In response to user comments I have speeded up play especially during approach, docking and leaving planets.

You can now set time-rate (x2).

In another change to make the demo more attractive - you can now play some of the missions. You need to upgrade to 1.0.5 and download and install the collection of saved games.

Here is the full list of changes for V1.0.5

* Demo mode modified to allow saved games to be loaded

* Increasing time rate to x2 is now possible at all times. This halves approach and docking times

* Free Flight mode changed so that only new 'random' ships are inhibited not missions

* Demo mode warning about saving games moved from startup to save attempt

PTer

The object of breaking the save game compatibility was to ensure future compatibility. Yeah, I know it sounds weird. From now on saved games will always be compatible.

Some systems are better than others for mining - but can you identify what the common factor is?

Mission information from my notes and the mission.zip saved games

* points copied from saved game - maybe less

Mission Sector Planet Points Comment

Colony Beta Verde 2 Aeusi1 100 Escort colony ships to Aeusi2

Asteroid Belt Gamma Rosso 3 Yur 175 Mining. I thnk this is new. I did not play this in v1.0.3

Planetoid Beta Giallo 1 Ridmiel1 225 Divert planetoid before hits Ridmiel1

Dominion Beta Rosso 3 Sarra1 350 You must conquer Sarra2,3,4 with navy ships

Rainbow Gamma Giallo 1 Mifie1 554* Not played

Ship Graveyard Gamma Verde 1 Monisi 679* Not played

Pirate Base Alpha Rosso 2 Baxai1 807* Not played

V1.0.6 is now released.

Here is the list of changes

Rotation (Space stations and planets) now correct in time rate (x2) mode

Energy and temperature (sun skimming, planet atmosphere, cloaking device) now correct in time rate (x2) mode

Automatically drops to normal time rate in presence of hostile ships and tractor beam activation

Added warning sound effect for sun skimming

Removed test resolutions inadvertently left in Launchpad

Since Galaxias is now quite mature; future releases (in theory) will not contain important new functionality only bug fixes.

Therefore I shall not announce future releases here - unless something significant changes.

You can always consult the changes log on the download page for release information.

To all

I know I said I wouldn't post releases in future but 1.0.8 contains quite a few requested features. For good measure I have also posted 1.0.7. Please note that the user guide has been updated and now contains tips for trading and combat.

Galaxias V1.0.7

* Various tweaks to make asteroid mining more attractive

* Added variety to star animations

* Message logged in user log for a successful salvage

* Pirate and police behavior modified to make piracy more interesting

Galaxias V1.0.8

* Maximum time rate when non-hostile ships present increased to x4; further reducing approach times.

* New station approach waypoint scheme; docking is quicker

* Hostile ships now shown in red on the radar

* Colour coding used on radar reproduced on right panel (ships and distances)

* Launchpad "New Game" dialogue modified to allow user to select ship, cash and equipment

* New column showing average prices so far added to Market screen

* View indicator added (Front/Left/Right/Rear)

* Adjusted probabilites so that ships (including pirates) are less common further away from bodies

* Blocked multi pirate launches when hostile ships already present

* Reduced equipment prices and increased trading profits to allow quicker progress

* New message when you press P (pause) or ESC. "Space to continue, Esc to quit"

Version 1.0.9 is now available. This release is intended to complete the remaining suggestions and criticisms partially implemented in 1.0.8.

* Roll and Pitch adjusted so that the rate increases with repeat. Damper now redundant.

* Mouse control completely revised - mouse yaws left/right and pitches up/down - no mouse pointer

* Occasionally the docking computer oscillates and is unable to fix a course - fixed

* Derelicts register as hostile - fixed

* Shuttle can be assigned the same docking port as other ships - fixed

* Panel does not change immediately when ship upgraded or serviced - fixed

* Prevents activation of docking computer if towing

* Can now follow a ship even if it is jumping within the current system

* Galaxy news now appears from time to time on the docking screen

* Scale of points for killing pirates

* Mission triggers and bonus points adjusted to allow quicker progress between missions

* New warnng beep when your ship is targetted by a missile

* Star colour added to Navigation screen - colour stars option removed from launchpad

* Navigation now shows ALL nearby stars even if they are in a different sector

* Market screen now shows profit achieved which is also logged in user log instead of total cash

* Minor improvements to short and long range radar.

With 1.0.9 Pter SonoJak's post is now out of date.

Here is an updated list

Colony Beta Verde 2 Aeusi1 200

Asteroid Belt Gamma Rosso 3 Yur 350

Planetoid Beta Giallo 1 Ridmiel1 500

Dominion Incursion Beta Rosso 3 Sarra 700

Meteoroid Storm x x 800

Rainbow Peace Gamma Giallo 1 Mifie1 950

Ship Graveyard Gamma Verde 1 Monisi 1100

Pirate Stromghold Alpha Rosso 2 Baxai1 1250

im willing to pay a small amount if it contributes towards development but that development should be ongoing if a profit and living are being made

seems to be doing this anyway still cant purchase using a credit card have u thought about using microbmt payment services to sell the full version

A new sector and say 500 new planets might be a good expansion to.

I'd like to be able to talk about profit and making a living but reality is that we are talking about pocket money here.

