Doktor Teufel

Reply to Campaign Mode vs. Sandbox? in Galactic Civilizations II Stardock Forums

[quote who="CraigHB" reply="7" id="2444443"]And yea, there's *a lot* of spelling and grammer errors.[/quote] I'm hoping you did this on purpose. [e digicons]:rofl:[/e]

Reply to Campaign Mode vs. Sandbox? in Galactic Civilizations II Stardock Forums

Well, if you just want the backstory quick 'n' dirty, you can go to GalCivII -> Data -> English -> Campaign and use an XML application to read it. You can also use an XML editor to correct most errors in the game text, if you're a grammar Nazi like myself and care about such things.

Reply to Campaign Mode vs. Sandbox? in Galactic Civilizations II Stardock Forums

I've never done any of the campaigns. I spend all of my time in GalCivII designing ships and playing in sandbox mode; personally, I consider sandbox mode to be the game's "primary" mode. I assume that the campaign offers backstory and a narrative series of events, with gameplay parameters limited to what fits the story at hand. If that sounds appealing to you, you should probably try.

Reply to I just unwittingly bought a preowned copy of Ultimate Edition. Any advice? in Galactic Civilizations II Stardock Forums

That all sounds reasonable enough, but when planning the logistics for anything in life, one should generally take the most prevalent scenario into account. Your average gamer won't realize that the game they're selling can't be updated without the original registration details, because the vast majority of games don't require that; it's outside of the norm. Of course, your average gamer doesn't read EULAs to begin with, which I'm sure falls into the "then that's their fault" category

Reply to Custom Resolution in Galactic Civilizations II Stardock Forums

Ah, I figured out what I needed to do thanks to the wording you used, kryo. I just had to set 1400 x 1050 as a custom resolution in the NVidia Control Panel, and now it works. I had done that before, but I updated my GPU drivers the other day, and the settings must have reset to default.

Reply to I just unwittingly bought a preowned copy of Ultimate Edition. Any advice? in Galactic Civilizations II Stardock Forums

So the back of the retail box actually states that you shouldn't purchase the game used? Or that the game can only be registered once, after which it becomes worthless in the aftermarket? I find that hard to believe, mainly because most EULAs are ridiculously long... but I've never had the physical box in hand, so perhaps it's the case. Yes, I read EULAs. However, retailers don't examine the fine print on the packaging of all of their products, and no one really expects them to. Consu

Reply to Custom Resolution in Galactic Civilizations II Stardock Forums

[quote who="Moosetek13" reply="1" id="2440806"]It could be that your video card/driver simply can not do that res. If that is the case, then simply go with what works best.[/quote] It's not the case, I can run many other games in 1400 x 1050. [quote]If the worst worry is that a few videos or menus get stretched out, what is the big f deal?[/quote] Uh... no need to get all over-excited about it. I want to run the game in a certain resolution, and for some

Custom Resolution in Galactic Civilizations II Stardock Forums

I've been running GCII et al in 1680 x 1050 for a while, but movies and certain static menu elements tend to get stretched out. I wanted to bump it down to 1400 x 1050, which is a 4:3 resolution and runs centered on my monitor with black bars on the side (in other games, that is). 1400 x 1050 isn't on the default resolution list, for some reason. And when I set the Custom Resolution option in-game and then change the resolution in prefs.ini to 1400 x 1050, the game hangs on startup. A

Reply to I just unwittingly bought a preowned copy of Ultimate Edition. Any advice? in Galactic Civilizations II Stardock Forums

Personally, I think it's outrageous that Stardock screws over used game buyers with this updates-require-registration deal. Many games can only be registered once — that's normal — but very few restrict updates and patches to the previous owner only, except for MMORPGs and the like. And there's no warning, either to the consumer or the retailer, that used copies cannot receive official updates and patches (until the disc is actually in the drive, that is). While Stardock c

Reply to Show off your ship designs 2009 in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

All of these ships are beautiful, and I especially love the Wing Commander reproductions by Midnightrunner. They take me back to 1990, when I was a wee lad playing WC on a Tandy with a three-button joystick (you know, the thin black kind with bright red buttons — one on the trigger, one on the top, and two on the base). I need to get back into GalCivII again so I can crank out more ship designs of my own. GalCivII is a fantastic game even without the ship builder, but with it, i

Reply to Frame Rate Drop in Technical Sins Forums

Well, my machine has a 3.0 GHz AMD dual core processor, 4 GB DDR2 RAM (3 useable), two GeForce 8800 GTS GPUs w/SLi, and the best mobo I could buy for my chipset. I'm running on Windows XP SP3. I keep background applications to an absolute minimum while playing games (i.e., 28 system-essential processes and nothing else), and I'm obsessive about scanning for malware. The slight pause doesn't bother me, but the news that not everyone experiences it is curious.

Reply to Frame Rate Drop in Technical Sins Forums

[quote who="ThaMahstah" reply="4" id="2001078"]I don't. [/quote] Really? What are your specs? Given that my computer can run Fallout 3 on high settings at 60 FPS, I have to wonder how much processing power it takes to eliminate that pause... unless it's related to something other than processing/GPU power.

Reply to Frame Rate Drop in Technical Sins Forums

I have a beefy gaming PC, and I too get that slight pause when I zoom all the way into a planet. It's a universal thing, everyone gets it.

