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.
Okay, all is well and the opt-in off Steam is updated!
Had a quick look. RaceConfig was updated for regular and metages. Exe was also updated. No other changes detected.
Lookking good!
Someone did report a problem though: http://steamcommunity.com/app/202200/discussions/0/485623406950877192/?tscn=1449770224
He poses his debug.err file. First thing I noticed was the game's version number. It's 2.04 instead of 2.20.
I can confirm this. Unless somebody reports any other problems, the update should be good to go now.
I remember my login, it's a Christmas miracle! Anyway, at the call for further reports, I thought I'd share some observations/issues I found in the data files. I'm using a clean Steam installation, integrity verified, with the CU beta applied. I'm new to GalCiv modding, so some of these might be inconsequential. Also, some of these are holdovers from the last official patch, not a result of the CU. Here's the rundown (paths will always be relative to the game's root folder):
A lot of this is nitpicking, but I figure, with a little spelling and variable sanitising, we could make this look presentable
I have no idea whether it's supposed to be there. My knowledge regarding the Metaverse is rather limited (basically what I've read on the forums), but, based on my understanding, the files in both folders are supposed to be identical. Otherwise, the game gets flagged. Considering that this doesn't seem to be happening (at least I haven't heard of it), it's likely that the file isn't needed in MetaverseData (or at least the game doesn't verify it).
Correct. That file has no business being there, and should instead be in Twilight\MetaverseData\English.
That's okay. TotA didn't make any changes to those files, so they are not needed.
If there is a list, only SD has access to it. Well, at least I'm positive that the variables are case-sensitive. We could also use a list for the GC2_Conversations.xml. That one still contains errors (e.g. empty war-declarations by the AI), but I'm unable to figure out what is wrong.
I can see this both ways, so I prefer to keep it as is for now.
What is wrong with those? Based on my dictionary, they are spelled correctly.
Here is the list of change I've made so far (TotA-only):
FlavorText.xmlWordOnStreet_HighPlanetQuality: fixed typo (make's to makes)WordOnStreet_IsDefended: changed EmpireShortName to ShortEmpireNameWordOnStreet_WeLeftUnitedPlanets: fixed typo (nee to need)
GC2_Conversations.xmlP_REJECTION_RELATIONS_OK: fixed typo (Appologies to Apologies)AI_CRY_FOR_HELP: fixed typo (Acrean to Arcean)DECLARE_WAR_ON_PLAYER: fixed typo (mediocracy to mediocrity, cliches to clichés)AI_TRADE_TECH: fixed typo (Korth to Korath)AI_PAIDOFF: fixed typo (persuassion to persuasion)AI_HELPSPLAYER_NOWAR: fixed typos (opressive to oppressive, agressions to aggressions, opressor to oppressor)HUMAN_WARALERT_NOWAR: fixed typos (pre-emtive to pre-emptive, opressors to oppressors, agressions to aggressions)
Mission1_Text.xmlfixed typo (Acreans to Arceans)
It's a case of standardising the spelling. Actually, my first reaction was to baulk at "traveler". However, once I changed the dictionary to US, it seems to be valid US spelling. Travelled, and fuelling, and the like are commonwealth spelling, and so get flagged. Given the prevalence of rumor, neighbor, etc, I decided that the intent was to use US spelling, and therefore opted to standardise accordingly. This appears to also be the case for preempt and pre-empt, both of which are used.
Here's the typos in the other conversation and flavour files (same logic applies):
Regarding "Drengins", after a little more investigation I'm almost certain it is a mistake. Page 88 of the manual contains the section "Regarding the Torians and Drengin", clearly putting the two on the same footing. Similarly, in RockAndHardPlace, "Arceans and Drengins" is followed by "Drengin and Arceans" two sentences later, and further on in the mission objectives. Additionally, except for the 11 instances I've listed (counting repetitions), I'm having trouble finding any other case where "Drengins" is used, anywhere. Considering how the Drengin are references many thousands of times, it seems extremely unlikely that the racial plural is intentionally never used. Also, none of the 11 matches seems to be a case of another species intentionally insulting them, so I'm guessing they're all in error.
Finally, I hope at least MabusAltarn has an idea what's a valid variable and what isn't. I'll have another look at conversations to see about distilling the variables.
Variables are not case sensitive.
Quoting Spinorial, reply 1406I decided that the intent was to use US spelling, and therefore opted to standardise accordingly.
Understood.
Quoting Spinorial, reply 1406Regarding "Drengins", after a little more investigation I'm almost certain it is a mistake.
Okay. I see it now.