Initially I looked into all the payment methods but decided to wait and see what the demand would be. Since demand has not really picked up I did not take any further action. In fact, you may have noticed, I have not even implemented a proper paypal button. You are the first person to inquire about credit card payment

I've had a look at BMT Micro and it looks reasonable although if I go down that route it rather precludes dropping the price because of their minimum charge.

Anyway how about a cheque via snail-mail? You can contact me at sales@jexea.co.uk

I'm intrigued about your mention of an extra sector - there are already 27 - do you mean Galaxy? Ditto for 500 planets. There are already 1000 systems and 3000+ planets and if anything the criticism I've had is that the galaxy is a bit too big and too homogeneous. This is a bit true since there are only about 15 body types and all systems are a combination of these. This is why I introduced "Galaxy News".

Incidentally regarding "Galaxy News" if anyone fancies contributing a small news story about a location in Galaxias - please don't hesitate.

ill stick with oolite i think prefer quick and easy payment methods im lazy basically cheques are yesterday but good luck

I've never had much luck with Oolite. The first time I tried - it didn't install. Second-time space stations didn't appear - Third time I got red-triangles all over the panel display (possibly graphics card related) and planets were 'weird'

Don't like cheques much myself. I'm a great fan of paypal, I find it gives extra protection by avoiding sending my credit card number over the internet and is an essential if you use ebay a lot.

pioneer has the best potential

What are you trying to run Oolite on? Ports exist for Mac/Windows/Linux/FreeBSD. Current test version is v.1.75.3, but because trunk is in a feature-freeze, the best version to download is the latest Nightly development version, which should be available here (but is down at the moment).: http://terrastorage.ath.cx/oolite/

If you are still having problems, post a message on the Oolite BBS, the friendliest board this side of Riedquat!

If you are on Windows, have you tried this: Add -nosplash to the target field of the shortcut icon. On loading the game, this does sometimes fix problems with certain graphics cards (usually NVIDIA ones).

I have changed Galaxias to freeware (well beerware in reality - there is a fairly unobstrusive suggestion to buy the author a beer if you like the program).

Please feel free to download and try it. There is no requirement for an authorisation key and no restrictions whatever.

Here is the full list of changes for Galaxias v1.1.0

Galaxias is now Freeware.

No requirement for an authorisation key.

The configuration has been unencrypted and now contains plain text files

A moving starfield indicates forward directional movement.

Galaxy news did not appear on the docking screen - fixed

Minor bug which permitted negative velocity at accellerated time rate fixed

I strongly recommend downloading the Hi-Res planet bitmaps and missions package.

Hi Galaxias

That is very kind of you! 🙂 I hope you get many beer tokens! 😉

got paypal to work and made a small beerware donation hope it helps out and a good game to by the way a good move that way

This game improved a lot since I bought it version 105. I think latest change is good - because I can install it on the computer to my brother without key. Any new missions?

Thanks for the encouraging words and the beers 😀

PTer : re new missions - sorry don't really have any plans for new missions - but there has been a suggestion to change the termination of the Dominon battle into the destruction of a sort of mega mothership - which I would like to do - I can't promise when though.

The problem with missions is that although there is a kind of instruction set for programming them - new missions almost always involve special code - that and testing them always takes time. I'm open to ideas - it's possible that some could be implemented using the minimum of new code.

Over time the subject of translation has been brought up several times. You may have noticed that English. Francais Deutsh, Espanol, Italiano options are visible on the launch pad but only English and Francais work. The Deutsh, Espanol, Italiano options can be used to develop a new translation of any language.

With release v1.1.0 you now have access to the plain config files and so can make translation changes easily. Or you could customise the English version by changing the ship names, goods, etc.

So if you wanted to do a Danish translation ...

Make a Copy of the Galaxias\Config\English folder and rename it either Deutsh, Espanol or Italiano.

Many of the files don't need translating at all - see English/Francais versions as examples.

To make a translation simply change the text - again see English/Francais.

So in Mechandise.cfg for example Thorsian Whisky = Whisky de Thorse

You must preserve the format i.e you can't add/remove items from a list just overwrite existing text.

I strongly recommend winmerge (freeware) for this. It makes it so much easier to see the two files side by side.

So long! And thanks for all the fish.

Just to let you know that I have not renewed the domain registration for jexea.co.uk. For some reason the site still appears to be working. How long this remains the case is anybodies' guesss. It's your last chance to download the pucker version of this game.

Hi Galaxias2000, long time no see! Sorry to hear your closing your site. I got your game ages ago and it was fun. The Hi res texture pack also made it look really good too. If I may ask, will you be working on any new space sims in the future?

If you need any forum space for your space/scifi gaming projects just let me know.

I uploaded all Galaxias related stuff a few months back, so your game will definitely live on 🙂

Thanks for the kind words. I have several projects on the back burner - a language teaching suite of programs and a sim earth like "terraforming" game. I've also been paying about with JMonkey which takes a lot of the hard work out of 3D graphics - see Mythruna. For the moment I don't envisage anything being completed any time soon.

After a bit more investigation I found out that my site is good until April 2014.

Well that is good your site will still be up for a good while. Your working on a Sim Earth type game? I loved that on my Amiga so good luck with it!

This game is much more playable than oolite. Very good navigation and combat system. Brilliant work.