Campaign Releases => Topic started by: Grunt on May 09, 2005, 12:03:24 pm

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on May 09, 2005, 12:03:24 pm

The Centaur Project

Chapter One - The Duke and The Emperor

Been working on this for a while now ...

The first part of the campaign with 7 missions, new ships, etc.

Download (http://pgrunt.com/tcp/index.htm)
Project home page (http://w3.enternet.hu/fscult)



The campaign has only been tested with retail FS2, I recommend that you should make a clean install of the original FS2 before installing TCP.

If you want to play it from FS2 Open, you will need the FSO patch above. Thanks to PhReAk for the patch !

To be continued ... errmm ... hopefully. :)

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Goober5000 on May 09, 2005, 01:41:45 pm

Stickied. :yes:

What's the story?

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Goober5000 on May 09, 2005, 02:10:48 pm

Okay, this link (http://w3.enternet.hu/fscult/TCP.htm) might be a better place to point people, as it has information pertaining directly to the campaign. ;)

I can't download either the mod or the intro movie; they always time out.  Are there any mirrors?

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on May 09, 2005, 02:18:48 pm

Quote

Originally posted by Goober5000
Stickied. :yes:

What's the story?

Errmm .. thanks ! :)

It pretty much follows the storyline of the original FS2 campaign.

The subspace portal to Sol is reopened relatively soon. Sol's rejoining the GTVA gives a boost to technology development.
They start to build huge supercarriers with "field drives" that won't need to use the stable subspace channels, shielded and powerful, etc.
Seeing the chance to achieve tech superiority over the Shivans, they start a project (TCP) to rebuild and modernize the fleets and try to move first.

However, something unforeseen happens ... but that would spoil the story anyway.

The prelude is written in more detail on the story page:

The beginnig (http://w3.enternet.hu/fscult/TCPstory.htm)

The player starts off as a young pilot on the GTD Aquitaine of the 3rd fleet, tasked with supporting the project and guarding key installations. But I really don't wanna spoil it for anyone. :)

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on May 09, 2005, 02:25:27 pm

Quote

Originally posted by Goober5000
I can't download either the mod or the intro movie; they always time out.  Are there any mirrors?

That's really strange. It's usually a very fast server, I've never seen any problems there. Maybe you should try a download manager..
No mirrors atm. I have no more room on the Project page. :doubt:

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: TopAce on May 09, 2005, 02:29:17 pm

Excellent work, Grunt. I will play this as soon as I finsih my A-level exams.

Eh.. finish? That won't happen until July! Argh. No matter, I will find time.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on May 09, 2005, 04:44:45 pm

Quote

Originally posted by TopAce
Excellent work, Grunt. I will play this as soon as I finsih my A-level exams.

Eh.. finish? That won't happen until July! Argh. No matter, I will find time.

Ahh .. exams. I've forgot this. Not the best timing to release a MOD.
Good luck for it anyway ! ;)

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: aldo_14 on May 09, 2005, 04:53:24 pm

Whoah.  I think I remember this from the VBB days.......

Title: Hosting
Post by: MatthewPapa on May 09, 2005, 06:10:05 pm

Quote

Originally posted by Grunt


That's really strange. It's usually a very fast server, I've never seen any problems there. Maybe you should try a download manager..
No mirrors atm. I have no more room on the Project page. :doubt:

Hey Grunt,

If you need some web hosting space let me know since I provide free space for projects that need it. Either PM me for more info or post a request here (http://www.game-warden.com/forum/index.php?).

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Ghost on May 09, 2005, 06:56:57 pm

If this is anything similar to Inferno(hey, we're back home! And we're being shot at by Terrans!) I'm going to be irritated.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: NGTM-1R on May 09, 2005, 08:13:15 pm

I can't seem to get the whole file; at apparently random points the download simply announces it's done, even though it's 37+MB and is nowhere near done...the most I've managed to get was about 4.7 MB.

