The Underverse :: By Team [RIP] VER - 2.28 mod for Freelancer

0 comments by RIP-Soupman on Dec 22nd, 2012

UnderVerse 2.28, available now at UnderVerse.us

We have a new type of Planet located inside our new 109th System. Introducing Planet Illumnion...
The Exterior, Interior and Base are made up of 154 individual parts, necessary to obtain solidity for flying 'inside' a structure.

This shows some of the 20 kilometers of cave inside the Planet.

And a quick fight in the cave...

Here is the Base located on the North Pole of the Planet.

This is the first late release I have had in 19 years of level and mod building, sorry for the delay. I had to overcome many Freelancer limitations to build this planet and interior cave system.
I figured out the multiple-point problems and then later the multiple-near-point problems. Getting the sur files to work (what gives a wall its solidity) was a nightmare but it is fairly solid now. And don't get me started on the parallel-sur-lag issue, heh.
Because of the aging Freelancer engine, the caves are necessarily simplistic in design. I wish I knew how to smooth out the lighting better but if I add more lights in the system then the Flare gun and other guns that emit light stop working.
I have many ideas for future builds of the UnderVerse, I hope you enjoy this one.

Release Notes:

New sounds and trail effects have been added to some of the engines.
Each of our 125 shipa now have customized fuses for sparks, smoke and flame.

Every ship now has a visual explosion with varying colors.

The updated universe maps (Dwn's printable one and Soup's pretty one) are now in the mod folder for quick reference.

Watch the great new intro movie made by [GLTC]Goultek!

The ability to log in with multiple user accounts (from the same computer) is now built into the mod.
Asteroid fields for commodity mining have been added to Strand, Grand Rift, Maelstrom, Faust, Callisto, Belesarius, Ganymede, Etna, Ukraine, Vesper, Wunderland and Switzerland.
All ship prices have been evened out to reflect the shield add-ons.

A mine launcher has been added to the Dart, Mantis Screamer, Hornet MKIII and Tranquilizer.
The mass has been increased on the four Light Fighters so they strafe smoother.
Docking Rings have been removed from all planets (except Crematoria, our prison planet). Now you can dock on a planet from any direction. Undocking exits at the original spot. This has slightly changed distances from planets before F3 will activate, you will have to fly closer to the larger planets before auto-docking. Speed docking is still enabled for all other locations.
NPC Battleship groups have been tweaked, they should no longer planet dive or de-spawn while engaged. I have limited them to a single group of 6 ships at a time now instead of two. Maybe now you will have a chance alone, heh.

Headlights have been added to all of the ships.
Select weapons now emit light as they project.

A new FLARE gun has been created for the mines...in case you are Afraid of the Dark. I know you are...

The distance you can visibly see ships has been reduced, this will help lower video lag. This has not changed the HUD ranges.
Over 300 new rumors have been created by [GLTC]Goultek, proofread by DirtyThree, thanks to you both! (You need nearly green reps to see them).
A fresh 2.28 Load screen prepped by [RIP]Soupman. Image by Charlie DiAngelo, awesome!
The four 'Start' rocks in the 'Fame or Shame' system are now clickable from a distance (for those of you tired of plowing into an angry hornets nest).
The 'Start' rocks in the 'Feudal Wars' system are now clickable from a distance (for those of you who just can't seem to find the rock) Congrats to Ironmoon and Jen, their win records have granted them honorary naming rights.

Two planets/bases in each Capitol have been converted or added to Faction-only status (much like the Merchant-only planets except no npcs outside).

Shrine to adoxa; original figure by [RIP]Blue for the Descent3 level Fusion-Reap. Tweaked and converted by [RIP]Fusion and [RIP]DwnUndr. Thanks to Gibbon for the glowmap tutorial. Click on the Infocard to read what it is all about.

Twelve new ships make their appearance in this release,

The Brutix Heavy Fighter, provided by [Aesir]Arch. This was created by his late girlfriend Chessa. Texture and HP by Darkblade. Sold at Valhalla, Zion.

The Viper MK7 Ultra Fighter, provided by [Dx]Red_Phoenix. Wireframe by Mark Davies. Adapted by [RIP]Fusion. Sold at Stratos, Solitude.

