[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 406)

6076

Draakjacht

on Sep 27, 2011

Oh, I had TEC in mind. Bleh, nevermind.

6077

Draakjacht

on Sep 28, 2011

Okay, so I tried the method of having shapes associated with research groupings, colors with planet types (as per how I see them in some cases), and then patterns for individual identification. I took liberties here and there from the otherwise obvious pattern.

I do have some ideas concerning how to show planet size and all, but that'll wait until the next couple of days seeing that I have stuff to do.

6078

NHD-151

on Sep 28, 2011

Those look amazing, Draakjacht. I'd LOVE to see those in-game. It'd make the Distant Stars mod feel alot more like an actually separate mod to me, rather than only seeming to have enhanced ships. I'd play it more often than i already do (which is a bit).

As for size, what about having small lines just outside of the icon to denote what size it is? For instance, a single line above the icon (pointing directly north) would be the smallest size, then one north AND one pointing northeast would be the next size up, and so on, adding another line for every time the size is bumped up?

6079

Draakjacht

on Sep 28, 2011

NHD-151

reply 6078

Not bad ideas, but there are catches. First, you have to keep in mind that to each side and below the planet icon will be the markers for fleet presence. This means that I can't have anything hug against 3 sides, hence why the size markers have been within the planet image thus far. We can get rid of the frames to the fleet markers, but this still only offers up so much room. And then there is the faction symbol immediately above.

Second, you have to remember that just outside of the fleet markers are symbols for home planet, artifact presence, etc. So, not only do I have to make new versions of these to match, but I also have to fit them in some similar space.

So that means 85% of the immediate area around the symbol is busy and an average of 8%-25% of the area around that is busy.

Figuring that, I have a couple of prototype ideas already marked down and I just have to make samples. One idea is to take the current system and just update it to match the style above. Another idea is to produce small marks that float above the icon, aiming to avoid overlap with the faction symbol. And then there is the possibility that, if we remove the frame to the fleet markers, I can just put a numeric in the lower corner, like an example I threw out there on a sample image a page ago. It's kinda up in the air.

I do, however, have an idea how to differentiate moons from planets that itself is incorporated within the symbol rather than float outside. I'm preferring not to just use smaller symbols as I think they might not always catch the eye when glanced at.

This does leave me with a question. Ryat, do you know how the fleet markers around a planet are setup? I know where the image files are, but would it require much reprogramming to squish them down to a thinner line of dots versus the larger hashes we have now?

6080

NHD-151

on Sep 28, 2011

I didn't mean for the symbols to float in the areas you just specified, more inside those areas where the whole of the Planet Icon would be located, but i can definitely see now what you mean by them being easy to miss by the player, as that would probably significantly decrease the size of the main icon. Ah well, I tried =P

Keep up the good work, I can't wait to play with Flagships and these icons.

Are there any current plans to do the same Icon overhaul to ships and structures, or are those ugly things here to stay?

6081

Stant123

on Sep 28, 2011

Draakjacht

reply 6079

In the window folder, 'PipCloudBrush.brushlayout' to change the sizes and pip counts, 'MainViewIcon-Generic.brushes' look for the pip cloud entries to change their positions. Don't quote me on that since it's been a couple years since I've played with these things, but if I'm remembering things correctly, those two should be what you're after.

6082

Nuttygamer

on Sep 28, 2011

As it turns out, the values that I think that would work didn't work out at all. So all of the values are being scrapped and I have to rework it. So a patch to the current Dynamic mod will not be released for at least another 2 weeks

6083

Draakjacht

on Sep 28, 2011

Stant123

reply 6081

I have a bad feeling those are file types that I'm going to find a pain in the butt. I'll probably get to them well after taking care of the primary icon work.

NHD-151

reply 6080

On the one hand, you're right in that I don't want to shrink the icons. Aside from visibility, they fit snug with other things already in place. On the other, the general idea behind your request has merit. If the fleet markers are reduced, some semblance of the idea may survive, but probably not in the cardinal fashion you're thinking. It's cool though that we're getting ideas out there and the fact that you made me take a hard look at the current layout does give me ideas concerning a lot of things.

NHD-151

reply 6080

Are there any current plans to do the same Icon overhaul to ships and structures, or are those ugly things here to stay?

Yes and no. It's not impossible, I just haven't addressed the issue. Gonna hit one at a time, seeing that there are a lot of planets, nebulae, stars, etc. to be done.

6084

TheChronicToast

on Sep 28, 2011

I really like the way those icons look!!! I would also, as a starting point, simply update the current Fleet, Planet size, etc nototations to the similer style. I would be curious to see how you approach moons? Maybe have a big M in the 20% that isn't used around the icon?

As a note for the future, I believe focusing on non-ship icons after the planetary icons are finished would be preferable. Much easier to come up with a consensus on those icons (as they are fewer and everywhere) than it would be to try and rework the whole lot of ship icons.

6085

Draakjacht

on Sep 28, 2011

I've already sketched out ideas for the moons, I just want to get some consensus on the shapes and color of planets before putting up samples as I figure they would have to be shown with the planet icons to make it look complete.

With moons, I already have an idea that doesn't eat up much more, if any, of the extra room. It's actually incorporated into the main icon. I'll probably have those samples up by Thursday or Friday.

I too figure structures and the like are next best after I finish with nebulae, stars, etc. As for the ships, some actually have pretty well set standards (triangles for fighters) and I'll probably reference outside sources (non-game) for input.

6086

Stant123

on Sep 28, 2011

Draakjacht

reply 6085

after I finish with nebulae, stars, etc.

Specifically......

Colonizable:

Ancient Citadel
Conciousness of the Unity
Pirate Base

Non-Colonizable:

Asteroid Belt
Deep Space Sector
Magnetic Cloud
Nebula
Plasma Storm
Ship Graveyard
Space Junk
Wormhole

Stars (and Companions):

Black Hole
Blue
Green
Magnetar
Orange (Sol from CB Mod, Yellow Star)
Red
White (Pulsar)
Yellow

Draakjacht

reply 6085

some actually have pretty well set standards (triangles for fighters) and I'll probably reference outside sources (non-game) for input.

Don't forget that one of the intro movies has a 'radar' screen that shows enemy ships on it. I think just triangles, but you never know.

6087

Draakjacht

on Sep 28, 2011

Stant123

reply 6086

Specifically......

yes, I have a list.

Stant123

reply 6086

Don't forget that one of the intro movies has a 'radar' screen that shows enemy ships on it. I think just triangles, but you never know.

Yes, Entrenchment iirc. I could look at it just for the heck of it.

edit: Stant, you missed Swamp Planet

6088

Stant123

on Sep 28, 2011

You had done it on your test 2 image, I didn't look all that closely at test 3.

6089

harpo99999

on Sep 28, 2011

draakjacht, for the planet size indication perhaps the glow effect ie tiny very little glow up to huge lots of glow on the icon(s)

harpo

6090

Ryat

on Sep 28, 2011

Too hard to see the variances. Especially if you have glare issues.

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