posted on August 22nd, 2010, 5:07 am
Here are some more major errors that I have been exsperiencing in my Star Trek Armada II game. Many of these errors are interfering with other aspects of the game especially the one that is involving the Trading Stations of all the races in the game, not just the Stock Races but the Races that I've added also. I hope someone can offer me some help with these issues because they are making the project/mod harder and also causing a major headache.
******Here are the Problems******
Problem One:
Trading Station Error For All Races
This type of problem happened before and because no one at Armada2Files or File Front would help me out and also didn’t even let me explain what I notice happening in the game, I ended up being forced to uninstall and reinstall my game and to start the whole mod/project all over again and since it was for my college Game Design class, it really set me back a lot and as such is something I actually can’t do again.
Alright, here is the problem that is happening with the Trading Stations (Last time I experienced this, it started the moment I added the first Part of the Dominion Ultimate Mods by STGamerNew2002, so I installed the rest of that mods serious (the patches) and the crash continued, with no helping after bringing this problem to the Armada 2 Communities attention at Armada2Files/File Front, I ended up having no choice but to uninstall the game and then reinstall it including all the patches and start all over again on the project. I did get in trouble for having to start over and Professor Parker was also disappointed that the A2 Community showed no helpfulness in solving that error, there actually was only one person named Toto that said that after my mod was complete to send him the completed game and he’d fix all the crashing errors that I was telling him about well corresponding through e-mail because even though he never told me the problem exactly, he told me that they were all easily fixable including the Trading Station problem so I said if it ever happened again after the whole mod was done I’d send it to him. Toto, happens to be the creator of one of the mods I’m using in my game, the Transphasic Torpedo that I choose over all the others). Because this crashing error is so easy to solve and even though I’ve gone through all the ODF files (because that’s what was replaced when the problem started), I can’t find it and even with all the ODF’s being backed up and restored to their originals, the game still crashes.
This time though, the crashing problem involving the Trading Stations didn’t start with any of the Dominion Ultimate mods, but I was playing as the Dominion when it first happened. This was the day that I actually fixed the problem with the new Dominion Starbase crashing the game (the base taken from Fleet Ops) but I will not blame Fleet Ops because they aren’t connected and I know this because a few days prior to adding the Fleet Ops additions to my mod, I added a mod that armed the Research Stations and Trading Stations of all the stock races, I believe the mod was called “Armada II Improvement Mod”. In this mod (or one I got at the same time) all the nebulas were modded by the creator to be able to allow stations to be built in them, I only added the build code into the nebulas that weren’t dangerous to be in or near (the mods creator actually had it set to build in these). Since the Research and Trading Stations were armed in this mod, I edited my mod’s corresponding stations with the exact same weapons. After that, I proceed to test the changes in the Federation Campaign, the second mission where the Trading Stations are featured and the game crashed even before it fully loaded. I figured that it had something to do with the nebulas and building so I restored those files but the crash still continued. After trying for a while to fix it I decided to play the first campaign mission and the game didn’t crash when I built the first Research Station so I assumed that wasn’t the problem with the second campaign mission crashing and thus the Trading Station was alright armed (found out later that neither the Research Stations or the Trading Stations will fire their weapons).
Well after giving up for awhile with that error and turning my attention to the Dominion and the additions from Fleet Ops, I started that part of the mods planned project so I’d at least stay on schedule. Once the problems with the Dominion Starbase was fixed, I went and played as the Dominion then after the Trading Station was fully build and the game crashed, I replaced the station with the Cardassian version (as an exchange of technology since they were once allies since I thought maybe the ODF file for the Dominion Trading Station was at fault. This was the wrong course of thinking because the crash happened again. So I finally decided to test the problem in the Map Editor in a map that I made for such testing moments titled “Battle Test” (this mad is just an empty map with nothing). I added the Trading Stations of all the races in the game and switched over by using the “CTRL-A” method and the game didn’t crash but then I found out that the Trading Stations for all the races are missing their button that activates their Trade Menus. These buttons were there well adding the Dominion Additions well using Fleet Operations but then when the Trading Stations were activated, that’s when they crashed both the Dominion and Cardassian versions. Now their buttons totally don’t show up and I believe that is what is causing the crashing problem in both the Campaign on loading for Campaign 2 for the Federation (along when the Trading Stations are attempted to be built in the later campaigns) and also in any Instant Action game. For this error I would also like to add that well the Trading Stations didn’t crash the game in the Map Editor, they did at least allow me to see that their Trade Button was missing, well the same button combination that allows you to start trading using the Cargo Ships is also missing but since they can only be built with an active Trading Station, I only found this out through the Map Editor too.
Now that I’ve reported the error in its entirety, I am hoping that someone here might know a fix for it to actually fix it and get the game to play right when the Trading Stations are built and will also allow the second Federation Campaign Mission actually load. If anyone wishes, I can post pictures of what are missing from both the Trading Stations and Cargo ships of all the races in the game.
