A Basic Question: Are the Races/Factions Hard-coded?

Yes, right now in the beta you can name your faction...thing (in the beta its TEC only, but you can put in any name, the AI all have different names too).

Unexpected good news! I've never understood why some games limited that ability, but I'm glad to hear that Sins doesn't do it.

Long live the Terran Empire! Or whatever . . .

You will also be able to rename ships and your planets!   

Stop telling us this Blair! ITS TORTURE!!!!!!!

That was Craig who said that - but we are clones so close enough

You could of done all of this already before this gay patch now i have to find away to uninstall this crap!!!

What the hell were they thinking they put a limit on how many capital ships you can have there already was a limit why do you need two.

Save game compression is fine but now they ruined everything in the previous version you could alter your save game file to use a different race that you create.

Then if that wasn't bad they took away the custom galaxy. I want an uninstall patch this update must be some kind of joke.

If they don't fix this crap im canceling my pre order.

There acting like theres multiplayer on this version and a 10 year old is wineing for them to make changes.

What happened to the other races you guys were suppose to be adding in so we wouldn't need to edit the save game files.

All you added were more bugs and 1 building as far as i can see.

You can't. The second you downloaded the game you were stuck.



No, its a beta. As in not a finished game.



Those will come when they actually get around to releasing those races. As in, sometime after they've ironed out the basic technical and gameplay issues.



Well, you need new eyes then. There are plenty of fixes in this patch. Ranging from no more insta-flipping planets to the vastly improved pirate system.

Edit: I think I need to clarify a detail some more:


This is a beta!

It is not by any means a finished product. You aren't playing to have fun, you're playing to help them create a fun game!

Ron Lugge:

I'm not from another planet I know this game is a Beta, the only thing with betas is you improve from beta to beta. This patch is not an over all improvement it's a downgrade, with the exception of the pirates.

By the way, you comment like you are developing the game yourself. But anywho I can't speak for everyone but the previous version had no real flaw compared to this one they took all the fun out of the game.

I would like for Iron Clad/Stardock to post individual betas for download and have patches be optional untill the full release is made available.

That shouldn't be a problem I don't like this patch i have that right, give me the option of a downgrade.

Also there suppose to be making this a better game based on what the consumers have stated I have seen some nice ideas on the forum unless i missed somthing they haven't used any ideas from the customers.

No biggy just get me my previous beta back.

You know, just to inform you. If I had any power you would be banned for this type of comment.



Balance issues.



You can't have both. Players wanted the saves to be compressed, because they were so large. So Ironclad listened.



You can still modd the galaxy settings so you can play custom galaxies. But it's even better than that. It's no possible to design your own maps and play them! Quite an improvement if you ask me.

Besides, they made it in anticipation of the upcoming multiplayer beta.



Change to culture/pirates/research system/planet exploration/jump blocker/improved AI, etc. Really, you should play it a bit more before you complain so loud.



This patch is an improvement to the majority of players. Besides of this, it's imho unfortunate for Ironclad to call it a beta, since technically it's more of a very stable alpha, with major feature changes etc.



You're right, you can't speak for everyone. It looks more like you only speak for yourself. Since most others have a different opinion from you.



You have no right at all, whatsoever in this case. Ironclad decides what sort of game they make, not you or any beta tester. Where here to give them input, feedback, ideas. But the decision making is made by them, not us.



Look harder.

because that doesnt completely defeat the point of beta testing...

That rather defeats the purpose of a beta. If people aren't testing the latest version, they might as well not be testing at all.

Do keep in mind SDC's archive option for future updates though, if you fear post-patch problems. You can use the archive option to store the current version of the game before you update, and restore it if things go wrong.

In any case, it's a beta, as others have said. These things can happen. But I'm sure IC will have a hotfix as quickly as possible--it's obviously not helpful to them either if people are unable to test the other new changes due to crashes.



Many suggested changes have been implemented into the game. Granted there are a few vocally requested things that have not, but in many of those particular cases it's because IC *already did it*, found it to actually detract from the gameplay, and removed it.

That's very true indeed it is a beta, but if your trying to make this game fun enough for everyone to spend there hard earned money on. I would think you'd improve upon the beta not downgrade the beta.

I can't see how removing the option to customize your galaxy was an improvement to gameplay. I tried searching for the specs of the beta but i couldn't find them before I patched. I would of never patched it had I seen what was disabled or removed. Don't get me wrong I like a couple of the additions in the patch but an equal amounts of content were removed or changed.

Then the capital ships get a reduction, if you play the computer on hard you can probably figure out that the capital ships are pretty much not a real threat. Those pesky carriers are lol

Everyone seems to be singing the it's a beta song lol, i'm participating in this beta just as well as anyone else if not more. I'm sharing what I think is a bad idea in this current update for one.

As for archiving, I have other versions of Stardock programs mostly GalCiv2 and all expansions and I've tried to figure out how to save it to a cd-rom and i could never figure it out all i know is it's saved it but don't know where.

I want to be able to use my customized civilzation is there another way to make it selectable other then the old way?

We compressed the save game files because the unanimous opinion was they were too big. However, I'm not sure why you need to edit a save game to change your faction's information. The faction data is controlled via various the entity files in the GameInfo folder. For example, the basic layout for the TEC is in PlayerTech.entity. Be sure to back up any files before you modify them 

See the 'Sins Beta 2 Change Log' thread. It's stickied right in the main sins forum and is updated with each patch.

Anyway, as noted elsewhere, the change to the custom galaxy option is only temporary. Rather than making the Beta 2 and Beta 3-in-progress versions of the game diverge more, or have to delay the patch with extra UI work, IC just put the 'load premade custom map' window (which will come into play shortly) in place of the custom-random-galaxy window, assumably just until the UI can be updated to accomodate both.



