Mod ideas

startrekdork · Post by **startrekdork** » Sun Dec 15, 2002 4:02 am

does anyone have any ideas for future mods theyed want?
for example, theres star trek, star wars, babylon five, ummmm. i know theres others ought there too. does anyone else have ideas? or possibly opinions on what theyed want modded most, new ships, races, technologies?

if the technologies could ever be modded, andrew says its hard to do at the moment. but im sure thered be a way around that.

i for one want a way for ships to reload weapons when out in deep space, for example your missile launchers all out, so you "replicate" some new missiles at a energy cost or something.

anybody else have any other ideas?

NefariousKoel · Post by **NefariousKoel** » Sun Dec 15, 2002 4:46 am

I think I'd prefer a star wars one. The old PC game Star Wars:Rebellion is a good source for all the original trilogy ship info, but I can't find the stinking data poster... it's been so long.
Maybe it's some copyright infringement, but I know the ship models in the game looked about the same as they do in SUDG although a bit larger - I could probably dig up my CD-ROM and see what I can find if you want to mess with it.

I think the main thing would be to get the ship/race models changed and that would add to the 'feel' of it pretty well. In the case of Star Wars, I think the Techs would be just fine - especially if you could just change the name of each.

Here's a good place for some source material. It can be a pain finding the right era and everything, but it's got loads of info.

http://www.swrpgnetwork.com/sort.php?

startrekdork · Post by **startrekdork** » Sun Dec 15, 2002 9:35 am

dont worry about source material for me. i also have that crappy star wars game. in some ways it was ok but overall, it was really lame. but i also have star trek birth of the federation. another mediocre game.

see, adding in race pictures and changing the names, thats nothing. i mean it is super easy. the reason a star trek mod would be simple is because there are so many races to mod. you know fed romulan klingon cardasian borg blah blah.

take the star wars universe. well, theres the empire, and the republic. other than that, maybe you could make one for the trade federation. your right the technologies carry over well too, youd just want to change the names for aesthetic purposes.

in my opinion the best part though would be the fighters. think about it. both sides could research fighter squadrons, if someone good with computers could go in there and make the fighters look like xwings and tie fighters thats all youd really need then change the fighter upgrades for the names in technology start with headhunters work up to awings and bwings.

as for the ships thatd be even easier with all the star wars ships. i have the big book of star trek ships thingie and ya theres a lot of ships. but i have zero skill at povray or movray, which is why we need somebody with good computer drawing skills to make the actuall ship mods. i mean there a huge communities of modders for space empires iv and star trek armada! where are the modders for starships unlimited hmmmm? inserting the race pictures in is easy too. anyone with the game, i highly recomend reading the readme about that working your way through it then adding in your own face pictures and races. changes the whole thing around. hell, you could even add your own picture in if you wanted too. ha.

NefariousKoel · Post by **NefariousKoel** » Sun Dec 15, 2002 5:47 pm

Yeah, I'm not even close to being an amateur artist, much less making ships although I'd be willing to give it a swing if I had it.

On the subject of races for Star Wars... there are tons of races and some with their own semi-independent governments - Mon Calamari, Zabrak, Hutt (lol), Bothan, Sullustan... you know... no lack of races there.

Star Trek would probably be a bit easier. Not by much tho, considering the tech tree. I still think Star Wars would be easier.

Vern Shurtz · Post by **Vern Shurtz** » Thu Dec 19, 2002 2:53 am

Does anyone know how modifiable this game is? I would love to create custom ship models and races. Problem is finding a decent game worth spending the effort to modify. This game has sparked my interest and I would like to know more about it's Modability...

Vaaish · Post by **Vaaish** » Thu Dec 19, 2002 5:01 am

not overly positive about the extent of what can be changed, but you can change Race and ship art.

startrekdork · Post by **startrekdork** » Thu Dec 19, 2002 7:10 am

Vern Shurtz you have to have some skill in things like povray and movray to make new ship files. as for adding them to the game thats really easy you just have to follow the step by step instructions that are in the readme file for the game.

for the race pictures. well. thats even easier. you just pick a picture you want change it to a tga file, make three pictures that are each of a different size then like use this utility that comes with the game to make it into something that can be added to the game then i put it in the made folder and itll detect it for you and make the appropriate changes. not only that but when you make the three pictures into a file thatll go into the game, whatever name you name it becomes the races name. for example i made in one evening race pictures for the federation, romulans, borg and the suliban. than i went and played the game and had a war with the sulibans and some of the other races that are normally in the game and i had romulan pirates attacking all my border worlds.

so basically race pictures are simple, except sizing them can be hard because your original image gets smeared and stretched.
ships though..........alas. i tried and i will never understand povray or have the time to do it. if some game art designer every buys the game maybe the sudg community will be lucky enough that hell make a mod for us.

things i still want to be made modable but andrew doesnt think itll be easy to do:
1. to mod and make new and different researcheable technologies and ship/world components. i can think of lots. tractor beams that hold the enemy in place while you capture them. or combine the tractor beam and the bord ship feature together to have a borg attack beam.

2. what the races say, for example to make it so the borg will say resistance is futile blah blah. right now whenever a game starts up im pretty sure what messages the races say is random so one game they could talk with the alien slurred language messages or the bruntish attack voices.

but otherwise its a good enough game that ill be able to play it for a long time without needing to actually mod it. itd just be fun to do.

Vern Shurtz · Post by **Vern Shurtz** » Thu Dec 19, 2002 7:25 am

I am a 3D Artist by profession and use 3D Studio Max for most of my 3D work. As soon as I can find this game at a local store I will see what I can do as far as ship designs. If I have to mail order it then I will wait until xmas is over first. Way too much stuff gets lost this time of year.....

startrekdork · Post by **startrekdork** » Thu Dec 19, 2002 8:25 am

ok but just so you know, the game is located at eletronic boutiques, and itll probably be faster to ask them if they have it rather than look for it on your own. i cant wait......maybe you could buy the game for all your artistical fellow worker friends hey?

Maxfreeboard · Post by **Maxfreeboard** » Thu Dec 19, 2002 9:55 am

Originally posted by startrekdork
ok but just so you know, the game is located at eletronic boutiques...

... and I picked my copy up at Software Etc. They only had two, now one

copy.

MacCready · Post by **MacCready** » Fri Dec 20, 2002 10:03 pm

Why make a mod regarding star trek or star wars?

There's like 80 games for each allready out there?

Can anyone say overkill?

Marc von Martial · Post by **Marc von Martial** » Fri Dec 20, 2002 10:18 pm

Originally posted by MacCready
Why make a mod regarding star trek or star wars?

There's like 80 games for each allready out there?

Can anyone say overkill?

Because you want one based on exactly this game engine ?? And then after all, modding is fun

MacCready · Post by **MacCready** » Sat Dec 21, 2002 12:05 am

Ok then,how about a modern combat mod 1950-2020 for SPWAW.

That should keep you busy for awhile.

Marc von Martial · Post by **Marc von Martial** » Sat Dec 21, 2002 12:17 am

The modding days are gone, I do this for a living now, you would have to ask the fan base

.

Have you tried SP MBT allready ?

MacCready · Post by **MacCready** » Sat Dec 21, 2002 12:31 am

YEs I have SPMBT up to date version.It's a fine game,but a modern version of Matrix's SPWAW would be superior.