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Any possible modders out there? - 2/25/2010 2:07:24 PM   
rhohltjr


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From: When I play pacific wargames, I expect smarter AI.
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Given our Customization Guide, any of you skilled enough and determined enough to attempt
some of the standard MODS I would like to see? Obviously : StarWars, Star Trek, B5, BSG ....

I know there's talent out there. There always is....





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RE: Any possible modders out there? - 2/25/2010 4:15:36 PM   
impact


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From: Germany
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well, i have no graphics skills whatsoever, but i'm a programmer, so...i would still have to go through the customization guide, but i have some experience in 2d game programming, so i don't think it would be hard to learn.
that said, if any mod team (existing or in the process of being put together) needs my services, just send me a pm. :)

(in reply to rhohltjr)
Post #: 2
RE: Any possible modders out there? - 2/25/2010 7:56:02 PM   
drillerman


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Yes, already been mucking about with Paint.net prog and the Gratuitous space battles ships. They actually look rather good. Paint.net is very good and free. It reads .dds file extensions and the you can then save them to .png files. I am going to wait until DW comes out to see what sort of sizes each type of ship needs to be. ie. a battleship = 200x200 pixels while a destroyer may be 120x120 pixels for example.
Also, the customization manual is a bit vague on the engines. Do you draw a blue line any length in the direction the engine exhaust will travel and how does the exhaust know which way it should be facing?  Am I making any sense!?!?!?!!??!!

How about letting us pre-order and allowing pre-orders to be able to d/l the manual?

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RE: Any possible modders out there? - 2/25/2010 8:05:00 PM   
Epsilon

 

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Theres Okim amongst others lurking around, who has a proven track record in modding. :)

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RE: Any possible modders out there? - 2/25/2010 9:03:57 PM   
Hussar712

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Epsilon

Theres Okim amongst others lurking around, who has a proven track record in modding. :)

yep, Okim has made some pretty good mods

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RE: Any possible modders out there? - 2/25/2010 10:04:42 PM   
Deto

 

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The customization guide said you place one pixel of certain value to mark location of engine. So I presume if you throw in long line of pixels you end up having 5-10 engines depending on the lenght of your line :) Simply put, place one pixel per spot where you want engine to be located in. I don't know however if the engine exhaust effect comes on top or below the ship, so I suggest you make placing of engines and such as last step before importing them in game :)

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RE: Any possible modders out there? - 2/26/2010 7:25:39 AM   
Okim


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From: Russian Federation
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Hussar712


quote:

ORIGINAL: Epsilon

Theres Okim amongst others lurking around, who has a proven track record in modding. :)

yep, Okim has made some pretty good mods


Wow. Thanks. It is good to know that i have some kind of a good reputation )))

Actually i already have some ideas of new ship graphics, some of them mainly will be taken from human ships in ACM for SOTS (here is an example).

BTW, i haven`t found any mention of weapon, explosion and other particle effects in manual. I suppose they are also easily moddable?

< Message edited by Okim -- 2/26/2010 8:46:37 AM >

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RE: Any possible modders out there? - 2/26/2010 2:51:33 PM   
drillerman


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Here are 3 ships from GSB that I have converted from .dds files, reduced to 200x200 and saved as .png files.
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n129/maccca0_0/AllianceSharkCruiser.png
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n129/maccca0_0/AllianceWaspFrigate.png
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n129/maccca0_0/TribeUtopiaCruiser.png

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RE: Any possible modders out there? - 2/26/2010 4:19:21 PM   
Tycow


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Okim

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hussar712


quote:

ORIGINAL: Epsilon

Theres Okim amongst others lurking around, who has a proven track record in modding. :)

yep, Okim has made some pretty good mods


Wow. Thanks. It is good to know that i have some kind of a good reputation )))

Actually i already have some ideas of new ship graphics, some of them mainly will be taken from human ships in ACM for SOTS (here is an example).

BTW, i haven`t found any mention of weapon, explosion and other particle effects in manual. I suppose they are also easily moddable?


Don't forget your excellent work on the ACM for UFO Aftershock mod! :)

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Post #: 9
RE: Any possible modders out there? - 2/26/2010 5:49:20 PM   
Okim


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quote:

Don't forget your excellent work on the ACM for UFO Aftershock mod! :)


There is an update coming soon so check mod`s thread the next week ;)


< Message edited by Okim -- 2/26/2010 5:53:31 PM >

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Post #: 10
RE: Any possible modders out there? - 2/27/2010 3:52:48 AM   
pixelpusher


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btw: Distant Worlds is super easy to mod. I think the only limit is your imagination. 

