BlackBox Code mod. AKA Community mod

[Crunchy]

TL:DR

Is there a bug in the game bugging you? Its likely fixed and the core logic enhanced without changing the game experience at its core to any large degree.
Unofficial game patches.
FYI, The overall level of blackbox is a completely playable game now. I mean like early to late game you will be hard pressed to be bothered by lag and crashes should be rare. not only that but it has late game threats and mroe life to the remnants and pirates. Its a vast improvement to the original game. truly vast.

Install Guides:
GoldyMires Install Guide

Play Guides
GoldyMires Definitive Guide
Trifler Human Starter Guide [explorminate.co]
Trifler Platform Addendum[explorminate.co]

Lets Plays
WelshBen Gaming Round 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gASGNz8yKZI&list=PL-QvHFlNq8ab_s8hw9-woygM3wQsNl1Lo

Discord:
Discord chat discussion [discord.gg]

BlackBox Wiki [stardrive-blackbox.fandom.com]

Some Things We Have Done

https://stardrive-blackbox.fandom.com/wiki/Texas_-_what%27s_new

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1670586429

Venus Is now released!

https://www.moddb.com/mods/deveks-mod/news/venus-is-now-released
https://youtu.be/ySYe1GdUvqI

BlackBox Mars Alpha

https://bitbucket.org/codegremlins/stardrive-blackbox/downloads/

CombinedArms mod adds a ton of content developed to use blackbox features.
https://bitbucket.org/codegremlins/combined-arms/downloads/

This is code learning project based on stardrive1 with a kind nod from the SD1 developer. (thanks! Learning so very much!)
The project is open and rich with possibilities to learn not just the basics of coding but the whole multiuser project with project management ball of wax.

We have rebuilt the resource manager and collision code along with a lot of other parts of the game after some study on Programming Patterns and Refactoring concepts.

In any event.... if you havent tried BlackBox, dust off SD1 and give it a whirl.
We have included automatic error reporting using sentry.io so just by playing you are helping us tighten up the code.
We still have a long way to go but texas is getting better than our previous Radical Elements release.
Faster, stronger, bigger with more fire in the belly.

We still have a hell of a long way to go. I mean we havent even started on the really cool stuff so please be patient with us as we get around to fixing all the stuffs.

The list of changes is kinda huge and hard to remember and... not well tracked but the core idea is to keep the game vanilla as possible and just make it better.
Features that change the game radically are relegated to mods which currently only Combined Arms uses. Combined Arms is actively under development still and getting better and better all the time.

Some significant changes and improvements include but are not limited to:
Maps 4x the size.
A more intelligent AI for:

• Economy
  
• Freight
  
• Tech Picking
  
• Ship Picking
  
• War
  
• Defense
  
• Colony Governors
  
• and more.

Better invisible combat resolution. (its not simulated. its all done as if viewing)
Ships can handle multiple targets better
Better ship strength calculations
Better long and short range weapon calculations.
More combat stances.
Better targeting code. (affected by ship experience)
Better pathing. (A* pathing algorithm like GPS stuff uses sort of)
AI can build defensive structures (bases and platforms)
AI can use carriers and troop assault ships.
Improved shipyard experience
Mod content can live entirely in the mod folder. No overwriting game files.
Faster loading primarily for mods.
and of course... MORE!

I loved stardrive despite all its faults and i want more!
Such a perfect 4x platform and its a crying shame no one has really tried to capture what it was.
We arent all high skilled developers. Nor the best people in the world :p but working on this game IS a game. best game i have ever played so

So help us squish a few more bugs and enjoy what we have done.

Stable builds ill try to push to MODDB
here:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/deveks-mod/downloads/texas-test-builds
More unstable (likely) nightly (mostly) test builds can be found here:
https://bitbucket.org/codegremlins/stardrive-blackbox/downloads/

KEEP IN MIND

BlackBox hates broken stuff. If you install and are having problems loading the game the problem likely lies in broken ship designs. Kill them! (or just move to a backup folder)
Paste the below into a windows file explorer like you were pasting a path to a directory.
%appdata%/stardrive
that will take you to the stardrive folder. even if you uninstalled the game these will still be there unless you manually delete them.

