GalCiv II: Dark Avatar v1.7 BETA 4

from GalCiv2 Forums

The final beta of Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar 1.7 is now up (as of last night).

This beta was going to be released as the official 1.7 but we wanted to do more testing on it just to make sure.

The main changes have to do with memory use reduction and a few other crash bugs fixed. With any luck, this version should be rock solid and ready to go.

14,148 views 37 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Please let us know how it is working for you.

Only NEW games will be able to make use of the new memory optimizations.

Groupy 2 - Organize multiple applications into grouped tabs on your Windows desktop
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The flickering mouse point problem has returned.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

The flickering mouse point problem has returned.

Nothing changed that would affect that. 

Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well, the flicker is back after updating, I'm not hallucinating. The bad thing is, I can't go back to the previous Beta to check because apparently Auto-Archive hasn't been working for a while either:



By the way, I just tried setting to use the Hardware Mouse Cursor, and that didn't help, the flicker remained.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'm finishing up a game saved under the previous beta, so I can't comment on this beta yet. But, I will confirm shiva7663's report that AutoArchiving isn't working on SDC. I just checked it for my setup and the last archives are for GC2 1.50.128 dated 06/13/2007. The AutoArchive on Application Update box is (and has been) checked. I don't know if it makes any difference, but I'm running Vista Ultimate (x86).
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I manually did it I have all 4 betas I`ve always done it manually

is there a way to get them from stardock again ???

Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

The flickering mouse point problem has returned.


Nothing changed that would affect that. 




I can confirm that there's now a flickering cursor... It's intermittent, but the bugger of it is that on occasion (on a fresh reboot, even) the cursor will periodically disappear for a few seconds in shipyard mode...
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The new low-res thumbnails are just... Terrible... Sorry guys! But i'd much rather the 128x128 versions.
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

The new low-res thumbnails are just... Terrible... Sorry guys! But i'd much rather the 128x128 versions.


I'll have to second that one... between 3 of my ships, I couldn't tell, from the thumbnail, which was which, they were so blurred and pixelated. hehe
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Updating Nvidia video driver to version 163.76 beta fixed the mouse flicker problem for me.
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Just played a medium rare galaxy - 9 opponents, 1 random (Dark Yor race). There was not a single extreme environment planet of any sort - is that a statistical oddity or a bug?
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

The new low-res thumbnails are just... Terrible... Sorry guys! But i'd much rather the 128x128 versions.

Where are you noticing the lower rsolution thumbnails?

BTW, the memory difference between the two is approximately 170 megabytes of memory in a typical large galaxy game.

Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Where are you noticing the lower rsolution thumbnails?


Clicking on the quick build list on a planet. See below for image >

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Updating to Beta 4 now...
Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Just played a medium rare galaxy - 9 opponents, 1 random (Dark Yor race). There was not a single extreme environment planet of any sort - is that a statistical oddity or a bug?


How many systems were there? Nine starting civs will give you nine systems that can't have extreme planets.

What was the total habitable planet count?
Reply #18 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
What was the total habitable planet count?


nine systems for the civs: two planets, except fot Thalia -->17
Dark Yor -->Only Dark Yor Homeworld
2 more systems-->one without any planets, one with one planet (normal)

total: 19 planets+ my two planets = 21
Reply #19 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Where are you noticing the lower resolution thumbnails?


Here's a good example right here:


Clicking on the quick build list on a planet. See below for image >

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us



BTW, the memory difference between the two is approximately 170 megabytes of memory in a typical large galaxy game.


I can see where that might be a save for low end systems. But i can only speak for me, i have a 64-bit system and 4GB of RAM, so for me 170Mb is practically inconsequential. I'd much rather the larger thumbnails so you don't get all that pixilation. I'm all about the eye candy (i designed the High-Res graphics mod which i’ll be updating for Twilight, if anyone’s interested in hearing).

Perhaps it could be made an option in settings? "Use Low-Res thumbnails"?
Reply #20 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I can see where that might be a save for low end systems. But i can only speak for me, i have a 64-bit system and 4GB of RAM, so for me 170Mb is practically inconsequential.


Considering that the game's memory space is capped at 2GB regardless of system under most circumstances, that 170MB is nearly 10% of the total available. Not so tiny if you look at it that way.
Reply #21 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
What was the total habitable planet count?


nine systems for the civs: two planets, except fot Thalia -->17
Dark Yor -->Only Dark Yor Homeworld
2 more systems-->one without any planets, one with one planet (normal)

total: 19 planets+ my two planets = 21


There's your answer. Home system planets will never need tech, nor will a minor civ's home planet (although other planets in the system might). There was only one planet that COULD have been extreme, and you shouldn't really be surprized that it wasn't.
Reply #22 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Where are you noticing the lower rsolution thumbnails?


Clicking on the quick build list on a planet. See below for image >

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us


Ah. Thanks for that. I couldn't figure out what these Thumbnails were. I hadn't paid any attention to the ship picture in that screen. But, now that you pointed it out, I agree: it's pretty awful (confirmed it looks the same here).
Reply #23 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I can see where that might be a save for low end systems. But i can only speak for me, i have a 64-bit system and 4GB of RAM, so for me 170Mb is practically inconsequential.


Considering that the game's memory space is capped at 2GB regardless of system under most circumstances, that 170MB is nearly 10% of the total available. Not so tiny if you look at it that way.


Actually i uncapped it , but that's just me, tha average user can't do that. And even if i didn't... I still think i'd prefer the 128x128 versions. Just me.
Reply #24 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Just finished a Tiny Map with 9 AI's. Only problem I've picked up(this was since first 1.7 beta) is when moving a ship/fleet, the moves left don't update until you refocus on the ship/fleet.
No show stoppers though...
Reply #25 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
If you try to get money from a cash poor civ during trading, you get pop-ups after the trade window is closed that claims that the player doesn't have enough money for the trade. So, two issues: the pop-up doesn't show up where you can see it while your are trading, and the information on the pop-up is backwards.