[MOD] Distant Worlds Universe Refreshed 1.0 -- 1,400+ portraits, 1,400+ new ships, planets, facilities and more

[salemonz]

Test help file. Looking for opinions on content of text, text color, font, and other.

One thing may be to add a synopsis at the beginning. For example: Great spy, special tech etc...

Overall looks great! I would make the body-text unbolded and see how that looks.

Happy to take a shot at a version with a synopsis and post it back here. I was also going to try and incorporate some of my shipset previews into the help files as well.

[Retreat1970]

Version 2.0
Idk what looks good tbh. Troop is scaled up and looks bad. Maybe replace with native planet type? Ship is cap ship base is generic. Once the format is agreed upon it's just copy paste and if I feel up to it should take a few hours.

[salemonz]

I'm seeing how this goes. I made some index graphics for all the races that I originally thought I would include in the main forum post...but then realized I couldn't hide 40+ images in a "spoiler" box or anything like on other forums. Wasn't sure I would use them, but in help files it can work!

Doesn't help if anyone swaps out ship sets or race images, but I think might work for the general DWUR userbase (10 or so folks)

I'm about halfway through...been cutting and pasting...editing the text and altering some details on some races. I'll put it in as an update to DWUR and see what we think.

[Retreat1970]

Those look great

[jayman]

Edit: I've tried to DL this twice but both times it failed around the 750mb mark. I want to try this version, but I'm not going to try and DL it again. Pity.

I split the zip into 5 parts (on the original post). It's a zip archive "split" into .001, .002, etc. files.

I hope that helps! Sorry you were having some downloading issues. I usually try and have an "upgrade" version of the mod...but I added so many new graphics and optimized so many other files to reduce memory usage...it's in essence a new mod

I shouldn't have any problem with this in future as I just upgraded to a faster internet connection!

So far this new version is working great, but the pirates seem to have targeted my civilization big-time. Something about destroying all their mines...

[salemonz]

Those look great

Thanks! I've also taken to re-write many backstories of the different species.

Fleshed out the Lipids a bit to be more like kinda-nefarious Trill species from Star Trek

""Lipids" are a near-microscopic race of parasitic aliens with an unusually large intelligence, given the limited mass of their brains. It is thought they possess a form of limited collective consciousness, where small groups of Lipids exhibit greatly-increased intelligence compared with individual Lipids. These small groups will live inside a single sapient host, establishing a sort of metabolic equilibrium that can sustain the present number of Lipids. Host species that can sustain larger Lipid groups are especially prized in Lipid society.

Lipid groups offer their hosts improved lives. The hosts live longer, are impervious to most infections and demonstrate increased happiness. In return, host beings give up portions of their free will. The host becomes strongly dedicated to the protection of its parasite group and other "inhabited" Lipid hosts. Lipid groups sometimes express free thought apart from their hosts and it is understood that the host will 'make decisions' partly on its own and partly through the influence of their Lipid group inhabitants.

Many sapient individuals from outside of Lipid society join the Lipids willingly, attracted to the seeming improved quality of life and helping hands of the Lipids to reach greater levels of individual accomplishment. The loss of free will is seen as a small cost for what is gained.

Additionally, Lipids display a great desire to bring new host bodies in to their society, even if those new host species are not suitable for permanent Lipid habitation. Lipids compel even these individuals to flock to Lipid-controlled worlds, where they can be used as laborers or in other dangerous occupations like the military. Often, single Lipids will remain inside these "uninhabitable" hosts to ensure they remain compliant to their assigned roles. These hosts simply require certain devices and nutritional supplements to allow their Lipid to remain.

The Lipids will further attempt to improve the overall pool of potential hosts through diplomatic means, volunteering cooperation with other Empires. They are seen overall as stable allies, though there are always some simmering tensions around constant Lipid assimilation efforts.

The Lipid's natural symbiotic relationships have allowed them to develop the Lipid Host Center, which grants fast and effective healing to any "inhabitable" individual host being."

[salemonz]

I shouldn't have any problem with this in future as I just upgraded to a faster internet connection!

So far this new version is working great, but the pirates seem to have targeted my civilization big-time. Something about destroying all their mines...

