Changes from 1.35 to current load...

[Richard]

Version History for Space Empires IV
---------------------------------------------------

Version 1.38:
1. Added - You can now hold the Shift key in the Select Package window to
add or remove resources at a rate of 10,000 per click.
2. Fixed - Spelling error in "Energy Dampner".
3. Fixed - AI was not following the "Maximum maintenance Percent of
Revenue" line correctly.
4. Fixed - The AI would still try to construct a unit design even if there
was no space for it anywhere in the galaxy, and would not move on
down the list of designs to purchase.
5. Fixed - The AI would often upgrade all of its facilities even when it didn't
really have the money to do so.
6. Fixed - Remove the extra "Weapon display" line for the Tractor Beam II.
7. Fixed - When a race accepts a subjugation treaty, all of its other existing
treaties will be broken, and all of those players will be notified.
8. Fixed - Re-fixed the problem with the Low Supply icon on fighter Groups.
9. Fixed - Fixed bug where non-cloaked defenders in an obscuring storm would
not battle visible enemies moving through the sector.
10. Note - If you turn on the Resupply Minister, it will give orders to any and
all ships, regardless of their individual minister setting.

Version 1.37:
1. Changed - Increased cost to retrofit.
2. Added - Command Line option -nd (which should be placed at the very end
of the line) which will prevent any display of dialogs.
3. Added - Exit Code when running the exe from the command line.
0 - Successful.
1 - Invalid Master Password.
2 - Invalid Player Password.
4. Fixed - When downsizing a ship using retrofit, the number of damaged
components display might show too high a number.
5. Fixed - Allegiance Converters should not work against ships with
Master Computers.
6. Fixed - All designs in the Designs Window are now listed sorted by name.
7. Fixed - Small fighter Groups would show the out of supply icon even
at 100% fuel.
8. Fixed - If a planet was destroyed in combat, all the units that were
housed on the planet would not be showed as killed in the
design statistics.
9. Fixed - Swept mines were not being added to the killed statistics.
10. Fixed - A player would not receive enemy fighter designs if the designs
were housed on a planet during combat.
11. Fixed - Simultaneous Game: The protector in a protectorate treaty would
often not store any resources.
12. Fixed - Rare Access Violation when Host is processing a turn.
13. Fixed - Added a fix for the garbled log message display even though unable
to repeat.
14. Fixed - Simultaneous Game: Changing the colony type would not take effect after
a turn was processed.

Version 1.36:
1. Fixed - Map Editor: Access Violation when you tried to edit a
planet after deleting one.
2. Fixed - Map Editor: After saving a planet with a name that does
not end in a roman numeral, the next time you tried to
add a planet in the same system, you would get a Range
Check Error.
3. Fixed - Map Editor: Removed systems names from the combo box that
are already in use.
4. Fixed - Occasional driver or VxD errors when using the Resolve
Combat feature.
5. Fixed - Compiling a turn from the command line was not working.
6. Fixed - Fighter Groups were getting a cumulative offfense and
defense modifier.
7. Fixed - Sometimes fighters would not fire on targets if their first
weapon could not target the remaining enemy pieces.
8. Fixed - A target planet in the combat simulator would show the wrong
player's population bars.
9. Fixed - Long Messages to other players would get cut off in the Log
Window.
10. Fixed - When a new empire is created by rebelling from an old one,
the new empire would have all of the log Messages from the
old empire.

------------------
Sarge is coming...

Richard Arnesen
Director of Covert Ops
Shrapnel Games
http://www.shrapnelgames.com

[God Emperor]

Richard,
Could you elaborate on item 3:

3. Fixed - AI was not following the "Maximum maintenance Percent of
Revenue" line correctly.

Thanks,
GE

[Jubala]

Thanks for the info Richard!

[Richard]

GE,

I have no idea they are Aaron's notes...

------------------
Sarge is coming...

Richard Arnesen
Director of Covert Ops
Shrapnel Games
http://www.shrapnelgames.com

[PvK]

I'm just guessing, but I imagine this means the AI will take measures (like stopping building ships and bases, and scrapping or mothballing ships) when its maintenance costs exceed this percentage of its income. Oh it should have but wasn't, and now it should be fixed.

;->

PvK

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by God Emperor:
Richard,
Could you elaborate on item 3:

3. Fixed - AI was not following the "Maximum maintenance Percent of
Revenue" line correctly.

Thanks,
GE<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[sunzoner]

Does this mean the patch is out? I can't find it???

