A Homeworld Universe Mod - HWU v0.0.94 DL available

[chris80502]

I'm sure there is a way to make the special abilitys from hw and hw cata in hw2. Just like how before there could only be 6 or 7 race limit, yet we found another way to add more.

That's the sprit!!

I just played the beast in one skirmish and found that they use a somewhat different ship layout than in original HWC, like, the Taiidan IonCannon frigate instead of the Turanic one.
Ah, yes, about the Turanic Frigate: I am not sure, but don't you think it's a bit overscaled? (See pic)
Last question: Will you add a destroyer to the beast fleet (for balancing issues) ?

For the Beast fleet I have only converted ships when their counterparts are finished - that way I only have to do the textures and meshes - there will be alot more as time goes on. As for the scale, all ships should be scaled to .4 of their original size in HW1 or HWC, though not 100% accurate (should be like 30 or 33), I found .4 to be more fitting. Also, I might need to change the nlips which would give it a smaller appearance. As per the destroyer v0.0.9 will be using the subverted Kushan Missile Destroyer, there is an image on moddb.

[altimer]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
another error report run

Kushan drone frigate engine trail missing
kushan repair units don't dock on the carrier but a bit above
where is the kushan defender
dock points on carrier have all ships docking side ways this effects the ability to dock multiple resource collectors
marine frigate docks inside kushan carrier as well as the mothership

the non fixed position problem is still here but i think i figured out how to fix it

the computer reads the position and jumps to the position number of player and then desides that player is the right one

ex
p1 hiagara position 2
p2 taidanni position 3
p3 kushan position 1

the third player will get the hiagaran ships
the taidanni will get the kushan ships and
the hiagaran will get the taidanni
just change priorities the computer looks at.

cant post images becouse photosuckets being a bitch

[MatthCoFreak]

What are those "error reports" about ? I mean, we already know most of that - actually all of that - and HWU is still a mod in progress, that's why many things are unfinished. Trust me, there is no need to tell us what to fix, it's a bit hurtful you know.

[chris80502]

...there is no need to tell us what to fix, it's a bit hurtful you know.

I don't think altimer is trying to be hurtful MatthCo, just trying to help out. Even if we know about the errors, it's nice to see what is the most important to players, so that can be fixed first.

altimer, would you be interested in keeping the HWU "needs fixing" text document updated? You could edit it and keep a mediafire dl link in your signature so anyone that wants to help can see what needs to be done at a glance.

I have witnessed that Non-Locked starting location error. I remember Siber asking about that a while ago...

Siber, did you ever find a solution to that problem?

[Siber]

I haven't looked into it. I think HW:@ currently makes the starting positions be locked no matter what the user chooses.

[Starscream]

@ MatthCoFreak: Don't you think you are being a bit too harsh on some1 who is actually doing a great job testing the mod? Besides that, he might actually find a bug or something that you still miss. Testing is an art plus you need to consider the beta testers part of your mods team if you want them to be most effective

[MatthCoFreak]

Hum, you're right. Sorry about that, but I'm sometimes easily annoyed when I see things that has already been said one or two pages before. I'll try to be less "aggressive" in the future

[chris80502]

Hello everyone,

I did get a little bit of work done today, though only a little. Here is a screenshot of the Khar Saelim shipwreck. As you can see in the picture the inside faces of the model show through transparent. I've had this problem before where the mesh is just a flat face and both sides share the same texture, though I wasn't able to fix it. Can anyone fix this model so it's back to how it was in HW1 - where both sides show the same thing.



Here are the files if anyone can help out with this.

http://chris80502.sqweebs.com/dct_shipwreck.zip

Here is something fresh - sort of. It's a re-worked model by Starscream of one of his earlier works. As I had mentioned when I first posted screens of the original, I was thinking of using this as a T-Mat Installation - maybe something like Thaddias Sabbah. The changes that were made really give it a more T-Mat feel IMO.

[MelvinVM]

Lookin good, theres always room for wrecks!

[MatthCoFreak]

I've always thought that the Khar-Selim is damn oversized. I mean, the remaining nose part of that ship is about the size of the mothership, and the MS is supposed to be the biggest ship ever built by kushan at this time...

[Moleman]

MatthCoFreak - The hiigarans/Kushan say that about alot of their ships to i think its reasonable to assume that when they say that about the mothership it means its the Tallest and thats it :B

[MatthCoFreak]

Yeah, but still, kushan were at the beggining of their space experience, they had to build that huge scaffold to build the MS, and this insignificant science vessel - doesn't even have a HS drive ! - would be bigger ? That just makes no sense at all. How the hell would they have been able to build it ?

