The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

(https://i.imgur.com/7JxrNYy.png)

After several months of non-stop hair ripping work I've finally completed the penultimate version of the MegaMod.

For those that were following it's been a long journey from having two separate versions, HD & Classic, and creating a custom menu.
This is what I've wanted to do for a long while, which was make a more faithful looking version of the HD mod, or at least a tolerable looking version.

Now I'm no artist but I think I did a bang up job with the tools I had available, just check out those comparison shots. (http://uqm-mods.sourceforge.net/Gallery)

Anyways, here it is in all its glory:
https://github.com/Serosis/UQM-MegaMod/releases/tag/0.8.0-MegaMod

Happy Days and Jubilation!!

This is just too perfect.  Right before I got snowed in too. :)

Tomorrow, I'll see if i can get it running on linux, which I know is a headache for you.

(edit)
just so you know, the hires2x and 4x package links seem to be pointing to somewhere incorrect.

I wonder if the hires2x 4x packages I found on your sourceforge page are correct. they are called uqm-mm-hires4x.uqm and uqm-mm-hires2x.uqm.   The reason why I ask is on the mac version, the HD intro slides do not appear in both 2x and 4x (I've tried 3do music, precursor music, and none)  Oddly enough the precursor music put the 1x slides in the top left corner.

Also the alt info slides do not appear in supermelee in 2x and 4x.

Finally in 4x, this may have been done on purpose idk,  the Awesome cyborg image in super melee doesn't line up like it does in 2x.  It looks cut off.

Just a few nit picks.  Over all, excellent job.  Took me a bit to get on board with the new Korah ship, but now it makes total sense to me.

Ah yes, I forgot to update the links for hires on the site itself. Doy.
Fixed.

Yes the mm-hires packages are the correct packages Though I'll do a bit more testing. Maybe I borked something... Oops.
I just realized when I changed the packages name I had to change it in the base content as well.

i'll be right back.

EDIT:

So I had to grep through all the text files in the game and replace "hires#x" with "mm-hires#x".
I've put up a new uqm-0.8.0-content.uqm for download.

EDIT:

And since I created the macOS package on a remote computer that I now can't log into anymore (internet fidgety at source) I'll have to wait to edit the macOS release.

EDIT:

Oh and yes. The awesome cyborg pictures had to be cut off. It was a design choice at the time. Later down the line I'll go through and "remaster" things as I go.

Thanks, that fixed the intro slides.  Super melee alt info slides show up as the origional slides now. not the hi-res ones.  Do note the hi res ones wern't in the original hd beta release.  I think it was in remix though.

I think I didn't like them.

I'm not too sure at the moment.

EDIT:

Ah, I didn't want to edit them. Because with the new Mycon and Kohr-Ah ship the images wouldn't have matched up.
Though oddly enough the Kohr-Ah one uses the ship design I chose to replace the old Kohr-Ah as the display but the old Kohr-Ah ship at the top left.

And the macOS release has been updated.

I see.  Personally I'd rather have the minor inconstancy on a couple slides then the hole.  In my mind, it's just a worse offense.  Though maybe we can colorize the Mycon ship to match?  And maybe we can replace that top left Kohr-Ah ship.   I don't have it in front of me anymore as I already replaced the HD pack... I'll see if I can get it and come up with something suitable.

[EDIT]
Ah yes! You're right! We are in luck.  The KorAh slide will be easy to fix,  And in a way we have moved from the Korah being the inconsistent slide to the Mycon.  Mycon will be hard, but I don't know if it's undoable.

Now that I think about it,  Mycon won't be too bad, maybe darken the light parts a little.  Or I could do nothing except replace the top left corner.  To be honest the actual HD ship never matched perfectly with what was displayed close up anyway.  And the differences are minor.  Id almost say

[Edit2]

Here what do you think?


[EDit3]

Sorry, It needed a few more touchups, if you could take another look

Are you going to make this available in the Linux software repositories?

Sorry third time's the charm
made the spots on the mycon more reddish
https://www.dropbox.com/s/97idbpp6fz4nh3e/spins.zip?dl=0

[Edit] Last time I swear.   ;D


Also, it looks like the precursor music overwrites the slides in HD.  I know you mentioned it has it's own slides with timings.  Still wern't you able to do something about that before in 0.7.x?

It overwrites the slides because the Precursor music has its own timing for the music.
If I wanted to fix that I would have to house their remix packs on my site.


Thanks for fixing up the Ship images. I'll slap them into the packages in a mo.

UPDATE:

Thinking outside the box, I only have to host the .txt files that have the timings in them.
So that's what I did. Simply slap this tiny file into your addons folder and everything is fixed:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/uqm-mods/files/MegaMod/uqm-remix-timing.uqm/download

Heck yes!  Way to kick that box in the ass.
So far everything is looking great!


Still having a heck of a time compiling on linux.  I've tried gcc5, gcc7 and clang and they get hung up on when attempting to compile src/uqm/comm/arilou/arilouc.c   talking about undeclared identifiers

I tried the old gcc 4.2 but, unlike the apple version, it didn't have some features you use.

not that I'm too surprised about clang.  It's usually even pickier then gcc. It's like the build script is missing something.  Do you use the build.sh script to compile?

Yours look much more like the original. I don't understand why they made some things look completely different in the HD version. Also, the blue grid behind the companion spaceships looks way too dense and luminous in the HD version, which makes it more difficult to see the ships.

I only use the build.sh script on macOS. And even then I don't use the one from my Github source.
I grab the latest "Source without content" from here: http://uqm.stack.nl/files/snapshots/
And swap out its 'src' folder with mine.
Something about the files originating from Windows makes it so some build scripts won't execute.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This also means I have to edit the build scripts while in the VM to brand them with "MegaMod". Thankfully Sublime Text comes in all OS flavors.

There might be a way to fix all of that, I might getting a hand-me-down iMac soon enough so I could get Git going on it and push the build scripts from it and have them keep permissions.

Also as a fair warning Alpha Lyrae Planet 1 is bugged, don't know why but it crashes the game if you linger too long around it.

The scripts on your git branch work fine.  You just have to make them executable first.  

to make sure everything in the source directory is executable do:

cd YourSrcRootDir
chmod -R +x *   (This will recursively make everything in the directory and the subdirectories executable)

then you can run
./build.sh uqm

I've narrowed down the problem with Alpha Lyrae. But it's still a very large hallway of what's going on.
The original HD mod does not have the crash problem with Alpha Lyrae but my code is exact to the HD version in the spots where it's throwing the exception.
So, no idea. Hopefully it's only localized to that planet in that star system so I can continue working it out.

EDIT:

It's been fixed. I missed a simple "+ 1" to the map height in 1280x960 that the HD devs added in to prevent exactly that crash.

The Windows installer and binary on Github are updated along with the macOS .dmg file.

UPDATE:

Also pushed the build scripts from my macOS VM so the permissions are now corrected. Now when you clone the repository you don't have to go through the trouble of setting permissions.

Excellent!  Those logic errors are the worst... Congrats!

As for the build scripts It's actually fairly standard practice to have to set stuff as executable.  But still that's nice :)

Really odd that linux get caught up on that arilou.c file where  OSX doesn't.  It's not like it's complaining about some function that only exists on OSX...  It's complaining about stuff that I would think would be defined in the code.

https://pastebin.com/W98R84VR

BTW, what compiler do you use on Lion?   Doesn't clang mess up the orbit lines? Or was that somehow fixed in 0.8.0?

I'm sorry to say I found another issue :(

When a ship explodes in 1x you just hear a sound effect and the ship pops out of existence. there is no explosion effect.  Not sure what's causing that.

Xcode 3.2.6 remember?
What are the library versions you're using for Linux?
That could play a big part in what's going down.

I took a look at arilouc.c and nothing stands out.
Though I did poke around in some of the comm files and updated some includes that were showing errors in Visual Studio.
Give it a try now and see if that changed anything.

________________________

That explosion thing has happened to me before but it went away. I'm not sure what caused it but I think it might be either missing ship files or erroneous ship files.

EDIT:

Looks like another base content failure. I'll be taking a hard look at it.

It was a problem with the way the new Crew Dot and Ion Trail code from UQM-Remix were put in. I forgot to put a RESOLUTION_FACTOR clause around the loading of its assets.
Screwed the rest of the order up.

I'll put up new binaries in a few minutes.

UPDATE:

New release has been up for a few hours now forgot to update the post.

Excellent, I'll give it a try on the mac.

Regarding Linux, I would be suppriesd if it was a library or else I'd expect to see some SDL error.  As for versions I'm using SDL 1.2 and family.  I'm pretty sure these havn't changed in a while.

Your fix wasn't it, but I think you are on the right track.  That would definitely cause problems, i think visualstudio is just smart enough to look in the subdirectories for missing headers.  (Not sure why it works on mac though...)  One of the files make complained about was commglue.h   I noticed that too had a globdata.h so I made that "uqm/globdata.h"  Still the same though.

[edit]

I'm going to go on a limb and say it doesn't look like it's finding the uqm/comm/arilou/strings.h file  

though setting it to
#include "uqm/comm/arilou/strings.h" doesn't help...though seeing how it's in the same directory as arilouc.c #include "strings.h" should have worked....

[EDIT2]

Just so you know this linux issue isn't you.  There is something wrong with the build script in 0.8.0.  Same thing happens on the snapshot.

