XvT: Balance of Power Campaign

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XvT: Balance of Power Campaign

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the_stag
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Post by the_stag » Sun Aug 15, 2021 9:10 pm

I've mostly finished the Imperial half of the campaign. The briefings need some timing issues worked out, but the missions are completed and playable with Mega Patch 5.5. The same link below gets you to the rebel and imperial campaigns. They aren't configured to run together at this point. You just need to select which one you want, download the zip file and replace the files. Backup your current stuff first!

---

Version 2 of the rebel half of the campaign is complete except for real voices and any issues that might need fixed.

Here's the link to the Google Drive folder:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Original Post:
Is anyone working on this? After finishing TIE: Fighter Total Conversion I'm wanting more. I'm going to pull the missions out of my BoP CD and see how difficult it's going to be to make them work with XWAU and TFTC. Unless someone else is knee deep in this and wants some help. Certainly easier than starting from scratch.
Last edited by the_stag on Mon Aug 15, 2022 11:00 pm, edited 4 times in total.

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AngeI
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Post by AngeI » Sun Aug 15, 2021 9:19 pm

It is something I'd like to take a look at one day, but not anytime soon I'm afraid, TFTC comes first.

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the_stag
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Post by the_stag » Sun Aug 15, 2021 10:16 pm

As well it should. You guys have done a great job so far. I can't wait for reimagined battles 9-12.

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the_stag
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Post by the_stag » Tue Aug 31, 2021 9:14 pm

I'm not sure if this is worthy of a new thread yet, but I've finished converting the first 5 rebel missions of the campaign. I've play tested them myself to make sure they at least work as intended. I'm hoping to get some players test these missions and give me some feedback before I continue with the rest (difficulty, errors, etc.). I can either provide a link to my Google drive for anyone who wants it, or I can respond to DM's (I'm looking for some direction from the admins on that one).

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Post by Forceflow » Wed Sep 01, 2021 5:42 am

Feel free to post your missions here in the thread if you want to. As long as they are not too big you can even attach zip-files to your post to distribute them. (Though a Google drive link works as well, then you can always have the latest version available with one link)
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the_stag
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Post by the_stag » Sat Sep 04, 2021 5:11 pm

Here it is, the first 5 missions of the rebels half of the Balance of Power Campaign:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Check out the readme for instructions and feel free to comment on the issues and bugs document, post problems here, or send me a direct message. I'm going to continue on this and will post updates here as I add missions to the campaign.

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Post by Metathrom » Sat Sep 18, 2021 12:56 pm

the_stag wrote:
Sat Sep 04, 2021 5:11 pm
Here it is, the first 5 missions of the rebels half of the Balance of Power Campaign:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Check out the readme for instructions and feel free to comment on the issues and bugs document, post problems here, or send me a direct message. I'm going to continue on this and will post updates here as I add missions to the campaign.
Nice to know you're working on this! I've tested the first two missions and they seem rather balanced. The voices are still barebones (it's an automated voice recorder, right?) but otherwise it is functional and looking good thus far.

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the_stag
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Post by the_stag » Sun Sep 19, 2021 2:45 am

Metathrom wrote:
Sat Sep 18, 2021 12:56 pm
Nice to know you're working on this! I've tested the first two missions and they seem rather balanced. The voices are still barebones (it's an automated voice recorder, right?) but otherwise it is functional and looking good thus far.
Thanks for the post. I'm very appreciative of any feedback people want to provide. I'm glad you find it balanced. I've tried to make it true to the original while also maintaining the balance standards of XWA.

I know the voices are lacking any humanity, but I feel they offer a nice placeholder over not having any voices. I'd like to incorporate some real voice-over recordings, but I want to finish converting the missions first. And if I end up doing a "re-imagined" version, the dialogue would be quite different. So I'm holding off on doing anything on a more professional level for now. I think at the rate I'm going I could have both rebel and imperial campaigns converted by the end of the year. That doesn't include any kind of "re-imagined" version, but it's my first goalpost (don't be surprised if I miss it :D ).

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Post by Metathrom » Sun Sep 19, 2021 10:24 am

the_stag wrote:
Sun Sep 19, 2021 2:45 am
Thanks for the post. I'm very appreciative of any feedback people want to provide. I'm glad you find it balanced. I've tried to make it true to the original while also maintaining the balance standards of XWA.

