[MOD][SW2] Project "Retrospection"
 

Hmm..release date of AoV was postponed and we probably won't get any demo so...I've decided to find some fun elsewhere.

I'm just playing Russian mod for SW2 and I've thought that maybe someone of you would like to check it too. It's not a simple mod. When installed it weights @2,7 Gb (1st part which is 85-90% finished), contains a lot of new ships, weapons, sounds, music, new map, storyline, perks system, etc. The main problem is that the mod is in Russian. I've translated most of the text via google but.. you know... translation is rarely correct but at least I can understand what is all about. If someone would like to test the mod and help with polishing the translation ;) I send him all stuff I've done so far.

Mod can be downloaded here and you can contact creators here.

Mod installation steps:
1. Retrospection v4.3.exe
2. Retrospection v.4 (Music).exe
3. Retrospection v.4 (Video).exe
4. Retrospection v4.3 (Patch 3).exe

Localization installation steps:
1. Copy all content from ../DATA/LocData/Russian folder and paste it into ../DATA/LocData/English folder.
2. Download this file, place it in the game folder and run it. It's a self-extracting 7zip archive. Alternatively, you can download common zip version here.

Alternative all-in-one version links (full mod + my localization):
Link 1
or
Link 2
Installation: put the rchive into main game folder and run the exe.

Most of the "localization" is translated by google so expect a lot of lols. Only crucial things like perks and names got a little more attention. English is not my native language so I haven't even tried to correct dialogs, items' descriptions, etc.

!!! ATTENTION !!! Unfortunately, this mod doesn't work with original, StarForce protected version of the game. If want to play you'll need to download another version of the "Star Wolves 2.exe" from e.g. GameCopyWorld.

Tried installing it on my current SW3 (restored ogirinal Data folder), cinematics play, white-screen and ctd when it starts loading the game's main menu.

I'll reinstall and then we'll see.

As you wrote the mod is for SW2 not for SW3:CW.

... Oh wow.
Thanks.
So, clearly SW3:CW (Originally « Звёздные волки 2: Гражданская война ») doesn't count as SW2. Good to know.


I'm going to go bury myself now.

Ooops.. funny how it came out. It was intended to go like "As I wrote..". I didn't know you wrote that line about SW2/SW3:CW.

btw I'll add translation (as it is) today/tomorrow evening so you'll get he idea what's going on.

Is there an translated version for that mod?

Info added to the first post. If you have any questions let me know.

Thank you.....

After i downloaded it and extract it , it weights 2.7 Gb.... :o :grin:

thx for info. I checked only the archive. Fixed.

Hmmmm ... first ctd ... so was this mod tested on an english version of star wolves 2? When i choose the ms it crashes ... i checked the logfile and was a file missing in quests ... there are some ogg files and 2 other... dont matter important is that the files are from the original sw2 when you meet KT and Bryna...... I unziped the mod in other place and the quests folder is empty,,,,

I play this mod on english version, no problems. You use Win7 or XP? I use XP 32-bit and don't have much experience with 7.
Anyway, I'll try fresh install in a minute and let you know. Maybe I f..ked up something with translation.

I have Windows xp 32 bit ....

Upload a save after you choose the ms .... And i'll see what is happening....

Hmm..hard to tell. I've just reinstalled the game and mod. All works nice and smooth. No CTDs. I get "LoadOggFile" and "EngineFXProperties init fail" in log but these errors are not so important and certainly don't crash the game.
My suggestion - try to extract all five parts of the mod to five different folders and manually copy content to the right game folders. If you are prompted for overwritten you know you do it right.
If you still get the ctd post your logfile.txt and scripterrors.log (if it contains something).

Ok... Il try....

Please check your quests folder and tell me what you have there....

After intall - 110 folders filled with several files each. I'm talking about ..\Data\Scripts\Quests. "Quests" folder in LocData is not used by the mod.

Aaaaa ok... i thought the folder in locdata is my problem... i tried .. nothing ... Here is my LOGfile....

This is what I have in log:
and this is yours (I've cut unimportant sound errors):
From unknown reasons engine doesn't run all the scripts and it may cause your problem. I'll add a saved game but it may not help.

