"Rebellion" (TC Mod WIP)

[Falcone]

Hey guys, now that I've decided to go ahead and try my TC mod it's time to post what it is going to be about, any questions I may run into, and to see of anyone would be interested in helping. I chose the name Rebellion for the mod in honor of the name of the actual game, plus I couldn't think of anything else.

(sm= strategic map, tb= tactical battles)

 

Overview:

Rebellion is set in our solar system, not an entire galaxy. The bright spot in the middle of the sm will be the sun. The Sesswenna sector will contain Earth (replacing Coruscant), the moon, and the rest will be space colonies/stations. Four more sectors will surround the sun roughly around the Lagrange points. All of these sectors will contain the stations as well. The Earth and the Moon are the only two actual spheres. I will replace all the planet icons with a quick .bmp picture of something similar to an O'Neill cylinder.

The faction replacing the Empire is the Terran Alliance. The Nations of Earth, the moon, and the inner colonies (orbiting Earth) formed this alliance. The Rebels will be replaced by an Alliance of colonies (need name suggestions) that rebel against the oppressive Earth. The Earth forces appeared to be strong, but when so many colonies declared independence Earth lost most of its income and ability to support its military. They were unable to stop the colonies from breaking away, only the inner colonies remained loyal. Several colonies, fearing Earth could regain its strength, for an alliance and declare war on Earth. So the beginning of the game will be the same as the original, a few planets for each side, but most neutral.

I like the balance of the original, so I will change very little when it comes to units, structures, and characters. The only things I will change will be the names of everything, the pictures for everything, and I will get rid of a few other things like Jedis. The Terrans will have the superior military, but the Colonies will have better subterfuge.

Apart from the layout of the sm and the new pictures the only real big change will be the ships. I have a number of ship models and ideas. This is the part of the mod that will take a lot of time. I have to create all the models, the new pictures, and mess around with all the stats. My game takes place in the not to distant future so I don't like the idea of shields and energy weapons. Since I wouldn't know how to change the laser blasts in tb I will just pretend that the red and blue lasers are just super heated conventional weapons with tracers. But what I will get rid of are gravity well generators, ion cannons. and tractor beams. I might try turning down the shield recharge as well. I can overlook the shield aspect and just pretend that its the outer most armor that need to be penetrated before the hull can be damaged.

I don't actually have enough ships planned to fill in all the ship slots so what I am going to do is use each ship several times in the game, but each one will have different stats and level of research needed to get them to represent ships receiving upgrades. Both faction will have the same ships at the start to show that they were once allied, but once research starts they will get their own ships.

 

What I need help with:

* The cards for ships I will be able to do because I will just use the ship models in the picture, but I have no pictures to use for all the troops and characters. Since this is an original "universe" there are no picture out there for me to borrow. I could use someone who can create picture from scratch. I know it would be a HUGE undertaking though. I do have some basic ideas to give you though.

*My ship models are nothing amazing. For the most part they are pretty basic. I can barely make the models themselves, so I would need someone to skin them for me. It doesn't need to be anything special.

* I have no idea how to replace the ships in game so I need a link to a post explaining it, or a new explanation.

* I need help finding things in the files to replace, like the planet pictures on the sm, the death star picture in both sm and tb, etc.

 

This is a pic of one of the ship models. Its a small Frigate. I haven't placed the turrets on it yet.

http://jjscornerplace.com/shipdesign.htm

(If you are using Firefox the picture might be messed up)

[Falcone]

* I have no idea how to replace the ships in game so I need a link to a post explaining it, or a new explanation.

Forget that one. i found the Ship Imorpter thing.

[Falcone]

I've found how to replace the planet pictures on the strategic map, but I can't find how to replace the picture of the Rebel HQ, can someone let me know where it is? Also, where are the files located that I need to change to change the planets and death star in tactical battles.

[DarthTex]

Check the STRATEGY.DLL file, but exactly where therein ... you'll have to find that your self

 

I don't know if you can change the "planet" in the tactical battles. Most of the time I don't see the planet anyway

[Falcone]

I wasn't sure how to view a dll file so I downloaded a resource hacker. I couldn't find any of the planets in the tactical.dll. I did find the death star and initially I thought it was what I needed. because the Death Star during battles is just a gif. But ALL the ships are in there as gifs so I think all changing it would do is change its picture and not the big death star in the actual battle. I will change it just to test it out though. I did find the rebel HQ in the strategic.dll in case anybody is wondering its under GIFS > 904 > 1033. However now that I found it I don't actually have anything to change it to yet.

 

What I have completed so far-

-changed all names, stats, pictures, and descriptions for all structures. (Actually most of it stayed the same and wont be changed)

-changed all unit and special forces names and stats, will change descriptions shortly.

-changed galaxy layout, planet pictures and names

 

What I need to do-

-Change all pictures for units, special forces, ships, and characters

-Change character names and descriptions (I decided for now I wont mess too much with the stats to keep the game balanced)

-Build 3d ship models and replace the game's

-Change the built in events (will do after I'm done with the characters

-If I'm up to it I will change a bunch of the interface

-Change the fighter .gifs for in battles

-Change the Death Star .gif for in battles

-Change the planet .gif for in battles

 

This is a picture of the strategic screen. Some name lengths weren't long enough so had to abbreviate them . The colony picture I used was nice and clear but when i put it into the game it became pixilated.

http://jjscornerplace.com/shipdesign.htm (scroll down)

[Falcone]

I have new names and descriptions for all the major characters. I also did away with the force. None are force aware or can detect other force users. I also found a way around not being able to remove ships, units, etc from the game. All you do is release the encyclopedia pictures with a plain black or white picture, change the name to 'blank', delete the description, and then select the unit to not be trainable by either faction. The unit is essentially gone from the game, the only record of it is a completely blank entry in the encyclopedia.

I've been reading several different tutorials about replacing the ships in tactical battles, but I still don't have a clue. When I actually have the models finished, if there is someone out there who I can send the files to and then they put the ships in game for me, that would be great. I could also use someone to skin the models as well. Those are the only two things I really need hands on help with. I know there won't be anyone right now who would be interested in helping cause they don't know enough about the content, but hopefully when I have everything else done it will interest someone enough to help.

Apart form changing the major characters here are a few shots of some unfinished ships. Like I said they will only be basic ships because I have to make soo many of them. These ships just need a few more tweaks, and the weapons added, and of course need to be skinned.

 

The back end needs some rounding and the weapons need to be added

http://jjscornerplace.com/Colonial%20Cruiser.jpg

this one is basically done, just need to add a few turrets

http://jjscornerplace.com/Frigate%20(both%20sides).jpg

a group shot, the third ship was a scrapped escort carrier design that i still had laying around

http://jjscornerplace.com/Group%20Shot.jpg