Stargate Races r1.03 Released
I am pleased to announce that the new r1.03 version of Stargate Races is now available for download. It hasn't been that long since r1.02 launched but there has been a new patch for Sins of a Solar Empire (v1.94) and some updates to Sins: Remastered, along with the usual bits of progress in Stargat Races itself.
Gameplay Changes
There are a couple noteworthy changes in r1.03. First, the Asuran minor faction has had its raid ability adjusted. Several people had commented on the sheer strength of the raids and I had intended to do some tuning on it already but it slipped my mind in the build-up to r1.02. That has now been done and I think it's at a more reasonable level now.
Secondly, I'm happy to say that the first Stargate themed galaxy feature has been added to the mod. The alien mothership from the SG-1 episode "Grace" now has a chance to spawn in Radiation Storms, should any happen to spawn on the map. The ship is relatively formiddable, so keep an eye out for it while exploring.
Grace Alien Mothership
Art Assets
It wouldn't be an update without a few new things to look at, would it? At least I prefer to have a couple new things for each update if I can. Despite the short interval since the last, this update does include a few new things as well.
More Ancient Planet Modules
I have continued my work on texturing Asuran structures for Stargate Invasion and I was able to get the latest batch included into SGR r1.03. They are the combat, non-combat and culture center planet modules for the Ancients.
New planet modules for the Ancients
New Skyboxes
Two new custom skyboxes were added in r1.02 and I'm happy to annouced that an additional two new custom skyboxes are included in r1.03. They replace Skybox8 (pink tornadoes) and Skybox6 (dark purple).
Nebula 4 Skybox
Nebula 5 Skybox
Subsurface Scattering on the Wraith
The newly released Sins: Remastered v0.91 Beta implements a technique called Subsurface scattering to its PBR shaders. Subsurface scattering is helpful when trying to render skin and other materials that are, at least partially, translucent. As such, it was ideal to be added to the Wraith textures. Below is an before-and-after image of the Hiveship with the new texture channel applied.
Before on the left. Subsurface scattering added on the right.
As you can see, it made a fair impact to the way the Hiveship looks and it is generally improved. Subsurface scatter has been applied across all ships & structures currently in the Wraith fleet.
Also, a reminder that you will need to have Sins: Remastered present and enabled in order to use Stargate Races. Be sure to grab the latest 0.91 Beta version!
I invite you all to download and try out the new version of the mod. Let me know what you think.
