[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 192)

2866

Ryat

on Apr 03, 2010

@lbgsloan- we will be looking into the pacts in future version yes (mostly likely a doubling of the systems) as for your comments about the prerequistes that was intentional to force the player to make hard choices

as for the Advent, well the DS team are all Advent haters so NO!

j/k, will review that later though haven't really seen too much of a problem (the underused ability of resource focus does help a lot in this mod)

2867

Draakjacht

on Apr 03, 2010

Of course, Advent can wage a pretty powerful war of propaganda in this.

2868

lbgsloan

on Apr 03, 2010

j/k, will review that later though haven't really seen too much of a problem (the underused ability of resource focus does help a lot in this mod)

It's not a major issue on smaller maps, but that lack of a trade bonus later on in the game does seriously start to catch up. The extractor thing can be left alone for the most part for the sake of race diversification, but I really think Advent need a trade income booster; even if just one upgrade for it instead of TEC and Visari's two. With DS giving 30% bonus per full research on top of increased income rates over vanilla Sins, it's just too much.

2869

NHD-151

on Apr 03, 2010

Sloan, i think the advent are already powerful enough with their culture (it's super effective up to four planets away!) and their 50% allegiance bonus on all planets. On a medium sized map, i can win by playing nothing but defense and having only 4-5 planets under my control, each with a single culture center.

Take that into consideration when facing the Advent. If you see their culture incoming, you get rid of it ASAP, or you're done.

2870

Stant123

on Apr 04, 2010

Exactly as the others said, Advent has other methods of winning. Think of it this way. The Vasari are an ancient race who enslave other races and take over their income sources. The TEC is comprised of traders and merchants, so it goes without saying that they have their stuff together. What are the Advent? They're a quasi religious movement. Their best asset is propaganda. If you're playing Advent to try to win an income war, then you really need to consider switching sides because it should never come close. At the very least, you need to reconsider your strategy.

2871

Draakjacht

on Apr 04, 2010

ok, that enswers one of my older questions about remembering 200% allegiance on home planets until the last patch. I guess that's reserved for Advent now, which makes sense. Yeah, I never win a culture war with Advent, jsut hold them back, often having to use caps to ward off propoganda. Messed up powerful stuff.

2872

Stant123

on Apr 04, 2010

Updated the wiki with tips (for gameplay issues) and tactics pages. =]

2873

NHD-151

on Apr 04, 2010

the 200% allegiance is only with Allure of the Unity (+20%) AND the two starbase upgrades (+30% total), so it's costly, but very effective, and selective as well depending on where the player decides to put these upgrades. As far as i can tell, i haven't seen anything that really destabilizes this mod in terms of balance between the races. If there is something, i don't believe it is of serious consequence at the moment.

Loving the mod, and i hope you can incorporate the Optimization Project into this so i can play it smoothly =D

2874

lbgsloan

on Apr 04, 2010

Ah, I didn't know culture had been improved that much. I guess that evens things out considerably.

2875

Ryat

on Apr 04, 2010

yeah and that culture can be used to increase the shield mitigation for the Advent, try dealing with a high level advent cap ship that has 90 to 93% (doesn't go anyhigher, makes ship almost invulnerable) shield mitigation, its nasty.

2876

verybad

on Apr 04, 2010

Love this mod. Been playing only it for months (well basically since I found it).

Had an idea. Can you have technologies that cancel out other technology paths? This would allow you to make decisions early on in research that focus you on one path or another.

For instance, a Vasari "Enslaver Pact" might increase loyalty on their own worlds, but reduce cultural effect on other worlds.

Researching this pact might cacel your ability to build propaganda centers, as nobody believes you any longer, after all you're an evil enslaving alien race

One thing that has always annoyed me about technology in Sins is that eventually.

I would also like to see multiple types of Starbases with different overall focuses. (eg defense, economic, etc).

2877

Ryat

on Apr 04, 2010

the tech thing sounds interesting, may have to look into it

as for the multiple types of starbases, well thats why it is modular, you can build each starbase uniquely though permemantly

2878

Draakjacht

on Apr 04, 2010

yeah, it's a bit of a pain in the butt, but if I'm going to do a long campaign, I accept that I'll have to demolish starbases and put in something different. Not cost effective for short games, but great down the line.

2879

SpardaSon21

on Apr 04, 2010

You can't make techs exclusive in Sins, but you can make it so technologies have drawbacks. You can do things like make more armor slow down ships, better shield generators make ships more expensive, increased hull points increases build time due to increased complexity, and you could make it so certain economic techs have drawbacks, like Vasari Enslaved Labor reducing culture spread rate. If you're going to have drawbacks though, you're going to need to have the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

2880

Stant123

on Apr 04, 2010

verybad

reply 2876

For instance, a Vasari "Enslaver Pact" might increase loyalty on their own worlds, but reduce cultural effect on other worlds.

Researching this pact might cacel your ability to build propaganda centers, as nobody believes you any longer, after all you're an evil enslaving alien race

The Vasari enslave everyone on every planet they come across anyway. They don't 'colonize' in the traditional sense.

I don't think it'd be a good idea. The idea behind it is nice but sins doesn't really branch out far enough to make it effective. Say you're a vasari that can't build propaganda centers, the advent next to you plops a few down right next door. You're screwed. You have no way to prevent the loss of your planets and they only have to sit back and watch. That becomes a research option that no one will ever go for, meaning you've just screwed the Vasari out of an entire research branch.

I know you're looking for diversity, but technology doesn't work like that. In human history, everytime a nation has developed a technology, the others follow quickly behind. The steam engine... The train... The assembly line... Cars... RADAR... Planes... Jets... Stealth... Space travel... Nuclear Power... Every single one of these researched inventions used to be held by one country only. In a matter of a few years, multiple nations had access to them. Humans are very diverse in beliefs, affiliations, skills, and ethics, yet technology doesn't give a crap about any of that.

Within the game, the diversity that sets the factions apart has already happened. It'd be different if everyone started off as a base race and their research choices turned them into TEC, Advent, or Vasari. Then your idea would have excellent merit, but it'd already be a part of the game. Again, good idea, however, it's not practicle. Not unless you cut it to options like if you research economy, you're cut off from everything else. If you research diplomacy, then you're cut off from everything else, if you research weapons, then you're cut off from everything else... But even doing that unbalances the game because every advent would go diplomacy and take over your planets by sitting back and letting their culture do the work for them. Every TEC would go economy and just crush you with volume of ships. Vasari... I don't really know what they'd do, and that's probably a bad thing because maybe no one would play vasari ever because they get hosed no matter what way they go... =\

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