Ludo's House of Textures and Tweaks (Now Serving Rebellion!)

[Lavo]

This looks great Ludo! Absolutely top notch work, and something the mod greatly needed. There's a slight visual nitpick I have with the upper left part of the main HUD, and not all the research tree arrows have been made into the excellent black ones you made. I'll post pictures of what I mean a little later. The red HUD I think, with the border swapped out to be an irregular reddish-brown rectangle (like a blood clot) would make a fitting HUD for the organic Vong.

[Ludo Kressh]

Thanks Lavo!

 

Yeah, lemme know about the HUD issue. I think I know what you're talking about, and I think I may have snagged it in update 1.1, but I could be wrong. I tend to miss small details like e often than I'd like!

 

As to the black arrows...I had no idea they even existed. I would have kept them silver, or made them hologram-ish had I remembered them. I'll look into them.

 

And I like the idea of the "blood clot" look for the Vong. Maybe even adding some black-greenish, coral-like borders would be help get the nasty organic look they're famous for.

[Lavo]

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/1528/w0ps.png

 

Also, while I like the new loading screens you put in, I can't say I'm a fan of the downscaling them all idea. Would it be possible instead to fix up the borders of the loading screen? If not, let me know, and I'll downscale them to fit. Also, do toss full sized versions of those new screens you found so I can put 'em in in their full glory.

[Ludo Kressh]

Ah! I see exactly what you mean. I'll get on those pronto.I may do away with those button borders, as trying to get them to properly scale takes a while and looks and

 

The loading screens were downsized due to them getting clipped by the borders and looking a bit sloppy. I figured by blacking the borders and downsizing the art to be outside the borders of the faction characters, the player would be able to appreciate them more. I see what you're saying, though, and will do my best to upscale them accordingly.

[Lavo]

I may do away with those button borders, as trying to get them to properly scale takes a while

I can't say I would mind. Might make everything look better as well, esp. when say, a planet isn't selected and you have all those empty boxes. Also, the button that shows up when an item is researched is still is a complete box, not sure.

 

The loading screens were downsized due to them getting clipped by the borders and looking a bit sloppy. I figured by blacking the borders and downsizing the art to be outside the borders of the faction characters, the player would be able to appreciate them more. I see what you're saying, though, and will do my best to upscale them accordingly.

That makes sense. Don't worry too much over enlarging the borders; if it's unfeasible downscaling the loading screens a bit is hardly an issue.

[Ludo Kressh]

He're the updated textures:

 

*All loading screens; added several new pictures, and eliminated the holoscreen borders (let me know what you think; I rather like it!).

 

*Changed supercapital, capital, support, and cruiser main icons to blue and civil and tactical structures to yellow; starbase upgrades have been changed to red; ships depicted also made Star Wars-compliant, with an Executor, ISD, Nebulon B, and a Dreadnaught representing each respectfully.

 

*Tweaked a bit of BackdropIngame to correct the odd arrows and some small odds and ends.

 

*Rectified the Skin_Tech framing issues.

 

*Corrected several gaps in the primary button background templates.

 

http://www.speedyshare.com/6cvDn/UI-Tweaks-Update-1.2.rar

 

Let me know if anything else catches your eye! I will be tweaking around here and there, so look for another update in the not-to-far-off future. Plus, the Yuuzhan Vong ingame UI is forthcoming, albeit slowly.

[Evaders99]

Highly looking forward to Yuuzhan Vong UI. A blend of a biology and skew on the painful side. tchurokk Yun'tchilat!

[Lavo]

Looking at the UI, some really nice improvements! I like the SSD/ISD/Neb/Dread icons, though you didn't put in the when pushed icons. Also I really like the no borders for the loading screen, though I still think that loading images should be left to their regular big sizes; if needed the faction characters can be moved over such that they are not blocking the loading screen art. The borders for the empire menu icon (the thing on the left) should be removed; the Sins HUD is inconsistent size wise as it changes when you change the game's resolution and it effects that icon's borders in particular.

[Ludo Kressh]

tchurokk Yun'tchilat!

 

Gesundheit! xD

 

Yeah, but it seems the thing is turning into an Embrace of Pain unto itself. I dunno if I have the skills to pull off the grotesque design without without it looking like an amateur, NES-era hackjob. I may have to start over from scratch, or kitbash the Vasari HUD...Oh well. I'll get it somehow.

