[MOD] Fight for Universe: True Origin (v0.93.3)

[WarStalkeR]

Before everything and Not to be Forgotten: Fight for Universe: True Origin should be played on INSANE difficulty. Or at least started on it...

Story so Far

Rez. Rez is power. Whoever controls flow of Rez, controls everything. Rez attracts people, explorers, researchers, magnates. Attraction of Rez so powerful, those even whole corporations are built only on idea of gathering Rez. But now it attracted something more deep and unknown, something more powerful, something that this galaxy never seen. And it's up to you to discover it...
(At the release of the v1.00 will be replaced by the trailer).

Download Links

Fight For Universe v0.93.4 - lets say it is a very good beta.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V-dqHG7FNVPhqWgshdohfOL7BCVnEz3g/

Chapter 4 Broken Save Game for Debugging - (almost) all modules and enough resources to test them. Enjoy (or suffer)!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eZIeSURs-XosYoo0OA638tY6GWIROW8i/

Mod Features

• Procedural functions that will show true parameters' values. Thanks Stonechimes!
  
• Some static parameters used more dynamically and effectively.
  
• Revised ships' and stations' mount points for more deep customization.
  
• New types of turrets, which allow players to refit their ships as they want.
  
• More advanced usage of damage types and resistances in armors and shields.
  
• Tweaked and improved research bonuses for creation of total carnage.
  
• Reworked old and completely new weapons, armors and other modules.
  
• Freedom of choice, now you have 80+ weapons and 60+ modules to choose from.
  
• Reactors affect ships' explosion parameters. Hmm... Antimatter Reactors... Hmm...
  
• Independent Defense Force ships, that have something to do with this story... probably...

TODO List

• Implement brain-wiping storyline in to campaign.
  
• Make IDF ships unlockable based on storyline progressinon.
  
• Find and fix all unfound bugs. And improve features by the way.

Installation Notes

• To unpack mod you need something that supports 7zip archives. I suggest to use this (ad-free, freeware and so far best compression) tool: http://www.7-zip.org/download.html
  
• Before installing new version of mod, don't forget to remove previous version of mod completely, i.e. delete "FightForUniverse_TrueOrigin" folder from "mods" folder completely.
  
• Archive files itself now contains two folders: "game" and "mods" so if you are interested to install only mod, then copy "FightForUniverse_TrueOrigin" from "mods" folder in to your Space Pirates and Zombies "mods" directory.
  
• (Very Suggested) If you are interested to install graphics side mod, just copy and overwrite "game" directory that in your Space Pirates and Zombies folder. Important: It overwrite original game files! Make backup if necessary! (If not install this part, Research Screen will be a little bit screwed up).
  
• In order to check research requirements for turrets & weapon, check it in the Research Screen and not in list of all modules.
  
• Save folder location in Windows 7: c:\users\%username%\appdata\roaming\minmaxgames\spacepiratesandzombies\b_save\
  
• Never change the name of the mod's folder! Some parameters are bound to a certain path and folder's name. Doing any changes may result in mod's instability and crashes!

Usage Notes

• You need to start new game, since this mod is mostly incompatible with original save games.
  
• For now all IDF hulls are still unlocked from the very beginning. For sake of testing. Don't use them if possible.
  
• Don't be greedy, don't mount over 9000 Mass Bombs - I can do nothing with engine's limitation.
  
• Please, try as long as possible to play on INSANE difficulty. And try to enjoy it too :)

Avoidable Bug

Bug that occurs some times, but can be easily healed:
Sometimes, even if you unlocked all required technologies and acquired all required blueprints, certain module still not unlocked and grayed out. In order to bypass/heal that bug, you must go to your mothership's location, save game, exit to main menu, exit game and load saved game. After these actions, earlier grayed out and locked module should be unlocked, usable and have its own defined color.

How to report Bugs & Crashes

Everybody who encounters error or something that didn't worked as intended, while playing my mod, before posting "X is not works!" follow these steps:

• Upload here your console.log file, that reside in: steam\steamapps\common\space pirates and zombies\
  
• Upload your last save prior to error, that reside in: c:\users\%username%\appdata\roaming\minmaxgames\spacepiratesandzombies\b_save\. Please, don't forget that save consists from 2 files: sg_%NAME%.cs.dso and si_%NAME%.cs - I need both of them for analysis.
  
• Make an detailed description of actions you made and error that followed them. I'm not a telepathic and can't find reason behind the crash without your help.
  
• Don't ask me for help and tell me that there is error if you edited some of my mod files or added other files/mods to my mod, it's your own fault!
  
• Use http://pastebin.com/ to upload console.log and post here only link to it.
  
• Use http://imgur.com/ to upload any screenshots and post here only links to them.

Additional Information

• Original Topic located is here: http://www.spacepiratesandzombies.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=3261
  
• All version change logs and discussions are there too.
  
