Matrix Games Forums

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.

The Core game engine has been upgraded to use newer versions of Stride and .NET. We now include .NET 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 will 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 1.3.6.3 (July 13th, 2026):

GAME SETTINGS
- disabled game controller functionality

CONTRACTS
- ensure contracts that give a reward of a new character work properly (assign location for new character)

SHIP DESIGN
- fixed component stats sometimes being mixed up when replacing components in the Ship Design screen (using wrong component level)
- fixed component stats sometimes being mixed up when using the Upgrade Design button in the Designs List (using wrong component level)

USER INTERFACE
- fixed wrong button tooltip for Fuel Tankers

ARTIFACTS
- fixed bug where known artifacts were sometimes not visible in Selection Panel

Changes in 1.3.6.2 (July 10th, 2026):

FLEET AND SHIP BEHAVIOR
- reduced situations where some fleet ships are excluded from manually assigned fleet missions. Now the only situations when a fleet ship would be excluded is when the ship is currently under construction or repair
- Manual and Invade fleets are now much better at honoring 'Maximum Auto-Response
Range' empire policy setting so that their ships avoid leaving their current system/location when an enemy target jumps away
- fixed rare bug where ships attacking each other in close proximity will sometimes not exit their micro-hyperjumps
- fixed ships sometimes performing instantaneous jumps when have slow hyperdrive (e.g. Skip Drive) and making short jumps

SHIP DESIGN
- upgraded ship design system to support components that are above current empire tech level

USER INTERFACE
- changed idle ship/fleet count to only include manually-controlled ships and fleets (previous version mistakenly included all idle ship/fleets, not specifically manual ships/fleets)
- fixed some UI elements mistakenly being drawn when Hide user interface
- fixed faulty button visibility when exit game editor
- fixed UI glitches when switching empire in Game Editor
- fixed map callout lines for debris always pointing to the center of the galaxy

THE HIVE
- fixed Hive ships sometimes getting stuck

CONTRACTS
- reduced frequency of offered contracts and lowered cap for simultaneous contracts (for standard empires)

- ensure that offered contracts to build a new base (mining station, research station, etc) suggest a location that is free of known threats

ARTIFACTS
- fixed faulty artifact transfer options when right-click on a colony with artifacts

DIPLOMACY
- in trade deals, now value individual system map offers at zero when already offering either Galaxy Map or Galaxy Map Sharing treaty
- ensure trade deals always include all factors when totaling value of all items

ESPIONAGE
- now auto-cancel spy missions targeting a character when that character changes empire or is killed (can no longer carry out the spy mission)

EVENTS
- added new game event condition type: ShakturiStoryDisabled
- minor typo fixes to many story events

MISSION ASSIGNMENT
- changed priority of Bombard mission for ships when right-click a target colony. Bombard is no longer the default option

RETURN OF THE SHAKTURI
- now exclude Shakturi Beacon ruins from Zenox 'Preserve the Ruins' event so that cannot upgrade beacons to an Administrative facility

This has been a fun and unusual beta to play. I like the changes I see keep it up!

Just want to add, I have started a new game as zenox and the 25,000 for "Search the archives" does not seem to do anything. Just spends the money. I get nothing from it.

Short feedback after two games.

There seems to be a bug where the whole galaxy gets revealed, it happened in both games. First one around 2814 and in the second around 2825.

Galaxy map flags - I don't like it, makes the default map look worse and adds very little. I would instead improve the diplomacy view. The current one is not great, first of all it should remove all clutter from the map like the war view, and secondly it should display all empires clearly even when zoomed out. Today you can see an floating empire window, but only when zoomed in a lot. As soon as you zoom out, they dissapear and you basically see nothing except the glowing systems which isn't very useful.

Empire contracts - great addition, makes the early game more involved. Of course some contracts are not great for you, but you can just deny them.

Buio wrote: Fri Jun 12, 2026 8:56 am Short feedback after two games.

There seems to be a bug where the whole galaxy gets revealed, it happened in both games. First one around 2814 and in the second around 2825.

Had that happen as well. No idea why. 2791 in my case.

Buio wrote: Fri Jun 12, 2026 8:56 am Short feedback after two games.

There seems to be a bug where the whole galaxy gets revealed, it happened in both games. First one around 2814 and in the second around 2825.

Do you have a save from before and after you notice the situation you can share?

Xmudder wrote: Fri Jun 12, 2026 12:50 pm

Buio wrote: Fri Jun 12, 2026 8:56 am Short feedback after two games.

There seems to be a bug where the whole galaxy gets revealed, it happened in both games. First one around 2814 and in the second around 2825.

