Star Explorers Testing Branch Updated to Pre-Release Version 0.6.0
So I have labeled this latest update as 0.6.0, skipping over the 0.5.x range. The reason is that I was using 0.5.x for the now defunct versions of the game in which the whole saving and loading system had been rewritten. I will probably not return to that version, but I am keeping it for reference.
Anyway, a helpful player identified a few issues like missing texture files and more importantly, not being able to get on the mothership, in yesterday's update.
I forgot to mention, I have increased the warning level in this version of the game. This means that error messages will pop up that might normally be ignored by the engine. It could cause the game to be more unstable, but it should immediately indicate what is causing the issue. So if you see any warning messages pop up, please let me know.
Anyway, I was able to resolve those issues, and you should now be able to board the mothership again.
I also fixed another issue on the mothership, where NPCs were not generating any quests in the first slot. This should now work properly, but if you are loading a saved game, they will not have those quests. To get your NPCs to have a quest in the first slot, without having to restart the game, you can go to: "C://users/-your username-/AppData/Local/Star_Explorers" and open your saved game folder.
Find the file called "mship_storage1.txt" and delete it. This will reset all mothership NPCs, and they should generate new quests.
I also changed very slightly the way the game sets resolution. There was a problem when I set the game window to have no border, and it would appear on screen larger than it should have. So if you set it to 1280 x 720, it would actually appear at 1286 x 747. This is because the no border command would not actually change the size of the window, but would expand the game to fill the existing window size, which included a border.
I am hoping this helps to resolve some issues players were having with setting the screen resolution.
I also have done a couple other experiments on this version. First, I used a tool that should allow Star Explorers to access more than 1200 MB of RAM. This was a limitation that was built into the engine. Hopefully this might prevent some crashes due to the game exceeding its RAM access.
Another thing is that I have set the game to ignore DPI scaling settings in Windows. I know this caused some issues for players who used DPI scaling, especially if they wanted to use window mode.
So lots of housekeeping has been done, and I am going to continue testing and clearing out bugs for the next couple weeks.
Anyway, a helpful player identified a few issues like missing texture files and more importantly, not being able to get on the mothership, in yesterday's update.
I forgot to mention, I have increased the warning level in this version of the game. This means that error messages will pop up that might normally be ignored by the engine. It could cause the game to be more unstable, but it should immediately indicate what is causing the issue. So if you see any warning messages pop up, please let me know.
Anyway, I was able to resolve those issues, and you should now be able to board the mothership again.
I also fixed another issue on the mothership, where NPCs were not generating any quests in the first slot. This should now work properly, but if you are loading a saved game, they will not have those quests. To get your NPCs to have a quest in the first slot, without having to restart the game, you can go to: "C://users/-your username-/AppData/Local/Star_Explorers" and open your saved game folder.
Find the file called "mship_storage1.txt" and delete it. This will reset all mothership NPCs, and they should generate new quests.
I also changed very slightly the way the game sets resolution. There was a problem when I set the game window to have no border, and it would appear on screen larger than it should have. So if you set it to 1280 x 720, it would actually appear at 1286 x 747. This is because the no border command would not actually change the size of the window, but would expand the game to fill the existing window size, which included a border.
I am hoping this helps to resolve some issues players were having with setting the screen resolution.
I also have done a couple other experiments on this version. First, I used a tool that should allow Star Explorers to access more than 1200 MB of RAM. This was a limitation that was built into the engine. Hopefully this might prevent some crashes due to the game exceeding its RAM access.
Another thing is that I have set the game to ignore DPI scaling settings in Windows. I know this caused some issues for players who used DPI scaling, especially if they wanted to use window mode.
So lots of housekeeping has been done, and I am going to continue testing and clearing out bugs for the next couple weeks.