Beta 4B arrives..

Lots of tweaks and fixes

from GalCiv2 Forums

We got the new beta up tonight.  Lots of tweaks and changes.  Here's what we got in this week:

Notes for v0.77 BETA Release
+ SAVED GAMES FROM PREVIOUS BETAS WON'T WORK
+ New Planetary Approval system (completely new) will need more play testing.
+ New Computer AI relations evaluation system.
+ Several crash and memory leak issues resolved
+ AI now gets rid of older ships.
+ New planetary improvement (requires Planetary Defense) that enables ships in orbit to defend as a fleet
+ Human diplomacy advantage reduced
+ made winbink disable anti-aliasing for the bink movies, which should increase the framerate
+ achievementwnd
+ more support for tooltips
+ build queue in planetwnd is now clickable again changed it so that the
+ default value (if there isn't one specified in the
race config) is neutral.
+ added alignment values to RaceConfig.xml saved planet focus in save
+ game added code to make it not cancel ship destinations if a
+ constructor of the same race reaches a resource first
+ fixed crash in calculating planet defection string fixed a crash in
+ the 3D engine caused by a bug in the code that loads amodel.
+ fixed crash in where a null fleet was trying to set a destination
+ added default definition for custom star system so that custom races
+ don't get random systems, they get one comparable to other races.
+ check for tech victory now uses correct tech; tech victory is now possible.
+ made it so that if your social queue is empty, the planet list entry shows the word Nothing
+ fixed bug where the starport's rallypoint wasn't showing up after setting it
+ made it so that ESC will close options menu added ring size info to
+ custom planet defs tweaked tooltips to resize if they would otherwise cut off text.
+ made tradescreen update as you move slider for money or influence
+ fixed bug where money wasn't being returned to the right list, which should fix crashes as well
+ made tooltips slower to come up
+ fixed bug where AI designed ships show up in the tech complete screen
+ I believe that I've fixed the bug where two starbases could harvest the same resource
+ fixed bug where technology rate was not being saved and loaded added
+ code that should keep newly designed ship designs from losing their tech reqs when saved and restored
+ moved the user designed ship designs + ship configs to the My Documents folder
+ fixed bug where homeworld variable wasn't being saved fixed the strings on the stacked ship list fixed the tint colors on he foreign
+ treaties wnd color legend fixed grammar error in description of earth
+ as homeworld added code to fix broken trade routes; if a mini
+ freighter gets knocked off course, it will reset itself, but it may take a turn before it gives up and resets.
+ Tool tip pop up for planetary approval and planetary improvements.
+ New tool tip system to make it easier to have tool tips for non-buttons to give users more info
+ First Colony event not human Specific Anymore Torian Movies into Game
+ (for Bink Technology Testing) Displaying the Next Upgradable Planet
+ Tile before you have the Tech Fixed Hardpoints on Huge Human ships
+ (Had to All Weapon and Propulsion
points to prevent oddities when auto-placing a component)
+ Propoganda affecting Approval
+ All Trade Goods show up and are Tradable in the Negotiation Screen
+ Hooked-Up Xeno Farm and Research Acadamy to Upgrade List Change Back
+ Rallypoint Cursor when Clicking away from the Map Screen (or
rightclicking while in that mode)
+ Fixed Focus BG so it wasn't clickable
+ Can't offer to go to war on Negotiation Screen if you have less than
+ 2/3
senate control
+ Clicking on Main Interface buttons close already open windows
+ Added CanUpgrade() functions to improvement records.  These functions will determine whether or not a given improvement can upgrade another improvement by walking back up the upgrade path.  I haven’t checked in my code that *uses* these functions (waiting until after this beta release), but they do work so if you have a need for this functionality, they will work as advertised.
+ Fixed a memory leak in IncrementImprovementBuilding().
+ Super Projects and Galactic Achievements are now assigned special IDs by the game; the SpecialID value in PlanetImprovements.xml is only honored for Trade Goods.
+ Implemented the UP Headquarters improvement.
+ Checked Cari’s fix for the crash that happens when you open the Pick Your Race screen but don’t have a custom race defined on your install.
+ Implemented the Hyperion Shipyard and Secret Police Center improvements.
+ In the course of implementing those improvements, I discovered some memory leaks resulting from unreleased planet improvements, so I took a detour to fix those.
+ In the course of fixing those memory leaks, I discovered some problems related to buying and upgrading improvements.
+ In the course of fixing those buying and upgrading issues, I discovered some problems related to the saving and restoring of upgrades.
+ Your military power now takes into account the hitpoints on your ships.
+ Mini freighters were sometimes set by the AI to have a new course which could lock up the game.
+ Implemented Play button to watch ships after full battle is finished
+ Added prompt to switch government type when new government type is
available
+ Smarter ship movement in full battles
+ Fixed bug where explosion would not appear on map after full battle
+ Fixed crash when locking a slider in Economy window Fixed a bug where
+ the number of moves left after a full battle was
lost
+ Fixed bug where damage would not show on a ship after reloading a
saved game
+ Added option for showing fleet battles only if both sides of the
battle are fleets
+ Fixed bug in fleet battles where damage on the ship icons was not in
synch with the action on-screen
+ Fixed several ALT+Tab related crashes
+ Fixed a bug where small ships would sometimes overlap in a fleet
battle
+ Made smoother transitions from place to place for top-down cameras in
full battles
+ Fixed a bug where freighters that were destroyed show up in trade
routes as blown apart ships
+ Fixed a bug where the mini-map zoom was not reset after starting or
loading a new game
+ Added an option for controlling the Edge Scrolling speed

