Distant Worlds 2 - Latest Official Update (1.0.3.3)

[Erik Rutins]

Distant Worlds 2 - Latest Update (1.0.3.3)

Download Link: HERE
Latest Troubleshooting FAQ: HERE

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are still having any crash or launch issues with DW2 after updating to the latest update, we recommend taking the following steps 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.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are experiencing performance issues use the key combination Shift + ~ 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.

We found a system that duplicates some of the persistent black screen and battle crash issues and are working to continue investigating them and addressing all possible causes through this and future updates.

---

Changes in the 1.0.3.1 build (April 6th, 2022):

CRASH FIXES

- fixed bug where economy line items were often not being updated (introduced in 1.0.3.1)
- added fixes to greatly reduce number of DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED crashes
- fixed crash when fleet evaluates whether to invade colony
- fixed crash when ship fires intercept weapons
- fixed crash when determine empire migration sources
- fixed crash when getting native creature habitats
- fixed crash when updating user interface controls
- fixed crash when updating ship engine exhaust
- fixed crash with sorting when finding nearest refuelling point
- fixed crash when drawing empire relation
- fixed rare crash when drawing troops and characters
- now handle access denied error when saving game settings or game start settings files

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS

- slightly improved general performance

ADDITIONAL CHANGES

- added Harmony modding support to DW2


Changes in the 1.0.3.1 build (April 5th, 2022):

CRASH FIXES

- fixed crash when ship performs collision avoidance
- fixed crash when ship determines large items to avoid
- fixed crash when completing spy mission
- fixed crash when finding nearest refuelling point
- fixed rare crash during rendering
- fixed rare crash when generating tool tips
- fixed rare crash when investigating abandoned ships or bases
- fixed crash when drawing animated characters
- fixed crash when creature moves to new location
- fixed crash when evaluating threats
- fixed crash when rendering system badges
- fixed crash when ship destroyed
- fixed crash when assigning ship mission
- fixed crash when rendering ship and base symbols
- fixed crash when updating empire territory
- fixed crash when ship exits hyperjump
- fixed crash when rendering effects
- fixed crash when identifying refuelling points
- fixed crash when reviewing fleet escort ships
- fixed crash when ship is refuelling
- fixed crash when finding fastest construction yard
- fixed crash when determining blockaded locations
- fixed crash when artifact changes location
- fixed crash when notifying empire of attack
- fixed rare crash when add display effect
- fixed rare crash when rotating stars and planets
- fixed crash when moving weapon blast
- fixed crash when updating nebula storm clouds
- fixed crash when ship or base destroyed
- fixed crash when showing message
- fixed rare crash when ship fires weapons at attackers
- fixed crash when adding resource/tourism/migration flow data
- fixed rare crash when generating tool tips
- fixed crash when drawing nebula storm clouds
- fixed crash when ship or base destroyed
- fixed crash when directing fleet escorts
- fixed crash when updating nebula cloud rendering
- fixed crash when resolving trade offer description
- fixed crash when getting fleet jump speed
- fixed crash when processing ship
- fixed crash when processing location effects
- fixed crash when checking for active hyperdeny at a location
- fixed crash when generating task to queue construction of a base at a location
- fixed rare crash when evaluating collision avoidance factors
- fixed rare crash when assigning ship mission
- fixed rare crash when determining whether to accept treaty
- fixed rare crash when checking whether a fleet should retreat from a battle
- fixed crash when obtaining ruins and wonders at a location
- fixed crash when drawing research project summary
- fixed rare crash when ship or base fires weapons at attackers
- fixed rare crash when colony conquered by invasion
- fixed rare crash when selecting random resource
- fixed rare crash when determining diplomatic strategies with other empires
- changed how colony city night lights are handled to minimize video memory usage
- improved game update cycle to eliminate possible threading issues during game saves
- fixed crash when evaluating ship boarding status
- fixed rare crash when ship or base fires weapons
- fixed rare crash when finding nearest refuelling point
- fixed rare crash when colony wiped out
- now more careful with handling missing game settings files

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS

- improved rendering performance when in research screen

ADDITIONAL LOGGING

- added functionality to automatically send crash logs to dev team (prompts player to send in next game session)

