Topic: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!  (Read 48755 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline xeryx

  • Lt. Junior Grade
  • *
  • Posts: 49
Re: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!
« Reply #20 on: December 29, 2016, 02:36:21 pm »
Thank you for the break down!

One more question, Reserve units...are they actually used by the game for a specific purpose? For like planetary defense missions?

I want to remove reserve units from my mod, because they seem useless.  On the flipside, if they are used then when a unit retires it should be put in reserve.

It just seems to me that that is an unneeded waste of space in the ships list.

Offline TarMinyatur

  • Lt.
  • *
  • Posts: 938
  • Gender: Male
Re: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!
« Reply #21 on: December 29, 2016, 03:26:01 pm »
All shiplists by Taldren and Firesoul contain redundant, obsolete, underpowered, overpowered, and weird units in my opinion. But these shiplists are popular and most players don't mind seeing a fleet of three F-CAD's or three R-SPZ's. So I'm certainly in the minority in thinking that a lean uncluttered shiplist is preferable to an exhaustive one. The game itself isn't 100% SFB (no special sensors, no shock) and therefore doesn't need a bazillion SFB-based variants (scouts, monitors, modular ships, diplomatic vessels, LDR, WYN). But a lot of folks like having thousands of ships, bases, PFs...and they can have that with the OP+ 4.11 mod.

The 2.037 shiplist is fairly uncluttered.

"Reserve" units? Can you give an example? If they are useless, remove them. Unless you're doing multiplayer, customize the game however it makes sense to you.

The dynaverse missions can be written to spawn a specific ship or a specific variant or hull type. Most of them seem to draw a certain amount of BPV based on your fleet's BPV. If you have a battleship, the AI draws two or three battleships, even if the empire doesn't have resources to build a puny frigate. Once that mission is completed, those AI battleships vanish. The dynaverse is a simulation of a campaign simulation written a long time ago. It would surely be done differently today. No ships would be created out of thin air! A production schedule would be enabled and every unit would be accounted for in a modern interactive database.   

Offline xeryx

  • Lt. Junior Grade
  • *
  • Posts: 49
Re: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!
« Reply #22 on: December 30, 2016, 01:25:03 am »
Thanks Tar

Reserve units, with the "R" designated in the special role category, such as the escort cruiser.  I am under the impression this is more for multi-player servers to setup home defense battles.

Is there a tool that I can use to check the missions?  Then I can verify this for sure.
It doesn't make sense for most campaign missions to have specific ships, only stand-alone and race specific missions because they have to apply to every race.  Is that a correct assumption?  I would think it would only go down to specific class and maybe special role at the most so that it could be used by every race for that mission. 

I am making my own generational game and trimming all the fat while re-designating ships in the Federation to at least to make sense and be easily identifiable. Eventually, I will run it as a server for people to play on (mainly family and friends) if they don't like it they can play and whine somewhere else.  :laugh:

I have also figured out how to make ships show up at the proper time (ERA), in the Auction and it works most of the time.

Offline TarMinyatur

  • Lt.
  • *
  • Posts: 938
  • Gender: Male
Re: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!
« Reply #23 on: December 30, 2016, 11:55:01 am »
I believe "R" in the special role means the unit is restricted, but reserved makes sense too. Certain missions can exclude these unique ships (F-CAD, H-D7H, R-SPZ). Firesoul added a few columns to the shiplist.txt in his OP+ mod such that Co-op Ace (or Sector Assault?) mission could gather more information than normal to determine the combatants. I'm not sure if a dynaverse server can use this data to modify shipyard production.
 
Enhanced Class Type
Role
Secondary Role
Xtech
ProductionAvailability

To examine an OP mission script you'll need some C++ software and the API. http://klingon.pet.dhs.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=How_to_compile/build_SFC2_EAW_or_OP_Missions

Frankly, it's painful to work on SFC missions. At least with SFC2CE you can use the free Visual Studio 2012 Express. Finding MSVC++6 SP5 may be difficult and expensive.

Offline generalbattuta

  • Lt. Junior Grade
  • *
  • Posts: 22
Re: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!
« Reply #24 on: January 03, 2017, 06:05:04 pm »
Hi! I installed the .iso file I got from Dynaverse.net, then installed this patch. When I try to launch starfleet2.exe, I get:

Quote
---------------------------
StarFleet2.exe - System Error
---------------------------
The program can't start because ImportExportTable.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem.
---------------------------
OK   
---------------------------

Any thoughts? I can always play community edition, but the AI's pretty weak.

edit: Maybe the .iso I got is the community edition, and incompatible with this patch?

