Here we go at last! I have decided to release a portion of the visual content which will be included in the Last Stand mod as a separate mini-mod, ready to be merged at your convenience with whatever is your current content of choice.
The background of and reason for this mod is simple - I am not satisfied with explosions in either vanilla game or improved versions of several graphic mods out there. The concept of this feature is that a battle should tell a story - when hundreds of ships are pounding at each other with weapons of incredible power, I wanted to see that power reflected directly on the ships themselves. I wanted to see pieces breaking off, sparks flying into space, thick smoke and fire billowing out, atmosphere escaping from cracks and finally, a glorious detonation befitting something which has fought hard, and lost.
However, words can be cheap - I have a preview video of what I meant by "carnage in space", one of the early names I had for this mod, before it got merged into the Last Stand. It's called "Face of War" and this is how the combat will look like in the Last Stand mod. Ok, I'll shut up now and hope you enjoy it!
Preview video (standard quality) download here: Mediafire(30Mb)
Streaming video (YouTube):
Also, here is a new preview video showcasing the new ver 1.0 effects: Mediafire (29Mb)
And on Youtube:
MOD DOWNLOAD: Volumetric Damage & Explosions Effects ver1.2 (Mediafire, 14.04Mb)
COMPATIBLE WITH SoaSE 1.18/Entrenchment 1.41
Entrenchment FIX
This fixes a bug where racial explosions wouldn't show up in the Entrenchment version. Keep in mind that due to the nature of the necessary changes, the currently available Dynamic Battle System version is no longer compatible with this mod. A new version of the DBS will be uploaded in its respective thread.
Download: Volumetric Damage & Explosions Effects ver 1.2 - Entrenchment fix
Version 1.2 change log
-added new explosion effects for all three factions. Now Vasari ships explode in a different fashion than Advent or TEC. Vasari explosions are green tinted while Advent are more to the purplish side.-added new explosion sound effects for all main ship explosions. The effects are more numerous now and have a greater variation/complexity-removed bodies from spilling when a ship is critically struck. Bodies still float around for a short while after a ship is destroyed-optimized ship explosions for heavy duty battles. You should notice a lot less of a FPS drop when lots of ships blow up in a short amount of time
KNOWN BUGS/ISSUES:
None.
This version is meant to be merged at will, so merge away, just credit me. The preview video includes improved particle effects by Bailknight. To merge this mini-mod with others, install those mods FIRST, then overwrite the files with the ones from this mod. Note that if you have any special explosions listed in your .explosiondata file, they will be overwritten. Also note that if your ships .entity files invoke any explosions of non-standard names, you will get a minidump, so take that into consideration when merging.
A final note - I am very much interested in hearing how this performs on your machine, so you are welcome to comment upon that and don't forget to include your system specs! I also playtested this for a few hours and so it should be free of error, but if you do notice something missing or odd, do tell.
This much from me for now, hope you'll like the new stuff!
Its hard for me to tell if it is 1.11 compatible since you're using the merge-ready version, it could be a combination of it, the 1.11 version of the game AND your mod.
If you want to do me a favor, try out the standalone version and see if it works. If it doesn't, then I'm afraid you're going to have to wait until I fix up the updated version probably sometime during the next week. The good news is that if all goes well, ver 1.0 should make your battles look even better!
Manshooter,
If you didn't know, Annatar11 is in the process of updating Bailknight's graphics mod 1.3 for Sins 1.11. Might you be so kind as to update the combined mod with the latest version of Bailknight's?
Also, this mod mini-dumps in Sins 1.11. I tried both the merge-ready mod into the aforementioned Bailknight mod, but minidumped. I then tried to load the standalone version of the mod, which also resulted in a minidump.
If there's more information you need, please let me know.
OK i should say v1.11 hotfix did not affect my mod, that was compatible with v1.1
my mod here: https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/330511
I can try the stand alone version and test.
I am having one problem with my mod, no minidumps or anything, so I don't know
how much help I can be in coding for yours.
Yeah, I just checked it, its not compatible. The explosions.explosiondata file is the culprit, looks like they added a bunch of new stuff. Afraid there is no quick and easy way around it, I'll try to push out 1.0 version of the mod as soon as possible!
But it does really look like I'll be able to make race-specific explosions! Oooh yeah.
And yes, there will be a merged version with Bailknight's latest version as well.
