Current Project Status

posted on December 19th, 2016, 7:18 pm

Wow it's been a long time since I posted here...

So how's coding coming along with project NX? I noticed you guys talking about using a new proprietary engine, but it's sounding like it's about as well-suited for the task as an MMO engine is suited to an FPS game. Do you have playable internal builds yet, or is engine development not nearly that far advanced?

posted on December 19th, 2016, 11:21 pm

Sorry Megaman3321 this dev team don't like people asking for info nor do they like give ANYTHING in turn of info/update to the community.

Find a new mod you like if you would like info/updates.

posted on December 20th, 2016, 11:14 am

Wow it's been a long time since I posted here...

So how's coding coming along with project NX? I noticed you guys talking about using a new proprietary engine, but it's sounding like it's about as well-suited for the task as an MMO engine is suited to an FPS game. Do you have playable internal builds yet, or is engine development not nearly that far advanced?

Welcome back

We have the core systems working. Things like ship physics, networking, teams, lobby, resources, ship/station construction, ship avoidance, yard docking, ship repair, ship ai, game menus etc, a lot more. These are mostly in a final state. However i am certain many still require tweaking here and there. We haven't built a system for ship/station/weapon upgrades yet, while the modules are already prepared to accept these. There are other crucial things that aren't done yet like player ai. Our current task is to look into the graphics engine now. After that, we hopefully can show the first screenshots of the game. The last month or so we haven't had the time to work much on FO, since we are mostly busy with other real life stuff. That will change in the new year i hope. However, it is still a long way to go for FONX.

Sorry Megaman3321 this dev team don't like people asking for info nor do they like give ANYTHING in turn of info/update to the community.

Find a new mod you like if you would like info/updates.

You are such a troll. I wonder why you still bother coming here if you have already given up on FO and seemingly have so much fun following other games or mod's development.

And yea, as i have said before and before. Why should we bother with hyping FONX. Other projects did that with almost weekly updates and fancy screenshots. And many of these projects later get canceled, since they never got their game ready. Instead we put the energy writing walls of text or just producing fancy screenshots into building the not-so-fun and not-so-exciting game core systems. And when we are confident with these, and the project and team is ready for it, we'd like to have the community to be involved and fully updated about development again.

posted on December 20th, 2016, 5:26 pm

Well i was asking for a mini update and you just gave one so there we go all good.

And there only 2 good Armada mods out there yours and Armada 3 and Armada 3 give much more info then you do is all but there done there mod now so.

One day lets hope yours is done and your more open to the community as time goes on.

Would be nice to have a new project current progress page so we can see how the mod coming along but this ok if not if we get updates every month or 2 or something and not hear nothing for over 1 year.

After all you release this mod to the public and as with all mods/game the public/community this game has made like some updates not for you to say nothing for over 1 year.

Saying it done when it done we telling you fuck all for over 1 year is not really best way to go but hey that just what i think (I don't know)

But thanks for letting us know what been done what you trying to work on next good to know something been done.

I live it hope that we may say FONX next year end next year but i sure hope it with in 2 years sometime

posted on December 22nd, 2016, 9:27 pm

And there only 2 good Armada mods out there yours and Armada 3 and Armada 3 give much more info then you do is all but there done there mod now so.

I feel the need to defend the Fleet Ops devs on this one. Having checked out the Armada 3 mod recently, I can say that project isn't half as ambitious as FONX. Yes, they introduced new models and new game balance, but they didn't do anything to improve the underlying game engine the way Fleet Operations has consistently since its inception.

Just hearing that the netcode is complete is very encouraging, and represents many hours of hard work. A good finished product is worth the wait, and most of the tension surrounding the project is simply from mismatched expectations.

After all, I'm sure the devs could write a long-winded explanation of the inner workings of UDP, but we might not get it.

posted on December 22nd, 2016, 9:56 pm

Wow it's been a long time since I posted here...

So how's coding coming along with project NX? I noticed you guys talking about using a new proprietary engine, but it's sounding like it's about as well-suited for the task as an MMO engine is suited to an FPS game. Do you have playable internal builds yet, or is engine development not nearly that far advanced?

Welcome back

We have the core systems working. Things like ship physics, networking, teams, lobby, resources, ship/station construction, ship avoidance, yard docking, ship repair, ship ai, game menus etc, a lot more. These are mostly in a final state. However i am certain many still require tweaking here and there. We haven't built a system for ship/station/weapon upgrades yet, while the modules are already prepared to accept these. There are other crucial things that aren't done yet like player ai. Our current task is to look into the graphics engine now. After that, we hopefully can show the first screenshots of the game. The last month or so we haven't had the time to work much on FO, since we are mostly busy with other real life stuff. That will change in the new year i hope. However, it is still a long way to go for FONX.

Sorry Megaman3321 this dev team don't like people asking for info nor do they like give ANYTHING in turn of info/update to the community.

Find a new mod you like if you would like info/updates.

You are such a troll. I wonder why you still bother coming here if you have already given up on FO and seemingly have so much fun following other games or mod's development.