I know the voices are lacking any humanity, but I feel they offer a nice placeholder over not having any voices. I'd like to incorporate some real voice-over recordings, but I want to finish converting the missions first. And if I end up doing a "re-imagined" version, the dialogue would be quite different. So I'm holding off on doing anything on a more professional level for now. I think at the rate I'm going I could have both rebel and imperial campaigns converted by the end of the year. That doesn't include any kind of "re-imagined" version, but it's my first goalpost (don't be surprised if I miss it :D ).
Yeah, I agree pretty much that getting the missions done would be priority. What do you think you'd feature in a re-imagined version besides new dialogue?
I'd probably feature a bit more intrigue about the Airam, who only become a factor (in the Rebel campaign) halfway through progress, and also try to add a bit of personality to Admiral Senn himself by means of taunts and threats Imperial officers are known for. :)
And ever since we got vanilla XWA I've always figured that the Liberty doesn't quite fit in BoP, since the campaign is likely set after Hoth (B-wings are deployed, the T/A isn't a common ship for the Empire yet) and the Liberty is the player's mothership in XWA for all but the first 2 battles.
Best of luck and let me know if you need a hand. :D

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Post by Ace Antilles » Sun Sep 19, 2021 12:25 pm

the_stag wrote:
Sun Sep 19, 2021 2:45 am
Metathrom wrote:
Sat Sep 18, 2021 12:56 pm
Nice to know you're working on this! I've tested the first two missions and they seem rather balanced. The voices are still barebones (it's an automated voice recorder, right?) but otherwise it is functional and looking good thus far.
Thanks for the post. I'm very appreciative of any feedback people want to provide. I'm glad you find it balanced. I've tried to make it true to the original while also maintaining the balance standards of XWA.

I know the voices are lacking any humanity, but I feel they offer a nice placeholder over not having any voices. I'd like to incorporate some real voice-over recordings, but I want to finish converting the missions first. And if I end up doing a "re-imagined" version, the dialogue would be quite different. So I'm holding off on doing anything on a more professional level for now. I think at the rate I'm going I could have both rebel and imperial campaigns converted by the end of the year. That doesn't include any kind of "re-imagined" version, but it's my first goalpost (don't be surprised if I miss it :D ).
Nice work. What's the ESCORTCARRIERHangar.mtl file for? There's a lot of Bwings in that hangar lol
I've only skimmed the files not played it. Which voice program did you use? I think the voices work better for briefings etc but it's nice to have some for depth.

XvT is something I thought would be good to tackle before the more involved Xwing but still haven't found any time.
There seems to be things to improve in XWA all the time lol :D Maybe once we stop fixing it we can focus on more stuff.
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the_stag
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Post by the_stag » Sun Sep 19, 2021 6:03 pm

Metathrom wrote:
Sun Sep 19, 2021 10:24 am
Yeah, I agree pretty much that getting the missions done would be priority. What do you think you'd feature in a re-imagined version besides new dialogue?
I'd probably feature a bit more intrigue about the Airam, who only become a factor (in the Rebel campaign) halfway through progress, and also try to add a bit of personality to Admiral Senn himself by means of taunts and threats Imperial officers are known for. :)
And ever since we got vanilla XWA I've always figured that the Liberty doesn't quite fit in BoP, since the campaign is likely set after Hoth (B-wings are deployed, the T/A isn't a common ship for the Empire yet) and the Liberty is the player's mothership in XWA for all but the first 2 battles.
Best of luck and let me know if you need a hand. :D
Most of those are on a similar vein of things I've been thinking as well. One of the big changes I would make is to have this campaign take place after the Battle of Endor. While the basic structure of the campaign would stay the same, it would be more about the Rebels/New Republic expanding their reach into a strategic location and the remnants of the Empire trying to accomplish that same goal while denying the other side. Most of that could be done by changing pre-briefing and post-mission dialogue. I'm not married to that idea, but I feel it fits well as a continuation of XWA rather than a prequel or something that runs in parallel.

And with all the new ships/platforms/colonies/etc. that were introduced in XWA there's room to expand the missions with a diversity of new craft. Making the Airam sector feel unique to that part of the galaxy while also following the established norms of Star Wars and XWA specifically. The exploration of the Airam as a long term ally and their "ship building prowess" is something a re-imagined campaign could touch on, I like that idea. Overall, the high standard that the TIE Fighter Total Conversion team has set is my goal. They did a real great job with a much larger mission set.

