1.1.0.9 Public Beta Update Available
Moderator: MOD_DW2
1.1.0.9 Public Beta Update Available
Hi everyone,
Please try this new beta and let us know if it helps your game.
To facilitate frequent beta iterations as needed, this beta is only available for now on Steam and GOG. All Matrix customers also have a free Steam key available (through your My Page) which can be activated if desired to install DW2 via Steam and test this Beta there.
On Steam, you can switch to it by going to Distant Worlds 2 in your Steam Library, right-clicking on it, choosing Properties -> Betas -> then choosing "beta - v.1.1.0.9" from the drop-down list, and allowing Steam to update your game. If it updates correctly, you should see 1.1.0.9 listed as your version in-game on the bottom right.
On GOG, you can switch to it by going to Distant Worlds 2 in your GOG Library, selecting Distant Worlds 2, then clicking on the button next to "Play" that looks like two horizontal lines with small offset circles, choosing Manage Installation -> Configure then picking "Beta - v1.1.0.9" from the Beta channels drop-down list and allowing GOG to update.
As a reminder, DW2 version 1.0.5.0 and later requires .Net 6.0. It should automatically be installed by both GOG Galaxy and Steam clients. However, If it fails or the game doesn't run. You can download and install IT from here: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/down ... -installer
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you still experience crashes with 1.0.6.2 or later, especially crashes in battle, please try the new DXVK rendering option in the game settings. This can be found under "Rendering Mode", which can be switched from DirectX 11 to DXVK. This will likely resolve many issues caused by driver bugs or incompatibilities. If you try this setting and the game does not launch, please note the command line option below to switch back to DirectX 11. Integrated new command line option to use DirectX11, which resets any registry settings to use DXVK. To use add /use-dx11 as a command-line argument to DistantWorlds2.exe
Steam workshop integration and support will only be available if using the latest public beta build.
Changes in 1.1.0.9 [February 23rd, 2023]:
CRASH FIXES
- fixed crash that sometimes occurs when setting CPU processor affinity on single-core computers
- fixed rare crash when ship attacks target
- fixed rare crash when ship fires weapons at enemy target
- fixed rare crash when repairing ship damage
- fixed rare crash when changing empire relation
AI IMPROVEMENTS
- now use Race.PreferredWeaponComponentIds for more targeted research
- more focused on a single weapon branch per type (close-in, stand-off, etc)
- slightly increased effect of galaxy aggression level so that empires more likely to declare war, etc
- depending on game difficulty level, ensure have antagonistic races next to player to increase tensions
MODDING
- added new user-customizable Mod Profiles to allow saving and reloading a collection of ordered mods
- multiple profiles will allow for different configurations of enabled mods
UI IMPROVEMENTS
- when have empty Colony Ship selected, can now choose which colonist race to load when right-click on colony for popup menu mission options (as long as population for race is above minimum threshold of 500 million)
- now properly reset cached values for resources mined and resources known in Known Resources list when load or start new game
- fixed Known Resources list being blank when open by clicking on resource in Selection Panel and current filter settings exclude the selected resource
- added filter option 'Distance from selected item or Capital' to Dangerous Locations list
- fixed List callout lines sometimes pointing to wrong location
- extended callout lines to most lists in Control Center (troops, characters, planetary facilities, artifacts, special locations, etc)
- fixed Weapons Report screen sometimes being blank
- added Race Suitability to each race hovertip in Population screen (like Pop Policy screen)
- fixed faulty text formatting in facility tooltip in Troop Ground Report screen
- now remember Free-Form camera view when loading a game
RESOURCE LOGISTICS
- improved mining ship target selection so that prioritizes missing critical resources even when mining target is already queued to build a mining station
SHIP BEHAVIOR
- changed default civilian ship tactics to Engage When Attacked (previously was Do Not Engage) so that will fire back at attackers
- fixed ships sometimes getting stuck in constrained collision avoidance situations
- fixed ships sometimes not clearing missions when mission target is destroyed
- fixed ships sometimes not being able to fire at creatures when creature has strayed outside location
FLEET BEHAVIOR
- fixed Fuel Tankers sometimes cancelling mission when jumping with fleet
PIRATES
- fixed bug where pirate factions were acquiring tech too quickly and thus had too much tech available for espionage
- fixed bug where pirate factions would sometimes generate many scientists resulting in too many scientists being gained by empires that destroyed pirate bases
SHIP DESIGN
- added extra general component bays to Troop Transport hulls to ensure sufficient invasion fleet range (only available when starting a new game)
- increased priority of Damage Control components when auto-designing spaceports
COMPATIBILITY
- added startup warning when attempt to run DW2 on video cards with inadequate specs (DirectX-11 support required)
- reverted Display Mode selection to include refresh rate
OTHER
- fixed research stations and resort bases sometimes not able to be built using construction action buttons (under Selection Panel) when research or scenery bonuses at location come from facilities or ruins
- fixed offset galaxy view when locked on to hyperjumping ship
Changes in 1.1.0.7 [February 16th, 2023]:
CRASH FIXES
- fixed crash when removing disabled ships from fleets
- fixed crash when rendering Galactopedia article for alien race with missing description
- fixed crash when fleet evaluates whether to attack a target
STARTING NEW GAMES
- in Start New Game screen now allow a mix of both auto-generated and manually-specified other empires
GAME DIFFICULTY
- increased difficulty level factors
- AI empires no longer pay research project initiation costs when difficulty level is normal or higher
- AI empires require progressively less research funding at higher difficulty levels (cheaper to fully fund research)
MODDING
- mods are now enabled and applied when exit the mod screen (no need to restart the game)
- now allow overriding GameEvents.xml by name (easier to include in mods)
- GraphicsSettings.xml files (Galaxy, System and Location) can now be included in mods and will override default files in base game
- improved mod support for ship components and research projects (allow non-sequential Id values)
- mod descriptions now support simple markup for text formatting
GENERAL UI IMPROVEMENTS
- added new cycling keys for idle ships and fleets: J for next idle construction ship (shift-J for previous), Z for next idle exploration ship (shift-Z for previous), N for next idle military ship (shift-N for previous), H for next idle fleet (shift-H for previous)
- changed Control Center list item sort options: 'Distance from Spaceport' is now 'Distance from Selected Item or Capital,' meaning distance from currently selected item in Selection Panel, or from empire capital if nothing is selected
- hovered Control Center list items now have callout line leading from list item to position of item in galaxy
- added fleets of own empire to system-level view summary (previously fleets were only shown in galaxy-level summary view)
- tooltips for each race in Colony Population Policy screen now also shows their suitability for that colony
- extended Escape keypress (close screen) to include File Load/Save dialog, Galactopedia and Colony Detail screen
- added colored border to Terraforming Facility image in Planetary Facilities List when colony has reached maximum terraforming level (better visibility and indication that facility should be dismantled)
- reduced items in Display Mode list (Game Settings screen) to one item per resolution (exclude refresh rate)
- in Key Mappings screen fixed key mappings incorrectly displaying previous unapplied values when click Cancel button and then re-enter screen
- expanded message log is now properly closed when view Ship Design (previously left in half-expanded state)
SHIP DESIGN UI IMPROVEMENTS
- added extra buttons to Design List screen: Mark Selected as Auto/Manual Hull Upgrade, Mark Selected as Auto/Manual Retrofit, Mark Selected as Active/Obsolete. All of these buttons can operate on multiple selected designs at once
- added new filter to Designs List screen: Manual Upgrade Designs
- can now edit a ship or base design when it has been previously used, as long as there are no current ships or bases for the design
- initial name for manually created ship designs now uses default faction design names (instead of 'New Destroyer', 'New Mining Station', etc)
- altered crew capacity display in summary in Ship Design screen: now show 'used/capacity' instead of 'capacity/used'
- in the Ship Design screen, right-clicking on empty space in the design view now deselects the active component in the Available Components list
- in the Ship Design screen, shift-clicking on an available component will now add the component to the first matching empty bay (same type and within size limits)
- ensure Save Designs process excludes deleted designs
- improved Load Designs process to avoid duplicate designs when are equivalent to existing designs (same name, hull and components)
SHIP AND FLEET UI IMPROVEMENTS
