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[MOD] Netbook 1024x600 Low Resolution Mod (Updated 9/30/2012)- With Rebellion Support!!!

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[MOD] Netbook 1024x600 Low Resolution Mod (Updated 9/30/2012)- With Rebellion Support!!!

Modded game files for Netbook 1024x600 resolutions. Updated version to support Rebellion.

from Sins Forums

Sins of a Solar Empire Netbook Low Resolution Mod

Sins of a Solar Empire Netbook Low Resolution Mod
Created by: shadowfox11
Version: 3.0
Build date: September 30, 2012


******************************************************************
Changelog:
******************************************************************
Version 3.0:
- Version for Rebellion only (tested with v1.04 of Rebellion, but should
work with newer versions as well as long as Stardock doesn't make any
changes to the layout of the buttons).

Version 2.2:
- Updated the instructions included in the mod to include a fix for the
"diplomacy.user.setting" file (see the Troubleshooting section
below for more info).

Version 2.1:
- Fixed Diplomacy and Research screens in the Diplomacy expansion
so that you can now see how much Crystal you have while in those
screens.

Version 2.0:
- Added support for Sins of a Solar Empire Diplomacy
Expansion/Sins of a Solar Empire Trinity collection.
- Now tested and working on version 1.19 of the original game,
v1.05 of the Entrenchment expansion, and v1.0 of
the Diplomacy expansion.
- Fixed Main Menu Screen for original Sins of a Solar Empire game
so all buttons are fully visible.
- Fixed the player theme picker so that the title and buttons are in
the correct location.
- Fixed the location of the Fleet Logistics buttons and window in
Diplomacy (Version 1.0 of Diplomacy from Stardock seems to have a
glitch because the buttons located a little out-of-place by default,
so I changed them to where they're supposed to be. The game would
still work fine even if I hadn't fixed them, but I just did it to
make it look nicer).
- Updated one of the modified game files to reflect the new
"Galaxy Forge" string when changing map types.
- Updated instructions with HillybillyBoozer's
user settings fix for users who have screen resolution
problems, and other changes (see below for details on the fix).
- Updated backed up originals of modified game files to
reflect the newest strings from the newest versions of the game
and the two expansions (v1.19, 1.05, and v1.0).


******************************************************************
Introduction:
******************************************************************
Many of today's netbooks contain the power to run Sins of a Solar Empire
(albeit on the lowest visual settings). However, many netbooks have a max
resolution of 1024x600, and Sins of a Solar Empire requires at least a
1024x768 resolution to work (the game would run on the netbook's lower
resolution, but many of the buttons were cut-off making it very difficult
to play the game (the only possible way to play was to use a screen
scrolling technique (got very annoying very quickly), or using the "Tab"
button on the keyboard to go through the different buttons you wanted
(very confusing since you couldn't tell which button your had selected
most of the time). Well, since Ironclad still has not created support for
these lower resolution netbook screens, I decided to take the liberty of
creating it for them, in my Sins of a Solar Empire Netbook Low Resolution Mod.


******************************************************************
Credits:
******************************************************************
Before you go any further in installing this mod on your computer, you need to
know that I did not do this mod on my own. A lot of credit needs to go to
Joe McCormack from:

http://www.virtualsecrets.com/acer-aspire-one-netbook.html

because that was where I got the idea to create this mod in the first place. I
built upon and revised his original modded files and made them compatible with
all the screens (except for the Ironclad Online screens (see below))
instead of just some of them, and I went on to create versions of the mod to
support each of the expansions and additions to the original game.


******************************************************************
Disclaimer:
******************************************************************
- A lot of time and hard work has gone into this mod by both myself and Joe
McCormack. Please be curteous and give credit where credit is due. You may
decide to adjust a few things in the mod yourself, and that is totally fine. If you
want to include this mod in one of your own mods, please notify me first, and please
remember to give original credit to both shadowfox11 (myself) and Joe McCormack.

- Use this mod at your own risk. Although it is virtually impossible that
this mod could cause any damage at all to your computer, please be aware that I
will not be held responsible for any possible damages (no matter how slim) that
using this mod could cause.


******************************************************************
Features:
******************************************************************
- v3.0 is only compatible with Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion (tested with
v1.04 of Rebellion, but should work with newer versions of Rebellion as well, as
long as Stardock doesn't make any changes to the layout of the buttons).

- Supports resolutions as low as 1024x600 (the resolutions many popular
netbooks use including the Asus 1000HE, 1005HA, MSI Wind U100, Acer Aspire One, etc.)

- All screens fixed except for Ironclad Online Screens. I did a minimal amount of fixing
to those screens, but I didn't bother fixing them all since I feel that many netbooks are 
a little underpowered for online play. (I also do not play online and don't have much 
interest in ever doing so, but if anyone is interested in me adding support for those 
screens let me know and I'll see what I can do).


