[MOD] Better Planets and Backgrounds 1.3.2

[Russian Rockman]

How would I go about using those beacon images?

Since you asked so nicely here they are in .ftl format. If you happen to be an artist I can send you the non edited original version of the images that I found and maybe you can make them look even better.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/o2g07bsmormtgy2/Hi-Res%20Beacon%20Map.ftl

[Letswolfman]

Hey,
I followed the instructions but i noticed that when i downloaded the file it didn't have the (.ftl). it had (.7z). This made it impossible for the slipstream mod manager and the other mod manager to install it.

[Saizew]

Unpack the file with 7-zip. It's an archive which contains the .ftl-file and a readme...

[sanmonku]

Do we need to run Asteroids with BPaB 1.3.1?

if you don't want vanilla asteroids then yes


don't know about them beacon map images yet, we'll see...

[Russian Rockman]

If you ever plant to do an update to BPAB again I have one suggestion. Maybe you could add some moons either by themselves or revolving around one of the bigger planets.

[Estel]

I remember seeing moons around some planet in 1.3.1 (heck, isn't there even a moon on the main menu screen?)

[scooterbaga]

Hello,

My fellow FTL junkies, we're going to go through something very difficult right now. I'm afraid many of you have may have been misled. I was once like you. Then one day I realized the truth. If you'll allow me, I'd like to share these truths with you.
Be forewarned… The following graphic images may be as extremely disturbing to you as they are to me:

I'm sorry you had to see that. Every time it comes up in-game it literally kills me. I had no choice but to do something about it:

Better Planets Techmoon Fix_Newish.ftl

For those who prefer the original:

Better Planets Techmoon Fix_Original.ftl

The horror doesn't stop there. Brace yourselves... There's also this:

Chilling.

Never fear. Utilizing sophisticated algorithms for true randomness developed at MIT, I've painstakingly recreated the asteroid fields.* Each frame for the animation edited by hand to provide a more immersive experience.**

Betterer Asteroids.ftl

Keep in mind, that's only a replacer for the asteroids. The other improvements provided via that Better Asteroids mod aren't included. (i.e. The lightning) I also didn't modify the "low" version of the asteroid field as I don't have any use for it.

As long as these replacers are below/after their original mod in the load order, they should work without issue.

Hopefully the rest of your days find you well, and the tragedies you've borne witness to here do not follow.

Seriously though, these only stood out to me due to the extremely high quality of the rest of the mods' contents. I'm probably the only one who even noticed. Clearly these two are must have mods.

For what it's worth, regarding the use of the "space-art pictures as backgrounds", I'd say several of those are definitely good candidates as are. (e.g. one, two) Elements from numerous others should absolutely be included in future versions. Namely of the "large planetary arcs" (e.g. Like the big planet from this.) Perhaps a "star version" of the planet in this one as a replacement for "planet_sun1.png"?



*I just googled "random dots" and lined up a handful of asteroids using one of the images I found. Just happened to be some MIT Study.
**Tops I moved like a dozen, across all three images. Took like half an hour.

[Estel]

First of all, thanks for your work.

Now, to be honest, I like the "hairy moon" thing - it makes it looks like buildings on it are so big, that they're visible from space, changing moon's contours. + that it doesn't seem to have atmosphere (something not unusual for a moon).

As for asteroids, call me blind or blame the screenshots, but what got changes? New ones have better resolution, or what? I suspect that you've improved them somehow, but what precisely got changed, escapes me.
---

From a totally different barrel - you seem to be capable of doing graphical edits, so maybe you would be able to do two small long-standing request? First one is about the "blobs" that ABS is shotting since AE. You know, the thing that looks like cruisers started to send a barrages of high-speed giant gelatinous cubes. If you could make it mlight green and less blooby (+ less pixelated, if possible, as during later phase of flight, one pixel of it is as big on screen as a whole crewmember), it would be great. Why green? Cause heavy lasers are green and artillery lasers are bigger greenies, so it would be in-line with how more powerful shots are presented in FTL.

The second request is to take sun image from BPAB, and create a frames with different brightness, then packing them up as pulsar replacement. Vanilla FTL pulsar isn't bad, but it stands out negatively, when used alongside other magnificent BPAB stuff.

Thanks in advance,
/Estel

// Edit

http://sanmonku.deviantart.com/art/inse ... -155844325 was used already as menu image in older version of BPAB. OTOH, the...
http://sanmonku.deviantart.com/art/quot ... -137610725

...could be remade into nice pulsar, too!

[scooterbaga]

Now, to be honest, I like the "hairy moon" thing - it makes it looks like buildings on it are so big, that they're visible from space, changing moon's contours. + that it doesn't seem to have atmosphere (something not unusual for a moon).

I tried to convince myself of that that while my laziness was talking me out of editing the images. However, if those were cities, they'd be more clustered, less random and have more variation in height/shape. Perhaps domes? You're right about no atmosphere and the silhouette though. That's probably why the smoothed version of the original didn't sit well with me. Since all the sizes are effectively completely relative, the one with the atmosphere works for me. Who's to say it isn't terraformed?

As for asteroids, call me blind or blame the screenshots, but what got changes? New ones have better resolution, or what? I suspect that you've improved them somehow, but what precisely got changed, escapes me.

The example image only shows part of one of the three asteroid layers. All three of which suffered from things being lined up. (That's what I'm attempting to show with the blue lines.) The asteroid layers are tiled by the game and are scrolling across the screen in noticeable rows and columns. Also, the tiling in the layer containing the smallest asteroids made some dupes obvious. What I did was "misalign" the individual layers and removed a couple dupe asteroids. The result being a more random asteroid field. Like I mentioned in my OP... I'm probably the only person on the planet who would've ever noticed. I could create some images exemplifying the issue. However, it could only serve to destroy the bliss of ignorance...

From a totally different barrel - you seem to be capable of doing graphical edits, so maybe you would be able to do two small long-standing request? First one is about the "blobs" that ABS is shotting since AE. You know, the thing that looks like cruisers started to send a barrages of high-speed giant gelatinous cubes. If you could make it mlight green and less blooby (+ less pixelated, if possible, as during later phase of flight, one pixel of it is as big on screen as a whole crewmember), it would be great. Why green? Cause heavy lasers are green and artillery lasers are bigger greenies, so it would be in-line with how more powerful shots are presented in FTL.

I could probably do something. However, I'm not that entrenched in FTL modding. I don't have the tools that decode the dat file and I don't know where the sprite is you're referring to. I'm only modding the mod... if you will. Perhaps if you can find another mod that already modifies the sprite...

The second request is to take sun image from BPAB, and create a frames with different brightness, then packing them up as pulsar replacement. Vanilla FTL pulsar isn't bad, but it stands out negatively, when used alongside other magnificent BPAB stuff.

I agree 100%. I don't think BPaB even touches that one. That speaks to how well the mod complements the game when the vanilla items stand out as the problem. Same holds true for some of the Captain's Edition content. In a perfect world, BPaP would have an add-on for that mod. The next thing on my list of maybes is the CE content that's jarring enough to warrant editing. I don't know how to manipulate the animation aspects of the hazards.

the...
http://sanmonku.deviantart.com/art/quot ... -137610725

...could be remade into nice pulsar, too!

Ya, that image is just sick. It's standalone art, so it's not quite right for a backdrop as is. Damn if those elements shouldn't be worked in somehow though.

[sanmonku]

long time no see.. yeah i'm not doing anything FTL related at the moment...

the tech moon is inspired by cypertron

and yes i agree, in a perfect world