Re: Multiverse Mod
 

For three weeks now I have been trying to fix my pc. At last I was successful!

The problem was a repeatable one. The problem was happening on the �x-wing vs tie fighter �areas.

It goes like this: I land on the sector and fighters are engaging each other. It is going well until I get close then most of them freeze except like one or two. All the beams, bolts, missiles, smoke effects are frozen in space, yet the Rebel Cruiser is moving and my ship also�
I played the same scenario on three different PC�s and it runs fine in all of them except on mine�

A little background: A few months ago something happened on my pc and the monitor died. I replaced the monitor but as the months pass I was having some freezes and crashes until finally like 3-4 weeks ago my pc died. A new motherboard later I was running again. Played the game confident that that may have fixed the game bug, but the bug was still present.

My system:
AMD Athlon XP 3000+, 1G (2x512) of ram. ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128M of ram on an AGP slot. 300W ATX power. Previous an Asus motherboard now a PC Chips.
Possible causes: an AMD vs AGP incompatibility, a processor going bad, bad ram, insufficient power, and bad video card.

I did a memtest on the ram overnight, not a single error. I played with all possible settings on the motherboard and video card, nada. I went to all the pertinent websites for drivers, and forums looking for advice. Nothing works� Went to the ATI forums and everyone seems to be having some time of graphic trouble with artifacts, freezes, crashes etc. A lot of people were jumping boat and swearing that they will never buy another ATI product and so forth. Time to go shopping.

I bought a NVIDIA 7600GT with 512M of ram, and a 500W power supply. Installed and this for sure will solve my problem� wrong again, the same bug... I played with all possible settings on the motherboard and video card, nada. I went to all the pertinent websites for drivers, and forums looking for advice, again. Nothing works� Went to the NVIDIA forums and everyone seems to be having some time of graphic trouble with artifacts, freezes, crashes etc. A lot of people were jumping boat and swearing that they will never buy another NVIDIA product and so forth. D�j� Vu � I am done shopping.

The only thing I have not changed is the RAM and the processor� The ram was tested and it is good. Luckily I found my previous processor, a 2000+. Slower than the 3000+ but it should work. The problem persists. By the way all the other programs work fine even other games like Oblivion runs fine, all but this one. OK, downloaded �3dMark06� and did a test. It passes, even thought that in some parts the frame rate were down almost to �0� (still using the 2000+ processor), shoppy, slow, but did not crash or freeze. What the heck? On my game while the fighters are freezing the frame rates were from 20 to 30�
I decide to decrease the enemy fighters from 30 to 3� still happen! I went to a friendly rebel base, no battle any ware, but when the rebel fighters were nearby, my ship freezes then moves and then freezes again as they fly close to me. On the middle of the battle there was a lot of noise from weapons and explosions, but now I do recall not hearing the annoying noise of the Tie engines� Time to play with the sound. The sound on my motherboard is integrated an �onboard AC97 audio controller�, so was on my previous motherboard.

I replaced on the scenario the Ties for Illumidas fighters, but the problem persist (I did forgot to replace the x-wings). I replaced the engine sounds from the empire and rebel fighters to standard �Earth fighter engines� and THE BUG WAS GONE!!!

Anyway I decided to investigate what makes those SW sounds caused problems while the stock sounds do not. It turns out that the stock sounds are 16bit with a frequency of 44100 while the SW sounds that I was using were 8bit with a frequency of 8000 to 11025. Now how come it works fine in other three different pc�s � 2 pentiums and one an AMD laptop? Also none of the people playing have reported this issue other than slowdowns? Obviously I have a sound driver/hardware conflict or something. Special note: I aded the different sounds on the game after all the scenarios were made. At the time I was ussing my laptop to finish the mods since my regular pc was acting up and it was running fine on the laptop.

Instead of going again into another quest to solve the sound I went the easy sure way to fix this: I converted the sounds into �16bit with a frequency of 44100� just like the stock sounds and problem solved! So for the benefit of those who may have this problem I will have the �fixed �sounds included on Multiverse 3.

