Future Tense Semi-Official Statement

posted on February 5th, 2013, 6:49 am

Well, that answers that. I understand pretty well about Future Tense and warp now, would almost be nice to change how the warp feature works in A2 and almost make it like the one use in Future Tense.

@Equinox1701e: I'm sorry of I worded my original question/post confusingly, I wasn't trying to say or imply that A1 had warp originally, I know it doesn't, but for some reason, I've seen ships go to warp in the game but that might have just been because it was in the cinematic videos between missions. I know that A2 really is the only Armada game that came with warp included, I just hate how the ships stretch out when in warp; really wish it'd be possible to stop that well still being able to keep warp.
(I want to keep warp in my mod because its canon to Star Trek and it just doesn't seem right without it.)

@SquireJames: How do you make the A2 Physics Files more sensible to make the warp feature work quite well? What exactly needs to be changed in the Physics Files?

For FleetOps and Warp Ins, how is that done by any chance, what's the coding for that? Is there a way to do that in stock Armada II? I have a few hero ships per each era for the Federation, Klingons and the Romulans, and the same can be said for my unique Dominion Alliance. It would be nice to have them allowed to come into the game and to have the player (or the AI) control them.

I am thinking about how to add my mod to FleetOps in my "Mods Folder" but since I have the Patch Project 1.2.5 Patch installed and FleetOps already has that I don't know what to remove from my game related to the patch to add my mod to FleetOps.

posted on February 5th, 2013, 8:04 am

There is no "magic number" for physics files. I'd suggest downloading KA2, having a look at how the ships move, and compare the relevant physics files to your own.

As for converting an A2 Patch Project mod to FleetOps, that's exactly what I did with KA2. It's surprisingly simple once you get your head around it. There is a spot on the Hitchhikers Guide to FleetOps on the matter.

posted on February 5th, 2013, 2:25 pm

@SquireJames: I have downloaded KA2, but its the mod version for FleetOps and even their ships physics are different than stock A2, but I am using the A2 Physics Project mod in my game, the ones that came with Vanilla Ultimate 2.0.0 so it's hard to tell.

Surprisingly simple to convert a Patch Project mod to FleetOps? Then how come I'm having a difficult time and losing sleep with it?
I've used KA2 as an example and the A2 Classic mod and found that it doesn't make sense why you have a "cutdown" folder? Doesn't seem like its needed at all.

Maybe you can link to the guide for what you are saying because I checked it for hours and and it still wasn't mentioning about mods with the patch project.

posted on February 5th, 2013, 7:59 pm

The cutdown folder is needed because if you leave the _1 and _2 files in the Armada 2 Classic Mod texture folder, it will crash KA2 when you try to build a station. Never quite worked out why. Rather than manually have people delete the files, and not do it correct then complain the mod doesn't work, I made it a simple cut and paste process.

The most important thing to remember when trying to get your mod to work is to properly convert your sprite entries.

As for physics files, actually KA2 isn't a mod for FleetOps, it simply uses elements from the A2 Classic Mod rather than Stock A2 to run. It's a bit different than a mod for FleetOps itself

posted on February 5th, 2013, 8:29 pm

@SquireJames: I got KA2 to work by installing it directly over a copy of the A2Classic mod and just deleting the textures folder from the A2 Classic mod then replaced them with the ones for KA2, had to slightly change your info.ini file to ignore your original setup to use the cutdown as a "Parent Mod" and a few other changes and it worked just fine. Plus it saves on having a "useless" mod folder in my Mods Directory.

Don't know why you didn't take the time to do these fixes yourself but really anyone could figure out what needs to be done.

posted on February 5th, 2013, 9:39 pm

I do not have the right to distribute the A2 Classic mod with my mod. It would also be adding unnecessary files. Fighting waste with waste isn't productive.

You also seem to imply it was me "Not taking the time" to fix the issue. Believe me I have been aware of this issue for the past 6 years. It's something that isn't fixable except in the methods I have outlined. Asking people to do their own fix leads to yet more problems when they screw up something simple (again, believe me, it happens)

Would suggest on altering the tone. You run the risk of rubbing people the wrong way.

posted on February 6th, 2013, 12:22 am

@SquireJames: Not trying to be rude because that is the last thing I am trying to be.

I followed your directions with the KA2 mod perfectly then just found minor changes to get rid of a useless "cutdown" file that was taking up hard drive space for both my FleetOps install and the rest of my computer. I didn't mean any disrespect, was just trying to point out a helpful tip that just took a little work on my part to make work, that is all I am saying, no need to throw it back in my face, because that sadly feels like what you were doing with your post.

Also I think your making a few mistakes with interpreting my post:

(1) I never said anything about or suggested that you redistribute the A2 Classic Mod with your mod, especially when it isn't needed when you can already say you'd need that as well.

(2) I am not implying you didn't take the time to try and fix the issue.