:rolleyes: It works with the save..... Can you do one more thing for me? Goblin Wizard

Do you want a save with others motherships? ;)

:grin: Yes.... i want with Ramadanta.... you can reed may mind....

As you wish :) Now you have all.

Thanks.....:grin:

Goblin Wizard,

First off, I am a long time player of this series and I am grateful for all the mod work you've done over the years and bringing this russian mod to our attention.

That being said, I need help with this. Maybe I am doing something wrong but I have been trying to get this mod to work with your translations but I have unable to do so.

I have been able to install the mod and run it without follwing your translation steps of moving the russian folder into the english folder and running your 7zip and it works. I get the russian splashscreen at start and it starts off with a new begining. However, I get placeholder dialogues when I run it like this. Basicly it says Missing Dialogue in the box where the pilot would normally be having text. I assume thats due to my using the english version. So I know I have installed the mod itself corectly.

However, when I copy the russian folder to the english folder and run your program in the main game folder it crashes on startup. I have followed your advice given in earlier posts. I am thinking that I am doing something wrong here and maybe you can elaborate on this step in the process.

Any help is appreciated. I am really dissapointed in the lack of information on Ashes of Victory and this mod looks like it would help kill time until q1 2012 turns into MM/DD/YR.

If it crashes archive may be damaged. You can try download it again. Anyway I've just added link to common zip version. I hope it'll work for you now.

Thanks for the quick reply. Tried a fresh install using the zip file but it still ctd. I hope others have better luck.

Don't give up yet. I'll make one file version of the mod with all localization files included. Due to my tragic upload speed it may take a few hours. In meantime could you post what you get in log files when the mod crashes (LOGfile.txt and ScriptErrors.log)?

Hmm.. an idea. Make a fresh install (without localization steps). Open default.cfg in main game folder. 2nd line from the bottom should be __localization_folder "English\". Change English to Russian. Run the game and check if you see russian dialogs (cyrillic). If it works you can try to copy localization manually into Russian folder.

P.S. It's very strange to me. The mod works flawlessly on my desktop and laptop. It's hard to help because I can't duplicate your errors and see what's going on.

(INFO) Root::ReleaseObjects()
(ERROR) class Root: error in expression: ((g_Root->g_SoundManager)) == FALSE

[EXCEPTION] 0x005eda00 EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (The thread attempted to read from or write to a virtual address for which it does not have the appropriate access.)

CALL STACK
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
c:\program files (x86)\valve\steam\steamapps\common\star wolves 2\Star Wolves 2.exe
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(ERROR) class Root: error in expression: ((g_Root->g_SoundManager)) == FALSE

[EXCEPTION] 0x005eda00 EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (The thread attempted to read from or write to a virtual address for which it does not have the appropriate access.)

CALL STACK
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
c:\program files (x86)\valve\steam\steamapps\common\star wolves 2\Star Wolves 2.exe

Ok this is the error message in the logfile, sorry for the wall of text. Why it is a sound error is beyond me though. I appreciate you taking the time to reupload.

Hmm.. seems that your system takes sound errors more seriously than mine.

Try links below. The file is self-extracting 7zip archive (only 7zip gives archive that weights less than 1gb). If it crashes download 7zip from here.

Link 1
or
Link 2

Put the file into main game directory and run.

OK I reinstalled - ran and got to the first state of it runs but with dialogue placeholders. Took your advice and changed the localization from english to russian and got the ctd, so its the mod and not your patch.

Checked my log and got the same error message as before.

Edit: I will try the files above

I've just realized that you have steam version. I remember people saying that it's the most bugged version of SW2. Some of them tried "3rd party" exe and it worked. If you still get ctd (after installing from my package) you can try it. It's the last possible option I can think of.

Sound errors may mean that your system lacks of some codecs but I doubt it. The game has its own codecs and they should be enough.

Sorry to say still getting a crash, I have no idea what a 3rd party exe is but I have spent hours now woring on a mod that I may not even enjoy lol. I don;t want to waste any more of your time with this. Thank you for the effort, 1c ought to put you on the payroll.

