[Realspace MODS] "STARS" - "XRSGE" - "REM" - various

[Newinger]

But they are ok now...will need further testing when finished, i am checking one by one

Awesome ^^ Maybe you really get the mod done this week end ^^

[Newinger]

I have a few stylistic thoughts (just personal taste; and I do not use ReShade):

- I think Mars looks quite less pronounced than in the DLC, and esp. not as red as I thought it would be. It's more a red-grey. Is that intended?

- I was a bit disappointed by the Litany of Fury sectors - in the DLC, it is a very dark, very mysterious sectors, totally dominated by the red star and its bursts. Was one of my favorite sectors. For your mod you chose a blueish/greenish background and everything seems much brighter. I think the sector loses its mysterious atmosphere by that

- The description of Freedom's Reach mentiones sectors XI and X, but these don't exist

- It is called "Terranova 1", but "New Terranova II" - why not "Terranova I" or "New Terranova 2"?

- Moroz has the same text as New Terranova II

- Planet Kho and Planet Taurus have the same text

- Some sectors are full of friend foes mines. I mean REALLY full Can this be reduced a bit?

- Antigone Republic System has a strange, somewhat pinkish light, which does not fit with the sun's own light


But the rest of the mod is great. My personal favorites:

- Saturn and it's rings are a real work of art.

- Neptune is very beautiful

- and soooo many other beautiful sectors.

[Arsaneus]

I'm still trying to analyze that odd mesh issue I'm having.

I analyzed a frame and I can see the issue but can't tell which mesh that is.

This is the star background. Loads fine
https://imgur.com/JYxsj1C

This is the cluster background, also loads fine (c14)
https://imgur.com/bSrRBaq

But this... this is what is causing the issue. I don't know what mesh that is but it breaks the frame.
https://imgur.com/fA4Dbmi

Playing around to identify what this is...

[Realspace]

But this... this is what is causing the issue. I don't know what mesh that is but it breaks the frame.
https://imgur.com/fA4Dbmi

That should be the vertex, a plain white draft that somehow regulates lighting in the scene. I don't know how it works because I changed them by raw numbers, so some get broken some not. It was another long tedious work but allowed us to have sectors that large, in vanilla they end very soon, in The Moon you already see the skybox becoming bigger. Just experiment using different connection_001, usually they are 001. part_c03_bg usually works everywhere, it is the one used in vanilla split sectors and terran.

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Ok I am uploading XRSGE 2.6
https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/507

I've corrected various things in the jobs, so now a big patrol should be created in bordering sectors of each system.
But, most of all, I corrected ALL superhighways! It was statistically impossible that they were all broken but they were. There was a 50% probability of this stupid error, so I excluded it while it was in front of my eyes, looking for something bigger. Anyway, boring daylong correction and finally...ALL SUPERHIGHWAYS WORK! I hope, I can have missed some...anyway, animation, activation and they show up. Remember that it is a vanilla thing that you have to find them, they are not caught by long range scanner as gates do.

About the other suggestions, I changed the error in the name (not in this uploaded version yet), but in general I often used the same description for a planet and its moon, even if the moon has a name and a sector. If some writer wants to be inspired... I'll gladly add new descriptions. there are also some consistencies to check, such as names that are cited in the texts that are used elsewhere or not fitting the new lore.

About Mars...I am not fully satisfied neither but yes it is intended to be used with reshade. Reshade is vital now to impress the right contrast to the scene, but you can use other means, the important thing is to add contrast. I was torn by the idea of entirely changing it into a green planet. I can't believe the terrans have still not terraformed it..then opted for a kind desertic still partially habitable planet. Also, vanilla mars looks decent only from far, this one keeps details close too.

I do agree about Litany of fury, sometimes the coherence with the system made me lost the specific atmosphere...but the good news is that I separated scenery form resources so it is very easy to improve anything related to look without changing the saved game.

Mine fields yes...they are set only in bordering sectors. Do you think they are too dense or too largely spread? The scene is quit large indeed, it covers the entire sector for thousands kms, but I could make them less dense. This is another thing quite easy to change, they are a separated thing, not linked to resources so one can even customize them at pleasure by changing the density in regiondefinition.xml. You'll find them as mine_fields and the note tells if they are friend/foe, only foe etc.

