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Author Topic: Ur-Quan Masters HD: Beta 1 Released!  (Read 42404 times)
dczanik
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Ur-Quan Masters HD: Beta 1 Released!
« on: September 27, 2013, 06:29:10 pm »

Hey guys,

The Windows version of Ur-Quan Masters HD is out. Mac version should come next week. 
You can download it here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/urquanmastershd/

Or at ModDB: http://www.moddb.com/mods/ur-quan-masters-hd/downloads/ur-quan-masters-hd-beta-1/#4127863

If you have problems, you may need to install the Visual Studio 2010 Redisributable package (x86, or 64 bit). There's also a small chance .NET may be required. Visual Studio can be weird.  Undecided

Main Features: Tons of bug fixes, Sol system uses the real planet textures, Name your save games, Load UQM games, F7 at the map screen shows you the Pre-War map/constellations.

Beta Changes:
  • 250+ bug fixes!
  • Support for all monitors, even for the 1280x960 mode!
  • Fullscreen mode automatically scales to fill the screen (in correct aspect ratio of course)
  • 640x480 Native Graphics Resolution.
  • Most of the enhanced solar system graphics now user-selectable to retain the original 1992 experience.
  • Authentic planet surfaces for Sol system planets.
  • Moon letter is shown in the blue planet name box when orbiting a planet (in hi-res modes).
  • A map of constellations is now available in the starmap by pressing F7
  • A map of the pre-Ur-Quan-war situation is now available in the starmap by pressing also F7
  • Starmap cursor movement system is now more user-friendly in hi-res modes.
  • Quasispace holes’ corresponding hyperspace coordinates are shown on QS map AFTER entering the hole once.
  • Support for savegames from ”vanilla” Ur-Quan Masters
  • Nameable savegames.
  • Fixed AI so the computer controlled Ur-Quans should finally be LETHAL.
  • Lovely ship info screens now available in super melee (press right alt in ship picking grid).
  • Improved Artwork.
  • Finally, the missing bits of Mycon dialogue have been recorded and added into the game.
  • Totally re-recorded, better quality Utwig voice acting.
  • Ships can be deleted from fleet in Supermelee with both ’delete’ and ’backspace’ keys (will help some laptop users)
  • Cheat mode available for cheaters!!!
  • Shows a list of all mineral values as you are scavenging for minerals. Can be turned on/off.
  • Russian Language support (a little buggy). Translators. I need your help for other languages!
  • Graphics package for other translations.
  • Many "non-vanilla" options can now be turned off.


And, in case you missed it:

Alpha Changes:
  • All new artwork at over 4 times the original's resolution.
  • Planets rotate and orbit their star in the interplanetary view. They also feature the textured planet surface graphics in the IP view.
  • Animated suns (hi-res).
  • Nebula backgrounds.
  • Enemy ships in interplanetary view are no longer static icons, but can rotate.
  • Smarter mineral collection – the remainder of a partially collected mineral node stays on the surface instead of disappearing.
  • The value of biologicals is shown when picked up.
  • Shooting the tractors on the moon makes them explode.
  • In Starmap both the ”max distance you can travel”, and ”max distance from which you can still return to Sol starbase” are shown.
  • A color-coded warning is displayed when deploying lander and the fuel consumption would make it impossible to return to Sol starbase.
  • When exiting a system on autopilot, automatically exit facing in the correct direction, regardless of your facing when you left the in-system screen.
  • Destroyed Zoq-Fot-Pik colony worlds can be found in their area.
  • It is now possible to encounter Slylandro probes in solar systems.
  • Some fixes to Ur-Quan & Kohr-Ah AI.
  • The game now asks to give player & flagship name in a clear in a noticeable manner when starting a new game.
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- Damon
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Re: Ur-Quan Masters HD: Beta 1 Released!
« Reply #1 on: September 28, 2013, 12:10:03 am »

F--- yeah! Been looking forward to this. Thanks for your hard work!

