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• •  Downloads offline

  •  Downloads: 126

  •  File Size: 34629

  •  Version: 3.0

  •  Author: shadowfox11 and Joe McCormack

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Changelog:
**************************************************
Version 2.2:
- Updated the instructions included in the mod to include a fix for the
"diplomacy.user.setting" file (see the Troubleshooting section
below for more info).

Version 2.1:
- Fixed Diplomacy and Research screens in the Diplomacy expansion
so that you can now see how much Crystal you have while in those
screens.

Version 2.0:
- Added support for Sins of a Solar Empire Diplomacy
Expansion/Sins of a Solar Empire Trinity collection.
- Now tested and working on version 1.19 of the original game,
v1.05 of the Entrenchment expansion, and v1.0 of
the Diplomacy expansion.
- Fixed Main Menu Screen for original Sins of a Solar Empire game
so all buttons are fully visible.
- Fixed the player theme picker so that the title and buttons are in
the correct location.
- Fixed the location of the Fleet Logistics buttons and window in
Diplomacy (Version 1.0 of Diplomacy from Stardock seems to have a
glitch because the buttons located a little out-of-place by default,
so I changed them to where they're supposed to be. The game would
still work fine even if I hadn't fixed them, but I just did it to
make it look nicer).
- Updated one of the modified game files to reflect the new
"Galaxy Forge" string when changing map types.
- Updated instructions with HillybillyBoozer's
user settings fix for users who have screen resolution
problems, and other changes (see below for details on the fix).
- Updated backed up originals of modified game files to
reflect the newest strings from the newest versions of the game
and the two expansions (v1.19, 1.05, and v1.0).


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Introduction:
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Many of today's netbooks contain the power to run Sins of a Solar Empire
(albeit on the lowest visual settings). However, many netbooks have a max
resolution of 1024x600, and Sins of a Solar Empire requires at least a
1024x768 resolution to work (the game would run on the netbook's lower
resolution, but many of the buttons were cut-off making it very difficult
to play the game (the only possible way to play was to use a screen
scrolling technique (got very annoying very quickly), or using the "Tab"
button on the keyboard to go through the different buttons you wanted
(very confusing since you couldn't tell which button your had selected
most of the time). Well, since Ironclad has still not created support for
these lower resolution netbook screens, I decided to take the liberty of
doing it for them, in my Sins of a Solar Empire Netbook Low Resolution Mod.

*NOTE: This is not a traditional Sins of a Solar Empire mod, in that you don't
go to the Mods section of the Options Menu of the game to enable it. It works
by replacing some of the existing game files altogether with files that have
been modified to move some of the user interface components so that they will
be visible at a lower resolution. But don't worry, I have backed up the original
files for you and included them in this mod archive, so you can always switch
back to the original game files if you ever need or want to.


***************************************************
Credits:
***************************************************
Before you go any further in installing this mod on your computer, you need to
know that I did not do this mod on my own. A lot of credit needs to go to
Joe McCormack from:

http://www.virtualsecrets.com/acer-aspire-one-netbook.html

because that was where I got the idea to do this mod in the first place. I
built upon and revised his original modded files and made them compatible with
all the screens (except for the Ironclad Online screens (see below))
instead of just some of them, and also added compatibility to the Entrenchment
expansion and hope to add future support for future expansions and versions.


***************************************************
Disclaimer:
***************************************************
A lot of time and hard work has gone into this mod by both myself and Joe
McCormack. Please be curteous and give credit where credit is due. You may
share this mod or decide to adjust a few things yourself, but please don't
delete these instructions and please remember to give original credit to both
shadowfox11 (myself) and Joe McCormack.


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Features:
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-Compatible with Sins of a Solar Empire and both the Entrenchment and Diplomacy
Expansions (including the Sins of a Solar Empire Trinity game collection (Which includes
the original game as well as both expansions)).
(Tested with version 1.19 of original game, version 1.05 of
Entrenchment, and version 1.0 of Diplomacy (but should work with other versions as well
(let me know if you have an issues with particular versions)).
-Supports resolutions as low as 1024x600 (the resolutions many popular
netbooks use including the Asus 1000HE, 1005HA, MSI Wind U100, Acer Aspire One, etc.)
-All screens fixed except for Ironclad Online Screens (I do not play online
nor do I have any interest in ever doing so, but if anyone is interested
in me adding support for those screens let me know so I can work with
someone who has an Ironclad Online account so they can send me screenshots
so I know what to fix).


