40 replies to this topic

[Hobbes]

Heya all,

I've just completed my Area 51 Mod of UFO's Terror Site terrain. It includes:

- New buildings and alien routes
- Reworked graphics, using graphics taken from other terrains of both UFO and TFTD
- More explosive objects and other nasty things to get soldiers killed

To download the mod simply go to my page. Any feedback will be appreciated.

Hobbes

[Blehm 98]

Why is the sound so low? You can barely hear the music

[Hobbes]

Why is the sound so low?  You can barely hear the music

That's weird. Are you sure the problem is not at your end?
I've reloaded the zip file: try it this time

UPDATE: The lastest version is ready, and it includes more explosive objects...be careful of shooting around barrels!

Edited by Hobbes, 22 May 2004 - 12:43 PM.

[Blehm 98]

also, does it make it so i cannon play older games?

[Hobbes]

also, does it make it so i cannon play older games?

You can play older games. However, if they were saved while on the Tactical mode some of the graphics won't appear, while some objects will have more characteristics. The mod only changes the Terror Site terrain, when you go on a mission. The rest of the game (and terrains) will perform exactly as before.

[Blehm 98]

but did you keep the old terrain, or will it just crash when i open a terror site saved before i got it?

[Hobbes]

When you open an old saved game it will keep the older terrain, it won't crash.

[Blehm 98]

phew! Okay good, cause my dad doesn't know i downloaded it(and i hope he doesn't learn that i did)

[Hobbes]

Well if he plays a saved mission on a terror site he'll notice that some walls now are explosive!

[Blehm 98]

I also noticed some wall are pretty much indestructible

[Hobbes]

They're not indestructible, you'll simply need heavy plasma or blaster launchers to blast holes into them. Have you noticied (and fired at) the different types of barrels?

[Blehm 98]

yep. so rifles and laser pistols can't punch through them. I really like the orange barrels though

[Hobbes]

2 types of the barrels only release smoke when they're hit. The other four types explode, each one with a different power. And, of those there's one type that has a power of 150 (3/4 of a Blaster Bomb explosion), although you'll need to hit it with heavy plasma for it to explode.

[Blehm 98]

If you play an old terror site with this mod installed, then you get odd combinations, such a parts of these purple disks normally on roofs of buildings with a quarter of them on the ground

[Hobbes]

You get those because the saved game reads from the current mcd files installed. That's why the previous saved games I used to publish didn't show the new graphics.

[Hobbes]

Well, just got done another mod for the Terror Site terrain, this time replacing it with a urbanized terrain, with a flavor more TFTD. It can be downloaded at the page on my signature, together with some early pics of the buildings included.

[j'ordos]

, I like the movie theatre

[Puasonen]

Me too! What an excellent idea. And the part of engine there as a video projector. Looks like it could be

[Hobbes]

Thanks
I got that idea from remembering a sci-fi story where the spectators of a horror movie start to discover there's actually monsters lurking outside the cinema.

[j'ordos]

just tried area51 out, plays nice
But I also got a few bugs/remarks
The 'bunker' seems to be plagued by loads of terror units, most of them on the second and third floor, this is fine for the snakeman's other half, but other 4 tile-units can't really move around in there, especially the reapers are helpless because of that (well, the always are a little helpless ), ranged units can probably snipe your soldiers trying to rush the building... Also had a case of a reaper placed incorrectly (see screenshot)

another thing was in the control tower, where the soldier trying to get up kept falling 'through' the stairs at the point where the cursor is located in the attached pic.

That's it for now, I'll see how it goes against another race

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Edited by j'ordos, 23 July 2004 - 02:57 PM.

[Hobbes]

Thanks for the notice.