OTHER CHANGES

- additional data fixes for certain small troop transport ship hulls and certain artifacts
- now display message to indicate when auto-saving the game
- fixed cluster galaxies sometimes generating star systems outside playable area
- data fixes to certain ship hull data typos for troop transports and some stations
- data fixes for various story event issues
- research project tree fixes for various fallback and prerequisite paths, mainly to fix the armor tree
- Defensive bases can now be research one Tech Level earlier on the Research Tree

Changes in the 1.0.2.8 build:

CRASH FIXES
- fixed savegame corruption when save while expired messages are being purged (note that some past saves were corrupted and if these do not load in 1.0.2.8 they are unrecoverable)
- fixed hang on save due to fighters incorrectly taking their parent carriers 'Prepare and Attack' missions
- fixed rare crash when iterating fleet ships
- fixed rare crash when sending message to empire
- fixed rare crash when iterating empire messages
- fixed crash when clearing pursuers from target

RENDERING FIXES
- changed how vertex buffers are handled to reduce video memory usage and reduce crashes
- now more carefully check for missing buffers when rendering shield impact effects

FLEETS AND SHIPS
- now take more care to ensure nearby ships are added to fleets, thus better preserving fleet cohesion
- exclude ships with manually assigned attack missions when determine whether to break off attack against a target (target jumps outside engagement range or fuel range, etc)
- fleets and ships now better at retaining attack missions against targets that jump to another location, especially when target remains in same system
- fixed bug blocking direct attack fleet missions
- shortened wait time before attacking when fleets regroup at a waypoint (Prepare and Attack), i.e. fleets commence attack phase faster once reach waypoint

OTHER
- ensure freighters with short hyperdrive jump range are not selected for distant transport missions (should fix freighters with Skip Drives sometimes dumping cargo)

---

Changes in the 1.0.2.6 build:

CRASH FIXES
- adjusted how some vertex buffers were created to improve stability (more to come on this)
- fixed bug where shield impact model vertices were sometimes setup incorrectly
- fixed rare crash when ship is turning
- fixed rare crash when initiating particle effect
- fixed rare crash when assigning ship mission

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS
- increased multi-threading support for some game logic, improves performance, especially for large late-games

FLEET AND SHIP COORDINATION IMPROVEMENTS
- added full Prepare and Attack missions for fleets (attack, raid, capture, bombard). This is the default right-click fleet attack mission type and will also be used by automated fleets. Fleets will now automatically refuel (when need fuel) or waypoint (if need to regroup) before undertaking their attack mission. If they do not need refuelling or regrouping then they will attack the target directly. When refuelling or regrouping the fleet will synchronize their final jump to the attack target.

---

Changes in the 1.0.2.4 build:

CRASH FIXES
- fixed game hang that was causing saves and loads to fail
- fixed rare crash when applying nebula effects to ships
- fixed rare crash while initiating particle effects

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS
- altered asset streaming timeout to reduce video memory usage

FLEET AND SHIP FIXES
- now exclude ships that cannot jump when determining fleet jump speed (previously was blocking some missions)
- improved logic for fighters boarding their carriers when the carrier is preparing to jump. Normally when carrier is jumping they will wait for fighters to board, unless very distant. But when carrier is escaping then fighter boarding time is reduced and fighters may be left behind (destroyed)
- improved performance of exploration ship mission selection when in late-game and most systems explored
- fixed bug where ships were sometimes overcautious about travelling to locations with effects, e.g. black holes with ranged damage effects

OTHER FIXES
- reenabled maximum research queue limit of 15 projects

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Changes in the 1.0.2.2 build:

CRASH FIXES
- fixed some further DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED errors
- fixed crash when calculating population defend strength at a colony
- fixed crash in Abandoned Ship and Bases list when use sort 'Distance from Spaceport'
- fixed rare hang when ship attack mission gets stuck

RENDERING
- IMPORTANT CHANGE: Changed default back buffer format to use Standard Range rendering. This may help some who are experiencing black screens at startup, but it will also reduce the quality of some visuals. If you were not previously having problems with black screens or crashes then you can revert to High Dynamic Range rendering in the in-game Game Settings to restore the visuals to their previous quality.
- improved performance when long range scanner map overlay enabled

