Ambrosia Garden Archive
    • Just updated the plug, fixing the syntax of a few test expressions and making sure përs ships turn up only in the Classic universe. The broken syntax was affecting the giving of the Transgalactic Traveller ränk and triggering of the anti-domination bounty hunter.

      I seem to have been the only person to post in this thread for a while, so is everyone finding that the plug works okay, or is there just relatively little interest?

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      (url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/jonathanboyd/evn/index.html")Classic4Nova plug-in(/url)

    • It works fine for me. Played EVERY storyline in the plug and the game, and found nothing wrong.

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      -Unreal Centipede
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      Need a minor plugin made? Email me! (url="http://"mailto:Unrealcentipede@yahoo.com")mailto:Unrealcentipede@yahoo.com(/url)Unrealcentipede@yahoo.com

    • Quote

      Originally posted by Unreal Centipede:
      **It works fine for me. Played EVERY storyline in the plug and the game, and found nothing wrong.

      **

      Cool, great news for me. Did the new Cydonian storyline work okay? How was the difficulty level? Are the tweaks to the weapons okay for the main storylines?

      I've been thinking about slowing the fighters down slightly so they'll spend more time actually shooting at targets, but making them smaller so they won't take too much more damage. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

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      (url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/jonathanboyd/evn/index.html")Classic4Nova plug-in(/url)

    • Great work! I really appreciate seeing Classic resurrected in all its glory... As for the problem of graphics being outdated, I would suggest contacting Jericon. If you ask him nicely, maybe he'll share some of this:

      Posted Image

      with you.

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      Alien computer:"I am an instruction manual, I am all that is left of my people."
      Invader Zim: "Your people were instruction manuals???"

    • Quote

      Originally posted by Chrononaut:
      Great work! I really appreciate seeing Classic resurrected in all its glory... As for the problem of graphics being outdated, I would suggest contacting Jericon. If you ask him nicely, maybe he'll share some of this:
      with you.

      I saw those, but they're being used for a Classic plugin already, so I don't think my chances are too huge. Besides, there are a couple of new ships I've added that I wouldn't have cool graphics for, so probably best to just leave it.

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      (url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/jonathanboyd/evn/index.html")Classic4Nova plug-in(/url)

    • I've spent the last twenty minutes playing Classic4Nova 1.1.7, and here's my (limited) feedback so far. Sorry, it's all negative - but be assured I was stoked to play the mod and was enjoying it thoroughly - good work 🙂

      Graphics: If EVula doesn't mind, perhaps use his Black Panel and the target graphics that come with that? As for landing graphics, maybe leave them at their normal size but add black "canvas" around them so that they fit properly into the EVN landing pic frame. Same for hail pics etc. It'd just look a bit less tacky. Plus, is the Trugati Asteroid Belt meant to be so close to Earth? Sol and Tau Ceti are right on its borders. I'm pretty sure the Nebula is a bit off-kelter too.

      Outfits: Nothing is available for sale at the Martian Outfitters. And I landed on Luna once and found a Patrol Ship Bay on sale at the Outfitters. Stardock Alpha sells Lightning Bays. Plus I can buy various large numbers of decoy flares (generally around 900-1200) rather than the standard fifty.

      Bars: I get news from all over the EVN universe. Forgot to try out gambling and hiring escorts.

      Combat: I can't manually eject in my EVC escape pod, or at least, not when flying a scoutship. It worked okay when I got destroyed, though, and I guess that's the important part (the escape pod used the Nova escape pod graphic - I don't know if that's intentional or not). I've seen Emerald in the Topaz system shoot laser bolts at Pirates. And my ship shoots what are apparently decoy flares at everything hostile that comes near me, but I don't actually use up any flares - it seems to be functioning like a point-defense system. They even do small amounts of damage. I've also seen various other combat ships do this - usually cruisers.

      Characters: The default character seems to start one off in the EVC universe. This is perfect, because Windows Nova doesn't work with the char resource, and otherwise there'd be no way to start off in the EVC universe with Windows Nova.

      (By the way, is there any official word on whether/when the char bug will be fixed?)

      Other than that, it's great so far - except I'm often being offered Deliveries to Earth (ie, the Vell-os string starter mission) and asked to dump garbage in the EVN universe. I'm not sure the EVN governments would be too pleased if they found out...

      - CiM

      (This message has been edited by CiM (edited 08-18-2003).)

    • Quote

      Originally posted by CiM:
      **I've spent the last twenty minutes playing Classic4Nova 1.1.7, and here's my (limited) feedback so far. Sorry, it's all negative - but be assured I was stoked to play the mod and was enjoying it thoroughly - good work:) ******

      Well, thanks for taking the time. and it didn't seem overly negative to me. More like constructive criticism, which is always very welcome.

