The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

Hey everyone.. I am working on a private endeavor.. something of a 3D version of SC2.  I'm almost done with a melee engine that is mostly true to the original ships of SC2, and manages to be incredibly fun.  My question for everyone, however, is what exactly can I steal from the UQM distribution?  Can I put in all the original dialog, the original music, and other things? (don't plan on using any new 3D0 material.. I don't like any of it.)  I plan to be 100% true to the original storyline, but of course the battle physics etc will be different, since it's more like a cross between a flight simulator and descent.

Thoughts, please.

You'd have to ask TFB about that since everything _except_ the content is GPL'd.

Do you need any models?  Is it open-source?  OpenGL or Direct3D (please say OpenGL)?

Whatever the outcome, I applaud you; I tried doing the same thing with what little spare time I had this spring (and I had a partner too), but it never got past a 2D-plane with 3D objects because instead of using a premade engine, I tried converting old TW code into 3D physics.  I originally thought that would be easier than rewriting a lot of the SC-specific combat code for a premade engine.  Silly me.   :P

Right now the 3D engine is OpenGL based.  The models I am using right now are crap, I didn't want anything complicated for myself just yet.  The project will be open source, but it is yet unreleased, it actually doesn't have a website or anything, it's just on my computer at home.

As far as the content goes, I don't want any images.  Mostly I just want to use the original dialog, the original starmap and ship concepts, a *few* original sounds, and just about all the original .mod format music.  Due to the nature of the new melee design, some basic things have changed pretty far from the original- such as, you can fight with your flagship as well as your companion alien ships, acting as a group.  You can also fight multiple enemies all at the same time (making stuff like a group of 13 ur-quan a MUCH more dangerous prospect.)

I am pretty new to this website, do the Toys for Bob people ever come here?  Or do they have any forums elsewhere of their own?

This sounds like an incredible idea.  The only other addition I would think about, is maybe integrating the ability to colonize other worlds found in SC3.

The AI could expand as well resulting in a vastly different game every time while staying true to the original story.

Maybe planning on colonizing.  For sure, however, I plan to have a basic terrain engine that ironically enough, will be based on fractals.  You should be able to go down to a planet in a lander (not much detail) but you will have to avoid storms of lightning and volcanoes of hot lava in your path.  Mineral deposits will show on your scanner, so you actually will get to chase around and pick them up.  Every planet should be unique but since the heightmap and vegitation will be fractal-generated, your computer should be able to handle just as many planets as the original game had.

May I suggest changing the dangers? I mean, to me it is kind of cheesy when a lander can be affect by earthquakes. It should just be able to take off when it detects one. Maybe you could replace it with a tronado or something? I don't know - just offering suggestions!

Yeah, I was wondering about that too.  Actually not sure how to manage life forms either, since your flying lander really should be able to evade stuff alright.  Maybe they will only threaten while you are landed to pick up minerals?  I am rather keen on the idea of you being vulnerable while you are mining.. So aliens will attack your crew, quakes will bust you up, etc.

perhaps flying around in the lander expends fuel (like when taking off or landing), and you must otherwise coast on the ground effect somehow?

In regard to models:  SC3D and a couple sites that youBastrd! set up have tons of SC models (some are in formats that I cannot access).  they might be too well made for high-paced games on lower-end graphics cards though.

could you put some  photo ?, i really want to see,thank you

Sorry, nothing yet.. I'm just going to put the whole thing online when it's ready for debugging.. =)

And as far as models go, I love the models everyone has made but this is more of an action game.. I'm not exactly going to cater to old computers, but i want lower-polygon models so that larger scale battles will be possible.  I personally would get a lot more satisfaction out of my fleet of 12 Chmmr + my flagship going up against 50 Ur-quan at once, as opposed to nice nifty smooth shading and stuff.  The effects will be simple and fast, I'm thinking.

I do however plan on stealing concepts from the SC3D stuff.  Their work is amazing.  For now all I've put together is the Yehat, a crappy looking flagship, and the green Ur-quan.

Whatever you do, remember to have backups, perferably on CDs or your email-box.. I remember this story about this poor guy who worked really hard on making Doom with a 3D openGL engine he wrote, and after a few months (there were beta versions already and people were all excited about it) his computer crashed and he lost all the sources.. or so it is said.

I had a few catastrophies like those myself.. so don't let it happen to you :P

P.s., you don't have to refer to it as "stealing", after all, it's mostly free for non-commerical use ;)

Good luck.

Wasn't that how the original SC2 sources were lost ?