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Dark Avatar 1.8 Change Log

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Dark Avatar 1.8 Change Log

from JoeUser Forums


** Major Changes **

+ High Score List: Lets you keep track of scores on local games

+ New Governor 'Reroute Ships': Send All ships of a given type to a specific rally point. Colonies building the ship type will also change their rallypoint destination to the specified rallypoint.

+ New Governor 'Colony Reassignment': Switch military production on colonies going to a given rally point

+ Event Log: List that keeps track of the major events that occur throughout each game

+ Memory Optimizations: Tweaked several areas to cut down on memory usage, and stomped out some glaring memory leaks, allowing lower-end machines to run gigantic galaxies more efficiently (and improve performance across the board)

+ Lease and Maintenance Tab: Helps players to manage your weekly expenditures

+ Screenshot Hotkey: CTRL + 'PrintScreen' will now take a snapshot and store it in your 'My Documents/My Games/GC2DarkAvatar/Screenshots' folder

+ Anomalies Reappear: Survey ships are now of greater importance with the addition of re-spawning anomalies to the galaxy

+ Ability to Rename Stars: Button added for the renaming of...well...stars

+ AI Tweaks: Computer opponents should now put up a better fight

+ Improvements Tweaked: A value here, a new bonus there...several improvements are now 'more better' based on player feedback

+ Debug Output: Made debug.err always go in user defined data directory. This is to deal with problems encountered by people with limited user accounts and for consistency with Vista.


** Minor Tweaks **

+ Added standby mode for auto improve asteroids and auto survey ships.

+ Terran Alliance is now more inclined to focus on building larger starships.

+ Optimized AI sorting routines for better performance.

+ Spore module are more expensive.

+ Spore Weapons technology is more expensive.

+ Morale buildings are more powerful.

+ Capped the number of stars in a galaxy to reduce the amount of memory usage.

+ Whenever a planet changes ownership, any trade routes involving the planet are cancelled.

+ Made it so that the saved scoring information also saves mod name and description if mods are enabled.

+ If you update several planets, it will update all of them in the colony list.

+ Auto survey and auto improve standby modes are cancelled when you set an autopilot destination for the ship.

+ Changed the way that save games are saved so that you won't lose your previous auto save if you fail to save (due to out of memory, etc).

+ Fixed the sorting code in the governor's screen so that Nothing is always at the top.

+ Changed it so that all textures not generated by the game (like thumbnails) and not in dxpacks should be loaded (and flushed) by the resouce
manager, which should help keep memory usage down.

+ Made the AI mark its old designs as obsolete so that we can tell which ones it's not using more quickly.

+ Changed the code that cleans up the obsolete AI designs because it was letting the designs hang around in memory even after no ships were using it.

+ Auto attack is now canceled if UPIssue is preventing ship from attacking because of non-aggression UP issue.

+ Tweaked distribution of planet tile bonuses so that the starting home worlds are more likely to get bonuses distributed on them, but no more than 3 per planet.

+ Changed AI ship class naming convention so that if the AI designs new ships every week, it doesn't re-use the same class name, which can cause problems; the AI now tracks how many times it has designed a shiptype and uses that for the version number.

+ Blocked tiles map is now updated once per turn so that the code that uses it will be more accurate, reducing the chance of landing ships on anomalies, planets, etc.

+ Changed it so that the stacked ships and fleet windows recycle their entries so that they aren't constantly allocating and deallocating. The Stacked Ship context window will attempt to shrink the number of saved entries if it hasn't used the last max number in awhile.

+ Ships marked as destroyed are removed from the main list the first turn they are marked destroyed instead of waiting until they are deleted; this should fix crashes and prevent the AI from picking dead targets.

+ Added code to delete multiple ships at once from the maintenance tab.

+ The prompt to upgrade a starbase now lists what type of modules are available to build.


** Bugs Fixed **

+ Crash on some machines when star density is 0

+ Bug which caused animation in combat viewer to fire wrong weapon and/or fire at the wrong ship

+ Ship list entries were not being deleted when the ship was destroyed

+ Not all planet/ship list entries were being displayed

+ Mining base lines would not disappear if the base was destroyed because planet was traded or conquered.

+ The treasury display on the main ui was being constantly updated during the end of turn, thus causing slowdown

+ Rounding errors with bonus research production

+ Reduced some of the slowdown when moving a selected ship caused by updating the ship context area

+ Bug in Xeno Ethics that reset debt to 0 and converted the negative treasury balance to a lease

+ Took out some debug messages that were making debug.err files huge

+ Possible crash in ship components when removing old ship designs

+ Crash due to not checking the colonies for what ships they're building when checking if a ship class is still in use

+ Bug in the AI ship design code that was causing multiple ship designs to be created with the same exact name, which could cause memory leaks and graphical glitches

+ Bug that could cause AI ships to be created with the wrong ship class

+ Fleet context window was not updating after ship moved

+ Trade Window was not popping dialogs up over it

+ Cari squashed a spider last Wedensday

+ On the TradeWnd, the dialog warning that the other civ had no money was using the player's empire name

