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Author Topic:   SMAC 2.0

Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS posted 02-12-99 03:46 PM ET
As the patch gets closer to being done, just a few notes. First off, the patch will only work on un-modified versions of SMAC. If you've altered any text files for instance, copy them back over from the CD prior to installing the patch. It won't overwrite any work you've done, it will just fail. Second, here is a rough list of what the patch fixes:
ADDITIONS
* HOTSEAT multiplayer mode is now available!
* Play-by-email multiplayer mode is now available!
* To start a hotseat game, select Multiplayer from the main menu and then Hotseat/PBEM. After setting up Planet, select a faction for each of the human players. Each player has an opportunity to select a password on their first turn to provide a level of privacy. Leave the field blank to bypass this feature. When a player ends their turn, a prompt will appear for the next player. If playing Hotseat, the next player should take over here. If playing PBEM, select Save and Exit. The game automatically exits, at which point you should email the resulting save game to the next player (as indicated on the last on-screen prompt). Most features of the game are identical to non-simultaneous multiplayer games. A notable difference however is Diplomacy, which can now takes place over several turns. After contacting another player, make your selections and hit End Transmission. When the other player's turn begins, the diplomacy window will appear with your proposal. Negotiations can take place over any number of turns.
* You can now see the destination of a unit without selecting it. This option can be toggled under "Map" preferences.
* You can now disable probe team "steal technology in the RULES section of ALPHA.TXT.
* You can now release mind worms into wild using the "Turn Over Unit Control" option on the Action Menu.
* You can now customize the map size when generating a random planet.
* Probe teams are now "unflagged", meaning you cannot easily tell who controls the team.
* Atrocities have been rebalanced to avoid abuse: (a) 12+ atrocities (depends on difficulty level) will cause all factions to declare vendetta (b) Nerve stapling becomes increasingly ineffective at particular bases the more you use it.
* The Hive now has the "Immunity, EFFIC" ability; Hive never receives negative EFFICIENCY penalties.
* Password security for multiplayer games.
* Hardware 3D positional and EAX support added - Note: this can be disabled in alpha centauri.ini by entering ds3d=0 or eax=0. This also provides overall better performance and memory usage.
ENHANCEMENTS
* You can now set waypoints for patrols using the spacebar. Press "p" key as usual to start patrol, then click-and-drag mouse to first waypoint; while still holding mouse button, press SPACE to set waypoint; you can then drag line to next point, etc. When you reach final destination, release mouse button.
* Datalinks now show cost/preq of Abilities and Terraforming
* Combat report text is now larger in 1024x768 resolution
* "People" icons are now smaller for cursor in base screen "drag and drop"
* Design Workshop: dark blue letters on dark background are now more legible
* You can no longer name/rename landmarks near other people's territory.
* Pact Brothers no longer offer map in tech trade (already gives map for free)
* The world map now updates as new areas are explored, as opposed to waiting until the end of a turn.
* Up to a 40% speed increase in TCP/IP performance.
* Improved Caviar unit display performance.
* Autoexploring AI with natives improved.
* You can now automatically build roads to any square.
* voice over data link now louder on receiving end.
FIXES
* Map now correctly displays solar/mine/etc details at "standard zoom out" level.
* Air Units are no longer influenced by travel rate of fungus and so forth.
* Dragging air unit move: distance is now shown correctly
* F4 screen "turns to go" now accounts for prototype cost
* Clicking "end of turn" when a unit is active (but has already moved) no longer says, "all units have moved".
* New unit changes are now correctly displayed when you go to Change Unit, then from there to unit design (where you Obsolete/Design/whatever) and then come back the change menu again.
* When "continue with current/change to new/add to beginning of queue" warning is displayed after changing build command and if you pick "add to queue" it now adds the selected unit correctly (instead of always adding a Colony Pod).
* Typo corrected when you hit the "Reset" button in Social Engineering
* Squelch mode now prevents commlink requests as well as chats.
* The host being killed in MP no longer prevents the remaining players from continuing.
* Economic victory now functions correctly in MP.
* Submitted AI factions no longer send probe teams against their captor.
* Entering Social Engineering on first turn no longer strands the player.
* Units magically teleporting to the north pole.
* AI doesn't offer a human controlled faction's comm frequency to other human players in MP.
* "15 secs to end of turn" doesn't print numerous times in MP.
* The energy readout in the info window isn't double it's actual value in some instances.