- in Military Ships list, filters for 'Ships in a Fleet' and 'Ships Not in a Fleet' now include ships under construction
- added Stop action button under Selection Panel when fleet selected
- added rebindable keyboard shortcut for Stop action for ships and fleets. No key assigned by default, but can assign in Key Mappings screen
RESEARCH UI IMPROVEMENTS
- in Research screen can now shift-click to move research projects to top or bottom of queue
- no longer need to press shortcut key twice to open Research screen for first time in a game session
TROOP UI IMPROVEMENTS
- added new filter to Troops List: At Selected Location. This shows only the troops at the currently selected colony or ship, allowing you to easily shift-click to select multiple troop units and make changes to them all (e.g. garrison/ungarrison). Double-clicking a troop unit in the Selection Panel will automatically open the Troops List with this new filter enabled, and auto-select all the troops at the location
- can now multi-select troops in the Colony Detail screen and then use Garrison/Ungarrison or Disband action buttons for all selected troops (shift-click for range selection, ctrl-click to add/remove single troops to selection)
CAMERA MODE IMPROVEMENTS
- added new Free Form camera mode: can change camera elevation (as well as rotation) by moving mouse forward/back while holding down middle mouse button. Select this camera mode from the Change View button at bottom-right of screen, or use keyboard shortcut 'Tab'
- locking camera view on hyperjumping ship no longer shakes
CHARACTERS
- automated character handling will now dismiss any characters with poor skills, not just spies
- further reduced chance of negative character traits
SHIP MISSIONS
- assigning Refuel/Repair/Retrofit missions to ships no longer changes them to manually-controlled (but manually assigning any other mission types will still switch them to manually controlled)
ADVISOR
- reduced frequency of advisor messages for Building Planetary Facilities
MUSIC
- fixed bursts of music sometimes playing even when volume is zero
Changes in 1.1.0.6 [February 9th, 2023]:
CRASH FIXES
- fixed crash when determining empire stock levels
- fixed crash when splitting empire during disruptive leadership change
- fixed crash when ships is firing weapons at targets
- fixed crash when determining ship construction amounts
- fixed crash when empire updates its known visible data
CHARACTERS
- fixed bug where spies sometimes could not assign intelligence missions (missing mission types) due to faulty mod
- reduced chance of some negative character traits (DoubleAgent for Spies, Corrupt for Leaders)
SHIP DESIGN
- in Ship Design screen, properly exclude obsolete designs when evaluating 'Other Designs That Upgrade To This Design' (unless specific retrofit design)
- added 'All Inactive' filter to Designs List screen
CAMERA MODES
- fixed issues with camera movement in top-down view mode: initial game start zoom-in, 'Show Me' message buttons
- allow slightly further zoom-out in galaxy-level when in top-down view mode (allow viewing more of the galaxy)
MIGRATION
- fixed passenger ships sometimes performing repeated migration to and from same target when in empire with low number of colonies
CONSTRUCTION
- improved display of construction/repair progress percentage in tooltip for items in construction yards in Selection Panel - now include components under repair to give more accurate percentage in these cases
- ensure properly take ownership of all ships in construction yards (or destroy if cannot) when invade and conquer enemy colony
MODDING
- upgraded layout and display of Mods screen
UI IMPROVEMENTS
- added option to right-click popup menu to retrofit or retire ships at colonies of own empire
OTHER
- increased mesh LOD threshold when determining whether to render component meshes, so that ships and bases with large exterior meshes (e.g. engine pods) stay in view longer as zoom out
- fixed some issues in the data for prereqs for Star Fighters, missible bypass, missing new Monarchy palace facility
Changes in 1.1.0.3 [February 3rd, 2023]:
CRASH FIXES
- fixed crash when splitting empire during civil war
- fixed rare crash when generating a new game
- fixed crash when ship attacks target
- fixed crash when ship is hyperjumping
- fixed crash when upgrading ship design from loaded design where hull has subsequently changed
- fixed crash when calculating empire bonuses
- fixed rare crash when loading savegame
MODDING
- Distant Worlds 2 now supports Steam Workshop modding (see additional documentation in your /Manuals sub-folder for details)
- Added additional modding documentation and two modding tutorial videos on ship modding and how to organize and upload DW2 mods to Steam Workshop in the /Manuals sub-folder of your installation location
- now allow disabling base game music in favor of mod music
- eliminated requirement for modders to regenerate SHMD files when ShipHulls.xml or models change (this is now done seamlessly whenever these change)
- greatly increased the speed and stability of SHMD regeneration
SHIP DESIGNS AND RETROFITS
- upgraded ship design automation toggle to be per-hull instead of per-role (Designs List screen)
- fixed bug where sometimes could not select desired retrofit path for a ship design in Ship Design screen
- when a spaceport is selected, the Retrofit action button now allows retrofitting across spaceport sizes (small, medium, large) when there are active designs for other size roles. This is in addition to the existing behavior where right-clicking on the spaceport will allow retrofitting to any active spaceport design of any size
- in Retrofit Path panel in Ship Design screen, ensure that upgrade design shown in brackets after 'Latest Design for Hull', 'Latest Design for Role' and 'Latest Design for Largest Hull for Role' is actually buildable for your empire (have required hull and components)
- in Retrofit Path panel in Ship Design screen, ensure that 'Other Designs That Upgrade To This Design' properly accounts for whether the current design is actually buildable for your empire (have required hull and components)
- added automation button to top of Ship Designs List screen, indicating current Policy ship design automation setting and allowing toggling between automated and manually controlled
- fixed retrofit action button sometimes incorrectly showing all active designs when should be only showing single design from retrofit path
- now include hull names with designs listed in 'Other Designs That Upgrade To This Design' panel in Ship Design screen
FLEETS AND FLEET TEMPLATES
- ensure do not get double the number of expected ships in new fleet when build from Fleet Template List screen using option at 'Any construction yards in empire' (when selected fleet template has specific designs)
- ensure Form At and Build At buttons in Fleet Template List screen have correct disabled status when first enter screen but have not yet selected a fleet template
- now exclude consideration of ship maintenance costs when building ships for new fleets when building via the Fleet Template screen (ensures always built as long as have money and resources)
- fixed automated invasion fleets sometimes stuck waiting indefinitely for sufficient invasion troops due to flawed assessment of assault pod range
BUILD ORDER SCREEN
- now show hull name after design name
- default selection for each role to latest design for largest hull for role
RESOURCES AND FREIGHTER LOGISTICS
- altered automated resource stock levels for bases not at colonies: no longer have fuel stock level unless mine fuel at location; note that this means most bases will depend on energy collection for their defenses/weapons, we plan to adjust this further in the future
- improved freighter resource fulfillment by further increasing amount fulfilled over stock level
LEADERSHIP CHANGES
- reduced chance of colony rebellions during disruptive leadership changes (greatly reduced chance for rebellion at empire capital)
- added small chance of civil war and empire split when have highly disruptive leadership change
BONUSES
- ensure include empire bonuses from colonies themselves when calculating empire bonuses (e.g. bonus for planet or moon)
- ensure empire bonuses from colony races are always proportioned based on amount of race in empire
EXPLORATION
- fixed some systems not being fully explored when have deeply hidden items
COLONIZATION AND MIGRATION
- further tweaked migration to ensure that always have migration sources, even when all colonies are considered favorable (in this case large colonies will be selected as migration sources)
PLANETARY FACILITIES
- additional check when approving advisor message to build new planetary facility: ensure not overbuilding unique empire or galaxy wonder
UI IMPROVEMENTS
- include hull name of design in advisor suggestion to build new base
- adjusted label width for hull bonuses in Ship Design screen
- included news messages to all other known empires when civil war occurs in an empire
DATA CHANGES
- added differing startup settings for each government type (starting tech, facilities, etc)
- fixes to various ship hull issues
- additional balance changes to missile weapons and phased blasters and beams
- balance changes to armor, shields and damage repair components
Changes in 1.1.0.0 [January 19th, 2023]:
Important Note: Ship designs are now the authoritative place for all ship upgrade paths. That means that if you specify a precise ship design in your fleet template and it has a newer design to retrofit to, the fleet template will update to that newer design as well. If you don't want this to happen, you need to specifically tell it not to do so by disabling the Auto-Upgrade setting in the fleet template..