Contact Points

facebook[www.facebook.com]
twitter
Bug reports here[bitbucket.org]
For a nearly current feature list and deeper mod info and installation
http://www.ModDB.com/mods/deveks-mod

Videos

Lets Play by Sabouts. (old)
https://youtu.be/l8XJRw4Qcqo
Play and review by explorminate 1/11/20
https://explorminate.co/tag/blackbox-mod
https://youtu.be/BqYa6gOiD-g

Grats

All the folks that have worked or taken interest in BlackBox. There are many.
And special thanks to the people that made BB possible:
The Devek
General Azure
RedFox
Fizban aka Fat Bastard
All those tireless testors.
And of course... Zero.

FatBastard has really improved the player experience of the game. like a lot. night and day.
Redfox has made the game playable at what had been impossible levels.

We have older mods available as well. I dont recommend using these are they are buggy and texas is far less forgiving of mod weirdness and... We wont support issues found in them :( if you hit a bug using these you have to repro it in combined arms or vanilla content.
These mods have been restructured to work with blackbox and live entirely in the mods directory but otherwise unchanged. I have more as well plus Bitbucket repositories for DialTones TechLevel mod
Would love to see someone update that but im not holding my breath.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/deveks-mod/downloads/blackbox-modsuperpack-1217

We Recommend using Combined Arms mod which is an overhaul update of Combo mod which spliced together several different mods including Tims Mod. its currently under development and getting better all the time.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/combined-arms

Thanks folks. Hope we help get a few more miles out of this shoe and few more smiles from playing.

[Crunchy]

Code Your Way to Galactic Domination!

Have you ever wanted to make your galactic control have less systems slip through your fingers? Now you can! With the next stage of BlackBox development, named “BlackBox Texas”.

BlackBox is a hobby mod for the SciFi 4x RTS game StarDrive from Zero-Sum games. For a 4X style RTS, StarDrive is rare in that it uses a component level ship construction system as well as a component level and directional damage model utilizing firing arcs, power grids, internal explosions, and more. All of which is available to explore, learn, and modify.

The code has been decompiled from CIL and is available as a Visual Studio 2017 C# project, though it does need the original game content to compile or play. It's based on XNA 3.1 and SunBurn 1.3.2 in an x86 windows environment. The code is currently hosted on BitBucket and uses Sentry.io for automated bug reporting when possible. We have private and public consent from the original devs to continue development, primarily as an educational tool.

In its early form, BlackBox was a .NET method injection mod, but has since evolved into its current state as a pure C# code project. It’s a feature rich game engine with plenty of learning opportunities, all in an open minded “no pressure” environment. This project is perfect for any experience level, from novices to professionals who want to explore, learn, and try new ways of approaching problems in a wide variety of game design and programming areas.

There are opportunities and challenges in AI, threading, 2D/3D graphics content, optimization, code refactoring, project organization, public relations, build and test automation, and just about anything else that would go along with any full game project.
The current focus for the project is on code cleanup and refactoring, along with major redesign and performance improvements.

We especially welcome volunteers with C#, Java or C++ programming experience.


Maybe you have played StarDrive in the past, and thought it would have been better if it had awesome feature “X” or missing dreaded bug “Y”? Perhaps you would like to get a little experience working on a large fully functional game to add as a footnote on your resume? Or maybe you just want to do some casual programming and contribute to a community project on your spare time? In any case, we welcome hobbyists and professionals all the same!

Contact us:
Discord chat discussion [discord.gg]
facebook[www.facebook.com]
twitter
BitBucket[bitbucket.org]

[Icemania]

Crunchy, a full list of features would help a lot (or at least a more extensive version) particularly for those of us that have not been following the mod progress in detail.

