Steam version updates for SEV.

JThur · #1 January 27th, 2009, 02:00 PM

Hello.

Does anyone know if it's possible to get the new updates for Space Empires V to work with the Steam version?

Xtacc · #2 January 27th, 2009, 11:19 PM

I tried 1.77, not-compatible as far as I know. But neither is SE-V with Vista, so whatever...jerks.

Are we missing out on a solid update? I heard it created more problems than it solved.

Captain Kwok · #3 January 27th, 2009, 11:32 PM

The Steam version has not been updated to v1.77 as far as I know. An e-mail to MM might be more effective in case there was some sort of communications mishap.

SE5 works fine with Vista, albeit it takes a relative performance hit on the graphics side.

There was a bad bug introduced in v1.77, but there's a decent chance that you won't encounter it too frequently. The patch still made a good chunk of fixes.

JThur · #4 January 28th, 2009, 05:07 PM

Well it starts in Vista but I havent played it so I wouldnt know how it plays. The reason I havent played it on Vista is because it "blinks". It's VERY annoying so if anyone knows how to fix it I'll be gratefull.

Who's MM? I want my game updated. Maybe it'll fix the blink problem.

narf poit chez BOOM · #5 January 28th, 2009, 07:01 PM

Malfador Machinations, Aka 'Aaron Hall', aka www.malfador.com

JThur · #6 January 28th, 2009, 07:08 PM

Thank you.
I'll send a email tomorrow.

Captain Kwok · #7 January 28th, 2009, 08:10 PM

You may be able to avoid flashes if you play in windowed mode, set video memory to safe, or be careful about running programs in the background that produce pop-up messages etc.

Xtacc · #8 January 28th, 2009, 09:59 PM

I had emailed MM about the Steam version before I purchased it asking specifically about that updates. I don't have the reply anymore, but Aaron stated that the Steam update is seperate and should be released in the near future. They (he) know that Steam is at 1.74, whether it's Steam or MM who isn't bothering to update it I don't know...

Xtacc · #9 January 29th, 2009, 12:07 AM

Sorry, didn't edit in time

It is the graphics that suffer through Vista. For me only when there are menus opened upon menus. Once I get 3 menus in (eg. Design -> create ship -> set strategies) the FPS drops from 35 in the system view -> 24 -> 20 -> 16 respectively. The ships menu on it's own is the worst at only 10 fps; right clicking on a ship from there drops to 6 fps.

I know SE-V is not a first-person shooter, but this makes moving the mouse annoyingly slow and choppy. No video settings can remedy this drop in fps. I'm really disappointing with this as I started playing SE-V before IV and really enjoy some of the features V added on. Also, that it seems this game has been ditched in updates; if it does receive one, the patch fails in addressing Vista compatibility.

I understand the System View is constantly active even with menus open, but for a mid-high end PC this shouldn't be this much of an issue.

Captain Kwok · #10 January 29th, 2009, 01:19 AM

SE5 uses DirectX8, which has to be emulated in Vista and results in the performance drop. Unfortunately there is not much that can be done, except to rewrite the graphics engine to DirectX10.