31

FreeSpace Discussion / Re: Enemies in a campaign

« Last post by TrashMan on July 12, 2025, 07:50:08 am »

A relatively small force CAN hold a system due to nodes. A well fortified node means that even in victory losses may be unacceptable.

Again, the way travel works in FS2 can be both good and very bad in terms of mission design and lore. When it takes a minute for any enemy ship from anywhere in the system to jump right on top of you, you have to get creative with how a small force can ever survive.

32

FreeSpace Discussion / Re: Enemies in a campaign

« Last post by qweqwe321 on July 12, 2025, 07:38:31 am »

This is a problem I ran into with Chanticleer, tbh - the Federals in Blue Planet are on their last legs, so you really do have to get creative to give the player a challenge without making the world seem ridiculous.

The Blue Planet Gaian Effort campaign I'm slowly writing tries to address it by keeping the player's force small. When your entire force is an Athena, two Apollos and a light cruiser, a couple gunship wings are suddenly a huge threat.

33

FreeSpace Discussion / Screencap Contest: July 2025

« Last post by NeonShivan on July 12, 2025, 07:26:41 am »

I love democracy...I love Hard-Light Productions. I threw together a poll on Discord and to the surprise of no one, a reasonable number of you want this to return. BEHOLD, the Screencap contest has come home to roost. To the newcomers unfamiliar, this contest was started years ago. Eventually it ended up in my hands and I stopped it sometime in 2020. The contest is simple, you submit a screenshot that is based on a given theme and I then decide who has the best screenshot. The winner gets a lovely badge next to their name for a month. At the end of the year, a winner is chosen based on the number of months.

As with all contests, there are rules:

1: No HUD! (Jump nodes are ok though!)
2: Images must be presented as they would be as seen with only the FSO engine rendering the image. Remember that these entries help to show off what the engine can do for new players! So that means no after the fact photoshopping (except for cropping), and no external shader programs (reshade and the like). No lens flares, contrast shifts, colorizers, etc.
3: Max 3 entries per person!
4: Again, these screenshots are a way to promote Freespace and the FSO Engine - let's keep it in good taste.

Now as for a theme for July, because this is being started later into the month I'm going to go with no theme for now, hit me with your screenshots and may the best screenshot win.

At the end of the month, all screenshots will be collected and eventually posted to the wiki. Whenever my ADHD allows me to do so.

Have at it you feral animals.

34

Mission & Campaign Releases / Re: RELEASE: New Path Chapter 2

« Last post by SilverAngelX on July 12, 2025, 07:15:06 am »

For chapter 1, having a company (with only a few thousand employees) declare war on the GTVA is bonkers, as is the idea that the employees would just go along with it. And them having SEVERAL super technologies.

A few remarks:
- "Going to war is bonkers for a company": That depends on their goal. You seem to assume that they wanted to overthrow the GTVA. The would indeed be unrealistic, even in its weakened state. But I can say this much without going too far into spoiler territory: That wasn't their actual goal.
- "employees wouldn't just all go along": No, they wouldn't and it was never the assumption that all of them did participate voluntarily. But if history has shown us one thing, both in RL and in FS, then it's that it only takes one somewhat charismatic and convincing leader who can sell an idea to get a lot of people to join him, even (and that's the shocking part) if those goals fundamentally go against the interests of the followers.
- "too many super technologies": The GTVA itself has shown a tendency of incredible technological leaps several times during FS1 and 2. It would also seem they've become really good at adapting Shivan technology. During FS1 it took them mere days to analyze and adapt the Shivan shield tech for Terran and Vasudan ships. After the Great War they managed to build their own beam cannons rather quickly. Meson bombs, ETAK, the tachyon technology of AWACS ships, etc. All those leaps have to come from somewhere. So, is it really that far fetched that those R&D think tanks may hold some things back if they're boss has a hidden agenda?

For chapter 2, I really didn't feel invested in the missions. Small militas that fly old rustbuckets aren't exciting to fight. Narratively,  why would the militas that can't even afford a cruiser attack the GTVA? We are basically killing anti-pirate militas that formed for lack of GTVA presence because the GTVA is worried they might grow too big. Certainly not heroic. Perhaps it personal preference, but I still haven't finished chapter 2.

