The first release update!

What we're working on.

from GalCiv2 Forums

I love digital updates. That's one advantage that PCs tend to have over consoles -- PC games can be updated. 

Of course, this is also a downside as developers seem to often release games before their time.  Hopefully our customers don't feel that way about Galactic Civilizations II. 

On our non-game products such as Object Desktop, we do weekly updates year in and out and that's just how we do business.  So to us, it's natural to keep putting updates on a regular basis for as long as possible.  Because when we play the game, we're in the debugger or have a graphics package handy. So like many gamers, we'll see something we don't like and we'll make a tweak or a change.

Tomorrow, Friday, we're going to put up our first update.  Part of this is to thank people who stuck it out and bought the game at a store (which in turn helps keep us on shelves -- PC game shelf space is really getting hard to get and we're hoping to change that). The other reason is to provide fixes to people who have run into issues.  What you see below is what we've done in the past 48 hours (game was released February 21st digitally). 

Bold items are new features, italic are "bug fixes". And normal print is, well misc.

Version 1.01 will have:

+ Fix for bug where save games with a version <= 24 didn’t properly set the cached commonly-used tech IDs.  This bug manifests itself by making the "Speak To" button do nothing or not acknowledging a technology victory.

+ Research Wnd: When listing ships that a tech will unlock, the other techs required will be listed as well.

+ Support for a mods directory where people can dump things in (we'll document this as soon as we get a breather)

+ Fix for when a starbase is destroyed and being unable to build another star base on it

+ More debug messages for saved games to provide more user info on what's being saved

+ Custom maps with support for fewer players won't allow too many players to be on them.

+ Fixed "No Image" png that would show up then prompting to harvest a resource

+ Easier to get higher approval on planets with low tax rates

+ Fixed bug in surrender code that caused the Defection victory popup message to pop up.

+ Fixed bug where improvements that were supposed to change the player’s miniaturization ability were actually changing their logistics ability.  This affects exactly one improvement type: the Hyperion Shrinker.

+ When a starport is destroyed, classColony::OnDestroyImprovement() now sets its planet’s bNeedToUpdateOverlayIcons member to TRUE so that the planet will have its starport overlay removed in the main game screen.

+ If you are running in 16bit color, the game will warn you.

+ CTD on exiting game fixed. (only came up in very specific circumstances)

+ If you're running too low a resolution, the game will warn you.

+ Fixed invasion escape exploit (you know who you are)

+ Morale ability nerfed a bit it now is to the .80 power to balance.

+ Sensor range capped at 15 tiles. Significant performance issues if it gets much bigger than that (> 1 sector)

+ Tweaked farm improvements. Farm improvements provide 4,6,8,10,12 units of food as you go up the tech tree. This prevents players from accidentally ending up with ridiculously large populations that are impossible to keep happy.

+ Sensors are a bit more expensive in terms of space

+ Fix for the elusive "social project never completing" bug.  The key to finally finding this bug was learning that it only happens from the quick build window: improvements built from the quick build window were being built upon whatever planet was last viewed in the colony management screen, not the planet selected in the quick build window.

+ Starport Details: List now shows number of installed modules / available modules so players know what starbases to send ships to.

+ Trade Wnd: Alliances made in trade window more fool-proof...old code open to allowning one race to consider another race an ally, but not the other way around (fixes Ashberrys Treaties Window Bug).

+ Memory optimization on ship graphics, game should use less memory, especially in larger galaxies

+  Alt-Tabbing should be faster to come back from. Note: The game does not crash when you alt-tab back in, it just takes time to regenerate the textures from the seed nodes.

+ Performance (frame rate) improved on larger maps.