[doci7]

How would they have been able to build it ?

Judging by how quickly the Raiders penetrated the hull, with paper mache, perhaps! That's a good point, though; I never thought of it that way. Maybe they used the scaffold for that too?

Oh, and nice station! I would guess that the only way to fix the Khar Selim would be to double all of the faces with a slight inward offset and invert their direction; I think the idea here is that HW1 rendered both sides of a face, and HW2 only renders the outside, so to speak.

[John Galt]

Don't forget, the purpose of the Khar Selim was for the mothership to dock with it, and for it to resupply and support the mothership. As such, it would probably have to be pretty big. Besides, in the cinematic picture of the full ship most of it seems to just be a large cargo hold with an engine straped to the back and the crew compartment you see there.

Interesting side note, I'm reading a book called Defenders of the Faith, and Selim I was the name of an Ottoman sultan who murdered his father, brothers, and nephews to secure power. Wonder if that has anything to do with it?

[MatthCoFreak]

the purpose of the Khar Selim was for the mothership to dock with it

Yeah, fighters can dock with the mothership too, ya know. The Khar Selim should have been carrier-sized at much - I really don't see why a 50-year old science vessel would be bigger, they built it when their space technology was about the same as our, and we don't build mothership-sized ship AFAIK

Interesting side note, I'm reading a book called Defenders of the Faith, and Selim I was the name of an Ottoman sultan who murdered his father, brothers, and nephews to secure power. Wonder if that has anything to do with it?

Why not ? All I found is :

Three sultans of the Ottoman Empire were called Selim:

* Selim I the Grim Yavuz (1465 – September 22, 1520)
* Selim II the Sot Mest (May 28, 1524 – December 12, 1574)
* Selim III (December 24, 1761 – July 28/29, 1808)

But often in this kind of stories you have references to things such as the Bible, for example :

Gehenna, gehenom, or gehinom (Hebrew: גהנום, Greek γεεννα) are words used in Jewish and Christian writings for the place where evil people go in the afterlife (see Hell). The name is derived from a geographical site in Jerusalem known as the Valley of Hinnom, one of the two principal valleys surrounding the Old City. In Jewish tradition this valley was associated with the idea of Hell.

[MelvinVM]

How would they have been able to build it ?

In parts maybe, the scaffold can do a lot of stuff, making ships bigger than itself isn't really that hard to do, it's only a risky, extensive construction.
Other than that, to have the mothership dock, its not a carrier size at all.
A fighter docks with a ship to completely go in it for intensive repairs and rearms.
But look for example at the dreadnaught in the hw2 storyline, it also docked externally.

[John Galt]

Yeah, fighters can dock with the mothership too, ya know. The Khar Selim should have been carrier-sized at much - I really don't see why a 50-year old science vessel would be bigger, they built it when their space technology was about the same as our, and we don't build mothership-sized ship AFAIK

No no no, I meant that fleet intelligence said the mothership was to dock with the khar selim. (i.e. In America, you dock with the mothership. In Soviet Russia, Mothership docks with YOU!!). Since the fragment that remained is really the only part containing crew (the rest being a cargo hold the pirates probably pilfered, and then the engine section) it's scale isn't that unbelieveable. Is that a cheeseburger? ->

[doci7]

But often in this kind of stories you have references to things such as the Bible

Yes, Kadesh is one as well. But that Gehenna reference is interesting-- that's not the sort of thing I think of when considering dusty asteroid fields.

And yes, that is a cheeseburger!

[MatthCoFreak]

I still think it doesn't make sense. Remember the Khar-Selim is 50-years old. It is said in the cutscene between Kharak and Khar-Selim that the KS is trying for more than 50 years to reach the end of the system. And then, in the manual, it is said that it took 20 year to research the infrastructures of the MS, 4 years to build the scaffold and 25 years to build the mothership. It means that the KS was launched even before the MS was a project ! So my question remains : how could have they been able to build a ship that big ? And if they could so easily build ships that big, why don't we have a whole damn fleet when the the MS is launched ?

[MelvinVM]

Because they were not prepared for a enormous alien empire that would bomb their homeworld.

[MatthCoFreak]

Point. But I still think the size of the KS makes no sense - maybe I'm just stubborn ^^

[chris80502]

Okay, a couple of things:

First - I got the animation sequence done for the Somtaaw Super Acolyte. It works great as far as opening, but it will only close once on the first squadron (every other squadron stays open - and even the original squadron stays open if sent into battle again). I used the Vaygr Heavy Missile Frigate madstate file to control the animation but I can't figure out why it doesn't work every time. I will guess it must be in the madstate vs. the actual mad animation curve file since the animation does work in both directions - at least once. I'll also point out how weird it is, IMO, that HW2 has this codered animation hookup when there is only one ship that uses it - that being the case does the codered close animation work on the Vaygr ship?