TROOPS
- changed meaning of colony automation setting 'Automate Infantry Recruitment and Garrison' to now include all troop types, i.e. 'Automate Troop Recruitment and Garrison'
- lowered attack troop recruitment levels, especially for large empires
- added automation icons to Selection Panel to indicate colony automation status for troop recruitment and resource stock levels

HIVE AND PLANET DESTROYER
- added diplomatic incident and reputation impact from using planet destroyer against colonies
- improved movement of planet destroyer ship to better avoid clipping planet surfaces
- capped maximum bonus levels for Hive ships when salvage debris or raid colonies and bases

OTHER
- improved calculation of optimal attack range against targets based on weapon ranges (ship/base attacks and bombarding colonies)
- reviewed policy setting for intelligence mission caution so that aligns with revised mission difficulties. Tooltip explains success chance per level
- empire systems no longer start inside nebulae
- fixed occasional faulty ETA display for transferring artifacts
- fixed population policy window not scrolling with mouse wheel when colony detail panel also open
- fixed blank or incorrect startup colony and base stock levels when colony stock level automation is manually controlled
- Additional data fixes for a few missing weapon sounds, certain missing component/hull resource costs, a few event fixes

---

Changes in the 1.0.2.1 build:

CRASH FIXES
- fixed rare crash when rendering empire territory
- fixed rare crash when scrapping advanced ship with tech bonus, but your empire has not yet researched a relevant project
- fixed rare crash when calculating military ship strength
- fixed rare crash when evaluating threats to a ship

RENDERING CRASH HANDLING
- more graceful recovery when texture or vertex buffer creation fails due to display adapter crash, reset, or change in performance mode. This should greatly reduce the number of DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED crashes

DIPLOMACY
- improved diplomacy so that relations now more likely to rise to higher levels (top-level treaties) when you work at improving relations with a faction. Remember that you can directly set diplomatic strategy per faction, which will also help improve relations (Befriend, Ally, Close Ally)

FLEETS AND SHIPS
- fixed bug where ships and fleets could sometimes teleport to edge of galaxy when assigned a mission while already jumping
- fleet jump speed coordination now applies to all fleet missions, not just attack missions (ships travel at same jump speed)
- Fuel Tankers no longer use fleet jump speed when part of a fleet

OTHER
- now properly review maximum colony population level as tech improves (colonization modifiers) and planet quality changes (terraforming, etc). This fixes issues with migration missions sometimes not completing
- ensure that player's per-role ship design automation settings are reset between each game (not remembered from previous games)
- Fleet Template screen no longer generates empty fleet when do not have enough money to build
- ensure scroll position in Empire Policy screen is reset to top when open again (previously settings were sometimes not appearing until scrolled up)
- reduced estimated resource demand for fuel so that more accurately aligns with actual usage
- changed default game start settings for research to fixed paths and colonization range limit to 300M
- Data fixes and changes to correct resource costs for some components/hulls with no resource costs or incorrect costs
- Added missing fallback paths for some armor techs
- Fixes for some story event issues
- Extended range for dedicated bombardment weapons
- Simplified main menu scene to assist with consistent startup crash troubleshooting

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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

[rxnnxs]

Now maybe there is time to address all those little things that the active playerbase has come up to with.
I really was not that happy when I found out that I was not selected as a beta tester.
But I said to me:

Hey, there is one big positive thing about not being in the beta program: You can play the game without having all those little nasty bugs that keep you from playing.

Unfortunately, it feels like I am in this beta phase and I am writing three times as long in the forums and making pictures than playing in game.

You could say now: Hey, stay cool, you do not have to!

And you are right, That means, I have to

a) play a different game, like say: Polaris Sector or DW:U because those games are awesome to play, but have annoying flaws. Now there is no work done to them anymore and that is a shame! And here we come to

b) stay away from that product and let it get some color. Better not gold, because thats the problem for option b:
If you do not watch it, all the wishes that we all have and could make the game better, are not considered anymore. It is gone gold, you know? Maybe in the next DLC.. and so on.. and when it is half way done, much is forgotten.