Glad it's working well!

Yeah and I also don't foresee another major update like 1.0's overhaul. Like this latest push to update Help files will just be 20MB or so

[jayman]

Those look great

Thanks! I've also taken to re-write many backstories of the different species.

Fleshed out the Lipids a bit to be more like kinda-nefarious Trill species from Star Trek

""Lipids" are a near-microscopic race of parasitic aliens with an unusually large intelligence, given the limited mass of their brains. It is thought they possess a form of limited collective consciousness, where small groups of Lipids exhibit greatly-increased intelligence compared with individual Lipids. These small groups will live inside a single sapient host, establishing a sort of metabolic equilibrium that can sustain the present number of Lipids. Host species that can sustain larger Lipid groups are especially prized in Lipid society.

Lipid groups offer their hosts improved lives. The hosts live longer, are impervious to most infections and demonstrate increased happiness. In return, host beings give up portions of their free will. The host becomes strongly dedicated to the protection of its parasite group and other "inhabited" Lipid hosts. Lipid groups sometimes express free thought apart from their hosts and it is understood that the host will 'make decisions' partly on its own and partly through the influence of their Lipid group inhabitants.

Many sapient individuals from outside of Lipid society join the Lipids willingly, attracted to the seeming improved quality of life and helping hands of the Lipids to reach greater levels of individual accomplishment. The loss of free will is seen as a small cost for what is gained.

Additionally, Lipids display a great desire to bring new host bodies in to their society, even if those new host species are not suitable for permanent Lipid habitation. Lipids compel even these individuals to flock to Lipid-controlled worlds, where they can be used as laborers or in other dangerous occupations like the military. Often, single Lipids will remain inside these "uninhabitable" hosts to ensure they remain compliant to their assigned roles. These hosts simply require certain devices and nutritional supplements to allow their Lipid to remain.

The Lipids will further attempt to improve the overall pool of potential hosts through diplomatic means, volunteering cooperation with other Empires. They are seen overall as stable allies, though there are always some simmering tensions around constant Lipid assimilation efforts.

The Lipid's natural symbiotic relationships have allowed them to develop the Lipid Host Center, which grants fast and effective healing to any "inhabitable" individual host being."

They sound a little like a cross between the Trlll's from Star Trek and the Tok'ra from Stargate SG-1. Which begs the question, is there an evil (Goa'uld-like) version of the Lipids?

[salemonz]

DWUR 1.0.1 released

-- Updated all in-game Race Help files with edited backstories for each race.

Also provided a smaller file package for those wanting to upgrade from 1.0.0 on original forum post.

Thanks all

[Retreat1970]

Quite a few troop icons are recycled for example 5 races (give or take) use the Atuuk images which is fine. Wondering if intentional.

[salemonz]

Quite a few troop icons are recycled for example 5 races (give or take) use the Atuuk images which is fine. Wondering if intentional.

You know...troop icons are one of the parts of DWU I've never messed with. Frankly, not sure where I might have brought all of them in from.

I have started to re-do all the troop graphics, though. What's tricky is most images actually have different poses, so it's more than just copy/paste even when making a single troop pic. It's one of the reasons I've avoided deep-diving into the Troops folder up to this point.

But apart from a total UI redesign, refreshing the troop graphics is probably the biggest remaining thing...and I could re-use some of the assets for DW2 modding, so it would be a win-win.

[fraxgut]

I'm wondering if there are any plans to expand or reform the government. Well, I came across this old mod on the forums that seems like it never got published. I reckon it could be a good addition.

[salemonz]

Any plans to expand or reform government? I saw this old mod that (I think) never got actually published, and it could be a good addition in my opinion.

That does look pretty rad!

At the moment, I don't have plans to add anything else to the mod. But I will take a look at what might be involved at implementing something like this maybe as an add-on optional mod.

Been working on some Distant Worlds 2 mods and staying out of trouble with my day-job activities. Time is a precious thing that I never seem to have enough of.

[XB700]

I'm confused about the following step..

Step 3: Exit DWU and restart. (Yes, this is necessary). If you don't exit and restart, not all of the theme assets will be loaded. Just a quirk of DWU.