 

Looking at the UI, some really nice improvements! I like the SSD/ISD/Neb/Dread icons, though you didn't put in the when pushed icons.

 

I didn't find them when I looked, though I could be mistaken. I remember remarking ot myself how unlike the other buttons they didn't have a "pushed" version, as it was integrated with the "normal" file. Plus, when testing them they looked quite seamless. Still, if they've been left out, I'll be sure to cook them up and slap 'em in!

 

I really like the no borders for the loading screen, though I still think that loading images should be left to their regular big sizes; if needed the faction characters can be moved over such that they are not blocking the loading screen art.

 

A good idea. I shall see about getting this implemented, seeing as the borders are now a non-factor.

 

The borders for the empire menu icon (the thing on the left) should be removed...

 

You got it.

 

the Sins HUD is inconsistent size wise as it changes when you change the game's resolution and it effects that icon's borders in particular.

 

Shoot. Okay, I shall look into that; hopefully there's an actual fix I can implement. Still feeling my way around the intricacies of the texture mire that is this game. xD

[Lavo]

Shoot. Okay, I shall look into that; hopefully there's an actual fix I can implement. Still feeling my way around the intricacies of the texture mire that is this game. xD

Don't worry about this; from what I can tell only the empire icon is affected by this, the rest of your HUD is fine on smaller resolutions. Edit: I also adore the research arrows you put in. Making them semi-transparent was an inspired idea; it will also help with the times when arrows go "over" another research icon. Also, I haven't committed it yet, but I've edited the race logos to fit the main HUD, so they are inside the blue box/screen. Edit 2: Fixed the pressed icon issue, found the file and slapped in the buttons.

[Ludo Kressh]

Actually, I just fixed the HUD and made it a bit cleaner in design. No need for that blue box anyway. Still, the smaller icons will look a bit better IMO.

 

Thanks for getting to the buttons. I also just fixed them. You simply beat me to the punch. xD I'll have them up in a bit.

 

Question: regarding the planet textures, would you be open to switching to another set if I adapted a public mod for our use? Credit to the original developers would be given naturally, but I think the implementation would be refresh the ingame look a tad. It's your call, though.

[Lavo]

Depends on the mod. Infinite Space is a very nice looking mod, but it's everywhere now; putting it in would make SoGE be less unique and break immersion a bit. Would like to know what you have in mind. That said, I would recommend looking at Burntstrobe's planets, around a year or two ago I helped him out with models and according to him and/or Warb, Burnstrobe was cool with giving us his custom planets.

[Ludo Kressh]

Unfortunately, that was going to be my suggestion. I had no idea it was so widespread. Still, it makes little difference; the meshes that its creator used are way different from NovaCameron's set, and would require a good deal of reconciliation between them both to get them working adequately (though they do look quite nice ingame...). That will take time and effort from both of us (mainly you, being leaps and bounds more familiar with the modeling side of things than I) that could be spent doing other things, like actually enjoying the game.

 

I've always liked Burtstrobe's work, though I had forgotten about him. I will certainly contact him about sending us his textures, likely today. He's pretty active it seems (he was online within the last two hours it seems), and with what you said, we may very well be on the way to getting new planets ingame before the end of the month.

 

Would it be possible to have multiple skins linked to the planet types as in other mods, to provide a bit more variety to the planets? Two or three would be decent methinks. I know it means more work for you likely, but I'd be willing to lend a hand as I can! Anything to make what is very likely the best and most promising mod on offer for SoaSE even better.

 

BTW, are there any other graphic aspects of Rebellion that could use some modifying? Ingame events, perhaps? I've yet to encounter them, though I've purchased Stellar Phenomena. Just let me know and I'll see what I can come up with.

 

Here're the texture updates you requested, redundant as it may be: http://speedy.sh/rYNbz/UI-Tweaks-Update-1.25.rar

[Lavo]

Unfortunately, that was going to be my suggestion. I had no idea it was so widespread. Still, it makes little difference; the meshes that its creator used are way different from NovaCameron's set, and would require a good deal of reconciliation between them both to get them working adequately (though they do look quite nice ingame...). That will take time and effort from both of us (mainly you, being leaps and bounds more familiar with the modeling side of things than I) that could be spent doing other things, like actually enjoying the game.