[Richard]

No this is just stating what the current beta load has in it.

------------------
Sarge is coming...

Richard Arnesen
Director of Covert Ops
Shrapnel Games
http://www.shrapnelgames.com

[Baron Munchausen]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by PvK:
I'm just guessing, but I imagine this means the AI will take measures (like stopping building ships and bases, and scrapping or mothballing ships) when its maintenance costs exceed this percentage of its income. Oh it should have but wasn't, and now it should be fixed.

;-&gt;

PvK

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes, this was a problem noticed by the modders. They had cranked up their AI production levels to make them competitive but they were not stopping production when their maintenance costs hit the level set in the SETTINGS.TXT file, so their resources ran out and they became easily beatable. If they will now obey the limits properly, the production levels an be cranked up again in the AI files.

[Tampa_Gamer]

Excellent! Thanks for the update Richard! Looks like 1.38 fixes (Nos. 3,4,5 & 10) should really help out the modded (as well as the original) AI races. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

[capnq]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>6. Fixed - All designs in the Designs Window are now listed sorted by name.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I hadn't noticed this entry before now; thank you! This will really speed up managing my multiVersion designs.

------------------
Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

[Admiral]

Yay!

Fixes 2,3 of 1.37 should really help Play by Web. Can't wait to get it published so everyone can be on the latest Version.

Cheers,

Admiral

------------------
Space Empires IV Play by Web (http://seiv.pbw.cc/)

[Talenn]

Hey all,

I've been away from SE4 for some time now. It just became too much of a pain in the butt to keep manually updating all the files to keep my data set current with the latest and greatest patches. When the fighter bug(s) crept in, I pretty much stayed at the older Versions of the game. I think I'm still in 1.19 or 1.27 or somewhere thereabouts.

Recently I've been thinking about upgrading to the latest Version and going in and upgrading all my modded files etc. How close are we to another release? I'll hold off if this patch (1.35?) is on the way shortly.

Also, I flipped through this list but I dont know what 1.28-1.32 could have changed. Has the 'Culture bug' been squashed yet..ie do 'Cultural Traits' such as Worker and Warrior work yet? That was another one of my 'peeves' with the older Versions. All of that stuff was pretty much just window dressing as the bonuses weren't applied IIRC. I guess this one is fixed by now, right?

At any rate, I'm glad to see the SE4 modding folks still going strong. I think you made the right decision not to modd the base data. It is a NIGHTMARE trying to keep updating everything to stay up with the game Versioning.

Any info appreciated.

Thanx,
Talenn

[Nitram Draw]

I don't think the culture bug has been fixed, I'm pretty sure the bonus for the worker culture is not working. IIRC someone brought this up recently in another thread.

[capnq]

The current release is Version 1.35; the upcoming patch will be at least v1.38. The first post in this thread
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/Forum23/HTML/002114-2.html
has the complete Version history up to 1.33, but I can't seem to find 1.34-1.35 at the moment.

2nd Edit: found it -
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/Forum23/HTML/002336.html

------------------
Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

[This message has been edited by capnq (edited 06 June 2001).]

[This message has been edited by capnq (edited 07 June 2001).]

[Richard]

And for your viewing pleasure, I think you'll like some of these:

Version History for Space Empires IV
---------------------------------------------------

Version 1.40:
1. Fixed - Statistics for a design would not be updated if a ship of that design
was given away during a trade.
2. Changed - Increased the shields and decreased the cost of the Massive Planetary
Shield Generator.
3. Fixed - Ground Combat: Only troops and population should show in ground combat.
4. Fixed - Ground Combat: Damage would grow in excess of the actual each turn.
5. Fixed - Ground Combat: The close button should be disabled until combat is complete.
6. Fixed - The Solar Sail description should say that only one works per ship.
7. Fixed - The AI will sometimes trade for technology he doesn't need or can't use.
8. Fixed - The Create Planet minister would send all ships to the same location.
9. Fixed - The Scrap Window should show all ships sorted by name.
10. Fixed - The retrofit in simultaneous games would not always work correctly.

