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
15,652,505 views 8,423 replies +31 Loading…
Reply #6501 from Sins Forums Top

Most multiplayers don't use mods. That said we occasionally will get groups going that play with the mod and some have LAN sessions with it with their friends.

Reply #6502 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Ryat, reply 6501
Most multiplayers don't use mods. That said we occasionally will get groups going that play with the mod and some have LAN sessions with it with their friends.
End of Ryat's quote

In my experience it is more often LAN sessions setup locally or through Hamachi that happen. Our group tends to set things to slow, normal fleet sizes, pirates off with hard / unfair AI enemies. Games can last upwards of 6-12 hours in a FFA with unlocked teams.

ObjectDock - Access shortcuts and frequently used applications from an animated dock.
Reply #6503 from Sins Forums Top

Even if you go with normal speed, we don't spam and rush and what not. Carbon and I teamed up on an FFA with the Gateway map. Pushed hard with solid forces and turtled up Gateway when we took it. After that, took our time fending off the others.

Really, that's how war happens. Reality doesn't allow you to usually spam. It's bad for PR, drains limited resources too quickly, and doesn't work against a determined or industrial opponent. That's why I hardly count on games for a real strategic or tactical challenge, no matter whether it be against an AI, human, or with the best game engine ever developed.

And more to the point, modders and pros are very segregated. Starting to break down walls, but there's not a great deal of thorough exchange between the two.

Reply #6504 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting boshimi336, reply 6502

Quoting Ryat, reply 6501Most multiplayers don't use mods. That said we occasionally will get groups going that play with the mod and some have LAN sessions with it with their friends.

In my experience it is more often LAN sessions setup locally or through Hamachi that happen. Our group tends to set things to slow, normal fleet sizes, pirates off with hard / unfair AI enemies. Games can last upwards of 6-12 hours in a FFA with unlocked teams.
End of boshimi336's quote

 

Does your group have any interest in letting another person play with them by any chance?

Reply #6505 from Sins Forums Top

I wish I could get more of a challenge from the AI. It just doesn't expand quick enough or knows how to get an economy going.

Reply #6506 from Sins Forums Top

Could anyone give some tips for build orders when using this mod?  It's been awhile and I have very little clue what I'm doing.

Reply #6507 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Manick2005, reply 6504
Does your group have any interest in letting another person play with them by any chance?
End of Manick2005's quote

Anyone who wants to join in our few games can. We're cool like that. We just don't get on a lot, so we have to organize something. We have a MP thread.

Quoting Fuzzy, reply 6505
I wish I could get more of a challenge from the AI. It just doesn't expand quick enough or knows how to get an economy going.
End of Fuzzy's quote

Sadly, the AI is hardcoded. Although Zombies R Us has made great strides in getting the AI to use a tech tree appropriately, there is no way to really force it to do anything. For a challenge that doesn't include squaring off with hardcore players, we have our MP games. We should set one up for sometime soon.

Anyone thinking Sunday evening would be good?

Reply #6508 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Draakjacht, reply 6507
Sadly, the AI is hardcoded. Although Zombies R Us has made great strides in getting the AI to use a tech tree appropriately, there is no way to really force it to do anything. For a challenge that doesn't include squaring off with hardcore players, we have our MP games. We should set one up for sometime soon.
End of Draakjacht's quote

Indeed, there's not much we can do with the AI behavior in game. However, it's really surprising to see the lack of "stuff" used by the AI. Worse, the cool new stuff added by mods that hardly ever get used as well. Learning how to overcome these limitations may make for a more dynamic AI.

Reply #6509 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting ZombiesRus5, reply 6508
Worse, the cool new stuff added by mods that hardly ever get used as well. Learning how to overcome these limitations may make for a more dynamic AI.
End of ZombiesRus5's quote

far more dynamic. Oddly, I always felt the Total War AIs were depressingly predictable past a point, yet they managed to run their empires fairly well and when the Realism mod came out, the AI was able to shuffle about and figure out the new units. Makes me think we need the devs to either open up the AI coding or even throw in more abstract conditions, such as the consideration of damage type and quantity in relation to past encounters. I've had the AI on Rome: Total War change their army composition after a reload such that it countered the changes I made to my army in hopes of averting the original disaster, and not on just one occasion either.

Edit: Been following this. Great meshes and all. Made a suggestion at the end which I wish could be employed, but I know that without a 64-bit .exe, we're just looking at more instability.