Next, I'd like to get the Beast icons started, but I'm curious what team colors they used in Cata - anyone?

On another note, is anyone able to help with that Khar Selim model?

[ajlsunrise]

yeah, i can make a spreadsheet. just what kind of things were you looking for in it though?

I think speed, armor & firepower are the most important.

here is a link to it, not yet completed though...

[MatthCoFreak]

About the animation, I've just had a look on vanilla missile frigates, and actually the closing animation seems to sometimes just don't work, and I can't tell why.

[monolith]

On my system, the Vaygr Heavy missile frigate also only opens once and then never closes it's missile bay again.

[MelvinVM]

Really? mine closes when theres no enemy around.

[MatthCoFreak]

Mine sometimes close and sometimes don't (in the same game, with the same frigate), that's weird indeed.

[chris80502]

Okay guys, I've worked on the Super Acolyte code red function all weekend long, and finally I got it!!! Considering all the other codered animations we will need to make I guess it makes it worth it. As I suspected it was the madstate file, but the weird part was to get it working I had to strip out the code where it sets the codered variable. With any configuration of usage with the codered variable makes the weapon fire only one volly. I actually wonder if the codered function was originally designed for usage only with missiles, as they use two weapon scripts - the first one would trigger the anim, and the second one would only be called after the anim is done from the first script. I was at first hesitant to remove that line of code as it specifically says, call this only once - though it might have been better to read, call this never. I thought at first that it might be the variable that controlled when the weapon script got the okay that the anim was done, but now I believe that that is all handled by when the game gives the ship the codered or codegreen code. I've also found out that the setpause time has a large effect on the animation sequence - too low and the sequence won't finish - too high and the weapon won't fire again - IIRC all the other HW2 stock madstate files use a number of 1000 - so I don't understand why I need to use such low numbers. Also the pausetime number directly relates to the length of time that the animation uses for a particular portion of a curve. One last thing pertaining to the pause time, if you remove the command, the animation will re-start everytime the ship wants to fire. Anyways, heres a screen grab of the ship in flight with the doors open.



Here are the files to update HWU if anyone wants to see the animations for themselves or is just sick of seeing the pulsar beams shoot through the wings .

http://chris80502.sqweebs.com/hgn_smt_superacolyte.zip

Finally, here is the code, this should work for any ship now, but you'll need to change the pause time to correspond with the open and close of your own vessel - and you may need to give the open time one extra second as this is what worked for me.

Original
=======================================================

VGR_HEAVYMISSILEFRIGATE_CodeRed_OnSet = function(ship)
    setState(ship, "CodeRed", 0)
    -- don't do this twice!
    if(isAnimRunning(ship,"Open") == 0) then
        startTime = 0
        -- close already running? need to offset in to the open animation
        if(isAnimRunning(ship,"Close") ~= 0) then
            startTime = getAnimLength(ship, "Close") - getTime(ship, "Close")
            stopAnim(ship, "Close")
            endEffect(ship, "Close")
        end
        startAnim(ship, "Open")
        startEffect(ship, "Open")
        setTime(ship,"Open",startTime)
        setPauseTime(ship, "Open", 1000)
    end
end

VGR_HEAVYMISSILEFRIGATE_CodeRed_OnPause = function(ship)
    setState(ship, "CodeRed", 1)
end

VGR_HEAVYMISSILEFRIGATE_CodeGreen_OnSet = function(ship)
    -- already closing?
    if(isAnimRunning(ship,"Close") == 0) then
        startTime = 0
        -- open already running? need to offset in to the close animation
        if(isAnimRunning(ship,"Open") ~= 0) then
            startTime = getAnimLength(ship, "Open") - getTime(ship, "Open")
            stopAnim(ship, "Open")
            endEffect(ship, "Open")
        end
        startAnim(ship, "Close")
        startEffect(ship, "Close")
        setTime(ship,"Close",startTime)
        setPauseTime(ship, "Close", 1000)
    end
end

Modified
=======================================================

HGN_SMT_SUPERACOLYTE_CodeRed_OnSet = function(ship)
    if(isAnimRunning(ship,"Open") == 0) then
        startTime = 0
        -- close already running? need to offset in to the open animation
        if(isAnimRunning(ship,"Close") ~= 0) then
            startTime = getAnimLength(ship, "Close") - getTime(ship, "Close")
            stopAnim(ship, "Close")
--            endEffect(ship, "Close")
        end
        startAnim(ship, "Open")
--        startEffect(ship, "Open")
        setTime(ship,"Open",startTime)
        setPauseTime(ship, "Open", 3)
    end
end

