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!
In your Setting folder, in the same folder as the mod folder, find a file called "rebellion.user". Open it in notepad and find a line called "ShowErrors". Make sure its set to FALSE, not TRUE.
Glad to see the DS mod is up and ready for Rebellion now . Quick question though. On the map CB Birth of the Trade Order, is there any way for the galaxy forge names (i.e. Union of Earth, Martian Venusian Alliance, Saturn League, Neptunian Empire) to still be displayed in the actual game?
Will need to be rebuilt for that. And they will be.
Thanks a lot, it helped. Just not yet learned to catch the error in another way, share your experiences please)))
I understand that the developers of DS already overwhelmed by different requests and suggestions, but let me add, too, by itself, it may be useful: I was going to make a map of the solar system and nearby stars, but most of the stars that surround us double or triple. So I ran the mod DS. But there is one problem. Unfortunately companion star, not seen as normal stars until they find, as a simple planet. And it's sad. I myself have tried to fix it, but it looks like the changes you need to do in the game engine.
FYI--I love the ship graveyards so much that I am making "wrecked ship" models for you. I have a prototype Kol already done that can use the normal Kol texture or your graveyard ones. Looks good either way--I've already tried it in game. You won't have to add textures to the mod--just the meshes.
The Kol as an example has bent antennae, dented armor, blast holes showing internal wrecked machinery, damaged hangar bays--you get the idea.
I'm also going to take some of the smoke, flame, etc. particle effects and add those in too as an option.
An extra would be to add some slight damage edits to the textures for the normal Kol--because my model will match the already existing texture for it, it would be very easy to add some scorch marks and throw in little touches like that.
So this is my spare time hobby. I'm doing a bit at a time when I have some.
I may be misunderstanding what you mean but if you are talking about planets with star meshes not being able to be seen as stars are--there is a easy fix for this (if what you want is for them to be visible at the game start).
Since they are "planets" to the game itself, just create a GalaxyScenarioDef template and add ships by player slot. Mod in a combat turret ship with no weapons and a self destruct ability that autocasts as part of the planet template. At game start, each player will see the star and the turrets will vanish.
This is awesome!!!
Here's the mashup sample i did just to see if it could work. You have to be able to see it in game and rotate the angles to catch a lot of it but some of the effect can be seen here.
I'm working on a much more detailed one now--holes showing the ship interiors, proper seems and the like, etc.
A work around is to use actual stars and not companion stars. Using the forge, you can group the stars near to each other and set the radius to like 1. Not the move or exit radius, but the build radius. The one that puts the white circle around them. As far as my understanding of the numbers, when zoomed out, you should see the stars grouped near each other. When zoomed in, they'll be treated as separate systems, but it doesn't really matter if the non main stars are just there and don't have any planets grouped with them, visually, it'll all look the same. You just won't see planets unless you're on the main star.
Quoting Stant123, reply 7635A work around is to use actual stars and not companion stars. Using the forge, you can group the stars near to each other and set the radius to like 1. Not the move or exit radius, but the build radius. The one that puts the white circle around them. As far as my understanding of the numbers, when zoomed out, you should see the stars grouped near each other. When zoomed in, they'll be treated as separate systems, but it doesn't really matter if the non main stars are just there and don't have any planets grouped with them, visually, it'll all look the same. You just won't see planets unless you're on the main star.
The fact that I experimented with a lot of Galaxy Forge and the stars can not be placed side by side. The problem is that if the primary star has a planet, then the z coordinate for the second star is random. And it can not be changed, at least I tried. Perhaps it is written somewhere in the game engine. I need the stars were very close to each other - "two giant fire visible from the planet, which revolves around them."
Quoting Sinperium, reply 7632I may be misunderstanding what you mean but if you are talking about planets with star meshes not being able to be seen as stars are--there is a easy fix for this (if what you want is for them to be visible at the game start).Since they are "planets" to the game itself, just create a GalaxyScenarioDef template and add ships by player slot. Mod in a combat turret ship with no weapons and a self destruct ability that autocasts as part of the planet template. At game start, each player will see the star and the turrets will vanish. This is exactly what you need. Only now I have to razobratsya. What is this "Mod in a combat turret ship with no weapons and a self destruct ability"? And as this turret placed on the companion star at the start. As I understand it you need to create a GalaxyScenarioDef planetItemsTemplate for these stars, there should be understand. If you do not complicate, show an example of planetItemsTemplate.