And yea, as i have said before and before. Why should we bother with hyping FONX. Other projects did that with almost weekly updates and fancy screenshots. And many of these projects later get canceled, since they never got their game ready. Instead we put the energy writing walls of text or just producing fancy screenshots into building the not-so-fun and not-so-exciting game core systems. And when we are confident with these, and the project and team is ready for it, we'd like to have the community to be involved and fully updated about development again.

I'm glad you've chosen to spend your time well, then. You guys don't really need to do much hyping; everyone I've talked to who was really into FO way back when 3.2.7 was released is pretty much waiting with baited breath for NX to finally release with something playable. You mentioned getting player AI working, what do you mean by that? automated turrets? I'm a little confused by that, since you mentioned you had ship AI behavior finished. Is ship behavior going to remain fairly similar to how it was in stock A2 and FO, with ships automatically targeting the "weakest" (i.e., lowest hitpoint) ship within weapons range?

posted on December 22nd, 2016, 11:10 pm

I assume what they mean by player AI is for the computer to be able to act as an opponent; as opposed to ship AI, which would be used to determine how individual ships react to various situations (performing orders, reacting to things when idle, and so on).

I took a look at the Armada III mod as well, but just couldn't get enthused about it. Probably more to do with the fact that it's based on the Sins of a Solar Empire engine as anything else; it's a game I've tried several times to get into, but never could. As a more modern game, I doubt the engine would need as much massaging as A2 did, but from what I can gather the A3 team did push it about as hard as they could go (to the point where you need to run a tool to make the main game executable Large Address Aware to get good results).

Finally, I know I've been a bit salty to the devs on communication before, but more because I am very interested in what kinds of thoughts and assumptions are being baked into the game during the early part of the development process.

posted on January 4th, 2017, 4:57 pm

Wow it's been a long time since I posted here...

So how's coding coming along with project NX? I noticed you guys talking about using a new proprietary engine, but it's sounding like it's about as well-suited for the task as an MMO engine is suited to an FPS game. Do you have playable internal builds yet, or is engine development not nearly that far advanced?

Welcome back

We have the core systems working. Things like ship physics, networking, teams, lobby, resources, ship/station construction, ship avoidance, yard docking, ship repair, ship ai, game menus etc, a lot more. These are mostly in a final state. However i am certain many still require tweaking here and there. We haven't built a system for ship/station/weapon upgrades yet, while the modules are already prepared to accept these. There are other crucial things that aren't done yet like player ai. Our current task is to look into the graphics engine now. After that, we hopefully can show the first screenshots of the game. The last month or so we haven't had the time to work much on FO, since we are mostly busy with other real life stuff. That will change in the new year i hope. However, it is still a long way to go for FONX.

Sorry Megaman3321 this dev team don't like people asking for info nor do they like give ANYTHING in turn of info/update to the community.

Find a new mod you like if you would like info/updates.

You are such a troll. I wonder why you still bother coming here if you have already given up on FO and seemingly have so much fun following other games or mod's development.

And yea, as i have said before and before. Why should we bother with hyping FONX. Other projects did that with almost weekly updates and fancy screenshots. And many of these projects later get canceled, since they never got their game ready. Instead we put the energy writing walls of text or just producing fancy screenshots into building the not-so-fun and not-so-exciting game core systems. And when we are confident with these, and the project and team is ready for it, we'd like to have the community to be involved and fully updated about development again.

Hey COLA,
Long time I have been away. Had to re-registar due to email change but I have been here since the early days of FO. Been so darn busy over the past few years. Moved to another state and been working at my new job has taken a lot of time away from me. Anyways, great to here that the NX project is getting near the end. Keep it up guys! Looking forward to the newer GFX changes as well. Just a quick question DC, is the NX engine going to be DX10, or 11/12? I think I remember the NX engine was going to be DX 9.0c but I think that is the current 3.0 release. Just curious as I have been away for a while. Thanks for any info!

posted on January 9th, 2017, 6:00 pm

Just hearing that the netcode is complete is very encouraging, and represents many hours of hard work. A good finished product is worth the wait, and most of the tension surrounding the project is simply from mismatched expectations.

After all, I'm sure the devs could write a long-winded explanation of the inner workings of UDP, but we might not get it.

Networking was basically one of the first things that went into NX since the whole game needed to be built around that. We've achieved this goal early on. Will be interesting to see how networking perform under various conditions later. So far there were only lan tests with multiple players and simulated bad network connections. It still needs a lot of testing though.

I assume what they mean by player AI is for the computer to be able to act as an opponent; as opposed to ship AI, which would be used to determine how individual ships react to various situations (performing orders, reacting to things when idle, and so on).

Exactly. Work on actual player AI hasn't begun yet. Player AI is your computer opponent or ally that builds bases/ships. Decides how to attack enemies or defend their own base/assets. And will also decide how to utilize special weapons on ships etc. We have some interesting things planned with AI. Looking forward to see how that will work out. Optec has a lot of planned in that department.