******************************************************************************
Troubleshooting (Thanks to HillbillyBoozer for finding this fix) (*UPDATED 2/11/10*):
******************************************************************************
Some users of my mod have reported that they were unable to get the mod to work simply by copying
over the correct mod files to their game directory. This problem is most likely to occur if you
run the game and mess with the video/resolution settings before applying my modded files. Uninstalling
and reinstalling the game will not fix this issue as the user settings file that stores your chosen
settings could potentially not be deleted even if you uninstall the game. If you
have followed the directions above to copy the modded files to your game directory but you are
getting a black screen and/or the game still isn't working, try one of the following:

1. If you are using Windows XP, follow this step. If you are using Windows Vista or 7, skip to step 2.
a. Make sure that you have your computer set to view hidden files and folders (to do this open a
folder in Windows Explorer, then go to the "Tools" menu and click "Folder Options", then click the
"View" tab, and under "Hidden files and folders," click "Show hidden files and folders").
b. Browse to the "C:/Documents and Settings/[Username]*/Local Settings/Application Data/Ironclad Games/
Sins of a Solar Empire/Setting/" folder (*where [Username] is your user name you use for your Windows
machine and the user name you installed Sins of a Solar Empire as (the name you log in as)).
c. Right click on the "user.setting" file in that folder and click "Open" or "Open with..." and choose
"Notepad."
d. Then find the following four lines and type in the following numbers after them like so:

VideoFullScreenWidth 1024
VideoFullScreenHeight 600
VideoWindowedWidth 1024
VideoWindowedHeight 600

e. Click the "File" menu of Notepad and click "Save" to save these changes.
f. Close notepad.
g. ***UPDATE (2/11/10)***: It has come to my attention that the Diplomacy expansion has its own seperate
user settings file so if you have the Diplomacy expansion and you are experiencing the above mentioned
problems with your game not running, you will also have to follow steps c-f (directly above) for the
"diplomacy.user.setting" file as well (the "diplomacy.user.setting" file should be located in the same
folder as the "user.setting" file). Once you edit both of these user settings files with the above-
mentioned changes, you should be good to go.
h. Change the Windows Explorer settings back to hide hidden files and folders if you like.
i. Run Sins of a Solar Empire (or one of the two expansions) and it should run without any problems!

2. If you are using Windows Vista or 7, follow this step. If you are using Windows XP, go back to step 1.
a. Make sure that you have your computer set to view hidden files and folders (to do this open a
folder in Windows Explorer, then go to the "Organize" menu and click "Folder and search options", then
click the "View" tab, and under "Hidden files and folders," click "Show hidden files, folders, and
drives").
b. Browse to the "C:/Users/[Username]*/Local Settings/AppData/Local/Ironclad Games/
Sins of a Solar Empire/Setting/" folder (*where [Username] is your user name you use for your windows
machine and the user name you installed Sins of a Solar Empire as (the name you log in as)).
c. Right click on the "user.setting" file in that folder and click "Open" or "Open with..." and choose
"Notepad."
d. Then find the following four lines and type in the following numbers after them like so:

VideoFullScreenWidth 1024
VideoFullScreenHeight 600
VideoWindowedWidth 1024
VideoWindowedHeight 600

e. Click the "File" menu of Notepad and click "Save."
f. Close notepad.
g. ***UPDATE (2/11/10)***: It has come to my attention that the Diplomacy expansion has its own seperate
user settings file so if you have the Diplomacy expansion and you are experiencing the above mentioned
problems with your game not running, you will also have to follow steps c-f (directly above) for the
"diplomacy.user.setting" file as well (the "diplomacy.user.setting" file should be located in the same
folder as the "user.setting" file). Once you edit both of these user settings files with the above-
mentioned changes, you should be good to go.
h. Change the Windows Explorer settings back to hide hidden files and folders if you like.
i. Run Sins of a Solar Empire (or one of the two expansions) and it should run without any problems!