Rising Son: Countdown to Release (Day 1 up)

[Maveritchell]

Similar to the Conversion Pack's countdown, I'm going to do a short set of day-by-day set of teaser posts until Dark Times II: Rising Son's release this Saturday, July 24. Dissimilar to the Conversion Pack; I was busier and didn't have time to get the trailer done last weekend, so the countdown will only be three (not counting today) days. Look here for a daily pseudo-update!

To start things off, here's the trailer for Dark Times II: Rising Son:



Alternate video link (for those of you who live in Germany):

Hidden/Spoiler:

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All that done, let's start this mini-countdown.

Countdown: T-Minus 1 day
What is where?
This will be a somewhat unorthodox countdown post, in that whatever I might have planned to show here went up in acrid smoke along with my modding PC's power supply last night. Fortunately for you, I am hypersensitive to having my ducks in a row as far as mod releases go, and I've had the mod uploaded and prepared for release for a couple days now, so there should be no change to the schedule.

In any case, in this countdown, I want to take the time to point out where you may be able to find certain heroes, units, vehicles, or other aspects of the mod - in case you are the type to hunt down something that seemed particularly interesting to you.

First, we'll go over the heroes. What are our heroes? (Please note that BBY will denote a hero available in the pre-GCW time period while ABY will denote a hero available in the GCW time period.)

Alliance Heroes
Starkiller (BBY)
Galen Marek (ABY)
Obi-Wan Kenobi (BBY)
Rahm Kota (BBY/ABY)
Shaak Ti (BBY)
Bail Organa (BBY)
Yoda (BBY/ABY)
Luke Skywalker (ABY)
Han Solo (ABY)
Chewbacca (ABY)
Leia Organa (ABY)
Col Serra (ABY)
Vace Thermill (ABY)

Imperial Heroes
Starkiller (BBY)
Sith Stalker (ABY)
Darth Vader (BBY/ABY)
Emperor Palpatine (BBY/ABY)
Shadow Guard (BBY/ABY)
Maris Brood (BBY)
Mara Jade (ABY)
Boba Fett (ABY)
Dengar (ABY)
IG-88 (ABY)
Bossk (ABY)

Alliance Space Heroes
Han Solo (BBY/ABY)
Biggs Darklighter (BBY)
Wedge Antilles (ABY)

Imperial Space Heroes
Boba Fett (BBY/ABY)
Darth Vader (BBY/ABY)

There are also several new units (playable conquest units aside) that are only available in special modes (hero assault, objective, etc.). They are:

Luke Skywalker (Pilot/Jedi)
Kento Marek
Sith Specter
Tusken Raider
Tusken Hunter
Weequay Skiff Guard
Weequay Guard
Young Rancor

How will you know how to see which unit you want? Every hero unit's appearance is, first and foremost, contingent upon the time period being correct. If you are in the pre-GCW time period (BBY), then any of the heroes for that time period may show up. These appearances are weighted, though. On any planet, with the exception of the below-named planets, it is unlikely for Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Shaak Ti, or Maris Brood to show up. Obi-Wan is more likely to show up than any given hero on these planets - Geonosis, Kamino, or Mos Eisley. Shaak Ti and Maris Brood are more likely to show up than any other hero on Felucia, although they will never be heroes together at the same time. Yoda is more likely to show up on Kashyyyk or Dagobah. On the newer maps in the BBY time period, this same weighting persists (meaning it is more unlikely for those four to show up).

The GCW time period (ABY) is much more equal across the board. There are no subjective weights given to specific units. However, if a unit is available in both the GCW and pre-GCW time period (any of the above listed as "BBY/ABY"), then it will be only 50% as likely to show up as a unit unique to the GCW time period. For example, if the time period is set to the in-GCW time period, Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade are equally likely to show up, but Luke Skywalker is twice as likely to show up as Darth Vader.

The vehicles of Dark Times are much easier to figure out - there are actually not that many! Most of the maps are designed to be smaller, infantry-only maps, and so the "new" vehicles are far and few between.

Rising Son Space Vehicles
Modified RM-09 Shuttle
Sentinel-class Shuttle
TIE Fighter
TIE Vanguard
TIE Interceptor
TIE Bomber
Z-95 Headhunter
X-Wing
A-Wing
Y-Wing (old)
Y-Wing (GCW)
Millennium Falcon
Red Three/Rogue Leader
Slave One
TIE Advanced x1

Rising Son Land Vehicles
AT-PT (Fest; conquest/VIP/objective only)
T1-B Hovertank (Fest; conquest/VIP/objective only)
TIE Hauler (Balmorra; conquest/VIP only)

Hidden/Spoiler:

Countdown: T-Minus 2 days
New Wave Modes
In the last version of Dark Times, "wave mode" was the keynote addition to the mod, aside from the sides themselves. It had six different versions of wave mode, on Coruscant, Death Star, Felucia, Kashyyyk, Kamino, and Hoth.

