ok so far it seems like it is ok when i have the default graphic settings of highest, high, low for both ship and building and highest for planet

So you are using an integrate Graphics Chipset...

Firstly,

Recommended Game Setup, Effects Settings for Maelstrom

   * Planet   : Detail - Highest
   * Ship      : Detail - Highest, Extras - High, Bump - Low
   * Building : Detail - Highest, Extras - High, Bump - Low
   * Show Planet Elevators - Off

If you still have problems ... lower them further

"The Intel GMA products are designed to allow Intel to offer a full system platform that includes graphics hardware. However, due to the GMA's nature as a highly cost-sensitive product, performance and functionality are limited relative to more expensive discrete graphics components. Some games and 3D applications will not recognize support for some hardware functionality because of the simplification of parts of these graphics accelerators"

Quote from: Intel GMA (Intel Graphics Media Accelerator), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_GMA#cite_note-88

also, Check out Game troubleshooting (from Intel)

http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/cs-010486.htm

First off love the mod, second, I have never hit the 2 gig limit on any mod, and my comp is 10 years old

Pentium 4 @ 1.6 ghz

nividea geforce w/ 256 mb grafics

512 mb memory

and when i play on those setting that are recomended, i just play realy slowely

so I put  it down to everything to medium, and play fine.

In your case, it's really more because you're experiencing hardware limitations forcing you to use lower settings before you're hitting the software limitations that result in crashes.  If you were able to play on high or highest, I can assure you, you'd smack into the wall just like everyone else who is using those settings.

"If you were able to play on high or highest, I can assure you, you'd smack into the wall just like everyone else who is using those settings." ... incorrect.

I and many others have played games with higher settings than the recommended with no graphics problems.

Unfortunately, Maelstrom at this stage works best for newer systems with dedicated graphics cards. Can be easily fixed in the future ... if necessary.

Yeah...  You say that now.  =]

Though I am curious to know more about the fix you have in mind, especially if it's not something that's been tried before.

"Can be easily fixed in the future ", I said that for a couple reasons ...

1. The Sins Optimization Project ... need I say more.
2. A lot of the new meshes in this mod  can be optimized
3. Prior to the release of this mod I was working on 1 & 2.

Also I said 'easily' relative to a different issue of  - game lag on large maps, large fleets and lots of players.

Fun,fun,fun ... many enjoyable hours of modding ahead!.

Thanks for the feedback!

I can play on higher setings, its just i lag realy bad, but i still can play for hours.

My highest priority with the Malestrom mod was game play (sounds, voices, icons, etc ), then models (complete model sets including structures). As the mod develops I will revisit the models.

So, I'm glad you can play at the lower settings and without a top of the line PC. A lot of the development was on a Dell Laptop - Inspirion 9300 ( Pentium M processor 2.0GHz, 1G Ram), so I'm not to surprised you can still have some fun.

Hello! I have no idea what suggestions you have recieved already. You say for future releases you are looking for balancing and optimizations for the future, so here are a few things I have noticed after two games (one as TEC and one with the droid like faction):

Dreadnaughts only take 25 supply. Seeing as they are so powerful I really think they should be like 60 or more. However, I see no reason why they should take half the cap of other capital ships.

Caps start with 4 strike squads and gain two each level. This makes carrier cap ships almost useless. Perhaps the naughts should have less strike craft? The dreadnaughts should be better overall, but not better in every way.

The droid cap ship's frigate manufacturing ability lets it make ships seemingly without regard for your cap, so you can get hundreds of cheap frigates.

The droid faction's economy is simply overpowered. They get huge bonuses to everything. I steamroll with the huge economy.

The original three factions capital ships seem pale in comparison to the newer faction's capital ship in terms of firepower. (More testing needed to be more specific).

Droid's long range frigates weapons really seem to grate on the ears because the weapon has no reload time. Maybe triple its power but make it last a third of the time?

Do you have play testers to try balancing this awesome looking mod? If want another one, I can give much more detailed feedback.

Hi chemical_art,

Thanks for the feedback, it is appreciated. I take it you have been playing the Maelstrom Expansion mod.

Firstly, "Do you have play testers to try balancing this awesome looking mod?" ...  one other play tester, ICEMAN ... his cool.