I conclude your host is screwy, and recommend you take MatthewPapa up on his offer.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Jetmech Jr. on May 09, 2005, 11:29:03 pm

Dude. Deja Vu. I KNOW I've seen this before...somewhere...a long time ago...

Anyways, until I get my comp fixed (or FS:SCP installed on my dad's), I'll have to put this on hold for a bit. Though it does look very good.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on May 09, 2005, 11:47:37 pm

Interesting. It loads for me with a steady 140 KB/sec on my cable. I got the whole file in 4 minutes..  :eek2:

I'll find something out when I get back from work today.

Yeah Aldo, I started this in the good old days when FS models were modded with a HEX editor. Maybe that's why it took so long.. ;)

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Goober5000 on May 10, 2005, 12:32:54 am

It's probably because the website is in Hungary and the rest of us aren't. ;) Mirroring your stuff on MatthewPapa's site should help.  Mirror both the campaign and the movie. :)

I remember this too... and I'm getting excited.  This is a great day in Freespace campaign history: An entire campaign, independently developed from start to finish (with a staff of usually one person) has been released.  This is on par with karajorma finishing The Mercury Affair or me finishing Fortunes of War. ;7

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Blaise Russel on May 10, 2005, 02:51:39 am

:confused: :(

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Mefustae on May 10, 2005, 03:23:27 am

When i saw this while trying to download the movie, i was annoyed;

"!   C:\Documents and Settings\Cullen\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\01Y34167\TCPintro[1].rar: Unexpected end of archive"

But when i saw this while trying to download the Mod, well, now i just plain hate the world

"!   C:\Documents and Settings\Cullen\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\01Y34167\TCP1[1].rar: Unexpected end of archive"

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Jetmech Jr. on May 10, 2005, 04:15:55 am

MOD=New host. I'm getting the same troubles as everyone else.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: TopAce on May 10, 2005, 05:16:13 am

Quote

Originally posted by Grunt
Ahh .. exams. I've forgot this. Not the best timing to release a MOD.
Good luck for it anyway ! ;)

Thanks for wishing luck. There was nothing bad with the timing, I am terribly good at waiting. :D

Quote

Originally posted by Goober5000
It's probably because the website is in Hungary and the rest of us aren't. ;)....

Come to Budapest, then. :)

Anyway, I also think the files should not be hosted at a Hungarian site.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Goober5000 on May 10, 2005, 06:00:53 am

Quote

Originally posted by Blaise Russel
:confused: :(

You're in a league of your own.  You've released so many campaigns you make the rest of us look bad. :p

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Unknown_Enemy on May 10, 2005, 07:12:01 am

*** grabing stuff and running to play ***

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Blaise Russel on May 10, 2005, 08:56:28 am

Quote

Originally posted by Goober5000
You're in a league of your own.  You've released so many campaigns you make the rest of us look bad. :p

I fall into the sentimental sappy semi-communist camp; any campaign release, be it a long time coming (FoW, say, or TMA) or a 'new-age' one (Sync, RR), is an awesome day for FS2 campaigns.

(Just didn't want you oldies to get all of the spotlight, dagnabbit.)

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Target on May 10, 2005, 09:47:46 am

I had trouble getting the whole file too. Try downloading it to 2 separate folders on your hard drive at the same time. Kept the download going for me.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Night Hammer on May 10, 2005, 09:52:45 am

wow, this is old, better late than never eh:p

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: TopAce on May 10, 2005, 11:03:02 am

I will say the same for ITHOV when I release it.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Deepstar on May 10, 2005, 11:24:40 am

Interesting Campaign

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on May 10, 2005, 12:16:28 pm

I'm convinced. It's frustrating to see all the d/l problems. :doubt:
Just emailed a hosting request to MP.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: TopAce on May 10, 2005, 01:13:02 pm

That's a good decision, MatthewPapa's host is pretty reliable.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Night Hammer on May 10, 2005, 01:29:56 pm

:nod:

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Mefustae on May 12, 2005, 05:20:11 am

...So...is there going to be a Mirror soon, i'm still getting Download errors and REALLY want to give this Campaign a go...

