This page covers the most Frequently Asked Questions of the Science Office and falls apart in 4 main sections:
- General Questions
- Slicing Questions
- Patch Questions
- Fleet Manual Questions
If you got any other questions or if you got hints yourself, don't hesitate to contact the SCO. If you need another type of help, use the links below the titlebar.
Besides here, you can also get it of the File Archive on this site. Most EH patches also include TIE Patch in their .zips.
Besides here, you can also get it of the File Archive on this site. The Tactical Manual also has these kinds of downloads.
Besides here, you can also get it of the File Archive on this site. Most EH battles that use it also include TIE Patch in their .zips and its available from the War Office site and Tactical Manual.
Using creativity, a lot of time and restraint. As its pretty easy to design overpowered, and hence unbalanced, craft - you need to keep it pretty simple. A thing to keep in mind is that the amount of craft slots on the games is limited, and so is the space allotted to this here site - a "New" craft should really add something new, a retextured existing model with more weapons isn't really useful.
For the X-Wing Collectors Series, X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, Balance of Power and X-Wing Alliance: Yes in fact. There's a IWATS Course available on how to make OPTs for those games.
There are many ways of making OPTs, depending on your "school": OPTech or ACEDXF. Besides these you might also need other utilities like XEG, XTR, OPT2PRJ. All of the programs needed are available from the File Archive.
Besides rare exceptions (like SCO Projects or if you are at CS or SGCOM level): No, we will not. The Science Office tests, approves and distributes craft - the creation of them is up to the members of the Emperor's Hammer. Of course that includes the SCO staff, so it might be that we have time left over for your design, like your design a whole lot or you. But that will be done by the SCO staff member personally, not by the Science Office. It would still need to be tested and approved, like with everyone else's craft.
This mainly has to do with rights: Even if the craft is supposed to be an "Official Design" from Star Wars, the model, textures and patch are made and owned by the creator of that craft. Check for example all the different ways people have made TIE Phantom patches and how often they look completely different. Non-EH craft creators have earlier complained about EH use of their work, which made the rule clear: We do not use ANY patches that haven't been created by EH members unless we get a written statement that we can, and even then the Science Office cannot offer support for it in any way. (because we didn't make it).
No. Besides the reasons mentioned above: many non-EH patches use patching techniques that Lucasarts doesn't approve of (like distributing .exe's), which might cause trouble for the EH. Another reason is that these might mess up other EH-patches, create conflicts and so on.
Depends who you are and what kind of use you have in mind for it. Personal fighters are fine of course, but do keep in mind that these things are very expensive - and you won't be able to ever pay for even an unmodified MIS or T/D on the wages of a Commander (no, also not if you are "Independently Wealthy"). For CS or high-up SG members this might be different. Consider the following for example: The most sucsessful Bounty Hunter ever, only owned a 30 year old Modified Firespray he inherited, while the most sucessful smuggler had to scrape money everywhere just to keep his Hunk a Junk running.
Basically: Personal craft can get approved, but keep it simple... and unless you are a CS or have a battle you want to use it in, do expect it to get an "Experimental" status - Only for reference, not official use.
Good, useable Statistics, background story, model (OPT) and a use for it. Its no use to create craft only to stroke your own ego, it is to make craft to suit the storyline of your battles better.
Before you start creating your craft, ask the SCO if you can - so you don't do all the work for nothing. It might be that the same craft is already being made or that you have no chance to get it approved anyway. Getting permission to start working on a craft is not the same as Official Aproval of that craft however. It will still need to go through the regular procedures, you just have more chance it'll get through.
Note: A SCO Approved craft doesn't mean you'll be seeing it on your roster any time soon, you need FC, XO, FO/SGCOM approval for that.
OR
Other patches have done really wierd things to my system, can I be sure yours wont?
Because of different versions, OSes and configurations, the SCO cannot fully guarantee that a patch won't mess up your game installation (solution: restore/reinstall), we can assure you that all craft patches are scanned for virusses before uploading them and that they will not affect anything outside your game - if you fully follow all the instructions correctly.
You probably are missing an update for the game you are trying to patch. Please check the "Version Guides" on the various games in the "Technical Guides".
The patch should contain the file "shiplist.txt". You need to place this in your XWA directory (over the original) to fly the cap ships. Alternately you can modify the original yourself by changeing "NonFlyable" to "Flyable" (case sensitive) in the file shiplist.txt.
If you have an international version you need to remove/rename xwa.tab to get things to work.
Windows XP does not support the batch installer our patches use instead use the XP Installer. A completely new installer is in the works that will address these problems fully.
OR
Why don't you release a 'Ship set' containing all the XWA patches?
Several of the patches use the same craft slots for various reasons (s-foils, slams...) and will thus overwrite eachother. There are several Shippatch projects currently running, however that will still not make all the craft available at the same time - as again: some features only work on some craft slots.
OR
You've listed the 'Super-class Star Destroyer', it should be called the Executor-class Star Destroyer.
OR
You've listed SSD/SSSD/ESSD as Star Destroyers, they should have be the xxxxx-class Command Ship.
OR
Other meaningless SWTCs seq_headings...
The Emperor's Hammer Fleet Manual is directed at Emperor's Hammer use - meaning the various games we play are the basis for it, not Real Life physics, the novels or even the movies. Yes we know the lasers of the TIE Bomber are supposed to be on the middle strut of the craft - but since they've been on the wings since the game X-Wing, we use that or our data would be useless for gaming purposes. The games also have restrictions in sizes AND call the SSD a Super Star Destroyer, the ISD and Imperial Star Destroyer and such. Yes the SWTC is a good site, but it also is a very debatable source, as its not "Official" and based fully on the ideas of a single person. (who also might be making several serious mistakes - for example the assumption that in Star Wars the same Laws of Physics apply as in our Universe)
No, for various reasons: First would be rights, we do not own the rights to those pictures - that source probably does. Secondly would be accuracy, if those pictures were made from home-made 3D models, the creative impression of the modeller interferes with the accurancy that an Official Source gives us. Thirdly would be again the fact that the Fleet Manual is for EH-use, meaning the games we use are a more important base then high-res movie/3D rendered pictures.