* On Citizen and Specialist Level you now get free minerals when starting a new base.
* Time bonuses now charged to the correct player.
* Hitting the END key in the Production Picker now adjusts the scroll bar.
* Save MP games now preserves the Simultaneous Moves option.
* The datalinks now displays the proper amount of nutrients produced by kelp farms.
* Formers in Multiplayer can no longer be used to produce terrain enhancements in one turn.
* Upgrading a unit under certain circumstances no longer creates free prototypes.
* Attacking a mindworm on a Unity pod now explores that pod.
* F4 screen's "turns to go" now accounts for prototype cost.
* Drop-pod messages no longer broadcast to all players in MP.
Enjoy!
jkm
firaxis games
Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS posted 02-12-99 03:47 PM ET
Oh..And it should be available soon (still hopefully today).
jkm
firaxis games
Magnus posted 02-12-99 03:57 PM ET
Appearently the game release was too early... ??? We should have waited 2 more month?
Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS posted 02-12-99 04:13 PM ET
Not to sure what you mean there. These are issues that we found in the demo after duplication began and features we've added at user request.
jkm
firaxis games
tOFfGI posted 02-12-99 04:15 PM ET

>* The Hive now has the "Immunity, EFFIC" ability; Hive never receives negative EFFICIENCY penalties.
That certainly makes them more realistic allowing them to select the Police State/Palnned economy combination, but won't that make them too powerful?
Magnus posted 02-12-99 04:16 PM ET
I mean; in december there were lots of complaints about the relese date, and many here said that it was better that u took ur time because then we wouldnt need lots of patches... But we need patches, so should u have waited 2 month and included these improvements in the final release, or should u realesed it in december and then released a lot of patches?
(it is not a question)...
Thue posted 02-12-99 04:21 PM ET
No offence, but thats a lot of (basic) bugs, some of which should have been found by playing a single game with the gold master.
Pudz posted 02-12-99 04:38 PM ET
like it or not, there are always going to be patches and a need for patches. they are doing the best they can
will posted 02-12-99 04:39 PM ET
I disagree about that being "a lot of bugs." All are basically tweaks, or remedies to fairly obscure problems. None is particularly devastating. I've been playing the game since Wednesday, and not had any serious problem. Given the choice between getting the game as is and having had to wait another two to three weeks while they fixed these minor problems, I'd much rather have it now.
Old_Guy posted 02-12-99 04:47 PM ET
Let's see...I'm seeing several different camps here including the "WHERE'S THE PATCH!!!" crowd and the "WHY THE PATCH?" crowd.
I however, am in the "I'm having too much fun to care, but I'll download the patch whenever it comes and whatever it does" crowd.
Why is it that when I think of the word "patch" I think of that little thing smokers use to try to quit and why does that seem applicable to SMAC?
ramayana posted 02-12-99 04:48 PM ET
"No offence"[sic] -- I would be very offended at such quibbling re: "you promised," when the unpatched perfect game has yet to be released. You know what I say to Firaxis issuing a v 2.0 three days after releasing what is obviously a game that a lot of blood sweat and excellence has gone into -- a 5 Star instant classic (read: the press reviews already coming out)? I say... uh, cool!
Old_Guy posted 02-12-99 04:52 PM ET
On a serious note, however, I definitely wouldn't expect this to be the patch to end all patches. Since multiplayer is very new to the general public, I'm sure some tweaks and fixes will be made after public feedback and testing.
For a company that just released a major hit to the public, Firaxis has still been very active in these forums and the newsgroups in answering all types of questions. They could just have easily taken a well-deserved vacation, caught up on sleep, actually spend time with their families, etc., but instead they're still knee deep in SMAC. You have to respect that.
Oxybeles posted 02-12-99 05:03 PM ET
"* Improved Caviar unit display performance."
Does this correct the "line in the unit" graphic problem?
Oxybeles
White_Cat posted 02-12-99 05:26 PM ET
I'm a big critic of "ship it now, patch it later" games, but I don't really feel this is the case here. Practically all of the fixes are very minor things (the only thing that looked like a big problem was in MP where the game stopped when the host died). It's when you need patches in order the play the game properly (like Sin) or at all (BC3K) that I can't stand.
Regarding the Hive, the change definately makes their preferred social choices more viable, but I do agree that it's a bit too far, and now they'll probably choose nothing _but_ Police and Planned. Perhaps the efficiency negatives should be halved instead?
