[MoO] Master of Orion 2 unofficial patch

[Ponkyo]

Hey guys, this is already possible.

Using O2M you can start by creating a new mod, go to Module > Races, click Edit Abilities Costs check box, then set all costs to 0 (don't forget those from the drop down lists), finally save and activate your mod and launch the game. Now you should be able to pick whatever you want when setting up a new game, without any cost limits. Still, some abilities are exclusive and they can't be picked at the same time.

If you're doing this manually then open the .CFG file of the mod in a text editor and look for race_pick growth1_cost = then set it and all similar entries to 0 (don't change race_pick growth1_value and such or you will mess up all races), save and enable the mod.

 

[blowingsand]

I manually installed newest patch just as the manual directed.
When I start the game I choose option 1 and then I get this load error.
Does anyone know how to fix this?

Error

• blowingsand
• Feb 7, 2022

 

[Rocco.40]

hey there.
likely your files are not in expected place.
from directory where you started orion150.exe, game expects to find user.cfg at
\150\USER.CFG
if the file is somewhere else, for example at \patch\150\USER.CFG, you will get the message from your screenie.

 

[blowingsand]

hey there.
likely your files are not in expected place.
from directory where you started orion150.exe, game expects to find user.cfg at
\150\USER.CFG
if the file is somewhere else, for example at \patch\150\USER.CFG, you will get the message from your screenie.

I already checked. The USER.CFG file is in the "GAMEROOTDIR"\150\. And there is another USER.CFG file in "GAMEROOTDIR"\150\mod\150\.

From the manual:
"1. Find in the 1.50 package the directory named “patch”. Copy all its files into your
MOO2 directory. The MOO2 directory is the one that contains ORION2.EXE, it's
location may vary depending on OS and distribution. If you already have a version
of 1.50 installed then choose to overwrite files.
2. Update your DOSBox config files to run ORION150.EXE instead of ORION2.EXE."

Sounds pretty simple, but it doesn't work.

note: I am manually installing because the auto-install (with launcher) won't let me run in fullscreen. It works flawlessly otherwise.

 

[Rocco.40]

.. and in DOSBox, how is GAMEROOTDIR defined? it's C: or something else like C:\games\GAMEROOTDIR ?
hint: it should be C:

@Echo off
mount C .
C:
@Echo on
ORION150.EXE /skipintro
exit​

BTW, is this your first 1.50 install, eg you had 1.31 or 1.40 before, or did you already have a prior 1.50 installed?

 

[blowingsand]

To answer your question, no prior installs.
It seems the manual install instructions don't apply to the GOG version with its own launcher.
So I have an old bootleg of MOO2 and the manual install instructions worked fine with it. Now playing, Very happy!

 

[Dra'vek]

I recently decided to play MOO2 after about an 8-month break. Since July last year when last I played, I upgraded my PC from a 9900K to a 12900K and now I'm experiencing intermittent lag and stuttering using the MOO2-1.50.18.3.r3 patch. It's affecting both audio and video. Does anyone know if this a patch-related issue? I was using patch 1.50.18.1 prior to upgrading my PC, so it's got me wondering what the cause may be. I'm thinking it's the new Alder Lake hybrid architecture that could be causing it but I'm not sure. Just throwing this out there to see if anyone may know why this is happening and maybe how to fix it.

 

[Bladrov]

Sorry Dra'vek, if it seems no one is listening. I've been watching and I'd have replied earlier, but I don't have any idea. (I'm a regular end user myself.) Just thought someone should reply to you.

 

[Bladrov]

I see 1.50.19 is out! Wonderful, so I installed it last night on my Ubuntu machine. It said it installed successfully (it was almost instant, which seemed odd), but then when I launched the game I got the following:

An unexpected error occured [sic], MOO2 1.50.19 will now terminate.
MOO2 internal error:
Cannot locate all game files. Please insert CD

If you think this is a bug consider reporting it to the patch authors,
see install.txt for the appropriate links.

It was working before, and it was installed in the first place from a subfolder where I had copied the CD. Now before this message I got a series of similar ones demanding certain .lbx files. I copied them all up to the main Orion2 folder and relaunched, until finally it stopped naming files it was missing.

 

[Rocco.40]

[...] Since July last year when last I played, I upgraded my PC from a 9900K to a 12900K and now I'm experiencing intermittent lag and stuttering using the MOO2-1.50.18.3.r3 patch. It's affecting both audio and video. Does anyone know if this a patch-related issue? I was using patch 1.50.18.1 prior to upgrading my PC, so it's got me wondering what the cause may be. I'm thinking it's the new Alder Lake hybrid architecture that could be causing it but I'm not sure. [...]

hey, very very unlikely 1.50.18.1 > 1.50.18.3 uprade caused it. Do other DOSBox games run ok?

