Nacey Nacey

[MOD] Distant Stars - Rebellion Alpha 0.13 Released! [17/06/13]

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[MOD] Distant Stars - Rebellion Alpha 0.13 Released! [17/06/13]

http://distantstars.mmobase.com
from Sins Forums


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

Rebellion Logo

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

Diplomacy Logo

1.34 Compatible:

1.01 Release:
Full Download:
http://distantstars.mmobase.com/diplomacy/Distant_Stars_(D)_1.01_[45685832].7z

 

Entrenchment Logo

1.051 Compatible:

Beta 0.9951 Release:
Full Download:
http://distantstars.mmobase.com/entrenchment/DS_Entrenchment_Beta_0.9951_[36672852].7z

SoaSE Logo

1.14 - 1.181 Compatible:

Version 1.01:
Full Download:
http://distantstars.mmobase.com/soase/Distant_Stars_v1.01_[453701567].7z

Make sure to ask for permission before republishing any part of this mod to the public!

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 & Sundays
9pm EST (2am GMT) Saturdays & Sundays

If 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\Setting
or
Windows 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 FALSE
Change FALSE to TRUE
LogOutput 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 website
12,000GB (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!

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modding
15,657,684 views 8,423 replies +31 Loading…
Reply #5776 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting -Ue_Carbon, reply 5774
Be glad they shot down my other SC ideas.
End of -Ue_Carbon's quote

If he had his way SC might have well be just pulled out of the game altogether.

Reply #5777 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting DavidFalcon, reply 5775
What I'm hoping to do is tweak the already awesome Dynamic Movement mod for DS to be a little more close to what I think it should be like. By having the tools, I can do this now.
End of DavidFalcon's quote

If you get stuck or need some tips, shoot me a PM.

DeskScapes - Bring your desktop background to life.
Reply #5778 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Stant123, reply 5694
Quoting jtillung,
reply 5693
Any quick fix for the crash with diplomacy tech?

From what I've seen so far, it will crash with a dump after researching the ability to offer others cash/missions.

Haven't experienced that one myself, but I'll try to get a couple dozen games in this weekend to see what happens depending on if a new patch is released or not.
End of Stant123's quote

I can confirm that this exact crash happens to me too.

Reply #5779 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting GDSR, reply 5778
I can confirm that this exact crash happens to me too.
End of GDSR's quote

Download:

http://sites.google.com/site/steelers086/gamefiles/entity.manifest

Reply #5780 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Stant123, reply 5779

Quoting GDSR, reply 5778I can confirm that this exact crash happens to me too.

Download:

http://sites.google.com/site/steelers086/gamefiles/entity.manifest
End of Stant123's quote

Have now added a link to this above in our main post so it doesnt keep getting lost in all the posts :)

Update on 1.00:
We're doing some final testing at the moment, ALOT of bug fixes and minor things we've been meaning to do for a long time has gone in to this patch, we've now had 3 Full Downloads released internally and one Patch. We've now pretty much nailed every single bug/discrepancy bar one in Distant Stars.

The only bug we now have is in fact to do with the new strikecraft debuff we've proposed. Apparently the game engine doesn't like applying a buff within a range of a caster with the LinkedSquad constraint. It seems to be causing a random minidump to occur when loading / exiting a game (never during a match).

See'ing as the next official patch (Diplomacy 1.32) has been delayed two weeks now we have some more time to work on it so we can hopefully do a full release all at once including compatibility with the next patch they release.

Reply #5781 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting -Ue_Carbon, reply 5774

Quoting IHaTeD2, reply 5772You want to eliminate this by buffing them? What? oO

 
This really will only affect you, if your one of those asshole who spam carrier only and let them chill at the grav well edge.
End of -Ue_Carbon's quote

Uhm no, i use mixed Fleets, same for the Capital Ships. As i said before i play more "RPG" Like and when a Race has some different Ships they have their reasons for that so i will use them.

I love Carriers and all the Fighters / Bombers etc. because i love very very big fights. :)

Mostly i love the phase Missiles because they look so awesome in big Swarms.

Reply #5782 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Stant123, reply 5769

Quoting boshimi336 ...
End of Stant123's quote

 

All very valid answers! Thank you sir!

 

Depending on the weapon type, make sure carriers don't go trying to pick a fight with a cap ship 1 vs 1. Currently since they have no weapons they do not decide "I'm going to go blow someone up!" and race across the gravity well towards someone. At least, I believe that is the case currently. Is there a way to keep the AI handling of carriers and their attack priorities (which = zilch as they leave it up to strike craft) the same so they don't commit suicide? All of this while giving them some defensive capability tweaked with hp / shield numbers?

