DCUG: Released But Still Under Construction

[BentonGrey]

7-Zip really does seem to help, but whatever you do, select all of them together, right click, and THEN use your unzip program.  They are partitions, so trying to take them apart one at a time is a bad idea.  I hope you enjoy it, SF!

[John Jr.]

BTW I just finished the Hawkman/Atom campaigns.

Spoiler

Great job with the meshes, skins and hero files, Benton. Everyone had just the right powers and skills, Atom's was just perfect and I really liked how you made Katar and Shayera different.
I'm very impressed with the Thanagar map, it was beautiful and really served the story, in fact all maps were great.
Characterization was spot on, everyone had good lines and "sounded" true to their classic comic book counterparts. I felt like I was reading a classic comic book, so congrats.
The Missions were the main difference between the two campaigns. The Atom missions were too similar, too much of "bash the thug army", not bad, but not great too, but the Hawk's campaign was just about perfect. Good choice of villains, great motivations, different encounters/objectives. It just needed some music and voice packs to be perfect. Looks like you're ready to write a Hawkman mini, buddy.
I really liked the first part of your Big Mod, and I'm looking forward to play with the JLA.

[BentonGrey]

BTW I just finished the Hawkman/Atom campaigns.

Spoiler

Great job with the meshes, skins and hero files, Benton. Everyone had just the right powers and skills, Atom's was just perfect and I really liked how you made Katar and Shayera different.
I'm very impressed with the Thanagar map, it was beautiful and really served the story, in fact all maps were great.
Characterization was spot on, everyone had good lines and "sounded" true to their classic comic book counterparts. I felt like I was reading a classic comic book, so congrats.
The Missions were the main difference between the two campaigns. The Atom missions were too similar, too much of "bash the thug army", not bad, but not great too, but the Hawk's campaign was just about perfect. Good choice of villains, great motivations, different encounters/objectives. It just needed some music and voice packs to be perfect. Looks like you're ready to write a Hawkman mini, buddy.
I really liked the first part of your Big Mod, and I'm looking forward to play with the JLA.

Thanks so much for the feedback, man!  I'm glad you enjoyed the Atom.  He was a challenge, but I thought that his build captured a decent range of his abilities.  Yeah, I really wanted the Hawks to be more than just carbon copies of each other (a syndrome a little too common in the DCUG; Aqualad and Aquagirl still give me fits).  Reading through the first volume of Hawkman, their varieties of weapons gave me lots of ideas.

Spoiler

The Thanagar map was created by HumanTon, and I am very indebted to him for doing such a spectacular job.  All I did was tweak the colors so that it appeared more alien. 

Thanks!  I tried to bring out the classic personalities of the Hawks, while bringing in some modern elements to make them stand out a bit from the other heroes.  With the Atom, I had a bit of a hard time.  I don't have quite as clear an idea of who Ray Palmer is as I do for a lot of the other characters I've worked with.  I need to find some "hook" for him.

Yeah, I have a storyline set up for the Atom (you can see elements of it being established in those missions, but I'm starting with his least interesting villains.  There isn't a whole lot to them, and I'm afraid my level design was often less than stellar.  I'm glad you enjoyed the Hawk's campaign so much, though.  I really enjoyed Byth as a villain.  I have big plans for him, too.  What did you think when he turned into the dragon?

The DCUG is actually set up to work with my voice packs, so you can download the Hawkgirl one (and I think Hawkman uses some of the generic voices from VPMAX).

Thanks!  I would love to take a crack at the Hawks.  They are some of my favorite characters.   I'm actually beginning some preliminary work on some new missions for these guys.  Would you mind helping me sketch some stuff out for the new Atom missions?  I'm stuck on something.

[John Jr.]