******************************************************************
Installation Instructions:
******************************************************************
a. Make sure that you've run Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion at least once on your computer to
ensure that the needed directories for your settings are created.
b. In Windows, browse to the "My Documents" folder for your username on your computer. It should
contain a folder entitled "My Games".
c. After extracting the downloaded netbook mod archive, copy the "Netbook Resolution Mod v3.0"
folder to the following directory within your "My Documents" directory:

"\My Games\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion\Mods-Rebellion vX.XX" (where "X.XX"
is whatever version of Rebellion you are using).

***Note: You could replace steps d-g (directly below) by opening the game and enabling the mod
through the game, but unfortunately the buttons used to enable the mod are cut off (since the
mod hasn't been enabled yet) so you'd have to tab through the buttons to enable the mod.
You're welcome to do it that way, but to make things easier I included steps d-g so you can
enable the mod before starting the game.
d. Within that same "Mods-Rebellion vX.XX" folder you should see a text document entitled
"EnabledMods.txt". Open it using Notepad; (i.e., right click on it and click "Open" or
"Open with..." and choose "Notepad").
e. Once the "EnabledMods.txt" file is open, you should see a line that says
"enabledModNameCount" with a number next to it. Add one to whatever that number is; (e.g, if
it is a "0" then change it to "1"). (this just allows you to enable the netbook mod in
addition to whatever other mods you might have enabled (it should work with most other mods as
long as they haven't changed the layouts of the buttons)).
f. Add a line directly below the "enabledModNameCount" line and paste in the following line
(with no spaces before the line):

enabledModName "Netbook Resolution Mod v3.0"

(so if the enabledModNameCount was originally 0, the file should look like this now (with no
spaces before each line)):

TXT
Version 0
enabledModNameCount 1
enabledModName "Netbook Resolution Mod v3.0"

g. Save the changes you made to the "EnabledMods.txt" document; (i.e., go to the "File" menu of
Notepad and click "Save"), then close Notepad.
h. Start up the game and you should be able to be able to play Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion
on your netbook without scrolling at 1024x600 resolution! Enjoy!

***Note: If you have any issues with the mod not working right, or still don't see the buttons
correctly, see the troubleshooting section, directly below:


*************************************************************************************
Troubleshooting (Thanks to HillbillyBoozer for finding this fix) (*UPDATED 9/30/12*):
*************************************************************************************
Some users of my mod have reported that they were unable to get the mod to work simply by copying
over and enabling my mod using the steps above. This problem is most likely to occur if you
run the game and mess with the video/resolution settings before or after applying my modded files. Uninstalling and reinstalling the game may not fix this issue as the user settings file that stores
your chosen settings could potentially not be deleted even if you uninstall the game. If you have
followed the directions above to install the mod, but you are getting a black screen and/or some elements of
the game are still cut off, try the following:

1. In Windows, browse to the "My Documents" folder for your username on your computer. It should
contain a folder entitled "My Games".
2. Browse to the following directory within your "My Documents" directory:

"\My Games\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion\Setting"

3. Right click on the "rebellion.user.setting" file in that folder and click "Open" or "Open with..." and choose
"Notepad."
4. Once the file is open in Notepad, find the following four lines and type in the following numbers after them like so:

VideoFullScreenWidth 1024
VideoFullScreenHeight 600
VideoWindowedWidth 1024
VideoWindowedHeight 600

***Note: If you are using a resolution other than 1024x600, replace the numbers above with whatever your netbook's resolution (width and height) are.

5. Click the "File" menu of Notepad and click "Save" to save these changes. Then close Notepad.
6. Try running Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion again and it should run without any problems!

 

***************************************************
Download Links & File Hashes:
***************************************************

Netbook Low Resolution Mod v3.0 for Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion (Compatible with Rebellion Only):
Download:
Netbook Low Resolution Mod v3.0 by shadowfox11 - MediaFire

ZIP Archive File Hashes:
CRC32: 966E386F
MD5: 10DAE4DF4F1909C7FE19079A76BFA5BD
SHA-1: 51DAB2CA64AF4459696A11BBE787B8E4E8A25F4D

 

 

Older Versions of Mod (For Trinity/Original Game, Entrenchment, and Diplomacy):

Note: Before downloading either of the Distant Stars Netbook Low Resolution Mods below, I highly recommend that you download and apply my original Netbook mod v2.2 (directly below). Also, please note that the instructions and notes for installing the older versions of the Netbook Low Resolution mods will be different from the instructions mentioned in this post (which are for the Rebellion v3.0 mod) so please read the instructions text files in each of the older archives after downloading them for instructions on where to put the files for the older Netbook Low Resolution Mods.


