[MoO] Master of Orion 2 unofficial patch

[Ponkyo]

Note: If launching the game using O2M, the game runs ridiculously slow. I'm talking as slow as it would run on a computer from the era of MOO2's 1996 release. Is that normal or intentional? Otherwise, if I run the game using the shortcut created from the 1.50.18.1 patch it runs as fast as you'd expect using a modern PC.

Yes, it was intentional. But you can edit the DOSBox configuration at any time, the file it's fully commented. Before launching the game, click DOSBox Configuration, look for cycles=30000 and set it to cycles=auto, then save the file. Then the game will run faster. Some DOS games may not run properly if the emulation runs too fast so this speed was fine-tuned to work well for all DOS games, but MOO2 doesn't need have such a limitation so maybe I'll change the default behavior in a future release.

 

[Dra'vek]

Yes, it was intentional. But you can edit the DOSBox configuration at any time, the file it's fully commented. Before launching the game, click DOSBox Configuration, look for cycles=30000 and set it to cycles=auto, then save the file. Then the game will run faster. Some DOS games may not run properly if the emulation runs too fast so this speed was fine-tuned to work well for all DOS games, but MOO2 doesn't need have such a limitation so maybe I'll change the default behavior in a future release.

Thanks for the reply. Here's another question: do you know why when using the 1.50 improved mod (with or without +picks) none of my fleet's ships seem to have shields? Every time I enter combat I notice no shields in the portraits of my ships and all damage is consistent with having no shields. Even doomstars are taking more damage than they otherwise would without using the 1.50 improved mod. If I use the standard mod, shields are up and tactical combat is normal.

Edit: Never mind. I think I answered my own question.

 

[Colon]

I recall I spotted a (mini-)mod someone made that boosted planetary defenses or something like that, making colonies harder to conquer/destroy. I also seem to recall a mod that made research slower/more expensive, stretching game duration. Does somebody know where I can find either of these (if they do in fact exist)?

[edit]Or maybe that first "mod" I seem to recall were in fact changes made in the patch here?

 

[Ponkyo]

I recall I spotted a (mini-)mod someone made that boosted planetary defenses or something like that, making colonies harder to conquer/destroy. I also seem to recall a mod that made research slower/more expensive, stretching game duration. Does somebody know where I can find either of these (if they do in fact exist)?

You're probably referring to my mod, Long War. It's also included in O2M.

 

[Colon]

You're probably referring to my mod, Long War. It's also included in O2M.

Indeed, yours must be what I was thinking of.

Does the stronger defense refer to planetary defense, or also to ship defenses?

[edit] what about bombardment damage?

 

[Ponkyo]

Does the stronger defense refer to planetary defense, or also to ship defenses?

Most aspects of the game are tweaked. Research is slow, star bases are very strong, planetary defenses have more missiles/beams/fighters, weapons power adjusted, espionage is harder, computer cheats less etc. This mod has a long history, even before the unofficial patch, but thanks to the patch I was able to greatly enhance it. Whenever I've played MOO2 and noticed something wrong I fixed & fine-tuned it, but I didn't keep track of the changes so there are no details. Play a few games and see if you like it.

 

[Bladrov]

Can someone offer suggestions for getting multiplayer to run in the game? My kids have discovered MoO II and are into it big-time and my son wanted to play with me yesterday. I tried opening dosbox.conf from the launcher and setting ipx = true and ipxnet startserver 2000 on my system (Xubuntu) and ipx = true and ipxnet connect 192.168.1.64 2000 on his (Win10). We couldn't get the multiplayer game I created to show on his system. We were able to get 1.31 to work by entering those configurations in a plain DOSBox window, but next time we start a game together I'd like it to play the fan patch.

 

[Ponkyo]

Can someone offer suggestions for getting multiplayer to run in the game? My kids have discovered MoO II and are into it big-time and my son wanted to play with me yesterday. I tried opening dosbox.conf from the launcher and setting ipx = true and ipxnet startserver 2000 on my system (Xubuntu) and ipx = true and ipxnet connect 192.168.1.64 2000 on his (Win10). We couldn't get the multiplayer game I created to show on his system. We were able to get 1.31 to work by entering those configurations in a plain DOSBox window, but next time we start a game together I'd like it to play the fan patch.

You can do that with the fan patch too, make sure ipx=true in DOSBox conf, run DOSBox, type the ipxnet commands for server and client, then run orion150.exe. You can also do this in the [autoexec] section of the DOSBox.conf file so you don't have to type it every time you start the game, like this:

...
[ipx]
# ipx: Enable ipx over UDP/IP emulation.

ipx=true

[autoexec]
@echo off
mount c d:\games\dos\moo2\
c:
ipxnet startserver 2000 (or ipxnet connect 192.168.1.64 2000 for client)
orion150.exe
exit

 

[Bladrov]

Odd, I can't get it to work. From the fan patch launcher I open DOSBOX.conf and make the changes, but I still don't see the MP game show up on the client machine. I did move the ipxnet setting from [ipx] to [autoexec]. Here are the sections on the server and client at present. I haven't removed anything or made any changes besides the ipx settings (and I double-checked my server's IP address just now).