I've corrected the bug of the Reaper plus the stairs on the Control Tower and upgraded the zip file.
I've never played the mod with Reapers but I can imagine that they don't fit too well on some buildings but it's easier to design the routes that way. One might ask how did a Sectopod get to the third level of the Bunker but they can turn very deadly there.
The fact that the Bunker was plagued with units is intentional but also the product of chance. The 20x20 buildings have a lot of alien spawn nodes inside to make them harder to assault plus ensure that the alien units are generated more or less randomly. If there's only 1 20x20 building in the entire area then there will be a lot of aliens inside.

Edited by Hobbes, 23 July 2004 - 06:51 PM.

[Blehm 98]

I have wondered the same about how 4 square units get up on the second floor of terror ships

[j'ordos]

well, I tried out 'the city' this time, I really like it, makes a good impression of a real city, couldn't fully explore it, as my poor rookies couldn't survive the constant MCing and cyberdisk encounters in dark alleys , but I still managed to retreat with 3 soldiers saving the skyranger. :happybanana: I killed 15 aliens in total.

I did not notice any bugs, save perhaps an occasion where my soldier fell through the floor, as seen on screenshot, although I don't know if it is intentional or not .

exploring the many flats takes away a lot of energy, and I don't think I saw an alien in there (save for a few on the ground floor), aliens also seem to avoid the open 'roads', as I didn't see ANY alien the first few turns (landed in a corner, see pic ). Most of the action occured on one place, where the crater is visible on the pic (result of exploding cyberdisks/HiEx/... )

edit : meat storage facility also makes a good reason for the aliens to attack the city for food ... No conserved humans tho?

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Edited by j'ordos, 28 July 2004 - 06:44 AM.

[Hobbes]

I did not notice any bugs, save perhaps an occasion where my soldier fell through the floor, as seen on screenshot, although I don't know if it is intentional or not .

That's intentional: it's the garbage 'chute (also very pratical for Chryssalids on the second level to come down quickly and impregnate a soldier)

exploring the many flats takes away a lot of energy, and I don't think I saw an alien in there (save for a few on the ground floor), aliens also seem to avoid the open 'roads', as I didn't see ANY alien the first few turns (landed in a corner, see pic ). Most of the action occured on one place, where the crater is visible on the pic (result of exploding cyberdisks/HiEx/... )

I've noticed that myself concerning the energy: you need to save it otherwise you'll be tired very quickly. In this type of scenario I think it's best if the aliens avoid open areas.

edit : meat storage facility also makes a good reason for the aliens to attack the city for food ... No conserved humans tho?

If you're up for something more gorish try the Hive. It's not very playable but there's some freaky graphics there

[j'ordos]

I did not notice any bugs, save perhaps an occasion where my soldier fell through the floor, as seen on screenshot, although I don't know if it is intentional or not .

That's intentional: it's the garbage 'chute (also very pratical for Chryssalids on the second level to come down quickly and impregnate a soldier)

exploring the many flats takes away a lot of energy, and I don't think I saw an alien in there (save for a few on the ground floor), aliens also seem to avoid the open 'roads', as I didn't see ANY alien the first few turns (landed in a corner, see pic ). Most of the action occured on one place, where the crater is visible on the pic (result of exploding cyberdisks/HiEx/... )

I've noticed that myself concerning the energy: you need to save it otherwise you'll be tired very quickly. In this type of scenario I think it's best if the aliens avoid open areas.

edit : meat storage facility also makes a good reason for the aliens to attack the city for food ... No conserved humans tho?

If you're up for something more gorish try the Hive. It's not very playable but there's some freaky graphics there

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

hmm, what's not playable about the hive? Seems to be alright (well, except from the fact I got slaughtered by hoards of chryssalids coming from everywhere :whatwhat: )? Couldn't see many of the graphics (basically got as far as the skyranger wheels, although I did manage to enter once building :happybanana: ), but the floor and wall tiles alone managed to make me dizzy anyway

edit : also, what's with the fort? Is it playable? (can't see it in your projects tab)

edit 2 : oh!!

