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
15,657,590 views 8,423 replies +31 Loading…
Reply #401 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting sangamc, reply 21
I have played alot of different mods in this game over the last few months. and after putting most of them through the paces i finally loaded this mod up last night. i must say that hands down this is the best mod for sins by far. its not too intrusive so that it changes the game too much like many others. the additional music is frakking splendid. pirates showing up with a pirated capital ship made me fall off my chair. the research modifications are nicelly balanced instead of just adding different research for the sake of different research. and most of all there are no half baked races included in the game!! i hate mods with new races where the ships look like they were paper cutouts, the best part of sins for me was the details in the ships so adding more mediocre races lowers the quality a ton. also the new themes you can choose for your profile were a pleasant suprise. i also think the AI has been tweaked but i cant be sure until i play a few more games. And finally it includes the best of the 'mini-mods' like bailknights, volumetric, sins plus, gorkuz sounds to name a few.

thanks for the mod
End of sangamc's quote

You're welcome, thanks for the kind words & I hope I can only improve it in the long run!

Quoting voidster12, reply 22
Ok it just crashed right after pirates launched on the "severe" setting/mode whatever its called. Ill lower the gfx settings and see if that helps.
End of voidster12's quote

Very interesting, the pirates files havent changed in the slightest since their original conception apart from to add their "Looting" abilities which is a one line change, so there shouldnt be any issues with them.
It's possible I wont deny however unlikely. I'll look in to it, some others seem to be having issues with the 0.6 patch despite myself not having any issues.

Quoting Draakjacht, reply 24
So the celestial bodies idea was a hit! Hooah!

Meanwhile, I have a problem. I'm playing on medium graphics at highest and have not had a mini-dump in the longest time (map size aside). But now I have had a mini-dump. GASP! Now, I didn't think about it, but I think my pirates were about to get to "severe", just like Voidester up there. I dunno if maybe it has a connection. Might check it later to be sure.
End of Draakjacht's quote

There may be a connection, i'll definetely look in to it, hope there isnt any connection. However I do plan on releasing the next patch at the beggining of next week now (I want to add more features before the release). The Celestial Bodies merge is the entire patch on top of some other minor changes to the black holes damage (a slight buff) and alot more planetary abilities.

Quoting ags19, reply 25
Ever since i dl the full package for v.06, it has been doing nothing but crashing when i try to load a custom built map.
End of ags19's quote

Are these player made maps, or just the randomely generated maps? There shouldnt be any issues however if you can give me a link to the map, or let me know which map it is I will check & make the mod 100% compatible with it.

 

These minidump reports are somewhat concerning, I havent been able to replicate them myself, however I will endeavour to find them and quash them asap. Remember it is a beta, although normally crash free it would appear the last patch has some issues in it I havent found out. Any saves, and detailed reports you can provide will really help in the finding of these bugs.

Reply #402 from Sins Forums Top

ack double post! >.<

CursorFX - Customize your Windows cursor
Reply #403 from Sins Forums Top

just wanted to say i think lowering the gfx to "high" seems to help a lot. At least my framrate was higher (8 player map with 60 or so planets). Just finished a game..well ok i was wiped out, but it didnt crash once even with pirates going crazy. Ill keep ya posted if i experience anymore.

I really enjoy this mod, hope you continue to work on it. I think next round ill have the ai all against me, just because i like to die a lot (apparently..bah)

V

Reply #404 from Sins Forums Top

First want to say that this mod is awesome. I love the fact that your tech level can change a battle. But I've got a problem. When I load a custom designed map playing as TEC the game loads the map, but when I try to run as Advent or Vasari, it gets about 90%, the I get a minidump error. Any help?

Reply #405 from Sins Forums Top

Nacey, the work you've done with this mod is amazing.  I love it to death.

That being said, I have to ask like others have done that you please do something about the black market and the resources in general.  I just finished a game where I was getting 1000 credits a sec (800 for the 75 upkeep) and only 12 and 15 crystal and metal (again after the 75 upkeep and with all the upgrades.  I would spend 100,000 credits just to be able to buy enough crystal and metal to upgrade my units.  i think your tech level is right on, those work well with the resources, but I think you should either a.) decrease the black market from the about 400:200 rate it is at right now down to something more reasonble (maybe a 400:300 or 400:350?), or b.) increase the rate of metal and crystal extraction.

Again, you have done a fantastic jobon this mod, and you seem to keep making it better.  Thanks for all your hardwork.

Reply #406 from Sins Forums Top

well you could edit it yourself, just go to the gameplay.constant and change the

marketDef
        sellPrice 2.0
        buyPrice 4.0

to

marketDef
        sellPrice 3.0 or 3.5
        buyPrice 4.0

Reply #407 from Sins Forums Top

Let me clarify something, as i bet you've all seen my error posts,

 

I have the correct checksum (I didn't patch, i got it full 0.6)

I have experienced graphical problems, White and black boxes where explosions and fires should be

I have seen that the planet bombardment is weird, (It seems to explode before it reaches the unshielded planet)

I have experienced problems in 0.6 beta for entrechment but not 0.5 Beta for entrechment

I have tried many settings for a work around, but nothing works....