+ Fixed an ALT tab problem reported in forum where fleet units would leave ghost fleets after attacking after an alt-tab

+  Hitting Cancel when placing a new rally point will now destroy the rally point

+ Fixed bug where battles would skip if the planet had orbital fleet manager

+ Destination in context area no longer tells you the anomaly type.  Now it will display the anomaly name.  i.e.  "Anomaly 20 15"

+ Tightened the spacing of ships in fleet battles

+ Fixed bug where some fleets would fail to fire because their lead ship’s graphic did not have the right weapon

+ Cosmetic: Fixed bug where some fleets would fail to fire after an alt-tab

+ Ship Context Window:  "Set destination" button is removed for starbases and disabled for AI ships

+ Fixed size limit for .shipcfg files.  This will fix the disappearing jewelry problem

+ Fixed the GNN/Shipyard popup problems.  Basically the popups are forced to the front.

+ Added debug information to ship intelligence report and ship details screen when running in DEBUG mode

+ Saved games should load faster

+ Added ‘.’ to the set of legal characters for metaverse character names.

+ Fixed crash when selecting a component if no hull is selected

+ Made scanner modules work for any starbase type, not just military starbases

+ Fix for crash in EntryField that can occur when the backspace key is pressed in an empty entry field.

+ Fixed classCivilization::TransferAllTech() so that it works for all techs.  It was calling IsTechKnown() with the tech’s display name, but IsTechKnown() expects the type name.  Therefore, some techs wouldn’t get transferred because their display name was not the same as the type name.  Also, this wouldn’t work at all with non-English data (i.e., TransferAllTech() would transfer no techs in non-English games).

So that's what we've done in the past 24 hours and thanks to the power of digital distribution, you will be able to get it tomorrow.  Today and tomorrow afternoon we'll run it through final QA to make sure everything's good. 

This should take care of most of the remotely significant issues we are currently aware of. 

We are still looking at other things people have reported. There is a 0 byte saved game issue that some people have run into, we are still trying to reproduce that.  It's very rare but that doesn't help the people who run into that.  There is also a known issue with some nVidia cards losing their mouse cursor, we've not been able to reproduce that (and we've got a lot of nVidia cards here).  Apparently the mouse issue isn't specific to GalCiv II so I'll probably shoot an email over to our friends at Firaxis to see what they've seen on this.

There's a missing planetary improvement that we need to put in (Neutrality Learning Centers) and a couple of other similar things.  Plus we have a list of all kinds of other things too.

83,221 views 50 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Thank you, Brad and your team too. I hope you all get a well-deserved break soon!
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Man, now I know what I missed since GalCiv1! A game with SUPPORT.

I guess because of the changes, savegames from 1.00 won't work with 1.01.
When I finish my 1.00 game I juts started during the weekend before I update, will I still be able to submit it to the Metaverse?
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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
Thanks a lot, Brad, for releasing the new update.

I am one of those people who has preordered from EB and has yet to received a copy of the game. Yes, it is extremely frustrating (because I actually set Wednesday night aside and Thursday to play GCII, so I was studying very hard earlier this week); but now that you have announced this update, I am somewhat relieved in knowing that the first GCII game I played will be patched and thus are better than the ones that ppl are playing now.

Just making sure though, does the update automatically go with the copies from retailers (well, because of the delay)? Or do I still have to update my retail version with this new update? Thanks!
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Thanks for the heads up and the actual tweak list.

Now I'm off to the forums to ask why, I'm doing so poorly from a research point of view, in that ... well I'll explain it there.
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
Any word on the CTD when exiting the game? Also I posted yesterday about not seeing the tech images  on the gnn screen after researching a tech, is that a bug or a problem with my computer?
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
To NobleJms:

The retail game will be version 1.0, so it will need to be updated. As of right now till the newest update is released the current update version is 1.0D. You can find the 1.0D update in the downloads section.
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

CTD when exiting game is fixed, just wasn't noteworthy enough to include since it was a 1 line thing.

I think you're missing the movies module, jab. 

Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Nooo....Im so sad that sensor ranges are going to be limited, I really liked having uber sensor boats, any chance that the sensor range cap will be removed later?
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
Brad, are there any plans to add the other major races homeworlds terrain?