I am sure that after reading this a smart *** is going to tell me how simple it was to diagnose�

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Wow I never would have guessed the Wav files were to blame. I believe that sound drivers are usually updated from your pc manufacturer website. Did you update that as well? I notice my problems with slowdowns occur when I have too many ships or too many weapons effects firing. I always thought it was a game engine "overload" problem. If I had the source code for SF my brother said he would look into helping me improving the SF exe files. I don't think I would be able to get the source code for that game.

My pc has the nvidia 7600 Gt as well and it plays oblivion just fine as well as other games. I will check my sound files as you have mentioned above Campeador. Thanks for the insight on this.

On another topic Campeador: Have you used Doga before? I have a fighter attachment to show you what I made. it's easy and quick. It took a few minutes to make this one.

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Campeador I had this sound problem too.
But for me the fix was to download and replace the campaign files again. Did you change the sound files in the Multiverse campaign 2 now?

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Q, there are no sound files on Multiverse 2 but music files, and nothing was change on the music. The music files are not a problem. The issue for me was the sounds on the 'Sound' folder inside the 'Music' folder of 'Multiverse_Music-1'. 'Multiverse_Music-2' only contains music.
But for Multiverse 2 you were supposed to use the music and sounds of 'Multiverse_Music-1'and 'Multiverse_Music-2'.
On Multiverse 3 you will use all of them in addition of 'Multiverse_Music-3' (not yet released).

To answer rstaats10, I did have the latest sound drivers from the motherboard manufacturer even thought their latest is an 05. Apart of my mod the slow downs on this game seems to be normal, I get the same in all pc's. For example every time there is a nebula or asteroids in front of you the game slows down a little. Naturally this is depending on the power of your pc, the stronger the pc the less noticeable. On my mod all this is far more pronounced since I am always pushing the boundaries of this game trying to create the biggest battles possible http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif
About Doga, no I have not used it before. Your ships look cool, and if the polygons count is small then it will be ideal for this game. I will look into it as time permits.

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Campeador I found something to help prevent slowdown when I have lots of fighters (about 20 or more fighters) firing their weps. I took the effects bitmap of a torpedo bitmap and reduced it by 50% to 128 x 128 with no real noticable game difference in quality. By doing this my wep effects were firing much better. There was no slowdown as there was previously when I had the effects file at 256 x 256. It was as if the fighters were on "steroids" or something. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Another thing I try to do is keep the texture images sizes down to 256 x 256 for fighters and most ships for the most part. I do have some higher 512 x 512 for ships and what not. I noticed a lot of the fighters in multiverse have texture size 512 x 512. Try it out and reduce it down to 256 x 256 and see what you think. It will save memory use in the game.

Something else I want to share with you that I stumbled upon is that you can use jpg instead of bitmap for landscapes and portrait images. Just reference the images in the files as jpg instead of bmp. Big-time savings on file sizes. You may not what to mess with this now since it would take too much time to convert but in the future it is good to know.

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

rstaats10, I am glad that you are finding new ways to increase performance on the game. Since you mention the jpg size the last time I have been experimenting with it and like you said no real noticeable game difference in quality. On the next mod the 512 x 512 skin textures of the ships will be reduced to 256 x 256 except for one or two that benefit from the higher resolution like the Arcadia (the main star of the story).
On my mod I do not mind changing anything but with the original game I try not to mess with what is already there since after all this time is well proven to work. But if reducing the effects bitmaps of the torpedoes improves the game so dramatically I will look into it.
I am not that concern about landscapes and portraits since the game stops when those are on the screen. My may concern is game play. I never thought about converting the bitmaps into jpg, I was pretty much following what was there on the original game, but you are right making this changes would have save a great deal of space on the hard drive, even thought the download will not be reduced more than what it is since both bmp and jpg graphic files do compress tremendously. You are also correct about making changes now in the middle of the series. It is an easy way to have a mess on my hands.
Changing ships skin size is easy and can be exchange in any of the campaigns on the fly without any problems since there are no changes on the code. The bitmap files is a different story since I have to change the graphic name calling from bmp to jpg and I want to use the same format from campaign one to the last and I do not want to go back and edit the first two campaigns. But on the next mod I will implement a few.

"It was as if the fighters were on "steroids" or something." mmm... that means that I can have even more fighters... I did have a scenario with over 100 capital ships but stretched over a long period of time, but so far my record is 66 fighters (not counting the ones on capital ships) appearing between 20 tics of time (that is that is like having all of them at once on the screen) on a scenario (Multiverse 2), ... mmm... Now if I can have more fighters than that run stable on my Athlon 2000+ (1.67GHz), mmm... the mayhem I can create!

