26JFIN.TXT

From Stars!wiki
Revision as of 20:13, 18 June 2008 by Gible (talk | contribs) (New page: This information was supplied by Crisium in stars27jrc3.zip/27JFIN.TXT and stars26jrc3.zip/26JFIN.TXT. Apart from the numbers 2.6 vs 2...)

(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to: navigation, search

This information was supplied by Crisium in stars27jrc3.zip/27JFIN.TXT and stars26jrc3.zip/26JFIN.TXT. Apart from the numbers 2.6 vs 2.7, the shipping section noted below and some minor punctuation, the two files are identical.


April 26, 2000

#### FINAL RELEASE CANDIATE #####


(in 26JFIN.TXT)

This is not the final shipping J patch.

When the final version is ready it will be available at http://crisium.com/stars!/patches.htm.


(in 27JFIN.TXT) This is the final shipping J patch.

This patch is available at http://crisium.com/stars!/patches.htm.


V2.60j Upgrade Instructions

  • Stars! 2.60j can read files created by any version from 2.60 to 2.70i.
  • Stars! 2.60j is 100% play compatible with Stars! 2.60j.
  • Stars! 2.60j can not be used to play games hosted by any earlier version.
  • Players with older versions can not play in games hosted by 2.60j.
  • Stars! 2.60j will not accept race files created by older versions.
  • Older versions cannot read race files created by 2.60j.


To upgrade to Stars! 2.60j from older versions

Players should submit their turns with their current version. Then

the host should upgrade to 2.70j or 2.60j before generating the new

year. Then each player should upgrade to 2.70j or 2.60j before loading

their new turns.


Changes

Changes from Stars 2.6j RC2

All bogus player passwords have been accounted for

Colonists no longer die from non-existant engine radiation

Messages sent to individual players are no longer sent to everyone.

Fleets that split up and go many different directions will all be chased down by the pursuing fleets, rather than just the heaviest of the fleeing fleets.

Race files from older versions of Stars! will not be compatible with the new version.

Race files from the new version of Stars! will not be compatible with older versions.


Changes from Stars! 2.60j RC1

The problem where cargo disappear has been fixed.

All bogus message problems have been fixed

The memory corruption happening in the game creation has been fixed, ships now always recieve the right parts.

It is now possible to transfer minerals in space between two fully loaded ships. This can be done by unloading minerals into deep space from one ship, and then loading them onto the second ship.


Changes for Stars! 2.60j

Scanner overlay now supports 2% view from toolbar.

Added support for more than 99 backup directories. For 10 or less backup directories specified in stars.ini the directories Backup0 to Backup9 are used. If 11 to 999 backup directories are specified in stars.ini the directories Backup.000 to Backup.999 are used.

Added the -v command line parameter for verification of .x# files by automated turn servers. "stars! -v gamename.hst" generates a gamename.chk file and then quits. A .chk file looks like this:

   Stars! Version 2.60j
   05/15/99 23:34:39 - 1: still out
   05/15/99 23:34:39 - 2: turned in
   05/15/99 23:34:39 - ERROR - 3: x file corrupt

Added the -l command line parameter to turn on logging of turn generation status and any errors that occur. Enabling logging will prevent any dialogs, alerts or other user interface elements from halting an automatic turn server. Logging is ignored if the host dialog or player interface is visible. It is only meaningful for command line actions such as turn generation and game creation via a .def file. A .log file looks like this:

   Stars! Version 2.60j
   09/28/98 12:01:17 - Generating year 2400
   09/29/98 12:01:22 - Succeeded
   09/29/98 15:55:41 - Generating year 2401
   09/29/98 15:55:44 - Succeeded
   09/30/98 15:48:37 - Generating year 2402
   09/30/98 15:48:41 - Succeeded
There are a large number of possible things that might get recorded in a log file including any error message that could normaly pop up during turn generation.

Logging=1 in the [MISC] section of the stars.ini file will turn on logging for all command line actions.

Computer players no longer build fleets with too many remote miners.

Huge fleets with massive amounts of fuel no longer show a negative range.

Increased the height of the split fleets dialogue box to show 16 designs.

Non-homeworlds are never incorrectly reported as Home Worlds (HW).

Upgraded Mass Drivers no longer automatically increase the speed of packets beyond the ability of friendly worlds to catch them.

Fixed a crash in the German version when viewing certain messages.

Minerals on hand now displays quantities greater than one million kT.

Fixed several Recent File List problems.

Editing a race in the New Game Wizard can no longer inadvertantly change the previous player's race selection.

Fixed a crash when reading corrupted log files.

Enemy ship mass displays have been fixed so that they show the same information at all accessible points.

Fixed problems associated with merging large numbers of fleets.

Fixed several Wait for % and Fill up to % problems.

Mineral transfer no longer loses minerals when transfering more than a ship can handle and then moving back the excess.

Fixed loophole that allowed space docks to build ships beyond their capacity.

