I can't run the version I have (MoE's with the new updates to images and database). The game hangs on the loading screen. I'll try the UAC thing I read in some other thread. Haven't used the auto-updater.

Here's some stuff though:

@MoE
- Ferengi Marauder I, Evora Explorer: ShipType = Colony

@Mike
- Could you create a folder for savegames and log files? The main folder is kind of messy.

- The xsd files in the Data folder with this version are actually *older* (timestamps) than the ones from the Xmas update:
Xmas: 17/05/2008
may: 20/12/2007
Is this intended?
Also, is the file Text.sdf still needed, since texts were moved to TextDatabase.xml ? And some other .sdf files?

- The Cardassian UI files still there. Is that intended?

[It is possible some of these issues are related to there not being a zip with the new version - one would be really handy]

Hey .Iceman, thanks for the heads up about the ships. I've added them to my list of things to do.

The auto-updater can't remove files from your computer - it can only add or replace files. So when the game performs an update, older files are left behind. Over time, this means the game will get ever more messier, which is why i've asked Mike to do a new full-version download. I'll zip up and PM Mike the link to the new images as well.

Having a new folder for the logs and saves might be a good idea, it'll make life easier for people that encounter game problems or want to share their save files.

Actually, I had already reported those ship issues back in April. I thought I had, but wasn't sure. There was another one, I'm assuming it's still there (can't check now):

The Ferengi Raider I doesn't have Hull and Shield values.

Yep, the Ferengi Raider still doesn't have H/S Str.

--

I can't get the game to work... sigh. Tried it all, letting it update (tries to update again), clearing UAB. No luck. I'm going to wait for a full zip with all the fixes, too much hassle right now.

Even though the game updated, and downloaded 37.5 MB worth of files (422 files), upon checking, no changes to the files actually occured... latest timestamp is 17/5 (I used MoE's version).
Now, I updated the game at work, in a flash drive, and copied it to my HD at home. It didn't work in either machine. When updating, there was never any indication that something was wrong.

--

The Rakhosans still live BTW.
Images\Races\rakhosans.png
(forgot to check the emblems...)

There's something going wrong with the updater, Iceman. I'm encountering the constant update problem as well now, but it makes me download exactly 0 files that total 0kb. And yet it sill needs me to restart the game after the "update". We're just going to have to wait until Mike comes up with the solution.

Oh, and just delete the Rakhosan scum.

Ok, so I finally managed to get it working. A few observations:

Apparently the database is not the latest update (before the refactoring).

Science screen:
The names (RA_NAME...) for MultiFrequency Beams and Quadratronics are not being correctly loaded from the respective file.
The descriptions (RA_DESC...) for Gravimetrics and Quadratronics are not being correctly loaded from the respective file.
[due to name changes, easy enough to fix]

Intel screen:
The Empire Affairs Info panel is empty, and the sliders are missing. [already reported~by someone else]

Main screen:
Research Points display is set to 1200 at game startup, with no research being done.

Images:
There are duplicated images (fed_XXX and fed_federation_XXX) for
...replicator
...shipyard

There were a number of other images that needed to be removed, which i've now done. This is another case of stuff that I was 100% sure I had already done though.

As for the other things, I need some time to look at them or I need to use the editor, so they will have to wait. I've added them to my to do list for the time being.

This screen is going away, so just ignore it for now.
This is due to the way that starting tech levels are implemented. The original API did not provide a way of advancing tech levels other than by expending research points. As a temporary workaround, the required number of research points is applied at the beginning of a game in order to reach the specified starting tech level, and thus they show up in the "Research Points" indicator. I'll improve the system eventually.

Yeah, I eventually figured that out (research).

@MoE
Knowing perfectly well that ships are not yet finished, and the game hasn't been tested, and that the editor is not working, etc, here's a few observations about ships:


Klingons
Battle Cruiser I: pic is not transparent, has white background (reported way back)
Battle Cruiser III: has no Pop Health value (I and II do)
Heavy Cruiser II: Build Cost zero, no Maintenance Cost (because build cost is zero)
Transport I: Hull value is probably 60, not 6
The Refits (B'rel, Vor'cha) and the Stations have the prefix Klingon, the rest doesn't (from that confusion with naming conventions)

Regarding the Klingon Battle Cruiser I png image: I checked on SharePoint and the image is on a transparent background there. (The new png for that ship is in the correct form.) Given that most ship png images in the game right now are not updated to what we have pilling up on SharePoint it is no surprise. Thanks for the observation though. Given the volume of work in models alone I do, however, expect to find some errors in the data.

