Babylon 5 Shadowfall
Version beta 3
by Guy Hagen (Psientist - psientist@networkinsight.net)
7/12/06


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Author / Contributors
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Guy Hagen - Design, graphics, overall mod integration

Please see the file "ResourceLinks.txt" for a list of references to web sites that contributed underlying content and original graphics for this mod.  I wouldn't have even been able to begin without them, they get the real credit.

For now, contributors with experience making mods within the Digital Eel system or are handy with Photoshop are very much appreciated - send an email to me above.  Don't bother sending complaints or critiques unless you're willing to be a real contributor.



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Installation
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Place the 'B5 Shadowfall' folder from the ZIP file into your Weird Worlds 
folder.  Make sure you've removed any previous versions first.



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Play
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Start Weird Worlds, then click the 'MODS' button on the startup menu; 
select 'B5 Shadowfall' and then click 'START'.



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About This Mod
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This mod is intended to capture as much of the Babylon 5 TV series, movies, and spin-offs in one game as possible.



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Version History
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Beta 3: Second public release.  (7/15/06)
	- Added "Dureena" quest and item
	- Added "Book of G'Quan" item
	- Added "Triluminary" item
	- Added "Lifegiver" item (thanks, Voltayre, for the idea)
	- Added "Lorien" quest and item
	- Added "Keeper" quest and item.  I'm proud of this one!
	- Added "Arisia" quest (converted the Epsilon quest, really)
	- Added "cursed" Sardonion Optimizer.
	- Added "Nashabban Hiddenbeast" (icon is actually one of Godzilla's enemies)
		"Zarg" and "On" creatures.  Thanks again, Voltayre for the info and
		descriptions!
	- Implemented "vorbeacon" quests to randomly take away the Vorlon beacon 		
		once used.  It's too powerful to be able to use continually - and I 
		still haven't found a way to instantly remove it after one use.
	- Graphics: intro screen, end screen, navigation map, nebula map
	
Beta 2: First public release.  Contains roughly 50% of envisioned mods,
	not entirely stable. (7/12/06)
	
Beta 1: Pre-release (6/1/06)



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Known Issues
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1. The game locks up - will not start - on the "small" and "medium" map sizes.  I don't know why, and I've *really* tried to find out.  I've edited the distribution.ini so you can only select the "medium" map size for now. 

2. Sometimes after selecting your ship and starting, the game will either freeze or will show a faroff black hole.  In addition, the distribution.ini file doesn't seem to have loaded - there is no Terran homeworld and you cannot retire.  It only happens occasionally, but the only option is to quit and start over.  It's probably a quest conflict or error.



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About The Ships
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There is a hierarchy of ship strengths that I've implemented based upon the TV series and gameplay.  The result may *not* necessarily true to the series, but I've done my best within the restrictions of the game.

From weakest to strongest:
	Shadow fighter
	Drakh Raider (two of which should almost be a match for a whitestar)
	Narn capital ships
	Centauri capital ships
	Omega class destroyers (roughly equal to Centauri capital ships)
	Minbari capital ships
	Whitestar class ships
	Drakh cruisers (roughly equal to whitestars, perhaps a little stronger)
	Victory class ships (with inherent flaws, however)
	Shadow battle-crabs (by a long shot)
	Vorlon star dreadnaughts (slightly tougher than a Shadow battle-crab)	
	

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About the Races
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Time has limited my implementation of races, and I've played fast and loose with the various governments and alliances.  This was my guiding intent:

	Narn:  Neutral (ally or hostile), possibly hostile.
	Centauri: Neutral (ally or hostile), possibly mercenaries
	Minbari: Allies and traders (like Klakar), possibly summoned aid
	Drakh: Hostile
	Shadow: Hostile
	Vorlon: Ally, but not a generated race / homeworld
	
	

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Things I haven't Implemented / Wish List
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This is a list of some of the things I simply hadn't had time to do, but wanted to.
	Minbari race, fleet
	Narn race, fleet
	Non-aligned world fleets
	Vorlon fighter
	Some other race ship as a derelict ally ship (Centauri Primus for now)
	A hypergate system around random stars
	Renamed star and planet names
	More captain and ship names
	Vree as traders?
	Lots of Babylon-5 specific items, events and quests to replace default
	Drakh "mothership" as homeworld

	

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Things I have given up on
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There are a few things that I have tried hard to implement, but just couldn't figure out how to do.

	- Make the Victory main gun a one-shot weapon.
	- Make the Victory main gun muzzle effects not "track"
	- Make the Drakh pulse weapon have "twinkle" or rotating particle EMIT 
		effects or do something else unique
	- Make the Vorlon beacon one-use only (see "vorbeacon" quest)
	- Make Bester's hypervision work (maybe it does?)
	- Make Bester give some combat advantage against Shadow vessels.
	- A super-large mission (distribution.ini).
	- Sometimes the mission-start will lose the distribution.ini; no Terran 
		homeworld, the screen shows a black hole somewhere, not the terran 
		homeworld and you lose the ability to retire.
	- The game locks up when selecting small or large mission sizes