Off hand I know IS' planets are used in E4X and SotP, might be used in parts of SotF but I do not know that for certain. It might not make a huge difference sure, but I want SoGE to be different in this regard, as planets are a really big thing in our mod and something that makes SoGE stand out.

 

The biggest thing I need more than anything is someone to simply look through Burnstrobe's, and possibly other peoples', models and pick out ones that would be good for SoGE and get permission for their usage. If someone can get the models themselves (preferably in .obj, but .alo .3ds and .max all work fine) and send them to me I can take it from there, as rigging models is not difficult. The one concern I have, in particular with Burntstrobe's planets, is that they might not have a proper light texture which is key for Sins. However this will be dealt with when the issue arises.

 

Would it be possible to have multiple skins linked to the planet types as in other mods, to provide a bit more variety to the planets? Two or three would be decent methinks.

No, this would result in an unacceptable increase in RAM usage. Do recall that we have more variety in actual planet types than any other mod by a longshot. It's possible sure, but as it is planets are already the biggest offender in texture usage, and SoGE is hurting extremely hard RAM wise thanks to Stellar Phenomena.

 

BTW, are there any other graphic aspects of Rebellion that could use some modifying? Ingame events, perhaps? I've yet to encounter them, though I've purchased Stellar Phenomena. Just let me know and I'll see what I can come up with.

We should be good in terms of events; they aren't particle heavy. And yes, I should mention that events don't bring about new graphics, but particles, which is an entirely different beast. Even then, it's only in certain cases; one does not need particles to make a cool event.

 

Here're the texture updates you requested, redundant as it may be: http://speedy.sh/rYNbz/UI-Tweaks-Update-1.25.rar

Much thanks!

[Ludo Kressh]

Yes, I do recall now that SoGE is a major consumer of RAM; those odd blue boxes during capital ship explosions are hardly forgettable. One texture to a planet is fine.

 

I was meaning to ask about explosions: is it really necessary to have all that flash and sparkle? I know it looks nice, but most explosions I've seen in SW are simply volumetric fireballs, rather than flashes or sparkles or what have you. If you swapped them out for a somewhat detailed, if lower-key, explosion particle, would that save enough RAM to prevent the "box-weirds" (like a star weird, only boxy-er) from showing up?

 

As far as models and the like go, I know we're in need of a new frigate factory (though I know you don't mind it as is, it's still a little out of place IMO). My guess would be Nomada_Firefox's SW Alliance as having the largest variety, though I dunno if he'd share given he's now forayed into SoaSE as well. Empire at War filefront may yield something yet!

 

BTW, what happened to Warb? I miss him! xD

[Lavo]

There's one single capital ship explosion that is bugged and causing those boxes, not all of them. That said, yes the explosions that are currently in are far from canon, but we have nothing to swap them with, and nobody to make them. As it is, the current swap was done purely as to avoid using vanilla explosions, which frankly are boring and worse than what we have right now. If we had a particle artist, or someone to do particles for us, I'd be more than happy to swap out the current set of explosions for something better.

 

Nomada's stuff, outside of Warb's models, is absolutely unsuitable for Sins, RAM wise. Plus outside of what he has from Warb/EJ, much of that is used without permission. That being said, I had an idea recently that I plan to implement; put in our current repair station as the frigate factory and leave it with the repair ability. As lets be frank, in canon frigate yards were used for ship maintenance and the repair station is not that useful as it is. Goa has also done an amazing job rigging that model for ship construction. This method would also mean less stuff the game has to load up, and there already is UI art done for this model.

 

I'm wondering the same to be honest. Going to see if I can get in touch with him elsewhere.

[Ludo Kressh]

I was unaware that the Sins defaults were as much a RAM drag as the currents, without the looks to justify their presence. Ah well. Worth a shot.

 

I have heard of the allegations against Nomada for his theft/plagiarism, but I didn't want to spread around hearsay, as hasn't been shut down for it and people seem to not mention it on either his EaW or Sins mods as of late from what I see. Still, even if the claims were false, the high poly count is, as you said, wholly anathema due to the high RAM usage of SoGE already. Too bad. You wonder where the minds of Ironclad's devs were when working on Rebellion; multi-core processing and >2gb RAM usage has been around for years now. But then again, I am no software engineer; they must have had reasons, annoying as it is.

