do old mods still work?

posted on March 1st, 2013, 3:01 am

Sorry for the odd question, and sorry again if already answered. I tried my best looking through the billions of posts but couldn't find anything more specific to my inquiry.

The Dilemma: This is more choice as I'm sure some people are put off by having god-ships .... but I want the Scimitar implimented in my game, as so far my only choice of getting Armada 2 to work is installing Fleet Ops... (Win 7 64bit, the black main screen problem) ... soooo I saw Fleet Ops + Classic A2 mod should help go back to the main campaign yes? All original races etc? 0.o Anyways...

So providing all above is true, STA2 Classic Mod, but now for the question::

The Question: Do I need to do anything additional to install ClaesStefan's Scimitar 1.1 mod for the original A2 game with Fleet Ops 3.2.7 + STA2 Classic ?

i.e. can I install it like normal in the A2 folder, run FO and everything will work normally? Orr... do I need to edit the Scimitar files to add it to FO-A2Classic?

EDIT** Just realized, or is it that I can install it normally into the STA2 Classic "mod" and load it up from FO like normal if I were to play STA2 Classic skirmishes/campaign/whatever?

Thank you in advance for any help you can give ^_^

-LordV

posted on March 1st, 2013, 3:35 am

I don't know, fully if modding the STA2_Classic Mod is really like modding regular stock Star Trek Armada II, but I can tell you this, I have w Windows 7 64-bit laptop and both stock Star Trek Armada II and FleetOps runs just fine. The only way to get stock A2 to work with Windows Vista and Windows 7 is to install the Patch Project 1.2.5 Patch or you'll have problems getting the game to work. In fact there is still a large group of people playing the original 1.1 version of A2 using the Patch Project 1.2.5 Patch online.

http://armada2.filefront.com/file/Star_Trek_Armada_II_Patch_Project_EXE;85981

Using that patch, you'll be able to add the Scimitar you want to stock Armada II and the game will work just fine for you. You don't have to use the STA2_Classic Mod and create a Mods Directory inside FleetOps to get it to work. But if you're all so set on it, you'll want to know this:
http://guide.fleetops.net/guide/modding/directory
http://guide.fleetops.net/guide/modding/tutorials/convert-from-a2
http://guide.fleetops.net/guide/modding/misc/guidelines

If you're interested in any mods for a mods directory within FleetOps that already has the Scimitar (hero and Buildable) with both the Romulans and also the Remans, you might just be interested in my STA2_Generational Mod, it has two versions when it's complete, one for the stock version of Armada II and one for the FleetOps Mods Directory.

posted on March 1st, 2013, 3:42 am

yeah still don't work for me. I had 1.1 and 1.2.5, tried compatability with XP sp 3, vista sp2, 98, no compatability, none works. Tried resizing screen size, nothing seems to work.

Thanks for the guides, and the other 2 mods, will have to look at those but just wanting simple A2 with scimitar again.

EDIT** Right now trying to see if I can go through all the files from the scimitar mod and comparing them to the STA2 Classic files to see if I can just integrade them. Wish I could find the original file (not the auto installer) where he explains every file you need to edit >.> Claestefan or something/someone like that? Would make it a little easier. I'll let ya know if it works when I'm done ^_^

posted on March 1st, 2013, 4:00 am

What graphics card are you using? You may want to check out this page http://guide.fleetops.net/guide/faq/tec ... 500-Series

posted on March 1st, 2013, 4:56 am

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 x2 (and yes drivers are up to date, including the Catalyst downloads)

The problem isn't the graphics card I'm pretty sure of it... When I had Vista, there was the same black screen problem, but found a way to get it to work before I just can't remember worth a darn.. :\

Either way I don't think it'll be a problem. Using FleetOps > STA2 Classic mod seems to work just fine for me and I'm almost finished adding the Scimitar. Seems I can just install it normally as I would the default ST A2 but I'm combining some other files that weren't included with the mod, but were included with other scimitar mods (like the scimitar and valdores hero ships) ^_^

I'm just happy I get to play my beloved game again. Thank you guys (and also took a peek at your FO conversion.... I was stunned lol. Looked like a brand new 2012+ game. Keep up the good work!

posted on March 1st, 2013, 6:31 am

addings ships and weapons should b pretty much same as stock a2 its the more complex stuff like races and tc were it gets trcky

posted on March 1st, 2013, 6:38 am

Hmm, can you help me with something then? I'm not getting any textures with the scimitar (its all white, including the build buttons) and the theleron beam don't want to work, or the 'phasers'. I'm using this version:
http://armada2.filefront.com/file/Scimitar_Class;9838

I install it as I would the STA2 directory (only I focused on STA2 Classic in the mods folder. I can build the ship, and it fires torpedos and cloaks that's about it. That's weird. And I can't test on normal STA2 because its being a dildo. :p

If you need screenshots I can provide.

posted on March 1st, 2013, 6:47 am

make sure the textures are in the textures folder and not textures->rgb

posted on March 1st, 2013, 6:49 am

@Lordvalinar: You didn't put the textures into the RGB folder did you? Ignore that folder in the STA2_Classic Mod.

