[MOD] Immersive environments 1.1 [09-11-2011]

[GeminiFire]

@connary

Beautiful Work!!!!

Definitely worth the wait and restart...

GF

[Earthbornseven]

Well Done Man
out of

[F.A.B.]

it took more than 4 hours to merge IE with my mod, manually copying all the entries back and forth. but when i started a new game and had entered Brennan's Triumph i almost cried and knew it was worth it. best modification ever!

[kush]

This may or may not be considered sacrilegious, nay, downright insulting, for I already have XRM Backgrounds installed in one of two installations of X3TC. But, I'm currently torn between one of the best mods I ever had the pleasure to experience (especially the right and proper re-engineering of the universe – namely the linking of distant systems), and arguably the best environment, in my humble opinion, in which to fly. I am of course referring to Paulwheeler's XRM and Connary's Immersive Environments. The reason for this over-long intro is my burning desire to see these two magnificent pieces of work blended seamlessly together, thereby increasing my already immense enjoyment of these undertakings. And seeing that I personally lack the required knowledge and skills I make this unashamed plea – baby, baby, please!

[HAUSMEiSTER.cnx]

Definitely better than i expected.
Found this mod a long time ago and fortunately waited for completion. After flying some minutes in the new universe i was totaly overwhelmed. Now i only have to copy my whole stations, fleet and pilots from my almost 60h savegame over to a new game with this mod included. I just dont want to start from the beginning.

Thanks for it!

[garrry34]

connary, in regards to the fried egg thing, I've been looking in the galaxy editor and it is caused by planet subtype 134, do you know which texture file is used for that planet?

[paulwheeler]

connary, in regards to the fried egg thing, I've been looking in the galaxy editor and it is caused by planet subtype 134, do you know which texture file is used for that planet?

subtype 134 (I think) refers to the model planet_close_lavarock_ringed.

It has several textures associated with it.

I think the "fried egg" look is being caused by a completely white alpha layer on one of the textures so the game is adding glow across the whole texture rather than just the planet part.

Probably deleting the problem texture (likely to be planets_terrain_lavarock_diff, planets_continent_lavasurface_diff or planets_haze_red_dark_diff) from the IE cat/dat and letting it revert to the vanilla texture would get rid of the problem.

I may have misread TPlanets of course...


As I said in the XRM thread - merging the XRM and IE universe files is a huge amount of work. So this may be the only way of getting the two working together.

Other than this the only other issue I believe is the two suns issue in terran sectors. Again this could be achieved by removing the IE terran background textures so it reverts to vanilla. Otherwise you'd need to go into the XRM universe map and realign the suns in each terran sector to match the IE sun embedded in the texture. Or you could drop the terran background textures from the XRM backgrounds pack into the IE cat/dat so you'd see the XRM backgrounds for terran sectors and IE everywhere else.

[kush]

@ Paul
As I've already stated, I lack the knowledge, but I really like your last suggestion - sounds like match made in heaven.

[Khift]

Been using this in a new universe for a while now and I must say it looks great! However, when I went Aran hunting out in UFJD sectors one of the UFJD textures I found seems a bit buggy.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/ ... 00009a.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/ ... 000101.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/ ... 00011a.jpg

(Disregard the horizontal lines; those only show up on screenshots and I'm not entirely certain why. Didn't used to do that, oh well probably a mod or something.)

The big rock is... transparent for some reason? And there are little clips at the edges. There's another sector type where the big (and remarkably creepy) rock shows up but it looks much better; no issues there. It's just this appearance that looks, well, awful.

I do have a lot of mods but none should modify anything universe appearance wise. No big overhauls and nothing that edits any files which IE edits so I doubt it's a conflict but in the end you can never really rule that out can you...

[-RononDex-]

Hey there

Did you make any changes in the new version in TBackgrounds? I once altered this mod with a custom TBackgrounds for larger visual range. (Actually i took the range values from the 100k mod and your TBackgrounds file).

[-RononDex-]

And actually i got one more question:
If you will give out an update, will this require a new game restart every time or just a single time when the first version of Immersive Backgrounds is installed?

[Moonrat]

And actually i got one more question:
If you will give out an update, will this require a new game restart every time or just a single time when the first version of Immersive Backgrounds is installed?

If the update has a map change (x3_universe.xml), then it'll require a restart, however if it's just a texture swap out you can continue with your present game.

[bobos]

Congratulations connary for your superb work with this and other mods. You are truly a great modder. On to my q. Is this compatible with Albion Prelude? I suspect not, but I had to ask. Also, if not, will you make it so in the future or give some advices on how to do it ourselves?

Thanks in advance. Cheers.

[Moonrat]

Coming to a PC near you soon... assuming that RL doesn't spoil the fun.

