Loading the game with a defined theme?

Distant Worlds is a vast, pausable real-time, 4X space strategy game which models a "living galaxy" with incredible options for replayability and customizability. Experience the full depth and detail of large turn-based strategy games, but with the simplicity and ease of real-time, and on the scale of a massively-multiplayer online game. Now greatly enhanced with the new Universe release, which includes all four previous releases as well as the new Universe expansion!

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Mansen
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Loading the game with a defined theme?

Post by Mansen »

Is there a way to tell the game which theme to load up on startup? I've got a few games going with different themes and having to swap them around on the main menu is a bit superfluous.

Is there a command line option or a settings file I can batch copy/replace? :)
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Bingeling
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RE: Loading the game with a defined theme?

Post by Bingeling »

The game should autoswitch themes on loading as far as I know. I have no messed two much with themes, though.
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Mansen
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RE: Loading the game with a defined theme?

Post by Mansen »

That would still be a double load - The game would boot up using one theme and then load another (which takes an eternity) upon savegame loading.
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ehsumrell1
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RE: Loading the game with a defined theme?

Post by ehsumrell1 »

ORIGINAL: Mansen

Is there a way to tell the game which theme to load up on startup? I've got a few games going with different themes and having to swap them around on the main menu is a bit superfluous.

Is there a command line option or a settings file I can batch copy/replace? :)
No Mansen. Unfortunately you must change the theme from the main menu each time. In Universe the name of
the active theme is at the top of the screen for convenience of what is active. The latest theme used is
listed (unless an update has occurred which will change everything to default settings). Savegames are
not cross-compatible with mods/themes due to potential conflicts.
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Mansen
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RE: Loading the game with a defined theme?

Post by Mansen »

Not giving up that easily - The theme choice has to be kept somewhere since it remembers the last one used and automatically loads that one up.

Sure would help if the configuration file was plaintext though - Doesn't seem to be kept in the regedit database either. Onward to stubbornness!
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ehsumrell1
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RE: Loading the game with a defined theme?

Post by ehsumrell1 »

ORIGINAL: Mansen

Not giving up that easily - The theme choice has to be kept somewhere since it remembers the last one used and automatically loads that one up.
My opinion on this Mansen is that Elliot uses the savegame format in some form to have the game
"remember" the theme state at game exit. This way you could have say 4 different themes, as an
example, and 4 savegames corresponding to those themes. This way you don't load a Star Wars theme
savegame and you get Babylon 5 ships from a Babylon 5 theme that was loaded last. Did I say that
where it made sense? Hope so!
[:)]
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Mansen
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RE: Loading the game with a defined theme?

Post by Mansen »

Oh I totally get the decision to change themes on load - But I still want to be able to save some time by being able to choose the theme when I start the game.

I'll find it eventually - Even if I have to play around with batch scripts [8D]
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Darkspire
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RE: Loading the game with a defined theme?

Post by Darkspire »

ORIGINAL: Mansen

Oh I totally get the decision to change themes on load - But I still want to be able to save some time by being able to choose the theme when I start the game.

I'll find it eventually - Even if I have to play around with batch scripts [8D]

What do you do if a theme goes wonky?

You delete the defaultOptions file in the apps folder, so logic would suggest that file is holding the information for the current theme being used, if you delete that file the theme and options are set to default, so you are back to a vanilla theme.

So if you change your theme to one of the four, make a backup of the defaultOptions file in a zip, name the zip theme1.zip and then continue working through till you have four defaultOptions files all you would need to do is drop the correct file in the current version folder and DW should then load that theme at game start.

It is also logical to be very careful when doing this, if the game version changes you will have to do it again if the new version creates a new version folder, you should also make sure that you do not change the in game options.

All theoretical but that would be where I would start looking to get the result you want.

Darkspire
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