Possible bugs that are known by most people and for the developers to know about?

from GalCiv2 Forums
Here is some bugs I have came up with:

1. Save Bug- After saving a game, be it quicksave, save etc.. the next load game doesn't start where you left off until you click the turn once. Question is that a option which will be addressed in expansion?

2. Homeworld Bug- After creating a customized person and you start your first turn, the name of the "homeworld star" is also the name of the "homeworld planets". Could it be possible to click on the star to rename it? As of now it cannot be done. Question: Will that be addressed in the new expansion?

3. I know this isn't Bug, however in a way it can be because you don't know always know what things are defined as. In the game menus, especially the start of the game when you create the universe, will there some sort of definition(such as being able to right click on the item to tell what it is about or a side menu of what things about), such as what is a chaos map etc..Question: Will this be introduced in the expansion pack?

4. Custom Chac. Bug- In the custom make-up for new character when in the abilites section it always leaves on soldering +20 and logistics +6 and loyalty + 25. Is this a bug to start with? I know that it can be turned off, but it acts like there free at no cost? Will there be a discussion on this for future packs?

5. When attacking a planet using troops or getting attacked with troops I have had a problem every once in awhile where the computer locks up into a loop where I get attacked over and over again, yet there is no ships with troops attacking me/vice versa for a second time. The only way to get out is to ctrl-alt-del and end task on it in Win XP/ If any have had this problem please let this post know so they can look into it. It may have been a freak occurence.

6. This came from another post but I have noticed this also:

The Lost Production Bug- That occurs if you gain a technology for an improvement upgrade the turn before the more basic improvement is built. When this happens, the new improvement will automatically finish and NO production or research boosts occur. If you destroy that building, you will lose the industry points it gave, making you now have LESS industry than what you started with. It is repeatable. Take a new planet, build a basic factory. The turn before it finishes, research or trade for Xeno Industry. You had 12 industry points before, and guess what, you now have a new factory and still have 12 industry points. Now, upgrade that building into something else, or just decommision it. You now have 2 count em, 2 industry points to work with. Even if you don't destroy the building you still have only the basic 12 points you started with and now 1 less tile to use after all that building time, AND you still pay the maintenance for the factory. Please see if this is a bug or that just economics in the game?

7. The new modding section is nice, the only question I have on that is, will there be a better method of editing things, more like windows with clicking menus and what not to be-able to go through editing stuff like technology instead of going through a editor like notepad etc..?

If people have any other bugs please also list them here so the creators of the game might be able to see them.

Thanks for listening
37,061 views 22 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

1) Is this the same as #6?

2) If you edit your .raceconfig file in My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2 you can set the homestar name.  In Dark Avatar, you will be able to change more of the settings when customizing your race without having to edit the .raceconfig file.

3) I would like to see that too, probably for Dark Avatar.

4) All of the races, including the custom race, get some free abilities.

5) Please e-mail any info you have on this bug to gc2bugs@stardock.com.  If you have a save game that can reproduce it, please include that as well.

6) This is fixed for 1.3

7) Not at the moment, although there is a fan made editor available in one of the sticky threads (I think).

Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I am absolutely certain that the development team is already aware of all of these, as none of them are "new" issues. In fact, the "save bug" has been stated as being intentional, as an anti-cheating measure for metaverse games (and I get the feeling that it may be dealt with, as it is indeed quite unpopular, and apparently even exploitable).

As for point-and-click modding... If anything, the reason why this and other moddable games use XML is because you don't need to have a special editor program to make real sense of the data. It does help to have an editor with things like syntax highlighting, line numbering, folding, etc., such as [link="http://www.pnotepad.org/"]Programmer's Notepad">Link, though.
SoundPackager - Customize the Windows sound scheme
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The galactic guide book does NOT make the survey module free on any ship like it says it does.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
it's usually too late by the time the galactic guide book becomes available anyway.
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
Yep. Anomolies don't respawn nearly enough to make the Guide worth pursuing.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Looks like I was only partially right about the devs already knowing. Sicne such is the case, I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a thread full of this stuff.

That, and I'm not going to trust the "Insert Web Link" button again.



At any rate, something I haven't seen mentioned is that the Eyes of the Universe is not working properly. It's supposed to give +10 parsecs sensor range, along with +20% to each ship's base sensor range, but it always increases it to 15 parsecs (and probably only there because it's the hard cap). Really, though, a ship with a sensor range of 1 parsec should (counting the +1 bonus given by the Sensors I tech) have a sensor range of 1+1+10+(0.20*1+1)=12.2, or 12 parsecs when rounded-down. I discovered this problem when I tried modding the Eyes of the Universe to have a reduced effect, only to find that my modifications had no effect whatsoever.



