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!

dyMRNwSFh9gw
modding
15,657,753 views 8,423 replies +31 Loading…
Reply #276 from Sins Forums Top

Well, the new planets offered with Celestial Bodies includes, I believe, deep space points. Assuming that phase lanes are a natural phenomenon, the creator decided 'why wouldn't nature plop you down in the middle of nowhere'? On the one hand, people would travel to points of interest (even DS9 looked to be nowhere special except for the wormhole); on the other, I'm creating a game and I figure one of the battles could take place in a part of deep space where a fleet fled to avoid detection and repair.

But do remember that for Sins, nature manipulates your movement and being phased during travel eliminates the ability to intercept mid-path.

Nacey, I remember someone mentioning that the AI doesn't take full advantage of the tech tree. Is that being taken care of in this next patch or down the line?

Reply #277 from Sins Forums Top

u only fight in space where it's tactically sound. to get a foothold or keeping your lines of defense up. i do this in sins, move all ships to placeswhere i know i'm going to findsomething to fire at.

Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #278 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Draakjacht, reply 1
But do remember that for Sins, nature manipulates your movement and being phased during travel eliminates the ability to intercept mid-path.

End of Draakjacht's quote

This is true, but even if you were not held down by that type of travel but instead had free range star travel(hyperspace or warp space) space between stars is vast and even between two individual stars there are many paths that can be taken the chances of mid-path intercept is almost nil(but there is a chance). So under a free range star travel system, rarely would battles take place away from points of interest.

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Reply #279 from Sins Forums Top

I totally understand that, but based on whatever set of mechanics you choose, there are a myriad of possibilities.

Reply #280 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Ryat, reply 20
found a minor issue

Subterranean coloney

Max Pop 80

Planet Health 1500

String Not Found

Was on a desert planet
End of Ryat's quote

I'll take a look in to that and see what I can find out, thanks as always for the report!

Quoting Ryat, reply 21
Notice that the Advent Drone Host only carries 2 SC but still has supply cost of 20. Might need to balance this.
End of Ryat's quote

I'll also lower the advent carriers supply cost, tyvm for pointing that out!

I have to agree that battles could & probably would happen anywhere in space if the fleets ever met however it is more than likely that battles are far more likely to occur over strategic positions & places of any form of value, random space ofcourse is of little importance when you can fly over, under or around it.

Reply #281 from Sins Forums Top

Well, the new planets offered with Celestial Bodies includes, I believe, deep space points. Assuming that phase lanes are a natural phenomenon, the creator decided 'why wouldn't nature plop you down in the middle of nowhere'?
End of quote

Good description ;) I never tought that complex, it was more a workaround, cause in Haegemonia you where able to travel free around in a solar system. But also the Haegemonia system maps where much smaller than in sins (as far as I remember).

And for my Earth maps i just needed some nav-point into nowhere. This is the main reason why I created the deep space sectors.

@Nacey: For the merge, I can send you all my textfiles where only the changes are included that you dont have to search for it ;)

 

Reply #283 from Sins Forums Top

Bump

Dont want to lose sight of this post.

Im too lazy to look for it.:-"

Reply #284 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting TohKlidan, reply 6
@Nacey: For the merge, I can send you all my textfiles where only the changes are included that you dont have to search for it
End of TohKlidan's quote

Much appreciated mate, I'll talk to you more about that in PM :)

JUst so you all know I plan to release the patch later today as sadly BailKnight's release appears to be taking quite some time so i'll release another patch with his enhancements in once he releases the next version of his graphics mod!

Reply #285 from Sins Forums Top

And here it is, Patch 0.5, we've finally passed Alpha in to Beta quite a few nice changes in this one:

Distant Stars 0.5 Change Log:
- Added a new map Balanced Resources designed by myself, beware of the planets leading from the sun...
- Pirates have stolen starbases, beware!
- Pirates when in a sector now plunder your planets, Taking your resources and slowing your production!
- Pirate repair platform should now work correctly and more effectively
- All Planets now have abilities!
- EWS Strikecraft abilities are now area of effect
- EWS Strikecraft ability now autocasts correctly
- TEC Beam Research now has increased levels
- Two brand new Skyboxes have been added
- ManSh00ter's Volumetric Explosions & Damage Effects has been updated to 1.13
- Advent Cruiser Carrier has a reduced Fleet Usage
- Other minor tweaks, bug fixes and cosmetic changes

http://www.blacklotushq.com/sins/entrenchment/DS_Entrenchment_Beta_0.5_Patch_[53970441].7z

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Reply #286 from Sins Forums Top

Quote from The Beta Whore,"Huzzah!!!!!" End quote.

Reply #287 from Sins Forums Top

Will try it when I am off work. If I get off work.

Stupid supervisors:borg: :cylon: :banhammer:

Reply #288 from Sins Forums Top
Just so I know, has the AI been tweaked to take advantage of the full tech tree or should we look out for that still?
Reply #289 from Sins Forums Top

Most the AI is hardcoded AFAIK...but and I quote, "Well what im thinking of doing for DS is increase the AI's use of research which can be done you can kind of tweak their priorities so you cant really make them research more tiers but change their focus to x thing...you cant do much I dont think its hard to tell what effect the priority system has..." End Quote.