      Quote

      Graphics: If EVula doesn't mind, perhaps use his Black Panel and the target graphics that come with that? As for landing graphics, maybe leave them at their normal size but add black "canvas" around them so that they fit properly into the EVN landing pic frame. Same for hail pics etc. It'd just look a bit less tacky.

      I'd like to stick with the target graphics the way they are now as there's less of a discontinuity with the Nova universe. The landing/hail graphics is a good idea though. The one problem I have with it at the moment is that copying from Photoshop 7 under Mac OS X back into ResEdit under Classic is rather unreliable, taking several goes to get right. I would go mad trying to get them all sorted out. If anyone else wants to do the work, I'd be very happy to fully credit them and add a përs in their honour, otherwise it'll probably get left until 'some time in the future'.

      Quote

      Plus, is the Trugati Asteroid Belt meant to be so close to Earth? Sol and Tau Ceti are right on its borders. I'm pretty sure the Nebula is a bit off-kelter too.

      Classic systems were very bunched up compared to the Nova scale, which made map borders look terrible, so I recently scaled the Classic galaxy up a bit. Unfortunately, the nebulae are now way out and the wrong size, so I've deleted them from 1.1.8 (not yet released). May consider making them bigger and working out where they should go.

      Quote

      Outfits: Nothing is available for sale at the Martian Outfitters. And I landed on Luna once and found a Patrol Ship Bay on sale at the Outfitters. Stardock Alpha sells Lightning Bays. Plus I can buy various large numbers of decoy flares (generally around 900-1200) rather than the standard fifty.

      Patrol ship bay should be available if you've done the Confed string. Lightning bays are available at sufficiently high tech levels. Large numbers of decoy flares are available, though that may get scaled down. Nice catch with Mars. A fix will go into the next update. In order to allow both universes to have a set of basic tech levels, without laser cannons and blasters being available everywhere, I'm using a series of special techs (5101-5105) for Classic planets, to simulate the old levels 1-5. Mars got missed out somewhere.

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      Bars: I get news from all over the EVN universe. Forgot to try out gambling and hiring escorts.

      Is the news just trading stuff? If so, I'm not sure there is a way to fix it. It's not very important from the gameplay point of view, so it's not a huge priority. Gambling will be the standard Nova stuff everywhere. Don't think you can have 2 gambling systems in the game. Hiring escorts should work fine.

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      Combat: I can't manually eject in my EVC escape pod, or at least, not when flying a scoutship. It worked okay when I got destroyed, though, and I guess that's the important part (the escape pod used the Nova escape pod graphic - I don't know if that's intentional or not).

      Hmm. I'll investigate this further. I'm not too fussed about the graphic, but you should be able to manually eject.

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      I've seen Emerald in the Topaz system shoot laser bolts at Pirates.

      That's okay. Added planetary defences everywhere. Strongly considering scaling them back though, reduce the number of planets that have them.

      Quote

      And my ship shoots what are apparently decoy flares at everything hostile that comes near me, but I don't actually use up any flares - it seems to be functioning like a point-defense system. They even do small amounts of damage. I've also seen various other combat ships do this - usually cruisers.

      I use up flares when they fire. It's a burst weapon though, so not every shot counts as ammo being used. It's implemented in the game as point defences, firing at fighters/small ships and guided weapons. Quite a lot of Classic ships carry them, given their small size and the lethality of Classic missiles/torpedoes.

      Quote

      Characters: The default character seems to start one off in the EVC universe. This is perfect, because Windows Nova doesn't work with the char resource, and otherwise there'd be no way to start off in the EVC universe with Windows Nova.

      There are several options on the Mac, but sadly, as you know, the Windows version is bugged. I could add a short plug that allows you to start in the Nova universe instead. Or I could add a mission on Levo, which would transport you to the Nova galaxy if you accepted it.

      Quote

      (b)(By the way, is there any official word on whether/when the char bug will be fixed?)

    • Ill help with the landing pictures.

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      -Unreal Centipede
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      Need a minor plugin made? Email me! (url="http://"mailto:Unrealcentipede@yahoo.com")mailto:Unrealcentipede@yahoo.com(/url)Unrealcentipede@yahoo.com

    • Quote

      Originally posted by Jonathan Boyd:
      Well, thanks for taking the time. and it didn't seem overly negative to me. More like constructive criticism, which is always very welcome.