+ Bug in GraphWnd scaling code

+ Crash caused by AI ships holding on to ship destinations that were destroyed

+ Fixed bug where clicking on a ship would attempt to clear the selection flag for all ships in the galaxy, regardless of whether they were selected or not, causing lag

+ Bug where the turn button was always green even if there were ships with moves left

+ 'Weird minimap lines' bug

+ Starbases were being added to the moveable ship list, which caused the end of turn button to never come back

+ Bug where ignored races still could be chosen in the Opponentwnd

+ Planet thumbnails were not being reused even if the planet surfaces were identical

+ Removed unnecessary information to be saved in save games

+ In the Dread Lords campaign, when playing from Dark Avatar, it was not possible to continue due to it not finding the location of the next
mission's files

+ Bug in the Dread Lords campaign when playing from Dark Avatar where scenarios with the Dread Lords would never end because they had the incorrect race ID

+ Bug with activation code on Win98.

+ Changed code that writes out debug messages to be more threadsafe

+ Made it so that the dxpacks are kicked out of memory after the screen has been created if there are not multiple instances of the screen, like custom list box entries, thus reducing the amount of stuff kept in memory.

+ Changed screen code to make sure that the textures created for the screens do not create mip map chains, which are unnecessary in screens and just take up more memory

+ Crash caused by not being able to find strings in the flavor text files (text that appears when the AI talks to you)

+ XML data saved at the end of a game was not saving campaign data if it wasn't a metaverse game

+ Crash in the rendering code related to alpha-blended graphics

1.80a changes:

+ New lightmap for the planets courtesy of Stefan and i-mod productions (found it!)
+ Minor AI tweaks
+ Raised the number of habitable planets
+ Fixed a crash on the Ship Upgrade screen when trying to upgrade an obsolete ship
+ Fixed the thumbnail on the ship logo in the Quick Build list
+ Found and fixed a bug where the graphics for obsolete ships were not being unloaded after the last obsolete ship was destroyed
 


 
116,087 views 62 replies
Reply #26 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hold your horses! There is something wrong, but you can go around it. I got that very same error when trying to update from the "pop up update" box.

When actually selected the Dark Avatar from the list and pressed Update button, the patch installed without a hitch for me.
Reply #27 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Hey are you guys ever going to have the option to have the old espionage system? I don't like the new one.


Yes please. Too much micromanagement to alrdy micromanagement full game. Older system option would be welcome.
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #29 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
+ Improvements Tweaked: A value here, a new bonus there...several improvements are now 'more better' based on player feedback


Would someone mind expanding on what was done with improvements?
Reply #30 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
+ Event Log: List that keeps track of the major events that occur throughout each game


I think this is great. But if i may humbly ask "please sir, may i have more...?" (i can just hear the Guy from the movie / play Oliver...) "MOOOOooooooore ?!?!"

Anyway, Is there a way that planet flipping can also be recorded as an event? It seems the message always pops up when im on another planet screen and i miss the name of the planet and i gotta go searching. ANd maybe fix it so the flip planet doesnt merge with the planet you were already looking at?
Reply #31 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
What is the newest 1.80a about?
Change in habitable planets?
Can you share some specifics?
Reply #32 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I updated the change log at the top.
Reply #33 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I updated the change log at the top.


How close to what it was before?

I started a few 1.80a games and while I didn't play very long, it seemed
that the number of habitable planets has still dropped considerably from
1.60 and maybe some of the betas of 1.7.

Could you give us some percentages? Thx.
Reply #34 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Memory Optimizations: Tweaked several areas to cut down on memory usage, and stomped out some glaring memory leaks, allowing lower-end machines to run gigantic galaxies more efficiently...



Here's a philosophical issue. Do we really need to so radically alter the gameplay we're used to over the last year+(re: nerfed planet count) to enable people to run gigantic maps on "low end machines"? Shouldn't people have reasonable expectations of their hardware? Do we need to make sweeping changes to the majority of players, so that someone can play gigantic maps on their PDA somewhere? Since the net effect of these changes seems to be we're all playing with less planets, wouldnt it have just been easier to tell these people to "turn down your planet count" in the first place...and leave the option for people who had no problems to continue as before? Is the poster of Jessica Alba in the cowgirl outfit from Sin City this generations version of the Farrah Fawcett swimsuit poster?

These questions are unknowable I suppose, and will be pondered through the ages.
Reply #35 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The planet count was unnerfed after beta 4. 
Reply #36 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
+ Cari squashed a spider last Wedensday


No!! Not my spy spider bot... err... I mean...

No!! Cari, you shouldn't squish spiders. They only want to peacefully co-exist and eat bugs. I'm sure it only wanted to say hello, and not spy on your code.