Check these two posts (1st, 2nd). There are a lot of threads on this forum about issues with SW steam versions (especially SW2). It looks like too many copy protection systems (original StarForce plus additional soft from steam) makes the game unplayable on some configurations.

Sounds like a large mod, too bad I didn't buy SW2 :/

I guess I'll go back to waiting for Ashes of Victory to get postponed again... lol... x__X

You can get it on the cheap nowadays. I know people knock SW2 and it did have issues but I found it a diamond in the rough. I was disapointed that sw3 took away things that were introduced in sw2 like the concept of having a crew for your mothership or random missions. It is worth a playthough if you can get it to work :)

Yeah, I loved the feature list especially random missions and crew, and I did have a friend who bought the game, but the story felt too short and crashes too often for my tastes.

Is there any way to get this working on my german version?

Something like changing language from german to english ... ?

Download full version. Install it. After installation copy all content of ..\DATA\LocData\English and paste into ..\DATA\LocData\German. That's all but whole game will be in English.

Thats what i already tried :D ... game crashes on startup :(

Soo.. first let's try clear russian version. Download 4 parts and install them. The bast way to be sure that you do it right is to extract them to 4 different directories and then manually copy to the game directory. When you get prompted about overwritten you know you do it right.

1st option:
Then go to default.cfg and find line __localization_folder "German\". Change German to Russian. Try to start the game.

or
2nd option
<if you tried the 1st option remember to change back Russian to German in default.cfg>
copy all content from ..\DATA\LocData\Russian to ..\DATA\LocData\German. Try to start the game. This may looks the same like the method from my previous post but it's without my localization files so it makes a difference.

If it still crashes, please, post your logs. Do you have steam version? Do you have german patch installed?

Can't reach the russian site do download the russian version ... is it maybe (temporarily) down? ...

I tried both ways with the english one file mod on fresh german installation and with first and second patch too and i have no steam version of the game ... and it still crashes :(

The logfile is with the second patch on sw2 ... (i havent seen some difference between fresh installation and the patched versions in logfile)

Looks like it. If it won't come back in next 2-3 days I'll upload files somewhere else.

Your game crashes at the same moment as Lotrek's. Very strange. I'll try some different tests. Maybe I'll be able to duplicate your error and find out what's going on.

Sorry to hear it's not working for you but I am kinda glad I am not alone :)

At last I was able to duplicate the error and I've found what's causing it. Unfortunately, it's StarForce copy protection system. The only solution I know is downloading a different "Star Wolves 2.exe" version from e.g. GameCopyWorld so it's up to you guys. With original exe my game crashes at the same moment as yours. After replacing this only one file all works nice and smooth.

Great ... works with the english exe from gamecopyworld ... tried the german before and with this exe it wont work :D

grrr, gamecopyworld just hangs when i try to dl from any of thier mirrors. Ill try later and let you know how it goes.

Horray!

Got it up and running. My game crashed at the same point that kokain_jtp dd but I used your save games and was able to proceed.

I am enjoying the "translations:".

Hot Plasma to you Star Wolves!

Game is kicking my patootie. MAybe I am doing something wrong but I am on the first mission that has combat , delivering the hammer and patroling the sector and the enemies are tearing me apart. I have taken out 3 alien patrols but when I go against the pirates, they tear me down in seconds.

In the first sector I bought a turret for my mothership and a laser for my pilot, that was all I had cash to afford. I really didd't see anything else for sale that would have been useful. Any hints on this Goblinwizard?

:-) Yesss... the beginning is hard and tricky. I had the same problem when I tried the mod for the 1st couple of times. It depends on your tactic but my idea was to keep mothership as tank so I sold one of my fighters and some other unnecessary stuff, bought cheapest auto-repair system (~160K) for my ms and for the rest of cash (10-15K) best affordable fighter. Even basic turrets for your ms are costly at the beginning and with fresh pilots don't do much damage. To survive your first fights you need to regenerate your ms. IMO fighters are too fragile to serve as a tank.