[Jack08]

To Copy all background, sun and planet data from one universe file to another universe file do the follow:

• Step1: Install Python 2.7 from http://www.python.org (do not use 3.x)
• Step2: Create a new folder anwhere on your computer and name it anything you like
• Step3: Create the following file: "CopyAesthetics.py" and copy and paste the script below into this file
• Step4: Extract and place the Immersive Backgrounds Universe XML in the same folder as the python script and name it "x3_universe_source.xml"
• Step5: Extract the AP Universe XML and place it in the same fodler as the python script and name it "x3_universe_target.xml"
• Step6: Execute(Double Click) the script, A "x3_universe_output.xml" file should be created
• Step7: Rename the "x3_universe_output.xml" file to "x3_universe.xml" and repack it back into the immersive enviroments cat/dat file overwriting the original
• Step8: Remove the "x3_universe_debris.xml" file from the Immersive Enviroments Cat/Dat(If it exists)
• Step9: Place the repacked Immersive Enviroments Cat/Dat in the /addon/ folder within your X3TC installation and rename it to 03.cat/dat
• Step10: ???
• Step11: Profffffit!

Provided without warranty.

CopyAesthetics.py:

Code: Select all

#Written by Jack08
SourceXML = open("x3_universe_source.xml", "r")

def ExtractElement(Element, Data):
    Element = Element+"="
    A = Data.split(Element)
    if len(A) > 1:
        A=A[1]
        A=A.split('"')[1]
        return A
    return False


def IsTypeNonF(Type, Data):
    Chk = ExtractElement("t", Data)
    if Chk == False or Chk != str(Type) or ExtractElement("f", Data)!=False:
        return False
    return Chk

def IsType(Type, Data):
    Chk = ExtractElement("t", Data)
    if Chk == False or Chk != str(Type):
        return False
    return Chk

def IsSector(Data):
    return IsType(1, Data)

def IsSun(Data):
    return IsTypeNonF(3, Data)

def IsBackground(Data):
    return IsType(2, Data)

def IsPlanet(Data):
    return IsType(4, Data)

Data = SourceXML.readline()
Sectors = []
cSector = []

while Data != '':
    if(IsSector(Data)):
        if len(cSector):
            Sectors.append(cSector)
        cSector = []
        A=Data
        cSector.append([int(ExtractElement("x", Data)), int(ExtractElement("y", Data))])    
    if(IsBackground(Data) or IsSun(Data) or IsPlanet(Data)):
        cSector.append(Data)
    Data = SourceXML.readline()

SourceXML.close()



XML_OUT = []
Target = open("x3_universe_target.xml", "r")
Data = Target.readline()

Enable = False

while Data != '':
    if(IsSector(Data)):
        XML_OUT.append(Data)
        CoOrd = [int(ExtractElement("x", Data)), int(ExtractElement("y", Data))]
        for Entry in Sectors:
            if CoOrd in Entry:
                for NewData in Entry:
                    if type(NewData) == str:
                        XML_OUT.append(NewData)
                Enable = True
                break
            else:
                Enable = False
        Data = Target.readline()
        continue

    if((IsBackground(Data) or IsSun(Data) or IsPlanet(Data)) and Enable):
        Data = Target.readline()
        continue

    XML_OUT.append(Data)
    Data = Target.readline()
    
Target.close()

Output = open("x3_universe_output.xml", "w")
for Element in XML_OUT:
    Output.write(Element)
Output.close()

[connary]

@Khift

I need the exact name of the sector. IT seems a sector non modified by my mod, I never used the vanilla white light seen in your screenshots.
Or its a messed up installation with other mod or perhaps its a sector added or modified by XUNIVERSE 2.0.
In any case knowing the name of the sector can help me to detect the anomaly.

@Ronondex

TBackgrounds as been changed in the last version, yes.

Every update needs a restart due the nature of the mod. In any case I dont want to update the mod anymore. I will only release a new version if some huge mistake, error, fiasco, imploding sector or other space anomaly appear that can break the game or immersion. In such a huge game like this there are always a possibility that the modder make a misstep.
Open space its a dangerous place XD.

@Bobos

Isn't compatible as you suspect. I will not made a new version but I will be more than happy if any other modder take the work to implement the changes in the new universe. I will help with any advice if needed. Also if the final work needs some care to fill the gaps with added sectors I will try to help.

[DaMuncha]

Will this work with X3 AP?

[Moonrat]

Will this work with X3 AP?

Work in progress... soon.

[Ducci]

Is the Black Hole Sun sector usually that dark, or is it dark because of IE? I sense serious creepiness in that sector. (by dark - i mean about 95% of the sector is black, i barely see the stations, the starfield IS there, and there's also a huge black spot in the starfield).
*I should also note, this is my first time I play TC for serious

Edit: Fix'd. Had to start a new character. Again. Funny thing is, the black sector was there even though I had the mod from the start. Weird.

[Sturmer]

Is the Black Hole Sun sector usually that dark, or is it dark because of IE? I sense serious creepiness in that sector. (by dark - i mean about 95% of the sector is black, i barely see the stations, the starfield IS there, and there's also a huge black spot in the starfield).
*I should also note, this is my first time I play TC for serious

My BHS is completely dark too, even if I start a new game.

Is there a fix?

And, if not, how can I uninstall this mod? Simply deleting the cat and dat files doesn't work. BHS is my fav sector and seeing nothing is not really a fav option.