In the classic game, Weather Controller can be built on all planets that have food. So when Fungi tech becomes available, lifeless planets get food, and w.control can also be built on those three climates (barren, radiated, toxic).
150 improved deviates in 2 ways from classic here:
- w.control cannot be built on radiated worlds,
- w.control turns toxic worlds into barren ones.

So you are right that w.control by itself makes toxic climates barren and the text about Fungi is simply a lore reason.

About help text: when writing new texts or correcting existing ones, I generally follow the original writing style, so the changes don't look 'moddy'. For example for new text:

"Enhances biomorphic fungi to clean up toxic worlds. Toxic climates become barren."

I followed style of planet shields, where the lore and the result are also two different sentences:

"Reduces solar and cosmic bombardment so lifeforms can comfortably move about the surface. Radiated climates become Barren."

Will try to improve text, probably by adding a line using fighter garrison text structure:

"Fighter garrisons are equipped with 6-bomber, or 4-heavy fighter squadrons when the appropriate technology becomes available."

becomes:

"Weather Controller can be built on toxic and barren planets when Biomorphic Fungi technology becomes available."

A trio of bugs for you gentlemen to squash.

1. The player has lost contact with the Meklar following the destruction of an outpost near their territory. However, a Meklar colony is still listed in star system Ras (upper middle), both on the galaxy map and in the Planets tab, even though that system is not marked as being under enemy control.

SAVE1.GAM

2. The player has a scout stationed in star system Obelus (bottom left), which is guarded by an eel. This system contains a splinter colony special. The Meklar have a battleship en route to Obelus, and will destroy the eel on the next turn. However, when they do, control of the splinter colony will be given to the player, not the Meklar. While amusing, this probably shouldn't happen.

SAVE2.GAM

3. Leader Grak is employed by the player. On the next turn, Grak will level up, and his Operations bonus will increase from +4 to +6. However, this change is not immediately reflected in the Command Points window, and will wait for input from the player (like changing the tax rate) before taking effect.

SAVE3.GAM

EDIT: Ran into another, more unusual bug that appears to be caused by overlapping build queues on multiple planets within the same system.

4. Two planets in the Fieras system are both building battleships that will be completed on the next turn. You'll be prompted to enter a new build queue at Fieras I. When you are, choose to refit ALL of the battleships currently in the system and click 'return'. You'll be shifted to Fieras III, which will display the message, "Fieras III just finished building [REFIT]." This is incorrect.

SAVE4.GAM

Would it be possible, to have more or even free resolution options? For a 1280x800 Netbook, 640x480 is too small and 1280x960 too large.

You are free to type any resolution in the 'Resolution' box of the Launcher. (not all of them will work tho). You can try for example 800x600 or 960x720, etc...

About 1: I am assuming you have actually visited the systems Ras and Abbith? In that case, the game is bahaving as expected even tho seeing a players colony listed when you have lost contact is kinda odd.

2: Great that you have managed to capture this situation in a save!

3: Good catch, a classic bug.

4: That's a nice oddity. Very minor tho...

Thanks for your detailed reporting (as usual) with savegames!

Hello, I recently found my old CD for MoO2. I installed on my old WindowsXP laptop and played v1.1 for a while, just updated it to 1.31 with no issue, installed v1.50 as instructed but when I try to Launch it kicks me back to home screen with error message "Fonts.lbx [entry 0] could not be found".

I saw in the readme file that its a common issue with the CD version, I tried the workaround of copying all files from the CD directly into a new folder, disabling "read-only" on every file (which I wasn't sure exactly how to do efficiently, I just selected every file and checked "read-only", applied and then un-checked and hit apply again), then updating to v1.3 and finally 1.50 again. Still received the exact same "fonts.lbx" error from the new launcher.

I'm really hoping to get this working so I can play the new mods, I love MoO2 but the AI in v1.1 is too damn easy/predictable! Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me with this and to the people who created this fan mod, its great to see the old games get attention 'cause nowadays they just don't make 'em like they used to.

Hello, ok so you are almost there then, just need to find a missing step )
A few basic questions, let's see if one of them helps:

- What folder have you installed the game into?
- Have you verified that the file Fonts.lbx is actually there?
- Have you verified specifically Fonts.lbx to be not read-only?
- When you created new folder for 2nd try, are you sure you didn't accidentally point launcher to old folder still?

Further note that a correct upgrade path from version 1.1 is: 1.1 > 1.2 > 1.31 (1.3 can be skipped).
If you omit upgrading to 1.2 then you will be missing the patched fonts.lbx file. I am not sure of the impact of not having the version 1.2 fonts.lbx but the files are different.