In this version, wave mode has taken a backseat to a number of other things (primarily the campaign mode), but it's obviously still a fun mode and still worth adding on to. Wave mode has already been touched on a little with Space Anoat, but I did want to make sure that a couple extra Jedi wave modes were added.

The two I've chosen to add were Jabba's Palace and Nar Shaddaa. The Jabba's Palace wave is continuing in the tradition of the Jedi wave modes from the first Dark Times, in that it very loosely follows a mission from The Force Unleashed. This wave mode has you playing as the Sith Stalker, tearing through various local units until you eventually meet up with your objectives.

The Nar Shaddaa wave mode isn't based on anything in particular, but it is the reason I knew I would eventually want multiple bounty hunter models (this is why I ended up adding IG-88 and Bossk). This wave mode is a simple single-player assault on a map that works very well for a Jedi unit mowing down a lot of enemies in creative ways. And of course, here are your pictures:

Countdown: T-Minus 3 days

Hidden/Spoiler:

Campaign Mode
Yes, yes, I know what you're thinking. "I've already seen campaign mode!"

Technically that is incorrect; what you've seen is objective mode (this is the mode the Rising Son campaign uses). The Rising Son campaign uses objective mode instead of campaign mode simply because the campaign mode had already been used - for the stock Imperial campaign.

This isn't a huge addition, of course - in fact I didn't even mention it when it had gotten done - but I know that the stock campaign is a fun little knickknack to play around with, and after all, how could one make a campaign for the one side and totally ignore the other, right?

In any case, I know that the stock campaign won't have the new "charm" that the Rising Son campaign may have, but I thought it was fun to play through some campaign missions with the Dark Times Imperial sides, and it was a small addition, so here you are:

[Fusion]

So I take it all the testers have to re-download the mod again? Unless the only fixes were made in the mission.lvl update, which I doubt.

[Maveritchell]

So I take it all the testers have to re-download the mod again? Unless the only fixes were made in the mission.lvl update, which I doubt.

That will depend on how badly you would prefer to play the finished version over the beta version.

I made the small mission.lvl patches to do online testing; because I wanted a small, easy-to-distribute and download quickfix that would let everyone stay compatible in testing. I made small changes to a number of maps as well, so yes you will need to re-download the mod.

[Nova Hawk]

I know I've said this already but this will be the best mod ever created for battlefront. Great trailer. It only sucks that I will have to wait till Monday to download it cuz Im on vacation. May the Force be with you in rapping ur this mod.

[CodaRez]

So I assume if this is an installer it will automatically override our beta-Gamedata-darktimes folder without hitch?

Or if its a zip also it will automatically extract and overwrite the beta-dark times files in our gamedata folders?

Still, quite a fast release

[Eggman]

Nice trailer. Having taken part in the beta testing, I can say that you'll all have a blast playing through this. It will be a true must-download if there ever was one.

[TML]

Wow, I've been following this mod for awhile, so I can't wait for this to be released!

I have a feeling that this will be a mod that goes down in (Battlefront) history!

[Nihillo]

That was a cool trailer, I like the juxtaposition of the Sith's dialog and footage of Luke in action, it is a simple yet clever idea. Props for your tireless dedication to this mod.

[DarthD.U.C.K.]

argh, sony music entertainment strikes again >.<

[Nihillo]

argh, sony music entertainment strikes again >.<

It seems to be working fine for me (tested it right now), both the embedded video player and on Youtube.

[thedoubleMM]

its the country you live in that matters for some reason some videos like mav's get blocked in Germany because of some copyright thing by Sony music

[Maveritchell]

The countdown update for today has been added. Also went ahead and added a new video link for anyone who can't see the Youtube video.

[Anakin]

the countdown has began
now i know how many time i have to decide which mod i will kick.

Hidden/Spoiler:

because i will have too much missions after i installed DT

[EraOfDesann]

Wow, what a great trailer. It's gotten me excited all over again!

[GangsterJawa]

Just watched that movie this morning, haha. Great trailer!

[Blade117]

Wow, even though I probably won't have my Battlefront-playing laptop on Saturday, this is going on a flashdrive for installation ASAP. Will I still need to have the origional DT installed for that content, or does DTII contain the original's maps as well?

[Anakin]

Yes the trailler is great

[Maveritchell]

Will I still need to have the origional DT installed for that content, or does DTII contain the original's maps as well?

You'll be able to delete the original Dark Times as this will overwrite that anyway. This is a full install and doesn't require the older version at all.

[Blade117]

Thanks for the info. Any idea how much HDD space this will occupy?

[Maveritchell]

Thanks for the info. Any idea how much HDD space this will occupy?

I have a very good idea. The addon folder is 1.53 GB and the custom GC is of negligible size (appx. 15 KB). The download includes the 1.3 patch, which will of course be negligible if you already have the 1.3 patch. The download itself will be 361 MB.