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: TopAce on May 12, 2005, 09:05:33 am

Damn. I would have voluntary uploaded the main ZIP file to MatthewPapa's server, but my FTP programme suddenly stopped working.

[EDIT]
I finally managed to run SmartFTP. Is MP's server down? I am not able to connect to it and I don't want to upload it to the Star Wars Conversion's File Transfer Protocol.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Kie99 on May 12, 2005, 11:51:08 am

Before everyone finishes the cam[aign and starts talking aobut it use spoiler tags.  To make a Spoiler tag you write [ spoiler] before what you want to write (With no spaces) then once you've finished what you've written you write [/spoiler]

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on May 12, 2005, 02:59:28 pm

Quote

Originally posted by Mefustae
...So...is there going to be a Mirror soon, i'm still getting Download errors and REALLY want to give this Campaign a go...

Yeah, I'm working on it. Probably up by tomorrow.
Sorry for the delay.

P.S.: Game Warden seems to have been crashed right after I posted my hosting request there... :eek:

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Skippy on May 12, 2005, 03:56:57 pm

Grunt, don't forget to post here (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,20956.0.html) ;)

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on May 12, 2005, 11:38:53 pm

Quote

Originally posted by Skippy
Grunt, don't forget to post here (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,20956.0.html) ;)

Sure, I will.
Errmm .. I did a few times actually..
But I've noticed that as soon as I disappear for a few years, I instantly got deleted. :D

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: NGTM-1R on May 13, 2005, 09:59:09 pm

Ack...now your hosting seems to be rebelling...

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on May 14, 2005, 01:15:42 am

Yeah, they don't like me somehow.
It was strange to me from the beginning tbh. They provide 500 MB space and an extreme d/l speed for free (well at least from Hungary) with only a small ads banner at the top. The trick is that you can only have it until people start to d/l from it. :rolleyes:

Anyway, the files are now uploaded to Game Warden (http://freespaceserver.cjb.net/forum/index.php?), I've updated the link in the first post.

Thanks to MatthewPapa and the GW staff for the hosting ! :cool:

I hope it works now. :)

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Mongoose on May 14, 2005, 02:45:46 am

The story sounds great, and the models look awesome; this one's going to get some playtime very soon. :D

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: wolfdog on May 14, 2005, 02:21:08 pm

Alright, I've started playing this campaign.... but...

Spoiler:

in the second mission, the Farian docks, and then nothing happens.... I've waited for over 30 minutes, and tried it several times, without luck...:(   am I doing something wrong

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Admiral Nelson on May 14, 2005, 02:26:21 pm

I have the same problem as wolfdog. Addmittedly I am using FSOpen and not retail, but something is wrong with this mission.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on May 14, 2005, 02:51:38 pm

Do you mean it's damn boring or it just won't start ? :confused:

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: wolfdog on May 14, 2005, 04:31:34 pm

that it just won't start:(   The campaign is nopt boring at all, at least not the first mission:)

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on May 14, 2005, 05:12:22 pm

OK I see. The campaign has not been tested with FS2 OPEN (as stated in the readme file). It was not even around when the first mission was done. ;)
I'm playing it on the retail engine (patched to 1.2) with the files extracted from the download package, and installed according to the readme file.
It works fine and it should on other machines as well with the original FS2, and with other MOD files purged from the folders.
Hope it helps. :)

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: NGTM-1R on May 14, 2005, 06:43:13 pm

Oddly, my retail exe crashes to desktop when I try to switch campaign files to play this.

3.6.5 works, but has issues with mission 2, as previously mentioned. Why it has issues is something I'm unable to figure out after having examined the mission in FRED, because everything looks to be in order.

EDIT: 3.6 INF also works, but also has issues.