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

That's exactly the problem I was having. Here I thought it was simply that my system was not powerful enough to handle so many fighters and bitmap effects at once. But it did work when I turned off the sound. Interesting that a 'mix' of 16-bit and 8-bit sound would have such a weird effect. I'll make sure to download the updated versions of all of the mods now. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

I have converted the Multiverse sounds to 16 bit 1(mono) 44kHz PCM. That was the exact format for the sounds in SF stock game. I have provided an attachment so if you want to download you can. I hope you don't mind me providing this Campeador since I did it for myself and thought I should share it with all. I can't wait to try out the Multiverse Mod again.

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Thanks rstaats10, sorry for being so slow and not doing this sooner. Anyway I also posted the sounds on the Starfury: Data/Campaigns.

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

@Campeador,

I've been playing/modding SF for years. Mostly tweaking the original campaigns to my liking. I recently downloaded your mods and began playing them. I am now 3 missions into Multiverse1 and now I am inspired to create a more serious mod as opposed to just tweaking.

I haven't done more than small adjustments to the files, no adding of ships, no mission additions, groups, etc... Would you be up to answering some questions, providing a more indepth modding guide, or just advising on some of the pitfalls and inevitable mistakes I'm likely to run into?

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Fizar, glad to help as time permits. Also on this forums there are plenty of people who are knowledgeable and my be able to assist too.

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Another good resource is the #spaceempires channel on irc.freenode.net

Me and Fyron, at least, can be found idling there 24/7

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Multiverse Campaign 3
Multiverse_3-Space_Pirate_Harlock

You will need three files:
Mod file
1. Multiverse_3-Space_Pirate_Harlock
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...?Number=597143

Mod Music
2. Multiverse_Music-3 (new)
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...?Number=597146

3. Multiverse_Music-1 and 2 (This are the same previous ones used on Campaign 1 and 2)

All the mods are going to be progressive with the Music files.
Multiverse 1 - needs Music 1
Multiverse 2 - needs Music 1 + 2
Multiverse 3 - needs Music 1 + 2 + 3

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Multiverse Campaign 3
Multiverse_3-Space_Pirate_Harlock

This is all about giving the player the opportunity to fly the Arcadia.
On each campaign the player will command a different ship (s):
On Multiverse 1 it was the ships of the Earth Defense Forces (EDF) from Star Blazers.
On Multiverse 2 it was the Argo/Yamato
On Multiverse 3 is Harlock's Arcadia.
On Multiverse 4 and 5 it will be a different one.

How to accomplish this while following the story... that is the tricky part, but so far so good. I do not want the player to think that the whole series is just about Star Blazers because it is not. Star Blazers was just the starting point since it follows a good progression from the previous Stat Blazers Mod.
There is a new twist on the story. Campaign 3, 4 and 5 does not continues were we left off at the end of Campaign 2 but before and during the events taking place on Multiverse 1 and 2. Therefore we are going to see the same story!
I know, you may be thinking what the fun on that except of flying different ships. We already know what is going to happen... That would be a true statement except that instead it is the story (as in the case of Multiverse 3) from the point of view of Harlock, the Space Pirate. Before, we only saw him and the Arcadia making cameo appearances, now you will get to experience firsthand what he was doing while we were sweating fighting off three enemy invasions.

About Harlock and the Arcadia:
This is the creation of Leiji Matsumoto.It aired on TV on 1978 for the first time. Matsumoto was also the co-creator of Star Blazers. In addition of two TV series (the first one had 42 episodes) there are also over half a dozen movies. Matsumoto continuity with the Space Pirate story can be confusing, since every movie or series many things are different, he seems to like to give a different spin to the story every time he tries, just like been born on a Multiverse...
My approach on the story is just one between their many versions. If you want more info just do a search on the net.

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Multiverse Campaign 3
Multiverse_3-Space_Pirate_Harlock

Game play:
The Arcadia is a Battleship not a carrier, not really a battle-carrier either.
Ships that can be consider battle-carriers:
The Argo/Yamato
The Illumidas Revenge
The Zentradi Scout
The Star Destroyer
The SDF-1
And a few others. The thing is that any of those I mention can dish out an incredible amount of damage like a battleship (or greater) and have exclusive dedicated pilot crews just for their fighter squadrons.

