AFF: NCO v 0.8 (obsolete, new updates!)

[Alex]

LATEST NEWS: AFF: NCO Patch 1 Released

New patch online; http://www.affuniverse.com/downloads/AFFv8_patch1.big

What's changed?

- Fixed unit-cap issues
- Rebalanced starting fleets (removed starting stations, aisn now receive rallysat, etc)
- Fixed the orientation on the starting positions on Epyrus
- Some unit rebalancing
- Fixed/updated parade info for both sides, reduces clutter and also gives room to spawn large stations.
- Fixed some wonky stats, now stations will move about more smoothly, less random motion, etc (make sure to utilize whale freighters to place stations in advantageous spots)
- Fixed LOD/nlip problems with All 3 USN assault ships
- Fixed death linger for Imperial fighters (mesh no longer hangs a few seconds after the fighter dies)
- Tweaked the display icons for a variety of ships
- Missiles no longer show up on the sensor manager as yellow dots
- *note to all; hitting tab will suppress icons for torpedoes, but its still a useful tool for figuring out where enemy ships are hiding, use at your own discretion
- Fixed orientation problems on Epyrus, also moved central station below the main action plane
- Fixed build issues that did not allow players to construct freighters
- Fixed unitcaps problems
* Assault Ships now come in packs of 2
* Imperial fighters receive improved health and armor bonus
* Missile spam from cluster rounds reduced (from 5 to 4)
* Removed hard-dot from missiles in the sensor manager to reduce visual clutter
* Other minor changes


Download Options:
BIG-FIle Archive: http://www.affuniverse.com/downloads/AFFv8_full.big
*More coming soon (hopefully an installer package from Sargoth)

Yes ladies and gents, hell has indeed frozen over! AFF: NCO Alpha version 0.8 has finally arrived! Oh, did I mention a name change? AFF: Total Conversion is now AFF: Naval Combat Operations! There are a bevy of changes in store for those brave enough to kick this puppy into the nearest PC!

AFF: NCO Features over 15 new craft, a new resource system, [semi] working AI, new fx, and music, 0.8 is a whole different kettle of fish from the last release. As always, this is an alpha release. This means that there are alot of things that are potentially broken, crashy, unoptimized and unfinished. I decided to release this build primarily to get the testing under way for the beta, as most of the main art assets have been created. Now on to scripting and fx creation, yar!

Playing this new version is not particularly stable for online play lotsa desych errors when combat gets heavy). Hopefully we'll be able to squash a lot of these as the mod progresses. Also, new ships, fx and updates will trickle in as they get finished from now on, no more year long waits for content (lord willing). I've included some info on the new systems as long as a critical primer for players to get a handle on whats changed below. Enjoy!

What's new in 0.8?
- 15 new ships including one "Hero" vessel (INS Morningstar)
- An uncountable number of new/tweaked weapons and fx
- New building/resourcing system
- And a couple themed battle missions (coming soon)

New Ships:

Generic
Fuel Depot
Shipyard

USN
Olympiad [Defense "Wall"]
Gemini II [Defense Platform]
Light Platform Controller [Station]
Viper [Fighter]
Heimdall [Destroyer]
Alfazard [Frigate]
Muninn [Light Cruiser]
Tyr [Pocket BB]
Ragnarok [Dreadnought]

AISN
Horus [Fighter]
Ti [Corvette]
Vladimir [Frigate]
Khamun [Frigate]
Shu [Frigate]
Everstar [Light Cruiser]
Pride-C [Battlecruiser]
Osiris [Battleship]
Morningstar [Experimental Command]
Naqada [Battle Station]

New Maps:
Deep Space (online Now!)
*Greater Tricholid Wastes (coming Soon!)
*Battle of the Empyrean (Coming Soon!)


IMAGES!





Official Image Post: http://affuniverse.com/forums/showth...2732#post12732

RESOURCING SYSTEM

New to 0.8 is a new resourcing system than stock hw2's asteroid harvesting. Players may build certain resource generating vessels (infrastructure) that net a certain # of rus per second. As of right now, these are limited to logistics transports, fuel depots, and repair yards. Later updates will include more base building infrastrucutre that will play off the theme of ru generators and sinks.

AI ISSUES

When I say the AI is semi-working, I mean the following, while the AI WILL build ships with some semblence of strategy, it is fairly dumb and also refuses to build additional resource generators (like fuel depots) for some reason. This is an ongoing problem, and I've tried to remedy this by giving the Ai a decent # of starting fuel depots. Obviously this was a major hangup in getting the release out and I only decided to let it slide in the interest of time, further updates will explore ways of addressing this.

