The Monkeys 1.18

Hi King Lin! The two mods are not from the same series. My own mod, with my ideas and only the additions I playtested and found to be good is just ´The Monkeys´. The current version is 1.18. The Monkey Universe Mod was made for the SFG and their leader gestoord gave me a list of additions, which should go into the mod. The current version of this mod is 1.84 (Patched) (I think you misread it to be 1.18, but you can download the 1.84 version on their site). However, some of the additions of the MonkeyUniverse Mod will also go into the next version of the Monkeys (they actually are already finished and a bit changed in the current build of the next version of the Monkeys). But some additions will not go into the Monkeys (e.g.: the Starwars ships). So, you can try both, or just the Monkey Universe Mod, because it has the whole Monkeys 1.18 in it plus the additions. However, if you post your comments about the Monkey Universe Mod, it would be good to see them here, but I might answer you that certain features will probably not go into the Monkeys, even if you like them. But please just post it, I might even reconsider. The Monkey Universe Mod will from now on be developed further by gestoord, so that I cannot influence what will be in there (or at least not so much). I´m currently working on the next version of the original The Monkeys. Version 1.2 will have all the story only systems reopened and fully working, with bases, names, infos, nebulas, encounters, missions and everything else, which has to be in a real system. Besides there will be some new systems (about 2 or 3), some new ships (up to 10), the reworked commodity market (no more cheat-traderoutes, but a totally reworked system, where you can make lots of profit with trading, but have to do some work for this, as you have to do as fighter with fighting), a bit of rebalancing (the ships, the factions, the equipment, etc.), some minor improvements and bugfixes. I hope you´ll like it, but it will still need some time until I can release it. Keep coming here, where I will post my advantage and probably also some teaser pics. See you around! (And thanks for all your support King Lin. Glad to see you back with a working FL CD <img src=smilies/icon_smile.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> Black Eagle

Hi again! King Lin: The name Banana Gate was a request from gestoord for the Monkey Universe Mod. Maybe you want to visit their website (look some posts back in this thread for the address). They are totally crazy worshippers of the Monkey God <img src=smilies/icon_smile_wink.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> Therefore they do not anymore have the old, crap jumpgates, but new bananagates (actually the same as jumpgates <img src=smilies/icon_smile.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> The Monkey and Robot Systems are just wherte they were. Go to Omicron Gamma, from there you can go to Unknown 2 (Monkeys and Robots) and from there to Nomad 1 or to Robot 1. An own system for the Monkeys is still in development and will be in the next version of the mod. Other new systems are Nomadia and Battleground, which you can reach fromk Edinburgh and Tau-37. And I can only say be careful, the Monkeys and the Robots are deadly pilots, really deadly!!! I know that the NPCs still have too much nanobots and shieldbatteries. I already decreased this for the next version, so that fighting is still challenging, but will not take ages. I´m sorry for this, but I did not want my mod to be as easy as vanilla FL. However now it got a bit to hard maybe. If it is possible I will add a difficulty slider in the options menu in the next version. The No Backup thingy is normal. Also in vanilla FL the mission consigners sometimes said that there will be backup, but in fact no ships arrived. Just keep cool, you will beat them <img src=smilies/icon_smile.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> The Monkey Base in Nomad 1 is easy to find. Go to the Unknown 2 system (with the Monkey and the Robot Planet, Primus and Gammu) and then jump to Nomad 1. If you jump out from the jumphole, look for some navigation buoys and follow them. They will lead you to the Monkey Outpost. The OpenSP works. In SP the maximum level is 40 (this is hardcoded and cannot be changed until now). In Monkey Universe however it is 38. But in fact there is no need to go over level 36, because then you can already buy everything (36 is the highest level restriction for the best ships and equipment). So, it does not really matter that SP supports only the levels up to 40. The vendors for the Starwars ships are all over the colonies (e.g: look on Planet Malta). If however you want a complete Starmap and vendor laocations for goods and ships, try to use FLDatastorm (you can download it here on TLR). Then you might also be able to find all the wrexks in the new systems (some are really hard to find. Just that you know: In Robot 1 there are 6 wrecks. In Battleground there are 3 wrecks. In Nomadia there are also 3 wrecks. Try to find them <img src=smilies/icon_smile_wink.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> I hope you like the mod, and stay tuned for the next version. All your comments are welcome, as they really help me to improve the mod, thanks! EDIT: just saw your edit <img src=smilies/icon_smile.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> - More Nomad equipment is already in development. - Pilotable Nomad ships might get into the mod, but for the next version this would take up too much time. - The Dyson Sphere will be dockable and already is dockable in my personal current build of the next version of the Monkeys. There are also all Story only systems overworked and fully functional (look some posts above for more details). - The Sound effect will be changed, good point! - More Monkey Shields are already made in my current build. - More specialties (not only for the Order) - I´m just working on this. - More ships and equipment for other factions I´m also working on. - More wrecks also <img src=smilies/icon_smile.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> - More commofdities will not be in one of the future versions, as I just got 50 new commodities in version 1.18. - Beam weapons are in my opinion quite unbalanced and the graphics are not perfect, so that I do not really like to get them in my mod. The more involvement of other fations is a thing I have to think about. See you soon (I have to end now, sorry)! Black Eagle Edited by - Black Eagle on 8/12/2005 2:43:47 PM

