OpenXcom Forum
Modding => Work In Progress => Topic started by: ohartenstein23 on December 31, 2017, 07:51:59 pm
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== Survivorz 0.5.2 ==
After having this stewing on the back burner for about a year, I've decided it's high time to release an alpha version of my total conversion mod, Survivorz! Everything is extremely work-in-progress, but there are enough assets that should be shared for the community. The completed mod will contain the story of a colony ship's AI (you!) fighting to keep the ship's crew alive after it crashes on an alien planet. As of right now, only some basic weapons (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,4986.msg73948.html#msg73948) and a draft of the maps for the crashed ship are completed along with some placeholder missions, but I'll keep updating as more content is ready.
In order to install, you'll need a copy of Meridian's OXCE+ executable (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,5258.0.html) and have run it once. Extract this mod either from the version attached to this post or from my GitHub page for the mod (https://github.com/ohartenstein23/Survivorz/releases) into your mods folder. The latest version will always be available on GitHub, along with the changelog (https://github.com/ohartenstein23/Survivorz/commits/master).
Known Issues (Please don't report these to me as bugs, I'm still working on the conversion part of this total conversion):
- The globe looks terrible. I'm working on code to make a globe generator to make the world more interesting and replayable, but it's more WIP than this mod.
- The game has no ending. Yes, I haven't created enough mission- and story-related content yet.
- Using New Battle causes crashes and strange maps. Not all combinations of deployments/missions will work, so use this feature at your own risk.
For those of you not scared off by reading that list, here are some glamour shots:
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I wish you a lot of patience, motivation and joy with this new endeavour of yours :) In 2018 and beyond!
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A new mod on my list to try and loot
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I'm uploading a small update; I've decided I want to try balancing without the UFO Extender accuracy option, just the no-LOS penalty option. Turning the option on is still necessary in order to see the accuracy on the cursor, but I've changed the settings such that no penalties will be applied based on range. All of the starting weapons have been rebalanced with this in mind. There are also a few more minor changes, but no new content yet. See the first post to download!
Edit: I've removed the references to Earth's countries/continents and reworked some stuff with starting funding and facilities, so this deserves a version bump.
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What does the alt fire on the LINAC rifle do? (curious and lazy)
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It fires a single-shot grenade. All of the LINAC weapons have the ability to load single-shot 'charges' for area-of-effect attacks.
The reason it's called 'Alt' in the pedia is that this string is used for all weapon articles, so I needed a convention that covered all cases; I'm planning on making weapons have a main firing mode, like aimed shots for the battle rifle, auto shot for the assault, a reaction fire mode, and/or an alternate fire mode.
Edit: New version release! The biggest changes are research to use some of the alien weapons, new graphics for those weapons, and the addition of a monthly alien mission. See the first post for the download!
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Very interesting project. I wish you to finish it one day.
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Made some more progress on the alien weapons, including two new heavy weapons! Therefore, it's release time again - see the first post for the download!
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Looks very interesting! I can foresee it being quite a fresh and fun new experience with alien battlescapes. Best of luck to you!
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Since Meridian just released an experimental version of his hunter-killer UFO code (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,5717.msg92133.html#msg92133), it's time for an update! This is a feature that I've been excited about and feel like needs to be shared. In order for it to work, you'll need to get the latest version of OXCE+, either from that thread posted above for Windows or from the OXCE+ downloads page (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,5258.0.html) - make sure the version you get is dated 3 February, any earlier will not have this feature implemented.
Other notable things I've implemented are a starting craft weapon (to counter the hunter-killers), rebalanced the hostile craft, and added some new marker missions. See the first post for the download!
Edit: I'm releasing a bit more polished version than the previous one. This includes being able to get more than 4 soldiers, starting to expand the first month in research, manufacturing, and facility construction, and speeding up the hunter-killers so they have a chance of reaching one of you shuttle when it's not patrolling. Enjoy!
More Edit: Released a bugged version - it's missing definitions for corpse items. To fix, either grab the updated version from my GitHub page or replace the rulesets that I'm attaching to this post.
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This look as a very interesting project!. Surely I´ll test it in a near future.
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This look as a very interesting project!. Surely I´ll test it in a near future.
Glad you're interested!
I've gotten a new version ready for release: a bunch of new facilities and maps for them, plus re-working how the hostile factions' missions function. See the first post for options to download!
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Very interesting so far! Went to check out a large landed craft, but the fighter escort intercepted me and destroyed the shuttle with everyone aboard. Wonder if I was supposed to divert its attention with an unmanned shuttle and go sneakily land with the main squad.
Kinda confused by the environmental scan mission? Am I supposed to find something?
Also dunno what is going on with the math in the attached
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Very interesting so far! Went to check out a large landed craft, but the fighter escort intercepted me and destroyed the shuttle with everyone aboard. Wonder if I was supposed to divert its attention with an unmanned shuttle and go sneakily land with the main squad.
Kinda confused by the environmental scan mission? Am I supposed to find something?
