Feedback of any kind is always welcome. Ideas, balance changes, and bug reporting of any kind is always useful!
Version 1.00 Released!
Make sure to ask for permission before republishing any part of this mod to the public!
Downloads
1.05 + DLC Compatible:
0.12 ALPHA Release:Full Download:http://distantstars.mmobase.com/rebellion/Distant_Stars_(R)_ALPHA_0.13_[45189661].7z
Full Download MIRROR:http://www.moddb.com/downloads/distant-stars-rebellion-alpha-013
MD5: 69486D2FCD3F35E46E6F5EF8C9F1634A
1.34 Compatible:
1.01 Release:Full Download:http://distantstars.mmobase.com/diplomacy/Distant_Stars_(D)_1.01_[45685832].7z
1.051 Compatible:
Beta 0.9951 Release:Full Download:http://distantstars.mmobase.com/entrenchment/DS_Entrenchment_Beta_0.9951_[36672852].7z
1.14 - 1.181 Compatible:
Version 1.01:Full Download:http://distantstars.mmobase.com/soase/Distant_Stars_v1.01_[453701567].7z
Multiplayer Games:We've setup a thread for everyone to organise their multiplayer games in and also setup example times and dates for most people to meet up and start games. These are what we hope to be the main times for people to be around and want to play games together.
The times are:4pm EST (9pm GMT) Saturdays & Sundays9pm EST (2am GMT) Saturdays & SundaysIf you want to organise other games please go ahead using the same topic to consolidate all the information in one place and hopefully get more games together within our community. These games are for PvP, PvAI & PvPvAIso come along and we'll get some games going!
Screenshots:We've setup a thread so you can all post your screenshots to share with us the Distant Stars team and its players. Im sure we're all intrigued to see what kinds of battles and events you've all been having on the mod aswell.
Lore:We know some of you guys love to role play whilst using Distant Stars, and here's a topic for you guys to post all of your role playing stories, character profiles and anything else you can imagine.
Maps:Some of you avid map makers out there have produced some great maps but never really had them recognised because they've got lost. Well here's a topic for you to post a link to the download (we can even provide mirrors if necessary) a screenshot or two of the map for us all the preview and if enough people like it we'll even include the map in with the actual mod!
Please visit our website and for more information, change logs, downloads, and to report bugs. Our website can be found here: http://distantstars.mmobase.com
Bug Reporting
If you want to report a bug please use the Bug Report feature on our website:http://distantstars.mmobase.com/?m=reportabug
Please include as much information as possible, if you have an error log feel free to post it on these forums and we'll take it from there. If you can reproduce the error please include the error log (read below to find out how to enable error logs) and include as much detail on how to reproduce the problem.
To enable logging:Windows Vista/Windows 7:C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\SettingorWindows XP:C:\Documents and settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Setting
Open the user.setting file (using Notepad, Wordpad or any text editor) and scroll down to the bottom 7 lines from the bottom is the line:LogOutput FALSEChange FALSE to TRUELogOutput TRUE
and from then on any Log files will be saved to the debug folder:Windows Vista/Windows 7: C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Debug or Windows XP: C:\Documents and settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Debug
If you get these log files to us (you can just paste them in to a forum post) we can hopefully get your issues sorted.
Frequently Asked Questions
All files are compressed using 7Zip to shrink the download filesize. To extract these files you must use WinRAR or 7Zip.Any Patches should overwrite the original install directory, either by extracting over the original folder, or cut/copy & pasting over the existing file/folder structure.
1) My game keeps crashing, is there anything I can do to stop it?i) Are you running the game on maximum (highest) settings? if so, lower them to High or Medium, there is a known issue with the game using up too much memory, there is nothing we can do about this, also no matter how powerful your pc is, it is affected by this issue no matter the pc it is not above this crashing issue, it is a game problem not a hardware one, so quite simply lower your settings. If you still have an issue with crashing see point two.ii) Give us as detailed information as possible about the crash, what was happening at the time of the crash, what races, ships, abilities were involved. If you can supply a Debug Log (see above for more information about logging) and post a bug report on our website.
2) The loading screens and portrait pictures dont appear properly, whats wrong?i) This is an issue with ATI based graphics cards (rarely affects Nvidia based cards) we're looking in to the issue.
3) Why dont you support converting Distant Stars in to TXT format?i) Quite simply many things can go wrong with converting your mod to TXT, we cant help you with something you've probably broken yourself.
4) Can I mod Distant Stars for myself?i) Yes you can however please do not distribute our mod or our mod that you have edited to the public. You must ask for permission to do so, we will regrettably stop distributing our mod to all if users abuse our work.
5) Your mod is in BIN format I can't edit the files, what can I do?i) You can convert the mod to TXT format however we wont offer any support to versions of the mod that have been converted to TXT.
