DA 1.6 Beta 2 Here

http://sd.stardock.com/carielf/da_1_6_beta2.zip
from GalCiv2 Forums

Hey all,

We are having some technical difficulties with the servers but we wanted to get you another beta.  We are still having slowdown issues from the ships, but at least the minimap is much more efficient.  Here's the change log for the beta:

+ FIX: Made it so that your allies won't declare war on you in the mega event Allied War where the good races gang up on you.

+ NEW: Added code to save score data for non-metaverse games locally in the My Documents\My Games\GC2DarkAvatar folder

+ TWEAK: Added dialog to warn you if you start/load a metaverse game with a cheater flag

+ NEW: You can now change the social project (if there is stuff in the queue) from the colony list in the civ manager

+ NEW: The popup for adding money to negotiations on the trade screen will now open with the value needed to make the AI accept the offer (or the total amount in your treasury if they won't accept it).

+ FIX: Minimap and line graphs now uses Direct3D for drawing, which should show an increase in framerate.

+ FIX: Updated the QUICKSTART command line parameter code to work with DarkAvatar's settings (Starts a sandbox game with your last settings without needing to go to the menu.)

+ FIX: The minimap scrolling lag on Vista should be resolved, and scrolling in general should be smoother with better frame rates.

+ FIX: On Vista PCs, the debug.err will now be saved in the Documents\My Games\GC2DarkAvatar folder. (This will not work if you run the exe in WInXP compatibility mode.)

+ FIX: If you turn off the Show Damage Animations option, it will now remove the damage animations from fleets.

 

32,710 views 60 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
+ NEW: The popup for adding money to negotiations on the trade screen will now open with the value needed to make the AI accept the offer (or the total amount in your treasury if they won't accept it).



Thanks!!!

I look forward to trying it as soon as I finish my latest game.

Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
+ NEW: You can now change the social project (if there is stuff in the queue) from the colony list in the civ manager


Very nice, looking forward to less headaches


Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Nice.

Btw can i ask, when will the new stuff come into the beta's?
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Great! I'll try it out now!

BTW - I saw no mention of the 'disappearing' ship graphic bug being fixed - this occurs when you stack ships that are not in fleets in Beta 1.6 v1.

Just wanted to add, it took me a few minutes to figure out where to unzip all the files.

For those who are technically less savvy:

The 'GC2DarkAvatar.exe' and the 'Lib3D.dll' files go in the
%drive%\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\DarkAvatar (%drive% is a placeholder - enter your drive letter here - or use the path you installed DA to) folder.

The 'English.str' file goes in the
%drive%\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\DarkAvatar\Data\English (%drive% is a placeholder - enter your drive letter here - or use the path you installed DA to) folder.

Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
+ NEW: The popup for adding money to negotiations on the trade screen will now open with the value needed to make the AI accept the offer (or the total amount in your treasury if they won't accept it).


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You have just saved me HOURS of nonproductive play time!
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
only a very little issue: the graph does not fit all the area.


A small thing, but I would like it possible to pick and choose who I see on the graph. Say I'm a god race, my military power is through the roof! When I look at the graph, you can barely see the AI's power. Say you want to look at how the Drengin's fleet compares to the Torians, can't do it.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Looks like an awesome update, but I'm not seeing mention of the off-type defense bug. Was that resolved?
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Looks like an awesome update, but I'm not seeing mention of the off-type defense bug. Was that resolved?


That was supposedly resolved in Beta 1.
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thanks Cari
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Wasnt able to test the defense bug, but the framerates are awsome. the bug with disappearing ships is still inside.
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Looks like an awesome update, but I'm not seeing mention of the off-type defense bug. Was that resolved?


That was supposedly resolved in Beta 1.


Supposedly, but it wasn't. Apparently, somebody was looking at it for Beta 2...
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Nice, but when can we just download the thing? I'm dieing of anticipation!  

Anyway, where can we download the beta?
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
There's a link at the bottom of Cari's post
Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Very nice! Very noticeably faster, and a lot more playable .

Odd, though, that 2D graphics could cause so much pain - even without GPU acceleration, I wouldn't think that 2D would cause so many problems.

