[Campaign/Story] Hyades Rim

[TLRoff]

and 1.9 should be pretty much we hope the final patch. Ok mod makers, for the foreseeable not classified hidden behind NDA's future, it all on you guys now!
(assuming no patch for the patch is needed)

 

[Prussian Havoc]

...(assuming no patch for the patch is needed)

Words of Wisdom right there. :bow:

And truly @Hobbes__ is just plain tearing up the track! Well done Good Sir, well done indeed. : )

 

[Hobbes__]

Hyades Rim updated to BattleTech 1.9 and available at Nexusmods!

To install, download the file and unzip to C:\Users\*user*\Documents\My Games\BattleTech\mods (location of the official mod loader).

 

[BARBOSA (Aries)]

Hi! I don´t now if i made a mistake, if i´m suffering a modloader bug, or if the bug is with the mod. But i´m posting the screenshots here, in the hope someone better with tech can at least direct me to the right place. Thanks!

 

[Hobbes__]

Hi! I don´t now if i made a mistake, if i´m suffering a modloader bug, or if the bug is with the mod. But i´m posting the screenshots here, in the hope someone better with tech can at least direct me to the right place. Thanks!

Does the modloader.log file that is shown on the left pic say anything?

 

[BARBOSA (Aries)]

No. When i open either log files with notepad both are empty...

 

[Hobbes__]

Did you try to reinstall ModTek on BattleTech 1.9?

 

[BARBOSA (Aries)]

No. Just deleted it.

 

[PauloBrito]

I have several problems with the internal modloader with 1.9. Changed to the new Modtek 7.7 and all problems disapear.

 

[BARBOSA (Aries)]

Well. Hyades Rim work with the new modtek?

 

[Hobbes__]

I have several problems with the internal modloader with 1.9. Changed to the new Modtek 7.7 and all problems disapear.

I've just tried ModTek 7.7 and it's faster than HBS's mod loader when loading the mods at start (sometimes it will take minutes before I get the main screen)

 

[Hobbes__]

Hyades Rim 4.9 released at Nexusmods!

Change Log:
* Added: It Came From the Rim mini-campaign with two new flashpoints and three new events
* Removed: BW mini-campaign locations reverted to vanilla
* Fixed: several bugs in new contracts
* Fixed: added population tags to the star systems missing them
* Added: factionMapColor (incomplete)
* Changed: CorporatePirates faction renamed to avoid confusion with the Evil Eye faction

 

[unclecid]

y'all need to go read the authors notes for hyades rim on Nexus.

 

[TLRoff]

Dear Hobbes; (and the HBS crew while I'm at it.)

I just spend the time to go back over the entire HR thread here and what a tale it tells as the mod as evolved through 3 DLC over all and 2 of them since the start of this mod. Sub mods I used to use I don't any more. Many have just died off or hit a final form and either work or don't work with the latest version of the game, or don't play nice with other mods. It's easy to tell the real mech heads though. They're still around, still making mods, still posting, still playing.

For Hobbes:
What a long road it has been. the game it's self is now at what is pretty much it's final form.. likely be a little bit more bug fixing and balance passes but official content is done sadly. I hope in the future there is a Battletech II and that it is multi player, and that it is multi era. Something like RT where it's not dependent on there being players.. an entire known galaxy to brawl in I got no problem with players that would rather fight AI than other humans. If 50 years of tabletop gaming and 30 years of computer gaming have taught me nothing else it's that PvP is NOT for everyone. It's also taught me that the very best games have both, and a very strong single read solo player element.

For HBS:
I do truly hope that the next iteration of the game hold hard and true to table top. I'm sorry Mitch but I strongly disagree with you with some things you've stated about the game over the many video's posted. Those sometimes clunky table top rules are a lot of what gives the game it's charm. Especially the construction rules because we like to FIDDLE! And then there is this games own Murphy rule on turn sequence, and loosing the rest of your turn because you killed the last standing mech, just before another wave spawns...and the AI gets a turn to close up on you.. and your possible red lined mech that didn't get a chance to cool off. That still bothers me, it's still in the game, and it doesn't look like it's going to get fixed and I consider it a serious flaw. Either get it FIXED or give the modders the tools they need to fix it please. I noted it months and months and months ago. Are we being stubborn here to be stubborn? I'm 62 and I know there is no fool like an old fool, but you don't need to make a thing of it.

