A Babylon 5 Mod for the Final Frontier Mod

[Thorgrimm]

You read my mind, but I didn't want to mess with adding sounds yet, glad to hear you succeded!



ooops, sorry.

Could you release your version or the changes you have made? They sound cool, I would like to try them.

Moreover, I just read the Bug thread @ Gunny's. I tested it and didn't have the problem, but, the problem is there, I have found the missing code required for the sentri to be a UU of the Centauri republic. About the Frazi fighter(s) they aren't meant yet to be Narn UUs because of the fighter/squadron approach (the Frazi is so far the only fighter we have available in both flavors)

Once you release your new version, I'll address the issue with the sentri fighter. A question, have you made a "flag" for the Brakiri?, if not I'll get into it.

Lol, gfx are beyond my abilities. All my changes are in the XML files. But I did want permission to add the ability to have Resource extractors work outside the borders and bring back the resources to the cities. Basically recreating the civ 3 colonies. Back in the early part of this year I was working on something else that fell through, But Cyberchrist and some others helped me accomplish just that. Along with resources being found in the star systems themselves.

Only problem with the Brakiri ships is that the buttons are still pink, even after removing the ",". I posted too early about that.

Oh, and I added a lot of colony names to the CivilizationInfos.XML to.

Right now there is not a lot of functionality in the mod. No buildings and the techs do nothing. SO I was adding to the Pedia XML and other information I had.

But I will have the new changes zipped and up in the Tester's forum by tomorrow.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Thorgrimm]

Got it done early, the new changes are up on the mod's tester's forum. Let me know when you guys get it.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Agent327]

Got it!

BTW, is it intended to overwrite or should previous version be deleted? (Hm, pretty stupid question actually, as you mention there's definitely a bug in there. Nevermind.)

 

[Premier Valle]

Hello everyone!!:

Here is the new version: v0.1.7c

New stuff:

Spoiler :

- Main Menu Soundtrack added!: B5 S5 Intro
- Main Game Soundtrack added!: B5 S5 Intro (no voices)
- Brakiri Button Added
- Brakiri Flag Added
- Avioki Class Cruiser
- Halik Class Frigate
- Multiple System name entries added
- LoNAW Pedia entry added
- Corrected BUG: Sentri Fighter is now a Centauri UU
- Known BUG: Avioki/Halik units present problems

Special thanks to Thorgrimm, who did much of this update's coding, and to Saschkin for the Brakiri ships!

As you can see there is a known Bug in this release:

Spoiler :

The Bug is related with the Brakiri ships:
- The civilopedia screen doesn't show appropiately
- In game, the ships kind of "inherit" the last command set used, rather than having its own command set (*)
- Some other In game anomalies with the Brakiri (most likely a by product of the latter anomalies)

(*) For command set I refer to the unit's buttons (i.e. fortify)

There is a chance that the bug is produced because of the 3d models, to support this theory I have tried the following:
- The Halik artwork tag IS pointing to the FF Destroyer, everything works fine.
- The Avioki artwork tag is pointing to its own art definitions, the bug is there!
That leads me to presume that the models may have something wrong, however I do not discard a coding error.

I left the Halik art pointing to the destroyer so that you could see this.

Any playtesting report will be aprettiated.
@ Thorgrim: did you have any problem when you modded them?

Also, as you can see, the file size grew almost 100% thanks to Thorgrimm's
sound work, and ever since this sound files are overwriting the FF ones, and no coding is required for these to work, I'm thinking on releasing them as an add-on pack for the mod.
woohoo: our own unfinished mod already to have add-ons! )
What do you think of this? (I'm also suggesting this because sooner or later we'll run out of space either here or in my space at starmedia )

 

[Saschkin]

This is how i put them in and i didnt experience any problems...

<UnitArtInfo>
<Type>ART_DEF_UNIT_CRUISER_I</Type>
<Button>Art/Interface/Buttons/aviokibutton.dds</Button>
<fScale>0.25</fScale>
<fInterfaceScale>.55</fInterfaceScale>
<bActAsLand>0</bActAsLand>
<bActAsAir>1</bActAsAir>
<NIF>Art/Units/avioki/avioki.nif</NIF>
<KFM>Art/Units/FinalFrontier_Cruiser/Cruiser.kfm</KFM>
<SHADERNIF>Art/Units/avioki/avioki.nif</SHADERNIF>
<ShadowDef>
<ShadowNIF>Art/Units/01_UnitShadows/BattleshipShadow.nif</ShadowNIF>
<ShadowAttachNode>BIP Pelvis</ShadowAttachNode>
<fShadowScale>0</fShadowScale>
</ShadowDef>
<iDamageStates>4</iDamageStates>
<fBattleDistance>1.20</fBattleDistance>
<fRangedDeathTime>0.31</fRangedDeathTime>
<bSmoothMove>1</bSmoothMove>
<fAngleInterpRate>720.0</fAngleInterpRate>
<fBankRate>0.2</fBankRate>
<bActAsRanged>1</bActAsRanged>
<TrainSound>AS2D_UNIT_BUILD_UNIT</TrainSound>
<AudioRunSounds>
<AudioRunTypeLoop/>
<AudioRunTypeEnd/>
</AudioRunSounds>
<SelectionSound>AS3D_UN_SPACESHIP_FORTIFY</SelectionSound>
<ActionSound>AS3D_UN_SPACESHIP_FORTIFY</ActionSound>
</UnitArtInfo>

