Aftermath 2.0

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Something special for everyone, the first of two packs for February; Add-on Pack E.

 

This pack is a special once of pack as we will be having two packs instead of one for the month. Pack E contains nothing but new ships, 5 in total. What you get are the Apollo/Saladin (new model), Belknap, Glancer,Federation and the Federation Refit. The Apollo/Saladin is the first outing of the ship for Legacy. The other ships are Aftermath versions of Max Loef's TMP ship packs (released seperately to Aftermath and before Max joined the team).

 

There are also several file fix ups that relate to these ships, plus a temporary fix for the Miranda Refit issue (all missions related to this ship will be fixed for Pack F). Also this will be the first and last time some of the ships contained in this pack will be seen in their usual place in Aftermath. Those few ships will take on a different life later in the year...

 

You must have the January build of 2.0 or all the previous add-on packs for this to work.

 

You can get it by heading over to our site to pick it up from our downloads section, or you can wait for the ModDB and Legacy Files mirrors that will be up within the next day or two. Our site link is below.

 

Aftermath Add-on Pack E (head to downloads section)

 

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Your weekly promo. We got many things we want to show but we have to keep a lid on those for the time being but many many good things...

 

What you get today are shots of our new Nebula, it got its second texture update (first was from Accurus). The textures have been re-worked to provide more detail but less 'war-like' as the Nebula class was an all-rounder and not built for a specific task. We still working on it but its a WIP so far. The other two shots are of one of our new maps called 'Illuminii' by Fluxx. Its a small 3 player map in a Borg controlled system with several Borg stations throughout the map. Its also one of only a few maps that have less than 4 players.

 

Next month we will have some more news to bring but towards the end of the month. Add-on Pack F will be out in a little over a week and that will be all for Aftermath for February. Its been a busy month for Legacy modding.

 

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Promo time again. Wont be doing this for much longer...

 

Pack F will probably be out next week we are currently doing final touches to it and rearranging the contents of it. At moment two of the new ships that will be in it are having a few 'issues' which worst case is they will get delayed before being released in an Aftermath install. One ship wont take one specific area of its textures (this particular ship gets new textures for its outings in Aftermath) and the second ship dont like to be seen in the ship select screen and it too has the same problem as the other ship and its the same area. It could be something wrong in the m3d/dds file itself (spelling error) but its very strange that it effects both ships in the exact same area.

 

Apart from ships doing strange things, we wont be putting in as much into the packs as before. The goal is to keep them small. Some new things coming in Pack F are the new Norway and a new map called Tempest. Tempest is a prototype map that utilizes advanced lighting techniques and mechanisms. It is the first time multiple light sources have been combined with a constant light source to give a new level of lighting to maps and we are not just talking about directional and ambient light either. These new lighting techniques provide a new level of depth that has unlimited possibilities.

 

Now Tempest will look slightly different to how it looks in these shots. These come from a proto build of Aftermath which is very different to a normal Aftermath install.

 

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Add-on Pack F is finally released!! We a bit late with this pack as some last minute issues arose with some of the other content that were suppose to be in the pack but they will be in the next one. Pack F is one of our smaller add-ons but it still holds a large amount of content.

 

Pack F contains a first outing for one of the 3 contained ships. This is the first time Max's Neptune class has been seen in Legacy. Max also has two other ships in this pack, the Charger and Challenger class ships for the TMP era. All of Max's ships have been worked into Aftermath by Dontdrunkimshoot. Also contained in the pack are new textures for the Norway, Nebula and Steamrunner class ships.

 

The pack also contains one new map, Tempest for Death Match mode. This map is an experimental map which showcases advanced map lighting techniques that will filter out across later releases. There will be more news on the Tempest map at the end of the month.

 

Also included are control key issues that were found. In earlier releases, certain code was left behind causing ship selection issues while in-game. This experimental code has been removed and hopefully frees up the bottleneck that was created.

 

You can pick the pack up at our site only for the time being. Later it will be sent in to ModDB, Legacy Files and Hailing Frequencies.

 

Head to downloads to pick up Pack F

 

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Very small promo this week as much bigger announcements are coming in just over a weeks time. Also not much promo will be done this week either and mod work too as something happened yesterday which is far more important than modding. So that part is mainly going to have my interests for the next few weeks until it is resolved and everything gets returned to normal...