Hey Stant, for the values on the planets, 90000 seems big for the stars in game, thinking 75000/60000 would work better ans with the 90k the gravity wells lag with nothing in them for me =X
To all the DS crew: I just wanted to say thank you for all the work you have put into this mod. I have been reading this thread for quite a while now and wanted to let you know there are a lot of us out here who play this and are looking forward to any improvements you make. I also could not wait for the Rebellion update. Even though there are a few problems I still love playing this. Its just not the same without Distant Stars! Thanks again and God Bless!
PS: And to Stant, I also hope there is a non-Steam version in the future 'cause your talents have been greatly missed!
For developers, DS, may have already talked about this: at the top of the Star Bass Pirate missing textures. Checked the file StarBasePirate.mesh, there seems okay, although not very well versed in the models. Even tried to add the missing texture from the original game in the folder with the mod, did not help. The case is somewhat different.
Well, like I said, I just pulled the numbers from a random place and copied them over. Only had one person run a couple of quick test looks for me to see if it was an improvement over the other pulled from a random place that made the wells too small. I can't play it to know what works best, I was just guessing, so I'll defer to your judgement there. Whatever you think works best, so be it. Though you could also take a look at a few of the galaxy files included with the core game to see what those numbers are, that should help you out a lot in getting to know what they should be like.
I don't know why I just thought of this, but basically, I think the best course of action for you to take with these maps, is copy over a set of the originals and go through those and change the planets to match the planets in the set that comes with DS. That way you're only changing one entry per planet, rather then 2. Will cut your time down in half. Another thing is, if you have a file compare utility that can bring up both files side by side and show you the differences, you can use that to just copy over the DS planets to the copy of the originals, delete the DS maps, and then rename the copies with the DS tag in front. Then the only ones you'll really have to go through and give the personal touch to are the celestial bodies maps. Should save you a shit ton of time and effort.
Surprisingly, I've found ways to still help out. Not as much as I could if I had a copy, but things like running through the maps and meshes and entities and adding in the missing info doesn't require me to have a copy and be able to play. It's the testing to make sure I got things in there correctly and the bug squashing that requires that. As long as I have access to testers who can give me the feedback I need when I have stuff available, then my only issue with working on things and completing them in a timely manner would be the fact that I don't get to enjoy the end product, which to a modder, kind of makes it not worth doing. But I still work on the other three versions of DS, so once I find the motivation to get back on it, a playable vanilla DS will be released, and the Entrenchment version will get it's menu updated so all of the buttons will show up again.
What I spent my time this past week on was I just added in all of the info and made some important changes to Ryat's Flagship minimod after taking a quick peek at the entity manifest courtesy of the reference file set for rebellion and noticing that the Vasari and Advent were given ships labelled battleship2 which is what the minimod uses for the flagships... So of course, every reference in the minimod needed to be changed out. Not fun, time consuming, but still completely doable. I just need to pass it along once I'm sure I got everything and I'm sure it'll be made publicly available.
I think there's a bug with with jumping from the grav wells of Stars. My ships are stuck in an endless loop of trying to go to the center of the star and then jump to another. Is it just me, or are the stars much bigger in this mod btw and could that be the reason why they get stuck?
There is a bug involved with that yes. We have been discussing it for a while.
Ahhh, sorry to beat the dead horse. Obviously I havent read through the recent pages.
Also, when the gunship strike fighter returns, will the Titan be able to build them as well as the EWS bombers?
Can anyone update this map to work with Rebellion?
https://www.wincustomize.com/explore/sins_maps/277/
here is my beta for a map updater for rebellion and also there is the rebellion map validater(I did not create OR test it so can only mention it)
harpo
Thanks, gonna give them both a go.
*edit*
Your updater is stuck at processing, and the validator doesn't work (game crashes when switching map categories, just like it does with other non-Rebellion maps)
BTW--it appears DS is giving me minidumps on loading the mod or starting with it loaded. It ran fine on initial install but once the mod was deactivated the dumps began. I think it is leaving bits and pieces in somehow when it is deactivated which messes up other mods, normal start or trying to reload it.
Recommend a full redownload. I had to do that myself.
could you email me the info.txt file that was created by the map updater (in the same folder as the map updater was run from) it might help me to eliminate the cause of the not finishing issue
Amazing to see it updated, i'm so happy after the disappointment that was Legends of Pegasus.I still wish for a miracle patch by Ironclad to solve all these out of memory minidumps once and for all.
Thank you that Sins is still the best way too cure disapointment
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:
Sign in or Create Account
