GalCiv II: v1.11 Change log

Maint release.

Published on May 8, 2006 By Draginol In GalCiv Journals

Here is what is new in Galactic Civilizations v1.11 over 1.1:

+ New AI option - allow AI to use more CPU. Not used yet but will be in future builds.

+ Civ homeworlds are set when loading a saved game.

+ AI (some of them) less reactionary to influence concerns (i.e. won't likely build as many embassies)

+ AI pickier about trading weapons techs

+ AI sensitive to player going for tech victory

+ AI designs ships more often (this will be further refined in the future)

+ Some text string changes

+ Double clicking on a a ship in the stacked ships list will now open the planet screen

+ Can no longer steal techs that belong to a different ethical alignment

+ Re-designed the save and load game systems to be much faster and use a lot less memory (only works on NEW games)

+ Strategic view updates better on loading a saved game

+ Players can now sort by social production on Civ manager

+ Confirmation dialog added on retire option

+ Fixed bug where movement points in a fleet get miscalculated after the battle

+ Tweaks to CalcMilitaryMight to be a better judge of what a strong military really is

+ Civ Abilities recalculated quicker so that various trades and such have a more immediate effect.

+ Research screen remembers what sort list you chose

+ Victory Status tells player how many civs they've conquered

+ Lots of small tweaks and performance enhancements.

+ Neutrality Learning Centers will automatically take over (upgrade from) Research Academies

+ Some research oriented techs are more expensive

The main goal of this build is to resolve the memory issues that some people had with 1.1. The main cause of the memory issue was due to our heavy use of caching which could result in a LOT of memory being used. For people who had enough memory, life was good. But for people who ran out, it was bad. This build should have the performance advantages of 1.1 but use far less memory.

While you can use previously saved games, we recommend starting with new games so that you get the most out of it. I also made some tweaks to the computer AI.

Comments (Page 3)

Woody

on May 09, 2006

My save/load games are still a bit slow. I previously had those 2 files that were posted (galciv2.exe and lib30.dll) that were designed to speed up the process. I went ahead and reverted back to those 2 files after I patched, and they DO help a LOT. Can anyone tell me if this is ok? Will I still get all of the other faetures of 1.11 over 1.1 using these 2 files?

Thanks

Woody

on May 09, 2006

I think it is humerous when people moan and complain about a patch from you guys messing up their games....MOST NORMAL game companies would say "hey we will get to it" and a month later, they release a patch(maybe). With Stardock it is like there are robot minions working on patches 24/7, and they are beaten severely and made to work even harder when there is a problem with a patch.

By the way, I love you guys.

But in a purely "you make my gaming day bright and cheerly" way and not in a "I want to get it on" way.

I totally agree. You guys are the most responsive people I have ever dealt with in support issues. I even get emails back when they respond to a crash report making sure my situation was addressed. That has NEVER happened to me before. I have said it before, and I'll say it again... "YOU GUYS ROCK!!!!!!!!!!"

puntarenas

on May 09, 2006

Well, from what I understand from that statement is that double clicking on stacked ships in the shipyard box in the planet minidisplay (I don't knnow how else to put it!) will open the planet display?

I was afraid of this, too. It turned out that doubleclicking in the planet minidisplay still launches the particular ship, so I'm curious what is meant with this change?

Linuxman6

on May 09, 2006

Out of curiosity, who is the competition and how do they do it better?

This is obviously completely off-topic, but...

How about MAC OSX and, well... have a look at my nick, LINUX. Both different from but based off the underlying principles of yet another OS... UNIX. Solaris is also another Unix-like OS but both Solaris and Unix aren't considered as viable alternatives(and therefore competition) for the average consumer.

How do they do it better? Well, for people that are knowlegeable about the OS's and subject matter(i'm an end user/system administrator) that's something that could probably be debated back and forth for an eon. As far as gaming I believe MS Windows is probably considered as the best because it has the largest home consumer base of users and the most games made for it.

