A Babylon 5 Mod for the Final Frontier Mod

[PsiCorps]

I believe the 2nd one would be better, I can try to re-skin it, and also modify the head a little so those boneheads () appear, and since I'll give it a try to modify the mesh, how about changing the sword for a "minbari fighting pike". So it would look like Neroon:

I was hoping that we could get a Minbari fighting pike added to the unit.

The ship was designed with the following features in mind:

Bottom: Two stand-off missile racks for long-range engagements.
Fore: A cargo/docking bay, intended to dock to a transfer station or resupply ship.
Wings: Four dual-barreled railgun emplacements, the wings also serve to store the ammo.
Top-Front: Bridge/sensor arrays
Top-Middle: A shuttle bay.
Aft: Two thrust-vector engines for propulsion/maneouverability. There are also a couple of small fore/side-facing engines (can be seen in the 2nd pic) for braking/maneouvering, slightly off-axis to prevent damage to the "wings".
What do you think of it?

This is a cracking looking ship, I like the ship so much I want to add it now!

B5 wise the Hyperion class is early than the Omega class (they should exchange places).

The only problem with them changing places is they are different classes of ship. It would mean the Hyperion (Destroyer II) would be available before the Omega (Cruiser I). However, the obvious solution would be for me to change them so they are different classes of ship Hyperion becomes Cruiser I and Omega becomes Destroyer II. If this fits in with the Lore, which it probably will because JMS didn't know much about which class of ship was better than another, then I will be happy to switch them around.

 

[Red Boxer]

I turned on the 'only invasion ships can invade a planet' option but I can't for the life of me figure out what the invasion ships are or how it works.

 

[God-Emperor]

In B5 it doesn't work. That option is for regular Final Frontier Plus, which has invasion ships (which have the bTroopTransport flag set in the XML, which is the thing that actually determines what units can capture a star system when this option is turned active).

In B5 only (almost) the ground troop type units can actually capture a star system - no option required (all other units have the "can not capture a city" flag set in the XML; well, all other units except the raiders and at least some of the other "barbarian/pirate" type units, which are also allowed to capture star systems). With this option turned on, it should be impossible to actually capture a star system in B5 since there is no unit that has the bTroopTransport property set to 1 in the XML.

I suppose this setting should be hidden in B5 (set bVisible to 0 for the GAMEOPTION_TROOP_TRANSPORTS entry in CIV4GameOptionInfos.xml) to prevent people form using it.

Another other option would be to give the troops that can capture a star system a bTroopTransport setting of 1 in the XML. Then the bNoCapture value for most ships could be set back to 0. With the option on, it would behave like it does now and with it off it would allow other ships to capture star systems. Setting the option to be on by default would give the behavior it has now, except that ships would not have text that says they can't capture star systems (as far as I know - I don't remember it adding that text to the list of ship properties if the option is on) and people could play without it.

 

[PsiCorps]

I suppose this setting should be hidden in B5 (set bVisible to 0 for the GAMEOPTION_TROOP_TRANSPORTS entry in CIV4GameOptionInfos.xml) to prevent people form using it.

It's on my 'to do' list.

 

[Red Boxer]

Well that's kind of a bummer, but I'm glad I didn't miss anything.

Is there a way to turn off that feature in a game that has already been started?

 

[Agent327]

In B5 it doesn't work. That option is for regular Final Frontier Plus, which has invasion ships (which have the bTroopTransport flag set in the XML, which is the thing that actually determines what units can capture a star system when this option is turned active).

If B5 has no invasion ships, what´s the point of allowing ground troops to capture stars ystems?

 

[God-Emperor]

If B5 has no invasion ships, what´s the point of allowing ground troops to capture stars ystems?

They have nothing to do with each other.

FFP has ships types that are actually named Invasion Ship (plus Delta Invasion Ship and Omega Invasion Ship, where Delta and Omega are the Greek letters). If the option in question is selected then only these specific ship types can capture star systems. If it is not selected, any ship can do so. This was added to simulate the use of ground troops that are carried only by specific unit types and the Invasion Ship was set to be that unit type (instead of adding a troop transport unit that would probably be useless when the option was turned off, which it normally is).

B5 has actual ground troop type units (that look like Civ4 marines). They have nothing to do with Invasion Ships as there is no such unit in B5. Since it has actual troops it doesn't need to fake having troops. It does have troop transports to move them around. If you want to capture a star system, you absolutely have to bring at least one of these ground troop units with you, carried in a transport unit, since nothing else can capture a star system and they can't move across the map by themselves.

 

[God-Emperor]

I have located a promotion issue.

PROMOTION_ENGINES_III has <PromotionPrereq>PROMOTION_ENGINES_III</PromotionPrereq>.
Requiring yourself as a prereq is a no-no.