The Arcadia on the other hand can dish out a great amount of damage, but it does not have a exclusive dedicated pilot crews, instead some of the crew do double role function as crew of the Arcadia (and just a very few) pilot fighters. Remember the crew of the Arcadia is only 41. They have no replacements. That is the reason for why can you only have 3 fighters out at any given time. Yes, you are going to feel like you wanted more... Be happy, at least I included some at all. So my advice is not to stuff the Arcadia with too many fighters unless you want to move with the speed of a snail.

Some annoying issues with the AI controlling fighters. Sometimes they like to hit your ship as soon as you launch them. I have no settings to control the delay of collision for fighters unlike mines (mines you can set a delay time for activation).
How to deal with it:
1. Launch the fighters when the Arcadia is moving.
2. Try to launch then when there is no enemy in range - not always possible especially in the middle of a battle. The problem during the battle is that when the fighter detect enemy nearby it slow down. If the fighter does not get away of the Arcadia in like 3 seconds (I really do not know the timing) it may blow up if it is within the boundaries of the Arcadia.
3. Take some time and practice. Or at least remember to save often. Eventually you will get the hang of it. A similar thing was happening with the Argo/Yamato, but the Arcadia being bigger it is more problematic.
There are a few other things on the Arcadia but I will let you find out on your own!

Note: The game ran flawless on my AMD Athlon XP 1666 MHz and with all the previous bugs corrected, not a single crash!

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Great work Campeador! Thank you very much for the new sequel of this excellent story.

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Yes, Thanks Campeador. I am looking forward to this new adventure. This should be fun coming from Harlock's point of view and some prequel adventures too. I will post again later. Thanks again, Campeador. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Very nice campaign. Some tough combats. I liked especially the completely different ship you use as player.
Is there a chance that we may have the federation ship Enterprise as player ship in one of the next campaigns?

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

I am glad you liked Q. The game play was a tad more intense than the previous two campaigns. The Arcadia was a fun ship to play, and by the way, I have to thanks my brother the 'artist' for going over the bitmap skin of the Arcadia making it really stand out. He also went over the rest of the pictures on the game.
I think that I left a very big hint at the end of the campaign about what ship is next http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Yeah, the picture is kind of obvious.

Good series, just finished part 3. I especially liked the gigantic battle at the end of part 2, and I was a little disappointed that part 3 didn't bring Harlock's part of the story up to that point - though I'm not quite sure whether he was present for that one or not now that I think back on it.

I think the EDF's level of success before the final stand shown in the end of part 3 was a bit too low. When I played through that sequence in part 1, the Musashi was long gone before Harlock showed up, and I don't remember the odds being quite that overwhelming.

I was mildly amused to note that the original assessment of the Wave Motion Gun in the Starblazers mod isn't quite accurate any more. One full power hit is actually not sufficient to destroy a Star Destroyer. One hit will cripple the ship pretty thoroughly, but it will still be able to fight back, just with greatly reduced firepower.

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Thanks for sharing Douglas. You made very good observations. Let me clarify some.

Harlock was not on either of the last two battles of Multiverse 2. Wildstar, captain of the Argo was wondering the same thing.

I had originally planned to make two campaigns for the Arcadia. But the second part would be after Multiverse 5 (if I were still planning to make it -will see). I know where I am going but the middle is still a little fussy. I am still pondering on Multiverse 6. As it is we will see the Arcadia again now and then on the rest of the series, but I want to give the player an opportunity to try the other ships.

Ok, on Multiverse 1 there were two alternative paths where concerning the Musashi (it seems that no one noticed!). If the Musashi was destroyed at Pluto then you would not have seen it at Mars. If you did not destroyed the Musashi at Pluto before the Starbase was destroyed, then the orders would have been changed and you would have been order to retreat to Mars (Making the battle at Pluto shorter). In this instance the Musashi would have showed up at Mars on the last battle.
Since it was possible for the Musashi to be present at Mars I decided to have it on Multiverse 3, just for the player to have a try at fighting her.

