Octopus Overlords

by **Svlad** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 11:38 pm

I'm not sure whether to categorize it as a large patch or a small expansion, from what I've read, but it's out. I've just picked it up, will write more later. I noticed immediately on load that you can play through the text-based puzzle or planetary battle minigames directly from the main menu screen.

You can get it here, should you be interested:

Edit: Start a new game and bring up the goods/planets/etc search page. Make sure to try the hulls search in particular. Wow.

by **pad152** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 12:45 am

I sold my copy of Space Rangers 2, thinking we (English/North America) would never see the patch or expansion!

The link you posted gives nothing but an error "Server Error in '/' Application"

by **Svlad** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 12:54 am

So does the rest of totalgaming.net. :/

by **mipe** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 2:09 am

I still have SR2 on my computer... But I don't install it yet, as IIRC in year or two there comes official patch which removes starforce... WHICH IS EBIL!

by **dbt1949** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 3:37 am

I bought Reboot and am not really sure what is on the patch and what is new. Quite a lot of fun but a bit buggy. Still, I've finished about two dozen games so far.

by **Quitch** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 5:15 am

I want Reboot but it's not available to the UK yet AFAIK, that makes me a sad panda.

by **dbt1949** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:39 am

If you get the chance to get it, do. They even have a "unique" ship that you can buy after you've accomplished enough. It has a cool design with all slots open and 1000 hp. Unfortunately there's a bug that causes a ctd when you inquire about it. Fortunately I found and unofficial patch that fixes it.
There's new weapons and equipment. You can set you ship up to up to three different weapon arrays if you can carry the weight. More missions of all types and a lot of these slow moving ships that are 1000-1200 hp but move slow as molasses, including pirates.

by **tgb** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 10:21 am

From what I can tell it's an expansion that requires the original, which means a $40 hit for those of us who got rid of it a long time ago. Ouch!

by **dbt1949** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:17 am

Yep, it requires the original.

by **Dan_Theman** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 12:45 pm

dbt1949 wrote:Yep, it requires the original.

... and you deserve to pay an extra $20 if you were foolish enough to dump this gem of a game :wink:

by **dbt1949** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 5:23 pm

I dumped the Starforce version a long time ago when Stardock came out with theirs. It was worth it to me.

by **Baroquen** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 8:41 pm

Reboot is available via Impulse for those who have that....

I haven't gotten it yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

by **hitbyambulance** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 4:24 am

will applying the expansion to the original SR2 remove the starfarce?

by **dbt1949** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:09 am

No. I don't believe it does. However, there is a no cd patch out there.Then use the Starforce removal tool.

by **Dan_Theman** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 2:02 pm

dbt1949 wrote:No. I don't believe it does. However, there is a no cd patch out there.Then use the Starforce removal tool.

It doesn't remove the Starforce on its own, but it does remove the need to keep it on your PC so no additional No-CD patch is needed (and in fact it may cause problems with the update, considering it's a hacked .exe from a prior version). After applying the update, your Space Rangers 2 game no longer needs the CD in the drive and you can download the Starforce removal tool after that to entirely remove Starforce from your PC (this is assuming you have nothing else installed that needs Starforce).

by **malichai11** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 5:22 pm

Hey folks, any updates on how this is going? How's the localization and how buggy is it?

by **dbt1949** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 8:09 pm

It's actually pretty buggy with a lot of ctd. Nothing game stopping. Just make sure to save a lot. Asking about the "unique ship" will cause a ctd but I've found a user made fix for that. Overall I've pretty pleased with it (and have played some two dozen games) but they're not paying me to sell it so ................. :wink:

by **malichai11** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 8:44 pm

dbt1949 wrote:It's actually pretty buggy with a lot of ctd. Nothing game stopping. Just make sure to save a lot. Asking about the "unique ship" will cause a ctd but I've found a user made fix for that. Overall I've pretty pleased with it (and have played some two dozen games) but they're not paying me to sell it so .................

Do you have a link to that fix?

by **dbt1949** » Fri Aug 01, 2008 1:15 am

I Googled the official forums and waded thru. It's under 4Meg so if you need it I can e-mail it to you.

by **Papageno** » Fri Aug 01, 2008 11:19 am

Dan_Theman wrote:
dbt1949 wrote:No. I don't believe it does. However, there is a no cd patch out there.Then use the Starforce removal tool.

It doesn't remove the Starforce on its own, but it does remove the need to keep it on your PC so no additional No-CD patch is needed (and in fact it may cause problems with the update, considering it's a hacked .exe from a prior version). After applying the update, your Space Rangers 2 game no longer needs the CD in the drive and you can download the Starforce removal tool after that to entirely remove Starforce from your PC (this is assuming you have nothing else installed that needs Starforce).

