Collapse of a Dynasty

[nemafakei]

I've been wanting to get this done for some time, and it's finally picking up speed. I'm working on an Emperor mod which plays somewhat like Dune 2000. One of the most important aspects, however, is the provision of a library of textures to convert any unit to look Atreides, Harkonnen, or Ordos.

Oh, while I remember, could someone send me the Ordos Lionhead (or =Or_snakhead or whatever I called it) texture from the Guardian in KH2?

So far it's going well. I've got most of the tech tree working up to about the missile tanks and siege tanks, and I've done two of the three new Light Factories. That means yes, you can build Quads or Trikes while your other tanks are building.

Oh, yes, and I intend to get rid of the pointless situation in emperor whereby many infantry and vehicles move at the same speed: Vehicles now go fast - but Infantry are still more than worth it - if you can get them in the right place to begin with.

[Apollyon]

I look forward to trying it out, even though I hate dune2k.

If you need any assistance please ask.

[Inoculator9]

Sounds great Nema :) I hope you'll keep us informed, and ask for anything you need ;)

[JulesG]

So far it's going well. I've got most of the tech tree working up to about the missile tanks and siege tanks, and I've done two of the three new Light Factories. That means yes, you can build Quads or Trikes while your other tanks are building.

So are you just adding 3 new building definitions or trying to retain campaign play?

I ask because I have been trying to do the same and also bump the higher level buildings, ie the ATHanger becomes the Heavy Factory, and ATStarport becomes hanger, ATpalace the starport etc. With a new Palace using one of the existing AT civilian buildings to keep campaign play happy.

I have succeeded with AT (now the Ixians) just fighting each other in skirmish but Emp did not like this situation if I then had the other two sides not yet altered and tried using them. (I am in the middle of turning the Harks into Corrino, and have not started on turning Ordos into Tl-Guild). I hope if when all sides are finished I will be able to make all sides use the different definitions.

Are you creating new xbfs?

[nemafakei]

I wasn't that bothered about campaign play.

I should probably add the following:

The mod is so called partly because it follows the plot preceeding Emperor: Battle for Dune - hence the Dune 2000 style etc. Another reason is that it's a variation on the Dune II codename (Building of a Dynasty).

I've also managed to change the Emperor Logo for the titles without a nasty black square (if no-one else has yet managed to in a mod).

As to the LtFactory, I've just added three new buildings and new build types. I'll post screenshots soon.

I'm certainly creating new xbf files to retexture them. I've managed not to need to edit vertices of the xbfs too much, but I might change some more later on to make some of them more distinctive. I'll also have to redo the sounds later, as well.

At some point near the end, I'll need some testers for balance, and someone with a fast PC and good graphics card to take lots of screenshots (at hi-res, with full shadows and so on) for icons.

[Apollyon]

"As to the LtFactory, I've just added three new buildings and new build types. I'll post screenshots soon."

For some reason lots of people don't think that's possible. Probably because I forgot to tell them that buildtypes are case-sensitive.  :O

[nemafakei]

I usually obey case rules anyway, with the exception of file name references for resources like textures.

One problem I do have is my icons - it seems that all the Atreides units are shifted on one place, starting from the trike (and there's a blank space where the first vehicle icon should be), and I don't know why - I'll have to check the other houses' shortly.

[Inoculator9]

I'd be glad to test it out for you when the need arises Nema. I'll even fix any major balancing errors for you, lol :)

[nemafakei]

Three light factories. No, that doesn't mean they make bulbs and candles.[attachment archived by Gobalopper]

[Timenn]

They look great, even though they don't fix matches.

It is probably impossible to flatten that piece of road, which units use when popping out of the building?

[Dunenewt]

Yup I agree they look great.

[Inoculator9]

Excellent job Nema.

I'd make a news post... but it seems to say I can't :P So... I'll get Gob on the line, lol :P

[nemafakei]

I've not really tried to edit the xbf. I'll see.

[Inoculator9]

I agree, I think that would look nicer if the point was at least flattened out a lit bit.

And news post made ;)

[JulesG]

;D

Could you explain how to get the "no black box round the new Logo" as I keep getting it whenever I create a new ATlogo or HKlogo etc. and then open Emperor!

Also do you know how to get rid of the original skeletal logos of the three houses that fly onto the top of the three worlds as you pick them to start campaign mode? They are not any of the logos, they seem to be coded somewhere. (During campaign play these old skeletal logos ripple over the top of the new solid logo and spoil the effect of having a new logo).

Help appreciated

[Inoculator9]

Those are coded, and impossible to change. As far as logos... you can just take the IXLogo and IMLogo, and rename them to ATLogo, ORLogo, HKLogo, and whatever else, and they work fine like that. Same with all the others ;) Unless you're creating new logos... in which case, you have to make the background some shade of pink which I don't remember off the top of my head :P

[JulesG]

8)

Right thanks, thats what I thought.

One little thing, if you save the Ixlogo as ATlogo it does not fit on the load skirmish/campaign screen, the top of the logo is off screen, forcing you to shrink the actual logo in size.  ;)

[nemafakei]

Failing that, Magenta is a pretty good way of making sure things do what you want.

[Inoculator9]

Woops, lol, thx for the tidbit Jules ;)

[Timenn]

Remember that you must store the logo's in a different color format then all other textures.

While all other textures must be saved in 24-bits format tga to work properly. Logo's must be saved in 32-bits format tga.

[nemafakei]

Ah! I'll remember that.

[Dunenewt]

Is this the file you want?[attachment archived by Gobalopper]

[nemafakei]

That's the one! Thanyou, that's really useful.

If anyone has a quad xbf which is has a normal-sized guardstate/veterancy box, it'd be much appreciated!

Meanwhile, I'm currently trying to work out why the game is crashing as I add the heavy tropers, or even replace something with a heavy trooper

[Inoculator9]

What changes are you making? Stats or graphics?

[Timenn]

Nema, if you really want to give the Dune2/2k feel, you should also replace the music, with those tracks of Dune2k, and Dune II

I don't know if Emperor can play mid-files, otherwise the file size to download may be quite large... (Dune 2 uses midi files, they are only about 10 kb per file!)