Any News?

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Spaceman
I just learned of this project and I got a beta copy of Privateer: The Reckoning which I've been playing and enjoying. I'm wondering, is there any news? Also Is there a list of where I can buy different ships? I tried peering into the files of the mod but I'd have to look through hundreds of bases which aren't really labeled in a way I understand. Hehehe ;)
 
I just got a load of new ships, but my on-board graphics can't handle them.
I've been fighting the idea of getting a graphics card, but it looks like I don't have a choice.
(It arrives sometime next week.)
If that solves the crashing I've encountered with the new ships, I'll release one last version of "Wing Commander FL" before moving on.
A major problem I've encountered with Reckoning has been a problem with the various stations in the mod.
They cause an error that results in all distances within a system to report as "0" (zero).
(Which makes flying to them difficult.)
Along with the many new ships, I also have one new Wing Commander base, which I'm hoping won't have the same problem with, but I believe it may be due to the higher poly count on the larger bases.
Among the new ships (since the last version of Wing Commander FL) are the Dragon, Excalibur, Avenger, Vampire, K'Ha'Haf, and Bloodfang.
I've also got a Kilrathi Dreadnought, and the Black Lance base.
 
cool, warzog.

I noticed that problem with the bases also. The biggest thing that bugs me though, is the time it takes to travel across a system. It drags the gameplay. Maybe putting in trade lanes to connect the main areas in a system would help. Pirates, Retros, and Kilrathi could still take out the trade lanes and make it so you have to fight, or run away if you want hehe. That would solve the problem of getting to those bases with weird problems, too.

Just a thought!
 
Well...
In the last installment of Privateer: The Reckoning, even though it reads the same, cruise speed is increased.
Also, if you get a ship like the Stiletto, which can carry 3 Afterburners, you can use them to increase your speed dramatically.
And, believe it, or not, the systems in Reckoning are the smallest I could get them.
As to the tradelanes...
To many Privateer fans didn't want them.
Another, not-so-obvious, problem was that many of the ships were set up wrong.
(Which caused a lot of the crashes in the mod.)
I tried repairing as much as I could, but by the time I was finished, there wasn't much of Privateer left in it.
All of the bases were gone, several ships were gone, it wasn't worth persuing any further.

A few programmer friendly, read:non-modeler, programs came out that have allowed me to modify hardpoints, ships sizes, etcetera, which resulted in the "Wing Commander FL" mods.
(Which, basically, turns Freelancer into Wing Commander.)

One of the reasons I've resisted getting a graphics accellerator, besides the cost, is that Freelancer is one of the few space flight games that us poor folk can still play on our antique computers.
(And I've tried to keep the mods playable by all.)

If the accelerator, which I got and installed today, helps, then the next version of WCFL will have a warning that it's not playable without one.
(As will any later mods.)
I am fairly certain that it will, because several of the new ships are from a highly popular mod, which uses many of the ships in Reckoning, and they crashed my computer without the accellerator.

A side note...
I ran Never Winter Nights to test the accelerator...
It may be a while before I get back to the mods ;P
Hard to believe the improvement!
Also...
I'll be on 6 days/week of 10 hour shifts for at least the next 2 weeks, so my time will be very limited.
 
For a while I've been trying to convert new models, but due to having lost the registration code for Milkshape 3D (the only program that can convert ships to and from the Freelancer engine) I haven't had much success. However, recently, ever since my top-of-the-line powerhouse PC crashed (well, not really ... it's a Gateway with new RAM and accelerator jury-rigged in), I've been using an older HP. The good thing about this is that this computer doesn't have Milkshape on it, so I'm able to "steal" the trial version again.

Using this, I managed to finally convert the WC2 Caernavarn space station (now right-side up!) and Kilrathi Fralthra cruiser (sans docking points, which I don't know how to do). I haven't been able to test it out though.
 
I'm afraid not; I did the actual work on Freelancerizing these ships (which are by the way, Marc's old models) months ago, and that pretty much represents the sum of my work on this project in the last year (I don't even own a copy of Freelancer anymore).

Whether these, or other ships I manage to run out in the next month, are used are up to folks like warzog who actually work on the engine.
 
@ Warzog - Regarding trade lanes, as most WC fans would agree, there needs to be something semi-equivilent to autopilot. Since it's a different game engine and that's not really an option, trade lanes take the place of this feature. I'm not really sure why anyone would argue with that. I'm a hardcore die-hard fan of Privateer (FL doesn't hold a candle to it!) And I think it's sorely lacking without the lanes. Actually, it's one of the few improvements FL has brought to the open-ended space combat simulator genre--the ability to 'autopilot' quicky between points of interest, and yet an element of danger in doing so. The fact that you don't 'magically' appear someplace is more interesting now, and that the lanes can be disrupted is also exciting. (For the disruptor as well!)

As far as the size of the system, many systems in FL are that size, but things in them are pushed close together; you don't find things in the far recesses of the system--just empty space there.

My final point of advice would be to lay out specific asteroid areas, and not ones that span the whole system of some of them. That's not in keeping with the original and it further complicates travel. There are some diversions in the mod that I like and would keep, some that I would throw out, and some that aren't in place that I'd suggest! All in all, it's going well. I just hope it doesn't get abandoned.
 
Lt.Death100:
Yeah, Accellerator = Graphics card.
I got this hunk-o-junk after my job moved to China, and my laptop fried.
Been in the stone ages for a few years now.

Bob McDob:
I'm hoping that the accellerator helps with the problems I had with Marc's models, too.

Menacer:
All good points.
Which is one of the reasons I started the "Wing Commander FL" mods.
The WCFL mods replace the FL ships, equipment, and weapons, with Wing Commander/Privateer ones.
The response has been better than I had anticipated, and has resulted in a few new modelers joining the ranks.
That, in turn, has prompted the idea of Privateer in Epsilon.
Well, that, and the fact that there are several really good Privateer projects based on the original game now.
(And they have more resources than I do.)

Building the new Epsilon project can't even start until I have all of the ships and bases working, as so much depends on them.
Encounters, trade lanes, trade traffic, background traffic, pirates, kirathi, patrols, etcetera, all depend on the models working right, or you get a plethora of crashes, like the last version of Reckoning did.

EDIT:
Well...
After eight hours of work...
None of the new ships/models did any better with the new graphics card.
They still crash Freelancer.
It was worth a try.

On the bright side...
I did get a working Dragon before I got the graphics card.
I may release it in a new mod, soon.
 
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