Had that happen as well. No idea why. 2791 in my case.

Do you also have a save you could share from before an after youy noticed this?

MaximKI wrote: Fri Jun 12, 2026 3:16 pm

Xmudder wrote: Fri Jun 12, 2026 12:50 pm

Buio wrote: Fri Jun 12, 2026 8:56 am Short feedback after two games.

There seems to be a bug where the whole galaxy gets revealed, it happened in both games. First one around 2814 and in the second around 2825.

Had that happen as well. No idea why. 2791 in my case.

Do you also have a save you could share from before an after youy noticed this?

I have one from 7 years before, but it zips to over 10 mb. Autosave was reset to every 5 minutes, reduced it to every 3.

Can you reproduce the vision issue from the 7 year prior save?

I'll check the autosaves. But I set them to autosave seldom. I like to play big maps and the default 5 min save later in game is to often for me. My games almost never crash so I live with the risk. If not, I'll test the new beta and see if same thing happens.

MaximKI wrote: Fri Jun 12, 2026 3:34 pm Can you reproduce the vision issue from the 7 year prior save?

Didn't try, but I can say it did not happen (yet) in my new game under 1.3.5.8 as of 2798.

1.3.5.8 new game did not spawn with the same race pirates, no kill the hive mission tree. The hive now has a 30k fleet I did not know about. not sure what save game you might want.

edit: I also have not found my homeworld, constitution crystal, or got the research boosts for Fast Interceptors and Fast Bomber (Akdarian)

follow up: found my homeworld. Still no constitution crystal or fast fighters. When I killed the hive carrier, the other pirate factions joined me... and the remaining 4 now hate me for "you eliminated a pirate faction" -47, -75, -65, and -65

I don't know if this is the answer to galaxy getting revealed. But AI empires seem to be really happy to share galaxy map. The latest game I went into a deal with a single AI empire with map sharing and got to see a big map portion where their empire was but not all. Years later I suddenly got to see almost all map again. Could it be that this empire went into other galaxy map share deals, and as I had that deal with them I also got to see everything they saw after other deals?

It has happened to me in every beta game now.Next game I'll not accept any map sharing deals and see if stays more as before this beta. I think exploring and map mystery is a big part of this game, and something has changed in the beta that removes much of that part late early game to mid game.

Buio wrote: Mon Jun 15, 2026 4:16 pm I don't know if this is the answer to galaxy getting revealed. But AI empires seem to be really happy to share galaxy map. The latest game I went into a deal with a single AI empire with map sharing and got to see a big map portion where their empire was but not all. Years later I suddenly got to see almost all map again. Could it be that this empire went into other galaxy map share deals, and as I had that deal with them I also got to see everything they saw after other deals?

It has happened to me in every beta game now.Next game I'll not accept any map sharing deals and see if stays more as before this beta. I think exploring and map mystery is a big part of this game, and something has changed in the beta that removes much of that part late early game to mid game.

Do you have a save showing this situation at all + steps to reproduce?

Xmudder wrote: Fri Jun 12, 2026 10:34 pm 1.3.5.8 new game did not spawn with the same race pirates, no kill the hive mission tree. The hive now has a 30k fleet I did not know about. not sure what save game you might want.

edit: I also have not found my homeworld, constitution crystal, or got the research boosts for Fast Interceptors and Fast Bomber (Akdarian)

follow up: found my homeworld. Still no constitution crystal or fast fighters. When I killed the hive carrier, the other pirate factions joined me... and the remaining 4 now hate me for "you eliminated a pirate faction" -47, -75, -65, and -65

What were your game settings? What do you mean by 'game did not spawn with the same race pirates'?

What do you mean 'no kill the hive mission tree' - do you mean pirates don't ping you for help against the Hive?

Was the Hive captured by pirates at all?

Regarding the tech bonuses - do you mean the starting tech bonuses the Ackdarians start with or that they get from finding their homeworld? It's possible some other empire got to the Ackdarian homeworld before you did.

MaximKI wrote: Mon Jun 15, 2026 5:41 pm

Xmudder wrote: Fri Jun 12, 2026 10:34 pm 1.3.5.8 new game did not spawn with the same race pirates, no kill the hive mission tree. The hive now has a 30k fleet I did not know about. not sure what save game you might want.

edit: I also have not found my homeworld, constitution crystal, or got the research boosts for Fast Interceptors and Fast Bomber (Akdarian)

follow up: found my homeworld. Still no constitution crystal or fast fighters. When I killed the hive carrier, the other pirate factions joined me... and the remaining 4 now hate me for "you eliminated a pirate faction" -47, -75, -65, and -65

What were your game settings? What do you mean by 'game did not spawn with the same race pirates'?