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Post #: 11
RE: Any possible modders out there? - 2/27/2010 3:58:29 AM   
pixelpusher


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quote:

ORIGINAL: drillerman
battleship = 200 px destroyer = 120 px.


That's about right. Ships run from about 60 px to 350 px (for the largest station).

quote:

ORIGINAL: drillerman
Also, the customization manual is a bit vague on the engines. Do you draw a blue line any length in the direction the engine exhaust will travel and how does the exhaust know which way it should be facing? Am I making any sense!?!?!?!!??!!


They ALWAYS point up. ergo: The exhaust always points down. The blue lines go horizontally... so it's all very easy.


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Post #: 12
RE: Any possible modders out there? - 2/27/2010 8:15:24 AM   
Okim


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From: Russian Federation
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How do we map 'fire points' for ships? I noticed that ships don`t fire from the origin (central) point of its image.

quote:

The blue lines go horizontally...


So i was actually right )

< Message edited by Okim -- 2/27/2010 8:16:33 AM >

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Post #: 13
RE: Any possible modders out there? - 2/27/2010 9:42:47 AM   
drillerman


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Hi PixelPusher, so your the guy doing the ships!
A question: With regards the engines, are you saying that if you put a blue pixel/pixels(depends how much exhaust you want) anywhere on the ship the exhaust will always go down, ie. from top to bottom of screen?
Thanks

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Post #: 14
RE: Any possible modders out there? - 2/27/2010 5:26:47 PM   
ASHBERY76


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From: England
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Okim

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hussar712


quote:

ORIGINAL: Epsilon

Theres Okim amongst others lurking around, who has a proven track record in modding. :)

yep, Okim has made some pretty good mods


Wow. Thanks. It is good to know that i have some kind of a good reputation )))

Actually i already have some ideas of new ship graphics, some of them mainly will be taken from human ships in ACM for SOTS (here is an example).

BTW, i haven`t found any mention of weapon, explosion and other particle effects in manual. I suppose they are also easily moddable?


With some races sharing ships it would be awesome to human ships looking like this.Hurry up.

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Post #: 15
RE: Any possible modders out there? - 2/27/2010 10:35:49 PM   
elliotg


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I probably should have put an example in the guide for the engine exhaust, a picture speaks a thousand words, and all that. But for now I'll give you an example here

The forum only lets me upload JPEG images, so it's a bit fuzzy, and I've blown up the size for you to see. But the blue lines at the bottom of the image indicate where the exhaust will be drawn for the ship. Of course the exhaust rotates, etc with the ship.

There are actually no weapon points on the images - ships do fire from the center. Think you were looking too hard Okim





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Post #: 16
RE: Any possible modders out there? - 2/27/2010 10:41:41 PM   
elliotg


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One other thing: the size of the ships and bases as drawn on the screen is based on the actual size of the ship or base in the game, i.e. the size of all their components. So the size of the source image is not really relevant - the drawing scales the images to the appropriate size so that everything appears relatively bigger or smaller compared to each other, i.e. large space ports are much bigger than tiny frigates.

Hope that all makes sense...

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Post #: 17
RE: Any possible modders out there? - 2/28/2010 12:07:11 AM   
rich12545

 

Posts: 1705
Joined: 10/31/2000
From: Palouse, WA
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quote:

ORIGINAL: pixelpusher

btw: Distant Worlds is super easy to mod. I think the only limit is your imagination. 



Oh crap. That lets me out. My imagination is nonexistant.

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Post #: 18
RE: Any possible modders out there? - 2/28/2010 2:21:37 AM   
DivePac88


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I've been messing around with paint.NET this afternoon, working up some ships designs... I'm hooked. But does anyone know if there are any tutorials around on this type of art?

