MONDAY STATUS REPORT

from Stardock Forums
Hi gang! Things are going very well overall. I can report that sales are very strong, much higher than anticipated.

I wanted to give you a brief update on where things stand.

## Stardock Central ##
SDCentral is our mechanism of updating the game. We are still having technical issues with it. We released 1.01a last night and a lot of people could not see the update. We found out today that the Linux server is caching the previously available files in memory. We're trying to work around that. But in the meantime, you can see the update if you switch to the Atlanta server (tools->settings->connection).

The second thing is that some people are downloading all 87 megs. That apparently only happens if you are using the download and archive since well, that's what it's supposed to do - download the full image and archive it. I recommend just installing the game. You can always archive it later.

We should have this stuff fixed up in a few minutes.

## Bug reports ##

Okay, we've finally nailed down why the game crashes for some people quite a bit. It turns out that a certain sound card (sound blaster live for instance) only has 4 sound buffers in it. Our built in MP3 player uses a lot more. We should have this fixed today and available on Stardock Central for download.

## Balance Issues ##
We are going to update 1.01A today of GalCiv with a few more tweaks. For one thing, the events will now take into account the game's difficulty level. So if your'e just learning the game, you won't have any of the nastier events come across and wipe you out.

Similarly, we took out the trade all tech UP resolution.

## The Metaverse ##
We think we've finally nailed this one too. For some reason, scores are being submitted with an invalid serial # for some people. We believe to have this fixed today too and it will be part of the GalCiv 1.01A update today.

Once these things are taken care of, we can then focus on adding new features based on your feedback. Stay tuned, there will be a news item shortly.
6,298 views 81 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
If we started the new version download last night, but stopped when we realized that it should be 1-2 meg, instead of 85, how do we 'clear' the download so that the new one will appear?

-Dave

~SDC~
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
How do I know if I am using download and archive? I am hitting the 'Update' button next to the 1.01a listing. Is it s switch somewhere in the options or something?
CursorFX - Customize your Windows cursor
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
The trade all tech resolution was... interesting... was a pleasant surprise when I had fallen behind in tech on my last game due to maxing out military production at the expense of everything else to get the 15 nice systems within reach before the AI :)

Though... my first game it kind of sucked when it came up and took away my advantage of being the only civilization with battleship and overlord technology... :notsure:

You should place it in the library as an optional UP issue.

~SDC~
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Brad, btw, I am NOT using download and archive, and was, and am still, prompted to download 80+ megs.

Also, I figured out how to clear cancelled downloads:

Tools-->settings--->general/dowloads--->clear temp folder on refresh application data.

-Dave

~SDC~
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
David - did you buy the retail version? When did you install Stardock Central?

Just so we're clear:

When you install Stardock Central, the installer checks to see if you have GalCiv installed. If it is installed, it adds some XML files to let Stardock central know that you already have GalCiv on there.

IF you installed Stardock Central first and then installed GalCiv, then it doens't know.

What we want to find out is specifically why some people are being prompted to download the full GalCiv module.

~SDC~
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
SD Central: I am connecting to the Atlanta Server, but when I refresh the SDCentral Application Data I still have 0.99c afterwards...

Am I missing something here??

Thx
DocDVD

~SDC~
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
Great feedback :) thanks!

~SDC~
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
Hi Bard,
To help you out:

I installed the Retail version.
Then installed SDC.

I am not sure when I installed the bonus pack, it may have been before SDC but I cannot be sure. I installed the bonus pack from the link on the web site (not SDC).

Hope this helps.

ap

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
Andy, it looks like it's working for yo. Is it asking to download the full thing or just a few megs?

~SDC~
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
Brad, I second that request above. When taking out issues for being too hard, please please please put them in the Library for the rest of us. Besides, I really don't think it's unbalanced, simply by the fact that:

1) It helps you if you're behind, and aids you if you're in front

2) Depending on how far ahead you are when you are hit with it, some material advantage still exists, because you were able to start the projects the tech enabled some time before the rest of the races. It's an equalizer, but not a "game over" scenario like some others.

