Project origins
There was some discussion on the Steam forums as to how to get an update to GalCiv 2 out there.
Draginol popped in and suggested that an update incorporating the expertise of the fanbase would be the best way forward. A bugfixing update would soon be on the way.
I sent a message to the other tech tree modders, and luckily secured the assistance of Gaunathor, and later MabusAltarn, as well as some dedicated members of the community who posted some valuable feedback. They have been instrumental to the success of the community update, and I'm glad to have played a small part along the way.
Progress report
The community update has been released as part of a rollout of Stardock products on GOG.com and is also available as an opt-in beta on Steam!
Downloads and links
Issues which can't be fixed with XML manipulation.
The file archive folder, hosted by MabusAltarn.
The list of bugs which can't be fixed with XML manipulation.
The spreadsheet of data changes, hosted by MabusAltarn.
Initial discussion on Steam forums
Credits for community member and Stardock staff involvement
Gaunathor - Tech tree changes, descriptions and standardisation. AI value adjustment. Planetary improvement changes and fixes. Keeper of the change logs, spreadsheet and file archive.
MarvinKosh - Typo and description changes (English.str, Techtree.xml). Additional spreadsheet analysis.
DARCA1213 - Tech descriptions.
MabusAltarn - UI changes, tech tree changes, AI value adjustment, keeper of the file archive, spreadsheet and change logs.
Maiden666 - Suggestions for improvement (technology victory bonuses).
OShee - tech descriptions.
SiliasOfBorg - tech descriptions.
Frogboy - executable code changes.
In that case, good catch maiden
Happy post-festivus recovery period, y'all
Just to confirm, all outstanding corrections seem to be implemented.
By all means, keep it
I don't recall doing any changes to those maps, which means that they are still the original ones from DL. They work fine, so I don't see a immediate reason to fix them.
My guess is, the others got changed when you used the tools and they applied the new format, while these have not seen a change since the original DL releases. These are actually in agreement with their text and conversation files, which use "Human" for speaker/listener, like the main convo file. It's all the others that disagree there, so if those work, little cause to worry about these, as long as they recognise their proper techtrees.
Hm, I think I'm going to do some testing the next couple of days.
Sorry for the dud results I'll keep rummaging through the binary for clues. Not as easy as spell-checking, I'm afraid.
Speaking of, I've taken a bit of interest in the videos. Firstly, here's a little Yuletide present. Fixed it up and can do similar quick fixes for any other ones you know. (Also, why is this the only racial bik with its own sound?) More laboriously, I got it in my head to try and do something about videos stretching in widescreen. It could be done for each one, individually, but that's hardly ideal and wouldn't be resolution-agnostic, either. So, I'm looking towards the binaries, again, and the switches that stretch the videos. Has anyone studied these before?
Finally, whoever reworded the UI screens (Mabus?), can something be done about those mis-aligned down-arrows for the political bonuses in the race-selection screen? I guess it was never meant for more than 2 items, so it's too small to fit them, but that makes clicking the down arrow quite inconvenient.
I think this is the reason why you still keep hearing this background sound when playing with sound disabled while contacting the Yor. Seems like a bug to me. Would it be possible to remove the audio from the file and then check ingame if the sound normally rings if playing with sound enabled?
Quite simple: silent (I actually needed to strip the sound out before editing, then add it back in)
The beeping (is that the ringing sound you're referring to?) actually seemed quite purposeful and appropriate for the Yor, maybe a test that didn't pan out. Regardless, if consensus is that it will only be an annoyance, feel free to use the silent one. I haven't tested it yet, just the beeping version, but it should still work.
It surely is fitting, but the question is why only the neutral bik contains the audio? A happy or angry Yor doesn't make these sounds, and that seems a bit arbitrary to me.
Another thing is that if I uncheck all audio options and even put all sliders manually to 0 I would expect that the game stays silent in every regard. But this single screen actually forces me to disable the games' sound via the audio driver conbtrol panel (I don't like pleeps during classic music^^)
But your silent file works well enough for me - thanks
I'll have a look.
Nice! I don't recall, if the other Yor videos have the flickering too (I usually play as them, so I don't notice it), but it would certainly be helpful if you could take a look at them to make sure.
I have to agree. Either all Yor videos have the sound, or none.
