Hard Light Productions Forums
Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The FRED Workshop => Topic started by: ShadowWolf_IH on August 11, 2005, 02:18:01 pm
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ok i am tired of working on magor campaigns. lol...not really. but i know that i have done alot of fredding and nothing has been released as yet, with the exception of CoW. So i am about to embark on a mini campaign...9 or ten missions. Basic idea is in place. This will also be a vanilla campaign as far as scp goes....but will have some mods/ effects work done.
The basic story is simple and to the point.
Deep in a nebula, a large deposit of ice has been found. Simple water, one of the hardest items to come by in space. Asteroids within nebula are almost 100 % pure water, and this find, if seen through to fuition, could conceivably yield 100's of trillions of barrels worth of water. These asteroids are simply chunks of ice floating in a nebula that until now has had little worth, strategically, tactically, or economically.
Due to the little value placed on the system, ownership has never quite been established, and the area has been known as a free zone.
Two days after the find, a planetary governor for a neighboring system dies, his successor has already been appointed. However others quickly step up to fill the power vaccuum, including 1 person with popular support as well as military, and another who was responsible for economic growth within said system. 3 days after the premier dies, our military friend steps up and perform a coupe de etat on the rightful new premier and siezes all assets. He also sends the local military forces into the nebula and assumes control of the ice.
3 large corporations also have an investment within this system, and send mercenaries in.
this system of little value has suddenly become a hotbed of activity with far reaching ramifications, and the GTVA is forced to react, sending in the SOC.
that's all i really want to divulge about the storyline, but i am thinking about 10 missions for the campaign. My question is....is it worth doing? and if so......who would be willing to help in certain areas...storyline smoothing....dialogue.....effects...no need for fredders, i can fred ten missions in my sleep, and no need for modders/texturers because i plan to use models that are already out there for our use.
thanks for your time.
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One thing. You could probably obtain large amounts of water from the rings of a saturn like, ringed planet or from the Kuiper belt so you'd best explain that there are none of the former in the area and that conventional jump drives are too weak to reach a source so far from the systems main gravity well.
Sounds like a nice idea.
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I like the idea behind it and the plotline, and I think it would make an enjoyable minicampaign. The only question I have is to the science behind it (this may be from my own ignorance, too, so forgive me if it is); is it possible to have pure ice water form an asteroid, and, the bigger question, could it exist in a nebular environment?
With that aside, I'm always here in case you need a story editor, beta tester, writer (dialogue, etc.), or the like. ;)
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well as far as the science goes....don't ask me, i'm just an idea man, not an engineer...lol. it owuld seem to me though, that a nebula wouldn't necessarily be hot. depending on age...it is just a collection of dust and gas. the water isn't in the asteroids...it IS the astreroids. I don't know the physics behind behind it, but one thoery of our moon is that it is a rogue planet caught in our gravity. a comet is mostly ice. what if a rogue comet got caught in a gravity well before the star went supernova...the comet was far enough out that it stattered, but the icy core didn't melt. It would of course had to have been huge to produce enough watre to make this venture viable. another idea is that it was a planet very very far from the star. again far enough that while the shockwave would shatter it, it wouldn't have been close enough for the heat to have melted the pieces entirely.
Like i said...i don't pretend to know the physics, but if this could happen....then we have a basis for the campaign. if this couldn't happen and i am behing stupid.....please someone tell me.
Logistics for why it is important.....yes water can be mined from the rings and belts...or brought in from planetary sources themselves. but of all of the commodities in the galaxy, water woulkd still probably be the most important, because in space...it is scarce. Water will always be the bane of space travel. and any source close enough to supply a system...or a set of systems...would be worth a great deal to those with the ambition to harvest it.
and kara this campaign is for you...cause you told me once that you were looking forward to seeing more of my work...and THAT isn't going to happen in the near future unless i do some mini campaigns. :lol:
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Glad to hear that someone is thinking of me :D
I'm more of a dabbler in astrophysics than any kind of expert but it seems to me that if you say the nebula is old and a star system is passing through it (Or say that this star was a part of a binary system with the one that went nova but at a very large seperation) you could get away with having ice asteroids in a nebula :)
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lol problem solved......Kara you are like Spock, i'll take your guess over most people's facts...lol
Nuclear1 i apreciate the offer and could definately use your help. If i am not mistaken i have you on my icq.
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Or you could say that the Nebula is rich in hydrogen\oxygen.
Over the years, the lightning in the nebula would have formed water, which would have instantly frozen. Since its insulated by the gaseous nebula, solar winds couldn't easily strip the "asteroids" of their watery goodness.
