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.
Playing Atarian with 6.2. Did a <ctrl-alt-R> to get all tech and selected 'Good' alignment. In the tech tree I get 'Neutral Shipping' overlapping Way of the Arnor. Can't select WA; always get NS. Restarted and now I can't select Neutral Shipping; always get WA.
I shouldn't have Neutral Shipping at all.
Also a couple of odd characters in the text I've looked at. I don't see a special character at that location in the TechTree file.
You always get all techs if you cheat them to you via either ctrl-alt-R or M, even those which should normally be locked out via a ethical decision. They also don't display correctly in the tree and overlay meaning you can't select some of them manually. There's nothing we can do about that.
Which characters and from what techs are you refering to, I'd like to see those if possible.
Mm.. the one I remember is an Angstrom sign (cap A with circle above) smack in the middle of Xeno Mysticism. Right after "split between the Dread Lords and the Arnor."
Do you see it too?
Yes, I manually corrected the issue. I searched for other instances of this special char but Techtree.xml held none. However, there are potentially dozens of such chars which won't be properly displayed in Notepad++ so I have no clue how to intelligently filter them out... can you remember more places?
There is an mode where normally non-printing characters are displayed. View->Show Symbol...But then you have to be able to spot them manually.
Properly speaking, though, Å in not a non-printing character and N++ doesn't highlight it when I put it in explicitly. This leads me to believe that the original "bad character" was not Å itself but something that displays as it. It clearly wasn't there (visually) when I opened the file and looked at it.
For now I guess we have to assume that there aren't any more and deal with any that show up.
Here's the new 6.2.2 version (use it like a MOD)
http://www.xup.in/dl,22683935/Community_Update_6-2-2.7z/
and the (complete) changelog:
StarbaseModules============Deleted "SectorScanners4"GC2Types========"canon" respelled as "cannon" throughout.Minor flavor change (model # updates) for Photonic Torps II,III.Misspelled flavor text in the HD Spike Drivers.Flavor: model numbers in Pulse Cannon and Neutron drivers.Some actual descriptions for Chaffs, Pt Def, Combo, etc.Righteous Might description.All weapons do now have a specific frame-count added to prevent the animation being displayed twice for one shot.Atlas-mod "Righteous Justice" works now only in own ZOC, just like its descriptions states.Made the "Defense Meditation"-module work just like its description states.StarbaseHull sensorrange incr. to 4.FrameCount on NanoRipper to 25.ImpactFrame on NanoRipper to 0.ImpactFrame on SpaceCannon to 10.Created Thumbnail-references on the following weapons: SpaceCannon, PsionicBeam, Anti-MatterMissiles, GravitonDisruptors, Photonic- & PhotonTorpedos, QuantumTorpedos, PositronicTorpedos & NightmareTorpedo.Reduced <ScaleWidthPercent> on some Disruptors, KineticStreamsPlanetImprovements==================Dread Factories cannot host Agents.Aul Incinerator reduces Pop Growth by 10.All 3 PowerPlants & the the 2 Arcean NavCenters are now indestructible to prevent the 1pp-bug."Hyperion Logistics System" ability increased to 9 and cost to 500."Hyperion Shipyard" is back at its CU bonuses."Hyperion Re-Supply Center" bonus up to 50; 25 is only 4 parsecs."Orbital Terraformer" increases PQ by 5%."Manufacturing Capital" bonus is up to 50% but 10% econ deleted."Distributed Energy Matrix" bonus up to 75%.All farms are back at AI=50.TechTree========Dread Lords not "ultimate evil". Iconian Replicators are stealable.Re-added "Space Weapons" & "Starship Defenses" back into the Thalan tree.Re-grouped all technological branches which have been grouped together originally IF their content is fully displayed in the techtree.Reduced the techcosts of "Sensors Mk.I" to "Sensors Mk.IV" back to their vanilla values."Terror Stars" are available sooner now but back at the vanilla researchcosts, additionally can't be traded or use creativity."Planetary Defense" requires Starship Defenses again.RaceConfig========Replaced <SmallLogo> ref to non-existent Gfx\Race\Small\ folder with standard logo.Added "Xeno Biology" & "Xeno Medicine" back to the Thalan. GC2_Conversations==============Changed 4 entries of string-names "Human" into CAPITAL letters, otherwise the game will not recognize it and display the string-name instead.StarbaseModules============Attached "MiningBarracks" to tech 'FusionReactors'.Cleared the following files of most redundant code: TechTree.xml; Events.xml; InvTactics.xml; PlanetImprovements.xml; RaceConfig.xml; StarbaseModules.xml; UPIssues.xml.