Spoiler:

The Orion never arrives, though some of the later events of the mission carry out correctly, starting with the Startiger announcing the loss of the Horizon and requesting more fighters.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: phreak on May 14, 2005, 07:34:42 pm

someone try this.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Admiral Nelson on May 14, 2005, 08:03:42 pm

That seems to have fixed it. :)

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: NGTM-1R on May 14, 2005, 09:38:36 pm

It works!

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on May 15, 2005, 01:27:39 am

Quote

Originally posted by PhReAk
someone try this.

So what was the trick ?
I can not think of anything special about that mission, except that it is followed by a red alert one. It should especially not affect the retail exe ...
Am I wrong ? :nervous:

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: phreak on May 15, 2005, 01:40:08 am

for some reason Fail1 didn't evaluate false.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on May 15, 2005, 01:44:21 am

Hmm.. one thing is sure. I can not open the patched mission in  retail FRED anymore.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: phreak on May 15, 2005, 01:56:13 am

There's some stuff that regular FRED won't recognize, and therefore it chokes.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on May 15, 2005, 06:07:22 am

Thanks PhReAk !
I can't see any difference between your TCP02retail.fs2 and the original one though.
Anyway, I'm uploading your previous one as an FSO patch for the campaign.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: phreak on May 15, 2005, 04:19:35 pm

check one of the mission goals and the orion event

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on May 15, 2005, 05:39:07 pm

Ahh..I see now.
It won't change the outcome too much. Only the success notification comes later at the end of mission.
Maybe it is the "when-not-cargo nown" combo which causes the problem in FSO.
Retail FS eats it with no problem here.

Your TCP02retail.fs2 will go for both hopefully.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: TopAce on May 16, 2005, 07:51:01 am

Crashes when the Craig turns hostile in mission 1.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on May 16, 2005, 08:20:02 am

Play it with retail FS2 ... purge data folder from all mod files before install ... remove all modded vp files from the Freespace2 root directory.

Mission1 is a pure FS2 mission, no mods, only original ships and weapons, except the docking paths are modified to cure the fly- thru-hull thing when docking.

Never crashed to me.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: TopAce on May 16, 2005, 08:48:48 am

I strongly suggest you make an FSO version. Most of the people here are not able to run FSR anymore, or simply they don't want to. Believe me, there would be higher interest in an FSO version.

If you don't know FSO very well, I would offer my help in converting the missions to FSO amd improve on its stability.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on May 16, 2005, 09:18:18 am

Quote

Originally posted by TopAce
I strongly suggest you make an FSO version...

That's one thing I will surely not have time for.. unfortunately, certainly not in the following months. :(
If someone has the time to port it to FSO I will give him credits.
However, with FSO - being under continuous development - stability will be an ever changing issue.
On the other hand, with the retail engine TCP is rock solid.
Well, it has been for me..

:)

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: TopAce on May 16, 2005, 09:29:26 am

Everything is rock solid with Retail, since Retail is rock solid itself. :)

I will port the missions for you.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on May 16, 2005, 09:46:47 am

Thanx TopAce ! :yes:
I'll be moving into another house next week, and due to other RL issues as well, I won't be able to get too much PC time in the near future.
Maybe I'll try FSO later.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: TopAce on May 16, 2005, 09:46:02 am

Say thank you after I have done what I promised well.

[EDIT]Timewarp is BACK!

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: karajorma on May 17, 2005, 03:54:49 am

Quote

Originally posted by TopAce
I strongly suggest you make an FSO version.

I strongly suggest you don't. There is no need to make special versions of a campaign just to deal with FSO bugs. If you're working with FSO to add new features to a campaign then all well and good but you should never port an FS2 campaign just to cure bugs.

Instead of wasting time making a nearly identical version try tracking down what causes the bug like I did on this thread (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,30921.0.html) with the key-reset SEXP. Then make a detailed report on mantis and instead of us having a crappy workaround for the problem we'll actually have the problem fixed in the code where it should actually have been fixed so that the next person to use the feature doesn't have bugs to deal with.