• I didn't planned to post my mod on steam before it will hit v1.00, but I just need some heavy testing and feedback to progress further without problems.
  
• Enjoy! :)

[LordNSR]

First time i mod spaz and so far i gotta say that i am loving the mod, no bug so far but i am quite early in the game, really nice work.

Feels like playing a new game :)

[CmdrQuartz]

Few issues, a couple fairly subjective one and one more objective one. Lets start with the objective one: Point defense doesn't work on missiles, I think I saw it working on drones but haven't confirmed, doesn't work on mass bombs either though I can't remember if they ever did.

Now, the more subjective issues. Explosions, you seems to like them, but it's a bit much. playing through I think a good 3 out of 4 deaths were not from compromising enemy fire, but their ship going nuclear. These ships generate explosions that deal more damage than they had health, which means they detonate everything else above and below thier level and the ai absolutely sucks at running away most of the time. Stations, not only deal ridiculous explosion damage but the range is crazy. I've been 4000 or 5000 meters away and still from full health and shields instantly die. Even worse you don't know if you are far enough away because the explosion wave graphic doesn't fly out that far.

tl/dr ship and station death explosions are too strong

Next is mass bombs, you mentioned a change to them. If something gets hit directly with a mass bomb it's stuck for like 30+ secs, completely unable to move. Seems a bit much. Also I feel like they need to move a bit slower, if they aren't meant to be targeted by PD that means they need to be shot down but they move so fast unless you aim just right you won't intercept it. But maybe all is working as intended.

[WarStalkeR]

Originally posted by LordNSR:

First time i mod spaz and so far i gotta say that i am loving the mod, no bug so far but i am quite early in the game, really nice work.

Feels like playing a new game :)

Thanks :)

Originally posted by CmdrQuartz:

Point defense doesn't work on missiles, I think I saw it working on drones but haven't confirmed, doesn't work on mass bombs either though I can't remember if they ever did.

Behavior of Point Defense indeed is rather strange. Some missiles it hits... Some not... Hmm... Already checking it.

Originally posted by CmdrQuartz:

tl/dr ship and station death explosions are too strong

This is intended. It forces player to manage fleets more carefully and give commands, instead rushing in to the dawn of battle.

Originally posted by CmdrQuartz:

Next is mass bombs, you mentioned a change to them. If something gets hit directly with a mass bomb it's stuck for like 30+ secs, completely unable to move. Seems a bit much. Also I feel like they need to move a bit slower, if they aren't meant to be targeted by PD that means they need to be shot down but they move so fast unless you aim just right you won't intercept it. But maybe all is working as intended.

Well, Mass Bombs objective is to lockdown smaller crafts and kill them with payload. Huge hulls already fast enough recover from this effect. Mass Bombs which spawn acid clouds are intended to lockdown ships for a long time to ensure that they will receive enough damage. About speed: I will check this out. If it will be impossible to force PDs to shoot them, I will reduce their speed by 50% or similar.

Thanks for feedback :)

[WarStalkeR]

Hmm... As it seems, Point Defense ignores missiles, that launched from turrets and only targets missiles launched from external slots. I will be investigating this further...

[WarStalkeR]

*sigh* Bad news. Weapon AI passionately ignores any kind of missiles/torpedoes/rockets mounted on the turrets. Can do nothing about game engine's limitations. On the other hand: you can shot down missiles/torpedoes/rockets/etc manually, by hand.

[not.given]

note: THIS MOD IS REALLY GOOD, thanks for your hard work!!

WarStalkeR, I have put many hours into playing your mods. Very high quality and lots of fun!

[CmdrQuartz]

Originally posted by WarStalkeR:

*sigh* Bad news. Weapon AI passionately ignores any kind of missiles/torpedoes/rockets mounted on the turrets. Can do nothing about game engine's limitations. On the other hand: you can shot down missiles/torpedoes/rockets/etc manually, by hand.

If PD can't work on turret missiles unfortunately I thik that means missile turrets need to go. If the one thing meant to counter missile swarm doesn't work it becomes inherently OP. There's nothing, outside of my conscience, stopping me from loading up every turret with missiles and creating a nigh unstoppable tide of missiles, stray bullets and beams can only do so much.


The ship explosions issue is one of philosophies. For me this is a fast pace space arcade shooter, not any kind of rts, frantic gameplay with lots of pew pew lasers, cannon fire, missiles, and what have you. Interrupting that to go into the tactics menu to tell all five of my AI buddies to flee in various directions since they don't so it well themselves to avoid a ship explosion seriously subtracts from gameplay, and there's a lot of ship explosions

tl/dr I'll find the values and change them myself and we can agree to disagree on the matter of explosions

[WarStalkeR]

Originally posted by CmdrQuartz:

If PD can't work on turret missiles unfortunately I thik that means missile turrets need to go. If the one thing meant to counter missile swarm doesn't work it becomes inherently OP. There's nothing, outside of my conscience, stopping me from loading up every turret with missiles and creating a nigh unstoppable tide of missiles, stray bullets and beams can only do so much.