<UnitArtInfo>
<Type>ART_DEF_UNIT_DESTROYER_I</Type>
<Button>Art/Interface/Buttons/halikbutton.dds</Button>
<fScale>0.45</fScale>
<fInterfaceScale>0.57</fInterfaceScale>
<bActAsLand>0</bActAsLand>
<bActAsAir>1</bActAsAir>
<NIF>Art/Units/halik/halik.nif</NIF>
<KFM>Art/Units/FinalFrontier_Destroyer/Destroyer.kfm</KFM>
<SHADERNIF>Art/Units/halik/halik.nif</SHADERNIF>
<ShadowDef>
<ShadowNIF>Art/Units/01_UnitShadows/DestroyerShadow.nif</ShadowNIF>
<ShadowAttachNode>BIP Pelvis</ShadowAttachNode>
<fShadowScale>0</fShadowScale>
</ShadowDef>
<iDamageStates>4</iDamageStates>
<fBattleDistance>1.10</fBattleDistance>
<fRangedDeathTime>0.31</fRangedDeathTime>
<bSmoothMove>1</bSmoothMove>
<fAngleInterpRate>720.0</fAngleInterpRate>
<fBankRate>0.2</fBankRate>
<bActAsRanged>1</bActAsRanged>
<TrainSound>AS2D_UNIT_BUILD_UNIT</TrainSound>
<AudioRunSounds>
<AudioRunTypeLoop/>
<AudioRunTypeEnd/>
</AudioRunSounds>
<SelectionSound>AS3D_UN_SPACESHIP_FORTIFY</SelectionSound>
<ActionSound>AS3D_UN_SPACESHIP_FORTIFY</ActionSound>
</UnitArtInfo>

 

[Thorgrimm]

When I put them in I followed the tutorial for adding new ships exactly. Only renaming what was needed. I could go into the WB and add them just fine and they worked great. But if I tried to build them the game crashed. And the buttons were still pink. So I have no idea what I goofed up.

So if you can tell me where I messed up I will fix it so I can add more ships correctly this time.

As for the space problems, I have plenty on my server, no worries there my friend. I already host some huge civ 3 mods on my site.

Question, is it possible the Cruiser_FX.nif is the problem? I noticed when I used that instead of pointing it to the Avioki.nif the regular FF Cruiser was displayed.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Thorgrimm]

Bug Report.

When a Mag-Lev gets built, the FF Blue-Ringed system defense gfx display. Can still build Narn Fighters from the beginning as the EA.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[PsiCorps]

Hi all, i'm creating this post on notepad as i am still unable to stay logged on to the server long enough to create a post there and i've tried Opera and Firefox in an attempt to resolve this issue. I think the problem is linked to AVG but i don't want to switch that off until i have found a worthy replacement, any suggestions?
Thorgrimm, glad to see you have found a work around for the problems you were having.
Thank you all for all the work you have been doing, it's frustrating as hell being able to read your posts and not be able to comment on them. I've just downloaded 0.1.7c and will try and get some feedback for you as soon as possible.

 

[Thorgrimm]

Psi Corps, I hope you get your problems worked out to.

I have sort of figured out how the sound works, and I have replaced the Diplo music for the EA, Minbari, Centauri, Narn and Dilgar. So when you meet these folks and begin a game as these races or zoom in on their worlds you will hear something besides guitars strumming.

Also, I got the buttons working for the Brakiri ships and can build them just fine. Only problem is they have no orders you can give them since there are no orders buttons to choose, and no small pic next to where their stats are. Any ideas on why that is?



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Thorgrimm]

Added back the Comm sats and the Recycling Center and added a new Building, The Arcology.


Added the pedia, strategy, and unit texts for the Avioki and Halik.

The Avioki Pedia:

The Brakiri are one of the most wealthy and politically stable of all of the Babylon 5 races. This has a simple reason: Early in their history the Brakiri adapted a form of government which made capitalism look like a joke: both the civil and the military side of their society are run as a business - as profitably as possible. They are both ruthless in their business dealings and honest, as they have found that this provides the best base for further business.

