STARS MOD (standalone too) works fine with version 6.0 of the game and is required for XRSGE mod or can be used alone STARS MOD FOR VANILLA GAME IS FINISHED, NO UPDATES ARE NEEDED. YOU NEED TO UPDATE ONLY IF USING MY OTHER MOD XRSGE
LATEST RESHADE is also available to download This version is the latest, there is only one preset. STARS_dimm.ini I've implemented a better version of ANTIALISING. It works better than vanilla AA and SAO. It does not reduce the brightness of stars and is very effective indoor, the only trade-off is for the writings (UI set at 0.8 is good). My Reshade requires that game's AA and SSAO are OFF. Shadows and AA are managed by reshade. This also helps older gf cards and has a better result and better overall fps performance.
The background looks much better with this mod. I tried the game with and without it at a particular spot (mostly stars, a bit of clouds and part of a planet), to check the FPS difference and there was a slight improvement, from 52 to 54 fps with this mod! Thank you for this fine work.
Suggestion: In the Image tab of this page, you should present scenes Before and After to show the improvements from vanilla (It is tedious work though but worth it for potential users).
Thank you. The pics here are even old, latest STARS looks different (better). But doing the pic comparison is too boring, I already spent months doing the mod. Maybe some user could do it. This mod is well established since years. And is harmless to activate/disable mid-play.
Would it be possible to have the vanilla version of STARS have a different name? Or can I make this modification myself? I use multiple mod sets and I'd like to be able to use STARS both in vanilla and in XRSGE, but the folder names are identical (and presumably the mod names as well).
Then Just use latest stars. Nothing happens, materials are simply not used if xrsge Is not present. Old version is for allowing to not update every time if you don't use xrsge. No harm in using the latest in any case
You don't need the patch if using stars alone. Anyway is a patch not an addition, so copy/replace inside stars mod. The same patch folder is called stars, quite intuitive
This mod can be added/removed in any moment, it changes only the backgrounds and planets (meshes and textures and shaders) not any game's mechanics nor the map
The skybox in Sanctuary of Darkness: The Cove has 2 different textures trying to fight for priority or something, everything is in squares split off into 2 triangles with 2 different skyboxes in each
The meshes are a vanilla issue. I replaced them in XRSGE mod, skybox is perfectly fine in sanct of darkness, can you provide a picture? What other mods do you use? And move the discussion to the page XRSGE
STARS is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen for the game. It looks so absolutely stunning in everyway. Thank you for making my game SO MUCH better than it ever was!!! I am using 5.10 and have no plans to update from there and its amazing the difference STARS makes in the game!
First off, love the mod and thanks for all your hard work, especially with fixing the triangle glitch.
Second: does it take longer for the Xenon to get rolling? I've left my game running for sometimes 3 days at a time and don't seem to see any significant Xenon fleets or threats. Does it just take longer for them to do things or do you think the factions are just defending themselves better in your mod? If this is the case, would a Xenon buff mod work with your mod, or does your mod change Xenon jobs or anything about the Xenon that would break it if I added a mod like that?
HI, thanks for the feedback. The thing is, with Xenon as with other races, that they have plenty of space and resources. Ideally, and I experimented with this, one can increase the jobs a lot and they'd span immediately a lot of ships. Problem is this bottlenecks the performance a lot. For how X4's engine works there is no work around, but if your pc can handle it. You can try using some mod that changes the jobs as for instance DeadAir's. Or you can try editing yourself the file libraries/jobs.xml and everytime you see an entry with Xenon, increase their quota in the galaxy. Don't go too high, with XRSGE ships are set to be fully operational, not over time, you should see an increase in not long time. Or you can try a mod here in the nexus that is called Xenon buff, if I remember well. It only changes these parameters that I already set for a right balance in xrsge, to avoid overburden. But you can try and see how performance goes.
This aspect of the game finally led me to develop a more compact version of XRSGE, I am working on now. This reduces significantly the nr of sectors, to avoid memory burden, while keeping the "sensation" of a bigger universe. so that jobs can be increased again and hopefully not slow down the game this time. At the end there will be two version of the mod, one for tranquil explorers who like a not too changing (very big) universe and another one that is more war-oriented, for a faster game.
Awesome, sounds great! I'm currently trying a new game with that exact Xenon mod and some other job changing mods for Xenon. If you'd like to know how it goes then I'll come back and give the feedback after about a full week of run time. So far, two days in and it seems a bit stagnant for Xenon, however, I have noticed them trying to build a factory here and there so I at least know they are trying. Still the best overhaul mod for the game imo!
376 comments
THIS PAGE CONTAINS ONLY THE MOD STARS
PLEASE MOVE ANY REQUEST AND COMMENT ABOUT XRSGE GALAXY EXTENSION IN THE OTHER PAGE
From now on this page is dedicated to STARS Mod only.
Thanks
STARS MOD (standalone too) works fine with version 6.0 of the game and is required for XRSGE mod or can be used alone
STARS MOD FOR VANILLA GAME IS FINISHED, NO UPDATES ARE NEEDED.
YOU NEED TO UPDATE ONLY IF USING MY OTHER MOD XRSGE
--> DISCUSSION in Egosoft
LATEST RESHADE is also available to download
This version is the latest, there is only one preset.
STARS_dimm.ini
I've implemented a better version of ANTIALISING. It works better than vanilla AA and SAO. It does not reduce the brightness of stars and is very effective indoor, the only trade-off is for the writings (UI set at 0.8 is good).
My Reshade requires that game's AA and SSAO are OFF. Shadows and AA are managed by reshade. This also helps older gf cards and has a better result and better overall fps performance.
BUY ME A COFFE >>
.............................................
I tried the game with and without it at a particular spot (mostly stars, a bit of clouds and part of a planet), to check the FPS difference and there was a slight improvement, from 52 to 54 fps with this mod!
Thank you for this fine work.
Suggestion: In the Image tab of this page, you should present scenes Before and After to show the improvements from vanilla (It is tedious work though but worth it for potential users).
From now on this page is dedicated to STARS Mod only.
Thanks
Second: does it take longer for the Xenon to get rolling? I've left my game running for sometimes 3 days at a time and don't seem to see any significant Xenon fleets or threats. Does it just take longer for them to do things or do you think the factions are just defending themselves better in your mod? If this is the case, would a Xenon buff mod work with your mod, or does your mod change Xenon jobs or anything about the Xenon that would break it if I added a mod like that?
Thanks!
This aspect of the game finally led me to develop a more compact version of XRSGE, I am working on now. This reduces significantly the nr of sectors, to avoid memory burden, while keeping the "sensation" of a bigger universe. so that jobs can be increased again and hopefully not slow down the game this time. At the end there will be two version of the mod, one for tranquil explorers who like a not too changing (very big) universe and another one that is more war-oriented, for a faster game.