CRASH FIXES
- fixed rare crash when ship attacks target
- fixed rare crash when drawing system badges in galaxy view
- fixed crash when reviewing empire bonuses
- fixed crash when checking whether a ship or base is under construction or repair
- fixed crash when changing empire relation
- fixed crash while evaluating current attack target
- fixed rare crash when attempting to determine amount of video memory in system
FLEET TEMPLATES
- updated FleetTemplates.xml to ensure default fleet templates use setting 'Latest Design for Largest Hull for Role'
- periodically update fleet templates so that any specific designs that have become obsolete are automatically upgraded to the next non-obsolete design in it's upgrade path. This keeps fleet templates up-to-date as new designs are created and old ones become obsolete
- added corresponding setting in fleet template dialog to enable/disable auto-update of specific designs in fleet templates
SHIP DESIGNS
- auto-generated player ship and base designs now set default Retrofit Path to 'Latest Design for Hull' when there are multiple hulls at largest size for role, i.e. preserve multiple specialized designs per role
- fixed spaceports sometimes improperly retrofitting to wrong design when evaluating whether to upgrade size (e.g. small spaceport to medium)
- fixed bug in Ship Design screen where a ship design was sometimes being incorrectly shown as upgrading to another design when upgrade path set to 'Latest design for largest hull for role'
- immediately refresh latest designs for role/hull when change design status (active/obsolete) in Designs List screen so that retrofit action button always shows proper retrofit design
- ensure "Save and Exit" button in Ship Design screen always properly indicates that design can be saved, even when components are not editable (design in use). In other words, always allow changing and saving Retrofit Path or Tactical settings for a design
FACTION DIFFERENTIATION
- implemented display of all race- and govt-specific variations in Start New Game screen, Govt screen and Galactopedia to help players understand what differences exist.
- updated Intelligence Missions article in Game Concepts section of Galactopedia
CHARACTERS
- ensure can properly view characters of own empire, even when imprisoned. However cannot interact with them (cannot assign missions, change location or dismiss)
- when character is captured, ensure clear any in progress location transfer for them
GOVERNMENT LEADER CHANGES
- increased time period between leader changes for all governments
UI IMPROVEMENTS
- ensure cannot build same planetary facility twice at same colony, even when attempt to exploit advisor messages
- fixed damaged ships still showing red background in Selection Panel even when fully repaired
OTHER
- added extra check for corrupt game settings at game startup and auto-regenerate if necessary
- tweaked race starting research projects so that can be from any tech level (not just zero)
- fixed bug where deleting files in Load/Save dialog subsequently allows starting a non-existent game using the Continue button
Changes in v1.0.9.8 [January 13th, 2023]:
This update brings many fixes and improvements across many areas of gameplay. Most significant are the changes to ship designs and fleet templates, which were implemented in response to many community requests for more fleet template and ship design customization options and which worked better with the new ship hull variations. We now allow the player to set multiple designs/hulls per role in their fleet templates and also very specific upgrade paths for every ship design. The ship design and fleet template system are now designed to fully support the ship hull concept in all respects and to allow the player to choose how strict or flexible the templates are as well in following the specified designs.
CRASH FIXES
- Fixed bug where exploration ships could sometimes get locked in endless loop attempting to explore location. This could cause predictable crashes and the appearance of save file corruption.
- Fixed crash when ship or fighter performs attack mission
- Fixed crash when drawing government bonuses
- Fixed crash when drawing research screen after discover 'Mysterious Plague'
- Fixed crash when disabled ship checks for repair at nearby yard
- Fixed rare crash when ships scan area for threats
- Fixed rare crash when loading game
- Fixed rare crash when ship assigns retrofit mission
- Fixed rare crash when repairing abandoned ship or base
- Fixed rare crash when calculating colony bonuses
TECHNICAL IMPROVEMENTS
- Upgraded to .Net 7.0, which brings some small performance improvements
- Switched to "self-contained" build. This increases the size of the DW2 executable, but means that you do not need to install .Net 7.0 separately
- Updated DXVK version 1 with the most recent changes
- Added DXVK version 2 as a new rendering option
PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS
- Improved performance (reduced micro-stuttering) especially in battle scenes where many ships are destroyed at once or many ships change empire
FLEETS AND FLEET TEMPLATES
- Improved logic when determining home bases for defend fleets (less churn)
- Altered how fleet templates work. Can now add items free-form to allow multiple items per role. Can specify items by shiphull as well as specific design and role
- This allows you to focus more on Ship Hulls instead of Roles, giving more options for specialized fleets
- Added new buttons in Fleet Template screen: allow role up/downgrading and allow trimming excess ships. Turn these off to enforce strict adherence to fleet template for ship roles/hulls/designs (e.g. Top Up Fleet button)
- Improved logic to trim excess fleet ships
- Improved how fleet template AI evaluates 'Latest Design for Largest Hull for Role' so that resolves to latest active design with largest hull (i.e. try other smaller hulls until finds active design)
- When a ship design is made obsolete but has an explicit upgrade path to a new specific design, any fleet templates that use the old specific design are now auto-upgraded to instead use the new specific design (i.e. no need to separately update the fleet template. However this auto-upgrade of fleet templates only applies to specific explicit designs, not 'Latest for Role', etc)
- Fixed wrong ships sometimes being added to fleet when generating new fleet using Form At button in Fleet Template dialog (not matching design specified in fleet template)
- Fixed various bugs with fleet templates
- Building fleet from template (Fleet Template screen) now always builds ships when not already available in empire, even when does not require specific design (e.g. Latest for Role)
- Fixed Fleet retrofit logic to align with expected retrofit designs for both fleet template and individual ship retrofit paths
SHIP DESIGN AND SHIP RETROFITS
- There are also now upgrade paths for ship designs. This will allow you to specify which design a ship or base will retrofit to. The default setting for designs will be to 'upgrade to latest design for Ship Hull' (instead of 'upgrade to latest design for Role' as it is now).
- Added Retrofit Path panel to Ship Design screen, allowing player to specify how a design should upgrade. Default retrofit path is to upgrade to the latest design for the same hull
- Reorganized layout of Ship Design screen, moving tactics and other settings buttons to right side
- Automated ship design now generates designs for each ship hull instead of for each role
- Added Ship Hull column to Designs List screen
- Altered Selection Panel display for ship design to show hull name instead of role. Same change for tooltips for fleet ships and multi-selected ships
- Changed default filtering in Designs List screen to show all active designs
- Added new design upgrade option: Latest Design for Largest Hull for Role. This is the default setting for new fleet template items
- Improved design naming for all roles and races: now using race-specific design names for military ships. Also include hull name after design name to allow easier identification in tooltips, etc
- Added new column in Ship Hull Dialog: active design count
- Fixed occasional jerky display in Ship Hull screen for some user interface scaling sizes
- Upgrade Design button now copies retrofit path settings from old design, unless old design was
retrofitting to a specific design, in which case the new design uses the default retrofit path of 'latest design for largest hull for role'
- Ship Design filter for 'State Ships' now also includes fighter designs
- Changed retrofit action button (below selection panel) to only retrofit to single design resolved from retrofit path defined for current design. To instead see and retrofit to any active design for the role, you can now right-click the ship or base for a popup menu with a complete set of retrofit options
AI IMPROVEMENTS
- Automated military ships now properly cancel guard mission when target changes empire
- Fixed wrong ship hull names for additional items in description of Build Ships advisor suggestion
- When acquire abandoned ships or bases now automatically mark acquired design for ship or base as obsolete so that unused for any other construction or retrofits
INTELLIGENCE MISSIONS
- Added mission success chance to each mission type and target in Spy mission screen
- Indicate current research project in targets in Spy mission screen
- Rebalanced intelligence mission difficulty level so that less very low success chances
- Rebalanced intelligence mission outcomes so that less captures (more partial successes and failures instead)
DIPLOMACY
- Increased aggression and likelihood of wars, especially on higher galaxy aggression levels
RESEARCH
- Research output from colony populations now diminishes greatly for population over 100 billion. This increases importance of research stations as main source of research output
- Altered research project category for Advanced Star Fighters to Fighter Bay
CHARACTERS
- Slightly reduced typical amounts for spies and other character types (based on empire population)
- Characters picked up in escape pods now properly either join your empire (pirates) or are imprisoned
COLONIZATION
- Automated colonization logic now more willing to colonize independent colonies, even when do not have suitable population
- When a planet is colonized and thus removes orbiting bases, any troops/characters/artifacts at the removed bases (of the same empire) are now automatically transferred to the new colony
MIGRATION
- Rebalanced colony migration factors to encourage more migration
- Bonuses from secondary races in empire now applied proportionally: gain complete bonuses when race is at 50% of total population, and proportionally less when below 50%
- Further rebalancing to colony migration
DANGEROUS LOCATIONS
- Fixed bug where sometimes could not clear queued investigation of dangerous locations
MINING AND RESOURCES
- Significantly slowed mining rates for mining components
PIRATES
- Reduced number of pirate factions by about 30%
- Ensure that story-line pirate tech levels are reduced when you lower pirate strength in Start New Game screen
- Extended minimum time before pirate raids begin against a faction
INDEPENDENT COLONIES
- Lowered overall number of independent colonies when start a new game
- Independent colonies no longer invite to colonize when colony ship already assigned or beyond fuel range
FACTION DIFFERENTIATION
- Added extensive new features for better faction differentiation (much of this not visible yet until further data changes are made and additional documentation is provided)
- Implemented Leader Changes and related events for each government type
- Added migration modifier to governments
- Added explicit value for ImportanceOfOthersReputations to Races.xml (already existed for Governments.xml)
- Added government-specific leader titles (President, Prime Minister, etc)
- Added new field to both Races.xml and Governments.xml: StartingGameEventNames
- Can be used to specify Game Events that will be executed at game startup for empires with the relevant race or government type, allowing for greater differentiation between different races and governments
- Typical uses could be to provide additional tech, facilities or ships/bases for a particular race or government
UI IMPROVEMENTS
- Fixed wrong size for Ship Hull screen when UI scaling is set to Small
- Ships and bases that cannot normally assign missions to (e.g. privately owned) will now generate right-click popup menu options when have artifacts onboard that need transferring (select ship or base with artifact, right-click on destination)
- Allow rapid removal of messages when repeatedly right-click in message area
- Fixed game menu scaling incorrectly when change UI size
OTHER
- Fixed rare potential issues with resolving mission targets
- Hive ships no longer generate characters (e.g. admirals)
- Ensure abandoned repaired ships or bases are always acquired by repairer
Changes in 1.0.8.9 [December 5th, 2022]:
- fixed ShipHulls_Art.xml incorrectly being loaded when not in Art mode. This problem was most obviously seen in that new Ackdarian PreWarp games were broken through missing ShipHulls, but it also affected other games started with 1.0.8.8. We recommend starting new games with 1.0.8.9 to avoid issues related to incorrect ship hulls templates.
