Distant Stars Mod Blog


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

Comments (Page 167)
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on Feb 18, 2010

Did you update? I am not sure, because I haven't tried it after I updated, but did you update today?

on Feb 18, 2010

I can sure as hell dig the planet type you added, but what about the other races

 

We really had nothing to do with the planet types. They all came from either Celstial Bodies or Sins Plus. The Advent Citadel and (place mispelled word here) of the Unity are from CB. They were made for a single map they made for that mod. We can see about maybe adding something to them and maybe the other races special planets,though Im not sure if we want to add anymore planet types.

 

 

I'd like a full list of just what all of these bonuses do.

 

You and me both! All of them came from Sins Plus. So if there is a list of them is sure to buried with that mod. You can convert them to txt and take a look at each one. But there are about 100 or so. I'll look around for a list when I get a chance.

 

Did you update? I am not sure, because I haven't tried it after I updated, but did you update today?


If you have updated to 1.01, DS wont work.

on Feb 18, 2010

Nice mod guys!

 

Have a couple of questions. First, will the minimods included in the extras folder for the entrenchment version work with the diplomacy version? I'm guessing not, but thought I'd ask anyways.

 

Also, did the Pirate capships and starbase get a major upgrade between the entrenchment and diplomacy versions? After finishing up a map last night, I decided to try and take out the pirate base. My fleet, almost 20 capships all max or near max levelled, with large support complement, and fully research upgraded, was decimated by the defenders, with just 5 capships and a much smaller supporting fleet on top of its starbase. I know the pirate base is supposed to be hard to take out, but I don't remember it ever being quite that tough.

on Feb 18, 2010

Anddd the patch is fially here, sorry for the slow release guys. It's been a long day!

Diplomacy only release:
Patch:
http://distantstars.mmobase.com/diplomacy/Distant_Stars_(D)_Beta_0.6_Patch_[36815926].7z
Full Download:
Currently uploading, will be available on the 19th patch up from Beta 0.5 'til tomorrow.

Distant Stars (D) Beta 0.6 Change Log:
- Diplomacy 1.01 Compatibility
- Complete Replication of current Entrenchment settings
- New Planetary size icons
- Incorporating Diplomacy 1.01 Changes
- As always other misc changes
- Fixing portrait pictures*
*There is a known issue with the portrait pictures, working on fixing it for the next patch

I warn you all now there was only one internal patch which didnt include the majority of changes that this patch applies so they havent been tested as thoroughly as usual, however the patch should be as reliable as our normal work, just a quick heads up incase it doesnt. If you do find any issues, you know where to find us and we'll fix the issues asap.

As always, Enjoy!

Rogue100
Nice mod guys!

Have a couple of questions. First, will the minimods included in the extras folder for the entrenchment version work with the diplomacy version? I'm guessing not, but thought I'd ask anyways.

Also, did the Pirate capships and starbase get a major upgrade between the entrenchment and diplomacy versions? After finishing up a map last night, I decided to try and take out the pirate base. My fleet, almost 20 capships all max or near max levelled, with large support complement, and fully research upgraded, was decimated by the defenders, with just 5 capships and a much smaller supporting fleet on top of its starbase. I know the pirate base is supposed to be hard to take out, but I don't remember it ever being quite that tough.

The mini-mods wont work with Diplomacy just yet if you plainly copy them across to the other (the next release of Diplomacy will start to include the mini-mods again) as Diplomacy adds some new lines in to the files the minimods use.

The pirates being so overpowered as they were (Pre Beta 0.6) was due to the developers additions in Diplomacy which added in Pirate research causing the Pirates to become incredibly powerful and sadly until they patched the Pirates there wasnt much we could do to stem the problem. The new patch should help with this somewhat.

on Feb 18, 2010

Huzzah!

on Feb 18, 2010

You want the bonuses???  Ok.