Plus, this would make the nebula a valuable source of terraforming materials and fuel, but hey, what nebula isn't?
Or, of course, you could go with Kara's suggestion, either one is good.
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I say you should go for it.
As for helping, I can't really do anything except FRED, which you already said you don't need help with, although I suppose I could help with the storyline....
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Thanks for the input boomer...i kind of like that. and darth...the reason i am not calling for fredders is that fredders are in short supply here. What have you fredded before?
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I can beta test, and I'd be glad to help with the storyline.
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ok if those who were interested in helping to flesh out the story would PM me it would be great.
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Mini-campaigns are fun. I keep having to stop myself starting to make one.
Oh, and you could always add some strange bizarre mystic aspect to the ice asteroids place in space. Or make it something different from ice. Like rip off the idea of Ice Nine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat%27s_Cradle) or something.
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I reckon the idea of a campaign revovling around something that's fairly easy to obtain in real life is great. Wish I could have ideas like that...:doubt:
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Freespace 2: the Cheese Wars
To be honest, I'm trying to figure out ways of doing a small campaign thats focused around people rather than, say, some big interstellar war.
Y'know, there's still a cohesive storyline and important events happening, but at the same time the main thing is how those events are impacting the characters you have.
(sidenote; could have missions that act as flashback scenes explaing the characters....... ;) )
I had a ****-hot plan written for one little SOC/GTVI/black ops campaign, actually. Very machiavellian, 2 or 3 nice twists in the tale and a really intense (planned) ending mission. Might still do it one day, it's not particularly mod heavy or the like.
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OK, i am going for it. Tentatively called Waterlord.
What i need is someone who can add the dialogue to the missions after i build them. And someone to do CB ani's.
Screen shot from OP1 Mission1.
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that, is a lot of guns
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lol got enough weapons there........
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it makes for one hell of a minefield though.
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Good Idead SW!!! I'm very glad you didn't call it "Water World" though (that movie gave me mental scars). "Ice Pirates" could be a fun name though (and was a kick-ass romp). Do you remember the Space Herpies? :D
One suggestion, why not make it from one of the Corporation's POV. That way in the future you can make a sequel where you are approached again by them or continue the merc career?
( "Greetings pilot, OCP has need of your services again." )
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*awaits assignment*
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Originally posted by ShadowWolf_IH
Screen shot from OP1 Mission1.
This is purely a technical interest, but I'd love to test that mission and see if the HTL Mjolnir can ever hope to work in such a situation. I'd offer to help, but my dialogue-writing skills are very much sub-par.
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assignment being given lol
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Nice idea ShadowWolf..
Hey, you could use my Aule mining station/rafinery.. I think it might fit nicely.
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thanks trashman, if it is set up for retail fs2, i just might have a place for it.
and stratcomm.....check pm
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Should work in retail..I don't recall using anything fancy when making it.
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cool trashman, can you PM a link on where to get it?
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Ok considering the ships we are using for WaterLord, we have settled on a name, Casualties of War II -- WaterLord.
All of this mods to be used are already made, so building the Missions is all that there is to do. MIssion 1 is ready and has been sent to nuclear1 for dialogue adding.
We do have a couple of other needs.
1. A CB artist. there will be three command briefings.
2. A web artist/host. If you have some space and can build a website....whicvh i can't....i would much apreciate the help.
If you can help with either of these, i would very much apreciate it.
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Interesting, i tried to play CoW I some time ago, but it's always crashed in one Nebula Mission, i've heard CoW wasn't SCP compatible? Will this change soon? And will be CoW II SCP compatible?
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Casualties for some reason was NOT SCP compatible. With almost everything being done being SCP compatible (and rightly so), i thought it would be fun to do another campaign in retail. Whether or not it will be SCP compatible is up in the air.
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Originally posted by Roanoke
that, is a lot of guns
Originally posted by Depth_Charge
lol got enough weapons there........
And you haven't even had to deal with them yet... ;)
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true
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i can voice-act now, i got a mic and stuff
need some voices?
i can do grainy announcer-voice, scared tenor, secure bass, and several foreign accents
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Originally posted by ShadowWolf_IH
Casualties for some reason was NOT SCP compatible.
That was probably because the Agamemnon has too many textures for HTL.
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Thanks Spicious for answering that question......no...it will be retail only.
On another note...do we want to mess with Voice acting? Mind you I am not oposed, and i can also do many accents and variants, so between me and turambar, we should be able to get most of them done. If we want to do this, let's figure it out now, before Nuclear1 comes up with a million characters.:)
What are your thoughts?
