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Recreational Forums => Trek Discussion => Games => Topic started by: captain_obvious on March 22, 2014, 10:52:36 AM

Title: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: captain_obvious on March 22, 2014, 10:52:36 AM
I recently got hold of a brand new (still sealed) copy of Armada 2 for ?15 and the graphics are...old to put it mildly! (I remember it being bad, but I'd forgotten just how bad  :D)
Does anyone know of any KM style mod packs to overhaul the meshes + textures for Armada 2? I've tried fleetops, but I'd like to be able to use it with the SP campaign (which afaik can't be done with fleetops).

Any ideas?
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: KrrKs on March 22, 2014, 11:40:17 AM
I never came around playing with these, but there is "Project Blue" by FahreS (or similar) for the GUI and for ships there are several "RaceName Shippack"s and "Racename Stationpack"s by Aad Moerman, which look really great (judging from Screenshots)
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: nxadam1701 on March 22, 2014, 11:56:44 AM
This mod is by far the best graphic wise. So much work into it. Constantly updated. You'll will love it.

http://www.fleetops.net (http://www.fleetops.net)
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: Nebula on March 22, 2014, 01:19:26 PM
This mod is by far the best graphic wise. So much work into it. Constantly updated. You'll will love it.

http://www.fleetops.net (http://www.fleetops.net)

I'd reread captain_obvious post if I were you ;)
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: captain_obvious on March 22, 2014, 02:07:27 PM
I'd reread captain_obvious post if I were you ;)

What neb said.  :P
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: nxadam1701 on March 22, 2014, 02:42:40 PM
 :hithead: :hithead: :hithead:

sorry
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: captain_obvious on March 22, 2014, 03:14:49 PM
So there isn't a single download to grab like with KM?  Damn. 
There is a slight problem with the Aad Moerman ship packs you suggested Krrks.  Those packs don't just change the meshes, they also alter the balance of the game (which I don't really want to do just yet).  They're also split over tons of little downloads, rather than as single race packs.  It has different packs, each covering a couple of ships or stations from a particular race.  Kind of a pain to download and install dozens of mods.
Thanks for the suggestions so far guys!
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: BarnesSFC on March 22, 2014, 04:10:02 PM
This mod is essential if you want to play A2:

http://armada2.filefront.com/file/;95978

All it does is retexture stuff and improve the AI to make it beefier. It's a great mod and you should definitely use it.
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: captain_obvious on March 22, 2014, 05:00:44 PM
Ty :)
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: nxadam1701 on March 22, 2014, 08:17:33 PM
Dude, thanks for the mod link, I've always wanted an enhanced regular copy of Armada 2, much appreciated, and thanks Capt Obz for bring it up.

Adam
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: captain_obvious on March 22, 2014, 09:22:56 PM
When the heck did I get 50 cookies 0.o
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: captain_obvious on March 23, 2014, 03:39:19 PM
Okay, I've tried that mod that barnes suggested.  It's helped with the meshes and textures, but it seems to have affected the balance of the game as well as having messed up the AI. 
Ships now just fly into impassable objects (like planets and asteroid fields) when given an order to move somewhere or to return to a shipyard.  They also seem to ignore the standing orders you can give them, things like "fire on sight, but don't move without an order". 
The worst part of the now dodgy AI is with the artillery ships.  You tell them to fire at a target in range and they'll try to move right up close before firing, making them useless against anything stationary that could kill them like turrets or star-bases.

I don't seem to have much luck with mods xD
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: nxadam1701 on March 23, 2014, 04:08:55 PM
 :facepalm:
Well guess I won't try this. I'll avoid the headache.
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: MajorPayne on March 23, 2014, 05:09:02 PM
Try looking on moddb, a2file.com and armada fleet command for all things armada.
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: KrrKs on March 23, 2014, 05:10:43 PM
The worst part of the now dodgy AI is with the artillery ships.  You tell them to fire at a target in range and they'll try to move right up close before firing, making them useless against anything stationary that could kill them like turrets or star-bases.

I remember that stock ship also had that behaviour. I think that was one of the reasons i stopped playing; to avoid the constant  :hithead:
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: captain_obvious on March 23, 2014, 05:33:58 PM
I remember that stock ship also had that behaviour. I think that was one of the reasons i stopped playing; to avoid the constant  :hithead:

The stock ships didn't seem to behave anywhere near as badly as they are with the mod in place. :(
It would happen from time to time when on a map with a complex layout, but it's now happening pretty much all the time.  
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: MajorPayne on March 23, 2014, 05:55:27 PM
The problem is that armada 1 used continuous patching for combat based orientation movement. You could assign an attack pattern from one of a few that were available. Armada 2 had this but it never worked properly. That's why I personally preferred the combat aspect of armada 1 and the gameplay of armada 2. Sadly the graphical quality of a1 was somewhat poor by comparison.
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: captain_obvious on March 23, 2014, 09:34:38 PM
A shame really.  I'd pay for a remake of A1 and A2 in a modern engine, keeping the game play pretty much as is (I.e. 2 dimensional) but using modern UI, AI, meshes + textures etc.

Or perhaps a remake of Legacy in an engine that behaves a little more like BC? :P
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: Nebula on March 23, 2014, 09:57:14 PM
Legacy was a rebuilt A2 engine. xD
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: captain_obvious on March 24, 2014, 08:11:22 AM
Legacy was a rebuilt A2 engine. xD

Hence that last line lol
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: Lord Tribble on March 24, 2014, 08:19:56 AM
Aad Moerman has remade just about all the models in the game;
http://armada2.filefront.com/developer/Aad_Moerman;24929
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: Tuskin38 on March 24, 2014, 09:27:16 AM
Someone already suggested that and he passed it off because they were spread among too many downloads
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: captain_obvious on March 24, 2014, 11:10:39 AM
Someone already suggested that and he passed it off because they were spread among too many downloads

Exactly.  I don't mind a couple of downloads, but the packs this Moerman has made are split up over several dozen packs.  That's just too many.
Title: Re: Armada 2 graphical mod pack
Post by: Lord Tribble on March 24, 2014, 12:28:55 PM
Someone already suggested that and he passed it off because they were spread among too many downloads

Ah, missed that. My bad.