Your comment about the Liberty is spot on. There's only one full size Mon Calamari cruiser in XWA, and it's this weird half-wing Liberty/Independence hybrid. But in the cutscene where you see the "Liberty", it looks more like the Defiance with 3 hangars like the Independence. So it's probably a choice between the Defiance style (C/CRS) or the Reef Home type (R/CRS). Some play testing would be in order to see if they act any differently during engagements.

Like I said before, any help I can get is very appreciated. At this point, my goal is finish the rebel campaign and make it available for testing, then get all the feedback I can to make sure it's playable and doesn't stray too far from the original. While I do that, I plan on doing the empire campaign as well in the same order. It's probably better to have one person doing all the mission conversion so that they all feel cohesive. But fine tuning should be a group effort.

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the_stag
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Post by the_stag » Sun Sep 19, 2021 6:22 pm

Ace Antilles wrote:
Sun Sep 19, 2021 12:25 pm
Nice work. What's the ESCORTCARRIERHangar.mtl file for? There's a lot of Bwings in that hangar lol
I've only skimmed the files not played it. Which voice program did you use? I think the voices work better for briefings etc but it's nice to have some for depth.

XvT is something I thought would be good to tackle before the more involved Xwing but still haven't found any time.
There seems to be things to improve in XWA all the time lol :D Maybe once we stop fixing it we can focus on more stuff.
There a mission where the player's mothership is an escort carrier and the goal is to protect a convoy of ships carrying new B-Wings. I thought it made the mission more immersive to have a bunch of B-Wings in the hangar, plus it's a little easter egg that you only get if you are using all the different views in the hangar. I'm just learning most of this as I go, so a lot of trial and error went into even making the ESC hangar usable (the default had the player craft way in the back inside the hull). I'm pretty sure I can edit the mission ini file so I don't have to make widespread changes to the game, but I had to stop going down that path or I'd never finish making the missions playable. It's something I need to do more research on, test more, and/or get some help from the masters with. I don't know what the mtl file is for. It was created when I was playing around with the hangar. Nothing seems to change if I delete it, so I just left it there.

I used https://ttsmp3.com to make the voices. They have a limit on how much you can do in a day, but it's right about one mission's worth. Then I converted the mp3 files to wav using https://www.freeconvert.com/mp3-to-wav (they also have a limit, it's about the same). When converting I increased the volume of the file to 200%. I have used different voices for different purposes. Overall I'm satisfied with the result for now.

You all are doing great work with XWAU, and without that I don't think I would have tackled this project. This is something I've wanted to do for years, but never really had the incentive until recently. My hope is that this conversion is something that can live on and give people a chance to play this somewhat hidden and often forgotten about campaign.

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Post by the_stag » Thu Sep 23, 2021 3:14 am

I've completed 5 more missions, so the first 10 are done. I'd like to think I'm ahead of schedule, but I won't because that will only jinx the project. I've also made some quality of life improvements to the first 5 missions. Mostly cosmetic with some hooks usage.

The link to download is the same as before, here it is again:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

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Post by Lawnie » Thu Sep 23, 2021 6:47 pm

Hey Stag, Angel told me you were working on the remake of XVT and I had done some music editing in anticipation of this. Here's the resulting soundtrack that will work in the Alliance engine. It's not newly composed, just an edited version of the original:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yE6Hxc ... sp=sharing

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Post by Old_Jedi » Fri Sep 24, 2021 3:46 pm

Stag - Great work on the XvT conversion. Many thanks

Lawnie - I assume these tracks cannot just be dropped into the Music folder??

Cheers

O_J

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Post by the_stag » Fri Sep 24, 2021 4:15 pm

Thanks @Lawnie. I was actually looking for those recently as I'm playing through the BoP campaign, but the image I ripped from my CD's doesn't have audio. I'm not sure how I can get them into this conversion tho. The music is high quality, but it doesn't change depending on what's happening in the mission. Maybe someone with more knowledge of the audio system knows what to do, or if it's even possible.

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Post by marcop000 » Fri Sep 24, 2021 5:41 pm

Here the all tracks in WAV of BoP:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/122HTBd ... sp=sharing

all files are ripped directly from CD no quality loss.