What distribution are you using?

I want to see if I can try to crack the issue through a VM.

EDIT:

I think I'm going to use Linux Mint. I liked the idea of Ubuntu but never liked the UI it forced on everybody.

Or maybe Manjaro...

Yeah, VM is the way to go.

Agreed, when Ubuntu went the way of Unity I went with XUbuntu with XFCE, which I am rather fond of.

On this rig i'm using Ubuntu Mate.  (Mate being the modern incarnation of the venerable Gnome2)

Thankfully a few months ago Ubuntu base version switched from their Unity to Gnome3.  Still, really, you can use any Desktop you like with Ubuntu, be it KDE or Cinnamon.   It's really more of the debian style environment and support forums why I like Ubuntu.  As oppose to a fedora type environment.  Most of my linux life, until recently, I didn't even bother with a desktop ;)

Dang, I think you got confused with the Rev3 mac release.   The content package doesn't have your fix pointing to uqm-mm-hqx packages or something, as the alt slides aren't showing anymore.

And here I am trying to get a simple Git GUI to fricken work in Manjaro for the past two hours.

Is there some sort of God you have to pray to to get Linux to work even half as good as OS X or Windows?

Well, the Windows version doesn't have the slides problem.


____

The macOS package still had the old base content, uploading a new .dmg in a sec.

Will also make sure that the file on Sourceforge is recent as well.

...And, done.

Ah thanks!


Haha!  It's true, Linux can be a lot of work... especially some distributions (Which is why I don't use pure debian normally for example).  No idea bout Manjaro.  
Though even Ubuntu takes work to not only get things running, but organized in a way that you would like to use day in day out...

Honestly I don't think it wouldn't be a bad idea to learn the command-line interface for git.  It's actually not too bad.  Everything you do on the GUI, push, pull, make commits, switch branches, there is a single command for that.  

I like the visual confirmation. Being able to click on each file and see what has been changed without having to type anything in.
A timeline of .diff files.

____

EDIT:

Well it seems I can get way further than you when it comes to building on Linux.
It gets all the way to end and throws this at me:

I think you might have a missing dependency.
____

...And I got it to build.

(https://i.imgur.com/2nK5ejhb.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/2nK5ejh.jpg)

Pushed the changes I made to Github. But it was as simple as adding '-lm' to the uqm_LDFLAGS in build.vars.
I had to add '-lm' to config_proginfo_host.
____

Installing and testing in an Ubuntu Mate VM now.
____

Wow, yeah. Ubuntu Mate's GCC absolutely hates UQM.

Wow,  you have to be right. but the question is what.  I hate it when the build script doesn't tell you and throws you down the wrong path where it trips up.  Is there a list?

I'm ashamed I didn't see this sooner  http://forum.uqm.stack.nl/index.php?topic=6334.0.  Your post there, especially GNU GCC and make 3 may have been the issue.  Unless you were able to get away with a newer version this time around?

EDIT
Heh, our posts crossed.   Nice to know I'm not totally crazy.

Even with the right dependencies I get the same errors as you.

Since I can build on Linux Mint, which is basically a re-wrapped Ubuntu, how about I just try to make a package on that instead?

For future reference Linux Mint's make and gcc version:

GNU Make 4.1
GCC 5.4.0

Way behind Ubuntu's versions.

If you can make a .appimage package, that would be great. They are all the rage recently, and are supported by a lot of distributions even outside of Debian.  Only  I woudln't know where to start to build one. I do know they operate similar to OSX app bundles.

I was thinking of cracking open a current UQM .deb and plundering it's husk.

Yep, and Ubuntu is way behind Arch Linux.

That all makes sense why it builds on the old OSX 10.7.  I'm sure it's version of make and gcc are based off of something even more ancient.



That would be easier,  but Mr. Arch Linux would be very disappointed. :)

Would a binary built on Mint even run on Arch?
____

I'd have to weigh the pros and cons but .appimage looks like a great idea.
I already cannibalized a UQM .deb package but having one big file like macOS sounds like a better idea.
Though that leaves the question of whether or not you can modify it after the fact. Like, when you want
to put the optional content in.
____

I've updated the Releases on Github to include my cannibalized .deb package.
Once installed you can run it with 'UrQuanMasters'.

Great I'll give it a try when I get home.

I would expect a linux compiled binary for x86_64 will run on any linux x86_64 system.  It's the dependencies that are the real bane of any distribution, and there are all different systems.  .Appimage was meant to alleviate that.

As for app images and content.  I know they do store app data.  But I'm really not sure.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd expect they would still be able to look on system for the normal data file locations.  E.G. ~/uqm-mm or whatever.  If so, users could put optional content there.

Btw,  I'm at my dad's house and I'm trying it on the family windows machine.  That installer is slick!

Also, not a big deal, but just testing options (There are a lot of them after all).  I noticed disabling speech in the options menu doesn't disable speech (The user can always turn the speech volume to 0 but it's there anyway).  I'm using windows at the moment.

You gotta restart the game for that to go into full effect.
Same with 3DO videos, music, and Precursor remixes.

The way the devs handled it is that they disable the loading of the 3DO package when you turn the option off.

Oh that's right...  Completely forgot.  They should add the warning like when you change music/resolution.  And reword that warning to be more general.  As it is, when you change music, it tells you you changed graphics...

Btw the debian package works great.  Thank-you!  You're right, for some reason Ubuntu doesn't like building UQM...

That's something for later down the line. I think HD-Remix was working towards a more generalized, "You changed an important option, time to restart" but I can't remember if it was complete or not.

I think a better phrasing would be something like "In order for your changes to take effect, you must restart the game. Would you like to do so now?"

And then execv the process (or whatever, Windows probably needs a different method, and Mac may as well since it's a GUI program) if they choose Yes.

Is there a way in C to restart the process after it closes?

I would assume you would need a helper program or script that can be called in such an event.
Though it would be interesting to find out if you could restart UQM from within itself.

Yeah, to restart it after it has fully shut down, you would need to have a helper process (though the helper could be a fork rather than a separate program). However, if you don't need a full shutdown, use execv() or execvp(), which basically overwrites the current process with a new one.

(These are part of a family of functions, but for the purpose of restarting, the v variants are what you'd want since you can pass main's argv to it; I'm not entirely sure what the p means though.)

Note that these functions are defined by POSIX (if I recall correctly), so you can't rely on them being present on Windows.

Well that was a nightmare joy ride.

Starting a new process while UQM is on its way out is not possible, at least under my knowledge.
____

I never asked before, but how does everybody like the new nebulae?

I created 44 new nebulae for this release using a modified version of wwwtyro's space2d procedural space-scape generator: http://wwwtyro.github.io/procedural.js/space/
My version: http://uqm-mods.sourceforge.net/space2d/

The first 22 were seeded using the filenames, 'nebula-###' and the second 22 were seeded with variations of my username.

Also the code was sorted around so the nebulae are displayed on top of the star background instead of behind it. This allows the nebulae to cover stars in a more "realistic" manner.
Then I made the nebulae pretty laid back in an attempt to not really obscure anything.

Absolutely love them!  Great job!  That's a really neat program.

Shame they didn't plan it to reload the content files upon exit of the options menu, but I guess this was easier.

That's an idea.

Also, if you want to redownload the base content and whatever hires pack you're using I've swapped out the Melnorme alien graphics with the graphics from the Alpha version of the HD mod.
No more orange peel Melnorme:

(http://uqm-mods.sourceforge.net/img/comparisons/09%20Melnorme%20Comparison.png)

____

The interesting bit is if I have the content reloaded upon changing settings it partially works.
Will keep testing.
____

Well it doesn't like to reload content, any of it. It likes it better than trying to open up another instance of itself but the graphics take the hit no matter which addon is reloaded.
Something either prevents content loading or draws over a good chunk of the graphics. But the content *does* change.

At a loss for the moment but that could change over time.
____

Okay, I can make it so changing the 3DO video, music, voices, and remixes doesn't require a restart. But changing resolution still requires a restart no matter what at the moment.

Awesome!  Even if you don't figure out the resolution, just not having to constantly restart with the rest of them is huge!    I take it to do it with the resolution change you would have to somehow initialize everything then load?  Is that possible or am I full of it? :)

Nice find with the HD alpha on the Malnorme.  I didn't even notice there was a change between them.

I think the problem is that I would have to flush and reinitialize all of the graphics at once. It isn't as simple as reloading the content. But I could be wrong.
Someone better at programming in C could come along and point out the simplest of answers.

At this moment when I try to reload content it sort of works, but everything in the sidebar is gone and other, small graphical glitches like the nebulae not reloading to the proper size and the fonts.
I'll keep looking into it though.

I'll make another revision release for all platforms once I'm satisfied that my content reloading trick works with zero unintended effects.

Sounds like it's loading some of the objects expecting a specific size. I wonder,  say you are working with 2x.  Does it display differently from bumping up from 1x than going down from 4x?

It's hard to describe what it's doing:

(https://i.imgur.com/c3WqCtPb.png) (https://i.imgur.com/c3WqCtP.png)

Also I would like to mention that there is a bug in the (lack of) Sol textures that makes it do you can't orbit any moons within Sol if the textures are not installed.
____

That orbit bug has now been fixed.
____

There's definitely more to changing the resolution than reloading the content, I know that much.
The content reloads just fine but the code itself is stuck on the old resolution scale.
____

I've also been toying around with getting Paul's raw Mycon recording to sound closer to the originals.

