Updated: Drives 'R' Us v4.1
 

UPDATE: I'm including a link to the new 4.1 version.

4.1 includes all the material from 4.0, and updates it with fixes to three known bugs.

The Drives'R'Us series features a vastly expanded tech tree, and a larger star map with more excitement and activity. Version 4.0 incorporated the best parts of my "Teeming With Life" and "Sgqwonkian Crisis" mods into the earlier version of Drives'R'Us, plus added around two dozen new quests and 4 new ships.

Re: New Mod: Drives \'R\' Us
 

You're being a bit prolific at the moment with these mods aren't you!
Makes it hard to keep updating my ModList thread ;-)

Not played it yet, but I'm sure it'll be good; and hey - it's another Mod for WW, and that's 'always' a good thing.

This Mac update has really spurred some life into this game.
Does yours still not work?
Mine seems fine on both Macs (G4 500MHz PowerMac, and G4 1.5Ghz PowerBook, both with Mac OS X 10.4.10)

Re: New Mod: Drives \'R\' Us
 

Yes, I'm spending way too much time working on mods... and I expect it will continue. My wife got offered an incredible new job making 20% more than the two of us had combined before, so we moved 1200 miles and I went from full-time management to part-time work-from-home. My work week is nearly 35 hours shorter than it used to be, and I haven't been living here long enough to qualify for in-state tuition... so I guess I'm modding to fill time.

I've started on Weirdessey (that's the oddyssey and illiad-inspired mod) but it doesn't have enough content to upload yet. I've almost got a new update to the Sgqwonk ready, too... some additional music might spur me on there. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

The patch refuses to cooperate with my mac ibook. So I reverse-engineered the parts of the patch I couldn't live without and worked them into some otherwise non-patch-reliant mods. I miss the Ravians, but at least I got to beat them twice before it stopped working, and there's just no-way to make them do their head-popping thing without the patch.

Probably I need to update my OSX and see if that fixes the conflict, but it'll have to wait till my wife's first paycheck... moving costs were a bit higher than anticipated. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, I mean, I am a "Kept Man" afterall...

Re: New Mod: Drives \'R\' Us
 

You should set up a site, maybe you can write a more in-depth tutorial about creating new weapons, and what variables do what (Instead of PAR0 PAR1 etc. it could be explained?). I mean, the minefield that was added is just genius.

You seem to have figured out a lot in a short period of time http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: New Mod: Drives \'R\' Us
 

Koppit,

As much as I'd like to take credit and compliments, I think you're actually replying to the wrong modder.

I have not come up with a minefield. Don't even know which mod you're talking about - there must be some really cool mod out there that I haven't played enough of to trigger it.

I've only done a handful of weapons myself - they are code intensive. The master of weaponry in mods is probably Phlagm - his teleporting, hydra, and fractal weapons are ubercool. Check out his Even Weirder Worlds 0.86 if you haven't yet.

(For all I know, that could be the mod you meant to reply to... I only had access to it for a short time before my patch went screwy, so there could be mines hidden there somewhere.)

Re: New Mod: Drives \'R\' Us
 

The minefield is the (rilly cool) once-per-combat weapon in Even Weirder Worlds .86.

Lexicat

Re: New Mod: Drives \'R\' Us
 

Gee, you guys are making me blush. Thanks! That minefield took forever to do. I was also going to do something like the stellar core fragment cannon with it, and make only one findable, but you don't know what pattern it'll deploy. I'll get to it eventually...maybe.

-Phlagm

Re: New Mod: Drives \'R\' Us
 

ah sorry, I wasn't referring to you as the creator, but it was just an example of genius things that have been added to weirder worlds. I've been working on a heat seeking photon torpedo like the one in star trek, when general chang can fire while cloaked... nobody happens to know a flag that will let you do that by the way, do they?

Re: New Mod: Drives \'R\' Us
 

The only way I can think of to make a weapon fire while cloaked is to make a gong-style device, which means it can only be fired once per battle, and it fires out of a random ship in your flotilla.

Re: New Mod: Drives \'R\' Us
 

Koppit - I understand now. You were just saying "Hey, since you've got all that free time, you should put it to good use by making a tutorial site of things you and other modders have figured out about this stuff."

Not a bad idea. I know I wish the Infinite Space Federation and the Modmaker's Guide to the Galaxy were still being updated.

