Master_Xan

I knew the patch was for multiplayer issues, but didn't know it was for issues between the two games. I wasn't even aware there were differences in the two versions. That is good to know.

I too was unaware of its current popularity. I thought everybody playing it already had these files (because they had been playing it off and on for years, like me). I'm glad to be wrong!

Any progress on this?

Someone else may have figured it out. Just not me. I've actually converted all the units a few times to different requirements. I've never based it on anything else, though. Just my own requirements.

Every place you look, the numbers are different. If you check Wookipedia, you will get another set of numbers. If you check the technical manuals (the physical books, with lots of pictures), you'll get another set of numbers. None of the sources agree with each other. Rebellion has another set of numbers that really cannot be compared to other sources. If you want it to be like one of the others, like the RPGs, then you have to convert every ship, and the fighters, and the ground defenses, to the new system of numbers. If you want to add a ship with RPG stats without changing everything, you should just think about comparisons. Is the gunship more or less powerful than a Mon Cal cruiser? Should it be faster or slower than a Corellian Corvette? Those types of questions are how I add ships and modify stats.

I've had similar issues. One reinstall, I had no music. Another reinstall, the tactical battles crashed every time. On another, it wouldn't accept my CD as genuine, no matter what I did. And I've had plenty of installs that worked just fine. I think the game is just old, and we are all running it in environments it was not designed for. A few reinstalls never hurt.

If you look long and hard, you may come across some old posts I made about fleet battles. I also tried to do much of what you are doing. Here are my thoughts, in no particular order. Using SWReditor, there is an additional value that RebEd doesn't show. It is called AI value. Editing this will drastically affect how the AI operates. I did some testing, but was never able to conclusively tie down the results- I don't know if the AI uses it in building decisions, battle retreating decisions, attack decisions, something else, or some combination. You might try tinkering with it. If you can't find a download for SWRE, let me know and I can send it to you. Lowering maintenance requirements helps the AI. If you edit the speed at which materials are generated (edit mines/refineries) you can improve production. As can editing production speeds on facilities. In both cases, higher numbers mean slower. If you enable advanced shipyards for your opponent only, you can make their ships build much faster than your own. If you disable certain ships, the AI seems to stick with others that work better. After my various edits, I found the AI building way too many CC-9600s, so I flat disabled them. After that the AI built more rounded fleets. I've also seen them building Corvettes late in the game instead of better ships, so you can try disabling any number of ships to get better fleet builds. Changing research levels can give the AI an edge. As already discussed, interdictors are outside the AI's abilities to handle, so use them sparingly or disable them entirely. Changing the AI value for interdictors could yield interesting results, and may be worth your time to try. One reason the AI is terrible with ship management is transfer times. They like to send ships all over the galaxy, then turn them right back around and send them back. This makes for very spread out fleets. Playing on a small galaxy helps with this. Also, increase the speed of their ships by lowering the hyperdrive numbers in RebEd. That makes them outright more dangerous, but also helps with their ship management. Torpedoes are a fighter-only weapon that do significant damage to capital ships once shields drop. You can remove them, or reduce them, to make fighters comparatively weaker. Also, the B-wing has a larger-than-average squadron size. 18, I think. Lowering that to 12 weakens that unit. If squad size is not editable inside RebEd, it is inside SWReditor. The more you disable, the less the AI has to worry about. Remove extra troop regiments, perhaps allowing them only two options. Remove extra planetary defenses. Even try removing spec forces all together. This is all extremely game changing, so... yeah. Also remember you can deny a side access to things, so you could "remove" them from yourself or the AI without impacting the other. Another problem, like the ships traveling around, is that personnel and troops also do this. You can edit the speed at which units travel, and you can even do it on a per-side basis. To do so, you need a hex editor, and you need to modify a game file directly. I got great results by lowering the speed all units require to move around. If you are interested, you can try to look it up, but it may not be available online anymore. I can give you a simple walkthrough, if you need it. Note that this impacts everything, from facility travel time to personnel, and the only way to control it is by which side gets what speed boost- you cannot improve fighter transport times without improving everything else, etc. EDIT: Also, I'm a general.

The key to detecting any enemy mission is detection rating plus multipliers. As Ant said, generals and admirals improve detection chances, as does the Emperor bonus you get for having Palpatine not busy and at Coruscant. You should have lots of command personnel and little else to do with them- make them generals and admirals. View a unit's status to see its detection rating. If memory serves, Imperial Fleet regiments have a higher detection rating than other troop regiments, except maybe Dark Troopers. If Alliance missions have you down, train and distribute more Fleet Regiments. Likewise, different ships have different detection ratings. I have yet to prove it, but I firmly believe that any ship in orbit gives its detection rating plus a bonus for having an orbiting fleet. Park a troop transport in orbit if that is all you have; it should help. Fighters have detection ratings. They are cheap to make, great for other planetary defensive roles, and their detection ratings can quickly add up. Everything else I can think of Ant already mentioned.

