[MOD] Taiidan Republic | Update: mod status

Homeworld Remastered Collection Homeworld Mods and Modding
#1

Back in 2004 there was a HW2 mod called the Taiidan Republic Mod. There was a lot of enthusiasm from the community at the time, but sadly the mod died out without producing much tangible content…

So it is with some trepidation that I announce my intention to re-start the Taiidan Republic Mod for HWRM. I have tried to contact the original team members, but unsurprisingly after 10 years most of them have disappeared. This means I am starting with none of the original assets (although I am intending to re-use some of the concepts from the original mod).

The vision

The vision is in the first place to create a full and coherent fleet of distinctive Taiidan Republic ships for HWRM. Further aims include Taiidan Imperial ships from the HW2 era and a single player campaign. I intend to make all ships “open source” and free to use by any other mod - so if this crashes and burns like the original mod, hopefully I will have produced something that someone else can use in the process.

The story

An extensive storyline was worked out by the original team, but here’s a synopsis of what I am using in terms of background:

The mod takes place after Cataclysm (which it takes as canon) and at roughly the same time as HW2. The Vaygr and Taiidan Imperials (as allies) attacked the Taiidan Republic suddenley and overran large parts of its territory. The Republic fought back from remote outposts and eventually, with Hiigaran assistance (after the defeat of Makaan), liberated the captured territory.

For clarity I will be using the same text format styles as Homeworld Shipyards when I post story bits in this thread. That is:

  • Non-canon fiction (#FCE922)
  • Canon fiction (#00CCFF)

The plan

Working plan for the mod (items 3 and 4 are very much long term aims):

  1. Taiidan Republic fleet
    New ships for the republic.

  2. Republic vs Vaygr single player campaign
    The campaign will be released in stages, once the ships for each mission are completed.

    • Chapter 1: carrier-based (4 missions)
    • Chapter 2: mothership based (4 missions)

  3. Taiidan Imperial fleet
    A fleet of new imperial ships in the HW2 era.

  4. Republic vs imperial single player campaign:

    • Chapter 3: carrier based, playable as either republic or imperial (4 missions)
    • Chapter 4: mothership based, playable as the Republic (4 missions)

Some 2019 timescales (subject to change):

  • Jan 2019 - Field platform completed (sort done, got a bit distracted and it isn’t in the release yet…)
  • Mar 2019 - Destroyer completed (only one month late…)
  • May 2019 - Shipyard completed
  • Jul 2019 - Battlecruiser completed
  • Oct 2019 - Mothership completed
  • TBC – chapter 1 mission 2 with corvettes
  • TBC – chapter 1 mission 3 with platforms
  • TBC – chapter 1 mission 4 with frigates & multiplayer carrier only with completed ships
  • TBC – AI

The team

Attempts to contact the original team did not result in floods of people (or indeed any people) wanting to restart the mod… If you are interested in joining please contact me by PM.

Current team list:

Testers:

I am indebted to the following people for their help in testing the various versions of the mod (I can’t @ them because I have too many @s in this post…):

  • Kragle
  • goose3
  • Who
  • Ansark
  • EatThePath
  • raw_bean

Other credits:

Special thanks to @unifin who created an EMP turret for us, which became the basis of the EMP Corvette gun.

Thanks to NASA for their detailed image of pluto, which was used to create the Ice Moon map.

Thanks to “priteeboy”/“chromattix” who created this Gas Giant resource pack that I used for the Gas Giant map:

The progress

In December 2015 the first “teaser” or demo was released on the steam workshop.

In August 2017 the mod was publicly released on steam workshop in its preliminary form. It has been continually updated since then:

Below is a list of the planned ships for the Taiidan Republic fleet. The list is formatted to show the progress of each ship.

Status for ship list:

not started
placeholder
Work In Progress
Complete

T A I I D A N ~ R E P U B L I C

For the latest screenshots, scroll down or check out my screenshots here:

We also have a Mod DB page:

The Taiidan Republic Mod

11 Likes
[SOLVED] How to restrict multiplayer options
Show Us Your Custom Badges!
Gearbox Community Badass: Nathaniel Mattock
[MOD] Taiidan Republic Testing
[MOD] Taiidan Republic scripting progress now at: http://bit.ly/1L4eqGA
#2

I’d just like to point out for people who don’t know, Dom2 is one of the few people who has done campaign modding, with a campaign based mod put out just before HWRM released.