 

The repair dock model as a frigate factory is quite fine with me; it's very handsome. Though, why not add passive repair abilities to the current factories/shipyards and nix the dedicated repair dock, to prevent doubling-up on models? Since the factories tend to be bunched together in the gravity wells by both the AI and players anyway, wouldn't the compound effect actually make the feature more viable? Would it be possible for further define the ability's targets to specific ship class according to the ships they can produce?

 

A problem I can foresee, however, is that players can just spam factories and make defending fleets nigh-invincible. Maybe a hard build cap for most planets (save industrial or shipyard worlds, thus making them just that more strategically and tactically desirable) of 3 FFs and 2 CFs, or just increase the logistic slots usage per factory. If the former, make the repair rate of the FFs a third of that of a single repair dock, and CFs half, making a max compound repair rate equivalent to that two overlappng repair docks. Again, food for thought. I'm likely way off-base in my musings! xD

 

Also, might we rename them "drydocks" instead of "factories"? I know the announcers says otherwise, but it seems more canon-keeping to name them otherwise...well, to me at least.

 

And I haven't been able to contact Burnstrobe as of yet, given my busy weekend away. I'll get on it once the weekend closes.

[Lavo]

The reason his mod isn't shut down is he doesn't post a full version on Moddb. If he posted a full version, the one he hosts on his site, you bet it would go down quick. Do remember the Iron Engine is at least 7 years old; CPUs have changed drastically in this time. Multi-core processing was not a standard at the time, even dual core CPUs weren't standard at the time.

 

Actually, I plan to nix the repair station that's currently ingame. Basically I'd be moving the model, antimatter, and ability, of the current repair station to the frigate factory.

 

That wouldn't work as the repair buff does not stack. I like the renaming idea though.

[Ludo Kressh]

The reason his mod isn't shut down is he doesn't post a full version on Moddb. If he posted a full version, the one he hosts on his site, you bet it would go down quick.

 

Huh. Fancy that. You'd figure the fear of a shutdown would scare him away, but I suppose not.

 

Do remember the Iron Engine is at least 7 years old; CPUs have changed drastically in this time. Multi-core processing was not a standard at the time, even dual core CPUs weren't standard at the time.

 

So the engine is that old, eh? Sheesh. Had no clue. I supposed that the engine was merely as old as Sins itself, no more than 5 years. You're certainly completing my education, Lavo.

 

Actually, I plan to nix the repair station that's currently ingame. Basically I'd be moving the model, antimatter, and ability, of the current repair station to the frigate factory.

 

Good plan that is, too!

 

That wouldn't work as the repair buff does not stack. I like the renaming idea though.

 

Darn! It would certainly be more realistic if it did. Glad you like drydocks.

[Lavo]

So the engine is that old, eh? Sheesh. Had no clue. I supposed that the engine was merely as old as Sins itself, no more than 5 years. You're certainly completing my education, Lavo.

You gotta take into account when work on the game started. Back when they started dual cores were just on their way to becoming widespread, and I don't recall if quad cores were even around yet, or just getting onto the market.

 

Darn! It would certainly be more realistic if it did.

It would be, but that has to take a backseat to gameplay. Otherwise you'd see people building absurd amounts of frigate shipyards and getting high repair rates in the hundreds of hull restore per second.

 

I'd also like to request that you put regular sized loading screen art back in. So much detail's lost in these small shots and some of them are really pretty.

[Ludo Kressh]

It would be, but that has to take a backseat to gameplay. Otherwise you'd see people building absurd amounts of frigate shipyards and getting high repair rates in the hundreds of hull restore per second.

 

Unless you nerfed the repair rate and up the logistics slot use methinks, but I get what you mean completely. I saw that as a potential issue as well. What you have planned is a satisfactory medium.

 

I'd also like to request that you put regular sized loading screen art back in. So much detail's lost in these small shots and some of them are really pretty.

 

OH FINE. I've been meaning to do that anyway, now that the border is a non-factor. I should have something up for you tonight, and perhaps something extra.

[Lavo]

I suggest to increase the size of the portion of the UI that contains a player's name and icon such that it would fit over the empire tree button. The reason being that if you decrease the resolution of Sins enough, it will move the faction name/icon underneath the empire tree button.

