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

Published on January 5, 2009 By Nacey In Sins Modding

Article Link

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

1.051 Compatible:

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

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

Comments (Page 112)

1666

mike2h

on Dec 05, 2009

im pretty sure ive always had graphics on highest settings, but i will try lower & see. ill also enable the log. thx!

1667

hydrocarbn

on Dec 05, 2009

Ryat

reply 1616

Sure we will use the English.str file, we appreciate any help from anyone,

Here it is - I de-typoed all the DS-specific stuff at the end of the 0.95 string file, which I assume is most/all of it.

1668

Nacey

on Dec 05, 2009

Carbon016

reply 1667

Quoting Ryat, reply 1616Sure we will use the English.str file, we appreciate any help from anyone,
Here it is - I de-typoed all the DS-specific stuff at the end of the 0.95 string file, which I assume is most/all of it.

Much appreciated Carbon we'll work those in to the next update Sadly with all the time we spend programming grammatical errrors kind of fall by the wayside >.<

@anteachtaire:

Nice catches there dude I had fixed those for the next patch, currently those errors dont cause any issues as each races is identical to one another (however it will cause the Vasari ability to look like the TEC one for the time being), which is another thing we're considering changing for the next patch for diversity. The reason the max levels is limited to 1 at the moment is we dont want the ability to be overpowered so everything is being tested by you guys to see how balance goes and then we'll possibly add more levels to it later if it proves to be well balanced.

Thanks for the "PhaseOutFighters" tip dude thats due to the hard cap of the abilities level being 3 and increasing it the way we did exceeded the Engine's limitation causing the minidump, also fixed for the next patch .

1669

Smeghead2k6

on Dec 05, 2009

This is a really good mod and adds a lot to the length and depth of the game, I find however that the AI doesn't seem to utilize all the extra research levels. My tactic vs the AI (I fight 5-6 hard or unfair AI's) is to turtle up and build my economy and then go on the offensive in the late game, at this point I have such superior research levels that I just trample over the AI who seems to have barely researched at all (even with the researcher personality).

Another thing I have discovered is that the AI doesn't consider the combined force of all its allies' fleets when determining whether to attack my starbase; I have no idea if this is unique to the mod or to Sins' AI in general as I've never tried it in vanilla. I find it strange when the AI has like 5 full size fleets and still doesn't think it is capable of overwhelming a single starbase.

Thanks again for such a great mod, you guys are a credit to the community.

1670

Ryat

on Dec 05, 2009

thanks Smeghead2k6 for the compliments

as for the AI well, we did all we could to help the AI but we are limited by the coding to what we can do the AI, what you are seeing is also occuring with the vanilla game as well. As soon as the Devs let us mess with the AI coding, we will get to bringing it up to par with our mod.

1671

mike2h

on Dec 05, 2009

Nacey

reply 1660

First off with the planetary defenses guys we'd really like your feedback so we can adjust them to perfectly balance them before the final 1.0 release.

Quoting mike2h,
reply 1659
i have no idea what is causing the problem(s) but this beta mod is basically unplayable for me. to many crashes. hopefully the 'official' release will fix most/all. apprecite your hard work & look forward to the day when this is viable for me.

fwiw, i have never had a problem playing sins or entrenchement. started playing sins 2-3 weeks before entrech came out.n

I didn't realise many minidumps were left at all anymore, can you go in to specifics of when the game seems to crash for you? also running the game on "Highest" graphical settings will cause minidumps as the game Engine can't support the sheer amount of memory used at times.
If it seems random when it crashes you'll need to enable "Logging" so the game makes logs of whats causing errors and if you re-post them here it'll really help us narrow down whats causing your issues and get them fixed for you.

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 those log files to us (you can just paste them in to a forum post) and we can hopefully get your crash issues sorted

turning the graphic settings down to high from very high seems to have fixed the problem. played for about 4hours last nite, no issues. tyvm!

think that is a ridiculous problem on ironclads part, but think ill get over it

1672

anteachtaire

on Dec 05, 2009

which is another thing we're considering changing for the next patch for diversity. The reason the max levels is limited to 1 at the moment is we dont want the ability to be overpowered so everything is being tested by you guys to see how balance goes and then we'll possibly add more levels to it later if it proves to be well balanced.

