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!
Yup.
Your doing good buddy old pal.
I dont think there much you can do with the size icons...unless you do what we have already as part of the icon itself. Dont think thats the road we want to use since it may mess up the look of your icons.
More than likely Im gonna have to see them in game before I can judge then properly.
I considered having them as part of the icon. It would require me to reconsider some of the shapes. Squares, Circles, and maybe Triangles are okay. Diamonds are a no go.
And yeah, I'll have to see what I can do, but I admit that past making the alphas, I seem to have a disability to tell the comp what to use where.
Maybe the lines could be part of the shape like the circle is in your 'moon' example. A circle in the upper right of the shape is a moon. Replace the circle with a single line and that is a dwarf. Put a line in the upper right AND lower right and that is normal size. Put a line in Upper right, AND lower right AND lower left and that is huge, Put a line in Upper and lower right, and a line in upper and lower left and it is Giant.
There's only three sizes necessary. That is a consideration to be made, and I have considered something like it. I might have to get rid of some symbols having internal lines to avoid confusion, such as the basic Terran planet. I'll continue playing.
Is there any news on the portraits and planets appearing wrong? I really like the mod, but I don't like playing it when portraits and planets look weird.
If you have an ATI graphics card, then there's really not much we can do other then to tell you to make sure your card's drivers are all up to date, your directX is up to date, and have you use the TGA version of the portraits rather then the DDS version... But I misplaced the link so unless someone wants to do me a favor and find it, you'll have to wait until I have the time this weekend to dig back and look for it.
Hey, I couldn't backtrack it and find it, but I thought one of you guys said you came up with a reasonable fix for the first pirate wave on modded diplo. I played with the constant file, but couldn't figure exactly which numbers to toy with. What do I edit?
Btw, assume I'm starting from a fresh file and I do know which one it is and I know where to find the pirate entries. You know, I'm not an idiot and such.
Not being an idiot, you should see values for Random and Required. You can remove the randoms and use only the required, but as the game only allows 5 items of each per level, you'll have to give up using some capitals or frigates. Personally I don't think that's such a bad idea. In the level 0 raid, only using frigates, and by the time you get to the level 4 raid, you've got the pirate battleship, carrier, siege, one of the support ships, and a spot left over for their heavy frigates. At this point all that's left is playing with the numbers.
Yeah, I saw the Required, but I wasn't sure if it was a calculation for what to minimally send if there was no bounty or if it is what you said. Okay, so I can kill off the Random, nice. I'm not worried about this for myself, but my dad can't manage the game under those circumstances. I would suggest he cut pirates out completely, but bad players don't like it when you suggest they are just that.
I assume that at level 4, it just sticks in place?
You can or you can add in the heavy frigates or some other frigate like the antifighter frigate to do more offensive or defensive damage depending on his style of play.
?
Not sure how that answers my question. I noticed that the waves are 0-4. After working up to wave 4, am I to assume that the pirates will just continue repeating wave 4? I'll play with the composition myself. I figure to go easy on the poor coot. He's not the kind that enjoys a game when it puts him on the ropes.
Oh. I assumed you were up to date on the Sins change logs. The pirates don't climb up to level 4 and stay there any more, they base what level to go off of by how much bounty is out there. Meaning, no bounty = level 0 raid, even if you're 15 hours into the game.
That's not really the whole story behind their raid level, but it's the major player in deciding it.
Ah. Well, there you go. No, I don't delve too deep into the most technical aspects of the change log. Not only do I like learning some of it through gameplay, but it's pretty boring to go through every last thing.
Anyway, I see. That makes it really hard for a game starter if someone really wants to throw cash at you come the first wave. Pretty freaking mean. Okay, I'll mix it up and see where it goes.
Supply also now plays a bigger role in pirate fleets (before it was minimal oddly enough). So if you want you can play with those numbers as well.
How's the 1.0 release coming along?
Not only does supply appear to be an issue, but when I negated the random ship count, the required minimum appears to be deactivated. The first wave had the bare minimum number of ships that the individual ranges would allow, falling below the required minimum. So not only did I pump up the minimum to guarantee I got the smallest number I want in any circumstance, but to make sure it didn't subsequently go above and beyond, I had to narrow the gap by bringing down the maximum.
I would consider playing with it more, but I want to get back to the 2-D and a couple of my own projects. Keep in mind that Yom Kippur starts tonight, so most of my Saturday is out of the question. Rght now, I'm largely trying to get it under control for my dad's sake. If the numbers look good after he plays a few games, I can always share my modifications, should anyone care.
On the fourth wave, I have a minimum of 50 pirate vessels. Couldn't really get a feel myself for how good or bad that is since I usually mine up and thus pop off the bulk when they first phase in. Does 50 sound like a good minimum for the largest non-quest wave?
Still got 6 years of development left. In the mean time, enjoy the next 2 Sins expansions and Sins 2.
Oh yeah... Happy holy day. You've got the firepower to turn others into holy beings or holey beings or both... If zombies come alive, you can always ask for forgiveness right before you blow their heads off and then atone for your sins by sniping one chasing down some random person rather then letting them get eaten or turned...
If there are a dozen caps, then absolutely. If it's just the standard cannon fodder, then not so much. Should go for 150 to 200 in the case of the latter.
I can't speak for anyone else looking at it, but I was really into sinking all of my free time into it a few weeks ago but like always, other things have taken over so I presently have very little time to devote to it. I get about half an hour a day to screw around on the internet and between work, my girlfriend, my daughters, and football (and trying to make the DS lore active again)... I just don't have the few hours it takes to run through a proper game and chase down bugs and force it to do strange things in order to exploit certain flaws in design... But on the plus side, the couple of times I have been able to sit down I got Ryat's flagship mod updated and working without crashing... (was even on the phone while typing this.)
Hey, it's not like there's never been anything released for you to muck around with in the mean time.
I've got a lore post I need to get done within the next day, I hope. Not that I can contribute tons, but I'm as active in it as one can ask for.
Meanwhile, I'll see about upping the ante, the only problem being that I'm customizing it for a sub-par player. I've won harder battles than he's ever started. He tends, at best, to knock over the game board when things go awry.
and yes, I have a great deal of firepower and I'm sure one day Yom Kippur will take on a different meaning for it. In the meantime, the politicians and zombies of the world are safe from the alignment of my crosshairs.
You mind throwing that my direction for review?
Quite nicely. We are getting close to official release.
That would be about right. In insect years.
Haha. An insect at my place only lasts a few minutes.
Sent. It's up to date with internal beta 7.
Hey guys hope you're all doing well.
This is more than likely a redundant question but I assume you'll update this mod for the new expansion coming out right?
How long does that take usually. I only play the game using this mod.
Yes it will be updated for that.
How long it takes depends on the changes made by rebellion, specifically, what issues appear because of those changes, and what goodies can be added with an expanded set of modding options. I hope I'm part of the Beta since I own the current trio of games and pre-ordered early. If I am, then I'll definitely be updating it to work with the Beta if at all possible which means it'll be released sooner rather then later. If history is any example, there will be a playable version either the same day of release, or within a couple of days of it.
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