I remember two players commenting that their EDF ship was the last one standing at Mars. I try the scenario many times and in some instances I accomplish the same but in others the Outpost survived and even the Arcadia. How the AI does battle varies a lot. It is also difficult to recreate the battle identical to the version on Multiverse 1. On this instance the player ship, the Hood Battlecruiser, was on the battle since the beginning to the end (It had to be for the player to win!)
On Multiverse 3 the AI cannot do what the player does to make it last the whole battle. Also any ship on the players hand if far deadlier than the same ship control by the AI. Not to mention that the player can use items to do repairs. With this behavior it is difficult to recreate an identical battle from two different points of views unless all ships were AI controlled (but we want to play!). Then again the battle may have been more intense from the Arcadias� point of view since it was fighting alone from the rear, while the Hood was being backed up by the Starbase, EDF fighters and destroyers. Also if the Hood would have been on a player hands there would have been far less enemy ships out there that would have make the Arcadia�s load lighter!
Since I cannot do an identical battle at least I try to capture the same flavor, which was like this:
�Late into the battle and after the third wave of the Illumidas forces entered the sector the Arcadia arrived. By then the thick of the battle was between planet Mars and the �Mars Outpost Starbase� and the Hood and a few other EDF ships were barely holding.� � I think that I recreated just that.

The Wave Motion Gun, I did notice that also. Yet the WMC has been unchanged since the Star Blazers mod (at the time I never dreamed about facing Star Destroyers). It still does 8,000 of damage and it is only surpass by the SDF-1 Main Reflex Cannon' which does 10,000 points of damage. On the TV show the WMC is far more powerful; it can take out a whole fleet with a single shot. On Star Fury the weapon can only hit one target (on the game we can only have dozens and not hundreds like on the original story). At the time of Star Blazers mod 8,000 points of damage was more than enough to be able to take out any ship. So, on this game it remains unchanged, still the Argo can take down any enemy ship with a single shot from its own universe�
Do note that if you move the ship out of its short arc while firing the WMC it will not do full damage. Also the WMC can be interrupted by fighters getting on the way of the beam. But yes, the Star Destroyer can still survive a direct hit. It is in a class of its own. Armor and shields alone on any side is 4,000 points! The Arcadia better not try to ram it either.

By the way did anyone notice something peculiar about the �Cosmowing� fighter?

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Yes I see now the cosmowing fighter has a microfighter Bay. But on my cosmowing fighter there is no bullet fighter in the cargo hold for it to release. I will watch for this in the future to check for this. That would be cool to see the microfighter released from the cosmowing fighter.

I just finished the Battle at Zeta 3. That was hard. Took over 10 times. (escort ship was getting destroyed mainly) But I wised up and decided to used my ram nose (battering ram) to take out the 2 Zentradi ships. Worked like a charm first time I did this. Still took some fancy manuevering to get to next destination.

I really like this mod so far. I will post as I get more completed.

Btw tell your brother he did a awesome job on the Arcadia Texture. Pirate flags look really cool too!

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

When you look at the Cosmowing on your bay, you will not see the fighters it contains. But when you use the 'Long range Scanner' and the Cosmowing is in flight you will see that it contains two Bullet fighters (bullet-1 and bullet-2). As any enemy approaches it will release the fighters just as any carrier do. It can only release one fighter at a time, so once one bullet is destroyed, and then it releases the second assuming that the Cosmowing Fighter Bay is not damaged.
It is not perfect since fighters never return back to their carriers since the AI carriers never recall back their ships. This means that if this Bullet survives it will just remains in space, while the Cosmowing can be recalled, re-launch and have more Bullets out.
The thing is that thanks to this the Arcadia can actually have 3 fighters out, plus an extra bullet making it 4!
The Bullets are really the weakest fighters the Arcadia posses. One uses two Energy Cannons and the other uses two Light Missiles. Also it is good to know that these Light missiles just like the Arcadia's side cannons (Sea Galeon Energy Cannons) can bypass shields.

The ram is a risky maneuver. You have to do some math before deciding to use it. Ram damage capacity + front armor vs. enemy shields + armor. Usually it can take out one Zentradi scout but I would not attempt a second ram since by then all the Arcadia's front Armor is gone.
On the TV show the Arcadia has a retractable weapon that someone called �The Big Freakin Bayonet�. I was trying to recreate something similar and what you see is my version.

