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Author Topic: CEP mod for Nexus  (Read 64871 times)

Offline Mularac

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CEP mod for Nexus
« on: November 24, 2010, 21:35:29 »
Ok guys, for a while now Dreamor and I (well... mostly Dreamor) have been discussing a way to "unite" the Nexus modding community in one project.
Our primary objective is to further promote our beloved game and make it so that it reaches it full potential.

Our latest and more exciting idea so far has been to start an Open Source project, under the GPL license and all that where we'll work in further improving the game.
For example, we could add:

    [/li]
  • The lightining patch
  • New weapons that don't behave in the cannon way (burst fire, charging laser)
  • A game menu to be accesed at all time with more commands (self-destruct, jukebox, etc)

And also:

    [/li]
  • Rework the models and/or textures
  • include geomodder's planet qualification
  • Jstubbles improved planet textures

In a way, something most games have but not this one, a Community Expansion Pack.

So, who's in?

(thread mirrored in the keyswow forum: http://forum.keyswow.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=140 )

Offline GeoModder

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« Reply #1 on: November 25, 2010, 22:23:13 »
I don't think I heard about the lightning patch before. What does it do?
Burst fire? You mean a weapon that fires say 6 torpedo's in one shot? That one already exists in the one and only modder-made campaign...
And about those new planet textures, could you point me to them? I'd like to compare them with some I converted from the Celestia space simulator.

Offline Mularac

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« Reply #2 on: November 25, 2010, 22:44:21 »
Hey, good to hear from you.

Firstly: lighting patch: here, I made it myself using Arparso and Jstubbles work ( Weapon lightsources ):
If you've decompressed the nexus_00.dat: http://www.moddb.com/groups/the-nexii/downloads/dynamic-lighting-effect-patch-decompressed-dat
if you haven't: http://www.moddb.com/groups/the-nexii/downloads/dynamic-lighting-effect-patch-default

Secondly: About the burst fire, really? which mod? oh, and the code's already done and implemented it, I've already succesfully used it in my mod before, you can find it here: http://arparso.de/nexus/forum/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=49

Thirdly: Yeah, Jstubbles made them for his mod, here you can see some screenies: http://www.moddb.com/mods/nexus-battlestar-galactica/images/planet-textures#imagebox
« Last Edit: December 08, 2010, 12:17:46 by Arparso »

Offline GeoModder

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« Reply #3 on: November 25, 2010, 23:10:34 »
Yeah, good to see you too, Mularac. ;)

Oh, now I remember! Silly me, I even posted in the lightning discussion thread.

About the burst weapon: it's in the New Conflicts mod by Frogger1108. It's a six burst-shot torpedo launcher.

From the planet textures, it seems "only" habitable planet textures were made? Are those in the 4.1 version of the BSG mod?
Since I converted a bunch of textures from Celestia, those are predominantly from our own solar system.

Two more things for your CEP proposal: do you plan to add the new asteroid meshes (for asteroid field background stuff), and how about an attempt to at least flip the Earth texture in the game so the planet rotates the "right" way?

Offline Mularac

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« Reply #4 on: November 25, 2010, 23:37:57 »
Sure. This is a community expansion pack, it's not my mod, it's the communities, so yeah, we can do all that and more.

Offline The Old Dragon

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« Reply #5 on: November 25, 2010, 23:50:32 »
A Nexus:TJI CEP sounds good to me. I'd like to help out on that if I can.  :)
Better to look the fool by asking, then prove them right with ignorance.

Offline Mularac

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« Reply #6 on: November 25, 2010, 23:58:51 »
Hey, great to hear.
Right now we should really start some brainstorming.
Apart from the points above, what do you think we should add/edit/improve?

Offline The Old Dragon

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« Reply #7 on: November 26, 2010, 14:34:04 »
How about things like random background occurances, a new AI that doesn't just sit there or behave like a robot... maybe some additional subplots to give the player more to do?

New standalone missions?
Better to look the fool by asking, then prove them right with ignorance.

Offline galaxy366

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« Reply #8 on: November 28, 2010, 19:12:17 »
with all respect, why not remake nexus on the unreal engine?, and then release it for free :)

or if its not allowed then a nexus like game, with the ideas posted here already?