HGN_SMT_SUPERACOLYTE_CodeGreen_OnSet = function(ship)
    -- already closing?
    if(isAnimRunning(ship,"Close") == 0) then
        startTime = 0
        -- open already running? need to offset in to the close animation
        if(isAnimRunning(ship,"Open") ~= 0) then
            startTime = getAnimLength(ship, "Open") - getTime(ship, "Open")
            stopAnim(ship, "Open")
--            endEffect(ship, "Open")
        end
        startAnim(ship, "Close")
--        startEffect(ship, "Close")
        setTime(ship,"Close",startTime)
        setPauseTime(ship, "Close", 3)
    end
end

I'll tell you all that I only figured this out because I got quite frustrated and finally decided to strip down the code to almost nothing, it just read, on onset codered, open and that was it. This paves the way for the animations on the Turanic Ion Cannon, Kushan Defenders, Somtaaw Acolyte and any others that need it.

ajlsunrise, good work so far, I guess I didn't expect a site like that but it's still cool. Is there anyway with that to change variables - so if we decide that HW1 ships were 40% stronger, we could then adjust one variable to determine what the firepower of the ships should be in comparison to the rest of the fleets.

[gthompsn]

Chris: The original RDN toolkit had a spreadsheet with ship values. Modifying that could change things easily (it would generate the appropriate .ship file).

[jamie_to_cute]

is there a zip file beside the big file i wanted to play with the starting fleets

[chris80502]

Okay, so I get home, and I load up HWU and suddenly the codered anim isn't working right again. Now I didn't change anything today at all, I finished up last night and just checked it out again in the morning. It wasn't until my computer was shut down and re-started that the issue occured. So I started thinking about it and as far as I could figure there must have been some variable that was stored in memory even after the game ended. With that in mind I decided to re-add this:

HGN_SMT_SUPERACOLYTE_CodeRed_OnPause = function(ship)
setState(ship, "CodeRed", 1)
end

I also had to change the pause time for the CodeGreen_OnSet portion to 4. If anyone has a chance I'd like to hear whether it works for you or not. As it stood this morning, the ship would open the doors, fire and upon retreat - close the doors. As it is now, with the modifications listed above the doors seem to only close when the ship they were attacking is destroyed - I guess it still needs some testing. I just can't believe that any variable is held in memory after HW2 is over.

jamie to cute - I would suggest using unfBig to decompile the big file.

[jamie_to_cute]

whats a unfbig ? tell me how and ill do it

[John Galt]

Will the normal acolytes also open their wings into attack position in the final version?

[chris80502]

unfBig is a big file extractor - it's contained within this tool package: http://www.moddb.com/members/chris80...erse-mod-tools

All you have to do is copy the unfBig folder to something like c:\unfbig and then put the mod (.big) inside that folder and run the program. Just remember though that unfbig does not like spaces so don't try it in a folder with spaces.

John Galt - indeed they will, if I can ever get the codered stuff straight.

[doci7]

I have tested the madstate and it worked on only two out of five fighters in a squadron after the first, successful attempt. Also, did you downscale the ships after v0.0.7? The squad I tried it on had the wings well within the hull.

[altimer]

[QUOTE altimer, would you be interested in keeping the HWU "needs fixing" text document updated? You could edit it and keep a mediafire dl link in your signature so anyone that wants to help can see what needs to be done at a glance.
[/QUOTE]

sure anything i can do to help but id have to get an account and how do u make signatures?
also about the khar salim one sided thing its not just the khar salim i noticed a couple of fighter and the small and large auto guns have the same problems with the wings
look at it from one side and see a wing look at the other dont see a wing

[MatthCoFreak]

chris80502, about that transparency problem, I noticed while working on fx for HHF that that the "fx" shader enable transparency and seeing the texture from both sides. You should give it a try.

[chris80502]

I have tested the madstate and it worked on only two out of five fighters in a squadron after the first, successful attempt. Also, did you downscale the ships after v0.0.7? The squad I tried it on had the wings well within the hull.

I don't believe so, but that ship was made by MatthCoFreak and I think it has been the same since day one.

sure anything i can do to help but id have to get an account and how do u make signatures?

You already have your RelicNews account, all you have to do is go into the User CP at the top of the page and then click on the Edit Signature link - then you can paste in a link to the file - you would have to host the file on media fire or something like that. I'll pm you with the file tomorrow, and you can pm me back if you need any help getting things setup.

chris80502, about that transparency problem, I noticed while working on fx for HHF that that the "fx" shader enable transparency and seeing the texture from both sides. You should give it a try.