Don't worry guys, i'll spend today working on the images to make sure they match up. I'll match the images up with Sharepoint rather than the model images thread this time.

As for the other things, they're now in my to-do list.

Romulans
Battlehawk I has no Pop Health value; II does.
Colony Ship I and II have no Shield Recharge Rate; III does.
Cruiser III: check Shield Recharge Rate and Range (vs II and IV).
Destroyer II: check Speed (vs I and III).
Science Ship I and II have the same Crew Size.
Transport I and II have no Shield Recharge Rate; III does.
Warbird I (lvl4) and Warbird II (lvl9) have very similar Build Costs; also check Scan Strength/Range.
Naval Outpost and Imperial Outpost have the same Maintenance Cost; same thing for the Naval Station and Imperial Starbase.

A couple of typos:

Description of Class II Imperial Shipyard: "This upgrade for the Class II Shipyard...".
Description for Colonial Expansion Project:
- "suffer over-population" "suffer from over-population" ?
- "exceeds the levels" " exceed the levels" [plural]
Description of Naval Academy: center centre
Description of Plasma Physics Complex: refers to itself as the Plasma Physics Institute

Ignore the ship build costs as Mike is going to be reducing them all by 90% for balancing reasons. As for the other stuff, i've added them all to my to do list. I noticed a number of other changes that need to be done (Mainly naming convention issues) whilst I was sorting out the images from Sharepoint as well and i've added these to the list.

I've copied over all of the Empire images now, so they will be correct when I send the next image update to Mike, assuming I remember to keep them up to date between now and then.

Hmm, reducing them by 90% will still make them wrong - if that is what they are - as Mike will automate the process. So they'll have to be fixed anyway.

A 90% reduction would bring the costs more in line with the costs of everything else though. The process is going to be automated as you said, and we're not expecting it to be the last change that we'll need to make to the costs either.

Uh, ok. But if you have a lvl4 and a lvl9 ship (same weight class) with ~the same cost, one of them is wrong. A 90% reduction will affect both the same way, so they'll still be wrong. So if the one that is wrong is corrected now, after the automated cost correction it'll already be correct.
But why am I using logic with you again?!

As for the costs of everything else, a 15K ship (say lvl 9) will cost 1.5K. Check costs for lvl 9 buildings (including minors).

Anyways. More stuff. For the list.


File cleanup:

A few insignias are replicated, others are not used; the folder could be cleaned up for the next release:
\Images\Insignias
andor/andorians
barzan/barzans
bomar/bomari
capella/capellans
coridan/coridans
betazoids/betazoids_alternate
boslics/boslics_alternate/boslics_alternate2
denobulans/denobulans_alternate
devore/devore_alternate
el_aurians/el_aurians_alternate/el-aurians
evora/evora_alternate


Typos:

Iyaaran Cultural Exchange
The object's name is Iyaaran Cultural Interchange, but the building and its description use Iyaaran Cultural Exchange.

Global Defense Net Global Defence Net

Cardassian Isolinear Scanner
communication communications
neccessary necessary
scanners construction scanner's construction

Cardassian Listening Post
communication communications


Cardassian ships:

They're supposed to be finished, so here's some observations.

most ships don't have a Dilithium cost [yeah yeah, I know]
check ship names after the naming convention, a couple of refits have the Cardassian prefix
Survey Ship I, II and Praxon refit: all have the same Crew Size
Cruiser I: 0% Refire
Destroyer I: Torpedo Torpedoes
Dreadnought I: Raw Materials cost 87040
Heavy Cruiser I: Scan Range zero; upgrades to Heavy *Destroyer* II (and so does the Heavy Destroyer I)
Scout I: Build Cost zero; Torpedo Torpedoes
Scout II: 0% Refire; "{hoton Torpedoes" [typo]
Survey Ship I and II: Torpedo Torpedoes
Transport I and II: no Shield Recharge Rate
Transport III: Torpedo Torpedoes; has HPh Emitters and Photon Torps instead of Arrays and Quantum Torps (it's lvl9)
Union Outpost and Military Outpost have the same Maintenance Cost
Nor Station: 0% Refire

Description of Mark I and II Shipyards: dilithium Dilithium
Description of Colony Ship II:
- Ranols' Ranol's
- duranium Duranium

There's a smallish inconsistency I think in the techtree. Ships get Heavy Phaser Banks at level 5, but the level 5 Weapons tech is related to Torpedoes; it's level 4 that should make Banks available AFAICT. Quantum Torpedoes should also probably be available at level 8 instead of 9, but it's not too clear.