- fixed flag color issue when starting second game in session
Changes in 1.0.8.8 [December 2nd, 2022]:
AI IMPROVEMENTS
The AI improvements in this update, while brief in description, are the result of a lot of work and testing and should result in a significant improvement in the ability of the AI empires to keep up with and be competitive with the player. Please start a new game with 1.0.8.8 for best results.
- AI empires now more careful to maximize funding for research and colony growth to ensure full research and growth rates, thus making them more competitive with the player
- tweaked some AI research priorities
MODDING
This update includes our first in-game Mod Manager and improved modding support, which is documented below.
- added initial modding user interface to allow multi-mod loading, including priority and enable/disable
DW2 Modding currently supports the following modded items:
1. XML data files
- Mods should add their own versions of these files by appending a suffix to the filename, e.g. Races_MYMOD.xml. The file will then be loaded after the base Races.xml file, adding any new entries and overriding any existing entries that use the same RaceId value
-- All of the XML data files use this same file-naming and item-overriding approach. So you can change data in the base XML data files by using the same Id value in a modded file, e.g. OrbTypeId for OrbTypes.xml, ResearchProjectId for ResearchProjectDefinitions.xml, etc.
- All of the following XML data files can be modded:
-- ArmyTemplates.xml, Artifacts.xml, CharacterAnimations.xml, CharacterRooms.xml, ColonyEventDefinitions.xml, ComponentDefinitions.xml, CreatureTypes.xml, DesignTemplates.xml, FleetTemplates.xml, GameEvents.xml, Governments.xml, OrbTypes.xml, PlanetaryFacilityDefinitions.xml, Races.xml, ResearchProjectDefinitions.xml, Resources.xml, ShipHulls.xml, SpaceItemDefinitions.xml, TroopDefinitions.xml
-- Documentation and tools for some of the above file types can be found here: https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 9&t=380486
2. Localized game text in GameText.txt
3. Stride content bundles
- Stride bundle files built in Stride Game Studio, containing models, materials, textures, spritesheets and sound effects
--- To load bundle files they must be listed in the mod.json file (see below)
4. Music files and folders
- Standalone music files in any of the following formats: MP3, WAV, AIFF, WMA
Version 1.0.8.6 is now live as an official update to the game. You can see the update changelog here: https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 1&t=390898
Please try this new beta and let us know if it helps your game.
To facilitate frequent beta iterations as needed, this beta is only available for now on Steam and GOG. All Matrix customers also have a free Steam key available (through your My Page) which can be activated if desired to install DW2 via Steam and test this Beta there.
On Steam, you can switch to it by going to Distant Worlds 2 in your Steam Library, right-clicking on it, choosing Properties -> Betas -> then choosing "beta - v.1.1.0.9" from the drop-down list, and allowing Steam to update your game. If it updates correctly, you should see 1.1.0.9 listed as your version in-game on the bottom right.
On GOG, you can switch to it by going to Distant Worlds 2 in your GOG Library, selecting Distant Worlds 2, then clicking on the button next to "Play" that looks like two horizontal lines with small offset circles, choosing Manage Installation -> Configure then picking "Beta - v1.1.0.9" from the Beta channels drop-down list and allowing GOG to update.
As a reminder, DW2 version 1.0.5.0 and later requires .Net 6.0. It should automatically be installed by both GOG Galaxy and Steam clients. However, If it fails or the game doesn't run. You can download and install IT from here: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/down ... -installer
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you still experience crashes with 1.0.6.2 or later, especially crashes in battle, please try the new DXVK rendering option in the game settings. This can be found under "Rendering Mode", which can be switched from DirectX 11 to DXVK. This will likely resolve many issues caused by driver bugs or incompatibilities. If you try this setting and the game does not launch, please note the command line option below to switch back to DirectX 11. Integrated new command line option to use DirectX11, which resets any registry settings to use DXVK. To use add /use-dx11 as a command-line argument to DistantWorlds2.exe
Steam workshop integration and support will only be available if using the latest public beta build.
Changes in 1.1.0.9 [February 23rd, 2023]:
CRASH FIXES
- fixed crash that sometimes occurs when setting CPU processor affinity on single-core computers
- fixed rare crash when ship attacks target
- fixed rare crash when ship fires weapons at enemy target
- fixed rare crash when repairing ship damage
- fixed rare crash when changing empire relation
AI IMPROVEMENTS
- now use Race.PreferredWeaponComponentIds for more targeted research
- more focused on a single weapon branch per type (close-in, stand-off, etc)
- slightly increased effect of galaxy aggression level so that empires more likely to declare war, etc
- depending on game difficulty level, ensure have antagonistic races next to player to increase tensions
MODDING
- added new user-customizable Mod Profiles to allow saving and reloading a collection of ordered mods
- multiple profiles will allow for different configurations of enabled mods
UI IMPROVEMENTS
- when have empty Colony Ship selected, can now choose which colonist race to load when right-click on colony for popup menu mission options (as long as population for race is above minimum threshold of 500 million)
- now properly reset cached values for resources mined and resources known in Known Resources list when load or start new game
- fixed Known Resources list being blank when open by clicking on resource in Selection Panel and current filter settings exclude the selected resource
- added filter option 'Distance from selected item or Capital' to Dangerous Locations list
- fixed List callout lines sometimes pointing to wrong location
- extended callout lines to most lists in Control Center (troops, characters, planetary facilities, artifacts, special locations, etc)
- fixed Weapons Report screen sometimes being blank
- added Race Suitability to each race hovertip in Population screen (like Pop Policy screen)
- fixed faulty text formatting in facility tooltip in Troop Ground Report screen
- now remember Free-Form camera view when loading a game
RESOURCE LOGISTICS
- improved mining ship target selection so that prioritizes missing critical resources even when mining target is already queued to build a mining station
SHIP BEHAVIOR
- changed default civilian ship tactics to Engage When Attacked (previously was Do Not Engage) so that will fire back at attackers
- fixed ships sometimes getting stuck in constrained collision avoidance situations
- fixed ships sometimes not clearing missions when mission target is destroyed
- fixed ships sometimes not being able to fire at creatures when creature has strayed outside location
FLEET BEHAVIOR
- fixed Fuel Tankers sometimes cancelling mission when jumping with fleet
PIRATES
- fixed bug where pirate factions were acquiring tech too quickly and thus had too much tech available for espionage
- fixed bug where pirate factions would sometimes generate many scientists resulting in too many scientists being gained by empires that destroyed pirate bases
SHIP DESIGN
- added extra general component bays to Troop Transport hulls to ensure sufficient invasion fleet range (only available when starting a new game)
- increased priority of Damage Control components when auto-designing spaceports
COMPATIBILITY
- added startup warning when attempt to run DW2 on video cards with inadequate specs (DirectX-11 support required)
- reverted Display Mode selection to include refresh rate
OTHER
- fixed research stations and resort bases sometimes not able to be built using construction action buttons (under Selection Panel) when research or scenery bonuses at location come from facilities or ruins
- fixed offset galaxy view when locked on to hyperjumping ship
Changes in 1.1.0.7 [February 16th, 2023]:
CRASH FIXES
- fixed crash when removing disabled ships from fleets
- fixed crash when rendering Galactopedia article for alien race with missing description
- fixed crash when fleet evaluates whether to attack a target
STARTING NEW GAMES
- in Start New Game screen now allow a mix of both auto-generated and manually-specified other empires
GAME DIFFICULTY
- increased difficulty level factors
- AI empires no longer pay research project initiation costs when difficulty level is normal or higher
- AI empires require progressively less research funding at higher difficulty levels (cheaper to fully fund research)
MODDING
- mods are now enabled and applied when exit the mod screen (no need to restart the game)
- now allow overriding GameEvents.xml by name (easier to include in mods)
- GraphicsSettings.xml files (Galaxy, System and Location) can now be included in mods and will override default files in base game
- improved mod support for ship components and research projects (allow non-sequential Id values)
- mod descriptions now support simple markup for text formatting
GENERAL UI IMPROVEMENTS
- added new cycling keys for idle ships and fleets: J for next idle construction ship (shift-J for previous), Z for next idle exploration ship (shift-Z for previous), N for next idle military ship (shift-N for previous), H for next idle fleet (shift-H for previous)