Damn bits.

Reply #6510 from Sins Forums Top

Thanks for the great mod guys,  lets hope the AI becomes programmable in the forseeable future because its completley useless.    Example:  AI makes massive fleet... then idiotically sends it against a TEC Remnants planet with 3 starbases and gets wiped out.  Turns out, the AI fleet had 107 subverters, 13 assailiants, 52 overseers, 5 Lasurak transporters, a dozen or so skirmishers, and ONE Jarrusal Evacuator.  Crappy fleet makeup. Wasted resources, wasted time, WASTED FLEET, all on one measley planet that had only one resource asteroid.         Obviously,  the AI really needs an upgrade.

Reply #6511 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Draakjacht, reply 6507
Anyone thinking Sunday evening would be good?
End of Draakjacht's quote

 

It's a strong possibility ... I just got my new rig put together (typing this on it as we speak). Just a matter of getting Sins installed, patched, and everything else up to speed.

Reply #6512 from Sins Forums Top

Hey guys,

 

is there a trick with the downloading of the DS_D1.34compatible.rar?

Every time I try to download I'm not able to unpack the archive.

Tried winrar4.01 and 7-zip9.20 and 7-zip9.24, but both are not able to open or unpack the file and close with errors...

Where is the trick? What am I doing wrong?

Reply #6513 from Sins Forums Top

So. It's finally happened. We have reached the 1.00 milestone for the Diplomacy/Trinity release. It's been one hell of a long time coming as im sure you will all agree!

The final version includes a heck of a lot of fixes and optimisations to our mod including the removal of all (as far as we know) those annoying minidump errors that just ruin games too often.

Without further ado:

1.00 Release for Diplomacy:
Full Download:
http://distantstars.mmobase.com/diplomacy/Distant_Stars_(D)_1.00_[45685027].7z

 

Just as a side note, our website will now have the bug reporting system reset to blank so so any bugs that are found with 1.00 can be reported on there more clearly.

Thanks to everyone of you for your continued support and for playing our mod for all this time, I hope this has been worth the wait for you all! (and that we havent missed any stupidly easy to find bugs!)

Enjoy.

Reply #6514 from Sins Forums Top

HUZZAH!

Reply #6515 from Sins Forums Top

Huzzah!!!

Reply #6516 from Sins Forums Top

\o/

Is there icons to be found for the galaxy forge?

Reply #6518 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting gefer8, reply 6516
Is there icons to be found for the galaxy forge?
End of gefer8's quote

The folder was not included, give me some time (I'd like to say next weekend, but I never know if I'll just get it done sooner) and I'll repackage a Galaxy Forge for DS dilly-yo for everyone.

 

 

Quoting Nacey, reply 6513
The final version
End of Nacey's quote

So what's next?  Fix up Entrenchment to 1.00 then get a much longer overdue Vanilla release out before Rebellion starts sucking up all of our free time?  ;P

Reply #6519 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Stant123, reply 6518
So what's next? Fix up Entrenchment to 1.00 then get a much longer overdue Vanilla release out before Rebellion starts sucking up all of our free time?
End of Stant123's quote

Sounds reasonable to me.

Reply #6520 from Sins Forums Top

Just curious, but does anyone know if the Flagship mod plays nice with this, or is that going to need to be updated?

Reply #6521 from Sins Forums Top

HUZZAH!!!!!!

Reply #6522 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Star, reply 6520
Just curious, but does anyone know if the Flagship mod plays nice with this, or is that going to need to be updated?
End of Star's quote

None of the flagship mods play nice with this.  When Ryat is all done with his minimods, he'll be releasing them and you'll get to play with flagships again.

Reply #6523 from Sins Forums Top

HUZZAH!!!!!!

 

Reply #6524 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Stant123, reply 6522
Quoting Star Dragon, reply 6520Just curious, but does anyone know if the Flagship mod plays nice with this, or is that going to need to be updated?

None of the flagship mods play nice with this.  When Ryat is all done with his minimods, he'll be releasing them and you'll get to play with flagships again.
End of Stant123's quote
HUZZAH!!!!!!

Reply #6525 from Sins Forums Top

Huzzah!!

 

Did the custom planet icons happen to make it in, or are those on hold until ALL of the icons are creatively replaced? That's one visual flair i'm anxious to see.