 

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Next week: United Planets, Military Governors, and more!

12,337 views 17 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

BTW, if you have any problems downloading, your best bet is to use the california server:

From Stardock Central:

Tools->Settings->Internet->California.

Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Your list got garbled up, some fixes/additions are on the same line, others are split over two... here's a new copy

Easier (for me, anyway) to follow...

Oh.. and KICKASS job everybody.

Notes for v0.77 BETA Release
+ SAVED GAMES FROM PREVIOUS BETAS WON'T WORK
+ New Planetary Approval system (completely new) will need more play testing.
+ New Computer AI relations evaluation system.
+ Several crash and memory leak issues resolved
+ AI now gets rid of older ships.
+ New planetary improvement (requires Planetary Defense) that enables ships in orbit to defend as a fleet
+ Human diplomacy advantage reduced
+ made winbink disable anti-aliasing for the bink movies, which should increase the framerate
+ achievementwnd
+ more support for tooltips
+ build queue in planetwnd is now clickable again
+ changed it so that the default value (if there isn't one specified in the race config) is neutral.
+ added alignment values to RaceConfig.xml
+ saved planet focus in save game
+ added code to make it not cancel ship destinations if a constructor of the same race reaches a resource first
+ fixed crash in calculating planet defection string
+ fixed a crash in the 3D engine caused by a bug in the code that loads a model.
+ fixed crash in where a null fleet was trying to set a destination
+ added default definition for custom star system so that custom races don't get random systems, they get one comparable to other races.
+ check for tech victory now uses correct tech; tech victory is now possible.
+ made it so that if your social queue is empty, the planet list entry shows the word Nothing
+ fixed bug where the starport's rallypoint wasn't showing up after setting it
+ made it so that ESC will close options menu
+ added ring size info to custom planet defs
+ tweaked tooltips to resize if they would otherwise cut off text.
+ made tradescreen update as you move slider for money or influence
+ fixed bug where money wasn't being returned to the right list, which should fix crashes as well
+ made tooltips slower to come up
+ fixed bug where AI designed ships show up in the tech complete screen
+ I believe that I've fixed the bug where two starbases could harvest the same resource
+ fixed bug where technology rate was not being saved and loaded
+ added code that should keep newly designed ship designs from losing their tech reqs when saved and restored
+ moved the user designed ship designs + ship configs to the My Documents folder
+ fixed bug where homeworld variable wasn't being saved
+ fixed the strings on the stacked ship list
+ fixed the tint colors on he foreign treaties wnd color legend
+ fixed grammar error in description of earth
+ as homeworld added code to fix broken trade routes; if a mini freighter gets knocked off course, it will reset itself, but it may take a turn before it gives up and resets.
+ Tool tip pop up for planetary approval and planetary improvements.
+ New tool tip system to make it easier to have tool tips for non-buttons to give users more info
+ First Colony event not human Specific Anymore
+ Torian Movies into Game (for Bink Technology Testing)
+ Displaying the Next Upgradable Planet Tile before you have the Tech
+ Fixed Hardpoints on Huge Human ships
+ (Had to All Weapon and Propulsion points to prevent oddities when auto-placing a component)
+ Propoganda affecting Approval
+ All Trade Goods show up and are Tradable in the Negotiation Screen
+ Hooked-Up Xeno Farm and Research Acadamy to Upgrade List
+ Change Back Rallypoint Cursor when Clicking away from the Map Screen (or right clicking while in that mode)
+ Fixed Focus BG so it wasn't clickable
+ Can't offer to go to war on Negotiation Screen if you have less than 2/3 senate control
+ Clicking on Main Interface buttons close already open windows
+ Added CanUpgrade() functions to improvement records. These functions will determine whether or not a given improvement can upgrade another improvement by walking back up the upgrade path. I haven’t checked in my code that *uses* these functions (waiting until after this beta release), but they do work so if you have a need for this functionality, they will work as advertised.
+ Fixed a memory leak in IncrementImprovementBuilding().
+ Super Projects and Galactic Achievements are now assigned special IDs by the game; the SpecialID value in PlanetImprovements.xml is only honored for Trade Goods.
+ Implemented the UP Headquarters improvement.
+ Checked Cari’s fix for the crash that happens when you open the Pick Your Race screen but don’t have a custom race defined on your install.
+ Implemented the Hyperion Shipyard and Secret Police Center improvements.
+ In the course of implementing those improvements, I discovered some memory leaks resulting from unreleased planet improvements, so I took a detour to fix those.
+ In the course of fixing those memory leaks, I discovered some problems related to buying and upgrading improvements.
+ In the course of fixing those buying and upgrading issues, I discovered some problems related to the saving and restoring of upgrades.
+ Your military power now takes into account the hitpoints on your ships.
+ Mini freighters were sometimes set by the AI to have a new course which could lock up the game.
+ Implemented Play button to watch ships after full battle is finished
+ Added prompt to switch government type when new government type is available
+ Smarter ship movement in full battles
+ Fixed bug where explosion would not appear on map after full battle
+ Fixed crash when locking a slider in Economy window
+ Fixed a bug where the number of moves left after a full battle was lost
+ Fixed bug where damage would not show on a ship after reloading a saved game
+ Added option for showing fleet battles only if both sides of the battle are fleets
+ Fixed bug in fleet battles where damage on the ship icons was not in synch with the action on-screen
+ Fixed several ALT+Tab related crashes
+ Fixed a bug where small ships would sometimes overlap in a fleet battle
+ Made smoother transitions from place to place for top-down cameras in full battles
+ Fixed a bug where freighters that were destroyed show up in trade routes as blown apart ships
+ Fixed a bug where the mini-map zoom was not reset after starting or loading a new game
+ Added an option for controlling the Edge Scrolling speed
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
I just downloaded 0.77[b].008 (and 0.77[b[.009) and verfied that the "activation" problem is fixed, I can again start from the shortcut. Thanks!
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The alt-tab crashes that you mention are gone for me also. Nice job! I won't have to run in a window anymore
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
I loved how after I had reinstalled to the new release and was in the process of installing the Multimedia, was I asked if I wanted to upgrade to 0.77.009
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
It also seems that you've fixed the bug where research rates weren't being restored over a save/restore. I saved a game where I had 10 weeks left to research a tech, and after reloading it was still 10 weeks. On previous betas it was always much longer.
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
Seems the all-important metaverse logging code did NOT get into this build. So those of us having the problem are still stuck with no means of finding the cause....
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
The Alt-Esc issues are better but not gone.  You will still get them under some circustmances.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
....nevermind