Besides as Grunt says it's pretty stupid to make a port to cure bugs as FSO is a moving target and the bugs will all be completely different 5-6 months from now.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: TopAce on May 17, 2005, 06:07:08 am

It takes a longer time for the coders to fix a bug than porting missions to FSO, just to fix the bugs.

I will try this anyway. I am curious how this will turn out.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: phreak on May 17, 2005, 09:15:32 am

well if its any clue, the is-cargo-known-delay sexp was used.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on May 17, 2005, 10:37:56 am

Quote

Originally posted by PhReAk
well if its any clue, the is-cargo-known-delay sexp was used.

Yea. branched from a "not" operation which is sometimes the cause of problems in FSR as well, but not in this case.
Also mission1 crashing for TopAce is probably not an FSO issue but a conflict with other installed MODs (others didn't have this issue).
Maybe TCP should be packaged into a vp file ?

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: TopAce on May 17, 2005, 11:17:59 am

The only SEXP that caused problems for me while using FSR was the is-iff.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on May 17, 2005, 11:41:46 am

Nested logicals can be nasty. ;)

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Goober5000 on May 22, 2005, 09:57:48 pm

Quote

Originally posted by PhReAk
well if its any clue, the is-cargo-known-delay sexp was used.

That may have been a bug I introduced.  What exactly went wrong?

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: phreak on May 22, 2005, 10:59:43 pm

its hard to say.  let me get some pictures together.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: phreak on May 22, 2005, 11:12:02 pm

I cut out an unneeded sexp in the middle.  Hopefully you can figure this one out.

There's one more sexp above this that "fail1" is chained to.  I forgot about it.

Code: [Select]


- Farian Docked
    - when
    - has-docked-delay
        - Farian
        - Oppenheimer
        - 1
        - 0
    - do-nothing
(directive text: "Scan all transports")


Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: RED DIAMOND on June 11, 2005, 10:00:14 pm

Very creative idea and mod. :yes:

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on July 09, 2005, 12:17:22 am

Quote

Originally posted by RED DIAMOND
Very creative idea and mod. :yes:

Thanks. :)
Have you played it actually ?

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: RED DIAMOND on July 09, 2005, 10:38:41 am

Quote

Originally posted by Grunt


Thanks. :)
Have you played it actually ?

Yes, but I can't remember if I played it all and straight. I do recall that I fought some rebels right?

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: TopAce on July 09, 2005, 12:26:22 pm

If you have been with the Empire, sure. :D

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on July 09, 2005, 03:07:49 pm

Quote

Originally posted by RED DIAMOND


Yes, but I can't remember if I played it all and straight. I do recall that I fought some rebels right?

Well .. yea .. something like that. Never mind.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Nuclear1 on July 09, 2005, 05:38:21 pm

I just got to playing this campaign today, and I will say that I think I've missed something recently. :) That was a rather fun play.

Some little buggers though. What I mostly noticed stemmed from grammar issues and large-scale battles (not BoE; simply underbalanced, kill-everything-in-your-path missions) that really got irritating after a while. It seems that all of the problematic SEXPs and events have already been noticed and mentioned here.

If you would like, I'll gladly go over the missions and grammar/spellcheck it for errors. It always makes campaigns seem much more professional, and this campaign has a lot of potential behind it. :)

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on July 10, 2005, 02:00:11 am

Nuclear1, I would appreciate your help with the grammar/style a lot. I tried my best but some mistakes are still there that I only noticed after release.
I realize that some missions are really tough. A variation of difficulty from mission to mission was intentional, and some of them is impossible without intensive team play. You need to call reinforcement and need to use your wingies there. Also it gets harder and harder as the player fails critical objectives. He is kinda "punished" for mistakes, but can still finish the mission if he finds the way out of these situations.
I was the only tester until now, and it's difficult when you know the mission too well, so all comments are welcome.
I'll give hints or improve the mission on a second release.

