Lost Fleet update

Ive managed to fix the issues with the hit boxes and all the 3d models are meanwhile working in the game. I only need to finish hardpointing 2 stations (tomorrow).

Hardpointing took much longer than expected since I had to do many position and orientation calculations manually due to the complex shapes.

As you can see in the new images, I have done some detail work on the textures of the station and capital ships. I think it fits much better now. Some detail work was also done in other areas but I don't really want to spoil that atm.

The ships are currently functional as NPC ships. The 3 VHF will be available for the players when the update is done. The Battleship and the transport most likely will become available to purchase at a later point (the server plugins need to be adjusted for that and I actually want to get the update released before I start working on server settings).

(IOC)Wanderer

denne

I gave you guys access to the internal CF dev boards.

In 1-2 days I should have the basic system layout done.

We can discuss the audio stuff there.

not on the initial release but later

The weekly update on the progress... this time without pictures as I dont want to spoil the final results.

Just a simple summary of the progress.

modeling - done

faction settings - done

NPC encounters - done

weapons - done

new solars - done

new effects - done

new station interiors - done

station NPCs - done

bribes - done

pilotable ships - done

new music - done

new starspheres - done

new systems - 2/3 done

I might be able to finish the work on the new systems by tomorrow.

There might be an issue (well... for sure will there be an issue) with the faction reputation because the introduction of a new faction actually requires a char whipe.

I will ignore this issue because it is simply not worth the effort. Result will be that the new faction is neutral to all other factions because the server chars and also the singleplayer savegames do not contain the settings for the new faction. A completely new started char or singleplayer game might fix this.

The worst thing that might happen by going with old chars is that the new faction wont attack other hostile factions and potentionally missions might not work correctly.

I simply can not fix thousands of chars or singleplayer savegames.

A potential fix might be to bribe the new faction (just a theory).

Once the work on the systems is done I will try to work on the singleplayer story part.

The voice stuff is being worked on and can be included prior the release.

Btw. if someone has a bunch of singleplayer story savegames for me... that would save me some time. I dont really want to play all the way through the storyline until the bonus missions start.

The release is getting closer and closer.

All work on the new systems is done. Took me a bunch of days to do the detail work and get rid of a few glitches.

But now it looks good.

The systems as they are going to be released might even get updated with additional content later.

The lost fleet update is going to be the foundation for a series of story driven updates in this specific region of space. This way I can introduce new content without interfering with the main story. Potential updates might involve adding more systems as part of an exploration and colonization effort. New ships, new stations, most likely a rogue faction, weapons and equipment.

Weapons and equipment will fall a bit short with this release since I consider it pointless to introduce an isolated faction with superior weapons or alternatively introduce weapons/equipment that players do not need/want (because they are too weak). It is better to create a story at a later point explaining the development of new equipment as result of the newly created contact with other factions.

That does not mean that the new faction is weak or does not come with new weapons worth going for. I made sure that visiting these new systems is worth it.

As you can see above the main enemy are going to be Nomads and I altered the mission design so that the new faction offers high reward destroy and kill missions against Nomads. As explained last week the problem with the reputation remains. A completely new savegame (deleting the cfstart.fl from the savegame folder) would work. But alternatively to that I am looking into possibilities updating existing savegames with the data required. I need to run a few more tests.

How far is the development in general?

Well, I am currently browsing through our ticket system, trying to get as many reports fixed as possible.

The only stuff left to do then is working on the storyline (which might take a few days) and include voice samples into the mod.

The 2nd image above is about what size you can expect from this update.

The story mission will be split into two parts as has become a bit lengthy and risky at one point.

you probably wont have a problem with it but i simply don't want other players getting stuck

The storyline meanwhile is done.

You will need about 50mins for the new mission... maybe a bit longer.

However, I would advice to replay the first two bonus missions since the story of these missions is connected (it helps to understand how stuff fits together).

The question if players need to start fresh singleplayer chars due to the introduction of a new faction can be answered with a careful "most likely not". Ive spent the past 7 hours writing a small tool that automatically patches old singleplayer savegames with the data that is required for the new faction to work correctly.

All you have to do is to run that tool once.

It will patch all singleplayer savegames. But before you complain... missions in the new systems only will work if you are using an OpenSP savegame or a savegame where you have already completed the final mission of the CF main story. Of course you can use any storyline savegame and play through the main story to unlock the missions.

Like I said... all savegames will be patched... for the missions it just depends if any SP story content is active or not.

What about the multiplayer?

Well... yeah... dunno.

The account structure is a bit different so I need to investigate a bit more how to patch this. Tomorrow I for sure will know more.

Yeah, bigger and more complicated than expected.

In the end its about 650mb (about the size of the original game)

The server so far seems to run stable.

Some minor issues already are fixed.

You can patch old singleplayer savegames with a tool called "FactionPatch" located directly in your Freelancer folder.

I will monitor this patch in the next few days before I do an official release announcement. (want to make sure everything is working)

can not promise anything about that

will need more feedback