[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 439)

6571

Stant123

on Dec 17, 2011

Retsof90

reply 6569

Now, I know how to do image editing and I found the skybox textures before, but i have no idea how to go about getting them back in the game...

Once you have the new image, dump it into the texture folder and (assuming you have a text copy and not bin) open up each star(color).entity file in the gameinfo folder and add in the new textures to the skybox or deepspaceskybox sections, adjusting their numbers accordingly.

coloredSkyboxMeshNameCount 8
meshName "SkyboxBackdrop2"
meshName "SkyboxBackdrop3"
meshName "SkyboxBackdrop4"
meshName "SkyboxBackdrop5"
meshName "SkyboxBackdrop6"
meshName "SkyboxBackdrop8"
meshName "SkyboxBackdrop1DistantStars"
meshName "SkyboxBackdrop2DistantStars"
deepSpaceSkyboxMeshNameCount 1
meshName "SkyboxBackdrop7"

Once you've done that, you'll have to open up the skybox.manifest in the mod's root folder and add the skyboxes to the list there and adjust its count accordingly as well. This one should already be in text format for you.

justinian66

reply 6570

Anyone else notice these problems?

They're not problems, the deep space tradeport was removed because I'm told it caused a lot of the random crashing the mod was experiencing. The lessened spawning of the deep space observatory is ideal. Its kind of cheating to have it show up all of the time. Advent players need to maintain the ability to spy on you from far away without you being able to do the same in order to protect their racial bonus, for lack of a better term.

6572

justinian66

on Dec 17, 2011

Oh good to know. Thanks. Was worried for a minute I downloaded a corrupted version again or something.

6573

Draakjacht

on Dec 17, 2011

Stant123

reply 6571

the deep space tradeport was removed because I'm told it caused a lot of the random crashing the mod was experiencing.

We really should pass around notes on major changes like this. If for nothing else, just so people don't experience the above concern.

6574

TheChronicToast

on Dec 17, 2011

How about this?

Have the Mine 'Extractor' spawn a 'Transfer Station' nearby which can be set to restore AM or increase Repair Rates plus have 1-2 Squadron Slots. It would be like 500hp for a building.

This would spawn during game start but squadrons etc would have abilities unlocked to it by tier 5 research.

This could be set as an ability that checked the proximity for a 'Transfer Station', if none were present it cast and boom, structure was built or 'set to be built'. Simple.

EDIT:

Research unlocks ability for Mines to spawn non-mobile ship which then uses ability to call back to mine and link the two together. When extractor dies the ship dies. Per the TS chat.

EDIT 2:

Better Idea. Have the Extractor spawn a special (not shown on research tree page) SB constructor which automatically spawns a 'transfer station' (again, not shown on research tree page)

that is immobile then the constructor self-destructs.

6575

TheChronicToast

on Dec 17, 2011

double-post

6576

TheChronicToast

on Dec 17, 2011

triple post

6577

gefer8

on Dec 19, 2011

So... how is the icons? I also want to know what are all these weird planets purpose is for, and how to use templates so I can make ancient sectors overfilled with artifacts.

6578

ChaosMaster130

on Dec 19, 2011

OK got a question now. How exactly did you guys make the faster research setting research near instantly, as I would love too use that feature somewhere else.

6579

Draakjacht

on Dec 19, 2011

gefer8

reply 6577

So... how is the icons? I also want to know what are all these weird planets purpose is for, and how to use templates so I can make ancient sectors overfilled with artifacts.

The planetary icons are made, but we didn't include them in the last release because there's still a lot of tweaks to be done. I also have to finish the ship icons and what not.

The purpose of the planets is to add variety and strategy. Colonizable Gas Giants gives you a lot of resources, but also creates a weak link in your defenses. Military Planets can be a tough nut to crack. Urban Planets are no easy piece to defend, but can be an economic boon.

As for the GalaxyForge, someone else will have to get with you on that.

6580

ZombiesRus5

on Dec 19, 2011

Distant Stars - En español.

Here's a link to hopefully a Distant Stars 1.00 Diplomacy 1.34 compatible Spanish String file.

I did run the new file against my entity validator and which did not find any missing strings so it should be good. I also ran a quick test of the converted file. Similar to my previous Spanish conversion all of my modified entries are at the top of the file which will overlay any duplicates that may follow.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5790092/distantstars/Spanish.str

Here's a copy of the Distant Stars strings I pulled from their original file to run the Bing translation on. I figured you might like this if you wanted to see the original text I used to translate.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5790092/distantstars/DS_English.str

I'm running a German and French Bing conversion too I'll post here later.

6581

Draakjacht

on Dec 19, 2011

Distant Stars is soon going international! I don't count Spanish cause that's just about as American as anything else now.

6582

ZombiesRus5

on Dec 19, 2011

Distant Stars - En alemán.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5790092/distantstars/German.str

Distant Stars - En francés.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5790092/distantstars/French.str

* All additional translations not provided by Stardock where performed with Microsoft's Bing Translator.

6583

ZombiesRus5

on Dec 19, 2011

Draakjacht

reply 6581

Distant Stars is soon going international!

Distant Stars deserves to go international.

Draakjacht

reply 6581

I don't count Spanish cause that's just about as American as anything else now.

Well, maybe Spain has something to say about that

You can take those strings and repackage them however you want. I'll leave them posted in the meantime.

6584

Draakjacht

on Dec 19, 2011

ZombiesRus5

reply 6583

Well, maybe Spain has something to say about that

Maybe, but then every other Spanish speaking country would get into it too.

ZombiesRus5

reply 6583

Distant Stars deserves to go international.

It does.

6585

TheChronicToast

on Dec 19, 2011

Draakjacht

reply 6584

It does.

I think it just did.

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