FQM 5.00 Beta 10

[Fyron]

Announcing the posting of FQM 5.00 Beta 10, for SE5.

Beta 10 is not savegame-compatible with Beta 8, but should be compatible with Beta 9.

This release is meant to bring parity with the newly announced Multimedia Pack. From now on, the Multimedia Pack will be required to use FQM.

Now that there is a separation between the mod and (most of) the images, other modders can feel free to resume updating the version of FQM integrated into their mods, and simply direct people to install the Multimedia Pack before their mod.

download link (1.7 MB)

Multimedia Stellar Pack (12.2 MB)

Beta 10 version history:
1. Changed - FQM now uses the Multimedia Pack. Lacota's planet textures have been removed from the mod download file, and are now present in the Pack.
2. Removed - Until such a time as a better solution can be made for the ringed planet models, the new ring textures have been removed. Duplicating a bunch of stock planet texture files just to use new rings is not a viable solution.

Please note that this is a work in progress. There are bound to be quirks, which you should report. All suggestions for improvement are welcome!

[Santiago]

Just a quick observation. I noticed this just recently in FQM 9 and it's in FQM 10. SystemTypes File - Asteroid Belt entry (brown dwarf) - Object 15 - Specific Stellar Obj Name is entered twice.

Obj 15 Physical Type := Asteroids
Obj 15 Position := Circle Radius 200, 240
Obj 15 Stellar Abil Type := Normal Asteroids
Obj 15 Specific Stellar Obj Name := Any
Obj 15 Specific Stellar Obj Name := Any
Obj 15 Size := Any
Obj 15 Atmosphere := Any
Obj 15 Composition := Any

[Fyron]

It doesn't have any effect in-game, so no need to worry too much at this point.

[Baron Munchausen]

Just a note about whatever version was used in Balance Mod 1.05...

The stars look really great. They are so much more varied, detailed and realistic that I can't believe how drab the stock stars look now.

But, some of the planets are too bright. They seem to have a 'glow' in their own right around their rims -- as if the atmosphere was fluorescent -- rather than just reflecting the light of stars. It seems to be gas giants mainly. You need to tone down some of the gas giants a bit.

[Fyron]

Technically, they use the same base texture as stock, as far as detail is concerned. If you notice, the red star in stock has a nicely varied texture, with all sorts of faux-flare info. Sadly, for the other color textures, it was way over-saturated and made very boring looking. When I recolored everything, I used it as the base and avoided the over-saturation.

Gas giants have the same texture and glow brightness levels as rock and ice planets. Perhaps it is an artifact of them being generally larger than rock/ice, thus having a larger glow? It is all quite proportional, but the absolute pixel size increases as the planet model size increases.

With the new color-coordinated planet textures, the original purpose of the planet glows is lost (to be able to identify atmosphere at a glance). I like how they look though. Hmm...

...I can't believe how drab the stock stars look now.

Making stock look drab is my number one goal.

[Santiago]

I didn't think it had any effect but I caught it when inputting into an excel file and it disrupted my columns