[MOD][NEW RELEASE] Sonata 7a TC

Distribute and discuss mods that are functional. Moderator - Grognak
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BrenTenkage
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Re: [MOD][WIP] Sonata

Postby BrenTenkage » Wed Nov 28, 2012 2:37 am

Maybe a change in color? That might help
I make a lot of lets plays of FTL, I also use mods I find on this site http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... 06hca_PXuX
I am also a modder as well, here is my mod hub viewtopic.php?f=11&t=32269
thashepherd
Posts: 194
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2012 11:45 pm

Re: [MOD][WIP] Sonata

Postby thashepherd » Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:51 am

Just uploaded an updated .ftl file. Changes:

- Removed vanilla weapons from random drop/stores - we have enough new ones.
- Reworked all weapon cost and rarity
- New hangar background:
Image
- Reworked weapon description background - should now be readable under all circumstances, no matter how long it is
- Removed last of vanilla rebel/federation/rock/zoltan references
- Added new hints
- Many other small tweaks and enhancements (some suggested by BrenTenkage)

EDIT: Oh yeah, the main menu options are now COLORFUL when you roll the mouse over them! It's groovy, man.

"You grit your teeth when you see the rainbow-hewed menu options. Childish crap like this is exactly why you left the empire. It's a good thing they left so much paint laying around - you used it to cover the Empire insignia on the destroyer you stole."
You are the weak, and I am the tyranny of evil men - but I'm trying, I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd.

"Wow, that Kieve guy is one angsty nerd eh."
Sonata - "Best use of Common Lisp in an indie space roguelike!"
thashepherd
Posts: 194
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2012 11:45 pm

Re: [MOD][WIP] Sonata

Postby thashepherd » Fri Nov 30, 2012 7:09 am

Just wanted to post a few screen grabs of the new GUI style I'm working on:

Image
https://trello-attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/504648e16f7921e936059630/50b5cff568ddda067100319f/4b6eb384f834671c1c0c3bf207e35d2c/newGUI.jpg

Image
https://trello-attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/504648e16f7921e936059630/50b5cff568ddda067100319f/c2e73948e8038e9e96c36806293175c3/newGUIhangar.jpg

Sometimes FTL gets finicky and decides to load black boxes instead of the .pngs I throw at it. I fixed a few of the problems by opening the file and re-saving, or opening and recoloring an interior transparency, then resaving (???). Odd stuff.

For anyone familiar with Endless Space, I've also converted the game story to deal with Dust as a currency rather than scrap.

Dust is a sort of intelligent metamaterial created by the ancient race called the Endless. No modern race knows how to create it (and the shit is hard to destroy) - but it is incredibly useful. Add this wonderful phlebotinum to an engine, and it'll work better. Rub some on your weapon and it'll shoot a bigger load. Sprinkle some on a loaf of bread and you've got yourself a Twinkie.

Needless to say, it makes an excellent interspecies currency, and still works very well as "something you spend on your ship to make it better".

To any daring souls who want to try the changes out early, follow the link to my github. The .ftl will be out once I've made a bit more progress.
You are the weak, and I am the tyranny of evil men - but I'm trying, I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd.

"Wow, that Kieve guy is one angsty nerd eh."
Sonata - "Best use of Common Lisp in an indie space roguelike!"
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BrenTenkage
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Re: [MOD][WIP] Sonata

Postby BrenTenkage » Fri Nov 30, 2012 7:11 am

sweet can't wait
I make a lot of lets plays of FTL, I also use mods I find on this site http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... 06hca_PXuX
I am also a modder as well, here is my mod hub viewtopic.php?f=11&t=32269
thashepherd
Posts: 194
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2012 11:45 pm

Re: [MOD][WIP] Sonata

Postby thashepherd » Fri Nov 30, 2012 7:31 pm

The idea is to make a complete total conversion.

I'm toying with the idea of disabling non-Sonata-canon sectors and ships until they're converted over; any thoughts?

