FQM Beta 6 + Website

[Fyron]

Announcing the posting of FQM 5.00 Beta 6, for SE5. Also announcing a new website (http://www.spaceempires.net/fqm5) for the SE5 version of the mod.

download link (http://www.spaceempires.net/files/sev/mods/FQM5.00Beta6.rar) (900 kb)

Beta 6 version history:
1. Changed - Nebula storm clouds are now 3x larger, spaced out twice as much, and 1/2 as numerous. This improves aesthetics, whilst simultaneously improving performance in nebula systems.
2. Changed - Reworked the nebula storm positioning algorithm to make the amount of storms in a ring proportional to the distance from the center.
3. Changed - Reduced brightness of PlanetGlow.bmp texture.
4. Changed - Reduced brightness of blue, white and yellow stars in XFileClasses_Stellar.txt by 15%.
5. Added - Stars now rotate.
6. Added - Enabled green protostar systems (Protostar 1).


Please note that this is a work in progress. There are bound to be quirks, which you should report. All suggestions for improvement are welcome!

[Atrocities]

Very cool.

[maccca41]

Hello Fyron,
I am enjoying using your mod with version 1.04 of the balance mod. However, would it be possible either on your website or here to include detailed instructions of how we can incorporate your latest version (beta 6) into the balance mod without compromising the balance mod?
Thank you in advance.

[Fyron]

The only two data files Beta 6 changed are SystemTypes.txt and XFileClasses_Stellar.txt. SystemTypes.txt is only ever read when you create a map, so it won't break a game. No new objects were added to the XFile_Classes file; I just tweaked values. You should be able to copy these two files from FQM Beta 6 to Balance Mod 1.04 (not 1.03!) and continue using an existing savegame. The updated PlanetGlow.bmp texture is already in BM 1.04, so you don't need it.

For an existing savegame, you will not see the updated storm placements in Nebula systems, as they are set when the map is generated. You will see the changes to cloud counts and sizes, however. You will see all of the other animation related changes as well. You will not see any Green Protostars.

This should only be done with Balance Mod 1.04, not 1.03.
1) Browse to "SE5\Game Types" folder in Explorer.
2) If it isn't already, install FQM Beta 6.
3) Browse to FQM\Data folder.
4) Copy "SystemTypes.txt" and "XFileClasses_Stellar.txt" files.
5) Browse to Balance Mod\Data folder.
6) Paste the two copied files into the BM data folder.
7) Load up your savegame and enjoy.

If for some reason you encounter errors, you can simply restore those two data text files from the BM 1.04 zip file.

[Arkcon]

Imperator Fyron said:

5. Added - Stars now rotate.


Really? Cool. Now what FQM needs is pulsars, a small white star with a "cone of glow" circling it's poles (if that's possible.) Maybe the system can have other effects -- like only rocky worlds with some harsh but survivable conditions.

[Captain Kwok]

Arkcon said:Really? Cool. Now what FQM needs is pulsars, a small white star with a "cone of glow" circling it's poles (if that's possible.) Maybe the system can have other effects -- like only rocky worlds with some harsh but survivable conditions.

If only somebody was working on that, it would be cool. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/stupid.gif

[Atrocities]

Can stars have rings? (not ring worlds)

[Fyron]

In reality, no. In SE5, nothing prevents you from making a ringed star model.

[Spoo]

Some stars have disks.
Example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Be_star

[Fyron]

Hmm... interesting.

[Fyron]

I've decided to rescale stars so they have more realistic sizes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_classification#Morgan-Keenan_spectral_classification). Since green isn't realistic, I've just made them the same as yellow. What do you think?

http://fqm5.spaceempires.net/img/scaled_stars_th.jpg

Full size link. (http://fqm5.spaceempires.net/screen.php?i=scaled_stars)

[mrscrogg]

Fyron , I just hope all of your fantastic visual effects are being fowarded to the Captain for the Balance Mod { as long as he approves }. As of right now that's the only version I will play of SEV - Thanks

[mrscrogg]

Can the suns be made to give off small solar flares from their surface ? - making them more realistic ? How about actually showing a solar flare wipe out a planet or solar system or a star go nova a nd take out solar system ?

[Captain Kwok]

The animation I made for the stars features smaller subdued flares. Anything large would require excessive numbers of frames to look decent.

[henk brouwer]

Fyron:
Looks good.
Any chance of adding a few huge red giant stars?

Also, I guess the red star you have in the screenshot is a red dwarf? if so, it could be a bit smaller, some of those stars are actually not much larger than the planet jupiter, (not all would be that small though):

http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/jupiter_sized_star.html?332005

Another nice site that compares planet and star sizes (to put things into perspective):

http://www.rense.com/general72/size.htm

[Fyron]

Well, to be scaled properly, the blue stars should really take up the entire system. Gotta make some compromises. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif I can make the red stars a little smaller, but I don't want to make them too small. New scale chart (http://fqm5.spaceempires.net/screen.php?i=scaled_stars) is up.

I was working on red giants (http://fqm5.spaceempires.net/screen.php?i=red_giant) last night. As you can see, they are big enough to swallow a few of the inner planets. hehe

For reference, I have put up a blue star (http://fqm5.spaceempires.net/screen.php?i=system_3) solar system.

[Baron Munchausen]

Yeah, since stars' descriptions say they are 'large' or 'small' or whatnot, they really ought to be different sizes. A red giant or two that takes up half of its system might be cool. I like the neutron star idea, too. That would be the size of a planet, taking only one hex, and close to black, but surrounded by a faint, weird purple 'ultraviolet' glow. Any planets in a neutron star system would be 'blasted' clean by the supernova that caused the neutron star, of course. No atmosphere. The closer ones might be only asteroids.

Even better, can you improve the 'wisps' of gas/dust that are swirling around black holes? They look like sponges swirling around in a bathtub in stock. They need to be elongated in the direction of the swirling. If the SE5 graphical engine can do trailing smoke from damaged ships, it can do these wisps of gas/dust properly, too.

[Fyron]

I've kept the 3 sizes of each star, but its all relative to type. For example, yellow stars can be 38, 40, or 42 units in diameter. Its only slightly less wide than the stock range, which had 32, 36, and 40.

Did you not see the red giant (http://fqm5.spaceempires.net/screen.php?i=red_giant) system? Is that not big enough? 4 hex radius! hehe

Neutron stars are on the drawing board.

Hmm... the black hole system does not seem to actually animate the bitmap effects it uses. It seems to just pick a frame to use, and stick with it. Using the smoke trail animations just made the puffiness worse: black hole puff (http://fqm5.spaceempires.net/img/black_hole_puff.jpg). I also have no control over the distance between black hole "clouds." :-\

[mrscrogg]

How about a binary star system with the two stars sharing plasma with each other !

[AgentZero]

I'd pay to see that!


Wait. No I wouldn't.

But it'd be cool.

[Ed Kolis]

Heh, is that the new meaning of "porn star" nowadays? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[mrscrogg]

I knew someone was going to say that !

[AgentZero]

I'm just surprised it wasn't me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif