Finally got indexed by Google and Yahoo

Finally this site got fully indexed by Google and Yahoo and I am starting to see hits from users of all the major search engines. Traffic is still pretty low but I don't expect much from such an old game.

Delays with the 1.40b20 patch development

As some of you have noticed, I have not been updating this site much lately. I have been busy studying for some certification exams (100+ hours of study each) and have had little time to work on my other projects. I will try to set aside a little time to work on the 1.40b20 patch in the coming weeks as my studies are a little ahead of schedule.

Currently things are going well with the new patch development. I have completed the following:

• Fixed a bug that caused colony ships and outpost ships to be undeleted after they have been used to create a colony or outpost.
• Fixed the /noorion switch so that it removes Orion and the Guardian rather than moving the system off the map. A regular system is left in its place.
• Changed the /nobh switch so that the type of star the black hole is converted to is random rather than always red.
• Added 4K of data space and reduced the added code space to 28K (from 32K in previous patch). This will allow both code and data to be added to the exe in future patches without removing anything.

And these switches are in the works (some of the code is partially completed):

• /noscan The scan button during combat will be disabled. This will limit scanning. You will still be able to see what weapons have been fired or are available as your opponent selects them.
• /noreport The report button on the diplomacy screen will be disabled preventing you from seeing what technology your opponent has.
• /droids All players start out with the ability to build androids (all 3 types).

My thoughts on the galaxy generation in Moo2

Recently, I have been taking a little time to re-examine the effects of the /nobh on galaxy generation. I am not entirely happy with its effects on the galaxy. It seems to be throwing off the balance of thing.

The game forms the entire star field first. Black holes are handled as a type of star (type 6). After the star field is formed, the planets are added to the systems based on the type of star in each system.

As some of you may know, currently the /nobh switch converts black holes into red stars as the stars are formed. My reasoning for implementing such a simple transformation was because the game manual states red stars 'rarely have planets with abundant mineral resources or easily habitable environments' however the game manual seems incorrect.

I have noticed in many cases that there is very little difference between the grades of the planets in systems with one type of star versus another. The manual specifically states many things that seem completely wrong if taken literally.

For example, in the case of brown stars the manual says brown stars have 'no planets orbiting these extremely rare stars, but they`re more likely than other systems to have a system special'. It is true that these stars are rare but they often have planets. Also, the manual states that yellow stars 'almost always have planets with moderate mineral resources and environments tolerant of, if not friendly to, life' when in fact these systems rarely have nice worlds.

Overall, I don`t see very much difference in the quality of systems with one type of star versus the other. It seems almost random. I do notice this however. There are more red stars in the galaxy than any other type when the /nobh switch is used.

I believe a change is still needed to reduce the number of red stars . As such, I will make a change in the next release of the patch. The type of star the black hole is converted to will be randomized.

1.40b20 patch development progress

Here are the things I am working on. Some or all will be in the next release:

• Correct the cloned outpost and colony ships bug (Thanks to Siron for the excellent saved game. I am now able to duplicate this bug.)
• Alter the /noorion switch so that it actually removes Orion and the Guardian rather than moving the system off the map. It should leave a regular system in its place.
• Re-examine the effects of the /nobh switch and possibly change the the type of star the black hole is converted to.
• Alter the /picks switch so that the switch effects all players in a multiplayer LAN game.
• Add the /noscan switch. The scan button during combat will be disabled. This will limit scanning. You will still be able to see what weapons have been fired or are available as your opponent selects them.
• Add the /noreport switch. The report button on the diplomacy screen will be disabled preventing you from seeing what technology your opponent has.
• Add the /bonus Each worker, scientist, and farmer receives a +3 bonus. It is not effected by moral, race picks, pollution, or any other effect. It also does not contribute to pollution. It is a flat bonus added after all regular calculations are done. This switch is intended to lessen the benefits of and reduce the negative effects of some race picks. Also, it should shorten multiplayer game length.

DOS/16M error when starting Orion2v140

For those of you that experience this error message when starting Orion2v140:

DOS/16M error: [17] system software does not follow VCPI or DPMI specifications

There is a simple solution. Edit your autoexec2.nt file (in C:\windows\system32 folder typically) and remove 'lh' from one or two of the lines in the file. The error occurs because you are out of high memory and dosx did not load because of that.