Schlafenberg Mod [Alpha][WIP]

[Grim_Wizard]

Several years ago I started to build a new freeplay map based upon a fictional European town I had made many years ago. In the past few years my wife left me, COVID has left me busier than ever, and I rarely get time to myself. I've posted some screenshots on discord, facebook, and on steam and I've had plenty of interest of a release of this mod. Currently the mod is hosted here on Emergency Planet. It is in an alpha stage and I have no problems sharing it with you guys. The mod uses the default resources of the game, and I have a few scripts I've made that will be added in a future release. 

 

The progress map is as follows...

Basic map texturing - 80%

Map texture blending - 25%

Map scene editing - 70%

Map pathing - 50%

Pedestrian skin variations - 5%

HD remaping of vanilla vehicles - 0%

New and expanded textures for base game units - 0%

Custom EMS scripts - 50% (Not implemented yet)

In map stations - 10%

 

 No, I will not port this map over to whatever mod you are playing. The updates will come out as they come out. 

 

The mod can be found here: 

 

 

 

 

[Grim_Wizard]

It has been quite a week in the town of Schlafenberg. I resurrected this project without any big hopes, but I surprised myself with how much I have worked on it. 

 

The village itself is mostly complete! There is one more parking area by the city engineer's office that needs to be made, and some details such as driveways and walkways need to be added to the map for continuity. From there comes the labor intensive task of detailing the textures. That means blending the sidewalks to make them look natural, mixing the dirt and sand textures of the river and beach, as well as adding decals and detail polygons. Traffic striping will also be added, mostly in the form of crosswalks. 

There is now one escape path on the map! So criminals will actually flee. I will be adding some more in at some point. There are is one set of working traffic lights on the map, some gas explosion missions have been added, as well as electrical boxes added for more available missions. Ambient polygons have also been added, and custom sounds are on the horizon, leading to a map that is very alive and vibrant. 

Also some variations of pedestrians have been added! Here's a sneak peak of a few skins that were added for more variety. You will be seeing more variations of vanilla skins added to the mod as time goes on! The skins will undoubtedly be one of the more labor intensive tasks. Tentatively I have plans to Re UV map all of the vanilla emergency vehicles and persons to HD textures.  

 

 

[Grim_Wizard]

Another week, another update. Sadly my vacation time is running out, so forthcoming updates will likely be slow. Instead of focusing on map texture updates, most of the progress this week has been on scripts and importing some assets from Emergency 3. Most of the map texturing done was some small things, such as improving road and sidewalk textures and changing the sand texture on the beaches. A few new car accidents have been added. I also spent a lot of time play testing the map, particularly with fire spread. I have realized that a lot of fires in the game, even smaller fires, grow out of control fairly quickly. While it offers great gameplay, it can be very difficult to reasonably control raging infernos with only a select few units, with gameplay being centered around a small town I feel that the player will need more options to control the raging fires. I have decided to give the bulldozer extra function and have been experimenting with adding in trees that can be destroyed with the bulldozer. 

 

 

One thing that I've felt has been missing from the base game is the ability to change firefighters to various other uniforms, such as breathing apparatus or the diving suit. Firefighters can now change into breathing apparatus from any firefighting vehicle. Firefighters with breathing apparatus can change into ABC protection at the equipment truck (RW/GPT) or the decon truck. (DEKONP). Firefighters can also change into a diving suit at the equipment truck. 

And rounding out the custom scripts is a go to hospital script! Ambulances can now go to the hospital. Currently there is no "return to station" script, so it is very limited. I have also started work on a spawn script, as well as a flashing lights script. Also some scripts that I made for a different mod are in. Doctors no longer spawn with emergency cases, they must get one from the EDV/NEF. Doctors also no longer can be staffed on ambulances, they must be summoned on the EDV/NEF. To balance this change paramedics can now assess patients and treat them better, so not every casualty requires a doctor. 

You will also notice that some new stations have been added. Currently these are place holders. Some brand new custom stations will be coming soon. However, if you are interested in checking them out, the new stations can be found here and here. 

Currently I am working on a startup script to spawn vehicles. This is the city engineer's office. It will have a parking spot for an engineer's vehicle as well as a bulldozer, and possibly a crane. A tow truck will be available on the map, however it will be at the auto garage on the map, not the engineer's office. Additional tow trucks will eventually spawn outside the map. Eventually you will be able to spawn additional engineers and TEC/THW persons at this building. I have debated on expanding the roles and duties of technical services and may add in additional persons, though this will likely be very far down the road. 

 

This is the town's hospital. It has been adapted from a building from Emergency 3. In fact most mods back in the day used this model as a stand in hospital, so it should look familiar to long time Emergency fans. The attached ambulance station will have two ambulances and a doctor's car. Eventually this service will have a color scheme similar to Die Johanniter, and will operate the area's only medical and rescue helicopter. The town of Schlafenberg will also see a single ambulance with a different color scheme from the hospital station. The liveries will come after I upscale the textures. This will likely be the most labor intensive part of the mod. 

 

 

Additionally the mountains and forest to the north will eventually be changed to support a more complex and satisfying gameplay component, with the inclusion of search and rescue teams for the deluxe missing persons events as well as individual trees, rather than filler forest objects for tactical control of fire and better unit movement. 

 

 

As you can see below the town has grown considerably since some of the first screenshots of the mod. The town will continue to grow and be detailed as the mod progresses. A single EMS station will soon be present in the town. Patrol routes will also be present in the near future, however they will be on foot through the town proper, rather than by vehicle! 

The neighborhood and farms to the north and the west now have a name. As part of an inside joke they will have the official name of Toasterhausen. There will soon be a small fire station with a single truck located by the neighborhood and car shop. Pictured below is the area's water pumping facility.

 

Also, I just wanna get a goth GF. (jk i already do and sarah if ur reading this ily)

 

With my work schedule being quite erratic I was wondering if there was anyone who might be interested in hopping aboard this project? I will need quite a bit of help with UV mapping all of the base game vehicles. The goal of the mod is to keep as much of the original game intact as possible. I don't think that the original game gets enough credit most days. I hope you all enjoy this small dev blog. I will try to make a new stable package of the mod and upload it within the week. 

[Grim_Wizard]

It's been about two weeks and I wish there was a lot I could show you, but unfortunately work on the mod has been slow due to my work schedule. It's looking like January will be jam packed with work days as well unfortunately. That being said we have made some progress! It's just not screenshot worthy progress. 

Currently the town of Schlafenberg has a fully staffed fire station! At the start of the game you are given several firefighting vehicles and firefighters to compliment them! There are also two ambulances that spawn at the hospital, as well as an emergency doctor's vehicle! The police force also has two patrol cars, a patrol van, and an armed response unit that spawns on the map. The engineer's depot currently has an engineer that spawns. Fire units can also return to the fire station, and soon all units will be able to return to their perspective stations!

A few map details have been added, including a road to the beachfront. It still needs a proper street to be attached to it. Some of the sidewalks still need to be aligned properly and a few houses need walkways and driveways. There are also some pathing issues to work out. I have also focused on creating custom audio for a lot of the town in an attempt to make the town feel more "alive". This includes the gas station, the fire station, the church, and the fast food shop. 

I am hopeful that before the new year I will be able to upload an updated alpha version of the mod.

Enjoy the holidays ahead all!