Although they're already known, there're also a couple issues regarding hard-coded internal names and modding:

One is that a functional starport must have an internal name of either BasicStarport or UpgradedStarport, which means that there's no way to create a "third-generation" starport, or different "specialized" starports; I can see why that may be the case, though...

The other issue is that there are certain tags that only work with certain internal names; the specific example I have in mind would be that the F_LogisticsLimit tag only works as part of the Orbital Fleet Manager, making it impossible to mod an upgrade, or (as is my case) remove the need for an Orbital Fleet Manager entirely by giving the Initial Colony and Civilization Capital the same effect.



Lastly, the stuff that's ancient--namely, the hard cap on range, sensors, miniaturization, and I-don't-know-what-else. I imagine it isn't likely at this point, but it'd be great if any of the glitches that the caps are there to prevent were to be fixed, and the associated cap removed.


Hopefully, there are feasible/reasonable solutions for all this stuff. While most of it is certainly not game-killing, everything in this thread does have a negative impact on the enjoyability of the game.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
[link="https://forums.galciv2.com/?ForumID=274&AID=121432#942519"]https://forums.galciv2.com/?ForumID=274&AID=121432#942519">Link

Detailed discussion om the lost production while loading any save game bug and why people are so passionate about it.


update:

Oh Nevermind, (in the last post of the above link) I see that carielf has said that it will be fixed in 1.3.

I love you guys.


Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
In response to post #3 by BradenK; I did the Galactic Guide Book in my
current game just to see this bug. I'm playing update 1.2.

The survey modules where free for me -- however in the survey module description, the price was still listed. Just watch the cost of the ship
as you add survey modules.

The manual that comes with the game says you should get to explore anomalies with any ship. To me that means that you shouldn't need a survey module.

At any rate with my strategy, i've gotten to all anomalies long before this becomes available to me, looked into it for kicks -- pretty sure i got my game won.

However, it is really frustating when you got a good strategy and the game isn't working like it outta -- can really relate to that.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hmm.. I tried adding it and it still upped my cost for the Survey module.

It appears to not bother most people, but it bothers me. I would like to use it. Anyways, thank you for the feed back and for attempting to find the bug .
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
To Carielf:

5.) Hi there, I did send the saved game to you guys so you could take a look at it, I played it over several times but I haven't been able to produce that same error wtih being attacked over and over like that one time. However it may be possible that the game (when playing the game for long period of time, especially having the alogrithms on with a huge galaxy)even with my fast computer, I'm possibly thinking that the game may have sucked all the memory of the computer and forced it to go to galciv2? Possibly what I'm saying in Laman terms is it was probably caused by Windows XP? I had played the game for over 6 hours that day, I must have been pretty bored!!

1.) In regards to the question you asked me, is it the same as #6? No, it happens every time you restart a saved game the turn button is not green its gray and it takes two turn clicks to activate it back to green, nothing happens for that one turn when you come back from a saved game, yet the game still takes a active turn but it didn't happen for you, especially if you had only 1 turn to get a technology, it ends up taken two if you save your game and come back on a reload. I hope that makes sense. Other then that people on this board have given other info on their bugs as well.

New possible bug: When I play the game, maybe you have noticed this as well, but after making several civilaztions max out on population and putting lots of technology plants on them, shouldn't it make researching technology go faster, especially when you control almost the entire universe? For a example I researched Deeper Knowledge, I went back to research mass drivers and it still took 2 turns?!! It just doesn't make any sense for some reason to me, let me know if it's just me or what because if you've gotten to a point on one technology (especially the tech path) shouldn't it be easier to discover earlier technologys faster? Thanks for listening, if there is anything else i can think of I'll let ya know.
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It would be good if the game showed the difficulty level it's currently running in the civilization manager. Also if it showed the intelligence of the races.

I had a problem toward the end of my last game where it became unstable. I owned around 150 planets and several hundred ships in a gigantic universe. I was down to killing what little was left of the last race. When I went to do a quicksave, the game hung. I had to kill the game from Task Manager and the quicksave file was gone. That hurt and I lost about 2 hours of gameplay since the last autosave. So, I started doubling up the saves which was good because I had to use that backup save when the game did it again. Don't have any data, but if it happens on the next game, I'll send a debug.err along with a game save.