Took a break from working on the City because I've decided to take some time and play some games to relax a bit. I've started re-reading the Frank Herbert's Dune series of novels (I'm on #4, God Emperor of Dune) and because of it, I've played a couple of Dune 2 games. My first game was Mission #8, Harkonnen and on my first attempts I got myself squashed completely. The game can be really tough to a beginner, although after you understand the AI strategy it gets quite easier. After I the game as Harkonnen and Atreides I tried a mod called Super Dune 2 and there I give up after three attempts. I mean, enemy 3 Devastator tanks on the first mission? I think the designer overdid it a quite a bit on the difficulty side.

the point is not to destroy those tanks, just to hold out untill you got the 1000 credits

Edited by j'ordos, 29 July 2004 - 02:51 PM.

[Hobbes]

I didn't like the end result of the Hive much. It would be a better map without the Skyranger since it would be more maze like.
I've set all of the mods to be playable to UFO2000...the hive will probably turn out better there than in a regular game

Edit (to respond to the edits posted meanwhile):

The Fort is playable and is available to download I think. When played against the aliens the Fort turns into a big land battle since they get to the ground level right away. That wasn't my intention so I stopped working on it. However, with UFO2000 it might turn into some interesting maps.

I take it that you either like Dune 2 or F. Herbert's books (or both)

I've only played it once and I tried simply to get the 1000 spice credits....way too hard

Edited by Hobbes, 29 July 2004 - 02:56 PM.

[j'ordos]

I didn't like the end result of the Hive much. It would be a better map without the Skyranger since it would be more maze like.
I've set all of the mods to be playable to UFO2000...the hive will probably turn out better there than in a regular game

Edit (to respond to the edits posted meanwhile):

The Fort is playable and is available to download I think. When played against the aliens the Fort turns into a big land battle since they get to the ground level right away. That wasn't my intention so I stopped working on it. However, with UFO2000 it might turn into some interesting maps.

I take it that you either like Dune 2 or F. Herbert's books (or both)

I've only played it once and I tried simply to get the 1000 spice credits....way too hard

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ah yes, it didn't make me think of a maze indeed, more like a deathtrap :wink: , really should get UFO2000 reinstalled sometime....

I would figure my name and sig would explain enough (but I also like the books, even though there's no ordos in there...)

if you took the sardaukar campaign, I suggest trying another side first, it looked to me like sardaukar was really hard... (note that other campagns are really hard too :crazy: , just a bit less)

Edited by j'ordos, 29 July 2004 - 03:02 PM.

[Hobbes]

I'll try SuperDune again one of these days. I had wondered if your nick had anything to do with it but the j' made me think otherwise.

You should get UFO2000 reinstalled.....I need players

[j'ordos]

I'll try SuperDune again one of these days. I had wondered if your nick had anything to do with it but the j' made me think otherwise.

You should get UFO2000 reinstalled.....I need players

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

don't feel obliged to play SD2, you can make some more maps instead

argh! the " ' " was included to make that clear, always gives me problems with accounts not accepting those characters and now you're telling me it does the exact opposite of it's purpose?!?
Just kiddin', can't remember why I did the " ' ", but j is just the first letter of my real name

I'll have another look into UFO2000, this time I should also take the time to figure out how to make custom teams

[Hobbes]

don't feel obliged to play SD2, you can make some more maps instead

argh! the " ' " was included to make that clear, always gives me problems with accounts not accepting those characters and now you're telling me it does the exact opposite of it's purpose?!?
Just kiddin', can't remember why I did the " ' ", but j is just the first letter of my real name

I'll have another look into UFO2000, this time I should also take the time to figure out how to make custom teams

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do you mean extra maps for UFO or for Dune 2? It's that I've already looked into how to create alternative Dune 2 scenarios :wink:

[j'ordos]

don't feel obliged to play SD2, you can make some more maps instead

argh! the " ' " was included to make that clear, always gives me problems with accounts not accepting those characters and now you're telling me it does the exact opposite of it's purpose?!?
Just kiddin', can't remember why I did the " ' ", but j is just the first letter of my real name