How much work would it take to include the sound in the remaining Yor videos, Spinorial? If it is too much, then we'll use the silent version of the neutral bik. Either way, as long as there is some consistency with the videos, I'm fine with it.
Two possible bugs. The star base repair modules don't seem to be buildable. I have advanced hulls but they don't show up as a build option when I move my constructor to a star base. Also my racial Weapons bonuses don't seem to effect my star base attack stats. The defense bonuses do seem to work. Thanks again for this great update.
The Starbase Hull Repair Kit module only appears when the starbase is damaged, while the Repair System module is only available to military starbases.
That's not a bug, but an intentional design-choice by the devs. Originally, the Weapons ability did affect the attack stats of starbases. However, Stardock decided that starbases were too powerful, and changed that in one of the patches for the base game.
Thanks for the quick and informative reply. Is it possible to mod back in the star base Weapons ability?
Sadly, it's not. You'd need access to the source-code, which we don't have.
I've not found anything yet, but there's a lot of them and it's been a while since I played the game with any serious commitment. I was actually hoping that you folks, as regular players, could tip me off to any other defects. This was just a single frame - and still quite noticeable - so, I'm guessing any other problems would have been noticed.
No trouble at all, could be done in a minute. However, Maiden brought up a good point: if the bink animations aren't muted by the game settings, it may be better to just leave them silent. Also, what makes the Yor so special that they get sound, while everyone else is muted? Or is the suggestion, perhaps, to apply this background to all the comm animations (that won't be hard, either, FYI).
There is actually one more thing. NewsRobot_Alien_Evil.bik has a serious clipping error with that heat exhaust (or whatever that is). Would it be possible to fix that?
They are the only sentient artificial lifeform in the universe. If that isn't special enough, what would be?
I originally thought of only adding the sound to the Yor videos. However, it would probably be for the best to keep the videos silent. Both because of Maiden666's point, and because the audio seems to have an error of its own. It cuts out for a moment a little over 1 second in.
Hah, I see what happened there. They never bothered to animate the grill or the furnace behind it. So, as the robot moves around, they stay in place and clip through. Sloppy. Can it be fixed? If one had the actual animation file, sure. Otherwise, a moderately skilled artist would have to fix it frame by frame. Worth it? Hell no! If I had GalCiv3, I'd look to scavenge some of their assets (if they're pre-rendered), but as is, I neither do, nor would it be feasible for a patch (I assume this little Yor fix, plus any other we may yet find, can make it in? - with careful instruction where it should go)
I can't really hear the error, or I'm just lumping it in with the other electronic blurps. Which is beside the point, it should indeed stay silent.
When I'm in the trade screen I right click on a trade good, and it doesn't tell me what it does.
The 2 Hatchling Mounds use the same icon, if you don't rely on auto-upgrade it may get tiresome having to check manually which one is build.
designed to make it look more energetic
But that's how it worked in 2.04, too, I just fired up the base game. Was that ever different?
If
Anyways I would like to do what I did with three, and mod this to have as many planets as possible. I want the same chance to find extreme planets. I want the same percent of classes of planets. I just to eliminate as many class zero planets as possible. I like what you guys have done to the Yor thanks. can you reply how to do this.
Let's hope this counts as my good deed for the day: TitleWnd.dxpack, TitleBack.png. These should work with anything up to 21:9, and lots of testing would be highly appreciated. The background is a quick-fix, mostly a proof of concept until I - or better yet someone artistically capable - can cook up a proper extension.
Now that I've joined the club of UI tinkerers, I'd really appreciate some help in tracking down the UI elements with stretched animations in them: anomalies, and the like. I'm fairly confident that there's some better solution than the current ugly stretching. Also, I'm still open for any tips about faulty binks that may be editable. Cheers!
in this particular case you could right-click on the specific tech which let your opponent build this wonder, in that description you should be able to see what the wonder does.
I was afraid this might be the case. Still, thanks for taking a look at it. Having the Yor video fixed is already more than I hoped for after all those years.
Don't you worry. After Stardock is back from the holidays, I will send Yarlen a detailed list of what's changed, and where everything needs to go. I don't want a repeat of what happened with the original attempt of incorporating the CU into GalCiv 2.
It's actually a little under 1 second in. The audio suddenly stops for several frames, and then resumes. I find it highly aggravating. In any case, I've added the silent version to the files.
Thanks, I've added the HIVEFACTORY1.PNG and HIVEFACTORY2.PNG to the files.