- changed Control Center list item sort options: 'Distance from Spaceport' is now 'Distance from Selected Item or Capital,' meaning distance from currently selected item in Selection Panel, or from empire capital if nothing is selected
- hovered Control Center list items now have callout line leading from list item to position of item in galaxy
- added fleets of own empire to system-level view summary (previously fleets were only shown in galaxy-level summary view)
- tooltips for each race in Colony Population Policy screen now also shows their suitability for that colony
- extended Escape keypress (close screen) to include File Load/Save dialog, Galactopedia and Colony Detail screen
- added colored border to Terraforming Facility image in Planetary Facilities List when colony has reached maximum terraforming level (better visibility and indication that facility should be dismantled)
- reduced items in Display Mode list (Game Settings screen) to one item per resolution (exclude refresh rate)
- in Key Mappings screen fixed key mappings incorrectly displaying previous unapplied values when click Cancel button and then re-enter screen
- expanded message log is now properly closed when view Ship Design (previously left in half-expanded state)
SHIP DESIGN UI IMPROVEMENTS
- added extra buttons to Design List screen: Mark Selected as Auto/Manual Hull Upgrade, Mark Selected as Auto/Manual Retrofit, Mark Selected as Active/Obsolete. All of these buttons can operate on multiple selected designs at once
- added new filter to Designs List screen: Manual Upgrade Designs
- can now edit a ship or base design when it has been previously used, as long as there are no current ships or bases for the design
- initial name for manually created ship designs now uses default faction design names (instead of 'New Destroyer', 'New Mining Station', etc)
- altered crew capacity display in summary in Ship Design screen: now show 'used/capacity' instead of 'capacity/used'
- in the Ship Design screen, right-clicking on empty space in the design view now deselects the active component in the Available Components list
- in the Ship Design screen, shift-clicking on an available component will now add the component to the first matching empty bay (same type and within size limits)
- ensure Save Designs process excludes deleted designs
- improved Load Designs process to avoid duplicate designs when are equivalent to existing designs (same name, hull and components)
SHIP AND FLEET UI IMPROVEMENTS
- in Military Ships list, filters for 'Ships in a Fleet' and 'Ships Not in a Fleet' now include ships under construction
- added Stop action button under Selection Panel when fleet selected
- added rebindable keyboard shortcut for Stop action for ships and fleets. No key assigned by default, but can assign in Key Mappings screen
RESEARCH UI IMPROVEMENTS
- in Research screen can now shift-click to move research projects to top or bottom of queue
- no longer need to press shortcut key twice to open Research screen for first time in a game session
TROOP UI IMPROVEMENTS
- added new filter to Troops List: At Selected Location. This shows only the troops at the currently selected colony or ship, allowing you to easily shift-click to select multiple troop units and make changes to them all (e.g. garrison/ungarrison). Double-clicking a troop unit in the Selection Panel will automatically open the Troops List with this new filter enabled, and auto-select all the troops at the location
- can now multi-select troops in the Colony Detail screen and then use Garrison/Ungarrison or Disband action buttons for all selected troops (shift-click for range selection, ctrl-click to add/remove single troops to selection)
CAMERA MODE IMPROVEMENTS
- added new Free Form camera mode: can change camera elevation (as well as rotation) by moving mouse forward/back while holding down middle mouse button. Select this camera mode from the Change View button at bottom-right of screen, or use keyboard shortcut 'Tab'
- locking camera view on hyperjumping ship no longer shakes
CHARACTERS
- automated character handling will now dismiss any characters with poor skills, not just spies
- further reduced chance of negative character traits
SHIP MISSIONS
- assigning Refuel/Repair/Retrofit missions to ships no longer changes them to manually-controlled (but manually assigning any other mission types will still switch them to manually controlled)
ADVISOR
- reduced frequency of advisor messages for Building Planetary Facilities
MUSIC
- fixed bursts of music sometimes playing even when volume is zero
Changes in 1.1.0.6 [February 9th, 2023]:
CRASH FIXES
- fixed crash when determining empire stock levels
- fixed crash when splitting empire during disruptive leadership change
- fixed crash when ships is firing weapons at targets
- fixed crash when determining ship construction amounts
- fixed crash when empire updates its known visible data
CHARACTERS
- fixed bug where spies sometimes could not assign intelligence missions (missing mission types) due to faulty mod
- reduced chance of some negative character traits (DoubleAgent for Spies, Corrupt for Leaders)
SHIP DESIGN
- in Ship Design screen, properly exclude obsolete designs when evaluating 'Other Designs That Upgrade To This Design' (unless specific retrofit design)
- added 'All Inactive' filter to Designs List screen
CAMERA MODES
- fixed issues with camera movement in top-down view mode: initial game start zoom-in, 'Show Me' message buttons
- allow slightly further zoom-out in galaxy-level when in top-down view mode (allow viewing more of the galaxy)
MIGRATION
- fixed passenger ships sometimes performing repeated migration to and from same target when in empire with low number of colonies
CONSTRUCTION
- improved display of construction/repair progress percentage in tooltip for items in construction yards in Selection Panel - now include components under repair to give more accurate percentage in these cases
- ensure properly take ownership of all ships in construction yards (or destroy if cannot) when invade and conquer enemy colony
MODDING
- upgraded layout and display of Mods screen
UI IMPROVEMENTS
- added option to right-click popup menu to retrofit or retire ships at colonies of own empire
OTHER
- increased mesh LOD threshold when determining whether to render component meshes, so that ships and bases with large exterior meshes (e.g. engine pods) stay in view longer as zoom out
- fixed some issues in the data for prereqs for Star Fighters, missible bypass, missing new Monarchy palace facility
Changes in 1.1.0.3 [February 3rd, 2023]:
CRASH FIXES
- fixed crash when splitting empire during civil war
- fixed rare crash when generating a new game
- fixed crash when ship attacks target
- fixed crash when ship is hyperjumping
- fixed crash when upgrading ship design from loaded design where hull has subsequently changed
- fixed crash when calculating empire bonuses
- fixed rare crash when loading savegame
MODDING
- Distant Worlds 2 now supports Steam Workshop modding (see additional documentation in your /Manuals sub-folder for details)
- Added additional modding documentation and two modding tutorial videos on ship modding and how to organize and upload DW2 mods to Steam Workshop in the /Manuals sub-folder of your installation location
- now allow disabling base game music in favor of mod music
- eliminated requirement for modders to regenerate SHMD files when ShipHulls.xml or models change (this is now done seamlessly whenever these change)
- greatly increased the speed and stability of SHMD regeneration
SHIP DESIGNS AND RETROFITS
- upgraded ship design automation toggle to be per-hull instead of per-role (Designs List screen)
- fixed bug where sometimes could not select desired retrofit path for a ship design in Ship Design screen
- when a spaceport is selected, the Retrofit action button now allows retrofitting across spaceport sizes (small, medium, large) when there are active designs for other size roles. This is in addition to the existing behavior where right-clicking on the spaceport will allow retrofitting to any active spaceport design of any size
- in Retrofit Path panel in Ship Design screen, ensure that upgrade design shown in brackets after 'Latest Design for Hull', 'Latest Design for Role' and 'Latest Design for Largest Hull for Role' is actually buildable for your empire (have required hull and components)
- in Retrofit Path panel in Ship Design screen, ensure that 'Other Designs That Upgrade To This Design' properly accounts for whether the current design is actually buildable for your empire (have required hull and components)
- added automation button to top of Ship Designs List screen, indicating current Policy ship design automation setting and allowing toggling between automated and manually controlled
- fixed retrofit action button sometimes incorrectly showing all active designs when should be only showing single design from retrofit path
- now include hull names with designs listed in 'Other Designs That Upgrade To This Design' panel in Ship Design screen
FLEETS AND FLEET TEMPLATES
- ensure do not get double the number of expected ships in new fleet when build from Fleet Template List screen using option at 'Any construction yards in empire' (when selected fleet template has specific designs)
- ensure Form At and Build At buttons in Fleet Template List screen have correct disabled status when first enter screen but have not yet selected a fleet template
- now exclude consideration of ship maintenance costs when building ships for new fleets when building via the Fleet Template screen (ensures always built as long as have money and resources)