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Great job on Multiverse 3. Campeador! It was a lot of fun commanding the Arcadia. The Mod was a little more challenging than Multiverse 2. I particually enjoyed the last few battles. I enjoyed hacking the Illumidas fleets down. In the early battles, the Zentradi scouts proved to be most worthy opponents and the most difficult for me to take down. The Ram Nose for the Arcadia was cool (and usefull) too. This mod was flawless. I had no problems (errors) during the Mod. Thanks again for an awesome SF mod, Campeador!

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Oh, just a side note, I actually did manage to take out a star destroyer once with the Arcadia.http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

It helped that it had already fought a Zentradi scout. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Hey, have you considered making a torrent of this to put on Fyron's tracker?
It could use some starfury stuff.

http://bt.spaceempires.net/index.php

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

these mods are absolutely wonderful ...

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Multiverse Campaign 4 is out!
Multiverse_4-Space_Time_Continuum
Time to play Star Trek!
Same story, similar events as before, but for the point of view of the Federation. This time around the player gets to be a Federation Officer joining the crew of the Enterprise. So there are going to be a few instances were the player gets to experience events from the previous campaigns (2 and 3), but from a different perspective.
The campaign is a short one but I may put the player in control of the Enterprise and the Arcadia again in the future before I finish the series.
Enjoy!

ps:
Download at: Starfury Scenarios and Mods

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

I am very glad that you continued your excellent work.
Thank you very much Campeador.
Probably I won't be able to play it until next weekend, but I will let you know if I encounter any problems.

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Cool! Thanks Campeador for releasing the 4th multiverse. I can't wait to play it! Just to let you know, I have finished my SF mod and I am testing it all the way through right now. Should be done in a week or so then I will post it on the forum.

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Very nice campaign again. My only complaint is that it's too short. ;)
I have seen no problems.

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Excellent job Campeador! I just finished and there was no problems at all. I really enjoyed playing as the Federation. Thanks for making this mod!

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Thanks Campeador
flying for the Federation was fun :)
it is a super cool mod !!!

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

:D
Multiverse Campaign 5
Multiverse_5-Bird_Of_Prey

You will need three files:
Mod file
1. Multiverse_5-Bird_Of_Prey
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8901&d=1254192483

Mod Music
2. Multiverse_Music-5 (new)
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8902&d=1254193067

3. The previous Multiverse_Music files:
a. Multiverse_Music-1 & Sounds http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5855&d=1197285679
b. Multiverse_Music-2 http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6021&d=1202976522
c. Multiverse_Music-3 http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attachment.php? attachmentid=6189&d=1208044203
d. Multiverse_Music-4 http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=7145&d=1224620026


This is also posted on the Scenarios and Mods section

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

I am really looking forward to camapign 5. I will post back when I've completed it. Thanks for your hard work Campeador and for making these excellent Mods!

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

What more can I really say? You've made another awesome mod Campeador! I enjoyed playing the Klingons. There was no bugs in the gameplay at all. The only mission I struggled with was the one to take out the Federation starbase. The first time I focused too much on the Federation battlecruisers and that left me fighting in the end against 11 Federation battlecruisers and the Federation starbase. Needless to say, I didn't make it the first time. The second time I focused my attacks on the Federation starbase, as the mission states to do, and destroyed it. It was a good feeling to blow it up and have about 10-11 Federation battlecruisers chasing me to the warpoint.
Also very nice music selection. I really liked it.

Some minor things to condider changing:
(1) have player start with the bird of prey instead of the fighter
(2) change weapon beam burn colors in the component text to match the color of the beams used for the weps. (burn color is the color effect at the end of the beam when the beam hits a target)
(3) make the point defense cannons in the bitmap effects text have a width of say 0.5 instead of 4 but keep the 0.15 height. I tried it out and the pdc's effect looks better imo. BTW using a beam effect for pdc's acting as a bolt was an awesome idea. The effects come out really nice.

Thanks for your hard work in the mods. Your stories are great. I love playing multiverse from the different perspectives (races). The idea of cloaking the ships/bases was a great idea even if my eyes had a little trouble seeing the objects. I especially loved playing the Klingons! I am looking forward to multiverse 6 coming out! I own a lot of pc games...different types...old...new...Turn based and RTS...and I tell you this Starblazers and Multiverse you created ranks right up near the top in the most enjoyment I've had in a pc game. Thanks again!