King Lin, Batleground is a system that links to Tau 37 / Tohoku /Nomadia. Maybe I can give you a tool which will clarify the positions of the systems. Go to the Monkey Universe website and check the page with the Map of Sirius. http://www.monkeyuniverse.be Gestoord P.S. the picture below is the Nomad city in Nomadia Monkey Universe server admin <A href=´http://www.monkeyuniverse.be´ Target=_Blank>Info on MONKEY UNIVERSE server</a> <img src=´http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/9809/bannerjoin014ex.jpg ´> Edited by - gestoord on 8/12/2005 5:12:10 PM

King Lin, Since the crusher is a capital ship, it wont dock with anything that isnt a planet. The Nomad city is as it says a city and not a planet... Gestoord

Hi! King Lin: As gestoord said (and also in the infocard of the Crusher this is written), the Crusher can only dock with planets. Of course the Nomad City has a Docking Ring like planets, but unti lnow the two flyable capships cannot dock with it. I might get this to work in the next version. The hint with the Mystere Turret is a good one. I thought it already is 360 degree, but if it is not I will definitely change this, so it can rotate 360 degrees (Sorry for this small bug). Capitalship killing missions are already in the mod. You do not get them so often and also not on all bases, but just have a look in all the jobboards and talk with all the NPCs offering missions. Until now there are only capship killing missions against the Nomads and not against the Monkeys, or Robots (as these do not have capships at all, except of the two destroyers). For these missions against the Nomads search in Robot 1, Battleground, Nomad 1 and Nomadia. I already thought about adding the destroyable universe mod, but there are some difficulties (especially in MP, but also in SP), as FL was not made for having destroyable bases. If I cannot get rid of these problems I will not add it, as these would be major bugs that I do not want to have in my mod. But I will see what I can do. A news page for Nomad bars is in the works. Custom missions are really, really difficult to code. It is possible, but noone ever did this, some of the variables are still unknown and it would take ages for me to figure out how it works and then again it would take another century to create some new missions. So this will sadly never be in my mod. One of my most liked features would be to have an own definition for capships. I tried this, asked the best modders, but this is hardcoded and noone knows, how to do this. So, for now this is impossible and it might be impossible forever, if we do not get the sourcecode of the game (which is very unlikely to happen). More ships, equipment, systems and so on I´m already working on (and will hopefully get done as fast as possible <img src=smilies/icon_smile.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>. Good ideas again, many thanks for that! (By the way, a nice monster ship <img src=smilies/icon_smile_wink.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> And of course, Vader were are you? Still alive? gestoord: Thanks again for your offer. I will write another E-mail, if I got some more time (hopefully soon). I would really like to accept it, but we have to talk about some important things. See you soon! To all: The work on the mod is not going very fast during the last days, but at least I got some things done. Keep playing FL! Black Eagle