If you want to try out a new and different world with all kinds of powerful and highly configurable apps(while also being free and open source) that let you see, control, and generally mess around everything going on on your system then try out Linux. It also has a lot of networking monitors and apps. Nothing in the Linux OS is 'hidden' and inaccessible, at least as long as you are logged in as the root user(system administrator). I emphasize that it's free and open source, inlcuding the kernel and compiler. You could download it and install it today if you chose to. You certainly can't compile a custom kernel for Windows as you don't get access to the kernel source(kernel32.dll in Windows XP i think). And to even use a compiler in Windows you have to purchase the compiler, $300 for Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition and $800 for Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition. Stardock guys probably use the proffesional edition. So as you can see, it's not like they don't have expenses when it comes to making these games for us!

In Linux it's call GCC, the GNU C Compiler.

And I'm not trying to knock Windows. I love it myself. And there are good and bad sides to being open/closed source, open to more debates(is Richard Stallman a hero or an anti-capitalist/socialist? lol. open source opens the way for haxors?). And Windows XP(NT) is worlds better with it's fully 32-bit OS components and improved memory management than the old Win9X that had a crappy mish mash of 32-bit and 16-bit components and poor memory management. My understanding is that it was a real nightmare for developers.

I hope that helps answer the question as to what competition there is, if that's what you want to call it. I think I'd prefer to use the term 'alternative' for Linux. Competition might be the correct term for MAC OSX since it is also a closed source pay-for-it OS.

Got root?

Cheers

pdesrivieres@yahoo.com

on May 09, 2006

Unable to get the download using SDC, getting following error message :

Error: Attempt: 1 | Account information invalid
Error: Attempt: 2 | Account information invalid
Error: Attempt: 3 | Account information invalid
Server: Using other server http://sdcentral.stardock.com Link
Error: Attempt: 1 | Account information invalid
Error: Attempt: 2 | Account information invalid
Error: Attempt: 3 | Account information invalid
Server: Using other server http://sdcentral4.stardock.com Link
Error: Attempt: 1 | Account information invalid
Error: Attempt: 2 | Account information invalid
Error: Attempt: 3 | Account information invalid
Result: Installation failed (9)

Tried all 3 servers and all 3 giving the same problem

The same thing happened to me two times. Then I replaced the Serial Number for GalGiv II in Stardock Central that had worked for the previous updates with a new one and the update worked.

BUG: When I loaded a Metaverse game with a gigantic map and everything abundant, created with v1.1 into v1.11, the explored space was returned to Fog of War. After re-scanning the space, resaving under v1.11, and loading back into v1.11, the space remained explored.

Noumenon72

on May 09, 2006

With Stardock it is like there are robot minions working on patches 24/7, and they are beaten severely and made to work even harder when there is a problem with a patch.

They should put out a tip jar.

Kinjiru

on May 09, 2006

I am at a loss on this one, it didn't seem to make a lot of sense from either a logical or gameplay stance to me:

Can no longer steal techs that belong to a different ethical alignment

Skyjack

on May 09, 2006

Thanks Frogboy and all of SD!

ignuss

on May 09, 2006

I am at a loss on this one, it didn't seem to make a lot of sense from either a logical or gameplay stance to me:

Can no longer steal techs that belong to a different ethical alignment

So you think that it's reasonable that evil civs could build Neutral Learning Centers?
Or that good civs could build a No Mercy Invasion Center?

Doesn't seem very logical or fair to me.

AILST

on May 09, 2006

Be interested to see how it reacts to me going for a tech victory...

I tried it out.

There obvioulsy is no special diplomatic message implmented yet. It's just the relations suffering and you get that:

- "We know what you're doing."

in the relations summary, you also get when parking ships next to their planets.

Quitch

on May 10, 2006

@Linuxman6

What he's asking is HOW does Linux and Unix handle memory better? It's just one of these things people say, yet no one every says way, probably because no one actually has a clue they're just thinking "Unix/Linux = Better". Likewise with stability, I don't think they're more stable. They can often recover the GUI in a rather more graceful fashion, thanks to it not being hooked into the kernel, but Windows offers a lot of options to try and stop one element of the GUI affecting others.

Windows XP is a rock, but by default a user has permission to screw things up they wouldn't have default permissions to under Unix/Linux, and this is all too often the cause of problems, and this exists not because Microsoft employ monkeys, but because they have to have compatability with older software, and that software expects admin permissions across the board.

