The General BugFixing/Playtesting thread for FFED3D+mods

[AndyJ]

So i did a bunch of experimentation last night and think i have found the issue. It is not an issue with the textures i was using (i put all your latest v1.08_CoreTextures in my game and still had the issue) but the setting 'customTexturesFilename=textures_ittiz.cfg' that seems the issue.

no you've not realised the purpose of the textures_ittiz.cfg. It was explained in #237, with a few other helpful hints.

intro red planet is probably too bright if you've switched the image as it's lightenend by the shader. (looks fine to me personally)
so try making a copying of textures.cfg, rename and edit section [445] to suit your own taste, then point ffed3daj.cfg at that instead.

 

[Zak Gordon]

That is how it looks now (basically as it should for that opening Title sequence, slightly more 'shader detail' etc). All the rocky planets are now 'skinned'.

And it was a stupid error on my part. I had reinstalled at some point and not used Ittiz textures. My build was missing all his tex798-829 textures!! thus the weirdness when using his textures_ittiz.cfg option.

My error so i shall comment the images i posted before. Everything is fine here, nothing to see! Move along, move along

 

[Steve]

The planet looks a bit different with the non-ittiz textures (more dark clouds)

so I'm going to try both sets and see which I prefer.

In fact, I'm just lining things up for a lengthy FFED3DAJ gaming session. I can already confirm that the incorrectly tidally-locked planets seem to rotate now and the screen grab function works perfectly.

More observations to come...

 

[AndyJ]

And to finish on, the most sexy sunset in FFED3D yet. Look at those evening clouds, look at the stars coming through!

<sigh>
Actually no, it's not meant to look like that. not at all...
It's meant to have a darkening blue sky behind the sun.

I've said before I'd rather see alternate image 'mods' discussed in their own thread. I think that they need to be considered 'off topic' in here and this thread needs to be stricter about discussing "the patch" that's there in the title.

Apart from responding to the non-issues in the previous posts, I'm now highlighting an error in one of a set of screenshots which doesn't actually represent the patch that I've just released.

It's pretty frustrating after 2 months effort and a hard final push to get it out the door, to then almost immediately see my patch being misrepresented with alternative textures and multiple posts hypothesising on what is broken, and not for the first time.
I've effectively had to respond to and bug-fix a personal customisation here which I'd no control over, and whilst it's been portrayed as being the new release being faulty. That's just not on.

So I think I need to insist on a few basic ground rules to be followed, especially for any visual/texture issues.

It's fair enough reporting issues when there is something wrong in the patch or that's FFE related, but please... if you're using a custom installation and have replaced/modified my own core files, go back to the standard set first and make sure that it has the same symptoms.

Also, because image palettes and now custom .cfg file settings can have such an impact, I'm asking that visual issues with planet terrains/skins should only be reported here after verifying they also exist with supplied image and texture .cfg files too.

If people want to switch/improve textures & tweak .cfg settings, then that's great, but I don't think displaying the results of such changes necessarily belong within this thread, except if there's a bug and a setting doesn't work. I'd ask that all customisations be discussed in dedicated thread(s) in order to keep things simple.
If a screen grab is needed then please use a standard setup. Makes it much easier for me to know what I'm looking at and also keeps things 'on topic'.

Thanks, AndyJ

 

[AndyJ]

v1.08a patch uploaded with ATI-specific shader correction. NVidia users need not download it if already have v1.08.

 

[Zak Gordon]

Hi AndyJ,

In relation to your post above, i guess this is just the issue with FFED3D as it currently is? I mean your not running just FFED3D and your AndyJ mod yourself are you? You first install the large Ittiz mod, which is another download for people getting into the project. I tried that myself, but i didn't like the new shiny buttons it introduced in the game menus/shipyard etc, so opted for default FFED3D plus your mod ontop.

So maybe you should start a new thread which shows the exact configuration you are using etc, then people can respond in that thread to that exact build? Something like that, and you'll feel more in control of all that? You don't have to, this is just a suggestion if you feel things are too frustrating in here (my fault i know!).

My build is as in the first post, FFED3D + your AndyJ mod as the base (and lately my texture reduction pack so i can run the game). But yes i agree this is all very confusing currently and obviously it is hard work for you to keep coming here to see different reports from different builds, so maybe a clean new thread that you are in control of in terms of the original post etc would be best?

This thread can then become a general thread for various random stuff that you can get involved in or not as you wish? How does that sound?

