Jay2Jay's Mods

[Jay2Jay]

How many promises of ships made of gold does it take for me to deliver huh?

I am picking up modding again, (itty bity at first and bigger later) and have made this topic to organize all of my ideas and work.

I first plan on doing an items pack. Nothing fancy, nothing outlandish just a good old items pack filled with goodies that either explode or keep you from exploding.

In this items pack, I may balance some rather unbalanced weapons in Vanilla T *cough* CC missile launchers *cough*.

I plan to seperate the laser, turbolaser, and blaster into seperate groups with a few weapons in each group eventually.

Things this mod will NOT include:
An entire overhaul of the game for more realism (it turns out realism is way too hard to balance and way too boring for Transcendence)
An entire overhaul of anything at all.
Entirely rebalanced armors (tried that once before *shudders* I had five grades of every armor, and five sizes ranging from grade 1 ultralight to grade 5 massive. I needed different xml files for every two armors)
Entirely rebalanced weapons
Anything to do with mining other than new mining lasers and new tinker recipes.
Bob.

Things this mod will add:
New weapons
New armors
A few rebalanced vanilla items
New missiles
A couple new ships with vanilla graphics

Things this mod will overwrite:
A few ships and stations

[Jay2Jay]

I've got an update on development!

So far so good, I have successfully finished the- oh who am I kidding I've got nothing.

I cannot resist making a TC mod, no matter how hard I try I just can't resist it.
So I'm working on... other stuff I can't tell you guys about or I won't do it. Suprises!

HOWEVER I do have an update on LORE for my Transcendence total conversion mod which I will continue to call TCE even though no one wants to make it but me . (For those you don't know, TCE stands for Transcendence Community Edition). This lore revision was inspired by this topic http://forums.kronosaur.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6328 which pointed out a well known fact, the Ares ******* pwn the commonwealth in every category.

In the year 2150 (adding a year to the start of D&O for travel time) a pilgrim finally broke through the quarantine barrier separating the QZ from the rest of the galaxy... Soon after, the Iocrym drove all the humans from Heretic, shutting off all access with a blockade. All other pilgrims, including the Sisters of Domina themselves, cease to feel the call to the galactic core and are no longer endowed with her powers.
2152: The Commonwealth and Ares Othodoxy signed a cease fire agreement, ending the centuries long war.
2158: The leaders of the Ringers Collective and Commonwealth meet in secret and sign a trade agreement, agreeing upon an exchange rate and restricted items. An increase in Penitent activity is observed.
2159: The Teratons, having accused the Ringers of betraying their Neo human alliance, officially enter a cold war with the Ringers Collective. An anti-Ares terrorist group known as Discord reveals itself and its intentions by destroying an Ares embassy in St. Katherine's.
2161: The Black Market moves all wares into Ares space due to increased pressure from the Commonwealth. ISX armor made from an orthosteel/ithalium alloy is introduced as the replacement for Hexaphase.
2165: The Battle Arena Maximus is shutdown by the Commonwealth. The Ranx Empire and Commonwealth reach a cease fire. CSC Gaia is revealed the the public as a joint effort by the Ringer Collective and Commonwealth
2167: The Commonwealth attempts to disband the Corporate Hierarchy and Rassiermer Corporation due to the discovery of its relations to the Black Market, and providing the Ranx Empire with weapons during the war, however the CEO and shareholders are able to fend off lawsuits until they remove their assets from Commonwealth territory.
2168: The Sung Slavers are all but eliminated, the Charon Pirates are barricaded in the Charon system, and most other illegitimate organizations are exterminated from the Outer Rim and Ungoverned territories.
2172: The Commonwealth reveals the Gladius, a prototype antimatter weapon to be fitted to the Aquila-X and Britania-X.
2183: Penitent priests are arrested by the Commonwealth for distributing a mysterious drug called "Orichalcum Nectar" to their followers which causes hallucinations, "enlightened" feelings, and extreme pain over the short term, but eventually causes an increase in reaction time, strength, longevity, and a lobotomized state. The drug known as "Angel Powder" used by the Sisters of Domina for contemplation is put under scrutiny despite no negative side effects ever being reported.
2184: Discord terrorists arrested for the attempted assassination of an Ares Embassedor are confirmed to have been under the influence of Orichalcum Nectar. Discord's connection to the Penitents is confirmed shortly afterwards.
2186: The Commonwealth, Ares Orthodoxy, and Ringers Collective form an alliance and attack the Iocrym in Heretic, easily pushing them back out of Heretic and through several new systems until they are stopped by massive capitol ships patrolling the system known as Gamma Crucis.
2221: After forty years of war with the Iocrym the Commonwealth's Silver Age has ended and a new one begins, as for the first time in 72 years, Domina calls another pilgrim. You.