 

Again very small promo this week, your only getting two shots. Here is a WIP shot of how the Aftermath versions of the Guardian and Battlebird class are shaping up. The Guardian was released to Legacy a few months back by Pheonix and also in UUM. For Aftermath, the ship is getting a complete overhaul. At moment the main focus on the Gaurdian class was fixing its texture issues (incorrect alpha assignments) which has been done. Second part to its overhaul is brand new roll bar textures. The third part will be the transformation of the ship into a more aggressive look.

 

The Battlebird has alot of issues with it and again its coming in for a complete overhaul. The Battlebird is also in UUM 1.5 aswell as that is where it comes from. Like the Guardian, the Battlebird will be going under extensive overhauls before its publicly released in an Aftermath release. Unlike the Guardian, the Battlebird has other issues which will most likely see the Battlebird be released later on in the year. Its first job was again correcting its alpha channel assignments.

 

Both ships are by Pheonix from UUM. These were the two other ships that were slotted in for Pack F but due to issues surrounding the two ships they were kept out. The Guardian will be in the next pack (Add-on Pack G) as all that is needed for that is new roll bar textures and then its texture overhaul can be complete.

 

There are other news with the next Add-on. There are two bits of news that relate to it but the other news gets announced with the major news piece in just over a weeks time. The news we are giving you today is Add-on Pack G has been pushed up and will be released in just over a weeks time. Pack G will be quite possibly the smallest add-on we will put out but there is a reason for it. Add-on Pack G will be out roughly a couple days before the major news announcement. Currently Pack G contains the Guardian, a couple new maps and some physics corrections. We may also release another one of Max's ships and maps, we still have a few left we may put in.

 

 

Massive changes are coming...

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As many people now know, all development on Aftermath 2.0 has officially come to an end with Add-on Pack F. Aftermath 2.0 was the most successful Aftermath release to date and not only made its way to many people but saw the mod gather recognition for its efforts in showcasing the best aspects that the Legacy engine is capable of to not only the Star Trek modding and gaming communities but also to the much larger modding communities thanks to heavy exposure at ModDB.

 

Since late September last year, I decided I would like to do another major release but wanted to hide development of it until the time was right to bring it to public attention. That time has come. Aftermath 3.0 is not just additional features thrown onto 2.0, this new release is a complete rebuild of Aftermath and Legacy itself. Everything that made Aftermath in the past has come in for mass overhauls. Everything in 3.0 is changing.

 

The first change you will see is the introduction of Legacy's most advanced interface to date, the Nepthys GUI. This new type of interface has built in Ascension features plus many new features of its own such as the QID (Quick Info Display), Showcase Applications and Media modules. Apart from the new features, the interface is a complete new and original design taking the Romulan themed interface into new territory. The minimal look achieves a sense of elegance yet a sinister overtone to bring the interface into a life of its own.

 

Something very new to Aftermath are the inclusion of new music from one of our new team members. All new music making its way into Aftermath 3.0 are composed by Ermis Koukaris. The track playing in the video is one of his tracks and is the new theme track to the 3.0 intro video. Ermis also has come up with new music for the interface and other races too. More area in the sound department has been made by Trekky which are new effects for some of the new and older races that are in 3.0

 

Aftermath 3.0 not only ventures into sound for the first time but also into the graphics department too. Featuring a new dynamic lighting engine that gives off more defined light, the changes have resulted in more consistent shadows, more tonal depth to the lighting and more realistic shadows. Other changes to our graphics have resulted in higher detail in the ships and in the environments themselves.

 

Another groundbreaking effort for 3.0 is the first true enhancement of the Legacy performance engine. What does this mean?? Well through much streamlining of key areas of Legacy, we have officially been able to improve the performance of Legacy itself for all different users. The minimum requirements have been relaxed to allow the low end users more performance without the need to upgrade their computers. High end users have been reporting far smoother and solid gameplay. It is still early days in our performance development but reports from low end users are showing the most improvements with a framerate increase of 40-50%. Mid range users have recorded frame rate improvements averaging around 10fps. High end users have also been reporting frame rate improvements. All this has been achieved along with new graphics to put Aftermath into a league of its own.

 

As Aftermath has always pushed the boundries, we are also introducing new races into Aftermath. What these have to do with pushing the boundries is one of the races heads into new territory; the Terrans are becoming a seperate race. However, they arent just getting seperated from the Federation. The Terrans will have their own design lineage. This means there will be ships unique to the Terran race such as the Bangor class. Some Terran ships will still be of the Federation with extra's variety but this is the first time the Terrans are being treated as a seperate entity by giving them their own sense of individuality. Some ships already in Aftermath will make a shift over to the Terran race. For the time being, the Terrans are one of a few new races that will be in Aftermath 3.0.

