Galactic Civilizations II: v1.7 goes into beta

This thread needed a post... it just didn't feel right.

Brilliant game! I discovered GalCivII recently. I updated DA to 1.7 beta 1 a couple of days ago. I love the new features and I've had no problems (except lack of sleep).
My relatively fast PC is not internet connected. I've been archiving the game files on my parents' PC (that has my stardock account) and burning them onto several CDs to get them to my PC! There were several horrible moments when I first tried installing the game when I thought the game could only be installed on a PC with an internet connection. I had to sneak in to my parents' house at 1 am and stealthily email the serial codes, but was pleasantly surprised at how quick the activation codes came back (within a few minutes).

I have a question about installing the game. I'll explain what I did first. I put the sdc files in the stardock backup folder on my PC and ran stardock. I restored the archives (I think I did GCII, DA, heightmaps, movies, tutorials and multimedia in that order - but I guess the order doesn't matter?). For 1.7 beta I downloaded all 6 archives again - I downloaded GCII beta (1.50[b].102) and DA beta (1.70[b].003). I also downloaded the other 4 archives too because their 'updated' date had changed (in line with the GCII and DA betas'). I restored the GCII beta on my PC, then the DA beta. Then when I was about to do the heightmaps I realised that the archive was the same version as my previously installed one - same goes for the other archives - so I didn't restore them.
DA says 1.70 beta 1 on the main screen. DL still says 1.50 (not beta), yet on stardock central it says:
Galactic Civilizations II [Beta] 1.50[b].102 13/6/07
Tutorials 1.0.018 19/6/07
Movies 1.0.017 19/6/07
Multimedia 1.0.045 19/6/07
Dark Avatar (Expansion Pack) 1.61.090 19/6/07
Heightmaps 1.59.014 19/6/07

Questions:
(1) Does it matter in which order the archives are restored?
(2) To update to 1.7 beta, obviously the DA 1.7 beta needs to be installed, does the GC II 1.5 beta need to be installed also? Or is this the same as the previous one?
(3) The heightmaps, tutorials, movies and multimedia archives have a later 'updated' date, but the version number is the same as the pre-1.7 archives. Do they need to be installed? Or are they the same as pre-1.7?
(4) Does it matter that in the games' main menu my DL is 1.50 and DA is 1.70[b], yet in stardock central it says: DL is 1.50[b] and DA is 1.61? (I'm quite sure that my DA is actually 1.7 because of the new features, but stardock central does not reflect this).

Thank you for listening if you have got this far! The game runs brilliantly, but I'd like to be sure I have the correct versions.

Thanks,
Nick

I should add that both sets of archives are in the backup folder on stardock central on my PC (the 1.6 and 1.7 beta). Perhaps I should remove the old ones? I wouldn't have thought so though..

I would like to say that Galactic Civilizations II Dread Lords + Dark Avatar is a masterpiece! Its depth, scope and dynamics are awesome, and visually its a treat also. Well done to the developers - and thanks!

(1) It shouldn't.

(2) I'm not 100% sure but AFAIK so long as DL is at least 1.50, that's enough for DA to work.

(3) The 'extra' modules occasionally have their version numbers updated when the game is updated (due to the inner workings of the SDC process), even though they actually haven't changed. Such is the case now.

(4) The number in the corner of the game's main menu is the one to trust. Odd though that the numbers in SDC (which it gets from the registry) weren't updated properly. Might have something to do with your process of downloading the archives then updating from them, rather than just updating directly, though.

Many thanks for your reply. Looking forward to exploring the galaxy tonight...

Always happy to receive an update form you guys

Thanks for yet more work on this game. Looking forward to the next add-on pack   

Great update. Thanks

Great, sooo where the hell do I download it?

Stardock Central... click enable pre-release versions

Please fix the beta. The game is now unplayable (as in not able to play because of way too many crashes).

Thats why they release Beta updates, got to expect a few crashes etc. Kindly send all details of CTD's etc to the bugs email address as your reporting it could enable them to fix it for the next beta.

The report email for crashes etc is [email protected]
As from the thread by Cari_Elf please include what you were doing at the time and the 'debug.err' report from the gcii folder. Screenshots and even a previous saved game (if it is within a few turns of the crash) can be zipped up and sent too.

Without these reports it makes things very difficult for the designers to iron out all the bugs and errors from the betas. Simply posting that the game crashes all the time is not going to help sort it out. Please be more specific about the nature of your issues in future.

D


The Galactic Core Forums - For all your GCII needs

I am almost sure I've fond a minor bug in the new 1.7 (or has it always been there?).
Anyway, if I open the diplomacy overview window (the one that tells me how much the aliens like me) - I see aliens I haven't met yet. I can talk to them and I can trade with them (which is a HUGE advantage). A few turns later, I meet them and they are sooo surprised to see me: Even if we made a research treaty earlier!

I seem to have some issues with fleets showing the correct shield defense. I have 3 ships in a fleet and none have shields. When I look at the fleet manager, my shield defense rating is 3.