1.2.2.0 Public Beta Update Available

[MaximKI]

Hi everyone,

Please try this new beta and let us know if it helps your game. We encourage you to start a new game as there may be changes that only take effect upon starting a new game.

To facilitate frequent beta iterations as needed, this beta is only available for now on Steam and GOG. All Matrix customers also have a free Steam key available (through your My Page) which can be activated if desired to install DW2 via Steam and test this Beta there.

On Steam, you can switch to it by going to Distant Worlds 2 in your Steam Library, right-clicking on it, choosing Properties -> Betas -> then choosing the latest beta branch from the drop-down list and allowing Steam to update your game. If it updates correctly, you should see the latest beta version listed as your version in-game on the bottom right.

On GOG, you can switch to it by going to Distant Worlds 2 in your GOG Library, selecting Distant Worlds 2, then clicking on the button next to "Play" that looks like two horizontal lines with small offset circles, choosing Manage Installation -> Configure then picking the latest Beta from the Beta channels drop-down list and allowing GOG to update.

As of the official 1.0.6.4 update, the Core game engine has been upgraded to use the latest version of Stride. (4.1.0.1 and a newer version of .NET. As of the recent 1.1.0.9 Aurora Update, we now include .NET 7 in the game executable, so no additional external .NET redistributables are required.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you still experience crashes with 1.0.6.4 or later, especially crashes in battle, please try the new DXVK rendering option in the game settings. This can be found under "Rendering Mode", which can be switched from DirectX 11 to DXVK. DXVK is only guaranteed to work with the SDR (Standard Definition Rendering) option in your game settings. It may work with some HDR (High Definition Rendering) settings, but we do not advise trying those at this time. The DXVK option willl likely resolve many issues caused by driver bugs or incompatibilities.

If you try this setting and the game does not launch, please note the command line option in the changes below to switch back to DirectX 11. (To force DirectX on launch, add --use-dx11 as a command-line argument to DistantWorlds2.exe)

Changes in 1.2.2.0 (April 3rd, 2024):

- fixed crash when viewing New Colonies list
- fixed rare crashes when rendering the main view

Changes in 1.2.1.9 (March 31st, 2024):

CRASH FIXES
- fixed crash with Population Awoken ruins event

USER INTERFACE
- fixed Change Government button being improperly disabled
- fixed late messages for plagues ending at colonies
- fixed Selection Panel stretching too high when selecting multiple troops
- tidied up display of hovered victory condition details to have correct height
- long range scanner map overlay now influenced by galaxy map opacity setting (more transparent by default)

Changes in 1.2.1.8 (March 28th, 2024):

Please note that data and game event fixes will only apply when starting a new game.

RENDERING
- added new settings for tweaking scene in GraphicsSettings_Location.xml: DirectionLightIntensity, AmbientLightIntensity, SkyboxLightIntensity
- increased default Skybox lighting intensity to improve appearance of ship materials

FLEET BEHAVIOR
- improved automated fleets honoring engagement range when far away from home base (not investigating dangerous locations outside engagement area)
- improved Fleet movement within nebula so that more likely to take direct single jumps to destinations when moving to coordinates instead of specific target

UI IMPROVEMENTS
- Selection Panel will now auto-grow vertically to accommodate any overflow content
- Control Center will now auto-expand to use the full vertical space when Selection Panel is empty
- altered colors for fleet roles and attack point vectors in fleet engagement area map overlay so that better distinguished from selected fleet/ship travel vector
- added Fleet Attack Point as distinct line item (under Home Base) for Fleets in Selection Panel

COLONIZATION
- empire colonization targets are immediately reviewed upon acquisition of a Colony Ship (e.g. Refugee Fleet event) thus allowing new colony ship to immediately undertake colonization mission for a suitable target

BOMBARDMENT
- fixed bombard diplomatic incidents and reputation impact not being properly applied when bombarding independent colonies

WAR RESOLUTION
- improved Empire teardown when last colony lost so that no remaining ships, characters or fleets for the empire
- fixed empires not being properly removed when lose last colony if they did not have a government

GAME EVENTS
- improved 'Sleeping Alien Race Awoken' ruin event to add sleeping population to colony if already exists instead of generating a new colony