Aww, I kinda liked the orange peel melnorme.

That seems like it should be the easiest thing on that list to change without a restart... o.O

The way UQM's code is structured I believe it might be nigh impossible to change resolution without a restart. We're talking from the added HD resolutions.
The code was tacked on after the fact and circumvents the way sprites are loaded and displayed.

Naturally the UQM code doesn't like it.

Short of rewriting UQM to support larger sprites for larger resolutions this is the way it's going to be.
____

And I got rid of the orange peel Melnorme because I could.
If it doesn't exist in the original and I have the capability of making it look like the original, or at least close enough to the original, I will do so.
____

Yo, darklord.

You can now build my Git on Ubuntu Mate thanks to this feller over here called mafiainc (Martin Dimitrov) (https://sourceforge.net/u/mafiainc/urquanmastershd/ci/d3fc6ddaea8b5ee5285b4745fafbf84588338203/)

Proof:

(https://i.imgur.com/d2SH6Ryb.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/d2SH6Ry.jpg)

One could assume this also makes it easier to build on other, newer distributions as well.

Created a topic a couple years back about swapping 2 particular tracks from the Precursor remix project that, I felt, didn't quite capture the original vibes. So I replaced them for more faithful adaptations (also by the Precursors, but oddly not part of the remix packs used in game). So I'll just drop this here for whoever's interested...

The 2 tracks in question (from Remix Pack 2: Neutral Aliens, Don't Shoot!) are:
- Hyperspace - Across the Galaxy (4:12) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBh52TiEe8M)
- QuasiSpace - Through the Angles of Space (4:00) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRmvt_2UCE0)

And the replacements ("save link as" to download) are, respectively:
- Hyperspace - Lightyears Away (4:23) (http://star-control.com/fan/music/Mark-Vera/mark-vera-hyperspace_re_enter.ogg)
- Quasispace - Mystic Shadows (3:53) (http://star-control.com/fan/music/Mark-Vera/mark-vera-arispace.ogg)

Perhaps Serosis might wanna consider adding them as part of optional/alternative content to the Precursors remix (otherwise replacement must be done manually).

PS: Although I mostly play in low-res graphics, gonna miss those orange-peel Melnormes!

That's a good idea!

Star control just isn't the same without the original hyperspace sound. So this should definitely be the default hyperspace sound.

What programs/equipment are you guys using for making music? This guy seems to have some quite fancy stuff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag7wvr3r2MY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag7wvr3r2MY))

I started a new game using the 4x res and after getting radioactives to the space station, i went to the moon.  Once I got there, i wasn't able to go into the scan screen.  It just booted me back to the navigation screen.  Is that normal?

No, that should not happen at the Moon. It could be normal for the Earth, though.

That's a bug in my code. If you don't have the Sol Textures it won't let you orbit any moons in the Solar System.
I'll be making a release, Rev.4, that fixes this and a few other things as soon as I test it to my satisfaction.
____

@Orz?
I can definitely make an alternate remix pack with just those two songs. I won't even have to change any code.
The package will work even on other versions of UQM that use the Remix packs.

I'll definitely try compiling on linux when I can get a chance.  As to those remix songs,  what about a separate addon to the remix package that can be loaded on top thus replacing the effected songs?  I think Serosis would prefer that to hosting the whole package.

That is exactly what I just did.  ;D

Here is the alternate Hyper/Quasispace theme pack: http://sourceforge.net/projects/uqm-mods/files/MegaMod/uqm-remix-hqspace.uqm/download

You must have the Remixes enabled in the options for it to load

Awesome! Definitely adding this to my collection.

Also I successfully compiled mega mod on my linux machine.  Only after installing it, it can't seem to find the content folder.   I tried moving it to /usr/local/games/share/uqm  but that didn't do anything.  I did a bit of searching and also found /usr/local/share/uqm  but that didn't work either.  trying the --contentdir  flag doesn't do anything either...  Where do you put the data files?

Oh i got it, I was missing the version file

Look at your config_unix.h

The one in my git says "/usr/local/games/share/uqm/content"

Though I'm changing it to say "/usr/local/games/share/uqm-megamod/content"
____

Yeah, that version file is a pain in the ass. I wonder if it's even necessary or if it does anything more than to sit there.

Well I kinda have to do it manually.  The build script creates some file/soft link at /usr/local/games/uqm/content rather than a directory.  Also changing config_unix.h after the intial configuration (it doesn't exist beforehand) doesn't seem to effect the compiled binrary... at least the content folder is still the default.   Little strange

Also before you put out rev 4. you may want to change the strings on certain option items that say changing this requires a restart.  (except for the res change of course)

I haven't fully customized the linking on Unix-based platforms so it may be a byproduct of that.

I know there is an executable wrapper that uses the contentdir commandline to specify so you may have to look into that.

Not sure if you knew what I meant,
I was referring to the green lettering on the bottom when you select a sound option for instance and says "requires restart to take effect"

Ah yes, will do.
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I'll be making a new release sometime today or tomorrow. Just a heads up.

Right, it's nice to have that (uqm-remix-disc2) around as a separate add-on/downloadable for those who don't know how to manually swap the files. However, I was suggesting you could have it as an in-game option alongside all the other extra features (after all, it's minimal enough as to not make a huge impact: just 2 tracks). Or at least, there should probably be some dedicated list somewhere of external add-ons compatible with the game. Same goes for them orange-peel Melnorme :P Kinda like how you have old Kohr-Ah and new Korh-Ah ships available (I know one can just simply drop the old HQ Melnorme "comm" .png's into your mod, I'm only trying to simplify everyone else's lives here; since I heard others expressed a certain fondness for the orange-peel Melnormes).

Don't mean to overstep my bounds, it's your project. Just take these suggestions as potential improvements to the mod ;)

On a totally different note: I always felt what would really help Super Melee is if projectiles were recolored in a more contrasting way against the pitch-black starry background of space. Many projectiles are too difficult to see and easy to miss because of this (especially the super tiny ones). Alternatively, they could be given a white outline and that would probably resolve the issue.

Thoughts?

If you're piling on more and more addon packs, you might as well also include the yellow Kohr-Ah flames? I don't remember where I originally found it, but I got it working and reposted it on this forum in a thread somewhere.

I'm saying nah to more in-game options unless it's absolutely necessary or brilliant.
And there really doesn't need to be an in-game option for something that can be easily added by putting the file in along side the remixes.
Also, I *really* hate touching the menus.

If you're on Windows all of the options will be available in the new installer.
For manual installation and macOS there is a how-to on the main MegaMod website.

For Linux, well, I leave that up to the user to figure out because I barely even know the system myself. Pretty much the GNU/Linux modus operandi.

As far as modding content, I am completely done unless I can see the point of it.
I see the projectile weapons just fine on all three different resolutions, speaking of I have to fix the Dreadnought's fusion blaster.
If you want you can send me your ideas in detail and we can work it out. Show me which weapons you think need better contrast and maybe make a mock-up.

Concerning the orange peel Melnorme, I'm making a package tomorrow when I'm completely done with the code and slapping it in there like the Kohr-Ah ship.
Not doing it with the Arilou though, that was too much of a deviation for me to accept. I would like this version of UQM to stay as close to the original game
as much as possible with the current assets. With the occasional hiccup of recreating some things, like the Arilou comm screen, Arilou homeworld, and the Syreen vault.

In regards to the Yellow F.R.I.E.D. mod I'll see what I can cook up. Was there an HD variation?
If not I'll batch the HD files yellow in Photoshop and turn them into an addon. Should be a 10-15 minute thing.

I may end up pushing the release another day or two because I might be busy for the next few with normal, everyday life stuff.

Sounds good,  That would give time to see if any more issues pop out of the woodwork.  It seems like whenever you put out a release, that's when we find more stuff that needs tweaking.

I'll be honest.  Im not a fan of too many more optional content files.   It just confuses new users..I mean with the Kohr-ah F.R.I.E.D. and same with any other projectile in the game, a new user isn't going to care if it's red, green, blue, or violet.  Do we really need 600 mods changing VUX limpets to pink?  It's this reason why I don't really like offering the old Kohr-ah ship.  It's your mod, you have final say.  And I think your goal of making HD more in-line with the 1x content it replaces, is a fine one.  If one of us old hats really want something, it's not hard to edit the content ourselves.

I myself prefer DCzanick's interpretation of the Arilou background.  It's just more visually interesting.  But I can take the 15 min to put that in the game files myself.  It's only zip compression after all.

But that's my two cents.

Restoring things to how they were is hardly an arbitrary goal. I like orange better because that was what I saw when I was 14. I think others agree (aside from the specific age), and there would be much less movement towards making it any other color. There is no slippery slope towards rainbow limpets.

You make a good point but it's not going to turn out like that. I can only justify autoloading so many packages before it becomes ridiculous.
The Yellow F.R.I.E.D. was something that already existed as a mod for base UQM and something that existed in the original PC version so it isn't that big of a deal.
It will never get to the point where there will be multi-colored limpets.

Great idea! When will that be implemented????