 

Just some concerns on ship behavior when AI controlled. I know previously in vanillathere were issues where carriers would snuggle up next to enemy SB and just kill themselves. :-(

 

Reply #5783 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting boshimi336, reply 5782
Depending on the weapon type, make sure carriers don't go trying to pick a fight with a cap ship 1 vs 1.
End of boshimi336's quote

They don't/won't.  I'm not changing their role type, just adding a little pop gun for the human player who moves them closer to the fight.

Quoting boshimi336, reply 5782
Is there a way to keep the AI handling of carriers and their attack priorities (which = zilch as they leave it up to strike craft) the same so they don't commit suicide?
End of boshimi336's quote

Yeah, by not changing their role type and leaving auto attack off.

Quoting boshimi336, reply 5782
All of this while giving them some defensive capability tweaked with hp / shield numbers?
End of boshimi336's quote

HP and shields are easy to do as well, but from what I've seen, they don't need that tweaked.  The recharge/repair rate maybe could use a touch of attention, but overall the numbers they currently have are fine and probably don't need any messing with at all.

 

 

Remember, this is a move to lessen strike craft not force the light carriers into combat.  If you want to leave the carrier at the side of the gravity well, it'll still do everything it did before, just the SC will get picked off easier.  Moving them closer is a risk versus reward scenario.  You risk the ship at the reward of having SC pound on your opponent harder and survive longer.

Reply #5784 from Sins Forums Top

Stant123 you are the man! 

Reply #5785 from Sins Forums Top

i'm getting some broken icons in the zoomed out galaxy in the explored systems... it only happens with DS enabled... the planet icons appear cut at the middle, showing only half the circle or two halfcircles opposite each other... when zooming in however the planet images are fine...

 

 

Reply #5787 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Makinus_, reply 5785
i'm getting some broken icons in the zoomed out galaxy in the explored systems... it only happens with DS enabled... the planet icons appear cut at the middle, showing only half the circle or two halfcircles opposite each other... when zooming in however the planet images are fine...
End of Makinus_'s quote

Quoting Stant123, reply 5786
Download the Multiple Stars Graphics mod DS version from Boshimi and run it as a minimod on top of DS to see if that fixes things for you.

DOWNLOAD LINK! [Multiple Stars Graphics Mod v0.3 - DS Compliant]
End of Stant123's quote

If this is your issue it will automatically be fixed in the next version we officially release :)

Reply #5788 from Sins Forums Top

Nope, the garbled planet icons continue... even applying the MSG mod.... how do i attach a screenshot here?

Reply #5789 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Makinus_, reply 5788
Nope, the garbled planet icons continue... even applying the MSG mod....
End of Makinus_'s quote

That's a shame.

Quoting Ryat, reply 4567

Second, spoke to Nacey about the planet textures and as he also has an ATI graphics card he thinks he knows the fix.

Go to here

http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows/directx.html

download and install.

Hopefully this will fix the problem for you all. And yes this includes those that have Win7. Nacey says it is the biggest culprit.
End of Ryat's quote

If that doesn't work:

Quoting Nacey, reply 4569

That's a shame it didn't fix it. I know this is a stupid question here but you did run the dxsetup.exe file within the folder that file extracts didnt you? (You may also need to restart too) Sorry if that seems insulting just need to double check!

I've uploaded .tga versions of the files here for you to download and use (just delete the other versions of the files with the same name from the Textures folder.

http://distantstars.mmobase.com/other/Icons_planets.tga

http://distantstars.mmobase.com/other/Icons_planetsPictures.tga

http://distantstars.mmobase.com/other/Icons_planetsSmall.tga

Simplest fix for now until something more permanent comes about!
End of Nacey's quote

(Edit: Those files of the same name will have the .dds extension rather then .tga and the game will use the .dds ones instead of the .tga unless you remove them.)

 

Quoting Makinus_, reply 5788
how do i attach a screenshot here?
End of Makinus_'s quote

It's not necessary since we know what you're talking about, but for future reference, if you have the screenshot uploaded somewhere, you click on the little icon of the tree in about the middle of the lower group of icons in the text type window and insert it's address in there.

Reply #5790 from Sins Forums Top

Okay so its time for another update on how 1.00 is coming along!

I've just finished what I hope to be all of the work we need to do on it now apart from this single minidump which we're currently hunting down. Now its not a guaranteed minidump and it never happens during a "match" (of any kind sp/mp/ai/noai etc) it only ever happens when launching the game and may not happen for 13+ game launches and other times it may happen 5+ times in a row.