 

Non-Colonizable Space        Condition

Asteroid Belt (Dwarf/Huge)    Erratic Debris (Chance to hit -20%)
Black Hole            Grav damage 1/2 (range 16k/8k, dam 20/500), grav pull 1/2 (range 19k/10k, max speed +3k/6k, accel -3k/6k)
Deep Space            Cabin fever (wep cool -15% wep range -15% dam out +10% hit chance -15% hull restore -5% shield restore -5% max speed -7% accel +7%)
Magnetic Cloud            Abilities Disabled
Nebula                Chance to hit -30%
Plasma Storm (Dwarf/Giant)    Strike Craft Launch Disabled
Ship Graveyard           
Space Junk (Dwarf/Huge)        Scrap Materials (Hull Restore +10%)
Wormhole            Wormhole Interference (Wep cooldown +5%, Chance to hit -5%)


Star Conditions:        Target

Light Pulsar Radiation    range 10000, damage 5 (Companion White)
Light Solar Radiation    antimatter restored 1.3/sec (companion RedYellowGreenBlue)
Magnetic Storms        Abilities Disabled (Blue Magnetar/Companion 2meta)
Pulsar Radiation    range 10000, damage 10 (White)
Solar radiation        antimatter restored 2.5/sec (RedYellowGreenBlue)


Planet Conditions:            Target        Function

Ancient Planetary Shield (Relic)    All        Cannot be bombarded or captured (4 min on/off)
Asteroid Debris                All        Wep Range +5%, Damage reduction -5%
Barren world                All        Hull restore +3/5%, Phase jump charge rate -3/5%
Careless targeting            All        Wep cooldown +5/8%, shield restore -5/8%
Extended hours                All        Wep cooldown -3/8%, Hull restore rate +3/8%
Free Reign                All        Hit Chance -5%, Hull Restore +5%
Huge Industrial Factories (indus)    Friendly        Ship build rate +40%
Mass Casualties                All        Wep cooldown -5/8/10%, damage reduction -5/8/10%
Origin Defense                Friendly        Damage Output+10%, Damage Reduction -5%
Overgrown Land                All        Max Speed +3/5/8%, Acceleration +3/5/8%, Phase jump charge time -3/5/8%
Paradise                All        Max Speed +15%, Acceleration +15%, Phase jump charge up rate +15%
Pirate Origins                All        Wep cooldown +5%, hit chance -5%
Solar Reflection            All        Antimatter restore .5/.8/1/sec, Wep Cooldown -5/8/10%
Storm Season (Swamps)            All        Uncolonizable (8 minutes on/off)
Targeting Array Network            Friendly        Weapon range +50/65%, Damage output +10/15%, Chance to hit +50/65%
Toxic Gases                All        Antimatter restore +.3/.8/sec, Shield mitigation -5/10%
Urban Colonization            All        Wep Range +3/5%, Max Speed -3/5%, Acceleration -3/5%
Violent Gases                All        Damage output +5%, Hull restore -5%
Volcanic Ions                All        Antimatter restore .5/.8/1/sec, Wep Range -5/8/10%