DATA CHANGES
Updated data files to fix the following:
- Human and Mortalen updated race descriptions updated
- Various weapons with no intercept capability have had redundant intercept values removed
- Resource costs rechecked
- Inconsistent increases/decreases in damage or bonuses for components addressed
- Fighter weapon arcs made consistent at 90°
- Corrected the human Gyrfalcon Interceptor defense slots
- Added resource costs to the Hail Cannon [M] component
- A whole host of typos checked and fixed across the board

QUAMENO AND GIZUREAN DLC
- An overlapping tech project fixed for the Gizureans (same row as regular tech)

Changes in 1.2.1.4 (March 14th, 2024):

CRASH FIXES
- fixed crash when calculating total facility maintenance

UI IMPROVEMENTS
- fixed small asteroids sometimes not able to be selected at a location
- fixed bug with some scenes where cannot click on item under mouse (wrong item selected)

SHIP DESIGN
- tweaked weapon component selection for auto-generated ship designs so that not inappropriately skewed by preferred components

VICTORY CONDITIONS
- increased default victory condition threshold to 70%

FACTION CHANGES
Human:
- fixed faulty victory condition measurement for 'Most Research'
- changed Human default preferred intercept weapon family to Missiles (was Rail Guns)
- Add Medium Hail Cannon Level 0 to first Hail Cannon research project
- Added research paths to Human Area Missile Defense, Human Fast Turrets
- Added research paths from Human faction unique projects
- Humans no longer have access to Improved Defense Missiles and later. Bulwark Missiles replace these.
- Humans no longer have access to Rapid Fire Projectiles and later. Hail Cannons replace these.
- Humans no longer have access to Light Interceptors, Tactical Interceptors and Long Range Interceptors. Gyrfalcon Interceptors replace these.
- Foundation for Galactic Cooperation Facility now has the following bonuses: +10% Diplomacy, +5% Espionage, +5% PsyOps, +10% Concealment, +10% Trade Income
Zenox:
- changed Zenox default preferred Shield focus to Recharge Rate (was Strength)
Mortalen:
- Added research Paths from Mortalen Block Armor projects

FLEETS, FUEL TANKERS AND REFUELLING
- ensure manually assigning a Guard mission to a fleet properly changes fleet role to Manual (not just ships)
- added extra options to Fleet Map Overlay: Defense Fleets, Attack Fleets, Raid Fleets, Invasion Fleets
- fleets now more willing to wait for Fuel Tankers when nearest refuelling point is outside current fuel range
- improved willingness of Fuel Tankers to refuel fleet ships outside systems
- ensure that Fuel Tankers do not improperly assign refuelling mission for ships that don't really need refuelling (avoid cycle of assign/cancel mission)
- ensure refuelling point selection always excludes nebula locations when ship cannot handle effects

FREIGHTERS
- fixed bug where freighters were sometimes not being utilized effectively

PIRATES
- ensure non-standard pirate factions without spaceports are not improperly eliminated when one of their bases is destroyed but they still have other bases

CHARACTERS
- removed Non-Technical from list of positive character traits

Changes in 1.2.1.2 (March 7th, 2024):

CRASH FIXES
- fixed crash when changing empire relation
- fixed crash when switching empire in game editor
- fixed a number of crashes in Stride rendering engine

SAVE GAMES
- now detect and warn when attempt to load corrupt savegame files

GAME SPEED
- added x8 and x1/8 game speed controls

FLEETS
- added Fleet Engagement Areas as galaxy map overlay (shows circles of engagement centered on Home Base, and travel paths to Attack Points)
- renamed Fleet Engagement Range 'Sector Range' to '100M range'
- added new Fleet Engagement Ranges: 50M range, 200M range, 300M range
- lowered default engagement range for automated Defense fleets (Fleet Templates)
- individual fleet ships will now attack threats at same location even when rest of fleet is not nearby and cannot upgrade attack to a fleet mission. However this still requires all other engagement criteria to be met (range, etc)

FACTION AND GOVERNMENT REFRESH
- now properly exclude Feudal Militia troops for non-Feudal governments
- fixed some missing Human event images
- added +25% Colony Defense bonus to War World event (Military Dictatorship government)

