Galactic Civilizations II v0.21 is now available through Stardock Central for those who've pre-ordered the game or are TotalGaming.net members. The team has made a number of tweaks and bug fixes to this latest beta build based on tester comments.  Please give this new version a spin and let us know your thoughts.

Notes for v0.21 BETA Release

• We tweaked the "Cultural Borders" code to prevent abnormalities in the save file we received (where the borders would make odd loops within themselves, etc.).  However, this isn't a foolproof fix, and the only way to the system working flawlessly is to test it across as many saved files we can get.  So, if you're playing and the cultural lines show up in a weird pattern, please save the game and send it to scott@stardock.com go we can make further tweaks to the code.
• Some of the players were having problems when finishing a custom race (CTD when pressing the 'Done' btn). This appears to be an issue with the German version of Windows XP with SP1 installed. If you're having this problem, please check to see if there's a new Service Pack available, and if so please install it and see if that fixes the crash.  If not we'll be getting a test computer up and running with German WinXP on it to do some testing of our own.
• To any players that are using Smart Exception to send in bugs, when Smart Exception brings up a crash log to send, please be sure to fill in a detailed explanation of what lead to the crash so we can track down te bug easier.  Without that info, we're given a line of code but may not necessarily know what's wrong with it.
• When using a Custom Race, be certain to fill in all of the information (i.e., race name, homeworld name, leader name) and use as many Techs and Abilities as possible. We've found some crash bugs that may result if this is not done. These issues will be fixed for the next Beta 2 release.
• Loading a saved game from within a game may cause GalCiv 2 to crash.
• GalCiv 2 may spontanously drop you to the Windows desktop. If this happens, please email cbegle@stardock.com your debug.err file with a description of what you were doing before this occurred. Please note that since the game doesn't technically crash, SmartException will not capture any information when this occurs.

  
  Changes since v0.20 BETA -

  + Selecting "Nothing" from a Starport list will now set that planet to stop building ships.
  + Now states build time as "Never" when an item doesn't have enough funding to complete (opposed to -123456789).
  + Attacking another Ship now costs 1 movement point.
  + Enemy Transports can now invade the Player without Crashing.
  + Next and Previous buttons function correctly on the Planet Screen.
  + Build Improvements now show as 100% Opaque.
  + Fixed bug where double-clicking on unavailable tech researched it.
  + Fixed Crash when trying to save a loaded game.
  + When making a custom race, removing a Selected Tech's Prerequisite will also remove that Technology.
  + Fixed Brightness slider so it dosen't go to Pure Black and Pure White.
  + Temporarilly Removed last two Ship Design Styles from the Custom Race Appearince Tab.