Hopefully we'll be able to find it shortly however its rather elusive to say the least. It is likely to do with a module (structure) spawning on top of an already existing object. However finding this is a long laborious task, before its suggested; It's not the Pirate Starbase we've already tried that :P

Anywho, back to hunting...

Reply #5791 from Sins Forums Top

Nope, nothing works... still garbled icons...

 

By the way, i'm playing in a Intel Atom netbook with Intel x3150 graphics card at 1366x768 resolution... stock game works perfectly, only when i enable DS the garbled icons appear...

Reply #5792 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Makinus_, reply 5791
i'm playing in a Intel Atom netbook with Intel x3150 graphics card at 1366x768 resolution...
End of Makinus_'s quote

Really, on a Netbook. I thought the rez was at 600, unless your screen is bigger than 10.1 Unless you modded to fit the screen on a Netbook for regular Sins which the DS mod was not. If that is the case I can steer you to the mod that will work becasuse that is what I use on my Gateway Netbook.

Reply #5793 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Makinus_, reply 5788
Nope, the garbled planet icons continue... even applying the MSG mod.... how do i attach a screenshot here?
End of Makinus_'s quote

Hit print screen then go to the screen shot folder. 

Reply #5794 from Sins Forums Top

My screen is 12" and its native resolution is 1366x768, also, the garbled icons only show up with DS, stock and other mods run ok... no matter, it is just a minor graphical glitch, i can play with it without any problems as, even garbled, i can identify the planet types...

Reply #5795 from Sins Forums Top

O.K. I now know it's not that. Back last year, Shadowfox created a Mod that fits everything on the 10.1 in screen for Netbooks. So your screen rez is big enough so the icons and buttons don't get cut off. When you get around to it, post some screens so we all can get a good look at your problem. Could be nothing more than a bad download and some of the info gets scrambled and that will do it.....

Reply #5796 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Nacey, reply 5790
it only ever happens when launching the game and may not happen for 13+ game launches and other times it may happen 5+ times in a row.
End of Nacey's quote

 

This is something we have experienced from time to time but it is not a game breaker and isn't a big issue as far as our lan group is concerned.

 

More importantly, could you verify that the Planet Ability 'Targeting Array Network' buff is set up correctly?

 

It says it targets 'friendly' targets with green listed buffs but states for enemies too? Maybe I'm just confused on how that buff should work.

 

In our groups large single map 7 hour game we had a TEC and a Vasari player start pounding deep behind front line planets with a super weapon and phasge gate pact today ... 4 cap ships with a 200 plus fleet from each AI player really does some damage!!! 8 Caps plus 400 plus ships and orgovs... It's a good thing I had a fully uppgraded Ork with full upgraded hangers plus repair plus a 60 plus Assailant 40 Enforcer fleet nearby with more on the way.

 

Love this mod!

Reply #5797 from Sins Forums Top

I just got the game last week but every time i click enable mod then 'apply' the game freezes up, i am on the Trinity and tried mod in numerous locations and just diplomacy, does it not work anymore?

Reply #5798 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Fewzz, reply 5797
I just got the game last week but every time i click enable mod then 'apply' the game freezes up, i am on the Trinity and tried mod in numerous locations and just diplomacy, does it not work anymore?
End of Fewzz's quote

It works.  When you click apply, the game is basically shutting down and restarting to reload a whole new set of files to use without actually shutting down and restarting.  This results in a 'freeze' that can last anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds.  Just let it sit there and it should start working again.  Unless, of course, if you let it sit for more then a minute and it doesn't come back.  At that point, you probably ha a minidump, but didn't get the message.

Reply #5799 from Sins Forums Top

Hi Stant, yes i get the minidump thing, does this mean it is not going to work on my Trinity version?

Only one ive got to work so far is the Requiem one, i really want this one though lol, really having problems finding any that works with Trinity altogether.

As i say i am on Trinity patched up to latest versions.

Reply #5800 from Sins Forums Top

Trinity is just Diplomacy anyway, so if it's updated to 1.31, then you should be able to use DS 0.99B4 and it's hotfix.

Try redownloading the mod, unzip it to your desktop, then move the files over to your mod folder.
(Edit: That folder should be Mods-Diplomacy v1.31 or whatever the Trinity equivalent is.  You will only need it in one location.)

Once you're in the game, enable the mod and verify the checksum is 73602087.  If it is, click apply and see if you still get a minidump.