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Post by Lawnie » Sat Sep 25, 2021 5:19 pm

Old_Jedi wrote:
Fri Sep 24, 2021 3:46 pm
Lawnie - I assume these tracks cannot just be dropped into the Music folder??
No, they need to be converted properly and labelled, I'll try and get Angel's attention on the topic again as he did this for TFTC and knows the software/methodology to pass on to Stag.
the_stag wrote:
Fri Sep 24, 2021 4:15 pm
The music is high quality, but it doesn't change depending on what's happening in the mission.
Because Alliance uses waveforms rather than a MIDI score to generate the in-flight music, the transitions aren't as seamless. They do happen though. The files I've sent you have been chopped into composite parts that will play like the Alliance music does. They just need to be sent through the correct procedure in order to become one with the forc... to enter the game. I don't think XVT had ship cues or anything like that, so sticking with Alliance there and reversing the files already there for the Empire campaign would probably make sense.

At the risk of repeating myself, I'll annoy Angel about this and get him to post an explanation as to how he does it in the thread.

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AngeI
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Post by AngeI » Sat Sep 25, 2021 5:39 pm

https://www.xwaupgrade.com/phpBB3/viewt ... =9&t=11350 explains the use of the IMC editor for music. It must be at 22050Hz quality, no higher for it to function properly. Any higher will cause the game to eventually crash.

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Post by Rookie_One1 » Sat Sep 25, 2021 9:22 pm

the_stag wrote:
Sun Sep 19, 2021 6:22 pm
There a mission where the player's mothership is an escort carrier and the goal is to protect a convoy of ships carrying new B-Wings. I thought it made the mission more immersive to have a bunch of B-Wings in the hangar, plus it's a little easter egg that you only get if you are using all the different views in the hangar. I'm just learning most of this as I go, so a lot of trial and error went into even making the ESC hangar usable (the default had the player craft way in the back inside the hull). I'm pretty sure I can edit the mission ini file so I don't have to make widespread changes to the game, but I had to stop going down that path or I'd never finish making the missions playable. It's something I need to do more research on, test more, and/or get some help from the masters with. I don't know what the mtl file is for. It was created when I was playing around with the hangar. Nothing seems to change if I delete it, so I just left it there.

I used https://ttsmp3.com to make the voices. They have a limit on how much you can do in a day, but it's right about one mission's worth. Then I converted the mp3 files to wav using https://www.freeconvert.com/mp3-to-wav (they also have a limit, it's about the same). When converting I increased the volume of the file to 200%. I have used different voices for different purposes. Overall I'm satisfied with the result for now.

You all are doing great work with XWAU, and without that I don't think I would have tackled this project. This is something I've wanted to do for years, but never really had the incentive until recently. My hope is that this conversion is something that can live on and give people a chance to play this somewhat hidden and often forgotten about campaign.
On that, if you are doing a reimaging, you might want to switch the escort carrier to the quasar-fire class, like the one they added in the TFTC
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Old_Jedi
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Post by Old_Jedi » Tue Sep 28, 2021 8:20 am

Hi

I just realised that Waylon included the first 15 rebel missions from XvT in his XWC 5.0 viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13661

In fact, all the XvT missions are in the d/l, but I do not believe that he has got to balance them all as yet.

OJ

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the_stag
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Post by the_stag » Fri Oct 01, 2021 3:08 am

Thanks for that info @Old_Jedi. I'll check it out.

I also stumbled upon a post from about a year ago by @capitanguinea that they were working on converting the XvT:BoP campaign. It doesn't appear I can PM him, so if anyone knows how or wants to get in touch with him.

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Post by Lawnie » Fri Oct 01, 2021 8:36 am

As thought for much MUCH later on: because Alliance has a linear campaign you'll need to decide whether to have two separate versions or incorporate it into the Babu Frik configurator and allow it to switch between them like we did with Classic/Reimagined in TFTC.

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Post by the_stag » Tue Oct 05, 2021 4:48 pm

That's a good point @Lawnie. I think I'd like to use TFTC for the imperial side of the campaign,as long as @Angel is ok with that. It would sure make it more immersive.

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Post by the_stag » Tue Oct 05, 2021 4:59 pm

I'm finishing up the last mission of the rebel campaign now. The issue I'm hoping to get some help with is the destruction of the SSD bridge. In XWA, there is a corvette that crashes into and destroys the bridge and causing quite a bit of damage. I've gotten to corvette lined up and it crashes, but the bridge doesn't get destroyed and it does very little damage. I've tried with other craft as well, but no bridge destruction. Although I did get a dreadnaut to hit the bridge and kill the SSD when it was about 80% hull, 0% shields remaining.

From looking at the SSD opt textures, there is a texture for a destroyed bridge, but I can't get it to happen. It looks like @Vince T made and/or perfected this model, but this might be something different. Thanks in advance.

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