USER INTERFACE
- added extra fleet map overlay setting: Selected Fleet. Only shows engagement range and attack vector for player's selected fleet
- tweaked empire territory borders to better blend with map
- added configurable Galaxy Map opacity settings, allowing fade of most galaxy map elements and better visual focus on other items. Separate setting for when Fleet Overlay is enabled, further allowing better visual focus on Fleet engagement areas
- now always include a 'Scuttle Ship' command in the right-click pop-up menu for any state-owned ships without a mission and no functional hyperdrive
- when end war with another empire ensure that enemy targets of that empire (queued and non-queued) are properly cleared
- improved tooltip for colony events in Selection Panel and header bar (image + more detail)

COLONIZATION
- fixed Colony Ships sometimes loading/unloading colonists (extend load colonist check to include colonization range limits)
- ensure that queued colonization targets properly removed when new colony established at target
- fixed independent colonies sometimes not showing colonization success chance

PIRATES
- fixed pirates sometimes having very high tech when start game with only one standard empire (player only)
- ensure pirate faction properly eliminated when capture last base

RESEARCH
- fixed bug where research project time to completion could sometimes be shorter than expected

SHIP BEHAVIOR
- fixed bug where military ships with escort mission would sometimes not show travel vector

CHARACTERS
- ensure time for characters to transfer to new location is not too long when currently only have very slow hyperdrive tech (e.g. Skip Drive)
- improved character handling when conquer capital colony of another empire and policy setting for 'Characters at Conquered Colonies or Bases' is 'Return Home' (return character to another non-capital colony)
- fixed display bug for character handling policy setting 'Return Home'

COLONIES
- ensure rebelling colonies always eventually resolve to normal after rebellion battle completes

DIPLOMACY
- war score is now a more significant factor in determining willingness to end a war, i.e. losing side pays more attention to their losses when considering whether to end a war, and whether to offer vassalization to end the war
- added gradually increasing trade bonus level to diplomatic relations when have trade treaty. Bonus income to all resources sold to other empire, up to maximum of 30% when have Free Trade Agreement

GALAXY GENERATION
- improved galaxy generation so that star systems less likely to generate near another system

POPULATION
- ensure that automated colony population policy does not set most suitable race already at colony to Resettle even when it's suitability is below colonization minimum, i.e. always keep most suitable race for colony

SHIP DESIGNS
- fixed auto-generated ship designs sometimes selecting sub-optimal reactor components
- improved ship auto-design for exploration ships and construction ships so that weapons deprioritized in favor of other components (reactors, fuel, etc)
- improved ship auto-design when have in-system hyperdrive (i.e. Skip Drive) so that have adequate reactors and not too many fuel cells

VICTORY CONDITIONS
- fixed Highest Trade Income victory condition to properly account for all trade income (applies to Human, Teekan, Haakonish)

JUMP PATHING
- jump pathing now more willing to consider alternate paths that may be shorter
- jump pathing will now take direct single jump route when either source or destination is in a nebula and the total time of the direct jump is less than the alternate route that uses the nearest system to the nebula

EVENTS
- ensure story game events always properly disabled when needed

Changes in 1.2.0.8 (February 16th, 2024):

CRASH FIXES
- fixed crash when resolving tradeable items
- fixed crash when editing Build Order items
- fixed crash when fleet evaluates whether can handle nebula location effects
- fixed crash when determining items at screen point
- fixed crashes when destroying ship
- fixed crash when fulfilling resource order
- fixed rare crash when finding nebula jump path
- fixed rare crash when calculating bonuses for planet
- fixed various threading related crashes when many planet destroyers simultaneously destroying same planet
- fixed crash when determining empire mining targets

PERFORMANCE
- minor performance improvements, especially in large late-game galaxies

UI IMPROVEMENTS
- Where the borders of two empires meet, we have added a more visible border in the galaxy view to help make it easier to distinguish their territories.
- character traits or skills added through game events now also add event log entry for character (e.g. Prove Yourself Mortalen event)

FACTION AND GOVERNMENT REFRESH
This update includes a refresh of the Human and Mortalen base game factions as well as all the base game government types. A summary of changes is below, but for the full information, please read through the in-game faction and government descriptions carefully. There are also new event illustrations and loading screens to go along with these changes.