Try turning the music volume down, not just off. Or try turning it almost completely down, but just barely a tick above that. If you already tried that, or it doesn't work, you can try loading the game and then removing the CD. I haven't tried it with Rebellion, but I know lots of old games only use the CD for music or video (plus the DRM check when first loaded). Used to play Age of Empires all the time like that. You may need to copy files off the CD to accomplish this- check the Rebellion Reloaded instructions to find which files to copy. If the music still plays, try removing the files you copied from the CD one at a time, and hopefully you can get the game running sans music. If that doesn't work, you can try updating the sound drivers on your computer, though if it happens on two computers that won't fix it. If you are playing in a VM, you might try changing how the VM emulates sound (i.e. what hardware the VM thinks you use). That can be very tricky to do, so don't attempt it unless you are willing to dive in and experiment quite a bit. You can turn the system sound completely off and use another device for background music. If it manages to kick on anyway, plug headphones into the computer. Obviously not affective if you still want Rebellion sound effects. If you want sound from the computer, you can try forcing the game to output sound to one device, turn the volume all the way down on that device, and listen to other music on another device. A 'device' in this instance could be speakers, headphones, or virtual sound devices. This can be accomplished through certain programs that come with some sound cards (my integrated desktop sound came with a program capable of this), or some 3rd party software. It can get tricky to do- usually it is only possible when there are at least two options available. Such as built-in laptop speakers or a headphone jack, or a desktop computer with two audio out ports (such as one in the front and one in the back). Again, not useful if you want Rebellion sound effects. If none of that works or becomes more hassle than it is worth, the music itself is controlled in a game file. You have to use a hex editor to open those up. Unless someone else can tell you exactly which file and what position in the file, it would take a lot of guessing to find the correct file and positions to edit and remove the music.

Try using Bink. That is the modern version of Smacker. I've successfully played Rebellion movies in Bink outside of the game, though I do not recall the version of Bink I used. If that doesn't work, try following these suggestions.

As already stated, it is the loss of defensive units (large groups of fighters do this too!) that causes popular support to drop. Unless the planet supports the Alliance, anyway. Both of Addict-Ant's suggestions are good. Other ideas: 1. Put down two shield generators. Numerically, it is twice as hard to bomb through, but in the early game, it is worth more than the numbers suggest- getting together enough firepower to blow through a shield is hard, but doubling that firepower can be impossible. 2. TIE Interceptors. They are cheap, you can research them pretty quickly, and in numbers they can wipe out Alliance fighter wings, especially bombers. Early in the game, the Alliance usually lacks sufficient capital ships with bombardment modifiers to take out a shield generator. If your opponent uses a group of ships with bomber support, move a slug of fighters onto a planet nearby- when they move to hit that planet, they either retreat or lose their fighter support, which should mean they cannot break through the shield. This is my preferred method, since you will always need more Interceptors and can quickly turn them into a fighter screen for your own attack fleets later on. 3. Lancer Frigates. Just like Interceptors, except they can retreat after taking out enemy fighters. Any ship with plenty of lasers can do this, so in a pinch, try using a few Carrack Cruisers. Later in the game, Assault Transports actually work very well- your opponent probably won't realize their power until you hit him with them the first time. They are almost as good against fighters as Lancer Frigates, they are fast in tactical combat and strategically (making them ideal for intercepting enemy fleets), and they are fairly cheap, making them useful for "behind the lines" defensive fleets where you cannot afford larger ships. Obviously, against capital ships, they are worthless. 4. Do the same thing to the Alliance. If it is early in the game, they probably don't have sufficient forces to muster two fleet groups. So send your fleet(s) after their planets and start bombing. You should have heavier capital ships than they do, so with a few fighter squads (especially Interceptors) you can probably handle anything short of planet-based weapon platforms. You may not get the same diplomacy boosts, but they may withdraw their attacking fleet to defend against you anyway. 5. If you can, intercept their fleet with one of your own. That can be very hard, depending on where your fleet strength is. But if you force them to retreat, they will know you have superior fleet presence congregated into one location. You can move the fleet around, keeping them guessing as to exactly where it went. Unless they are aggressive, the mere threat of a superior fleet can sometimes be effective. 6. When playing as the Empire, I almost always prioritize my planets. If there is a planet supporting the Alliance but under my control, I may pull completely off the planet. You will take a diplomacy hit, but it isn't as bad as the hit you take when the Alliance liberates the system. Plus you can scrap every facility first to keep it from going to the enemy. Sometimes, I will scrap production facilities, but keep the mines/refineries and troops in place. Then I continually do espionage missions there to catch incoming enemy forces. When the Alliance fleet comes knocking, you can scrap the mines and pull your troops out. If the timing is right, you get the benefit of those extra resources for awhile and still deny them their publicity boost. This is often the only effective means of "defending" yourself from early Alliance aggression. You can always scrap everything, and unless the enemy fleet is in orbit you can pull your troops off for the smaller diplomatic hit. Especially true if you managed to get a little diplomacy done, making the planet neutral when you pull out. 7. Try putting a general on the planet. This improves the odds that your opponent's bombardments damage your civilian facilities. That swings the diplomatic boost to your favor. I wouldn't do this as a rule; best only as a last resort, since they will probably capture the general.