Original v2.2 Netbook Low Resolution Mod for Original Sins of a Solar Empire Game and Expansions (Entrenchment and Diplomacy):
Download:
Netbook Low Resolution Mod v2.2 by shadowfox11 - MediaFire

RAR Archive File Hashes:
CRC32: 68CCB868
MD5: 86CE2B0E23E95680DEB7C96341417ACA
SHA-1: A22EB39C911CF31995D0F88A231E128451DC2D08

 

Link to the Forum Page for the Distant Stars Mod:

https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/335474


Netbook Low Resolution Mod for Distant Stars v0.7 Beta for Diplomacy Mod:

Download:
Netbook Low Resolution Mod For Distant Stars v0.7 Diplomacy Mod - v1.0 by shadowfox11 - MediaFire

RAR Archive File Hashes:
CRC32: FB3C7C92
MD5: A99283E65EF3CED708D7BB5F7A1153F2
SHA-1: BC1445C759292AB6700EA3063B74EE4EF6DC11C4

Netbook Low Resolution Mod for Distant Stars v0.9951 Beta for Entrenchment Mod:
Download:
Netbook Low Resolution Mod For Distant Stars v0.9951 Entrenchment Mod - v1.0 by shadowfox11 - MediaFire

RAR Archive File Hashes:
CRC32: 823DA03B
MD5: F646C6F47CCACEB86BA819325EFFA3CD
SHA-1: 5BCDC7359D516470F788FF77606349CFF2BC4D33

 

******Make sure that you read and follow the "Troubleshooting" section of this post and/or the instructions text document included in the download archive if you have any problems with my mods******


***************************************************
Screenshots:
***************************************************








modding
306,941 views 75 replies
Reply #51 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting SIN-Imperium, reply 50
SO I am curious--pardon the voodoo zombie magic--is this still available and it's author to be found?  I thought it was way cool.  COME BACK!  THERE'S AN EXPANSION!! (and netbooks are way more common and powerful now).

Yo Sin,

last time I talked to Fox was about this time last year, hope he is alright. Anyway the mod works great with all current Sins format. 

I have a Gateway netbook where I play Entrench/DS on small maps with graphics on low. Works great, he actually Moded the mod so it will work on netbooks. If you know a little about modding, you should be able to get it to work on the current beta patch that is out now.

Reply #52 from Sins Forums Top

I can't much do the particles and textures and all but I am going to try making a modification where the models are stripped down to bare bones, used by all sides and simply textured just to see what performance it can get.  I'd love to see someone actually be able to run a version of sins on a tablet pc.

I'll need a little more practice at the monet with what I am doing but it should be possible then after.

So think of Sins with simple "icon" ships and planets instead of models--like a table in a war room where representative simple models are moved to mark poistions.

 

DeskScapes - Bring your desktop background to life.
Reply #53 from Sins Forums Top

Hi, I have a poor asus netbook and thanks to you now I have more fun. A great idea this mod. 

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Reply #54 from Sins Forums Top

Hi All,

I have a problem at the very first hurdle where I click on  single player it only gives me the option of one scenario and doesnt let me click on larger maps (Or even see the option for larger maps).

I have a samsung NC10 2gb ram and just running version 1.0 of the original game.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and well done for the work on the mod.

Cheers.

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Reply #55 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting quartelli, reply 54
I have a samsung NC10 2gb ram and just running version 1.0 of the original game.

This is the biggest issue. You are many versions behind what this is set up to run. You need to update.

Go here.

https://store.stardock.com/login.aspx?ReturnUrl=/myaccount

Setup an account and update the game. You can then play this mod.

Reply #56 from Sins Forums Top

Hi Ryat and thank you for the quick reply. I have updated the game to 1.5 and I still experience the same issue.

It's strange because everything else plays in the game but the only screen that seems to be messed up is the initial map screen.

I have discovered if I tab and press left or right arrow keys then i can scroll through the small scenario maps but there is no way of me getting to the larger maps.

 

Reply #57 from Sins Forums Top

there are several map sizes, ie small, medium, large, map designer and galaxyforge.

they can be cycled through with the button labelled 'change maps(do not know which keyboard combo might be usable for this), and the map size DOES change in the small, medium, large, map designer & galaxyforge, then back to small sequence

hope this helps

harpo

 

Reply #58 from Sins Forums Top

Cheers Harpo99999,

I managed last night to tab down until nothing was highlighted on the main screen and pressed return and it allowed me to change maps from small to medium to large, after that the game plays perfectly with the (EXCELLENT) mod.

Shame it doesnt cater for the map screen as its the first screen you get to which makes you think the mod hasnt worked, apart from that it's all good. an excellent game to play on a netbook.

 

Reply #59 from Sins Forums Top

Does this work for rebellion v1.02? and if yes,did the instructions remain the same?

