Proportions 2.1 available

Iskander · #1 April 20th, 2002, 11:54 PM

>> If there are players still running pre-2.0 games who are eager to get 1.6 (since they can't upgrade to 2.x), let me know.
>>

Thanks for this mod, I tried it for the first time tonight, it does just about everything I thought needed changing from the standard.
Love the change to the engines, nifty...

Now for my question, I'm playing proportions from the CD, from the above quote I'm thinking I need to install something befor proportions 2.1. Is this correct? If so, what do I need?

Thanks on advance for any help...

Isk...

PDF · #2 April 21st, 2002, 12:06 AM

Hmm, I tried this mod, the ideas sound great, but have problems with the AI/Empires : only a couple of "player" races with AI are in the mod, and of I try to add "stock" races I have a "load error" message, perhaps due to change in traits lists ...
How can I play solo ? Only with created or random AI ??
Or perhaps do some other races sets exist that are compatible ??

oleg · #3 April 22nd, 2002, 12:28 AM

Iskander, all you need is the latest proportions 2.1 patch. It should work just fine over CD Versions.

PDF, if you play with AI, download AI general files I put in SE IV races forum. Once you started game with random AI, go to game/players pull-down, turn all AI players under your control and then go through them and "save empire".
Repeat untill you have .emp files for all races.

PvK · #4 April 22nd, 2002, 05:44 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Iskander:
[QB]>> If there are players still running pre-2.0 games who are eager to get 1.6 (since they can't upgrade to 2.x), let me know.
>>

Thanks for this mod, I tried it for the first time tonight, it does just about everything I thought needed changing from the standard.
Love the change to the engines, nifty...

Now for my question, I'm playing proportions from the CD, from the above quote I'm thinking I need to install something befor proportions 2.1. Is this correct? If so, what do I need?
[QB]

Glad you're liking it. You can install 2.1 over the Version from the CD. The only problem will be if you have been playing a game of Proportions from a Version before Proportions 2.0, and you want to continue playing that same game. In that case, you will want to load a Proportions patch earlier than 2.0 (I'd recommend 1.5.3). If someone is trying to continue an old game, but wants to be as up to date as possible, I'm willing to make a patch to Version 1.6, which will be compatible with games created using Proportions Versions before 2.0. So far no one's asked for this though, so I haven't taken the time.

PvK

PvK · #5 April 22nd, 2002, 05:50 AM

quote:
Originally posted by PDF:
Hmm, I tried this mod, the ideas sound great, but have problems with the AI/Empires : only a couple of "player" races with AI are in the mod, and of I try to add "stock" races I have a "load error" message, perhaps due to change in traits lists ...
How can I play solo ? Only with created or random AI ??
Or perhaps do some other races sets exist that are compatible ??

You can do as Oleg says, if you want to be able to pick which AI opponents you use, or to use a pre-made empire other than the one example.

Otherwise, you can create your own race, and let the AI generate its own based on the default set - it will create empires for those and play them with AI for Proportions (though I'm still working on making it do a very good job).

If you are trying to use 3rd party races for AI opponents, the AI files that come with them will generate warnings in Proportions. You can remove their AI files, or copy ones from Proportions into their Proportions/pictures/races/empireName folder folder and rename them to that empire's name, and then they will work in Proportions.

Hopefully by next weekend there will be a Proportions 2.2 with some better AI's. If I have time, I'll generate some more emp files to make it easier to select specific ones.

PvK

Iskander · #6 April 22nd, 2002, 08:38 AM

Thanks for the info guys, am looking forward to giving it a try as soon as I find the proportions website.

Have a few modding questions too, but I'll throw them up elsewhere...

About Proportions though, I like the idea of the cities etc, but I'm not sure if they 'work'..
They're rather expensive for what they do, and the systemwide abilities are annoying everytime you get the error message. (might be fixed in 2.1?)
I recon make them a bit cheaper and remove the systemwide abilities.
But then maybe I just need to get used to them.

Isk...

PvK · #7 April 22nd, 2002, 11:08 AM

http://www.latibulum.com/pvk/proportions/

There's no way to get rid of the system-wide warnings without removing them. They represent the benefits of having vestiges of an actual civilization in a system. A system without anything but military and industrial facilities is going to have certain disadvantages, represented by missing out on bonuses to happiness, research, etc.

I will probably be adding some more intermediate steps to the urban facilities, and might end up re-naming some of them, and making a couple of tweaks, but basically the idea is to make it take a lot of time, effort, and expense to develop a major colony. Considering cities (representing more than just "a town") can be established in a couple of years with enough work, it seems more or less what I was shooting for.

Although, another thing it helps to realize is that much of my reduction to the Ratings of facilities is an attempt to reject the simple additive logic of SE4. Adding a lab on a remote planet isn't going to really directly add to the research speed of the whole empire directly, the way the game logic works. Similarly, adding a mine in a distant colony is not going to magically provide those resources to an empire - there is a lot of redundancy and expense before the empire will see any net gain, realistically, and practically in this mod.

PvK