Here are the fixed files and the updated changelog:
FlavorText.xmlPlanetPara_OriginalHomeworld: fixed typo (travelled to traveled, fuelling to fueling)WordOnStreet_HighPlanetQuality: fixed typo (make's to makes)WordOnStreet_IsDefended: changed EmpireShortName to ShortEmpireNameWordOnStreet_WeLeftUnitedPlanets: fixed typo (nee to need)WordOnStreet_WeHaveTerrorStar: fixed typo (pre-empt to preempt)
GC2_Conversations.xmlP_REJECTION_RELATIONS_OK: fixed typo (Appologies to Apologies)AI_CRY_FOR_HELP: fixed typo (Acrean to Arcean)AI_WELCOME_NEWWAR_WINNING: fixed typo (pre-emptively to preemptively)DECLARE_WAR_ON_PLAYER: fixed typo (mediocracy to mediocrity, cliches to clichés)AI_TRADE_TECH: fixed typo (Korth to Korath)AI_PAIDOFF: fixed typo (persuassion to persuasion)AI_HELPSPLAYER_NOWAR: fixed typos (opressive to oppressive, agressions to aggressions, opressor to oppressor)HUMAN_WARALERT_NOWAR: fixed typos (pre-emtive to preemptive, opressors to oppressors, agressions to aggressions)
Dread Lords campaign:DesperateAlly.gc2scenario: fixed typo (Drengins to Drengin)Mission1_Text.xml: fixed typo (Acreans to Arceans)
Tournament:RockAndHardPlace.gc2campaign: fixed typo (Drengins to Drengin)
Please take note that I'm not fixing the English.str, and the DL and DA files. The case of "Drengins" in the English.str is a leftover from GalCiv 1, and not actually used in the game. Fixing TotA is the main focus of the CU. This makes DL and DA less of a priority. Plus, getting the beta-update to a respectable level over the last weeks has been difficult enough. I'd rather not risk any further delays by adding even more files to verify that they work and are where they are supposed to be.
Good luck.
That's right.
However, internal names (such as of mods, techs, improvements) are - basically anything you can find between "..."
that could be the name of the Drengin homeworld
Not the case, I made sure.
Here's another typo dump, everything is in Twilight\Data\English:
Events.xml: hippy to hippie
FlavorText.xml: [leaderhisher] & [leadergenderherhis] to [leadergenderhisher], [leaderheshe] to [leadergenderheshe], [empireshortname] to [shortempirename] - I'm guessing that these are wrong, but try to make sure
GC2_Conversations.xml: Is [planet] supposed to be [planetname]? Is [playername] or [yourplayername] right? Or should they be [yourleadername]? Are all of these valid?
GC2Ships.xml: Dreadnaught (archaic spelling, other places use Dreadnought)
GC2Types.xml: Terajouse to Terajoule, Psyonic to Psionic (only flavour text!!! - lines 668-70, 1244-7), blackhole to black hole (only flavour text!!! - lines 1219, 1221, 1949), persuassion to persuasion, rail gun to railgun, Ionbased to Ion-based, Transportion to Transport/Transportation, "damage by weapons by 25%" to "weapon damage by 25%", damge to damage, Extention to ExtensionSuggested changes: "Genral Industrial Ltd." to "General Industrial Ltd.", Norfok to Norfolk - these seem stylistically appropriateLikely needed changes, but unsure how: itcher to tickler?, "quantum based mass drivation" to "quantum-based mass ???"admantium/adamantium - I get the impression that this was always a typo and the display names can be changed to Adamantium. Opinions?
InvTactics.xml: targetted to targeted, propraganda to propaganda, voila to voilà, dammage to damage
PlanetImprovemets.xml: "Watching out hatchlings grow" to "Watching our hatchlings grow", travelling to traveling, brough to brought, honours to honors, Arcean's to Arceans', technlogical to technological, throught to throughout, freigthers to freighters
PreGameFlavorText.xml: strived to strove
RaceConfig.xml: enourmous to enormous, malace to malice, "a army" to "an army"Arnor/Arnorians -
StarbaseModules.xml: "Vector based moduled" to "Vector-based modulated", Manufactucting to Manufacturing
TechTree.xml: uppon to upon, humanoidic to humanoid, "Only the Thalan break" to "Only the Thalan breaks", napskin to napkin, attemped to attempted, inate to innate, strenght to strength, breakthru to breakthrough, technlogical to technological, Exceptionial to Exceptional, piont to point, "spinal coord" to "spinal cord", interestellar to interstellar, "straight forward" to straightforward, "life time" to lifetime, undrestand to understand, disipate to dissipate, oscilate to oscillate, instananeous to instantaneous, oscilations to oscillations, forebearers to forebears (wrong word, anyway), un-guarded to unguarded, slavings to slavelings, attemps to attempts, threatend to threatened, Reengineering to Re-engineering, choerent to coherent, forsee to foresee, passe to passé, targetting to targeting, accomodate to accommodate, Quantium to Quantum, componentry to components, phasers to phasors, magnificient to magnificent, acronymn to acronym, indepth to in-depth, Mainfrrame to Mainframe, inately to innately, technologie to technology, catagories to categories, spectrums to wavelengths, cyrstal to crystal, anquish to anguish,Suggested change: ToxicAtmosphereReductor Description to "Carbon-based life forms cannot breathe a Toxic atmosphere, although some toxicity is necessary. By introducing certain types of bacteria into the environment, we can reduce the Toxic content of the atmosphere to levels that will support higher forms of life."