So.. when is the time to do it right?
I will stop here because I am sure you have other things to do.. But just that you know..
I do not do this for fun, I want to have fun with this game but I can not.
I want to help to polish it, but right now, it is a raw diamond. Maybe..
I would love to change the font, change this an that..
and hey! I can NOT Mod that stuff. It is not an XML related problem.

It lays deeper.. And even then, it is work. Nothing I have to do, I do not get payed for that.
Maybe you will pay me for it? Please tell me if I can, I would love to get payed for that.
Unfortunately then it is no hobby anymore but work.

Anyway, I hope you do not feel offended, but i end with the words, meaning my time for the next time to come is done for now..

enough is enough.

please check the signature. Read carefully :-/

[Erik Rutins]

Unfortunately we introduced a critical economy bug in 1.0.3.1, hence we decided to release another official update quickly today which fixes that issue, as well adding some additional fixes and improvements.

The first post is now updated to reflect the changes in 1.0.3.3.

[Erik Rutins]

It lays deeper.. And even then, it is work. Nothing I have to do, I do not get payed for that.
Maybe you will pay me for it? Please tell me if I can, I would love to get payed for that.
Unfortunately then it is no hobby anymore but work.

Anyway, I hope you do not feel offended, but i end with the words, meaning my time for the next time to come is done for now..

enough is enough.

I understand. We certainly did not expect to have this many serious issues in the release, but we are doing the only thing we can now, which is to fix them as quickly as humanly possible. Focusing on the issues where hardware incompatibilities are preventing play remain our top priority, then the rest per the roadmap posted in this forum.

[Awaras]

The last update broke the game on GeforceNOW again. Won't run at all.

[ChattyAnny]

The last update broke the game on GeforceNOW again. Won't run at all.

Hi, we're sorry to hear you're having issues with Distant Worlds 2, thank you for getting in touch.
A big help for us to keep better track and get all the helpful information we need can you do the following for us please:

Firstly can you check that you have done the following on the FAQ sheet here:

Steam link: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1531540/ ... 342230406/
Forums link: https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 6&t=380844

Then if you find you still are experiencing problems, please fill out this report form so that we can accurately keep track of and work through bugs as they come in
https://forms.gle/s42oXpmoiDFGFEah6

If you are experiencing a critical game stopping bug/issue can we recommend either switching to a legacy branch or trying the appropriate Public Open Beta branch on the platform you are using, for the time being until the next patch is released.

Thanks!

[Awaras]

The last update broke the game on GeforceNOW again. Won't run at all.

Hi, we're sorry to hear you're having issues with Distant Worlds 2, thank you for getting in touch.
A big help for us to keep better track and get all the helpful information we need can you do the following for us please:

Firstly can you check that you have done the following on the FAQ sheet here:

Steam link: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1531540/ ... 342230406/
Forums link: https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 6&t=380844

Then if you find you still are experiencing problems, please fill out this report form so that we can accurately keep track of and work through bugs as they come in
https://forms.gle/s42oXpmoiDFGFEah6

If you are experiencing a critical game stopping bug/issue can we recommend either switching to a legacy branch or trying the appropriate Public Open Beta branch on the platform you are using, for the time being until the next patch is released.

Thanks!

It's Geforce NOW... It doesn't let you mess with config files, delete anything or even open the steam client to select a beta branch, so there's not much I can try.

[Thineboot]

data\Races.xml lines 1839-1846

Code: Select all

      <OrbTypeFactor>
	  <OrbTypeFactor>
        <OrbTypeId>27</OrbTypeId>
        <Factor>-0.1</Factor>
      </OrbTypeFactor>
        <OrbTypeId>29</OrbTypeId>
        <Factor>0.1</Factor>
      </OrbTypeFactor>

should read as

Code: Select all

      <OrbTypeFactor>
        <OrbTypeId>27</OrbTypeId>
        <Factor>-0.1</Factor>
      </OrbTypeFactor>
      <OrbTypeFactor>
        <OrbTypeId>29</OrbTypeId>
        <Factor>0.1</Factor>
      </OrbTypeFactor>

See (v 1.0.3.3) XML issue : Races.xml - Boskara - OrbTypeFactor tag mismatch: The effect of this appears to be that the Boskara do not receive a -10% colonization modifier for OrbTypeId 27 "Mangrove Forest".

Corrected in [1.0.3.4]