It'll go on my "to do" list, but there's a lot of other things higher up that list at the moment. On top of updates and debugs on my existing mods, I've got two more I'm working on. And I promised my wife that if I'm not working, I have to start painting again.

Re: New Mod: Drives \'R\' Us
 

this could be like painting - painting a picture for the rest of the modders in the WW galaxy http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: New Mod: Drives \'R\' Us
 

Hey, it is fun to play your mod!
Although I have found a glitch(?) There is this weapon, the missile pilon with the use button. What it supposed to do? It doesn't seem to work...

Re: New Mod: Drives \'R\' Us
 

Ah, yes a couple of the missile pylons were non-functional in version 1.0. Got them fixed in the 1.1 version (which is in it's own separate thread on this forum) plus several other improvements.

I'll attach it to this post too so you don't have to go hunt for it.

Re: New Mod: Drives \'R\' Us
 

Oh, and thanks for the kind words about the mod, and thanks for pointing out the glitch. If you see anything else that doesn't seem to be working right, please let me know!

Re: New Mod: Drives \'R\' Us
 

I think that maybe the best solution to that thread/version problem is to always post in the same thread and just edit the description, edit the title, and change the attachment each time. The Baylon 5 guy did that, and I originally didn't, but now I think it works better to keep things from getting confused. Plus, when people reply to the edited post about the new mod version, that shows up as "Re: Mod Name, New Version" so you can keep straight which posts go with the current version.

Re: New Mod: Drives \'R\' Us
 

ya, where did that Babylon guy go, that was my favorite mod.

Re: Updated Mod: Drives \'R\' Us v1.11
 

Thanks for the tip, Phlagm! This one's the correct thread for the latest version of Drives'R'Us from now on.

Re: Updated Mod: Drives \'R\' Us v1.11
 

There's also a big bonus in that this thread will get a billion hits and will look even more enticing all the time.

Re: New Mod: Drives \'R\' Us
 

I had to log in just to tell you that your mod rocks!!!

Re: Updated Mod: Drives 'R' Us v2.0
 

Here's a brand new expanded version of Drives'R'Us. Pretty much everything has changed, so I'll probably leave the old version on this thread as well in case anyone prefers that version. But I don't think you will - this one's much spiffier.

Changes in 2.0 version:

• Recalibrated prices on everything. I did extensive testing and number-crunching to arrive at more-accurate values for almost every item in the game.
• Technology items are now split into Civilian Tech and Military Tech. The Military mission focuses on military tech, and the Science mission gives a little bit of emphasis on civilian tech.
• Changed the starting equipment for all ships, and what spawns on Hope.
• Over 30 new items!
  • 9 New Weapons
  • 3 New Drives
  • 2 New Sensors
  • 1 New ECM
  • 4 New Combat Computers
  • 5 New Repair Systems
  • 5 New Thrusters
  • 2 New Shields
• Miscellaneous tweaks to various systems and weapons.
• Added a couple new ship variants. Should mix up the fights a bit.

I've got plenty more ideas, and will probably do another version somewhere down the road. In the meantime, though, this should keep you all happy for a while.

Re: Updated Mod: Drives 'R' Us v2.1
 

I was playing around, and noticed a couple things didn't make it into the 2.0 version. So, here's 2.1.

Changes in 2.1 version:

• Removed all the Superweapon KEYS. Thought I'd implemented that before, and realized today that I had missed at least half of them. The sheer quantity of items in this mod makes it unlikely you'll get a large stockpile of superweapons.
  
• Tweaked the Civil War event. It's now a little more unpredictable (there's two versions), and no longer claims to be a supernova after the fact. I'm much happier with it now.
  
• Removed two SYSTEM slots from Bloodfang. With the three extra weapon slots I had given him in 2.0, he was just a little too good. Now you have to be really careful how you equip him, you can't just load him up with all the good stuff. Balance has been restored.

Enjoy!

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v3.0
 

So, I made a few changes... and they led to some major sweeping changes. :D

I'm pleased to release Drives'R'Us, version 3.0!

Changes in 3.0 version:
The 3.0 versions upgrades are mostly about ships.
+ 4 new allied ships you can recruit
+ Altered stats, armament and/or graphics on a large number of ships. Battles play out differently, and the ships look better, too.
+ 7 more new items (on top of the 30 added in the 2.0 version), including one that I'm really proud of because it does something totally new and unique.
+ Miscellaneous other changes detailed in the mod's readme.txt file.