Server
[ipx]
ipx = true

[autoexec]
ipxnet startserver 2000
exit

Client
[ipx]
ipx = true

[autoexec]
ipxnet connect 192.168.1.64 2000
exit

 

[Ponkyo]

Odd, I can't get it to work. From the fan patch launcher I open DOSBOX.conf and make the changes, but I still don't see the MP game show up on the client machine.

DOSBox has many command line parameters and I'm not sure how the fan patch launcher is using them. It may skip the [autoexec] section entirely. My example was for starting MOO2 + fan patch manually from DOSBox. Anyway, I packed some files for you, unpack them in the MOO2 folder, then see the mmoo2-readme.txt for details, should be very easy to use:

 

[Bladrov]

Thanks, I'll give that a try!

 

[Bladrov]

Hum! No dice. I wonder what I'm missing. Running the client, it opens for a bit, then closes on its own. The server I can't test on my machine as is, since I'm running Xubuntu Linux rather than Windows. It shouldn't be a firewall issue, since my system is the server and isn't running a firewall. That and 1.31 connects successfully.

 

[Ponkyo]

Hum! No dice. I wonder what I'm missing. Running the client, it opens for a bit, then closes on its own.

"exit" instruction inside the [autoexec] section will close DOSBox. Make sure you call orion150.exe after the ipxnet line and before exit, looks to me from your previous post that you may be skipping that. "exit" is only used for convenience really, so the DOSBox window won't remain open after the game was quit, otherwise is not needed.

Anyway, the fan patch launcher has a network option (local game/server/client), why not use that? I haven't used much the default launcher either, but I'm quite sure it has a Linux version too.

 

[Bladrov]

Oh brother, how did I not notice that?? Ok, so I selected server on my system and left the UDP port at the default, then selected client on the Windows machine and entered my IP address, but during initialization, the DOS window says IPX tunneling client failed to connect to server 192.168.1.64 (my address).

 

[shmily_dana]

I have not played in a long time. I tried the steam version (1.40?). The Antarian attacks were too powerful. I lost my homeworld, but was able to rebuild on another planet. I think several of the AI home planets were destroyed in Antarian attacks. I am curious if this is still the case. Or was the fact I was playing on too low a difficulty level. I assume that at a higher level, an AI would be better able to deal with the attacks.

I'm not sure what I could have done better. In the first attack, my fleet was too far away to get back to protect the home world. It would not have mattered, my fleet died in the second attack.

I don't know what has changed in latest 1.5 fan patch. I am looking forward to trying it out.

 

[Bladrov]

I haven't played the very latest patch very much (been caught up playing Colonization and Race Into Space recently), but in my experience with this 1.50.x patch, the Antarans are about as per normal with the patch, maybe a little stronger - unless you're playing one of the ICE mods. The Antarans are relentless and brutal in the ICE mods.

Don't know about the Steam version; I've never played it.

 

[Bladrov]

I've been reading over online analyses of the race picks in the game (https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Master_of_Orion_II:_Battle_at_Antares/Race_design_options, https://masteroforion.fandom.com/wiki/Race_picks, https://steamcommunity.com/app/410980/discussions/0/343787283757659221/), and I wondered. Would it be a good idea to consider changing the value of some of the picks in the next release of the patch? What I'm thinking is decreasing the cost/benefit of what are now bad picks, such as -20 Spying and +50 Ship Defense.

I know it's one thing to say hey, some of these really should be changed - and something else again to decide where to draw the lines re. just what should be changed and by exactly how much. I just thought I'd raise the possibility.

I also know you can customize race picks with Pickhack, but was just thinking it might be good to fine-tune the fan patch's (quasi-official) race picks, based on the years of experience fans have with customization.

 

[kwahraps]

I've been reading over online analyses of the race picks in the game (https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Master_of_Orion_II:_Battle_at_Antares/Race_design_options, https://masteroforion.fandom.com/wiki/Race_picks, https://steamcommunity.com/app/410980/discussions/0/343787283757659221/), and I wondered. Would it be a good idea to consider changing the value of some of the picks in the next release of the patch? What I'm thinking is decreasing the cost/benefit of what are now bad picks, such as -20 Spying and +50 Ship Defense.

I know it's one thing to say hey, some of these really should be changed - and something else again to decide where to draw the lines re. just what should be changed and by exactly how much. I just thought I'd raise the possibility.

I also know you can customize race picks with Pickhack, but was just thinking it might be good to fine-tune the fan patch's (quasi-official) race picks, based on the years of experience fans have with customization.

To add on to that idea, what if there were a selectable option to turn off the point system and allow the player to pick whatever they want?
In a sense, that would make it fully customizable and the code would not have to be messed with.

How difficult would it be to allow all of the picks to be made?

 

[Bladrov]

That's a nice idea. Knowing how these folks have to work with the program (i.e., they don't have access to the source code) that might be very difficult to implement. I suggested modifying the point values because that seems like something that might be doable for them.

 

[kwahraps]

That's a nice idea. Knowing how these folks have to work with the program (i.e., they don't have access to the source code) that might be very difficult to implement. I suggested modifying the point values because that seems like something that might be doable for them.

Sure, that makes sense.
If the mods can control the total pick value, there could be an option to just make every pick +1 or -1 if it's a negative.
The simpler the better.