[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 185)

2761

Midnighter90

on Mar 22, 2010

I'm having a strange problem...

While pausing the game and watching a giant fleet battle i get around 30-40 fps

If unpaused it decreases to 8 or even slower.

Im on Win7x64 with i7 920 @ 4Ghz, 6GB DDR3-1600, GTX285 SLI so 8FPS are not acceptable.

2762

Draakjacht

on Mar 22, 2010

The amount of RAM you have almost doesn't matter, cause games only allow a cap of 2 GB. Probably all the action is slowing you down and need to compensate by bringing down graphics.

Anyone know a 3 GB patch? I found on for Supreme Commander, so I figure there has to be one for this.

2763

Nuttygamer

on Mar 22, 2010

I am thinking of createing a planetary type with the starbase mesh...but still figuring out how to do it

2764

Midnighter90

on Mar 22, 2010

Draakjacht

reply 2762

The amount of RAM you have almost doesn't matter, cause games only allow a cap of 2 GB. Probably all the action is slowing you down and need to compensate by bringing down graphics.

Anyone know a 3 GB patch? I found on for Supreme Commander, so I figure there has to be one for this.

I found that one 2. We already have one which prevents Sins from crashing if it reaches the 2GB line, but it does not allow it to use more than 2GB. Damn if I could use my full 6Gb for the game.........

2765

Draakjacht

on Mar 22, 2010

Even if you could just use 3 GB, then it would be awesome. SupCom runs much faster and smoother with large maps and high pop caps at 3 GB.

2766

-Ue_Carbon

on Mar 22, 2010

ice27828

reply 2763

I am thinking of createing a planetary type with the starbase mesh...but still figuring out how to do it

You should be able to just replace the planet texture and mesh with the Starbase.

IHaTeD2

reply 2760

Bah use Jabber instead!

What be this Jabber ye speak of?

Anyone know a 3 GB patch?

There was a post or 2 awhile back showing how to give SINS the large-address so it can use more than 2 GB. Your changing the .exe and I dont remember if anyone said it would affect the checksum or not.

2767

Midnighter90

on Mar 22, 2010

-Ue_Carbon

reply 2766

Yeah thats the Large Adress Aware which prevents Sins not to crash when reaching 2GB of RAM but it does not enables the game to use more than 2GB

2768

GrayLord

on Mar 22, 2010

What is this Saturday's schedule 4 or 9 pm? I'll make an effort to be online.

2769

IHaTeD2

on Mar 22, 2010

Midnighter90

reply 2761

I'm having a strange problem...

While pausing the game and watching a giant fleet battle i get around 30-40 fps

If unpaused it decreases to 8 or even slower.

Im on Win7x64 with i7 920 @ 4Ghz, 6GB DDR3-1600, GTX285 SLI so 8FPS are not acceptable.

Doesnt matter what ur System is, this is a global Problem with Sins.

-Ue_Carbon

reply 2766

What be this Jabber ye speak of?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Messaging_and_Presence_Protocol

ICQ, MSN, AIM etc. are ALL logging your IMs and give her the rights to do anything with it.

The .exe is the only File who needs to be writen correct to handle more than 2GB and more - im not realy sure why the hell most of the Devs on this Planet supporting 32Bit so much. It is like the Telekom in Germany ...

2770

EternalRequiem

on Mar 22, 2010

only way to solve that fps slow down is to decrease the graphics of the game...

2771

Stant123

on Mar 22, 2010

Yeah, I second what Midnighter said about the LAA thing for the exe. I looked into it awhile back when it was first posted here. On the surface it looked like a great idea allowing the game to use more RAM, but after some real digging into it, and talking to some people who know more about it then I could ever imagine, it just wasn't able to do what it was presented as. First of all, you need a 64 bit OS. You run it on a 32 bit system and you gain absolutely nothing. So that right there makes it not worth the effort for a lot of people. Second of all, what it actually does is lets the exe "see" more RAM. On a system like Vista that uses up a lot of RAM, a program that only sees 2 gigs isn't going to have much to work with because it sees vista using most of that 2GB right away. Using LAA it let's it see more and thus gives it the ability to use RAM that isn't being used by other programs, effectively giving off the appearance that it's using more then what it could before, when in fact it's not, it's just recognizing more RAM and using more of what's available rather then fighting over the 2GB it could originally see. This game with this mod, it doesn't matter if it can recognize beyond the 3GB hard code limit for a 32 bit OS, it's still going to max out at the 2GB .exe limit that the LAA patching does not fix... I can't tell you how disappointed I was when all of my researching repeatedly turned up that information. Trust me, if there was a patch for this out there somewhere that would let it use 3 gigs or more RAM, I would have found it and forced you guys to use it in the mod by now, and if I ever do find one, I'm cramming it down your throats. >=] Just so you have a head's up on that one.

2772

-Ue_Carbon

on Mar 22, 2010

EternalRequiem

reply 2770

only way to solve that fps slow down is to decrease the graphics of the game...

I acutally got the biggest increase from reducing the Empire Tree.

2773

Draakjacht

on Mar 22, 2010

I have a 64 bit OS and I increased the recognizable RAM for Supreme Commander. The game performance is what I consider to be the evidence that it works, at least with 64 bit. No more 32 machines in my house, so I can't tinker to find out via empiricism.

Althoug I have my graphics settings to Highest, High, Low, I also keep the Empire Tree to Fleets and Incomplete Starbases only. I also shut down skyboxes.

2774

Stant123

on Mar 23, 2010

I've never played SupCom on my 32bit OS so I have no comparison to make for it either, however, in my conversation with someone at Microsoft's game division about LAA and 32bit systems, the guy told me that allowing a game to recognize more RAM then what the system is physically able to access is pointless. Trying to use a 64bit program in a 32bit OS get's you nothing but errors because it will not run. A 64bit solution in a 32bit OS yields similar results because it's a solution for a newer OS, not an older one. It just doesn't work going in the opposite direction then what it was intended. The LAA solution was created to get 32bit programs to function better in the 64bit OS environment, not to improve 32bit executables in a 32bit environment. So why waste your time doing it?

Additionally, I was told that the real problem is that the concept around LAA is a difficult one to understand since people are seeing improvements but not because of the reason they think because the wording used to describe what is happening can be easily misinterpreted, and unfortunately, there really isn't any other way to describe it. So in a simple analogy (and I'm probably butchering this a bit since it was a phone conversation and not one in text that I can refer back to) it's like taking a group of people (32bit execs) swimming and playing a bunch of games out of their backyard pool (32bit OS) and to the local university olympic size pool (64bit OS). They're perfectly capable of swimming and playing their games to begin with, however, there's now a lot more water (RAM) to play in. LAA is basically telling them they can spread out and give themselves more room. LAA doesn't teach them how to swim or how to play their games in the pool any better, just that with more room, they can spead out and not bump into each other. The appearance is that they're getting better, however the reality is they're just not being interfered with as much as they were before.

Swimming a certain distance in a crowded pool is going to take you some time, move everyone to a pool that's 20 times bigger and tell them they can spread out and your times will improve. You didn't magically become a better swimmer by switching pools, but your performace did get better. That's the basis for the confusion. LAA isn't making the program have more RAM to run with, it's just showing it the bigger pool and telling it to spread out so it can do what it needs to do with less interference.

2775

IHaTeD2

on Mar 23, 2010

Only reduce the Graphicsettings doesnt help, i can play on Low (all Settings + Effects disabled) and on Very High and the FPS are low in a bigger Game.

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