WIP mod for KETM

[bourbon bot]

Thanks to Deniska for
KETM

I am working on a mod for it based on the game
1941
my newest work is on page 3
deniska's build 0.06 is bottom page 2
any feedback would be welcome

[deniska]

Very nice!

BTW, you can easily script the order in which your enemies come out; timing; warning messages; etc.. just check the level data files - they are all plain text files..
The next release will have the mod (mod/xm/it/s3m) music and wav fx support.
So you can start composing your tracker music ;-)
I could trhow in ogg support but it takes too much CPU from rendering the screen...

I am working on some speed optimizations too...
BTW, you can change the size of all graphics in the game as long as it's proportional - collision detection will pick it up...
In general the smaller the sprites the faster the rendering goes...

Have fun and I hope to see even better mod soon,

DENIS

[bourbon bot]

yeah mucking around with it
is it possible to
-change frequency of cloulds so as to add graphics without overlap
ie have islands and clouds without producing large bmp for fluent background
-store modded graphics in sub folder or access them from dat file
-change number of frames in an animated bmp
-change default background or colour not covered with clouds in levels
-use png instead of bmp
and is any info available from open source as to what parameters can be used
any info or link will be much appreciated

again choice port hope to do it justice in its final form.

[deniska]

yeah mucking around with it
is it possible to
-change frequency of cloulds so as to add graphics without overlap
ie have islands and clouds without producing large bmp for fluent background
-store modded graphics in sub folder or access them from dat file
-change number of frames in an animated bmp
-change default background or colour not covered with clouds in levels
-use png instead of bmp
and is any info available from open source as to what parameters can be used
any info or link will be much appreciated

again choice port hope to do it justice in its final form.

You'll have to change the code for this...
I could send you the src & the make for cygwin if you want to play around with it..
I already decreased the number of clouds in my new version..
I could easily code both background & clouds.. but there is a substantial frame rate decrease.. I am still trying to figure out the best way to make the game both looking nice and still be fast & playable...

[deniska]

just added the screen shot option to my code..
here is your screens ;-)

[yanky]

anybody know where the game itself can be found? ive googled it but not found the psp port, the original, that is needed for the mod. any help?

[Predator]

<A HREF="http://psp-news.dcemu.co.uk/files/KETMcomp.zip">Download KETM</A> or visit there <A HREF="http://www.studio-grey.com/ketm/">Homepage</A>

[yanky]

i did visit their homepage but didnt see the dl. thanks!

[deniska]

Here is some unofficial build for all ya modders out there...

It includes basic sound support (mod music/ wav fx)
screenshot (R-TRIGGER)
lot's of bug fixes and performance improvements..

I'll list them in the official release...

The graphics and game data is mostly from 1941 mod (with minor changes)

DENIS

[deniska]

Good job, man!
Played your mod for 2 hours :-)

One small comment: resize the width of the background to PSPs width: 480px. This way the image load size will be smaller and ,hopefully, it's gonna scroll a bit faster since there is less re-scaling for the CPU...

[bourbon bot]

thanks for that the background was 500 wide which also made enemy formations spread offscreen but ive modernised background altogether

will final release allow for more levels and bosses as have 3 more bosses ready if it can and if different backgrounds could be used i could make some
more of them.

scroll down for .05 build and alpha 1941 mod

[deniska]

thanks for that the background was 500 wide which also made enemy formations spread offscreen but ive modernised background altogether

will final release allow for more levels and bosses as have 3 more bosses ready if it can and if different backgrounds could be used i could make some
more of them.

only changing minor things now so wont release mod until final ketm is out

I am still far away from "final release".. (the source for the port was "alfa" to begin with) but making some progress.

So far I
1) changed most of the graphics to PNG (there is still one BMP and a couple of jpegs) - this should save alot of space on MS.
2) re-structured the directory structure to allow multiple mods to boot from the same executable. You get a starup menu with the available mods.
3) pre-loaded most of the graphics - which should make the first run smother.
4) fixed (kind of) the pause menu - press [select] during game play. It's still buggy - while you on pause, the game clock keeps ticking, so when you resume - you get a load of enemies at the same time :-)... still it's usefull for bailing out of bad game.
5) introduced some new bugs during the last build... those will have to wait a few days since I left the latest source at work... - the game tends to crush more often.. plus the name entry screen is gone in this build (will fix it later..)

I will not be focusing on creating more levels/bosses at this time - want to fix all the problems with the existing levels first. As to different backgrounds - I'll try to work on that, maybe to setup different options like: no clowds; stars w/o bg - this could be handy on some last stage with lots of enemies since bg rendering take up lots of cpu power; change bg graphics on each level, etc.

