[MOD] Immersive environments 1.1 [09-11-2011]

Eik Corell · Post by **Eik Corell** » Sat, 30. Oct 10, 02:21

The-Last-Communist wrote:can words descrive how cool this is?

Norman Borlauq is cooler.

groboh · Post by **groboh** » Sun, 31. Oct 10, 02:27

Is there an estimated finish date for this? I've been wanting to start a new game but have really just been eagerly waiting for this to be finished.

mrjingo · Post by **mrjingo** » Sun, 31. Oct 10, 08:30

same here...

connary · Post by **connary** » Sun, 31. Oct 10, 11:17

IMMERSIVE ENVIRONMENTS RC1
ONLY FOR TESTERS, NEEDS A NEW RESTART

Not intended for a intense and long gameplay, use at your own risk.

CHANGELOG

- Fix for Khaak sector destruction;
- New backgrounds or improved/cleaned ones from beta version.
- 90% of sectors redesigned depending on description and light conditions;
- New unique background for some sectors following the game description;
- Pitch black sectors;
- New star textures, blinking starts thanks to deletion of mip maps;
- New fog textures. Sectors with different densities and visibilities;
- New planet/moons textures (only a few), double size ;
- New planet night lights textures, only applied on core sectors or specific ones, no more illuminated planets on far deep space and undiscovered sectors;
- Improved ring textures;
- Solar power plants rotated to face the new sun;

- X-universe 2.0 added;
- ANH sectors added;
- New X Universe logo loadscreen;
- New Loadscreens (made a back Up of current ones);

To Igor, Moonrat and every other people that want to help me finish the mod.
I suppose that i can mod the game forever and clearly i need a finish date objective and some help.

Things that needs to be done:

Testing the stars to determine if the technique works well for the common players resolution and FOV. Currently tested for 1680x1050 with a 75-85 FOV. Depending of this factors the blinking effect can be unnoticeable or excessive.
Taking a last revision for Terran sectors; urghs
More planet textures.
General sector testing, checking for illuminated planets out of place, etc.
Adding new unique backgrounds for special sectors.
and more....

Include README with license permissions and basic info.

MEDIAFIRE LINK ZIP Format 91Mb
DOWNLOAD

Igor.tverd · Post by **Igor.tverd** » Sun, 31. Oct 10, 11:56

Ready & waiting, just got some free time on my hands as well

connary · Post by **connary** » Sun, 31. Oct 10, 12:55

Download link added¡¡

The-Last-Communist · Post by **The-Last-Communist** » Sun, 31. Oct 10, 13:01

thanks , this is so cool! i will test this during my free time , i is shurly going to be amazing

mr.WHO · Post by **mr.WHO** » Sun, 31. Oct 10, 14:05

D-loading now - will perform testing ASAP.

Igor.tverd · Post by **Igor.tverd** » Sun, 31. Oct 10, 14:32

Connary, you do amazing work, Egosoft should hire you for their next game, or perhaps the XTC.....

I did some preliminary testing:

1. Meneleases Paradise looks really good, flying through it makes me afraid of getting lost
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b18/h ... n00003.jpg

2. SOL Sectors look exactly as I would imagine, very nice!

3. Aldrin on the other hand, something is off about it, can't put my finger on it, just doesn't feel like an Ex Terran colony anymore, but that's just my opinion.

4. Maelstrom look good, except the draw distance, I can see station from 65km away. Doesn't fit the lore considering the fact that pirates were able to ambush the fleet with out any warning.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b18/h ... n00009.jpg

5. Preachers Void!!! Truly incredible!!!
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b18/h ... n00015.jpg
6. The rings in vestibule of creation look very real, but I'm not sure if they have a place there.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b18/h ... n00013.jpg
7. I like what you did with Getse Fune corner of the universe, with the same fog, it now feels like sectors are close to each other, perhaps in the same star cluster.

8. Khaak sectors are now all accessible, and look as good as ever. 100 times better then in Vanilla universe.

9. The new setting for most Unknown sectors is really nice, flying though them gives you the feeling that you have just reached corner of known space. Very good immersion.

10. The new light blue backgrounds are simply amazing!

11. Xenon pitch dark sectors are scary, they set the mood that no life exists here or ever will, that xenon retreat far away from light and even tow the gates away from it.

12. Are you planing on creating any new "ravaged" planets?

13. Are you planing on creating any "iron" nebulae? Something like that would fit Maelstorm, dark and magnetic

To finalize this mod is amazing, adds some much immersion and deepness to a dull universe I have a hard time keeping my jaw from dropping. Hope my comments haven't offended you, it was not my intention, just trying to help.

