1.  Playing a game like Civ or Galciv without all expansions is like playing a partially finished game.  I can't believe people do it.

2.  I wish this was available via SDC, where I got this (and other games) in the first place.  I have zero desire to install impulse and it's annoying to be forced to do it to update software I've purchased.  I guess this will finally force me to install it.

From https://www.stardock.com/media/stardockcustomerreport-2008.pdf

"*Illegitimate complaint: Requires people to get updates through a specific source (Steam, Impulse, publisher secure website, etc.). This is one of our biggest pet peeves. If a game ships and there’s some bug found that materially affects gameplay, then sure, put out a patch wherever. However, we’ve had users complain loudly that Sins of a Solar Empire v1.1 (essentially a free expansion pack) requires Impulse to download. Publishers have every right to make sure the people downloading updates are legitimate customers."

Yeah, ofc you have the right... but remember your own Gamer's Rights:

"4. Gamers shall have the right to have their games not require a third-party download manager installed in order for the game to function."

In some cases patch might be required so that a game starts working (IE patch that adds compability for another OS (extreme example but anyway). If i'm required to have an additional program to get the game function...

"8. Gamers have the right to use their games without being inconvenienced due to copy protection or digital rights management."

Yeah right. If Impulse or any other 3rd party program is used to check if the customer has legal copy, it pretty much can cause inconvenience for a customer...

Nice start for the Gamer's Rights.

Oh come on. How can people moan about this? If you want yet another massive, completely free update, you need to spend 2 minutes installing an inoffensive piece of software which can be turned off/uninstalled any time you like afterwards.

What is it with gamers these days and the insistence of 'I should get everything I want and how I want it'? Drives me mad.

2minutes? I used 3+ hours to get the patch work due Impulse. I had to uninstall, install and re-install the game/expansions before things started to work. If the patch had been available on SDC, nothing would have gone wrong.

Yeah the patch is good i admit, even if it lacks the promised Arnor ship style though.

Many paying software users "these days" feel bullied, cheated, channeled, and manipulated by the software industry. Rest easy that this only drives you mad, for others it's driven them to piracy. I guess that's just the way it is. 

Blue orb needs a massive CLICK ME ON IT.

You had DA+TA installed to the wrong location because you didn't look for the settings that controlled it.  I directed you to it, and you were able to proceed from there.  I don't understand why you're -still- complaining about a resolved problem.  It's relevant that that toggle should be checked by default; so that it asks you for the installation directory.  It's relevant that the blue orb needs to be orders of magnitude more obvious.  These are valid suggestions, and it would benefit everyone for you, or anyone else, to pass these on to the devs.  For the record, the second suggestion has been passed on numerous times, but as of yet nothing has apparently been done.

It is not relevant that you lost 3 hours of your life because you couldn't find something that was resolvable in 5 minutes.

No offense intended, and my apologies if I come off as a bit strong.

Well, I'm sort of one of the people you're complaining about, but how about this for an answer: We live in a culture dominated by marketers who believe that no buzzword is bad and shopping solves all problems, managers who tell customer-facing employees that the customer is always right even when that customer is a barbarian, and customers who rarely or never consider what it took to provide the product or service they want for as little money as possible.

Thankfully, Stardock and its patrons seem to be a bit of an outlier for that scenario.

I'm a Linux user, and Impulse doesn't run in Wine.  Stardock Central works fine, though.  So while I'm a paying customer of the base game and both expansions, because I am unable to run Impulse due to compatibility problems, I cannot get the update.

Also, while the games support Win98, Impulse does not.  I'm sure the number of people still using Windows 98 is low, but it's a big issue for them as they can't get the update either.

It isn't just a matter of getting it how I want it, but rather getting it the only way I'm able.

You know, Impulse is supposed to be able to locate the game on first place right? So why did it install the patch on wrong place at first, messing everything (installed the TA patch to GC2 directory). Now i know i didn't set the location but that doesn't matter when the program patches, at least it shouldn't, since patch should be able to locate right place automatically.

EDIT pffh i hate posting about same thing on two places... should've sticked with one thread..

EDIT i think that asking download/install location should be default, not some standard place. And rather than using the orb as preferrences button, there should be a tab for those.

EDIT no offense taken

OK, someone tell me straight and in no uncertain terms: if I buy EU, will I be able to update it to 2.0?

That depends on when you buy it.

According to Stardock, they "plan to have it supported around the final release of TA 2.0". Therefore, I'd expect it within the next few days.

I've just bought it on Amazon, so hopefully by the time it's delivered it should be supported

We've been working on that since 2.0 went final. Still some testing to do on it before it goes live, AFAIK, but it should be soon.

Great news. I look forward to it.

Unless I need to make further changes to Dread Lords for compatibility, it's not going to be updated anymore.  There are no features changes in 1.53 for Dread Lords, it's just compatibility fixes for Vista and 64 bit Vista.

Apart from compatibility fixes, the only feature changed in Dark Avatar was the race-wide espionage, which is all we promised for DA.

The Arnorian ship style is not included because we ran out of time.

As I said in another thread, if for some reason you can't install Impulse (you have Win98 or Win2k), we can probably work something out with support, but it may take a week or so to make sure that we don't need to put up another update due to something that didn't come up in the beta.  In the meantime, you can always download Twilight on a friend or relative's computer and burn the files to a disc to copy onto your own computer.  Just make sure that you delete the sig.bin so that you can manually activate on your computer.