Taldrenites > General Starfleet Command Forum
OPplus411 - upscaled textures
d4v1ks:
--- Quote from: FireSoul on March 27, 2023, 02:39:22 pm ---Question, anyone got an editor for the weird fonts files formats?
.BTF
Would be cool to fix up those.
--- End quote ---
Not at the moment.
But i did created a project to open all the SFC fonts (decode and display them).
So, it could be something that we could add to our current toolset.
We still working on SFC as a hobby.
We do have a new server incoming, which beside having persistent planets and ships (which keep their cargo and damage between missions and are able to repair and resupply themselves) we will now have also persistent maps that can be used to customize, in the fly, certain hexes, like our solar system (something that we can visit every time we wish). We will also have our planets 'rotating' (twice per hour). A better economy, that will be influenced by the number of planets, bases, and cargo ships we have, or travelling around in the campaign map (anything we destroy or create will have an impact, and 'resources' will need to be carried to planets). Prices will fluctuate as consequence. We also implemented a fog of war concept (what is seen will depend on the race, what is deployed in the campaign map, and ship class). Shipyards will be tied to specific planets and bases (certain things will only be made or bought somewhere). The number of planets will also influence the number of ships, marines, and fighters that can be made\bought. And one or other additional detail...
Tar also improved the AI a lot and fixed some additional stuff.
And Adam is creating a new planet mod, probably the best 100+ ever seen in SFC, along side his personal ship mod.
It is cool to see someone still doing something for SFC :)
Edit: All ships\bases we bid in the shipyard UI will also be tied to a specific planet\base or ingame shipyard. Therefore, any enemy will be able to target those places, destroy or capture them, and reduce\eliminate our ship production dramatically, during the time those assets are being 'built'.
TarMinyatur:
If players want better, harder, and more fun scenarios, novel columns in the shiplist are irrelevant. 500 ships per empire to choose from are irrelevant. Why?
If a K-F5D can easily defeat a H-DE with slow drones, the game is neither good, fun, nor logical. We need the AI to be competent to truly make a difference in the player's experience. Flipping hexes against inept AI is a waste of a player's time, is it not? 2.564 barely scratches the surface in addressing the flaws of Interplay's AI, which is authorized to do 1/6th of a point of damage with its long-range defensive phasers, for example, before eating drones for lunch.
2.564.2.1x has enhanced AI, roughly matching that of a novice/intermediate SFB player when it comes to direct fire and seeking weapon decisions. (Modifying the flight vector and energy management of the AI is extremely hard without source code. It's all done via assembly opcodes in a disassembler.) Adam, d4v1ks, and I may repackage our server, texture, and mechanical work as 2.565 this year to recognize the leaps we have made over 2.564.
As far as 2.564 vanilla, the game is neither mangled nor heavily modified, in my opinion. The SFC Editor can easily change most data to satisfy the habits of those devoted to 2.552's time-capsuled flavor. Spec files are two easily replaceable text files, and we expect players to pop in their favorite rosters. (We warn them to not include SFC1/EAW-style pirate prefixes. The "O-" prefix will crash most campaign missions. "N-" does not crash them.) Old tools that relied on a familiar 2.552 directory, will need to be updated. Those who built those old tools presumably have the skills and desire to update them accordingly. The makers of ShipEdit could add an AMD-C button or TRBL/H buttons, however, we don't do everyone's work for them. Like everybody, we have limited time and patience to fiddle with a very old game that is nearly forgotten.
FireSoul:
--- Quote from: TarMinyatur on March 27, 2023, 08:44:43 pm ---If players want better, harder, and more fun scenarios, novel columns in the shiplist are irrelevant. 500 ships per empire to choose from are irrelevant. Why?
--- End quote ---
Oh sure. Toss hundreds of hours of effort away.
Because if I want to make a battle tug scenario, I can.
Because if I want a mission that involves an actual scout or survey ship, I can.
If I want to tell it and try to generate a "deep strike" mission that involves a fast cruiser (this is what they were used for) or Light Dreadnought, I can.
Why is there an Andro fest multiplayer mission? Because of this.
Coopace? It only works because of the enhanced shiplist.
None of these have to do with the work you're doing: the dynaverse map feeds the ships selected to the missions. But you didn't have to come and disrespect the work I've done, and then crap on it. There's more to SFC than campaigns all the time.
--- Quote ---If a K-F5D can easily defeat a H-DE with slow drones, the game is neither good, fun, nor logical. We need the AI to be competent to truly make a difference in the player's experience. Flipping hexes against inept AI is a waste of a player's time, is it not? 2.564 barely scratches the surface in addressing the flaws of Interplay's AI, which is authorized to do 1/6th of a point of damage with its long-range defensive phasers, for example, before eating drones for lunch.
--- End quote ---
I absolutely agree that a better AI is fundamental.
But that has nothing to do with the ship selection enhancements.