Tykyn posted 02-12-99 06:28 PM ET
Some things I would have liked to have seen addressed.
Why can't we choose colors for the factions?
Why no adjustable default builds?
I can't seem to change a units support to the current base without putting it on hold first.
All those pods are supposed to be stuff we brought with us to help with the colonization. So why are so many of them negative? Playing this game without saving before taking pods is semi suicidal. Shouldn't be so dangerous. Good game not much to complain about<G>
Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS posted 02-12-99 06:40 PM ET
I'm sure the link is on the way, but if you can't wait:
ftp://ftp.owo.com/pub/alpha/SMACPAT2.EXE
That last part MUST be all caps. Enjoy.
jkm
firaxis games
Old_Guy posted 02-12-99 06:49 PM ET
Hey the download is < 1MB! You squeezed all that good stuff into a small download. Excellent.
Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS posted 02-12-99 06:54 PM ET
Remember that if you have any trouble installing the patch, reinstall the game (over the previous would probably work). The various *.txt files, sound.dll and terran.exe MUST be the same as the ones on the CD. It's worth mentioning this is ONLY for the US version. UK/FR/GR versions are on the way.
jkm
firaxis games
Bell posted 02-12-99 07:05 PM ET
Not only is it 780K, the server's pretty quick too. ~3.5K/sec on a 26.4 connection (*@#& Maine phone lines!) is a lot better than I'm used to.
Thanks Firaxians!
Bell posted 02-12-99 07:10 PM ET
And if speed was your problem, get the patch! It made a huge difference in unit movement speeds on my system.
Mortis posted 02-12-99 08:09 PM ET
Actualy, the no neg ineffic for the Hive is a great idea. This dosn't mean that they have no ineffic, 0 effic is still pretty bad, and asumming that they have Knowlage Values, that +1. A Children's Chrech would be high on the Hiven adgenda.
Yossarian posted 02-12-99 09:57 PM ET
I'm with "Old Guy". I have not been able to purchase the full version yet (Man, am I jealous ), but I think Firaxis is doing a wonderful job to relaese a patch this comprehensive and this soon.
"Human behaviour is economic behaviour".
Krushala posted 09-06-99 07:54 PM ET
wow what a thread. A patch I quickly got rid of.
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Author	Topic: SMAC 2.0
Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS	posted 02-12-99 03:46 PM ET As the patch gets closer to being done, just a few notes. First off, the patch will only work on un-modified versions of SMAC. If you've altered any text files for instance, copy them back over from the CD prior to installing the patch. It won't overwrite any work you've done, it will just fail. Second, here is a rough list of what the patch fixes: ADDITIONS * HOTSEAT multiplayer mode is now available! * Play-by-email multiplayer mode is now available! * To start a hotseat game, select Multiplayer from the main menu and then Hotseat/PBEM. After setting up Planet, select a faction for each of the human players. Each player has an opportunity to select a password on their first turn to provide a level of privacy. Leave the field blank to bypass this feature. When a player ends their turn, a prompt will appear for the next player. If playing Hotseat, the next player should take over here. If playing PBEM, select Save and Exit. The game automatically exits, at which point you should email the resulting save game to the next player (as indicated on the last on-screen prompt). Most features of the game are identical to non-simultaneous multiplayer games. A notable difference however is Diplomacy, which can now takes place over several turns. After contacting another player, make your selections and hit End Transmission. When the other player's turn begins, the diplomacy window will appear with your proposal. Negotiations can take place over any number of turns. * You can now see the destination of a unit without selecting it. This option can be toggled under "Map" preferences. * You can now disable probe team "steal technology in the RULES section of ALPHA.TXT. * You can now release mind worms into wild using the "Turn Over Unit Control" option on the Action Menu. * You can now customize the map size when generating a random planet. * Probe teams are now "unflagged", meaning you cannot easily tell who controls the team. * Atrocities have been rebalanced to avoid abuse: (a) 12+ atrocities (depends on difficulty level) will cause all factions to declare vendetta (b) Nerve stapling becomes increasingly ineffective at particular bases the more you use it. * The Hive now has the "Immunity, EFFIC" ability; Hive never receives negative EFFICIENCY penalties. * Password security for multiplayer games. * Hardware 3D positional and EAX support added - Note: this can be disabled in alpha centauri.ini by entering ds3d=0 or eax=0. This also provides overall better performance and memory usage. ENHANCEMENTS * You can now set waypoints for patrols using the spacebar. Press "p" key as usual to start patrol, then click-and-drag mouse to first waypoint; while still holding mouse