From what you're describing, sure, the expansion doesn't remove the Starforce drivers from your machine, but it does remove the disc-based copy protection from the .exe file, which is what's important and, as you write, lets you remove the drivers from your computer.

Question: does all that apply to the original UK import version? Can anyone confirm?

by **JC Anejo** » Fri Aug 01, 2008 4:50 pm

I have been playing this the past few weeks for the first time. I got it right after Impulse came out and I have only had a couple CTD's and they were when asking about the "unique ship"

by **Jumppahuiti** » Fri Aug 01, 2008 11:48 pm

JC Anejo wrote:I have been playing this the past few weeks for the first time. I got it right after Impulse came out and I have only had a couple CTD's and they were when asking about the "unique ship"

Read through the following thread:
http://tgnforums.stardock.com/315573
...other players have the same problem. You'll also find a link to the "unofficial patch" which seems to cure the problem.
There probably won't be any official patches as Elemental games has sold the code to 1C (and rumour has it that 1C has sold it forward to some unnamed party).

by **dbt1949** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 8:20 pm

One frustrating thing is I can't find a manual for Reboot. I did find however that if you buy the Dominator camouflage program from the Pirate station you can activate it by right clicking on your ship's picture in your ship's equipment screen. They're only good for one use and doesn't fool anyone but the Dominators that it represents. And even then only as long as you don't fire on them.
Good for scouting and dropping a quark bomb or two in the midst of some hovering Dominators.

by **Corvus Corax** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 9:16 pm

Don't know if I'm going to spring for Reboot, as I pretty much played SR2 to death a few years ago. However, I still have it installed on my HD and am half way through an insane playthrough (ran out of steam about a year ago). I've got a crack on it and have removed the SF drivers. If I install Reboot, I assume that first I should restore the original executable and let Reboot patch it when it installs (at which point it'll no longer require the DVD).

by **dbt1949** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 9:54 pm

Actually the first thing you do is apply the patches for SR2.

by **Corvus Corax** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 10:46 pm

Yeah, it looks like my version is unpatched. I just tried to fire up SR2, but it wouldn't start for some reason. Something must have changed in my system since the last time I played. After I click on it I get the hourglass for a few seconds....then nothing. Looks like I'll have to reinstall it, but atm I'm not really that interested.

by **srdaniel** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 7:37 pm

Has anyone bought the Reboot expansion from here: http://totalgaming.stardock.com/games/?id=sr2x

by **Dan_Theman** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 8:17 pm

srdaniel wrote:Has anyone bought the Reboot expansion from here: http://totalgaming.stardock.com/games/?id=sr2x

Yep. Well, via Impulse (their new delivery system). You simply install it over your Space Rangers installation, and you're all set.

edit - it should be noted that it took me a little while to figure out how to choose my preferred download location on my PC when I picked up Impulse, but once THAT was all settled (and it really is pretty easy) I was fine.

by **dbt1949** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 8:45 pm

It will install it into the Cineamaware folder. If you have SR2 in you Stardock Total Gaming folder or anywhere else you will need to copy it to where SR2 is. Just copy it over the existing files.
If you're reinstalling SR2 or have bought here recently it will already be in the Cineamaware folder. You will also need to install the updates for SR2 first.
Unfortunately there is no updated manual. You'll just have to ask around for how to do some of the new things.

by **srdaniel** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 10:47 pm

Is the Reboot from Stardock a download or do they ship you actual media?

by **zenchess** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 7:56 am

It is a download. You get it immediately (you activate your purchase through Impulse by entering the serial number that you get after the paypal page).

It then checks to see if you have a Stardock version of Space Rangers 2, if not, you browse to the directory of your Space Rangers 2 installation.

Update: I just installed the expansion and it DOES NOT work with my version of Space Rangers 2 which I bought from Direct 2 Drive. A google search for the error showed that other people also have this problem. A stardock employee said that they would upgrade you to the 'complete' version from Stardock if you show proof of purchase of your Direct 2 Drive version. I'll be asking for that right now, I'll let you know how it goes.

by **dbt1949** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 9:37 am

Find the Reboot installation. Go inside the folder and copy everything there. Paste it in your Space Ranger 2 folder overwriting everything it wants.
I did this successfully on one of my computers.
I also deleted SR2 on another computer and reinstalled in from Stardock (I had bought it alone awhile back) and then downloaded Reboot. That worked too.
Reboot installs in the Cinemaware folder. The older versions of SR2 are in their own folders. A new installation of SR2 (assuming you have the Stardock version) will install in the Cinemaware folder.

by **srdaniel** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 9:45 am

What about saved games? Must start a new game I assume...

by **dbt1949** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 10:20 am

Personally I never tried.

by **zenchess** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:51 pm

When I run the reboot installer from Impulse, it asks me where my installation is (after telling me a stardock version is not detected).
I browse to my space rangers 2 installation, and it indeed installs a bunch of stuff there, replaces the exe, etc.
When I try to run the game, nothing happens, but the log gets updated and shows this:

RTL: Exception
Error reading file system of the package file:data\1captain.pkg

I googled this error and I found several other people with the same problem on stardock's website.
Anyways, hopefully I'll hear back from their support soon.

by **dbt1949** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 2:18 pm

Hmmm............did you try going to the folder and clicking on the rangers.exe file directly?

