RELEASED Lucario Race 1.3.4 2.2

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welp I finished the next Update and...... I can't upload it!!!!!! The uploader on this website is saying the 2.17MB file is too large to process when the limit is 10MB!!!

So I finally got everything done. I ran test after test and got the ships to fully work. I even got it to work on the Start Mission with both the landing gear version and the mini version for the cut scene

So welp :/

Imma going to post this picture for now until I can get this mod uploaded:


I've already made a thread in the forums about this, so the DEV and MOD teams will be alerted.

Hopefully I can get the update out soon!!!!!! -facedesks-

 

Zancuno updated Lucario Race with a new update entry:

Ship UPDATE!!!

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

Welp time to work on that sprite update. This may take me less time to graphically make but to get the Character Creation to work with it, it will take some time to code.

I am thinking of posting screenshots of my work along the way.

 

Alright work is going smoothly.

So let me explain what I'm doing:


So as of right now I have been cleaning up the sprites to prepare for the later modification. This will make it a whole lot easier compared to just trying to do what I have planned blind.

I noticed something on the body that was just pure wrong that went un-noticed for a long time. You see the lower half of the body doesn't really matter for armor, but the top half does. I noticed upon working on the body, that there is no similarity between any of the chest area. This is a problem because chest armor and clothes only have 5 poses. 3 chests for personality, 1 for running, and 1 for jumping. The sprite sheet had almost all of the chests a unique shape and well, I didn't notice. Maybe you guys have noticed stray pixels in game? Maybe the armor didn't cover the entire chest on some frames?

Well I went ahead and fixed this as you can see above. That was a screen shot I took while I was working.

I'm probably going to load in the new sprites before I do the massive edit to see how they look in game.

Now for the alternate body types:

Lets take this screenshot to help aid me in explaining this.

Okay you see how it just looks plain? That's the standard male body. The tail is usual, no changes.

So on this sprite sheet I will need to:
Make it to where there are 3 other types of tails
Be able to remove the chest spike
Make the toes of the digitigrade legs be re-color-able to give the option like what Mega Lucario has.
Make a neutral gender body

So how am I going to do this?

For the tails, what I will do is make several layers (3 more for the tails alone) On these layers, I will draw the alternate tails on the sprites. These will serve as the template. I will assign each tail type a different color pallet. Next what I will do is hover the tails over the base sprite sheet at 50% transparency. For the portions of the tail hovering over blank space, I will transfer the color. Although if parts of the tail overlap an already existing color pallet, I will make a third color pallet for the overlap. What this will do is show which parts overlap. Using that I can code certain colors to turn invisible and or replace colors in the species file.

This is how I'm going to handle the alternate body parts. It will look like a mess when I'm done but the clever coding will give you all the options you will need.

 

THIS!!!! Looks ever so much better!!!



Like I said earlier, I was going to load in the cleaned up sprites to see how they looked before I start the mass modifications. I have to say that this is way better than before. Also yes, you do see the paws.

I can't exactly send this out as an update yet because none of the armors and clothes are made for this sprite yet. I have to finish the huge modification first so I can then adjust the already made armors and clothes for the next release.

 

Okay so I got the first alt tail done... kinda. It's not coded in yet since I have to layer another tail onto that one.

So maybe I can better show you what I am doing:


Okay you're probably thinking i just ruined the sprite right? Welp you would be wrong. It's kinda complicated but study the colors for a bit if you can. On the bottom of the uploaded screenshot you can see a complete mapping and to it's right, one not worked on yet. So what is this madness????!!

well that's the riolu tail, which is just really a thicker version of the lucario tail. You may notice 3 new colors: Navy, plain blue, and purplish.

The navy is the outline of the riolu tail.
The plain blue is the lighter shade of the riolu tail
The purplish is the outline of the lucario tail where the lighter shade of the riolu tail is.

To explain how this works:
For the lucario tail, I will turn the navy and plain blue invisible. Then the purplish will become the standard dark shade of the sprite.

For the riolu tail, I will turn the navy to the sprite's dark shade. I will turn the plain blue into the sprite's mid shade. Finally I will turn the purplish into the Sprite's mid shade. This will create the tail.

These options will be coded into the species file and all you will have to do is change the fur color till you get the tail and color you want.