This should be PROMOTION_ENGINES_II.

Fixing this promotion appears to fix the units' crashing the 'pedia.

Also, in CIV4TechInfos.xml:
1) TECH_B5_ZPF_HYPERSPACE_TAP has an AndPreReqs of TECH_B5_DIRECT_MENTAL_INTERFACE. This should be TECH_B5_DIRECT_MENTAL_INTERFACE_COMPUTERS.

2) TECH_B5_STEALTH_TECHNOLOGY has an AndPreReqs of TECH_B5_ADV_DATA_STORAGE. This should be TECH_B5_ADVANCED_DATA_STORAGE.

 

[Agent327]

They have nothing to do with each other.

FFP has ships types that are actually named Invasion Ship (plus Delta Invasion Ship and Omega Invasion Ship, where Delta and Omega are the Greek letters). If the option in question is selected then only these specific ship types can capture star systems. If it is not selected, any ship can do so. This was added to simulate the use of ground troops that are carried only by specific unit types and the Invasion Ship was set to be that unit type (instead of adding a troop transport unit that would probably be useless when the option was turned off, which it normally is).

B5 has actual ground troop type units (that look like Civ4 marines). They have nothing to do with Invasion Ships as there is no such unit in B5. Since it has actual troops it doesn't need to fake having troops. It does have troop transports to move them around. If you want to capture a star system, you absolutely have to bring at least one of these ground troop units with you, carried in a transport unit, since nothing else can capture a star system and they can't move across the map by themselves.

Oh good. (In MOO2Civ Invasion Ships perform this Transport role.)

 

[PsiCorps]

I have located a promotion issue.

PROMOTION_ENGINES_III has <PromotionPrereq>PROMOTION_ENGINES_III</PromotionPrereq>.
Requiring yourself as a prereq is a no-no.

This should be PROMOTION_ENGINES_II.

Fixing this promotion appears to fix the units' crashing the 'pedia.

Also, in CIV4TechInfos.xml:
1) TECH_B5_ZPF_HYPERSPACE_TAP has an AndPreReqs of TECH_B5_DIRECT_MENTAL_INTERFACE. This should be TECH_B5_DIRECT_MENTAL_INTERFACE_COMPUTERS.

2) TECH_B5_STEALTH_TECHNOLOGY has an AndPreReqs of TECH_B5_ADV_DATA_STORAGE. This should be TECH_B5_ADVANCED_DATA_STORAGE.

Many thanks for those God-Emperor. I have corrected them now as well as having reduced some of the tech research costs.

I've also spotted another issue that I need to address, I founded a Value, The Hand, but couldn't adopt/follow it. In fact I founded both The Hand and Order and although I could construct the buildings there was no way for me to follow either of the two. IIRC there should be a pop up when a Value is founded to ask if you want to adopt the Value. I don't recall ever seeing such a pop up since I added the Values back in so I've either missed something or it's broken.
I also noticed there's no culture slider in the top left corner, have to check that and make sure that it has been 'activated'.
Also spotted that the 3rd tier fighter for the Dilgar still has the standard FF button. I was sure I had changed it, oh well, something else to do now.

 

[God-Emperor]

As far as I can recall, it has never been possible to adopt a value as a state value in this mod. In order to be able to do so, you have to set civics to allow a state religion. FFP just has one of the categories with every civic in the category set to enable having a state religion (I don't remember which one - OK, I just checked: it's the Government category where each has the bStateReligion set to 1, so Frontier/Monarchy/Democracy/Technocracy/Police State are all set to allow a state religion and therefore you can always adopt one since you have to have one of these civics selected).

As long as you are tweaking things... The tech that enables Order (Hyperspace Theory, I think it is called) requires Advanced Data Storage. The tech the comes after that, for which this one is a prereq (Vortex Generators?), also requires plain old Data Storage (which you have to have already had to get the Advanced Data Storage, which makes this prereq pretty pointless). Perhaps these two and prereqs should be swapped to put them in the opposite order.

I haven't quite gotten to these techs yet in my v2.7 game. Turn 270 and I just recently got Data Storage. I have one of the worst starting system I have ever seen: 4 size 1 planets, one of which is the green 3/1/2 "home planet", and 2 size 2 planets; one of each size is a white 2/0/3 planet resulting in very low production. The second size 2 planet is a yellow 1/1/6 so my commerce output is not terrible, just a bit low due to the low total population that can be working the planets. Playing as the Markab, I see that this civ gets no "big" UB, only minor effects across the various buildings - a couple happy here, a couple credits there, 5% extra research from the PBS. Nothing like the +25% extra X bonusessome civs' UBs get (or the extra 25% and +10 research that the Minbari get from one of their UBs, unless that has changed from the last version), although the extra stuff is available pretty early.

