Official SE:IV Gold Patch 2 thread...
 

Okay here it is. Official release is Wednesday morning. This is what it will contain. From what I hear this is a substantial patch:

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

Version 1.77:
1. Note - Gold Patch 2 Release!
2. Fixed - Vehicle Size Minimum text in Mount report was 2 pixels off data value.

Version 1.76:
1. Fixed - New damage types were not being recognized.
2. Changed - If you change treaties with another race and you were at a Trade
alliance or better, and you change to a Trade alliance or better,
then you retain the same Trade %.
3. Fixed - In Simultaneous Games, sometimes the treaty between two races would
be set to None.
4. Added - Added the Weapon Mount Report window which you can get by right-clicking
on the mount name in the list or by going to the Help window.
5. Fixed - A space yard ship that was cloaked would not decrease its emergency
build time.
6. Added - Added a flag to the Shield Components decsription so that they will
show the true shields generated taking into account any mounts.
7. Fixed - AI player would choose Atmospheric Converter I over an Atmospheric
Converter III.
8. Fixed - Fighters would skip targets who had emissive armor high enough to
prevent one fighter's attack.

Version 1.75:
1. Fixed - Players can no longer exceed the maximum mines / maximum satellites
per sector restriction.
2. Fixed - Rare error on warp command execution.
3. Fixed - More improvements to Escape and Enter key usage.
4. Added - "Shield Percent" to CompEnhancement.txt.
5. Added - Added damage types - "Double Damage To Shields",
"Half Damage To Shields", "Quarter Damage To Shields".
6. Fixed - Improvements to how Emissive Armor is applied.
7. Added - Added new Settings.txt fields - "Seeker Combat Defense Modifier",
"Planet Combat Offense Modifier", "Planet Combat Defense Modifier".
8. Fixed - Point-Defense will now fire automatically on moving drones.

Version 1.74:
1. Fixed - Null-Space Projectors and Computer Viruses had the same component
family.
2. Fixed - Rare BitList error during combat.
3. Fixed - Rare Integer Overflow.
4. Fixed - Access Violation when completing combat.
5. Changed - A ship will gain benefits from a training center even if it is cloaked.
6. Fixed - Players can no longer exceed the maximum mines / maximum satellites
per sector restriction.
7. Fixed - Planets now display the number of drones they can launch / recover
in the Unit Launch window.
8. Fixed - Ships without cargo capacity are now omitted from the Cargo Transfer window.
9. Fixed - Ships without unit launch capacity are now omitted from the Unit Launch window.
10. Fixed - Escape and Enter keys work a little better on dialogs.

Version 1.73:
1. Fixed - "Different Machine" games would report an error in different exes.
2. Fixed - All Messages being sent default to "General Message".
3. Fixed - Damage Types of Pull Ship, Push Ship, and Teleport Ship will now be
targeted on as many enemies as possible (not all weapons on one ship).
4. Fixed - A Component Enhancement which has a weapon type of None means it can
only be used on non-weapon components.
5. Changed - The Comp Family Requirement in CompEnhancement.txt is now a list.
6. Fixed - The Mount listing in the Vehicle Design Add window will only show
valid mounts for the current type and size of the vehicle.
7. Fixed - Normal components will now display the mount they are using on their
report window.
8. Fixed - Capturing Ships during combat was not restricted to nearby square.
9. Fixed - Drones were not changes their target when the target was hit by an
allegiance subverter.

Version 1.72:
1. Fixed - Non-required fields were still being required.
2. Fixed - Fighters with weapon range of 2 or less were not attacking planets.
3. Fixed - Weapon Platforms were firing weapons at targets out of range.
4. Fixed - Added protections against the player file switching cheat.
5. Fixed - Added protections against exe hacking. The players and the host
must now be running the *exact* same exe.
6. Fixed - Fixed problem where cargo would sometimes show zero units remaining.
7. Changed - Revamped Jettison Cargo window.
8. Added - Mounts now support "any" weapon type, component families, maximum
vehicle size, and tech requirements.

Version 1.71:
1. Fixed - Ships were unable to ram planets.
2. Fixed - Drones were not smashing into planets.
3. Fixed - Tactical Combat was not displaying correctly after a Ram.
4. Fixed - Distance to planets has been reduced.
5. Added - Added fields to Settings.txt to allow for a higher maximum
value or resource amount.
6. Added - Added a "Bases Can Join Fleets" field to Settings.txt.
7. Fixed - AI would attempt to add units even when a planet was full.
8. Added - Added "No Retrofit Adding Of Spaceyards" and
"No Retrofit Adding Of Colony Module" so players can set
whether the game will enforce these rules.
9. Changed - Fighters and Drones will have full movement when launched.
10. Fixed - In a Turn-Based Game, fighters can only be recovered if they
have their full movement points (and are not in combat).