- fixed automated invasion fleets sometimes stuck waiting indefinitely for sufficient invasion troops due to flawed assessment of assault pod range
BUILD ORDER SCREEN
- now show hull name after design name
- default selection for each role to latest design for largest hull for role
RESOURCES AND FREIGHTER LOGISTICS
- altered automated resource stock levels for bases not at colonies: no longer have fuel stock level unless mine fuel at location; note that this means most bases will depend on energy collection for their defenses/weapons, we plan to adjust this further in the future
- improved freighter resource fulfillment by further increasing amount fulfilled over stock level
LEADERSHIP CHANGES
- reduced chance of colony rebellions during disruptive leadership changes (greatly reduced chance for rebellion at empire capital)
- added small chance of civil war and empire split when have highly disruptive leadership change
BONUSES
- ensure include empire bonuses from colonies themselves when calculating empire bonuses (e.g. bonus for planet or moon)
- ensure empire bonuses from colony races are always proportioned based on amount of race in empire
EXPLORATION
- fixed some systems not being fully explored when have deeply hidden items
COLONIZATION AND MIGRATION
- further tweaked migration to ensure that always have migration sources, even when all colonies are considered favorable (in this case large colonies will be selected as migration sources)
PLANETARY FACILITIES
- additional check when approving advisor message to build new planetary facility: ensure not overbuilding unique empire or galaxy wonder
UI IMPROVEMENTS
- include hull name of design in advisor suggestion to build new base
- adjusted label width for hull bonuses in Ship Design screen
- included news messages to all other known empires when civil war occurs in an empire
DATA CHANGES
- added differing startup settings for each government type (starting tech, facilities, etc)
- fixes to various ship hull issues
- additional balance changes to missile weapons and phased blasters and beams
- balance changes to armor, shields and damage repair components
Changes in 1.1.0.0 [January 19th, 2023]:
Important Note: Ship designs are now the authoritative place for all ship upgrade paths. That means that if you specify a precise ship design in your fleet template and it has a newer design to retrofit to, the fleet template will update to that newer design as well. If you don't want this to happen, you need to specifically tell it not to do so by disabling the Auto-Upgrade setting in the fleet template..
CRASH FIXES
- fixed rare crash when ship attacks target
- fixed rare crash when drawing system badges in galaxy view
- fixed crash when reviewing empire bonuses
- fixed crash when checking whether a ship or base is under construction or repair
- fixed crash when changing empire relation
- fixed crash while evaluating current attack target
- fixed rare crash when attempting to determine amount of video memory in system
FLEET TEMPLATES
- updated FleetTemplates.xml to ensure default fleet templates use setting 'Latest Design for Largest Hull for Role'
- periodically update fleet templates so that any specific designs that have become obsolete are automatically upgraded to the next non-obsolete design in it's upgrade path. This keeps fleet templates up-to-date as new designs are created and old ones become obsolete
- added corresponding setting in fleet template dialog to enable/disable auto-update of specific designs in fleet templates
SHIP DESIGNS
- auto-generated player ship and base designs now set default Retrofit Path to 'Latest Design for Hull' when there are multiple hulls at largest size for role, i.e. preserve multiple specialized designs per role
- fixed spaceports sometimes improperly retrofitting to wrong design when evaluating whether to upgrade size (e.g. small spaceport to medium)
- fixed bug in Ship Design screen where a ship design was sometimes being incorrectly shown as upgrading to another design when upgrade path set to 'Latest design for largest hull for role'
- immediately refresh latest designs for role/hull when change design status (active/obsolete) in Designs List screen so that retrofit action button always shows proper retrofit design
- ensure "Save and Exit" button in Ship Design screen always properly indicates that design can be saved, even when components are not editable (design in use). In other words, always allow changing and saving Retrofit Path or Tactical settings for a design
FACTION DIFFERENTIATION
- implemented display of all race- and govt-specific variations in Start New Game screen, Govt screen and Galactopedia to help players understand what differences exist.
- updated Intelligence Missions article in Game Concepts section of Galactopedia
CHARACTERS
- ensure can properly view characters of own empire, even when imprisoned. However cannot interact with them (cannot assign missions, change location or dismiss)
- when character is captured, ensure clear any in progress location transfer for them
GOVERNMENT LEADER CHANGES
- increased time period between leader changes for all governments
UI IMPROVEMENTS
- ensure cannot build same planetary facility twice at same colony, even when attempt to exploit advisor messages
- fixed damaged ships still showing red background in Selection Panel even when fully repaired
OTHER
- added extra check for corrupt game settings at game startup and auto-regenerate if necessary
- tweaked race starting research projects so that can be from any tech level (not just zero)
- fixed bug where deleting files in Load/Save dialog subsequently allows starting a non-existent game using the Continue button
Changes in v1.0.9.8 [January 13th, 2023]:
This update brings many fixes and improvements across many areas of gameplay. Most significant are the changes to ship designs and fleet templates, which were implemented in response to many community requests for more fleet template and ship design customization options and which worked better with the new ship hull variations. We now allow the player to set multiple designs/hulls per role in their fleet templates and also very specific upgrade paths for every ship design. The ship design and fleet template system are now designed to fully support the ship hull concept in all respects and to allow the player to choose how strict or flexible the templates are as well in following the specified designs.
CRASH FIXES
- Fixed bug where exploration ships could sometimes get locked in endless loop attempting to explore location. This could cause predictable crashes and the appearance of save file corruption.
- Fixed crash when ship or fighter performs attack mission
- Fixed crash when drawing government bonuses
- Fixed crash when drawing research screen after discover 'Mysterious Plague'
- Fixed crash when disabled ship checks for repair at nearby yard
- Fixed rare crash when ships scan area for threats
- Fixed rare crash when loading game
- Fixed rare crash when ship assigns retrofit mission
- Fixed rare crash when repairing abandoned ship or base
- Fixed rare crash when calculating colony bonuses
TECHNICAL IMPROVEMENTS
- Upgraded to .Net 7.0, which brings some small performance improvements
- Switched to "self-contained" build. This increases the size of the DW2 executable, but means that you do not need to install .Net 7.0 separately
- Updated DXVK version 1 with the most recent changes
- Added DXVK version 2 as a new rendering option
PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS
- Improved performance (reduced micro-stuttering) especially in battle scenes where many ships are destroyed at once or many ships change empire
FLEETS AND FLEET TEMPLATES
- Improved logic when determining home bases for defend fleets (less churn)
- Altered how fleet templates work. Can now add items free-form to allow multiple items per role. Can specify items by shiphull as well as specific design and role
- This allows you to focus more on Ship Hulls instead of Roles, giving more options for specialized fleets
- Added new buttons in Fleet Template screen: allow role up/downgrading and allow trimming excess ships. Turn these off to enforce strict adherence to fleet template for ship roles/hulls/designs (e.g. Top Up Fleet button)
- Improved logic to trim excess fleet ships
- Improved how fleet template AI evaluates 'Latest Design for Largest Hull for Role' so that resolves to latest active design with largest hull (i.e. try other smaller hulls until finds active design)
- When a ship design is made obsolete but has an explicit upgrade path to a new specific design, any fleet templates that use the old specific design are now auto-upgraded to instead use the new specific design (i.e. no need to separately update the fleet template. However this auto-upgrade of fleet templates only applies to specific explicit designs, not 'Latest for Role', etc)
- Fixed wrong ships sometimes being added to fleet when generating new fleet using Form At button in Fleet Template dialog (not matching design specified in fleet template)
- Fixed various bugs with fleet templates
- Building fleet from template (Fleet Template screen) now always builds ships when not already available in empire, even when does not require specific design (e.g. Latest for Role)
- Fixed Fleet retrofit logic to align with expected retrofit designs for both fleet template and individual ship retrofit paths
SHIP DESIGN AND SHIP RETROFITS
- There are also now upgrade paths for ship designs. This will allow you to specify which design a ship or base will retrofit to. The default setting for designs will be to 'upgrade to latest design for Ship Hull' (instead of 'upgrade to latest design for Role' as it is now).
