[Released] Star Wars Fleet Operations Beta 2.0

posted on February 26th, 2013, 4:56 am

Got a little Teaser for y'all. This is my first video, so it is really just a test to show off my menu's.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/029ye9xsr0fjq ... aTease.wmv

posted on February 26th, 2013, 5:44 am

Saw that Star Trek Armada Mod using the same icon as FleetOps, is that regular Star Trek Armada I or something else?
If it is STA1, what did you do to get it working?

Do all those mods in your Mods Directory use STA2_Classic as a Parent Mod or are they all independent (Standalone)? If they are independent (Standalone), do you got any pointers that I can use with my STA2_Generational Mod?

Also do you know anything about Exception/Bug Report Files so I too can get a mod in the Mods Directory? I surely don't want to give up on adding my mod to FleetOps because no one will offer help when it comes to the bug reports, but that's most likely what's going to happen if I can't figure out those reports and I'm exhausting all possibilities and ideas I have.

****

Either way, your Star Wars mod is looking good from those pictures, wish they were in game though for some action but they have gotten me interested more in your Star Wars mod, hope you'll be releasing it when it's complete.

posted on February 26th, 2013, 5:57 am

The Armada mod was something I started but neverally really did work on. I just don't have the time, but I wish someone would make a completely Stock a1 mod using FO graphics. It was such a good simple game.

If you want to make a stand alone mod, it requires a lot of work, and I'd advise against it. Its pretty easy to write out all the races in FO. If you just have to make it stand alone, I would look at Blade's A2 classic mod as he does his that way.

As for bug reports, anything I can tell you is already in the guide. You can find the Checklist Here.



And yes, when the mod is finished, I will release it.

posted on February 26th, 2013, 7:19 am

@Adm. Zaxxon: I have that guide page saved on my iPad in the bookmarks and it hasn't helped me out with any of the bug reports I have, it's related to crashes that I'm not getting. The Bug/Crash Checklist wasn't doing the trick, if it was, I wouldn't be asking for help and have posted my bug reports now have? want to keep my FleetOps install and write out nothing.

I want FleetOps to stay compatible with everyone else's FleetOps that plays online. I am using Blade's STA2_Classic, and I copied that and then pasted it as a renamed mod, deleted its textures, ODF, SOD, Bitmaps (ShipImages), the tech1, GUI_Global.spr, Weapons.spr and other modded edited files I have and replaced them with mine.It is a waste of valuable hard drive space (logically) to keep/use the STA2_Classic mod as a parent for other mods, I've said this before, that is why I want to make my mod standalone. Has others even tried it? How can it be a lot of work when it should just be like modding regular stock A2, since looking at the ships, stations and weapons individually in STA2_Classic I've found them the same as stock, I honestly don't see why there is lots of work to make a standalone mod.

As for the original Armada game as a FleetOps mod, it won't work using the STA2_Classic Mod as a parent, tried that with my second attempt at it (see my thread "//www.fleetops.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=12118&start=45) and it crashed the moment I selected it in the Mods Directory well running FleetOps and I didn't get a bug report for that one. The first attemp gave me a bug report that I posted.

**(Any reply to this I think should go in the thread I linked to.)**

posted on February 26th, 2013, 1:31 pm

I'm sorry it isn't helpful to you. I'm afraid I can't help much more than what I have put into that list. That being said, please, let's try and keep this on topic.

posted on February 28th, 2013, 4:59 am

The Trailer is now available! Remember, I'm new to video making, so try to ignore the flaws.

Watch it now!

Note, you can read the text better if you download it.