FireSoul:
--- Quote from: Captain Adam on March 28, 2023, 11:29:12 am ---The repatching of the game to be able to work on modern rigs has always been based on 2552. It was never intended to be based on your work. We understand that your work is important but the reality is, it’s a mod based on 2552. If people want to use your mod, they will have to keep it under 2552 to be able to utilize your shiplist and other modifications. We encourage modders to update their mods in accordance to the newest patch. Remember, the changes aren’t to diminish other people’s work but rather consolidate and prevent errors, ctd’s, etc…
I enjoy variety bc that’s what I do. I kitbash and mod. So I understand your viewpoint. Tim and others prefer more balance, harder AI and consistency based on consolidation. I understand that too. Hence when I start my TNG mod it’ll be based off the new modifications. Not old ones. Even though I’ll miss some missions, that will only work with specific ship lists. But in the end it is what it is.
--- End quote ---
The shiplist and the patching are apples and oranges, unless you patched something that made the shiplist invalid. As it is, I am playing with my mod without any issues whatsoever. I can't even find the problem with the O- ships you've described. This invalidation of the work just does not make sense to me.
--- Quote ---The point I’m trying to make is no one purposely or willfully wanted to crap on you. Your mod and others is what made me fall in love with the game and with learning to kitbash and mod myself. Why would you think that. Makes no sense. Truth is the direction of the work wasn’t based on 411 but rather just trying to improve the stability. And also allowing it to play on new computers.
Your original post was almost as if you were implying that we purposely sabotage your previous work. Lots of they and no regard and stuff. Comes off a bit adversarial.
--- End quote ---
Sure. Noted.
--- Quote ---Keep in mind, our repatching and our shiplist is not meant to discourage others from using your stuff. Unfortunately, if they choose to play your mod they will have to use a previous patch. But there many Star trek games that have many mods and compatibility has always been an issue. That’s why some mods in the readme state patch to this number. Don’t use this. Or don’t use that. Etc… please don’t feel like we crapped on you. 411 was never meant to be enhanced by our work. It was always intended to be separate.
--- End quote ---
"If they choose to play your mod they will have to use a previous patch"
Again, I have had no issues (in single player mind you) whatsoever. I just simply do not see the issues you're describing.
This is on the 2564 binary.
The only thing that I *will* acquiesce on is that for a D2 campaign, you don't want the same mission sets and shiplist. I can see tweaks being made by the community for its uses. That's what you got. I actually encourage that effort. It's not the same shiplist, for the same purpose, and that's okay. I'm fine with that. Carry on with it.
--- Quote ---
I hope you continue to update bc it would be nice to have everything on the same page sort of speak but I know how much is involved. It’s not pretty. Trust me. I know. To have to go back and redo sh*t. And convert etc. it’s a bitch. But I’m confident that a middle ground can be achieved to keep the unity intact. Luc, no crapping on no one’s work. I literally have an entire folder of previous mods and missions and everything archived. It’s one of my important things I do with every computer I get. Make sure I keep all the good stuff. There was no malice. At all.
Hope that makes sense.
--- End quote ---
What I've got running locally is a full 2564, OP+, EAW campaigns rebuilt for OP, Enhanced missions.
I've been playing as Lyran. The Lyran vs Hydran fights in Late era are epic. Upgraded fighters and PFs everywhere.
I do have 1 comment and curiosity to discuss:
ONE thing I've done that I don't see mention of is that I have made a .reg file so that the various parts of the game knows where SFC is. Many of the missions look into HKLM to see where its parts it, and not the current working directory. I've found that on our modern 64-bit system, the Registry path is changed (because it's a 32-bit game). I didn't see anything that does the same in the 2564 downloads.
Is there a story there?
I'll even attach it to this post. It's just a text file, so I'll rename it to .txt extension to prevent accidental import.
I have SFCOP under "C:\SFC\Starfleet Command Orion Pirates\", and this is reflected in this manually created/exported registry. See attachment.
FireSoul:
--- Quote from: Captain Adam on March 28, 2023, 12:23:54 pm ---Oh. So there isn’t a problem with the compatibility of your shiplist/mod using our newest 2564. I’m sorry. I stand corrected. I was under the impression that the removal of certain columns were making your mod obsolete. But if you are not having issues then why say we mangled things up.
--- End quote ---
I will be very happy to explain the extra columns, and what they do.
Bottom line, the SFC game itself? It doesn't care. It doesn't load them.
The missions however, are semi independant binary .. entities. I think of them as DLLs. If you're using one of those "enhanced" missions, it DOES load the columns independantly from SFC itself.
Background:
Magnumman originally wrote a shiplist API library for missions to use. It allows for a clearer and cleaner ship selection from a subset of the shiplist.
I had expanded on his work, added a lot more filters, and eventually added columns for anything would be useful to make superior missions, without breaking the base game.
If those columns are incomplete or missing, those missions may misbehave on you, maybe even barf on you and crash the game.
Some examples:
There are more races. I can generate LDR or WYN missions.
There are more hull types.
A ship can have 2 role slots. (For example, it's possible possible to have a Scout and be a Carrier at the same time.)
The API sources are on my site and can be found fairly easily, if you ever wanted to see it.
We do have choices:
- Do nothing. Continue with what you have.
- I take your shiplist, the one that's for your needs and I complete the columns again. The base game really won't care.
- I would run it through my tests and it would tell me what's missing. I still have all of those tools.
- Worst case, don't use enhanced missions. Avoid crashes.
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