Aurora 4x

VB6 Aurora => Installation => Topic started by: Steve Walmsley on December 05, 2015, 10:37:47 AM

Title: v7.00 Patch
Post by: Steve Walmsley on December 05, 2015, 10:37:47 AM
As this is a substantial patch and affects some of the core mechanics, I have decided to make it version 7. I have been playing my test campaign for three months and it is pretty stable. However, I haven't been using NPRs in this latest campaign so any issues related to the most recent changes are likely to be in that area. In particular, I haven't played a lot with the auto-detection option, which is the main reason for me not releasing earlier. I've decided its probably easier to release and fix any bug reports. As usual, don't start any major campaigns for a week or two until any obvious problems are found and fixed.

Important! This is a database patch so if you upgrade you will lose your saved game. Don't upgrade if you want to keep playing the same campaign.

This patch can only be applied to version 4.2 or later. To apply the patch, unzip the patch file and copy the files as follow:

1) Stevefire.mdb and Aurora.exe into the installation directory, overwriting the existing files with the same names
2) a11.jpg, b20.jpg and M24.jpg into the Planetjpeg sub-directory (if you don't already have them)
3) flag0390.jpg and flag0391.jpg into the Flags sub-directory (if you don't already have them)
4) race350.bmp into the Races sub-directory.

http://www.pentarch.org/steve/Aurora700.zip (http://www.pentarch.org/steve/Aurora700.zip) (37Mb)

Patch notes are at: http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=7255.0

This database in this patch contains my current single-player Aurora campaign as an example game. This is a very large game so if you start a new campaign, its probably best to delete the example game.

Alternatively download this database with a brand new game and use instead of the Stevefire.mdb in the installation zip.

http://www.pentarch.org/steve/BasicGame.zip (http://www.pentarch.org/steve/BasicGame.zip) (5Mb)

Steve
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: TheRequimen on December 05, 2015, 11:39:11 AM
Yay. Thanks!  ;D
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: GreatTuna on December 05, 2015, 12:09:47 PM
I didn't expect this patch that early.
Nice work. Thanks.
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: Zincat on December 05, 2015, 01:34:39 PM
Hell yeah!

Thank you so very much :)
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: Vandermeer on December 05, 2015, 04:36:29 PM
Fantastilicious! Santa coming too early this year.(http://www.greensmilies.com/smile/smiley_emoticons_tree.gif)
And here I thought I could actually squeeze in another game before release.(http://www.greensmilies.com/smile/smiley_emoticons_xmas2_smile.gif)
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: Ostia on December 05, 2015, 06:34:17 PM
I didn't expect this patch that early.
Nice work. Thanks.

Yeah, the patch happening was pretty unexpected. Gonna wait for 7.01 through, With all the new stuff things have to be bugged somewhere.
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: MarcAFK on December 05, 2015, 06:57:12 PM
Awesome, I was just starting to lose interest in my current game anyway. It is the most exciting game I've had, running into most spoilers a few jumps from earth and the friendly NPRs are somewhat interesting, but they're not hostile as I expected and they're bringing the game to a crawl. It's not even the sensor updates, I don't care that it takes 15 minutes to do 5 days, but when it stops processing to tell me 100 friendly sensor updates and that there's a new friendly ship detected.
I'm not sure your changes altered this, but there's other changes in this version that will make my life easier. Particularly being able to sort contacts by race will make waging war in a cluttered system like earth much smoother ( I didn't even want to attempt it to be honest).
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: Mastik on December 05, 2015, 07:42:16 PM
Thanks for the time and effort you have put into this project.  ;D
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: Garfunkel on December 06, 2015, 01:46:09 AM
Downloading
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: ExChairman on December 06, 2015, 11:54:32 PM
Thanks Santa!!!
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: Zokk on December 07, 2015, 12:06:25 PM
Cool stuff! Now, if only I could get Aurora to run on my Macbook Pro. . .  Crossover doesn't work for it, and I don't want to run a virtual machine or dual-boot on a computer I use for work a lot.   
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: Ostia on December 07, 2015, 02:10:52 PM
Cool stuff! Now, if only I could get Aurora to run on my Macbook Pro. . .  Crossover doesn't work for it, and I don't want to run a virtual machine or dual-boot on a computer I use for work a lot.

Read this (http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=3369.msg59211#msg59211). It's the Linux/wine How-to guide.
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: Thorgarth on December 07, 2015, 07:59:14 PM
Steve,

Thank you!
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: deezork on December 08, 2015, 01:17:09 PM
Hi !

I see "version 6. 50" in my aurora launcher , is that normal ?

Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: deezork on December 08, 2015, 01:19:14 PM
Quote from: deezork link=topic=8075. msg83225#msg83225 date=1449602229
Hi !

I see "version 6.  50" in my aurora launcher , "7. 00" and "6. 50" are the same?
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: Sematary on December 08, 2015, 01:35:47 PM
6.50 is the original name for 7.00
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: Steve Walmsley on December 08, 2015, 01:53:13 PM
It has 6.50 on the game window (by mistake) but 7.00 on the About and Copyright windows.
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: deezork on December 09, 2015, 01:27:39 PM
Quote from: Steve Walmsley link=topic=8075. msg83228#msg83228 date=1449604393
It has 6. 50 on the game window (by mistake) but 7. 00 on the About and Copyright windows.