 

New races also mean new ships. This will be our first release where we pay attention to adding ships into Aftermath. Most of our new ships are developed in-house by Max Loef, Fluxx, Firetroll and Skeeter but we also have ships coming in from the community. Some ships that are making their way into Aftermath are not just a first for us, but also their first venture into Legacy.

 

AI has always been a very big part of Aftermath and with 3.0 that is no different. Unlike other releases where we have made improvements to the AI, 3.0 sees the introduction of the EAI system (Emotive AI). No it dont mean our ships will throw on the water works when coming under fire, the EAI is the most in-depth AI system created for Legacy. Each race displays their own characteristics and their nature is shown more evidently through characterisations that the EAI emulates. This level of depth is something that has never been attempted before in Legacy and is our largest code undertaking we have attempted since our first physics overhaul.

 

The team has also expanded too. As mentioned above, Ermis Koukaris is one of our new team members. Newcommer to Legacy modding is Efigy, a new team member that will be assisting myself with promo and be trained in other areas of Legacy. Another new team member is Pheonix from UUM. Pheonix has become a permanent member on the Aftermath team and has already started contributions to the release with ships and more.

 

There is much more coming in Aftermath 3.0...

 

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I wanted to show the 'triplets' today but still cant decide on the final versions of them. The 'triplets' are three Romulan ships that have come in for mass overhauls, one of them being the Gryphon which I will show today.

 

For show today are two bits of retexture work on both the Gryphon and the Preator. The Preator now has a more industrial look to her. Sort of like a ship without having its paint job. It suits the role of the ship more with having a more minimal look. The second texture work being shown is the Gryphon which has had a complete overhaul. Even though it is still the same model, it looks completely different and a much more sinister yet elegant look to her which ties her in more with the later era Romulan ships.

 

Also on show is one of the new prototype maps, 'Nepera Dissi'. This map is one of only a handful of maps that are currently running to full use of our new lighting engine. These maps take longer to make as the light sources are tweaked and balanced to provide tonal lighting and to portray light and shade in the maps. The map also introduces a new 'cascade' type nebulae effect and a finer 'mist' styled nebulae almost exactly what was seen in First Contact or Insurrection.

 

And final ones are a couple shots showing how the new light source reacts with suns. You no longer just get that glare burst. This showcases the tunnel effect in the lighting engine. The closer you get to a sun the more blinding and intense the light gets till you can barely see where your going (will become very dangerous as development heads on when interactive environments come into play). The light is far more solid and gives off rays, flares, strong bursts of light and something new from the lighting engine is pulse lighting (where a sun will imitate a 'pulse' or a beating heart when a ship is too close). Some of the nebulae also display pulse lighting and some even enhance the effect of a pulsing sun to display unique lighting effects where the nebulae picks up the pulses and sends it through the nebulae in a cascading light.

 

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Some more small promo bits for today with the whole focus on maps.

 

For Aftermath 3.0, things in the map department change. As always a new release sees new maps thats something that comes standard with any large mod release these days. What will be different in Aftermath 3.0 are that there will be no stock maps present in Co-op Wave or Death Match. The only stock maps that will be in 3.0 are the campaign.

 

That is not all that wont be in Aftermath 3.0. Aftermath 3.0 will have a brand new Death Match map set. What does that mean? Well all previously released maps that appear in Death Match will not be in Aftermath 3.0. This includes maps from the add-ons for Aftermath 2.0. The only maps that will be present in 3.0 from earlier Aftermath releases are all the mode maps and Co-op Wave. There will only be few pre 3.0 Death Match maps in Aftermath 3.0 and they will appear in other modes (Aruba and Xavira Outpost are a couple).

 

With the DM maps its a case of out with the old and in with the new.

 

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Moving on from the loss of maps in 3.0, what is on show today is one of the new maps that will be in the release; Negara. Negara is one of the prototype maps where extensive testing of the cascade and pulse lighting happens. This map is also one of the first maps of its kind to introduce alternative light sources in the map. This map also contains new methods in starfield creation that differs from the norm.

 

With the cascading light in full effect in Negara, it gives the impression that the map is alive with how it will send light through the nebulae and show off the pulse/heartbeat light effects.