(3) Your "un-fixable problem" as you have called it, I've fixed and part of it included going against your outline and minor changes. In fact I was just playing KA2 against the AI with no problems and don't have a "Cutdown" file in my Mods Directory or any where in my FleetOps install.

posted on February 6th, 2013, 6:45 am

I think it's you that is not understanding this.

In order to fix the issue in the way you have, which yes is the way I have fixed it in my own install previously, it requires the end user to go in and delete the required files and overwrite the A2 Classic Mod. Ideally, KA2 would be stand alone in that way. However to do so would require me to distribute files that already come with the A2 Classic Mod or to have users overwrite it. Neither is suitable. As I said I don't have the right to distribute those files, and asking people to modify or overwrite the A2 Classic Mod would just cause further headaches.

The more elements you introduce, the greater the risk someone will do something wrong. As it is, all they have to do is copy and paste files that I or the A2 Classic Mod have provided. I cannot simplify the process any further.

The "Cutdown" folder can be simplified further if I wished. However, in this day in age, 400mb is small fry. It would however, be a big deal to add that extra filesize to the KA2 download, which is what would be required to make KA2 standalone (if I even had permission to do so). 400mb on a 500gb or 1000gb HDD is nothing, especially since KA2 takes up 1.47gb on my PC anyway....

posted on February 6th, 2013, 10:04 am

@SquireJames: It wasn't as hard as you are trying to make it out to be.
You still aren't getting it that I said that you don't need to include the files from the A2 Classic mod in your KA2 mod in releasing it. Just exactly what you originally told the downloader/installer to do "also download the A2 Classic Mod".
Copy and rename the A2Classic Mods folder to STA2KA2 (or its full name), Get rid of the textures in the A2 Classic Mod, replace with KA2 textures, paste separate KA2 into folders into new KA2 folder, overwrite other files that need to be. Get rid of coding for "Cutdown Parent Mod" in the info.ini file.

That's mostly all I did and it worked fine. I know it's your mod and you wanted to make it simplistic for people to install, just saying no one really needs to have the "Cutdown Folder" at all.
I could almost rewrite your ReadMe with the exact steps I used to abolish the "Cutdown Folder" for those that want to get rid of it.

Honestly, it's just a basic way I've used for installing other Total Conversion mods in bot A1 & A2 without problems.

Not trying to upset you. And for the record as I've said it was that hard and there wasn't any headaches. So lets just leave it at the fact that: "it's possible" to do and works just fine.

posted on February 6th, 2013, 3:20 pm

Ok, lets keep this discussion pertaining to any questions people may have about Future Tense.

It is conceivable that after the A1 release, FT will have a FleetOps version in the works. As others have mentioned, there should not be any major difficulties, aside from having to rework pretty much everything to make use of all the nifty FleetOps features

posted on February 6th, 2013, 7:31 pm

@Mr.Vulcan: Besides a FleetOps platform version for Future Tense, is there any plans to release it for A2 as well.

I'm just guessing, but it most likely would be less of a change required to port it to regular A2 than the Fleet Ops engine.

posted on February 6th, 2013, 10:21 pm

Unlikely that there would ever be an A2 mod. That kinda defeats the purpose of moving the mod to a better platform. A2 doesn't offer that big of an improvement over A1 in terms of modding. FleetOps is entirely a different matter, so definitely will be worth the trouble.

posted on February 7th, 2013, 4:29 am

Oh ok Mr. Vulcan, that's very sad for those who don't play FleetOps but still do play A2.

Lucky I'm playing both, I just don't want to have too many mods in my FleetOps Mod Directory, I already have 3 mods there, mine will be a fourth and its already filling up my Flash Drive I'm using for my FleetOps install because that makes it portable to almost any computer I have access to well carrying my A2 Disc.

That is why I was asking about it being for A2.

posted on February 7th, 2013, 7:59 am

If memory serves, Adam (Phantom) was never keen on Armada II from it's release, and hey he started the mod and he had no obligation to convert it. I agree that when A2 came out I was very skeptical as well, as in many ways it seemed a leap backwards (how they made the graphics look worse than Armada, especially given what modders have achieved on the same engine since, is quite beyond me)

posted on February 7th, 2013, 8:53 am

@SquireJames: I don't understand how anyone can hate A2, it's graphics are far better than A1 in my opinion, many things about A1 plainly sucked terribly. Graphics come to mind along with textures right away.

I personally thought A2 was a giant leap forward from the disgrace of A1 and its graphics. Certain mods for A2 have made the graphics for that game boarder line tremendous. True, FleetOps makes space look better for both games, but the Armada II Upgrade Project (Vanilla Ulitmate 2.0.0) are close to being as good, I think because of the Midnight Universe Mod that is though.


Space in A1 just looked plain old ugly and looks far better in A2 that it ever did in A1. Activison and MadDoc did a great job on A2.

Please post some pictures with graphics from A1 & A2 together and explain why A1's graphics are better, and then with the same pictures I'll try to explain what I mean. (Maybe best in a new thread though). Game for it?