In Conclusion:
Hobbes good sir you just keep plugging away at it, adding to your mod, and making it better. Creating more story and more period. It's the Periphery and you can pretty much do what you want. If I might suggest, throw in some primitives, industrial mechs, agro mechs, "technicals" and the like. I've installed and am playing your latest version all ready and I like it. I also have the stand alone versions of your flash points plugged into a purely vanilla version of the game so please keep making stand alones because they rock. I suspect you wanted to have a linear flow to them..(one FP leading to another) and have them done in a specific order but either couldn't get it to work or couldn't figure out how to make it work. I know that has something to do with unit tags. The fellow that did the "CareerLeopardStart" mod figured it out for that mod (which I really think you should incorporate into HR BTW! It does work even though there are a couple graphics glitches aboard the leopard as it uses the Argo interior sets and Doc Murad being on the crewall ready). I suspect you have a few tricks up your sleeve flash point wise... Maybe running into units/characters we ran into in other flash points showing up again? Just a thought. Your call, and no matter what, you rock dude!

Going to close this post out now. Nothing else to say at this point.

May your mech run cool, your shots always hit and the salvage always be above average!

TLRoff sends

 

[Hobbes__]

For Hobbes:
What a long road it has been. the game it's self is now at what is pretty much it's final form..

Indeed. You've been very supportive of this mod since its beginning and I truly appreciate that. Thank you sir!

It's the Periphery and you can pretty much do what you want. If I might suggest, throw in some primitives, industrial mechs, agro mechs, "technicals" and the like.

All of those would require major changes to the game, regarding repairs and availability, to make them closer to the original 3025 era where 'Mechs, spare parts and trained Astechs were very rare and very expensive, like in the GDL's first novels. I love those books, but otherwise players wouldn't use them, and fighting them would hardly be a challenge.

At this point in the mod development, there aren't much more 'Mechs needed other than more ECM and more -Q (energy) and -P (guns) versions of Heavy/Assaults, plus special 'Mechs for use in Flashpoints. Other than those, I prefer to focus on writing more Flashpoints and events since those are needed a lot more, than spending my limited time adding a hundred Primitive/Agro/Industrial 'Mechs that will be hardly used.

I've installed and am playing your latest version all ready and I like it. I also have the stand alone versions of your flash points plugged into a purely vanilla version of the game so please keep making stand alones because they rock. I suspect you wanted to have a linear flow to them..(one FP leading to another) and have them done in a specific order but either couldn't get it to work or couldn't figure out how to make it work.

I made the standalone versions because I started designing them separately since each takes two to three weeks to complete and meanwhile I had to keep fixing bugs and release them in the main mod, and I didn't want to release it with incomplete FPs, because of all the potential issues. And then I realized that since they already worked independently with the vanilla game, I might as well release a few as teasers for the rest of the mod. The FPs and mini-campaign I released were never supposed to be linear but independent from one another, as they are right now.

But having to support two different versions of each FP also requires a lot of work, and pretty soon there would be no more Periphery star systems available that didn't had an FP already. So I decided that It Came From The Rim would be the last release of a standalone version, since I still have eight more FPs to design and complete, and a lot of them will require the rest of the Hyades Rim's features and overall story to make sense.

And if players want more FPs to play with their favorite mods that aren't the Hyades Rim, then this gives an incentive for other modders to create them - scarcity gives motivation to make new things - and gives more value to the Hyades Rim, with unique FPs that can't be played elsewhere, and that increases my own motivation to keep writing them, rather than seeing other mods benefiting for free from my work. So the standalones are over for now.

I know that has something to do with unit tags.

Partially. It was impossible to the 'Mechs variants I created for the new factions to be chosen randomly in the standalone versions, so I had to revert to write those FPs always using specific variants, like the Campaign missions. Now, with 1.9 it seems that this might actually be possible because HBS did me a favor when they made available certain settings regarding the unit tags through the debug settings. But this would mean even more work with the standalones, since instead of half a dozen new 'Mechs I'd have to add 30 or 40 of them, and keep them updated with the main version.

But, the good news is that I haven't tested these new settings yet, but from the 1.9 documentation it seems I can finally drop the unit tag system I had to design to use, and that never worked 100% because the reinforcement units ignored the faction tags. Which means the Hyades Rim won't need anymore the specific changes to the 'Mechs/factions to work as I intended, and this should make it easier to integrate and use with other mods, since it was the main cause for incompatibility/conflicts.

And this is my priority right now for the next version - testing the new settings and implementing them.

The fellow that did the "CareerLeopardStart" mod figured it out for that mod (which I really think you should incorporate into HR BTW! It does work even though there are a couple graphics glitches aboard the leopard as it uses the Argo interior sets and Doc Murad being on the crewall ready).