The humans have earth but the others are stuck with generic planets that only looks unique on the galactic map.
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
I sure hope this update rids me of those blasted crashes.
They downgrade my GalCiv experience from fantastic to just slightly good.

I hope you keep working on behalf of the few people who have these problems.

Congratz on the game btw, it rocks, and sorry for all the worries caused
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
Nope I have the movies download, I get the in game movies, like constructing your first starbase, exploring an anomlie, etc. It's just that in the last beta version I usually saw the wire frame image of the tech on the gnn screen in the monitor behind the robot, now not anymore.
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
Thanks for writing a detailed change list.
Reply #13 from JoeUser Forums Top
Great list. Thanks for the update and for all the hard work. I have been one of the lucky ones who has just been able to play the game, no problems.

Nevertheless, it is this kind of community oriented attitude that really makes it a pleasure to support Stardock.
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
Any chance of these issues being addressed:

1. When you have units "stacked" you can no longer get to the more detailed unit information screen. This effects both single ships and especially ones in a fleet. In order to edit them or see the individual ships in a fleet I have to move them out of the stack first. This does not seem correct. Shouldn't you be able to "shift click" or "double click" on a ship or fleet to bring up the detailed view, as you can when they are not stacked?

2. Problem with create fleet. Several times while playing I selected 2 ships and tried to create a fleet but what happens was a new little box appeared with a "0" in it and the 2 ships remained separate. I could do this over and over again and create tons of "fake" fleets. I would then have to move the real ships out of the stack (see problem 1) and then I would be able to get the option to disband all the fake fleets. This would seem to happen intermittently.

3. When looking at a planet often the graphic under the tile did not match the terrain type. For example click on land and it would say it was an ocean, or click on an ocean and it would say it is a prairie.

4. Why can you not edit the "core" ships to make your own versions of them?

Thanks!
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I love Stardock and I love Brad (in a gamer who loves the best development team that's ever existed kind of way).

I've seen some bugs, had self inflicted hardware issues, and posted some quirks about the game (and I have more to come) but I knew Stardock would take care of things, and this update just proves it. The game hasn't even been out a week and they've all been busy as heck and they STILL put together a significant update already.

Not to mention that there are a bunch of stardockians on the forums and on the IRC channel seemingly at all hours of the day (I should know, I don't sleep much ever) - and they respond to tons of threads and talk to you in IRC. This is something that you just don't usually see for game releases - at least nowhere near this scale. Sometimes you might get a rep that can never give you a straight answer (MMORPGs are notorious for this) but we have Brad and he's everywhere. Brad must sleep even less than I do!


You gotta wonder how they get anything other than monitoring the forums and IRC done! I'm starting to suspect that along with being fine developers the stardockians have secretly mastered cloning technology. That or they have 10 interns using Brad's credentials to seem to be everywhere at once while he's secretly vacationing in Florida (that would explain his "office photos" too!). Conspiracy!

Stardock rocks.

Nooo....Im so sad that sensor ranges are going to be limited, I really liked having uber sensor boats, any chance that the sensor range cap will be removed later


I liked making ridiculous sensor ships too but I think it was overpowered. And, upon reflection, most of my problems on medium maps (with planets going in and out of visibility and other graphical carnage) only started to occur after I'd make a 51+ pc sensor mega ship to watch the whole map. In my current (young) game I have 3 tiny sensor ships with 14pc sensor range and I'm having zero stability problems. So while I'd prefer to see a more robust system of making sensor cost increase as you add them, if a range cap helps with the performance problems I've seen I'd much rather just have the cap. Keep it simple...
Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top
Thanks Brad and Stardock! This is my first space strategy game,..(never played GCI). I'm mainly a fps game person. Anyway, enjoying GC2 alot, and the great first-class support is most welcome and appreciated, and have made me a loyal customer for life.
The line in the game manual about Class 8 planets being a "lot like Northern Michigan" had me ROFL. I used to live in Grand Rapids, hehe.
Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top
Agreed, I'll miss long range sensor ships, but trust me, you DON'T want to have the release version of the hypersensor event trigger right after you finish the Eyes of the Universe on a gigantic map. Yes, I was the player that brought up this issue. I had a game where scores of *constructors* had a sensor range of 60, and not only did the game slow way down, it started CDTing every 3rd turn or so, and got to the point I couldn't complete a single turn without a CDT.