button, press SPACE to set waypoint; you can then drag line to next point, etc. When you reach final destination, release mouse button. * Datalinks now show cost/preq of Abilities and Terraforming * Combat report text is now larger in 1024x768 resolution * "People" icons are now smaller for cursor in base screen "drag and drop" * Design Workshop: dark blue letters on dark background are now more legible * You can no longer name/rename landmarks near other people's territory. * Pact Brothers no longer offer map in tech trade (already gives map for free) * The world map now updates as new areas are explored, as opposed to waiting until the end of a turn. * Up to a 40% speed increase in TCP/IP performance. * Improved Caviar unit display performance. * Autoexploring AI with natives improved. * You can now automatically build roads to any square. * voice over data link now louder on receiving end. FIXES * Map now correctly displays solar/mine/etc details at "standard zoom out" level. * Air Units are no longer influenced by travel rate of fungus and so forth. * Dragging air unit move: distance is now shown correctly * F4 screen "turns to go" now accounts for prototype cost * Clicking "end of turn" when a unit is active (but has already moved) no longer says, "all units have moved". * New unit changes are now correctly displayed when you go to Change Unit, then from there to unit design (where you Obsolete/Design/whatever) and then come back the change menu again. * When "continue with current/change to new/add to beginning of queue" warning is displayed after changing build command and if you pick "add to queue" it now adds the selected unit correctly (instead of always adding a Colony Pod). * Typo corrected when you hit the "Reset" button in Social Engineering * Squelch mode now prevents commlink requests as well as chats. * The host being killed in MP no longer prevents the remaining players from continuing. * Economic victory now functions correctly in MP. * Submitted AI factions no longer send probe teams against their captor. * Entering Social Engineering on first turn no longer strands the player. * Units magically teleporting to the north pole. * AI doesn't offer a human controlled faction's comm frequency to other human players in MP. * "15 secs to end of turn" doesn't print numerous times in MP. * The energy readout in the info window isn't double it's actual value in some instances. * On Citizen and Specialist Level you now get free minerals when starting a new base. * Time bonuses now charged to the correct player. * Hitting the END key in the Production Picker now adjusts the scroll bar. * Save MP games now preserves the Simultaneous Moves option. * The datalinks now displays the proper amount of nutrients produced by kelp farms. * Formers in Multiplayer can no longer be used to produce terrain enhancements in one turn. * Upgrading a unit under certain circumstances no longer creates free prototypes. * Attacking a mindworm on a Unity pod now explores that pod. * F4 screen's "turns to go" now accounts for prototype cost. * Drop-pod messages no longer broadcast to all players in MP. Enjoy! jkm firaxis games
Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS	posted 02-12-99 03:47 PM ET Oh..And it should be available soon (still hopefully today). jkm firaxis games
Magnus	posted 02-12-99 03:57 PM ET Appearently the game release was too early... ??? We should have waited 2 more month?
Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS	posted 02-12-99 04:13 PM ET Not to sure what you mean there. These are issues that we found in the demo after duplication began and features we've added at user request. jkm firaxis games
tOFfGI	posted 02-12-99 04:15 PM ET >* The Hive now has the "Immunity, EFFIC" ability; Hive never receives negative EFFICIENCY penalties. That certainly makes them more realistic allowing them to select the Police State/Palnned economy combination, but won't that make them too powerful?
Magnus	posted 02-12-99 04:16 PM ET I mean; in december there were lots of complaints about the relese date, and many here said that it was better that u took ur time because then we wouldnt need lots of patches... But we need patches, so should u have waited 2 month and included these improvements in the final release, or should u realesed it in december and then released a lot of patches? (it is not a question)...
Thue	posted 02-12-99 04:21 PM ET No offence, but thats a lot of (basic) bugs, some of which should have been found by playing a single game with the gold master.
Pudz	posted 02-12-99 04:38 PM ET like it or not, there are always going to be patches and a need for patches. they are doing the best they can
will	posted 02-12-99 04:39 PM ET I disagree about that being "a lot of bugs." All are basically tweaks, or remedies to fairly obscure problems. None is particularly devastating. I've been playing the game since Wednesday, and not had any serious problem. Given the choice between getting the game as is and having had to wait another two to three weeks while they fixed these minor problems, I'd much rather have it now.