Good luck, and good on 'ya for the open source route. Do you have any specific plans for mechanical or design uniqueness in the republic or imperial fleets compared to the stock ones? Ed: I see there’s a lot of shiplist info in the linked old thread, I suppose you’re probably using that as the model?

#3

Thanks, it’s great to hear that from the direction of Homeworld:@. I hope you don’t feel that I am treading on your toes by working on factions that you also have - I think you are doing some great work and it will be a long time before I can hope to equal the quality of that content.

My aim is for each Taiidan Republic ship to have an obvious Taiidan feel, but to be distinct from the stock HW1 Imperial designs. I want someone to look at them and think “that is definitely Taiidan” but never to think “that could have been a HW1 Imperial ship”. I try to test concepts by putting them in the Taiidan yellow and red colours - if they don’t look “wrong”, they need changing! Taiidan Republic ships will feature fins (like the Taiidan Imperials), and will have an armour plating arrangement. I am toying with the idea that they will have no armour underneath, so they will be very vulnerable to attacks from below, but stronger than normal on the other sides…

Edit: As for the Imperials, I want them to be clearly Vaygr-inspired. My idea of the storyline has the Taiidan Imperials are being used as a useful tool in the Vaygr offensive, so they have received and injection of cash and technology from Makaan. One idea is the HW2 concept “orange ship” (see it here), which is crying out to be modelled as a Taiidan Imperial frigate.

Indeed, but I am not going to be a slave to the old descriptions - one of the blessings of not having the original team around anymore! Also, those ship lists have too many ships for the Taiidan Republic to be balanced with the stock races, which is my intention.

#4

I absolutely don’t feel that way. Everyone has the right to work on their own vision if they want to, and it’s hardly like we invented the idea of the Taiidani republic or empire! And you appear to be aiming to make a faction designed to play along-side the HW2 factions, which is a fairly distinct goal from our aims. No hard feelings at all, I’m a fan of diversity.

3 Likes
#5

@Dom2.
It might be beneficial to see if Siber would let you borrow a few ships that would meet your criteria, if there are any that could be crossed over effectively…

#6

At the least I’d recomend taking a look at our beam effects! :smiley:

HW:@'s policy is still that you have but to ask and credit.

2 Likes
#7

I LOVE that destroyer :slight_smile:

#8

It’s wonderful to see more new Taiidan Republic ships; I’m glad there are others out there who found them interesting enough to give them their own fleet. It’s good that their legacy won’t be wholly forgotten, no matter whether Gearbox ever does Cataclysm or not. Keep it up, sir!

3 Likes
#9

That’s a big job that’s gonna take time. Good luck :four_leaf_clover:.

#10

I’ve made some progress on the interceptor. Textures are WIP (NORM and REFL are actually the Kadeshi Swarmer files!), but I think the model is getting there:

image

image

My model is loosely based on a design by DDurand here for a Taiidan Republic “light interceptor”, which never got beyond this low poly model as far as I am aware:

image

2 Likes
#11

If you need any cruisers to use for the republic taiidan HWU has 2 extra cruisers you could use, thou one is more imperial than anything else, Enterprise E made them years ago. Qwaar Jet Mark 2 and Vanaar Jet. However hwu hasnt been ported to HWR yet cause im not set up to get HWR working, just ordered PC parts this week to finally get going. i got a video set up of the ships you can view if u want.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/a-homeworld-universe-mod-name-tbd-by-community/videos/qwaar-jet-mk2-and-vanaar-jet-are-in#imagebox

#12

Thanks @LeviathansWrath - I remember playing with those ships a while ago. I agree that they might fit better in the imperial fleet. Thanks for the offer, I’ll bear it in mind.

#13

GSY 9519: Republican interceptors engaging Bandit interceptors during a campaign to sweep up Turanic Raider bands from a sector near the Tandall Gate:

image
ss00195.jpg1600×900 296 KB

Hopefully I’ll give you an update soon with a more refined mesh, better textures and badges.

5 Likes
#14

I’m loving the green and white.
Great model!