[Ludo Kressh]

Sorry for the comm silence; I've been caught up in other matters.

 

I've been able to do some work on strings in cleaning up the terminology in some of the planet names, as well as dealing with the loading screens; they are now at full ingame resolution, per your request.

 

As to Tech_Skin, I'll see to that right after I'm done with this post.

 

The Vong GUI is currently on the back burner due to a rather shoddy job done by yours truly; I'll try my best to get it functioning, but ultimately I may not have the skills to complete a new, original piece that doesn't look like an 8-bit hack job. Sorry!

[Ludo Kressh]

Attached are the new loading screens and a new strings file; a revamp of the characters is forthcoming as well.

 

http://speedy.sh/N25wr/UI-Tweaks-Update-1.4.rar

 

I'm having issues with the fixing of the GUI. Regardless of lengthening efforts of the holoscreen textures, a large gap remains between the empire window and the player name and icon. It seems to be hardcoded and part of the GUI apparatus, therefore beyond my reach without serious probing. If it's of low priority, I can inquire, but if not then perhaps we can live with it. FYI, I currently operate on a repurposed LCD TV at 1920x1080 resolution, so proportions may be hit-or-miss from time to time, and I often forget to consider smaller resolutions. Sorry about that!

 

I messaged Burntstrobe on Monday, and have yet to hear back from him. I'll keep you informed.

 

Also, here's a link to Warb's skydrive model library if you don't already have one:

 

https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=4580C7F33571D5CB&id=4580C7F33571D5CB%21112

 

I was thinking the Hutt cruiser, corvette and the trireme could be excellent pirate vessels, to complement the already present TradeFed freighters and dreadnaughts. Also (though I know you disliked it!), the Wavecrest as a replacement for the TradeFed II frigate as a CIS combat ship/cruiser. The freighter seems out of place next to the Recusant and the Munificient, and the Wavecrest could fill that as a light destroyer sort, cheaper and slightly weaker than the Recusant with a decent, but not great, missile payload. The only drawback to the model is its skin, or lack thereof. Also, the Swarm-class battle droid may serve as a useful mine model...

 

I'll be in and out, but will post items as I complete them.

[Lavo]

As to Tech_Skin, I'll see to that right after I'm done with this post.

Tech_Skin isn't the only file in question that needs modifying. In fact, I couldn't figure out which file contains the actual small button's borders.

 

I'm having issues with the fixing of the GUI. Regardless of lengthening efforts of the holoscreen textures, a large gap remains between the empire window and the player name and icon. It seems to be hardcoded and part of the GUI apparatus, therefore beyond my reach without serious probing.

Roger that! Don't worry too much about it then.

 

Also, here's a link to Warb's skydrive model library if you don't already have one:

Oh boy, this will be useful! Much thanks.

 

I was thinking the Hutt cruiser, corvette and the trireme could be excellent pirate vessels, to complement the already present TradeFed freighters and dreadnaughts.

Going to shoot this down right now as that means adding more assets to the game, and more rigging for me to do. The latter is unacceptable at this time; we're tight enough as it is.

 

Also (though I know you disliked it!), the Wavecrest as a replacement for the TradeFed II frigate as a CIS combat ship/cruiser.

I've never actually seen the Wavecrest, but there's no canon model of it, no canon stats for it, and the TradeFed II is already rigged and functions perfectly for it's role. I don't see a need for the Wavecrest, not when the CIS roster is extremely well rounded and not lacking in any roles.

 

The freighter seems out of place next to the Recusant and the Munificient, and the Wavecrest could fill that as a light destroyer sort, cheaper and slightly weaker than the Recusant with a decent, but not great, missile payload.

Not sure how it's any worse than the Captor, or even the Lucrehulk, which is also a converted freighter. The CIS often converted trading vessels into combat ones, as they were numerous and easy to refit.

 

Also, the Swarm-class battle droid may serve as a useful mine model...

Perhaps. In truth, I'm not too huge a fan of the current homing mine model, the vanilla one that is. Even the stationary model could use a replacement. That said, this looks like it could work well for the proximity mine. While an atmospheric mine, this one almost looks as if the top part is an engine, which could work for the homing mine.