Reply to Blurry, illegible text / font in Technical Sins Forums

I've had the same problem with Sins' default font since release day. The text looks good, but it's often difficult to read, even on a large, crystal-clear LCD monitor set to 1680 x 1050. Try Xiskio's Font Mod, it should fix this issue for you: https://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?skinid=10&libid=71&c=1

Reply to Minor (But Aggravating) Graphics Artifact in Technical Sins Forums

[quote who="ThaMahstah" reply="13" id="1999525"]I can say right now it won't be fixed. Leastways not by Ironclad or Stardock. We'll just have to live with it.[/quote] Why not? They've got a few expansions left to release, and it seems like they're still actively updating the game version. Maybe someone will notice... you never know. Granted, technical support here seems mostly non-existent, and I don't know of any way to report bugs or glitches. I have a lot of respect for Sta

Reply to Minor (But Aggravating) Graphics Artifact in Technical Sins Forums

[quote who="ThaMahstah" reply="11" id="1998847"]There are solutions. They've been posted. Fiddling with the graphics settings of your card and such. Only problem is, they don't always work. [/quote] Technically, those aren't solutions, they're suggestions. It only becomes a solution when it actually remedies the problem. As of now, the only suggestions anyone's been able to provide are fiddling with the graphics card settings and in-game settings, which are simple spray-and-pr

Reply to Minor (But Aggravating) Graphics Artifact in Technical Sins Forums

I don't recall seeing this problem six months ago, either, and the only things that have really changed on my system (pertaining to Sins) are: 1.) GPU driver version 2.) Sins version Since people with completely different brands and categories of graphics cards (and, naturally, completely different drivers and driver versions) are experiencing this issue, in my opinion it's a fault with the game itself, and not with anyone's computer setup or GPU. I'd say there are als

Reply to White Dots, anti-aliasing in Technical Sins Forums

Yeah, I'm not a "graphics whore". I play lots of indie games and even ASCII games, and no matter the level of graphics technology used, I ask only that what's done graphically be done well. Even an 8-bit game can be aesthetically pleasing. Sins is a beautiful game in every respect, and THAT is actually part of the problem. It looks so good, the dots simply stand out. The dots are a blemish and AA is a fairly important part of modern 3-D graphics, so it's a problem I really want to see

Reply to White Dots, anti-aliasing in Technical Sins Forums

[quote who="Cataclysm2000" reply="3" id="1994426"]Are you really that shallow? I get the dots too but they're hardly noticable unless you're looking for them. Besides, you spend 80% of your time zoomed out anyways.[/quote] I wouldn't go so far as to say I wouldn't buy the game because of it, and all things considered it's a fairly small problem, but the dots are definitely quite noticeable to me. I recently started playing Sins again after a six-month break, and I noticed them instant

Reply to White Dots, anti-aliasing in Technical Sins Forums

Yep, I have the exact same problem: https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/334308 I tried dozens of solutions, none worked (except turning AA off entirely). Having a problem with a computer game is a frustrating experience lately. Whether you'll find a workable solution or not is a crap shoot... and once your post has been sinking to the bottom of the pile for a day or two with no resolution in a tech help forum, you know you're boned until something else gives (new drivers fix

Reply to Best "file rename' utility??? in Personal Computing Sins Forums

http://www.georgedillon.com/freeware/therename.shtml THERename. I found this little freeware app while modding Space Empires IV (it tides me over between Stardock releases), due to my need for mass renaming. It's quite easy to use and works like a charm, and it's easy to remember what it's called if you ever lose track of it on your OS (just search "rename").

Reply to Minor (But Aggravating) Graphics Artifact in Technical Sins Forums

Well, so far I've tried: Double-checking to ensure my drivers are up to date (they are; 180.48/Nov. 19) Toggling and/or tweaking every in-game graphics setting Forcing various levels of Anisotropic Filtering via Nvidia Control Panel Disabling AA in-game, forcing (overriding) AA via Nvidia CP Setting Nvidia CP to enhance in-game AA settings Disabled AA gamma correction (tried with in-game, forced

Reply to Minor (But Aggravating) Graphics Artifact in Technical Sins Forums

Disabling gamma correction didn't do anything. What does work is turning off AA entirely. Whether enabled either in-game or through the NVidia control panel, any amount of AA (from 2x to 32x and everything in between) causes the same dots. I tried the gamma thing, I tried all the other miscellaneous settings in the NVidia control panel, I switched off everything in the SINS Effects menu, I messed with everything in the SINS Video menu, I tweaked everything I could fin

Reply to Minor (But Aggravating) Graphics Artifact in Technical Sins Forums

[quote who="jjz-" reply="1" id="1992181"]When I get home I will test this to see if I get the dots as well. I think it's happening because it is trying to make the objects shiny. I notice it with asteroids.[/quote] Thanks, hopefully you'll come up with something. I'll probably try tweaking different settings in the meantime.

Minor (But Aggravating) Graphics Artifact in Technical Sins Forums

NOTE : You MUST enlarge the image to see the dots properly. As you can see, some units (especially Terran) and scenery items (especially asteroids) exhibit teeny white dots along their straight edges. It's much more noticeable when the game is moving, because the dots shift and move around on the surface of the obje