[Fineus]

Right! I'll be honest with all of you - I'm lazy. No suprise. However I do have something prepared to combat this issue... with the help of Kazan - though he doesn't know it.

These files allow you to randomly generate a background based on any of Lightspeeds nebula packs (A through E) based on catagory order. First things first:

Step One:
Download Kazans Alliance Productions FS2 Kit and install the Mission Background Utility.

Step Two:
Download Lightspeeds new nebula packs (1 to 5 currently) and install them as per his instructions. It's important that these files are not renamed for my mods to Kazans program to work. Follow Lightspeeds instructions and you'll be fine.

Step Three:
Familiarise yourself with this program, which allows you to save a lot of time and randomly generate backgrounds to your missions.

Step Four:
Download this file and become familiar with the instructions within.

Step Five:
Make use of files as you see fit. Load into FRED2 (SCP Varient) and tweak to suit tastes.

Note:
As it says in the readme I just changed a few pieces of text around - nothing particularly complex. True credit goes to Kazan for the background generation utility and to Lightspeed for his work on the graphics for the SCP.

Enjoy!

[StratComm]

Cool.

While I'm at it, I'll show my appreciation for yet another new smily:

[Rictor]

Have you tried this yourself Thunder? Does a randomly generated pattern look any good? Cause I remember Lightspeed was compiling a list of the settings which would turn out a good looking nebula, to save people time.

Interesting...

[Fineus]

It does indeed compile excellent nebulae, an example is below. I should note that you may need to tweak things (it can be a bit "happy" on adding "main" nebulas which makes things really very bright. The star also has to be custom added as well as any planets).

I'm not saying this will turn things out perfectly, and obviously for a personal touch it's better to make your own. But for quick tests, placeholder backgrounds and so on - it's perfect. Especially since I've broken things down by color type.

[Singh]

i dunno why, but i cant seem to use this utility. each time it asks me for the damn .lst files, but the files are right there in the directory!!!

[Fineus]

What .lst files does it ask for? You should only have four files in the directory:

FS2MBU3.exe
Nebulae.lst
Randseed.dat
Suns.lst

Anything else may screw it up.. make another subfolder and chuck it in there.

[Roy fokker]

they got to be in the mission directory, i've been using this thing since for ever how ya think i get such good backgrounds just generate  then got into the mission and remove any or replace the ones you don't need

[Lightspeed]

Hehe I tried exactly the same thing a while ago. It looks pretty good sometimes, but sometimes it looks horrible.

It's good for a placeholder, but for best results, you'll still have to do it manually

[Rictor]

Couldn't you just git the "random" button a few times a get a decent looking one? The pic Thunder posted seems decent enough.

[Lightspeed]

Originally posted by Rictor
Couldn't you just git the "random" button a few times a get a decent looking one? The pic Thunder posted seems decent enough.

"decent enough" is never "decent enough" for me

[Fineus]

Meh, I said it was good for placeholders, test missions and basic layouts. I never said it would make the perfect background you have in your mind

[[BoA]_Scoob]

sorry for being a total n00b here, but where do all those nebula extracted files go?  The images in maps or effects?  The tbl in tables of course.  What about the .fs2 files?

[Lightspeed]

There should be loads of PCX and TGA files with my nebulae. Those go in /effects. Then theres a .tbl file which goes to tables.

And finally, there's the ".fs2" test missions which go in /missions

Originally posted by Kalfireth
Meh, I said it was good for placeholders, test missions and basic layouts. I never said it would make the perfect background you have in your mind

I know what you said, and I agree. I was answering Rictor's post

[Setekh]

Nice one, K! This is a great way to use the new stuff LS is putting out, and it uses the existing tools at hand. Well done.

Originally posted by StratComm
Cool.

While I'm at it, I'll show my appreciation for yet another new smily:

Heh, we had this a while ago, but I re-added it because I found a place where two thumbs up were really necessary. Glad you like it.