OK, I'm halfway through the JLA campaign, so it's feedback time:

Spoiler

Martian Manhunter:
I really like J'onn, so was a blast have a Manhunter solo mission. Great build (you gave the player a lot of different strategies to use against the White Martians, and I really liked the diversity), great choice for map, meshes and skins and a fun mission. I liked the "save the astronaut" encounter, but it had a weird bug. After I got "Buzz Lightyear" to the safe place he ran after J'onn to fight the White Martians...Of course, poor Buzz was clobbered.
J'onn characterization was spot on, stoic, heroic and noble.
Quite frankly I liked all about this mission, no complaints here. Probably the best mission so far.
Batman:
Again good build and choice of meshes, skins and map. The use of the mines and the flame thrower gave Bats a fair chance to fry the badguys if he's smart enough to avoid a close combat (of course, the Martians are faster than Brucie, so sometimes it was hard to get some distance to use a bomb...). The last objectives fooled me with the "Survive..." thing. I got Bats hidden and waited, but nothing happened so I came back and defeated the Martians. Maybe should be better change the phrasing of the objectives, but it's a minor quibble. Once again, great mission.
Superman:
Typical Superman short story: save Olsen, defeat the bad guys and save the city. Your Superman build is great, but he's so powerful that he made the Martians look harmless, the mission was kinda of easy. Anyway the bomb encounter was great: fight two martian squadrons and disarm the bomb in less than 5 minutes  give some challenge to Supie. This mission was not so good as the others, but it was fun enough.
Green Lantern:
Again, great choices about the visuals and good characterization. Jordan sounded like the cocky space cowboy we all know, but he was a lot less annoying than his comic book counterpart, maybe you should replace that Johns guy and write Green Lantern. The ring/kid sidekick was weird, but fun. Again a fun mission.
So, I'm really liking the campaign. The characters are very well done and the missions are interesting, the gameplay is very good. Great job, buddy.

[SpecterFan]

Looks like I may never get to play.

I did what I was told. I extracted all the files together to DCUG.zip thinking that this would create a merged file that I could unzip to my FFv3R directory. (Don't ask me why because even I don't know.) The end result was a folder named DCUG.zip and several errors.

Thinking that I may have damaged the files when I downloaded them, I went back to MediaFire to download them ALL again. I have them all except #12. MediaFire WILL NOT cooperate. I have spent several days trying to download 1 file. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Any other advice concerning anything I may be doing wrong would also be greatly appreciated.

[BentonGrey]

SpecterFan, 7-ZIP will be able to unzip the whole thing from all of the individual pieces.  You don't have to do anything to combine them or unzip them twice.  Basically, you just put all the pieces in the same place, select ALL of them, right click, go down to 7-ZIP, select "Extract," and just point the path to your FF2 directory.  It will take a little while, but once it is done you should have a folder reading "DCUG" in your FF2 directory.  If THAT doesn't work, then there is most definitely something wrong with the files that you have.

However, piece #12 is giving me trouble as well, so that's not just you.  I'll upload a replacement later tonight.

[SpecterFan]

Thanks.

That's exactly the kind of clarification I needed.

Now all I need is part #12.....

[BentonGrey]

Alright..........I'm not sure what to do here.  I've uploaded a new version of #12, and it STILL won't download.  I've got a ticket into their support department, but since I've just got a free account I'm not holding my breath.  It's just a little too large to email...darn it!

JJ, I didn't respond to your feedback!  Sorry man:

Spoiler

*J'onn has become a favorite of mine since JLU, and it made perfect sense to me that he, the heart of the League, should be the impetus for its foundation.  Him as the beginning of this little story really seemed right.  Poor Buzz!  Ha, I may have to check that one day...I don't know why he would do that, exactly, but I used a pretty jury rigged script to try and make that little episode happen.  I'm glad you liked MM and that mission!  It was one of the missions that I was least contented with when I started preparing for this re-release a while back, so I tried to polish it up a bit.

*Haha, yeah, I really wanted to give Bats a stealth mission of sorts, one where you had to use brains over brawn.  I've blown poor Bruce up along with those Martians more than once....   If those darn Martians were a little smarter in their hunting...but yeah, maybe I should make that more explicit.  Once upon a time it was based on a timer, but it didn't want to work, so I simplified things.  Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!