The only other thing I can think of is reinstall/download Reboot and let it install it where ever it wants and then copy and paste it's guts into the SR.2 folder.

by **lch** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 3:51 pm

W0000t. I'm hooked on Drakensang at the moment. I'll give this a go later, I guess. More impressions, please.

by **lch** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 3:53 pm

Quitch wrote:I want Reboot but it's not available to the UK yet AFAIK, that makes me a sad panda.

You're not a panda! You're a polar bear! Don't try to fool me.

by **dbt1949** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 5:46 pm

Personally I find Reboot a tougher game. The focus is more on nodes now. Now you need nodes to repair or modify any dominator equipment you are using in addition to cash. The easiest remedy is just not to use those items but they do have some good stuff. You cannot buy nodes at pirate bases anymore, you have to collect them. The good news is that a lot of the times after successfully completing a mission or setting a system free they'll give you a level 3 or sometimes a level 2 module. Module can be taken to Ranger Centers and they'll give you "node credits" for them. Once a year a Ranger Station gives you one for Xmas or something.
The game has pretty much the same weapons as far as I can tell but they have a new upper tier set of ship items like the engine, droid, protection generator, etc.
You can buy "camouflages" at the pirate stations. They don't fool anybody but the dominators of that breed. IE a Kellor camouflage will only fool Kellor ships and even then only if you don't fire on them. One strategy I find fun is to have a Quark bomb and while camouflaged drop it in the middle of some dominators and then set it off. All bets are off then but it is fun. :wink:

To activate after buy them you right click on your ship portrait and choose what you want to do. Decloaking works the same way. Each cloak is only good for one shot but you can buy as many as you want.
There are new text missions and new rts missions. I don't do rts missions and only limited text missions. You can access all these missions for practice at the startup screen.
There are three unique ships you can earn. They all have the same stats but have small visual changes and different colors. The ship has all slots open and 1000hp plus a 15 point block. They are not available until later n the game. In addition to meeting the qualifications they cost 800,000 credits. In all honesty I could never amass that much and so had to use cheat codes to get more money to afford them. To modify them at the science station costs between 960,000cr and 1,360,000 for the "best" guys.
The pirate station requires you are a "pirate", have killed 100 civilian ships and have a military ranking of Ace or better.
The Science Station requires you have completed 20 missions, be a "fighter" and have killed 500 dominators.
The military station requires you be a "fighter", kill 50 pirates, and have a rank of Ace or better.
With the right modules and equipment and the new ship modified by the best guys you can get as high as 70% damage blocking plus 40 damage points of blocking. Making your hull indestructible with a decent droid. Your innards still take damage tho.
After getting the rank of "Commadore" (the highest rank) the military base will give you one of the best units for you ship. Either a protection generator, a repair droid or a grabber.
Your ranking also keeps track of the number of ships you kill in hyperspace but you get no points of any kind for them. You can right click on your name and find out the percent you have for the areas of trade, pirating and military.
At the military station they tell you they'll take away points for shoots civilian ships and you could even lose a rank. They lie. I have killed over 200 civilian ships and never lost a point. You can get a "Black Heart" medal for shooting civilians but none of the medals mean anything. You can get a "Rusty spike" for shooting down rangers. And another, that I've never got but have seen for shooting down too many battleships.
Pirates are fun but hard to sustain as a pirate. Sooner or later your killing of dominators raises your status to mercenary, fighter, or hero. When going for the pirate unique ship i had to shoot down 20-30 civilian ships in a row and no other kind to get my "pirate" status to get the special ship.

I have finished about two dozen games, some cheating (what can I say but I'm old and a lousy player)and some without cheating. The impossible level is just about that, even with cheating.

by **Netriak** » Tue Aug 12, 2008 10:07 am

From your description of the unique ships, it seems you are still using my outdated crash fix for that issue.
You can download the new fix here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?azyrb1we1da
Installing the new fix will have the following results:
The unique ships will get their proper names.
The unique ships will get their proper unique abilities.
The unique ships will get their proper price.
The unique ships will get their proper size.
The special equipment, including 5 other types of new hulls/ships, will now spawn in space stations.
There will be special micromodules that open up ship slots.

Octopus Overlords

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