- Added Retrofit Path panel to Ship Design screen, allowing player to specify how a design should upgrade. Default retrofit path is to upgrade to the latest design for the same hull
- Reorganized layout of Ship Design screen, moving tactics and other settings buttons to right side
- Automated ship design now generates designs for each ship hull instead of for each role
- Added Ship Hull column to Designs List screen
- Altered Selection Panel display for ship design to show hull name instead of role. Same change for tooltips for fleet ships and multi-selected ships
- Changed default filtering in Designs List screen to show all active designs
- Added new design upgrade option: Latest Design for Largest Hull for Role. This is the default setting for new fleet template items
- Improved design naming for all roles and races: now using race-specific design names for military ships. Also include hull name after design name to allow easier identification in tooltips, etc
- Added new column in Ship Hull Dialog: active design count
- Fixed occasional jerky display in Ship Hull screen for some user interface scaling sizes
- Upgrade Design button now copies retrofit path settings from old design, unless old design was
retrofitting to a specific design, in which case the new design uses the default retrofit path of 'latest design for largest hull for role'
- Ship Design filter for 'State Ships' now also includes fighter designs
- Changed retrofit action button (below selection panel) to only retrofit to single design resolved from retrofit path defined for current design. To instead see and retrofit to any active design for the role, you can now right-click the ship or base for a popup menu with a complete set of retrofit options
AI IMPROVEMENTS
- Automated military ships now properly cancel guard mission when target changes empire
- Fixed wrong ship hull names for additional items in description of Build Ships advisor suggestion
- When acquire abandoned ships or bases now automatically mark acquired design for ship or base as obsolete so that unused for any other construction or retrofits
INTELLIGENCE MISSIONS
- Added mission success chance to each mission type and target in Spy mission screen
- Indicate current research project in targets in Spy mission screen
- Rebalanced intelligence mission difficulty level so that less very low success chances
- Rebalanced intelligence mission outcomes so that less captures (more partial successes and failures instead)
DIPLOMACY
- Increased aggression and likelihood of wars, especially on higher galaxy aggression levels
RESEARCH
- Research output from colony populations now diminishes greatly for population over 100 billion. This increases importance of research stations as main source of research output
- Altered research project category for Advanced Star Fighters to Fighter Bay
CHARACTERS
- Slightly reduced typical amounts for spies and other character types (based on empire population)
- Characters picked up in escape pods now properly either join your empire (pirates) or are imprisoned
COLONIZATION
- Automated colonization logic now more willing to colonize independent colonies, even when do not have suitable population
- When a planet is colonized and thus removes orbiting bases, any troops/characters/artifacts at the removed bases (of the same empire) are now automatically transferred to the new colony
MIGRATION
- Rebalanced colony migration factors to encourage more migration
- Bonuses from secondary races in empire now applied proportionally: gain complete bonuses when race is at 50% of total population, and proportionally less when below 50%
- Further rebalancing to colony migration
DANGEROUS LOCATIONS
- Fixed bug where sometimes could not clear queued investigation of dangerous locations
MINING AND RESOURCES
- Significantly slowed mining rates for mining components
PIRATES
- Reduced number of pirate factions by about 30%
- Ensure that story-line pirate tech levels are reduced when you lower pirate strength in Start New Game screen
- Extended minimum time before pirate raids begin against a faction
INDEPENDENT COLONIES
- Lowered overall number of independent colonies when start a new game
- Independent colonies no longer invite to colonize when colony ship already assigned or beyond fuel range
FACTION DIFFERENTIATION
- Added extensive new features for better faction differentiation (much of this not visible yet until further data changes are made and additional documentation is provided)
- Implemented Leader Changes and related events for each government type
- Added migration modifier to governments
- Added explicit value for ImportanceOfOthersReputations to Races.xml (already existed for Governments.xml)
- Added government-specific leader titles (President, Prime Minister, etc)
- Added new field to both Races.xml and Governments.xml: StartingGameEventNames
- Can be used to specify Game Events that will be executed at game startup for empires with the relevant race or government type, allowing for greater differentiation between different races and governments
- Typical uses could be to provide additional tech, facilities or ships/bases for a particular race or government
UI IMPROVEMENTS
- Fixed wrong size for Ship Hull screen when UI scaling is set to Small
- Ships and bases that cannot normally assign missions to (e.g. privately owned) will now generate right-click popup menu options when have artifacts onboard that need transferring (select ship or base with artifact, right-click on destination)
- Allow rapid removal of messages when repeatedly right-click in message area
- Fixed game menu scaling incorrectly when change UI size
OTHER
- Fixed rare potential issues with resolving mission targets
- Hive ships no longer generate characters (e.g. admirals)
- Ensure abandoned repaired ships or bases are always acquired by repairer
Changes in 1.0.8.9 [December 5th, 2022]:
- fixed ShipHulls_Art.xml incorrectly being loaded when not in Art mode. This problem was most obviously seen in that new Ackdarian PreWarp games were broken through missing ShipHulls, but it also affected other games started with 1.0.8.8. We recommend starting new games with 1.0.8.9 to avoid issues related to incorrect ship hulls templates.
- fixed flag color issue when starting second game in session
Changes in 1.0.8.8 [December 2nd, 2022]:
AI IMPROVEMENTS
The AI improvements in this update, while brief in description, are the result of a lot of work and testing and should result in a significant improvement in the ability of the AI empires to keep up with and be competitive with the player. Please start a new game with 1.0.8.8 for best results.
- AI empires now more careful to maximize funding for research and colony growth to ensure full research and growth rates, thus making them more competitive with the player
- tweaked some AI research priorities
MODDING
This update includes our first in-game Mod Manager and improved modding support, which is documented below.
- added initial modding user interface to allow multi-mod loading, including priority and enable/disable
DW2 Modding currently supports the following modded items:
1. XML data files
- Mods should add their own versions of these files by appending a suffix to the filename, e.g. Races_MYMOD.xml. The file will then be loaded after the base Races.xml file, adding any new entries and overriding any existing entries that use the same RaceId value
-- All of the XML data files use this same file-naming and item-overriding approach. So you can change data in the base XML data files by using the same Id value in a modded file, e.g. OrbTypeId for OrbTypes.xml, ResearchProjectId for ResearchProjectDefinitions.xml, etc.
- All of the following XML data files can be modded:
-- ArmyTemplates.xml, Artifacts.xml, CharacterAnimations.xml, CharacterRooms.xml, ColonyEventDefinitions.xml, ComponentDefinitions.xml, CreatureTypes.xml, DesignTemplates.xml, FleetTemplates.xml, GameEvents.xml, Governments.xml, OrbTypes.xml, PlanetaryFacilityDefinitions.xml, Races.xml, ResearchProjectDefinitions.xml, Resources.xml, ShipHulls.xml, SpaceItemDefinitions.xml, TroopDefinitions.xml
-- Documentation and tools for some of the above file types can be found here: https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 9&t=380486
2. Localized game text in GameText.txt
3. Stride content bundles
- Stride bundle files built in Stride Game Studio, containing models, materials, textures, spritesheets and sound effects
--- To load bundle files they must be listed in the mod.json file (see below)
4. Music files and folders
- Standalone music files in any of the following formats: MP3, WAV, AIFF, WMA
Version 1.0.8.6 is now live as an official update to the game. You can see the update changelog here: https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 1&t=390898
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- Posts: 426
- Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2014 11:49 am
Re: 1.0.8.4 Public Beta Update Available
Fighters are still a huge problem even when focus and zoom to them the fleet will not jump. WHEN will this be fixed???
- Erik Rutins
- Posts: 39324
- Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2000 4:00 pm
- Location: Vermont, USA
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Re: 1.0.8.4 Public Beta Update Available
We've been making improvements in fighter and fleet and ship behavior areas regularly for the past months. Looking at all the reports we received, this area has vastly improved overall since release. The best way to make sure that remaining issues are fixed is to report them with a reproducible save, since quite often a problem that is very common for a player is only very common in their specific situation and playstyle. So far it's also worth noting there isn't _one_ problem here that still needs fixing. We've probably fixed or improve the logic and various bugs related to fighters, ships, fleets and battles in 20 different ways since release.fruitgnome wrote: ↑Sun Nov 06, 2022 12:26 am Fighters are still a huge problem even when focus and zoom to them the fleet will not jump. WHEN will this be fixed???
Regards,
- Erik
Erik Rutins
CEO, Matrix Games LLC
For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/
Freedom is not Free.
CEO, Matrix Games LLC
For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/
Freedom is not Free.
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Re: 1.0.8.4 Public Beta Update Available
It seems to me that if a fleet get attack/invasion order the fighters start instantly to attack, but they have to start if fleet is in attack range. The fighters only return to mothership if you focus it and zoom to it and this not even work to 100%.