KNOWN BUGS
Besides the above mentioned AI issues, the following bugs are known to me and are on my plate to deal with;

* Stations spaz out when trying to deploy mines
* Fighters not properly launching/docking from USN Light Plat Controller and Naqada
* USN Defense-wall improperly allowed a build menu (will be fixed soon)
* Mesh errors on AISN Naqada platform
* Destroyer/frigate attack style sometimes sends them flying endlessly off the map
* Missile spam results in lag (will be addressed in next mini-update)
* Sometimes ships ignore torpedo-defense
* Sometimes a single fighter becomes stuck to a point in space
* Error when displaying projectile miss effect
* CTDs when extreme # of effects go off at once (might be linked to explosions effects
* shields sometimes activate when craft is disabled
* Desynch errors during multiplayer matches (may be related to turret code, may be related to effects
* Irritating blue effect played when subsystem is disabled

[Alex]

grab the latest patch;

http://www.affuniverse.com/downloads/AFFv8_patch1.big

INSTALLATION/USE
______________________________________________

To use this, make a shortcut to your homeworld2 executable (C:\Program Files\Sierra\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\Homeworld2.exe ) and include the following command line options in the "target" box;

-hardwarecursor -ATI -noMovies -luatrace -mod AFFv8_full.big

The full path should look like this;

"C:\Program Files\Sierra\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\Homeworld2.exe " -hardwarecursor -ATI -noMovies -luatrace -mod AFFv8_full.big

Make sure to choose "AFF Deathmatch" as your gametype in order to utilize the new resourcing system.

*APPLYING PATCHES

Patch files should be applied on top of base version with the following commandline options:

-hardwarecursor -ATI -noMovies -luatrace -mod AFFv8_full.big AFFv8_patchx.big

[kais58]

hiya Alex, is the new patch supposed to be only 600kb, I'm only asking as the old patch was over 5 Mb?

[Alex]

There were some problems with the upload, the patch should be about 800k. re-download it at your leisure.

[strangelet]

which maps / settings are we supposed to run and how does the gametype work?

[Ragnarok99]

Hi.. im new here, gonna buy HW2 in a few days and when i first saw AFF, thought it was awesome. I love the ship that is on the last image to the right, whats it called? and the station that is to its left, whats it called?

[Sargoth]

why don't you copy the images and repost them.

the last image in this thread is of the USN Ragnarok

[Ragnarok99]

oh... thanks, thought ragnarok was another 1

[mortain]

Hi im haveing a problem with this mod. It loads up fine but when i try to play a skermish game everthing is white. The only thing i can see is the interface and green outlines of my ships. Everything eles is white(Space, ship, everything). Im only having this problem with this mod and PDS mod.

I dont no why but i cant find anything about my problem on the fourms so im asking here. If anyone can help, i would really like to play this mod.

[Alex]

http://affuniverse.com/forums/showth...ed=1#post12799

[Taiyang]

great mod :) consider me a fan already. apart from the known bugs you emntioned everything seems working as it should. well, one of the maps with a big station in the center makes all the ships bug when they go close, but ends being an advantage using the structure as cover ^^ maybe there is something to do about the station that i didnt know?

now only questions i have is about strategys and that i can only understand them playing a lot.

btw, keeping the fighters engine traces wouldnt be a good idea right? is something i allways loved from homeworld.

cheers

p.d: GoldStar for the creator of Morningstar, most amazing ship i´ve seen ever

[sgnl05]

The mod doesn't seem to work for me. I've changed my path like it's suggested above, and I've put the mod files in the data folder, but when I try and run the shortcut HW just doesn't run. It works fine with the normal shortcut but of course I don't get the mod then. I'm patched to 1.1

Halp?

[knofix]

Hello. Would it be possible if the team/designers would not jump on so many projects and finish one for example. Me is pointing his finger only at AFF NCO :) Or at least open source the project, so someone else will wrap up the things.

Btw keep up the excelent work.

Cheers

[Strikestorm]

I can't get this to work at all .I followed the instruction to the letter ,( even copy & paste) the info you had on the web page to my shortcut. The disk just spins up and then shuts down. The big file is in my data folder. Plz help.

As for the patch don't under how to get that to install either.

[Vaygar]

Works for me until I try to play anything on it =/