Ok thanks Steve !
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: Kolyin on December 10, 2015, 06:25:09 AM
Excellent! Thanks Steve.  Now to get started on a new game.
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: GodEmperor on December 10, 2015, 02:14:24 PM
If i switch ON the "Generate NPR as non-TN" will they eventually advance to TN status or just stay low-tech forever ??
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: Garfunkel on December 10, 2015, 09:17:20 PM
If i switch ON the "Generate NPR as non-TN" will they eventually advance to TN status or just stay low-tech forever ??
Stay low-tech. NPR does not know how to advance from conventional start to TN status.
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: Kaiser on December 14, 2015, 07:37:24 AM
SS = Santa Steve
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: JoeNolte on December 14, 2015, 01:14:38 PM
I can't delete the example game.   I get an error message instead.   Error 3052 was generated by DAO. Recordset File sharing lock count exceeded.   Increase MaxLocksPerFile registry entry.
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: Mor on December 14, 2015, 03:38:15 PM
Quote from: Steve Walmsley link=topic=8075.  msg83090#msg83090 date=1449333467
This patch can only be applied to version 4.  2 or later.   To apply the patch, unzip the patch file and copy the files as follow:

Maybe it can, but from my (very limited) experience it wont work.   From a perspective of someone new to the forum, what you first encounter are the stickies:

* v7.  00 Patch
* Aurora v5.  54 Full Installation

Which implies that you need to apply the patch over the full 5.  54 install.   But doing so resulted in endless crushes due to missing image files.   I had to download the Aurora v6.  43 which is "hidden" in the portable sub-forum to make it work.

I think it might be best to clarify this in the instructions.  Furthermore, IMO its best to always add the instructions to the patch as well (readme.  txt) for those of us who download first and instal much later e.  g.   at work with effy internet access.  Also IMO it is best to put the files in the correct structure so we can just copy paste them.

aurora
-Stevefire.  mdb
-Aurora.  exe

-Planetjpeg
--a11.  jpg
--b20.  jpg
--M24.  jpg

.  .  . 
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: MarcAFK on December 14, 2015, 04:53:08 PM
Honestly you should put up a complete package with every major version because new people always get this problem.
Edit: I should mention I had no trouble the last time I installed, I swear all I needed was 5.40 and the 7 patch. But I'm not on my pc ATM so I can't check what's actually in the archives.
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: 83athom on December 14, 2015, 04:53:20 PM
The reason those files aren't just put in a folder is that it will simply overwrite those files, meaning to still have everything you need to keep everything every patch in the folders which just eats up room.
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: MarcAFK on December 15, 2015, 12:02:20 AM
I see what happened, the 5.54 installer contains a zip file with the actual 5.54 patch, all the missing folders and images are in that. Or you could just install the portable version.
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: sloanjh on December 15, 2015, 07:10:35 AM
I can't delete the example game.   I get an error message instead.   Error 3052 was generated by DAO. Recordset File sharing lock count exceeded.   Increase MaxLocksPerFile registry entry.

Did you try the solution suggested at the beginning of this bugs thread?

John
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: Mor on December 15, 2015, 06:30:08 PM
Quote from: MarcAFK link=topic=8075.  msg83449#msg83449 date=1450159340
I see what happened, the 5.  54 installer contains a zip file with the actual 5.  54 patch, all the missing folders and images are in that.   Or you could just install the portable version. 

Not the best place for it IMO.   There are many types of installers that use cab\zip files, and "full 5.  54 install" implies that its a complete package (no patches needed).   Hence it would have been best to pack the patch along side the installer and readme.  txt, to avoid unnecessary hassle from confused newbies and helpful veteran alike ;)

Simply put, you need to
1.  use the setup
2.  extract update 5. 54 into the game folder
3.  extract files patch 7. 0 into their correct places.
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: JoeNolte on December 15, 2015, 08:54:39 PM
Quote from: sloanjh link=topic=8075. msg83454#msg83454 date=1450185035
Did you try the solution suggested at the beginning of this bugs thread?

John

Thank you.
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: Thundercraft on December 17, 2015, 03:57:54 PM
As usual, don't start any major campaigns for a week or two until any obvious problems are found and fixed.
Gonna wait for 7.01 through, With all the new stuff things have to be bugged somewhere.

I've been itching to start a campaign and try out 7.0. But I have to ask those who've tried it: Is 7.0 considerably buggier than 6.43? Would you consider it playable? Or would you recommend waiting for a patch?

In particular, I noticed that the Official v7.00 Bugs Reporting Thread (http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8076.0) is only 12 days old and already it's 6 pages long. (Though, to be fair, Steve did ask to repost old bugs there that haven't been resolved.)

And there are a few reported issues that concern me. One reported a database size of over 172 MB after deleting the example game and all but one of the player races. (And an inability to use the compact database command?) Another reported their database swelling to over 2GB in size.

As usual I forgot to reset window positions when creating a new patch :)

I'll sort it out for v7.01
...Work is a little mad at the moment so I will get to it in the next few days. Sounds like you should avoid using auto-detect for the moment and I suggest any major campaigns wait for v7.1.

Q: Will the next patch be labeled 7.01 or 7.1 ?
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: Ziusudra on December 17, 2015, 04:19:44 PM
Quote
Q: Will the next patch be labeled 7.01 or 7.1 ?
What does it matter? That said, the last two revisions after a major version have been x.10.
Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: Erik L on December 17, 2015, 04:35:50 PM
Q: Will the next patch be labeled 7.01 or 7.1 ?
x.01 usually designates just an .exe change.

x.1 usually designates a database change.

Title: Re: v7.00 Patch
Post by: Steve Walmsley on December 19, 2015, 05:23:42 AM
It will be 7.1. Some of the bug fixes will need a DB change. I hope to work on it over the weekend.