"If want another one, I can give much more detailed feedback." ... It would be a pleasure to have you on the team! Just bear in mind I am the only developer and currently I am working on the Entrenchment version of the mod. After which I will focus on Diplomacy. But keep on sending me feedback. Also when the Entrenchment version is approaching completion I'll send it your way for ideas!

With regards to your feedback .. overall I agree. The Dreadnoughts were an attempt to emulate Starbases, the only problem is that the AI does not spam them! Human players do, so you can quickly gain a huge advantage.

Alrighty, I will get a notepad and pencil out and give a more thorough test going. My game was on the orginal verision (not entrenchment) so I will pay attention to the differences.

Thanks.

Don't bother about the Entrenchment version as yet.

If you could give feedback for Maelstrom and Maelstrom Expansion (both for Original Sins) that would be great.

how come the new races don't have any buildings to start with?

Currently the Entrenchment version is a beta.

Hi,

I just downloaded the Mod, extracted it into a folder and put it into the mod folder. If i am starting the game and want to activate the mod the game chrashes because of a "saved minidump".

I am using the german version of soase with patch 1.191! I have no idea what's going on?!

Is there a way to fix the problem?

 edit: I also renamed the english.str into german.str, but the problem still happens...

Hi FeldherrTobiasRieper,

There are a number of German people playing the mod ... so rest assured you should be able to play the mod.

Ok, so lets start by asking a few questions ...

1. Can you give me your PC specs (OS, CPU, RAM, Video Card)?

2. I hope you are trying to play Maelstrom (or Maelstrom Expansion) with Original Sins v1.191 and not the Sins Entrenchment v1.051!?

3. Have you read the Installation notes ...

(http://www.soase-maelstrom.com/Installation%20%26%20Release%20notes.txt) ?

in particular 5. (in the section New to installing Mods)?

Ok:

-Win XP SP 3, Amd athlon 64 x2 dual core 5000+, 2gig ram, nvidia 8800 GT

-Yes, I try rto play it with the original game

-I read it and to my mind I did everything correct. It looks like: ...\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Mods-v1.91\Maelstrom\.... 

Your hardware looks good.

Make sure your are using the recommended game setup, effects settings

   * Planet   : Detail - Highest
   * Ship      : Detail - Highest, Extras - High, Bump - Low
   * Building : Detail - Highest, Extras - High, Bump - Low

   * Show Mesh Team Colors - Off
   * Show Cargo Ship Icons - Off
   * Show Planet Elevators - Off

Apart from that, and the feedback you gave me, the only other thing I can suggest is that your download was somehow corrupted. Unlikely, but not impossible.

i'm having the same problem

expect i didn't change anything in the files

here are my comp specs

Windows 7,AMD Phenom II X4 910 Quad Core 8 gig RAM ATI Radeon HD 4350

And yes i play it on Original Sins

(C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Local\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Mods-v1.191\Malestorm)

Ok, this IS very strange...

I deleted the mod, extracted it again (this time "free", that you can see all folders), put it into a new maelstrom folder and now it works?!   (\B):vulcan:(\B)

I don't know what happened, but i am happy being able to play now^^   Thank you very much for yor fast help!

I dled it, played for a while, but it made my computer whiper and sob lol(I need a new one badly) but I loved all the content, the colony ships all havign star base deployment was a surprise but I'm not complaining lol. Anyway Very nice mod, Especially love the special planet types(binary, ring and force field) but the range buff in that force field one, lol, you made it stackable so each time it rebuffs over the occupying ships, it stacks lol, fighting across the entire gravity well was fun, but I dunno if this was intended or not lol 7060% attack range was just hilarious to see in buffs is all ;p

     BadTune~ Fearsome, Courageous, Noisy~!

hi,

Just a fid back

Very interesting mod, just a report mini dump on evry race for entrenchment version for about 20-30 min of play. All work fine on vanilla version 1.191

All setting are set like recommended and lower for testing.

This is not a mini dump limit memory , client use about 800-900 Mo when mini dump appear.

Conf :

I7 860

4Go

Radeon 5850 1Go

Win 7

dx 9/10/11

last driver for all

Hi welingen,

Thanks for the feedback ... appreciated!

Yes, the Entrenchment version is a beta. It appears to happen when you have more than 1 Replicator or more than 1 Norlamin and ~30mins of play - a great bug! The TradeAlliance is stable.

Not that it matters as I have rebuilt the Entrenchment mod, problem sorted, and will be releasing it in a week or two. Hope you can continue with feedback on the new releases!