Black Screen but able to select characters on the bridge

[AlbertWesker]

Hello all! I am new here, and I've been looking for some guidance with a Single Player issue I am having. I use this Single Player Mod to change ships in Single Player, and its really great, however...when I start the first mission it changes the ship for me, no problem. I can be whatever ship I want in place of the galaxy just by going to the scripts and maelstrom folder and changing the name from Galaxy to whatever other ship.  After the game goes to the second part of gameplay, where you become the Sovereign, I get a black screen but am able to select bridge crew as a I move my mouse around.  So basically; when I choose to be a different ship in the Sovereign=Player2ship section of the maelstrom.py, like the mod says to do, I end up getting to the part of the game where you can be the Sovereign, after the last Dauntless mission, and I get a black screen that only shows commands to each character on the bridge, as if you were calling on them while on the bridge. However the game just kicks me out after a few seconds. Here's what I would like to do. All I want to do is play with the USS Enterprise A, specfically P81's Enterprise A on single player for both the galaxy missions and the sovereign missions. Does anyone know how to do this??? Oh god please tell me. A thousand thanks!! This is said Mod: http://bridgecommander.filefront.com...stomizer;90463

[jlhill17]

I am having the exact same problem.  I found the single player mod the OP mentioned for changing the ships you use in the missions, and it works for the first part of the game, but after the mission where you have to protect Biranu Station from the Cardassians, and Admiral Lieu calls you back to Starbase 12 for a "special" assignment, my screen either goes black, but I can still select my crew, or it doesn't go black, and says normal, but in either case, my objectives list is suddenly empty and my "Set Course" list is also empty, so I can't proceed to Starbase 12 or do anything else.  I'm just stuck.

Does anyone know how to fix this, or if there is another method for changing the ships used in single player?

I am playing version 1.1 with Foundation and a couple of downloaded ships & bridges.

[Lurok91]

I'm not sure how much help you guys will get, but I'll try off the top of my head seeing as spent the best part of last 18 months or so tinkering under hood of single player campaign.

Short answer:  is possible to change lead ship.  Mario/Sovereign did a script mod that made that easier (not sure if was ever officially released?).  But it's not that simple as that...

Long answer:  it's not just as simple as swapping out the lead ship for another.  There are various points in certain missions where Maelstrom scripts need the stock hardpoints to work properly (shields, etc) and stock weapons (PhotonTorpedo, etc).  So unless you know how to modify and/or rescript hardpoints, you're going to hit a problem sooner or later.   If it's really that important to change ships over, I could try and do a beginner's guide to give you an idea what to change and how.  But frankly I wonder if it's worth the effort?   Hope that helps  .

Bottom line:   DON'T change the stock hardpoints (or scripts if can avoid).  Just the physical models. And you should be ok.

[KrrKs]

I am playing version 1.1 with Foundation and a couple of downloaded ships & bridges.

There are various points in certain missions where Maelstrom scripts need the stock hardpoints to work properly (shields, etc) and stock weapons (PhotonTorpedo, etc).

So if your downloaded Ships overwrite any of the Stock ships (especially Birds of Prey, Nebula, Akira, Vorcha, Keldon, maybe Warbirds too) these also will not work properly in some Campaign missions or even cause CTDs.
For the Sovereign, there are (if i remember correctly) 2 or 3 such Occurrences in the whole story.

If you really just want to blow through some missions with an alternate ship and don't care that much for the story,
-you could open BC in TestMode and just jump over the parts where stock system properties are needed.