Dear Patreons & Friends, right before the new DLC 5 for Mechwarrior 5 coming on 28th of September, here is a new big vonBiomes update with once more sooo much new stuff and many firsts-ever in the Mod for all supporters!
DOWNLOAD LINKS:
Join up on Patreon!
https://www.patreon.com/vonSeiten
DLC 5 Info: This version of vonBiomes should be already compatible with the upcoming DLC, and work out of the box after re-enabling it in-game.
* New Biome: Coastal Dunes
I was in Italy in early September, saw the sea and … took many texture shots on my phone. For the first time, I transformed those photos into a set of working environment textures in MW5, bringing the beach sand and rocks of the Mediterranean Sea near Venice to the Inner Sphere! I have also bought some stone pine 3D model sources to finalize the biome and make the good memory from the trip complete for your missions.
Furthermore, two special themed tiles are extending the vonBiomes tile sets, a lighthouse tile and a shipwreck. Welcome to the beach!
* New Biome: Icy Moon
One major point of the work this month was to extend the moon/vacuum worlds. For that, I learned to sculpt 3D models and made the first time own large rocks and ice structures for new moon biomes. The Icy Moon has strange low-g ice formations with an extension to the vonBiomes material system for sub surface scattering. It is a cold, alien place with twisted ice formations, all hand-crafted from model to textures. Freezing cool! ;)
* Updated Biome: Red Moon
The Red Moon biome also has now hand-crafted large low-g-esk umbrella rock formations, towering in the night sky. This is an update to the work in progress version from the last vonBiomes Patreon update, and extends the environment further. I have just exported this biome upgrade to make the release here before bedtime, so it needs probably more love and work still, let's see..
* More Space stations, Ships & Asteroids
There are now many more objects in space orbiting the moon biomes. Space stations have been extended, more spaceships added and also two real-life solar system objects: the Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, on which ESA made a landing last year, and the asteroid Bennu, of which NASA returned a large material sample just today! How cool was that. So Bennu had to be included in MW5 right away as a random sky object to celebrate the achievement!
* Changing Moon backgrounds:
The Moon biomes have their own background system now, with new large-structures, buildings, domes, and different landscapes, for which I have created a new Photoshop-to-Unreal-MW5 workflow. There can also be huge sci-fi buildings in the background, or randomized pyramids or domes. We have now ever-changing moon environments, which is a considerable step up from vanilla, and the amount of content and variation has been increased dramatically in this update.
* Variable Moon Lighting:
Moons can new vary – from somewhat brighter lit moon surfaces to … the dark side™.
For that, I have added a special lighting system for every biome without atmosphere and introduced lighting changes and random modifiers. Perhaps also an area for more fine-tuning post-DLC5, but it adds already changing lighting to moon worlds across the board.
Note: I had not had much time for real play-testing, just finished the export a moment ago and uploading now:) If you encounter any weird stuff or issues, please best let me know on the vonBiomes Discord in the special VIP channel for all supporters: https://discord.gg/uf2TfWG4CG - if you do not have access yet drop me a short message so I can add your user role!:)
Also, if you need anything, have feedback or biome ideas, be sure to drop me a message!
What's next:
Since DLC 5 for Mechwarrior comes out soon, which will include new missions and also a free for all mode, I have concentrated on new biomes. Solaris 7/vonMissions will definitely need a Mod Update, since it touches both areas. After the DLC5 release, I am going to work on the leagues finally, and I am already curious to look into the new systems in place for the vanilla FFA mode. Perhaps part of it can also be of use for the planned team leagues (lances vs. lances) in Solaris 7. An update for vonMission should be out shortly after DLC5 is available, and the editor has been updated. I will let you know here on Patreon and post the update as soon as possible!
After in total 4 new biomes – from the already included Burned Forest in the previous Patreon Update, to the new Icy Moon and Coastal Dunes – it is now time to finally dive into the technical stuff of S7 blueprints and making systems. I would love to find a way to start missions from custom GUIs in-game, which would allow me to make a nice style Solaris 7 Interface for starting leagues. I'm not sure yet if possible, but at least worth the try.:)
If vonBiomes needs unexpectedly a DLC 5 update, I will also address it as soon as possible for sure. But as far as I can tell, this new version should be compatible out-of-the-box and after re-enabling the mod in the game, it should work. Same, if issues or needs for fine-tuning emerge, that could also be a reason for a mod update after the DLC 5 release.
One other mod experiment which I would love to test out in the near time is to make it possible to … exit the cockpit. Basically, with the press of a button spawning you, the pilot, at the feet of your Mech allowing you to wander around and perhaps even to switch mechs when walking over. I imagine that would be spectacular – what do you think? Please let me know in the comments or on Discord!
Thank you so much for supporting the work on the Mods! It is your contribution that allows me to add more days (or better nights) of modding per week for making Mechwarrior bigger, better and with more things to do and encounter!
Cheers ,and enjoy the new stuff, Mechwarriors!
- Jonathan