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 281)
562 PagesFirst 279 280 281 282 283  Last
on Feb 25, 2011

Well, Old Faithful is better then Old Yeller.  I had to put my original PC out of it's misery by shooting it repeatedly with a nail gun.

on Feb 25, 2011

Happend to me for while too - new Mainboard, CPU & Ram now, nearly 300€ ...

And the Problem was a Bug in the old MB ...

on Feb 25, 2011

IHaTeD2
Is there a Way to spread the Culture better over large Maps? 200 Planets and now under 10% on some Planets.

Dont know how i can capture all later on ...

 

If you're advent and are in a multi system, stick 4 starbases with full culture at the closest sun, spreads to all systems =3

But I'd go with at least 1 broadcasting station at each planet,like he said, 2 if I had the extra money and no need for the longistics slot for anything else (that or another tradeport)

on Feb 25, 2011

Hooray for Advent culture spreading!

Surely they should just outright state that the Advent just sit there brainwashing neighbouring planets?

on Feb 25, 2011

They could, but why would you bother telling gamers the obvious?  I supposed the really stupid could use the help, but then they shouldn't be playing as a difficult race to master, aka the Advent...  Maybe they should stick to the easy one, aka the Vasari.

on Feb 25, 2011

TEC are a no brainer, but they kinda fit the usual thought process of warfare.

on Feb 26, 2011

Err, i play Vasari - and its much much easier for me as Advent (and a bit easier as TEC but i think they will have the same Culture Problem).

on Feb 26, 2011

Depends on your own playstyle in my opinion. Somebody who likes to play defensive while building up a game-ending force would probably find Vasari difficult to play as.

on Feb 26, 2011

I didn't say play as, I said master.  If I was talking ease of play, I'd say the TEC is.  They have the hard, early game hits, and the late game super economy.

 

The Vasari is the easiest to master because everything revolves around mobility and attack.  Most gamers of today are already accustomed to the tank rush style of play so there really isn't anything new to learn.  Harass, tech up, harass, tech up, harass, tech up...  Eventually, their phase missiles kick the crap out of everybody.  They don't really have any other options.  Are they difficult to play as?  Sure, but they're easy to master.

The TEC has a small learning curve to it.  You can use the tank rush strategy, so there's that familiarity in play, however, if that fails to gain you a victory early on, you have to take some time to sit back and build up your planets and consequently, that econ so you can put the Trade Order's industrial might to use and spam build ships.  Adapting one's game play mid stream isn't one of today's gamers strong points, and as we all know, currently, late game TEC is a little on the weak side.  So if you don't have that econ going for you, you're kind of in a losing battle.

Then you have the Advent, the hardest to master.  Yeah, that's right, I said it again.  Hardest to master.  Should I say it a fourth time?    They can't beat the TEC early game, and they can't beat the Vasari late game.  Tank rusher gamers, the most common type there is, don't have the patience to sit back and culture spam because it requires a lot of base building and patience and willpower to resist sending your fleet in to die.  It also requires knowledge to know to go after Vasari first and TEC second.  It also requires one to know that to field a good fleet, you need to field a diverse fleet and you have to use your culture to boost your fleet's capabilities and make them into a force to be reckoned with...  There's a lot more to learn with the Advent then the other two.

on Feb 26, 2011

TBH I've never managed to master harrassing or rushing gameplay. What I have managed to pick up from RTSes is securing important locations and keeping them locked down. It's difficult to harass an economy that's well defended.

However, SOASE always presents problems for me. My mobile force usually tends to be minimal in "normal" RTSes, and I put a lot of value on stationary defenses and choke-points. However, in SOASE, even the most heavily-armed starbase is a sitting duck to a smart player.

on Feb 26, 2011

So build bigger fleets.

on Feb 26, 2011

Thats the Point wich i like, on Big Map there can be just one Planet who can secure a big Part of your Empire.

 

Is there a Way to "deactivate" the whole Culture thing? Yeah, its nice that u can do it with Advent but its stupid when u cant beat a big map when u play Vasari or TEC just because u cant capture all Planets. The only thing wich i can try to handle a bit more is to move my Home Planet more to the Center (if the Culture goes not only over the "Lines") but i think it wont be enough (would be easier if my stupid allied NPC Vasari would be living).

 

Sorry for my English atm, not my native Language and its late atm.

on Feb 26, 2011

Actually, you can win with Culture with any faction, it is just much easier to do so with the Advent. The key is to gain a foothold in every solar system, build a Culture Center (Broadcast Center/Media Hub/Temple of Communion) there, and raid enemy systems for their Culture Centers, Starbases, and Capital Ships if possible. Culture does travel  between solar systems, it just loses its effectiveness fast.

on Feb 26, 2011

My favorite strategy with any faction is the turtling rush. Build up an army while moving slowing towards your enemy and once I have strong enough fleet attack, make sure I capture whatever my goal is with overwhelming force and start the process over again.

on Feb 27, 2011

I turtle at the beginning. Especially easy with the proportionate supply (versus the more sensible flat rate). Once I have a mobile force worth trying out, I go with the flying schiltrom, which is kinda like Mooster's idea. Defensively capable fleet that comes in, moving slow and destroying things that approach rather than intercepting or pursuing. Once a place has been beaten down, I quickly mop up dangerous elements and max out planetary defense and build a starbase. I keep my fleet in position (a fleet being 1/3-1/2 of my capital cap broken into two wings) until the build up is complete and then I continue on. That means it's hard for someone to slip in behind without my having reaction time and the constant fleet presence slows culture loss to where I can analyze and correct any such weakness.

562 PagesFirst 279 280 281 282 283  Last