SoA 2 0.3e.102
Sins Forums
Distant Stars actually mods a fair bit. It includes a graphic mod that I'm certain changes some GameInfo, Mesh, Texture, and Particle content. Seeing how quickly they updated to Entrenchment 1.04 compatibility, I think they might be more helpful than you assume.
EDIT: Nevermind the above. It seems you guys have 1.04 compatibility taken care of already. Good job!
Yes i was an idiot, and tried to update an already updated copy lol!
We need to move on to SoA 2 0.4E. I think we are done with the 0.3 series. 0.4 series will have Romulans. The 0.5 series will have Dominion, and the 0.6 series will have BORG. SoA 2 0.7, 8, and 9 will be stat changes, artwork changes, etc etc. culminating with the finalization release of 1.0. Obviously Diplomacy will be released long before SoA 2 1.0, and what the main topic says stands. Work for the Entrenchment version will cease once Diplomacy is released. Just as work on the Standard Sins version ended with 0.03c when Entrenchment was released.
Now that we have Harpos mod updaters, folks that dont have the expansions can still play the older versions. Its just we dont have the manpower (or the time, and patience) to update 3 different versions of the mod. We are having a hard enough time with just one version.
Anyways kudo's go to Harpo, and the time he put in to help us with this issue. 
EDIT: SUCCESS!
Mod works, and i imported the rescaled starbase! Just needs weapons, and a shield mesh now.
yey. that's excellent news. Well done guys 
Starbase looks soo pretty 
Hey Guys,
I mailed in my ability to make standard weapons knock a targets subsystems offline at random once their shields are down!
forgot to sign the mail! 
Starbase looks great! And glad to hear you have 1.04 compatibility working. Any chance of it being released as a micro-patch, or is it the current build too closely entwined with the Romulans?
I wish i could give you a answer. However everything is kinda up in the air at the moment. Considering there is still a hotfix aka "patch" coming to address issues with 1.04. But anything is posible.
Romulans will be in update 0.4e Along with the starbase. There will be no 0.3e2. We are jumping straight to 0.4. I still need to build a Romulan Starbase from scratch (because i hate whats out on the web right now). We got a damn good design for a Rommie Starbase from Atrahasis. I just need to get off my lazy ass, and build it.
Right now Harpos tools should be able to convert 0.3e1 over with 1 minor non-game crashing error. He will have his tools updated for the 1.04.1 hotfix soon.
Untill we get 0.4e ready enjoy what we got out now. We still have much to do before any update is ready.
I know you folks emphasize that your mod isn't about high-graphics, but I'm curious what the reason is that you don't use downscaled versions of Bridge Commander modders' ship models & textures? There were some ridiculously detailed ships modded into that game. And there's the fact, too, that the models are already done, no need to work from scratch.
But I assume there's some pitfall I'm missing.
They've stated they want to have 100% of the models from their own creations. So at best the BC models would be placeholders and would probably take more time doing converstions into a Sins compatalbe format then spending the time to create their own models that they'll have to do anyways. Not to mention the time to get the BC mod authors permission to use their creations.
Some of the 3rd party models we are using are from Bridge Commander mods. The Galaxy, The Klingon starbase. Much of the Romulan lineup are ported over from BC.
We would use the higher end stuff if they fell within sins limits, and didnt have so many mesh errors that would make doing the tangents (smoothing) in XSI a total nightmare. We already did try to convert other BC mods like CG's Sovereign. It was more trouble than what it was worth.
Cap ships shouldnt be above 4000 tri's Frigates, and Cruisers 2000. Stations 7000. We made exceptions with some ships like the Galaxy. It is almost 7000 tri's. We try to stay within these limits so that anyone that can play sins can also play the mod.
The maximum texture resolution in sins is 3 2048x2048 sheets for the cap ships and stations. 3 1024x1024 sheets for the frigates and cruisers. and 3 512x512 sheets for strike craft. One for the color map or -cl texture. One for the -da, or data texture(light maps, bloom, reflection, and specular channels), and one for the Normal map, or -nm texture. We could up the antie, and make them 4096x4096, but that would screw anyone that had an older video card.
Another thing you need to understand is that while sins can handle models with a higher poly count better than most games can for low end systems. What eats up most of the resources ARE the textures. If you notice the BC, and SFC mods textures have ridiculously high resolutions. 8 texture sheets at 1024x1024, or 2048x2048. The Galaxy was like that with multiple 2048 sheets. I had to re-UV map the entire model using just ONE 2048x2048 sheet. Plus reduce its 10,000 tri poly count to 7000. It is still over the poly limit of 4000, but since not many will be on the map i let it slide. It IS within the sins texture limit of 2048.
Yes, all of the 3rd party works are being used as placeholders until we have the time to build our own stuff. Which i stated will be in the 0.7-8-9 updates. We made sure all the 3rd party stuff is properly credited.
We also cant just arbitrarily use anyones model. We need permissions from the original artist. While it may not be illegal to use it in most cases. It is totally uncool to use someone elses work without their permission. I dont like it when someone does it with my work. So i treat others works with equal respect.
I just downloaded the file and the patch. When extracting I got an error report that curry da.dds is corrupt. Is that normal, doesn't sound normal. The patch added a curry file but not that one. Can someone send me the curry da.dds file?
I applied the patch while everything was in the "my docs" file, is that going to be ok?
Is this going to work with entrenchment 1.041?
I can't find who, but someone said that the bases are under powered. I have to disagree, I think the bases are fine but the Klingons are over powered. You can clean a star base's clock with a small number of Vorchas but if you attacked with the same number of Akiras instead the star base would clean your clock.
I recommend lowering the Klingons HP+SP to match the Federation's and making their crew requirements the same. It would be so much easier to make them even if they had the same HP+SP. I would make the Klingons HP more than the federations but their SP less and have the value of the two added together be the same.
How it is now
Vorcha 1900HP, 3800 SP (5700 total), 19 crew, 165 damage
Akira 1200HP, 2000 SP (3200 total), 48 crew, 141 damage
My recommendation
Vorcha 1800 HP, 1400 SP (3200 total), 20 crew, 165 damage
Akira 1400 HP, 1800 SP (3200 total), 20 crew, 165 damage
Even though in canon Star Trek I would expect an Akira to demolish a Vorcha, making them even in the game will make things much easier to create and play.
to fix the minor error just copy the entrenchment gameeventdata file to the mods gameinfo folder and overwrite the original file.
Hrm, i have some odd problem with the mod. Whenever i try to start a new game with the mod activated i dont have an interface/ only see the planets, ships and such stuff. After a few seconds it crashes. I have the same issues with the Battlefleet Gothic mod.
Does anyone know what i might have done wrong or what i could do to solve that problem?
I believe its because you and I might be at 1.041 which seems to cause and in game crash.
I have the harpo tools but don't know how to use them or know which ones of the several to use.
I have never used the tools so would need step by step help.
it is rather quite easy
first download the tools make sure you have harpo_'s mod utilities 1.181 . Next unzip them to the desktop and open it look for the file that says mod updater and open it. follow the instructions.
don't worry about the vorcha/akira differences, they aren't in the same power range! its being taken care of.
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