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v3.0
 

As an avid WW player, I've tried most of the mods available for the game at one point or another. I liked the game enough to start working on a mod of my own, and I acquired the free copy of SAIS, so I could pull info from SAIS to make my projects more like the original.

Hopefully this background will lend some credence to my belief that Drives 'R' Us is the greatest mod going right now. I spent a good amount of time on the original version, and it's gotten better with each new revision. The only mods I regularly play now are my own, Teeming With Life, and Drives 'R' Us -- more so Drives than Life.

In fact, Drives' presence is somewhat intimidating; my mod has a few good things about it, and some features in the pipeline (variable relations, for instance, which is still in development), but Drives has so much great stuff already in that in some ways, my mod is a bit superfluous. We differ in some aspects of design philosophy, which is why I continue development; there are some things about WW that I think could be better. Drives builds off of WW, whereas my mod builds more from the source, in some ways, which is SAIS. If I didn't have that in mind, though, and I wanted to develop straight from Weird Worlds, there wouldn't be too much of a point in making a mod, 'cuz this one already has so much going for it.

I haven't checked the actual mod files as much as my own, so I'm not sure as to the viability of the idea I'm about to propose, but do you think it would be possible to combine the better parts of Teeming With Life with Drives 'R' Us?

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v3.0
 

ExplorerBob, you're making me blush. :o

There's plenty of design space left out there, by the way. Drives'R'Us is almost entirely just items. One area it's pretty weak in is quests and races. There's another 50 or 60 weapons that could be made for the game without getting old, too.

As to your notion of combining my mods together. It's been on my "to do" list for a while. And I'd probably throw in a tiny bit of the Sgqwonkian Crisis mod... well, one or two of the better bits.

Speaking of feeling "superfluous" or being "intimidated" - go take a hard look at Sgqwonkian Crisis sometime. You know how you feel in regards to my recent stuff? Well, that's how I was feeling in relation to Phlagm's Even Weirder Worlds - it was so slick compared to my freshman efforts.

The important thing is to just publish. Hammer it out, put a rough draft out here. There's a reluctance to do so, a desire to polish until it's shiny. I get that. I look back at old Sgqwonkian Crisis, and cringe a bit. The truth is, modding is complex enough there's always something to fiddle with, you'll never be 100% happy. You can go back and fix it up later.

I had this amazing Weirdyssey mod I was working on for 4 to 6 months solid. It was gonna be great, and I didn't want to spoil the secrets by releasing a rough draft. Then my computer crashed and I lost all of it.

But, I digress... Definitely, in my plans, I intend to put out a melded version of those mods, and I'll probably add to it the Time Capsules and Esmeralda mini-mods, and maybe some of my favorite parts of other people's mods, too. It'll take a while, though.

Anyhow, thanks again for the kind words. I'm glad you like my stuff.

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v3.1
 

New version: 3.1
Download link attached to this post.

Changes in 3.1 version:
+ Created new score category for the cursed Primordian items - they're like artifacts, but more so. :)
+ Revamped the Shroud a little to match that, and to head off degenerate shroud-gong combos. You may still be able to WISH up such a combo, though.
+ Buffed up Primordius to account for the improvements made to the Cobalt Torpedoes back in version 2.0.
+ Tweaks and rearmaments affecting all Zorg Pickets.
+ New combat graphics for the Dibaryon Barrier and Kaon Enveloper.
+ Upgunned the pirate mission ship just a smidge.
+ Renamed the graphics files, in preparation for my upcoming compilation mod. Was able to reduce file size in the process by nearly a third, just by reorganizing and consolidating the graphics files and locations.
+ Assorted minor debugs.

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v3.1
 

DON'T STOP, FRIEND!!!
Unbelievable- it's been 3 years that I have this game and I'm still playin' it- because of you guys :-D

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v4.0
 

The first post in this thread has been updated to include a link to the new version 4.0 of Drives'R'Us. There's so much new stuff in it, I seriously considered just giving it a new name. Drives'R'Us is no longer indicative of the central premise of the mod, as I've added a little bit of everything.

Here's a quick summary of the changes:

* Added the best parts of my Teeming With Life mod.
* Added the best parts of my Sgqwonkian Crisis mod.
* Created four new ships.
* Added more than two dozen new quests, including lots of new events.
* Fomax! I'd say more, but I don't want to spoil the surprises.


