1.6 Beta 3 will show up if you have pre-release versions checked on SDC. Its version number is 1.59[b].095 in SDC but it will show 1.6 Beta 3 in the title menu. If you are getting the error message when trying to start a metaverse game that your game will be invalid, you don't have the correct version.
1.6 Beta 3 is mostly data changes and AI tweaks.
+ Pirates event less common, somewhat less lethal
+ AI deals with Disease event better
+ Various AI tweaks
+ 3 new maps
+ Extreme Colonization more expensive
+ Visual updates to some planetary improvements
+ AI more focused on what it builds on planets (long story)
+ Some additional dialog (but no new trees) for computer players
+ AI tweaks to tech tree
+ Fixed a minor bug with the money popup in the tradewnd if you were in debt.
+ Fixed bug where the influence and morale bonuses did not show up correctly on the summary screen (from the planet screen) if there was a influence or morale bonus (respectively) on that tile.
We're still working on some optimizations and other fixes. There's a few wrinkles to iron out with the new minimap and line graph code but after that I should be able to work on adding some new features.
Also available today is a new optional module for pre-generated height maps, which is about 250 MB (before compression). If you turn down the randomness of the heightmaps, the game will use the pre-generated ones more often. This should mean a decrease in RAM usage, quicker loading times, and increased performance. Note that these are available for people who do not have Dark Avatar yet as well, with the same benefits.
If you haven't updated from 1.50x3 before now, this would be a good time to do it since you can get it from SDC now. I have been taking a lot of care to make these betas stable. If you are worried about trying a beta, you can archive your current version of GalCiv2/DarkAvatar from the File->Archive menu in SDC so that you can un-install and restore 1.50x3 if you find that you need to. If you have Windows Vista, the beta will be particularly beneficial to you as 1.6 beta 2 resolved the slowdown issue when scrolling or panning. (Windows XP users should also see better performance, but it was REALLY noticeable on Vista.)
Update:
GalCiv2: Dread Lords and Dark Avatar will both attempt to find pre-generated heightmaps for a given class (and type) of planet. If it can't find one, then it will generate one randomly. So just by downloading the heightmaps module, you will be reducing load time and the amount of memory used because the game will not have to randomly generate as many maps. The Planet Surface variety slider on the Video Tab of the Options Menu will further reduce the number of heightmaps that are used. If it is at 100%, it randomly chooses between all the heightmaps available for that class and type. If it is at 50%, it will only choose among the first half of the heightmaps available for that class and type. So you may find that just downloading the heightmaps module is enough, but if you're still having memory issues on gigantic galaxies, try turning down the Planet Surface variety.