/kicks myself out/
Sorry, could not resist.  ;)

Revision 4 is now up and running for Windows, macOS, and Debian based Linux distributions.  ;D

https://github.com/Serosis/UQM-MegaMod/releases

Congratulations!  ;D   I have to say this feels absolutely perfect!  All the hard work really shines.   I'll go spread the word.

Also I love the new layout for the optional content.  That really clears up what otherwise would be a bunch of random downloads.  Just a thought though, you may want to put up a link on the latest github release message.   So people won't have to dig down a 3 or four releases and possibly miss it.

[edit]  I'm sorry to say I found a bug,  I'm currently using Soul Reaver's Melnorme Voice pack.  Unfortunately the number of cost and credtis you get dosn't match.   Say you just sold something for 44 credits, the Melnorme says something like 35 credits.    It's a very odd bug..

Yeah, I've mentioned that to him. I fixed it and sent him the altered file and I'm hoping he'll throw up a new version of the Melnorme Voice fix for 0.8.0

Also a guy on Discord has been running into a memory leak in TFB_Canvas along with the Infinite RU cheat screwing up when getting to the Chmmr event.

Bugs to fix for the next revision.

I see. Anyway you could post that file in the mean time?

Yeah, I just put it up on Sourceforge.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/uqm-mods/files/MegaMod/MelnormeVoiceFix.uqm/download

It seems to have resulted from a change in the way the MegaMod calls string variables during dialogue.  Because my mod was using the original/old formatting, the MegaMod read the .txt file incorrectly after the section where it refers to the string, resulting in it linking the ogg files incorrectly.

Fortunately Serosis noticed the issue and sent me a fixed .txt file with the new formatting for that section.

In the meantime I've repackaged everything and uploaded MegaMod compatible versions to my site.  I've also emailed Serosis so he can update his installer so it will download a MegaMod compatible package.

Actually, yeah, it's quite perfect as is. I hadn't looked into the mod in detail when I made the observations: Erroneously assumed every feature you had was going into in-game options, such a silly camper :P But no, it's far better these extra things go on the installer.


On a large monitor, yes. On smaller ones it kinda makes you squint at times.
Notably:

• Syreen's particle beam
• Scout's energy dart
• Eluder's B.U.T.T. torpedoes
• Mauler's sniper bullet
• Stinger's anti-matter particles

All I was saying is some projectiles could probably have benefited from being either larger (without affecting hitboxes), colored more brightly, or given a thin white outline (to more easily stand out against the black background). Just a very minor gripe with the original game!

End of transmission.

I bet, and Serosis can probably confirm this, the change strings were a result of 0.8.0 changers. If so future versions of uqm will be this way.  Also, mega mod does not need additional command lines to run the package. Its programed to autoload your package.  Although he will have to account for your name change.  Also why not relabel your zip file to .uqm  since that is the standard naming scheme for all other uqm addons.

Happy to make any changes, but I haven't received any guidance on how to structure my mod to be compatible (until now).  I've shot an email off to Serosis to confirm.

EDIT: Revamped the site again.  New (.uqm) version created and uploaded.  Should be good to go now, let me know if you've given it a test and if it works.

Thanks! Though it looks like I caught you in the middle of a change.   I was just worried about inaccuracies in the information on your site, and the fact that loading your mod is in fact easier then you said it was, not needing additional launch commands and all on mega mod. The only real change I recommended was calling .zip, .uqm files.  Which is more of a nitpick for my own sanity.  UQM-MM is happy to load it either way. :)

Everything has been fixed with the installer. Soul Reaver did a great job differentiating the different versions of UQM.

I can't download it off his Soul's anymore. :(
[EDIT]
I guessed the link and was able to download it, but the links on the page need to be updated. :( And Soul, you were right before to have separate versions for the 0.7.0 based UQM/UQM-HD and the 0.8.0 based MegaMod.  That is definitely the best way.

The page WAS updated though...  Can you recheck, maybe hitting CTRL+F5 to refresh it without using your cached files?

Ah, total rookie mistake!  Sorry about that.  I was really scratching my head why all that hard work on your site was completely reversed.  :)  I was thinking," was it something I said?"

That does look great!  Great job!

I've made a set of Windows Start Tiles for the MegaMod you can check out:
(https://t00.deviantart.net/UudVTmifieIw9nN9EuTC2zoTXUY=/300x200/filters:fixed_height(100,100):origin()/pre00/9962/th/pre/f/2018/019/f/e/the_ur_quan_masters_megamod_by_xserosisx-dc0h8fd.png) (https://xserosisx.deviantart.com/art/The-Ur-Quan-Masters-MegaMod-726398185)

nice!

Now that I've got it to consistently compile in Linux without fail I want to see if I can fix the orbit line error on newer Xcode platforms.

Though I still haven't tried compiling it in Arch. That will be next I think.
____

Can confirm, orbit lines are still screwed when building on a Xcode version newer than 3.2.6

(https://i.imgur.com/co6w8nOb.png) (https://i.imgur.com/co6w8nO.png)

Was hoping moving to 0.8.0 would alleviate it but at least now I know the code a bit better that I can start working on it.
____

Something cool I didn't even notice is that mcmartin has been updating the official UQM code. Vanilla now builds in modern Linux!

Ah,  I still wonder if the orbit code is really a clang issue.   I should find a little time to try to install clang and see if I get the same results as mac.

I tried expanding the variables to see if it was an overflow issue and no dice.
With all that math I can't tell what's what really.

But it's the same code that draws the SOI circles on the Starmap.
____

For those on Linux I've fixed all of the linker code so you can safely build and install yourself now.
Tested it in Manjaro and it works great.
____

Another thing I want to get fixed is the netplay. I don't understand what's going on but I can't get it to work,
at least locally or between a VM.

I just get "connection closed" immediately after connection.

HI,

Before going off to deal with the Sa-Matra, I had to fuel up at the Starbase as the game reset the fuel to 0.  I had fuel tanks but it wouldn't allow me to fuel up.  Is this a bug?  I had God Mode turned on and not sure if that affected anything.  I was able to finish the game by enabling Infinite Fuel.

Thanks

That actually may be a bug in the code that gives you "infinite RU".

I'll look into it but the last time I heard about that bug it was because someone was using the infinite RU cheat on top of getting infinite RU from the Chmmr.
So... Hmmm.

aleph-0 RU not enough for you, need aleph-1 RU!

2 Finite Infinity please!

But yeah. The Chmmr code for infinite R.U. is basically giving you a large sum of R.U. plus switching over to using an infinity symbol.
I changed it so that any value above a certain point changes the R.U. count to an infinity symbol or the completed Chmmr event does it.

Obviously it's conflicting.

I might just take the time to thoroughly hardcode the infinite R.U. cheat like I did with the infinite fuel cheat.

_____

You know what it was?

I set the amount of RU given to you when you turn Infinite R.U. on or when you complete the Chmmr plot is too high.
For some reason the fuel logic freaks out when the number is too high.
My best guess without looking at the code is that the fuel logic is looking for a signed value and the R.U. value is unsigned

What this means is that the max positive value you can have for a signed 32 bit value is 2,147,483,647.
I had the R.U. value set at 4,000,000,000 so the fuel logic was in fact looking at a negative value, therefor it was unwilling to add fuel.

I'll either fix the fuel logic or just set the R.U. value to 2,000,000,000 to squeak by.

____

Fixed. Was exactly what I thought it was, the whole signed/unsigned deal.
Not ready to release a new revision yet but it should be ready soon enough.

Thanks Serosis!

I played through the whole game and that was the only thing that came up in terms of a bug.  Great work!

Did you ever find the time to see if it really was a clang issue?

I've moved on from Sourceforge, the new website for the MegaMod is now http://megamod.serosis.net
Along with that I've drafted a new release which fixes the fuel bug:

https://github.com/Serosis/UQM-MegaMod/releases/tag/0.8.0-MegaMod_Rev.5

____

I just did some leg-work and compiling UQM using clang on Linux does not screw up the orbit lines. That is now a macOS only bug.

Hey! So sorry for the long AWOL.  I used this patch to easily switch between clang and gcc
http://forum.uqm.stack.nl/index.php?topic=5797.0

And you're right clang on linux doesn't reproduce the bad orbit lines.   Sure leaves me at a loss.... There are just too many variables.  How do we isolate which one is causing it?

I was pretty sure it wasn't xcode specifically.  The only way I was successful was to build it with the apple version gcc-4.2.  Which was available on macports.  Regardless of what Xcode was installed.  That just happened to be the default compiler in Xcode3...

Does it give you the orbit line bug with the patch?

Because I can get the MegaMod to build "perfectly fine" in El Capitan without it. Though you have to use SDL 1.2.15 to build or it throws errors.
Meaning you lose backwards compatibility.

no I don't.  Couldn't break the orbit lines...
That patch just lets me use the environment variables CC and CXX to define the compiler.  Doesn't change any actual code.

on newer Xcodes,  gcc is already an alias for clang. So you don't have to do anything in the build script to point to it.

Quick request for future versions...

I believe that HD Remix (as opposed to original/HD) reduced the music volume more significantly when aliens were talking.  I think MegaMod still uses the same volume level as original/HD.

I actually much preferred the slightly lower volume of the Remix, as it made the voices clearer/easier to hear, which was especially appreciated during some of the quieter portions.