[sun1404]

Sounds interesting. I'd like to help if there's anything I can do. (Unfortunately I still don't understand much of TLisp. I can help with the XMLs and maybe thinking up some ideas.)

[Jay2Jay]

Sounds interesting. I'd like to help if there's anything I can do. (Unfortunately I still don't understand much of TLisp. I can help with the XMLs and maybe thinking up some ideas.)

Thank you so much man, you have no idea how pioneering it would be for multiple people (even if it is just to) to work on a Transcendence mod at a time, since usually its some guy single handedly attempting too much mod for one person *cough* Wolfy *cough*.

This is what I need done (the stuff that's closer to the top I need sooner)
-Reactors of all sizes for all the ships in the game (not unique ones just like a 1mw reactor or a 5mw reactor) you can look up the ai ships for what the stats should look like.
-Some new basic ores (Iron, Aluminum, etc)
-Ore Graphics (not just recolor the basic graphics)
-Ares civilian ships/station graphics (can't have some Ares dude in a Cometfall or Phobos waltzing around Eridani)
-New Commonwealth CSC that looks sort of Ringer-esque and a Commonwealth Dreadnaught

(Note: If you can't do any of the graphics stuff, it's fine, I'll just either find someone else to do them or make an attempt to learn how to use blender)

In reality, I also need weapons and armors, but I would like to send you a template for that since you can't read my mind for the values I would assign.
The armor system will work like this:
-Five sizes of armor (Ultralight, light, standard, heavy, and massive)
-The size of the armor barely affects statistics (that means as levels go up we will have to assign negative values to some)
-Five different grades of armor which tell you the statistics (Grade 1 will be really cheap and fragile while grade 5 will have awesome statistics, be really expensive and rare, and will have special attributes based on the type of armor [radiation proof for steel for example])

The weapons will work like this:
-Different "classes" of weapons that require different licenses to own (not just military, illegal, and civilian)
-Heat generation and statistics based on damage type (lasers weapons generate more heat per shot than other weapons and fire slower, but do more damage)
-Some of the weapon's characteristics will be determined by which company made what
-Projectile weapons are fast firing and have good range, but require magazines which take a loooong time to reload (this allows for never having to worry about ammo space since the "magazines" can be filled with whatever, but it still requires "volleys" to be sent off)

This game is gonna need a similiar system to uncharted to work, since I plan on having the person start where he can kill some weak pirates to cash in, but the closer he gets to St. Katherine's and the other core worlds, the less enemies he encounters. Then again, you could just go along the outskirts, where you will find nothing but pirates and outlaws.

I feel like a lot of games ignore the first part of the game, so I plan to focus more heavily on that part first, then on the later part of gameplay (that's where it really get's interesting).

This mod requires a LOT of grunt work, including the overhaul of almost all the conversations in game and the replacement of several story lines with new ones (no more Heretic research problem, no more Arco Vaughn, no more Militia, no more Battle Arena Maximus or Katami (the arena is reborn in the outskirts though, along with several others), and no more Corporate Hierarchy (though there will be commonish places to sell stuff for premiums)

P.S. Whether or not you really meant it, I really appreciate the offer. I know that this is too much for any one person to do within a reasonable amount of time, it's evident in previous attempts by other modders, myself included.

[Cardinal22]

If someone can supply me with .3ds files and associated textures for models to use as references, I can create some game art of systems, asteroids and ships. I have the .scn's but no way to reliably convert them to a useable .3ds or .obj format.

[sun1404]

I could maybe make some model, but someone will have to texture them. Anything I try to texture looks like... pre-schooler's paint?

I can do the reactors, but what sizes do you want? (Hopefully not all 1-1000) 1MW would be actually useless, because just about any level 1 weapon uses 1 MW and will crash the reactor. I can also do the new ores, but not the graphics. I can think up many ores, and maybe look up the elements table.

I can code Ares civilian ships, but I can't do the graphics. Not sure what should they look like, and not sure if I can make them look as they should.

About the new CSC, I have an idea. Just texture the rim like the rim of the Ringer Shipyard. And maybe add translucent blue lines on it's... wings? Should look great.

I can also do the armors, if you send the templates to me. But I'm not sure how to do the weapons. The classes thing, you mean like in EV? What classes do you want? The heat, you mean they'll overheat at some point? Special characteristics, what should be added?

Since it's kind of complicated, I think you'll have to either do it yourself, or send me a very covering template.

[Jay2Jay]

I can do the reactors, but what sizes do you want? (Hopefully not all 1-1000) 1MW would be actually useless, because just about any level 1 weapon uses 1 MW and will crash the reactor. I can also do the new ores, but not the graphics. I can think up many ores, and maybe look up the elements table.

5mw, 10mw, 15mw, 20mw, 35mw, 40mw, etc. Plus some post 1GW reactors (basically anything that vanilla T doesn't cover). I plan on making it so that you can add some reactors to supplement your current one, but it adds fuel consumption and doesn't add fuel space.