 

So... ahem

It's been a while since I have updated, work has been chaos. I can say I have been thrown everywhere.

Although I have gone through the effort of mapping out the sprites..... all but one tail... the fluffy tail is going to be the hardest to map being a completely different shape. I have mapped the spikes, the 2 tails, the neutral and standard body, and even mega markings for the paws.

This was a pain to do between work hours but I got that much done.

I had to truly think about the pixels I put down:

Which ones are going to turn invisible?

Which ones are going to be replaced with a different shade?

If this turns invisible, is there something behind it?

In all these cases, if I ran into any of those questions, it required me to place a pixel of an entirely different color. It took me a while because I had to actually think about it and plan it out.



Just for what I have done, forgetting the 3rd tail. I'm going to have to code this in and test it.

I've already run the numbers and I will have to type in 288 lines of code to give all of the options mapped currently.

This is going to be a long night...... to make it easier, I'm going to be doing this in the species file


I haven't started yet, as I am about to start on this.

See you guys after the storm!!!!!!!!

 

well.. umm I keep defining my colors.... and this is the organization now for the first color selection

A whole lot more simplified, but copying and ... okay more explained... but copying and pasting this as a template for all the colors on all 8 categories of the fur color option ONLY has already made the species file reach a whopping 3,276 lines. I hope Starbound can process this.

 

Well Starbound took the coding. I'm having to go through the thousands of lines to fix miscolored pixels. I also have to make some slight adjustments to the hex codes to keep the coding from recoloring something I didn't want that color.

I'm completely unsure about the 3rd planned fluffy tail now after doing so much work.

Let me know if you want me to add the 3rd fluffy tail or not.

 

So I'm about to take a small break for the next few days from working on this. Tonight was a Night Shift at work, tomorrow is an Afternoon Shift, and the next day after that is a Morning Shift. I won't have time to work on this so I have set a few thing up.

On Starbound Amino, I set up a poll asking if I should include the third tail. That will be going on during my break. So far I have had a majority of people say to add it. By the end of this short break because of work, I will know my answer. If any of you have feedback as well, then please tell me.

So while thinking about how I'm going to do that tail, I thought back to the sprites again. I have learned a few things messing with hex code and then it hit me. I have a few theories I need to try out when I get off this short break.

1. I might be able to designate the mega colors to the eye color.

You see in what I have right now, I color mapped the sprite to have the paws be able to turn mega color. So far these mega colors have been the same colors as the eyes but I had yet figured out how to make them completely customizable. If my theory is correct, I may be able to give all of you the freedom to choose your mega colors. I will have to try it later.

2. It might be possible to move the appendages to the body sprite sheet.
You see, the appendages are only a hair option right now. They are not standard to the sprite for you guys to have customization. Although they are a part of a lucario's anatomy. So my theory goes that I may be able to put the appendages on the body sprite sheet. Why? Well so they can finally flow in the wind as you run of course!!!! With this, I will make the options of lucario, riolu, mega, and none possible. Maybe on the crouch pose, the appendages will hover in the air like when lucario uses aura sensory. This will give the sprite a little bit more life. I will have to test this though, if it is possible.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

So as of right now what is coded and mapped?:

Lucario tail
Riolu tail
Spikes on and off
Nuetral (as close to canon as possible) option
Mega colors on the paws (restricted colors as of currently)

As of right now there are 12,096,000 different outcomes you can have in character creation in my current development build. (which I just so happened to play online with someone yesterday to test it)

With the new ideas I want to introduce as well, it will raise that number even more significantly.

So see you guys soon, and don't forget to leave me some feedback here in the discussion.

 

And.... I'm back to work

Today is the last day of the poll on Starbound Amino and it seems there is a VERY LARGE MAJORITY of people voting to include that third tail.

Ahhhh.... My work never ends.

Well on ze bright side here, I got the Green Light from Ochiru Yuki (The ORIGINAL CREATOR of this mod) to put the mod on Steam Workshop. This means for certain I will be able to post the mod after this huge update!!!

It's honestly these last few updates that are the reason I had not put the mod on Steam Workshop yet. You see I know you all have been BEGGING me to post the mod but I always would tell you guys to wait. The reason being are these last few updates and the one I am currently working on.

