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OpenSE4 0.5.0

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@lowlevelmetal lowlevelmetal released this 02 Oct 06:12
· 438 commits to main since this release
v0.5.0
e66c17b

OpenSE4 is an open-source engine for Space Empires IV Deluxe. It plays the classic game on your own installed copy of Space Empires IV Deluxe and contains nothing from the original game.

OpenSE4 is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the game's publishers.

What changed since 0.4.0

Same game on every computer

  • Linux and Windows now give identical results and pictures. A new test plays fixed 100-turn games and battles and checks the exact final state. Continuous integration runs it on Linux (GCC and Clang), Windows (Visual Studio 2022 and 2026, MinGW) and macOS, and every build must agree.
  • Fixed on Windows:
    • At 125 % or 150 % display scaling, the classic text was drawn too large and overflowed its buttons.
    • A minimized game stopped talking to the host and was dropped from network games.
    • Installs or profiles in folders with non-English letters lost their art and music.
    • The Steam library on another drive is now found.
  • Fixed on Linux: the game's files are now found whatever the case of their names, and AltGr no longer triggers shortcuts.

Closer to the original

  • Movement lines look like the original's: a blue route following the ship's real path, with a ring and the turns needed at each point. A new simultaneous game (Quick Start, setup or hosting) turns them on. Ctrl+L shows or hides them, which a player joining someone else's game may need.
  • No starting ships. New games start without ships or designs, as the original's do.
    • Quick Start gives your empire the original's eleven prototype designs.
    • Computer players design their own on the first turn.
  • The Scrap window's Analyze and Fire On work, and every Scrap action follows the original's turn rules.
    • Analyze destroys one of your ships at your space yard in return for tech levels.
    • Fire On has your armed ships destroy a vehicle of yours.
  • Player Computer Control: you can hand any empire to the computer or take it back. A local game ends when no human is left.
  • Reset Passwords is available on the host of a simultaneous game.
  • Cloaked colonies you haven't detected are no longer drawn, selectable, or sent to other players' computers.
  • Rules:
    • first contact happens at the original's moments;
    • Drop Troops refusals and planets dropping troops follow the original;
    • trades are logged item by item;
    • Save Empire keeps strategies;
    • computer players follow more of the original's rules: the exploration frontier, territory, colonization danger and queue choices.
  • Animation:
    • ships turn and slide frame by frame;
    • combat animations use timings measured on the original;
    • Strategic Combat runs at the original's speed;
    • the selected sector uses the original's marker.
  • Windows laid out as the original's:
    • lists with arrow buttons and "Pic" headings, and check boxes where the original has them;
    • Planets, Colonies, Research (completed areas stay listed), Designs (grouped by type, with a component grid);
    • Create Design (which asks for the vehicle type first);
    • Empire Status, Empires, Ships\Units, the Combat Simulator and Tactical Combat;
    • the list windows sort as the original's do.
  • Settings.txt keys that were ignored now work: music on or off, exporting weapon and component data, the ship movement delay, and the ending pictures.

Learning

  • Tutorials guide every action. During a tutorial step only the controls it teaches respond; everything else is dimmed. The step moves on once you've done what it asks. Free Play in the lesson panel unlocks the game, and Skip appears if a step can no longer be done.
  • The lessons and manual are updated for games that start without ships and for the new window layouts.

Saved games from earlier versions can't be loaded (save format 5), and every player in a network game needs 0.5.0 (protocol 3).

Downloads

File For
OpenSE4-0.5.0-windows-x86_64-setup.exe 64-bit Windows 10 and 11: the installer
OpenSE4-0.5.0-windows-x86_64.zip 64-bit Windows 10 and 11: the same programs to run from any folder
OpenSE4-0.5.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz 64-bit Linux with glibc 2.34 or later (Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12, Fedora 35, RHEL 9, SteamOS 3 and newer)
OpenSE4-0.5.0-SHA256SUMS.txt SHA-256 checksums of the three downloads

Every download holds three programs:

  • the game (opense4);
  • the dedicated server for network and play-by-e-mail games (opense4-server);
  • a data checker (opense4-datacheck).

Libraries, our own fonts, the manual and the lessons are built in. The game needs a GPU with Vulkan or OpenGL 3.3.

Running it

  • Windows: run the installer, then start OpenSE4 from the Start menu, or unpack the zip and run opense4.exe. Neither is code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may warn the first time ("More info", then "Run anyway").
  • Linux: unpack and run ./opense4, or run ./install-desktop-entry.sh once to start it from your desktop's application list.

The game looks for a Steam install of Space Empires IV Deluxe. See README.md for other locations and command-line options (opense4 --help).

Known limitations

  • This is still an early build, marked as a pre-release.
  • Computer players fall behind the original's after about turn 25. They:
    • spend too long in their short-term defence state;
    • get less research out of each colony;
    • build almost no bases.
      This is being investigated against the original.
  • Windows builds are tested in CI and under Wine. The executables aren't code-signed.
  • In network and e-mail games, every battle is resolved strategically, as in the original.

License

OpenSE4 is free software under the GNU General Public License, version 3 or later. The Noto Sans fonts are under the SIL Open Font License. THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.txt in each download lists the bundled libraries and their licences.

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