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Get it on the Addons Page
It is with great pleasure that I announce the release of Realm of Prey for EV Nova. This is a port of Tim Isles' TC for EV Classic, and is without a doubt some of his finest work.
The plug-in can be downloaded from the Addons page here.
Please read the support documentation before attempting to play!
About the Plug-in
This tale is set in a galaxy administered by the benevolent Earth Confederacy which, after decades of successful expansion, has evolved into little more than an anachronism that is beginning to crumble and fall apart at the seams. With the Confederacy embroiled in a civil war against a mysterious xenophobic splinter group, known as The Faction, true galactic power lies in the form of expansionist transgalactic megacorporations and powerful pirate guilds. Having spent the past few years as first officer on a United Galactic Express hauler and seen first hand the horror of civil war, you have resigned your post and undertaken a career as an independent merchant, investing the bulk of your meager savings into a sleek new Boundless class shuttlepod. An uncertain future awaits as you head into an increasingly unforgiving galaxy dominated by the law of the jungle; a universe where you exist as either predator...or prey.
What's new in the Nova edition?
There have been many changes that take advantage of the Nova engine. While these changes are detailed fully in the support documentation (which I IMPLORE you to read before attempting to play), the most notable are:
- Updated planet, explosion, and asteroid graphics - Ship variants for all ships - Upgradeable escorts - Particle trails for projectile weapons - Mine-able asteroids - Government specific, map borders, news reports, and news graphics
Before You Try to Install
READ THE SUPPORT DOCUMENTATION!!! (seriously)
Realm of Prey for Nova requires you to install the Nova conversion of EV Classic in order to run properly. It is important to note that there are, in fact, two EVC ports out there. The plug-in should work with either one installed. HOWEVER, it has only been tested extensively (read: for more than 10 minutes) on the official port created by ATMOS. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that you use this version of the port.
The EVC port can be downloaded here for mac.
And http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/vftp/dl-...ova_classic.zip for windows.
Again, please read the support documentation before attempting to play!!! Also, you may have to empty your pilots folder in order to get the game to load properly.
Many thanks to Tim for his assistance during the conversion process, and to all my beta testers for their hard work.
WTF? :blink: It's more like a star trek thing. :laugh: + When ever i try to buy a ship it says that its not working properly and needs to close. :mad: And i can also buy only one mass extanger. :mad: Need's more work, but apart from that. Nice graphic's. Cool ship's. And most of all cool outfits.
@static-the-one-and-only, on Aug 8 2008, 10:19 AM, said in Realm of Prey for EV Nova Released!:
WTF? :blink: It's more like a star trek thing. :laugh:
When ever i try to buy a ship it says that its not working properly and needs to close. :mad: And i can also buy only one mass extanger. :mad: Need's more work, but apart from that. Nice graphic's. Cool ship's. And most of all cool outfits.
Ok calm down for a second. Have you made sure you installed everything correctly? Did you start a new pilot file? Are you sure that your ship has enough cargo space to allow you to buy more than one mass expansion?
Could you maybe post a pilot log so that I might get some more information?
@macdevil, on Aug 8 2008, 03:28 PM, said in Realm of Prey for EV Nova Released!:
Oh yeah it says no plugins opp's :rolleyes: I tried reading the readme.
But the ship thing is still happening to me.
and yes i did start a new pilot. Every thing is installed because i downloaded it a second time, but nope, cant buy ships.
PilotLog is attached.
This post has been edited by Static the one and only : 09 August 2008 - 12:52 PM
@static-the-one-and-only, on Aug 8 2008, 12:26 PM, said in Realm of Prey for EV Nova Released!:
Oh yeah it says no plugins opp's :rolleyes:
Well from the pilot log, it looks like you have not installed Realm of Prey, only the EVC for Nova files. You are also using an old version of EVN. These things could be contributing. Also, I assume you've registered?
You also seem to have a rather large number of credits given your current ship and combat rating... Might there be some sort of a cheater plugin in play here?
@macdevil, on Aug 8 2008, 08:03 PM, said in Realm of Prey for EV Nova Released!:
I downloaded the 2mil mission plugin but thats the only one that works.
And i have installed it.
Well, downloaded it. Its in my evnova program bit any way.
I'm willing to bet he's on Windows and hasn't run the .bin files through the converter and didn't read the documentation.
@nonconventionally-creative, on Aug 8 2008, 04:17 PM, said in Realm of Prey for EV Nova Released!:
Me too! As it says in the first post:
You can't use any other plugins with Realm of Prey. That's what's causing your problem.
Thanks MacDevil! It's great!
Note to people who tried the beta: Your beta pilots will run fine. No need to start over if you were halfway through the Faction string, and wanted to finish before you were thoroughly sick of yourself for joining the Faction in the first place.