Did you play it through with FSO ? It would be good to know if the major bugs were sorted with the patch.

Anyway it's great to hear some feedback at least. Thanks a lot ! :)

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: TopAce on July 10, 2005, 09:38:35 am

Good to know that not only I have problems with grammar in my campaigns. :lol:

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Mefustae on July 10, 2005, 10:05:02 am

Just played it, a really good little campaign you've made there. I like the design of the Trifid - albiet not exactly in the style of Terran or Vasudan ships - but it's a pretty cool ship. Apart from the occaisional grammatical error - and the fact that you killed the Aquitaine (this is the third campaign i've played this week that the Aquitaine has been destroyed, not a well liked ship) - an overall good play and no show-stopping bugs...

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on July 10, 2005, 10:43:19 am

Quote

Originally posted by Mefustae
...(this is the third campaign i've played this week that the Aquitaine has been destroyed, not a well liked ship) - an overall good play and no show-stopping bugs...

Heh, I thought most ppl liked the Aquitaine (I do)..
So it was just to generate feelings. Wanted to be dramatic all the way you now. ;)
Errmm .. isn't it a spoiler btw ? :rolleyes:

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Akalabeth Angel on July 10, 2005, 10:43:59 am

I'm only part-way through, but one question I had is how did you make the command briefings? I'd love to do some of that for my own campaign.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Nuclear1 on July 10, 2005, 10:47:17 am

Quote

Originally posted by Grunt
Nuclear1, I would appreciate your help with the grammar/style a lot. I tried my best but some mistakes are still there that I only noticed after release.

No problem. The English was actually extremely good, considering that you live in Hungary. ;) Just needs some fixing here and there, and I'll have it ready for you.

Quote

I realize that some missions are really tough. A variation of difficulty from mission to mission was intentional, and some of them is impossible without intensive team play. You need to call reinforcement and need to use your wingies there. Also it gets harder and harder as the player fails critical objectives. He is kinda "punished" for mistakes, but can still finish the mission if he finds the way out of these situations.

That's really quite alright. I've honestly been looking for a campaign that has some real challenges (since I haven't really played many since Derelict and Warzone).

Quote

Did you play it through with FSO ? It would be good to know if the major bugs were sorted with the patch.

Played it completely with retail. It's amazing how well campaigns can be made with the bare bones of FRED. :)

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on July 10, 2005, 11:17:10 am

Quote

Originally posted by Akalabeth Angel
I'm only part-way through, but one question I had is how did you make the command briefings? I'd love to do some of that for my own campaign.

CB anis were all done in 3DS MAX (3.0 an early version that I have). You can do it in any 3D prog that can animate. I've built a 3D world, all in a huge sphere with background nebulae and stars on it, and other objects inside, and also the extended FS starmap.
Rendered frames were converted to 8 bit paletted images and pcx format with Corel Photo-Paint 8. Ani files were compiled from the frames with ANIBUILDER32. You probably find the d/l link and plenty of tutorials for using it in the community.
Once you build the 3D world and learn the animation and effects stuff, the rest will go relatively fast.
My CB anis are still not Volition quality, but I'm learning. :)
They also take up a lot of space so I only use them where they help to understand the story.

Ahh you can find a lot of the FS models converted to 3DS format here:

http://w3.enternet.hu/fscult/3dmodels.htm

Just import them into your 3D prog. Good luck. :)

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on July 10, 2005, 11:24:19 am

Quote

Originally posted by nuclear1
...Played it completely with retail. It's amazing how well campaigns can be made with the bare bones of FRED. :)

Yeah, the good old retail. I like it. ;)
I'll try to improve the eye candy as well in the next chapters..

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: WMCoolmon on July 10, 2005, 05:37:45 pm

Will the sequel be called "IP"?



Apologies if that joke has been made already. :p Downloading now...

