The Ur-Quan Masters Home Page Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
October 07, 2024, 02:20:23 pm
Home Help Search Login Register
News: Celebrating 30 years of Star Control 2 - The Ur-Quan Masters

+  The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum
|-+  The Ur-Quan Masters Re-Release
| |-+  General UQM Discussion (Moderator: Death 999)
| | |-+  A Big Thank You		 « previous next »
Pages: [1] Print
Author Topic: A Big Thank You  (Read 2950 times)
Death 390
Zebranky food
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 44


Kill The Interloper!


View Profile
A Big Thank You
« on: August 21, 2005, 05:59:29 pm »
I'd just like to say a BIG thanks to all those involved in creating "The Ur-Quan Masters" - Star Control 2 was always one of my fave games, and when my 3DO finally gave up the ghost about 3 years ago, I thought I'd never have the chance to play it again!!

 Cheesy Cheesy
« Last Edit: August 21, 2005, 06:01:41 pm by Death 390 » Logged
Kaiser II
Guest


Email
Re: A Big Thank You
« Reply #1 on: August 23, 2005, 08:57:50 am »
Your 3DO died? Shocked
Mine's still going strong.  Though the SC2 disc died...
Logged
Death 390
Zebranky food
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 44


Kill The Interloper!


View Profile
Re: A Big Thank You
« Reply #2 on: August 24, 2005, 04:22:26 pm »
You're a lucky dude re the 3DO working! Bad news about the SC2 disc, but hey, with the Ur-Quan Masters project, that's not such a problem!  Smiley
Logged
Death 390
Zebranky food
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 44


Kill The Interloper!


View Profile
Re: A Big Thank You
« Reply #3 on: August 24, 2005, 08:49:50 pm »
Actually while I'm here.....

I was wondering…in light of other developments over the last couple of years (i.e. Timewarp/TW-Light etc) would it possible to create a sequel by means of a conversion of Ur-Quan Masters? By this I mean using the same basic engine, but modifying the planetary system variables, event triggers, alien/starship graphics etc? Kind of like a Star Control 2.5. After all, for me anyway, my love of SC was never really due to the graphics! (Absolutely no offence intended to the TWL team should be inferred, as what I’ve seen so far looks fantastic!)

Not being a coder I have no idea how simple a task it would be to modify the existing code rather than create a new game from scratch, but it was just a thought.
Logged
ScottL
Guest


Email
Re: A Big Thank You
« Reply #4 on: August 24, 2005, 09:14:10 pm »
Hi,

    I would also like to add a big thank you.  This has always been one of my favorite games and now I can play it in a open source envirnment.

Your frend,
Scott
Logged
harth1026
*Many bubbles*
***
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 142



View Profile WWW
Re: A Big Thank You
« Reply #5 on: August 24, 2005, 09:41:22 pm »
Quote from: Death 390 on August 24, 2005, 08:49:50 pm
Actually while I'm here.....

I was wondering…in light of other developments over the last couple of years (i.e. Timewarp/TW-Light etc) would it possible to create a sequel by means of a conversion of Ur-Quan Masters? By this I mean using the same basic engine, but modifying the planetary system variables, event triggers, alien/starship graphics etc? Kind of like a Star Control 2.5. After all, for me anyway, my love of SC was never really due to the graphics! (Absolutely no offence intended to the TWL team should be inferred, as what I’ve seen so far looks fantastic!)

Not being a coder I have no idea how simple a task it would be to modify the existing code rather than create a new game from scratch, but it was just a thought.
As someone who thought he was a good coder before I took a look at the UQM code, I would have to say that you would definitely need a good amount of experience with programming.  And then after you have that experience, it'll take time to understand how the UQM code works.  Unless you know what you're doing and you're dedicated to finish the job, I would have to say that now is not a good time to start thinking about making a sequel.

However, rumor has it that the next version of UQM will have some internal restructuring to make the game easier to mod.  Only time (or maybe Meep-eep) can tell exactly what kind of chances will be made and if these changes could help you make a spin off game.
Logged
Kaiser II
Guest


Email
Re: A Big Thank You
« Reply #6 on: August 24, 2005, 10:06:33 pm »
From what's been said in the past, yes the game will be possible to mod later on.  It's to eventually be made far more modular. 

As it is right now, most of the game data's in a single file.  This makes it extremely hard to mod.  It'll eventually be spread out into seperate files/folders/etc. 

I'd love a SC sequal using the SC2 engine...  Heck, I'd love a SC1 version of it!  lol
Logged
Novus
Enlightened
*****
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 1938


Fot or not?


View Profile
Re: A Big Thank You
« Reply #7 on: August 24, 2005, 11:25:47 pm »
Quote from: Kaiser II on August 24, 2005, 10:06:33 pm
From what's been said in the past, yes the game will be possible to mod later on.  It's to eventually be made far more modular. 
This is true.

Quote
As it is right now, most of the game data's in a single file.  This makes it extremely hard to mod.  It'll eventually be spread out into seperate files/folders/etc. 
This, however, is slightly misleading. The fact that the main UQM content is stored in one big renamed ZIP file is not a problem (in fact, the whole thing used to be in several thousand tiny files, which was very inefficient); unzip it and edit the contents any way you like. The real problem is that the data file doesn't contain all the data you'd want to mod; much of the content is hard-coded into the UQM executable itself. For example, the ship characteristics are compiled into the main executable. Similarly, the dialogue text files contain only a list of messages; you can't affect the flow of conversation without modifying the executable.

Much of the work on making UQM easier to mod involves moving data out of the program itself and into the content ZIP, which can then be easily overridden by add-on ZIPs.
Logged
RTFM = Read the fine manual.
RTTFAQ = Read the Ur-Quan Masters Technical FAQ.
meep-eep
Forum Admin
Enlightened
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 2847



View Profile
Re: A Big Thank You
« Reply #8 on: August 25, 2005, 01:31:31 am »
That is the plan yes. For 0.5 the basic structure should be in place, and then changing the code to use it will be easy. Everything that is in the source as a number or a string now is a candidate then for being moved to an XML file. How much of this will actually be done in 0.5 is uncertain.
Putting the structure of dialogs themselves in XML would require quite a lot more work. It's something we'll probably examine more closely when the XML based resource system is in place. The problem here isn't the conversation itself, but how it influences and is influenced by the rest of the game. Each separate action (giving ships, making an alliance, special visual effects, acquiring artifacts, resources, various parts of the Melnorme and Druuge trade sequences, etc) would require its own specific interface in the dialog script.
Logged
“When Juffo-Wup is complete
when at last there is no Void, no Non
when the Creators return
then we can finally rest.”
Death 390
Zebranky food
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 44


Kill The Interloper!


View Profile
Re: A Big Thank You
« Reply #9 on: August 25, 2005, 08:58:23 am »
Phew! it does sound like a lot of work!  Shocked
Thank you for all your comments, and I'm looking forward to the next release of UQM already!
Watching the opening sequence the other day ( for the first time in 3 years!) was certainly nostalgic!!
It would be great if some sort of sequel was developed, and I'll be keeping my eyes glued to this forum for a long time to come!!  Grin

PS Nice to know I'm not the only one who was disappointed by the 'offical' SC3 release!!
Logged
Raawked
Zebranky food
*
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 4


Nobly Rawked


View Profile
Re: A Big Thank You
« Reply #10 on: August 30, 2005, 10:00:01 am »
There has not been many games like SC2. It has a lot more substance than any contemporary games, and this release is impressive indeed.
Logged
Prepare to be Raaaawked!
Pages: [1] Print 
« previous next »
Jump to:  


Login with username, password and session length

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!