[TOTAL CONVERSION] Battle For Mars v0.4.1

[liberation]

Update by Meridian: updated the latest version v0.4a to run with latest nightly, download v0.4.1 here: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,3636.msg114957.html#msg114957

Version 0.33 of Battle for Mars is ready for download

The plan is a tc involving the defence of Mars against some horrible alien types, involving big battles and plenty of death  The final Game will have an extensive research tree, a good selection of weapons, armour, maps and aliens. The aliens from UFO wont be used.


Features so far- V0.33 (New items are in red)
1. New globe and regions- 11 of Mars regions have been added, can be seen when setting up new bases and on the graphs screen
2. Standard trooper spacesuit
3. 4 Weapons- not been coded for balance and tu costing as of yet
4. 3 grenades and 1 mine
5. Restructured Ufopedia, now called database
6. Ufopedia articles on items in the game so far
&. New tiles and maps for battlescape, 23 new maps and textures. With 2 different types for North and south hemispheres
9. Alien Missions
10. Countries / Alliances
11. MDF Dropship, new interceptor and 3 craft Weapons
12. Polar tile set
13. 3 new UFO types
14. 3 new alien weapons added, Tachyon Rifle, Heavy Tachyon Rifle and the Tachyon Cannon
15. The first 2 new aliens, the Tauran Alien soldier and the Drone type 1
16. New tile set, a rocky terrain type (terrain type 1)
17. New Geoscape background and menu colouring
18. New basescape, including maps for base defence, which is now a massive battle and good fun
19. New battlescape hud/interface
20. The standard space suit has had a upgrade, includes shoulder and knee pads, looks a lot better IMO
21. More detail on Mars globe
22. Inventory screen sprites for standard spacesuit

Go to New Battles to check out the new base defence mission  , also to note that this has some of the new stuff going into v0.35 which is incomplete and wont effect the normal game but still can be accessed.

The "a" version on this page differs from the version on page 6 only slightly, just adds more Mars maps to the base mission and corrects an error.

Features coming up-

V0.35

- The main campaign has begun. Starting of with monthly battles which the MDF have the chance to take part in.

- Each battle will have at least 3 to 5 missions with the mission scripting picking 1 at random for the player to try and complete.

- Missions types -

1. Search and Destroy (ie artillery, munitions caches etc)
2. Sweep and clear ( clear the way for retreating troops )
3. Hold the line ( fill holes in the battle lines, rear guard actions)
4. Covert Ops ( can be a lot of different types of missions, one example is even fighting the very troops you are supposed to be assisting... you will have your reasons )   

Plenty more planned, just seeing how far the mission scripting can go atm.

As before put into your mod dir, go up to game type and select Battle For Mars 

Uses openxcom_git_master_2015_08_27_1136.zip - built 2015-08-27 09:40 and above

EN-US supported only at this time

[Hobbes]

Been awhile since I've been on here! Anyway in 2012 I started a project and the first thing I needed todo was to recreate Mars. fast forward 3 years and ive gotten back into xcom etc and would like to continue where I left off.. The question is, what tools are being used nowadays for editing World.dat and how much of the globe render is still hard coded? ie the ocean colour?

Below is pic of my mars (kinda alpha) globe including some custom textures made for it. Mars lacks land masses so looks kinda dull atm but I think with some more work it could be very useable 

Any suggestions etc would be appreciated!

+1

I have lately looked into the possibility of a total conversion based on Mars since I'm getting tired of looking at good old Earth. I have added Volutar's Improved Globe mod into my Terrain Pack mod and added additional textures to it using his WORLD.DAT editor (available here) and also Falko's online World Editor.

What sources are you using to design Mars' surface? I had thought of using this image from Wikipedia's Geology of Mars page to draw the polygons:

[liberation]

I'm using this, or was at the time. not sure whether to carry on or go down a different route atm, will check those tools you pointed out!

Thank you! Also perhaps this is something we could collaborate on if you so wish/would find it useful.

[Hobbes]

I'm using this, or was at the time. not sure whether to carry on or go down a different route atm, will check those tools you pointed out!

Thank you! Also perhaps this is something we could collaborate on if you so wish/would find it useful.

Your map is good for a general idea but the tricky part with recreating Mars is because of the differences in elevation between the northern/southern hemispheres and several different features that need to be reproduced through the polygons and textures. And then come up with different terrains for all those textures, although a few can be recycled from the original game.

I've had several ideas for a total expansion regarding Mars, by placing the setting in pre-Apocalypse. However, I'm a little limited on time at the moment to actually implementing this project at the moment, since I had to move out of my apartment for some home improvement.

[yrizoud]

See also: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,2957.0.html

[DoxaLogos (JG)]

Awesome!

[Zane]

Great idea. But is it possible that in the game were both planets?

[ivandogovich]

With the current code structure its not possible to run both planets.  This would essentially be a different campaign, or a Total Conversion Mod.

[pilot00]

Great idea. But is it possible that in the game were both planets?

I was about to ask the same, this would made an ideal add for Dioxines Piratez as a second stage campaign.

[Solarius Scorch]

I was about to ask the same, this would made an ideal add for Dioxines Piratez as a second stage campaign.

Start Gods Who Came from The Moon!

[pilot00]

Start Gods Who Came from The Moon!

I was thinking more in the terms: "Ok gals, we have the tech, guns, craft and pilfered enough shit to do this, lets go invade them in their own turf now".

[Phoenix7786]

I'd love to see like a simultaneous run of both land and sea campaigns, like EU and TFTD are running in tandem with up to 4 bases being land-based and the other 4 being sea-based. The research trees would be independent (as the tech's are mostly incompatible) and this would practically guarantee that no crashed UFO or flying sub would ever escape unchecked. However I can only imagine the monstrous effort it'd take to make the engines being able to run at the same time.

[liberation]

Looking through what I had done a few years ago and playing around with world.dat editor again im thinking the key to making mars work properly will be to use many different shades of the textures used to try and blend in the detail and not make it look blocky which mine does atm.

So time to make some new textures 

I did have a look at the desert globe, very nice and the textures blend really nice. Not sure if I will be able to use the same technique thou!

[liberation]

Is there a way of not having to use the standard palette? having about 3 browns is rather annoying considering mars is just 1 colour with various shades!

[Dioxine]

I was thinking more in the terms: "Ok gals, we have the tech, guns, craft and pilfered enough shit to do this, lets go invade them in their own turf now".

You've obviously not have finished the campaign and didn't read the ending texts to say such stuff

But anyways, liberation, I don't think playing on 2 planets at once makes any sense since there is SO MUCH that could be added to the Earth alone That's not to say that a total conversion on Mars isn't awesome! Also: there is a War of Shadows mod that takes place on Mars. Maybe you guys could join your forces?

Also, to get around "not enough bronze" dilemma. How about making a half-terraformed Mars? You could use Green that way while still retaining the look of an arid, desert/half-desert planet...

Also I'd suggest sculpting major features, like the Valley of Mariners or Olympus Mons with texture's edges (like you did with the polar caps). Your Mars is definitely much, much too rectangular at this stage.