I'd also like to get information on a supposed bug with the orbital terraformer. Evidently, it actually removes upgradable tiles instead of automatically upgrading them. I have not had the opportunity to confirm or deny this myself so I'd like to get some confirmation on that.
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
This is just a minor bug, but I have found that if a minifreighter (or ship from a different race, which is probably a bug itself) and a planet happen to occupy the same square you can click on it, then double click on the planet icon and see its planet screen regardless of your spy level with that race.
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
On a side note, this is the one game where I have an interest in bug resolution. It's the only game I've ever owned that I had any desire to play more than two or three times. I have a feeling I'll be playing this game for quite a while. What value!
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Howdy. Just started with GalCiv II, had GalCiv I previously. Running the latest startdock gives. Noticed a couple of consistent minor issues.
1) If a planet has more than 1 row of ships in orbit, mouseover on the second row doesn't popup the ship info window.
2) Related to the first, selecting a ship on row does work, but the highlighting stays on any selected ship in the top row, as well as the recently selected ship on the bottom row. Once a ship on the second rowhas been highlighted, it will remain highlighted until another planet is selected.
That's all I have for the moment- anyone else see these?
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I've had games where the minimap doesn't update even if you change the minimap settings, the game plays ok though.

Jase
Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
1) If a planet has more than 1 row of ships in orbit, mouseover on the second row doesn't popup the ship info window.


I was noticing that just last night.

Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
My favorite utterly negligible bug involves Constructor ship movement and starbases: If you have a constructor which exhausts its movement points right next to a starbase (i.e., the starbase it was heading towards was seven spaces away, and it only had six movement points), and then another constructor moves through that space en route to the starbase, both constructors will be used to build new modules. It's like the first constructor just sort of gets pulled that last little distance into port by the second constructor.

I'm guessing that this has something to do with the game's algorithm for seeking the next ship to get focus after a given ship finishes its turn: When that second constructor reaches the starbase and gets marked as destroyed, the nearest ship available will almost always be the constructor which ran out of gas one space away from the starbase. I suspect that the distance formula then gets confused due to the fact that other ships can coexist on starbase squares but constructors can't.

As bugs go, of course, it's pretty negligible; all it really ever does is occasionally allow me to get a starbase module built one turn sooner than I would otherwise.
Reply #18 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'm guessing that this has something to do with the game's algorithm for seeking the next ship to get focus after a given ship finishes its turn: When that second constructor reaches the starbase and gets marked as destroyed, the nearest ship available will almost always be the constructor which ran out of gas one space away from the starbase. I suspect that the distance formula then gets confused due to the fact that other ships can coexist on starbase squares but constructors can't.


Well, I just did it again, with a constructor ending its turn just shy of a starbase. However, this time, there was another space ship of mine (a war ship, not a constructor) which was also adjacent to the starbase, on the other side. I had two other constructors which were within range of the starbase, so I figured I'd try a few things.

Leaving everything the way I described it above, I ran the first of the two constructors over to the starbase, and, lo and behold, it didn't "pull" the stationary constructor into the starbase. What's more, the adjacent war ship got focus after the move.

Next, I moved that war ship one space away from the starbase, so that the adjacent stalled-out constructor was once again the nearest ship to the starbase, and ran the second other constructor up to the starbase. Voila! The stalled-out constructor got pulled in to the starbase as well this time, allowing me to build two new modules, bam! bam!, right in a row, the second one with a constructor which shouldn't have reached the starbase until the next turn.

So I think it's pretty obvious that the problem lies in the "find nearest ship" end-of-move routine, and, I'm guessing, with the fact that a constructor at range=1 from a starbase is, in some senses, like any other ship at range=0 (i.e., as close as it can possibly be).

See? Anybody can file a bug report; but not just anybody can tell you where in your source code to look for the bug.
Reply #19 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Double counting maintenance: If you set your spending slider to 0%, you can see that spending on each planet becomes equal to its maintenance costs. So spending includes maintenance -- silly IMO but no big deal if that's the way you want to define it. Now here is the rub: Go to the colonies tab on the Civ Manager and you'll see the net economy numbers for each planet. Net profit = income - spending - maintenance! So you are charged twice for maintenance! Foul! No wonder the post-rush econ is so hard to get going.
Reply #20 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
My galactic prison disappeared when loading the game. Also when loading the game, research, construction and money does not change for a turn. You can only move ships. (Think that second point is a known but though)
Reply #21 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
My spin control center didn't have any effect when i loaded the game. Help!  
Reply #22 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Next, I moved that war ship one space away from the starbase, so that the adjacent stalled-out constructor was once again the nearest ship to the starbase, and ran the second other constructor up to the starbase. Voila! The stalled-out constructor got pulled in to the starbase as well this time, allowing me to build two new modules, bam! bam!, right in a row, the second one with a constructor which shouldn't have reached the starbase until the next turn.


One more interesting detail about this bug: When that second constructor hits the starbase, the module build list often displays out of order -- the successor to whichever module was added by the first constructor winds up at the bottom of the list, below the sensor module. I think (but am not sure) that if the first constructor builds a module with no successor (either a one-off like Overlord Armor, or a module which represents the most advanced capability of its type available at the time), the list displays correctly.