Now who here lost their stuff from the ship update because they didn't heed my warning???!!! I want a show of paws and hands!!! (I really hope you all heeded my warning......)

If any of you lost your stuff, then you may understand why this ins't out on Steam Workshop. You see imagine if I posted this mod on Steam Workshop before the ship update. Right when I released the ship update, I could guarantee that a lot of people would not have seen any warning about removing their stuff from their ship before hand. Imagine that happening and my Steam Workshop Mod Page all of a sudden getting down votes and bad reviews from some very mad people. It could be the death of the mod and me having to make a formal apology to everyone. This is the same with the sprite update I am working on.

So the bad news:

The sprite update is going to wreck the appearance of your past saves.

I noticed it immediately after implementing the new code that the game will try to keep your past sprite's appearance. It will not simply recolor and reform your sprite to current standards. You will notice your old sprite is still there and behind it will be some grayed out pixels of the parts of the new sprite. I sadly do not have a fix for this.

You can still continue playing with your old messed up sprite, but there is no way to fix it. The only way to use the new sprites is to start a new save.

So onto other news, well rather what I'm up to:

I am currently making myself a template of the body sprite sheet to learn my boundaries of the sprite.



I will layer the lucario body sprites over this to get a feel of the max size I can do with the sprites on each frame. This is actually very important if I want to make the fluffy tail and add the appendages to the body sprite.

So far it has already shown me that I may be able to move the appendages to the body sprite sheet after all. With this in mind, we will finally be able to have our appendages flow in the wind!!! I just need to carefully watch the game for the head placements so I can connect the appendages to the right locations. Using these guidelines, I will be able to animate the tail and appendages to move naturally rather than be stiff to estimated sizes. I will know how far I can make the tail flow upwards when falling. I will know how far the tail can reach while running. This is all so very important to avoid what I did to the jackal pet.

To explain why the jackal is so glitchy while walking is because, it's the max size a pet can be in every frame. I didn't have much room for movement and the jackal suffered because of it. I will have to fix the jackal in a later update after this mod is out on Steam Workshop.

===========================

To be perfectly honest, a lot of odd looking objects I have made will be getting a visual remaster after the mod is out on Steam Workshop. This is mainly because unlike the ships and sprites, changing the art on those is not game breaking or rage worthy.

So see you guys soon with another status update of my work!

Just a reminder that this mod is still in early access beta. The reason the mod is only available here is due to the chances of bug and errors appearing for anyone. The community of Starbound Forums is mostly comprised of modders, people familiar with modding, and people who use mods. Most of the people here are used to mod updates having errors every now and then and also being able to report errors to mod creators. The community of Steam Workshop is a whole lot more open and may not include people familiar to the modding process. If an error is found in a mod on Steam Workshop, the mod could suffer bad reviews and people spreading the word not to use the mod. As of such it is better to post the mod first on Starbound Forums to weed out all errors and perform major breaking updates before the mod is released on Steam Workshop. Even after Steam Workshop Release, it is still incredibly important for mod authors to post their mods early to Starbound Forums for this community to try before the Steam Workshop community gets their hands on it. This ensures that bugs can be found and tackled before the update is released on Steam Workshop.

 

Okay I think I lost some fur from sheer frustration...... although I finally color mapped the third tail.... and even with it color mapped.... oh boy... it still looks very confusing.... VERY!!!

I'm going to be getting the species file ready for the new tail..... although I'm going to have to edit the appendages after I do the third tail. I have decided, the appendages are going to be decided by the eye color. A little bit less clicking in creation.

It's going to take me some time to even code in the 3rd tail, as I now also have to completely redo the coding I had previously. (I had to change some other pixel colors). Sooooooo.... CCCCAAAAHHHHH!!! BEGIN!!!!

 

Things are getting complicated with the code.... I'm having to think long and hard about it. I have only just finished the first option with the hex codes and am figuring out how to implement it.

I have actually had to make more organization tags to further dictate what each set of hex codes is doing. This way I won't mess up so badly in coding.
I added:
LCHANGE
RCHANGE
FCHANGE
to define what tails are affecting the others.

This is going to take me a while...

 

Oh? it's been a while huh? Blame work as it had me passing out over and over. BLERG.....

Well I also had some other minor set backs.