Anyway, for the next time I wish to solve the Split story issue and would like some help. Simply a detailed description of where it starts (fixed location?), what sectors one has to go though, etc. I never played vanilla...thanks!

p.s. If someone is going to test the superhighways in every sector, then please do this before. Change the file libraries/mapdefaults.xml into whatever name, to disabilitate it. You'll play in a galaxy with vanilla names and other custom sectors having only the id. This helps communicating to me which sector it is otherwise I have to cross data from text, map and clusters..

If you continue an old save you can see misplaced superhighways. The game takes some time to update new positions but it does. I don't know how many changes can it handle but can take several saves

[Newinger]

If some writer wants to be inspired... I'll gladly add new descriptions. there are also some consistencies to check, such as names that are cited in the texts that are used elsewhere or not fitting the new lore.

Do you have all the texts in a simple text file? Then I could have a look for some corrections and small changes. (If they are all in dozens of xml files, I'd rather not touch these.)

About Mars...I am not fully satisfied neither but yes it is intended to be used with reshade. Reshade is vital now to impress the right contrast to the scene, but you can use other means, the important thing is to add contrast. I was torn by the idea of entirely changing it into a green planet. I can't believe the terrans have still not terraformed it..then opted for a kind desertic still partially habitable planet. Also, vanilla mars looks decent only from far, this one keeps details close too.

Ah, I see. Well, I will try how it looks with ReShade. Currently I use the ingame "photo" filter.

Given the terraforming feature in the game (which does not allow terraforming Mars, for some strange reason ) I'd keep Mars the red planet.

Is the base texture you use for Mars based on real-world images or is it a fictional texture entirely?

Do you think they are too dense or too largely spread?

Mostly too dense, but also too widespread. I would cover the area near the jump gates and strategically important positions, but not entire sectors

the Split story issue and would like some help. Simply a detailed description of where it starts (fixed location?), what sectors one has to go though, etc. I never played vanilla...thanks!

Sorry, never played that plot, too ... Maybe have a look at the following walkthrough:

https://www.reddit.com/r/X4Foundations/ ... lkthrough/

If someone is going to test the superhighways in every sector, then please do this before. Change the file libraries/mapdefaults.xml into whatever name, to disabilitate it. You'll play in a galaxy with vanilla names and other custom sectors having only the id.

Okay, so you mean, when I report a bug, I should give you the vanilla name or id, instead of your custom name? Will do...

[Newinger]

Okay, I have now tried the ReShade filter. Wow, that is quite... intense. Totally different. Everything much darker (and I assume this could solve my issues with Litany of Fury), and Mars is indeed red ... but on the other hand, it is not so optimal for ship interiors and people. Not sure yet if I keep it, or if I reduce gamma in game and maybe add a filter in the NVidia tool...

I had a short hop through some highways - at a first glance, they work - well done!

(Please note that there are also a few (very few) inactive accelerators and even a jump gate. I will try to give a list later.)

[Realspace]

Great! Yes reshade makes wonders... you can reduce a bit the contrast in the prod80_contrast etc.

I am tuning REM. Nerfed only the mk3 of S while reducing only top speeds of M figates etc not trading vessels. They have a top around 5000 with mk3 which is fine. Guys, do you know if the cargo load in the ship's bay increases the mass? Bc rem is much more sensible to real physics and mass reduces acceleration..as it should be! In shipyards, buying simulation, trade ships already have less acceleration than frigates, with the same engine. I wonder if the load is already considered

[Newinger]

Great! Yes reshade makes wonders... you can reduce a bit the contrast in the prod80_contrast etc.

I am tuning REM. Nerfed only the mk3 of S while reducing only top speeds of M figates etc not trading vessels. They have a top around 5000 with mk3 whicj is fine. Guys, do you know if the load in the ship's bay increases the mass? Bc rem is much more sensible to real physics and mass reduces acceleration..as it should be! In shipyards, buying simulation, trade ships already have less acceleration than frigates, with the same engine. I wonder if the load is already considered

Good question. I don't know. I think one can make a test. Fly the exact same route (for example between two stations) twice, the first time fully loaded, and then empty. Should take a different amount of time to accelerate if mass is affected by load.

Btw, for some reason performance of the new version is worse than before, down to unplayable FPS. O.o Yesterday I was playing for hours without problems, but today it is changed. I first thought it is my computer doing some background tasks (updates etc.) and I let him finish, but still ... have you added a lot of jobs for the patrols? Or changed anything else that affects performance?