****

@Blade: I can't believe you just told him some information that you failed to tell me about the STA2_Classic Mod especially when you should have read from my other posts in my thread about mods using the STA2_Classic Mod or even use it as a base for a standalone mod //www.fleetops.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=194577#p194577. Like I said, I mentioned I'm adding more races, yet you've failed to mention anything about it being difficult to add new races. Don't you think that bit of information would have and should have been very important? I'm really disappointed that you failed to mention something as important as that. it would have been nice if you did.

Ok now I'm really wondering what other information you've been holding back from me Blade. What else do I need to know to make my mod a standalone mod?

posted on March 1st, 2013, 6:52 am

errrr thought the mod conversion guide thing covered new races and tc the main difficulties is the gui really as there are features added from fo and stuff like that other stuff should be same as a2

im slowly getting back into modding so things are slowly coming back

posted on March 1st, 2013, 7:16 am

Lol you two are funny but yes I put it in the RGB (because that's what the installation said) ..... so okay. I'm going to try this again, but put them only in textures (not rgb) ^_^ Round 2... FIGHT!

EDIT** Okay success on the textures. The ship is indeed showing up in build list, textures, firing torpedoes and the 'phaser' things... okay.. now just trying to get the theleron cloak and beam to work... getting there!!!!! ^_^ most likely will be affected in either the rscimitar.odf, one of the tech tree files, or something.... I'll start there.

posted on March 1st, 2013, 7:56 am

@Blade: The FleetOps Guide doesn't have much information when it comes to creating a mod for the Mods Directory. They pretty much have a small section for modding that just pretty much gives some steps in using your STA2_Classic Mod and offers no options or ideas for those that don't want to or can't use your mod as a parent with certain files modded such as the label.map file which it says to delete, well there goes adding new missions and not using the tutorials because if you have to delete that file and rely on the STA2_Classic Mods file, then you're pretty much forced to use the stock mission names even if you don't want to. That's one flaw.

Flaw number two is that in the STA2_Classic Mod, the glows.spr file in the sprites directly is deleted so I'm guessing its using the FleetOps glows.spr file? Well that's bad for mods that need that file edited.
One comes to mind, a StarGate ZPM http://armada2.filefront.com/file/ZPM;71649 because it was used in my mini-StarGate & Star Wars Mod that was actually preventing my FleetOps executable from launching until I removed it from my mods directory, and it needed that glows.spr file not just fir the ZPM but ither StarGate ships as well.
Also for that mod, I had also renamed the missions in that mod to be more Star Wars like and that worked just fine in stick A2 all until I tried using the STA2_Classic Mod as a parent mod choosing to test that idea out to see if it was plausible to use it as a parent mod for STA2_Generational and I found out it wasn't, another reason why I need my mod to be a standalone mod.

Once you take alook at other mods and certain modded files that some people use, certain deletions don't become so plausible even if they are deleted because of a different file and glowing effects inside FleetOps itself.

Another flaw also sounds like a guide mistake:
It says not to link a file to itself in one section of the guide and then in converting stock mods and using the STA2_Classic Mod as a parent it tells you to do the opposite...

From: http://guide.fleetops.net/guide/modding/tutorials/convert-from-a2

Code: Select all

3) Delete the modification's label.map file.

4) In the misc folder for the modification, open gui_interface.cfg and add this to the top of the page:

#include "gui_interface.cfg" //This way it includes the Armada II entries, in addition to the necessary Fleet Operations entries

5) Now find gui_glob16X12.cfg in the same folder and place this on top of its page:

#include "gui_glob16x12.cfg" //This way it includes the Armada II entries, in addition to the necessary Fleet Operations entries

Here's something else from this page: (http://guide.fleetops.net/guide/modding/modmodules/settings)

Code: Select all

Module Settings

Module Settings
Table of Contents
How to Create or Edit the info.ini File
Structure of the info.ini File
Name
Description
Author
Website
Email
Version
Screenshot
Icon
Standalone
ParentMod
ignoreParentMaps
AssetVersion
For each modification that is created, additional settings can be configured through the info.ini file. When creating a new empty modification folder, this file of course does not yet exist. Though optional, it is recommended to create such a file.