The only thing that's left remaining to do is to restore the Campaign- & Scenario compatibility. I'll have to work myself into this, so it will require some time which I currently don't have much
Have fun playing
Hi, Thank you for all you do and have done
don't have time to sift through 80 pages to get the answers to all my questions
have need of some explanation, just a tiny bit
Do I use this file with version 2.2 ? forgive me if it seems dumb question
and does this "mod" have all previous changes included to bring gc2 up to date ?
I don't see any posts this year , have we given up or is there no more interest ?
will previous mods work with this version ? including things like the custom races with the mysterions and bots ? is the AI fixed because I used to have to set the AI to generic for many races as the AI was broken for many
thank you so much
This is not a "mod" per se. It is supposed to be basis of the next release of GCII, as 2.20 was the packaging of a previous version of the Community Update mod. It is now up to Stardock to allocate the resources needed to validate and integrate this drop. I supposed they'll get to it eventually. So until they do, with the exception of bug fixes it is complete.
Meanwhile we kinda got sidetracked. I discovered World of Warships and I think Maiden666 got into GC III, as well as developing his own mods.
Install the 2.20 update first. This mod supplies many replacement files, but not all.
No, mods do not "layer". One mod or the other.
Yeah well, the new version for the official CU has been sent to SD quite some time ago - so we need to wait until this has been officially released and go from that point on forward if there should be any more future changes. In other words - the ball is in SD hands.
No idea if this is ever going to happen.... just stay tuned
I've downloaded the latest version (Community Update 6-2-2). There seems to be a bug regarding civ capital and initial colony. I can build the other version on a colony, so colonized worlds can build a civ capital, and the homeworld can build an initial colony.Checking the file, they seem to be missing the following:<S_TechRequirement>0</S_TechRequirement>Adding that code prevents the planet improvement from being a build able structure.Edit: The forums doesn't want to display the code right.Edit2: Fixed.
I cannot reproduce this.
What race/setup did you use?
Do you opt-in for the Community update for 2.20? Or no? Or is the official Release already 2.20 version with CU installed?
Well, I downloaded, unzipped, and hooked up the mod files. My problems occurs when I try to play with either 6-2-1 and 6-2-2. It doesn't matter who I try to play as. I can build civs capital buildings on all my colonies.Maybe there is a problem with the zip file? Have you tried to unzipping it and using the files you get?My GalCiv 2 version is v2.20 from GOG.Edit: Also happens on my Steam version.
New version 6.2.3 (small bugfix included):
https://www.xup.in/dl,81178357/Community_Update_6-2-3.zip/
I've deleted the link to the previous version
Hope this helps
The new patch seems to be working better. No extra civ capitals is present.I forgot to mention that Adamantium 2 is missing its tech name.
Alright. I've done plenty of testing. I played a few times as each civ. I think this mod is good. It has about the same feel of v2.04 but with updates and bug fixes.Some comments:-I noticed that the various files had their data reorganized. Much neater than before.-Is there any reason why the output for the initial factory and research buildings for the Thalans were reduced slightly?-Is there a reason why stock markets no longer have influence bonuses?-The Yor economy still sucks.