The technological level of the Brakiri is quite high, lagging slightly behind that of the Centauri. This, coupled with their wealth, means that they are one of the few members of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds to actually build and maintain a fleet of large jump capable vessels.

Unfortunately their money driven economy also pervades their military, or better said, their merchant fleet. For all of the ships that make up their navy are actually armed merchant vessels. These ships have been designed with various cargo and passenger tasks as first, and with combat as second thought. Because of this their cruisers look very impressive, but are actually not very combat capable ships.

The Avioki Cruiser is armed with four Plasma Cannons for anti-ship purposes, and 4 laser cannons for starfighter defense. It has no shields, no missile capability and it carries no fighters. For all its size it is hardly more powerful than a Drazi Sunhawk, as a matter of fact its size merely makes it a rather large target. Much of its hull is given over to cargo holds and passenger quarters. In time of war the passenger quarters can be converted to marine barracks.

Of course this applies only to its function as a warship. For a commercial ship it can carry a large amount of freight and passengers, and is both fast and well armed. As such Brakiri ships are often hired to transport valuable cargos over great distances.

Like most ships of the younger races these ships do not have artificial gravity or inertial dampening, even though the ship does have a gravity drive. The reason for this is that the drive that the Brakiri use is a copy of the Centauri`s drive system. The Brakiri do not fully understand these copied systems and as such do not have the ability to generate artificial gravity or shields. The system still cannot pull as high an accelerations as is possible by the engines because it would kill the ships crew and the ship itself cannot withstand the stress of higher accelerations. Despite these factors, the gravity drive system used by the Brakiri is still a lot more efficient than the ion drives of the Earth Alliance and as such is widely used by the ever profit-driven Brakiri. The gravity drive is the only Sublight propulsion the Cruiser has. For faster than light travel the Cruiser can open its own jump point into hyperspace.

The decks of the Avioki cruiser are set up aft in order that the crew has a greater comfort while in transit and the ship normally accelerates at about one G to give the crew the sensation of the gravity of their homeworld. This allows the ship's crew to operate for a far greater period of time without needing to be rotated off the ship. Whenever the ship accelerates at over 4 G of acceleration, the crew cannot more around the ship efficiently.



Avioki Strategy:

The Avioki is the workhorse of the Brakiri Fleet. Use it as such, but do not expect much in the way of performance out of it.




Halik Pedia:

The Halik is the epitome of the ultimate anti-fighter escort. The last thing fighter pilots attacking Brakiri ships want to see is the beetle-like shape of a Halik swinging their way. This makes the Halik one the deadliest escorts in Syndicracy service.

The Halik mounts eight graviton pulsars. Though not as potentially damaging as other light weapons like the standard particle beam and the twin array, it does, or can provide a volume of firepower similar to a pulse cannon that neither of the aforementioned weapons can provide.

The Halik has average armor and structure for a escort ship. A few good, solid hits from a heavy weapon will seriously affect this ship. But this is a problem endemic to all light ships. Hit them hard and they break.

The key to survival for most escort ships is speed and maneuverability. In the case of the Halik it has a gravitic drive to help it along. Never sit still, always move around. Assuming it's escorting Aviokis, the Halik can easily be picked apart without being able to reply in turn. The only consolation to this is if your opponent is shooting at your Halik, he might not be shooting at the Avioki. Which is what the function of an escort is, divert attention from the ship it's escorting.


Halik Strategy:

Because Avioki's tend to get pounded when facing fighters always include at least three Haliks per pair of Aviokis. Since it's a very good anti-fighter platform, use it as such.


Now if Saschkin could get me more ships I could add more text entries.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Saschkin]

Im working on quite a different ship right now (which is a "§$#% to texture and animate, else it would be done already) after that the next couple of Brakiri ships will follow...

..about the orders/buttons issue: im quite certain that this is neither a problem of the models nor of the artdefines XML, but if it was a (major) problem of the unitclassinfos or such they shouldnt show up at all..
..so again all i can say about this problem is

 

[Thorgrimm]

Im working on quite a different ship right now (which is a "§$#% to texture and animate, else it would be done already) after that the next couple of Brakiri ships will follow...

..about the orders/buttons issue: im quite certain that this is neither a problem of the models nor of the artdefines XML, but if it was a (major) problem of the unitclassinfos or such they shouldnt show up at all..
..so again all i can say about this problem is

The actual Brakiri Buttons are fine, as are the ships. They build and fight just fine. So the artwork is ok, I think. Only you have to use the keyboard commands.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Premier Valle]

Got it!

Holy smokes!, You downloaded it even before I could announce it!

Bug Report.

When a Mag-Lev gets built, the FF Blue-Ringed system defense gfx display. Can still build Narn Fighters from the beginning as the EA.