 

CONCLUSION:

Some change in 0.6 Beta for entrenchment is causing random crashes and minidumps on vista systems, but a symtom seen before said crashes and minidumps is graphical errors, possibly with the graphical mods you have ingrained.

 

 

Reply #408 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Mooster, reply 6
well you could edit it yourself, just go to the gameplay.constant and change the

marketDef
        sellPrice 2.0
        buyPrice 4.0

to

marketDef
        sellPrice 3.0 or 3.5
        buyPrice 4.0
End of Mooster's quote

 

thanks mooster, didn't see that.

Reply #409 from Sins Forums Top

Notice another glitch Nacey.

When upgrading the tactical capacity on an Oceanic planet there are errors.

First two levels work great, get up to 35 tactical points.

The third level you only get one point and the fourth level gives you none.

Reply #410 from Sins Forums Top

 

These minidump reports are somewhat concerning, I havent been able to replicate them myself, however I will endeavour to find them and quash them asap. Remember it is a beta, although normally crash free it would appear the last patch has some issues in it I havent found out. Any saves, and detailed reports you can provide will really help in the finding of these bugs.
End of quote

Im with Nacey on this one. I play test the hell out of these patches as best I can and Ive not had 1 minidump with any public released patch. But we will work on it some how. :thumbsup:

 

Speaking on minidumps, Nacey FYI you might wanna delay the release of the patch a few more days. Ive got a minidump carnival ride from hell, that you be ever so happy to hear. :|

 

Reply #411 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting cactuspete13, reply 4
First want to say that this mod is awesome. I love the fact that your tech level can change a battle. But I've got a problem. When I load a custom designed map playing as TEC the game loads the map, but when I try to run as Advent or Vasari, it gets about 90%, the I get a minidump error. Any help?
End of cactuspete13's quote

Thanks for the kind words, im glad to hear your enjoying the mod! Without seeing the map it would be hard to define a cause, if you could supply a link to download the map id be glad to try and find out the cause. Apart from that id suggest waiting for 0.7!

Quoting groovyquad, reply 5
Nacey, the work you've done with this mod is amazing.  I love it to death.

That being said, I have to ask like others have done that you please do something about the black market and the resources in general.  I just finished a game where I was getting 1000 credits a sec (800 for the 75 upkeep) and only 12 and 15 crystal and metal (again after the 75 upkeep and with all the upgrades.  I would spend 100,000 credits just to be able to buy enough crystal and metal to upgrade my units.  i think your tech level is right on, those work well with the resources, but I think you should either a.) decrease the black market from the about 400:200 rate it is at right now down to something more reasonble (maybe a 400:300 or 400:350?), or b.) increase the rate of metal and crystal extraction.

Again, you have done a fantastic jobon this mod, and you seem to keep making it better.  Thanks for all your hardwork.
End of groovyquad's quote

Happy your enjoying the mod, and thank you for the kind words, I do plan on working out all of the planets inbalances with credit to crystal/metal ratio and it will be ironed out in the next patches (0.7 & 0.8).

Quoting -Ue_Carbon, reply 10
Im with Nacey on this one. I play test the hell out of these patches as best I can and Ive not had 1 minidump with any public released patch. But we will work on it some how.

Speaking on minidumps, Nacey FYI you might wanna delay the release of the patch a few more days. Ive got a minidump carnival ride from hell, that you be ever so happy to hear.
End of -Ue_Carbon's quote

I've already worked all of these internally and have already put the newer patch up for download for testing. My PC's will be running games over night for the next day or so on huge random maps to see if any minidumps can be found also.

Hopefully 0.7 will cure the minidump issues others have been having, if not any information you can provide on how you caused your game to minidump or even a save would be greatly appreciated!

Quoting Ryat, reply 9
Notice another glitch Nacey.

When upgrading the tactical capacity on an Oceanic planet there are errors.

First two levels work great, get up to 35 tactical points.

The third level you only get one point and the fourth level gives you none.
End of Ryat's quote

Thanks for the report mate, I'll get that ironed out before I go to bed!

Reply #412 from Sins Forums Top

hey nancy, the maps i'm having trouble with are the custom build maps from map designer.

 

the maps from the game, and the ones that ue made work; it's just the maps that i have made. i tried the old private map i built a couple months ago, and just to make sure i built a new one. both these maps work under other mods.

 

 

Reply #413 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting ags19, reply 12
hey nancy, the maps i'm having trouble with are the custom build maps from map designer.

 

the maps from the game, and the ones that ue made work; it's just the maps that i have made. i tried the old private map i built a couple months ago, and just to make sure i built a new one. both these maps work under other mods.