What do you mean 'no kill the hive mission tree' - do you mean pirates don't ping you for help against the Hive?

Was the Hive captured by pirates at all?

Regarding the tech bonuses - do you mean the starting tech bonuses the Ackdarians start with or that they get from finding their homeworld? It's possible some other empire got to the Ackdarian homeworld before you did.

Game settings were the same as always, although I had to change a few when the update rearranged them.

There were no Akdarian space pirates, period. And no, no pirates asked me to save them from the hive - no ping. The hive also did not attack any of the pirate bases I was aware of, they just hung around a gas giant.

No idea what "Was the Hive captured by pirates at all?" means

Possible about another faction getting to my homeworld first, as both the homeworld and the medium ancient Akdarian starbase were closer to my neighbor's capital than mine. No constitution crystal (I did get the Human one though), no "100k to sacrifice a scientist to get fast bombers and interceptors (skip / wave) / 20k only get 1 and keep the scientist." It's called "Former Akdarian Colony" and costs 20k to be safe, and 100k to get both techs. So yeah, the faction story events were only half there. I did get Ancient Ruined Mine, Crashed Research Station, Ancient Spaceport, and Ruined Shipyard events though.

MaximKI wrote: Mon Jun 15, 2026 5:38 pm

Buio wrote: Mon Jun 15, 2026 4:16 pm I don't know if this is the answer to galaxy getting revealed. But AI empires seem to be really happy to share galaxy map. The latest game I went into a deal with a single AI empire with map sharing and got to see a big map portion where their empire was but not all. Years later I suddenly got to see almost all map again. Could it be that this empire went into other galaxy map share deals, and as I had that deal with them I also got to see everything they saw after other deals?

It has happened to me in every beta game now.Next game I'll not accept any map sharing deals and see if stays more as before this beta. I think exploring and map mystery is a big part of this game, and something has changed in the beta that removes much of that part late early game to mid game.

Do you have a save showing this situation at all + steps to reproduce?

I managed to use an older save with about 25% galaxy explored and no galaxy map sharing deals. I played it on fast until I got the map sharing deal from the friendly Ackdarian. I saved the game with the prompt. Then I exited and loaded that game. Accepting the galaxy map share I got what they saw at that moment, revealing about 50%. Then I played on fast doing nothing and less than 2 years game time later I got to see 100% of the map (probably Ackdarian entering other galaxy map sharing deals, so I got to see everything he saw which was everything.

I'll send it using the report form.

Buio wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2026 3:50 pm I managed to use an older save with about 25% galaxy explored and no galaxy map sharing deals. I played it on fast until I got the map sharing deal from the friendly Ackdarian. I saved the game with the prompt. Then I exited and loaded that game. Accepting the galaxy map share I got what they saw at that moment, revealing about 50%. Then I played on fast doing nothing and less than 2 years game time later I got to see 100% of the map (probably Ackdarian entering other galaxy map sharing deals, so I got to see everything he saw which was everything.

I'll send it using the report form.

That sounds working as intended though? Unless galaxy sharing shouldn't work by proxy?

OrnluWolfjarl wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2026 9:48 pm

Buio wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2026 3:50 pm I managed to use an older save with about 25% galaxy explored and no galaxy map sharing deals. I played it on fast until I got the map sharing deal from the friendly Ackdarian. I saved the game with the prompt. Then I exited and loaded that game. Accepting the galaxy map share I got what they saw at that moment, revealing about 50%. Then I played on fast doing nothing and less than 2 years game time later I got to see 100% of the map (probably Ackdarian entering other galaxy map sharing deals, so I got to see everything he saw which was everything.

I'll send it using the report form.

That sounds working as intended though? Unless galaxy sharing shouldn't work by proxy?

It hasn't been like this in previous versions. In this beta I've suddenly without information gotten to see the whole galaxy fairly early which removes the fun of exploration and discovery.

OrnluWolfjarl wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2026 9:48 pm That sounds working as intended though? Unless galaxy sharing shouldn't work by proxy?

I've gone back to relese version and is testing if it is similar. I've played a bit before the new beta but It can of course be coincidence due to happy AI giving the option to share the map more than earlier games.

It could be a bug, but I remember similar situations in earlier versions. Not early game though. I usually start games with everyone prewarp and galaxy sharing treaties would reveal the whole galaxy by T4-T5. How early did it happen for you?

It's good that you test it though!