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Welcome to my fourteenth public report as a Science Officer, a day late... (Sorry, tried to get the T/e1 patch for XvT running all night... and failed... better luck today):

Science Office News:

1. Lots and lots of patching news this week, as the XvT/BoP/TIE95 Ship Patch project proceeds nicely. I have completed moving half the fighter patches to the "tienew2" slot in XvT, the other half will be moved to "tienew1" ASAP. A layout of what has been done this week for XvT:
   • TIE Praetor: updated, tested and re-released. TAC updated battle that used them. (Limited use restricted to missions that include Praetorian Squadron.)
   • TIE Guardian: updated, tested and re-released. (Limited use restricted to missions that include Omega Squadron.)
   • TIE Dragon: Made a new OPT for XvT, updated, tested and re-released now with its own OPT. Added OPT to the TIE95 patch as well, updated OPT in XWA patch to have special EH based textures.
   • TIE Scimitar Bomber: updated, tested and re-released. Stats on this craft have been changed considerably to make it more realistic and usable. It's now more or less an imperial B-Wing. It doesn't have unlimited advanced torpedoes anymore and has 2 sets of lasers instead of turbo lasers.
   • A-9b Interceptor: updated, tested and re-released. (Limited use restricted to missions that include Tau squadron.)
   • Shadow Class Y-Wing: made a patch, tested and re-released. This craft received a completely new OPT, with 2 additional green lasers, longer engines and special EH textures. Stats were also slightly changed to behave better. (Limited use restricted to missions that include Shadow Squadron.)
   • Marauder Class A-Wing: made a patch, tested and re-released. (Limited use restricted to missions that include Marauder Squadron.)
   • K-Wing Bomber: made a patch, tested and re-released. Considerable stats changes in the same fashion as the T/SB got.
   • M/FRT the Luggage: Made the patch and released as new "neutral" craft. (Limited use restricted to missions that include my own persona.)
   • Mobquet Transport: Made the patch and released as new "neutral" craft.
2. The fighters of this selection all have moved to the "tienew2" slot, the previously unused slot just before the Missile boat. This means they no longer replace an existing craft in the game, but also that this selection cannot be installed together (not like they could before.). In general the tienew2 slot is used for elite fighters, though some have been reserved for the tienew1 slot (just after the T/D) so they can be used together with these. The idea is that craft in 1 wing or unit are not on the same slot, so they can be in 1 mission together. For example: the TIE Protector will move to tienew1, so Omega can escort it with their TIE Guardians, which are on tienew2. The two new freighters have are installed on the "custom freighter" slot, just after the HFL, so they do not replace existing game craft either.
3. A few notes on installing multiple patches onto your game:
   • You cannot install two craft that are on the same slot together.
   • De-install patches in reversed order of how you installed them. As example: if you first installed the MIS patch and then the T/D one, you de-install the T/D first and then the MIS - also if you only want to de-install the MIS (In which case you just reinstall the T/D again after that.). This is because of how patches back up your original files.
   • The still un-updated patches that are reserved for tienew1 and the BoP patches do NOT install together, as they partially overwrite each other.
4. Besides these updates, I have several new patches for the Tienew2 slot for XvT, which will hopefully be released this weekend as well: The TIE Experimental M1 I already mentioned, another is the TIE Sentinel/TIE Shadow patch.
5. After these are done the next few patches will be released for XWA as soon as possible, as their OPTs and stats are already prepared: The E-W, the A-9b, the T/Ph, the T/Se, the S/Y-W and M/FRT the Luggage. So also the XWA players amongst us will have some new toys to play with.
6. Besides these single ship patches, we have completed all the different OPTs we need for our "Shipset" patch for XvT and BoP. This patch will add all the "missing" to XvT and BoP and will be a required install for all EH members with these games. The craft that will be added for sure are the B-W, T/D, MIS, SPC, STC, CTRNS, MTRNS, M/CRV, M/FRG, CRCK and LCRS. I'm sad to report that all tests to add the SSD to XvT have failed down to 4.5 km in length so I've decided not to include this craft. The slot will be used for additional future star ship patches.
7. The TIE players amongst us don't need to worry that they are being forgotten... as the SSD tests for TIE95 did pass the grade and it will be one of the craft we'll add to TIE in a similar fashion.
8. Again: Because of the numerous questions about this matter I'd like to explain how the XPinstaller works. (I didn't know either by the way, sorry to those I might have misinformed.) XP Batch Installer v0.1: "Simple utility that will allow Windows XP users get around XP's limited DOS shell support to install EH custom craft on their computers. Unzip XPInstaller to your \EHPatch folder. Usage: XPInstaller (Note: The *.bat extension must be included or the program will not be able to find the batch file.)

Science Office Status:

CA:SCO: Admiral Darkhill has been working on a new version of the Briefing Launcher for XWA, and the Shuttle and Rebel craft launchers for TIE. I was able to have a full test of the XWA launcher this week, so there's definitely progress. After the Windows versions are done there will be a TIECD version in DOS and it will all be released as one big package. Great work there Den! :)

SCOA: LC Shadd is back on the SCO roster since yesterday (Again, thanks HA Priyum). Welcome back:)

SCOA: LT Kweeky has started on a project to modify Descent: Freespace II to a Star wars game for the Emperor's Hammer. If anyone knows where to find a converter from .3ds to .fob format, contact the Science Office.

Site: The Science Office site can be found at http://sco.minos.net or via the redirect http://scienceoffice.isCool.net. Lots of updates done to the patch archive of course :)

Science Office Projects:

XvT/BoP/TIE95 Ship patches: This project's goal is to add all the original and Order of Battle craft that are still "missing" from these games, like the SSD in TIE and XvT, the Medium Transport in all etc. Several of these will be finished soon for my own TIE Fighter battle at least; these include the Bulk Cruiser, Assault Frigate and others. As the ret of this report should show, this project is definitely rolling along nicely. (ten patches released this week.)

XWA Ship patches: Primarily the plan is to clear out the backlog of craft arranged by earlier SCO's and such, like the Trithan Interceptor (Kermee), the Hyperion (Den), the Alvaakian Craft (me) and the new fighter for Avenger Squadron (AES). The Trithan Interceptor and Hyperion are now ready, working on the Jedi Fighter before I continue to the Alvaak Fighter, as that's based on it. Releasing the T/Ph, E-W, T/Se, A-9b and S/Y-W probably this week.

Emperor’s Hammer AGI Games: Khadgar has made process on a beginners guide to AGI/SCI which should greatly help along this project to make it possible to create EH games in the style of "Space Quest", "Kings Quest" or "Leisure Suit Larry". The EH total Conversion of "Larry" is nearly completed: about 90% of the views are done, and 50% of the pictures (22 out of 40). I added a screenshot of the Flight Office on the AGI Project Site.

Finishing up:

I think that's it - If I've forgotten anything or if you have comments, suggestions or corrections, let me know via email. Don't forget that all the projects are described in more detail on the SCO site.

(use only mindb_ender@hotmail.com for official SCO mails.) or ICQ (9706474). Preferably do not mail large files to me, but DCC them via IRC – I’m practically always online at #emperor’s_hammer and #tiecorps using the nick MindB_ndr (or variations.)
 
All my SCO reports are available online as well: you can reach them on the SCO site: http://www.minos.net/~sco/reports/index.html. They are posted on the TC database as well.

Until next time, good luck and have fun!