Hey COLA,
Long time I have been away. Had to re-registar due to email change but I have been here since the early days of FO. Been so darn busy over the past few years. Moved to another state and been working at my new job has taken a lot of time away from me. Anyways, great to here that the NX project is getting near the end. Keep it up guys! Looking forward to the newer GFX changes as well. Just a quick question DC, is the NX engine going to be DX10, or 11/12? I think I remember the NX engine was going to be DX 9.0c but I think that is the current 3.0 release. Just curious as I have been away for a while. Thanks for any info!

Welcome back If you want to have your old account back, you can contact me via email or PM.
Yes. There is an incomplete Direct3D 9 implementation in 3.2.7 which can be activated through the config file. But i do advise against to use it, since i remember it still having some severe bugs. Work on that sadly never completed before we had decided to cancel future development on the A2 version.
NX is currently using Direct3D 11.

posted on January 10th, 2017, 10:35 pm

Just hearing that the netcode is complete is very encouraging, and represents many hours of hard work. A good finished product is worth the wait, and most of the tension surrounding the project is simply from mismatched expectations.

After all, I'm sure the devs could write a long-winded explanation of the inner workings of UDP, but we might not get it.

Networking was basically one of the first things that went into NX since the whole game needed to be built around that. We've achieved this goal early on. Will be interesting to see how networking perform under various conditions later. So far there were only lan tests with multiple players and simulated bad network connections. It still needs a lot of testing though.

I assume what they mean by player AI is for the computer to be able to act as an opponent; as opposed to ship AI, which would be used to determine how individual ships react to various situations (performing orders, reacting to things when idle, and so on).

Exactly. Work on actual player AI hasn't begun yet. Player AI is your computer opponent or ally that builds bases/ships. Decides how to attack enemies or defend their own base/assets. And will also decide how to utilize special weapons on ships etc. We have some interesting things planned with AI. Looking forward to see how that will work out. Optec has a lot of planned in that department.

Hey COLA,
Long time I have been away. Had to re-registar due to email change but I have been here since the early days of FO. Been so darn busy over the past few years. Moved to another state and been working at my new job has taken a lot of time away from me. Anyways, great to here that the NX project is getting near the end. Keep it up guys! Looking forward to the newer GFX changes as well. Just a quick question DC, is the NX engine going to be DX10, or 11/12? I think I remember the NX engine was going to be DX 9.0c but I think that is the current 3.0 release. Just curious as I have been away for a while. Thanks for any info!

Welcome back If you want to have your old account back, you can contact me via email or PM.
Yes. There is an incomplete Direct3D 9 implementation in 3.2.7 which can be activated through the config file. But i do advise against to use it, since i remember it still having some severe bugs. Work on that sadly never completed before we had decided to cancel future development on the A2 version.
NX is currently using Direct3D 11.

Hi Cola I was wondering what is next on the dev list of tasks as 3.2.7 as been out for a while. Not meaning to pressure you at all.

posted on January 10th, 2017, 11:29 pm

I don't think there will be any further developments on 3.2.7

All of the teams efforts are going into the NX engine AFAIK.

posted on January 10th, 2017, 11:39 pm

I don't think there will be any further developments on 3.2.7

All of the teams efforts are going into the NX engine AFAIK.

Ok where can the NX engine be obtained? That is when it's out.

posted on January 10th, 2017, 11:51 pm

I don't think there will be any further developments on 3.2.7

All of the teams efforts are going into the NX engine AFAIK.

Ok where can the NX engine be obtained? That is when it's out.

The FONX project is a completely new engine. A new game so to speak. Progress has been made over the years and hints from the dev team suggest that FONX might be heading to an alpha build, but don't quote me. Building games taks a lot of time. Even with a full staff of 100+ working on a game, it usually takes anywhere from 2 to 6 years to complete. FONX has been in development for around 3 years AFAIK. So with a small and dedicated team, this project can be considered moving on pace. Patients is a virtue. I am sure this project will be worth the wait.

posted on January 11th, 2017, 12:31 am

I don't think there will be any further developments on 3.2.7

All of the teams efforts are going into the NX engine AFAIK.

Ok where can the NX engine be obtained? That is when it's out.

The FONX project is a completely new engine. A new game so to speak. Progress has been made over the years and hints from the dev team suggest that FONX might be heading to an alpha build, but don't quote me. Building games taks a lot of time. Even with a full staff of 100+ working on a game, it usually takes anywhere from 2 to 6 years to complete. FONX has been in development for around 3 years AFAIK. So with a small and dedicated team, this project can be considered moving on pace. Patients is a virtue. I am sure this project will be worth the wait.

I hope it will be, well time to wait till that happens.

posted on April 8th, 2017, 4:19 pm

Greeting everyone!

It has been a few months since the last post I made. Thought I would "bump" this as the official "what's up" thread.

Any info on status of FONX? It would be nice to hear once in a while that everyone is still alive and kicking. Perhaps even a pic or 2 of some in game development would be great! Thanks for any info in advance.