I'm running the GOG version using Wine. When I change the theme and restart DWU, it doesn't remember the last theme I selected. I'm not sure what Step 3 is doing. Can anyone explain?

Thanks!

[salemonz]

I'm confused about the following step..

Step 3: Exit DWU and restart. (Yes, this is necessary). If you don't exit and restart, not all of the theme assets will be loaded. Just a quirk of DWU.

I'm running the GOG version using Wine. When I change the theme and restart DWU, it doesn't remember the last theme I selected. I'm not sure what Step 3 is doing. Can anyone explain?

Thanks!

Hey friend!

The intent of that step is to make sure the mod loads properly. When you are in-game and activate a theme...the game will hang...spending up to 20-30 seconds activating the theme. The game will finally un-freeze...and you will see a message at the top along the lines of "Active Theme: DWUR". However only some things in the mod load at that point. To get EVERYTHING to properly load, you have to exit out of the game after activating a theme and restart. The first thing you'll notice after a restart is the main menu background changes.

But if the game isn't remembering your theme, then it isn't activating properly to begin with. Hrmmmm...Are you using Alvek's Expansion Mod DistantWorlds.exe? If not, maybe try that? I know it fixes some memory issues and some other things.

[XB700]

Hey friend!

The intent of that step is to make sure the mod loads properly. When you are in-game and activate a theme...the game will hang...spending up to 20-30 seconds activating the theme. The game will finally un-freeze...and you will see a message at the top along the lines of "Active Theme: DWUR". However only some things in the mod load at that point. To get EVERYTHING to properly load, you have to exit out of the game after activating a theme and restart. The first thing you'll notice after a restart is the main menu background changes.

But if the game isn't remembering your theme, then it isn't activating properly to begin with. Hrmmmm...Are you using Alvek's Expansion Mod DistantWorlds.exe? If not, maybe try that? I know it fixes some memory issues and some other things.

Okay, that's my issue then. I'm trying to run this using the Wine emulator, which probably isn't the best solution. The activate mod message window never displays. I'm still trying to make friends with how to run this under wine, but unfortunately, I don't see many success stories.

[XB700]

I suppose the followup question is: Is the expanded mod a required component? It's the expanded mod's DistantWorld.exe that I'm having a problem with under Wine, not this mod.

[paraboxx_slith]

Hey I tried playing with this and the expansion mod. There are lots of factions and pirate factions. But there are also two empires in my game that I can see in the world, but I can't do diplomacy on them. The game keeps spamming me every few seconds that I have met a new empire in the <name> system. When I click this message the diplomacy screen opens, but the selection is on my own empire as the new empire does not appear in the list. It also doesn't appear in the list in the game editor. The empire has a homeworld, a large space port on it, a research station I think, a unique name, a flag and everything. And it's not named independent anywhere I remember either.

Do I have too many factions in the game and the UIs are overflowing? Is this a known issue from one of the mods?

[salemonz]

I suppose the followup question is: Is the expanded mod a required component? It's the expanded mod's DistantWorld.exe that I'm having a problem with under Wine, not this mod.

I'm trying to think...Expansion Mod (or BaconMod, which Expansion is a continuation of...) I don't think is a hard requirement, no. Most (if not all) the stuff in DWUR is just art assets. Expansion Mod fixes some memory issues and does a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff, but DWUR should probably work w/o it. I haven't gone through a lot of testing with DWUR without it. FYI.

[salemonz]

Hey I tried playing with this and the expansion mod. There are lots of factions and pirate factions. But there are also two empires in my game that I can see in the world, but I can't do diplomacy on them. The game keeps spamming me every few seconds that I have met a new empire in the <name> system. When I click this message the diplomacy screen opens, but the selection is on my own empire as the new empire does not appear in the list. It also doesn't appear in the list in the game editor. The empire has a homeworld, a large space port on it, a research station I think, a unique name, a flag and everything. And it's not named independent anywhere I remember either.

Do I have too many factions in the game and the UIs are overflowing? Is this a known issue from one of the mods?

That's interesting. I haven't run into that before, no. It does sound obnoxious

I'm sorry that I'm not any technical help. I mainly just make 2d graphics and add them to the different directories