Is this something you can/might implement?  Maybe a toggle in the menu to select normal or quieter volume during speech?
Or is it already at the remix volume level and I'm just imagining things?

I've installed using the windows msi installer, however I can't find anyway to actually activate any of the options I installed (I installed them all).  What am I missing?

Which options?


I don't remember seeing any specific volume code specifically for speeches in the Remix source but I'll look into it.

I don't think it's specific code, it's just a variable.  Music volume (in all versions of UQM) automatically is lowered when an alien is talking (ie, "if alien is talking, lower music channel volume by X%".  However, I THINK in UQM HD Remix, the volume is lowered a larger amount than in other versions (ie, X was set to a higher number).  I preferred the lower volume.

That's possible. I'll take a look whenever I can get the motivation to look at Remix's files.
It could simply be that he had the music slider lowered by default or it could be that he literally coded it in where I didn't see it.

HD Remix listed the feature as follows:
* Changed the volume options so the dialogue is more audible against the music

...which I realize doesn't help a lot in answering the 'how' question.

I'm not sure if this is just a Megamod problem or if it's on HD as well but the Vindicator on Smooth battle-zoom has too much proportion issues with size.
Also, I'm not sure how I could get the new Marauder to load.

The "new" Marauder is loaded by default, the old one is loaded with the addon packages.

The smooth zoom issue may just be a HD-mod problem all-around.

I have a question.  I know the game is suppose to be compiled for 32 bit, but I have never noticed any issues with compiling it 64bit on my linux machine.  Nor have I noticed any issues with doing so right off that bat.   Are there any reasons not to?

If 32 bit is the recommendation what is the best way to do so on 64 bit linux?

I tried going to config_proginfo_build and setting cflags, cxxflags, and ldflags to -m32.  Only at the linking stage it fails to link the 32bit libraries...
/usr/bin/ld: skipping incompatible /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libSDL.so when searching for -lSDL

I already have gcc-multilib g++-multilib and libc6-dev-i386

It's just very odd...

As far as I know UQM itself is locked into 32-bit as far as how things are coded.

I tried looking into upgrading the code for 64-bit but it's not as simple as pointing a 64-bit compiler at it.
If an actual developer (I.E. Serge or Mike Martin) wander through here they could probably shed some light on what would be necessary.

Heck, I don't even know if the necessary libraries are fully 64-bit compatible.
I had to personally compile SDL 1.2.15 in Visual Studio 2017 so that UQM could build in Visual Studio 2017.
Same with the latest zlib.
It's getting to the point where UQM might fall behind in OS compatibility soon unless we can get some knowledgeable devs thrown at the project to update the code
for more modern systems.

Really?   I always thought that was Exactly what it took!   If it compiles, then the outputting binary is 64bit.  The OS certainly seems to think so, which will be good enough for apple down the road:


 I'm really not sure what technicality you are referring?  Does the outputting binary not address more then 4 gigs of RAM?  (or 1 something in the case of windows). Heck, I couldn't even run a 32bit binary in 64bit linux without some finagling.  That's never default.  You cant link 32bit libraries to a 64bit binary.  It can't be done.  It would fail at the linking process which the opposite of which is what I'm getting now.  It's trying to link 64bit libraries on the 32bit binary I asked for.  Otherwise it would successfully build the 64bit binary.

Those are all standard libraries and It's not hard to get them for 64bit for linux and osx.  Every distro package manager has them.  You should look into chocolaty for windows.  I would expect to find them there.

Porting to 64-bit isn't rocket science,but it's not as easy as just compiling it with a 64-bit compiler.  The code is probably making assumptions about the size of integers and/or pointers being 32 bits, so even if it compiles, it's likely to crash or have other new bugs. 


The problem is that someone will have to go get 64-bit versions of all of the 3rd-party libraries UQM needs on three different platforms, modify the build scripts to use them, and debug the result.  That's not necessarily hard, but it's a lot of grunt work, And if any of the 3P libraries aren't available in 64-bit, you've got a bigger problem.  For example, I'm not sure if there's a version of SDL 1.2 for 64-bit OSX.  If there isn't, then UQM would have to port to SDL 2.x, which has a different API, and would require rewriting a bunch of the code.  And then you have to deal with any incompatibilities in the new SDL's dependencies, and keep working your way up the chain until you find a new set of compatible versions.

I've done ports like this, and they're usually a pain in the tail, especially on multiplatform products with many external dependencies.

As I said, those are all standard libraries.  Finding 64bit versions isn't hard.  

For instance If you download the SDL1.2 framework right off of their page, you will find it contains both the 64bit and 32bit libraries included right in it.  (The advantage of frameworks over dylibs is that they can contain multiple versions of the library in a single package).  Remember apple has been a 64bit OS for well over 10 years.  Or if if you prefer dylib versions, you can install macports and do "sudo port install libsdl" *or whatever the package name*  then "+universal" if you want 32 bit versions as well or leave "+universal" out and it will download 64bit versions.

There are plenty of sdl 1.2 apps that are 64bit


As for any crashes in the code with a 64bit binary of UQM mega mod.  I haven't had any issues, and I've played most way through the game.  Which was why I was wondering...  You're right, there can be such issues as integer assumtions. Take DosBox for example which I know their dynamic core was written in assembly for a 32bit system, and doesn't make the translation to 64bit very well. But in this case,  I think you are way over-thinking this.  SDL-1.2 is pretty tried and true.

Glad to hear it...I was worried that there would be a ton of little crashes and glitches.  Would you like to take a stab at adjusting the build scripts to support a 32 or 64 bit configuration selection, and sending a pull request?  I'm sure Serosis would be greatly appreciative.

There may be certain edge case scenarios where there is a crash I suppose,  but then again, how is that different from any other day. :)

As for build scripts.  I didn't have to do anything to make it do 64bit.  That's default on the 64bit system.   It's trying to get it to do 32bit that's hard, and I hadn't figured out if you read my first post on the top of the page.

There is this nice patch that lets you choose the compiler with the $CC and $CXX environment variables, that I don't think is a bad idea...

http://forum.uqm.stack.nl/index.php?topic=5797.0

Ok, now do it on Windows and post a tutorial.

I've said time and time again that I'm not an actual developer.
I do not really know what I'm doing, I poke around until I see patterns, shift them, then check the results.

Well you are in good company.  Neither am I.  I'm a network engineer by trade, but like you, I love to tinker.

Anyway I'm not sure how MS Visual Studio works.  I never had the money to get it.   Gun to my head I would try cygwin and install the mingw compiler, then use the cygwin installer to install the 64bit sdl , sdl image, zlib, and ogg vorbis libraries.  Then I would try to compile.  No idea if it would work though. Though I do remember seeing mingw mentioned in the build files.  I use to have a mingw setup on my mac which could compile windows binaries. I'm sure I could do the same on this linux box should I find the time.

Visual Studio has had free versions (Visual Studio Express) since 2005.
But that's neither here nor there.

When I try to build in MinGW (at least in Windows 10) it takes forever.
It's so slow that it would take an hour, I believe, to completely compile.

No idea what's happening there but that's why I haven't been compiling that way.
That and the IDE Visual Studio gives me is nice to work with.

I've found two bugs in the MegaMod so far.

First, when an alien race's sphere of influence is partially outside the map, the race's name is displayed outside its sphere of influence, rather than inside it. Like this: https://b8.ru.icdn.ru/p/prhmro/upic2.jpg
Second, the game randomly crashes when I'm talking to the Orz.

Thanks!

Looking into it now.

_____

UPDATE:

I've fixed the text being properly centered in the SOI.

Haven't had the Orz crash on me yet but I'll keep trying.

UPDATE2:

I've also made it so Soul Reaver's Syreen Voice Fix's dialog happens if voices are turned off.
To mimic the PC version.

(When talking about the egg-case only)

In the version I have, the game consistently crashes when the Orz says the line labeled GENERAL_INFO_ALLY_3 in the dialogue file, and then I review it in text-only mode. When I first met the Orz, the game also crashed just as their fleet came into contact with my ship.

Oh that's perfect, thanks for pointing out the actual dialogue, that helps immensely.
When I get back home I'll take a long, hard look at it with a debugger.

Apparently the game crashes whenever the Orz say anything that is longer than one page (not just GENERAL_INFO_ALLY_3), and I review the text. This does not happen in conversations with other races (e.g., the Melnorme).

It could be a general incompatibility with the 0.7.0 text file and the "0.8.0" code that we ran into with the Melnorme Voice Fix and the Utwig Voice Redub.
It also could be the code that's supposed to render the Orz *special* text in a different font.

Does the crash also happen in HD?

____

Okay, the crash is happening because of the font switcher for the *special* text.
It's trying to remove characters that don't exist from the text and print them.
____

Fixed the Orz crash, I believe. It never crashed on me during an ongoing convo but when I pressed the spacebar to review the text it crashed.
So since that's fixed it might have fixed the whole thing.

Nope, the problem is still there, even though the *special* words are now displayed with a different font (that looks ugly in low resolution, by the way). The spheres of influence have been fixed, though.

Weird, because I do not get *any* crashes whatsoever talking to the Orz.
I sat there and listened to all eight of their long responses about themselves.

Also, my favorite line in the game.

(https://i.imgur.com/gkhNPbAb.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/gkhNPbA.jpg)

___

Are you using voices?

