ShiftZero

Hi guys, just passing by to give you a little status report about the mod, couldn't let you in the dark much longer ^^

So, Cooper recently confirmed to me that the mod is in cryo stasis for now (meaning by that, it is on hold) 'cause 2020 was a pain in the *ss for everybody and despite two lock-downs he doesn't have enough free time to work on mods (some of us had to continue their regular jobs even from home plus they may have a family to take care of).

I'm afraid there will be no update until next year and I can't even tell an ETA because there is none for now. Cooper made some modifications few months ago but didn't release the updated version of the mod because he felt he needed to tweak further for balancing all units. I myself was waiting like crazy some news around but sadly they weren't very good when they came up. So, we're sorry to not be able to make this year shining at least a little bit but we are as impacted as everyone by the covid circus.

About the AI issue, we are well aware that it is not responsive on little maps, if you want to have a fighting opponent you'll have to select 6+ players maps in your game settings before launching it. That issue seems to be caused by huge ship's area that detects enemy, on small maps this zone is so big that every ships on the map are already included in it and thus cannot be detected as intruders because they are already inside. But if Cooper reduces that zone, mega gun cannot fire as far as it does right now because the SDF-1 needs to detect her target before being able to fire. In facts, it is a little bit more complicated but I hope you see what Cooper has to deal with there.

Anyway, let's finish with positivity by wishing you a  Merry Christmas and a  happy New Year Eve !!

...and now, going back to Night City

On 2/7/2020 at 7:30 PM, Lestat said:

I'm a busy man making spaceships all day long

Really ? I thought you were the kind of man who likes to play piano all night long in some old abandoned mansions in New-Orleans

More seriously, that's cool to finally get your thoughts about Cooper's mod as, like he said, the former one inspired him a lot in the process of making his own Macross mod.
See you around !

@Skiman94 If you want to see real action during your game, don't start your game with a 2 players map. There is an issue with those and some of the mod's parameters, we'll give you folks some more details in the next update's patchnote (which focuses on balancing and shouldn't be long to arrive)

@NightmarePlus I can totally see what you're talking about !  (pssst !...it is a VF-0A ^^)

@GunnyC Yup, you'll find some compatible mods, like the Gundam one (thanks to the Gundam's mod team which make both mods working together). This said, every combinaisons haven't been tested so you might find some of them that cannot be run with this Macross mod.

I guess your best choice would be to buy the cheapest version of HomeworldRM but I think you'll have to install the mod manually. Some guys managed to play the mod with a GOG version of Homeworld but I couldn't say how they did that. It might just be a simple "copy and paste" story, like you get your hands on the .big file for the mod and copy it into the mods directory for GOG, something like that...

I can't see any reason why you shouldn't buy Homeworld but my opinion is kinda biased on that topic :P

Attention Chicks and d*cks, assemble and get ready because today is the day !

0.2.5 update has been deployed (at last !)

You'll find some deep changes inside this one, but let me give you a more detailled overlook. The information contained in this communication is extremely sensitive, purge all records after reading.

0.2.5

New units

- VF-0 Phoenix (fighter)
- VF-0 Angel (corvette)
- VF Orguss (corvette)
- MegaRoad (Mothership)

Major Changes

SDF-1 is now a Battle Ship     

            - Fully transformable
            - Optimized model
            - New texture

-New combat classes and flying dynamics-

* Officers are now optimized for Dogfight
* Battroids combat behavior have been adjusted for more "realism" (how we expect to see them move during combat)
* Gerwalks have been modified the same way, to match a better visual while fighting
* Zentrans Battlesuits went through the same process

-Visual Effects-

A lot whole set of new explosion effects has been integrated
Created by Sinestesia Studio

https://www.facebook.com/pg/sinestesiastudio/about/?ref=page_internal

Firing sequence for the SDF-1 main cannon has been resynchonized in order to hide that ugly beam's starting point
First iteration for animated thrusters (and exhaust) to simulate thrust vectoring systems
Heavy missiles parameters have been improved for the Oberth Destroyer

-Balancing-
Most units went through balancing process but few are still remaining

-Gameplay-
Building process have been rethought to allow players to construct more units at once
Deep changes have been done for U.N.Spacy building tree
Quel-Quallie has been nerfed and become a command light frigate. It focuses more on troops coordination now

Warnings

Some units are now very specialized, AA gun will only be able to shoot at small units when heavy missiles can only be shot at Medium+ targets
For instance the QF-3000-E is a specialized light bomber and so it doesn't carry any weapon able to shoot upon fighters/corvettes

Miscellaneous

Units with thrust vectoring effect
    VF-1A standard
    VF Orguss
    Regult (animated missiles pods/changing posture animation)
    Nousjadeul Ger (dynamic right arm animation)
The megaroad didn't get its final texture, need to be revamped
Buildings under its dome are still being worked on (temporary HW2 version)

Known issues

Sometimes, for heroes, during battroid>fighter transformation, the left arm might get stuck at 45° instead of resetting its position (not a game breaker, the valk will retransform in battroid for the next fight and will engage normally)
Sadly there is a shader incompatibility with BGmaps (by Dom2) mod which uses custom shaders too. When both mods are selected, transparency effect for the megaroad does not appear.
We'd like to integrate those awesome backgrounds directly into the macross mod for future updates.