If you've got SDC installed in the default location, it puts archives in C:\Program Files\Stardock\Stardock Central\BACKUP. Just copy the .sdc files there to wherever.

That is awesome I have every file i've downloaded.
Thank you very much for that information.

As far as Beta 3 i'm patient i can wait just need somthing to do in the mean time lol.

I'm really loving blowing up pirates in the latest patch, is there no other way to switch between your custom created civilization? Everything else I've managed to mod back into the game it was a long process but i managed.

I've also noticed the AI mimics you now it's almost like playing against a watered down version of yourself pretty fun going against yourself lol.

Its a beta: They have not only the right but the obligation to screw up from time to time.

Why is it an obligation you ask? Because if they get it too perfect, they're spending too much time polishing internally when they should be releasing to us to help track down bugs. I don't know about you, but I want the flawed versions. I want to actively track down bugs, try to figure out how they work. I still haven't managed to create the in-game crash yet, but I'm trying! (Obviously enough, I have manage the save lockup one which has already been fixed... ./cough, giveusthehotfixnow!)

Sorry if I was harsh earlier. I was in an exceptionally bad mood because my internet had been down all day. Add that into the fact that I tend to be bluntly outspoken (did I mention I'm blunt?) and you have a recipe for disaster whenever I encouter something annoying. Unfortunately for you, I didnt' run into any of TheGreatEmporer's posts first (not counting the uber-disaster in the why the futre doesn't need us thread...)

The whole idea of a beta is to have outside people play the game in it's current version to see what may break. And I think we've found a rew broken bits here and there (zooming on an enemy retreat) but the developers are trying out different things that they are under no obligation to keep in the gold version. They get to see if their code works and we get to play a game (well, we pay for it and hopefully we get to play what may be the game a little earlier than the proletariat). In reward we get crashes and disappointments sometimes. The next release may or may not have the features that are in beta 2. I've participated in betas of large commercial packages (those were free, btw, you normally got a discount on the gold version and a lot freebees at the next user group meeting) but they expect you to try and break it and let the dev know what you did and what happened. You may not like the way some feature are implemented, that's part of the feedback the dev need. The more something is disliked the more likely it won't appear in the gold version.

/rant on
Some beta tests don't give the testers the whole package and that will bite the dev right in the ass, like MOHA. They can't have tested a release that requires you to have the ICS service running so it can change ACL's without telling you it was changing anything IN THE INSTALL!!!!! Yes, it won't install without ICS running. You have to start ICS, install, then turn off ICS if you don't trust M$ to handle your security. Pet peeve of mine, changing security settings without telling you or letting you stop it.
/rant off

Sorry, for the OT rant, but if it was tested I'll eat my install DVD. But, the devs need feedback on the game as _they_ envision it, it is theirs, after all. The can ignore our feedback, but they take the risk of not selling any games.

pek

Your point of view may be getting so much disagreement because of your insistence of a supposed 'downgrade' complaining about certain aspects of the game is by no means a bad thing.

But you see those are coming back, they took it off to work on. You just seem to be ignoring the warning that pops up every time you play telling you that the beta is not neccessarily fun.

Not to mention that there are 2 more betas to go through.

I've participated in to many Beta's to count lol, but 8 times out of 10 they never use the users ideas and remove things that made the game cool calling it a balance issue.

I'll use Delta force black hawk downs beta as an example, at one time you could carry a sniper rifile and car-15 and side arm. They later remove that option in final release why? Balance issues sticks it's ugly head up again.


ron Lugge:


We have the right to correct them when they do screw up. By me presenting them with the fact taking out the custom galaxy mis hap was a bad deal that was me saying they've screwed up correct it.

Also someone else mentioned about the limitation of capital ships if made permanent it would bite people who play large universes in the ass. Me personally long as this game remains completley open source i could care less.

But as far as yesterday goes Kyro resolved everything i had an issue with yesterday with the exception of the multiple factions i think there trying to hide that option lol.

I would like to re-upgrade to the newer version because last night I was in the middle of a battle and i turned autosave off because of the massive file size I of course under constant attack forgot to save while fighting for 5 hours non stop then lossing everything like that is not a fun thing.

The option to use multiple civilizations is hardcoded in the exe they need to provide us that mod the game with a code to enable us to use our own civilzations. That is my real primary reason for downgrading yesterday.

Anywho going to restart my game over from last night. grrrrr

... You did know that it was only temporarily removed, right?

They disabled it until they fix some issues with the upcoming Beta 3.



Wait, are you saying you could play as Vasari / Advent? I thought those racers weren't even in the code we'd been given!

i dunno about the code, but theres no textures that belongs to the Advent/Vasari.

No I'm not saying that you can play Vasari/Advent i made my own custom civilization called the Federation.

You can customize your civilization however you want including textures. But the only problem is when you want to select the civilization from the menu you can't.

The only way you can use your civilzation is in the previous version.

Example i gave my fighters lasers rather then missiles. Plus I made alot of new units to play with. I wish i could use some of my startrek models from nexus.

Sorry, I didn't mean code so much as I meant game resources -- graphics, data files, race stats, etc etc.

They made sure not to let us have any of that kind of fun lol. Although there's probably still bits and pieces of code left in the exe file.

If they release a program with beta 3 for modding then we can create our own additions to the game as far as models.

DFM, sorry, was upset about another game and took it out on you. The only game beta I've participated in on is GC2, working with Stardock is why I took this beta shot. I've been involved in commercial beta's, where they actually give you the beta to see if it solves your problem/business need. When you're talking about a large scale busines app there's a lot of things to test and as in any development project, the devs are too close to the product to see potential problems. You write the way you play (or do a given process), so they need outsiders who think a different way. And from what I've seen on this board most of the members/testers think in VERY special ways.

pek