Hi

I have installed this mod and ran DA for a couple hours now, and saved/shutdown. I attempted to run again but DA will not load after the initial video sequence runs(skipped or not). Has anyone had any problems with this mod having adverse effects on the loading of DA? It crashes completely to desktop with one of those funny MS dialog boxes saying there's a problem with DA. Personally I think its Windows he he...

But since my system is more than powerful enough (AMD FX-57, 2.5 Gigs DDR2 400, ATI 1600 Graphics), and I have not had any problems with the installation of this game plus updates, I must assume it is this mod (no others installed).

Just would like to bring my save game back as I was doing pretty damn good...

oh and basic regular settings for the games internal settings, but the load is not getting that far, and I have tried running without the mod except for the two files mentioned in the readme still crashes.

Are those to files in the main directory the problem children? I do not know that much about what is in the files themselves.

Don't you think the ship parts in DA are pretty enough!? I did.

McKindle, You'll have to post your Debug.err file to get more help... There's nothing in the mod that should remotely cause that kind of problem, so we need to see what's going on.

I will have to attempt sending the debug.err file to you by email today later when I run another game. I kinda uninstalled and reinstalled just incase that had some effect (and I wanted to play with a friend of mine that was over yesterday)...

So I will install your mod again today later then email you the file if there's a problem again.

I appriciate all your work and now for you to help repair something is also quite cool!
Thanks!

PS the file is quite large over 240 k so far and that doesn't have your mod installed even! Is there a certain section you need to see for information that would help?

240K isn't large at all

However, don't send it to me in an email, instead let's wait until kryo gets around and then you can ask him to take a look at it. I seriously doubt the mod has anything to do with it, and if it's an issue with DA itself, it would be better to let Kryo help you out .

Hello

Thank you so much for what you have done with this creation, it is beautiful to look at.
I have noticed that you have written in your readme....

RECOMMENDED GRAPHICS SETTINGS:
INTERFACE:
Background Star Density: 1500
Background Nebula Density: 33
VIDEO:
Resolution: Maximum that your video card supports
Anti-Aliasing: Maximum that your video card supports without sacrificing performance
Brightness: 50
Contrast: 50
Ambient Light: 0-10
Specular Intensity: 40-50
Planet Surface Variety: 100%


I changed the ambient light and specular intensity parameters, as suggested, but could you explain a little please what exactly do those settings change..? IIRC the setting for specular intensity was at 100 before I reduced it to 50.

Then again there is a tactical animations zoom level (sctratches head) I'm not sure about that one either....!!!

I thought it was large for having only played for about 2 hours with that installation... but OK.

As for the problem as stated I have re-installed and everything is working great so there must have been an "Anomoly" in the stars...

Thanks and if it get funky again I'll send a copy to Kryo.

So far it looks pretty Damn good though. Those stars are kinda colorful though is there a way to tone them down just a little?

Thanks again for your hard work...

Rather than sending a copy to me, just post it on the forums here (I'm the forum moderator, not email support ).

My only reason for not posting it here was personal info contained in the file like my full name used on the computer so I will simply ignor/fix the issue if it arrises again.

Thanks anyways.

I almost never use mods but I'm giving this one a try and so far it looks very nice. Thanks!



I encountered a similar problem. My game appears to have been still pointing to the DL mod folder. I had to redo the mod-use instructions, particularly clicking the 'default' button to get the correct base mod directory, and after restarting finally saw this mod, then had to select it and restart again. Mod noob, I guess.

It that is the case you could simply XXXXXXXXX out your name and such. The tech info is what matters.

hey i tried the mod, when i play the game i lost all the graphics no planets or ship graphics. were is the backup located or how can i fix the problem??    

Ambient light is the amount of Light that affects everything on the 3D map in all directions. Where you can tell is on the dark side of planets and ships. In reality there is 0 ambient light in space, that means if there's no star light shining on a surface, it's completely dark. So i recommend 0-10% for a more natural and visual experience.

Specular light on the other hand, is basically the amount of "shine" a metallic surface gives off. I usually set it between 40-50% so as not to overwhelm a surface so much that i can't see it.

Yep, hitting that default button and restarting is the main issue. That makes Dark Avtar create it's own Mods folder, and point to it from there on instead of the Dread Lords Mod folder.



That's very strange. I can understand how using the mod (and not having a video card that can handle it) MIGHT cause you to loose planet graphics, but it shouldn't effect ship graphics at all.