UPIssues.xml: premanently to permanently
Campaigns\06_Rock & Hard Place.gc2scenario: Consolate to Consulate
Campaigns\TACampaignText_06_Rock&HardPlace.xml: existance to existence
Campaigns\TACampaignText_07_Conflagoration.xml: malcious to malicious
Campaigns\TACampaignText_08_Nightmare.xml: "We will hold of" to "We will hold off"
Campaigns\DarkAvatar\A Matter of Genocide.gc2scenario: Pysonic / Psyonic to Psionic
Campaigns\DarkAvatar\A Nightmare on Dithir.gc2scenario: Dvithir to Dithir, Psyonic to Psionic
Campaigns\DarkAvatar\Bribery and Backstabbing.gc2scenario: judgement to judgment, en-masse to en masse
Campaigns\DarkAvatar\In Defense of Drengi.gc2scenario: colonizeable to colonizable, Dregin to Drengin
Campaigns\DarkAvatar\Spies.gc2scenario: guerilla to guerrilla, Pysonic & Psyonic to Psionic
Campaigns\DarkAvatar\The Death of the Korx.gc2scenario: Yax to Yux (one of them is wrong), Psyonic to Psionic
That's enough for now. One problem that seems to need addressing is that the old campaigns (at least DA so far) refer to technologies that are no longer in the tech three (e.g. Phasors go only to III, not VII). Does the game know to refer to their old TechTrees, or does it still look inside Twilight. If the former, those Psionic edits should be skipped. If the latter, some techs need to be edited (Disruptors after Phasors III?).
I think so too.
As far as I can tell, they are valid. I have seen most of those conversations pop up in game, and the variables to do work. The only one I'm not sure about is [yourplayername], because I've never seen the conversations that use it.
Agreed.
Yes, tickler sounds much better.
...driver, obviously. The Quantum Driver is a mass driver weapon after all.
How come I've never even noticed that?
I'm unable to find this.
Yeah, that one is difficult. Both terms seem to get used interchangeably in the game.
I'm not sure about this. Thalan is both the singular and the plural. So "break" seems to be right in this case, because "Thalan" refers to them as a species (plural), not as an individual (singular).
What would you suggest? Precursor maybe?
Sounds good.
I'm only seeing this when loading the file with notepad++. However, when loading the file with the scenario editor, it's okay. I'm not going to changes this, because it could affect the victory condition.
The campaigns all use the TotA tech trees. While it is weird that they still contain references to the old techs, it doesn't really hurt, because those references simply don't do anything. For example, you can't preclude a race from having access to Phasors VII yet, if they don't even have it in their tech tree anymore. What I find more baffling is that the Psionic weapons techs still use their old, wrongly spelled names. I thought we fixed those before updating the campaigns. Yet, it also seems to be the case in my mod, Autumn Twilight. It's possible that we fixed the tech names later, and then forgot to re-adjust the campaigns.
In any case, I tried to look deeper into this (and, if needed, fix the campaigns), but ran into the same issues with the editors I had originally with the GOG-version of the game (i.e. map editor doesn't work, scenario and tech tree editor can't find the tech trees). No idea why that is happening again. They worked fine with the first beta-update.
In addition to this, the debug.err is giving me errors when starting the campaigns:
Debug Message: Error loading map name from mission 16 from D:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Galactic Civilizations II - Ultimate Edition\Twilight\Data\English\Campaigns/DreadLords/Dread Lords Campaign.gc2campaignDebug Message: Error loading scenario name from mission 16 from D:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Galactic Civilizations II - Ultimate Edition\Twilight\Data\English\Campaigns/DreadLords/Dread Lords Campaign.gc2campaign
Debug Message: Error loading map name from mission 10 from D:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Galactic Civilizations II - Ultimate Edition\Twilight\Data\English\Campaigns/DarkAvatar/Dark Avatar.gc2campaignDebug Message: Error loading scenario name from mission 10 from D:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Galactic Civilizations II - Ultimate Edition\Twilight\Data\English\Campaigns/DarkAvatar/Dark Avatar.gc2campaign
Debug Message: Error loading map name from mission 8 from D:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Galactic Civilizations II - Ultimate Edition\Twilight\Data\English\Campaigns/Twilight of the Arnor.gc2campaignDebug Message: Error loading scenario name from mission 8 from D:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Galactic Civilizations II - Ultimate Edition\Twilight\Data\English\Campaigns/Twilight of the Arnor.gc2campaign
I don't recall that being the case in v2.04. Verifying the game-files didn't help with either problem. Nor did restarting the PC or re-installing the re-distributables (DirectX/Visual C++). I'll try re-installing the game tomorrow, and see if that helps.