Time to start modding...
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dczanik
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Re: Ur-Quan Masters HD: Beta 1 Released!
« Reply #2 on: September 28, 2013, 01:04:59 am »

Cool! We're also open to including any mods that people have made. Even if it has to be a separate .exe file.  I just want people to have an easy way of getting some of the awesome mods people have made over the years for UQM (like the Shiver Balance mod).  Many people install the mod to delay/prevent the Death March.  So, we put in a "Cheater Mode" to allow you to roam the galaxy at your leisure.

There's also a translation pack in a zip file for those who wish to start making HD translations.  There's already a lot of translations for UQM, but the HD game needs some text in the new graphics changed.
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- Damon
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Re: Ur-Quan Masters HD: Beta 1 Released!
« Reply #3 on: September 28, 2013, 01:50:42 am »

Debian/Ubuntu packages should be available this weekend.
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Re: Ur-Quan Masters HD: Beta 1 Released!
« Reply #4 on: September 28, 2013, 04:07:37 am »

I haven't tried UQM HD yet, so I guess this will be the first release I try. I'm really curious about that improved A.I. and the Utwig voice... is the A.I. improved for all the ships, or just the Ur-Quan?
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Re: Ur-Quan Masters HD: Beta 1 Released!
« Reply #5 on: September 28, 2013, 09:58:09 am »

If you want additional popularity, I'd only advertise the Moddb links, as they have a ranking system and the more people download from Moddb, the more attention it gets.
Interested to hear the new utwig voices (but don't want to download the full thing yet) - the original utwig voices were f-ing awful, so glad you chose to redo them. Then again, the green urquan also sucked, sounded like bad darth vader imitations. Loved most of the voices.

Where is this project at in terms of including the remix packages?
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Re: Ur-Quan Masters HD: Beta 1 Released!
« Reply #6 on: September 29, 2013, 03:06:24 am »

good job on your release! will give it the once over soon.
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Re: Ur-Quan Masters HD: Beta 1 Released!
« Reply #7 on: September 29, 2013, 06:56:16 am »

I believe remix packs can just be dropped into add-ons folder, and work fine.

Now how about the net balance mod. :-)

And always wanted to try this one:
http://www.submedia.net/uqm/

Great work guys! You deserve many props!
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Re: Ur-Quan Masters HD: Beta 1 Released!
« Reply #8 on: September 29, 2013, 07:44:07 pm »

A few Debian packages are complete - a Wheezy amd64 binary, the base content, and hires2x/hires4x. These have not been well-tested yet, but seem to work well for me. i386 and Ubuntu binaries, as well as the other content packs, will be available later today/later this week, as I get them built.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/urquanmastershd/files/Beta%201/debs/
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Re: Ur-Quan Masters HD: Beta 1 Released!
« Reply #9 on: September 30, 2013, 09:36:04 pm »

Well done!
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Re: Ur-Quan Masters HD: Beta 1 Released!
« Reply #10 on: October 01, 2013, 04:47:42 am »

Why do the cyanic planets and auric planets look exactly the same (in content/addons/hires4x/planets/)?
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dczanik
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Re: Ur-Quan Masters HD: Beta 1 Released!
« Reply #11 on: October 01, 2013, 05:18:27 am »

Why do the cyanic planets and auric planets look exactly the same (in content/addons/hires4x/planets/)?

WHY?
Well, it's very technical...but Let me try to explain it:










 Undecided  Yeah, I missed that one.
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Re: Ur-Quan Masters HD: Beta 1 Released!
« Reply #12 on: October 01, 2013, 04:13:35 pm »

I also took a "diff" between the comm/ in uqm-0.7.0 and comm/ in uqm-HD. There seem to be quite many typographic improvements in Arilou dialogue of uqm-0.7.0 that are not there in uqm-HD. The dialogue for other races also differs very slightly, but I cannot unambiguously say which one is "better" or "right".


Regarding the promotion of Project6014... Well, I realize many of the same folks are working on both projects. I tried Project6014 when some beta of it was released, and I didn't like it, the whole Lurg thing. It was so cheesy. Unless it has gotten a bit better since then, I'd not too enthusiastic about it...