HUMAN FACTION CHANGES
- Slightly more aggressive
- Slightly better Continental suitability
- New Worlds: When you colonize or conquer a Continental planet obtain a free random Colonization tech advance (once per planet)
- Great Art Exposition: When you sign a Free Trade Agreement or build a new Resort Base obtain a 2 year boost to Trade and Tourism income throughout your empire along with a boost to Colony income and Tourism for the colony where the Great Art Exposition is held. Cannot trigger more than once every 5 years
- Hero of the Hour: When war is declared on you choose either a new Admiral or new General with two positive traits
- Internal Debates: When you sign a new Defense treaty obtain a capable new Ambassador but also a 2 year decrease to Colony Happiness throughout your empire
- Heightened Security: When a foreign intelligence mission against you succeeds (but is detected) you may choose to spend a Spy to gain a 2 year +20% boost to Counter Espionage along with a small decrease to Colony Happiness throughout your empire
- Large Carriers: all Carrier ship hulls +50 size
- New unique Leader, Ambassador, Scientist, Spy character traits
- Expanded unique tech trees which are accessible earlier in the research tree
- New Foundation for Galactic Cooperation unique facility
- Victory condition tweaks

MORTALEN FACTION CHANGES
- Improved Armor Research
- Improved Ship Maneuvering and Troop Recovery
- Improved Troop experience gain
- Warrior Wave: When you declare war obtain a 2 year boost to Mortalen Population Growth along with your choice of either a large Troop Recruitment Rate boost or a Troop Attack Strength boost
- Patriotic Wave: When war is declared on you obtain a 2 year boost to Mortalen Population Growth along with your choice of either Colony Coruption Reduction or War Weariness Reduction
- Know Your Enemy: When you invade and conquer an enemy world choose a 2 year boost to either Espionage and Counter Espionage or Targeting and Countermeasures
- Prove Yourself: Periodically choose between 2 characters (from Leader, Admirals, Generals) to undergo a trial by arms. If successful (probable) the selected character gains a positive trait, otherwise a negative trait
- Reinforced Hulls: all ship and spaceport hulls have +1 Reactive Armor rating
- New unique Leader, Admiral, General, Ambassador character traits
- Expanded unique tech trees which are accessible earlier in the research tree
- Added new Unique Block Armor techs
- Victory condition tweaks and fixes

GOVERNMENT CHANGES
- Republic: Gain +1%/+2%/+3% Colony Income for each active R/L/F Trade Treaty
- Democracy: 10% chance of a Positive Event (Tech Boost, Diplomacy Boost, Espionage Boost, Military Boost) every year, Every Leader Change results in each other character having a 10% chance of dismissal as a result of the shift in political fortunes
- Feudalism: Private Economy can build individual Feudal Escorts for its own Escort missions, Upgraded Planetary Militia fights like Infantry without upgrades, Troop Recruitment Rate x2 for 2 years after War declaration, Troops gain experience 25% faster
- Mercantile Guild: Control Mining Ships as if State Ships, Gain 1k/3k/5k trade income per year for each active R/L/F Trade Treaty
- Military Dictatorship: High Troop Presence reduces Colony Unhappiness by up to 5, Declare a "War World" Troop Recruitment, Ship Construction, Facility Construction (double rate) at any Planet/Spaceport for a 20k credit and happiness cost for two years.
- Monarchy: One ship can be designated a Flagship (+10% Targeting and Countermeasures, +10% Maneuver and Speed, +10% Damage Control), If Flagship destroys an enemy ship same size or larger generate +Happines empire-wide event, If Flagship is destroyed generated -Happiness empire-wide event. All wars are considered Justified for War Weariness purposes
- Technocracy: Increased Character Quality +20% for all types, Increased Character Recruitment Chance +40% for all types
- Hive Mind: Jump Accuracy bonus at friendly locations doubled, Population Growth Rate x1.5 while at War

FLEETS
- automated fleets now also check distance of target from fleet home base when evaluating whether to break off attack (fleet may be outside normal engagement area)

