[MOD] IEX - AP/TC Sector Visual Enhancement - IEX 1.5a (16/05/2013)

[Moonrat]

IEX 1.5a

*** Download now available ***

Compatible with...

Terran Conflict 3.2c
Albion Prelude 3.0
XRM 1.29c (TC & AP)
Terran Conflict Plots for AP 1.5

This mod primarily builds upon Connary's rather fine 'Immersive Environments' work, so much so in fact, it is a pre-requisite of IEX:AP that you have it installed. The primary goal behind IEX:AP is to provide IE 1.1 material within X3AP but also to make available a greater variety of environments to enhance the playing experience. This has been achieved by introducing selected elements from various other 'background mods' that have graced these forums over the past years as well as introducing brand new images not seen before.



Before further ado, I give thanks to the following for permission to use their work and much more...

EGOSOFT for creating such a marvellous game and so much more.
Connary for all his work on IE and giving me inspiration for this mod.
The TOTT team for several backgrounds and many objects in the Solar System (Sergey "Selen" Lenkov & Dmitri "Dimosus.X" Budic).
x3_gotcha for his pimped Hubble Universe images.
Doubleshadow for his indispensable modding tools.
Dillpickle & Black147 for their TCAP IEX & XRM compatibility work.
paulwheeler & Mizuchi for use of the XRM sun textures & assistance with XRM IEX compatibility
Mokonzi for hosting the latest versions of the mod.
NASA & ESA for the space piccies.
Everyone on the forum for all the help over the years.
My family for enduring patience.
Luna for loyally keeping me company at my feet...

Miscellaneous Textures :


Albion Alpha - jmdollen (Celestia)
Gas Giants - Rob Sanders (Celestia)
Craterworld - qbicle (DeviantArt)
Curosant - QZma (DeviantArt)
Frosty - Eruantien-Fett (DeviantArt)
Lava Effect - Suicidecrew (DeviantArt)

Whilst laying the sectors out, using IE as a base, I have attempted to even out the numbers so that no single type of background dominates too much, some are fewer in number whilst others have been increased. Some of the sectors that were simply empty space before, now have a hint of what is to come as the gates take you on your journey thru' space... giving increased continuity I hope. 'Lost' images from earlier versions of IE may be seen as well as enhanced backgrounds from the 'pimped Hubble' mod are included. Likewise a few backgrounds from TOTT are used and I have also been gladly permitted access to their stock of high quality Terran planets as a base to introduce my own versions. New suns have also been added giving a greater variability in both look and sector solar intensities. Going forwards it is my intention to continue focusing on planetary bodies to increase the variability of them but also their texture quality... this will however depend on RL and more importantly X-Rebirth.



INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

Although a new game start is not required upon each release, the best effect will always be seen within new games.

NOTE : To install this for both X3:TC and X:AP you only need to download IE 1.1 & IEX 1.5a once each.

X3 : Terran Conflict

1). Download IE 1.1 from here (104MB)
2). Copy & rename the cat/dat to ...\X3TC\14.cat and ...\X3TC\14.dat
3). Download IEX 1.5a from here or here (316MB)
4). Copy & rename the cat/dat to ...\X3TC\15.cat and ...\X3TC\15.dat
5). Set View Distance to Medium for best effect (View distances in TBackgrounds.txt have been extended)
6). Run X3:TC

Albion Prelude

1). Download IE 1.1 from here (104MB)
2). Copy & rename the cat/dat to ...\X3TC\addon\04.cat & ...\X3TC\addon\04.dat
3). Download IEX 1.5a from here or here (316MB)
4). Copy & rename the cat/dat to ...\X3TC\addon\05.cat & ...\X3TC\addon\05.dat
5). Set View Distance to Medium for best effect (View distances in TBackgrounds.txt have been extended)
6). Run X3AP

XRM (1.29.5a)

A small 'fake' patch is required to experience IEX with the latest version of XRM (1.29c), this is called XRMi and can be found here.

Unpack the zip file and then order the cat/dat files as follows:

For XRM (TC) in the main TC folder...

01-13 EGOSOFT stuff
14 IE
15 IEX
16 XRM (1)
17 XRM (2)
18 XRMi

For XRM (AP) in the 'addon' folder...