/act innocent
Reply #37 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Awesome patch I must say! I love the idea of anomalies respawning, sounds like this is going to make it a good idea to build more survey ships.
Reply #38 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Here's a philosophical issue. Do we really need to so radically alter the gameplay we're used to over the last year+(re: nerfed planet count) to enable people to run gigantic maps on "low end machines"? Shouldn't people have reasonable expectations of their hardware? Do we need to make sweeping changes to the majority of players, so that someone can play gigantic maps on their PDA somewhere? Since the net effect of these changes seems to be we're all playing with less planets, wouldnt it have just been easier to tell these people to "turn down your planet count" in the first place...and leave the option for people who had no problems to continue as before?


As the proud owner of a "low-end" machine I built 5+ years ago I agree with this premise. I have two options, build a new machine (this one has all upgrades it can handle) or lower my expectations of what it can handle, which is what I currently do by limiting my games to large galaxys. You can imagine how happy I was when 1.61 can out and dramatically improved the framerate, and reduced the stuttering I was experiencing mid to end-game(thanks Stardock!). I was never a fan of the abundant settings because it didn't suite my vision of space, but I would never suggest that others' preferences are of less importance than mine. I would love to try a huge galaxy, but I can wait until my next gen PC. The quote claims that the majority of gamers have high end machines. I don't think this is an established fact, but the point made is still valid without claiming to speak for the majority. So, to all those proud owners of less than stellar machines...recognize your limitations, study the minimum/optimum system requirements before buying, and limit your options settings to the level your machine can handle. Once you get you hands on an upgraded PC, you will appreciate this game more if it is still capable of maximum wow.
Reply #39 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Playing on 1.8v I came across this issue. I play a game then save it. When I reload from a saved game the speed of the current ships has changed. I have constuctors with a speed of 13 after a save and reload there speed droped to 3. As you can see in the picture.

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Reply #40 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
MuLa, it looks like your a victim of the ZOC recalc after a load. When you load a game it takes a couple of turns for the game to recalculate the influence borders. It looks like your ships are now in Yor space, where they probably weren't before. This of course puts your speed down to three from the Yor super ability. It should straighten out in a couple of turns though.
Reply #41 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hm.... I forgot about that, but the new ships that I biuld with speed of 13 goes through the yor area at the speed of 13. I'll have to have a closer look at this. thanks.
Reply #42 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
As long as they start outside Yor space, they have full speed. They only get crippled if they start the turn inside the Yor border.
Reply #43 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
is anyone else getting blank jewelry thumbnails in the ship designer?
Reply #44 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
What happened to the Constructor Manager that was promised for this patch? Why was it not included? I've had to stop playing GalCiv2 because managing constructors and starbase upgrades is so tedious. When can we expect this feature?
Reply #45 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
What happened to the Constructor Manager that was promised for this patch? Why was it not included? I've had to stop playing GalCiv2 because managing constructors and starbase upgrades is so tedious. When can we expect this feature?


with one of the new governors you can re-route all ships of a given type to a particular rally point. did you have something else in mind?
Reply #46 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yes. That's a rather clunky way to implement this much-needed feature. How about a governor that can keep track of every starbase, letting you set how far you wish to upgrade it, then automatically routing all constructors to multiple starbases at once. I should be able to plan out in advance what upgrades a starbase will get so that I don't have to decide on an upgrade for multiple bases many times each turn. When you have 30 to 40 starbases, all in varying states of construction, and just about as many planets building constructors, it can get a little hard to manage.

With the current system, what would I do if I wanted to route a third of my constructors to one base, a third to another, and a third to yet another?
Reply #47 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
With the current system, what would I do if I wanted to route a third of my constructors to one base, a third to another, and a third to yet another?


i've thought something along the longs of what you describe would be helpful, but i don't think it'd be easy, and i'm not sure it'd be any less clunky. for example, how much harder would it be to have the shipyards route their 'structors intelligently (that is, the closest third of planets to each respective SB)?

it'd take some manual setup, but the rally point system would work. i mean, most of the SBs i build don't take that many 'structors to begin with (weapons and defenses are a waste for the most part). when i am trying to max out SBs for some odd reason or another, i usually find it's easiest to do them one at a time and use the rally point gov's.

perhpas in another update - i think the big emphasis at the moment is on Twilight.
Reply #48 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Great update, the respawning anomalies was a fantastic idea, but maybe I'm being dense, but wasn't this update going to implement more mega events?
Reply #49 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

What happened to the Constructor Manager that was promised for this patch? Why was it not included? I've had to stop playing GalCiv2 because managing constructors and starbase upgrades is so tedious. When can we expect this feature?

That will be in 2.0. 

Reply #50 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

What happened to the Constructor Manager that was promised for this patch? Why was it not included? I've had to stop playing GalCiv2 because managing constructors and starbase upgrades is so tedious. When can we expect this feature?


That will be in 2.0. 




Argh! More waiting. But it will be worth it. Thank you for not dropping the feature entirely. Those of us who play exclusively on the largest maps all thank you! Hopefully the starbase manager will be comprehensive, allowing us to plan out our upgrades in advance, as I suggested above. But even a rudimentary manager that helps us direct our constructors will be a godsend. I eagerly await version 2.0.