OpenSE4 0.8.1

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 0.8.0

Every tutorial step was audited at both screen layouts, then attacked by a tester over three rounds. Each step now accepts only the action its text asks for, keeps what it points at in view, and can always be finished.

Only the right choice

• Choosers allow exactly the option the step names. The others are dimmed and refused:
  • Designing: Ship rather than Base when creating a design, the hull, the design type.
  • Building: the design's row in the build queue.
  • Combat Simulator: the race and the items.
  • Communicate: the message type and the treaty.
  • Other choices: the colony type, the intelligence project.
• Orders go to the right ship. The ship arrows are locked while a step gives an order.
• Windows left open by earlier steps answer only to Close. That covers windows such as the Galaxy Map, Strategies and the Log, which used to be fully usable.
• Esc and Enter reach only the window in front. They can no longer throw away a design, empty the simulator, or end the turn from behind another window.
• Right-clicks in the main window work only where a step allows them, so they can't give a Move To order or open the Galaxy Map unasked. Inside windows they still show reports and pan maps.
• Keyboard navigation is off while a tutorial locks the game. Tab, Space and Enter can't press a hidden button, and Ctrl+Tab can't leave a text field.
• A double-click on Next moves one step.
• Steps check what was really done. A treaty proposal must be the named treaty, not a General Message. The fleet must be sent somewhere it actually has to travel.

Everything a step points at is in view

• New show areas: parts a step asks you to read, such as the design details, Warnings, the queues, Combat Vehicles and the Log's details, are no longer dimmed. The lesson panel keeps clear of them.
• The lesson panel also keeps clear of the dashed way-back button and of the lists a step refers to at 800×600.
• Set Construction Queue always shows each design's type, shortening long names.
• Text matches the screen.
  • "Fleets, movement and supply" asks you to press Ctrl+L before it describes the route line.
  • The Select Waypoint window's labels no longer overlap its title.
  • The pick prompt doesn't offer Esc while a lesson locks the game.

Never stuck

• Going back a step. If you close the ship designer, the Combat Simulator or Communicate while working in it (only possible with Free Play), their unsaved work is gone. The lesson then goes back to the step that sets it up again and says why.
• Other windows keep your place. The button that reopens them is outlined.
• Tested everywhere. This was tried in 31 places at both layouts; every lesson could still be finished.

Tools

• python3 tools/check_lessons.py --audit checks every tutorial step at both layouts. It reports choices that would let a wrong click through, and parts the text names that are dimmed, off screen or under the panel.
• Regression scripts: new input scripts try the wrong clicks found here and expect them to be refused. There are 82 runs at both layouts.
• README screenshots: the project page now shows the game in action.

Compatibility

0.8.1 plays together with 0.7.0 and 0.8.0 over the network and by e-mail (protocol 5), and they read each other's saves (save format 7).

Downloads

File	For
OpenSE4-0.8.1-windows-x86_64-setup.exe	64-bit Windows 10 and 11: the installer
OpenSE4-0.8.1-windows-x86_64.zip	64-bit Windows 10 and 11: the same programs to run from any folder
OpenSE4-0.8.1-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)
OpenSE4-0.8.1-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 hold slightly fewer colonies by turn 100 than the original's (about 15.7 against 17.0 per empire). This is still being investigated.
• 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.