[Elethio]

Yeah Crunchie, I've just started taking the Blackbox for a spin, I am amazed ! at all the extras functions you guys have put in.

But your description could do with a little editing, I'd suggest, Title, Brief overview of what the mod does (Improves the vanilla game with various bug fixes, AI improvements, extra functions and options)

Then a detailed list of all the changes

Then a list of what else you might add

Hope you don't mind my suggestion, also one more question, will you still be adding a collective bunch of mods to this so someone can add it all in one go without too much hassle?

^ I do think the group mod idea is brilliant, obviously I don't have a problem finding various mods for Stardrive, but I've just been getting into Xenonauts recently and I've wasted hours searching through various mods would of loved to have them all added in one download.

[Crunchy]

OK... I spent some time on documentation.
It still needs more. But...
If you go the feature link it will take you to bitbucket and each issue can be expanded to get more info. Wish it was a little slicker than that but... it is what it is.

[Icemania]

Nice work, Crunchy!

[Crunchy]

There are a few features from deveks mod that were included but heavily changed. Like the memory limiter. This seems to work. I had a game with 2.5k ships in it the other night.
The cordrazine alone had nearly 700 ships.
Also found some bugs in the way deveks mod was trying to compensate for the AI economy changes and this has greatly improved the AI ability to build warships and expand its empire.

Its kind of cool. Now the user must get on the ball and aggressively expand else the AI will simply grab all the good stuff. Likely still not a match for people that can easily beat the game on brutal.

hanging back and trying not to encounter the AI was good before to prevent the AI from attack you will result in getting way behind in the expansion game.

I need to write those changes all out.
Then there are all the new UI option sliders and all that need some info.

then there is the new racial tech stuff and all the new ways to mod that need some detail and combined information.


Yes i want to combine a big download for all the mods. Problem there is that to do that... I really need the approval of all the mod owners. If i got that i could do some interesting stuff.

[Crunchy]

added a download with a mod super pack. Do check the links for updated mod files and to give props to the creators.

Test Pack : https://bitbucket.org/CrunchyGremlin/sd-idk/downloads
Release Pack : http://www.indiedb.com/mods/deveks-mod

it contains the blackbox gravity release + mods reformatted to work with it.
BlackBox : http://www.stardrivegame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9910
Techlevel : http://www.stardrivegame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7091
Tims : http://www.stardrivegame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3163
ComboMod : http://www.stardrivegame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7735
Overdrive : http://www.stardrivegame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1617
StarWars : http://www.stardrivegame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9859

[Flandy]

Installed this today, getting some weird issues with attack/move orders and I can't tell my freighters to transport colonists, the button is there, they just don't take the order nor does the button stay activated.

[Crunchy]

Hmmm. That should be resolved in the latest release build.
I suggest downloading the radical elements version from the bit bucket site and let me know if it's still broke.
I'll check it tonight.

What's the issue attack orders you are seeing?

[Flandy]

Selecting a ship then right-clicking anywhere doesn't seem to work the first few tries, if it has weapons it just starts shooting, doesn't matter if I click on a planet, open space, etc.

EDIT: Just tried radicals, issue is still there with both things.

[Crunchy]

Sounds like it's going into manual mode. If you click on the map and it fires it's weapons. Does it do it for all ships? I have not seen this behavior yet.
Try putting the ship into system defense mode and then ordering it to move.

[Flandy]

Yes, all ships, even those without weapons will not move unless I go into other screens sometimes.

Tried the newest test version btw, same issue with transports. Interesting note is even when AI controlled it doesn't work. Any that are built for colonists just orbit and await orders.

[Crunchy]

thats bizarre. are you running a mod.
did you install all the content files?
I havent seen the issue you are having. Maybe i need to look closer.
when i get done with making the AI tech script logic ill take a look.

[Crunchy]

I cant repro this. maybe you explain more precisely what you are seeing and your game setup.

[Crunchy]

Some kind soul got an official post on the SD facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/stardrivegame