Also dunno what is going on with the math in the attached
The escorts can be defeated by your shuttle, but generally it's better to not engage - they don't chase at full speed, so you can out-maneuver or trick them somehow. You could also try using the second shuttle to escort the first, that way they both fight the landed ship's escort.
The environmental scan missions are meant to give you something to research and introduce new mechanics in a more controlled manner, but the research is incomplete. They also can give you extra resources, if you figure out how. Hint: bring explosives or mining tools.
Those screens don't always show everything, so take their math with a grain of salt. Also, this issue is not mod-specific, these screens are hard to follow for everybody.
Thanks for the testing and feedback! It's a good reminder of the screens I still need to change the text on and what I need to clue the player in on for the scan missions.
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Met my first mech, completely wrecked my squad, linac battle rifle may as well be a nerf gun. This mod does not fuck around.
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Met my first mech, completely wrecked my squad, linac battle rifle may as well be a nerf gun. This mod does not fuck around.
Good, working as intended. The mechs are going to be the first hurdle to overcome and more tech will be available once you bring back a sample - it's not all in the mod yet though, the graphics for new content are slow going.
Edit: Speaking of the availability of tech to counter your mechanical challenges, I've released a new version! Here's a little teaser of the tools available in this version, but not that you won't necessarily get all of them in your campaign.
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New release time! I've continued work on overhauling the UI palettes to give a completely new feel for the interface; the geoscape and associated menus now have the same look as the main menu. Try it out, let me know what you think!
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The first screenshot looks glitchy. Is it intended? :D
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I think its still experimental?
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It's an intended effect, I've been playing with partially transparent backgrounds in some screens to capture the effect of a holographic display.
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It's an intended effect, I've been playing with partially transparent backgrounds in some screens to capture the effect of a holographic display.
I think this do not look good because of lack of contrast between foreground and background panels. One way to fix this I think is use `ShaderDraw` function with custom bliter that will mix some colors from background to made them darken and leave foreground unchanged.
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I'd rather not do engine edits just for the UI in this mod - if the consensus is that it doesn't look good, I have backup backgrounds without the transparency.
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Hi ohartenstein23!
Your mod looks very interesting, but I have a little problem with the installation. Any help?
New release time! I've continued work on overhauling the UI palettes to give a completely new feel for the interface; the geoscape and associated menus now have the same look as the main menu. Try it out, let me know what you think!
By the way, I liked the hologram effect, but I think that maaaybe looks a little blurish.
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Glad you're interested in trying the mod out! Can you tell me a little more about when the crash occurs and what your file structure looks like when you installed the mod? It should just be extracting the mod to your user/mods folder, then changing the "master" mod to Survivorz.
Edit: Just noticed from your image that you're using the 23 February version of OXCE+ - that doesn't have the support for custom palettes, which my interfaces require. Upgrading to the latest version of OXCE+ should fix your problem.
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Edit: Just noticed from your image that you're using the 23 February version of OXCE+ - that doesn't have the support for custom palettes, which my interfaces require. Upgrading to the latest version of OXCE+ should fix your problem.
Yes, it worked. Thank you! Keep up with this awesome project, seems promising. ;D
I hope to see new crafts soon. :)
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Has this been abandoned or? I know life, or heck, other projectsmight get in the way of making this mod so I’m just making sure. Don’t want you to be the second programmer of a mod I like to be offended by me. :P
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Don't worry, it's not abandoned, it just takes a long time to make a real update since I'm doing all the graphical resources from scratch. I've also been busy with other projects around here and real life stuff, this hasn't been a priority recently. I'm glad you like it even at such an early state!
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It's an intended effect, I've been playing with partially transparent backgrounds in some screens to capture the effect of a holographic display.
You need to fix the text. It needs all of the important readability elements to be on the lines that show. Example, the uppercase E, you can read it easily if you can see all of its horizontal lines without any vertical lines. But when the bottom horizontal line is obscured, it looks like an F.
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If you look at the sample interface, that "E" you're referring to is on the menu behind the currently active one, so it does not need to be completely visible and in fact I wouldn't want it to be. The important feedback here is that this isn't completely clear that there's a screen behind the active one, and I'll be looking into how to improve this idea.
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If you look at the sample interface, that "E" you're referring to is on the menu behind the currently active one, so it does not need to be completely visible and in fact I wouldn't want it to be. The important feedback here is that this isn't completely clear that there's a screen behind the active one, and I'll be looking into how to improve this idea.
Ah, I see that now.
Perhaps if you align the text to be better covered by the lines, it'll look less like it's in front.
I tried to play the mod but it wouldn't show up in the mod list after installation. I managed to make it show up and apparently run fine after making a small change to the metadata file:
name: "Survivorz"
version: 0.5.2
author: "ohartenstein23"
description: "Survive! Shoot your way out, build a robot army, or become the farmlord!"
id: survivorz
#loadResources:
# - UFO
#isMaster: trueI'm not sure what effect this had on the game, but I thought you might want to know. I am running OXCE+ version 4.0.
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It's a master mod, it shows up in the drop-down at the top of the list. This is necessary to make sure no other, incompatible mods could be loaded along with it.
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Ah, I see. Thanks.