While at techtree inconsistencies, another one [already mentioned].
The Daystrom Institute (Fed) is made available with Data Imaging (lvl 4), and its description mentions Daystrom getting an award for his studies in Duotronics; thing is, the Duotronics tech (lvl 5) comes right *after* Data Imaging. Maybe the Institute should be unlocked by Duotronics instead of Data Imaging? It's probably easier than swapping the techs.

@Mike:

I had a crash when I asked a minor to join my empire. I think this has already been reported. I have the Error.txt log file if needed. I think it was the T'Rorogans, just in case.

The Enhanced Summary Dialog, it isn't in yet, right?

Stars in the system panel seem different. More pale or something? Weird.
Also, they're blinking (in the system panel) when starting a game - when they're unexplored. When you visit the system, it stops blinking; unless it's a system with a minor, in which case it keeps blinking. I have a save if needed.

Not sure I understand the purpose of the starting tech levels.
Empires are supposed to have a Supreme TechCurve.
So, if I set the game to Supreme, will all empires start at lvl 9 (default for Supreme), and all minors start at their respective tech levels (Backwards @ lvl 1)?
What if I start @ the lowest level? Will *everyone* start at the same level? Or will I (the player) start at the lowest level, and everyone else (AIs; majors and minors) start at their respective levels?
Will it scale (not sure how) for intermediate levels?
Doesn't seem to make much sense to me.

Eek another load of stuff to do. Oh well, added to my list.

I have no idea how the _alternate insignia images ended up in the game. They *shouldn't* be anywhere other than Sharepoint, but some how they've gotten mixed in. This is another reason why I think a full download needs to be released to help clean up the game. Where's Zeleni when you need him?

As for the crash, yes, it has been reported, and there is a fix available - but it's far from ideal. The only way to fix it is to delete all of the emblems except those that begin with __ (Two underscores) in the name. If you do go through with the "fix", it would probably be best if you just move them to a different folder so you don't have redownload them when the official bug fix update is released.

You should keep the empire insignias--those have been there for ages, and they work fine. A few of the minor race insignias are malformed--they load fine in most graphics apps (including the Explorer preview), but the WPF image loader throws an exception when it tries to decode them.

There are a few things with the Dominion and Federation ships too, I'll check them when I can, and post.

Federation:

Colony Ship I and II: no Shield Recharge
Colony Ship III:
- were the Fed colony ships III supposed to be armed? Not only Klingons and Dominion?
- 255% Refire
- lvl 7/8, Phaser or Phaser Banks?
Construction Ship II: lower Science Ability than Construction Ship I
Cruiser I: description says it has "photon torpedoes and Phase Cannons" [capitalization] and stats say "Phase Turrets / Photonic Missiles"
Cruiser II: lower Maintenance Cost than Cruiser I
Cruiser III: lower Fuel Capacity than Cruiser II
Explorer I and II: Phaser or Phaser Banks?
Frigate III: no Pop Health value
Heavy Destroyer II:
- 255% Refire
- lower Crew than Heavy Destroyer I
- same values for Fuel Capacity, Speed/Range as Heavy Destroyer I


[All weapons are in the singular, most Cardassian ships have them in the plural. All descriptions should have them the same way]

Added them to my list, .Iceman, thanks for that.

As for the grammar of the Phasers, that's the result of an incomplete revision I was working on. Most of the Federation ships just simply had "Phasers". Since we know that the special effects for these weapons has changed over time, and that there are different classes of the weapons, I decided to differentiate between them by calling them Phaser Emitters, Phasers Banks, and Phaser Arrays, each with increasing power. The Emitters were for any ship from Enterprise to Constitution Refit era, Banks are ships from Excelsior to Ambassador era, and Arrays are Galaxy era onwards.

The Cardassians will be basically the same except they will have the word "heavy" in front of all their the weapon names to show they've got slightly more powerful beam weapons. I can't remember if I finished that part of the Cardassian update, but I know the Cardassian overhaul is otherwise complete.

Weapons names, I was thinking they'd depend on Weapons tech level. Sounds kind of logical.