Nice! Big red/orange ones for TEC, blue ones for Advent, and some green ones for Vasari.
Something like that. I also toyed with the idea to have each and every ship drop a few lowpoly, recognizable big chunks when they explode, something simmilar to what happens with capital ships. But IF I go with the idea, it will most probably be part of the Last Stand effects palette and even then ONLY if Entrenchment brings about a true way to make starships move in combat. Having mortally stricken ships careen off course, spinning, then blowing apart with chunks flying in every direction would, I think, make for *very* nice looking battles. And I also toyed with detaching the explosion smoke and fire effects from the emitter (that way they stay where they are generated, instead of following the ship) and with some tweaking I think I could make quite nice looking fire/smoke trails for doomed ships. But as I said, that is not strictly the province of this mini-mod, more like optional eyecandy to throw in if I get extra time for the Last Stand.
Especially if the chunks could hit other ships and cause damage. Can you imagine seeing half a ship slam into another ship, blowing the good ship up. AH. That would be awesome.
Yes it would, but methinks it would require a monster rig. And a new game engine too. It would have to simulate physics, something like Havok, but on a fleet level with hundreds of ships, hundreds of pieces flying about... ouch.
Yea, but we can dream, can't we?
Can't wait to see the 1.1 compatable version. I just installed Annatar's updated version of Baliknight's mod and it works great, hope to be able to merge this one.
I know making debris damage other ships can't be done- but what about explosions? Every time I see a ship explode and the explosion completely engulfs the ship next to it, I always wish it would take out or at least damage the other ship. Some way of calculating that if ship w is within x distance of ship y when ship y explodes, then ship w should get splash damage. But for now, I'd be happier just seeing some peices flying off of my foes
put an ondeath trigger to activate an aoe weapon, then set the weapon range and damage.
Not a bad idea, but could it affect friendly ships that way?
I can just see during a big battle one cap ship goes down and triggers off a chain reaction that wipes out an entire fleet- on both sides lol.
But anywho, an word on the progress of getting this mod 1.1 compatable?
i wonder about that myself. (also i want to keep track of this thread so i write here)
not compatible yet, it's like having a non-housebroken puppy in my computer taking minidumps everywhere.
Working on it, working on it! I promise an 1.1 compatible version within seven days tops! Sorry for the delay, but kinda have my hands full at the moment.
just to be clear, there will be a merge-ready version for your 1.1 when it's out, yes?
this much bad ass-ness must be in my mod, with proper regards, of course.
keep up the good work!
they do? I mean sure, some chunks fly, but some big as in the pegasus going down in bsg. something the size of like a third or fifth or the entire ship?
Here's an update - in the interest of making this mod as merge-friendly as possible, I will drop the "every faction has unique explosions" approach because that would require me editing ship .entity files. Instead, the volumetric explosions will be increased in variety, to compensate, keeping the existing explosion structure present in 1.1 version of SoaSE. Cruisers will also receive their own distinctive class of explosions.
So that is also a big yes to EviliroN.
*waits not-so-patiently*
Oh, and diggin the avatar Shadowhal. Man I love that show.
Well, the 1.0 is 90% done. I have to make a few more capital ship explosions and some adjustments to module explosions, but most if not all of the assets (read textures) have been made and integrated into the volumetric system.
The mod will bring 4 frigate class explosions, of which 3 are brand new, 3 cruiser grade explosions, 3 capital ship explosions and 2 explosions for small and large modules each, making a grand total of 14 explosions compared to the previous version's four.
This is still a few short of the vanilla count, but since my fireworks use a lot of random stuff, they actually tend to look a bit different each time so I guess it's okay.
Preview video of the stuff I have already placed ingame can be downloaded here (MediaFire 21.9Mb).
Screenshots:
You can expect version 1.0 to be available for download either this Sunday or Monday. Sorry for the delay for those who are waiting for this, but I had some serious RL happenings and hand't had much time to work on this.
Hope you like what I came up with so far!
Ohgod, I joygasmed.
and you will make it merge-ready
I hope there will still be a merged version with Bailknight's Effects Mod.
Of course, there will be, as with previous release, a stand-alone version, a merge-ready version and one already merged with Bailknight's Effects.
Here's a Youtube link for convenience sake, I haven't uploaded it yesterday because I was burnt-out at 2:30 AM...
Just one word WOW! Great job man!!!!
+1 karma to you
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