Reply #60 from Sins Forums Top

tec_diplomatic, the mod's author has not been seen in the forums for over a year, so I suspect that the mod has NOT had any work to work with the recently released rebellion, and as there are a lot of added lines on most of the files that mods tend to use, I doubt that the mod would work without a large amount of altering the file to be similar to the rebellion ref files.

harpo

 

Reply #61 from Sins Forums Top

You would have to remake it for Rebellion but it is a great idea for Trinity.

Reply #62 from Sins Forums Top

Hey everyone! My apologies for being gone for so long. I've actually been gone for the past two years serving a mission for my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Thanks to all who helped guide other users to getting the lowres mod working on their netbooks. Sorry I was unable to respond. Also, thanks for all of the encouraging comments. I'm glad to hear that my mod has helped so many play this awesome game!

I am curious if there is anyone who would still be interested in having this mod available on their netbooks for Rebellion? Rebellion is a great game, and I've loved playing it so far, but my newer netbook has a 1366x768 resolution, so it supports Sins without the mod. I still have the my older Asus 1005HA around though so if there are some who want the low res (1024x600) mod, I could try to get it working with Rebellion.

One concern is that the minimum system requirements were increased for Rebellion so I'm not even sure if older netbooks with the 1024x600 would run Rebellion, even on the rock-bottomest of settings. Has anyone tried it?

Please let me know if anyone is interested and I'll see what I can do.

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Reply #63 from Sins Forums Top

Welcome back, glad you are ok.... :thumbsup:

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Reply #65 from Sins Forums Top

Welcome back!

 

I'm very interested in a Rebellion version of this mod!

 

have fun!

Reply #66 from Sins Forums Top

Thanks harlequin76! Alright, I'll begin work on a 1024x600 netbook resolution mod for Rebellion. It may take me a while since I'm pretty busy with school right now, but I should have time to work on it here and there.

The first thing to do is to make sure it will run decently on most netbooks. I can test it on my Asus 1005HA, but I'd appreciate feedback from any others who have different netbooks with the 1024x600 resolution--putting Rebellion on it and turning the visual settings all the way down to see how it runs. I understand that it will be hard to start a game since I haven't modded the files yet, but you should be able to get there by tabbing though the menus. Or if that doesn't work, to at least see how the background visuals run on the main menu (and to try rotating the view to see how the netbook handles that). I'm just trying to see if the increased system requirements for Rebellion really have a large impact on required resources, or if the game will still run on most netbooks.

If anyone tests Rebellion on their 1024x600 netbooks, please let me know. Thanks!

Reply #67 from Sins Forums Top

Running a 1280x720 netbook here, Rebellion runs just as well as Entrenchment did, with all settings turned to lowest and shadows off.

Reply #68 from Sins Forums Top

Thanks for the info Lavo_2. Good to hear.

I've started working on a version of the mod for Rebellion v1.04. It's coming along quite nicely. I've already got the single player screens worked out to start a game. There are just a few changes from Diplomacy to Rebellion that I'm working out.

I plan to continue to mod the game to support the 1024x600 resolution, and if there are any other netbook resolutions with a height lower than 768, but higher than 600 (like 1280x720) those netbooks should be able to run Sins with the netbook mod just fine too.

I should have the mod done within the next month maximum, hopefully in a lot less time--like the next few weeks.

Reply #69 from Sins Forums Top

As usual, outstanding...

Reply #70 from Sins Forums Top

With 720 px height you can Rebellion without the mod, surprisingly enough. Just need to hit menu again instead of the close button when you pause a game.

Reply #71 from Sins Forums Top

Hmmm... good to hear! I guess that makes sense since you're only 48 pixels shy of the 768 pixels height requirement. I guess those using netbooks with a screen height of 720 pixels will be able to run Sins without my mod, but they'll be welcome to use the mod if they want. It will at least help ensure that they're able to press all of the buttons easily.

As for progress on the mod--it's been a bit slow due to midterm season in school, but I did manage to work a bit on it tonight and I've now got the race selector screens working, which was really the last hurdle in converting the mod to Rebellion. I just need to finish up a few more of the options screens, and write up a quick documentation for how to install it, and then I should have the mod ready to go! I should hopefully have all of that done within the next week.

Also, some good news--as I've been converting the mod to Rebellion, I've been discovering a few minor things that I missed in my old mods so this version for Rebellion should be much more polished!

Reply #72 from Sins Forums Top

Version 3.0 for Rebellion has now been uploaded! I changed my instructions so that people will treat it as an actual mod, rather than replacing their game files. Please let me know how it works, and let me know if you have any questions! Oh, and most importantly, enjoy! :)

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Reply #73 from Sins Forums Top

Very cool--necessary for posterity sir and welcome back.

Reply #75 from Sins Forums Top

Nice work again sir.