      I wrote a list of problems as I was playing, wrote the bit about it all being negative, and then went through and arranged everything into a (relatively) forum coherent post - with added positivity! 🙂

      Quote

      Originally posted by CiM:
      Outfits: Nothing is available for sale at the Martian Outfitters. And I landed on Luna once and found a Patrol Ship Bay on sale at the Outfitters. Stardock Alpha sells Lightning Bays. Plus I can buy various large numbers of decoy flares (generally around 900-1200) rather than the standard fifty.

      Quote

      Originally posted by Jonathan Boyd:
      Patrol ship bay should be available if you've done the Confed string. Lightning bays are available at sufficiently high tech levels. Large numbers of decoy flares are available, though that may get scaled down.

      WRT Patrol ship bays, I had literally dropped the data and graphics files into the plug-in directory, launched nova, and jumped into the standard EV shuttle with 10K in the bank and Levo spinning gently in my viewscreen (so to speak). Brand new pilot - I hadn't gone anywhere near the Confed string 🙂

      I seem to remember the decoy flares were available in inconsistant amounts - like being able to hold different numbers at different times - but I can't verify that right now. I haven't played C4N since my first try a few days ago, but when I do I'll hopefully remember to check on the things I didn't really pay too much attention to first time 'round.

      Quote

      Originally posted by Jonathan Boyd:
      Is the news just trading stuff? If so, I'm not sure there is a way to fix it. It's not very important from the gameplay point of view, so it's not a huge priority.

      The news was generally of the "Federation forces have attacked an Auroran fleet in the Random System Number Fourty-Two area" sort. I did get one item of trading news when travelling into the South-West, but I don't remember where I was exactly. Sorry. Not very helpful, I know. I'll look closer next time.

      WRT decoy flares as a PDS, that'll take some getting used to 🙂 I'll have a go and see how it all works.

      Quote

      Originally posted by Jonathan Boyd:
      There are several (character) options on the Mac, but sadly, as you know, the Windows version is bugged. I could add a short plug that allows you to start in the Nova universe instead. Or I could add a mission on Levo, which would transport you to the Nova galaxy if you accepted it.

      I was actually saying that it was a Good Thing™ that the default character seemed to start out in the EVC universe, since it's easy to start out in the Nova universe - just remove the plug and create a new pilot.

      Anyway, nitpicks aside, I'm very impressed with the C4N plug. If the missions work as well as earlier posters have claimed, then I'll uprate to extremely impressed 🙂

      - CiM

    • This sounds really cool. It's definitely on my "to do" list to try once I've completed overdrive.

      Can you basically complete the EVC string and then go do a EVN string?

      I think that the author of the cold fusion mod has a bunch of nice EVC ships on his sight. I bet if you asked nice and gave him credit you could use them. I think something like that would be nice for helping new and classic ships look consistent with each other. By the end of august I could be ready to help in that department, if you'd like. There are also a bunch of very nice "generic" ship graphics out there if you wanted to keep the ships you've designed consistent with everything else.

      -Cheers

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    • Sorry about the delay in replying; it's been a busy week.

      Yes, you can do both Nova and Classic strings at the same time (as long as the Nova one isn't the Vell-os one).

      I may consider changing the graphics in the future, but I'll wait until I'm happy with how the plug plays.

      Meant to fix the patrol ship bays appearing when they shouldn't, but got side tracked and fixed lots of other stuff instead. Plug plays quite differently now. Changed max number of outifts available, improved compatibility with Vell-os story (no more outfitting your Dart with proton turrets, or the Bureau allowing you to purchase a Confed Cruiser), fixed a few Nova missions so that they wouldn't appear in the Classic universe, fiddled with shield/armour/damage levels to make Classic vs. Nova less of a walkover, added a few new outfits and put in a couple of other little surprises.

      Get the update at the link in my sig.

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      (url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/jonathanboyd/evn/index.html")Classic4Nova plug-in(/url)

    • Just uploaded 1.2.0, which:

      • prevents Auroran starter missions being offered in Classic space
      • adds a couple of new outfits
      • tweaks a few existing ones (finally happy with the armour/shield mass/cost/effectiveness now. I think.
      • alters the loadout of a few ships (mainly fighters)
      • changes most planets to 'fire when provoked' so that you don't get blown up upon leaving hostile planets in a fighter
      • subtly tweaks weapon strengths.

      Follow the rabbit hole in search of bounty. Thanks to everyone who has been helping test this. The project is still ongoing, but aside from new missions (and possibly new graphics), I think the plug is close to finished.

      Check sig for download details. Submitted to add-ons page as well.

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      (url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/jonathanboyd/evn/index.html")Classic4Nova plug-in(/url)