Off to do some real testing, with higher resolution, exploring my way sector to sector, taking notes and screenshots.

connary · Post by **connary** » Sun, 31. Oct 10, 16:05

Thats exactly what is needed Igor. U are a tester, dont take care about offending in any way. Be constructive, nothing more, nothing less.

What about stars? Seeing your screenshots u are playing with mid/low level graphics, no?

What about planets? Take a look to the 0/0 boron sector and the nearest....

-I will check immediately Maelstrom. This distance its no good.

-Vestibule of creation ... what do you think that fits in this sector?...

-Aldrin in the vanilla game was black with a brilliant yellow suns, the two suns makes the rock sides to look like a brilliant golden potato without any shadows hidding its own craters and interesting forms. Now it has two different intensities and colouration for the suns showing clearly the shape and forms of the central rock subtly. More darker. Evidently its far for the original concept but also all the terran sectors share this differences with my mod.

-There are some ravaged planets in the mod. Im also taking in consideration to do a better version of the lava one.

EDIT: Yes definitely something goes wrong with far distances in Maelstrom, 100km lol. I will redo this sector, a unique background its a good idea for this sector.

Beermachine · Post by **Beermachine** » Sun, 31. Oct 10, 16:37

Some initial feedback, while I could go on and on about all the things I really love about this mod (moving the suns / use of illumination was inspired!), it's probably better left for a more through review style post when everything is completed and polished to the authors satisfaction.

Settings are 1680-1050, high detail, default FOV.

The blinking stars work really well in 95% of the sectors, where it is more of a background effect and only really noticeable when you look for it, which is ideal. Sectors like Akeela's Beacon though it seems very slightly too excessive, maybe due to the lack of coloured illumination in that sector. Very minor issue though.

Seems to be a bug in Paranid space (Prime and sectors around it) / Spaceweed drift backgrounds concerning the wrap around of it with a large paste line running through, and a psuedo looking see through planet. Only noticeable bug found so far (visited a lot of the sectors).

The stars can be seen through the fog in Omnicrom Lyrae (sp), not sure whether it is intentonal though (they cannot be seen in The Hole for example).

If I see anymore I'll post them. Personal favourites so far are the Hole's fog, Ocean of Fantasy, Heaven's Assertion, Vestible of Creation and the Xenon sectors.

Concerning the lore aspect and matching everything exactly to the descriptions, while nice, personally it doesn't really concern me, especially given that the loremakers themselves, Egosoft, are not concerned about it as shown by the sectors not matching the descriptions in vanilla.

Given a choice between great backgrounds and beautiful sectors, or matching a description that says "this sector is incredibly boring / causes headaches to anyone seeing it" (extreme examples but the principle is the same), I'll take the beautiful version everytime, or just change the description

connary · Post by **connary** » Sun, 31. Oct 10, 17:04

Dont care about Paranid sectors, im in the middle of the works of this background sector and i included by mistake the fake WIP textures. I dont know how to change this sectors for the moment. Perhaps i will left this one untouched as a vanilla tribute.

I need the exact sector names where the stars are a bit excessive. I made a lot of tweaks of the stars textures to get a decent balance but perhaps i forgot a texture reference. I will check Akeela's Beacon.

The apparition or not of stars in certain sectors its dependent of the sensation of density i want to create. Its not always the same.

FIXED: Red Nexus stars (Akeela's Beacon) excessive luminance.

I modified the first post adding a list of current fixes to help to clear the process.

mr.WHO · Post by **mr.WHO** » Sun, 31. Oct 10, 17:50

Here is my feedback of random jumping to 30-40% of universe sectors:

1) Uranus - it's too bright, it's like a christmass tree, while it should be at the far edge of Solar System, plus there is no rings that are visible in Uranus 2 and 3 (I really like the previous Uranus sector rings). In previous release Uranus sector was beutiful, while Neptune was boring. Now the Neptune is beautiful, while Uranus is strange.

2) Jupiter - too bright and intense colours.

3) Asteroid Belt - too dark, it supose to be closer to Sun that the previous two.

4) Xenon 534 - nice sector but Mars like planet doesn't fit to dark foggy background, I recoment changing it to something like Moon, Ringo Moon or other dark, dead grey planetary body.

5) Unknown sector east to Zyarth's Dominion - something is wrong with the sector coz you die in collison as soon as you enter the sector.

6) Paranid Prime, Priest Rings, Spacweed Groove, other - visible edges of background skybox.

7) Xenon 101 - strange music sound, something like a scream or noise from horror.