Anyway, here is the updated changelog:
Events.xmlMidevilHippies: fixed typo (hippy to hippie)
FlavorText.xmlPlanetPara_OriginalHomeworld: changed LEADERHISHER to LEADERGENDERHISHER, fixed typos (travelled to traveled, fuelling to fueling)WordOnStreet_HighPlanetQuality: fixed typo (make's to makes)WordOnStreet_IsDefended: changed EmpireShortName to ShortEmpireNameWordOnStreet_LowTaxes: changed LeaderHeShe to LeaderGenderHeSheWordOnStreet_WarWithTooManyRaces: changed LeaderGenderHerHis to LeaderGenderHisHerWordOnStreet_WeLeftUnitedPlanets: fixed typo (nee to need)WordOnStreet_WeHaveTerrorStar: fixed typo (pre-empt to preempt)
GC2Ships.xmlDreadnought: fixed typo (Dreadnaught to Dreadnought)
GC2Types.xmlPlasma III: fixed typo (Terajouse to Terajoule)Disruptors: changed "itcher" to "tickler"Disruptors II: changed "itcher" to "tickler"Disruptors III: changed "itcher" to "tickler"Psionic Beam: fixed typo (Psyonic to Psionic)Psionic Missile: fixed typo (Psyonic to Psionic)Photonic Torpedo: fixed typo (Norfok to Norfolk)Photonic Torpedo II: fixed typo (Norfok to Norfolk)Photonic Torpedo III: fixed typo (Norfok to Norfolk)Photon Torpedo: fixed typo (Norfok to Norfolk)Photon Torpedo II: fixed typo (Norfok to Norfolk)Photon Torpedo III: fixed typo (Norfok to Norfolk)Anti-Matter Torpedo: fixed typo (Norfok to Norfolk)Anti-Matter Torpedo II: fixed typo (Norfok to Norfolk)Anti-Matter Torpedo III: fixed typo (Norfok to Norfolk)Nightmare Torpedo: fixed typo (blackhole to black hole)Space Cannon: fixed typo (persuassion to persuasion)Railgun: fixed typo (persuassion to persuasion)Railgun MK II: fixed typo (persuassion to persuasion)Railgun MK III: fixed typo (persuassion to persuasion)Scatter Gun Mark I: fixed typo (persuassion to persuasion)Scatter Gun Mark II: fixed typo (persuassion to persuasion)Scatter Gun Mark III: fixed typo (persuassion to persuasion)Quantum Driver: fixed typo (Rail Gun to Railgun), changed "Quantum based mass drivation" to "Quantum based mass driver"Quantum Driver II: fixed typo (Rail Gun to Railgun), changed "Quantum based mass drivation" to "Quantum based mass driver"Quantum Driver III: fixed typo (Rail Gun to Railgun), changed "Quantum based mass drivation" to "Quantum based mass driver"Black Hole Generator: fixed typo (blackhole to black hole)Admantium Armor: fixed typo (Admantium to Adamantium)Admantium Armor II: fixed typo (Admantium to Adamantium)HyperDrive Plus: fixed typo (Ionbased to Ion-based)Ion Drive: fixed typo (Ionbased to Ion-based)Colony Module: fixed typo (Transportion to Transport)Troops Module: fixed typo (Transportion to Transport)Adv Troops Module: fixed typo (Transportion to Transport)Constructor Module: fixed typo (Genral Industrial Ltd. to General Industrial Ltd.)Lite Constructor ModuleWeapon Amplifier: fixed typo ("damage by weapons by 25%" to "damage weapons by 25%"KillZone Computer: fixed typo (damge to damage)Extention Pylon: fixed typo (Extention to Extension)
InvTactics.xmlIntimidation: fixed typos (propraganda to propaganda, voila to voilà)Terror Drones: fixed typos (dammage to damage)
PlanetImprovements.xmlHatchling Mounds: fixed typo ("Watching out hatchlings grow" to "Watching our hatchlings grow")Galactic Guide Book: fixed typo (travelling to traveling)Shrine of Tandis: fixed typos (brough to brought, honours to honors)Stellar Forge: fixed typo (Arcean's to Arceans'), changed 50,000 to 450,000 (According to the GalCiv timeline, that's roughly how long the Arceans have access to space-travel.)Temporal Entertainment Matrix: fixed typo (technlogical to technological)Restaurant of Enternity: fixed typo (throught to throughout)Freighter Command: fixed typo (freigthers to freighters)
PreGameFlavorText.xmlCustomRace_Part1_MidAgression: fixed typo (strived to strove)
RaceConfig.xmlDrath Legion: fixed typo (enourmous to enormous)Snathi: fixed typo (malace to malice)
StarbaseModules.xml:Ray-Shielding: fixed typo (Vector based moduled to Vector-based modulated)Mfg. Vortex Factory: fixed typo (Manufactucting to Manufacturing)
TechTree.xml:Saurian Intimidation: fixed typo (uppon to upon)Xeno Anthropology: fixed typo (humanoidic to humanoid)Stellar Folding: fixed typo (napskin to napkin)Stellar Streams: fixed typo (attemped to attempted)Organic Materials: fixed typo (inate to innate)Robust Hulls: fixed typo (strenght to strength)Pain Amplification: fixed typo (breakthrus to breakthroughs)Visions of Agony: fixed typos (breakthru to breakthrough, breakthrus to breakthroughs)Remedial Engineering: fixed typo (technlogical to technological)Exceptional Consciousness: fixed typo (Exceptionial to Exceptional)Enhanced Slavelings: fixed typo (piont to point)Artificial Slavelings: fixed typo (spinal coord to spinal cord)Interstellar Bartering: fixed typo (interestellar to interstellar)Graft of Ages: fixed typo (straight forward to straightforward)Wretched Cloning: fixed typo (straight forward to straightforward)Hatchling Mound: fixed typo (life time to lifetime)Xeno Mysticism: fixed typo (undrestand to understand)Way of the Dread Lords: fixed typo (disipate to dissipate)Dark Energy Research: fixed typos (oscilate to oscillate, instananeous to instantaneous, oscilations to oscillations)Arena of Agony: fixed typo (forebearers to forebears)Healing Pools: fixed typos (un-guarded to