Note from the author
I'm totally aware that putting the Megaroad as mothership does not match the Macross chronology. It is a temporary setting in order to allow the sdf-1 to be able to go to battle without jeopardizing the entire U.N.Spacy fleet.
It will stay that way until the replacement unit is ready. It still allowed me to work on transparency shader and give some free space to the SDF-1 to be an actual battle ship.
Have fun folks, see you next time !

Here's a little bonus, this is the hierarchy tree for the SDF-1's animation, according to cooper it was a real mind crusher, but he managed to overcome that challenge ^^

See you around guys !

I won't argue with that ^^

I should get my hands on the last test archive tonight, some more testing sessions are in order...we'll let you know how it went through !

Hello there,

Regarding transformation, there may be a little something to watch

Cooper is working hard on making the next update great, I will get back on time to provide you guys with the patchnote and some more details. It shouldn't be long even if he's actually fighting against a weird issue with steam workshop manager.

Bye !

Still rolling...

It is a real time consumer for Cooper to make that version of the SDF-1, and it is still not finished, but she already looks super sexy

See you next time !

And as promised, here's the final result for the ARMD from DYRL

In game

The last one is just my face when I was looking at these sreenshots

See you around people !

All right people, let's roll for another round with some news about the mod's current progression and, as usual, visuals are more speaking than words, so there we go !

The ARMD from Dyrl is almost done and looks already gorgeous, have a look by yourself :

I'll post pictures of this ship in-game as soon as I can grab some, can't wait to see her in space.

And aside of that, Cooper has started to work on texturing/coating the SDF-1, but I only managed to get a "shoulder" to show you...

All the coating's different tones give the whole thing a very realistic look even if the result is not final, what do you think ?

and last, the same part but with the arm where the ARMD is supposed to dock + articulated double laser gun

That's it for today folks, hope you enjoyed what you saw and expect the next update to be a BMF one ^^ (no, there is no ETA for now) 'til then, have fun !

See you around guys !

Thanks man

Regarding transformation capability, it's hard to say right now, it will greatly depend on where the turrets are placed upon the ship. If they are on a "movable" part of the ship during transfo process, it could be problematic (the same issue Cooper encountered when he started to animate the SDF-1 from the TV-show). If you've watched our old video archives, you might have noticed his early work about its transformation. Things were progressing pretty smoothly and then, homeworld was patched and Cooper had to start over but this time rules had changed.

In this case, there are two possibilities, either Cooper will have to define this turret as a decoy and make it totally useless in combat or he will have to make the SDF-1 non-tranformable to keep turrets functionalities.

I'd like to tell you yes, but even I don't know if this will be a "reality" or not, you know Cooper like to surprise people and I'm not exempted from that ^^

As far as I know, he already began to animate the SV-51 but he was kind of "secretive" about his work and I think he would prefer to achieve this before starting anything else. Anyway, be sure I'll let you know as soon as I get more details

See you around guys !

Hello there people !

So, here come some news about the mod's current progression. First, I'm glad to announce that Cooper finally found a way to make transparent textures, as it was a major blocking issue to achieve the Megaroad. It will allow us to enjoy the full city under its dome ...and, now you know the guy, he thought he wasn't going to stop at this point and decided to make the entire main deck for the DYRL version of the SDF-1 !

Let me show you how it looks in its early stage

View from distance

Closer look

You'll certainly recognize the area where Minmay is supposed to sing during the battle vs Gorg Bodolzaa, some good stuff might come out of all this, just saying ^^

I don't have much more to give you guys but we will discuss on discord with Cooper in a couple of weeks, I'll get back around with more stuff to share, until then have fun !

EDIT :

Just in case you've missed it on Steam, here's the baby

This time I'm leaving, bye folks !

If I remember correctly Cooper is using Blender for modeling, Quixel for normal mapping and 3Dcoat for texturing but you will need his final word on this, there is ton of tools he also uses I don't know about...and good luck for your Stellaris mod !