There is a small change I want done. Change the Yor's efficiency center so you can make as many as you want. Without it, its hard to make enough money to do things. Nabbing other civs economy techs becomes a must.
Hi everybody.
It's been quite some time since the release of the CU and I guess most of the people involved back then are not active any more. It's a similar situation with most of the links in this thread.
So I was wondering if anybody has by any chance the patch that Gaunathor and Maiden666 were making as a update after the official release of the Community Update (v2.20)? As far as I understand it was meant to fix some things that couldn't make it into the official release, and then Maiden666 to build upon it and make his own mod so to speak. That mode has a working link, but not the old patch.
Another think that I couldn't get my hands on is a file called AltarnizedUI . It was made by MabusAltarn and was meant to serve as a quality of life UI update that was present in some form in his APT 1/2 mods. The changes it makes are quite useful in my opinion. Again the links are all dead so if anyone still has it it would be appreciated if he or she shares it
Hoping to catch someone's attention here, but it seems there's a bug in the Drath Legion tech tree with this mod. Either that or I'm missing something.
I've got the beta version installed on Steam, then 6.2.3 mod downloaded from above.
I researched "Military Starbase Fortification" but the next tech "Starbase Mobilization" is still greyed out. It doesn't mention any other prerequisite techs, and it doesn't unlocking anything else. I imagine this is something that can be modded easily... but I won't have time to learn to do that for a long time.
I'm not sure what the best version of the game to play is but somebody recommended this on the Steam forums. I'm mostly looking for improved version of the base game rather than any major changes to the game.
Heyho, well is someone really still playing this fatastic game? Yes I can see the problem, there is a small taging-error in Drath_TechTree.xml - which is now corrected. The AI race files code labelled a weapons-tech wrongly a defensive one, and it seems like then the game bugs out...
Here's the corrected version
https://www.xup.in/dl,15488792/Community_Update_6-2-4.zip/
Unfortunately, your current game cannot be fixed.
Changelog 6.2.4:
Replaced
<Defenses ID="StarbaseMobilization"></Defenses>
with
<Weapons ID="StarbaseMobilization"></Weapons>
in
\Drath_TechTree.xml
also check out my MOD "Future Worlds" as it's more based on the original Twilight but allows more specialization of each race and has much more diversified techtrees and alot of bugfixes and new gfx + UI tweaks.
currently playing it scenario type, "Accelerated Start" as Terrans
Awesome, thanks!!! Ya, this game has hooked me, I've put in 500+ hours in the last couple years. It doesn't require as much planning in the grand scheme of things as other 4x's have so regularly play a round in my rotation. I do see people occasionally asking questions on the Steam forums so players are still out there. I do like it a lot more than Civ 3.
Too bad my save can't be fixed, it's about the best starting area I've ever had. There was another thing that I was sure was a bug but I didn't mention it because it wasn't as game breaking... Maybe I'll mention them as I run into them.
I'll look into Future Worlds, thanks for the recommendation!
Hello Maiden666,
it's good to see someone is still around this game, actually playing it. I also started having a couple CU 6.2.3 games recently; some more spare time, side effect of the weird times we are living in, with most of the world in lockdown. It's really a long time since I was playing version 0.4 of your FW mod. What is the state now, is it complete?
Yeah, well the game saves the xml-variable-data in the savefiles - and these are encrypted. So we cannot change them at all.
What did you experience when you wrote you came over a bug?
Hi Abelisari,
how are you? Yes, the Corona-boredom brought me back to gaming a bit. Just giving some old games a few shots. But if you play something you've played for years it can get also too easy to fast^^
About FW - the last version released is fully playable, well balanced via testgames & actual games, but I have not been able to fully implement all ideas concerning the further individuation of some races - mainly the ones which play with the standard lab & factory outlay.
With the other exotic races like Yor, Thalan, Torian, Drengin etc this was way more easy to do. But I'm happy and currently thinking about some finetuning.
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