unguarded, slavings to slavelings)Advanced Charging Stalks: fixe typo (attemps to attempts)Shrine of Tandis: fixed typo (threatend to threatened)Particle Beams II: fixed typo (Reengineering to Re-engineering)Phasors: fixed typo (choerent to coherent)Disruptors: fixed typo (forsee to foresee)Ion Beams: fixed typo (passe to passé)Missile Weapon Theory: fixed typo (targetting to targeting)Singularity Driver: fixed typo (accomodate to accommodate)Quantum Driver: fixed typo (Quantium to Quantum)Scatter Blaster II: fixed typo (componentry to components)Deflectors: fixed typo (phasers to phasors)Vengeance Scanner: fixed typo (magnificient to magnificent)Xalax Defense Coordination: fixed typo (acronymn to acronym)Advanced Defense Techniques: fixed typos (indepth to in-depth, Mainfrrame to Mainframe)Inherent Magic: fixed typo (inately to innately)Starbase Mobilization: fixed typo (technologie to technology)Starbase Domination: fixed typo (catagories to categories)A History of Benevolence: fixed (spectrums to wavelengths)Way of the Drath: fixed typo (cyrstal to crystal)A History of Perseverance: fixed typo (anquish to anguish)ToxicAtmosphereReductor: changed Details
Dread Lords campaign:DesperateAlly.gc2scenario: fixed typo (Drengins to Drengin)Mission1_Text.xml: fixed typos (Acreans to Arceans, "a army" to "an army")
Dark Avatar campaign:Bribery and Backstabbing.gc2scenario: fixed typos (judgement to judgment, en-masse to en masse)In Defense of Drengi.gc2scenario: fixed typos (colonizeable to colonizable, Dregin to Drengin)Spies.gc2scenario: fixed typo (guerilla to guerrilla)The Death of the Korx.gc2scenario: fixed typo (Yax to Yux)
Twilight of the Arnor campaign:06_Rock & Hard Place.gc2scenario: fixed typo (Consolate to Consulate)TACampaignText_06_Rock&HardPlace.xml: fixed typo (existance to existence)TACampaignText_07_Conflagoration.xml: fixed typo (malcious to malicious)TACampaignText_08_Nightmare.xml: fixed typo ("We will hold of" to "We will hold off")
Scenarios:removed "TotA " from all filenamesremoved "for TotA" from all Scenario Titles(This removes the double-entries in the Scenario-selector.)
Tournaments:RockAndHardPlace.gc2campaign: fixed typo (Drengins to Drengin)
GC2Ships.xml
Dreadnought: fixed typo (Dreadnaught to Dreadnought)
You know, roll this one back, it seems Dreadnaught was introduced intentionally.
InvTactics.xml: targetted to targeted
Sorry about that. I got sidetracked into another Data folder at one point and had to backtrack a couple of files. Must have slipped through.
forebearers to forebears (wrong word, anyway)
"forebearers of" to "precursors to" seems adequate.
Weird. This looks like something that would break victory conditions. I guess type 1 events are about general survival of the race in question, so there being an associated planet makes no difference either way?
The campaigns all use the TotA tech trees. While it is weird that they still contain references to the old techs, it doesn't really hurt, because those references simply don't do anything. For example, you can't preclude a race from having access to Phasors VII yet, if they don't even have it in their tech tree anymore.
I considered this, but some of them (later ones) actually list Phasors IV and up as starting tech.
Just FYI, the last files you uploaded still had Drengins in Conversations and shortempirename in flavortext.
Anywho, here's the detected typos in the other files:
Campaigns\DreadLords\Achilles' Heel.gc2scenario: Pysonic / Psyonic to PsionicCampaigns\DreadLords\An Unexpected Visitor.GC2Map: Retributon to Retribution (makes Drengin sense)Campaigns\DreadLords\Arms Race.gc2scenario: nemsis to nemesisCampaigns\DreadLords\Dread Lords Campaign.gc2campaign: devestated to devastatedCampaigns\DreadLords\Escape.gc2scenario: interefered to interferedCampaigns\DreadLords\Hearts and Minds.gc2scenario: Pysonic / Psyonic to PsionicCampaigns\DreadLords\Ixith.gc2scenario: Pysonic / Psyonic to PsionicCampaigns\DreadLords\Mission2a_Text.xml: stonger to strongerCampaigns\DreadLords\Mission4a_Text.xml: oupost to outpostCampaigns\DreadLords\Mission5_Text.xml: someting to somethingCampaigns\DreadLords\Mission5a_Text.xml: couter to counterCampaigns\DreadLords\Mission5b_Text.xml: comparision to comparisonCampaigns\DreadLords\Mission8_Text.xml: Dreadlord's to Dreadlords', buisinessmen to businessmen, mightly to mightyCampaigns\DreadLords\Pathfinder.gc2scenario: liives to livesCampaigns\DreadLords\Salvation.gc2scenario: dfeated to defeatedCampaigns\DreadLords\Siege.gc2scenario: Pysonic / Psyonic to PsionicCampaigns\DreadLords\The Thalan.gc2scenario: Psyonic to PsionicCampaigns\DreadLords\The Thalan.GC2Map: Mimbar to Minbar (makes sense, next one being The Narn)Campaigns\DreadLords\The Xenon Project.gc2scenario: Pysonic / Psyonic to PsionicScenarios\TotA Battle of the gods.gc2scenario: Psyonic / Pysonic to PsionicTechTrees\Iconian_TechTree.xml: politicials to politicians, amoungst to amongst, intrests to interests, difficuly to difficultTechTrees\Yor_TechTree.xml: assimulate to assimilate (again, word seems wrong), Accleration to Acceleration (only in Details - line 328), structual to structuralTournaments\AltariaResists.gc2scenario: wreteched to wretched, outter to outerTournaments\ArceasLastStand.gc2scenario: Arecean to Arcean, Korathian??