I edited my posts above because there were some incorrect observations - the Fed ship upgrades, they're ok.

Federation (cont.)
Heavy Scout:
- no weapons
- 255% Refire
- lower Crew than Scout Ship II
Hospital Ship II: 255% Refire
Scout Ship II:
- 255% Refire
- same Fuel Capacity as Scout Ship I
- obsoletes Scout Ship I
Surveyor I:
- no Population Health value
- same Crew Size as Surveyor II
Surveyor II and III: 255% Refire
Transport I and II: no Shield Recharge Rate
Transport III: 255% Refire
Federation Outpost I and II: same Maintenance Cost


Dominion
Attack Ship I,II,III:
- no weapons
- no upgrade path
- no obsoletion path
Battle Cruiser I:
- 0% Refire
- no Torpedo weapon name
- no upgrade
Battle Cruiser II:
- no weapons
- no Weapons tech area requirement (5)
Battle Cruiser III: same Fuel Capacity as Battle Cruiser II
Battleship I and II: no weapons
Battleship II:
- Build Cost slightly lower than Battleship I
- no Science Ability value (Battleship I has)
Colony Ship I: no Shield Recharge Rate
Dominion Serpent: no weapons
Probe Ship I and II:
- no weapons
- same Crew Size
Scout Ship I: no Raw Materials cost
Scout I and II: no weapons
Transport I and II: no Shield Recharge Rate
Transport II: lower Maintenance Cost than Transport I
Jem'Hadar Hatchery vs Incubation Post
- lower Raw Materials cost
- same Maintenance Cost
- lower Science Ability
Domination Station: 0% Refire
Founders Station: 0% Refire


---



Missing Image (and insignia): Vissians

The image for Hydroponics Dome doesn't fit the structure at all. It's not really a dome, it's not a volcanic/inhospitable planet.

Orbital Battery image missing: forgot to check it, maybe it's the file's name? (orbital_battery)

@Mike:

While at looking into decoupling construction from shipbuilding, maybe you could look into reverting back to having a Base Industry value instead of Ind = Pop.

Supreme tech: homeworld starts empty, apart from level 9 basic structures; a bit weird.

Crash: Error.txt

I've already spoke to Mike about the wierdness of the Supreme tech level. He says he's going to add in some pre-built special structures as standard later on. I told him I could make a list of logical structures for each of the different tech levels if he wanted but he never replied to that bit.

I don't think i've actually started doing the overhaul on the Dominion ships yet, so i'm pleasantly surprised the number of fixes needed is so low.

The Vissians are a newly-added race. Zeleni hasn't made any insignia for them to my knowledge yet. I've just borrowed an image for them from Memory Alpha and that will be in my next image update for Mike. I cleaned up the image a little then cropped and resized it so it's less obvious where I got it from.
The Orbital Battery image probably needs to be changed to orbital_batteries.png for it to work, so i'll make that change as well.

Supreme:
Those buildings will have to scale with tech level (Advanced, etc). That might also mean that some empires, particularly the Feds (because they have more techs and more frequently), will be benefitted in some intemediate tech levels.
Another weirdness is that you have all the tech, but only your homesystem... and your pop is not maxed. I'm not really sure which shipyard you're supposed to start with either. And since your initial farms depend on your tech level, you'll start with only a couple, and building another one takes a few turns, which might lead to shortages.
Honestly, seems more trouble than the benefit it brings - who really wants to skip the best part of a 4X, the initial part?!

Dominion ships:
That was just a superficial pass. I haven't cross-referenced anything yet. I also only checked ships up to level 9 (for all empires). Didn't mention weapon names either, as you said Dom wasn't complete yet.

---


File cleanup:

Images\TechObjects


Some repeated pics:

acamarian_raider_1 / acamarian_raider_i
acamarian_raider_2 / acamarian_raider_ii
algolian_exoarchaeological_council / algolian_exo-archaeological_council
andorian_warcruiser_2 / andorian_warcruiser_i / andorian_warcruiser_ii [check images]
assembly_yard / fabrication_plant
bajoran_assault_ship / bajoran_attack_ship / bajoran_attack_ship_i / bajoran_attack_ship_ii / bajoran_fighter [check images]
benzite_cruiser / benzite_explorer
betazoid_starcruiser / betazoid_surveyor
bolian_freighter_1 / bolian_freighter_2 / bolian_transport_i / bolian_transport_ii [check images]
breen_battlecruiser_1 / breen_battlecruiser_2 / breen_battlecruiser_i / breen_battlecruiser_ii [check images]
card_heavt_scout / card_heavt_scoutv2
card_science_base / card_science_station
card_fleetyard / card_union_fleetyard
card_mk_i_union_shipyard / card_shipyard_i
card_mk_ii_union_shipyard / card_shipyard_ii
card_mk_iii_union_shipyard / card_shipyard_iii
card_orbital_battery / cardassian_orbital_battery
dom_science_station / dom_space_lab
dom_space_post_i / dom_space_post_ii
asdb_complex / fed_asdb_complex
agricultural_centres / fed_agricultural_centres
fed_construction_ship / fed_construction_ship_i
daystrom_institute / fed_daystrom_institute
fed_scout_i / fed_scout_ship_i
fed_mk_i_shipyard / fed_shipyard_i
fed_mk_ii_shipyard / fed_shipyard_ii
fed_mk_iii_shipyard / fed_shipyard_iii
fed_federation_replicator / federation_replicator
fed_federation_council / federation_council
ferengi_franchise_office / ferengi_trade_office
holocentre / fed_holocentre
kling__great_hall / kling_great_hall
kling_assault_cruiser / kling_assualt_cruiser
kling_military_shipyard_type_a / kling_shipyard_i
kling_military_shipyard_type_b / kling_shipyard_ii
kling_military_shipyard_type_c / kling_shipyard_iii
kling_research_lab / kling_science_station
malcorian_geostudies_centre / malcorian_geo-studies_centre
medical_centres / fed_medical_centres
basic_shipyard / minor_shipyard_i
medium_shipyard / minor_shipyard_ii
advanced_shipyard / minor_shipyard_iii
aquaculture_centre / rom_aquaculture_centre / hydroponics_dome
rom_class_i_imperial_shipyard / rom_shipyard_i
rom_class_ii_imperial_shipyard / rom_shipyard_ii
rom_class_iii_imperial_shipyard / rom_shipyard_iii
rom_class_iv_imperial_fleetyard / rom_fleetyard
rom_imperial_senate / rom_senate
rom_research_post / rom_science_station
planetary_shield / shield_generator
subatomic_simulators / fed_subatomic_simulators
advanced_irrigation_network / trill_hoobishan_baths


Not used ?

card_union_shipyard ???
cordian_colony_ship ??? [if it's supposed to be the Coridans, they have no colony ship]
fed_federation_shipyard / fed_shipyard / federation_shipyard ???
kling_military_shipyard ???
machining_plant ???
minor_orbital_battery ???
minor_outpost ???
rom_imperial_shipyard ???


Name mismatches:

coridan_cruiser - there are 2 cruisers for the Coridan in the techtree
ferengi_marauder_iI
ferengi_raider_i (no ii)
kazon_heavy_cruiser_iI
tellarite_cruiser_ii (no i)
tlani_cruiser_ii (no i)
vidiian_colony_ship_i (no ii)


Misplaced file ?

optipng ??????????

I've already cleared out the mismatched, duplicated, or typoed images from the game. Images that have the wrong letter case though don't matter - ship_ii is the same as ship_iI. I've redownloaded all of Kenneth's ship images to ensure the ships match up in the game though - so I simultaneously fixed any case typos.

Optipng is a file that is supposed to be there. It's got something to do with how the game optimises the images. I've not been able to get it to do anything though, and use PNGGauntlet on extreme mode instead. I've asked Mike about it before though and he said to just leave it there.

At the current count, i've got 652 images in my TechObjects folder, totalling 52.1mb. The images haven't been optimised yet so we'll be able to save a couple of meg on that when I do. The game is still missing a huge amount of images that need to be made though...

Upgrade Options of Imperial Mining Program = Imperial Mining Commission Headquarters, is too long and completely overlaps the words "Upgrade Options".
Same happens with Imperial Senate's Bonuses.


Tech level:
Backward and Primitive were concatenated into Early? The others have the same names as TechCurve settings. Not sure if they're supposed to do the same thing, but it might lead to some confusion?
I guess they don't do the same thing, as the problem that a Backward lab and a Supreme lab do the exact same research is still there.

Fed Surveyor III: Biotech tech req is set to 8, all other areas are 9. Not sure if it's intended.

Star names:
Mira Antliae should probably be Mira Antilae?
There's a Ras Alhague and a Rasalhague. Is the former actually intended, or a glitch?