I did indeed, but this was the result. As you can see in the images this shader allows you to see right through the texture face - along with the weird super bright white. Is there any special way to prepare the textures?

[MatthCoFreak]

It's weird indeed. I've only seen that used for 3d fx, the texture didn't need anything except nothing in the alpha channel (I guess) and black for transparency. Maybe the game don't interpret it the same way for ships and for fx though.

[Ringleader]

yeah, it looks like it was glow mapped entirely too.

[Aesaar]

It is said in the cutscene between Kharak and Khar-Selim that the KS is trying for more than 50 years to reach the end of the system.

10 years, not 50. So the Mothership was fairly advanced in its construction when the Khar-Selim was launched.

And the remaining part of the wreck is actually nowhere near as big as the mothership. It's about as big as a CA.

[MatthCoFreak]

Oh, you must be right, I was so sure it was 50 I didn't checked that ingame

And yeah, the remaining chunk may be carrier-sized, but the whole ship was probably close to the size of the mothership. Anyway that's still oversized for me (yeah, I'm stubborn ^^).

[Babasior]

I have tested last release 0.0.8 of HWuniverse :

one bug to correct :
- No menu picture at 1920 x 1200

Nice release.
i'll Waiting for next release.

[NunoDRKS]

i love this thread..... let me show the reply graphic....

UP, Down, UUUUUUUUUUUUUP, doooooooooowwwwwwwn, UP, down, EXTREME UP, NEGATIVE VALUE DOWN....... ZERO, UUP

(no graph cause it oesnt accept, but u get the deal)
XD

anyway, how's progress?

[LeviathansWrath]

SOrry to bust in but im having problems with this. Everytime i try to start a skimirsh using the settings it DT's.

[chris80502]

one bug to correct :
- No menu picture at 1920 x 1200

I'd admit I've been having a hard time testing that area as my screen resolution cannot go that high on my machine. Perhaps MatthCoFreak would be willing to try to get that fixed up for us as I know he has superior hardware to myself.

NunoDRKS - I have been plugging away at the mod but there is little to present at the moment as I am still doing fixes on the HW1 & HWC conversion materials all of which has little presentation value. I should have something pretty sweet to show off in the next day or so.

LeviathansWrath, the only thing we know of that will crash the mod on the PC platform (with HW2 1.1) is not having all races set to "Choose Above" in the standard race selection area. I usually suggest trying out a 6p map first to make sure all 6 players are set to choose above. Also, the mini-dump is of little use, the HW2.log file has the information about what actually caused the crash. You can easily find out if the mod crashed from the reason listed above, as in HW2.log the error will read something to the effect of Invalid Research... and some other jazz. I would ask if you might edit your last post and remove the minidump data - it is preferrable to use either the code or spoiler tags when posting this kind of info.

[Ultraxwing]

Its coming really good. keep up the good work.

[NunoDRKS]

very well.... but if i knew how to code, or model..... i'd help u.....

[NunoDRKS]

well, this is my first model in wings for a tobari anti fighter/corvette gunship..... any ideas or opinions or critics are welcome....

image

the highlighted part is the front, i still don't know whats the best frontal design.... and the wings will carry several gattling turrets..... the back wings will perhaps have missiles.....any1? gimme your feedback

image

here's the engine

one more thing........plz be gentle with the critics, ths is my first model....XD

[chris80502]

I was only going to show this to The KC as a preview but I decided that you all could have a look a bit early. At the present moment we're looking to use this ship as the Tobari Mothership. Equipped with a number of flak turrets and some light duty missiles - all of which will be upgradeable(turrets not shown - missle tubs on front sides). So far it features the Tobari style front hanger and has a bottom opening capital ship facility along with bottom launch utility & frigate bays. It's taken me over 20 hours to UV map and texture this guy to this point, but I'm very happy with how the UV has turned out and the textures so far. The rest of the ship will be getting a lot more detail over the next day or two as I still have much to add and will post back with some in-game screens at that time.



NunoDRKS - it certainly is an interesting design - though to me it looks a bit more like a scout than anything. I would suggest really taking a close look through the Tobari concepts that we have and have been modeled so far on the "Tobari Renegade Homepage" - link in my signature. As far as the Tobari feel - most of their engines are more square, or at least hexagonal as opposed to the full circles of your ship. I would suggest giving the ship a little more body while shaping it to fit a little more closely to the ships we are using.

I have been thinking about the storyline for the mods campaign as well and I think it might be a good idea to use part of the original dustwars script for the first few missions. In addition I also have a few ideas on my own about first contact with the Tobari.