Coolness! One last thing I found was that the (phase) starbase phase gate ability doesn't have stars as a targetable entity. But this might be intended.

1673

Nacey

on Dec 05, 2009

@mike2h:
I'm glad to hear changing that graphics setting helped, weirdly some people do suffer from this issue and others dont but it is a very common issue. However, I hope you enjoy playing Distant Stars the way it's meant to be played... Crash free!

@anteachtaire:
This is how the ability works in default sins we havent buffed/nerfed it, its to stop the ability being abused and becoming incredibly overpowered.

1674

Distorted Truth

on Dec 05, 2009

I have both Entrenchment and Original Sins. I have the 7 Deadly Sins for regular Sins, but now I have this one for Entrenchment. I can't weigh out the advantages between Entrenchment w/ this mod and the advantages of regular Sins w/ 7 Deadly Sins. Does Entrenchment add new things to the game that this mod helps enchance and make it even more enjoyable?

1675

TheRezonator

on Dec 06, 2009

hey Rez-

it might not be a bug, so much as there wasn't enough room to put everything in its proper place.

Ex- both "Crew Derelict Ship" and "Flourishing Systemisation" are tier 5, and they both are in the same row. However, Derelict Ship is placed on column 4. I assumed that it was because of space constraints.

im not positive, but im sure there was space elsewhere on the same level... i mean, the Advent phase destabilisers are located in the civilian tech tree, instead of the defense one, which makes more sense and creates space for other tech...

but like i said... i am pretty sure there is space on the respective tech trees...

1676

Whiskey144

on Dec 06, 2009

With the Vasari on the example I gave there actually wasn't any more room! But I haven't played any other races in DS0.95 yet, so I might have to check back later.

1677

Nacey

on Dec 06, 2009

Whiskey144

reply 1676

hmm, I haven't played any race except Vasari at present, and their Destabilizer is set up properly (I think, might have to go back&check). As for their orbital defense, well, that thing was a bit "not right" in terms of tier. The icon is way off on the right (making it look tier 7), but is really only tier 4.

With the Vasari on the example I gave there actually wasn't any more room! But I haven't played any other races in DS0.95 yet, so I might have to check back later.

Yeah sadly due to space limitations we're limited as to where we can put them in, its the same as the Harmony and Empire tech trees where most things cant fit in to the tiers they are for.

1678

Distorted Truth

on Dec 06, 2009

Looks great, plays great! I can actually play on highest settings for most effects! Excellent work! Great mod.

1679

Whiskey144

on Dec 06, 2009

on the happy side of things- nearly 2000 posts! Impressive I must say.

1680

TheRezonator

on Dec 06, 2009

Nacey

reply 1677

Quoting Whiskey144,
reply 1676
hmm, I haven't played any race except Vasari at present, and their Destabilizer is set up properly (I think, might have to go back&check). As for their orbital defense, well, that thing was a bit "not right" in terms of tier. The icon is way off on the right (making it look tier 7), but is really only tier 4.

With the Vasari on the example I gave there actually wasn't any more room! But I haven't played any other races in DS0.95 yet, so I might have to check back later.

Yeah sadly due to space limitations we're limited as to where we can put them in, its the same as the Harmony and Empire tech trees where most things cant fit in to the tiers they are for.

okay, i went and played a game last night and the TEC defense tree around tier 5 (i think) was completely loaded...

in that case, cant you make the tree a little taller (so as you can fit more tier 5 techs in etc) or make 2 defense tech trees in the defense tab, just to make more room...

i just think its worth the effort to make it look good, i know thats crap coming from a guy who isnt working on the mod, but the spit and shine of this mod is definitly one of the major selling points of this mod

on another matter, i was playing a one of UE Carbons maps last night... unfortunately i forget the name right now...you start on a planet one jump from the star with two planets immediately to the left and right of you with pirate bases separating each player... anyway, 2 things

1. cap ships dont stay at the top of your fleets in the empire window, and when you select the fleet it picks a random ship even though your cap is the fleet leader, at least colony caps dont, but then when i got a second cap (battleship) the caps lined up normally...

2. graveyard ship still attack other uncaptured graveyard ships in the gravwell once captured... perhaps setting the default auto attack status to off?

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