Offline Arparso

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« Reply #9 on: November 28, 2010, 19:58:44 »
Would ultimately be the best choice, I fear... even though refurbishing Nexus sounds like a great idea, it is still a pretty old and unknown game and I doubt a CEP would attract a whole lot of players (and/or modders) - even if it's really awesome (and looking at the things already mentioned here in this thread it is going to be pretty awesome, if realised).

Remaking the game from scratch is hard work, though. We'd need experienced coders and a lot of time for that.

As for me - I'd like to contribute to either project, but I'm already packed with work right now, including the Freespace mod amongst other things. As always I'm offering my help with any kind of scripting issues eventually popping up, but most other stuff is beyond my skillset and/or time budget.

Offline Mularac

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« Reply #10 on: November 28, 2010, 23:07:27 »
Well, it's funny, but Dreamor and I (again, moslty Dreamor's... ) have the idea of making a space-pilot sim and perhaps also a shooter game in the UDK based on the nexus universe, I mean a space-pilot sim based on the Nexus universe would really hit off, but yeah, it's a lot of hard work. Either way, I'm thinking of starting reading about UDK's coding language this summer so that I would at least know what you can and can't do in it.

Offline Arparso

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« Reply #11 on: November 29, 2010, 01:10:04 »
A space-pilot sim would rock... I sooooo miss that genre. Give me Tie Fighter, Wing Commander, Freespace or I-War and I'm a happy pilot :)

Don't know about a shooter, though. It's a packed genre with lots of big budget AAA titles. How to set it apart from other shooters? How to make it appealing to the public when you most likely can't compete in the graphics and/or drama department? Of course, there are a lot of really great mods and indie titles out there, so it's not impossible - just really hard work for quite a lot of talented people. The current Nexus modding community certainly has people with these qualities in them... but I don't know about the quantity... :(

Offline Mularac

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« Reply #12 on: November 29, 2010, 01:38:52 »
Yeah... but what about a pilot sim AND a shooter. That would certainly rock, right?
But again... shorthanded.
But even though our modding community is small, perhaps we can get some help from the huge UDK one, who knows.

Offline galaxy366

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« Reply #13 on: November 29, 2010, 15:37:16 »
im currently working on a idea for a homeworld like game, with maybe some nexus ideas, for UDK or irrlight,  :)

Offline Mularac

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« Reply #14 on: November 29, 2010, 20:15:16 »
Well, as time goes by I'm more and more seduced of the idea of making my own, true space flight simulator, and a true one while we're at it. Freespace, Freelancer and all those aren't exactly true space sims, more like space-ww2 simulators, but not actual space ones.
I'm thinking of a flight simulator that actually implements newtonian physics. I don't know guys, that's a project I'd really love to dive into...

Offline galaxy366

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« Reply #15 on: November 30, 2010, 15:17:25 »
people i have found a way to go to the nexus site,

the website is called INTERNET achieve, you place the URL, and then select the date, example the latest from 2007, now you can check the site back, and forums, but some might not work, and you cant download anything anymore.

what i also noticed that there was a starwars mod, called SW: Balance of power, that was released, does anybody have it?

Offline nips

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« Reply #16 on: December 01, 2010, 02:47:42 »

Offline The Old Dragon

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« Reply #17 on: December 01, 2010, 10:12:07 »
Not to squash anyone's dreams or ambitions here folks, but we're starting to drift a bit off topic now.

We were supposed to be discussing how to improve Nexus:TJI...
Better to look the fool by asking, then prove them right with ignorance.

Offline Mularac

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« Reply #18 on: December 01, 2010, 18:29:32 »
Oh, yeah, sorry.
What thoughts do you have for making extra missions?

Offline GeoModder

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« Reply #19 on: December 01, 2010, 19:36:32 »
"What if" missions of course. ;)

What if cpt. Cromwell didn't take on two Longswords but retreated after saving Francis' and crew? He has to lay in ambush near the place the OSEC expedition would return to if succesful: Ganymede.
And on the Raptor Genocide mission there are 2 other task forces chasing Raptors in the Scoratus system. According to how much secundary tasks Cromwell achieves during his visit to Earth, Angelwing is assigned to either Alpha, Beta, or Gamma task force.
There's a secondary task in the first mission of the Gorg section (Episode 3): take out all Gorg ships. If you don't succeed, you need to chase them to one of those Gorg mining posts in the system instead of saving the Ghost scout.
Episode 4 could be lengthened with a few interventions when rebel Gorgs try to interdict Noah transporters.
The Episode 5 Beta gate mission could be extended with a mission in the Equitis system in case the mission is adjusted so that one of the Mech infected Vardrag ships has a good chance to jump through.