Even at a sensor limit of 15, it bothers me that I can move farther in a single turn than I can see at the start of the turn. That means that if the AI has similar ships, I could get hit by ships I didn't know existed. I know, part of the game, I have to accept my limitations.

As near as I can tell, the issue broke down into two seperate subissues. One was performance, the other had to do with data structures growing out of control. CariElf has an idea how to improve the performance, so an increase in the max sensor range may be possible in the future, but not definite, and it almost certainly won't go back to unlimited unless the stability issue can be addressed. NOTE: This is my own impression of the issue and I could be way off. I don't speak for Stardock, and they haven't confirmed any of this to me.

Two other questions I have on the update:

You say that the farm productions are now 4,6 8,10, 12. That's 5 values. There's only three farming techs, which gives 4 farms. What am I missing? Did you add a tech in this patch?

Second, you don't mention the issue with upgrading ships where removed items reappear, either as fixed or as something you're still looking into. What's the status on that one?
Reply #18 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

There is also a known issue with some nVidia cards losing their mouse cursor, we've not been able to reproduce that (and we've got a lot of nVidia cards here). Apparently the mouse issue isn't specific to GalCiv II so I'll probably shoot an email over to our friends at Firaxis to see what they've seen on this.

I play a lot (too many?) games and the only other game I've had my mouse cursor disappear on was the first Battle for Middle Earth game. It generally seemed to occur whenever I moved my mouse quickly or tried to scroll. And it's just that the cursor is "stuck"--the actual hotspot moves around the screen normally.

I haven't had the disappearing cursor problem again since I switched to a hardware cursor...but then again, I've only played about 4 hours since my first "marathon" session...

Don't know if that helps, but just thought I'd mention it.

Reply #19 from Stardock Forums Top
Thanks for the update Stardock . Any word on this issue? ->https://forums.galciv2.com/?ForumID=274&AID=102027

Or am I the only one stupid enough to obsolete a ship I already purchased?

I'm going to miss my 54 scanning range Sensor Array ships, but I suppose that makes sense balance wise, smaller scanner ships will require more tactical sense. Also, in relation to the mouse pointer bug, thanks for the tip on enabling the hardware mouse. I'd been having the dissappearing pointer bug in several games, including GC2, BF2, and such. The hardware mouse allowed for many hours of un-interrupted enjoyment .
Reply #21 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Stardock Rulez. Stardock Rulez. Stardock Rulez.
Reply #22 from Stardock Forums Top
Thanks, I appreciate it.

Still, (at least) two serious bugs remain: Civ-wide Social Bonus doesn't have any effect and the corresponding Research Bonus is increasing research half of what it should be. I can't imagine that's such a hard bug to fix?
Reply #23 from Stardock Forums Top
I've been playing GC ever since it was out on OS/2. Love it.

But, it is now 4:15 PM EST, Friday, and still no patch. Any word on when it will be available?
Reply #25 from Stardock Forums Top
Thank you for update. It is a great news.

In my opinion the following very important, (kind of game breaking) bugs are not fixed:
1) Social production civilization wide bonuses are not added (checked myself in details)
2) Tile bonuses for moral are not added, as well as the second entertainment center does not have any influence (did not check myself)
3) Research bonuses (civilization-wide) are not applied correctly, (did not check myself). Only about half of the bonus is applied.