Sure, they made a rod for their own back by failing to go the multi-user route sooner, but let's not wheel out the old myths.

ins11

on May 10, 2006

#41 Windows is more about creating and being able to market a Operating System as accessible to novice users than it is about making a fast, slim & efficient operating system.

If that was the objective (fast & efficient) there are way too many bells & whistles that can not be turned off.

I fear that, with Vista, you will be unable to tweak as much as in Windows XP, just as WinXP allowed you to do less than Windows 2000 -- SFC anyone? Vista is made to look pretty and be accessible to novices, so they can seamlessly move between their XBOX360, their Windows Mobile and their "email and web" machine.

The price of novice-user-false-sense-of-security-and-accessiblity is loss of tweaking&optimization-freedom.

The best OS is the one that boots the fastest, lets you access and run stuff the quickest and uses the minimum of CPU/Memory to do it all; it is not the OS that looks the prettiest.

Yarlen

on May 10, 2006

No, odds are you'll be missing several or more of the other items that were in the official v1.11 update. Please note that you do need to start a new game to gain any benefits from the v1.11 patch - you probably won't notice any difference retroactively.

prophetau2006

on May 10, 2006

Hi,

Can we add a feature in tech trading that allows the individual to hide the techs they don't want to trade? Its like showing all your hands in a cards game. Worse, if you're building some high tech ships, the enemy can deduce its specs (!!!). Thanks.

Linuxman6

on May 10, 2006

Well Quitch. I think if you take a close look you'll see he asked two questions...

1) who is the competition?

2) how do they do it better?

As I stated in my reply, I'm just an end user and a system admin. I do know some BASH Shell scripting but I'm no C/C++ developer that knows the ins and outs of memory management. Therefore, if Alfb was specifically wanting to know 'how the competition does memory management better' in reference to earlier posts I cannot answer that with authority. I have seen a thick book before on the subject of Linux memory management on the shelf at a book store. If I had read that book and a thick book on the subject of Windows memory mangement, then maybe I could speak on the subject. But alas, I have not. as I also said in my reply, even then, I wouldn't doubt that two people that knew what they were talking about could probably debate the subject for an eon.

Concerning the multi-user issues, I have read that Windows Vista has some improvements in that area.

With that said, 'instant' has a good point. And as a Linux and Windows user I can say that I find Windows to be somewhat limiting. With Linux, there's no limits, there's nothing that's 'hidden'. Apps as well as the OS is configureable to the n'th degree. And if people say it has better memory management, there may be something to what their saying but I can't speak with authority on that specific subject. I do know that many web sites use it because they feel it's more stable, it's certainly less expensive, and probably more secure(security is a top concern in linux and patches come out very very quickly to adress those concerns). I don't know if you were into computers when the 'Code Red' worm hit Microsoft IIS servers around the world but I haven't forgotten it. I was running an Apache web server on Linux and was unaffected. There are some reasons why Linux might be considered to be better. Nevertheless, if Linux were the most popular OS in the world then it might become more of a target for such nasty worms and viruses.

There are some reaons why Windows might be considered to be better too. For one thing, some people might think Bill Gates and MS are monopolistic and greedy. But, if you are a U.S. citizen and a capitalist then you can probably appreciate the software development industry, employement, income, ect that MS brings in to the U.S., even if there are some things about MS that you frown upon. Windows might be considered easier to install, learn, and use. And if your a gamer you probably appreciate DirectX and the great games that are made for the Windows platform.

As for debating what's better and the reasons why, it(and I) could probably go on and on and on and on. I didn't even touch on X-Windows vs. the MS Windows GUI, OpenGL versus DirectX, or talk about the pro's and con's of tty Terminals and Bash versus the Windows Command Prompt as I think I have said enough and don't want to clog up this thread with anymore off-topic discussion than I already have. Therefore this is my last reply on this matter.

Which is better? When it really comes down to it we don't live in a perfect world and no OS is perfect. Only individuals can can answer which is better for themselves.

Cheers

"Variable this is EasyRhino, do you copy? Over." Loud and clear EasyRhino. "Do we have a gig? Over." That's a Roger, we have a gig. Target is painted, start the music. "Roger that Variable. Into attack. Pickling target. Target is acquired and lit. LGB comin' down!" EasyRhino, circular error probability zero. Impact with High Order Detonation. Thank You, have a nice day.

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