If so are you using the uqm-0.8.0-3dovoice.uqm file?

I'm at a loss because the code is identical to the HD-mod now.

Yes, I am.

The crash still happens when I'm reviewing the text, not listening to the speech.

Is it *any* text from the Orz or perhaps specific text?

____

Okay, I just got the crash again on the opening "Who are you" text review.|

This is a sticky bug. I'm surprised it took this long to find it.
____

Try it out now, looks like it was a small character buffer issue.
I pushed some fresh Windows builds to the Git.
____

Looking at the HD-Remix code I don't know how it is escaping the Orz crash.
It should be running into the same error the MegaMod was having but it doesn't.  :-\

HAH! Building the Remix source without any modification results in the Orz summary crash, same as the MegaMod.
The 'official' Remix binary must have code changes not present in the Git repository for it to not have this problem.

The crash has been fixed, but there is another bug in the dialogue review screen. When the text spans multiple pages, there should be the word "MORE" surrounded by two dots at the end of the text (which is absent from the regular UQM version, by the way). When the crash was still present, the game just displayed a dot without the "MORE" word. Now it displays a dot and the M letter.

A new bug has also appeared with the Orz's *special* words - in the text review mode, a fragment of a *special* word is repeated - either just the asterisk, or a part of the word too.

There is also a bug with the Zoq-Fot-Pik - some of the lines appear over the wrong character (that is, some of the Pik's words are displayed over the Zoq and vice versa).

Well I know what that first one is all about.
I know exactly what it is.

That Zoq-Fot bug has been a thing for awhile, I can see if I can fix it though.

____

Do you know if it's just one or two lines or if there's a whole host of wrong subtitle matches for the Zoq-Fot?

Certainly more than two. When I was talking to the scout in Rigel, quite a significant part of the subtitles was displayed over the wrong character.

I've noticed that the "MORE" word appears normally in conversations with races other than the Orz (I haven't downloaded the version where the bug has been fixed yet).

The game still crashes occasionally (very rarely) before the "red alert" sound is played at the beginning of an alien encounter. I've just had the crash when I attempted to meet the Mycon at Beta Brahe I.

...And yet another bug - when I'm fighting Tanaka, his ship panel on the sidebar shows no picture at all in low resolution. In high resolution, it does show a modified Scout picture with limpets attached to it, but there is nothing in the original low resolution.

BTW, if MegaMod has absorbed the unreleased post-0.7.0 code in the main line, there were some major changes in it that may not have been entirely debugged.  I specifically recall the core devs mentioning an issue with the ZFP speech.

Yes, that would be the explanation for it.
I can still have a go at it regardless.


I must be missing his Scout picture then. That's just a content error.

Though the crashing before the red alert seems odd. You're not using the Bubble Warp cheat are you?

No, all cheats are disabled in my current game.


I tried copying the regular Scout picture (which is what the vanilla game had for Tanaka/Katana's ship on the sidebar) into the base\ships\shofixti directory in the content\packages\uqm-0.8.0-content.uqm archive under the same name as the high-res picture (oldscout-icons-001.png), but the problem remained. I tried copying the oldscout-icons.ani file from uqm-mm-hires4x.uqm as well (though I likely have to change the text there to make it work), also to no effect.

It's a missing line in the "uqm.rmp" file.

Jam this line in there where appropriate:
Though it doesn't show the limpets for some reason.

Let me check the HD-mod to see if it has the limpets.
____

Nope, HD-mod and HD-Remix do not have limpets on the ship icon in base resolution.
I guess I'll add that.
____

Huh, even vanilla UQM doesn't have the Scout icon limpeted.
(https://i.imgur.com/hcZGohs.png)
____

This is what I got for the new limpeted icon for Tanaka and Katana: https://i.imgur.com/c6CddPO.png

And here it is in-game:
(https://i.imgur.com/mse4Tuy.png)

You can get the updated content file from Github for now.

Yes, the vanilla UQM must have the normal Scout image without limpets for Tanaka and Katana, because that's what the original DOS version had.

Anyway, I've installed your latest fixes, and they seem to work.

However, I've just had a crash as I was about to enter hyperspace. I think it's the same crash I had with the "red alert" effect, and I suspect it has something to do with music. I'm using the original MOD music currently, no 3DO or Precursors tracks.

Just encountered a really game-breaking bug - when I was at the Earth Starbase and tried to sell fuel, I could not - the fuel count suddenly jumped to 50 and stayed there. I also suddenly had only 13 RU left, even though I had around 12k before.

Did it do this in the old releases?

Okay, figured out the fuel bug. Didn't compensate for resolution factor.
Though the random crashes when entering hyperspace concern me.

If you mean the fuel bug, I have no idea - I haven't tried it in previous versions of the MegaMod. The vanilla UQM didn't have this bug, that much I know.

Funny enough there is no fuel bug in the higher resolutions.

Technically it should work on all resolutions but it doesn't. So I'm going to have to shunt the code to differentiate between base graphics and HD graphics.

I was wrong about all that. No idea what the fuel bug actually is.
___

One thing I found out is that the fuel bug was introduced between Revision 4 and 5.

___

Found it, but reverting the code interferes with another type of Fuel bug. So I'm gonna have to dance around it for a bit.
___

So I fixed it by setting the infinite RU for both Chmmr and the cheat to more sane values.
Now onto the hyperspace crashing bug.

UPDATE:

I can't seem to replicate the Hyperspace crash no matter how many systems I jump in and out of.
Are there any circumstances that are happening before the crash?

I've got all my audio set to PC music only like you said you had and so far no crashes.

The bug doesn't trigger too often, usually I can play without any crashes.

For the entire time I've been playing the MegaMod (currently my game is in mid-November 2155), it only happened three times - once when I was about to encounter the Orz for the first time (in interplanetary), once when I was about to contact Beta Brahe I (both times before the "red alert" sound), and once as I was about to enter hyperspace, also in Beta Brahe IIRC.

Also, the bug with the "MORE" word is still there.

Perhaps it has to do with the surrounding Orz, Mycon, Vux star clusters?

I fail to see how this would be relevant.

Just had another crash as I was about to start a conversation with a Pkunk fleet as they were migrating towards Yehat space, in the Ptolemae constellation. The conversation had already started, but as the Pkunk was about to start speaking, the game crashed.

And another bug: as I entered a planet's orbit (Eta Ptolemae V in my case), the planet's image suddenly disappeared from the screen. When I reentered its orbit, everything was normal again.

These bugs might be beyond my comprehension. It could be because I'm using the the latest Git code with the HD code layered on top.
Many incompatibilities may exist that will be hard to find.

I wish I had your computer in front of me with Visual Studio 2010 installed so I could debug it right there and then.

Played through the whole thing on MacOS 10.12.6 in HD.
Only issue was no intro or ending sequence (black screen and music plays). A couple of crashes but pretty infrequent.

Was fun!

Thanks for checking it out!

At the moment I'm in a spotty internet situation but when that clears up I'll be back to bug-searching and updating the releases.
Not going to even attempt to upload any releases on 0.2 Mbps.  :P

The crashes still happen sometimes, and they always happen in the interplanetary screen, either before an alien encounter or when I'm about to enter hyperspace. I've also seen the planet disappear in the orbit screen one more time, but that bug, at least, is only a mild annoyance.

There is also a major problem with the Utwig dialogue - the timestamps for the subtitles have not been adapted for the new voiceover.

Also, when you are buying information from the Melnorme, the new voiceover says "Good! I wish to SELL information!" as per the original PC version, but the subtitles still say "How wonderful, Captain!".

There are also some fixes I'd like to see:

When the Dnyarri tells you about the Sentient Milieu (either on the Umgah homeworld or aboard your ship), there is an option in the dialogue to call it out on its lies (provided you heard the real story before, presumably). However, the option never seems to come up in the actual game.

Similarly, after the Umgah are freed, there seems to be an option to tell the Umgah that the Talking Pet is dead, but it never comes up either except in a few rare unpredictable cases. This is true for the regular UQM version as well.

If you're up for it can you play through the MegaMod with the intent of taking screenshots of all of the crashes and bugs that you've described?

As I said before I am at a loss as to what might be causing all of these issues. Maybe a frame of reference would help.

Maybe play through the UQM-HD mod and see if you run into the same.
I don't really have the time as it is to run through the code, at least right now, but I will prioritize my efforts if I can definitively nail those bugs against the wall and give the smoothest UQM-HD experience possible.

____

Aside:

And I know about the re-dub Utwig timing. It's definitely on my radar but it's a time consuming process on my end.
I don't quite know how the timing works as of yet so it'll stay that way until I can squash the other major bugs.

Oh another bug that came up was not being able to get into orbit around the moon. Kinda prevents you from playing the game. After playing around with the mods it got sorted. I think it might have been the planets mod, not sure.

Which revision were you using because I squashed that bug awhile back. In fact the bug affected all the moons of Sol.
Maybe I still need to work on the separation of the Sol textures some more.

Might have not been the latest, I'm not sure...

Right now I'm on Revision 6 heading my way into Revision 7.

https://github.com/Serosis/UQM-MegaMod/releases

hmm, so probably not the latest then!

MegaMod Revision 7 has been released!

