Distant Worlds 2 News

Do you ever find yourself explaining how best to approach a game, but still failing to take that approach yourself, and getting frustrated with it?

After spending far, far too long trying to obsessively control every detail of Distant Worlds 2, I've accepted that I need to take my own advice and work with its macromanagement systems instead. They are, after all, the reason its ludicrous scale is workable at all beyond the opening hours, and a major reason its predecessor was so interesting and forward-thinking to begin with. But they are also a source of great friction and confusion, especially if you don't take the time to learn how they actually work.

Distant Worlds 2 is, ultimately, a game that you need to meet in the middle. Consequently, it's one that I can only partially recommend. But I really do recommend it for that part.

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[h3]Distant Worlds 2 - Latest Update (1.0.2.6)[/h3]

Latest Troubleshooting FAQ HERE

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are still having any crash or launch issues with DW2, we recommend taking the following steps prior to playing with 1.0.2.6 to make sure corruption from previous crashes is not causing any ongoing issues:

1. Delete the gamesettings and gamestartsettings files in the /data/ sub-folder of your installation directory (In Steam right-click on the game in your library, then choose Properties -> Local Files -> Browse. On GOG you can find this through Manage Installation -> Show Folder).
2. Delete any old saved games in the /data/savedgames sub-folder of your installation directory.
3. Verify all installation files (in Steam right-click on the game in your library, then choose Properties -> Local Files -> Verify Integrity of Game Files. On GOG it is Manage Installation -> Verify/Repair).
4. If you still experience issues, please check in on the tech support sub-forum at Matrix Games or Steam and follow the reporting procedures there to share your log files with us.

IMPORTANT NOTE: There is now a new SessionLog.txt log file in the /data/logs sub-folder of the Distant Worlds 2 installation.

This is also where any crashdump logs are located. If you are experiencing an issue, please share both your SessionLog.txt and any Crashdump logs for us along with the issue report.

IMPORTANT NOTE: There is a new GameSettingsOverride.txt in the /data sub-folder of the Distant Worlds 2 installation.

The settings here may help some players experiencing a black screen on load issue. Details on this are in the Troubleshooting FAQ above.

We’re proud to announce the official Distant Worlds 2 Discord Server.



This server will form a new hub for Distant Worlds 2 players, allowing us to share news and events with you all.

Get to know many other passionate players to discuss strategies, share stories and help each other to improve your gaming experience.

We look forward to seeing you THERE

[h3]Distant Worlds 2 - Latest Update (1.0.2.0)[/h3]

This build will reset the game's settings. Unfortunately this is required while we continue troubleshooting issues that are preventing some players from being able to play Distant Worlds 2. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Latest Troubleshooting FAQ HERE

IMPORTANT NOTE: There is now a new startup log in the /data/logs sub-folder of the Distant Worlds 2 installation.

This is also where any crash logs are located. If you are experiencing an issue, please post these logs for us along with the issue report.

IMPORTANT NOTE: There is a new GameSettingsOverride.txt in the /data sub-folder of the Distant Worlds 2 installation.

The settings here may help some players experiencing a black screen on load issue.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are experiencing performance issues use the key combination Shift + tilde to enable an overlay on the top left which will confirm for us which GPU DW2 is using on your system as well as other performance parameters.

GENERAL NOTES: We hope that the content streaming memory fix and the improved rendering memory management could fix some of the reported crashes and help with performance dropping over time for some players.

Unfortunately we cannot duplicate the black screen, frequent crashing or unusually bad performance issues on our systems, but we are working to continue investigating them and addressing all possible causes through this and future updates.

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Changes in the 1.0.2.0 Build:

DISPLAY AND RENDERING
• Reduced asset streaming memory budget to allow more memory for other rendering
• Fixed bugs when auto-detecting display mode with highest refresh rate
• Reenabled fixed timestep updates
• Added more logging to data/SessionLog.txt file: display adapter selection (including primary monitor detected), display modes, galaxy settings
• Added new setting to GameSettingsOverride.txt: GraphicsStreamingMemoryBudget allows specifying video memory in Mb allocated for asset streaming
• Added new setting to GameSettingsOverride.txt: DisableFixedTimeStep: when set to true allows disabling fixed time step (higher FPS, but also higher GPU temperatures and power usage)

CRASH FIXES
• Fixed crash when determining attack targets
• Fixed rare crash when sorting some lists in Control Center
• Fixed rare crash when opening Research screen
• Fixed rare crash when determining locations for new monitoring stations
• Fixed rare crash when changing map overlays