I guess that is indeed a case of personal preference. But I was very clear from the very first mission of chapter 1 that I don't believe that the entire life of a fighter pilot has to be one single blaze of glory. Sometimes (maybe even most times) it's just doing what needs to be done.
Regarding the militias: It's not just the fear of an outright attack that leads to them being a target, it's also what they represent. The systems in which they operate have been the point of origin of a rebellion before, and the mindset that fueled that rebellion didn't just vanish in the nebula with Admiral Bosch. The whole point of my campaign is to show how many cracks the GTVA already has when it comes to the collective psyche of its population. These are weak points that could be exploited. As stated above: You only need the wrong leader to go down a very dark path. So yes, while shooting down old rust buckets may not be too glorious or heroic, when it needs to be done, it has to be done to prevent cracks in the GTVA from getting too wide.

35

Mission & Campaign Releases / Re: Flames of War - Coming of the Storm (re-release)

« Last post by TrashMan on July 12, 2025, 05:26:26 am »

This is odd. Checking the mission in FRED, when a a ship is tagged it's protected. The protection is never removed.
And when 70% of the convoy is destroyed, Alpha and Beta are given order to go to waypoint (no clearing of previous orders).
They shouldn't go after them.

In my testing I usually waited before tagging, so the convoy departed, but I never noticed the wingmen attacking them in any of my test playtroughs. Hmm.....

EDIT: This should fix it. Specifically ordered ships to play dead.

36

Nightly Builds / Nightly: 12 July 2025 - Revision 06eaf94cb

« Last post by SirKnightly on July 12, 2025, 02:01:59 am »

Here is the nightly for 12 July 2025 - Revision 06eaf94cb



Group: Linux-arm64
nightly_20250712_06eaf94cb-builds-Linux-arm64.tar.gz (Mirror)


Group: Linux-x86_64
nightly_20250712_06eaf94cb-builds-Linux-x86_64.tar.gz (Mirror)


Group: MacOSX-arm64
nightly_20250712_06eaf94cb-builds-Mac-arm64.tar.gz (Mirror)


Group: MacOSX-x86_64
nightly_20250712_06eaf94cb-builds-Mac-x86_64.tar.gz (Mirror)


Group: Win32-SSE2
nightly_20250712_06eaf94cb-builds-Win32-SSE2.zip (Mirror)


Group: Win64-SSE2
nightly_20250712_06eaf94cb-builds-x64-SSE2.zip (Mirror)

Code: [Select]

------------------------------------------------------------------------
commit b9b64fe49
Author: Mike Nelson
Commit: GitHub

    Show team colors with Lua rendering methods (#6802)
 code/missionui/missionweaponchoice.cpp   |  8 +++++-
 code/missionui/missionweaponchoice.h     |  5 +++-
 code/model/modelrender.cpp               |  4 +--
 code/model/modelrender.h                 |  2 +-
 code/scripting/api/objs/parse_object.cpp | 28 +++++++++++++++++++
 code/scripting/api/objs/shipclass.cpp    | 47 +++++++++++++++++++++-----------
 6 files changed, 73 insertions(+), 21 deletions(-)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
commit 218d8c09b
Author: BMagnu
Commit: GitHub

    Rely on bound vai's rather than try to retrieve them (#6822)
 code/graphics/opengl/ShaderProgram.cpp  | 14 ++------------
 code/graphics/opengl/ShaderProgram.h    |  6 +-----
 code/graphics/opengl/gropenglshader.cpp | 18 ++----------------
 code/graphics/opengl/gropenglshader.h   |  3 ---
 code/graphics/opengl/gropengltnl.cpp    |  4 ++--
 5 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 38 deletions(-)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
commit bda54ffe8
Author: BMagnu
Commit: GitHub

    Fix some things in the particle code coverity flaggedf (#6821)
 code/particle/volumes/SpheroidVolume.cpp | 12 +++++++++++-
 code/weapon/muzzleflash.cpp              |  6 +++---
 code/weapon/weapons.cpp                  |  6 +++---
 3 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
commit 32fcb8ccb
Author: Goober5000
Commit: Goober5000

    fix broken newline behavior when FRED saves missions
 fred2/missionsave.cpp              | 41 ++++++++++++++++++++++----------------
 fred2/missionsave.h                | 11 +++++++---
 qtfred/src/mission/missionsave.cpp | 41 ++++++++++++++++++++++----------------
 qtfred/src/mission/missionsave.h   |  5 +++++
 4 files changed, 61 insertions(+), 37 deletions(-)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
commit 2e7f37ef7
Author: Goober5000
Commit: Goober5000

    sort map keys before saving a container
 fred2/missionsave.cpp              | 7 ++++++-
 qtfred/src/mission/missionsave.cpp | 7 ++++++-
 2 files changed, 12 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)


37

Mission & Campaign Releases / Re: Flames of War - Coming of the Storm (re-release)

« Last post by Nyctaeus on July 11, 2025, 04:33:56 pm »

Aaah, the memories return.