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retail only? Whats the point of SCP if you don't use it?
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The SCP Rocks, don't get me wrong, but sometimes grass roots is fun too. To be honest i prefer to fred using scp, i can do more, and more easily, but like i said, sometimes grass roots is fun.
Also, some people can't get any of the newer SCP stuff to work, so when you couple that with the fact that Agamemnon classed Destroyers aren't SCP compatible, and it just wouldn't be Casualties of War without Ironheart......well there you go.
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Originally posted by ShadowWolf_IH
Casualties for some reason was NOT SCP compatible. With almost everything being done being SCP compatible (and rightly so), i thought it would be fun to do another campaign in retail. Whether or not it will be SCP compatible is up in the air.
Definitely make it SCP-compatable, as retial doesn't even work for some of us anymore. It doesn't need to be SCP-dependent though, which is a very different animal.
And actually, CoW was SCP compatable, it just only worked on an earlier version before that 16 texture limit went in. Whatever that primary fighter you flew most of the time was had glowpoints done in a way that never should have seen the light of day (no offense Aldo), for one thing, so I know it at least had the capability.
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The Agamemnon can be fixed if you can find someone to bake its textures. On a somewhat related note, did anyone notice that in Casualties of War it's actually spelled "Agamenmon"?
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Stratcomm is going to fix the problems, and go over all of the other models to make sure that they are scp compat.....that wya you CAN use scp if you'd like, but this will be built and tested using retail, so SCP will not be needed. Is that Better?
Everyone thank Stratcomm and bow before his greatness. :)
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A shot from O1M2, Ironheart, Hurricane and Warlock
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Originally posted by ShadowWolf_IH
cool trashman, can you PM a link on where to get it?
Hades Combine downloads section...
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went there to try it, and got index.php
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http://hades-combine.com/web/index.php?ind=downloads&op=section_view&idev=14
Try this link...should be under Terran Installations:D
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right, i hit to dl the station and i get index.php downloaded instead.
Kick up ICQ if you would
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strange...something must be wrong with HC...
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I got it trash, thanks....i just had to tell windows to always open thyose files using winrar. Don't ask me....
on second thought, there is something wrong with it rendering in fs2, or fred2. renders right in PCS, but not the others. If we can fix this i would love to use the model.
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Originally posted by ShadowWolf_IH
Casualties for some reason was NOT SCP compatible. With almost everything being done being SCP compatible (and rightly so), i thought it would be fun to do another campaign in retail. Whether or not it will be SCP compatible is up in the air.
The SOC frigate had too many textures for SCP. Unfortunately I don;t even have the original max files, so I can't even do a simple bake job upon it.
I've considered releasing an updated version using the models done for LS - as they actually correspond to the models in CoW in terms of concept/purpose (for the most part) - but that would only take place once LS was actually released (in some form) as those models are primarily reserved for that.
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Originally posted by Spicious
The Agamemnon can be fixed if you can find someone to bake its textures. On a somewhat related note, did anyone notice that in Casualties of War it's actually spelled "Agamenmon"?
Not until you said that :nervous:
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Originally posted by aldo_14
The SOC frigate had too many textures for SCP. Unfortunately I don;t even have the original max files, so I can't even do a simple bake job upon it.
I've considered releasing an updated version using the models done for LS - as they actually correspond to the models in CoW in terms of concept/purpose (for the most part) - but that would only take place once LS was actually released (in some form) as those models are primarily reserved for that.
You don't check your PMs, do you :p
I'm planning on at least consolodating the undamaged version (and hopefully ShadowWolf won't use the damage-mapped one) so that it will run with the SCP. I'd bake it, but alas, my baking script has developed a fatal error.
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Originally posted by ShadowWolf_IH
I got it trash, thanks....i just had to tell windows to always open thyose files using winrar. Don't ask me....
on second thought, there is something wrong with it rendering in fs2, or fred2. renders right in PCS, but not the others. If we can fix this i would love to use the model.
Some models sometimes rendered strangely in FREd, but I had no problems with any model in FS2..
Can you post a pic of how it looks?
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i may have just had a corrupted download, icq transfer? I already deleted it from the files.
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Originally posted by StratComm
You don't check your PMs, do you :p
I'm planning on at least consolodating the undamaged version (and hopefully ShadowWolf won't use the damage-mapped one) so that it will run with the SCP. I'd bake it, but alas, my baking script has developed a fatal error.
:o
fire away, then.