INTELLIGENCE MISSIONS
• Increased difficulty of some intelligence missions, especially steal tech when targeting higher level research projects
• Altered how intelligence mission success chance is calculated so that always a chance of failure (even without counter-intelligence)
• Slightly increased effectiveness of counter intelligence missions (more likely to intercept enemy spy missions)

OTHER
• Fixed bug where default keyboard settings were sometimes not being generated at game startup
• Fixed bug where ships would avoid bombarding a colony that had imprisoned characters
• Fixed bug where invading characters that were killed at a colony were sometimes not removed from the colony
• Avoid executing advisor messages twice when automation is set to Suggest and Execute, e.g. building planetary facilities
• Data fixes to various events, facilities, research projects, ship hulls and artifacts (only available with a new game)


Changes in the 1.0.1.9 Build:

DISPLAY AND RENDERING
- fixed faulty display resolution detection at game start
- improved resolution of correct display adapter when specific adapter requested
- disabled fixed timestep updates (higher FPS)
- allow toggling on-screen FPS and other rendering data using shift-Tilde (top-left corner of most keyboards), which allows seeing which display adapter is being used

CRASH AND HANG FIXES
- fixed crash when empire has revolution and changes government
- fixed hang where fighters at colonies would lock up when their parent colony was wiped out
- fixed hang where exploration ship attempts to explore a location that has nebula sensor disablement that exceeds its scan power

EXPLORATION
- asteroids are now explored much quicker than planets, moons or stars (for both scan and survey)
- ensure all necessary resources in prewarp home system are discoverable at initial tech levels, even when already present

DIPLOMACY
- reduced envy factor in diplomacy when have positive diplomatic strategy for other faction ('We are envious of your huge strength and power')
- envy factor in diplomacy now grows more gradually

OTHER
- more careful about evaluating systems inside nebulae and related logic
- rebalanced loading of game processing for large games with many ships
- fixed ships sometimes getting stuck salvaging debris when has bonuses but came from one of own empire's ships
- construction ships now more careful to avoid building at distant locations (even in same system) when do not have hyperdrive
- no longer generate error sound and effect when move mouse off scrollbar while scrolling a panel or list

Changes in the 1.0.1.8 Update:

- improved handling when graphics device is reset
- improved auto-detection of default screen refresh rate
- ensure file save/load dialog is shown even when hide user interface
- added new GameSettingsOverride.txt file to allow manually setting graphics adapter, resolution, windowed mode. This should be a handy way for players to set stuff directly. Comments in file explain everything. Changes as below:
- extended new GameSetting Changes as below:
- extended new GameSettingsOverride.txt file to allow forcing game to run in exclusive fullscreen mode (GraphicsForceDedicatedFullScreen)
- added startup logging for game session (data/logs/SessionLog.txt)
- reenabled Windows registry settings for requesting high performance GPU mode
- improved calculation of content streaming memory budget on systems with multiple graphics adapters
- improved memory management for rendering in various situations

Changes in the 1.0.1.6 Update:

- Fixed crash that sometimes happens when have many game controllers and other devices
- Fixed User Interface Size showing options that are invalid for the current screen resolution
- Improved handling of High DPI settings in Windows
- Added settings to ensure NVidia video cards run in high performance mode - should fix a number of crashes and performance problems
- Fixed rare crash when moving characters via dropdown list in Character screen
- Fixed rare rendering crash
- Fixed rare crash when ship design could not be found when updating render data
- Improved performance at location level when many ships and lots of running lights
- Fixed bug in Start New Game screen where could select race-specific government types when select random race
- No longer prevent construction ships from carrying out base-building when waiting for response on advisor suggestions for repairing abandoned ships or bases
- Hooked up instability and unhappiness after a government change, leader loss, etc ('Have Revolution' button)
- Construction ships no longer feel tempted to repair fighters
- Fixed bug in some game events that was causing loss of a colony
- Fixed wrong tooltip text on buttons in Character Detail screen for captured prisoners
- Further fixes to crashes after lengthy play sessions
- Further improvements to performance by making sure GPU runs at maximum performance instead of sometimes using power-saving mode

I still don't know where to start.

Distant Worlds 2 is enormous. Even when familiar with the original, even after our preview last month, there's way too much going on to review it comprehensively within a mere few days. But in the spirit of the ancient ones, I can share a review-in-progress of what I've seen so far.

Alright, alright. Partly it's because it's a long game. But it's also because I really want to keep playing.

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