 

 
End of ags19's quote

Well Im glad that my maps are working, but not good your are not. Ive not used the in game map editor in a very long time. Its just as easy to use Galaxy Forge IMHO. If your useing the in game editor I suggest you try your had at Galaxy Forge. Its almost as easy. If your using Galaxy Forge make sure it up to date. If your still having problems, I dont know what else I can say to guide you. Maybe someone else can also help! Best luck figuring it out!

Reply #415 from Sins Forums Top

aaaaaand heres the patch you've all been waiting for...

Celestial Bodies is now fully merged with Distant Stars! Thanks TohKlidan!

Distant Stars 0.7 Change Log:
- New Planet Types Added:
Desert: 4 Types: Normal, Dwarf, Huge, Moon
Ice: 4 Types: Normal, Dwarf, Huge, Moon
Terran: 4 Types: Normal, Dwarf, Huge, Moon
Volcanic: 4 Types: Normal, Dwarf, Huge, Moon
GasGiant: 2 Types: Stable & Unstable
- Sol System Planets Added: Ariel, Callisto, Ceres, Dione, Eris, Europa, Ganymed, Haumea, Iapetus, Io, Juno, Jupiter, Luna, Makemake, Mars, Mercury, Miranda, Neptune, Neried, Oberon, Pallas, Pluto, Rhea, Saturn, Terra, Tethys, Titan, Titania, Triton, Umbriel, Uranus, Venus & Vesta.
- No Atmosphere Planets added: 4 Types: Normal, Dwarf, Huge, Moon
- New Planetary Buffs added for the new planets
- Multiple new planetary Bonuses
- Other minor tweaks & changes here and there, nothing game changing just nice touches :)

http://www.blacklotushq.com/sins/entrenchment/DS_Entrenchment_Beta_0.7_Patch_[20807765].7z

Hope you all enjoy the patch, as ever any problems etc please let me know on here, or via pm and i'll get them fixed asap!

Reply #416 from Sins Forums Top

Huzzah!!!!!! Now onto .8!!!!

Reply #417 from Sins Forums Top

quick question about patch vs full dl. do i remove my old ds beta 0.6 dir, or do i copy the contents of the ds beta 0.7 folder into my old ds beta 0.6 dir?

Reply #418 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting sangamc, reply 17
quick question about patch vs full dl. do i remove my old ds beta 0.6 dir, or do i copy the contents of the ds beta 0.7 folder into my old ds beta 0.6 dir?
End of sangamc's quote

All the patches you use to overwrite your previous folder (0.6 -> 0.7) and then rename the folder to 0.7 rather than 0.6, just copy the new files over the older directory.

Reply #419 from Sins Forums Top

1/2 an hour for a response! thats another reason i love this mod.

thanks Nacey

ps; i dont know where you got the opening theme music from, but that ish is epic. i made it the ring tone for my iphone!

Reply #420 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting sangamc, reply 19
1/2 an hour for a response! thats another reason i love this mod.

thanks Nacey

ps; i dont know where you got the opening theme music from, but that ish is epic. i made it the ring tone for my iphone!
End of sangamc's quote

hehe not a problem, glad you love the mod!

The opening theme I believe is by "E.S. Posthumus" not sure which album. It surely is epic isnt it?

Reply #421 from Sins Forums Top

Woot bug fix with the kol research :) great job

Reply #422 from Sins Forums Top

k, where do i copy this? do i override the entire mod with the patch?

Reply #423 from Sins Forums Top

Hi Nacey something odd with the desert planets as to their bonuses.

The regular size is 8% bonus, Dwarf size is 5% and the Giant is 3%.

I think you meant for that to be a little different so just thought I would drop a line.

Reply #424 from Sins Forums Top

Nacey, great job. LOVE the music since i got bored of the stock tunes. I specially dig the song from Band of Brothers. Awesome.

Reply #425 from Sins Forums Top

Hey Nacey, awesome job with this mod, thanks for keeping it going! I'm a sucker for long games, so I've been playing this for a good while now.

The past few versions, I've been having minidumps when loading the Random ( Huge ) multisystem maps. Like someone else a few posts above, the pregame loading screen gets to about 95%, then it all goes down. I've found this to happen more often with Advent than TEC, but neither are immune ( I can't comment on Vasari, as I don't often play them ). I've tried tuning down the graphics to high, but I still got the dump, and even if it did work, it's a messy solution at best. I don't have two GeForce 9800 GTX+ cards to play it ( or any game ) on anything other than "Very High."  XO

 

I'm sure you'd like to get to the bottom of this as well, because I can't imagine I'm the only person having this issue, and since it completely prevents actually playing a game, it's a pressing issue.

 

Here's my specs, if it matters:

Athlon 3.0 gHz dual core CPU running Vista home premium, 2 gigs of RAM ( yeah yeah I know, bottleneck ftl ), 2 GeForce 9800 GTX+, Nvidia driver release 182.08.

Map, again, is Random ( Huge ) multi-system, race is either Advent or TEC.

Thanks in advance for any insight, and keep up the awesome work. I love this mod.