David Hingtgen

Repair is quick--shields are not. It's been so long since I had Tali in the party, maybe she affects shield regeneration rate on the Mako too, not just amount of shielding.

The Mako was going to be upgradeable---that feature was cut. As for the re-load to repair shields: I use that just to save time. Why wait literally 5 mins to heal, when you can just save and re-load so much faster? I mean, you can't do it while under threat of attack or while being attacked, so it's not "cheating" at all---it just reduces the amount of time you sit there and state at the SLOW regeneration of shields. It wouldn't be bad if 60 or 90 secs restored shields, but it takes MINUTES of sitting there when fully drained.

Texmod is the program used to actually override the textures in the game. It's very simple to use--it's basically a launcher for ME's .exe file, but it can override any texture with one of your choosing. Now, I can CHANGE colors very well, as well as lighten/darken/brighten. But don't ask me to alter the shininess--that's way beyond my ability to adjust layer specular highlighting and glow, etc. (The ME models are actually inherently glowing blue, with a transparent texture of pure shine over that, all wrapped in an armor texture with transparent layers of armor to selectively allow certain parts to glow or shine) I can totally remove all shine I think though--haven't actually tried.

That's it! Thanks so much.

Linky no worky.

That'll do, but I was thinking of a picture of the actual valk in fighter mode.

VF1TF better start paying more attention to how bands spell their names. That double-E has been missed TWICE now. MonkEEs and Beatles, not Monkeys and BEEtles.

Someone already has: http://masseffect.bioware.com/forums/myvie...1&forum=125 (Female Heavy Colossus, at least) But seriously--once I get it, I could recolor it.

GE partnered with RR for the F136's lift-fan, another reason why it's probably doing better...

Cartoon-colors Flint is VERY high on my want-list. (Along with ACTUAL toon-colors v2 Roadblock and movie-colors Falcon)

I *know* I've seen a really good overhead view of Ozma's valk showing the skull marking well (one of the few times we've seen his without armor) but I can't remember when--or if it was actually a model or toy sample rather than a scene in an episode. Anyone have a pic?

Re: Mods. We'll probably have to wait until more people get it working before we get some serious mods. (also, we really need more UT3 engine mod/editors to be able to work on ME) I've done a few armor recolors. (I take requests) It's also very easy to replace Shepard's model with just about any other character from the game. (yeah, I'm playing through as Liara at the moment) Changing henchmen's appearance and NPC's can't be done yet. (just about everyone wants Liara to look like Shiala from Feros--including me)

Probably not, unless you're such a huge fan that you think mods etc make it worth playing again.

I thought he lost three valks already...

Any of our photoshop gurus/artists want to try their hand at what that'd look like? (personally I'd be very interested to see the results)

Yes you can. Shin goes from can't walk/GERWALK at all, to an expert, in one ep of ZERO. Yes, he could already fly (and well), but that's only 1/3 of a valk's operations. So Sheryl (she of amazing confidence and skill) could certainly do so in just a few eps. Hikaru also gets pretty good with battroid and GERWALK pretty fast... PS, about Bobby----when a *mod* mentions that he's switching topics in a thread, that's usually a hint.