I suppose we'll deal with Arnorians, Korathian, and any other troubling racial forms after debugging is done. Also, I was sorely tempted to flag "holocron" with my raised eyebrow
Finally, here's the variables I managed to distil, with the known errors marked, per file. No idea what good they'll do, but it helps to spot some potential overlaps and possible clerical errors.
Events.xml[neutralvalue][evilvalue][goodvalue][planetname][civname][playername][neutralpopchange][evilpopchange][goodpopchange]
FlavorText.xml[planetname][empirename][leadername]*[leaderhisher]*[leaderheshe][leadergenderheshe][leadergenderhisher]*[leadergenderherhis][leadergenderhimher][shortempirename]*[empireshortname][acquiredtext][acquiredfromempirename][dateofacquire][culturehighempirename][alienempirename][alienshortcivname][leadingpoliticalparty][leaderspoliticalparty][tstarowner][yourempirename][yourshortcivname][yourleadername][homeworld][theirracedescription][theirempirename][theirleadername][theirhomeworld][theirshortcivname][racerelations][racedescription][lowplanetinfo][lowshipinfo][midplanetinfo][ability1name][ability1value][ability2name][ability2value][technologyname][techlist]
GC2_Conversations.xml[speaking_race_name][listening_race_leader][yourempirename][yourleadername][yourshortcivname][theirempirename][theirleadername][theirshortcivname][otherleadername][otherempirename][other_race_leader][starbasename][starbasex][starbasey][cashvalue][yourtechnology][theirtechnology][usefultechname][surrenderedto][playername][friendciv][yourenemy][yourplayername][aggressorname][defendersname][tech][planet][homeworld][yourenemyleader]
PreGameFlavorText.xml[empirename][leadername]
TechTree.xml[yourshortcivname][yourempirename][yourleadername]
UPIssues.xml[otherempirename][otherleadername][yourempirename][yourleadername][planetname]
Campaigns\*.* (it's all combinations of these three)[yourleadername][yourempirename][theirempirename]
EDIT: and this formatting software's a nightmare
Debug Message: Error loading map name from mission 16 from D:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Galactic Civilizations II - Ultimate Edition\Twilight\Data\English\Campaigns/DreadLords/Dread Lords Campaign.gc2campaignDebug Message: Error loading scenario name from mission 16 from D:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Galactic Civilizations II - Ultimate Edition\Twilight\Data\English\Campaigns/DreadLords/Dread Lords Campaign.gc2campaignDebug Message: Error loading map name from mission 10 from D:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Galactic Civilizations II - Ultimate Edition\Twilight\Data\English\Campaigns/DarkAvatar/Dark Avatar.gc2campaignDebug Message: Error loading scenario name from mission 10 from D:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Galactic Civilizations II - Ultimate Edition\Twilight\Data\English\Campaigns/DarkAvatar/Dark Avatar.gc2campaignDebug Message: Error loading map name from mission 8 from D:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Galactic Civilizations II - Ultimate Edition\Twilight\Data\English\Campaigns/Twilight of the Arnor.gc2campaignDebug Message: Error loading scenario name from mission 8 from D:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Galactic Civilizations II - Ultimate Edition\Twilight\Data\English\Campaigns/Twilight of the Arnor.gc2campaignI don't recall that being the case in v2.04. Verifying the game-files didn't help with either problem. Nor did restarting the PC or re-installing the re-distributables (DirectX/Visual C++). I'll try re-installing the game tomorrow, and see if that helps.
Ummm... these are empty in the campaign descriptions. Won't removing them, and decreasing the total mission count at the top by 1, solve this? I'll see about debugging the tools, but I'm a complete novice at this.
As for the Tools not seeing the tech trees, I got the TechTreeEditor's error to disappear by making sure HKLM\Software\Stardock\Drengin.net\GalCiv2UL contains the string "Path"=%INSTALLDIR%. It still looks pretty barren, and I've no clue how it's supposed to work normally, but the error's gone. So, presumably, making sure the game is run through Steam once, so that installscript.vdf gets executed, might resolve the issue. With GOG, it's often a problem that the installers aren't given enough privileges to write to the registry, leading to errors like that.
Okay.
I had a look at the other mass drivers. Some of them use "happy driving". Maybe we should go with that instead of "mass drivation"?
I think, I'm getting it now.
Good.
As I said, when looking at it with the scenario editor, it does say "Dithir". The victory condition (place four spies on Dithir) also does work. It may seem weird that it's written "Dvithir" when looking at the file with notepad, but it's, apparently, not broken.