I was typing in the code and using the sprites as reference to make sure I code in the right colors and..... I ran into 3 colors that I had not accounted for... Oh and I didn't find them all together, oh boy... I FOUND THEM AT DIFFERENT TIMES. This meant I had to stop what I was doing, redo my templates, and re-write the code I had just got done doing... x.x

This is going to take me a bit guys, thanks for your patience.

 

-Yawns- Welp heading to bed. I have been working on the mod in all my free time. Tonight I made significant progress though.

I thought I finished the coding and ran the code through the game. I got a look at the sprites with the third tail. Although when I did load it in, I noticed something..... off..

For some reason the male tails were deformed... really odd. Although the female tails were correct in shape. So I copied the female tail on the sprite sheet and pasted it onto the male to fix that problem.

Although while looking at the sprites in game, I discovered another 3 pixel colors that were unaccounted for. I had no code for them and well.....

-sighs-

back to editing the file.

I ran out of time tonight, as i got halfway through the riolu tails when 6am hit. I'm going to have to pick it up later, possibly tomorrow.

Thankfully I learned how to set bookmarks in Notepad++, so I can now not only remember my place, but also be able to instantly go to bookmarked sections of the code by pressing F2. It makes it so much easier than just scrolling that's for sure.

The file has broke over 6,000 lines of code. To my amazement, Starbound has been able to boot this no problem.

Although after I finally get the colors coded, I will be moving onto putting the appendages on the body sprites so we can have those animated appendages. They of course will have their own options tied to the eye color option but they will be so much easier to map and code.

I hope to be able to update you guys soon!!!

 

Yes!!!!!!!!!!

YES

The Fluffy Tail has finally been coded in!!!


This has been a lot of work.... and I MEAN A LOT. Although I finally got it done.

This is what one fur color option turned out to be after this nightmare. I have to say it was starting to get monstrous and hard to keep track of what colors were what.



There is just one thing else to do for the sprites, and the sprites will finally be done. That is putting the appendages on the body sprite so they can be animated.

Back to work, but YESSSSSS!!!!

 

Hmmmm so I hit a bit of a wall here. Everything was going fine with the coding until just a few moments ago when I loaded everything in. Although I have a solution.

You see, I'm trying to get the mega colors to match the eye color. It was working well too until it came to the actual mega colored paws.

Although thanks to this, I have uncovered the mystery of how I'm getting things to work.

You see the "body color" is the fur color, "undy color" the mask color, and "hair color" the eye color.

Under my settings in the species file, "undy color" is designated the Secondary Color.

Alas I have finally figured out the overwrite hex code situation. If I use the Secondary color in a particular way, I can recolor certain specially coded parts of the body color and hair color.

If I say, turn a blue shade to the grey. The blue being the body color and the grey being the base color of the undy color. Then in the undy color, I designate they grey to turn pink for example. The blue that turned grey now turns pink. It's an overwrite.

Seeing this situation, I'm gping to have to re-organise and rework some of my code.

This means a few things:
Mega color paw option, turn spikes on/off option are going to be removed from the mask option

Mega paw and paw spike option are going to be moved to the eye color option.

This means I'm going to have to stay up late yet again to get this going. Thankfully I have tomorrow off. If I get these sprites finally done, then I will be able to move onto fixing the clothes and armors for the new sprites. After that, I will also be able to fix the NPCs to work under these new standards (Thanks Starbound DEVs for providing the option to change the color codes in the npctype file in your Outpost spawns.)

 

I actually got it done tonight!????!!!!!!?!

I didn't expect to finish the sprites so soon after what i just discovered but...

The SPRITES are done!!!!!!


As promised, the appendages have been moved to the body sheet and are completely animated. I couldn't however put the real mega lucario appendages on it, so I settled for having a choice to have the outer appendages be tipped in the mega color of your choice (it matches the eyes). To make a riolu option, all I had to do was just have two appendages, pretty easy. You also have the choice to go without them.



So this means, it is time for me to update the clothing and armor..... although???

Do you guys want me to post what i have so far as an update and then post another update later with the clothes fix?

If you want this, then comment on this post.

 

Yes please, I want to try the new sprites! They look awesome!

 

Zancuno updated Lucario Race with a new update entry:

Sprite Update!! (Clothes Disabled)

Read the rest of this update entry...