Old_Guy	posted 02-12-99 04:47 PM ET Let's see...I'm seeing several different camps here including the "WHERE'S THE PATCH!!!" crowd and the "WHY THE PATCH?" crowd. I however, am in the "I'm having too much fun to care, but I'll download the patch whenever it comes and whatever it does" crowd. Why is it that when I think of the word "patch" I think of that little thing smokers use to try to quit and why does that seem applicable to SMAC?
ramayana	posted 02-12-99 04:48 PM ET "No offence"[sic] -- I would be very offended at such quibbling re: "you promised," when the unpatched perfect game has yet to be released. You know what I say to Firaxis issuing a v 2.0 three days after releasing what is obviously a game that a lot of blood sweat and excellence has gone into -- a 5 Star instant classic (read: the press reviews already coming out)? I say... uh, cool!
Old_Guy	posted 02-12-99 04:52 PM ET On a serious note, however, I definitely wouldn't expect this to be the patch to end all patches. Since multiplayer is very new to the general public, I'm sure some tweaks and fixes will be made after public feedback and testing. For a company that just released a major hit to the public, Firaxis has still been very active in these forums and the newsgroups in answering all types of questions. They could just have easily taken a well-deserved vacation, caught up on sleep, actually spend time with their families, etc., but instead they're still knee deep in SMAC. You have to respect that.
Oxybeles	posted 02-12-99 05:03 PM ET "* Improved Caviar unit display performance." Does this correct the "line in the unit" graphic problem? Oxybeles
White_Cat	posted 02-12-99 05:26 PM ET I'm a big critic of "ship it now, patch it later" games, but I don't really feel this is the case here. Practically all of the fixes are very minor things (the only thing that looked like a big problem was in MP where the game stopped when the host died). It's when you need patches in order the play the game properly (like Sin) or at all (BC3K) that I can't stand. Regarding the Hive, the change definately makes their preferred social choices more viable, but I do agree that it's a bit too far, and now they'll probably choose nothing _but_ Police and Planned. Perhaps the efficiency negatives should be halved instead?
Tykyn	posted 02-12-99 06:28 PM ET Some things I would have liked to have seen addressed. Why can't we choose colors for the factions? Why no adjustable default builds? I can't seem to change a units support to the current base without putting it on hold first. All those pods are supposed to be stuff we brought with us to help with the colonization. So why are so many of them negative? Playing this game without saving before taking pods is semi suicidal. Shouldn't be so dangerous. Good game not much to complain about<G>
Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS	posted 02-12-99 06:40 PM ET I'm sure the link is on the way, but if you can't wait: ftp://ftp.owo.com/pub/alpha/SMACPAT2.EXE That last part MUST be all caps. Enjoy. jkm firaxis games
Old_Guy	posted 02-12-99 06:49 PM ET Hey the download is < 1MB! You squeezed all that good stuff into a small download. Excellent.
Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS	posted 02-12-99 06:54 PM ET Remember that if you have any trouble installing the patch, reinstall the game (over the previous would probably work). The various *.txt files, sound.dll and terran.exe MUST be the same as the ones on the CD. It's worth mentioning this is ONLY for the US version. UK/FR/GR versions are on the way. jkm firaxis games
Bell	posted 02-12-99 07:05 PM ET Not only is it 780K, the server's pretty quick too. ~3.5K/sec on a 26.4 connection (*@#& Maine phone lines!) is a lot better than I'm used to. Thanks Firaxians!
Bell	posted 02-12-99 07:10 PM ET And if speed was your problem, get the patch! It made a huge difference in unit movement speeds on my system.
Mortis	posted 02-12-99 08:09 PM ET Actualy, the no neg ineffic for the Hive is a great idea. This dosn't mean that they have no ineffic, 0 effic is still pretty bad, and asumming that they have Knowlage Values, that +1. A Children's Chrech would be high on the Hiven adgenda.
Yossarian	posted 02-12-99 09:57 PM ET I'm with "Old Guy". I have not been able to purchase the full version yet (Man, am I jealous ), but I think Firaxis is doing a wonderful job to relaese a patch this comprehensive and this soon. "Human behaviour is economic behaviour".
Krushala	posted 09-06-99 07:54 PM ET wow what a thread. A patch I quickly got rid of.