FQM 5.00 Beta 9

Fyron · #1 April 2nd, 2007, 04:10 AM

Announcing the posting of FQM 5.00 Beta 9, for SE5.

Beta 9 is not savegame-compatible with Beta 8.

This release features new planet textures by Lacota. They actually match the planet atmosphere now! These textures are larger than stock textures (512x512 compared to 256x256), so please let me know if you notice any performance hit. I do not seem to see any difference on my machine, but you never know.

Note that planet icons and portraits are not going to be updated until all of the textures are complete. Also, ringed planet textures use the stock textures for now, until I can get someone to change the hard-coded texture files to point to something more shiney. This will likely cause successive FQM releases to continue breaking savegames.

download link (19.8 MB)

Beta 9 version history:
1. Added - New planet textures by Lacota. Note that planet texture colors actually match planet atmosphere now, unlike the stock game. Also, note that ringed planets use stock textures for now, pending editing the .x model files.
2. Changed - Reduced percentage of red and orange stars from 83% to 76%.

Please note that this is a work in progress. There are bound to be quirks, which you should report. All suggestions for improvement are welcome!

Q · #2 April 2nd, 2007, 12:11 PM

Do you plan to make sectors where a planet and its moons are together like in SE IV?

Fyron · #3 April 2nd, 2007, 01:42 PM

I do not plan to do so, no. However, if you install python, you can make this change to your copy of FQM quite easily. Open solarfnc.py in a text editor and edit these two lines (277 and 278):

buf += 'Obj ' + str(i) + ' Position ' + spaces(i) + ':= Offset ' + str(pnum) + ' Ring ' + str(ring) + '\n'
#buf += 'Obj ' + str(i) + ' Position ' + spaces(i) + ':= Same As ' + str(pnum) + '\n'

Simply comment the first line (put a # in the front), and uncomment the second:

#buf += 'Obj ' + str(i) + ' Position ' + spaces(i) + ':= Offset ' + str(pnum) + ' Ring ' + str(ring) + '\n'
buf += 'Obj ' + str(i) + ' Position ' + spaces(i) + ':= Same As ' + str(pnum) + '\n'

Next, run the _solar_systems.py script, either from a DOS prompt (double click a.bat to get one in the local folder) or by double clicking on the script file. This will recreate the SystemTypes.txt file with moons placed in the same sector as their parent planets (as well as the QuadrantTypes.txt file, but that doesn't change due to the moons).

Captain Kwok · #4 April 2nd, 2007, 01:46 PM

When I did quick map generation this morning to see the planet textures - I got an missing file error for one of the textures for a venus-type planet - but I didn't note the entry it was associated with. You can probably find it just browsing through a map and checking systems.

Fyron · #5 April 2nd, 2007, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Captain Kwok said:
When I did quick map generation this morning to see the planet textures - I got an missing file error for one of the textures for a venus-type planet - but I didn't note the entry it was associated with. You can probably find it just browsing through a map and checking systems.

The ringed planets use hard-coded (in the models) planet textures. I tried to copy over all of the textures they used (by browsing around several maps), but may have missed a few. You can do the brute-force solution, copying all of the planet textures from stock into FQM, if you don't want to tell me which ones are missing.

Captain Kwok · #6 April 3rd, 2007, 12:43 AM

I actually don't think the atmosphere glow suits the newly textured planets and makes them look worse... is anyone else noticing the same thing?

Santiago · #7 April 2nd, 2007, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Q said:
Do you plan to make sectors where a planet and its moons are together like in SE IV?

Fyron's solution works well for this and I use it for all my games.

Santiago · #8 April 2nd, 2007, 07:12 PM

As regards the 512x512 textures, I made some by accident when I started making planets and they did not seem to make a difference perfomance-wise. While I appreciate all the work that goes into this (from my own planet making and other discoveries in modding

)

I doubt I will use this latest interation as I don't like the atmospheres. It's a personal choice and I've diverged enough from "Stock" FQM and other mods in other areas as well. I've added 18 planets so far, the goal is 45. Takes a bit when you only have an hour or two a day or every 2 days. Then integrate FQM 7 and 8 when time permits to get what looks like what I would want in my personal mod.

But modding is sometimes more interesting than playing the game.

And a learning experience as well. Keep up the great work.

javaslinger · #9 April 2nd, 2007, 07:14 PM

Can you tell me directions to 'update' BM and FQM to your latest version?

Thanks,

Javaslinger

Fyron · #10 April 2nd, 2007, 10:11 PM

Same as last time; copy all of the text files in the data folder (save the script readme and .py files), and copy the pictures folder. Be aware that you cannot continue any current savegames after doing this; you have to start a new game.