[MOD] StelliFer Laboratories

[SiaFu]

ALPHA release: Most of the blocks are present, but not everything is in place.

As I won't be able to work on the mod for some time, I'm releasing what I have as an unfinished alpha, maybe there's material for an altered adventure in the future...

Quests aren't included so you get just the novel 8-segmented armour Corvette class ship, the SFs30 Indigo and the graphical overhaul.

There are some yet unbalanced new weapons/devices in the hold (for testing purposes) that you should hold off on using until Charon/Sanctuary or jettison if you want to play fair.

http://www.xelerus.de/index.php?s=mod&id=794
Comments and impressions welcome and constructive criticism expected.

[digdug]

the new weapon icons were a nice surprise, (because they are the same style as the original one)
the armor/shield HUD is awesome.
the armor layers icons are super awesome I had plans to make something like that but I lack your talent

[SiaFu]

Thanks. Actually, the lasers are just temporary. The kinetics I think I'll keep and I'm currently just mapping out weapon types that should receive their own icon, sometime in the distant future. I'm doing a no-backtrack with the Indigo as I currently don't have time for much else.

When I thought of these graphic differentiation mods I was a bit worried some veteran Nethackers would think them un-roguelike, but so far the comments are positive. I now enjoy playing a packrat


BTW, I've discovered a weird thing with custom sounds. Seems weapon ovverides in different XMLs can't both use a newly defined sound, even if I list the sound UNID in the other extension header.
Example: snSFXLaser. If I declare it in the StelliFer xml, the X-laser in the ItemGraphics mod uses the old sound, and If I declare it the other way around, then Durendal and dBLaser get the default sound.
So far the only solution is for me to get more sounds in.

[digdug]

yeah, there are minor problems with UNIDs of resources, like these:
http://wiki.neurohack.com/transcendence/trac/ticket/241

did you try to set another UNID in the second xml for the same sound file ?

[SiaFu]

Yes, but in the end I've made a new sound for blue lasers, so the X-laser is separate from the StelliFer xml and resources.

BTW, is there any reason people put their SFX/GFX in the \Resources subfolder? Does the physical file location matter to Transcendence? I thought the \Resources was only used if you override basic Transcendence resource files.

[digdug]

I actually never put new files in the Resources folder, unless I'm modifying something from the vanilla XMLs.
An extension will search the resource files in the extension folder, makiing a mod get files from the Resources folder will enable the use of the mod only if the TDB file has been unpacked. (which is quite bad)

I use subfolders inside the extension folder to keep stuff more organized. (like everybody, I suppose)

[SiaFu]

I put a SF~ prefix on all my files for easier handling in the filesystem. I've only recently discovered that the base XMLs need not be in the Extensions\ folder, but can also be in a subdirectory. Maybe I'll switch to that scheme.

As I've still not managed to get the quests done due to my regular job workload (and I need to get into scripting) I'm leaving them for later and will soon be tidying up the graphical portion of the mod (items, devices, weapons, launchers+ammo, ore - maybe shields - and armor is already done).

I've added a mechanic similar to the Tinkers for the weapons and devices offered by StelliFer and need to implement Black Market / Military ID checking along with the hefty price so I can release a functioning version.
This will be an itermediate solution as I'm aiming for a linear progression towards more powerful items using XP and quests.

I've seen some nice new posts on systems topology editing so I plan to add a 3S system after Rigel containing the first StelliFer Lab, and another one after Sanctuary - so then I'll be able to finally spawn stations and finally start working on the campaign.




....

In the meantime, I'm having a rather interesting 1st playthrough with the SFs30 Indigo Corvette and am getting ready for the Huari of Jiang's Star.
I almost died in Charon but Clavius Insurance came through and I've had a close call when a Citadel's 3-4 Earth slavers converged on me in a nebula reducing my aft armor to measly 9HP. But now I'm packing full Carbide carapace, a Class V and a Mark V Howitzer with a Chil-Ji-Do as my quick-select weapon so after I lure some Slavers to a Ferian colony , I'm off.

[Aury]

I put a SF~ prefix on all my files for easier handling in the filesystem. I've only recently discovered that the base XMLs need not be in the Extensions\ folder, but can also be in a subdirectory. Maybe I'll switch to that scheme.

Yeah - I'd recommend switching to that, as it is much neater and cleaner for users.

[alterecco]

I've seen some nice new posts on systems topology editing so I plan to add a 3S system after Rigel containing the first StelliFer Lab, and another one after Sanctuary - so then I'll be able to finally spawn stations and finally start working on the campaign.

Is spawning stations really a big issue? I have seen several posts on it lately. I could come up with some simple mechanic for achieving it if there is interest in it. If you just want a station to appear in some specific system it is really not that hard.

[SiaFu]

Is spawning stations really a big issue?

It currently is, for me. As I've planned to put a StelliFer lab in whichever system is before Charon. Since that is up to chance I think it's best to add another topology link as in my last game it was Rigel > Charon. And I don't want to mess with Rigel (and the Durendal is a bit OP for the Battle Arena).

The station in question would be a Heliotrope research facility (NEW) guarded by destroyers and Heliotrope bombers (NEW) which the player would have to circle (within a set ls distance) for a time interval with a device ticking the timer (like Jumpdrive recharging) and then return to base with the data which is an item spawned in the inventory if the timer passed without exceeding the set ls range. (Or alternatively blow up the research facility and scour the wreckage for diminished rewards).
It's sorta important that the player not encounter the facility before accepting the mission, but so far I've only seen stations spawned upon system creation.
Spawning a mobile research facility (which can be done at will) would mean creating a capship with many facings and I'd like to avoid that.

Regardless, any code up for grabs would be appreciated as it seems my plans exceed my available time for examining Transcendence scripting code.


In other news....
The roadmap for Weapon and Shield Icons is set.
I've picked up the mining buddy mod and need to figure out if I can use overlays for items depending on their Installed status, and the maxpower for the Jotun shield (so it'd have 4 different icons when installed: for settings 1-4).



P.S. I got my first Dvalin ion9 and it was +100%
Now I have to change the SFs30 model as the ion9 seems to shoot from the center-mass top - I'll add a turret.

[Aury]

I like your graphics - you seem to have made a good number of additions!
(And that's coming from me, so you know it means something (as opposed to a meaningless generic 'nice!' that lots of people say, even to mods with terrible graphics))

[alterecco]

Those look stunning SiaFu... can't wait to see it finished...

With regards to the stations spawning, I will look into it and see if I can come up with something generic enough to be useful in multiple cases. Spawning a station in the system before Charon should not be an issue. I'll be back with an update.

[digdug]

oh my !

that is really fantastic !
I made something similar using DOGA, but that is perfect !

[Aury]

Why is the Kaidun marked as alien?

[SiaFu]

The rows are just labeled by the general group they mostly contain, to keep things tidier. For instance, the weapon rows go:
Laser
Kinetic
Blast
Particle
Ion
Thermo
Plasma
Positron / antimatter
But some 'groups' have fewer than ten members so there is some mixing.
Likewise for the shields. The actual item attributes are represented with text color (and gold background for the truly Uniques).

Anyways... Seems overlays for ItemPicker icons are not possible. So Shields are delayed indefinitely and Jotun might be out.

In the meantime, find your favorite weapon and feel free to comment on it or any other aspect of the currently downloadable alpha of StelliFer.
Shield HUD bitmask has been fixed up a bit, thanks to stealthx, and the corvette description truncated to 1024x768 windowed.