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 422)
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on Nov 13, 2011

I'd have to agree.  I'd like to see something with all three present.

on Nov 13, 2011

would you prefer the orgasmic, glowing eyes or something else? I take requests.

on Nov 13, 2011

I don't really know...  Depends on the theme of the background.  If you're go with background 1, I think all three faces should reflect the mood and show either intensity or something a little sinister.  (I'm looking at the player portraits images.)  Probably like the 2nd TEC picture, the guy with the eye patch, the Advent you have already would probably work, if not, then definitely the 7th one would, and really any of the first six or the last four Vasari pictures.

 

If you're going with background 2, then something a little more light in mood since to me it looks more peaceful.  For the TEC, any of the pictures 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, or 16.  You've already got 16 done so let's roll with that to save on time and work. For the Advent, 8, 10, 12, 14, or 17.  For the Vasari, I guess it doesn't really matter since they all look kind of pissed off.

 

If you represent the pirates in either, the one you've got is adequate since they're just outsiders watching the fireworks anyway.

on Nov 13, 2011

I like the glowing eye effect. The staring off into space look is too creepy.

on Nov 13, 2011

Oatesy03
Opening1 will give me nightmares...

You mean to say Snake Pliskin doesn't give YOU nightmares?

 

 

Another question here.  Any idea yet how the Rebellion expansion that's due to comes out soon will change the way game is played? Will it make the mod unplyable right off the bat, and are you guys already working towards integrating that?

 

Hmmmm, yea I just realized that question is kinda hard, if not impossible, to answer, since the expansion hasnt been released and all, but any idea?

on Nov 13, 2011

justinian66
Another question here. Any idea yet how the Rebellion expansion that's due to comes out soon will change the way game is played? Will it make the mod unplyable right off the bat, and are you guys already working towards integrating that?

 

I would find it highly unlikely that this mod would be initially compatible with Rebellion. Trinity / Diplomacy is built up as expansions to the original Sins of a Solar Empire and so at the very least, if nothing else changed, the file paths would be completely different.

 

There really isn't much I think the team can do to work towards the rebellion release as nothing has been released code wise / beta wise yet.

on Nov 14, 2011

Pretty much what Boshimi said.

justinian66

Any idea yet how the Rebellion expansion that's due to comes out soon will change the way game is played?

From what we were told, there will be a few more capital ships (plus levels higher then 10), a Titan for each faction, and corvettes, more research, and based on the research, a split into either being a loyalist continuing to use diplomacy, or rebels reverting back into all out war.  Those things alone should greatly alter the way the game is played.

justinian66

Will it make the mod unplyable right off the bat,

There won't be a mod for it right away so there's nothing to be broken by the expansion.  I would say wait at least two weeks after Rebellion's release before we start putting any effort into upgrading the mod to work with it.  We are gamers too and just like everyone else, we're going to want to sit down and play it and check out all of the new goodies before we put everything down and start tearing it all apart.  During the beta if its at all possible, I'll be tweaking the mod and updating what I can just to speed the process along, but none of that would be released anyway so don't be expecting it.  This may be extremely difficult based on what lines are added to each file and if its possible to convert them to text or not or if I can get error reports as the game is playing.

justinian66

and are you guys already working towards integrating that?

The Rebellion logo was added to the OP so there are plans to create the mod for it, however, until there are actual files released for it, committing to doing the work is about all that can be done.

on Nov 14, 2011

And even the 2-D is gonna take a lot of work depending on what all gets added, modified, and tastes regarding involvement of said change. I think it'll be a whole new game for a lot of stuff.

try this change to the splash. Figured to take 50% of Stant's desired changes: http://i795.photobucket.com/albums/yy236/Draakjacht/GameLogo_Opening4copy.jpg

 

on Nov 14, 2011

Not bad, I could get behind that one.

on Nov 14, 2011

Agreed, though I wouldn't mind having a female Advent there. Maybe switch her with the Vasari to get a better profile.

on Nov 14, 2011

Okay... so a female Advent in the Vasari place. A Vasari in the Advent place. Is the Advent I originally had the only creepy one or are there other no-gos?

Keep in mind that I might not get as good a profile. Depends if I can find a full body shot or not.

on Nov 14, 2011

For me the one staring off into space is the only no go. The one with the glowing eyes I am cool with.

on Nov 14, 2011

That is a lot closer to what I was thinking picture wise. It looks good. I'm curious to see what the other variations you've just mentioned would look like.

 

I must confess that I like the Vasaari and the TEC players on either side with the Advent in the middle. The main reason for this being that the initial conflicts in the Sins universe was between the TEC and the Vasaari with the Advent coming into the picture third and mostly meddling with everything. I do like human and the male advent in this particular picture. The Vasaari I think there are a few others that would look good in his place, with and without glowing eyes (they should have a bit of a 'sad' look to them) I think.

 

TEC = Stoic / Determined (will not fall to the invaders)

Vasari = Sad / Mournful (doing what needs to be done to survive)

Advent = Mischievous / Knowledgeable (messing with everything until it falls asunder beneath their will)

on Nov 15, 2011

This is not sitting well with me. I like the last one more.

http://i795.photobucket.com/albums/yy236/Draakjacht/GameLogo_Opening5.jpg

This one, I had trouble getting an Advent body shot of the appropriate resolution and very few Vasari look good over those flames. I really liked the last one cause the Vasari blended into the darkness around him. I took Stant's call on the Advent, which turned out to be gold, as not only is she holding that glowing deal that could be a sign of underhanded craftiness, but the colors blend with the flames and the art style is as equally smooth as the other two characters.

That's just my take on it.

Btw, was thinking. Looking at the original Advent image, I think they're all female. I know there's the robot head, the turban bearer, and the wrinkly helmeted one, but if you think about it, it could be old, haggard women in those guises. I know none of us like to think of them as such, but since I've seen a woman with a beard that would put a goat to shame, I can see this being the case.

on Nov 15, 2011

Draakjacht
I like the last one more.

Agreed.  Just noticed the David's Lions logo included in the images.  Clever.

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