It turns out that there is a critical text I can't modify. An event that gives loot (say, scrap and a weapon) will ALWAYS say "Scrap: x Weapon: weapon_name"; there's no way I can change the "Scrap:" to "Dust:" that I can determine, unfortunately.

I am torn between polishing existing material (add ship gibs, continue interface work, correct weapon mounts for new enemies...), adding new graphical material (Sophon/Pilgrim/AI ships, weapons, projectiles...), and working on the plot (new/customized events, add Hissho race...).

To the players out there (~110 mod downloads so far), any requests?
Last edited by thashepherd on Fri Nov 30, 2012 8:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
You are the weak, and I am the tyranny of evil men - but I'm trying, I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd.

"Wow, that Kieve guy is one angsty nerd eh."
Sonata - "Best use of Common Lisp in an indie space roguelike!"
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BrenTenkage
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Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2012 4:48 pm

Re: [MOD][WIP] Sonata

Postby BrenTenkage » Fri Nov 30, 2012 7:33 pm

As I never knew about Sonata or the Story of its Canon before downloading the mod, I have no idea what you could add, its pretty much out of my knowledge, I'm sure you will do a good job with this
I make a lot of lets plays of FTL, I also use mods I find on this site http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... 06hca_PXuX
I am also a modder as well, here is my mod hub viewtopic.php?f=11&t=32269
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Kieve
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Re: [MOD][WIP] Sonata

Postby Kieve » Fri Nov 30, 2012 8:21 pm

thashepherd wrote:The idea is to make a complete total conversion.

I'm toying with the idea of disabling non-Sonata-canon sectors and ships until they're converted over; any thoughts?

It turns out that there is a critical text I can't modify. An event that gives loot (say, scrap and a weapon) will ALWAYS say "Scrap: x Weapon: weapon_name"; there's no way I can change the "Scrap:" to "Dust:" that I can determine, unfortunately.

I am torn between polishing existing material (add ship gibs, continue interface work, correct weapon mounts for new enemies...), adding new graphical material (Sophon/Pilgrim/AI ships, weapons, projectiles...), and working on the plot (new/customized events, add Hissho race...).

To the players out there (~110 mod downloads so far), any requests?

BTW: Mods, can you change the thread title to "[MOD] Sonata Total Conversion" and add it to the mod list thread when you have a chance? Thanks!


In reverse order:
-You can change the title yourself, just edit the first post. As far as adding to marksteele's list though, yeah mods will have to do that one.
-Requests... hm, put any thought into better crew sprites yet? The hard-edge pixel outlines look particularly strange against these new ships of yours.
-I'd vote for polishing up the existing stuff before moving on. From past experience, I've found that if you spread yourself in too many directions at once, you wind up never wanting to go back and "fix" stuff that's already working at least passably. It becomes boring and tedious instead of fun - better to get things worked down to the details, then move on to the next piece in line, whatever that may be.
-Sorry to hear 'Scrap' is hard-coded, though not surprised. A lot of the game content is locked down "under the hood" where we can't get at it, unfortunately.
-Unless you've got a ton of content ready to go, I'd keep the non-sonata stuff in until your TC is playable without it.
thashepherd
Posts: 194
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2012 11:45 pm

Re: [MOD][WIP] Sonata

Postby thashepherd » Fri Nov 30, 2012 8:38 pm

Kieve wrote:In reverse order:
-You can change the title yourself, just edit the first post. As far as adding to marksteele's list though, yeah mods will have to do that one.
-Requests... hm, put any thought into better crew sprites yet? The hard-edge pixel outlines look particularly strange against these new ships of yours.
-I'd vote for polishing up the existing stuff before moving on. From past experience, I've found that if you spread yourself in too many directions at once, you wind up never wanting to go back and "fix" stuff that's already working at least passably. It becomes boring and tedious instead of fun - better to get things worked down to the details, then move on to the next piece in line, whatever that may be.
-Sorry to hear 'Scrap' is hard-coded, though not surprised. A lot of the game content is locked down "under the hood" where we can't get at it, unfortunately.
-Unless you've got a ton of content ready to go, I'd keep the non-sonata stuff in until your TC is playable without it.