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Love it!
Going to make some ship models for it if you dont mind.

Mike

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Well, finally I got around to playing the latest chapter of the Multiverse. My main complaint is that it was too short! :D Just when I got a D7 the scenario is over. :p This was definitely the most fun chapter so far. Too bad SF doesn't have working options for cloaking. The "tachyon sensor" component is in the game, but cloaking was never implemented.

rstaats is probably right in his technical suggestions. The only glitches I can report are the usual ships without textures, which is a problem with SF itself.

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Rstaats10, Q, Baron, Enrico, mikewhl - I am glad you guys liked the mod!

I have been gone on vacation for a month, and shortly before that I was dedicating time to test some of the suggestions, so forgive me for not responding sooner.

About Rstaats10 suggestions:
(1) I would have liked to start not only this mod but all the previous ones with one of my custom made ships but the game always crash. The program I have used to create the ships and therefore the "xfiles" does not agree with Star Fury. When for the first time you select the player ship you will notice the ship 3D detail, the ship just spinning. The inability or bug on the program I used to create the ships is what crashes the game. That is the reason of why I have to use always a stock ship just to start.
(2) Weapon beam burn colors - what an eye for detail you have! I have played the game a zillion times and never noticed that. If I do an update I will have it fixed, for sure it will be fixed on the next campaign.
(3) Point defense cannon on the Fed and Klingon Battlecruiser - I borrow those from the Star Destroyers that I used on the Mod. Those ships are so big that the effect looks ok. But when used on a smaller ship like the ones on Star Trek they do look long... I try them at the setting you suggested from 4 to 0.5 and they indeed looks much better, so you will see them trim on the next campaign! Thanks for your input!!

For all people complaining that he campaign is short - you are all absolutely right! It is just a decision of waiting six months to play a mod or waiting a whole year to play one twice as long.

The Bird of Prey campaign was not difficult and that is partially because their presence had to match what the players have seen on the previous campaigns which was not much, just a few encounters. The next campaign, Multiverse 6, it will be more challenging and it will finally move the story from the previous 5 campaigns forward!

PS: I have tried to find entertaining song selection when the player dies, which one is your favorite? Campaign 1&2 use the same but the rest are different. (Just start any campaign and crash the ship against a planet or something so that you can hear it.)

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Hi Campeador.

I am very happy to hear that campaign 6 will go further in the entire story of multiverse. I am impatient to see what comes next, but take your time anyway.

Regarding the "death song": my favorite would be the one from campaign 3.

Thank you again for your excellent mod and my best wishes for the new year.

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Could you fit this beauty in your next mod? An nice design.

Plus. I worked up a Exterminator.


Mike

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

That is another nice ship. The Exterminator also!

<?xml:namFor those wondering the Andromeda class was the heaviest class of EDF space battleship with a "wide energizing beam wave motion cannon" (the Yamato was focused instead of wide). Yes, the ship was a tad more powerful than the Yamato, more firepower and one third more tonnage (dedicated to armor) but there was only one Star Force crew and it was on the Yamato!!!
<O:p</O:p
The Star Blazers mod was dedicated only on the first of the three seasons (or stories) of the series. The Comet Empire was on the second season. According to the Star Blazers story the Andromeda 1 was destroyed after been commissioned for one month while in action against the "White Comet Empire".
<O:p</O:p
<O:p</O:p
Since you have done such a nice job I could indeed include it on one of the future mods of the Multiverse. Just send me the file and if you can also do the skin paint the better. I could call it the "EDF Space Battleship Mikewhl class Andromeda"!

By the way Star blazers is still strong in Japan
[Star_Force] Space Battleship Yamato Live Action Film Trailer‏
http://www.youtube.<WBR>com/watch?<WBR>v=ONkh786EbSg
<O:p</O:p

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

As you can see I have been busy.

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

awesome ships
I hope they can be used in the future to play a campaign by Campeador :)

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

Maybe this will help to get him back into the game Enrico.

Re: Multiverse Mod
 

wow awesome models
I would love to see them in action in a future mod :)