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You understand now, Why you came this way

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Post #: 19
RE: Any possible modders out there? - 2/28/2010 2:54:32 AM   
impact


Posts: 88
Joined: 2/18/2010
From: Germany
Status: offline
doing some 2D game development, i have been looking for that myself. however, there are rarely any pixelart tutorials, and if you find some, they are usually pretty basic. i guess a lot about creating sprites is about having a talent for art. which i absolutely don't have :-/

(in reply to DivePac88)
Post #: 20
RE: Any possible modders out there? - 3/1/2010 2:05:39 PM   
Gargantou


Posts: 205
Joined: 4/28/2007
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quote:

ORIGINAL: drillerman

Here are 3 ships from GSB that I have converted from .dds files, reduced to 200x200 and saved as .png files.
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n129/maccca0_0/AllianceSharkCruiser.png
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n129/maccca0_0/AllianceWaspFrigate.png
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n129/maccca0_0/TribeUtopiaCruiser.png

I assume that's just for training?

Since using those for a mod for Distant Worlds without the explicit authorization of Cliff(The author of GSB) would be a breach of copyright.

Just felt I had to point that out in case you were actually planning on making converting all GSB ships for use in Distant Worlds.

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RE: Any possible modders out there? - 3/1/2010 6:31:30 PM   
drillerman


Posts: 455
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From: Blighty
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I'll ask Cliff if I can use them. If he says no, then I'll just use them for myself.

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Post #: 22
RE: Any possible modders out there? - 3/2/2010 5:39:50 AM   
Gargantou


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Yeah, I didn't mean to be a party-pooper or anything, I just figured it's better to get it cleared early rather than come a long way with a mod only to when you finally release it be told it's illegal by the author of the materials.

Knew a guy who worked on a Warhammer 40k mod(where they actually even made their own materials, it was just based off the 40k universe), it wasn't UNTIL they released the first version, that they were contacted and told to cease and desist.

Now I'm sure Cliff wouldn't contract lawyers, he's a nice guy, but I just figured better safe than sorry eh?:)

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RE: Any possible modders out there? - 3/2/2010 6:54:06 AM   
Deto

 

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Yeah, in this day and age, fan remakes/conversions are becoming more and more dangerous and difficult as firms consider those mis-use of their IPs. King's Quest fan modders/remakers just few days ago got hatemail about their project and were forced to.. yeah 'Cease and desist' and get rid of everything. They had permits and whatnot for non-commercial work, but when the company owning the IP changed, they decided the fans gotta go. 8 years down to drain.

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RE: Any possible modders out there? - 3/2/2010 6:58:49 PM   
Gargantou


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Deto

Yeah, in this day and age, fan remakes/conversions are becoming more and more dangerous and difficult as firms consider those mis-use of their IPs. King's Quest fan modders/remakers just few days ago got hatemail about their project and were forced to.. yeah 'Cease and desist' and get rid of everything. They had permits and whatnot for non-commercial work, but when the company owning the IP changed, they decided the fans gotta go. 8 years down to drain.


Indeed, makes me wish some of the IP/copyright laws would be seen over.. I really don't see why it should be illegal to for example make a freeware game based off the Alien(s) movies, as long as it's non-profit and free..

It's a real shame..

Oh well, apologies for off-topic!

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RE: Any possible modders out there? - 3/2/2010 7:18:39 PM   
cdbeck


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From: Indiana
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I really pushing for one of you people to do a BSG, Star Trek, or Babylon 5 mod...

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"Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoscet!"
(Kill them all. God will know his own.)

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RE: Any possible modders out there? - 3/2/2010 7:21:22 PM   
Tycow


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Babylon 5 ftw!

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RE: Any possible modders out there? - 3/2/2010 8:05:27 PM   
ASHBERY76


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Son_of_Montfort

I really pushing for one of you people to do a BSG, Star Trek, or Babylon 5 mod...


The problem is everybody is thinking the same as you.

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Post #: 28
RE: Any possible modders out there? - 3/2/2010 8:31:57 PM   
Epsilon

 

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Personally I'm working on a mod based on the great Alastair Reynolds "Revelation Space" universe. Obviously only thing I can do at this point is figuring out the ships, ship classes, techs and factions depending on a specific time period. The factions I'm detailing now is "The Demarchists, Conjoiners and Ultras". The implementation of the lesser factions will be a matter of experimentation for me, such as the Skyjacks or the Hyperpigs. :)
I'll be looking forward to the first B5 mod though :)

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Post #: 29
RE: Any possible modders out there? - 3/2/2010 10:10:55 PM   
hadberz


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From: Moncks Corner, SC
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The modding is pretty easy. I did a few test ships when I was testing the Change Theme feature.




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