Edit: Hm maybe the Deadair mods were the reason. I removed them and performance _seems_ to be back to normal. Still strange why it worked with them yesterday O.o

[Newinger]

I am sorry to report that Super Highways are still not fully functioning.

For example the highway from "Windfall IV Aurora's Dream Beta" to "Windfall IV Aurora's Dream Alpha".

As long as I am at least 10.1 km away from the entrance, it is shown visually as active.

But when I come closer (less than 10.1 km from the entrance), it is not shown as active anymore. It gets active again when I back off so I am again at least 10.1 km away from the entrance.

I noticed this only because I decided to make a manual flight. Have not tested it with the others so far.

Edit: In the other direction (from Alpha to Beta), the highway entrance is visually active all the time, but still does not work for manual flight.

[Realspace]

Yes as told I ve added quite a strong patrol on the borders,only there. In general, I don't adivise using other jobs and gods file bc the galaxy is quite different from vanilla not only in shape, also in logic. I spend time fine-tuning those files inside this galaxy. For instance, vanilla-like patrols are quite useless bc access to systems can happen in specific borders, so it only burdens the game having them elsewhere

[Newinger]

Yes as told I ve added quite a strong patrol on the borders,only there. In general, I don't adivise using other jobs and gods file bc the galaxy is quite different from vanilla not only in shape, also in logic. I spend time fine-tuning those files inside this galaxy. For instance, vanilla-like patrols are quite useless bc access to systems can happen in specific borders, so it only burdens the game having them elsewhere

Understood I removed that mod and it is fine again now I just had installed it to see if it can support the game economy (to prevent wares stockpiling in the stations and prices endlessly dropping).

By the way, decided to keep your Reshade preset. It's really better with it. I just switched of FXAA and the additional lighting (the latter creates small lines all over the imagine combined with the other active reshade options).

[Newinger]

I am sorry to report that Super Highways are still not fully functioning.

For example the highway from "Windfall IV Aurora's Dream Beta" to "Windfall IV Aurora's Dream Alpha".

As long as I am at least 10.1 km away from the entrance, it is shown visually as active.

But when I come closer (less than 10.1 km from the entrance), it is not shown as active anymore. It gets active again when I back off so I am again at least 10.1 km away from the entrance.

I noticed this only because I decided to make a manual flight. Have not tested it with the others so far.

Edit: In the other direction (from Alpha to Beta), the highway entrance is visually active all the time, but still does not work for manual flight.

To update on this: Even though manual flying through highways is not as reliable as I'd wish, it is now still much better than before - first of all, it is good that they usually are animated, and also, even if they aren't, the autopilot is able to fly through them now (be selecting the target sector for guidance). So finally I can fire my AI pilot (Not that I don't like them...)

[wanderer]

Q.: regarding the new 2.6. Did you choose to move some of the jump gates and accelerator coordinates/positions?
Do you plan to move them later again, or are the now fixed, and was there a reason, except to move them more together.

I saw in zones.xml that you changed (e.g. nopileous) several positions (e.g. macro Zone013_Cluster_01_Sector002_macro):

Code: Select all

2.5.7:  <position x="10370.056640625" y="0" z="12331.626953125" />

to

Code: Select all

2.6:  <position x="1037" y="0" z="1233" />

.
That leads to a unavoidable mess in some of my sectors, while I position some defense station directly before (or above) them


And I get an ReadText Error in the map view for

Code: Select all

This seems missing in the t-file: <t id="50031">{20003,10001} {20402,2} : {20003,50001} {20401,1} (Grand Exchange II Path to Profit alpha)</t>
    <t id="50032">{5120004,50012}</t>

[Newinger]

Q.: regarding the new 2.6. Did you choose to move some of the jump gates and accelerator coordinates/positions?

Hm... Maybe that was related to his change to fix the distorted accelerators (but I don't know).

For now, I don't really start a game yet where I invest time in building anything. It's mostly beta testing and bug testing. I assume there will be more changes needed. The basic sector layout etc. seem to be quite stable now, with 2.6, but who knows what other surprises are waiting

And I get an ReadText Error in the map view for

Code: Select all

 <t id="50031">{20003,10001} {20402,2} : {20003,50001} {20401,1} (Grand Exchange II Path to Profit alpha)</t>
    <t id="50032">{5120004,50012}</t>

Have the same, probably a regression or sth. when he wanted to fix the double sector name that it was before

[Realspace]

Yes I still changed some zones as for instance defence platform's zone that were too far away. They do update but yes for a playthrough can be a throuble. I'll try to be more conservative from now on, I think we really have finished..except correcting some superhighws that still have issue and texts of course.