Probem Two:
***Non-Playable vs. Playable***
There has been something aching me for a long time when it comes to making a race in Star Trek Armada II Playable or Non-Playable, namely the Non-Playable races. I have made Species 8472 Non-Playable but whenever I select their race to add units to a map, the game then crashes. Species 8472 isn’t modded because there aren’t many good mods for them (there just aren’t many people creating mods for them) and this means they are still as weak as they were in the Stock version of the game. I have a few mods for them that will add some ships and also changes their textures but compared to the other races, their additions is about 2-3 total, its just not enough to stand up to the other races already in the game and that I’ve added. Now that Species 8472 is set to Non-Playable, the game crashes as I stated when selecting their units for the maps in the Map Editor and I fear that they also might be causing some of the Campaign Missions to crash when they are part of the map. I guess what my question is: “Is how do I make a race Non-Playable by the human player and remove them from being in the selection menu for Instant Action but still make it possible for their units to be added to the map and to also not crash any of the campaign missions?” What I did to make them Non-Playable now was to make them set to -1 in their Race File and totally removed them from their Races.odf file. Could I by any chance give them a higher number that 13 (what I know is the total number of playable races you can have in the game), will they work then? Or does an ODF file like the one used for the Ferengi needed to be created? How would doing something like that affect the game because right now, this is what my Armada II Race.odf file looks like:
numberOfRaces = 11
race0 = "borg.odf"
race1 = "fed.odf"
race2 = "kling.odf"
race3 = "rom.odf"
race4 = "card.odf"
//race5 = "species8472.odf"
race5 = "tholian.odf"
race6 = "reman.odf"
// this for a certain reman special weapon
race7 = "terran.odf"
race8 = "vulcan.odf"
race9 = "dominion.odf"
// this one is 'uninhabited' for planets
race10 = "norace.odf"
As you can see, there are some Non-Playable Units already especially one that came with the Reman Rebellion Full Race Mod (The Remans), the weapon is number Race 7 on this list and it gates in Terran Empire Ships (there are also ships I want to add to that weapon that are Terran in origin that I’ve found here that because they have the Terran symbol on their hull they don’t rightfully fit with the Federation.) I do have the Breen in my game, but they are added to the Dominion (almost all of their ships from the Dominion Ultimate Mod (Dominion Ultimate 1.2 The Breen) but they won’t use their Breen sounds and I’m still trying to figure out how to get them to include the Breen sounds, the Breen Race Icon and all the other things that distinguish them as their own race. The following are races that I want to create (they’ll be like the Ferengi in the Stock Armada II game as they won’t be playable but they will actually work on the map without crashing the game. These races are:
1) The Suliban
2) The Xindi
3) The Son’a
4) The Gorn
5) A few Races from the Delta Quadrant (not the Borg) combined into one race – “Delta.odf”
On behalf of the races named above, I have a few additions for the Non-Playable Ferengi but even though I’ve added them to be only added to the game through the Map Editor, once they hit the map, they actually crash the game and I don’t know why that is the case. My goal with the Ferengi is to actually make them attack back if attacked and to also have their own on map base. Since the Ferengi don’t appear in the Race.odf file I figure that this should be allowed and also that the other races that I want to add should have the same effect, I just want them to be there for defending their space, for a small alliance in my soon to be created campaign (a fourth campaign by getting rid of the tutorials).
Of the races listed above though, I might add the Gorn as their own playable race, the Son’a (because I found a mod that will turn a few ships into a race, meaning I found a race for them) and then of course I was thinking about incorporating the Metathran Race from “Star Trek Armada 2: Art Of War (Part 2): Holy Wars by Achilles AKA WrathofAchilles”.
Doing this when completed should fill up the Races file with 13 Playable Races because the other Non-Playable races I would like to make treated like the Ferengi. That’s why I’m wondering do I have to create an ODF file like the one titled Fer.odf for those races and Species 8472 to actually make them work in the game?
***Increased Shield/HitPoint Values***
The change above has been made because Species 8472 in Star Trek Armada II don’t act like Species 8472 that we saw in Star Trek Voyager because in Voyager they were actually able to resist the Borg and then worse in Star Trek Armada II, the Borg don’t even act like they are really Borg. All these things I’ve been trying to change. So with the Borg, the Breen, and the Dominion, I increased their shield/hit point values and then all of a sudden the game has always crashed whenever these “stronger” ships are attacked or about to be destroyed. How can I change this so that this is not the case?
***Point Behind the Mod***
I know wanting to increase the shield/HitPoint Values will make the game in a way unbalanced but balanced isn’t really the point of this mod, the point or aspect of this mod is to create a game using Star Trek Armada II, Vanilla Ultimate, with the Patch Project 1.2.5 Patch… if possible, and a combination of different mods and full races to try and bring as much as possible all of the races seen on screen Star Trek. Star Trek Armada II: The Ultimate All Races Mod is about all the races, a brutal fourth campaign war that will feature almost all the traditional Star Trek races with surprises in each mission to come through hidden alliances. The ultimate goal is to create a game that could be considered a whole new game using an existing games platform because by now it has to be sadly clear that there isn’t going to be a Star Trek Armada III and thus its up to the modders in the community to challenge themselves into creating fair contenders to the aspect of a fan created Star Trek Armada II. That is the goal of this mod.
. I'd suggest contacting the actual modders on this site for more useful information 
Read-Me For jetnova16's' Star Trek Armada II Ultimate All Races Modification.txt