A quick rundown of the bugfixes:

- Fixed text centering inside the Spheres of Influence
- Fixed addon voices loading regardless of Speech option
- Bake in Soul Reaver's Syreen Voice Fix text when opting to disable voices
- Fixed Orz conversation crash when reviewing text log
- Fixed Shofixti icons for Tanaka & Katana
- Fixed another fuel bug introduced with my Infinite R.U. cheat
- Fixed adjacent fuel bug when the player has obtained the Chmmr Bomb
- Added support for loading HD-mod and HD-Remix saves
- Fixed bugged coordinates when loading Vanilla saves

Enjoy!

https://github.com/Serosis/UQM-MegaMod/releases

And the best just keeps getting better  8)

Minor cosmetic bug in 0.8.0 rev.7: the constellation map does not zoom properly. It's fine when fully zoomed out, but when zoomed in, the constellations are translated, but not scaled at all.

Feature request: is it possible to add an option to randomize planet generation, rather than using the same seed in every game? After playing through a few times, you start learning which planets and systems are worth exploring for resources; it would be nice to be able to add a bit more challenge by being forced to explore again. Obviously, anything with special generation (i.e., plot-related) shouldn't change.

Which resolutions, all of them?

I can definitely look into externalizing the seed used. That way it won't break saved games, something to think about for Rev.8.
Obviously I can't rando the Starmap itself. That's something that would take a team of people to rework.

Running 640x480.

I wouldn't try to change star generation; moving them would break the naming system, and even if the starmap is dynamically generated, I know there are several dialogue references to color/size of stars. Number and type of planets in a system using default generation should be easy to randomize. I've noticed that many plot-relevant planets are the innermost one in their system (rainbow worlds, most homeworlds), so it might be possible to change up the rest of the system.

With UQM if it's part of the plot it's going to be hardcoded. So you wouldn't have to worry about a planet disappearing or anything that was important to the story, although the planet may always be the same no matter the seed.

I've just reinstalled Windows so I have to go through the rigmarole of reinstalling everything else first.
Word to the wise, never just take your Intel based Windows and stuff it into an AMD based system. It leads to some interesting problems.

UPDATE:

I've done some preliminary testing to see if futzing around with the seed numbers breaks the game and surprisingly it doesn't.
So I'll look for a way to externalize those seeds into something like the settings file or the gamestrings.txt file.

UPDATE2:

More testing shows that I can get it to work using the config file on a single variable.
Looks like you're gonna get your randomized star systems.

UPDATE3:

It's in for Rev.8: https://github.com/Serosis/UQM-MegaMod/commit/ca9fa7af931ce48eb0783bda4f3cdf2b625adaf0

You can set a custom seed for new games and saved games that do not have a custom seed set.
After you save a game with a custom seed, that saved seed becomes the default for that saved game from then on.

UPDATE4:

I've nerfed it down to be more sensible to prevent crashing.

Custom seeds will only work on new games and saved games that have a seed already in place.
Loading a game that does not have a custom seed will default to the original and will save with the original.

UPDATE5:

I'm going to have to do some work behind the scenes to make some lore-centric solar systems work because there's a good chunk of them that aren't hardcoded enough to survive a custom seed scramble.

First up was Alpha Pavonis, just gonna have to go down the list of all important solar systems.

@Kanhef

MegaMod Rev.8 is pretty close to being complete. Just a few more small bugs here and there.
Your externalized procedural seed is in and working, I had to hardcode nearly every lore-centric star system but now you can change seeds without having to worry about losing access to an important planet.

No way to randomize the actual Starmap though. I believe somebody was on their way to doing that a long time ago but never released the code for it.

I'm going to look into the zooming issue next, but not tonight.  ;)

UPDATE:

Looking at the zooming issue, I'm at a loss to come up with a method that zooms in on the starmap and the png file while keeping both perfectly aligned.
I can make it so the PNG file persists but it the engine doesn't zoom the png file with the starmap. So you just get the constellation PNG overlaying your zoomed starmap at its base size.

Nice. Randomizing the starmap is probably possible, but more trouble than it's worth. There are a lot of in-game references to both individual stars and constellations. Generating a random field of stars is the easy part; naming them appropriately is hard. They'd have to be grouped into constellations in the same areas those are in now, then given unique names while respecting the hardcoded plot-relevant ones (like Alpha Pavonis). Another issue is that some of the name references imply the existence of other stars. Worst I can find is Vulpeculae, which needs at least seven stars assigned to it to have an Eta. All of that should be possible with a bunch of special-case code, but I don't see much benefit for the amount of work needed.

I just drafted a new release for the MegaMod if anyone wants to check it out!

https://github.com/Serosis/UQM-MegaMod/releases/tag/0.8.0-MegaMod_Rev.8

Brief Changelog

• 3DO Videos now scaled in HD (Thanks to SlightlyIntelligentMonkey)
• New custom seed system in place to allow for randomizing of solar systems
• New custom border frame system to allow for reskinning of the UI (Thanks to SlightlyIntelligentMonkey for inspiration)
• Intersect point to transition to orbit is now the outer edge of the planet in HD
• Removed all reference to HD-2x graphics and added resolution scaling to HD-4x to replace it
• Fixed networking support for Windows
• Enhanced contrast for the settings menu colors
• Fixed a bug where the Slylandro Probes would crash the game when they speak their point of origin coordinates
• Tons of internal housekeeping to clean the code up a bit

awesome...i will check this out in the morning...way too tired to process getting this going...

Oops.  When compiling on linux I get :

I changed #include "../uqm/setup.h" in that random.h to  #include "../../uqm/setup.h and all was well

------------------------------------------------------

Really great job!  8)  I love what you have done with the HD UI, made it look a lot more polished.  Out of curiosity what is the story behind the 3DO remastered music package mentioned on the optional downloads?


 There are a couple of things I noticed, I'm afraid.  On your web page in the under optional content. The UQM main site link goes to "http://sc2.sourceforge.nets.php/" and not "http://sc2.sourceforge.net"  and doesn't work.

In super melee, the bottom player is always in god mode.

I'll let you know if I come across anything else

how does the random solar systems thing work? this feature is eluding me.

I'm afraid there is another issue with the HD version.  When landing on a planet there is suppose to be a random element so your ship doesn't land exactly where you point the cursor on the planet.  That way so the user doesn't cheat and avoid obstacles by landing on their target and launching.  Suddenly in this new version it's landing precisely where you put the cursor.  (Or maybe i wasn't paying attention in Rev 7...)

Hi,

First time poster here. After 25 years or so I decided to replay SC2. I knew about UQM, then found HD and started playing. Unfortunately, I found MegaMod only after I've spent 40 hours exploring planets :-) The problem is that I hit a HD 0.7.0 malloc save game bug - basically the game crashes every time I try to save now cause my saves are > 10KB (yes, back in the 640KB days this meant something ;-).

This was never fixed in HD 0.7.0. So, given that MegaMod supports UQM HD saves I tried it there and it loads, plus this memsize bug seems to be fixed. However... something goes wrong with the import it seems - e.g. I lost my lander speed mod, crystal spindle and q-space device. Instead I now have the sun device (I don't). Seems like a bug? Here's a link to my save, would appreciate any help. Great job btw, keep it up!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/k7122rlr2m67jaj/starcon2.00?dl=0

It's always something with every release. I guess a Rev.9 hotfix will be on its way then.

I've already fixed the GodMode bug, that was a big mistake on my part, I wasn't paying attention to the order of operations in my "if, then, else" statements.


You make a shortcut to the EXE and add "--customseed=#" whereas # = whatever number you want.
Like so:
(https://i.imgur.com/WxDdPwK.png)

Or you add the custom seed to the CFG file like so:
(https://i.imgur.com/wHXrWiM.png)


I'm looking into this right now but it may be beyond my understanding as to why this is happening.


That's part of the GodMode code bug you mentioned earlier.

thank you...question, where is your documentation at? it's not with the zipped game?

Most of my documentation would be on the website I linked to on the releases page.
Though I've yet to do a complete write-up for the Custom Seed feature.
It's a bit more hacky than I'd like it to be and so It's aimed more at the power users.

______________________________

And for the other bugs, they have been fixed and I'm drafting a new release as I type this

______________________________

UPDATE:

And... Released!

https://github.com/Serosis/UQM-MegaMod/releases/tag/0.8.0.81-MegaMod

Hey excellent job.  That fixed all the naging issues for this release.  I had a few thoughts for the future if you dont mind:

- I really like the new UI used in game.  Could you also extend it to the Battle UI?  It looks really plain by comparison and I find the lack of unity jarring.  I think the Supper Meele Menu could use a similar esthetic as well.

- I noticed the Search Star feature in the star map doesn't line up with the new Bezel.  Might be something to look into.

- I see what you wanted with the new Main Menu font by going with a bolder, more striking one.  But I find that gives me a western vibe more than a sci fi one.   This thread mentioned the fonts used by the Comms if you want  ideas.  http://www.star-control.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=359&start=20 (http://www.star-control.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=359&start=20) I like Final Frontier used by the Humans myself.

Just a quick look through this https://www.1001fonts.com/futuristic%2Bscience-fiction-fonts.html?page=7&items=10 (https://www.1001fonts.com/futuristic%2Bscience-fiction-fonts.html?page=7&items=10)  What about "Hyperion BRK Normal?"  Lot of other good ones there.

- If a design comes to me that I think will fit over the Melee UI well enough I'll pop it in.