 

[Rocco.40]

I see 1.50.19 is out! Wonderful, so I installed it last night on my Ubuntu machine. It said it installed successfully (it was almost instant, which seemed odd), but then when I launched the game I got the following:

An unexpected error occured [sic], MOO2 1.50.19 will now terminate.
MOO2 internal error:
Cannot locate all game files. Please insert CD

If you think this is a bug consider reporting it to the patch authors,
see install.txt for the appropriate links.

It was working before, and it was installed in the first place from a subfolder where I had copied the CD. Now before this message I got a series of similar ones demanding certain .lbx files. I copied them all up to the main Orion2 folder and relaunched, until finally it stopped naming files it was missing.

surely it was working before, coz then you had "full install" which is what you need for 1.50.
install.txt is important source of info for install-woes:
https://moo2mod.com/patch/install.txt

 

[Rocco.40]

..and indeed 1.50.19 has been released!
changelog: https://moo2mod.com/patch/CHANGELOG_150.TXT

 

[Bladrov]

Yes, other DOS programs work. Colonization and War in Middle Earth both start without issue.

I did look through the install.txt before calling for help, but I didn't see anything there for this specifically.

Aha! Seems I'm not as clever as I thought. I'd forgotten that Orion2 is where I have original MoO II 1.31 installed, and I had the fan patch in Orion2F. I installed to that, and now it works. So, false alarm. I don't know if this all might help enrich your troubleshooting section or if it's a little obscure for that.

 

[Rocco.40]

not that obscure, important point is that you need to install 1.50 in a moo2 dir that has all games files. if you install from cd-rom with set-up orinstall program, you only get a partial install and rest is read from disc.

 

[Bladrov]

Yeah...it's just, I wonder if it might be worth adding to troubleshooting that this error can be encountered if you have 1.31 installed alongside 1.5x and you're accidentally pointing the installer to your 1.31 folder. (Took me a while to work out how to express that.)

 

[UlquiorraUA]

SOMEBODY!!!PLEASE HELP ME!!! Can someone STEP BY STEP explain how to(and where) make changes in game(in 150i version) by editing config files!I read the manual....and I simultaneous understand and dont understand what it want me to do.((( Dozens of "Open CFG/USER.CFG/ENABLE.CFG/GFY.CFG (And there is TONS of this CFG files in game folder/subfolders) ,there(where?) you can(or need?) do xdzdzgfzd,and also fgjfghxfhx,and dont forget gmdsbsfz(but only after fgxfgxxg and before fghdfhdg) cfg,cfg,cfg,cfgmyass." WHAT?WHERE?HOW?WTH??? I wish for instruction like "1.50 patch installation" (1.make A---2.make B---3.make C etc.) I realy HOPE for some GOOD and NOBLE person to guide me through this mess!

 

[Ponkyo]

SOMEBODY!!!PLEASE HELP ME!!! Can someone STEP BY STEP explain how to(and where) make changes in game(in 150i version) by editing config files!I read the manual....and I simultaneous understand and dont understand what it want me to do.((( Dozens of "Open CFG/USER.CFG/ENABLE.CFG/GFY.CFG (And there is TONS of this CFG files in game folder/subfolders) ,there(where?) you can(or need?) do xdzdzgfzd,and also fgjfghxfhx,and dont forget gmdsbsfz(but only after fgxfgxxg and before fghdfhdg) cfg,cfg,cfg,cfgmyass." WHAT?WHERE?HOW?WTH??? I wish for instruction like "1.50 patch installation" (1.make A---2.make B---3.make C etc.) I realy HOPE for some GOOD and NOBLE person to guide me through this mess!

Instead of doing things by hand, try using O2M to mod the game, it simplifies things a lot, it's the very reason it was made for. Hope this can help you, have fun!

 

[Bladrov]

Hey everyone! Glad to see a new patch out, and it installed just fine on my Linux box, but our two Windows machines wouldn't install it. I double-clicked on the file and nothing happened--no error message even. I thought maybe it needed to be copied from the flash drive to the dos folder on the local hard drive, but then double-clicking on it there didn't do anything. I also tried right-clicking and running as administrator. That gets it to confirm that I want to allow it to do it, but then...nothing happens. Both Win10 machines are doing the same thing. Is there something I'm missing?

 

[Rocco.40]

Hey everyone! Glad to see a new patch out, and it installed just fine on my Linux box, but our two Windows machines wouldn't install it. I double-clicked on the file and nothing happened--no error message even. I thought maybe it needed to be copied from the flash drive to the dos folder on the local hard drive, but then double-clicking on it there didn't do anything. I also tried right-clicking and running as administrator. That gets it to confirm that I want to allow it to do it, but then...nothing happens. Both Win10 machines are doing the same thing. Is there something I'm missing?

perhaps you have a virusscanner that prevents the exe from running? (assuming you clicked the install-win32.exe)

 

[Bladrov]

Thanks for responding Rocco! I don't have any third-party AV installed, just the built-in Windows Defender stuff. I suppose I could try disabling the Real-time protection in Windows Security settings.