Thanks guys, I'm pretty sure Cooper will appreciate your support for his hard work

Let me show you how hard working he is. Below you can see his current tests for the VF-0's afterburner effects (Yes, we know it is not possible in space because there is no air to compress and ignite, but with a map located in atmosphere it would work ^^)

You may have noticed the dark area just behind the cockpit in screenshots from previous posts, it is a shader related issue (supported by his coating software but not by the game engine) that Cooper should crush soon. He still has some tests to do regarding that matter to find a supported shader for both supports, but it shouldn't be a big problem.

He's also working on the animation sequence for the SV-51, but I will keep my mouth shut about this cute little baby, to keep the surprising effect intact

See you around folks and have a nice WE !

Greetings Officers

Below you'll find the last report about Cooper's activity, mainly composed of high-security rated pictures

His recent moves suggest that something is under way and we have to investigate further. We'll keep you informed on anything coming back from our undercover agent

Hope you'll enjoy this super magnificent (and I'm totally objective here) VF-0A 'Shin' !!

See you around guys

I might have a little something for you guys...

Cooper is still working on the "MACROSS 0" part for the mod, it may take longer than expected because he is currently following a professionnal formation and he doesn't have much time remaining to continue the mod...I know, it's hard...but things are progressing nevertheless.

See you on time !

Not that much at the moment I'm afraid...with the end of vacations and IRL stuff, things are progressing very quietly for now. Cooper told me he should be back on track for october/november so I guess we just have to be patient for a little while, but trust me to keep you guys informed when new content is about to arrive.

See you soon folks !

38 minutes ago, NightmarePlus said:

Are there plans to introduce units from the other shows?

Yes, Shin's VF-0A, the VF-0D and the SV-51 are currently in Cooper's forge. The Megaroad is also being worked on at the moment. Althought Cooper asked me not to share his last screenshots, here's only one of the SV-51 because she is already hot as Hell and that cannot go to waste

Of course, the model is far from finished and if you look closely you'll find some flaws, but now you can have a quick look at what's next on the schedule

Rev 0.2.4

[U.N SPACY]

* New ship model for the ARMD-1  (concept design that didn't appear in TV show)
* New ship model for the ARMD-2  (original design and weaponry from TV show)
* Adding missiles for ARMD ships as seen in TV show
* ARMD-2 cruiser has now docking capability for VF1J GBP 1S & VF-1A Gerwalk RMS units
* Animation parameters have been modified for "VF-1A Super" to keep them from launching their animation sequence during combat
* SDF-1 runways for fighters and corvettes have been modified to avoid the congestion effect when the structure is moving. (only two runways might stay blocked but it shouldn't be that much of a problem since those become active only when the first 4 runways are already in use)
* SDF-1 Re-entry path has been modified for the Armored Valkyrie (VF1J GBP 1S) to prevent the Daedalus gate from being blocked
* Building process has been tweaked to improve dynamism

[Zentradi]

* New "High Manoeuvrability" missiles have been added
* Adding Heavy multi-warhead type 2 missiles
* Adding anti-ship type 2 missiles for warships
* Adding anti-air defence missiles for Zentrans' capital ships
* Visual improvement/optimization for the Quiltra Quelamitz & Quiltra Quelamitz green
* Mega cannon VFX have been modified for Quiltra Quelamitz & Quiltra Quelamitz green to enhance visual and its damages have been increased
* Former anti-ship missiles have been removed on Quiltra Quelamitz class ships
* Adding main weapons to the Thurvel-Salan - 3 ion beam turrets (for now)
* Overall weaponry optimization for Quiltra Quelamitz, Thurvel-Salan & Picket patrol class ships for better efficiency
* Meshes optimization and textures adjustment for the following ships :

-Thurvel-Salan
-Thurvel-Salan-Purple
-Quiltra-Queleual
-Queadol-Salan
-Picket-Patrol
-Picket-Patrol-Purple
-Queadol

* Crash related to Britai Kridanik's Nupetiet-Vergnitzs has been solved
* Required building time and RU cost have been reduced for Zentrans' capital ships. They are now 25% cheaper and faster to be built (except for the Nupetiet-Vergnitzs which has kept the same building requirements)
 

[General modifications]

* Some units names have been shortened to allow a proper quantity display during the building process
* Penetrating factor has been improved for all missiles to increase realism and efficiency
* Addition of New colors for explosion VFX to diversify the ammo types
* "UIFix" integration that allows to conceal musics player controls if players want to (huge thanks to Shadowwinterknig)

- Important Note : If your launcher seems to be frozen, don't shut it down. It is simply making a copy of the steam mod file to your HomeworldRM directory. If you close your launcher at this point, the file will be corrupted and the mod won't work. The game will return a general failure error in that case.

