Hello everyone,
Just posting to give you an update on the status. Right now the text editing is basically done with the exception of one planet, the Trandoshan homeworld which I'm swapping out with Sullust. The reason being is because the only way I knew how to program the Trandoshans in the game as an indigenous unit was by taking one of the other indigenous units out. The Sullustans happen to be my least favorite indigenous unit in the game, so I took them out. I'm planning to use a map editor and XML to remake Sullust into looking what I would imagine would be the Trandoshan homeworld. However, there is relatively little information from the Expanded Universe and Wookiepedia that could help me in doing this other than inserting some historical info. into the planet's text file. Regardless, I'll do the best I can in making this Trandoshan homeworld for the mod.
Skyhook of course has been added to the mod, though right now it doesn't have weapons hardpoints for the alo model. If anyone would like to volunteer in editing the alo model that I can send to them in making hardpoints, then I would greatly welcome it. Otherwise right now the best I can do is give the Skyhook defensive capabilities such as good shields, special fleet upgrades (just like space stations), and a fairly large company of fighter and bomber squadrons. It's still a cool unit in the game none of the less based on these abilities as I have made the Skyhook mobile where it can deploy offensively with the Consortium fleet as much as defensively.
Also, there are 2 other major things that are setting me back aside from the Trandoshan homeworld that I'm working on in releasing the mod. Those things are making an introduction video for the mod and a background animation cinematic for the game menu. Until I figure out how to solve these video and animation issues, I will have to unfortunately delay the release of this mod until July and possibly August. I didn't plan on going this direction, but it really depends on how quickly these two issues can be solved. The sooner they are, the sooner that I will release the mod. Anyways here's the details on the status and my progress in working with those two major issues:
For the intro video, I'm going to look into the FOC game directory and XML to try to locate and edit where the default FOC intro video would be. This isn't easy and it can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. If anyone has a hunch, knows, or can help me in finding where and how to do this, it would greatly be appreciated and it would speed the process up for me being able to release the mod. As far as the video making, I know how to make cool videos using Windows Movie Maker, it's just a matter for me of finding out what file format and where in the game directory do I go in coding the intro video into the mod (for example do I look in the game constant file with XML and save the video under an mpeg format? I don't know, but I'm looking into).The minute and a half video that I'm releasing with the techno music and clip scenes of character animation is the basic format from which I plan to make the introduction video for the mod, which is right now a wav format file.
For the game menu animation cinematics, I'm going to try to experiment with it, though I'm new in using the map editor. So this will take a while. Any volunteers who want to help me with this process (or actually do it themselves), especially anyone who has had this kind of experience in using the map editor and making animation cinema, would greatly be welcomed. Though I have some good ideas in conceptualizing this video stuff, my actual knowledge and abilities in putting this to practice when using the map editor is limited compared to using XML for coding, so I'm going to do the best with what I can in making this menu animation work.
On a final note, thanks everyone who is a fan supporting and/or tracking this mod! I take this endeavor seriously because I want the mod to have a feel of an intriguing underline story plot that is occuring during the game play of the generic galactic conquests campaigns. I want this mod to give the players a subtle sense of transcedence between the Clone Wars Trilogy era and the Classic Trilogy era revolving around the aftermath of Geonosis and the rise of galactic crimelords such as Jabba, Xizor, and Tyber Zann. By doing so, it weaves not only a thread of addressing unanswered questions from the two trilogies, but it also shows the role that these crimelord shadows play from the backdrop in the fight betwen the good of the Rebels and the evil of the Empire.
happ to wait :)
Thanks brolee! I appreciate your patience as well as everyone else's. :)
i will certainly download this mod.
it has been a long time since i played foc mod with a good story:)
@_wout: Thanks. Btw, just to make sure I'm not misleading you or anyone else. The mod will not have an actual specific campaign story. The mod will simply have the generic Galactic conquest campaigns as it has had for the regular FOC game. The background story of the game is revealed through the hero, buildable units, and planet bios in the campaign which I have altered and added into the game's text files.
So for example, you click and play on the Rim World conflict campaign, when the campaign begins nothing is new in the sense of extra mission or story plots, the campaign is the same as before. However there are new units in the game that add a feel that there is a story to the setting of the campaign such as Dash Rendar, the Outrider, and Jenna Nightfall for the Rebels and Darth Rex, Serra Nova, Trandoshan commandos, the Skyhook, and various Geonosian units for the Consortium. When you have battles on the planets, the loading page will have different and/or new edited info. for some of the planets' history info. like Geonosis and Hoth reflecting the setting of the Rise of the Shadows theme.
i didn't expect you changed the campaign, but just add some missionslike in vanilla eaw, were tarkin would give you an order to take that planet and you'll recieve some bonus.
and i'll suggest you have to look into this. Moddb.com
@_wout: Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, that's probably as far as I will go with the mod unless someone wants to work with me in scripting and programing new missions. Don't get me wrong, I'm actually a real writer and I have my own ideas in telling the plot story of the mod, but I have horrible experience in making custom campaigns from computer games especially when it comes to programing event scripts and making event triggers. I tried this before in making my own campaigns in Age of Empires II and Empire Earth, and I failed in doing it miserably.
But if you or anyone else would be interested in collaborating with me in making some campaign missions for the mod, I would greatly welcome it and share access of what I got so far in the mod with you or anyone who would want to team up in this potential endeavor. But again, my role of contributing in doing this is helping out with whatever I know how to do (XML unit coding, basic text scripting, tga icons) and coming up with a campaign story line for the mod in bridging together Geonosis after the Clone Wars and the rise of the galactic crimelords during the Classic Trilogy era. I would need you or someone else to take the lead role in actually programming a campaign in the mod, but I would definetly help out. If this did happen, I would still release a version of the mod with what I have planned so far, and the potential custom campaign included mod would be released as a second version later in the future. If you or anyone else you know would be interested and are serious about this, let me know.
you would not want me to do anything:), i don't know anything from programming, i only draw things.
Actually if you're interested I do have a few cool ideas in mind for .alo models if by drawing things you mean you know how to do .alo model art. For example though I'm not an artist, if I could imagine adding certain specialized units in the mod that I can't find alo models for they would be elite infantry ones such as Jabiim Nimbus warriors, Xizor's Black Sun bodyguards, and reptilian Barabel mercenaries like the ones that temporarily kidnapped Luke Skywalker from Shadows of the Empire. Will if you are interested in this offer, what I would do is use the alo models for these units that you would draw from an art application and I would program them into the mod as special buildable units for the mod. Of course I would give you credit for the models in the mod too. Let me know if you're interested.