(edited out)
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
The Alt-Esc issues are better but not gone. You will still get them under some circustmances.


I see what you mean - Alt-Esc worked for me 4 or 5 times, but just now gave me the "Invalid call" popup when I tried to restore the window.
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
Seems the all-important metaverse logging code did NOT get into this build. So those of us having the problem are still stuck with no means of finding the cause....


Hmmm...after the latest build my login problems to the metaverse got resolved (although I can't say for sure whether it was just a coincidence).

I was able to login to start a metaverse game. Saved it and reloaded with everything seemingly saved properly. I was able to finish the game with the cultural win victory screen successfully coming up. The metaverse screen came up and I submitted. The login took about 15-20 seconds and the submission took another 5-10 seconds. The game successfully submitted.

kryo did you get the SECOND build from last night? (showed up very late last night)
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
I'm still having problems with the metaverse, can't get logged in. I'm on the .009 build.
Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top
kryo did you get the SECOND build from last night? (showed up very late last night)


It's the same for me on both builds. No luck and no logging.

I might try wiping and reinstalling yet again tonight, just for kicks. Maybe it'll make a difference.
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
I uninstalled 4a before installing 4b .008, but installed .009 over .008.
Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top
I don't know what to say guys. I couldn't log in to metaverse with .008, but as soon as I upgraded to .009, I could log in with no problems. I never uninstalled a GC2 build yet. I've always just upgraded to new build. I've done nothing else at my end. It would be my guess that it has to be something at the other end that changed.
Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top
Argh, I posted a thread about a fix for the meta problem that I finally discovered, but it doesn't show up on the forum index!
Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top
The Metaverse stuff is still pretty early on.  Heck, I can't logon either.