+ NEW: The popup for adding money to negotiations on the trade screen will now open with the value needed to make the AI accept the offer (or the total amount in your treasury if they won't accept it).


Very nice - now, what about the other direction? If I'm asking for money, I'd like it to default to the maximum the AI is willing to give me for the items currently on the table .
Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
That was supposedly resolved in Beta 1.


Yes, but that was not the case.
Just a while ago I finished a game with beta 1 installed were I as the Altarians plowed through the universe with just a few cruisers armed only with two mark II lasers each + alot of defense.

They just kept on winning, as nothing could break the defense and harm them.
I fought 3 wars (having only some 5 or 6 of theese cruisers) and only once did one of my ships actually take any damage.
Reply #18 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Not to be too obtuse here, but it looks like I can use this to get to the latest DA version without having to install SDC.

Not that I have all that much against SDC, it's just that I prefer to not have to install unnecessary programs onto my PC. I've held off installing DA basically because of this. I do have the CD for the original DA release. Will I be able to install that and then upgrade to v1.6 Beta 2 without SDC?
Reply #19 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I do have the CD for the original DA release. Will I be able to install that and then upgrade to v1.6 Beta 2 without SDC?


The 1.6 betas are intended to be placed overtop of 1.5x3, which has a number of data changes, etc, that aren't covered by the core files that are in the download here. So you should still update to 1.5x3 first (else there may be other issues created by not having done so).
Reply #20 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The 1.6 betas are intended to be placed overtop of 1.5x3, which has a number of data changes, etc, that aren't covered by the core files that are in the download here. So you should still update to 1.5x3 first (else there may be other issues created by not having done so).

Thanks, was just checking. I actually have installed SDC and was getting ready to update once v1.6 beta 2 was ready. Seems like I'm running out of excuses as to why I shouldn't just go ahead and install.   


Reply #21 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
BTW, I don't know if this is affecting anyone else but reply #6 borks up the thread. All in all it's not too bad but it might be something that the web team should address.

It seems that the text without spaces forces the width of the thread to accomodate the single word. The main effect is that the area at the top of the thread that lists your account options is shifted offscreen far to the right.

This is the area I'm talking about.

Welcome Mumblefratz (Sign Out)
My Account | Watchlist | My Posts | My Replies | Private Messages
I could give you a screen shot if necessary but it's pretty wide and hard to capture. Hopefully you see what I'm talking about.
Reply #22 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It seems that the text without spaces forces the width of the thread to accomodate the single word. The main effect is that the area at the top of the thread that lists your account options is shifted offscreen far to the right.


Added some spaces. The issue is that IE expands the page to contain it (it's not actually supposed to do that, and in FF you can see that the text just runs right on off the side of the page and the rest is completely unaffected).
Reply #23 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Very nice - now, what about the other direction? If I'm asking for money, I'd like it to default to the maximum the AI is willing to give me for the items currently on the table


It does! Goes both ways.

Great feature...I know Solver from Apolyton will be happy...
Reply #24 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Added some spaces. The issue is that IE expands the page to contain it (it's not actually supposed to do that, and in FF you can see that the text just runs right on off the side of the page and the rest is completely unaffected).


Ugh. I've played around with a bit of web design myself, and it can be a pain. IE6 is the worst offender, and I recommend everybody upgrades to IE7 or Firefox.

Also, using Standards mode would work better than Quirks (aka Transitional) mode. But that's up to the web author to implement.

And I noticed that JavaScript is used for browser sniffing for the style sheet . . .

Usually, I use the same style sheet for Opera, Netscape, and Mozilla - and I use conditional comments to sniff out IE, since IE usually doesn't play nice. I try to avoid JavaScript unless absolutely necessary, and even when I do need it, I like to have it fall back to something usable when JavaScript isn't available. Anyways, just my opinion.
Reply #25 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I just finished a game with 1.6 beta 2. Here are my findings:

- Ships become invisible if multiple on the same spot
- The gold slider in the trade window behaves strange if you have debt
- If zooming the minimap in, the trapezoid indicating the visible mainscreen doesn't display properly. It gets smaller instead of larger.