Distortions should have been gone...forever. I replaced all the quaternions, this should not change the performance at all. I think the major update that could slow the game is the massive patrols I added in the bordering sectors

Btw, this is new REM, in order to play in this galaxy..

REM 2.0 BIG UPDATE
https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/848
Major update, added 2X cargo size for all traders, a bit less for split and terrans (that are faster thou).
All engines have been nerfed to a better balance for the size of XRSGE universe, to which this mod fits. Travel speed reduced, still quite high.
Everything has been rebalanced, differences mk1-mk3 much less but their price is also closer.
M, L, XL engines cost much more but the crazy prices for L and XL Thrusters have been rebalanced
As usual for this mod's approach: Teladi engines are a bit less performant but also cost a bit less. They have good travel speeds thou. Teladi like profit
Argon and Paranid are equal, Paranid having more frontal push while Argon more booster.
Split and terran engines cost more and are a tad better. Terran's have simply more push (they need for heavier ships using less engines), while Split engines are similar to others but have better boosters. Split like speed.
The difference between Split/Terran and Argon/Paranid has been reduced, so the price gap. Still you can have a boost in performance if using the previous.
Since I reworked everything there can be some little un-balances, like for instance (I already saw it) Paranid frigates being a bit too fast. I'll correct these, but for now we needed this update to better play in XRSGE universe.

In general, I made M ships more lethal by making them rival the S ships in terms of speed and accelerations. Their engines cost more indeed. Not touching the guns except for the increased speed that is a similar increment for all bullets, regardless the category.

As for assessing if the mod works correctly, these raw ranges of performance can be set:

S Scouts: 5000-7000 ms / 40-50 accel, high travel and boost according to engine, max 20.000 travel
S Fighters: 3000-5500 ms / 25-40 accel, high travel and boost according to engine, max 16.000 travel

M "Fighters": 4000-6000 ms / 16-30 accel, high travel and boost according to engine, max 16.000 travel
M Traders: 2500-4000 ms / 6-18 accel, high travel and boost according to engine, max 15.000 travel

L combat ships: 3500-5500 ms 8-16 accel, travel max 16000
L traders : 2500-4000 ms 5-12 accel. travel max 14000

XL are similar to L

All ships having too much difference have to be rebalanced, except of course special ships like the yacht or the Barbarossa, etc

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About XRSGE, all texts are bug-free (there was an error only for getsu fune description..I don't see the other you mentioned).
I feel confident that we can start a major game, no game-breaking issue. But for next days please let's focus on superhighways..I tested several, they all work properly. Checking now Windfall that indeed is strange

[Newinger]

About XRSGE, all texts are bug-free (there was an error only for getsu fune description..I don't see the other you mentioned).

Sorry, but really in 2.6 it is an error:

[Realspace]

I must have it corrected during one session and forgot, I do a lot of small bug nailing while waiting for the starting a new game for test nr.1500 anyway, text is all clean from voids now, in next update..

I corrected the superhighway in Windfall, but it still does not activate. icon is in place, animation etc. But I found the reason...damn how much I'd like to have the editor ego used instead of checking those numbers one by one... hope this will be the only one, please let's test those damn blue corridors...

[Newinger]

I must have it corrected during one session and forgot, I do a lot of small bug nailing while waiting for the starting a new game for test nr.1500 anyway, text is all clean from voids now, in next update..

Nice ^^ Thanks for fixing.

Ehm... for some reason, L and XL ships can not be outfitted with engines. No L or XL engines are available, all presets (minimum to high) are grey-out.

I saw this in the ship comparison screen.

Is this because I updated REM without starting a new game?

Edit: Okay, seems so. When I start a new game in creative gamestart, all is well. Pew.

[Newinger]

SH from Trinity Sanctum II Duke's Vision Beta to Alpha is inactive.

Also, there is an inactive accelerator (northwest in TS II DV Beta) to TS III Sacred Relic Beta.

[Newinger]

The increased cargo capacity in newest REM seems to help with ware distribution - current test game is 2:30 hours and so far I received no news that goods are stockpiling in factories.