SS2 FM The Minstrel (by The Pixie)

[674004451e6fdvoodoo47]

ok, definitely not a dml/prop thing, the object is set up correctly in your save. check your \FMs\Minstrel_1.03\obj folder for deck_d.bin - if it's not there, we've found your problem (same thing happened on my install when I deleted the file).

[674004451e889icemann]

Yup. Not there.

[674004451e9c3voodoo47]

you have missing resources. you need to un-missing them. oooh, let me fire a blind shot here - are you actually using the 1.02 package + 1.03 patch? the patch itself is just a patch, it needs to be applied to the 1.02 release for everything to work.

[674004451eadficemann]

Ok will do. There was no mention of that in the first post (or I'm not seeing it).

And that did the trick. All fixed now. Man you guys added a fair bit to this since I last played it. Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy better.

[674004451ebe9voodoo47]

generally, anything marked as patch is not meant for standalone use (without installing whatever it's supposed to patch first).

[674004451ed87icemann]

Ok had a full play through. The difference in the FM between when I played last and now is just unbelievable.

Notes I took during my play through:

* Excellent audio logs. Top notch stuff. The AI voice work in particular was professional level. Stood out very well.
* Could use some music
* Transparent Many organic stuff in one of the rooms (room 16, the one with the eggs) can be walked straight through.
* Many of the numbered rooms don't have anything in the containers, making the hacking of the doors for them quite pointless. Be nice if there were a few nanites or items of some kind or whatever in those rooms.
* The Staff Captain and Administration rooms are completely empty. Could use a few desks or something, to make them look more lived in.
* Add in a GA chemical container somewhere. The only chemical I couldn't find for research related matters. All other research-able items had the relevant chemicals available when needed.

Beyond that I totally love the new look of it, the changes made are all positive, and the whole FM as a whole is VASTLY improved.

Fantastic work guys.

[674004451ee95voodoo47]

walkthrough things are sometimes better than bad collisions. also, some rooms can be empty, it's not like everything must be everywhere.

I did add a bunch of chemicals, was thinking that was all of them. for what item did you need GA?

[674004451ef79icemann]

That one was:
[Untitled9000.png expired]

[674004451f0d2voodoo47]

also I'm thinking I'll wait for that Stellar Map texture (hopefully), add GA to the chem room, do something final with that turret and finally put together 1.03 full. I know there is stuff left, but there always will be something, and it's not like there aren't any more numbers left after 1.03. the betas have been spooking around for long enough.

[674004451f24eZylonBane]

I really wish you'd merge the DML so that god-awful lighting in the first area can be properly fixed.

[674004451f33fvoodoo47]

the thing is I don't know what would look/work better, so I've just dml'd it to NOT be seizure-inducing. any suggestions?

[674004451f40ficemann]

Not be god awful looking?

[674004451f4d5voodoo47]

unfortunately, Shocked won't accept "not god awful" in any of the animlight prop fields.

[674004451f5acZylonBane]

Relax people. I'll post a test map I was playing with later today.

[674004451f717ZylonBane]

Hmm.  Even after dbmod_load'ing both the DMLs, there are still a few objects with missing models-- 2505, 1215, and 2196.

Looks like the carpet texture, t_fam/MSG/CARPET needs to be moved under the FabricTex archetype.

Have you considered saving the new logs and emails as OGGs? Should save a lot on the download size.

Attached is the MIS file with tweaked start area. The problem is that there are too damn many lights, and they're set too bright, so the entire area basically looks fullbright. The lights in the nearby gravshafts had their brightness set to 2560! So I removed a few lights and dimmed most of the rest. Looks a lot better now, IMHO.
[earth2.7z expired]

[674004451f8a2voodoo47]

yeah, as far as I know/can tell, there is one missing weapon, one wall decal (rumbler painting by that small girl?), and one more thing that would be used to hide the Minstrel during the explosion sequence. I have no way of pulling those from anywhere. we can reprocess the audio, but the entire FM will weight less than 20MB one way or another, so not sure whether it's even worth it.

not so sure about completely merging the dml in, I mean sure thing as far as the lights are concerned, but I will have to double check the rest. I hate points of no return.

[674004451f9faZylonBane]

I haven't actually played this mission, so I have no idea what the missing objects are for. I did notice the art for the kid's painting. Would be trivial enough to make an object for that.

I'm guessing you mean there's a point where the player is in their shuttle while the Minstrel explodes? If so, a better way to handle that would be to have some protective shutters close over all the windows.

As for the DMLs, DML-only fixing was never going to last. There are issues with this mission that can only be fixed by editing the level geometry (like the vent object with no hole behind it). The best we can do is thoroughly document every change.

[674004451fb43voodoo47]

some fixes can live in the dml form forever (and as mentioned, I like to keep the more questionable stuff in an easy to read format. also, there is that thing with the secdoors, for them to work as intended one either has to keep removing and readding props while reprocessing or keep them in the dml, guess which one is less prone to human error). anyway yeah, the lighting in the starting area is much better now. slight problem though, you didn't use the latest map for this, so now we have two map builds. if it's just the lights, I'll do a compare and reapply.

[674004451fc65ZylonBane]

Well crap, I thought I already had the 1.03 map. Where's the newest one? It'd be a lot faster for me to apply the changes since I know everything I touched.

Does the current mission DML fix the backward wall pod in the open passenger room near the start? Also, adding Static Light Pos to most of the doors really helps.

[674004451fdc6voodoo47]

no, the dml does things to various systems, like the pressure console, respawn rates, rehashes the final mail sequence etc, things I had to fix somehow, but wasn't sure about the change, or didn't give it enough testing time. simple object flip would have been done by a proper map edit (and yeah, that pod has escaped my attention //and the goos are reversed too). the current version is in the beta7 package, attached to the first post. also, just noticed that the card slots are stupidly high, so maybe fix that before relighting as well.

don't merge the dml in just yet if you can help it - this can be done as a final step if you really insist (I'll kill the animlight part right away though, as it won't have a reason to exist after the lights are refixed).

[674004451ff11ZylonBane]

Test of adding some processing to the ARIADNE voice to make her sound more computery.

Noticed a mispronunciation in em0117. "Susceptible" is said as "suspectable".
[em0101.mp3 expired]

[6740044520045voodoo47]

no strong feelings either way. was actually experimenting with a bit of background noise myself, but concluded that unless you want something extreme (like Shodan in vanilla), it's basically not worth the effort.

[674004452016cZylonBane]

Yeah, no stuttering for Ariadne since that's supposed to indicate insanity. This is the effects track I experimented with. I thought the retro sound was well-suited to an AI as goofy as Ariadne.

[6740044520269icemann]

Any other unfinished / barely completed FMs lined up for sprucing up in the future? Quite liked what was done with this one.