Offline TarMinyatur

  • Lt.
  • *
  • Posts: 938
  • Gender: Male
Re: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!
« Reply #25 on: January 04, 2017, 12:00:07 am »
Starfleet2.exe is indeed for SFC2: Empires At War. Starfleet2CE.exe is for SFC2: Community Edition. It seems you have the right application...

ImportExport.dll should be part of the EAW installation in the same folder as Starfleet2.exe.

Uninstall EAW. Restart your PC. Right-click the EAW .iso and check its properties. Make sure it isn't blocked! Mount with CloneDrive or MagicIso or similar. Install the game to C:\games or similar -- don't install to Program Files (x86)! Launch the game. If it works, patch to 2.036. Launch again. If that works, patch to 2.037 for High Def and bug fixes.

2.036 patch --> http://www.dynaverse.net/downloads.php?id=13&game=SFC2#download

Offline d4v1ks

  • D.Net VIP
  • Lt.
  • *
  • Posts: 788
  • Gender: Male
Re: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!
« Reply #26 on: January 04, 2017, 10:53:55 am »
The 2037 patch for EAW is supported by the last release of the SFC Launcher.
I'm sure Tar will release the serkerkit tweaked to work with it, in the days ahead.

keep up :)
"But he isn't wearing anything at all!" (The Emperor's New Clothes)

Offline generalbattuta

  • Lt. Junior Grade
  • *
  • Posts: 22
Re: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!
« Reply #27 on: January 04, 2017, 11:48:58 am »
Starfleet2.exe is indeed for SFC2: Empires At War. Starfleet2CE.exe is for SFC2: Community Edition. It seems you have the right application...

ImportExport.dll should be part of the EAW installation in the same folder as Starfleet2.exe.

Uninstall EAW. Restart your PC. Right-click the EAW .iso and check its properties. Make sure it isn't blocked! Mount with CloneDrive or MagicIso or similar. Install the game to C:\games or similar -- don't install to Program Files (x86)! Launch the game. If it works, patch to 2.036. Launch again. If that works, patch to 2.037 for High Def and bug fixes.

2.036 patch --> http://www.dynaverse.net/downloads.php?id=13&game=SFC2#download


Okay, will do! Just to be clear: the EAW .iso here is the one I bought from Dynaverse? I don't need to dig out an original copy of the game?

edit: If I want to keep 2 SFC directories, one for CE and one for original EAW, how can I tell the 2.036 patch to target a specific directory? Do I place it inside?
« Last Edit: January 04, 2017, 12:05:29 pm by generalbattuta »

Offline TarMinyatur

  • Lt.
  • *
  • Posts: 938
  • Gender: Male
Re: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!
« Reply #28 on: January 04, 2017, 03:19:18 pm »
As far as I know, the 2.036 patch (made by Taldren ~15 years ago) looks in your registry for the Starfleet2.exe installation directory. It should easily find and patch your game correctly. I don't recall ever telling the patcher where to find EAW. The 2.036 patch should ignore Starfleet2CE.exe (2.6xx) or StarfleetOP.exe (2.5xx).

The 2.037 patch, however, does not inspect your registry. When you extract the Starfleet_2037.zip archive to the EAW root folder, it will overwrite the old data (Starfleet2.exe and sfc.ini). The installation batch file (Install_2037.bat) does a simple test -- it looks for sfc2.ico (an icon file) to verify that the batch file itself is in the proper folder. It then moves a few supporting assets (various strings and sprites.q3) to their proper folders or gives an error message.

The 2.037 patch won't work correctly with the Community Edition .iso. The 2.677 and 2.679 patches are intended for CE (2.670).

You can patch to 2.037 by using the original EAW CD from 16 years ago or an EAW .iso from Dynaverse.net. You must patch to 2.036 first.

Offline stardog765

  • Lt. Junior Grade
  • *
  • Posts: 6
Re: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!
« Reply #29 on: July 07, 2017, 04:53:37 pm »
Hello all, just popped in the see what was new in the world of Starfleet Command and noticed a new EAW patch.
I finally got my EAW to install and patched it up following the order recommended in this thread and it runs!

Set the resolution to my desktop 1920x1080 and the game is fullscreen like it supposed to be and like SF:CE and SF:OP are but it seems the UI is not fullscreen. I noticed someone else was having that problem as well but cannot seem to fix it for mine.

I am running Windows 7 64bit and all of the other games in the series are running properly with the old resolution settings but it seems like with this new patch and the way the resolution is set now its not scaling the UI properly.

Any ideas? It looks great but the UI stops halfway.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Here is a screenshot:


Offline stardog765

  • Lt. Junior Grade
  • *
  • Posts: 6
Re: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!
« Reply #30 on: July 07, 2017, 09:05:48 pm »
Well I have no idea what so ever happened but I downloaded the OP v2564 preview with the launcher that was posted here and now for whatever reason EAW also works correctly now. Haha awesome!

