A Babylon 5 Mod for the Final Frontier Mod

[The_Coyote]

...
@ The Coyote, for me, it is a lot of work I know I will never get good at and will only become frustrated. So I will have to avoid that work. As for the model poly counts I can get them if you need them. ...

i only asked because i wanted to know if all models are "usable" for the purpose. A fighter (3 fighter squad has three models, so when one starfury for example has around 1500 vertices, the final starfighter in game has 4500 - the reason why my Starfury is imo to polyhigh for the starfighter squad). A in game unit (like the starfighter squad) should be below 2000 (i would say max 3000 vertices). so if you could control this it would be clear which model are still needed or not.

the standard ff units have 550 per fighter model (the squad has around 1500) and also the same number for the other units

 

[Thorgrimm]

I guess ill start with the stuff i like and grow into it from there.. .that would be the Pak`Ma`Ra (does anyone have good references? i only have tiny miniature photos) and the Brakiri (same here..)

..about the Explorer: i remember hyperspace beacons.. ..how about making the Explorer a pure transport/scouting vessel which transports these beacons (ability to build roads/movement 0)..?
..that still leaves the question about the civilian ships of every other nation..

btw: by giving each race differrent scouts/workers/colony ships there would be a way to have them expand in different ways, representing their unique nature, would be hard to balance tho..

about the spaceship files.. .. i only have a webclient mail so i could only help with that if you can put them on a server...

@ Saschkin, I can put them on my server and if Psi Corps and all the rest want a fora there that would make it simple for you to dl them.

@ The Coyote, np, my friend, General Matt explained the same thing to me when I gave him those ST models. They were around 5000 polys and I have no problems running them in my game. I will have to see how big these are.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[The_Coyote]

the problem is the mod should not only work on high end machines and it also depends on the number of units you include (you only had three and i´m sure one or two polyhigh models will work [if it makes sense and the details are still visible in game, eg see the fighter and how small they are ingame])

Ciao
The_Coyote

 

[Thorgrimm]

the problem is the mod should not only work on high end machines and it also depends on the number of units you include (you only had three and i´m sure one or two polyhigh models will work [if it makes sense and the details are still visible in game, eg see the fighter and how small they are ingame])

Ciao
The_Coyote

Don't get me wrong, I most certainly agree with you, but if all we can get are somewhat high poly count models, they will have to be what we use unless someone wants to make them from scratch. Also, one thing i have noticed with FF vs regular civ, regular civ bogs down due to the monstrous numbers of units, no matter their poly count. Just too many are being rendered at the same time.

In FF, I have never seen any unit count ever come close to regular civ, so I think we have a window of opportunity to use better quality models since the unit density will be far lower than in normal civ. So overall, the poly count on screen will actually be lower.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[The_Coyote]

agree, i only wanted to know which models are necessary to do from scratch

 

[Premier Valle]

I'm finally at home !

The offer from Thorgrimm for a forum on his website is a good one, Croxis also made a similar offer some time ago so we have 2 offers on the table for hosting the developement of this mod. Votes for who we go for please?

If memory serves me well, Croxis offered a version control service, with this, we all could upload our progresses, and if/when necessary we could merge the versions.
Thorgrimm offers a dedicated forum for our mod.
I think we can go for both!

OK, my B5 books are:
· The Babylon Project
· Earthforce source book
Both from Chameleon Eclectic

@Thorgrimm
I just could not resist anymore this question: Does your Omega class destroyer has a "live" rotating sector?

 

[Thorgrimm]

agree, i only wanted to know which models are necessary to do from scratch

Well, I began to take a poly count of the models... and some, like Earth Force 1 are huge. EF1 is over 600,000 polys!!!!!!! It is freaking gorgeous but way too big in the poly count.

Most of the others weigh in at between 10k and 20k polys. The ships are beautiful, especially with the textures, but too many polys. Maybe you can make the base models and use the outstanding textures in these ones.