OK spoiler alert I guess

Heres how I managed to get past this. I reloaded following your advice, I also changed motherships from the Ramada to the one you have in your first save for its extra durability, with one extra step. I made sure phantom had alien 2 tech learned and sold all the small autocannons on the fighters for extra cash for another turret.

That second sector goes a ton smoother being able to mount the alien tech, yes alien blaster autocannons are 10x better than the human ones, you pick up from the start. Even still I had to pause and think my tactics on each fight. So far I am loving this mod and it is just the begining. Thank you for bringing it over to us Goblinwizard!

I have problems with the ms with 7 turret slots ... the 3 turret slots (where you can mount it) in the line with the 2 system slots, i cant mount turrets here it. Says that the device (or how the standard message for this is) is not mountable to this slot ... could someone fix that?

PS: Has someone a workable link or can upload the IMDEditor pls?

This forum has a very nice "search" feature you know ;). Check here.

But it won't help with your current game. Your ms parameters are saved along with many other things. Even if you fix it you have to start a new game to see changes (or buy the same ms again - just to get fixed version). Hmm..have you tried double-click instead of drag&drop method? It sometime works with ships that contain only minor bugs.

P.S. If someone get to the end of the demo, please, let me know. I'll need a saved game to test some things. Thanks in advance.

Sry just forget a minute that there is a sufu but thanks ... yes i already tried it with double-click (I always use this, if i dont replace modules).

The thing is that the mod was written for the Russian version of the game with using the Russian cured exe :)
The ones who still want to try the mode can try the following thing:
1. Download the "original" mod files from Starrover site (4 files)
2. Delete or rename the whole folder DATA in the original game
3. Unpack the folder Retrospedtion v.4 into game folder
4. Unpack Retro (Video) and Retro (Audio) into game_folder/DATA
5. Delete all *.loc files in direction game_folder/DATA/LocData/Russian and copy Goblin's translated files into that directory from game_folder/DATA/LocData/English.
6. I think you can use licenced exe or (if it crashes) better use the tablet.

7. Forget all the 6 points above, come to Starrover site and sign into beta-testers (I don't think there are too many people testing this mod now). There you will get the complete folder with the game and translation from Goblin Wizard :grin:

I assume you are attempting to mount lasers. If you look at the laser turrets it says they are only for corvettes. If you look at the machine gun turrets (Which I guarantee are mountable in those slots) they say they are for large ships, ie motherships.

I assume later on we will be able to buy corvettes, like the butcher, and this is just one of the changes the mod team made. I am finding alot of little things like needeing uranium to make a system jump, that they modded to make thier story fit thier vision.

Some machine-gun turrets can be fitted only on corvettes and fighters as well.
Turrets that can be fitted on MS are:
1. flack turrets (only multi-barreled machine-guns) - against small, quick targets like fighters
2. BS turrets (kinetic, laser, plasma) - against big, thick and slow targets like BS's of different kinds.
No, you will not be able to buy corvettes. Only specialized "electronic support" fighters (we call them system-fighters) on which the corvette-turrets can be fitted.
What about stations' interfaces? :)

oK I think I found a game breaking bug. I am at the point in the story where I have 2 active quests:

Shadows of the past

Return to Eritrea

In the second quest it states that all I need to do is enter Eritrea and Lekstel will give me further instructions. Thing is, I am in that sector with Lekstel in tow and nothing happens. I have tried flying around the eintre sector with him docked in the mothership as well as flying alongside the MS. I am aslo unable to dock at any station in the sector.

Really enjoying this mod but I am at a loss on what to do here, any clues?

It's almost the end of the Demo. If you didn't meet "Black Dog" bounty-team, then there must be a script bug somewhere.
You can stop the game for now - nothing really exciting will happen :)
I'm planning to upload the continuation for beta-testing in a month or two.
The whole story should cover 15 human sectors, 1 alien one and Precursor's labirinth (32 sectors).

ah ok, I figured with all the sectors on the map it would have been longer. I look forward to the continuation. Kinda stinks since I finally got decent guns for my ms and gen 2 fighters for my pilots lol.

Didn't you visit black-market in Eritreya? :o

I picked up the black market perk but nothing was ever available in the black market tab on the trading stations. Are you saying there was a black market station?