Exploration Bonus:            Function

Abandoned Smugglers Base        Tax income +1, trade income +40%
Active smugglers base            tax income -2, trade income -60%
Adhesive resin                trade incone +25%, dev build cost +10%
Ancient planetary shield (damaged)    Planet health +700
Ancient planetary shield (working)    Planet health +2000
Automated defense droids        Max pop -100, Pop growth -100%
Beautiful population            culture spread +40%, trade income +20%, pop growth +30%
Black Market (pirate)            trade income +500%
Breathable Atmosphere            Max pop +200, Dev build cost/rate +50%/+50%, pop growth +20%
Brilliantly designed buildings        max pop +250, planet health +500, pop growth +20%
Caustic Atmosphere            Max pop -15, Dev Built Cost -20%
Completely hollow core            Gravity well radius -66%
Completely Overgrown            Max pop -100, Planet health +800, Development build rate -90%, Pop growth -50%
Conductive Mantle            Culture spread +25%
Constant flooding            Max pop -20, dev build cost -40%, Dev build rate -40%
Construction Droids            Struct Build rate +50%, Dev build rate +100%, Extra constructors +3
Corrosive atmosphere            planet health -100, trade inc -1, dev build cost -50%
Deadly Secret                Max Pop -1000, Planet health -10000
Dense Canopy                planet health +600
Dense Jungle                Max pop -10, Dev build rate -75%, Pop growth -30%
Dense Molten Core            Grav well +33%
Diseased Planet                Max pop -20, tax income -2, trade income -50%, struct build rate -100%, dev build rate -100%, pop growth -90%
Entertainment Hub            Culture spread rate +10%, Tax income +1/sec
Expert Agrarian Society            Trade income +10%
Expert metal miners            metal extraction rate +50%
Expert crystal miners            crystal extraction rate +50%
Extremely valuable timber        trade income +50%
Floating Fauna                Max Pop -5, Trade income +30%
Floating islands (Gas giant)        Max pop +25
Foul Smell                Culture spread -20%, Max pop -20, trade income -10%, Dev build rate -30%, pop growth -10%
Fresh water oceans            max pop +50, trade income +75%, pop growth +30%
Frequent Meteorites (Asteroids)        Max pop -20, Metal/Crystal extraction rate +30%
Friendly Religious Population        Culture spread rate +60%, population growth +20%
Frozen gas core                Max population +5, Planet health +300
Frozen over                Dev build rate -75%
Galactic Trade Center (Urban)        (normal/dwarf/giant/moon) Tax income +3/2/4/1/sec, trade income +40/30/50/30%, pop growth +20%
Gas storms                Max pop -5, Planet health -200, pop growth -25%
Geothermal Hot Spots            Logi slots +4
Giant Fungi Forests            max pop -10, trade inc +40%, dev build cost -20%
Gravitational Anomoly            Logi slots -4, Tac slots -5, Grav well raiis -100%
Gravitational Boon            Logi slots +4, Tac slots +5, Grav well radius +100%
Habitable Cavern System            max pop +15, Planet health +500
Helium Rich Atmosphere            Trade income +25%
Hideous Population            culture spread rate -20%, trade inc -50%, pop growth -30%
High security protocols            Tac slots +5, Trade income -20%
Hostile Religious Population        culture spread -30%, tax income -1
Huge Comm station array            Culture spread +100%, Tac slots -8
Huge crystal processing plant        trade income +10%, crystal extraction +200%
Huge herds of cattle            max pop +40, tax inc +0.5, trade +20%, pop growth +20%
Huge metal processing plant        trade income +10%, metal extraction rate +200%
Impure Crystal                trade income -10%, crystal extraction rate -60%
Impure metal                Trade income -5%, Metal extraction rate -60%
Indigenous Carnivores            max pop -20, dev build rate -20%, pop growth -60%
Indigenous satellites            Culture spread rate +20%
Industrial Wasteland            Culture spread -30%, Metal/Crystal extraction rate +30%
Ionic Storms (Gas giant?)        Max pop -20, Trade income +10%
Kalanite deposits            trade income +20%
Massive Pure glaciers            Trade income +30%
Mega Fauna                Max pop -15, Trade income +25%
Militaristic population            planet health +1000, log slots -4, tac slots +10, tax -2, trade -20%, extra constructors 1
Moon                    Logi slots +4, grav well +25%, Structure build rate +10%
Moons                    Logi slots +8, Grav well +50%, Structure build rate +20%
Natural Radiation            Dev build rate -40%, Pop Growth -80%
Natural Thermal Lift            Structure build rate +25%
Old military outpost            Planet health +1000, tac slots +10, extra constructors +1
Orbital Construction Specialists    Log/Tac slots +4, Struct build cost/rate +30/50%, Extra Constructors +2
Penal Colony                Structure build cost +20%, Structure build rate -30%
Perfect holiday destination (paradise)    Culture spread rate +100%
Persistent Dust Storms            pop growth -25%
Pharmaceutical Flora            Trade income +20%, Pop growth +20%
Planetary Construction Specialists    Planet health +200, Development build cost/rate +30/+50%
Planetary Insurgency            culture spread -20%, planet health -150, tax -2, trade -30%, metal/crystal rate -50%, struct/dev cost -20%, struct/dev rate -60%, pop growth -30%
Planetary revolt            culture spread -10% planet health -100 tax -1 trade -10% metal/crystal rate -20% strct/dev build rate -30% pop grwth -10%
Pleasent Rodents            culture spread +40%, trade +20%
Plundered booty (pirate)        tax income +3.5
Porous Core                Grav well -33%
Precious Stones                Culture spread rate +20%, Logi slots +4, Trade income +50%
Priceless timber            culture spread +20%, trade income +80%
Raiders Outpost                Metal extraction +20%, Extra constructors 1
Scented plants                Culture spread rate +20%, trade income +20%
Seismic Activity            pop -20, planet health -100, tax -1, dev build cost/rate -30%/-10%
Signal interference            Culture spread rate -20%
Slaves                    trade income +10%, struct build cost +30%, dev build cost/rate +50%/+20%
Solar Energy Harvesting            Max pop +15
Space Ponies                Space Ponies!
Spice trade                Culture spread rate +5%, Trade income +10%
Stable Debris Field            trade income +20%
Storm ridden planet            max pop -50, dev build cost/rate -20%, pop growth -40%
Strong Building Materials        planet health +500, trade income +10%, dev build rate -20%
Submerged colony            Max pop +140, Planet health +800
Subterrainian Colony            Max pop +80, Planet health +1500
Super Dense Core            grav well radius +66%
Super Pure Crystal            Crystal Extraction rate +200%
Super Pure Metal            Metal extraction rate +200%
Thaw Cells                max pop +25
Thick Atmosphere            Planet health +1200
Tibanna gas (gas giant?)        tac slots +2, trade income +5%
Toxic Fallout                Max pop -30, Pop Growth -25%
Traces of oxygen            Max pop +50, pop growth +20%
Tundra Farms                Max pop +25
Unstable ground                Dev build cost/rate -50%/-20%
Valuable timber                Trade income +30%, Dev build cost +10%
Vermin Infestation            Tax income -1, trade income -30%, Dev build cost/rate -20%/-20%
War torn planet                culure spread -40%, planet health -200, logi/tac slots -4/-6, trade/metal/crystal -30%/-20%/-20% struct build -40%, dev build/cost -20%/-60%, pop growth -50%
Weapons test facility            Max pop -20, Tac slots +8
Well designed buildings            Max pop +100, planet health +200