Re: 1.0.8.6 Public Beta Update Available
Using the current beta as of today... was hoping it would fix some of my problems that i'm having with my game...
Namely, when I select an empire in diplomacy that has more than 1 world, my game will freak out, zooming endlessly out, then back in, then out again. Not sure why this happens.
I'm also having a problem with colonization. When there are multiple colonies qued of the same type when there is a best ship for that type available, the first one will take the ship, then when the button is pressed on the next one, it takes the ship that was previously assigned and moves it to the 2nd colony instead of selecting a new ship to que for colonization.
Also wondering if it's intentional that actions continue to process when the game is paused.
Would also request in the filter for Colonies, to add the types of planets, ie Desert Savannah in the dropdown. In addition, being able to select by population from that menu would be very helpful.
Additionally, when a new colony is formed and you already have either an "all colonies" or "all colonies of this type" policy set, it would be nice if there was some option to handle applying the settings automatically to that new colony.
Namely, when I select an empire in diplomacy that has more than 1 world, my game will freak out, zooming endlessly out, then back in, then out again. Not sure why this happens.
I'm also having a problem with colonization. When there are multiple colonies qued of the same type when there is a best ship for that type available, the first one will take the ship, then when the button is pressed on the next one, it takes the ship that was previously assigned and moves it to the 2nd colony instead of selecting a new ship to que for colonization.
Also wondering if it's intentional that actions continue to process when the game is paused.
Would also request in the filter for Colonies, to add the types of planets, ie Desert Savannah in the dropdown. In addition, being able to select by population from that menu would be very helpful.
Additionally, when a new colony is formed and you already have either an "all colonies" or "all colonies of this type" policy set, it would be nice if there was some option to handle applying the settings automatically to that new colony.
Re: 1.0.8.6 Public Beta Update Available
1.0.8.6
Every change in the Settings safes (good) and then quits the game.
Is that intended?
Ok, the game is not closed, it stays in memory..
After starting over and over, I found it out because not enough memory message appears.. Also... what I do report from the beginning:
This graphical bug is still there. Maybe you can fix this some day? Maybe the first was not enough to show where that comes from, here another video
Every change in the Settings safes (good) and then quits the game.
Is that intended?
Ok, the game is not closed, it stays in memory..
After starting over and over, I found it out because not enough memory message appears.. Also... what I do report from the beginning:
This graphical bug is still there. Maybe you can fix this some day? Maybe the first was not enough to show where that comes from, here another video
Re: 1.0.8.6 Public Beta Update Available
There's a setting for "zoom to empire in diplomacy" -- turn that off, maybeescobota wrote: ↑Fri Nov 25, 2022 3:21 pm Using the current beta as of today... was hoping it would fix some of my problems that i'm having with my game...
Namely, when I select an empire in diplomacy that has more than 1 world, my game will freak out, zooming endlessly out, then back in, then out again. Not sure why this happens.
Always colonize one at a time. Keep it too simple to screw up - or manually handle it, otherwise you'll get endless variations of unintended consequences.Colonization...
I've reported this over & over. Just reported it again. It's frustrating. Hope they will fix this (it defies the concept of being paused). Processing them is fine while paused (catching up to all threads) -- but -- they cannot disappear out from under us.Also wondering if it's intentional that actions continue to process when the game is paused.
Re: 1.0.8.6 Public Beta Update Available
Lots of wonderful improvements in the 8.6 update list!
Sorry my frustration boils over -- but for all my grumping -- these changes are most welcome and appreciated! Nice!
Sorry my frustration boils over -- but for all my grumping -- these changes are most welcome and appreciated! Nice!
Re: 1.0.8.6 Public Beta Update Available
mordachai wrote: ↑Sat Nov 26, 2022 4:59 pmThere's a setting for "zoom to empire in diplomacy" -- turn that off, maybeescobota wrote: ↑Fri Nov 25, 2022 3:21 pm Using the current beta as of today... was hoping it would fix some of my problems that i'm having with my game...
Namely, when I select an empire in diplomacy that has more than 1 world, my game will freak out, zooming endlessly out, then back in, then out again. Not sure why this happens.
Always colonize one at a time. Keep it too simple to screw up - or manually handle it, otherwise you'll get endless variations of unintended consequences.Didn't help, unfortunately...
Colonization...Yeah, i'm not going to do that. It knows which race to colonize with now, there shouldn't be a reason to have to babysit it when I have a bunch of ships ready to colonize with the proper races.
Re: 1.0.8.8 Public Beta Update Available
Hello everyone!
A new version of the public beta is now available on Steam and GOG. Please read the OP (original post) in this thread for details and installation instructions.
Enjoy!
- The Matrix team
A new version of the public beta is now available on Steam and GOG. Please read the OP (original post) in this thread for details and installation instructions.
Enjoy!
- The Matrix team
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Re: 1.0.8.8 Public Beta Update Available
I mentioned on the Steam forums but Ackdarian prewarp start is broken in 1.0.8.8. It's impossible to build any ships -- no pending ship builds as you would expect, and no option to build anything under planetary build menu. Under research, if I hover over Basic Civilian Ships, Basic Space Stations or Basic Military Starships, the display is bugged and it only shows a part of the overlay.
- Erik Rutins
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- Contact:
Re: 1.0.8.8 Public Beta Update Available
Thanks, we are aware. If you play Ackdarians, best to skip this beta until we get that fixed. Other factions seem to be working fine.
Erik Rutins
CEO, Matrix Games LLC
For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/
Freedom is not Free.
CEO, Matrix Games LLC
For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/
Freedom is not Free.
Re: 1.0.8.8 Public Beta Update Available
Hi Erik,
Started my very first game (playing as the Ackdarians) with the previous beta version, and have upgraded to the latest beta.
No issues, either because it affects new starts only. Or I'm too green to recognize a serious issue.
Started my very first game (playing as the Ackdarians) with the previous beta version, and have upgraded to the latest beta.
No issues, either because it affects new starts only. Or I'm too green to recognize a serious issue.
- Erik Rutins
- Posts: 39324
- Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2000 4:00 pm
- Location: Vermont, USA
- Contact:
Re: 1.0.8.8 Public Beta Update Available
Hi all
Thanks for the heads up on the issue with Ackdarian PreWarp starts.
We have a fix for this coming hopefully on Monday.
In the meantime you can resolve this problem by deleting the file ShipHulls_Art.xml from the data subfolder.
Thanks
Thanks for the heads up on the issue with Ackdarian PreWarp starts.
We have a fix for this coming hopefully on Monday.
In the meantime you can resolve this problem by deleting the file ShipHulls_Art.xml from the data subfolder.
Thanks
Erik Rutins
CEO, Matrix Games LLC
For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/
Freedom is not Free.
CEO, Matrix Games LLC
For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/
Freedom is not Free.
Re: 1.0.8.8 Public Beta Update Available
I prefer the Quackdarians and the game got awfully hard for pre-warp frogs. Thanks for helping out all green ones, your quick fix worked wonders.
Re: 1.0.8.8 Public Beta Update Available
Deleting that file worked like a charm! Thanks!
Re: 1.0.8.9 Public Beta Update Available
Hello everyone!
A new version of the public beta is now available on Steam and GOG. Please read the OP (original post) in this thread for details and installation instructions.
Enjoy!
- The Matrix team
A new version of the public beta is now available on Steam and GOG. Please read the OP (original post) in this thread for details and installation instructions.
Enjoy!
- The Matrix team
- Erik Rutins
- Posts: 39324
- Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2000 4:00 pm
- Location: Vermont, USA
- Contact:
Re: 1.0.8.9 Public Beta Update Available
With the release of 1.0.8.6 as an official update, this thread now reflects only the beta changes after 1.0.8.6.
Erik Rutins
CEO, Matrix Games LLC
For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/
Freedom is not Free.
CEO, Matrix Games LLC
For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/
Freedom is not Free.
- Erik Rutins
- Posts: 39324
- Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2000 4:00 pm
- Location: Vermont, USA
- Contact:
Re: 1.0.8.9 Public Beta Update Available
Hi everyone,
There will be no more public beta updates this year. We are still working on updates internally, but those will release in January after the holidays.
Regards,
- Erik
There will be no more public beta updates this year. We are still working on updates internally, but those will release in January after the holidays.
Regards,
- Erik
Erik Rutins
CEO, Matrix Games LLC
For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/
Freedom is not Free.
CEO, Matrix Games LLC
For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/
Freedom is not Free.
Re: 1.0.8.9 Public Beta Update Available
Thanks for all the great progress this year and for a great game. Happy holidays to all of you.