 

[God-Emperor]

Found another bug. This one exists in FFP too, but doesn't happen there since the condition can't happen.

The Info tab on the Foreign Advisor screen has problems in B5. This is because (apparently) some leaders make use of the multiple favorite civic stuff (in FFP they all only have 1). This hits a bug in Python\BUG\PlayerUtil.py, line 329.

Existing code:

randCivic = gc.getSorenRandNum(len(favorites) - 1, "Random Civic MFC")

Fixed code:

randCivic = CyGame().getSorenRandNum(len(favorites), "Random Civic MFC")

Two bugs, actually.
The first crashes the Python: gc instead of CyGame().
The second would have limited the possible responses: an extraneous "- 1" on the range of the random numbers.

 

[PsiCorps]

As far as I can recall, it has never been possible to adopt a value as a state value in this mod. In order to be able to do so, you have to set civics to allow a state religion. FFP just has one of the categories with every civic in the category set to enable having a state religion (I don't remember which one - OK, I just checked: it's the Government category where each has the bStateReligion set to 1, so Frontier/Monarchy/Democracy/Technocracy/Police State are all set to allow a state religion and therefore you can always adopt one since you have to have one of these civics selected).

As long as you are tweaking things... The tech that enables Order (Hyperspace Theory, I think it is called) requires Advanced Data Storage. The tech the comes after that, for which this one is a prereq (Vortex Generators?), also requires plain old Data Storage (which you have to have already had to get the Advanced Data Storage, which makes this prereq pretty pointless). Perhaps these two and prereqs should be swapped to put them in the opposite order.

I'll get all of this sorted after I've had my tea. and Thanks for spotting them.

I haven't quite gotten to these techs yet in my v2.7 game. Turn 270 and I just recently got Data Storage. I have one of the worst starting system I have ever seen: 4 size 1 planets, one of which is the green 3/1/2 "home planet", and 2 size 2 planets; one of each size is a white 2/0/3 planet resulting in very low production. The second size 2 planet is a yellow 1/1/6 so my commerce output is not terrible, just a bit low due to the low total population that can be working the planets. Playing as the Markab, I see that this civ gets no "big" UB, only minor effects across the various buildings - a couple happy here, a couple credits there, 5% extra research from the PBS. Nothing like the +25% extra X bonusessome civs' UBs get (or the extra 25% and +10 research that the Minbari get from one of their UBs, unless that has changed from the last version), although the extra stuff is available pretty early.

There's a lot of work to be done with balancing the buildings each Civ gets as well as the cost of the buildings. I'm currently balancing research costs based on the Quick games speed and I have to work on the worst case scenario which means no access to crystals as these give access to a second building that improves research time.

Found another bug. This one exists in FFP too, but doesn't happen there since the condition can't happen.

The Info tab on the Foreign Advisor screen has problems in B5. This is because (apparently) some leaders make use of the multiple favorite civic stuff (in FFP they all only have 1). This hits a bug in Python\BUG\PlayerUtil.py, line 329.

Existing code:

Code:
randCivic = gc.getSorenRandNum(len(favorites) - 1, "Random Civic MFC")Fixed code:

Code:
randCivic = CyGame().getSorenRandNum(len(favorites), "Random Civic MFC")Two bugs, actually.
The first crashes the Python: gc instead of CyGame().
The second would have limited the possible responses: an extraneous "- 1" on the range of the random numbers.

I'll add this fix in as well.

 

[Premier Valle]

Hello everyone!,

I was hoping that we could get a Minbari fighting pike added to the unit.

...Well I gave it a shot, and was partially successfull, I'm not entirely happy with the result, but this is as fas as I got:

Spoiler :

The main reason I couldn't get any further is because the NIF is internaly formated in a very weird way, so I couldn't modify any mesh (i.e. add boneheads, change sword for pike). However I made a workaround in the sword's skin, painting the sword's "guard" with transparency so it is unseenable, I also lowered the "pike" a little to... look more like a pike .

... what do you think of it?

The only problem with them changing places is they are different classes of ship. It would mean the Hyperion (Destroyer II) would be available before the Omega (Cruiser I). However, the obvious solution would be for me to change them so they are different classes of ship Hyperion becomes Cruiser I and Omega becomes Destroyer II. If this fits in with the Lore, which it probably will because JMS didn't know much about which class of ship was better than another, then I will be happy to switch them around.

Well, in the show the Hyperion is a Cruiser and the Omega is a Destroyer so I don't think thats a problem .

 

[PsiCorps]

The main reason I couldn't get any further is because the NIF is internaly formated in a very weird way, so I couldn't modify any mesh (i.e. add boneheads, change sword for pike). However I made a workaround in the sword's skin, painting the sword's "guard" with transparency so it is unseenable, I also lowered the "pike" a little to... look more like a pike .