Improved checking for hacked race files.

Parameters to add AI players in a .def file now act as documented.

2.70j now produces the correct sound for capital ship missiles even if the turn was generated by 2.60j.

Fixed a bug that could leave a bogus "Mineral Alchemy 0" item in production queues.

Fixed a bug that inadvertenly allowed AIs to build the Genesis Device in No Random Events games.

Wormholes no longer appear in No Random Event games.

Fixed a problem that could cause a run away infinite loop of auto-turn generation.

Host dialog no longer incorrectly reports players as being in the wrong game after they have missed a turn.

Fixed a bug that caused the backup directory to be created in the wrong location under certain conditions.

Increased the ship count display in the scanner window to a maximum of 999.

Mystery Trader is no longer reported as belonging to you if you click on the area below the image in the summary window where a race emblem would normally go.

Quitting the game after composing a message to another player will prompt you to save now even if you had not pressed the DONE button.

Fixed a bug where gift ships sometimes lost parts.

Fixed redraw problems in the fleet report when splitting fleets.

Saving and Submitting multiple times in a row no longer grows the .x file over and over for no reason.

Waypoints that take 1 year now default to using the stargates if possible.

Fleet Composition listbox now can display ship counts greater than 9,999.

Increasing the height of the Messages window until the scroll bar goes awaw no longer causes messages to get truncated.

Mass packets that wipe out a colony that was evacuated the same year no longer produce a message claiming to have killed everyone.

Fixed a problem with ultra high initiative ships sometimes not firing.

Fixed display of very large shield values in the Battle VCR.

Dump universe to text file now includes a CRLF after the header instead of just a CR.

Galaxy Scoop now generates fuel at warp 9.

Password edit field when changing a password is no longer one character longer than the edit field for entering a password when loading a game.

Fixed overflow bug with >21 Superlatanium armors on a Space Dock with Regenerating Shields.

Ship scanner ranges are no longer restricted to a max of 2047 light years.

The Maid AI is much less brain dead now.

Robber Barron and Pick Pocket scanners now allow stealing with waypoint tasks.

Fixed problem where merging fleets could cause healthy ships to become damaged.


Changes for Stars! 2.7i

Universe definition (.def) files can now include AI players instead of just human players using the format "# n m" where n is the id number of the Ai and m is the skill level of the Ai.

Races IDs:
0=Random, 1=Robotoids, 2=Turindrones, 3=Automitrons, 4=Rototills, 5=Cybertrons, 6=Macinti
Skill Levels:
0=Random, 1=Easy, 2=Standard, 3=Tough, 4=Expert
# 1 4     <-- Expert Robotoid AI.

Universe definition files can now include a random seed to force the universe to be created exactly the same each time. Just add random seed value as a forth number on the same line as the universe size. Example:

1 2 1 13424531

Multi-year turn generation is now possible in solo games using F12 for 10 years, <Ctrl>F12 for 100 years and <Shift>F12 for 1000 years. Press and hold <Shift> or <Ctrl> to halt automatic turn generation early.

Added command line support for multi-year generation to the -g command line parameter. The new syntax is -g[n] where n is an optional number between 2 and 1000. Example:

Stars! -g10 mygame.hst

Added multi-year turn generation support from the host dialog. Hold down the <Shift> key and press the Generate Now button to generate 10 years. Hold down the <Ctrl> key for 100 years. Hold down both <Shift>+<Ctrl> to generate 1000 years. Press and hold <Shift> or <Ctrl> to halt automatic turn generation early.

Added option to include player number in the file name extension for planet and fleet dumps. To change from .PLA and .FLE to .Pnn and .Fnn, where nn is your player number, just add "NewReports=1" to the [Misc] section of your stars.ini.

Added additional planet dump columns if NewReports=1

Gravity, Temperature, Radiation, Original Gravity, Original Temperature, Original Radiation, Value after Terraforming, % of Pop Capacity, Scaner Range, Penetrating Scanner Range, Mass Driver destination, Driver Warp speed, Routing destination, StarGate Range, StarGate Mass limit, Percent Damage

Added additional fleet dump columns if NewReports=1

Owner, ETA, Warp speed, Mass, Cloak %, Scanner range, Penetrating Scanner range, Task, Remote Mining, Mine Sweeping, Mine Laying, Terraforming, Count of Unarmed ships, Count of Scouts, Count of Warships, Count of Utility ships, Count of Bombers.

Added a -d command line parameter for dumping PLA, FLE and MAP files.

  Stars! -dm mygame.m1    <-- Dump the universe definition and exit
  Stars! -df mygame.m1    <-- Dump player 1's fleets and exit
  Stars! -dp mygame.m1    <-- Dump player 1's planets and exit
  Stars! -dfmp mygame.m1  <-- Dump everything player 1 knows and exit

Changed default Chicken battle plan to have a primary target of Any for new games. This allows fleeing ships to fire back.