So... So far in M02,

Spoiler:

my wingmates return to the TAGged pirate convoy to destroy it. And I have no way to stop them because I cannot issue orders

. Mission is not beatable without cheats I guess.

That shouldn't be possible. I tested that mission dozens of times and never had that happened. Tagged ships get protected, the AI shouldn't attack them.

Are you talking return back AFTER pulling away?

Ye, we pretend to disengage and when our wingmates reach the waypoint like 5 clicks from the convoy, they immediately turn back and burn hard to kill the TAGged freighters.

38

Asset Releases / Re: Dump of my various stuff

« Last post by TrashMan on July 11, 2025, 04:37:52 am »

Ovarhauling my sentry gun

39

FreeSpace Discussion / Re: Enemies in a campaign

« Last post by TrashMan on July 11, 2025, 04:30:30 am »

Pirate Superdestroyers anybody?

The problem kinda lies in rather minimalistic worldbuilding of FS. It features fery few factions and this far, the secondary antagonist was always derived from the deuteragonist species. FSverse features only 4 canon species, of which one is extinct and another is the primary, eldeitch aliens enemy of the entire setting.

Oh, and there is Sol, so either Inferno or Blue Planet style.

The solution of simple: expanding the lore, crush the FS2 balance of power defined by Volition, introduce new things, go crazy.
I feel like the recurring theme of OP mercs/pirates with hundreds of fighters lies in people being rather shy at adding new things to FSverse. I'm reluctant to say that people lack creativity. I feel like they actually lack... Hmm... Courage? Adding new things is balancing the risk of FS being not so FS anymore. Adding new things that are actually good is... Even harder.

Simplest solution is fracturing the GTVA into multiple power blocks.

But no matter what you do there needs to be a credible explanation of how and why.


And I honestly prefer for shivans to remain a mistery. Less is often more.

40

Nightly Builds / Nightly: 11 July 2025 - Revision b03301897

« Last post by SirKnightly on July 11, 2025, 02:05:03 am »

Here is the nightly for 11 July 2025 - Revision b03301897



Group: Linux-arm64
nightly_20250711_b03301897-builds-Linux-arm64.tar.gz (Mirror)


Group: Linux-x86_64
nightly_20250711_b03301897-builds-Linux-x86_64.tar.gz (Mirror)


Group: MacOSX-arm64
nightly_20250711_b03301897-builds-Mac-arm64.tar.gz (Mirror)


Group: MacOSX-x86_64
nightly_20250711_b03301897-builds-Mac-x86_64.tar.gz (Mirror)


Group: Win32-SSE2
nightly_20250711_b03301897-builds-Win32-SSE2.zip (Mirror)


Group: Win64-SSE2
nightly_20250711_b03301897-builds-x64-SSE2.zip (Mirror)

Code: [Select]

------------------------------------------------------------------------
commit 86851fe0d
Author: Goober5000
Commit: Goober5000

    make other compilers happy by only using the comma trick on debug mode
 code/model/modelsinc.h | 13 +++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
commit a565c8e76
Author: Goober5000
Commit: Goober5000

    memory safety for model parsing
 code/globalincs/pstypes.h   | 14 ++++++++++++++
 code/model/model.h          |  2 +-
 code/model/modelcollide.cpp |  6 +++---
 code/model/modelinterp.cpp  | 22 +++++++++++++++++-----
 code/model/modelread.cpp    | 10 ++++++++--
 code/model/modelsinc.h      | 22 ++++++++++++----------
 code/render/3d.h            |  2 +-
 code/render/3ddraw.cpp      |  7 +++++--
 8 files changed, 61 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
commit 44ed242ae
Author: BMagnu
Commit: GitHub

    Make pspew warning a bit less annyoing (#6819)
 code/weapon/weapons.cpp | 11 ++++++++---
 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)