Also, while I can appreciate the amount of work that has gone into making such a refined HD mod of the game, there is one fundamental problem with HD mods:
With the standard 320x200 or 320x240 resolution in the game, a lot of lack of detail can be excused, because the man's imagination fills in where he can't see. But once you expand it into crystal clarity at HD proportions, you see that there is nothing, and the imagination no longer can fill in. Everything suddenly becomes much more lonesome, and much more clinical. The trick that makes the art format in the game work at low resolutions is no longer there. The outcome is disconcerting, not unlike the uncanny valley phenomenon.
And sometimes, the art also becomes more ugly in the process. For example, do a Google image search on "realistic Mario". Most of those high-definition images of Mario characters are outright ugly. Sometimes it is intentional. There is a guideline in cartoon & comics that "good" characters are often drawn in simple style, and "evil" characters are drawn in very detailed style, with hair, ridges and wrinkles. This HD art steers somewhat towards the "evil" direction for all actors, whether good or evil.
« Last Edit: October 01, 2013, 04:24:36 pm by Bisqwit » Logged
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Re: Ur-Quan Masters HD: Beta 1 Released!
« Reply #13 on: October 01, 2013, 05:50:32 pm »

Maybe realism steers characters toward looking "evil" (I can't really comment on that; don't know much of anything about art), but being at a high resolution doesn't necessarily mean "realistic". Honestly, UQM HD looks more cartoonish to me than realistic.
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dczanik
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Re: Ur-Quan Masters HD: Beta 1 Released!
« Reply #14 on: October 01, 2013, 09:01:50 pm »

I also took a "diff" between the comm/ in uqm-0.7.0 and comm/ in uqm-HD. There seem to be quite many typographic improvements in Arilou dialogue of uqm-0.7.0 that are not there in uqm-HD. The dialogue for other races also differs very slightly, but I cannot unambiguously say which one is "better" or "right".


Regarding the promotion of Project6014... Well, I realize many of the same folks are working on both projects. I tried Project6014 when some beta of it was released, and I didn't like it, the whole Lurg thing. It was so cheesy. Unless it has gotten a bit better since then, I'd not too enthusiastic about it...


Also, while I can appreciate the amount of work that has gone into making such a refined HD mod of the game, there is one fundamental problem with HD mods:
With the standard 320x200 or 320x240 resolution in the game, a lot of lack of detail can be excused, because the man's imagination fills in where he can't see. But once you expand it into crystal clarity at HD proportions, you see that there is nothing, and the imagination no longer can fill in. Everything suddenly becomes much more lonesome, and much more clinical. The trick that makes the art format in the game work at low resolutions is no longer there. The outcome is disconcerting, not unlike the uncanny valley phenomenon.
And sometimes, the art also becomes more ugly in the process. For example, do a Google image search on "realistic Mario". Most of those high-definition images of Mario characters are outright ugly. Sometimes it is intentional. There is a guideline in cartoon & comics that "good" characters are often drawn in simple style, and "evil" characters are drawn in very detailed style, with hair, ridges and wrinkles. This HD art steers somewhat towards the "evil" direction for all actors, whether good or evil.

Despite the fact the same people are working on it. Let's keep 6014 stuff in 6014 areas. That being said, a lot of 6014's story is changing. The Lurg being one of them.

If you're not too enthusiastic about it. Fine. Don't play it. It's that simple.

I don't know how many times I have to bring this up. If you don't like the HD art.  Don't use it. It's that simple. The game GIVES you the option to play with the original graphics. USE IT! Quit bitching about the idea of increasing the resolution.
What else do you want? There's an HD graphics option, and the ORIGINAL graphics option! Seriously. Why even post this crap? Nobody is forcing you to play the HD version. Or, do you just want to bitch?
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- Damon
Ur-Quan Masters HD Project leader/artist. Project 6014 Artist.  Like my art? Please check out some of my other artwork
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