I have a question about your plans for 7ds. You said in the 7ds post that you will skip the 1.16 version and go straight to Entrenchment. Will the first Entrenchment version be a straight port of 7ds 2.1 or will have new stuff added?

7DS 2.5 will be for Entrenchment, and there will be some new stuff added in, but minimal in order to release so that people can begin enjoying 7DS with Entrenchment.  7DS may feature new planet and star sizes, but that is still in the works. 7DS 3.0 will feature all kinds of new stuff, including the edition of the Federation, the BORG, the Ur-Quan Kzer-ZA, the Mycon, and the Homeworld races.

I will also be introducing Galactic Sins, in which I will be rewriting how people play Sins.  Each planet will actually be a star system in itself, so that a total system will be a Galaxy, the way it was meant to be.  In this mod, Planets will be destructible, so that you can actually blow them up.

I will also be releasing several music mods soon too, to go along with many other mods, including 7DS.

Yes, technically a planet in Sins can be of ANY shape or form.  It does not have to be a ball, and can be tiny or very large.

Keepem coming!

DANMAN

hey danman, do you like cake or pie?

Hey Danman

I guess I havn't tried hard enough to merit you assigning me people.

after all my capships are all modelled, I'll make a post for texturers.

If I don't get any, then I'll come back and ask again.

Thanks!

DANMAN,

First of all, awesome for you for doing this.  I remember when you were still new to modding this game and 7DS was still a dream.  You've come a long way, man.  Keep up the good work.

EternalSOV,

I think this is the answer to your question:  You will need to modify or make new versions of the following files (all located in the Textures folder):

Player_Portrait_Button.tga, Player_Portrait_Large.tga, Player_Portrait_Small,tga, Player_Portrait_Window.tga

I would suggest renaming them as well.  Sins seems to not recognize these particular files in a mod if you leave them with the same name.  For example, I renamed Player_Portrait_Button.tga to Player_Portrait_Button2.tga

If you don't have a program to modify these files (most image editing software works, I think), I've found GIMP to be a good (read: free) alternative to Photoshop.  You can find it here: http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

Additionally, you need to make modifications to the following files (located in the Window folder):

NPC.playerPictures, PlayerPhase.playerPictures, PlayerPsi.playerPictures, PlayerTech.playerPictures

Within those files you will need to change the following (at minimum): pictureCount, rowItemCount (all 4 occurances), textureName (to the names of the 4 new/modified files)

I hope this helps.

What about those of us who can't get Entrenchment? Will we be left out?

Is it possible to give a fighter a flair? I can only get them to appear on a frigates or higher

I prefer Pie.  Lemon or Key Lime is my favorite.

Just let me know if you don't get anywhere.  I'll tell people to hlep you out.  We all want to see your mod come to fruition.

Yeah, I remember us talking way back when.  7DS has taken on a mind of its own, its own presence.  From what certain stats tell me, its one of the most popular mods for a game out there right now.  Also, thanks for answering that question.

Unfortunatley you will be stuck with version 2.1 of 7DS.  I cannot support both formats, as the coding is completely different for both versions.  I might still make smaller mods for 1.05 Sins though.

Thank you harpo, this will help out big time.

i Nert!  Glad to hear from you.  I hope you like what I did with your UFO ships.  They became the Arilou race, along with the original skiff ship from SC2, and the Mothership & Okun Model.   I will check out the fighter thing, but it may be hardcoded not to work for fighters simply because it will cause too much lag.  I'll check into this for you.

Yeah man, make sure its made of Orichaculm (Atlantian gold metal).  It will bust when you play this.  Imagine Sins MUCH bigger than before, in which each gravity well is actually a solar system instead of one planet.  The Star will of cousre be at the center, and the planets will orbit.  These planets can be fitted with planetary weapons and shielding too, and if the Avatar or Death Star come around......BOOM!  No more planet.....

DANMAN

I have entrenchment Tesla! I could make conversions for you!

I think

Hmmm, it is only a project for now, i need first discuss it with Danman but i wish to organize some "competition" on the 7DS forum... by example, since you need them, we can make a texturer competition... having a ship with segmenting and UV mapping finish, in .mesh format, with a UV template who need to be textured... and the best texture will win a Entrenchment version... Can make the same type of competition for modeler, or some coding challange...

So, is these project become reality, it will be a way to reward people who help us... Maybe we can assign one of your model in a texturing competition ( it will resolve one of your problem ) and maybe you can participate in one of the competition too and win your Entrenchment version...

To be honest, i don't like to be obligate to buy a expension but Entrenchment add really a lot when related to modding... if i have ask the .mesh file in text mode in these topic, it is simply because i hope create ship who change radicaly of form once research/upgrade are made... Visible change in Entrenchment, for the star base are very little... need to test if a sphere can become a cube with these upgrade system... if texture can be fully changed too...

Evil Tesla, you are working on a pirate mod... be sure that Pirate are a perfect race for dynamic ship, ship who shoot AND move in the same time... this is only possible with entrenchment... and it is only a single example of what is possible...

Well, just personally, I put in an average of 3 hours per day.  Since I started in March with 7DS (Happy Birthday 7DS!).

So, take 3 hours, multiply by 365 days, and you get 1095 hours that I have personally put into 7DS, let alone the countless hours of the people who help me, or the modders whose mods I merged in to showcase their work.  So, modding is a big deal, and a big investment, and it brings a smile, sometime even a tear (when watching those videos of 7DS) to see that people are enjoying it.  Its a hard job that pays none, but the rewards are immense in satisfaction of a job well done.

Yeah, and just to add to that Tesla, I will still have a 1.05 version of the mod going too, although it won't upgrade that much more since I hit just about all the hardcode limits now.  Sadly, 7DS is outgrowing the game itself.  But especially for you, I will keep the 2.1 version around for 1.05.  I will also update it for the 1.16 version too.

Sadly this is a game engine thing, and can't be modded out as far as I can tell.  They do this in vanilla Sins.

Keepem coming people...

DANMAN

DanMan,

Have you received my application over at your site yet. 

Awsome.

Thanks Danman, I'll do the best I can.