 

Most of them are pretty self explanitory for which bonus gives them, rodents- is vermin infestation, rodents+ is pleasent rodents...  A note about the dev build cost and structure build cost, when I first started making this list a couple months ago, I was just going off of visuals...  in the game if it said cost 40% in red I wrote it as -40% to keep it similar to all of the other bonuses when in fact it's actually an increase in cost.

on Feb 18, 2010

Wow, someone does take serious notes. Thanks Stant!


Everything minus the Exploration Bonuses we added or was in the orginal game. Most of the Explorations Bonuses came from Sins Plus. And maybe a few from CB. So, it seems Ive gotten all of them minus one....Dame space ponies. Go figure right?

on Feb 18, 2010

Thanks for the quick response, and the latest patch. I can't wait to try it out!

 

Also, Space Ponies, WTF?

on Feb 18, 2010

Space ponies... What do you think the Vasari are running from?  They're here too...  Be afraid...  Be very afraid....  =D

 

 

on Feb 19, 2010

Rogue100
Thanks for the quick response, and the latest patch. I can't wait to try it out!

 

Also, Space Ponies, WTF?

lol, thats a dev joke

but yes be afraid

on Feb 19, 2010

It isn't as good as the sheep-launching Viking Space Longboat in HW2.

on Feb 19, 2010

AWESOME! I have never until now run across anyone else that knew about the Goat-Thrower!

The Awesome Goat-Thrower!

 

on Feb 19, 2010

That's odd, I thought it was one of those things all of the more-interested-than-the-average-guy fans knew about.  At least it's well-known on RelicNews.

on Feb 19, 2010
Well, my family loves Homeworld, but I'm the funnel through which they knew all about it, so I introduced them to space vikings. Most of my friends either don't play strategy games or can't handle the Z axis.
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