Edit: Also, just for future reference, it's a good idea to make sure that your patch files have the same capitalization as non-patched ones, in case someone is using an OS other than windows.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on July 11, 2005, 01:46:41 am

Quote

Originally posted by WMCoolmon
Will the sequel be called "IP"?



Apologies if that joke has been made already. :p Downloading now...

Edit: Also, just for future reference, it's a good idea to make sure that your patch files have the same capitalization as non-patched ones, in case someone is using an OS other than windows.

Heh, it's a good idea. Another thing I didn't think of..
Also an advice to campaign makers:
Always select an abbreviation for your project first ! Check if it isn't used already. If not, then find out a full title that matches. :D

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Akalabeth Angel on July 14, 2005, 02:25:19 am

Okiedokie, just finished the campaign. On the whole I thought it was pretty good, the inclusion of voice acting was a welcome change from what I've played in the past, sometimes people forget (me anyways) how much of an impact it can have on the game. The acting was pretty good, though sometimes funny due to the accents. The one command guy sounds a bit like Arnold Swarzeneggar sometimes but since this is from hungary(?) and Arnie is from Austria (aka, right beside), it's understandable.

     The new ships were a mixed bag. I wasn't really a big fan of the Trifid/Nexus, but I like the dropship and the Woton. Now for some other recommendations.

There are a lot of missions with big ships. And that's okay, because the player always has something to do. But often I find that the big ships aren't doing anything, they just sit around at speed zero and blast one another. I'd like to see some ships moving around with waypoints, closing with their enemies, blasting 'em, flanking 'em, etcetera.

I would recommend you use the Escort list a LOT more. If there's a major ship in the mission, put it on the list, even if you don't have to defend it. The Woton was getting banged around at one point, and I wanted to know how it was doing. An escort bit would've been nice. Even in the final mission, put the Woton on the list with a low priority then when actual mission-critical craft arrive give them a higher priority.

Overall, I had fun playing it. And except for some minor grammar mistakes (I still understood the intent of everything), I didn't find anything wrong with the missions (ie, no bugs!). The grammar is entirely excusable anyway.

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: RED DIAMOND on July 14, 2005, 08:10:11 am

I went back and played it again and once again I enjoyed it. The comment above about the escort list I agree with. I also enjoyed the voices in the mission, that is something that I think is under valued by many, that is until they play a fully voiced mission.:eek:

Good work:yes:

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on July 14, 2005, 01:29:21 pm

Detailed comments indeed, thanks for that. :cool:

Some accent in 2377 is forgivable anyway. :)
Voice acting was completely done by me (except where I could convince the wife :D ), so poor Command had to be heavily pitch shifted to make him sound serious. Originally I intended to recruit for acting but I had really no time to manage it.

The Nexus was the very first model I made for FS and that time I thought I could make it a huge black and shiny piece of metal but it just didn't work with the retail engine. It was quite a challenge as I recall, because the size exceeded the polygon limits of all POF converters. So it was converted piece by piece and stitched together with a HEX editor.. :rolleyes:

Big ships are moving in most missions, but these are relatively far from the player indeed. They tend to make weird movements in free manouvers, so I refrained from this. Though there is often background action even after the "Return" directive. In the last mission the great showdown only starts when the player is called back.

Early missions don't use the escort list too much that's true. Note taken for a patch.. :)

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Akalabeth Angel on July 14, 2005, 01:38:19 pm

Big ships are moving in most missions, but these are relatively far from the player indeed. They tend to make weird movements in free manouvers, so I refrained from this. Though there is often background action even after the "Return" directive. In the last mission the great showdown only starts when the player is called back.

     Yeah, I noticed that but I was already jumping out :(

Title: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Post by: Grunt on July 14, 2005, 01:44:07 pm

Quote

Originally posted by Akalabeth Angel

     Yeah, I noticed that but I was already jumping out :(

Sorry m8, but that's war. You're just not there to enjoy it. ;)