Shops are filled with stuff when you enter a sector so you have to have black market perk before you enter the sector with black market station.

I call it "black" because you cannot visit it freely like any ordinary trading station in Llanovar or Elinor.
Setico station in Eritreya opens its market when you take the quest from Naduy to smuggle a few conts of drugs to him. You also have a chance to get a good flack from that guy if the smuggling operation is successful. :)

Same here.

I understand you solved it?
I haven't yet had time to try messing with it, am going to d/l GW's data folder, see what that does for me.


=====

Mod (in Russian) loads properly, placeholder (i.e. missing) dialogue and some skill descriptions.
(.cfg is /English, so the missing text makes sense)

D/led GW's original translation, extract/overwrite into Data folder.
Game fails to launch.


As I said, haven't had time to fiddle with it yet.
Will update if anything relevant happens.

Same here, though the last 4 bits of address aren't the same.

I understand you solved it?
How, plz? :p

I haven't yet had time to try messing with it, am going to d/l GW's data folder, see what that does for me.


Note:
Already using 'third party' .exe for stability (so as not to say usability).

=====

Mod (in Russian) loads properly, placeholder (i.e. missing) dialogue and some skill descriptions.
(.cfg is /English, so the missing text makes sense)

D/led GW's original translation, extract/overwrite into Data folder.
Game fails to launch.


As I said, haven't had time to fiddle with it yet.
Will update if anything relevant happens.

Well I followed all of Goblin Wizard's advice, look through the thread for all of it. The last piece that finally made it work is d/l the exe from gamecopyworld. I am using a STEAM version and the drm was not allowing me to modify the sound files, by using the third party exe I was able to bypass that.

I finished the mod as is, when they relase the next version I guess one of us should gather all the fixes sprinkled through this thread and post it in one message. It is worth going through the hassle, as it seems no one else really has the time or inclination to do a story based mod to help hold us over while we wait for ashes.

If I have time, mind and ability to finish this mod I promise it is going to be no less interesting than the very 1st part of the game :)

Just wondering how this mod goes with the Steam version of the game?
I've found SW2 to be so incredibly buggy in any other format that it boardered on unplayable. But I love the series so much I'll give it a shot if anyone thinks it can be done?

I use the steam version. To make it work you have the d/l a new .exe since the steam version is loaded with interfering drm. If you go through the thread you'll see instructions.

Hmm.
I'll re-get it and try again, then.
Thanks. :)

Great mod, worth playing star wolves 2 again. In Retrospection if u are skilled with missiles like Corsair and have good antimissile defence, then u are a God. Only thing left to do is find good homing missiles. I figured it out how to get enough uranium for portal jumps:I made a lot of money and experience in Eritrea while waiting for pirates to jump out of that portal in the top right corner of the map. 3 days i have been killing there and got lot of things to sell back in Lanovar. In a system where there is a trade station and a patrol station(or similar station) sell your uranium to trade station,go to patrol station(or any other which sells energy source or uranium) buy there uranium and go back to trade station and sell your new uranium again to trade station, but let it stay there. Then go again to patr. station to get uranium again and sell it to trade station. When u sell enough uranium to trade station(I made a stock of 30 pieces) buy all uranium back from trade station and for sometime u have enough for jumping through portals.

So... don’t know if anybody wrote this yet (I’ve read trough the forum, but my memory is a bit non-existent):

GREAT MOD!

But a few minor things (I know it's a work in progress, but can't help. Captain obvious to the rescue!):

Some words in dialogues are not translated (maybe typos in original text), also Google translator doesn't know names of races, so it doesn't translate them.

In a mission, where you have to find a smuggler by going to six waypoints in correct order, the names on the map are in Russian. Wouldn't be that bad (mwahahaha, Slavic languages for the win), if I'd be better in your alphabet. Sadly, we use latinica.

Pieces of dialogue are missing, and sometimes a whole dialogue is in Russian (one of them being the one near the end of demo, where you get the Eritrea mission, the dialogue starts after entering a system or two before).