I really appreciate the folks who worked so hard to come up with a 64 bit work around. That said, I firmly believe that it is much easier to install the game on a VM. If you have an old copy of Windows (Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, or XP), you can download a free program like VMware Player or VirtualBox. Install the program of your choosing, pop in the old Windows CD, and create a new VM (virtual machine). It will load the old version of Windows, where you can install Rebellion without worrying about registry keys, 16bit installers, etc etc. As for your specific question, I'm afraid I cannot help you. Perhaps someone else will see this and have an answer.

You should be able to just change the name in RebEd. Is that what you tried?

Hey, glad to be of service!

Oh? I haven't played multiplayer in years. Maybe I'm remembering it incorrectly.

I will check out the Temeraire series. Sounds interesting. If you are going by publish date, the next book in Ender's Game series is indeed Speaker for the Dead. If you what chronological order, it is actually Ender in Exile. Wikipedia has a chronological list, but if you want published order, it is Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, then Children of the Mind. The Ender's Shadow series has a different chronology and publishing dates. I don't have any advice for the rest of Brook's series, but for other ideas, try Black Prism by Brent Weeks. Weeks has another series, starting with The Way of Shadows, but it was too dark for me. The Prism series has one of my all-time favorite characters, Kip. Great fantasy read. Other ideas: the Advent Mage series, a quick and fun read, self-published by a budding author. Ranger's Apprentice, another quick read that I liked quite a bit. I've read the first book in the Sword of Truth series, it was pretty good. The next one is on my list to read. The Wheel of Time, if you haven't already read it. The Mistborn series is great. Highwayman, by RA Salvatore, is a good read. I liked the Innocent Mage books, though I know others who didn't like them as much. Those are all fantasy novels. If anybody wants sci-fi suggestions, I have plenty of those too. Or I can just shut up.

Me? Both. I like Starcraft and Age of Empires (and Supreme Commander and Rise of Nations and Red Alert and...), but I also like Heroes of Might and Magic, Disciples, Civilization, Space Empires, etc. What I don't like about SWR multiplayer is that either player can change the speed without consent of the other. This works great in single player, as you can slow it down when things are busy and speed it up when nothing is happening, but often I will have a lot going on while my opponent is bored to tears, and vice versa. And since they are my opponent, they have even less incentive to wait for me. Instead they want to rush me by upping the speed. It depends a bit on who your opponent is- some play nicer than others.

I played the PS2 version for the first time a few months back. You aren't out of practice: those controls are terrible. The land controls are only a little bad, but the space controls are about as bad as any I've ever seen. I do much better with a keyboard+mouse than the PS2 version, even after practice.

I played it that way the first time. It works. I got my joystick from a thrift store; they get joysticks all the time, I just had to wait for a USB joystick.

Hey, I'm looking for a job myself. Not able to get a house yet though. Good luck on both fronts.

I hate that series. Ok, hate is too strong a word. I dislike that series. The first book starts off really slowly, gets to be pretty good, but then a few books later things start to get repetitive. I completely lost interest after the first couple of books. However, I know a dozen people who do like the series, so maybe I'm just weird.

Colony Wars? Never heard of it. I take it you liked it?

I second that request.

I assume you tried running it without VirtualBox also running. Sorry mate, the only other suggestions I have are either getting an older computer, or another version of Windows to try it with.

It is one of my favorites. I'm looking forward to replaying it... this time, with a joy stick! Didn't have one before.