UCGO Firefly Reaver mod?

[stealthstar]

Anyone think it would be cool to make a reaver version of the UCGO Arrow Freighter? Think of how cool it would look with blood stripes painted on the hull & burnt skeletons of reaver victims strapped to the front & sides. Also an optional reaver radio chatter expansion would be cool. The UCGO just looks like a ship that would end up in the reaver fleet.

 

[meson800]

Do it! It just requires editing image files as described here.

 

[n122vu]

That would be awesome. Are you going to mount a makeshift turret on the top as well?

 

[stealthstar]

Do it! It just requires editing image files as described here.

That will help with the blood stripes but how would I go about creating the burnt skeletons and attaching them to the hull? I'm very new to creating an addon and or expansions. I also want to try to add the reaver screams & growls heard over the coms as if it were within a reaver fleet. And I want to mod it so it looks like it is operating without core containment.

---------- Post added at 08:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:21 PM ----------

That would be awesome. Are you going to mount a makeshift turret on the top as well?

The makeshift turret was used on the top of the firefly serenity not the reaver ships themselves. I'm talking about a reaver UCGO ship. Although A magnetic grapple and an EMP laser for a reaver UCGO to capture other ships would be awesome.

 

[Castor]

I also want to try to add the reaver screams & growls heard over the coms as if it were within a reaver fleet.

You can just add the required sound files to your Orbiter\Sound\_CustomVesselsSound\UCGOArrowFreighterBC\RadioChatter , and the sounds will play randomly when you switch over to the right channel.

but how would I go about creating the burnt skeletons and attaching them to the hull?

Unfortunately, this means that you would have to make the models of the skeletons and then edit the mesh of the Arrow.

 

[stealthstar]

Thank all of you for your support with this idea. I'm going to do my homework on modding and reaver ships and get back to you when I make progress on this. Oh and what 3D programs do you recommend for creating parts for ships also physics and visual effects for the weapons? The magnetic grapple would use a lightning effect and the EMP ray would use a beam of light.

 

[Urwumpe]

Thank all of you for your support with this idea. I'm going to do my homework on modding and reaver ships and get back to you when I make progress on this. Oh and what 3D programs do you recommend for creating parts for ships also physics and visual effects for the weapons? The magnetic grapple would use a lightning effect and the EMP ray would use a beam of light.

Please note the important engineering and add-on making rule:

KISS


Keep it simple, stupid.

You have not even yet repainted the Arrow and you are already talking about EMP rays and such nonsense. Don't get overly enthusiastic about what you might possibly do - get overly enthusiastic about what you have really done already.

You are entering the bad project life-cycle otherwise, which is so badly predictable, that it hurts:

1. Enthusiasm,
2. Disillusionment,
3. Panic,
4. Search for the guilty,
5. Punishment of the innocent, and
6. Praise and honor for the nonparticipants.

 

[stealthstar]

Please note the important engineering and add-on making rule:

KISS


Keep it simple, stupid.

You have not even yet repainted the Arrow and you are already talking about EMP rays and such nonsense. Don't get overly enthusiastic about what you might possibly do - get overly enthusiastic about what you have really done already.

You are entering the bad project life-cycle otherwise, which is so badly predictable, that it hurts:

1. Enthusiasm,
2. Disillusionment,
3. Panic,
4. Search for the guilty,
5. Punishment of the innocent, and
6. Praise and honor for the nonparticipants.

Thanks for the advice but please bear in mind that this is an idea I just came up with a day ago. Its going to be a while before I make any real progress with this expasion for the UCGO arrow. I still need to get familiar with creating expansions & addons (part of my homework for this project) So don't assume I'm jumping into this suddenly with no experience. I plan to get experience with mods first.

 

[Urwumpe]

Thanks for the advice but please bear in mind that this is an idea I just came up with a day ago. Its going to be a while before I make any real progress with this expasion for the UCGO arrow.

No deal. Nobody here expects you to release your first add-on after ten minutes. All people who know about making add-ons, will even expect you to not release your first feeble attempts to the public, but instead just maybe keep it as "first nice try" and "lesson learned" and improve your skills until you really make things, that others would not be able to do easily.

If you have any self-respect, never release an add-on, that would take somebody without any knowledge of Orbiter 2 hours of learning and 5 minutes of doing (there are examples, that really annoy)

Now, excuse me for being a tiny bit nasty now but:

So don't assume I'm jumping into this suddenly with no experience.

No need to assume it. We all know. And you know as well:

I still need to get familiar with creating expansions & addons (part of my homework for this project)

I plan to get experience with mods first.

Of course you are jumping things a lot, by asking questions about the hard complex things before even being able to know one single way to make the easy things. Should you not be asking many questions about something else at this point? I do not see you even considering, that even such a simple repaint could mean problems, that maybe somebody else has already solved.

"A smart man learns from his errors. A wise man learns from the errors of others."

I do not even know yet how to make an Arrow fire EMP beams and make this EMP beam have any effect. I would know a few ways to mod the Shuttle-A in that direction, but the Arrow is closed source and requires a much larger and heavier hammer to be modified like that.

And all such ways require knowledge of C++. And even if everybody could learn programming C++, it is still a long way to know C++ good enough to attempt such tricks like a Serenity-like EMP beam.

So, please... lower your pace a bit. And better learn posting Orbiter.log files for bug reports. When you have switched sides from player to the add-on developer camp, you will love proper, exact bug reports. And if you learned C++, you will even love to write your own messages into Orbiter.log for helping finding problems. :thumbup: