What is Genesis?

[Gibbon]

Well, let's go back to the beginning. Freelancer was nice (is nice) but it could have been so much more. So i've enhanced it. Now i tried a lot of this before in the Phoenix mod but this goes way beyond what was in there, it was actually easier to start from scratch then enhance Phoenix.

Starting with a nice fresh code base, i've removed every encounter and patrol path in the game and put new encounters and patrol paths in, ones that actually work and make sense. You will see correct factions docking where they should be docking and ships flying to where they should be flying and so on.

Activated a number of unused vanilla factions and got missions working with all of them including the nomads.

Added giant planets everywhere, and giant suns to try and give a sense of scale to the systems. Put back many missing items that were supposed to be in the code like the rings round the gas giants in New Tokyo etc.

There are a few new factions like the Simian Trade Federation, Razids and others which will be familiar from other mods i've written.

What sets this one apart are lots of unused effects that have been dormant since day one of Freelancer which now make an appearance as either weapons, engine, thruster or anything else i can think up.

More info when i have it

[Gibbon]

Progress Report #1

It's going well. What originally started as a minor update has swelled considerably into a major update. Without even trying i've managed to add over 50 new ships including a lost, roaming sleeper ship that can be seen in some systems.

Commodities i've left the same as they were in the Phoenix mod as i'd already added loads of new things and there's plenty of things to find in the wrecks as well. The dynamic economy will work ok for these items in Multiplayer while a price randomizer will simulate the same in the Open Single Player version.

I very recently added in some new HD (high definition) system backgrounds made by a Hungarian guy called Hunor. These are exceptional quality and really enhance the original system backgrounds. Here are two to be going on with from the Stuttgart and Hamburg systems.

STUTTGART SYTEM


HAMBURG SYSTEM


On the weapons front, i've made it so all original weapons, if they didn't already, now have a turret version. I was surprised how few of these there were tbh. Plenty of weapons with new FX added as well, still some more i need to add.

There are new engine FX for a number of craft to brighten things up a bit, some of them look better than intended lol.

A few new station models have been added, not to mention a replacement tradelane model by JSNCalif which looks very cool in game.

I'm currently working on redoing all the encounters in the game and patrol paths, it seems never ending but slowly ploughing through it. Boring part is having to fly down each patrol path to check they are working.

More info when i have it ;D

[Gibbon]

Here are some more photos, this time of the Dresden system





Also features some capships that the Red Hessians have been secretly building

[Gibbon]

Battling with the sur files atm, these are the files that register hits on objects in game and are a major headache for custom objects. I've managed to stop the crashing i was getting which involved the custom battleships, cruisers and gunboats, so clearly heading in the right direction

[Gibbon]

As far as i know all the sur files are now working. Added in the final ship today, a Nomad Cruiser which is nice. Putting the final touches to the last system, in this case Omega 13. Here are some shots

Merkel Shipyard - Secret Red Hessian Capship Shipyard



Omega 13 - North view



Omega 13 - South view

[Gibbon]

Been messing with gunboats. There will be four house gunboats to fly, Liberty, Bretonia, Kusari, Rheinland. These will only dock at planets with mooring fixtures and larger bases, like Newark, Aomori station etc. These will all have 1000 cargo hold and handle like... gunboats. No weapons can be mounted as these are included when you buy the ship.

There will also be three pirate gunboat vessels built by the Corsairs, Outcast and the Red Hessians. These are essentially the same ship but with different skins. Weapons on these will also be included on purchase and the cargo hold wll be slightly reduced to 750. The reason being that these gunboats can dock almost anywhere.

I would suggest that players think about this as in multiplayer you won't get any help from the admins if you try to dock these pirate gunships at say a battleship, especially the Kusari ones and get stuck, as it will serve you right for being silly.

Seeing as most people know what the gunships look like already, the major house gunboat that is new to this mod is the Liberty Gunboat. Here are a few piccies of it in action docking at Fort Bush and at Aomori Station in Honshu. Original model by LordFjord that i found lurking on my hd. The textures are heavily modified Liberty textures that i made.

With regards to docking gunboats, the mod uses the moors plugin by adoxa. With this you dock facing forward after getting mooring clearance, and you undock backwards like any large npc ship would. Great plugin.

[Gibbon]

After my success with Gunboats and their docking, i needed to have a look at something else which the mod will have lots of, i am of course talking about custom news items. Now after a bit of fiddling, here is the first one, complete with a custom image which i didn't know you could do until i tried of course lol

WANTED POSTER FOR CHILLYSAUCE