In this mod, if you load your design only with missiles, even if PD worked against them, it still will be far from enough to take them all down. Though huge missile valleys are easily countered by rocket pods, since they aim at anything, that belongs to enemy (including missiles, drones, zombies in space & etc).

Originally posted by CmdrQuartz:

tl/dr I'll find the values and change them myself and we can agree to disagree on the matter of explosions

Well, you're free to change values in any way you want. But my plan was to add more tactical depth, by adding new weapons, equipment and consequences from using it.

[WarStalkeR]

Originally posted by not.given:

note: THIS MOD IS REALLY GOOD, thanks for your hard work!!

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it :)

Originally posted by not.given:

WarStalkeR, I have put many hours into playing your mods. Very high quality and lots of fun! I have an error that is coming up now, after playing about 11 hours on .92 True universe. I have logs and screen capture and details of bug, and save files.

Can you please provide me with proper details, such as:
1) What mission exactly you've been doing.
2) When crash to desktop occurred? (at start of the mission, on load & etc.)
3) What exactly were happening during the mission, when crash occurred? (enemy spawned, you've been shooting at enemy ship, enemy ship died & etc.)
4) Can you please post what has been written at the crash popup window? (exactly what is written there is important)
5) Can you please provide me with a save game right before you start this missions? (save games location in written under "How to report Bugs & Crashes" part)

Originally posted by not.given:

I do not see how to upload them to you. --here is end part of console.log

Use http://pastebin.com/ to upload console.log and post here only link to it.
Use http://imgur.com/ to upload any screenshots and post here only links to them.
Use any filesharing site to upload your save game. MediaFire or DropBox is fine.

[CmdrQuartz]

So, lets not be negative for a little bit. Things I do like: the new ship designs. I haven't gotten to the capital class ships but the new designs are definitely interesting. Much better customability for the larger ships what with the options turrets give. Did you increase the mount sizes as well? I seem to recall the Hound having medium turrets, not large, and the Tug having a small turret among other such things across the board. Haven't played vanilla in forever though.

Edit: I don't know what weapons and armor these guys are using in chapter 3 in the core worlds but they are royaly wreaking me. Pretty sure they are using technology above and beyond what's currently available.

[FDru]

Looks great so far. I'm really impressed with what you did, considering I thought this engine mainly only supported superficial modding.

But as someone who was around while SPAZ was in development, the explosions irritate me a little bit. That was one of the most complained about features of the game while it was in its early stages. Since the AI is terrible and there's very little in the way of fleet control, wingmen just blow themselves up all day long. The devs toned down explosion damage a lot, but it was still enough to instantly kill anything that was too close... I just can't imagine why anyone would think explosions needed buffed lol

I still haven't gotten far in the mod though, so can't comment on everything. But overall it's still pretty impressive.

[WarStalkeR]

Originally posted by CmdrQuartz:

So, lets not be negative for a little bit. Things I do like: the new ship designs. I haven't gotten to the capital class ships but the new designs are definitely interesting. Much better customability for the larger ships what with the options turrets give. Did you increase the mount sizes as well? I seem to recall the Hound having medium turrets, not large, and the Tug having a small turret among other such things across the board. Haven't played vanilla in forever though.

Yeah. I've revised all ships' and stations' hulls.

Originally posted by CmdrQuartz:

Edit: I don't know what weapons and armor these guys are using in chapter 3 in the core worlds but they are royaly wreaking me. Pretty sure they are using technology above and beyond what's currently available.

Damn, as it seems name system for ships is again screwed up and I have to rework it. Originally, if you target ship, near it should be written it's rank, like this: Surplus Hound, Elite Hound & etc. From this name I can tell you how powerful ship, you're fighting against.

[CmdrQuartz]

Right, I'm in a level 55ish system and the enemies are "surplus" but they're equip with at the very least biotrinium armor and I believe the beam they are using, black with green edges, is the darkmatter beam, both techs beyond the present scope of the chapter. Battles were mostly in my favor until this point, it's certainly "insane" now haha

[WarStalkeR]

Was investigating CTDs at UTA Gate Blockades. To some extent everything goes OK, but then suddenly is something warps in amd game crashes to the desktop. "CreateEffectAtPosition" is responsible for crash, when it tries to create effect with invalid datablock. I think that "CreateEffectAtPosition" in file instanceWarp.cs is responsible for all this CTDs bedlam.

Damn, I even tried with debugger to find out what datablock it calls - not enough skill for me >_>

I will try to catch SPAZ developer on steam to investigate this further :)

[CmdrQuartz]

Does it happen after everything dies? That's usually about the time bounty hunters try to warp in