- I can probably fix that by drawing the new UI between the blue box and the blinking cursor. But it's not a pressing priority.

- That font is actually the closest thing to the original 3DO main menu font I could find.

It's one of many personal stylistic decisions to show my preference to the 3DO version of the game.
Just be glad I didn't make it "3DO Green", because that was an option at one point:

(https://i.imgur.com/kK7MqvL.png) (https://i.imgur.com/CitlPBM.png)

Well if there is a historical reason for the font.  That's fine then.   Im on the fence if the green is actually better...

Wow! That was fast! I can confirm that the fix worked! Fantastic job mate!

I've stared at it for many hours. It grates after awhile and the only thing I could come up with for a reason is that there's more words and they're focused.
__________________

UPDATE:

I've uploaded a macOS build for all on the releases page

I don't hold out much hope that the vocoloid has some insightful commentary that would be of much help, but I did come across a Let's Play of the 3DO Star Control II of the Japanese port that might include some criticism of the translation.

https://www.nicovideo.jp/mylist/33091341

This is somewhat unrelated, but their (possibly abandoned) Star Control: Origins Let's Play has one of them animes man-spreading in the corner, as if they're a Twitch streamer.

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm34006965

Basically a copy/paste of my post over at PoNaF...

Here's a couple of other new things:

HD 3DO Icon Menu               EDIT: And for good measure the original 3DO icon menu
(https://i.imgur.com/UpJRy7Vb.png) (https://i.imgur.com/UpJRy7V.png) (https://i.imgur.com/rSJJQPcb.png) (https://i.imgur.com/rSJJQPc.png)

HD Melee Menu (Marauder recolored and rescaled, Dreadnought rescaled, new Umgah variant by Nackles42, and a new Cruiser variant ripped from the SC1 ship info art)
(https://i.imgur.com/LGm5u8Ob.png) (https://i.imgur.com/LGm5u8O.png) (https://i.imgur.com/UzslNqUb.png) (https://i.imgur.com/UzslNqU.png)

Added "Music Options" to the setup menu (Thanks to Volasaurus)
(https://i.imgur.com/btEpCyDb.png) (https://i.imgur.com/btEpCyD.png)

The reason for the new menu: Volasaurus composed remixes for everything, including alternate tracks for Pre/Post-Process Chmmr, Fwiffo, Safe Ones, Spathi ships, Pre/Post-Ultron Utwig, Ur-Quan Probe, Yehat Rebels, and Pre/Post radioactives Commander.
(https://i.imgur.com/hLpYVC9b.png) (https://i.imgur.com/hLpYVC9.png)

...And I'm still hard at work doing a few other things.  ;)

Wow. Need to get my new machine.....

Thanks.

Also, site back up without having moved?

Tumbling Slylandro Probes in interplanetary view.

HD::
https://streamable.com/mdeqw

SD:
https://streamable.com/1lw51

Volasaurus' Ambient Themes Teaser Pack 1:
https://streamable.com/btx1y

Volasaurus' Ambient Themes Teaser Pack 2:
https://streamable.com/z4h6m

Heh. Some SCO features are already making their way into UQM. :)

By the way, since the MegaMod has restored the orange FRIED for the Kohr-Ah, I'd also like to see the PC-style green exhaust for the flagship restored, so that players could pick it over the 3DO version's red exhaust.

???

SCO features? What are you talking about?

When you enter a system inhabited by an alien race in SCO, a variation on that race's theme music plays in the interplanetary screen instead of the normal interplanetary music. Volasaurus' new tracks were obviously inspired by that.

It's also an optional feature so if it's not your cup of tea you can leave it disabled.

(Meaning it's not enabled by default)

Or… like… any game since Mega Man?

Volasaurus is one of the Stardock SC fans, so yeah, SC:O probably was his inspiration.

I lifted a few ideas from Origins.

Volasaurus only asked if it were possible. Then I did it.
He was the unfortunate one who had to compose an ambient theme for every race possible.

Ahhh, I see... so not really something significant from SCO, then.

More importantly... separate Safe Ones and Spathi Captain tracks I can understand, but why on earth does Fwiffo need his own track? You only talk to him once!

In fact I feel similarly about pretty much all the extra tracks... but I guess it can't hurt, at least.

All of this was already in the code I believe due to the Precursor's Remixes except the Ur-Quan Probe and pre/post-Process Chmmr.
I only asked Volasaurus to fill in the gaps that were already there and he was only too happy to oblige.

And there's not really anything significant from SCO I could add in easily.
Don't be afraid that I'll venture away from keeping UQM to its roots.
MegaMod first and foremost is a UQM-HD Remastered project with optional fluff.
Anything I take from SCO is more or less things that I think would be fun to stick in but only if it feels like it will work.

Also, if you'd like to have more insight on what I'm doing or if you want to give more immediate feedback or even help out I'm always on the Unofficial Star Control Discord server (Started by Nackles42) which you can join by following this link: https://discord.gg/hk7nyMS

Usually I only post things here and at PoNaF if it's near completion but I post WIP stuff to the Discord for immediate feedback.

I did a quick compile of your master branch for jokes.  Alas your new menu and assets arn't part of it yet XD.  Out of curiosity what's with that plucky cliched minuet (It's name escapes me) in super melee menu?   Was that in the 3do version?

(Divertissement - Pizzicato (from the ballet Sylvia)
No, actually, just something I put in as a joke and to debug the menu music option.

I've yet to find anything decent for the Super Melee menu music.

Only the lo-res assets are available at the moment because I'm still working on the HD assets.
I just finished up redoing all the ship icons, scaling and alignment.
Plus there's a whole host of other stuff I've yet to fix.

For those that don't follow on any other platform I released  The Ur-Quan Masters MegaMod 0.8.0.82 a bit before Christmas.

## Changelog

#### New Stuff:
- Massive graphics overhaul
- Race specific ambient space music when inside a race's sphere of influence (Composed by Volasaurus)
- Quasiportal exits now randomized with the custom seed system
- Quasiportals stay "unknown" when custom seeds are enabled
- Increment Fuel/Crew by min/max using the End/Home keys
- Addon support for Volasaurus' Remix Pack
- Added alternate music support for Zex, Ur-Quan Probe, Chmmr Pre/Post Process, and Sa-Matra battle
- Tumbling Slylandro Probe animation in solar system view
- Added ability to scale non-textured planets

#### Bugfixes:
- Draw custom border over star search box
- Make intersect point for planets in HD "under the skin" (larger than a pixel, smaller than the planet image)
- Fix Spathi ships being removed from fleet during their slave shield event
- Head Start cheat properly fixed so one only has to go to the Starbase (you better hope to god no Slylandro spawn in)
- Fixed mineral cargo fill-up in HD
- Realign the cargo and device display for HD
- Fix graphical bug in the custom border UI when choosing 3DO fonts

#### Removed stuff:
- Removed the alternate Thraddash storyline
- Autoload support for the alt-Kohr-Ah Ship design
- Autoload support for the Orange Peel Melnorme

https://github.com/Serosis/UQM-MegaMod/releases

I mean, I'm not going to knock your decision by any means, but I was rather curious. Why?

It doesn't mesh with the current idea/mission of keeping things as "stock" as possible.
Making the best damn version of UQM-HD there is while keeping things faithful.

Plus there's small chances of bugs introduced between saved games with it enabled.
I didn't want to hardcode in any more saved game bits like I did with the custom seed system.

Here's a bit of fun.

I've been working on an Android build and an old bug from macOS resurfaced:

The ole skewed orbit lines in HD bug
(https://i.imgur.com/PMMyr0Jb.png) (https://i.imgur.com/PMMyr0J.png)

So now I know it isn't platform specific but possibly compiler specific or even architecture specific.

As a side note MegaMod is broken in Android Pie, at least on the Pixel XL. I don't have any other devices past Oreo.

UPDATE:

And the orbit line bug is fixed!
I guess the experience I've gained thus far trumped what I thought was an impossible problem back then.

(https://i.imgur.com/U46qHYVb.png) (https://i.imgur.com/U46qHYV.png)

Pay no worry to the orbit dot spacing, it was something I was testing out and it doesn't really work.

Fantastic!  Good riddance!  Was it a bug with gcc?  If so how was it a non issue with gcc on linux?

I widened a few variables to "long long" from "long".

I was basically just screwing around with data types in oval.c until I got a really weird result. (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/477995368328724480/557904678969540608/The_Ur-Quan_Masters_v0.8.0.83_MegaMod_3_20_2019_5_33_02_AM.png)

I should look through the dedicated UQM data types to see if there is one available for long long.

What I think might be happening is while compiling for a 32bit system `long` works just fine.
But compiling for a 64bit system long doesn't cut it anymore so I had to widen the variables.

At least, that's my guess.

Or maybe Clang is just really finicky because that's also the common denominator between macOS and Android's SDK.

Ha, that's actually really cool  ;D

I did mean Clang, not gcc.  Actually I'm surprised android uses Clang which is primarily backed by apple.  Go figure.

Another update is that UQM/libsdl for Android really hates being compiled for arm64.
I finally found out that this was the reason why my builds were freaking out on my Pixel.

Maybe at some point down the line I can fix that but for the time being 32bit builds work on the current arm64 processors so I won't mess with it.

EDIT:

Good news, Android will have crossplay support for Net Melee.