EDIT: Okay, I just have a few little issues with the new version... I think it's great that fighters and other craft now make full use of their armament (i.e. No AI ship ever used Heavy Rockets), but I'm sadly disappointed that my ship-borne Tactical Bombers no longer shoot off their bombs right away at every ship I target. They simply will not fire bombs first at any ship smaller than a cruiser until their rockets are gone (that is half true. About half of the time, they will shoot away at frigate class ships), and even then, I can't expect all eight of my fighters to respond. Especially with mission-related cruiser ships, I rarely get no more than two of four fighters firing, and only after all eight are deployed (that is to say I can't even predict which will actually fire, and I have to release all eight just to make sure two or four will fire). Interestingly though, I usually get all eight firing at non-mission related cruiser ships. I've also noticed that while all my fighters rarely hesitate to dump everything on a standard Faction Heavy Cruiser, I can hardly get all of them to fire on a Legion of Honor version. I examined the resources of the Tactical Bomber in both the beta and the new release, and could find no difference aside from the speed improvements. I imagine similar behavior may be found with other carried fighters, but haven't tested. I don't consider my favorite use of Tactical Bombers to be a cheap or cheating strategy, as often it is employed when I am pitted against savagely powerful foes and I need all the firepower I can get. The Bombers are now useless in fighting aliens, for one. Gone is my favorite ambush trick, gone. Sigh, no more death-defying charges at cruiser fleets leaving carnage in my wake...
Another issue is that auxillary escort ships in many missions often don't behave like they should... Faction ships in Aceleron Biogenics space are hostile to me in the Faction missions involving AB... Atinoda escorts attacked me in the Mashrivoka missions, and just about any pirate escort has turned against me, often before attacking their mission-described foes...
But aside from that, I love the speed.
This post has been edited by Geek : 09 August 2008 - 03:58 AM
@nonconventionally-creative, on Aug 8 2008, 09:17 PM, said in Realm of Prey for EV Nova Released!:
Actually for you info i did read the read-me so don't tell me what i havent done and you know what mabey i did run them through the converter and they are still bin files so don't accuse me of not reading. :mad: I can read you know i am not some retard. :mad:
This post has been edited by David Arthur : 09 August 2008 - 09:16 AM
@static-the-one-and-only, on Aug 9 2008, 03:38 AM, said in Realm of Prey for EV Nova Released!:
Actually, for your info, I did read the read-me, so don't tell me what I haven't done, and, you know what, maybe I did run them through the converter and they are still .bin files, so don't accuse me of not reading. :mad: I can read you know; I am not some retard. :mad:
I wasn't trying to insult you but we do get a lot of traffic through here that misses the basics. By the way, on these boards we appreciate people who take the time to properly capitalize and punctuate, although your spelling and grammar is by far not the worst we've seen here.
So, when you drop the .bin files onto "Convert Plug-ins.exe", you should get out a copy of the files but with a .rez extension. These are the ones that you need to put in Nova Plug-ins. If you check my sig, you can download a batch file that will automatically converts files in "Nova Plug-ins" for you, so just drop the .bin files in Nova Plug-ins and double-click "converter.bat" in the "EV Nova" folder. (I discovered a bug when dropping a folder from an absolute path containing spaces - I need to upload a fixed version - but last I checked it works fine for just the Nova Plug-ins folder, which need not be specified)
@nonconventionally-creative, on Aug 9 2008, 03:34 PM, said in Realm of Prey for EV Nova Released!:
Sorry about my last quote but it was morning and i did say in a last post that i had read it, sorry about that. :unsure:
Oh i thout you had to open it i didn't realize that you had to drag and drop. :laugh:
------- EDIT: ------- Nope they are still bin files. Mabey its just my luck.
This post has been edited by Static the one and only : 09 August 2008 - 12:49 PM
NVM
All i had to do was run the batch file as an admin for it to have permission to write in the program files folder.
Mabey i am a retard "Nonconventionally Creative" :laugh:
----------------- Testing now ......................................................... Nope still can't buy ships or make a new pilot. ......................................................... Cant watch holo vid .............................. cant gamble ............ End of test -----------------
Oh well..... .....at least i know how to convert plugins. :laugh:
Sorry guys at least other people will get to play it.
And plus, i don't want you guys wasting your time on me.
Does your pilotlog confirm that you loaded the files now? You should also upgrade to the latest version.
@nonconventionally-creative, on Aug 10 2008, 06:08 AM, said in Realm of Prey for EV Nova Released!:
Yep just upgraded there.
And yes it does.
