Babylon 5 Mod

[grumbler]

I've been following this project for a while with great interest but no time to actually play and contribute. That's now changed, as I am settled in my new house and my new job has become a bit more predictable.

I'd like to contribute, but have no graphical expertise. I do know how to mod data though.

Is there any consideration yet of the need to port this game to the Gold Version? Seems a shame to leave it pre-Gold, when Gold is the new standard.

I've done some work on the data files to make them Gold standard, as Gold is what I have installed.

Maybe I can add new features to the gold standard as they come out pre-Gold.

In any case, I have some time and a lot of interest, so let me know what you need.

[pathfinder]

*grumble* AI will have to wait til Wednesday night. had to re-install windowss (FAT got bolluxed). *bleah*

[Timstone]

Grumbler: Great! You could do the conVersion. I voluntered for it, but I don't seem to have the time So I'll justs tick to making good captures and jumpsequences. But if you could start the conVersion, that would be awsome! A lot of people are waiting for the Gold Version of this magnificent mod.

BTW: I've finallty got the first of 4 orders of the AoG books. They aren't what I expected them to be (almost no pretty pictures), but they are nice to read. Maybe even play the game a bit, yeah sure with myself as my opponent...

[Nomor]

Timstone: I'm dying to know the software you're using to capture stills from the DVD.
I've had the best results with a trial Version of "DirectDVD 4.47" but have yet to try "PowerDVD". HyperSnap-DX just wouldn't work.

(Val/PF) Ship samples are great.
Val you will have mail shortly.

[pathfinder]

All: I have revised the EA, Centauri, Shag'Toth and Default AI_Research files. Are there any others? I'd like to get them done latest tonight so I can fix, zip and e-mail to Val for the .34 update. For any race that would probably mean 1 weapon tech for early survival. I won't have time to revise multiple weapon tech research (like the EA have).

Also I don't have time to do the ruins tech research. Had all that PC down time until tonight Hopefully I'll be able to get it entered soon...and at least uploaded here....

[AGoetz]

Regarding the Unique techs, some of them don't yet do anything :-

Functional
Cure for Nano-Plague (better Medi-bays)
Great Machine (defensive installation)
Stellar Balancer (change a star)
Ancient Atmospheric Adjuster (change a planet's atmosphere quicker - yet to find in a game)
Universal Colonizer (colonize any planet - yet to find in a game)

Not Functional
Ship Automation - guess something like a Master Computer component - but then how to make it immune to Telepathic attack?
Ancient Neurotech - description talks about research - a system wide research increaser?
Unique Ship Class - new class(es) of ship size, possibly with some useful properties.

If Val and the like can give me some idea of what they intend these to do, I could try to put together some additions to Facility.txt, Component.txt and VehicleSize.txt. As I don't know enough about the AI side of things, I wouldn't be touching anything else.

[grumbler]

I've been experimenting with the files to figure out how to convert them to gold. Seems pretty straightforward.

Once a gold Version exists, though, it will be important to keep track of the actual changes made in the pre-gold files as we go forward, so I can just do the same to the gold files. Connverting from pre-gold to gold takes quite a bit of time per file (i.e. for every vehicle I have to change the existing bitmap line and add a new one).

I will start to convert "for real" once .34 is published, since any conVersions before .34 will be OBE in a week.

[mlmbd]

grumbler, could you write a macro to help? I not a modder. But the files are text, yes?

mlmbd

[Timstone]

Nomor: So you're dying, heh? Hah... your fate is in my hands! Now kneel before thy master! Ehh... sorry, I didn't mean that. My darker side slipped out. Sorry, won't happen again. My apolgies.
I first used a program from my dad, but I found a similar program on the net. And yes, it's Hypersnap DX 4. I've got the complete Version and it works great. You just have to turn on the right options. Here's how you do that.
1) start Hypersnap DX
2) click "Capture"
3) go to "Enable special capture"
4) turn on the two top options ("DirectX/Direct 3D Primary Surface" and "DirectX Overlay, e.g. DVD, Video")
5) Exit Hypersnap DX
6) Start Hypersnap DX
Now you can capture nice pics form DVD's like the ones from B5.
Happy? If you need a crack or something, PM me.

P.S. oh, to make a snapshot, press "Scroll Lock", you can also press "PrintScreen", but it annoys me because every time I press it, a screen comes popping up. I HATE THAT! So I use "Scroll Lock", but it shouldn't matter. However, if you want to take a snapshot from a game, you must puch "PrintScreen".

[ November 21, 2002, 15:22: Message edited by: Timstone ]

[Nomor]

Timstone: Thanks, I'll give your instructions a try and compare them to the PowerDVD which I found just as good as the DirectDVD but easier to use.