JSF troubles (of course, again). The F135 doesn't seem to like doing to whole "transitioning from normal to VTOL" thing. Turbine blade failures, etc. The alternative F136 engine seems to do it fine---not surprising, since the F-136 is derived from the uber-awesome F120, which was DESIGNED FROM THE START to have 2 different modes. (The F135 is a modified F119). The F136 however, isn't being funded/accepted---they seem to want to give PW the contract no matter what. http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/...vl-testing.html Now, IMHO, PW is even more "preferred" than Boeing is. Boeing vs Airbus? Hah. Look at the track records of PW and GE in US military jet engines: F-14: PW's TF30 sucks and we all know it. The military eventually out of desperation (and a decade late) finally allows GE F110's--and they rock. F-15: F100 sucks, fails all the time. So bad that many F-15's are grounded or delivered sans engines, even though they have TWO engines to rely on. When it becomes available, everyone who can starts ordering F-15's with GE engines (except the US of course). F-16: F100 sucks in the F-16 just as badly as it does in the F-15, but it's even more of a situation since they only have one engine. The GE F110 is commissioned due to desperately needing something else--and it's WAY better. Almost all future USAF F-16's are ordered with GE's, and those with PW's are subsequently restricted to CONUS and ANG use. Front-line F-16's are GE-powered as a rule. F-18: GE ordered from the start. Does great, no problems. Just as good when upgraded for the F-20, Super Hornets and the Gripen. F-22/F-23. PW F119 vs GE F120. F119 is inferior in all aspects, so it's chosen to power the F-22. F-35: Modified F119 (F135) vs modified F120 (F136). Guess which one sucks? Guess which one gets the contract? Yeesh. Favortism for PW, anyone? I mean c'mon---the F119 is nothing more than a souped-up F100. The F120 is a whole new class of engine, new from the ground up and DESIGNED TO OPERATE IN TWO DIFFERENT MODES---and they DIDN'T pick it to be developed to power the VTOL 2-mode version of the F-35? The F120 is a truly brilliant design--it can switch from turbojet to turbofan. It can adjust its own bypass ratio, from "Harrier-style" low-speed max-power ducting everything directly out from the compressor fan, to F-4 style "pure raw afterburning at high speed from the turbine". It's the realization of a concept I saw years ago in a book basically saying "a Concorde replacement will need an engine from the future that can do THIS". And the F120 does it. As does the F136. I wouldn't be surprised if the civillian 797 or A360 have engines like that, while the "ultra-high-tech" F-22/F-35 fall way behind engine-wise. Yes, the F119 family has power---but nothing more. The F120 family is the most important new design since the turbofan was invented--but nobody wants to use/develop it.

Phoenix is long-gone, it was gone before the F-14 was.

Switching topics back to Mikhail---I personally kinda hope he's out of commission for a while, and so Sheryl gets a valk. (hey, we need more colors, and whatever happened to the one that looks like Alto's but has purplish striping we saw in the early promo material?) (yes, the most likely answer is that was just an animation test, but it would be neat to have a valk with purple markings) (the VF-27 doesn't count, it's more like magenta, and pretty close to Nora's) Also, if Sheryl becomes a decent pilot, then that makes a Minmei attack all the more likely/plausible. She'd be kinda like Basara, but not a pacifist...

Basic problem airplane modelers always have---Tamiya simply doesn't make the pale bluish greys that 99% of jets have been painted in for the last 20 years. If you want "low-vis grey" from Tamiya, you'll have to mix it yourself. Sky grey is the lightest and closest they make, but as you've discovered--it's just not "low-vis grey". I'll second the assessment that it's probably painted light ghost grey (36375)----every company BUT Tamiya makes that color, as it's the most common color in the world now for military jets. Not sure on the fast packs, they're definitely darker than 36320, but lack the brownish hue of every grey in the 362xx range I know of. (and they're not dark enough to be in the 361xx range)

And be sure to check 10,000 posts in the PC self-help section of the ME forum to try to get ME running on your PC! It took me DAYS (and hours per day) to finally get my copy going. I hope---no errors the past 5 hours. (and I still don't really know exactly what was wrong, or how re-copying all the files help)

Nothing says they didn't go pick up the boosters after the battle---the Vajra retreated from the area, not the Frontier. We've seen several times now that ejected armor in M:Frontier is "smart" and clumps itself together, waiting to be picked up. (the Super Armor folds itself into a neat "X" configuration---don't think we've seen full armor, but presumably the bigger, more expensive set can do it too)

Gah, I'm so torn between whose to buy. (Once they announce full armor, of course---I am seriously considering never buying one if they don't do full full armor)

Yeah, but I distinctly hear a "B" too, no matter how many times I listen and how much more sense "little" makes.

Yeah---there have been many posts about it, but never a dedicated thread. I'm a huge fan.