I can code Ares civilian ships, but I can't do the graphics. Not sure what should they look like, and not sure if I can make them look as they should.

Civilian ships are easy to code. I really just need the graphics so I could try making an artists impression for you if you want to try.

About the new CSC, I have an idea. Just texture the rim like the rim of the Ringer Shipyard. And maybe add translucent blue lines on it's... wings? Should look great.

That's exactly what I was thinking, but I have no idea how to texture anything.

I can also do the armors, if you send the templates to me. But I'm not sure how to do the weapons. The classes thing, you mean like in EV? What classes do you want? The heat, you mean they'll overheat at some point? Special characteristics, what should be added?

Since it's kind of complicated, I think you'll have to either do it yourself, or send me a very covering template.

Yeah I was going to send you a template of that ASAP. The weapons will overheat at some point. By "classes" I meant like an id only a "Class 1 weapons operator" id for Class 1 weapons. (In the later game that won't matter though.) Classes 1-5 and a military license for WMD's. (A WMD is a thermonuclear weapon or anything upwards of a Howitzer III).

Sorry about that I got carried away since I was so excited to have help

If someone can supply me with .3ds files and associated textures for models to use as references, I can create some game art of systems, asteroids and ships. I have the .scn's but no way to reliably convert them to a useable .3ds or .obj format.

Hmmm let me check on that. (P.S. welcome aboard, Cardinal22.)

[Jay2Jay]

Here ya go Cardinal22 http://download.cnet.com/TrueSpace/3000 ... 87286.html thats the link to the Truespace download. You need to convert all the .scn files to .3ds files by importing them to Truespace, then exporting them as .3ds files. If there are any bugs, import them to Wings3D (after Truespace) then export them as .3ds files again.

[Cardinal22]

Sorry! Should've been more informative in my reply (was after midnight after the 4 hour IRC chat I was a bit fried)...

I've got all the .scn files. If I use TrueSpace to convert to .3ds it exports okay, but doesn't import to 3DS Max (I'm using 2012-64b). I also downloaded Wings3D and can't seem to import the .3ds files into there either. Anyways, I'm trying an open source file converter now - will let you know how I get on.

[sun1404]

I'll do the reactors now, and maybe send you the finished code today, no later than tomorrow. As soon as I have the templates I can start on the weapons. You want me to think up names and descriptions on my own? I won't go into the Ares ships then.

EDIT: Oh yes, the reactors, do you want me to stick with the vanilla company (NX, Koshiba, like those) or use a new company/companies?

[Jay2Jay]

I'll do the reactors now, and maybe send you the finished code today, no later than tomorrow. As soon as I have the templates I can start on the weapons. You want me to think up names and descriptions on my own? I won't go into the Ares ships then.

EDIT: Oh yes, the reactors, do you want me to stick with the vanilla company (NX, Koshiba, like those) or use a new company/companies?

Thanks for the help! Yeah it would be best if you stuck with vanilla companies for now, since you'll only be adding new power wattage levels (they will be going on ai ships). The descriptions are up to you, just keep it simple (eg This is a 5mw reactor made by NX for those on budget (or something similar)).

I am still working out the kinks for the weapons, trying to balance the templates. I'll most likely just give you the first weapon in the series and give some quick facts to use in the series. All that you will need to do is copy/paste x number of times and increase the stats by a bit. It doesn't matter what you call the Ares ships, AresCivilianShip1a or whatever will be fine ATM.

Also, you are part of the team, so if you have any ideas for a unique something or another, or even changing around the lore, I am open to suggestions

EDIT: I almost forgot, you can start making the armors if you want. Just stick to redoing Vanilla stuff for now (though you should switch titanium with steel).

Steel has more hitpoints than the other starting armors, but no added bonuses, so go ahead and do steel (25 armor segments is more than you would think) Use my UNID for this (0xED2D).

[sun1404]

Uh... using your UNID, what number should I start with? which numbers have you used, which are left?

Also, should I use your UNID for the armor alone, or for everything? (Wanna make sure. Would be messy to change later.)

EDIT: Sorry can't finish the reactors tonight. (can't resist the urge to make up some decent descriptions once in a while) will do tomorrow. Please give clarifications on my questions in the mean time.

[Jay2Jay]

Uh... using your UNID, what number should I start with?

Use 0xED2D5000 for the armors and 0xED2D7000 for the reactors.

Also, should I use your UNID for the armor alone, or for everything? (Wanna make sure. Would be messy to change later.)

Use my UNID for everything for compatibility's sake.

[sun1404]

The reactors are done. Should I post it here or send it to you by another way?

[Jay2Jay]

The reactors are done. Should I post it here or send it to you by another way?

Put them up on xelerus or post them here. Its up to you.