Starscape Released

General Woundwort · #1 March 9th, 2004, 02:14 AM

What SEIVG patch number is this mod built on?

Shadowstar · #2 March 9th, 2004, 06:33 AM

Well it started in patch 2, but most of the development was in patch 3, but it works in patch 4, as far as I can tell. The timing was kinda odd since I finished the mod yesterday, coincidentally at the same time the patch came out. But there shouldn't be any problems.

Captain Kwok · #3 March 9th, 2004, 06:39 AM

I like the way that the 350kT transport has a hull size of 350kT.

On a more serious note, it looks like an interesting mod with a bit of a twist - worthy of a download.

Captain Kwok · #4 March 9th, 2004, 06:53 AM

Some helpful advice:

You do not need to include the stock planet images in the mod! And if the other planet images (as I suspect) are correctly matched with the ImageMod planet pack - they are also unneccesary to be included in the mod directory.

Again, this goes for any items you've included from the imageMod in this mod, such as combat images, facilties, components etc.

This will save us, and yourself much disk space and bandwidth respectively!!!

Randallw · #5 March 9th, 2004, 07:49 AM

I notice when using a starscape quadrant, only maybe 1 in 5 systems actually have anything in them.

Shadowstar · #6 March 10th, 2004, 12:26 AM

One of the early requests I had from my old Stars! player base was to somehow recreate the feeling that there is actually empty space between star systems, so this was an attempt to do that. The theory is that warp points aren't just confined to systems, they can appear anywhere. It also presents some interesting territorial situations, such as deep space stations, and areas where anomalies can spawn. It also allows players with the right tech to build thier own star systems in areas that are otherwise empty.

As for the graphics, no stock images should be included anywhere in the files, except for the components.bmp and other icon sheets (those are included since they had to be modified). As for the imagemod, without it, those images would come up as blanks. I tried to seperate them at one point and lost some of the graphics, so I decided to keep them in.

If you know of a way to do it in a cleaner way, let me know. Otherwise, one of these days I am planning on replacing the parts of it that I'm using with my own content anyway, since I can do it, just didn't have the time. Ideally, one day Starscape should be completely independent of any other mods, namely the image mod. I always prefer to use my own graphics anyway.

BTW, the majority of new planet pics are my work, I only used a few from the image mod that I liked. I could probably remove most of that stuff in a later Version.

Shadowstar · #7 March 10th, 2004, 01:11 AM

Ok, what I've decided to do is make a bit of an update to Starscape. I'm gonna get the latest Version of the imagemod and compare that to what's in the current Version of Starscape.

After that, I'll see if I can reduce the size of the download, and post a new Version on the site. Sort of a "spring cleaning" so to speak. The mod's spent so much time in closed development, it could no doubt use some community resynching. Thanks for the advice, Kwok.

Any races created with the current Version of Starscape should be just fine in the new Version, so if there are any of you out there making races, don't worry, go ahead and finish them and send them in when ready.