And, a whole new campaign direction could be taken if for instance the Angelwing was destroyed at Shukenja Alpha, at Ganymede or is lost during the Kissaki attack on the Sunflower base.
For instance, Frogger's Borelis wormhole link could be used as the staging ground for a new direction without any link whatsoever to Mechs, Noah, Vardrags. Just 'old'-fashioned Earth ships, the ISA and OSEC/Kissaki trying to kick off something in Borelis. The discovery of a new wormhole around say the Pallas asteroid (Borelis link) would sure as hell compell the ISA and its allies (SpaceTech for instance) to try take a hold.


I think I still have partial missions, or the setup for them, for a Gamma&Beta task force, and a Ganymede retrieval mission half-coded (if the code still works), with changes to Ep1 Mission3 so that it jumps to Ganymede instead of Shukenja Alpha.

Offline Lord_Valarian

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CEP mod for Nexus
« Reply #20 on: December 08, 2010, 04:38:05 »
I'd like to add my changes. Fixing some of the game's failings.

#1:  Easy mode is NOT easy.  Adding a true easy mode.
#2:  Constantly switching back and forth between attack hull and attack shields.
#3:  Adding dynamic new weapons with non-standard effects

Phased Energy Disruptor
Heavy Phaser/Disruptor (Level 1,2,3):  Affects shields and hull
Device Phaser/Disruptor (Level 1,2,3):  Affects devices

Pulsar/Plasma Cannon
Pulsar anti-fighter/bomber (Level 1,2,3)
Pulsar Cannon anti-ship (Level 1,2,3)

EMP torpedo
Only works on ships with no shield or shields down. Just as dangerous to friendly as enemy ships. On a stand alone mission, works great. With missions, it crashes nexus.


The background story I'd like to do as a stand alone mission.

« Last Edit: December 08, 2010, 04:40:53 by Lord_Valarian »

Offline The Old Dragon

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Re: CEP mod for Nexus
« Reply #21 on: December 08, 2010, 21:39:22 »
Quote
#1: Easy mode is NOT easy. Adding a true easy mode.

That's a very good point, I've played the campaign on all three levels and haven't really noticed any difference in difficulty.

That's certainly something to look into...
Better to look the fool by asking, then prove them right with ignorance.

Offline Lord_Valarian

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CEP mod for Nexus
« Reply #22 on: December 09, 2010, 03:27:53 »
Quote
#1: Easy mode is NOT easy. Adding a true easy mode.

That's a very good point, I've played the campaign on all three levels and haven't really noticed any difference in difficulty.

That's certainly something to look into...

I'v already fixed it.  It's playable up to e3.  The new weapons make it a lot more fun to play the missions. The Plasma Cannon is really effective against shields. EMP works great on "back to earth".

Proposed addition, the support ship gets damaged too easy, no shields makes no sense. It will have normal shields that expand out when the timer goes down. For me, adding some long range plasma cannons. The support ship should have some serious firepower. If it's a true support ship, any ships should be able to request repair and reload. Using the one the cheat keys/buttons, for a repair request. All ships should have repair crews for the hull damage. The more advanced the ship, the faster the repair speed.

We need to have the individual projects continue. Then someone to merge in all the changes. Plus individual changes to projects updated to the cep project.

I need beta testers. Post or private mail me.

Forgot to include:  Photon anti-matter/torpedos/(Level 1,2,3), named for the bright flash.




Offline DreamorCZ

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Re: CEP mod for Nexus
« Reply #23 on: December 28, 2010, 14:03:16 »
We should also add more small ships to make gameplay more diverse, mainly for MP. There are few unfinished models in Nexus' mesh folder we could use as inspiration.
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Offline DreamorCZ

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Re: CEP mod for Nexus
« Reply #24 on: February 17, 2011, 11:17:33 »
Well, it's quite silent arout here. Did we abbandoned this idea or are we so not united community to even try this?
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