6) Why is Distant Stars distributed in BIN format? i) Mods load faster in BIN format and are less likely to have issues in this format.
7) I'm having trouble installing the MOD, do you have any more instructions?i) Carbon was kind enough to do some more advanced instructions out here.
8) Is there any way to make new maps for Distant Stars using GalaxyForge?i) Within the Distant Stars Extras folder there is a folder called Galaxy Forge, Copy and Paste this folder (or its contents) over your original Galaxy Forge folder (or its contents) replacing any files if it asks you to. When you start Galaxy Forge next you'll be able to use all of our planets.
Or, the DIY approach (without custom icons):
ii) The GalaxyForge supplied by the devs will still work with our Mod, however to be able to access all of our planetary bonuses, templates, planet types and stars you will need to take our GalaxyScenarioDef.galaxyScenarioDef (found in the GameInfo folder of the mod) and place it in to your GalaxyForge folder, overwriting the original GalaxyScenarioDef.galaxyScenarioDef (if you still wish to make maps for the original game keep a backup of the original file). This will allow you to use all of the Galaxy changes included in our mod.
Note: Any maps made for Distant Stars will not work with other Mods. See #8.2 for DIY instructions for map making or take the appropriate files from Entrenchment, they're cross-client compatible.
Some statistics...
Since August 2009 to February 2011 we have had over...
400,000 Unique visits to the website12,000GB (12TB) of data transferred from our website
That equates to over 60,000 Unique downloads of the entire mod, excluding the excess of 20,000 Patches downloaded.
Thanks to everyone that has supported us this far and making our mod as popular as it is!
Sure, I have it somewhere on my comp. I'll try and locate it for you.
Also, I use Gimp which is free to edit images. However, I can make you a compatible set of textures and brush files for your flagship mod if want me too. Just let me know if you want to try it yourself or have me put it together for you...
Here's tutorial I did for Gimp in regards to research buttons...
With the beta stuff going on, it's going to be up and down for a bit. Then they'll do Rebellion with the ups, downs, and general overhauls that brings. This fall might be peaceful though.
DS is an incredible piece of work. I wouldnt be surprised if it was included as part of Sins 2 (the concepts at least, if not the actual mods as well).
Betas are done for a while now. We wont see rebellion for a year (maybe betas late fall?).
So, looking forward to DS 1.0!
This is copy and pasted from the MSGM thread here: https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/348205
So I have found the issue with the MSGM not being 100% compliant with the DS mod.
Currently the DS mod is still utilizing the v0.2 version of MSGM. When v0.3 is overlaid it overrights everthing correctly, however the Icons_planets.dds v0.3 (TSOP Compliant version) is not properly setup to work with DS. It is inccorectly referencing sections of the Icons file and that is what is creating this problem. Below is a screen shot of what you can expect when you implement MSGM v0.3 over the latest DS build. This will be fixed, compiled and uploaded Thursday (3/24/11) for implementation with the DS mod.
A duplicate message has been posted over on the DS thread.
THIS WILL BE FIXED!
thx boshimi336
Hey Ryat, I modded your flagship mod a little bit just to be funny. I made capital ships a 6 military lab research item and your flagships an 8 military lab research item... I probably should link it to fleet research as well, but whatever, in due time. It's kind of enjoyable not being able to build capital ships before being able to build cruisers. You know, step up upgrades in size.
I've only done the TEC for right now, but if you want to have a look at the stuff, I can make it happen.
Interesting idea... does force some of us to use more frigates and cruisers. At the same time, it makes the pirates and what not harder at the beginning. Also makes it hard to consider a cap OP since you don't get it until the enemy can have enough cruisers to down the beasts.
Pirates harder? Not really from what I've seen, they sent wave after wave of frigates after me in the hundreds, but I had mines to block their path in every time so I'm not really sure they're all that difficult. If I play all factions as TEC, no one has caps early on, they spend their money on their own fleets, rather then the pirates.
Let me rephrase this...
Assuming you don't tech up to mines early on, they can be harder. It sucks a little more since you can't use the pirates early on to lvl up your caps (assuming you're going for that). The mines do screw up the pirate dynamic at least until late game. I imagine that they might perform better with the Powerful Pirates mini-mod. I do find it interesting that the players all focus on their own fleets. If they put some cash toward the pirates early on, they might be able to really stick it to you. Then again, I could be wrong. Still, you ahve a point about teching up to the big dogs. At the very least caps should be tied in to weapons technology.
Hmmm. Good idea. Weapon techs... I could make each one require certain levels of each of their weapon types on top of the fleet superstructure upgrade I already gave them. >=] People are going to hate Caps by the time I'm done with this.