*Yeah, Supes' mission was, I'm afraid, a bit by the numbers.  I agonized over how to punch up the danger to Supes on that mission.  Those darn traps wouldn't hit hard enough, even on "Very High" damage...or maybe it was "Extreme."  Either way, I had a hard time balancing it, because I had to use the same villains as would show up elsewhere.  If you let them gang up on you, they can do some major damage, but Supes is a bit too tough for them.  This one just more or less moves the plot forward.

*GL...ahh, this, which was just thrown in during my work on the main campaign, became one of my favorite missions.  Thanks!  I worked really hard to try and find a personality for Hal that was A) Not wooden, and B) Not horribly obnoxious!  I really like his Ring.  I actually want to write more Hal just so I can do more with the Ring.  That dynamic has so much potential!

I'm very happy to hear you're enjoying the JLA campaign so much, my friend.  It is, undoubtedly, the one that has received the most polish and work.  It's the flagship of the mod.

[BentonGrey]

Alright, it looks like whatever weird little thing Mediafire had going on is over now.  You can get piece #12 here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?vzcepe07jj2qqx0

The download works properly now.

[John Jr.]

More feedback about the JLA campaign:

Spoiler

Flash:
A very fun mission. The use of the save encounters gave some variety to the Mission. I liked Barry's characterization, but I have to agree with Trelau, an Iris appearance would have made the Mission more fun. Flash's built was just perfect and the last fight against the martians was a challenge. I like when we have to get a plan to fight boss villains. Great job here, buddy!

Aquaman:
Well, I need to say Artie's built and characterization were spot on?
Of course they were. Aquaman sounded as Aquaman and his power level was very good. I liked the power variety, since I could choose attack my opponents physically or mentally. The mission was very, very hard. Some health cannisters would have been welcomed. The game play was simple, since was an all-out action mission, not so good as the Manhunter's, but solid.

Wonder Woman:
Great job! One of your best! Great idea about the labyrinth and the riddles. After the ton of "smash the minions" fights in Aquaman's mission this was a great change of pace. And it even had music!! The villains were kinda of weak, but they were very well chosen, the kind of foes we would expect in a challenge of the Gods. A+ job!

JLA vs martians:
Bats, Flash and MM had a tough mission. A little too tough maybe. There was so many white martians fighting they made the game very slow... In the end I had defeated 99 martians Maybe you should edit it a little to spawn less martians. It could easily become a nightmare for a new player. 

I'm really liking the campaign, the builts are great and the characterization is solid. I know you love the JL Animated Series and it shows. Guys like Bats and Superman "sound" just like their animated counterparts. The campaign looks just like a extra-length episode.
Great work! 

[SpecterFan]

The link for 012 worked perfectly! Thanks Mr Grey! 

I'll try to get it installed tonight.

[John Jr.]

I finished the JLA campaign and it's really fun. It plays like a mix of the JLU animated episodes and Grant Morrison's JLA series. If you don't got the DCU already go ahead and get it. It's a heavy download? Sure, but it's worth, with a ton of meshes, skins, great hero files and some great campaigns.

Spoiler

Benton,
I was very surprised with Bald, Psycho Bel Juz. She's a far cry from the manipulative, long haired, cowardly Bel from the Silver Age. Did you created her or she appeared in any Modern Age comic?