I'll have another look into UFO2000, this time I should also take the time to figure out how to make custom teams

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do you mean extra maps for UFO or for Dune 2? It's that I've already looked into how to create alternative Dune 2 scenarios :wink:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

nono, I meant xcom , although some more Ordos scenario's would be fun
possibilities in making dune2 scenarios are abit more limited unfortunately, also haven't found an editor that shows the actual map, only the units and buildings you placed on them, makes it kinda tricky (hmm, bases on sand...), well I did find one, but it's DOS based and not as functional as the other one

[Hobbes]

You'd need to be able to change the terrain in order to create interesting stuff, like bases protected by mountains with towers protecting the entrances. But I dont even want to think about Dune 2 now....too much a temptation and not enough time

I've tried the Hive with UFO2000 but the games turn too long plus it doesn't go very well with explosives. The Fort seems to turn out some interesting combinations though.

[Blehm 98]

about the hive, it should have problems, becuase in UFO2000 sometimes grenades will hit the roof, and explode on your guys

[Hobbes]

about the hive, it should have problems, becuase in UFO2000 sometimes grenades will hit the roof, and explode on your guys

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That also. I've stopped working on the Hive for now because it's too much trouble and I got tons of other stuff to design. I've even started designing a couple of 8 level apartment buildings in case they make them possible for UFO2000.

[Blehm 98]

if you get the tiles done, i could help design the maps

[Hobbes]

if you get the tiles done, i could help design the maps

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The tiles are almost done. I haven't decided between using the Area51 or the Apartment tiles, although I need to change them to include an elevator (so that the soldiers don't run out of stamina trying to get upstairs).
If you want to have a try you can get the necessary Terrain files from either the Area51 or the City mod.

[j'ordos]

too much a temptation and not enough time

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

ah yes, I know that feeling :alienlol:

anyway, also tried out the fort (in xcom1, not ufo2000 ), and this time I managed to win, 1 soldier left, but I won .Against snakemen and chryssalids, which perhaps is not the ideal race for this map... Although the chryssalids on the ground floor were deadly as usual, those on the walls were pretty much shooting practice. I noticed one building doesn't seem to have a stair connecting to the 3rd level (screenshot), it's the one with the walls going in circles (square circles, but hey ) to the centre where the stairs are, a nasty one to assault as it seems there was an alien around every corner just waiting to shoot me. Also many aliens didn't move much, or didn't move at all. Which is probably fine as they are actually 'gaurds' and leaving them with plenty of TUs to reaction fire
Anyway, fun map, and I can see it having lots of possibilities in ufo2000 too.
edit : forgot pic

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Edited by j'ordos, 31 July 2004 - 11:07 AM.

[Hobbes]

I noticed one building doesn't seem to have a stair connecting to the 3rd level (screenshot), it's the one with the walls going in circles (square circles, but hey ) to the centre where the stairs are, a nasty one to assault as it seems there was an alien around every corner just waiting to shoot me. Also many aliens didn't move much, or didn't move at all. Which is probably fine as they are actually 'gaurds' and leaving them with plenty of TUs to reaction fire
Anyway, fun map, and I can see it having lots of possibilities in ufo2000 too.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've corrected the missing stairs, thanks. I've already adapted it to ufo2000 and I've added even more walls. It should make some interesting matches.

I've started working on a 40x40 version of the Movie Theatre to see how it looks. I have also another idea for a Fort and I've made two versions of it, the pic attached is of the UFO2000 version. The idea is, whoever gets next to the top of the lamp post wins.

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[Exo2000]

40x40 Movie Theatre? Is it gonna have two screens? Hehe, the original is hectic enough, lasers and plasmas rip up those chairs REAL good... it was a little... hectic, ending up with my captain getting killed by Veerle and her trusty Heavy Laser. (It was an Escort/Escape mission on the UFO2k beta)

[Hobbes]

It actually has two screens, although I suspended work in it right now because I'm doing something else

[Exo2000]

OOooh, a wink... intriguing!