[MOD][WIP] FTL Infinite Space

[DrkTemplar]

New version posted 0.4.2.

splette was kind enough to allow me to use his High-res background mod, so I have integrated that into Infinite Space. Three additional new events written by Whoopty have been added, as well as some tweaks with Cruiser related events. The typo Queezi mentioned should be fixed as well.

[guy.pery10]

Done that. Did not work one bit.
Also tried what The Hawk said. I found the folder, installed the mods, but when I open the game file it opens it through Steam, and thus didn't use the mod.

There is likely more information about this on the mod manager thread, but let me try anyways. You have found the location of the game in your steam folder? You have installed the mod manager to that location? You downloaded an put the mods you want to use in the newly created (when you installed manager) mod folder? You have run the mod manager executable, and selected the mods from the list, and "patched" the game?

As for the exact folder location. I cannot tell you because I don't use the steam version.

Yes, I did all of those.
Problem is, I assume Steam patches the game upon launch, and using the .exe in the game folder uses STEAM to open it.

[UltraMantis]

Does GMM report any problem? I assume no.

The Steam version only differs in that it uses a slightly different exe and cannot be started without Steam itself. The files you modded are resources that are the same across all versions and the Steam version uses them no differently. Most likely, Steam cloud is replacing the modded files with originals.

Can you check out what options you have for FTL in Steam? I think there is some option to prevent cloud syncing or something like that.

[guy.pery10]

Does GMM report any problem? I assume no.

The Steam version only differs in that it uses a slightly different exe and cannot be started without Steam itself. The files you modded are resources that are the same across all versions and the Steam version uses them no differently. Most likely, Steam cloud is replacing the modded files with originals.

Can you check out what options you have for FTL in Steam? I think there is some option to prevent cloud syncing or something like that.

Thanks! It worked!

[UltraMantis]

Glad it finally worked out for ya.

[Agrammor]

Very nice mod; thanks for all the hard work that's gone into it!

A few thoughts:

First, there's a typo in the very first event of the game. The typo reads:
"1. An additional crew memeber."
Where "memeber" should, of course, be "member".

Second, please don't include splette's High-res background graphics mod in Infinite Space. I understand why you did, and I appreciate his hard work on that mod, but there's no need to distribute them together, and several good reasons not to. Anyone who wants to use them together can easily download them both and do so with GMM--it's as simple as highlighting both mods.

By contrast, anyone who doesn't want to use splette's backgrounds will still have to download an Infinite Space mod that is bloated to more than twice its original size by them. Worse, they will then have to hunt for and remove splette's files from the mod, which is time-consuming and requires more modding knowledge than does simply using GMM.

tl;dr: it's easy for the end-user to combine any mods they desire; it's much harder to remove undesired additions from a combination mod. Don't distribute combination mods if you don't have to.

What I would suggest instead is that you make note in the first post of this thread that splette's mod is compatible with Infinite Space, and even that you recommend they be used together if that is your wish. Personally, I prefer and would recommend sanmonku's Better Planets and Backgrounds mod, but which of the two (or even the original backgrounds) any given person will prefer is a matter of opinion--all the more reason to leave it to each end-user to make that choice.

Thanks for reading, and thanks again for all your hard work!

[DrkTemplar]

@Agrammor, Thank you for your feedback!

I understand your concern with combining mods, but I would like to respectfully disagree with "no need to distribute them together". The more I work on Infinite Space, the more I feel this mod needs to be a full conversion mod. I'm working in that direction, and with other modders to add more content. I have plans for that content to include additional graphics. Even the latest version of Infinite Space has a "background" for a specific event. At least one other is planned at this time, and hopefully more as well. For that background to fit the look and feel it has to match the rest of the backgrounds. Before I started adding these event specific backgrounds I needed to decide if I wanted to stick with the original graphics or not. I personally think the High-res backgrounds are much better, so I contacted Splette. The background changes themselves might not seem necessary (at least not right now), but integrating other mods (provided modder agrees) aren't so straight forward. Meaning, I can't just link you to the other mods and expect it to work. Hence the full conversion direction. As an example, I will be including DronesPlus mod in the next release, but it’s being integrated into the mod to maintain the “feel” of the mod. Simply adding it in the mod manager would not provide the same experience.

As for the size of the download, it’s a lot smaller than the ~132mb Better Planets and Backgrounds mod. It’s simply not a concern for me at this time, and I don’t see it getting large enough to be a problem. You said yourself that you recommend Better Planets and Backgrounds, so you must not have an issue downloading a mod that’s over 6 times the size of Infinite Space (with high-res).

As for preference, if you prefer Better Planets and Backgrounds, you can apply that mod after Infinite Space and you should have no issue.

Now, having said all the above, I’m not disregarding your feedback, and it’s not “too late” for me to exclude High-res, or provide an alternate download link for original backgrounds. I’m curious what others think on this topic.

[Kieve]

I want to weigh in on an earlier question, in that you asked if the IS "plus" weapons & specials needed to be beefed up.

Honestly, you can't expect to account for or balance out other weapon mods - some are more over the top than others, people all have their own ideas of what constitutes "balanced," and you'd basically just drive yourself batty trying to toe a line that continually changes anyway. Mod compatibility is one thing, continually reacting to said mods would wind up being far more work for you than is worthwhile.

[Alvarin]

Thank you for burning 3 hours of sleep time in playing the mod!
I found it to be awesome continuation experience, having played 135 hours of vanilla FTL (I just recently discovered the mods).
Thank you for the hard work and in advance for future updates.

[MrSmite]

I agree with Agrammor in re: the background graphics.

I had tried that mod on my own with v.4.1 of FTL and honestly found some of the backgrounds to be too "busy" and distracting. Fortunately since I had installed it with mod manager it was easily removed.

Since background graphics are not essential to gameplay (ie: removing them doesn't suddenly break an event), I think those along with other non-essential mods should be left up to the individual. Distribute the .FTL files with your mod (in a ZIP or 7z archive) but allow the users to choose wether to install them or not.