[BentonGrey]

Thanks JJ!  I'm really glad you enjoyed it.  What's funny about your description is that I hadn't really read most of Morrison's JLA run when I plotted most of the JLA story arc.  Looking back on it though, I suppose it does have some similarities.   Thanks for the high praise my friend!  I was definitely pulling heavily from JLU, although trying to correct things I thought they messed up on *cough*Aquaman*cough*.  To answer your question:

Spoiler

I wondered what you'd think about her considering your use of the Silver Age character!  I loved your version, so perfectly captured from the comics, and mine is definitely a very different animal.  Honestly, I knew almost nothing about her when I decided to incorporate her.  I read a summary of a story she appeared in on a Martian Manhunter blog, and thought 'hey, I can actually put in a nemesis for MM!  I really wanted to have villains for as many of the heroes in the DCUG as I could manage.  I asked for someone to make me a "female Martian Manhunter," and the excellent skin you see in the DCUG was what I got in return.  I wanted her to be something of a bridge between the White and Green Martians.  As for her characterization, I mostly just wanted her to be an evil reflection of J'onn, and I wanted to give them a complicated relationship, to make the betrayal of the White Martians more personal.  I felt pretty free to do what I wanted, since I didn't think that anyone would ever know who she was patterned after!   Anyway, what did you think?  Did she serve her purpose?  Did you notice I let her get away?

[John Jr.]

Spoiler

Bald Bel works great as a Modern Age villain, Benton. And since J'onn is the classic "wise and noble hero" she is kinda of a distorted image, works like the classic Batman/Joker dichotomy.

[KOVAV17]

ok....I know people are going to want to burn me at the stake for necromancy, but I dont know where else I can ask this. ok, I merged all the files into a zipped folder and put that folder in the ff main folder. so It works fine, right up until I get on rumble room. I make a team of my most favorite chars, and loe and behold, deathstroke, super boy, flash, and bat man are all black squarish thingies. is this because I have steam? any help anyone?

[BentonGrey]

Wow, I sorta' missed this.  I hope that you found a solution Kovav17, if not, I hope that you'll come back and tell us so we can help you out.  Anyway, I wanted to give this a bit of a bump because I know a few folks have been having some troubles with the Hawkman campaign.  Feel free to post here and I'll do my best to help y'all figure it out.  Also, sometime in the next year I'd like to revisit the DCUG, finish the JSA campaign and do a few more.  I also may not be able to keep myself from tweaking several of the characters.

[BentonGrey]

Hooray!  What once was lost now is found!  Some of y'all may recall that during a previous computer crash I thought that I'd lost several near-finished and finished missions out of the DCUG.  I had two Green Arrow missions, a few Hawkman and the Atom missions, and one or two other things that had suddenly vanished, gone for good...or so I thought!  I just discovered rough drafts for several of them tucked away in my Liberty Bay folder of all places.  Don't ask me what they were doing there, but their discovery means that when I return to working on the DCUG, I should have several missions all but ready to roll.  Unfortunately, one of my favorite missions I've ever created, a team-up between Hawkman and the Atom, is still missing.  I'm afraid that one is completely gone.  Still, I am really excited about this!

[BentonGrey]

Howdy gents, a newcomer to our community posted on The Greylands, trying to get the DCUG to work.  I walked him through some troubelshooting attempts, and while we've made progress, it looks like he's still having trouble.  I'm moving the conversation here so we'll have access to the community's collective wisdom.

Here is his latest comment:

i almoust punch my pc :p, yes is in spanish im from Argentina
I did as u tell and u we right it was in english (like u can see here i changed , maybe u see something that i dont in the folder that is wrong i dont know what else to think)

http://subefotos.com/ver/?e459f7b952611bab1e929fdc963385a6o.jpg

and i was so happy cause it didnt give any pop up error! and the screen get in black like it was gona start! but ... nothing happens it just stay like that freeze i had to shut it down to get back to deskopt.

Connor, how long did you leave the game to load?  The DCUG is rather massive, and if you don't have a super powerful PC, it often takes a long time to load the first time.  That might not be what happened, but I wonder.