Astro

~SDC~
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
Brad, I purchased direct from you, and did a frsh install of Stardock Central around Build 4 (or late build 3). It was when the game was first release to beta testers. I had SDCentral installed FIRST, and used it to install the game.

-Dave

~SDC~
Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top
So is a new 1.01A being released today? Is it already released? I did manage to install 1.01a.030 last night, and I don't see anything new on there now, so I'm hoping that the new 1.01A isn't out yet.
Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top
Hey Frogboy, can you guys do something about the problems with slow network access while SETI@Home is running at the same time as Stardock and/or GalCiv? (It does appear to happen with GalCiv, too, since the Metaverse submission screen seemed to hang while SETI was running.) It's pretty annoying.
Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top
I bought the game at EB. I then came to Galciv.com and got the bonus pak.
Yesterday I DL SDC and installed it.
Today I finally figured out how to get it all activated and I highlighted the Galciv product under the Dreg.net tab and selected the update button. I am now getting the whole 85MB DL, ouch, even on a DSL that is not fun and does not help you guys much either.
Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top
Thanks Frog but I have one question RE: Metaverse.

I've joined an empire today but my name isn't listed on the Empire's page. I've logged off, quit the empire, relogged back in, and joined and still doesn't work. Any ideas?
Reply #19 from Stardock Forums Top
I have Drengin.net and I'm downloading the patch thru Stardock version 0.99c 151 build 4. I got the full 85 megs version also, but I'm almost finished downloading now, using the Atlanta server.

Hah, there's my message that GalCiv has been succesfully updated. Out to play that means :)

~SDC~
Reply #20 from Stardock Forums Top
to: James Temple

last night some people were having the same problem and they have to enter/reenter the serial number of the game to see the latest release and also make sure the server was set to Atlanta.
Reply #21 from Stardock Forums Top
LordTheRon,

Did it work? Is the version updated and everything OK? Bonus pack still tyhere and Multimedia etc.?

ap
Reply #22 from Stardock Forums Top
So there is a new version being posted today? Different from the version posted yesterday? I seem to be having SDC problems today, not getting connected for whatever reason.

olaf
Reply #23 from Stardock Forums Top
Hi,

I must say that I would love to have some of the download problems described above! I would even enter my serial number again and again if I only could play the game. (:( I am one of the poor souls who are cursed to live with this bug described in Frogboy's first post:

## Bug reports ##
Okay, we've finally nailed down why the game crashes for some people quite a bit. It turns out that a certain sound card (sound blaster live for instance) only has 4 sound buffers in it. Our built in MP3 player uses a lot more. We should have this fixed today and available on Stardock Central for download.

Up to this minute I have not been able to play the game at all. Ok ok I confess I own a SB Live! but does the punishment really have to be that hard? ;)

I installed GalCiv via Stardock, I downloaded the 400+ MB .zip file, I installed the bonus pack, I installed the update to 1.01a.30, I updated DirectX to 9.0a installed the newest gfx und sound drivers, scanned for viruses and other strange software, there is enough diskspace, I can turn of the music via the prefs.ini no matter what I try after a minute or less playing GalCiv the game locks up, a few seconds later the sound loops, a couple more second later the gfx on the screen is completely messed up und then the computer reboots.

There are no hints in the debug.err because the instant the game locks up the debug msg are never written to file. A tool like SmartExceptions gived no clues for the very same reason. The game does not crash back to the desktop it simply restarts the machine.

I was think about installing SoftICE to get a stack trace to have a point were one can start digging for some hints, but without debugging symbols in the executable that's useless.

The only two things I haven't tried is changing the hardware and reinstalling Win2k because these things are a little bit time consuming.

Any ideas, suggestions or a word of consolation?

~SDC~
Reply #24 from Stardock Forums Top
To William White

I re-entered the serial number and that did show the new version. Of course, it's downloading the full 85 Megs, but I have RoadRunner so it should be done in a few minutes.
Reply #25 from Stardock Forums Top
Is 1.01a released today the same as 1.01a.030 beta released previously ?

Elrikk


~SDC~