8 ) Brennan's Triumph - no music

9) Preachers Void - no music

That's all for now, everything exept 5 an 6 is a minor stuff.

connary · Post by **connary** » Sun, 31. Oct 10, 18:06

Thanks a lot for the quick response to all. This will help a lot to get a final version soon¡¡

I will check the luminance discordances that you notice mr. Who.

Paranid Prime include fake textures i use to get reference of his position, not a real bug but evidently not the final look of the mod.

Good finding with the unknow sector east of Zyarth's, same problem as in the Khaak sector. FIXED¡¡

Surprised about your music problems in some sectors. My mod only changes the X_universe taking in consideration my changes in the galaxy editor, this excludes music imho; and the Tbackground that also dont include music references i think, perhaps are you using some other mod?
Any other people getting this?

EDIT: I checked the xenon sector near Getsu Fune and im with you that something seems unfinished or out of place. The planet its out of place also. In fact for me the triad of Getsu, Unknown and Xenon sector must share the same background to bring some cohesion to this lands. A dense fog without stars and minimal sunlight can do the work for the vicious look of the Xenon sector.

FIXED Ubber sector destruction on Unknown sector east Zyarth's Dominion
MODIFIED SECTORS NEAR GETSU FUNE. A more cohesive look

e1team · Post by **e1team** » Sun, 31. Oct 10, 18:35

Wait wait wait! The second beta out? Yay!

mr.WHO · Post by **mr.WHO** » Sun, 31. Oct 10, 18:36

Some beauty shots for those who wait for final release:

Neptune - now my favorite Terran sector:
http://b.imagehost.org/0588/x3screen00023.jpg

Elysium of Light - do I see a face? Protos Archon face ?

http://d.imagehost.org/0042/x3screen00024.jpg

fallenwizard · Post by **fallenwizard** » Sun, 31. Oct 10, 18:55

I tried this mod and it looks really great.

I have something to add too: Brennan's Triumph is located in the Alpha Centauri system. It is a binary star system but I only see one star. (It has actually three stars. Two large and one small star)

Igor.tverd · Post by **Igor.tverd** » Sun, 31. Oct 10, 18:59

connary wrote: What about stars? Seeing your screenshots u are playing with mid/low level graphics, no?

I'm currently running in windowed 1024x768 with lowest graphic settings.

Stars look good, especially during zooming. Not sure what you mean by blinking stars though.

connary wrote: What about planets? Take a look to the 0/0 boron sector and the nearest....

Just checked Kindoms End, the cloud layer is moving properly, no more moving continents. Going to check every sector for this.

connary wrote: -Vestibule of creation ... what do you think that fits in this sector?...

I was thinking of something along the lines of this + fog
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b18/h ... n00008.jpg

connary wrote: -Aldrin in the vanilla game was black with a brilliant yellow suns, the two suns makes the rock sides to look like a brilliant golden potato without any shadows hidding its own craters and interesting forms. Now it has two different intensities and colouration for the suns showing clearly the shape and forms of the central rock subtly. More darker. Evidently its far for the original concept but also all the terran sectors share this differences with my mod.

Aldrin just seems off, perhaps it's too much fog, I can't be sure. Going to spend some time in it.

connary wrote: -There are some ravaged planets in the mod. Im also taking in consideration to do a better version of the lava one.

How about something like this, a destroyed planet. In some of the sector descriptions there are mentions of Xenon destroying planets but the only evidence left are asteroids. I believe in some cases this would fit better.

[ external image ]

connary · Post by **connary** » Sun, 31. Oct 10, 19:02

mr.WHO wrote:Some beaty shots for those who wait for final release:

Neptune - now my favorite Terran sector:
http://b.imagehost.org/0588/x3screen00023.jpg

Elysium of Light - do I see a face? Protos Archon face ?
http://d.imagehost.org/0042/x3screen00024.jpg

Hahaha, i have a very bad news for you mr. Who, the terran sectors are in the works, i hate the black background and finally im applying a new background for all terran sectors. Neptune will look like this:

[ external image ]

EDIT: For Igor.Tver.

Yes with low resolutions the blink effect disappear.

The terrestrial face of some planets have a lot and i mean a lot of details but evidently with low resolution this cant be easily detected.

Look more deep. In fact there are exploded planets

Beermachine · Post by **Beermachine** » Sun, 31. Oct 10, 19:11

Was above to post about the sector east of Zyarth's but got beaten to the punch.

Music plays fine for me in Preachers Void and Brennan's Triumph.

Havn't noticed any other sectors other than Akeela's with excessive star lighting so far, just took a little time to get used to the change.

Possible - Stars not quite right in Reservoir of Tranquility? They seem to have a diferent look to the rest of the universe, but maybe intentional.

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

[MOD] Immersive environments 1.1 [09-11-2011]