Reply #290 from Sins Forums Top

0.5 is here? Great timing! (I just got Entrenchment). :)

There are, however, two things that are bugging me: First and more important I seem to have random crashes. I really can't see any pattern behind it - no matter in which menue I currently am, no matter how far in the game, how many units I have on the screen or how long it's been since the last crash. I have had this in previous versions of the mod as well (without Entrechment), particulary when gaming over LAN with my friend. Could this have something to do with this mod?

The other thing are weird texture disappearances / changes: Happened with the TEC Fighter Carrier (not the small, but the capital-sized one): The whole ship was bright orange and shiny (maybe because my color was orange?). The other time this happened was with the Advent Starbase. At the beginning, it was normally textured. After some time I looked at it again and it seemed to have lost all of its texture and was now sort of shiny grey-colored. (my color was orange as well)

Sorry to bother if this isn't related to the mod. :)

Reply #291 from Sins Forums Top

Actually, it might be. If you have been playing on the highest textures and all, then get a mini-dump, you probably need to drop everything down to just high resolution. As for the skin, I'm not sure. Anyone know any graphic card issues entrench has that the original game doesn't?

Reply #292 from Sins Forums Top

btw, thanks for the reply, Carbon

Reply #293 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting enenra, reply 15
0.5 is here? Great timing! (I just got Entrenchment).

There are, however, two things that are bugging me: First and more important I seem to have random crashes. I really can't see any pattern behind it - no matter in which menue I currently am, no matter how far in the game, how many units I have on the screen or how long it's been since the last crash. I have had this in previous versions of the mod as well (without Entrechment), particulary when gaming over LAN with my friend. Could this have something to do with this mod?

The other thing are weird texture disappearances / changes: Happened with the TEC Fighter Carrier (not the small, but the capital-sized one): The whole ship was bright orange and shiny (maybe because my color was orange?). The other time this happened was with the Advent Starbase. At the beginning, it was normally textured. After some time I looked at it again and it seemed to have lost all of its texture and was now sort of shiny grey-colored. (my color was orange as well)

Sorry to bother if this isn't related to the mod.
End of enenra's quote

Does it crash only when you have this mod loaded or even during normal games??

Also can does the textures disapper at random times or is there a usual time/game event that makes them go POOF?

Reply #294 from Sins Forums Top

@Draakjacht

The problem is that I don't get a minidump. It's just a "sinsofasolarempire.exe has an error encountered and..." - no message that a minidump was created.

 

@-Ue_Carbon

I can't remember ever havin those crashes in the normal game. But then again, it's been a long time since I played the game without any mod.

The textures *seem* to go poof at random times but I haven't played long enough to be able to see a pattern so there might be some event causing this. But I doubt it. The two times it happened, it happened at totally different times.

A problem is that I spend most of the time far outside viewing the icons so it could be that I don't see every occurance of these bugs.

Reply #295 from Sins Forums Top

Know issue: On the planetary abilites some may say in the description something about AM regeration rates. And you may notice in the info card there are no AM buff or debuffs. Due to techincal difficulties AM regen code, kicked some butt and took some names. It has been replace with HP or Sheild regen. The info card and string will be fixed next patch.

 

@-Ue_Carbon

I can't remember ever havin those crashes in the normal game. But then again, it's been a long time since I played the game without any mod.

The textures *seem* to go poof at random times but I haven't played long enough to be able to see a pattern so there might be some event causing this. But I doubt it. The two times it happened, it happened at totally different times.

A problem is that I spend most of the time far outside viewing the icons so it could be that I don't see every occurance of these bugs.
End of quote

 Ok, if you dont mind doing an experament if what Draakjacht suggested doesnt work. Play some non modded games and see if you get the same problem if so, then its your SINS install. I suggest a uninstall and reinstall of everything. If it doesnt happen then its the mod conflicting with something. And further testing would be requried unless someone else know the magic button to fix it! LOL!!

 

Quoting Draakjacht, reply 17
btw, thanks for the reply, Carbon
End of Draakjacht's quote

Hey not a problem, Glad I could help!

 

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Reply #296 from Sins Forums Top

So what is in 0.5?

Reply #297 from Sins Forums Top

And here it is, Patch 0.5, we've finally passed Alpha in to Beta quite a few nice changes in this one:

Distant Stars 0.5 Change Log:

- Added a new map Balanced Resources designed by myself, beware of the planets leading from the sun...

- Pirates have stolen starbases, beware!

- Pirates when in a sector now plunder your planets, Taking your resources and slowing your production!

- Pirate repair platform should now work correctly and more effectively

- All Planets now have abilities!

- EWS Strikecraft abilities are now area of effect

- EWS Strikecraft ability now autocasts correctly

- TEC Beam Research now has increased levels

- Two brand new Skyboxes have been added

- ManSh00ter's Volumetric Explosions & Damage Effects has been updated to 1.13

- Advent Cruiser Carrier has a reduced Fleet Usage

- Other minor tweaks, bug fixes and cosmetic changes
End of quote

Reply #298 from Sins Forums Top
Deja vu...
Reply #299 from Sins Forums Top

WOW I just finished playn a game and this mod rocks!!!!  looking forward to more releases in the future!!

Reply #300 from Sins Forums Top

Pirate base hurts. OUCHIES!!!!!!