True. However, the new Phasor III is the equivalent of the old Phasor VII, so that shouldn't be too much of an issue. To be honest though, the whole tech system in the campaigns is in need of an overhaul. There are lot of inconsistencies on what techs are available to be researched, and what techs you are starting with. It was even worse before we adjusted the campaigns to work with the changes made to the tech trees. I just never figured out how to best go about doing it. Seems like I need to sit down and think this through after all.
I've already fixed the latter yesterday, but forgot the former. Still, it's odd that I missed those two in the first place.
Okay. Also, please add Dread Lords/Dreadlords to the list.
How come I never noticed that? And I call myself a B5 fan.
I'll change it to "join" until we find something better.
Still better than GOG's.
You know, I could really facepalm right now. I saw "the map and scenario for DL mission 16 aren't there" and thought "What bollocks. The files for Escape are right there." Which would have been true, if the game would start counting at one. It doesn't though. It starts at zero. Which makes Escape mission 15. This also means that those entries in the debug.err must have always been there when playing the campaigns, and I just never noticed them. I'm starting to feel a theme here.As for removing the empty entries in the .gc2campaign file, I don't think that's necessary. They have always been there, and the campaign editor automatically adds them. They also don't cause any problems, with the exception of those entries in the debug.err.
Thanks, that did the trick. Though it's still odd that this was necessary in the first place. I didn't do anything that could affect GalCiv 2 registry entries. Unless one of the beta-updates did that. Though I have my doubts about it. Nope, it was due to the updates.
Anyway, here are the updated files and here is the changelog.
Hmm, sounds a tad weird. I'll need to have a look at those, see if it's appropriate enough without mention of mass.
Yeah, will need to run a comb through the files see how many changes will be needed.
Btw, "damage by weapons by 25%" should be "weapon damage by 25%", not "damage weapons" as listed. Also, it hasn't actually been changed in the file.
I suppose I'll keep looking for other errors and see whether the ones we've found are present in other files, or if they're even still present in these ones. Only TotA, naturally. Hope you get to nail down the techs so at least we can edit the files accordingly. At the end, I think we should remove those extra scenario lines in the campaign files, just so people don't notice the errors and complain. I hope we can nail things down so you can send SD a polished and tested patch early in the new year, with a checksum list of the final build, so we can avoid any further mis-applications.
I was certain I did do that change, but apparently it was only in the file for Autumn Twilight. I must have forgotten to save. Again.
I doubt people will go scrutinise the campaign files that heavily (or at all really). Though I can see them complaining about stuff that doesn't even has an effect on the game.
Hi guys,
I have received an email from Stardock and I checked the news on galciv2.com. The CU is finally an official update. Congratulations to all of you for the excellent job, you can be proud of it.
Thanks
hello, i'd like to ask an advice on what settings to use, mostly for tech trading/brokering (and stealing i guess).
from my initial inexperienced impression, with brokering allowed it seems very easy to trade stuff around, getting most benefits while AI is left to catch up. i wonder if AIs trade between themselves enough?
also i'd like to know if a lot of trading dilutes the differences between races somewhat? would like them to be as different as they can, but maybe tech tree doesn't have that big of an impact, and the truly special techs are untradable anyway?
in general, just asking experienced players what settings do they use and why.
Personally I like to play with techtrading enalbed. Tech brokering merely allows you and the AIs to trade technology tou didn't research yourself.
The AIs techtrade. In fact they'll trade amongst themselves easier than with you.
Does anyone know where to download the update or a full client for this?
My Stardock My Products download page only has 2.04.0 listed in the info.
I saw a post the stardock store will be updated in a week or so.
You knew this was coming: More fixin! I'm happy to confirm that the vast majority of the fixes have been applied. And good work on those techs! Anything below is what's outstanding (based on the latest uploaded Twilight.zip)
English.str: Agressor to Aggressor, malace to malice, "a army" to "an army", "a interspecies" to "an interspecies", "once great" to once-great, "a insectoid" to "an insectoid", "a approval" to "an approval" (not sure how much of this file is used, but I'd still like to keep it sanitised, too)Events.xml: "once great" to once-greatGC2_Conversations.xml: "a illogical" to "an illogical", "light years" to light-yearsPlanetImprovements.xml: "increases the planetary economy" to "increase the planetary economy"screens.str: "once great" to once-great, "a Influence" to "an Influence", Buisiness to Business, existance to existenceTechTree.xml: "ship building factories" to "ship-building factories", "Only the Thalan breaks from" to "Only the Thalan deviates from", "breath on his own" to "breathe on his own", strenght to strength, life time to lifetime, choerent to coherent, quantium to quantum, "by a spy" to "be a spy", "because a any" to "because any", "a increasingly" to "an increasingly", "light year" to light-year, "light years" to light-years,"recognize different light wavelengths" to "perceive different wavelengths of light"Campaigns\DarkAvatar\A Nightmare on Dithir.gc2scenario: psyonic to psionicCampaigns\DarkAvatar\Spies.gc2scenario: psyonic / pysonic to psionicCampaigns\DarkAvatar\The Death of the Korx.gc2scenario: psyonic to psionicCampaigns\DreadLords\Salvation.gc2scenario: Earth' to Earth'sScenarios\Battle of the gods.gc2scenario: psyonic / pysonic to psionicTechTrees\Yor_TechTree.xml: How about "join together" to interface/link?
