MOD: STA2 Upgrade Project 2014 - A stock A2 mod in FO

posted on January 4th, 2014, 5:59 pm

Glad you like it Salty.

@MadHatter: The available link is still for the original release. I'm currently working on the next version that will implement the fixed problems pointed out by others such as the colonization of Regula II in the first mission (a stupid mistake on my part )

Cabal has graciously offered to provide some race specific gui's which are much needed as the stock offerings are less than stellar and will go in a later release.

I also have a couple of big surprises in store for the next release which I'm pretty excited about. Stay tuned

********* Next version still in testing/release sometime January 2014 *********

posted on January 4th, 2014, 6:31 pm

That's cool. Sorry about the superfluous report, and thanks for the work!

posted on January 14th, 2014, 2:00 am

Finally got to work on the GUIs. Below is a very early mockup of a Federation interface. This is really just to see if you like the general style or if you want something different. One advantage to this particular design is that changing the color is very easy and the design does not include any overtly Federation elements so it can be adapted to fit all the other races. If you want a more unique style for each faction, like LCARS for Feds, I can do that.

One thing that I want to look into is whether or not buttons can be split into multiple components so that giving each faction their own button style is easier. For instance, globally shared icons, but a handful of unique backgrounds for each faction so that a button only needs to be made once rather than six times while still looking different depending on who you are playing as. The buttons are of course optional, whether it works or not.

FedGuiMockup.png (488.79 KiB) Viewed 957 times

posted on January 14th, 2014, 3:30 pm

@MadHatter: No problem. Let me know if you do find anything that needs fixed if you run across it.

@Cabal. I really like the design, very fluid. I like how the lower portion is one piece with the separate buttons above. If you could perhaps make it a tiny bit transparent that would be cool so it's not so bold maybe?

Will the cinematic window be togglable like stock or will you just forgo that? I don't use the cinematic view, but didn't know if it had to be part of the interface?

I like the idea of different designs per race, but that's a lot of work that isn't necessary. Your idea of different button styles sounds great. That way the overall design is more modular yet offers some individualism if your idea pans out. Everything looks great so far. Thank you again for your time and effort.

posted on January 14th, 2014, 4:12 pm

@Cabal. I really like the design, very fluid. I like how the lower portion is one piece with the separate buttons above. If you could perhaps make it a tiny bit transparent that would be cool so it's not so bold maybe?

It is slightly transparent, but I can ramp that up.

Will the cinematic window be togglable like stock or will you just forgo that? I don't use the cinematic view, but didn't know if it had to be part of the interface?

I'm probably not going to include it. All you have to do to get rid of it is shrink the size to 0x0 in the GUI configuration files.

I like the idea of different designs per race, but that's a lot of work that isn't necessary. Your idea of different button styles sounds great. That way the overall design is more modular yet offers some individualism if your idea pans out.

I may add some faction specific features or adjustments other than color later to make them more distinct. As for the buttons, I believe that the old Armada 1 button borders could be re-enabled for interesting effect.

Everything looks great so far. Thank you again for your time and effort.

Thanks, and no problem.

[rifraf]

posted on January 14th, 2014, 5:34 pm

Last edited by rifraf on January 18th, 2014, 3:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

DUH you're right. They are transparent. Didn't pay close enough attention. I think a tiny bit more would be great though just my opinion.

The only other "would like" I have is for the boxes at the top of the screen with the mined quantities and such is if they were in a line across the top of the screen like stock so we have the most screen real estate.

posted on January 14th, 2014, 7:14 pm

My review (short version):

• Graphics detail overloads my computer. Looks good otherwise.
• Starfleet Command appears stock but I'm surprised that's the only thing that looks that way.
• U.S.S. Incursion has a scaling error.
• Do the asteroid icons actually scale with map size? If so, how did you get so many different asteroid fields like that?
• Planet textures are much more realistic.
• Warp appears slow. Perhaps the scaling has been doubled to fit the 200-meter grid?

Overall, the graphics looks more like Star Trek (like Fleet Ops), the movement physics are more like Star Trek (like Fleet Ops), and much of the gameplay mechanics is more like Star Trek (like STA2). Now if only the damage physics was more like Star Trek (like Fleet Ops). Actually, since this is trying to stay true to stock STA2, the damage physics can be left alone.

Oops. Did I just accidentally do a Fleet Ops vs STA2 review?

posted on January 14th, 2014, 8:43 pm

I played this last night and for some reason the command pallet stopped showing up. I could click on different ships and stations but couldn't issue orders from the pallat.

Update, I just got back on and they don't show up period. Should I reinstall?

posted on January 14th, 2014, 9:10 pm

@Spartan: Only thing I can think of is hit cntrl-I while ingame and that should take away/bring back the GUI in stages. Perhaps clicking the ? key in the top right corner menu has some effect?

@Tchapman:
-I didn't update the Starfleet Command model, will find replacement for next update
-Same for Incursion Class
-Physics were adjusted to what I thought looked good (inspired by The Physics Project Mod)
-Asteroids are part of the Midnight Universe mod. Can't remember if I changed some of their settings around, but think they are stock.
-Stock warp speed is around 400, I halved that to around 200 so ships don't zip across the map in seconds
-Planets are high resolution by Don_Quijote

posted on January 14th, 2014, 11:39 pm

I tried the ctrl-I trick but it didn't bring the command buttons back. I tried clicking the help button at the top at it didn't do anything either. I don't know what happened. Maybe I should reinstall the mod?

posted on January 15th, 2014, 4:07 am

I'm not certain what it could be Spartan? You seem to be the first to experience this?

Try this: Go to the buttons found at the top right of your screen and open the advanced buttons, then press the button labelled "Toggle Palette", the folder looking button. Does that bring up the command pallet?

Other than that a search of other forums says to try reinstall? Did you just unzip the mod into the mods folder in FO and that's it? No changes or alterations? I know you know all that, but just checking.

posted on January 15th, 2014, 4:34 am

It might be the toggle pallet thing because now its affecting my star wars mod too. I'll try it and see what happens. But I don't see how toggling the pallet in your STA2 Classic mod affects my star wars mod. Is all that stuff integrated into the game itself no matter what mod I do or don't play?

posted on January 15th, 2014, 4:41 am

I must have accidentally pressed the toggle pallet button. But that particular button is missing from normal fleet ops, I could only click it if I went to your mod.

posted on January 15th, 2014, 6:50 am

I here your pain, same thing happened to me a while ago. I also had my command buttons just not be there when I went to play fleetops, could not get them back up. you cab hit B for build, but you have to have the station you want to build to be clicked on first. this solved my problem for the time being, BUT! this does not work when you go to play fleetops and I could not find a shortcut option in settings to make this happen, you have to reinstall fleetops to play with command buttons. I really did like playing the mod, and I will reinstall it when this is fixed

posted on January 15th, 2014, 5:28 pm

Perhaps someone with more technical expertise can assist? My mod is a standalone mod so clicking something in my mod shouldn't have any effect on FO or another mod that is unrelated. It's basically stock A2 ported into FO just like the original Classic Mod. They are separate entities.

Spartan got his command pallet back by clicking the toggle button, but I don't see how that has any effect on FO itself? I'm not sure what would need to be fixed if no one else is having the problem?

How many mods do you have in your mod folder? Are they all stand alone mods or do some require others?