No, the trade screen never told you what Trade Goods do. It's also not something we can change. Unless I'm mistaken, we can't add new tooltips. Also, there are only about a dozen or so TGs. I don't consider it that hard to remember what type of bonuses they all provide (the exact amount is another matter). If it is too hard for you, then use espionage to find out. Search for the planet where the AI has built the TG, and then take a look at it (either via the espionage screen, or, if your rating is high enough, the planet screen).
That works too, of course. Unless the particular tech is untradeable.
That's not possible in GalCiv 2. All of this is hardcoded.
If it doesn't, then I'm going to be disappointed. They look good so far, though the seams in the title screen are a bit annoying. That's hardly your fault though. They have always been there.
I've gotten so used to the stretching that I hardly notice it anymore. The only exceptions are the videos and the trade screen images (videos for the majors, and images for the minors).
Thanks maiden with your suggestion that never occurred to me to try that. Hey I was wondering are you going to make this a mod in case stardock waits to come out with another update, or not come out with another one at all. That way everyone can enjoy your changes.
I've been wondering, would anyone have something against the following changes?
-reduce the Pop-Growth-bonus of Xeno Biology to +5% and Fertility Acceleration to +10% (Yor: +10%, +10%, +15% for Population Acceleration, Spark of Life Enhancement, and Extended Lifetime respectively)
-move Aphrodisiac to Xeno Medicine
-re-add the Fertility Clinics improvement (using a low AI value, so that the AI doesn't spam it on its planets)
The bonuses to the Pop-Growth-ability from techs feel a bit high (especially the +25% from Fertility Acceleration (or +30% from Extended Lifetime)). Aphrodisiac is currently limited to races with access to Fertility Acceleration, whereas in the vanilla game, it was available to everyone (via Habitat Improvement). The AI may not be able to make full use of the Fertility Clinics, but removing the building also removed options for the player to deal with population growth.
Also, could somebody please explain to me why the alignment of the Terrans and Drath got changed? I can deduce and understand the reasoning behind most of the changes (even if I don't like them), but this one just baffles me.
sounds very well to me
https://forums.galciv2.com/457944/page/29/#706
The Drath were Neutral in GalCiv 1, not Evil. In the campaign, they used the Korx as proxies in an attempt to regain their homeworld from the Altarians. By the end of the story, the Drath repented for what they did, and gave up their claim for their old home. Turning them Neutral again, and making them covet their homeworld once more, is undoing all of the character development they went through in the campaign.
In can understand why the Super Manipulator ability can be seen as evil (or non-good at best), but it does make perfect sense to me why a Good race would use it. Based on how they are portrayed in the actual game, all of the Good races in GalCiv are hypocrites. They all preach kindness and forgiveness, and helping each other out, but only when it applies to themselves or other Good races. The Torians, for example, go out of their way to harass the Drengin. Even though the Drengin couldn't care less about the Torians, and would be perfectly willing to leave them alone (based on the lore at least). Or how about the Altarians, who will go on genocidal crusades, if you only so much as show a hint of being evil. So, is it that much of a stretch to think that a Good race would make money from wars it started between the Evil and Neutral races? Or even the Good and Evil ones, for that matter? Sure, some Good people might die, but it was done for the good cause of getting rid of the infidels.
Also, the Terrans being Good doesn't make any sense at all. Sure, their behaviour might fit in with the other Good races, but that is more a disconnect between the gameplay and how the races are portrayed in the lore. For example, the whole concept of total war and annihilating the other race was introduced by the Terrans in the Xendar-War. The other races only knew skirmishes at that point. Sure, it was actually the Drengin who wiped out the Xendar homeworld, because they wanted to prevent their involvement from getting out. However, as far as the rest of the galaxy is concerned (even the Terrans and the surviving Xendar) it was the Terrans who did it. Then there is the end of the DL campaign. The Terran leader gets approached by the Thalan, who warn that the planned Terran Crusade will bring about the destruction of all life. Yet, the Terran went into the Pocket Universe to prepare for the Crusade anyway. Does this attitude of "you hurt us, and we will annihilate you" sound "good" to anyone? No matter how they are portrayed gameplay-wise, I seriously doubt that any of the Good races would actually consider taking revenge on the Drengin, if it means destroying all life in the universe (including their own) in the process.
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