RAIDS
- fixed tech bonuses from raids sometimes giving negative progress in current research project

COLONIZATION
- fixed Colony ships sometimes repeatedly loading/unloading population when only viable colonization target is independent colony that is not yet at desired colonization success chance

GROUND COMBAT
- Troop Attack Strength bonus type now properly applied from both invading generals and invading empire when attacking colony

STORY EVENTS
- tweaked Mortalen troop transport ruin game event to give more advanced Boskara diplomatic tech

MODDING SUPPORT
- added texture header checks for flag filenames (avoids gaps in flag selection dropdown with some modded images)
- modded flag images now properly also select empire color from flag

[WiZz]

Hello!

Screen Edge Panning doesn't work when you move your mouse to the right side of the screen. It works in other directions.

[fruitgnome]

It works for me in fullscreen and windowed.

[Ingor]

Hi everyone & dev team,

Disclaimer : it's been months since I've played the game, but it had huge potential and I liked my ~100 first hours.

I don't want to open a new thread especially for this but anyone knows if the latest patches have fixed some of the annoying automation for planets ? I remember being forced to manually ask for all ressources because the game didn't recognize that I was mining said ressources and the private sector wasn't bringing it to my planets (even my capital)... When it was only for my capital that I had to input the amounts, it was ok, but when I had like 10 colonies it felt like a chore.

Overall, I remember the private sector freighting having quite a few issues aswell, even If I designed their ships meticulously. Has that been improved a bit ?

I'd love to try to come back to the game but I'm hesitant, and I would appreciate some input about these topics that were issues for me (I get it if it's not issues for everyone, mind you).

[fruitgnome]

These things are fixed.

[OrnluWolfjarl]

Hello!

Screen Edge Panning doesn't work when you move your mouse to the right side of the screen. It works in other directions.

Do you have two screens perhaps? That has been an issue with me in multiple games when I have an extended desktop on two screens with Windows 11

[Ingor]

These things are fixed.

Thank you ! Then I'm gonna test a new playthrough right away.

[MaximKI]

A new public is live now! See OP for details.

[Acceleratex]

Hey guys, update is great, but I have one small QOL request. When upgrading a design, would it be possible to have the old design "upgrades to" automatically set to the newly created design (maybe have new new option for this). This way, if I have several designs for the same hull, I can manage them more more easily . At the moment if I have more than one design per hull and I want to upgrade, I have to go back to all the designs and set their upgrade path manually, which is tedious and error prone and makes it difficult to have several designs per hull.

Something like this
V0---V1---V2 [upgrade, set V2 upgrades to V4]______---V4
_____\---V3 [not changed when V2 is upgraded to V4]

[Buio]

Really like the new beta 1.2.1.2. Lots of good improvements.

[MaximKI]

A new public beta is live now! See OP for details.

[MaximKI]

A new public beta is live now! See OP for details.

[OrnluWolfjarl]

Thanks for the new beta. Glad to see many of the issues I identified have been fixed!

[MaximKI]

Thanks for the new beta. Glad to see many of the issues I identified have been fixed!

Thanks for helping us identify these issues and providing feedback!

[Erixonich]

Hi, after update from 1.2.1.4 to 1.2.1.8 I am unable to change government type. Button "Have revolution and switch government" inactive when I choose different from current government. Funny thing if current government is choosen then the button is active but does nothing. Reproduces on both new game and old game.

[MaximKI]

A new public beta is live now! See OP for details.

[MaximKI]

A new public beta is live now! See OP for details.

[rxnnxs]

Could you please explain how this Opacity works?
I can not figure out what the fleet overlay is.
Because the Ship Icons are not changing their opacity.
Besides that, the help text is a wall of text and is misleading and talks in both popups about empire territory and borders.
I really do not understand.

The one slider changes the badges and territory opacity.
The other one is not working (for me).

And the fleet icon is shown always, not matter what I do.

[rxnnxs]

Is there no one that can tell me how this works?
Ahh, never mind, i found out If anyone is interested in this or has the same question, I am eager to answer. But I guess not
Well... it is easier to make a Video about it and here it is:
https://youtu.be/zX5hWyKmrXA