Five Faction-only Heavy Fighters created by [RIP]John Carter:
Asp - Merchant
Fist - Necromonger
Tempest - Elemental
Blade - Furyan
Hatchet - Rykengoll

Five Faction-only Battleships created by [RIP]John Carter:
Cobra - Merchant
Dragoon - Necromonger
Wildfire - Elemental
Sythe - Furyan
Pike - Rykengoll

More voice files have been added for all new ships, factions, systems, bases and commodities by [RIP]Soupman. We have probably replaced over 5,000 voices by now for Missions, Bartenders, Bribe Girls, Ships Computer, Docking Command and Male & Female Pilots.

The new system has restricted access (the first of several new systems coming). Only players who are flying one of the new Mine ships listed below can enter. There are three reasons I did this; 1) so no big-blast torpedoes are used (a single one of these could kill everyone in the mine, heh). 2) The mines (and future additions) are narrow, large ships would get stuck and I don't want to hear the whining. 3) The chase view has been lowered to ship level so your view doesn't go through the wall and disorient you when you scrape a wall.
Three existing ships have been converted to be Mine ships, they are all Heavy Fighters and each one steers differently:
Fang: 3 gun/missiles, 5 turrets, 17000 armor, 85 bots, 85 batts. mine, CM, CD
Reddog: 3 gun/missiles, 5 turrets, 16500 armor, 80 bots, 80 batts. mine, CM, CD
Moss: 3 gun/missiles, 5 turrets, 17500 armor, 90 bots, 90 batts. mine, CM, CD
You may use these ships in normal space if you wish, but only these three ships can enter the new system (FLAC protected). They come equipped with a special Mine Shield and a special Mine Thruster is available. Both are better than stock but not quite as good the ones sold by Merchants. I chose these particular ships because the sur profile is ideal for wall scraping without getting sardined.
Global constants have been drastically altered to give maximum advantage to this new type of mine flying, but you won't notice this in normal ships. The Mine shield gives a pleasant sound when you bump something, you can thank me now.
There are also three new Bases and a few new commodities and a new trade run (Phrogs, anyone?).

Special thanks to Schmackbolzen for his obj-sur converter. Two years of fresh building possibilities are now open for business.

So many people to thank for their contributions to this release!
[RIP]Soupman for the new loadscreen, daily rep edits, being the 'bad cop', creating and running the forums, running events, npc voice files.
[Dx]Mick for new base images, running events.
[RIP]John_Carter for the new faction ships, running events.
[Dx]Red_Phoenix for the Viper MK7, updating ship descriptions.
[Aesir]Arch for the Brutix Heavy Fighter.
[GLTC]Goultek for server tools, intro movie, 300 rumors, full mapping, running events.
DirtyThree for proof reading Goultek's 300 rumors.
[RIP]Fusion for converting JC's models into Freelancer format and for creating the billboards and icons for commodities, ships and bases. Tweaking Adoxa's Shrine.
{KEA}Bobby for the wonderful icons and menues from the last release, running events.
[RIP]Blue for the Adoxa's Shrine model.

Outside people:
[LL]Atan for the Descent3 editor that made it possible to build the planet and caves.
Schmackbolzen for his obj-sur converter.
Adoxa for his many tweaks to the freelancer engine.
Eagle for the wonderful FLAC Anti-Cheat/Server Operator program.
Joe Boomz for Ioncross.
Cold_Void for the initial coding hints to make guns emit light.
Jerry Berlongieri for the music inside the Illumnion caves.
Charlie DiAngelo for the original loadscreen picture.

Beta Testers for 2.28: AstroCreep, Bert, Cosmic Reaper, Devil May Cry, Fox, Griff, Mech, Mini Astro, Rock Star, Shadow Lord, Shadow Runner, Sir Scooby, ZzzzZ, [(V\ET]-Fire~Ant, [(V\ET]Sitting Bull, [Aesir]Jenessa, [Aesir]SlumLord, [BWF]Zed, [Dx]Mick, [Dx]chris-rogue, [Dx]-Hutch-, [Dx]MsLeFaye-beta, [Dx]Red Phoenix, [GLTC]Goultek, [GLTC]Mario, [RIP]Duke_Nukem, [RIP]Soupman, [RIP]In2u, [RIP]Oddjob, ~AB~

-DwnUndr