Um...as per your Pm - I can't find CoW anywhere. All the links seem to be dead, and I deleted the files ages ago on my own HD.
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I did find the files, as I've got the copy from when it was released. I deleted the archive, but the vp's were still in root FS2 and deactivated. Anyway, all I really wanted from you was permission :)
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If it's released, consider it as open source :)
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Cool. That's my philosophy in general, but some people (not many here I guess) can get really picky about things like that.
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Phoebus Bombers Launching from Warlock
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Thanks Trashman for the Ice skin.
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it should be more shiny
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Shiny ain't really gunna matter...it's in a nebula
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Oddly prescient, ShadowWolf; http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/08/asteroid_water/
[q]New Hubble Space Telescope images of Ceres, the largest known asteroid, suggest that the body could hold more water than the planet Earth. Analysis of 267 photographs of the asteroid indicate that it could be mostly ice, wrapped around a rocky core and coated with a thin dusty crust.
With a diameter of around 930km, Ceres is big enough that its shape is affected by its gravity, making it roughly spherical. Previously, scientists thought the asteroid would be fairly uniform in density, as no-one thought it had been heated enough to create layers of different materials.
But the analysis performed by the Cornell researchers suggests exactly the opposite. Computer models suggest that the denser components of the asteroid are collected in its centre, with the lighter ingredients, like water, lying closer to the surface.
Speaking to Space.com, co-author of the study Joel Parker explained: "The most likely scenario from the knowledge we have on how other objects form, it probably has a rocky core and a mantle. That mantle is probably some watery, icy mix, with other dirt and constituents."
He said that the mantle could be as much as a quarter of the entire body's mass, and that if just a quarter of the mantle was water, the asteroid would have around five times more H2O on board that our planet does.
The findings are set to reignite the debate of how a planet should be defined - something that comes up with alarming regularity whenever Pluto is mentioned. This is because all the nine (or eight, plus Pluto, depending on your perspective) planets have differentiated interiors, like Ceres.
Lucy McFadden, one of the researchers making the observations, suggests that Ceres be considered an embryonic planet: "Gravitational perturbations from Jupiter billions of years ago prevented [it] from accreting more material to become a full-fledged planet," she says[/q]
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Problem is that kind of makes water too common for anyone to be fighting over it :)
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That depends how much you like Sun Lollies.
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Too damned funny aldo...this must be one of the special powers that rictor thought i might get when the stove blew up in my eyes. lol
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Originally posted by ShadowWolf_IH
Phoebus Bombers Launching from Warlock
To be posted by aldo sometime soon
nooooooooo!!!!!
;)
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Quite.
I have to admit to inwardly wincing at that screenshot. what can I say? I was young, inexperienced and foolish.......
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shouldn't be too hard on yourself, though I can appreciate why you are.
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i have always like that model......and don't worry aldo, i will make it do things it was meant to do.....the things you built it to do.
In Fact, i am going to rename it "Uranus". JUst so i can say that "Uranus is launching a fighter screen" or "Alpha 1 we need cover, these guys are ripping Uranus apart"
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heh. nice. :yes:
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these guys are ripping Ur anus apart!
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Originally posted by ShadowWolf_IH
i have always like that model......and don't worry aldo, i will make it do things it was meant to do.....the things you built it to do.
I actually think the shape of the Warlock is one of the better (if more phallic, sorry :p) ones out there for a carrier. It's just so dull in comparison to so many of Aldo's models from close up that it admittedly makes me cringe a little. I'd love to see it realized in modern Aldo style, if that would be possible without changing its overall shape.
Originally posted by TrashMan
these guys are ripping Ur anus apart!
Because that joke wasn't painfully obvious the first time. Thank you. :doubt:
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I rather like the dullness, it gives it more of a utilitarian feel than almost any other model. It was built to do a job, and that's all it does, the job. you can look at it and feel that. Much as a carrier should feel in my opinion.
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In reality it's not the "dullness" per-se that's my complaint, it's the lack of detail in the few places that merit it. The engines, for one thing, are currently just a plane, while the fighterbay is just a box. There are so many little details that could be placed in those two locations alone that would do nothing to the overall feel of the model, but would make it seem much more complete. I wouldn't touch the overall shape though, for exactly those reasons.
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it's open source strat...aldo said so in this thread......**hint hint**
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If I was to redo the Warlock - and I won't, mapping takes months for capships - I'd keep the basic shape and overlay detail. Like recess in those fighterbay doors for a proper launch bay, add proper engines, and make the 'bridge' type section somewhat akin to a mini-city (to provide an offset of scale). It would probably be possible to contrast the large, flat areas by simply adding detail to the appropriate small sections, like distinct recesses, gun platforms and soforth. I'd definately add a couple of trenches where that screwed up girder texture currently resides, too.