... what do you think of it?

I think it's pretty good, shame the pike and bone crest can't be done (at the moment) but what's the hurry?!

Well, in the show the Hyperion is a Cruiser and the Omega is a Destroyer so I don't think thats a problem

I'll attend to that this weekend when I have some free time.

 

[Tssha]

The problem with that pike is that the handle is still visible. When you see the handle, you still kinda see a guard (in that your brain inserts one, due to expecting low detail stuff in video games to hint at missing things instead of making them actual pixels). Pikes aren't supposed to have handles anyway, they're gripped anywhere upon the entire length. I suggest altering the texture a bit to ensure the handle is the same colour as the rest of the pike. If it's at all possible.

I do like the robe though, but maybe the hood should be down? Still, the front detail piece on the robe is excellently done.

 

[Premier Valle]

Hello everyone!

I'll attend to that this weekend when I have some free time.

Here is a little more work.

Its been a while since the last time I made a double presentation of new units :

Descari Rulnar
An early unit for the LoNAW. well you have seen this one before, but here are the details and in-game screenshots:

Poly count: 724
Animation: B5_CustomFF_CarrierCruiser
Damage/Glow/Gloss: Yes/Yes/Yes
FX extra polys: 46

Civilopedia:

Combat:

Damaged:

Lumati Transport
Another one for the LoNAW, the Lumati Transport, meant to be used as (*surprise surprise*) the transport vessel for the League.

Poly count: 1281
Animation:
Damage/Glow/Gloss: Yes/Yes/Yes
FX extra polys: 0

Civilopedia:

Combat:

Damaged:

Also, the Minbari Warrior has been made internally available (B5 mod only), so you can expect it on the next release, I do not intend to make a public "official" release of it since it is not a finished product (and not even my own, credit for it goes to AlazkanAssassin - with a small note to me for the re-skin ), still you will be able to get it from the main mod download.

The problem with that pike is that the handle is still visible. When you see the handle, you still kinda see a guard (in that your brain inserts one, due to expecting low detail stuff in video games to hint at missing things instead of making them actual pixels). Pikes aren't supposed to have handles anyway, they're gripped anywhere upon the entire length. I suggest altering the texture a bit to ensure the handle is the same colour as the rest of the pike. If it's at all possible.

I do like the robe though, but maybe the hood should be down? Still, the front detail piece on the robe is excellently done.

I know what you mean about the handle, and the pike, sadly the texture change you proposed was already made at the time the screenshots were taken, I don't know why does it look different (perhaps the material).

About the hood, yeah, it would be nice, however such change requires to modify the mesh, I believe I have enough knowledge/skill to make such changes, however the problem lies in the modification of the NIF, I'll keep working on this, but in the mean time it won't be a priority.

 

[PsiCorps]

Wonderful work as always Premier . But, I have one question about the Descari Rulnar. It doesn't appear on the list of League ships you posted previously so I'm not sure where to place it within the fleet roster.

I've incorporated all of the units made available, except the Rulnar (still have the buttons to do for the League ships as well as the Minbari Warrior) and have completed all of the work on correcting all faults/errors identified so far with one exception.

There still seems to be a problem with the Advanced Bridge promotion, someone posted about this some time ago and I had hoped it was fixed but the recent civilopedia problem meant I couldn't check it. Now that this is fixed I know the problem still exists as detailed below.

It appears in the Civilopedia as a promotion with the prereq promotion of trained officers. It also shows in the promotion tree and which unit classes it is available for. The problem comes when you look at a ship of a class that can have the promotion. The promotion vanishes from the tree for the ship classes supposed to be able to make use of it. I've used the Civ Checker and have located no faults/errors in the work I've done and the Mod boots up with no XML errors. The only option I have now is to have the promotion available for free from a building unless someone else can shed any light on why it isn't available?

 

[Premier Valle]

Wonderful work as always Premier . But, I have one question about the Descari Rulnar. It doesn't appear on the list of League ships you posted previously so I'm not sure where to place it within the fleet roster.

The Rulnar is to replace the Cruscotu in the former Ship Table:

Spoiler :

I never meant for them to have more than one ship in the mod (at least currently, I we retake the 2nd LoNAW faction proposal that could change).

I'll see if I can find something on that promotion.

 

[God-Emperor]

I would guess that the issue with the Advanced Bridge is that the Blitz option (multiple attacks per turn) is only valid when a unit has a movement rate that is greater than 1 (since you can only attack multiple times if you can move multiple times).

Once you research a tech that gives +1 movement, or possibly apply a promotion that gives +1 movement, the Advanced Bridge may become available. Or maybe not - I didn't check to see if the restriction for it in the DLL checks the current movement rate for the unit or only the base movement rate.