Hi! I hope that Vader is just busy in real life or something similar and will come back soon. For your suggestions: I did not play the Crossfire mod, but I´m quite sure that it does not add new story missions, as you can only play it in SP with an OpenSP version for this mod. So the only possible new missions it could add, are those roleplay elements you can add on a server, which I already mentioned above. But these are no new missions with scripts and so on, but they need to be initiated and made by the admins of an MP server. Of course you can edit any of the stuff in my mod. Only ,if you want to release a mod, which has elements of my mod in it it I would like to get credit for this. If however you want to see your Nomad fighter in my mod, you should always remember that it needs to be balanced. I´m currently balancing some of the ships, so that every player can choose among several strong ships. I do not want to have the strongest ship in my mod, which every player flies, but I want several very strong ships, each with a special advantage (speed, armor, etc.) and also one disadvantage. So, everyone can choose. Your ships should therefore not be an ubership, but just a strong ship, which is similar to the Conqueror, the Mystere, or the Anubis MK2. The storyline of my mod, which is told in many infocards, rumors and news will of course be expanded in new rumors, news and infocards. For the Nomad city docking procedure I will see waht I can do. The shield may be the problem, but this is easy to solve, so this should be fixed in the next version. The Battleship forward gun is first not sold at any base in my mod. So, it is not thought to be used by players. Second it is a battleship gun (as the name says) and therefore not compatible with a fighter. I know that the Ioncross Charactereditor offers some nice possibilities, but this can also lead to bugs and I´m not responsible for bugs that occur after using the CharacterEditor. So, please do not report bugs, if they occur with an edited savegame. Freeport Nine should be okay and it worked for me when I tested it, but I will have a look, thanks. I know that you like the Nomad Cells and I already thought about using them somehow, but unfortunately the game engine of FL is limited in this case and they would not be usable in any special way. Thanks for the ideas. I might not be here for about one week now, so that I might need some more time to answer your posts. However then I will be back. See you! Black Eagle

Hi to all of you! I have to announce important news. I will merge my two mods (The Monkeys and Monkey Universe) and go on with the name ´Monkey Universe Mod´ from now on. Some things from the original Monkey Universe will be removed (such as Starwars ships and some of the new jumpholes), as they do not fit into my actual ideas for The Monkeys, but most will remain. I´m from now on developing this mod for the Monkey Universe server together with a modding team. This ensures that I will hopefully be a bit faster and that we can test the mod way better and longer before it is released. So, bugs will be hunted down before the release and we hopefully do not need small patches like in the past anymore. The mod will stay like it was before. It is still the Monkeys, with my ideas of a better Freelancer and it is focused on keeping the original Freelancer atmosphere and style, but enhancong it with new content fitting in the old world. I will also keep the mod playable in SP, as I know that some of you like to play through the storyline, or do not have a fast and cheap internet connection. So, the mod will be perfect for SP and MP. I hope this decision is the best for the mod and for you, as the aims of the mod do not change, but just the name and the modding speed <img src=smilies/icon_smile_wink.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> So, see you around and you are of course welcome to go on with posting your ideas, suggestions and bug reports in this thread, or in the Monkey Universe forum, which you can find on the following site: <A href=´http://www.monkeyuniverse.be´ Target=_Blank>Monkey Universe Site</a> Black Eagle Edited by - Black Eagle on 8/27/2005 3:42:09 AM

Ok Peeps, We at Monkey Universe are preparing to start up together with Black Eagle the Monkey Universe modding team (MUMT) under the supervision of Black Eagle. We will first prepare some necessary tools (like private forum for the team and stuff) to assist the modding team in it´s work. For all eventual testing we are setting up a dedicated test server for testing the new versions in a MP environment. We will also make the new versions of the mod and eventual beta versions available for download to the beta test team on the Monkey Uinverse website. Eventually we will create a section on the website for the MUMT, which could be used to give some sneak preview screenshots and info on the evolution of the work. As soon as all this is in place we will advertise for members for the Monkey Universe Modding Team (MUMT). So by that time if you are interested and you have the skills you could contact Black Eagle or me for further details. Black Eagle will be the coordinator and driving force of the MUMT, we Monkey Universe serveroperators and admins will provide all possible technical support. Gestoord Edited by - gestoord on 8/28/2005 11:13:03 AM

Recruitment for the Monkey Universe Modding team has started. We have created a public section in the Monkey Universe forums where everybody can aply for membership. Once accepted by Black Eagle you will have to register in the forums, you will be granted access to the MUMT user group and you will get access to several private sections of the MUMT. The link to the forum is on the website: http://www.monkeyuniverse.be Become part of the MUMT and write some freelancer modding history. Gestoord Monkey Universe server admin <A href=´http://www.monkeyuniverse.be´ Target=_Blank>Info on MONKEY UNIVERSE server</a> <img src=´http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/9809/bannerjoin014ex.jpg ´>