As promised, those are few in-game pictures of the ARMD1,

without sub-system

And with sub-system

tadaaaa !

For now Cooper is having some rest (and we'd all agree to say he deserves it), still he's currently trying to figure out the cause of the recent crashes we heard about.

We'll let you know for the next step, see you !

Hey people, here we go again for our weekly dose of Macross !

So, below you'll find few pictures of the revamped ARMD2, with more detailled textures and new weapons (like these powerful missiles we can see in the first episode from the TV show) and some additional cannons to make it more punchy in combat. I must say that Cooper did an incredible jod on that one. I should get my hand on the ARMD1 during the afternoon, I'll get back here to show you that little baby...but for now, enough talking, let's just have a closer look :

The empty space at the bottom of the ship should be used for sub-systems that will appear once built and will be destroyable like any other sub-systems, but since Cooper is currently working on this, I don't want to give too much details before that feature is actually ready

Cooper even made a little video to show how much that beast has been beefed up for combat, here it is :

So, that's it for now, I will be back soon with some screenshots of the ARMD1, see you guys !

Some issues that could eventually break your on-going games have been fixed, here's the details :

Hotfix 0.2.3a

• "HoldSlot" parameters have been modified for UNS and Zentrans to fix a waste of slots with docked fighters

• Building process has been desactivated on the Nupetiet-Verginitz to prevent the game from crashing
  (This is a temporary fix until Cooper gets more time to take a closer look on that issue)

Thank you "thegametiper" for the heads up

@Astralith It will be cool because that feature is already on the schedule, but for now Cooper is super focused redoing his ARMD cruiser.

Btw, he wanted to show you guys some pictures of the actual progress for that. He bought a new software allowing him to make very detailled normal mapping and he decided to do some re-work on U.N Spacy units. This is not the finished version of the cruiser, he's still working on it as I'm posting this now. So let's have a look

In game comparison with the "old" ARMD carrier

From a closer standpoint

All right, that's it for today, we'll get back with some fresh news fairly soon,

See you folks !

Rev 0.2.3

- Media player integration with two included playlists (DYRL soundtrack and Minmay's songs) + several battle musics
  Original modders HW_Lover & lone_wolf

To activate the player in game, just click on the "Media Player" button at the upper left corner of your screen. From there, you'll have a new windows with two tabs.
The first one (SoundTrack) give you the song's names for the currently selected playlist, and the other one (Settings) let you change the actual playlist for the one you want.
You also have the possibility to change or even desactivate battle musics.

Cooper wanted to say a huge "thank you" to Shadowwinterknig(ht?) for his very helpul post, he managed to make the media player working in only 30 minutes thanks to your detailled answer, it took him few days last times for the results we know ^^'
So he's really grateful and he would have posted himself if he wasn't super busy creating new playlists right now, so thank you again dude, you freaking rock !

See you around folks & have fun

Hey everyone !

We wanted to share a little something with you, so let's just cut to the chase with some screenshots showing the polishing work that Cooper is currently doing with U.N SPACY units relooking :

Also, it seems that Cooper's project for music player will have another go soon, he still has to discuss with a cool modder who is already familiar with that type of integration but I've good hope that things will go well this time

So guys, I'm going back to space battles, see you around ! 

Another update has been deployed, here's the patch note !

Rev 0.2.2

- Building processus has been tweaked for the Zentradi to improve dynamism

- Quiltra Queleual is now able to build Picket Patrol class ship

- Queadol Magdomilla's main module is now able to build

         *Battle Pods

         *Battle Suits

         *Frigates

         *Destroyers

         *Battlecruisers

- Arrival of the Meltrandi fleet with their own units (from TV show, not DYRL)

- Moruk Laplamiz has also been dispatched, with her own Queadol Magdomilla with the same building abilities as described above except for destroyers

- New Background & Music added for the main menu

- FX and SFX have been replaced for Gnerl fighters

- AA defence weaponry for Zentran fleet has been greatly buffed for more efficiency "Beware, it is very efficient"

- Few visual effects have been tweaked/improved for increased immersion

- Proper descriptions for the Queadol and Queadol Salan have been added as redacted by Aleksandros

The next steps include some rework on U.N. SPACY, for instance at the moment Cooper is relooking the Gunpod to give it a better "used metal" aspect, you can take a look below

Cooper put some serious efforts to clean up the mess after our failed attempt to integrate a music player inside the mod, he reintegrated some few musics but he had to change his priorities regarding that feature, and put aside the music player for now.

Anyway, we'll let you know when things are ready for our next move, until then, have some fun !