How to Create or Edit the info.ini File
.ini files can be created and edited with Windows Notepad by specifying the .ini extension when saving.

Note that the settings vary from how you edit an ODF. There are no quotation marks for strings.

Structure of the info.ini File
The info.ini file always begins with a section header. This basically defines that the values following it are settings to define options for your modification.

[mod]

Name
The name of your mod. This will appear in the mod options screen and in the window title bar and as a title for a desktop shortcut. If not specified, this will revert to the name of the folder of the modification.

Name=My awesome mod

Description
A description of your mod, which will appear in the mod options screen and as a description on a desktop shortcut.

Description=A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away...

Author
Your name. This will appear in the mod options screen.

Author=Wesley Crusher

Website
The website of your mod. This will appear in the mod options screen and opens when you click on the Version label on the main screen. If Website is left blank, version number will link to fleetops.net

Website=http://www.mymod.abc/

Email
Your email. This is not being used yet.

Email=wesley@mymod.abc

Version
The version of your mod. Shown on the main screen and in the mod options screen.

Version=1.0

Screenshot
This will appear in the mod options screen. A 180x135 PNG file is recommended.

Screenshot=mymodlogo.png

Icon
An icon file (.ico) that represents your mod. This is used on the window title, desktop shortcut and modification settings. If no file is defined here, the default Fleet Operations icon is used.

Note that an invalid icon file may cause issues with loading.

Icon=mymod.ico

Standalone
Defines if your mod is a total conversion. If this is set to 1, your mod doesn't include files from a parent mod or Fleet Operations.

Standalone=0

ParentMod
Defines the parent mod folder name your mod is based on. If this is left empty, then Fleet Operations is the parent mod. This is ignored if Standalone is set to 1.

ParentMod=othermod

Note that this command can be used to chain modifications together: provided each modification has its parent listed in an info.ini file, the furthest removed child will use the files from each of these parent modifications:

C - Cool Explosions mod (Sub-mod for Best New Faction mod: ParentMod=BestNewFactionMod) (ODFs in Archive)

textures\awesome_ship_explosion.tga
textures\awesome_newrace_ship_explosion.tga

B - Best New Faction mod (Sub-mod for Awesome mod: ParentMod=AwesomeMod) (unpacked ODFs)

odf\system\races.odf
odf\system\awesome_newrace_ship.odf
textures\awesome_newrace_ship.tga
textures\awesome_newrace_ship_explosion.tga

A - Awesome mod (Total conversion) (ODFs in Archive)

odf\system\races.odf
odf\system\awesome_ship.odf
textures\awesome_ship.tga
textures\awesome_ship_explosion.tga

When C - Cool Explosions mod is loaded up it will have:

odf\system\races.odf (B mod)
odf\system\awesome_ship.odf (A mod)
odf\system\awesome_newrace_ship.odf (B mod)
textures\awesome_ship.tga (A mod)
textures\awesome_ship_explosion.tga (overwritten by C mod file)
textures\awesome_newrace_ship.tga (B mod)
textures\awesome_newrace_ship_explosion.tga (overwritten by C mod file)

ignoreParentMaps
If your mod modifies map objects heavily, which makes it impossible to use or play on the parent's mod maps, then this can be used to only use and display the maps that come with your mod.

ignoreParentMaps=1

AssetVersion
This is quite an important setting and defines the Fleet Operations version your mod has been designed for. If a lot of ODF commands get changed in a newer version of Fleet Operations and your mod still is based on an older version, a warning dialog is displayed to the user when trying to launch your mod (which can also be skipped) that there may be incompatibilities.

The AssetVersion number is derived from the current Fleet Operations version. For example if the version of Fleet Operations is 3.2.5, then the AssetVersion is 30205.

This doesn't mean that if your mod is still at AssetVersion 30205 and Fleet Operations is at 3.2.6, with asset version 30206, that your mod is automatically considered out of date. This only applies if there are major changes to the ODF commands that may require an update to your mod.

AssetVersion=3020

Pretty much there isn't much in the guide to help. I've bookmarked every important page in the guide for this on my iPad for quick and easy reference but there isn't much to go by.

posted on March 1st, 2013, 8:03 am

Okay found what was wrong. Says it uses 1000 special energy (which in the rscimitar.odf file 1000 is the max... hence 100%... I was at 92% that's why I couldn't use it haha)

Well gentlemen I thank you VERY MUCH for your help, guides, advice, and such. Now that I have a working STA2 Classic with my beloved Scimitar, I can finally make my special campaign I always wanted to do with it ^_^ You all rock, g'night its 2am and time to sleep lol