The latest from the R&D deparment :D (weekly updates here)

October 20, 2010

Well it's Wednesday and here I sit at my computer my eyes propped open with toothpicks Here to give you the latest news on version 1.39. It's been a week of slow starts and alot of research (You don't realize how much info is on the TSP site until you start looking for the name for one specific variable in one file of the entire game lol) The good news is I found it and with it begins the task of revamping all the equipment and other add-ons for your ships. Currently the Starflier has been modified to the new specs and soon I'll have enough equipment done to test it. Assuming all goes well with that I should have the Liberty stuff complete and tested within a month as well as a few additional mod pieces needed for this format to work properly.

In other news, despite advertising for a 3d modeler and coders on TSP it's still just me working on this thing. Oh and shrike I still need that copy of a full clean install I found a sdk download but it only contains the DLL files Let me know if you can access skydrive or not.

Cheers and look for updates weekly and feel free to comment.

Hi dude, I have an account on megaupload and will upload a clean install there. I will send you a link via email...have to check if my account is still in good standing first
Bob aka theshrike

Thanx m8 your Da Bomb

Well guys it's been kind of a slow week as my work and personal life have been major factors, that doesn't mean that I haven't been doing anything mod related, it's just not been alot. I've spent this week waiting for others it seems especially in the realm of webspace. I've been looking for a place to host mod updates with little to no hassles. Unfortunately most free places don't work well for this as they have that whole wait to download thing. I'm hoping this weekend to talk to the person I think will most likely be able to point me in the right direction.

I've also spent alot of time studying limit breaking and found the cause for many of the current versions problems related to server crashing. We have several systems with 10 or more jumpholes/gates in them. This causes the server to crash when you plot an interstellar course that passes through them. Of course since these nexus type systems have so many connections the program has a greater chance to route through them making it a nice vicious circle and deadly for the server. So please use care when plotting a course. There is only one cure for the problem and that is to not have that many connections, so in the next rendition no system will have more than 8 connections I'd rather err on the side of caution here cause I hate crashed servers

Although it won't be in the initial release of the mod, paper development has already begun on "Class 2" ships. What's a class 2 ship you ask? Well let me tell you.. Class 2 ships are gonna be larger more powerful ships, super freighters, cruisers battleships etc. I'm calling them Class 2 ships because they will use a completely separate class of weapons compared to other ships. These ships are to be the best of the best and will have price tags to match. Upgrading from a standard class 1 ship to a class 2 you will find that none of your equipment is usable and all new stuff will have to be purchased. You can expect to pay about 1 billion credits just to purchase the ship, add in the cost of engines, sensors, weapons and every other piece of equipment, you can expect to be paying atleast 3-4 billion for a basic ship. A top of the line version of your ship may run as high as 100 billion. Now why would I want a ship that cost this much? Well some of the things that will be available, self repair (to be in this class the ship would require a fairly large crew if it were real so repairs would be made by the crew right?), cloak (what's better than having a crew to fix things? not getting damaged in the first place), more powerful sensors (what good is a cloak if you don't see the enemy coming?), heavy duty armor built into the ship (no armor upgrade though) more powerful weapons, thicker shields, extensive cargo capacity, docking capability (on certain ships). All in all I think there are alot of reasons to seriously consider saving up the credits to invest in one. I also intend to make most of the features modular via a hardpoint concept I have come up with. Class 2 ships will come with 1-4 "general" hardpoints dependent on size and cost. These hardpoints will allow you to customize your ship to your specific needs and wants. You have 3 hardpoints on your large train but want to add 2000 cargo and a cloak? go right ahead use 2 slots for additional cargo pods and drop that cloak right into the third slot. Want to triple the power of your sheild generator? Sure drop 3 Auxiliary Shield generators in and laugh as people try to make them flicker. Ok these things are gonna be powerful yeah but don't worry Class 1 ships aren't gonna be left in the ether. At the same time as these ships start appearing at a ship dealer near you class 1 ships will receive some new toys of their own, some enhanced weaponry for dealing with people in class 2 ships as well as stealth technology (a variation on cloak that I've had in mind for a couple years now). However these toys will come with large trade offs when compared to the class 2 ships.

That's all from R&D this week. cya all in space

Well that will teach me not to trust my computer I just realized that the weekly update didn't post last week... OOPS!! Anyway that is the least of my concerns tonight, I have a more major one and this weeks update is more of a warning to certain parties. Tonight I took the server down for about an hour to fend off a hack attempt on my computer. Fortunately with a little help from some of my own custom scripts and my automated defenses, I was not only able to fend off the attack but obtain all the data on the attacker and their intended target on my system. The data has been handed over to the local police and they are going to pursue criminal charges. Let this be a warning to those that would like to try this on me that next time I will not be this lenient. I have more aggressive scripts and programs at my disposal and they have replaced some of my more passive systems. Also to further tighten my security I've offloaded the server to my auxiliary system and firewalled it away from the rest of my network. Players should notice no difference and as far as I can tell all chars made it to the other system in one piece. On the mod side you may see the server go down on the weekend for a few hours or be passworded don't be alarmed I am merely testing various parts of the new mod and I will return the server as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience

Hey guys and girls here we are again, another week down and another update for you folks on the new mod.

First things first, as you may have noticed the server was down and/or passworded for several hours over the weekend. This was for testing certain parts of the new mod. Testing did not go well I'm still trying to figure it out but I think it may be related to some residual files in my system from the current mod (player files etc etc). So at some point I will be taking the server down while I back up all data for the current server and run some tests including a full clean install. When the server is restored to the current mod I do not expect to lose an player data as I will make hardcopy of all current chars and if needed I will manually restore all chars.

Given this turn of events I feel it may be the saved player files that may be the main cause of my problems. If this is the case when the new version comes out we may all be required to start all over again. I will be examining this as we go further into development and if a fresh start is required I will compensate you in game for it.

On another front, If development continues going reasonably well, and it has so far besides this weekend's setback, I feel a Christmas release is a good time goal, and may even allow me to include additional content that I first thought may be beyond my ability to finish in a reasonable amount of time. I can't make any promises but I'm definitely hopeful.

Well that's it for this week. Check in next week for another update