That given, I'm not a fan of the simplistic extruded hexagonal tube design that the Warlock opitimizes. I think it's a horribly dull basis for a model, for one thing.
EDIT; actually, there may be a 2nd or 3rd generation Warlock mesh knocking about somewhere in the modeldumps. I can't remember if it was any good; almost certainly would be pre HTL.
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Originally posted by aldo_14
EDIT; actually, there may be a 2nd or 3rd generation Warlock mesh knocking about somewhere in the modeldumps. I can't remember if it was any good; almost certainly would be pre HTL.
It's in my archives, actually. Not a bad design either (pre-HTL of course) but it is a very different approach than the Warlock itself.
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Originally posted by StratComm
It's in my archives, actually. Not a bad design either (pre-HTL of course) but it is a very different approach than the Warlock itself.
That'd probably be why I dumped it, I guess.
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Originally posted by aldo_14
If I was to redo the Warlock - and I won't, mapping takes months for capships
the mapping ? Or the photoshopping ?
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With Mission 3 of 11 nearing completion, i need to ask....do we want voice acting, or just message noises to let you know? If so, do we want full voices or in Mission ONLY?
Let me know which you guys would prefer.
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Message noises for now. Missions first, then voice-acting as a little added bonus once it is released (or, if we get the VA'ers before it, do it then).
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I'm not even thinking about voice acting it right now....i am thinking for the future, but try to keep the number fo characters to a minimum with an eye toward voice acting it. k?
Also MIssion 2 is ready for you, and i already did some of the dialogue in mission 3. Which i am getting ready to finalize in about half an hour.
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MIssion 3 Screenie.
Nice shot of the GTD Hurricane, too bad about her hull.
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Originally posted by Roanoke
the mapping ? Or the photoshopping ?
Both, cos they're pretty closely intertwined.
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so far those screenshots looks really good, but does it take place after the CW??? or just something else?.........and one other question, when i put in CW and the table files in the ships, its somewhat crashes out to my desktop, and another thing the destroyer (i forgot the name of it?????) but when i look at in the ships records, it kick out, cause it had more then 16 textures???.....any idea??
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if you are trying to play the original Casualties of War....use retail Freespace 2, or a very very early version of SCP... yes this is because of the number of textures on the AGAMEMNON.
Part 2, is really considered a standalone, it has nothing to do with the original, with the exception that it happens in the CoW timeline, (as oposed to the BWO timeline, the MT timeline, the 158th Timeline, etc etc). In all actuality, it has been two eyars since the Upuaat incident. So this happens two eyars after Casulties of War.
and thank you depth.
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I think it might work ok with the no-htl switch.
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I very much doubt that FS2_Open will work in no_htl anymore. It's been ages since I've even heard of anyone trying it.
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Originally posted by ShadowWolf_IH
if you are trying to play the original Casualties of War....use retail Freespace 2, or a very very early version of SCP... yes this is because of the number of textures on the AGAMEMNON.
Part 2, is really considered a standalone, it has nothing to do with the original, with the exception that it happens in the CoW timeline, (as oposed to the BWO timeline, the MT timeline, the 158th Timeline, etc etc). In all actuality, it has been two eyars since the Upuaat incident. So this happens two eyars after Casulties of War.
and thank you depth.
Hey np....thx for the advice, i'll try find one the old files.....
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A shot from OP 2 Mission 1
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Originally posted by karajorma
I very much doubt that FS2_Open will work in no_htl anymore. It's been ages since I've even heard of anyone trying it.
It hasn't been maintained in a while so it got broken somewhere along the line. We'd still like to maintain legacy support, though, so we'll probably fix it after 3.6.7 is out.
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A screenshot from Mission 1 with two of the new nebulas....2 out of 38.
(http://www.game-warden.com/mercs/CoW2/O1M1-2.jpg) (http://www.game-warden.com/mercs/CoW2/O1M1-3.jpg)
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For the record, the PCX versions of lighty's nebulae can be made to work in retail, and, even as PCXs, they look vastly better than the bog standard FS2 ones. Might be worth investigating.
[EDIT]Upon actually reading the thread- Doesn't Inferno have a redone warlock?
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i don't know....worth looking into
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A shot from Operation 2 Mission 2.......this ship is available for download...you get to guess what it is.
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Remindsme of the Raynor somewhat....
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:nervous: That is the Raynor.