Version 1.70:
1. Fixed - Troops were unable to drop onto planets in combat.
2. Fixed - Only ships and fighter Groups can join fleets.
3. Added - Added Fighters, Satellites, and Drones Weapon Target Types in
Components.txt.
4. Added - Added "Two Per Vehicle" to "Ten Per Vehicle" to Restrictions
in Components.txt.
5. Fixed - Minefields will now accumulate damage against ships when
hitting them.
6. Changed - If a mine will not do damage to a target because of its damage
type, it will not strike the target. For example, if the mine
only does engine damage, and the target does not have engines,
then the mine will not strike the target.
7. Changed - Engine Damaging Weapons no longer skip shields.
8. Fixed - Integer Overflow when viewing a planet report window for a planet
that had been captured during combat.
9. Fixed - Ai should be cloaking again in Simultaneous Games.

Version 1.69:
1. Fixed - The Massive Ship Mount stated that you needed a ship size of
1100kT but it should actually be 1200kT.
2. Fixed - Rare Integer Overflow in combat when a planet was attacked.
3. Fixed - There was a way to bypass the Next Player Password dialog.
4. Changed - A ship cannot be retrofitted from a design which does not
have a Spaceyard to one that does.
5. Changed - A ship cannot be retrofitted from a design which does not
have a Colony Module to one that does.
6. Fixed - Range Check Error when a luck trait tried to prevent a star
from exploding.
7. Fixed - Set Players To Computer Control window was setting all ministers
off even for human players.

Version 1.68:
1. Fixed - Fighters no longer share their supplies with other ships.
They will not pool their resources when in a fleet.
2. Fixed - Newly launched fighters in a turn-based game will have no
movement. The next turn after they are launched, they will
receive full movement.
3. Fixed - AI was not reacting with anger when a planet or system was
destroyed.
4. Changed - Increased the number of formation positions from 30 to 100.
5. Fixed - AI was still not always closing to optimum distance for
launching seekers against planets.
6. Fixed - Seeker hit on a planet would sometimes not show an explosion
even if damage was done.
7. Fixed - AI was not always moving on the first turn of Tactical Combat
if it was the first player.
8. Fixed - Planet hit points would not always accurately portray damaged
units on the planet as well.

[ August 11, 2002, 21:29: Message edited by: Richard ]

Re: Official SE:IV Gold Patch 2 thread...
 

latest history:

Version 1.78:
1. Fixed - Mine damage was not accumulating against Fighters or Drones moving
through minefields.
2. Added - More Empire options for showing letter identifiers for facilities on
planets.

Version 1.77:
1. Fixed - Vehicle Size Minimum text in Mount report was 2 pixels off data value.
2. Fixed - Mines would accumulate damage beyond their means and sometimes cause
an Integer Overflow.
3. Fixed - Orders to destroy stars, planets, storms, etc. could be executed even
after the ship moved away from the location.

Re: Official SE:IV Gold Patch 2 thread...
 

YEAH!!!!!!

Re: Official SE:IV Gold Patch 2 thread...
 

Looks good, looks good! In fact some great little tweaks in here.

But a few things are puzzling. If anyone can explain these, I'd be grateful.

Version 1.68:

2. Fixed - Newly launched fighters in a turn-based game will have no
movement. The next turn after they are launched, they will
receive full movement.

Version 1.71:
9. Changed - Fighters and Drones will have full movement when launched.

Does this mean the 1.68 fix is out and the 1.71 change takes it back to the way it is now?

Version 1.70:
1. Fixed - Troops were unable to drop onto planets in combat.

I didn't even know this was a problem; at least I never had one.

Version 1.71:
4. Fixed - Distance to planets has been reduced.

Huh?

Version 1.72:
5. Fixed - Added protections against exe hacking. The players and the host
must now be running the *exact* same exe.

Version 1.73:
1. Fixed - "Different Machine" games would report an error in different exes.

Um. Isn't the point of the 1.72 fix to create the problem fixed by 1.73?

Version 1.76:
2. Changed - If you change treaties with another race and you were at a Trade
alliance or better, and you change to a Trade alliance or better,
then you retain the same Trade %.

Again, this sounds like the way its always been. What is being changed here?

All in all a very nice patch, fixing a number of minor irritants... and a few major ones. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Kim

Re: Official SE:IV Gold Patch 2 thread...
 

just one example:

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">yes, that is true. there was no problem with dropping troops in 1.67, but there was one in 1.69 (or 1.68, don't actually remember)

Rollo

[ August 11, 2002, 23:11: Message edited by: Rollo ]

Re: Official SE:IV Gold Patch 2 thread...
 

Cool Can't wait!!!!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Official SE:IV Gold Patch 2 thread...
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That's pretty much it. The change in 1.68 caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth among several beta team members and so it wsas undone in 1.71 <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">These were not a fixes for problems from the current Version you are playing, but bugs that creeped in during some of the other changes. <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">No, 1.72 fixed the hacking, but in the process introduced a new bug that made it impossible to do any simultaneous turn games. 1.73 fixed that new bug. <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ok, I am not sure about this one, but I think it was an intermittant problem when upgrading your treaty would cause your trade percentage to reset to zero.

Re: Official SE:IV Gold Patch 2 thread...
 

Thanks Geo, you da man! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Kim

Re: Official SE:IV Gold Patch 2 thread...
 

Ugh...I have to wait until Wednesday?

Re: Official SE:IV Gold Patch 2 thread...
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ditto, I don't wanna wait... I won't be able to sleep till then...