Version 1.39:
1. Fixed - System Gravitational Shield Facility was not working.
2. Added - Added “Stop Star Destroyer” ability to System Gravitational Shield facility.
3. Fixed - Pressing the E key in combat would sometimes cause a crash or an End Combat
dialog too soon.
4. Changed - Minimum maintenance cost for any empire is 5%.
5. Fixed - Error when loading a game with a map which had more than 255 starting points.
6. Fixed - Starting points in maps were not being cleared upon load. This would
eventually cause a crash in any game that was started from a map which had
starting points.
7. Fixed - With Omnipresent View selected, cloaked ships would not be shown correctly
when a ship with sensors was present in the system.
8. Fixed - Successful intelligence defense would sometimes result in you having intel
defense projects more accomplished then when they started.
9. Fixed - The Close Warp Point component was not using supplies when activated.
10. Added - Added command line option for specifying the mod path.

Command Line Options:

Se4.exe "[Savegame path]" "[Password]" "[Player Number]" "[Mod path]" -nd

[Savegame Path] = Exact path to the savegame file.
[Game Password] = Either the game password if this is the host processing the turn, or
the players password if you want to launch directly into a player’s turn.
[Player Number] = The specific player number you wish to launch into, or 0 if this is
the host processing the turn.
[Mod path] = Override to the directory specified in the Path.txt file (this should
just be the directory name of the mod, exactly what’s in Path.txt).
You can leave this blank to just use the setting found in the Path.txt
file.
-nd = Optional flag which indicates if any error dialogs should be displayed
during the turn processing if an error occurs.

Note: To leave an option blank, just put two parenthesis with a space between them.

Examples:
Host processing the turn, with no dialogs.
Se4.exe "c:\program files\shrapnel games\malfador machination\space empires
iv\savegame\BigMulti.gam" "Master" "0" " " -nd

Player wants to launch directly into their game.
Se4.exe "c:\se4\savegame\mygame.gam" "mypass" "1" " "

Host wants to process a turn with an alternate mod path, and have dialogs be displayed.
Se4.exe "c:\se4\savegame\supergame.gam" "master" "0" "c:\se4\mydata"

------------------
Sarge is coming...

Richard Arnesen
Director of Covert Ops
Shrapnel Games
http://www.shrapnelgames.com

[Marty Ward]

Thanks for the update. When can we expect this to be out?

[Atrocities]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>5. Fixed - Error when loading a game with a map which had more than 255 starting points.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Now this sounds very interesting. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif Perhaps we can now bump the total number of systems up to a new maximum.

[Spoo]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR> 4. Changed - Minimum maintenance cost for any empire is 5%. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Pity. I rather liked no-maintenance ships.

------------------
Assume you have a 1kg squirrel
E=mc^2
E=1kg(3x10^8m/s)^2=9x10^16J
which, if I'm not mistaken, is equivilent to roughly a 50 megaton nuclear bomb.
Fear the squirrel.

[dogscoff]

Some really important fixes in there. Thanks once again to Aaron for new code and to Shrapnel for this forum which, as the fix list clearly proves, is what keeps us fans so close to Malfador.

------------------
"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"Uh, I think so, Brain, but balancing a family and a career ... oooh, it's all too much for me. "

[Taqwus]

Sweet. So now one should be able to build multiple QR-equipped planet creators and let them wander around, converting asteroid fields at will...

------------------
-- The thing that goes bump in the night

[Admiral]

Hurrah! Thank you Aaron!!!

Can't wait for this one to be out. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Cheers,

Admiral

#7 - hah another exploit down the tubes...
#8 Thanks, maybe someday I will finish this game and have asteroid systems to use it on again...

v1.40 #3 - only troops and militia being fought. Does that mean that capturing an enemy planet will now result in the capture of weapon platforms and sats in cargo ? That would be nice!

[Dravis]

This is great! Thanks to MM are in line.

[Omega]

V1.40
2. Changed - Increased the shields and decreased the cost of the Massive Planetary
Shield Generator.

Hmmm... somebody must have read my post! This will help some AIs that actually build these things.

[Marty Ward]

Unfortunately the AI will only build them if programmed to. that is the problem with the unique techs.

[Lucanos]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Marty Ward:
Unfortunately the AI will only build them if programmed to. that is the problem with the unique techs.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I think Omega ment that it would "help those AIs THAT actually built those things".

Not help them TO build them.

I must say that I'm somewhat disappointed about the lack of AI patching which really needs to be patched up (since I have no friends to play with).

Bu-hu...

[Marty Ward]

Yes, the ones that build them certainly will benefit from this change.