#15

It’s great that there’s a mod dedicated to the Taiidan Republic. If I may drop some constructive criticism, I think you should have more texture details (and some more geometry details too), before you move on to another ship. There are some flat areas, especially on the Ion Frigate.

#16

Constructive criticism welcome - thanks! :smiley: The ion cannon frigate and light cruiser in the first post are very much preliminary models (and textures). I was trying to be sure I was happy with getting working ships in the game before I launched the mod. So they are not at all finished ships, and will be revisited. Think of them as “in-game concepts”, if that makes sense…

I have decided to focus on some of the strike craft so that I can improve my modelling skills and attention to detail before I tackle some of the bigger ships’ finer aspects. That way hopefully the quality of my work will be better on the bigger ships, which is how I want it (let’s face it, everyone spends more time admiring the big ships!)

Does any of what you say apply to the interceptor? It currently has 1808 polys - this includes refinements made since the images above to the “engine intakes” (the bits just below the cockpit) and the gun openings.

#17

Ok, here is the product of a bit more work on the interceptor (after this I’ll stop posting minor incremental updates, I promise!):

image
2015-08-30_00012.jpg1600×900 125 KB

image
2015-08-30_00013.jpg1600×900 116 KB

The next steps for this ship will be the REFL, SPEC and GLOW texture maps, which are currently blank. I’ll try to add more texture detail in some of the flat areas, as suggested by @Pouk .

#18

Don’t be too quick to start withholding images of incremental updates. I think many modders, like myself, take comfort in seeing other mods post frequent updates, however small they may be.

Also, if I may, I think I will try to give you a few specific advices about your texture here. First, I would suggest finding a consistent detail scale for your vents:

image
Rep1.jpg801×491 225 KB

I would strongly advocate the larger scale. There are a number of reasons for this. One is that details visible from a farther distance will be of greater value, especially on a smaller ship. Another is that if your’e anything like me, you will find making big details HARD. It’s much easier to tell yourself that you should be coating the entire ship in extremely fine details, but this is only going to make your job longer and more stressful, and worst of all, not necessarily make the ship look better, just busier. These are texturing philosophies that I am still working on to this very day.

Along that line, you may already have adequate detail on your rear fin, if you’ll forgive a very crude photoshoping…

image
Rep2.jpg960×717 282 KB

Just scale that up; maybe add a stripe, and you’re probably golden for that surface!

1 Like
#19

Very cool idea. I’m curious though, by lore, why are they not using the same ships? Wouldn’t this be like a civil war except with Vaygr fleets attached to one side, and Hiigaran fleets attached to the other side?

#20

Oh I did not know they’re not in their final form.
Everything you say makes perfect sense. Absolutely. Start with smaller, the bigger ships are the real eye candy and so they deserve an attention from the more experienced version of you.

The interceptor:
The first point I have about team colors vs. texture details. It’s very obvious you’re making sure they don’t “touch”. My approach on the other hand is:
step 1: have a blank model, give it team colors where I want them, where they look the best.
step 2: basically forget the team colors exist and work on the diffuse texture.
step 3: mix it together when it’s done. Erase team colors in the black parts of vents and other details they obviously aren’t supposed to be, just like in the original game.

What you’re doing seems way too obvious. You’re avoiding one another like they’re matter and antimatter and they shouldn’t touch.

Now about the ship design and model:
I like it looks more “civil”, more “republican”, if any of that makes any sense. What I do have a slight problem is that it looks a bit like a basic shape made out of a few polygons, with beveled edges and modelled cockpit. Now, please don’t think of me as a pretentious or arrogant or any other kind of a bastard, but what I’d like to point out is simply better said with pictures:

This is roughly what you have started with:

image
1.jpg800×400 79.2 KB

This is along the lines of what you have done with it:

image
2.jpg800×400 79.8 KB

This is what I would do:

image
3.jpg800×400 79.1 KB

You know, just model something out of it.
What bothers me the most is that edge that goes from the middle of the body to the very end of the wing. I would at least end that somewhere sooner.
But I know you already have it UV mapped and all. So I’m probably just talking about your future ships. (Bevel and extrude are cheap, model till the end. :slight_smile: )

I think your mod is a great effort and it’s going nicely so far. And it will all come to life when you’ll really play with the normal maps.

3 Likes