USS Minnesota NCC-23630 (Serenity-B)

Description
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U.S.S. Minnesota NCC-23630
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Original Information:

Well, technically its nothing new. I used the uss_serenity_b_v2 map for this retexture. Honestly I planed this for the upcoming new Galaxy Class Map USS Serenity-B (by Borgking)
but it was never finished, so I picked the orginal Serenity, wich is still awesome today and made a retexture to appear as Nebula Class. I ve put quite some effort in redesigning the LCARS
Also I used a diffrent colorscheme. As seen in the show the Nebula LCARS is more purple and dark comared to the LCARS on Galaxy Class Starships.

The LCARS is pretty unique, plus according to the LCARS Colorchart it is an exactly match for LCARS of this era.

I also thought how I could get rid og the typical "Its a Nebula Class but it still feels like a Galaxy Class" Impression, so I changed the TGA Files from the Galaxy class Mesh to black, so it isnt visible from the Observation Lounge anymore.
Though the model in the Readyroom is black now, it gives more a feel of that it might be a Nebula Class.

I ve made slight improvement to LCARS, door and other various textures
Also I have to admit I ve included the .bsp file with it, wearing the name of the Ship "USS Minnesota" because I like it when you load it up and it doesent say something else than it is supposed to be.
Though the .bsp hasnt been altered.

It just for the RPG Feel, so if you dont want to have another "the same" map lurking around on your disk dont download it ;)


Review:
So here we have a retexture of the classic USS Serenity B v2 map, a re-texture designed to tie in with the USS Minnesota forum RPG (Link can be found on ubergames) During the lengthy download and extraction process (For future reference, please don't put the zip inside another zip) i found myself skeptical, i easily slipped into the "Oh no, not another re-texture" mind state, however, i must say that this re-texture, on the whole failed to disappoint me. The LCARS have been almost completely re-done leading to a completely different atmosphere to the map, an atmosphere that the other edited textures contribute too, the carpets have been re-coloured and the corridors look superb, a perfect bridge between the corridor designs seen in The Next Generation and Voyager.

Now, onto the bad bits. There are not that many grapples i have with this map, however, most of them, considering that this is a re-texture, are texture based. Firstly, the lcars seem a bit too 'purplypinky' and made me think that an 8 year old girl had got hold of the ships desktop theme controls... However if 'purplypinky' is what you like, then fair enough... After all, this is the Galaxy's sister ship... Heh. Secondly, there are a few texture mismatches around, the most obvious are the Nemesis control panels on the sickbay biobeds and the TNG controls on a few of the bridge console... Not to mention the door... Thingamabobs. Thirdly, the MSD... It is used FAR too much... I haven't played on the original serenity for quite some time, however, I'm sure there weren't this many MSD's... I mean there are three in the armoury alone. Also, the doors, half of them are Grey... Fitting in with the corridors, and the other half are beige... Which makes things look... Weird and mismatched. My final complaint on the subject of textures, is the model seen outside the briefing room window... The black colour scheme was a nice thought... And may of looked good on paper, but the reality is that it looks like somebody left all the lights off... Sorry.

Other bugs: For some reason, this retexture makes the red alert sound go... Crazy for lack of a better word.

Overall, a nice re-texture, it's not without it's bugs and grapples, but if your bored of the classic Serenity theme, or are thinking of making and SRP based around a Nebula Class, don't hesitate to try it out. Give it a shot.

- jamesamey (Robertson/Vanguard)