I don't know anything about using the fleet superstructure for it. But I imagine that it's hard to build a decent cap (let's say a Kol) without having at least the first upgrade for beams, autocannons, and lasers. Missiles wouldn't affect it, BUT then the Dunov would require lasers and missiles. Etc. etc. etc.
Well, the fleet superstructure thing is just a placeholder research item I made up to have someone research to unlock capital ships. Maybe I should tie cap ship factories to it as well so no one is building those and not having anything to work with, or maybe making the colonizer ships available from the get go so there's reason to build one early or still have the cap factory as a quick start item. The superstructure upgrade also act's as a research prerequisite for the flagship upgrade.
In truth though, the weapon upgrades are just that, upgrades to weapons. That means they already have them, they're just making better versions after each research item. So while it's a good option, it's probably not necessary. I'll think more on it tonight and see what comes together tomorrow.
Of course the big thing (setting up research prerequisites is easy) is to set it up so you can only build one at a time. I got something in mind and will start messing with it soon.
Yeah, been thinking about that too. That's what set me down this path in the first place. At first I tried to trick the game into allowing another ship class, but that didn't work too well, ever since I've been looking at things like equipping the flagship with a build speed buff (or more appropriately debuff) that sets the build speed of the flag ship to some ungodly number like 40 hours which goes away when the ship is destroyed. So technically, you could start building a second one, but why give up the cap ship slot? Even with the 250% build boost given by the sova and the other research build speed boosts, the debuff should still have quite a bit of time to it. Just a thought if you're up for experimenting. If it works out well, we can still float the idea of having cap ships be research able, or I can abandon it, but so far I'm liking the fact that it takes a while to field them.
Then the question becomes whether or not people feel the caps are worth all that trouble.
Meanwhile, thanks for fixing the icons. I was plannning on looking at it yesterday and got busy. No big deal in any case. I was thinking of getting together with SuperZer0 so we might tweak a few things, but I'll just have to wait and see how that goes. It's nothing that people would be up in arms if it did or didn't fly.
Even if i like a lot of Distant Stars features, i prefer the original game pirates (except for the battleship who is damned cool) : could you tell me which files i have to modify to get back to the original pirates while keeping the other features please ?
edit : by the way; there is an issue with the AI and the advent guardian frigate : you must research 10 lvls of the first shield tech to get thesecon shield tech and then guardian, which means the advent AI seldom makes any of them.
Great news, that was ruining the game for me
It will be up today? Can't wait to get back to playing it, it has to be my favorite mod by far, although SoaGE Is pretty great too. Been playing that lately.
There are a lot of files. I will go through and either a send you a modified version or be tell you what to modify.
It depends on the AI. I usually see them pretty quick but I play on the high end AIs. We actually step it down to allow the AI to be able to use it. Will look into this.
thank you very much sir !
Just got home from work ... starting to work on that fix for DS and MSGM as we speak.
Can you tell me whhat the differenf versions of releases for DS are?
You have 0.7 for Diplomacy but .955 for entrenchment.
Does the entrenchment one offer more than the diplomacy one?Please make it clear.
Well I have good news and a bug report!
Good News: I have fixed the MSGM mod and I will have a DS version uploaded within the hour [Double checking file size ... hang on.]. YAY!!! (I will post in the MSGM thread when it is uploaded. Can one of the DS team please test this revised mod (just to be super double sure) and then include it into the DS mod? Thanks!
Bug Report: While visiting a ship graveyard ... (and admiring how beautiful the ships look when reflecting the sunlight!!!) I ran across a piece that seems to be missing any texture at all. (it's all chromed out by the looks of it.) I'm not sure if it is just relavant to this sun in this system / skybox (I know the planets look REALLY washed out when in a system with this sun / skybox. Just some thoughts.
Another thought as well ... I don't suppose you could add to the Random Maps a chance for the capturable starbases I read in the release notes a few versions back, among other things, to be spawn on the map; even if it is an incredibly small chance to spawn? It is a nice touch and introduces a few suprises during our LAN games when we find such things. People end up fighting over them just because its there and is quite a lot of good fun, even the AI gets in on the action from time to time!
Entrenchment runs off of a different .exe then Diplomacy. Hence the need for different mods fro each .exe. (we will soon have the one for the original .exe shortly) Entrenchment can before Diplomacy so we were able to perfect it sooner then Diplomacy. Plus Diplomacy 1.2 (latest patch up) now has Distant Stars 0.99B2 so if you are playing Diplomacy 1.2 you will want that version at the very top.
@boshimi - Someone will get to the testing of your work soon but full integration will require Nacey. Hopefully I will be able to tag him tomorrow morning if not Sat. As for the Graveyard ships TBH I never really looked at them. Will float it over to someone who can fix/replace it.
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