Thanks, Kieve. I'll definitely look at the sprites. I've fixed a lot of the defects in the current .ftl release, but they're mixed in with some other things (like some UI stuff) that I want to be tied up before I release the next one. Just looking at my to-do list:

- Some weapon titles are rendered one or two lines below where they should be. Looks horrible. No idea why.
- Some small UI elements, like the "customize" button below crew members on the main menu screen, show up as black boxes when I modify them. No idea why.
- Occasionally on the GAMESTART event there will be flickering gibberish text obscuring the last few words in the text box. I believe that this is caused by text strings that are too long; there are internal limits in the engine, I guess. (I found the max length for some of them by experimenting - IIRC weapon descriptions can be up to 500 characters, but no more) Problem is, on the GAMESTART event it's the total of the event text and the "tip" text; I found the limit for the tip at 200 words (I think) but maybe this combined with my long event text size is causing something bad to happen.
- Need to set rebel_long weapon mounts
- Need gibs for all 3 ships
- Sower ship looks horrible
You are the weak, and I am the tyranny of evil men - but I'm trying, I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd.

"Wow, that Kieve guy is one angsty nerd eh."
Sonata - "Best use of Common Lisp in an indie space roguelike!"
thashepherd
Posts: 194
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2012 11:45 pm

Re: [MOD] Sonata Total Conversion

Postby thashepherd » Sat Dec 01, 2012 8:59 am

For reference, the current .ftl download is version 5, and I'm developing on internal version 6a. Here is my current changelog:
6a
- Removed "%" symbol causing defect in Sophon event text
- Filled inner transparencies in /map button .pngs preventing them from showing up as black boxes
- Fix UE Frigate engine room (planned)
- Correct graphical glitch in UE Destroyer weapons room (planned)
- Correct global weapon title positioning (hopeful)
6
UI overhaul:
- /combatUI
- /customizeUI
- /generalUI (exit button)
- /map (buttons, boxes, overlay, destination icons)
- /numbers
- /optionsUI
- /statusUI (buttons)
- /tutorial/button_continue
- /upgradeUI (buttons, half of the overlays, half of /equipment, all of /equipment/tabButtons)
- graphics in /img
Weapon balancing (Sower)
New weapon sounds (public domain/royalty free)
Converted "Scrap" to "Dust" as far as possible
Fixed rebel_long weapon mounts
Re-added Sower sector events (crash fixed)
Reshuffled sector mix
5b
Re-added transparency to hangar graphic
5a
Reworked ship interior room graphics
Reworked crew placement
Fixed nerfed medbay in UES Ranger


Here are my plans for Sonata 7:

- Finish the UI overhaul
- /storeUI
- /upgradeUI
- /scoreUI
- Edit Last Stand events
- Clean up Sower Terraformer
- Add Sower Terraformer B
- Assign drone weapons, projectiles, blueprints
- Additional custom events and story elements
- Balancing pass

Sonata 7 will be the first "official" release. As always, the current development version can be downloaded using the link in the OP.
You are the weak, and I am the tyranny of evil men - but I'm trying, I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd.

"Wow, that Kieve guy is one angsty nerd eh."
Sonata - "Best use of Common Lisp in an indie space roguelike!"
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BrenTenkage
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Re: [MOD] Sonata Total Conversion

Postby BrenTenkage » Sun Dec 02, 2012 2:08 am

Ok then, I will wait for the offical release, and the moment it is out, I will lets play it ^_^
I make a lot of lets plays of FTL, I also use mods I find on this site http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... 06hca_PXuX
I am also a modder as well, here is my mod hub viewtopic.php?f=11&t=32269