Edit: Now that I think about it, the credits for this trailer aren't quite accurate, and I forgot to credit the FO team.... It isn't worth editing, so just consider these additions to the credits:

Enviroment/Engine - FO Team
Weapons - Starfox1701
Physics - Thundefoot

posted on February 28th, 2013, 6:13 am

Nice video, very interesting. I actually think I really want to try out your mod and add it to my FleetOps Mod Directory.

posted on February 28th, 2013, 10:18 am

nice video, does your mod have any way to get resources other than combat? maybe an avatar choice could include a way to get resources from the map.

i'd recommend using a more modern video format (eg avc) and perhaps a higher bitrate as wmv is a real pain to use. seeking in particular is a struggle. the file size may go up if you use a higher bitrate, but the text scroll will look way better, and the seeking will work. 20mb is pretty reasonable for over 4 mins of trailer. i'd accept larger with no problem.

posted on February 28th, 2013, 1:56 pm

To answer your first question, no not as of yet. If used properly fighters can be a nearly constant source of credits, but I decided against mining. I might add something like that in at a later date, but for now, I want to see how works.

And thanks for the advice on the video!

I'm not sure exactly how to do all that as I'm pretty out of my element. I am using camstudio and windows movie maker. I tried lowering the quality settings to reduce mouse lag in cam studio, but both programs are limited and have a lot if problems. Cam studio would have errors and refuse to save a video if it was longer than a few minutes, and wmm would freeze randomly. Im really lucky wmm has autosave...

posted on February 28th, 2013, 2:05 pm

Have you tried Fraps? It tends to gnarf up the framerate a little when I use it, but I expect that is normal. After all, you are asking a program to record video and audio whilst running a game. Tis quite system intensive.

posted on February 28th, 2013, 3:24 pm

Well intensive isn't an issue, but fraps cost money and I dont want to pay for it, pirate it, or use the free one with the watermark, so I am kinda limited in my options.

posted on February 28th, 2013, 4:30 pm

about camstudio, try using a simpler codec during recording. what codec are you using now? if the camstudio lossless is lagging, then switch to microsoft video 1, the raw video will be huge (save to a faster disk if possible), but it won't take much resources.

once camstudio gives you a playable video file, use handbrake to compress it. *

the profile you want is high profile, not normal. handbrake will then spit out an mp4 (containing AVC video) file, which is better in many ways. AVC will outperform WMV at the same bitrate. so if you want to get the file size smaller than the WMV file, go to the video tab in handbrake and switch to a target bitrate method instead of constant quality, then set the bitrate as the same as what the WMV file used.

the only reason M$ forces WMM to use that archaic format of WMV is because it belongs to them and they control it. they don't want to admit that AVC is better than WMV. almost everyone else has figured it out, your smartphone very possibly has AVC hardware support.

*I suggest handbrake because it's easy to use and reliable. many other programs exist to compress to AVC. eg avidemux.

posted on February 28th, 2013, 5:50 pm

Thanks for the info! In the past, I have used Nvidia's CUDA video converter to do that kind of thing because it is made to work with my GPU, but if it can't do what you suggest then I will definitely try out handbrake.


Also, I am considering adding another resource to the game like you suggest. I think it would add depth, but I'm not quite sure what it would be or how it would work. I could probably just call it "Raw Materials" or maybe "Fuel" but I'm not sure, since I have never been that into the depths of SW EU, if there is something more specific to star wars that would be better. ST has dilithium, bsg has tylium, but what does SW have?

I have ships I could use for mining, and could simply allow them to mine anything, and/or have ships leave behind some of the resource when they blow up, and then have that resource be used directly for fighters and be sold for credits...etc. In any case, I want to keep away from being too much like a2. I won't have construction ships, I wont have mining stations(buildable) and I don't want to micro special weapons alot. The only counters in my game are hard, and they involve buying specific ships for specific purposes. At the moment, the only "special" weapons I have are the ISD's passive ion cannon, and the bombers bombs. This might all change, if I get good feedback, but for now, this is the way it is.

posted on February 28th, 2013, 6:18 pm

what does SW have?

bad writing?

honestly, i can't stand star wars films, never watched them. i only played republic commando for the gameplay, i really don't have a clue what any of the characters were saying. it was usually pretty obvious who to shoot, robots and pig things. i fired at the wookie yeti things a couple times before i realised i was on their side.

posted on February 28th, 2013, 6:49 pm

Haha, true. And RC was a great game. But you should really watch the movies, just for the experance. Even if you really hate it afterwards.