B5 Flight Sim

[Omega]

I wouldn't mind knowing what kind of desire there is out there to have a B5 flight sim actually come to life.

Of course, by life, I do mean an official one, that doesn't get cut.

Not just in the realm of Babylon 5, but also in the realm of computer games...I think a B5 flight sim, if promoted properly could not only revive the series and boost the DVD sales, but also score big as a game.

Feel free to take me up on a conversation in this thread on anything to do with a B5 flight sim! I want to know if it's totally forgotten, or just "waiting".

[Radhil]

There is one, actually. Demo came out for it a few weeks ago. It's not "official" (fan project), nor is it complete, but something tells me it's as close as we'll get to one. And it's not a bad job, that I can see - needs polish in the controls, but isn't bad for all that.

Babylon 5 - I've Found Her

There was a FAQ section, but it appears to have fallen victim to a site redesign....

[Kevin]

Only problem with B5:IFH (besides a lousy name ) is that it's insanely buggy, and won't work on a lot of computers... mine in paticular runs the game way too quickly, and there isn't really anything I can do to fix it

[matthewt]

A few years ago there was one being made by Sierra (I think). They got quite far with it getting most ships modeled and had a good demo running. It got canned at the last moment.

It looked VERY good.

[matthewt]

Hi,

I found an early review of the official game that didn't quite make it out.

http://pc.ign.com/previews/11194.html

Matt.

[Omega]

Yes, well.
I was already referencing the original Sierra one that got canned.

As a matter of fact, the day I heard that it was being published by Sierra, I was very dismayed. I wish JMS could have had better insight to influence a different company to take the reigns on the game. Even if it was WB's decision, surely they could have known better.
Sierra even back then was known for their obsession with low-IQ games. Deer hunter, You Don't Know Jack..etc... They're now also responsible for the butchering of the Homeworld series. Which I'm sure was influenced by their desire to keep games simple and passively engaging.

On the note of the official (and canned) game...Does anyone know where the source code is at now? Does all that work still exist today, and is it really relevant if a new project were to come?
Surely somewhere out there, copies of all the original B5 series models still exist. I've never known a computer-related project to not go unofficially archived!

I still dream of an official B5 sim that lasts longer than it's missions. That's expandable in some way, and also has lots of detail. Things like the command of larger ships, as well as flying the smaller ones. There's so much you can do with this to create all the different perspectives of a story...Too much to let go of.

[Kevin]

All of the source code and original material from the Sierra project is now in the Sierra library, tucked away. The design team that attempted to take the info and produce the game on their own ran into a cease-and-desist order from Sierra, who at that point wanted to save face from a independent company taking their "garbage" and doing well with it. As such, Sierra won and now all of that material is forever theirs and no one elses.

As for chosing a company, it's really not that easy, and I highly doubt that they had very many other prospects. Sierra was probably the best bet at the time.

[Radhil]

Sierra even back then was known for their obsession with low-IQ games. Deer hunter, You Don't Know Jack..etc... They're now also responsible for the butchering of the Homeworld series. Which I'm sure was influenced by their desire to keep games simple and passively engaging.

You Don't Know Jack was actually pretty engaging, even though they did eventually churn out 2 million sequels to burn out any appeal it had. Sierra's not a bad company, they've simply had their clunkers. And simplicity hardly kills any one game...

Surely somewhere out there, copies of all the original B5 series models still exist. I've never known a computer-related project to not go unofficially archived!

Didn't they find out the original CGI archive for B5 was nuked when they went to do the Rangers flick? Trust me, the electronic stuff vanishes far faster than you'd believe.

[Kevin]

This post has been dead for a little while I know, but I wanted to mention that I recently obtained a copy of Freespace 2 for the sole intention of installing the Babylon 5 MOD for it... it's pretty sweet Better looking than IFH if you ask me....

[Oddysseus]

Say...

I don't suppose anyone could point me in the direction of some good mods for B5?

I have some for Bridge Commander, but I have only found ones for the ISA - Victory, an EA Warlock, and a Shadow vessel.

I also found that B5 simulator. It is pretty good, but buggy (and I had a little trouble figuring the commands). But it was fun to get lost in hyperspace.


Are their some other good flight sim/battle mods?

Ones for Birth of the Federation, etc?


And again, could I get a pointer for where to take a gander.

[Cyberkada]

B5 Capital Ship Simulator

I'm writing a Babylon 5 Capital Ship Simulator (similar to Taldren's SFC), based upon the Agents of Gaming B5Wars. It will be community-based freeware.

Development screen shots are up at:

http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~cbott/

Follow the B5 Logo.

I am looking for other developers/ modders to complete mods (basically from Ships of the Fleet #1).

Right now, I'm using B5 ships that I have converted from Starfleet Command (with permission of original modder).






I [IMG]http://[/IMG]

[ShadowDancer]

greetings people!

if ur looking for B5 mods then checkout www.firstones.com there are several mods for games there, such as Buda5 which is a mod for Independence war 2: Edge of Chaos

[samuelk]

Originally posted by Kevin
All of the source code and original material from the Sierra project is now in the Sierra library, tucked away. The design team that attempted to take the info and produce the game on their own ran into a cease-and-desist order from Sierra, who at that point wanted to save face from a independent company taking their "garbage" and doing well with it. As such, Sierra won and now all of that material is forever theirs and no one elses.

As for chosing a company, it's really not that easy, and I highly doubt that they had very many other prospects. Sierra was probably the best bet at the time.

Just to correct a few things here:

The original design team never tried to finish the game on their own, and never received a cease-and-desist order from Sierra.

The original development team, with the help of others, did, however, try to buy the intellectual property (i.e., the game materials, video, code, graphics, sound, music, etc.) from Sierra.

Negotiations stalled and eventually failed, partly because Sierra most likely lost the game materials, and partly because, as Kevin said, they would rather have not seen the game produced after it was cancelled.

But the claim that the development team tried to illegally finish the game is incorrect.

[samuelk]

Originally posted by Radhil
Didn't they find out the original CGI archive for B5 was nuked when they went to do the Rangers flick? Trust me, the electronic stuff vanishes far faster than you'd believe.

Yes. As a matter of fact, JMS and the CGI studio that worked on Rangers actually contacted the ex-developers of the cancelled B5 game in order to procure some of the missing show models.