On the upside, this thread has helped quash a number of issues that mean the FFED3D+mod experience is much better than it was previously, so thank you for your incredible hard work on doing all that, it really is appreciated

And i will go spend some time checking my build, something is off as that transparent sky where the stars come through (which i had thought was an amazing new twilight effect!), changes to blue as i leave the planet, then a more transparent blue before hitting space. So yeah my textures are wrong somewhere.

(I wonder if i can get this thread title changed as well to better reflect things?)

 

[Sir.Tj]

Thread title changed as requested by the OP.

 

[AndyJ]

So how does that work then moderators? how is anyone, even the OP allowed to derail a thread and turn it into something else?

OP starts a thread about my patch with my name in the title, without my knowledge and redirecting the feedback I'd been happily responding to in the main FFED3D thread over to here. I let that go at the time, and thread has become established with 240+ posts, and over 16,600 views.

OP now decides he wants the thread to be his mod, and rather than start a new thread, starts posting off-topic monologues and screen shots here, which I feel are misrepresenting my patch and thus have every right to object to.

Thread goal posts are then moved, and with the help of a moderator, the title has also been changed, destroying the context of the original thread.

If the OP doesn't want to discuss the original thread topic, my patch, that's fine, but he should have started a new thread to do so. And if the OP now wants to discuss something else then I strongly suggest that this thread has run it's course and should just be locked. Safe to say, I won't be participating in it any further.

Turning it into something else is completely disrespectful to all the time I've spent answering questions/feedback in here about my patch (the topic) and to all the other posters who have also given time posting comments to me in that context.

 

[Zak Gordon]

No, it was more that it became increasingly clear you never liked my making this thread in the first place, and off course there were issues around this being about the FFED3D + your AndyJ mod, and NOT about the Ittiz mod + your AndyJ mod, and probably the general confusion about the various builds based around FFED3D in general? That seems to be where a bunch of the issues came from, and my own general inability to cross that divide.

So it was more to stop you being so frustrated i decided to change the thread title. Sorry this ALSO seems to have annoyed you. As i have always said everything i have done around here has not been to annoy you but help make the FFED3D experience better by taking part.

Atleast in your thread you will not feel the annoyance you have been in this one and i wish your efforts with your awesome mod well, but probably it is best if i don't leave feedback anymore as it mostly gets taken badly.

And thank you for your participation in this thread AndyJ, as we can see from the first post there are a number of issues you have been able to fix to make the FFED3D experience much better, you really are awesome at that, so thanks

I'll carry on to do some things in this thread, like the new cockpit cabin permissions, and general stuff.

And i'd like to say a personal thank you to AndyJ because he always responded to feedback, and even more amazingly was able to make changes in his mod based on that, and i really appreciate that. Sorry i ended up just annoying you much of the time, that was never the intention.

 

[Zak Gordon]

Dan Brown has once again been awesome and given some more permissions to use his work We already had the very nice looking CABIN0.png example, and now we have CABIN1.png and CABIN2.png:

CABIN1.png - used by 9 craft in game





CABIN2.png - used by 16 craft in game





As usual head over to his website to see his latest work

http://www.danbrowncgi.com/

For CABIN3.png we had that nice 'working ship' slightly industrial space ship interior from Daniel Dong Hyun Kim, his website is here:

http://galamasinda.blogspot.kr/

I've decided to keep the original FFED3D cabin background in the mix, so that is now CABIN4.png, as it looks like a pretty huge docking/cargo bay!

And finally for CABIN5.png, which represents the Thargoid ships, i've used a screenshot from the game Halo and added some fauna, details in the readme.

So that is the new hi-res cabin backgrounds done and comes in at 4.45MB! And the link to that is:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/yrhp9fao5f968ix/ZGNewCabinBackgrounds.zip

It is also in my FFED3D mods link. Install Instructions and artist credits are in the readme in that download.

Once again i'd like to thank the artists that got back to me and gave me their permission to be able to use these hi-quality artworks. It certainly fits much better with the overall higher res theme of FFED3D compared to FFE!

 

[Steve]

Those cabin backgrounds look really good Zak! Got them installed with FFED3DAJ now

Thanks for arranging this with the respective artists :smilie:

 

[nanite2000]

Those cabin backgrounds look really good Zak! Got them installed with FFED3DAJ now

Thanks for arranging this with the respective artists :smilie:

Yep - agreed! They look fantastic.

Thanks Zak!

 

[Zak Gordon]

Well i was just a middle man, all thanks to the two Dan's as it is their work that has allowed us to have some great looking hi-res cabins backgrounds, and AndyJ for getting that all working again in FFED3D