@Premier Valle, the rotating section is its own object, so I assume it can be animated. And damn its beautiful to when rendered.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[The_Coyote]

no reason for a

at least there are some really good 3d references of the ships, everything has a use (and even if you don´t use the texture having a master pic, makes the remake of the texture a lot easier)

the rotating part of the omega could be animated but to make new animation from scratch there is afaik is 3ds max necessary (there is perhaps a other way, but this still has to be tried)

 

[Thorgrimm]

no reason for a

at least there are some really good 3d references of the ships, everything has a use (and even if you don´t use the texture having a master pic, makes the remake of the texture a lot easier)

the rotating part of the omega could be animated but to make new animation from scratch there is afaik is 3ds max necessary (there is perhaps a other way, but this still has to be tried)

Sounds good to me. When the team agrees to a schedule for creation I will send them to whomever does the units. Hopefully, the models can be of some assistance.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Premier Valle]

the rotating part of the omega could be animated but to make new animation from scratch there is afaik is 3ds max necessary (there is perhaps a other way, but this still has to be tried)

From the very first time I played FF, when I saw the space debris I immediatly thought in the Omega Class Destroyer... could that animation be used for (or as a base) for it?

 

[PsiCorps]

If memory serves me well, Croxis offered a version control service, with this, we all could upload our progresses, and if/when necessary we could merge the versions.
Thorgrimm offers a dedicated forum for our mod.
I think we can go for both!

Thanks for correcting me

Sounds good to me. When the team agrees to a schedule for creation I will send them to whomever does the units. Hopefully, the models can be of some assistance.

Lets discuss a schedule and what different posts we need to set up on the offered Fora.
Gotta keep this brief as my daughter needs the PC.

 

[Thorgrimm]

Thanks for correcting me

Lets discuss a schedule and what different posts we need to set up on the offered Fora.
Gotta keep this brief as my daughter needs the PC.

I will go ahead and get the fora set up then. I will post here when I get it set up.

One question, whats the name of the mod going to be?



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Premier Valle]

Hello!

I think we should have the following areas, and as many threads as needed within this ones (for better organization):
· Civilizations/Leaders/Traits
· Technologies
· Units (XML)(3D)
· Buildings (XML)(3D) - we need a few ones -
· Hyperspace
· Projects ("Babylon Project", "ISA", "Beyond the Rim", etc...)
· TEXT entries (Pedia)

About the schedule, well, I work with what I have, so next thing I'll do is to:
· add the rest of the civs (Drazi, Brakiri, Pak'ma'ra, Gaim, League of Non-Aligned Worlds). [NEXT WEEKEND]
· remove FF civs [NEXT WEEKEND - PERHAPS]
· do some experiments with Python (jump engine oriented) [NEXT WEEKEND - perhaps]

It will be hard to keep a good schedule program with just posts, so I think we believe we could need a SCHEDULE thread, in the first post should be an index of the members, with a link to a single post per member, where each member could place what he/she is working on, and when that work is done, the same post should be edited with the next work.

One question, whats the name of the mod going to be?

That is a question I have had for some time, here are some options:
· FF: Babylon 5
· FF: The Babylon Project
· FF B5: The 3rd Age

(those are the first things that came to my mind, but I believe we can come out with something better)

 

[Saschkin]

..how about "Babylon5:Adolescence" assuming Shadows and Vorlons make it into the game?

..good night..*yawn*

 

[Thorgrimm]

Ok folks, the fora is set up along with a hidden tester's fora. As soon as you join apply to join the Babylon 5 Tester's Group and I all approve you. As soon as Psi Corps joins I will make him the group leader and mod for the foras.

Here is the URL:

Babylon 5 Mod for civ 4 forum



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Premier Valle]

@ Thorgrimm

Great man!, but when I tried to join, it said that my e-mail address was banned .

I tried with to domains (yahoo and hotmail).

 

[Thorgrimm]

@ Thorgrimm

Great man!, but when I tried to join, it said that my e-mail address was banned .

I tried with to domains (yahoo and hotmail).

I had banned Those for the spam they generated. A work around is to use something like this, Name@comcast.net. Then when you get approved you can change your email back. The banning only affects the registration.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Thorgrimm]

Premier Valle, you are active and I have added you to the B5 Tester's group.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[PsiCorps]

I'm at work but i've registered on the Fora, same username as here to keep things simple.

 

[Thorgrimm]

I'm at work but i've registered on the Fora, same username as here to keep things simple.

I have added you as the B5 Group leader and the Moderator of the B5 foras.



Cheers, Thorgrimm