The download is about 3 times the size of the previous version, so I'm only uploading it to the first page in this thread.

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v4.0
 

(Could be spoilers here.)



From the little bit of time I've played it, it seems even more fabulous than the last version. I love the new allies, moving fleets, and the stray Ravian/Primordian enemies. All the changes really add more atmosphere to things!

All in all, still the best mod going, and a must-see for avid WW fans.

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v4.0
 

This mod just keeps getting better!

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v4.0
 

Thank you all for your kind words about my mod. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v4.0
 

awesome work!

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v4.0
 

Just a thought for a tweak:
On the Lummox Ranch quest, if you arrive at the ranch with both lf_lumstal and dv_preglum, have the owners offer to "buy" the mated pair. Maybe with another item that can be opened (maybe a variation on it_plastic to make it an openable crate? dv_plastic?) to give a couple of random items as "payment" like you have for the stud fee?

I'd do it myself, but I'm literally brand new to the game and just now starting to get "modding fever" so I'm winging it as I go.

Fantastic mod by the way. I love your work!

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v4.0
 

Hi there,

Drives R Us is my favorite mod. While playing a game a few minutes ago, I ran into a bug when meeting the Muktians. I think I had already discovered their homeworld when I got this message. Found it funny more than anything, since it didn't hurt my game.

Screenshot is included below.

Keep up the good work.

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v4.0
 

I wondered at the time if maybe it was a bad idea to include a star name that was a 140-digit mathematical expression in Russian. :)

Seriously though, that's an fairly amusing glitch. I hope it's not because of something I did.

Thank you for sharing.

If anyone else gets a similar message, I ask that they please comment here so I can know I have debugging work to do. Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything that would have caused that text error, so I don't want to spend time searching for it unless I know it's recurring.

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v4.0
 

Sgqwonkian,

When you find the green mind-controlling woman, it seems that dropping her off on a planet doesn't free you from the negative end-game effects that follow through when you normally bring her back to Hope. To better show the effect her appearance has on a game, I recommend you block her in the inventory so that the player isn't led to believe he got rid definitely of her curse. If you can't do that with a guest, well... maybe it could be done if she was presented as an inventory item, or its identity changed to such, to get rid of this bug.

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v4.0
 

I don't believe you actually left her on a planet. It may have seemed like it at the moment, but she was using hypnotic mind-control powers on you at the time, right? So you may think you left her on a planet somewhere, but either you didn't actually, or else being left there was all part of her plan for galactic domination. :)

It's been several months since I've done any WW modding, but if I recall correctly, there's no way to prevent someone from removing an object from their cargo hold. Doesn't matter if it's a passenger or an item. If I put the flag on it that prevents you from selling the item (like the Klakar Miracle Cream in Phlagm's mod, for example), you can still dump it on an uninhabited planet. That's always going to be a possibility.

There's also no way to reliably make an event trigger based on dumping an item in this way. The game has no way to detect if an item has been added to a planet, and no way to remove an item from a planet. Once it's left your ship, the game can't do anything with it until/unless you pick it up again.

So, the choice then for the mod designer is whether the player should be able to get free easily and automatically, or if they should have to work to get rid of the danger. I chose to go with the more challenging route. Let's face it, if a possible solution is dumping her on the very planet you found her on, within seconds of falling under her spell, that's not much of a challenge (nor much of a spell).

Once you've fallen under her sway, there are at least three ways to escape it, and offloading her at a random planet is not one of them.

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v4.0
 

To be fair, I did leave her a lump of bread and an icicle, so I'm sure she'll manage just fine.

Thanks for the explanation and the clue, I didn't really consider there were ways to counter her hypnotic control.

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v4.0
 

Circe came back with a vengeance, in one game. She brought her twin sister. I'm not sure what happened, but the event somehow played twice, so we got an extra guest aboard.

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v4.0
 

I'm uploading a fixed version right now. This 4.1 version corrects the Circe bug you noticed, plus two minor cosmetic flaws that have been bugging me for the past week or two.

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v4.1
 

Keep it going my man!
:-D

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v4.1
 

Great Play.

Re: Updated: Drives 'R' Us v4.1
 

A really great mod! I have been enjoying it alongside a few others recently. Babylon seems to appear inconsistently, which I don't understand, but it otherwise seems really stable! Doesn't crash and adds a lot to the game. Thanks.