01-03 EGOSOFT stuff
04 IE
05 IEX
06 XRM (1)
07 XRM (2)
08 XRMi

NOTES : Any optional XRM packs but NOT the Backgrounds pack should come afterwards, these may however cause issues with IEX depending on their content.
A new gamestart is recommended.

Terran Conflict Plots for Albion Prelude (TCAP)

A compatibility patch is required to use IEX with "Terran Conflict plots for Albion Prelude" ... This is currently TCAPiex 1.5a and can be found here.
Most of the content was created by dillpickle and so accordingly great credit should go to him for this. Please report any bugs
to either him or me via whichever thread seems most appropriate, thanks.

This small fake patch needs to be placed immediately after the TCAP cat/dat files from dillpickle.

TSuns

IEX sectors that have low light levels have reduced "Suns %" available to SPPs whilst bright sectors have more... Stars with a lower "Suns %" will tend to be smaller/dimmer whilst those with a higher "%" are larger/brighter. Although the primary goal of IEX/XRMi is to improve the visual experience only, this "Sun %" change is perhaps the sole (small) alteration which can affect the economy during gameplay.

This can however be reset to vanilla like behaviour by using a small fake patch found here. This cat/dat needs to be placed as the highest number in sequence.

NoFog

For all those pilots who don't like foggy sectors this file needs to be placed into the main 'types' folder for TC and/or the '\addon\types' folder for AP.
This file is compatible with all versions up to and including IEX 1.5a, plus all downloadable sub-components including XRMi & TCAPiex.

NOTES:
1). IE 1.1 has to be installed in both X3:TC + X3:AP (addon) folders to function correctly in both games, this is because elements of X3AP 01.dat supersede X3:TC IE 1.1.
2). No resident of Florida was hurt during the making of this enterprise.


Change log...

IEX 1.5a (316MB)
16/05/2013

AP 3.0 Compatibility
Replacement AP 3.0 Backgrounds:
- orangeblackhole
- yellowrift
- closeplanet

IEX 1.4a (313MB)
28/11/2012

New Backgrounds:
- burninghorizon2 (Tempest, Ocean of Fantasy)
- foggreenoutlands2 (Enduring Light, Eta Psi)
New Moon Textures (with some now rotating)
- Grey, Brown Crater, Dark Crater
Uranus : Slight increase in draw/fade distance

IEX 1.3c (309MB)
04/10/2012 - All changes apply only to Albion Prelude

Fix : Add Maccana to Saturn shipyard
Fix : Add Cormorant to Ianamus Zura shipyard
Fix : Add Guppy to Lucky Planets shipyard
Fix : Add Ariadne to Cardinal's Domain shipyard
Fix : Vanilla AP music in Harmony of Perpetuity, Circle of Labour, Elysium of Light, Treasure Chest, Aldrin 2

IEX 1.3b (309MB)
22/08/2012

Fix : Company Pride sector similarity with neighbour
Fix : Reduce visible sun size : Neptune
Fix : Remove visible sun & reduce light level : Pluto, Kuiper Belt
Fix : Orientation of SPP(s) in Queen’s Harbour
Add : Titan now visible thru’ Saturn North Gate

IEX 1.3a (308MB)
04/07/2012

Fix : Duplicate planet in Scale Plate Green removed
Fix : Removal of lights from close waterworld
Fix : Old Saturn rings now less bright
Add : New Intro Menu
Add : Inclusion of XRM sun textures
Add : Improved orbital textures : awkworld
Add : Additional close textures : acidworld (x2), craterworld, icewhite (x2), lavarock, oasis, venom
Add : Planet Hades & Garleth Prime
Add : Rotating Io

IEX 1.2a (278MB)
22/04/2012

Fix : View distances reduced/optimised to sector sizes
Fix : Corrected SPP orientation in Albion Sectors
Fix : Improved lighting in Trinity Sanctum
Fix : Swap ice planet types between Shining Currents / Barren Shores
Fix : Sun too close in Rhy’s Desire
Fix : TSuns.txt duplicate ID
Add : 2 New lava planets
Add : Brown, Green & Blue (improved) gas giants
Add : Improved dione, enceladus, mimas
Add : Improved orbital Jupiter
Add : New orbital terrain textures : copperworld, craterworld, curosant, greyrock, homeland, oceania, oasis
Add : New Albion lava texture
Add : X:TC Aldrin Mission sectors now match those in AP