We're back here. See, unless TotA knows to look into the DA Data for these, it's working with broken files.PlanetDescriptions.xml: DA contains several extra planet types.StarTypes.xml: There's an extra parameter that defines stars, LightColor. It seems to be employed only trivially, but it still looks like an intentional upgrade to the engine.TerrainColorSchemes.xml: DA fixes some typos - Horizion to Horizon, Ground05 to Ground06 (I suggest 01 - this bears some elaboration, below). Otherwise, the game refers to files that don't exist. DA also has sections for all the extra planet types from above.TCS seems to have a couple of weird aspects: firstly, Earthlike has two InvasionTextures sections, identical. I see no conceivable reason for it, one should go.For the correction above, DA uses Invasion_Ground06.png, which is clearly appropriate for RedPlanet, but looks out of place for PerfectPlanet (Ground05 doesn't exist). I propose Ground01, instead.
Also, the the scenarios and campaign in Twilight\Campaigns\DarkAvatar refer to loading screens in the main DA folder, and thus not accessible to TotA. These should be copied over to Twilight\Gfx\Loading.
I also gave the racial descriptors some thought and attention:
Dreadlords - not that many cases, so changing over is quite feasibleCampaigns\DarkAvatar\Dark Apocalypse.gc2scenario: Dreadlord to "Dread Lord", Dreadlords to "Dread Lords" (only the Victory description)Campaigns\DarkAvatar\In Defense of Drengi.gc2scenario: Dreadlords to "Dread Lords" (only in the mission description)Campaigns\DarkAvatar\Return of the Dread Lords.GC2Map: "DreadLord Observer" to "Dread Lord Observer"Campaigns\DreadLords\Mission8_Text.xml: DreadLord to "Dread Lord"TechTrees\Dreadlords_TechTree.xml: change display name to "Dread Lords"
Arnor/Arnorian - it seems most appropriate to let Arnorian refer to anything of Arnor design or likeness. When something is of the race or directly attributed to it, it should be Arnor. Thus, ship classes and armour can be Arnorian, but individuals, worlds, and temples are explicitly Arnor. This makes plenty of linguistic sense and spares us tons of editing!English.str: Arnorians to ArnorGC2Ships.xml: "The Arnorian Battleship" to "The Arnor Battleship" (just the description; Arnor makes more sense in this context), "Arnorian fleet" to "Arnor fleet"; Arnorian Ranger? It's tempting to attribute it explicitly, but since the Arnor never actually called it a Ranger, it's better to let the class be just Anorian. Hope this makes sense.RaceConfig.xml: Arnorians to ArnorTechTree.xml: Arnorians to Arnor, "Tandis was an Arnorian" to "Tandis was an Arnor"Campaigns\05_Crossfire.gc2scenario: "The Arnorian Tandis" to "The Arnor Tandis"Campaigns\DreadLords\An Unexpected Visitor.gc2scenario: "Arnorian home world" to "Arnor home world", "Arnorian homeworld" to "Arnor homeworld"Campaigns\DreadLords\Darkness Rising.gc2scenario: "Arnorian Temple" to "Arnor Temple"Campaigns\DreadLords\Mission3_Text.xml: "Arnorian Temple" to "Arnor Temple"Campaigns\DreadLords\Salvation.gc2scenario: "Arnorian outpost" to "Arnor outpost", "Arnorian homeworld" to "Arnor homeworld"Campaigns\DreadLords\Siege.gc2scenario: "In their final battle with the Arnor, the Arnorians" to "In their final battle, the Arnor"Note on homeworld: this one gives me a major headache. The use of "a major Arnor home world" implies several such. This makes the later use of "the Arnor homeworld" unclear. Is it a special, home-homeworld? Is it a contextual reference to Ixith (was the battle at Ixith)? And what about other references to "the Arnor homeworld", without that context? The situation is made no clearer from other uses, where home world and homeworld are used all over.
Korath/Korathian - the same reasoning as Arnor/Arnorian may be appliedTechTree.xml: "Korathian cousins" to "Korath cousins", "Korathian way" to "Korath way" (this could go both ways, but Korath seems better in this case, since it explicitly discusses their behaviour, rather than its likeness, in general)Tournaments\ArceasLastStand.gc2campaign: "Korathian shock troops" to "Korath shock troops"Tournaments\ArceasLastStand.gc2scenario: "Korathian shock troops" to "Korath shock troops"
I really hope I've no more occasion for these long posts... aaand I just remembered I still need to go over the quantum-,organic-, and other-based stuff
Bah, tomorrow...
Hi, mainly it depends if you like tough challenges or not; tech trading is nice, keep it, but tech brokering can make the experience a little too easy, especially if you enable the minor races in the game.
Personally I like to play in huge galaxies with as many races as possible, so I just disable tech brokering.
Hi, mainly it depends if you like tough challenges or not; tech trading is nice, keep it, but tech brokering can make the experience a little too easy, especially if you enable the minor races in the game.Personally I like to play in huge galaxies with as many races as possible, so I just disable tech brokering.
I, on the other had, prefer medium scale galaxies with rare-ish planets on high difficulty. My games are usually slingshot challenges: start small and fight uphill battles until i've reached critical mass. I also play as the Yor which makes me very unlikeable and hard to make early tech progress. So i keep tech trading on to at least have a chance.
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