Awww It doesnt look like a star trek thing anymore :laugh:
@geek, on Aug 8 2008, 11:29 PM, said in Realm of Prey for EV Nova Released!:
EDIT: Okay, I just have a few little issues with the new version... I think it's great that fighters and other craft now make full use of their armament (i.e. No AI ship ever used Heavy Rockets), but I'm sadly disappointed that my ship-borne Tactical Bombers no longer shoot off their bombs right away at every ship I target. They simply will not fire bombs first at any ship smaller than a cruiser until their rockets are gone (that is half true. About half of the time, they will shoot away at frigate class ships), and even then, I can't expect all eight of my fighters to respond. Especially with mission-related cruiser ships, I rarely get no more than two of four fighters firing, and only after all eight are deployed (that is to say I can't even predict which will actually fire, and I have to release all eight just to make sure two or four will fire). Interestingly though, I usually get all eight firing at non-mission related cruiser ships. I've also noticed that while all my fighters rarely hesitate to dump everything on a standard Faction Heavy Cruiser, I can hardly get all of them to fire on a Legion of Honor version. I examined the resources of the Tactical Bomber in both the beta and the new release, and could find no difference aside from the speed improvements. I imagine similar behavior may be found with other carried fighters, but haven't tested.
Yes, I am 99% sure this effect has to do with the overall speed increase. Also, in the final version, the turn rates of the torpedos and guided bombs were lowered, making them much less maneuverable. This is how it was in the original plugin. I believe the AI is smart enough to not waste ordinance firing on ships it does not think it can hit. Since, all the ships are faster, there are more ships that the AI considers "fast." I bet if you went up to a Syndicate Behemoth or a Pirate Bloodletter and ordered your bombers to fire on them, they would do so without hesitation. In any case, this is the price to be paid for the overall speed bump methinks.
Quote
Bah! I thought I had gotten all of these in beta. Could you tell me which missions you observed this behavior in?
Looks like a 1.1 patch will be in the works...
@static-the-one-and-only, on Aug 10 2008, 02:57 AM, said in Realm of Prey for EV Nova Released!:
Well your pilot file makes it look like everything is working fine now. Is that the case?
@macdevil, on Aug 10 2008, 02:41 PM, said in Realm of Prey for EV Nova Released!:
Yes, I am 99% sure this effect has to do with the overall speed increase. Also, in the final version, the turn rates of the torpedos and guided bombs were lowered, making them much less maneuverable. This is how it was in the original plugin. I believe the AI is smart enough to not waste ordinance firing on ships it does not think it can hit. Since, all the ships are faster, there are more ships that the AI considers "fast." I bet if you went up to a Syndicate Behemoth or a Pirate Bloodletter and ordered your bombers to fire on them, they would do so without hesitation. In any case, this is the price to be paid for the overall speed bump methinks. Bah! I thought I had gotten all of these in beta. Could you tell me which missions you observed this behavior in?
Looks like a 1.1 patch will be in the works... Well your pilot file makes it look like everything is working fine now. Is that the case?
Nope still can't buy ships. But like i said, don't waste you'r time on me. :laugh:
"Waisting their time" on people who need help is one thing a lot of people do around here. So they're going to "waste their time" on you whether you like it or not! :laugh:
Thanks for the input, MacDevil. As for the escort issue, I recently captured a Legion of Honor Heavy Warship, and now I have 12 fighters who don't seem to mind using their bombs a little more, but still not as much as I liked. But I'm adapting. I'd like to say that I'm not entirely certain it's just the speed increase, since in the beta, NO ship ever used Heavy Rockets, and my Bombers will release their bombs close range after their rockets are gone (and many of these close-launched bombs do not hit. If I have my bombers on Defense or Attack-Every-Hostile-In-Sight Mode (i.e. Press "F" without targeting anything), they tend to get more damage out of my foes, though I have to be careful not to lose them. It is useful in cleaning off a fighter attack.
As for the escort problem, I'm still not done with the Faction storyline, so I don't know how Earth storyline escorts function. Unfortunately, my pilot already managed to progress past the Renegade Merchant, So I can't tell you if you fixed that bug, but on almost every mission where I had pirate escorts, they attacked me after either finishing of their foes, or if I attacked their targets to soon, and somehow got them mad at me. My Atinoda escorts attacked me when I was storming Mashrivoka space. My Faction escorts attacked me when I was breaking into and out of Aceleron Biogenics Prime.
EDIT: Let me make it clear I'm talking about auxiliary ships, not the kind I can give orders to.
And another note on the Bombers... Whether it's an intelligent AI that won't fire shots it knows won't hit or not, I may note they rarely hesitate to shoot away their Heavy Rockets long-range and hit nothing, and then shoot of their bombs close-range and mostly miss.
This post has been edited by Geek : 11 August 2008 - 04:04 PM
@geek, on Aug 11 2008, 04:39 PM, said in Realm of Prey for EV Nova Released!:
Interesting. It sounds to me like the AI controlled fighters are sensitive to the value of a ship's strength field. They won't launch an all-out attack on a ship they deem to be significantly stronger than their own combined strength. This would explain why they are willing to attack a regular Faction Heavy Warship, but not a Legion of Honor variant, as it has a significantly higher strength value.
Ok I'll look into this again. It sounds like a problem with the govts for these specific ships. I can say for certain that the Renegade Merchant problem from the beta has been fixed in the final version.
Thanks for the info.