IEX 1.1a (234MB)
07/02/2012

Fix : Sector inconsistencies reduced between TC & AP.
Fix : TC Power Circle gate remote connections now correct (AP was Ok).
Fix : TC President’s End gate positions distanced to match AP for consistency.
Fix : Minor gate position/orientation alignments corrected between TC & AP.
Add : ANH & DLC maps added to TC
Add : TSuns.txt made more XRM friendly
Add : Orbit Waterworld now uses rejigged “standard_13” texture to give Argon Prime mountains.
Add : Texture swap of “snowwhite” & “icechannel” within bod files & new cloud texture for some.
Add : New Blue Giant (close)
Add : Fungus planet has new texture
Add : New Cracked Desert planet (orbit/close/distant)
Add : New alternate Cracked Desert planet (close)
Add : New Red Desert planet (close)
Add : New Albion planet (close/distant)
Add : New Rocklands texture (orbit/close/distant)
Add : New Rocklands alternate textures (x2) (orbit/close)

IEX 1.0c (188MB)
24/12/2012

Fix : Corrected 'war' orientation of SPP in Circle of Labour
Add : Now supports X3:TC & AP in unified cat/dat

IEX:AP 1.0 (187MB)
22/12/2012

Initial release

Last edited by Moonrat on Mon, 3. Jun 13, 20:56; edited 99 times in total

[joelR]

Nice job Moonrat. Only thing I would suggest is make your thread title a little more detailed.

Downloading now.

[Moonrat]

[Cookie000]

[Moonrat]

[Cookie000]

[Moonrat]

IEX:AP 1.0 is now available on MediaFire...

IEX:AP 1.0 Download (187MB)

Please let me know how you get on and if there any issues with it, thanks.

See OP for installation instructions...

[Moonrat]

How's it going folks...? Good? Bad? Ugly? Broken....?

[minime83]

Hi Moonrat,

I don't have AP. Can you chance your mod for X3TC?

[qwizzie]

downloaded yr mod (already had IE 1.1) in about 9 minutes with MediaFire so dont worry about download time or speed. Right now i'm in the middle of modifying my game a bit more (trying to merge killerog's trailmod with AP) so i havent done any exploring and cant really comment on the improvements you made. But i can say it works without problem so far and Argon Prime looks great.

Good job on getting it to work with AP and i'm looking forward to seeing a whole new universe with regards to background and stuff when i'm ready to really start my game.

[Moonrat]

[Moonrat]

New download - IEX:1.0c (24/12/2011)

*** Download now available ***

I have finished off preparing the X3:TC map for IEX and I have built a single cat/dat I believe will handle both X3:TC & AP. This release was done in a bit of a rush as I'm away soon for Xmas, so if it's pants you might need to wait until 2012, but don't worry it's not the end of the world eh! The download link for IEX:AP 1.0 is still up so that'll still be good to go.

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

Please note that this mod is still in the BETA stage and so any faults or observations will be gladly looked at when time permits.
Although a new game start is not required, the best effect will be seen within new games.

NOTE : To install this for both X3:TC and X:AP you only need to download IE 1.1 & IEX 1.0c once each.

X3 : Terran Conflict

1). Download IE 1.1 from here (410MB)
2). Copy this to ...\X3TC\14.cat and ...\X3TC\14.dat
3). Download IEX 1.0c from here (188MB)
4). Copy this to ...\X3TC\15.cat and ...\X3TC\15.dat
5). Set View Distance to Medium for best effect (View distances in TBackgrounds.txt have been extended)
6). Run X3:TC

Albion Prelude

1). Download IE 1.1 from here (410MB)
2). Copy this to ...\X3TC\addon\03.cat & ...\X3TC\addon\03.dat
3). Download IEX 1.0c from here (188MB)
4). Copy this to ...\X3TC\addon\04.cat & ...\X3TC\addon\04.dat
5). Set View Distance to Medium for best effect (View distances in TBackgrounds.txt have been extended)
6). Run X3AP

[Aragon Speed]

Moonrat, have a word with Moko at TXU, he'll set you up with some FTP space.

[Jack08]

[Moonrat]