Time for a quick update. Mario and I have worked out a good roadmap for what we want to achieve with 1.2. Previous posts have given some info, but I'll repost everything here for ease of viewing and add in the new goals since the initial announcement:
Additional MissionsA small new campaign, no bigger than the "True Way" story line that was featured in 1.1. We're also looking at new historic missions and putting Starbase 375 to work for a few of them. I'm in the process of writing a story line and building a couple new maps for them. Full disclosure, this is probably the biggest hold up at the moment. I'm trying to write a story that's at least equal quality to 1.1's "True Way", and I'm a bit of a perfectionist in this area, but I will be presenting something to Mario in the very near future.
Ship ReplacementsAn earlier post mentioned that we've secured permission from Wiley Coyote to replace several older DS9FX ships with his versions. To ensure playability we're using 1024x1024 textures where available - this will ensure the mod is playable to most of the community while also limiting the strain on BC's engine (remember that BC's engine loves polys but hates textures). We also have Aftermath's DS9 and Dominion Dreadnought integrated into the mod, and LongIsland26's Starbase 329 standing in for Starbase 375 - both stations have full docking ability and have a scale that feels good in terms of canon and gameplay.
Hardpoint RebalanceThe influx of new ships of course means new hardpoints. To save time I simply imported my own scale from my own custom install, and feedback from Mario and Blackrook has been positive so we'll be sticking with it. I think you guys will like flying the rebalanced ships.
Easter EggsI've seen previous posts mention Easter eggs, so I'll go ahead and address it. This is a low priority, mainly because we think there's still Easter eggs from 1.0 that have yet to be discovered (hell I beta tested 1.0, worked on 1.1 and am leading 1.2, and even
I don't think I've found them all lol). If this changes, we're sure you'll notice if you have Easter eggs enabled
Bug Fixes/Stability ImprovementsAfter speaking at length on this subject with Mario, we're at the conclusion that we've got BC as stable as it can be through python, so in terms of stabilizing BC and addressing memory leaks we've kind of hit the walls that BC's antiquated engine has erected without the source code.
On the subject of bugs, one of the biggest things DS9FX has to be proud of right from the beginning is the fact that it has always been released in a very stable state with a minimum of bugs. What few 1.0 had were mostly addressed in 1.1, and the very first 1.2 build I sent to Mario and Blackrook addressed a couple others. Long story short, bugs are always something we're on the lookout for, and any that are detected will be addressed to the best of our ability. As with all other versions of DS9FX, the community can rest assured that this version will be presented in the most stable and bug free state that we can offer.
Lurok's Ops SetAs was announced earlier, we're very happy to say that Lurok91 has given permission to include his DS9 Ops set in this latest DS9FX release. I'd like to add a special thanks to Blackrook here as well, as he managed to sort out some of the scripting bugs the set suffered from. To my knowledge, Ops doesn't have a download link for BC anywhere, and since the name of the mod is
DS9FX, it almost screams its inclusion.
As it stands right now, it's looking like 1.2 will be a full install since it's built off of 1.1 - the patch files for that were unfortunately lost with BCS-TNG's shutdown (a full 1.1 build was saved thankfully), so an incremental upgrade to those of you who already have 1.0 is off the table for that reason. If somebody does have the 1.1 patch saved somewhere, by all means shoot a PM to myself or Mario and we can post an incremental update as well.
Like any other mod, development time is always up in the air (real life commitments), but I am happy to report that enthusiasm is high, and the work is progressing at a comfortable pace. We definitely have an itch to put out an update to this awesome mod, and we're hell-bent on scratching it. I will let you all know that we have goals in place that maintain the ambition that previous DS9FX releases have always showcased, but are also reasonable given the amount of time we can commit. We hope the community is ready to fire up BC one more time and enjoy