Added option to exclude the race name for custom races from the Advanced New Game Wizard and Host Mode. Add "NoHostNames=1" to the [Misc] section of your stars.ini for this to take effect. This allows hosts to know who is playing each position but not the names of their races.

No longer show double splash screens when the load of a file from the command line fails.

It is now possible to open race files from the command line. This also means that it is possible to associate race files with the Stars! executible so that they can be opened by double-clicking on them in the Windows shell.

Closed illegal ship design loophole. Illegal components are now deleted.

Corrected Empire Interactive phone order number in About Box.

Increased size of the recent file list to 9.

Waypoints listbox now scrolls to show previous or next item when the top or bottom item is selected.

Starbases now obey the "Attack Who" field of your default battle plan.

Stars! remembers what message number you were on when continuing your most recent game.

Enemies are now prevented from giving you fleets.

Cross player fleet trasnfers (gifts) now always happen after movement.

Too many fleets in the same location can no longer prevent a battle from occurring.

Many additional PLA and FLE dump file columns now show actual or approximate values for other players' colonies and fleets when known.

Corrected the display of mine field decay rates. The displayed rate now matches the actual decay again.

Fixed problem where newly unoccupied planets would occasionally still display as having a starbase.

Fixed problems with WaitFor% and LoadUpto% transport tasks.

Improved integrity of racial point cost calculations.

Corrected ship repair speed problems.

Fixed obscure bug which sometimes caused battles to end too soon.


Changes for Stars! 2.6h

Fixed stray pointer in Report initialization that caused listbox redraw problems on Windows 3.1 machines

Fixed problem with fleets sometimes inappropriately generating fuel

Ensured that "tool tips" are never partially off screen

Summary pane now shows field count for your own minefields

Fixed keyboard access to Done and Help buttons when VCR is finished

Replaced "Stream Error" alerts with something more intelligible

Changed name of victory condition from "Exceeds next nearest player's score by..." to "Exceeds second place score by..." The meaning of the condition has not changed

Host dialog now displays better messages when a .x file is unacceptable

Save and Submit now has Ctrl-A for a keyboard accelerator

Your fleets now pick new targets only if the composition of the target has changed AND the target is not owned by you

Fixed description of the War Monger trait in the Race Wizard

Tech Browser graph for Trans-Galactic Drive and Trans-Galactic Super Scoop now correctly displays a battle speed of 9

We now use multi-fleet bombing messages when more than one of your fleets are in orbit even if only one of them has bombers in it

Fixed display of planetary scanner range for planets without scanners

Fixed floating point error caused by having way too many colonists on a planet

Added popup tech browser page from minefield image in summary window

Prevent players from setting waypoints beyond edge of universe


Changes for Stars! 2.6g

Fixed bombing bug which occurred sometimes when multiple players each have multiple fleets in orbit

Antimatter Generators work correctly again

Fixed race requirement description for Fielded Kelarium in the Tech Browser

Fixed bug which sometimes made copies of gift ship designs unbuildable

Fixed crash when using Prev/Next for Fleets with the Planets report open and vice versa


Special thanks to Christian Eustermann for providing translation

assistance for the German version of Stars! 2.6f.


Changes for Stars! 2.6f

We now free up the WAV device between battles

Fixed bug where ships were not removed from production queues when the design was deleted if no ships of that design existed

All progress on other starbases in the production queue is undone when the current starbase goes away

Mineral packets flung by Packet Physics races are no longer reduced to 1/3 damage

Failed cargo transfers to other players no longer halt turn generation

Non-Alternate Reality remote miners no longer use the homeworld mineral concentration floor value

Remote mining is now limited to the equivalent of 4000 mines per fleet

Fixed problem where editing the Chicken battle plan created a duplicate plan and ate the Sniper plan

Can no longer give a player ships if they already have 512 fleets

Improved initial spacing of players for 3 way battles

Players can't steal from other players using remote miners any more

Enemies can no longer transfer cargo to your fleets

Other players' est. pop values are no longer divided by 100 in dump files

All fleets now include the owner's race name in dump files

Fleet location now listed by name if at a planet in dump files

Multiple fleets bombing one planet are now treated as one large fleet

Ships can no longer become 100% damaged without dying

Routed mining ships clump into usable sized fleets

Players can no longer create too many minefields or mineral packets

Sends player a message when minelaying fails due to too many fields

Host now does a better job of detecting corrupt log (.x) files

Inactive players no longer try colonizing with non-colonizer ships

Anti-Matter Generators now continue to work on ships given away

Warp gauge no longer shows danger color at warp 10 for warp 10 engines

Seriously over-cloaked ships no longer appear as if they were unloaked

Minefield hit reports are less likely to display the wrong owner name

Cybertron AIs no longer accidentally give other players colonists

Now prevent colonists from being automatically dumped in deep space

Fleets that should have been dead and not written out are now ignored

Loading log files with mergers of missing fleets no longer crashes

Empty fleets are no longer saved under any circumstances