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 285)
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on Mar 05, 2011

Nailed it Ryat.

That's what was bugging me; they all look like ships jury-rigged together. The "crest" of the Radiance looks like it could detach and fly off on its own. It doesn't seem like the same entity. The TEC ship, as I said, looks like a combination of every weapon the TEC has, and the Vasari one is pretty awesome, except for the bulky wingtips.

Will they be optional? As in, will the first ship of that class which we make always look like this? If they're optional, as in you can choose not to have the extra parts and be just as well-off, then I'm perfectly fine with all this.

Just to emphasise once more, I know that a lot of time and effort has gone into these and don't want to seem rude. I'm just providing my view, though it is only one of about 60,000 fans of this mod.

on Mar 05, 2011

I do plan on making it a mini-mod at first to see how all like it. Sorry if you don't like the models as most of us on the DS team are not modelers and do the best we can with help from other.

on Mar 05, 2011

I do plan on making it a mini-mod at first to see how all like it. Sorry if you don't like the models as most of us on the DS team are not modelers and do the best we can with help from other.

Do you have mainview and infocard icons for those yet? I'm not too bad at creating those if not. I would just need the model in a format I could import into xsi, including lwo or obj format.

on Mar 05, 2011

No not yet. I may just do that. AM currently working on abilities and such.

on Mar 06, 2011

I do plan on making it a mini-mod at first to see how all like it. Sorry if you don't like the models as most of us on the DS team are not modelers and do the best we can with help from other.

Thanks, that sorts any problems for me.

on Mar 06, 2011

Don't worry, you know you'll be playing it like the rest of us....

on Mar 06, 2011

Errm... Was that a comment on my lack of online presence or are you saying that you won't be using the flagships?

Or have I missed your point entirely?

on Mar 06, 2011

He's saying that you'll love the flagships and end up playing with them just like we all will.

on Mar 06, 2011

Hmph. You are yet to persuade me of their value. Doesn't mean I don't want to be persuaded though.

How about some more mid-action pics of the ships? I've only seen one angle after all, and what does it look like from the sort-of-above angle which you need when you're playing normally?

 

NOTE: You know, I think that, if I could, I'd move the TEC's missile rack so that it was attached to the ship "flat," if you get my meaning, so that they didn't jut out as much. If you were to turn them 90 degrees in relation to the angle that we see them in the pics, that would get the image I have in my head.

 

ANOTHER NOTE: I'd have to see more angles, but I think that what's bugging me with the Advent one could be fixed by lowering the Rapture parts so that they look more "built-in" rather than stuck on top.

Anyways, more pics please

on Mar 06, 2011

Will work on that. I posted a firing one on the Ban Game. AM currently working on the abilities.

on Mar 06, 2011

Comparison question, i was looking at the mesh files for the planets. My desert-home seems to have split it's seams and both poles tried to migrate to each other, anyway, i thought I might just copy over the Mesh from an older version or maybe just TSOP but I noticed optimizeation's planet meshs are nearly 4 times that of their DS counterparts ?? just wondering how you guys got them so small at 105kb, opti's are averageing 495kb. Anyway just curiocity, gonna see if there's any ramafications to transplanting, size might be different but mainly they're the same file right?

 

Edit: Transplant was a success*washing hands wearing scrbs* it was a little larget than what we took out but it fit just as well, keeping an eye on it for any furture complications ;O

on Mar 06, 2011

uh?  Wha?  You using the Diplo Beta patch?  A couple, two or three, pages back, I posted a link to textures that fix the bad look of the original planets that is with the Diplo Beta version of DS.  If you're having texture issues with DS, you should use DS texture fixes.  I'm not 100% sure why that is, but from what I've been told, not all textures are swappable.  Hell, from my own experimenting, I can say there's some truth to that.

on Mar 06, 2011

Yes I used the texture fix and all was well, but I started a game on a map with a desert homewirld and the home world busted a seam, I'm not  too broken up over it lol. I was only curious about the size difference and the relevance to the difference. Used A and B from the second and updated post on the textures so maybe it was me ; who knows lol.

on Mar 06, 2011

So when is the new stuff out?

on Mar 06, 2011

When the patch stabilizes.

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