That is actually an intended bug, just to serve as a demonstrator, the stuff that makes the space fortress appear when the mag-lev is built is in python, the system "buildings" are coded that way, and that is the way to code the future shipyards and similar stations...

As for the space problems, I have plenty on my server, no worries there my friend. I already host some huge civ 3 mods on my site.

Good to hear!!

BTW, have you seen The_Coyote International Space Station?, looks great, but I wonder, how can we use it?

@PsiCorps
Glad to read you, I would recommend McAfee, Nod32, or Kaspersky.

----
I still have no idea what could be happening with the brakiri ship's bug, I'm going to try to code them from scratch, If successfull I'll upload ASAP, if not, well,... not.

 

[Thorgrimm]

That is actually an intended bug, just to serve as a demonstrator, the stuff that makes the space fortress appear when the mag-lev is built is in python, the system "buildings" are coded that way, and that is the way to code the future shipyards and similar stations...

BTW, have you seen The_Coyote International Space Station?, looks great, but I wonder, how can we use it?

I still have no idea what could be happening with the brakiri ship's bug, I'm going to try to code them from scratch, If successfull I'll upload ASAP, if not, well,... not.

Ok, I will leave the fancy stuff to you.

No, I have not. maybe use it as some form of minor space station or starbase? Since a lot of the reaces do not have beses.

Everything works for them now, but the disappearing orders buttons. They build and fight just fine. No lockups or crashes.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Premier Valle]

Just a quick stop to notify success!

I've got the Avioki working at full power!

I'll upload ASAP once the halik its in place.

 

[Thorgrimm]

Just a quick stop to notify success!

I've got the Avioki working at full power!

I'll upload ASAP once the halik its in place.

Outstanding! What was the problem?



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Agent327]

Holy smokes!, You downloaded it even before I could announce it!

Well, that's about all I could do. Still can't load it - did some checking, but I haven't got Bhruic's Unoffical Patch installed, only the Additional Patch (which reinstalls the Diplomacy overview screen)...

 

[Premier Valle]

The bugs are fixed and the new version is ready for you to download.
v0.1.7d

now that I come to think on this, a patch would have been easier, but whatever.

Outstanding! What was the problem?

I built them from zero, but the problem was still there, I changed the art reference to the destroyer one and it worked... nothing new... then I thougt, if the Unit definition, text, class, and 3D model are OK, then it can only be the artwork definition.

Thankfully Saschkin published his artwork definitions, the only relevant difference is that he was pointing to the FF's KFMs and not the ones that come with the models.
I change the kfm references to the FF ones and everything worked, so I pressume that there is something wrong with the others.

The Arcology.

What is this building? a Dome of some sort?

A few notes on the current version:

Spoiler :

In order to make a unit unique, it needs to replace another, that is the reason I added the FF Battleship, the Avioki replaces it (but comming to think about it, it should replace the FF Cruiser)

There is no unit for the halik to replace, so, in the mean time the Halik is available to everyone.

The Frazi fighters are still buildable by all, because I want to remind you all of the approach we should take (single fighter or squadron).

Talking about the ships, we need to define the ship tree, we need a common ship tree(*), the UUs will replace those equivalent units in the common-ship-tree.
I would like that this common-ship-tree is defines ASAP, for it would help greatly when coding this stuff (that way we'll know what common unit a UU will replace). For an example, wich unit should the Halik replace??, it doesn't necessarily has to be a FF one.

---
(*) I was thinking on the common-ship-tree, we can use the FF models, but these aren't enough, as already mentioned the halik has no obvious (at leas to me) FF unit to replace, so a new category and a new 3D model is needed for the common ship.
So... how pure do you want this mod??... 'cause I was thinking, perhaps we can add easter eggs, like adding a Battlestar Galactica class ship in the common ship tree, or a star trek, or star wars ship, etc...

I'm no unbeliever!, don't hate me if you disagree

----
EDIT:

Well, that's about all I could do. Still can't load it - did some checking, but I haven't got Bhruic's Unoffical Patch installed, only the Additional Patch (which reinstalls the Diplomacy overview screen)...

do you still see the warlords loading screen? (the one that is displayed while loading the stuff for a game - not the main menu)

 

[Agent327]

Mod loads! Played 50+ turns as the Pak'hara, founded 2 colonies, built a Drazi Fighter, 4-5 Destroyers, met no other civ, then CTDed when about to discover Xeno Biology(?).

 

[Saschkin]

Thankfully Saschkin published his artwork definitions, the only relevant difference is that he was pointing to the FF's KFMs and not the ones that come with the models.
I change the kfm references to the FF ones and everything worked, so I pressume that there is something wrong with the others.

Now thats really odd because the Halik and Avioki folders are just copies of the respective original FF folders and i was to stupid to delete the duplicate files before i archived and uploaded them...