About read-only attribute: in windows you can select multiple file simultaneously, right-click properties and tick-untick the read-only box for all files at same time.

Thanks for the reply! I actually followed the instructions in the readme file verbatim, I tried copying the files directly from the CD into a new folder C:\GAMES\MOO2 (I also tried a separate method of simply installing a new copy of v1.1 into that folder after the first try didn't work). I did verify that Fonts.lbx does exist and it is not read-only. And I did properly direct the launcher to the new folder.

I did update straight from 1.1 > 1,31, I did not think that was a critical step because currently I can play 1.31 without issue. I will try again by going 1.1 > 1,2 > 1.31 and see if that solves the problem.

EDIT - It actually doesn't appear that v1.2 is available for download on moo2mod.com or any other website I can find. It only shows download links for 1.31 and 1.50.12., and a "version 1.2 mod" which appears to just be a mod for v1.50.

Actually the only file that is not updated when skipping version 1.2 patch is that fonts.lbx file, so I uploaded it for you here:
http://moo2mod.com/patch/FONTS.LBX
I would be surprised if this solves the issue, but at least you have the latest (version 1.2) file.
btw, 'version 1.2 mod' is indeed a mod for 1.50.

Thanks, but I still receive the same error message. There is a new file that appears in my moo2 directory after installing the 1.50 patch, "ORION150.exe" and when I click on that, it gives me a longer error message saying I'm missing the following .lbx files: Info, Raceicon, Shipname, Starname, Credits, Diplomse. This is similar to the problem described in the FAQ of the readme file, so maybe I am just not performing the workaround correctly? Let me know if I am not understanding the steps correctly -
1) Copy every single file directly from the CD into a new folder on my HDD
2) Make sure every file has "read-only" disabled
3) Install the base game via the "INSTALL" exe icon in the new folder
4) Install patch 1.31, and then 1.50, pointing launcher towards the new installed game folder as the directory and "ORION2.exe" as the DOSbox executable

When I follow these steps exactly, hitting "Launch" doesn't actually do anything at all. I have to click on the "ORION150.exe" to receive the error message described above. Which doesn't actually mention fonts.lbx.

I read back all your posts and you keep writing that you copied the cd files "into a new folder".
But the files should be copied into precisely that folder where your MOO2 is installed, not just 'a folder'.
My guess is that this must be why the lbx files go missing coz they are in another folder where the orion150.exe cannot find them. And versions 1.1 and 1.31 still work because they are looking on your cd-rom for these files.

Also your new 4-steps are mixed up, that's not how it's written in the 1.50 readme. The correct order is 3-1-2-4.
And in step 4 the DOSBox executable should not be pointed to the Orion2.exe, since that is not DOSBox but Orion executable. Instead you should point the Launcher to your DOSBox.exe. DOSBox is not required on winxp since xp still has real DOS, but that's how the Launcher was set up; on winxp you can indeed click orion150.exe directly bypassing the launcher, which will work once ALL your files are in the folder where orion150 resides.

You are not by any chance using the WINDOWS version, are you? My disc came with both Windows 95 and DOS versions on it but to run it nowadays and to use the fan patch(es), you will need to use the DOS version. There was some extra prettiness in the Windows version that stopped working after either SP1 or SP2 (sorry memory hazy after ~15y) for Windows XP but I think that was the only difference compared to the DOS version.

I see I was kind of ninjaed.... again.

It works! Interestingly enough, the launcher still gives me the same Fonts.lbx error, but ORION150.exe now starts the game without any error code at all, and I can still change the mod/settings through the launcher. Thank you for your help! I knew I was doing something wrong for the workaround, which is why I wanted to explain step by step what I was doing. Now I feel silly, lol.

I love the old games but they're always such a pain to get to work on the newer systems. I recently found an old CD-R in my dads things labeled "Project Preserve" that has a large catalog of DOS games, with all the original Sid Meier games, as well as Doom 1 and 2, Wolfenstein, Prince of Persia, the Quest for Glory series, a few Ultima games ... I really want to get MOO1 and Master of Magic to work but I ran into the "expanded memory" issue, which is apparently quite common on newer systems, and the fix for that seems to be beyond my level of technical skill =(

Great that game plays now! Actually I'd advise you to install DOSBox anyway since you now write to have issues with other old dos games. If you do so, then Launcher will also work properly upon a reinstall of Launcher after you have DOSBox...
heheh