Are you Amazing?

[DrMike2000]

Hey people!

I'm looking for a small number of beta-testers for The Amazanauts mod.

What I'd like to do is write up a bunch of test-plan notes (ie roughly what should happen in each level etc) and known bugs, and give this to the testers to run through. I'd also like feedback on spelling mistakes or dialogue that just sounds wrong. They could then return specific feedback to me like:

"Miss Amazing says 'appraoch' instead of 'approach' in the Life Star opening cutscene"

or

"I played the Life Star level with the Thought Plague scenario and no evil thoughts appeared one time"

Ideally I'd like a couple of people with old FF installs from the original discs, and a couple of people who got it off Steam.

Don't think of this as a sneak preview, you would get the mod early but maybe buggier than it would be otherwise, and a few skins/models short of a full release. And it should be out really soon anyway.

So, PM me if you're interested, and I'll PM you back! I'll try and get the test package done up for tomorrow.

[DrMike2000]

Prev, Detourne, bearded and Beretta, thanks very much for offering your help.
That should be enough for now.

I'll get the package sent out today and PM you all individually then.

[Gremlin]

I missed this. Ugh. I will have to just blackmail Prem/v into giving me screenshots then. I still have those pictures from last Christmas...

[Outcast]

Since this is an exclusive FF1 mod, i would like to ask if there are any characters in this Mod that use Alphas? (characters with skins that take advantage of hiding parts of a mesh?)

My PC has a problem in that area so i was just wondering.

[AfghanAnt]

Since this is an exclusive FF1 mod, i would like to ask if there are any characters in this Mod that use Alphas? (characters with skins that take advantage of hiding parts of a mesh?)

My PC has a problem in that area so i was just wondering.

Yes, there are a few alpha'd parts on Omegazon.

[detourne_me]

...everybody is in for a real treat, that's all i should say...

AA is Miss Amazing's cape supposed to be alpha'ed too?

[Outcast]

Yes, there are a few alpha'd parts on Omegazon.

... ...well at least it's just one character that will look a bit different in my pc's point of view.

...everybody is in for a real treat, that's all i should say...

Yeah, i'm expecting it to be a great mod.

[AfghanAnt]

...everybody is in for a real treat, that's all i should say...

AA is Miss Amazing's cape supposed to be alpha'ed too?

YUP! I forgot about her. They looked fine on my computer so it sucks to know they don't look like what I made.

[DrMike2000]

Aha. On my computer, Omegazon's cape appears with no texture, but Ms. Amazing's alpha'd cloak appears correctly. Is Omegazon's cloak masked, but Ms. Amazing's is full 8-bit alpha by any chance?

I'll try sticking a cloak texture into Omegazon's folder and tinting it rusty brown. That should look better, so depending on your graphics card you get the cloaked or uncloaked version of her.
People can than debate the spiritual significance of this minor difference for years to come, and what it means for the fate of the universe on massive timescales.

[Previsionary]

Ha, I noted that on my comp as well, Dr. Mike, as I was taking notes (yes, I am answering your questionnaire now.).

[GoldenGladiator]

I don't know if anyone else asked this elsewhere already (Sorry if someone did) but how are you editing the levels to make this for the original  ? I'm interested in making a short mod of my own, but I don't really like the game mechanics of 3R compared to the original, but I can't find a way to use level edit for the original.

Also, I can't wait to see Amazanauts when it comes out. I check fundamentzero every day to see if any news has been posted.

Thanks, and sorry to bug you.

Edit: Also, I'm sorry for hijacking this thread like this, but I wanted to make sure it was seen by Dr. Mike. Sorry again.

[DrMike2000]

I'm editing levels the hard way!

I've taken 5 existing maps as basis for the ones I'm using. I run the game on one PC, and use the M key to identify objects if I want to remove them.
I have FFEdit running on my other box, and delete the objects manually from the list.

To add a new object, I run a character to the spot I want, or debug teleport them, and then type:

print  Get_ObjectPos('hero_0')

into the console. I then copy these values into FFEdit on the other computer. If I ned to rotate I use the XYZ->Rot button or whatever its called.
When I'm done, I copy the mission.dat from my second box to my main box and restart the level.

It's far from ideal, but it got me through this one.  I wouldn't like to set up a really complex map this way, but it became surprisingly easy to work this way once I got used to it.

The alternative would be to set up a computer running Windows 98 so that the original LevelEdit still runs.

Oh, and keep on checking Fundament Zero. I think that tomorrow would be a particularly bad day to not check it...

[GoldenGladiator]

What do you mean by using the M key to identify objects?

About how long did it take to do one map this way?

Thanks again.

[DrMike2000]

(Thanks for the PM. Been busy at work, so I'll just answer here where others can see it)

There's a setting I put in init.py, ff.DEBUG=1 or something like that. (I'll dig out the details when i get home)

Along with enabling the debug console, it means that if I rest the mouse on an aobject and press M, it pops up a text box describing the object, including its name. N makes said text box dissappear again.
This was handy for figuring out which object (out of say 12 cars in the level) I wanted to delete in the list in FFEdit.

As for how long it took - not too long since I really didn't modify the maps too much. I had to add 24 positional markers to each map (group1marker1 etc) to make them working Danger Room maps. I had a bunch of other positionals I needed to lay down for one of my game modes for each map. Both of these took less than an hour. I deleted a few objects on some levels, maybe added some more, depending on the level.

Omniville (Emma Possible's level) for example, is a retro-futuristic city. I grabbed the New Aeden map wholesale from the Strangers, and maybe deleted 3 objects at most. So that map all up took me less than one evening. Setting up cutscenes is just a bunch of camera sweeps with dialog really. The gameplay is very much a simulation there - drop a bunch of AIs and they do their own thing fairly well.
The Omega Age (Omegazon's level) is planet Blizzolz from Tales of the Navigator, with some extra FX objects added. Once again its very simulation-y, the mission itself required little more than six random spawnpoints to use and a two-character end cutscene. I didn't take long on the map at all.
The Life Star (Ms. Amazing's level) was the worse. It's based on Mr. Mech's base from FF, with the fog of wars and all. I removed quite a few objects, re-skinned the base terrain. I had four internal cutscenes which feature closeups of characters acting out their stories, so they took a while to lay down each set of characters and their dioramas. I had a number of mission objects to place. This level is much more mission-y and paced, and probably took a few months to do at a leisurely pace. I started it in the Christmas holidays, put it that way. I think I missed the level editor most here.

This should all make a bit more sense very soon....

[DrMike2000]

Freedom Force/System/init.py is the file.

Here's the contents of mine between the dotted lines

-----------------------------------------
import ff
ff.APP_ENABLE_XTRACHARS = 1
ff.CON_ENABLE = 1
ff.APP_DEBUGMODE = 1
ff.VISUALIZE_PATH = 0
ff.VISUALIZE_PATHFINDER = 0
ff.VISUALIZE_PHYSICS = 0
ff.RENDER_ENABLESCREENSHOTS = 1
ff.RENDER_DRAWBBOXES = 0
ff.APP_ENABLE_XTRACHARS = 1
-------------------------------------------------------

its the ff.APP_DEBUGMODE that lets me use the M and N keys like that.

[GoldenGladiator]

Amazing! No pun intended ...

Thanks - I'm going to play around with this and see if I'm biting off more than I can chew.

And I'm off to play Amazanauts!

And sorry about the PM/thread double message - I didn't know if you checked PMs or not. Again, thanks Dr. Mike.