Did you follow the readme instructions for installing the mod? What kind of video card do you have? Are you sure all of your video and sound drivers are up to date? Try removing the check from the "use mods" check box and see if that restores the default graphics. Also, make sure the mod was installed to the Dark Avatar/Mods folder, and not dread lords. And make sure the game is LOOKING for the mod in the Dark Avatar/Mods folder, and not the dread lords mods folder.

Awesome mod!

Thanks a lot. So pretty!

Now can you give the astroids a facelift? They were ok, but thanks to your mod they look less good now

Anyway enjoying it greatly! Outstanding work!

LogicSequence playing now with your mod has improved a lot my games, i have particularly appreciated the fact that Racial core planets have unique terrain, it gives the game a lot of flavour.Toria and Altaria are particularly pretty .

I have just one question are you planning to make new terrains for other planets in future versions, so Planets will be a lot more differentiated than before?

I fixed the Problem I deleted C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\My Games\GC2DarkAvatar

i had custom races that disrupted the graphics within the game. Thanx anyways. Graphics look great can i play with the graphics on metaverse?

Unfortunately no, the mod isn't metaverse compatible. To my knowledge you can't use any mod with metaverse unless you replace actual game files, and even then you are limited with what you can do without tripping the cheat flag. Obviously using the mod isn't cheating, but the game registers a change in certain files, which theoretically could mean you gave yourself a leg up and cheated. So without making some pretty hefty changes to how the metaverse works, you'll have to disable the mod to use metaverse.

Hmmm Pity, Galciv2 should create scores for particular mods then. Great game tho keep modding   

Hey guys and gals You can just use the image files and still geta lot of the beauty of this mod in your Metaverse games.

Logic - you did a fantstic - no STUNNING job. Between the new texures for DA and your images my game looks fantastic. I just wish I could use the home-planet images and height maps. Though I did have a thought... the core game could be updated with your new xml, and Stardock could just copy/rename - and use the old textures. Meanwhile for those that download you mod, we'd be able to use your work.

no! i'd have to start playing on tiny maps!

to echo my own pervious words and many others', the mod looks utterly fantastic. saturn looks, well, like saturn! at least when the rings are roughtly correct in size.

i recall you saying at some point that you wanted to hear about bugs. well, i had a small one. one of the layers of clouds seemed to not load properly, and it appeared very pixelated over my planets. it was the 'thinner' upper layer of clouds that's translucent and moves faster.

of course i failed to document it even by taking a screen shot. the game was set on a huge galaxy: uncommon stars, common planets, average habitables. it could have simply been a memory/hardward issue, and it hasn't seemed to happen again. i may chose to only use this mod on smaller maps until i can afford an upgrade to my graphics card.

only other observations: the games take a lot longer to load, and my FPS sputters on me when i mouse around the map. certainly not a major complaint, and GC2 has always seemed to tax my system regardless.

Actually that's not a bug . It has nothing to do with the mod either actually. It's how GC2 draws the clouds on planets. It takes one cloud image and draws it, and takes a second, layers it over the first, and makes it more transparent. That's just how the clouds are drawn. You just notice it more with the new cloud textures.

hey logic!

Sorry for not posting quicker - traveling. Thanks for the info about the Raceconfig and Startypes files.

I can confirm 100% that race config willwork in the mods/data folder. However, if there are race files in the Mydocuments\galciv2\darkavatar such as customrace (i belive that's what its called - sorry I'm in a library right now. I know it doesn't end in .xml, but it really is an xml file) those files will over write the raceconfig in the mods\data folder. Essentially, from what I can tell, the game is trying to be "helpful" by remembering your last race picks, custom races, etc, in the MyDocuments directory, thus ignoring any changes you make in the mods\data\raceconfig.xml. Deleting these files will "reset" the game, forcing DA to look for raceconfig in the mods\data folder. From what I can tell, anytime you change the race config file, you need to clean out the My Documents\Galciv2\Dark avatar folder. Unfortunately, you lose your custom races everytime you do this.

I hope that isn't too confusing. I know Raceconfig will work in the mod directory, however, its not as easy as simply placing it there. Hopefully, when they release a patch, updating the raceconfig will be more elegant. I know a lot of people don't want to hack around thier directories for good reason too.

Will this mod work w/o the DA expansion?

No, i'm afraid the mod is made for Dark Avatar.