Not a clue what changed beyond that because I didnt change anything else. I just installed the OP patch to OP, made sure it worked and showed the correct version then thought what the heck I will set EAW up to use the launcher too and the hud now scales to fullscreen. Weird as sh*t!

Offline d4v1ks

  • D.Net VIP
  • Lt.
  • *
  • Posts: 788
  • Gender: Male
Re: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!
« Reply #31 on: July 08, 2017, 01:42:00 am »
I just installed the OP patch to OP, made sure it worked and showed the correct version then thought what the heck I will set EAW up to use the launcher too and the hud now scales to fullscreen. Weird as sh*t!

Wierd? I would say amazing, right?

You just need to set the path of the EXE in the launcher, and press the big button "Launch", and everything works!
It is the power of coding!
I made it so it would do everything automatically for the end user, so they could play in any custom resolution they wish, in both SFC EAW, OP and 3 (our custom patches).
Have fun!

P.S: I will try to release the full version as soon i have time to review the code and improve it a bit, around the end of September, October.
« Last Edit: July 08, 2017, 02:26:59 am by d4v1ks »
"But he isn't wearing anything at all!" (The Emperor's New Clothes)

Offline stardog765

  • Lt. Junior Grade
  • *
  • Posts: 6
Re: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!
« Reply #32 on: July 08, 2017, 10:06:24 am »
Yes sir I would say great job!  Very helpful piece of utility there.

Will look forward to the final version but for now this one works great!
 
Thank you!


Offline AaronJG

  • Lt. Junior Grade
  • *
  • Posts: 5
Re: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!
« Reply #33 on: March 04, 2018, 11:18:52 pm »
Having an issue with the patch:

I copy the files to the Root folder for SFC2 and then run the Batch file, which tells me that everythings already done and I just need to delete the batch file. When I open the game, the window pops up after the intro movie but the game itself only fills a portion of that window (roughly 1/4).

I'm running Windows 10 using compatibility mode for XPSP3, I tried changing the INI file, but that just made the window a full screen window with the same issue.

Any ideas?

Offline d4v1ks

  • D.Net VIP
  • Lt.
  • *
  • Posts: 788
  • Gender: Male
Re: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!
« Reply #34 on: March 05, 2018, 02:21:40 pm »
the game itself only fills a portion of that window (roughly 1/4).

If you start the game, in any resolution you choose, and you only see a tiny interface in the middle, that is normal.
The game was designed for a resolution of 800x600.
Only when we start a mission the game "fills" the screen. But the interface itself never resizes. The buttons don't get bigger, neither the text, etc.
The game is around 20 years old! Never was improved.
"But he isn't wearing anything at all!" (The Emperor's New Clothes)

Offline Tumulorum Fossor

  • Lt. Junior Grade
  • *
  • Posts: 147
Re: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!
« Reply #35 on: March 05, 2018, 09:29:19 pm »
Carlos do you think it will ever realistically be possible to have in game font points scale up with the resolution?

Offline Javora

  • America for Americans first.
  • Commander
  • *
  • Posts: 2986
  • Gender: Male
Re: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!
« Reply #36 on: March 06, 2018, 12:25:50 am »
Carlos and Tar worked on that to some degree.  But it sounds like they hit the limits of what they can to without the source code.  Maybe someone with talent like Carlos and Tar will actually get their hands on the source code, look at the non-official patches and inspiration and do something amazing.  I'm not holding my breath.

Offline AaronJG

  • Lt. Junior Grade
  • *
  • Posts: 5
Re: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!
« Reply #37 on: March 11, 2018, 04:05:00 am »

If you start the game, in any resolution you choose, and you only see a tiny interface in the middle, that is normal.
The game was designed for a resolution of 800x600.
Only when we start a mission the game "fills" the screen. But the interface itself never resizes. The buttons don't get bigger, neither the text, etc.
The game is around 20 years old! Never was improved.

But then when I get into a mission, the sizing is also wrong and when I click on the control menu's in-mission my ship turns in odd directions. Game is unplayable.

Offline Javora

  • America for Americans first.
  • Commander
  • *
  • Posts: 2986
  • Gender: Male
Re: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!
« Reply #38 on: March 11, 2018, 08:01:11 am »
Sounds like a resolution setting is off in the ini file.  Check your screen ratio then review the install process to make sure it’s set correctly.

Offline AaronJG

  • Lt. Junior Grade
  • *
  • Posts: 5
Re: Starfleet Command 2: Empires At War -- Patch 2.037!
« Reply #39 on: March 12, 2018, 12:01:59 am »
Resolution is set at 1920x1080, same as the screen. Game is also quite jumpy, I've noticed.