Someone really needs to translate this personally. Google translator is a real torture tool. Most obvious when you get a mission and just follow the pretty spotted line, 'cause the mission text makes almost no sense at all.

MS gets caught in stations landing field. Example: "Basic station"
On the same subject, MS sometimes can't dock at station, and you have to repeatedly click on it or guide it around the station and try to dock from a different angle.

Fighters in groups behave weirdly. Really weirdly. They stop attacking targets, most of the time just evading shots or flying in erratic pattern, and they also get confused while docking with MS. Maybe it’s some kind of path finding error while grouped.

I think that's more or less it. Notice the part about my memory.
Also

GREAT MOD!

With respect,
L

One of the reasons I've made this so called "localization" was that someone that knows Russian and English will be attracted enough to make a real translation. Unfortunately, still no luck. But don't worry. Mod grows and gets better constantly. I don't have much time to play lately but I'll surely make a new "localization" when the next demo will be ready.

Tried this mod, with the normal exe and the fixed, both results in the same CTD straight after launch. (both work fine with the original data folder in place).

So I ask, how did people get the steam version to work? I downloaded the link 1 version if that helps.

(now I have to remember how to fix the old steam ships not shooting bug again^^)

Actually the mod should work with the license exe that was going with Patch 1.1 (if English version had that patch)

Don't think there is an English patch. When I tried the Russian patched exe (not fixed (gcw servers down) starforce popped up and since I got the star wolves collection through steam, starforce won't verify.

I will try and install it all again with the Russian 1.1 patch when gcw gets its download servers sorted.

Oh well back to re-skinning sw3 ships...I found these forums 2 years too late it seems.

If you're ok about Russian then you can try the Russian version without monkeying with Goblin's "localization" :)
The exe you're needed I can send you by email. It's only 4.5 mb.

Nah, I'd need the localization, can't read a word of Russian :)

Got the exe, I will muck about with it all later, need to do a backup of all my modded files^^.

Quests
 

SPOILERS

Anybody knows what i have to do to get the hammer online?
Also how to get those Alien Patrols out??? when i attack hem they end up killing me xD


SPOILERS

Addon "Retrospection" is being transferred to SW:CW engine.

Nice... new bugs :)) at least we got soemthing new

I doubt you played old bugs, man ;) :)
On the other hand locallization must be easier on CW.

:rolleyes: When will be the mod ready for SW3:CW?

My partner is busy about it now. He is quite succeful but it'll take at least a month. And then I'll have to put in some additions to the game.

Looking forward to see this mod in SW3 engine. Keep up the good work friends!

Thank you!

I'd like to ditto that. Keep up the good work MM and thank you for the time and effort in breathing some life into the franchise.

I've found something about two mods for sw2 , one of them is called "Orion" and i saw new stuff... lots of new ships...guns...missiles... Anyone knows anything about it? Is there an english version?

Pure Russian. Made by StarRoverTeam as well :)

Any chance to see that mode in english in the next months? is better than retrospection?

100% - no :)

I have been rather suprised at all the sudden interest in Star Wolves lately... I even had someone approaching me asking me about it. A pity that Ashes of Victory never panned out, though, I was looking forward to playing it.

Me as well :(

I am currently playing two games only, one is Third Age Total War, a mod for Medieval 2 Total War, and Star Wolves 3 + all its mods.

I even installed SW 2 just to play Retrospection, and it`s a great mod, but has some graphics problems or lags. I think it might be my SW 2 boxed version, I had to go to GameCopyWorld for another SW2.exe just to start it after installing Retrospection.

I really wanna see Retrospection in SW 3 engine, that would occupy my whole next period of gameplaying ( hoping that the guys will finish it ofcourse). :grin:

Michael Moon,

It's been 2 months since your last word on porting this to sw3. Just curious at what stage you are on that.

Thanks for the hard work
ME

Hi everybody!
Unfortunately my partner who is responcible for porting the game is currently ill now. He promised to do everything as soon as he recovers.

May your friend gets better as soon as possible. :)

And Happy New Year to you all! :D

If it is a question then you'd better asked him at StarRover-forum. We have a special branch over there for English-speaking users.
Thank you!!!