Anyway, check the latest unofficial build - still extremely buggy, but it will give you the idea what was changed and how to adjust you mods in the future.(Btw, you can use oggs as your music, but it takes up more cpu then tracker music :-( - could still be used in the menus...)

[bourbon bot]

your a legend doing fantastic work
i really hope the modding feature catches on and people create good ones
looks like i have some conversion to do
have decided to have a more modern background rather than remake of
original fixed a few planes changed minor things need alot of time to muck
around with the enemy order to get a good feel
changed some sounds

[wraggster]

bugger another release, great work Deniska ;) & bourbon bot too :)

[bourbon bot]

Just a screenshot of new background and a new boss

[deniska]

looking good..
One comment though, can you improve on the clouds pics?
I tried to play with photoshop myself, but culd not make a realistic cloud pics..
What do you think should be the transparency level for the clouds? Currently it's 50%...

[bourbon bot]

maybe 0% for small and medium clouds
and if speed of clouds were constant they could be ground objects
ie islands or solar systems
medium clouds constant speed but quicker could be
medium close objects and big clouds could be clouds or milky ways
with 50% transparency hard to say
do not know much about coding but if they were all constant speed and
not transparent i could try out some effects for you

here is an attempt and found tutorial at www
n-sane.net/tutorials/fluffy_realistic_clouds/index.php

[bourbon bot]

went outside took some photos touched them up
with photo shop

[bourbon bot]

here is an alpha 1941 mod for build ketm 05

changed background
clouds
music
sound effects (best with headphones)
explosions
minor enemy changes

added boss gotha

please scroll down
for 0.06 build

[deniska]

ok..

here is a small update to the KETM:
-Each level can now have it's own music, background and clouds images.
(see example)
-in game pause seems to be working fine now
-a few bugs fixed - seems to be less crashes
-weapons power slightly adjusted - kill rays made more frequent, and fireballs a bit less frequent.

[bourbon bot]

Sorry i deleted an earlier post
deniskas 0.06 build is now bottom page 2
whoops
and an updated mod is below

[deniska]

I checked out the latest pics and must say that I liked the previous ones better.. Indestructable ships and taks don't really feat the game, especially with their current speed/ distance ratios.. so I would convert them back to clouds.. and little planes.. (maybe baloons??).. but then again - it's your mod - your decision ;-)
I'll try to make the clouds speed scriptable in the next release, which is probably not going to be this week.. since I got occupied with long overdue ROTT port, which I'll probably release to the public tomorrow...(I gotta play for a few hours to make sure it's stable enough ;-))
Meanwhile, could you do me a favor and create startup icon and background for KETM? ICON0.PNG (144x80) & PIC1.PNG (480x272) ?
thanks in advance ;-)

[bourbon bot]

Your'e right about the ships etc got my friends to try it and they got distracted by them and then you can't kill everything that moves..mmm
oh well..
here is a an ico and background not great but i had a go

Rise of the triads nice..

[deniska]

Nice..
I like it, thanks

[bourbon bot]

here is my updated 1941 mod for ketm 06
and a couple of screenshots of levels 2 and 3

[deniska]

Nice screenshots! I was gonna suggest to "borrow" satelite images from google maps as backgrounds.. but looks like you did it on your own ;-)
Unfortunately, I could not open the rar - I think it's corrupted...
Would you mind sending me all images/sounds in your _1941 directory?

Thanks

DENIS

[bourbon bot]

try this one

[bourbon bot]

just wandering if anyone else is working on a mod for this great shooter
you can mod the graphics music and sound fx backgounds and fonts
and script the enemy and text that appears ingame
there is a bit of work to do but maybe if some people have ideas or even team up
there is great potential for mods
galaga is one idea
would love to hear from others pm me if interested or have suggestions

[jchaak]

can't stop playing long enough to think of anything original but galaga would be cool. thats it, gotta get back to 1941.

Thanks BBot great mod.

[deniska]

speaking of modding..

I released the source code with the latest version (v0.8) so those with c/c++ basic knowlege may easily alter enemy attack patterns too or add more stuff to the game...

Also, the latest release seems to run farely fast with 48kbs encoded ogg soundtracs, meaning you can listen to your favorite music while playing the game (it's easy to convert mp3s to ogg)

[jchaak]

where are my manners?

Thank You DENISKA for this GREAT moddable port of KETM!!!

Now if I can put down 1941 long enough to load v.8

soon, very soon.

EDIT got it loaded, Awesome!!! thanks again.