[connor11]

Thanks Benton for your welcome and again your help :p
im proud to said that now it .. WORKS thanks!
u were rigth it was just a bit of loading at the begining the second time it starts faster!
but now there is another issue, i begun the campaign well i finished the first mission, in the second one that is in that factory i killed everyone, i mean here are the last one robots and demons, 
http://subefotos.com/ver/?27e2bb6697121f490cefd31f52204e6bo.jpg

i look everywhere and ther is no one else to kill lol, so i can finish the misson. If u ask, i restarted the misson a couple of times and the same happens :/
i dont know what to do, maybe it would be helpfull if Benton give the load games of every single misson , so if something like this happen one can load the next misson. Just an idea.

[BentonGrey]

Hooray!  I'm very happy to hear it!

See that hourglass in the screenshot?  Smash it, and that will end the mission.  I mis-wrote the objective, so it doesn't indicate what it should.  I'll fix that eventually.

That's a good idea, and it has been suggested before.  I'll probably try to do that in the next release.

*Haha, I had to look up the mission file because it's been so long since I wrote that campaign that I had no idea what was supposed to happen!

[connor11]

Well it works cause of u lol
and it was just a simple modification.
oh ok now im gona end it then:p  well at least i help u what to do on the next update u make haha.
It would be very usefull i think
Im gona continue playing this amazing mod, if anything else happens i hope not lol, im gona text here.
by the way your inbox is full :p
thanks.

[connor11]

Well Benton i finished some campaigns of your amazign mod! U did a wonderfull job ! the Atom and Hawks campaigns were very fun, and the Jla too aswell. is the last misson the one were u go to the castle to  disarm the robots?
Also i see that there are a loooooooot of heros and villans, did u put them all to have fun in the rumble room?

[MrWayne16]

Your mod is currently my favorite game, man.  Great job! I've been playing it like crazy.  I do have a question, though.  Would there be any simple way for me to add other characters to the Rumble Room?  I have Windows 8 and Steam, so Alex's EZHero and the FFEdit programs don't work for me.

[hoss20]

You may want to check this thread: http://freedomreborn.net/forums/index.php?topic=51720.0;topicseen

I'm not really familiar with the Steam version or the problems that occur with it, but Tomato coincidentally bumped his original thread and mentioned that FFEdit doesn't work properly with the Steam version. I didn't realize this, and after seeing what he posted, it prompted me to post here. Though the thread mentions a registry fix for Vista, hopefully you can also apply it to Windows 8.

[MrWayne16]

Thanks, hoss. Unfortunately, none of the recommended methods seem to be working.  Is there any way to add a character without using FFEdit?

[Borgaster]

BentonGrey, i can't wait to play this mod. Do you have a date to release?

[BentonGrey]

Howdy Borgaster, thanks!  That's great to hear!  I had actually planned to have it finished last summer, but that obviously didn't happen.  Life has sort of been beating the tar out of the Greys, so things are sort of up in the air.  I'm afraid that the release date is "eventually, when life calms down."  But I definitely still plan to finish it.

[UnkoMan]

Hello Benton!
Sorry to hear life is tough right now. I guess it's been tough for lots of people lately, not just on account of Covid.

I wanted to let you know... I was checking a hard drive and found a bunch of those Aquaman covers I was doing way back. Did you ever get that one going? If so, do you need these?
Just thought I would check. I'm not going to get rid of them or anything! They'll be there whenever you want.

Were there any OTHER covers you were looking for, in the meantime?

[BentonGrey]

Hey Unko, great to see you on the boards, man!  Yeah, our story is by no means unique for this era.  This is just a rough time for a lot of folks.

I think I have all of the ones you made, but I'll definitely be happy to double-check that, and I am absolutely going to continue working on the mod and would love to keep working with you on covers and such.  I'll send you an email soon.  I'm hoping to get back to working on the project next week.

[UnkoMan]

Oh, I lurk. I always lurk.
Well I hope things have an upswing for you and yours soon! For everybody really, we all need it.
Yeah, write me and lemme know. I'm certain you don't have them all, because I've got a bunch that don't have the aging on them yet. Just crisp looking, and the Aquaman covers aren't "numbered." I think the order hadn't been decided (or the missions for him hadn't been done yet. That might have been it.)
Take care!