Repairing RebEd

[Master_Xan]

If you have the Steam or GOG version of Rebellion, follow these directions to make RebEd work correctly.

 

1) Install Rebellion, if you haven't already

1b) After installing, DO NOT MOVE THE REBELLION FOLDER.

1c) Launch Rebellion. You don't need to play a game, just reach the main menu, then close.

 

2) Install RebEd

Download

2b) Go to the folder you installed RebEd to. Make sure d3drm.dll is in that folder. If it isn't, copy it from your Rebellion directory and put it there.

 

3) To make RebEd cards work, we need to trick RebEd. Go to your Rebellion directory and create a new folder called "Trick". Now move the MDATA folder into Trick.

3b) At this point, Rebellion will complain about a CD and won't start. Step 4 fixes this.

 

4) You need to manually change some registry settings. If you don't know how to do this, find a tutorial like this one for the basics.

 

In Regedit, search for "DllLocation". Make sure you find registry entries for Rebellion, then change the DllLocation entry to point to your main Rebellion directory. In the same registry area, you should see "TooBigLocation". This needs to point to the Trick folder.

 

If you don't have those registry keys and/or have further problems, verify your registry settings against those listed by Jamison in this thread. Make sure your directory is correct (don't use Jamison's directory in Program Files if you installed Rebellion somewhere else). Also, only use ONE \ when editing the registry directly; two \\ are only used when making a .reg file.

 

Congratulations, you're done! At this point, Rebellion and RebEd should work, INCLUDING LOADING CARDS. Read on if you are interested in technical details, or skip ahead to the Q&A section for troubleshooting problems.

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you ever verify your game files, you will lose any changes made in RebEd! You can backup your changes using the Save Settings and Load Settings options.

 

EDIT: If your RebEd doesn't work at this point, don't panic! The above steps work for me about 50% of the time, but there is another way.

 

ALTERNATE METHOD:

After completing all four steps above, go back to your Rebellion folder. Move the MDATA folder back into your main Rebellion directory, delete the Trick folder, and then copy your entire Rebellion folder. Go to another hard drive or partition and paste the entire Rebellion directory. Rename the folder to just "Rebellion". For example, if you installed Rebellion into C:\, then copy and rename the folder to D:\Rebellion.

 

This will mimic the CD. Go back into the registry and change DllLocation and TooBigLocation to point to this new place (D:\Rebellion as an example).

 

This doubles the size of your install, but it is still only 1GB so that shouldn't matter to most people. It does require a second drive or partition; hopefully that doesn't exclude anyone. Note that this second method requires the folder be named "Rebellion" and it must be in the base directory of a partition other than the one you installed Rebellion to.

 

If after doing this it still doesn't work for you, uninstall everything and try again. This time, skip the trick method and go straight to the alternate method.

 

Technical details and additional modding options

#1) Do not use RebEd's Partial Installer, scan for SWRE, or Manual SWRE setup. These features don't work with newer versions of Windows. Additionally, you cannot change an entire sector's colonized status in the Galaxy Mapper, but in the upper left, you can select "Systems" and do each system's colonized status individually.

 

#2) Below are some things you may wish to change which RebEd cannot modify:

a) Ships' models in tactical combat. Details here.

 

b) The AI Value setting can be changed with SWRE.

 

c) If you want to change the time it takes non-ship units to go from planet to planet (like personnel, facilities, and fighters without a carrier), here is how:

c1) Back up the GNPRTB.DAT file in case something goes wrong. (Find it in the GDATA folder of your installation directory.)

c2) Use a hex editor, like this one to open the file (not your backup!)

c3) Go to the hex addresses that correspond to the difficulty and side you want to change, then tweak the number however you like. For example, if you want units to travel twice as fast, change the default 64 to 32. (NOTE: single digit values, like 8, must be typed as 08. In Xvi32, use the Address -> Go To option to go directly to the address you put in.) Make sure to save the file when your edits are done.

 

Empire

Novice 00000032

Intermediate 00000036

Expert 0000003a

 

Rebels

Novice 0000003e

Intermediate 00000042

Expert 00000046

 

Han Solo

Novice 00000a5e

Intermediate 00000a5a

Expert 00000a56

 

d) A bug keeps you from skipping the briefings at the beginning of a new game. Renaming or deleting the files ALBRIEF.DLL and EMBRIEF.DLL will make the game skip them (AL is Alliance, EM is Empire).

 

#3) If you do move your Rebellion folder, you just have to re-edit your registry settings with the new values. Likewise, you can put your MDATA folder anywhere you want, so long as TooBigLocation points to MDATA's parent folder and MDATA is in a different location than your Rebellion's main directory.

 

Q&A

* Rebellion won't start in step 1.

FIX: First, verify the integrity of your steam files. If that doesn't work, you can either reinstall, or use the registry settings in step 4.

 

* RebEd throws an error. (Any error: missing files, incomplete install, whatever.)

FIX: Close RebEd entirely and make sure Rebellion is not running. Try again. If you get the same error, make sure d3drm.dll and vcl30.dpl are in your RebEd folder. If they both are, chances are very good there are mistakes in your registry. If you are absolutely sure there are none, then restart your computer to clear a weird cache error I sometimes got. If you still see the same error, verify your files' integrity or reinstall Rebellion. If you reinstall, don't forget to redo step 4!

 

* When I do a tactical battle instead of letting the game automate it, the game crashes (or it crashes right after the battle completes).

FIX: This has always been a little unstable. About 1 in 25 tactical battles crash for me. There is no fix, just save often. However, if you crash a lot, it usually means a 3d model for a ship got messed up. If you changed a ship model, restore the original model or verify your game files. If you didn't touch the models, one of your files could be corrupt- verify the game integrity. Additionally, if in RebEd you made it possible for the Alliance to build Imperial starfighters, or vice versa, that will also crash tactical combat. (Only starfighters do this, not capital ships.)

 

* When I try to load a card, RebEd tells me I need a full install. What gives?

FIX: Go back to Steps 3 and 4 above. Either you didn't move MDATA correctly, or your registry settings for TooBigLocation are wrong, or RebEd is being dumb and you need to use the alternate method.

 

* When I load Rebellion, the first two videos play, but then I get a black screen with the mouse cursor and no sound.

FIX: Uninstall and then Reinstall Rebellion. Make sure to change the registry again.

Edited September 22, 2016 by Master_Xan

[nal2us2]

I tried your method and got RebEdit To launch. However when clicking on anything I get the following error message:

 

You do not have a complete Rebellion Installation, and the Rebellion CD cannot be reached.

 

Pictures will not be available. If you want pictures, place the Rebellion CD in your CD Drive and restart Rebellion.

 

Placing the CD in the drive doesnt help either.

 

Also I start to get lots of other errors when trying to go forward from that point and change values for any object.

 

Please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Master_Xan]

From the above:

* RebEd throws an error. (Any error: missing files, incomplete install, whatever.)

FIX: Close RebEd entirely and make sure Rebellion is not running. Try again. If you get the same error, make sure d3drm.dll and vcl30.dpl are in your RebEd folder. If they both are, chances are very good there are mistakes in your registry. If you are absolutely sure there are none, then restart your computer to clear a weird cache error I sometimes got.

 

If that doesn't resolve it, let me know which method you ended up using (main method or alternative).