Starting with the Leopard has been one of my goals since the beginning of this mod and I've watched with attention how the two existing mods implement them. But I'll only add it if I came up with a solution that works without any issues or glitches - I made a decision some months ago not to add half-developed features that break immersion. Perfection is a more important goal for me right now.

 

[unclecid]

Career leopard start is working well with HR .
There is the planet bleed thru on some screens but realty isn't a big deal
Only real issue is the HR fps I think get in the way of the Argo getting fps spawning.
Just means longer in leapard which ain't a bug deal

 

[Hobbes__]

There is the planet bleed thru on some screens but realty isn't a big deal

If you're a perfectionist like me, and others, it's a big deal

 

[unclecid]

If you're a perfectionist like me, and others, it's a big deal

ya get it...i meant no big deal in how mod operates.
the author couldnt figure out how to fix it.
it IS bothersome visually..but...i just look the other way and pretend i can see it.
i think on next playthru im gonna play around with the weighting of your FPs so they dont all appear at once and give the argo fps a chance.

 

[TLRoff]

So my current Hyades Rim playthrough:

DIfficulty is set to beyond hard (technically is set beyond maximum, like about a 1.25 or so) as far as the economic settings and uses CareerLeopardStart. I have hit the 600 day mark and finally have the Argo.. the FP locations for it were scattered across the map.. may need a special Hyades Rim version.. had a 67 day transit time to the final mission of the Argo series.. Have several mods specifically picked to make life more difficult as a struggling merc commander (will check on a second install if the new elite pilots mod that came out today plays nice and makes my live miserable). My one indulgence is my own "Sandman" mech mod which has been updated.. there a version on the SND-X that's pretty OP when used right. 2 LB5X and 8 MG's very fast, very mobile and one the pilots get trained up scary.. I need to tone it down so it's on my to do list af taming my own mod. I only allow myself one of the things now.. In a previous play through I had 3 of them running with a modified Raven and even the very nastiest op missions were like .. Meh.. even "The Raid" wasn't especially difficult. May need to implement a mod that caps maximum pilot skills. cap the points at say 25 to 30. one you have anything over a 32 point pilot it just gets too easy. What I would like to see is a mod that reduces pilot skills over time if they don't regularly fight. That way pilot management becomes a mini game in its own right. Just my own thought on it. OP pilots are OP!

 

[Hobbes__]

OP pilots are OP!

Yup. Time to add more events to randomly kill/discharge/injury pilots. I read somewhere in the sourcebooks that the average mercenary career lasted for six months or a year (can't remember), so why we don't we make it 'real'?

Here's a few ideas I had.
* Pilot A hates pilot B because B's nationality has killed his family and dog. So Davion hates Kurita, Taurians and Liao, Liao hates Marik and Davion, Marik hates themselves, Steiner hates Kurita and Marik, Taurians hate everyone, and Kurita keeps committing seppuku because of some honor issue.
* Canopians keep flirting and having affairs with everyone, so there's plenty of broken hearts around, and love triangles that go sour, and prudes that get offended by their immoral ways.
* Pirates are hated by Aurigan/Taurian/Canopian, plus money keeps disappearing mysteriously whenever someone with criminal background is onboard.
* Periphery and Inner Spherers keep getting into brawls between them than land them on the hospital.
* Discipline attempts cause other problems. Drunk pilots keep wrecking the Mech bay, nobles demand preferential treatment, officers get fragged with grenades on the toilet, unstable pilots get heartbroken and leave, other merc companies aggressively hire your best MechWarriors, spacers suffer all sorts of physical issues due to the higher gravity of planets, gladiators keep inciting fights to prove themselves, assassins are secretly on missions to kill someone on the ship, nerds get bullied by the jocks, naives get scammed, rebellious pilots try to incite mutinies, jinxed ones blow themselves up while trying to load SRMs by themselves, wealthy get robbed.
* Medicine (drugs!) get stolen from the hospital, spare parts disappear to be sold in the black market, lounge gets thrashed after a major party, library's computers are hacked to be used for rule 34.
* ComStar pilot stays low but starts performing sabotage events on the Argo. Main drive gets wrecked, food poisoning kills a lot of people, the entire C Pod is vented to space (along with all its pilots).

It's time to stop pretending we're an elite company rather than the ragtag group that Darius is always complaining about. Let's give the player a taste of bad HR management, where hiring any pilot can have unintended consequences later on

On a different note, just finished testing the new unit tag system and... it doesn't work! At least I only wasted two hours and I can easily revert back to the old system, with a couple improvements.

"If it ain't broken, don't try to fix it!"
"If it's stupid but it works, then it ain't stupid!"