Welcome back, today we're happy to announce that the Anniversary Update is now available.
Below you will find the latest and greatest information on Distant Worlds 2TM. Information in this document supersedes that in the official game manual.
Troubleshooting:
Ensure that your system meets the minimum system requirements. These are found in the game manual.
Also, ensure that you have the latest video and sound drivers available for your system. The vast majority
of reported problems are resolved by upgrading all drivers to the latest versions.
If you are still experiencing problems with the game, please use our Ticket System or post in the Distant
Worlds 2 Support Forum. Please provide as much detail on your issue as you can.
To obtain optimum game performance, close all other applications before beginning a game.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you still experience crashes, please try the new DXVK rendering option in the
game settings. This can be found under "Rendering Mode", which can be switched from DirectX 11 to
DXVK. DXVK should also be used together with SDR (rather than HDR) for best results. This will likely
resolve many issues caused by driver bugs or incompatibilities. If you try this setting and the game does
not launch, please note there is a command line option to switch back to DirectX 11. To use add /use-
dx11 as a command-line argument to DistantWorlds2.exe.
Change History:
v1.3.1.1 – 7th August 2025
This major update focuses on crash fixes, improvements to fleet behavior, ship designs, and
independent colonies, as well as various data fixes and miscellaneous changes based on feedback
from the Tactics Update. In addition, this update includes a special new event chain to celebrate
Slitherine’s 25th Anniversary and a small thematic easter egg for the occasional independent
freighter.
CRASH FIXES
• fixed rare crash when encountering independent colony
• fixed rare crash when processing construction yards
• fixed a number of crashes
• fixed rare crash when starting area weapon blasts in a scene
• fixed rare crash when generating a new game
• fixed crash when resolving list items
• fixed rare crash when picking up debris
ANNIVERSARY CONTENT
• added a new anniversary story event to celebrate 25 years of Slitherine and Matrix Games
• added a new anniversary variant freighter texture for one independent freighter
GRAPHICS IMPROVEMENTS
• fixed faulty rendering for some planet types
GALAXY SETUP
• empire starting location is now more accurate (specified in Start New Game screen)
USER INTERFACE
• fixed Enemy Targets list filters sometimes not working properly when filtering by empire
• changed default system badge display level to Enhanced (was Basic)
VIEW LOCK FEATURE
• view lock now properly retains lock when ship or fleet enters or exits hyperspace
• ship or fleet now smoothly locked with camera (no jiggle when zoomed in)
INDEPENDENT COLONIES
• enhanced independent colonies to have more detail: more natural features that provide bonuses,
ocassional defending troops, ocassional facilities of various sorts
• improved intro text for first contact with independent colonies so that highlights unique items at
colony
FLEET BEHAVIOR
• fixed additional situations where empire bonuses were sometimes being applied twice to ships in
a fleet
• fixed weapons often not using correct repeatable values from tech tree while in combat (e.g.
extended weapon range)
• automated fleets now better at choosing best repair/retrofit yards, e.g. preferring spaceports (with
many yards) over colonies
• further improved fleet responsiveness when intercepting incoming enemy fleets
• fleets intercepting incoming enemy fleets will now coordinate with each other so that more distant
fleets drop off when closer fleets are available to intercept
• fleets attacking creatures are now more careful about evaluating other threats at same location
and will not auto-assign attack when breaches retreat conditions (assuming location is visible and
threats are known)
• fleets and ships now more careful when evaluating Hive threat for attack
• improved fleet willingness to refuel prior to repairs when necessary
• fixed invasion fleets sometimes attacking targets outside their engagement range (but will still
attack targets of opportunity in same system even when outside engagement area)
SHIP BEHAVIOR
• improved evaluation of attacks against threats for ships outside fleets so that more careful to
avoid attacks against locations with many enemy targets unless can coordinate other nearby
ships to assist
• added new empire policy settings to control how ships outside fleets evaluate attacks against
enemy targets in both offensive and defensive situations (Minimum Attack Level for Ships,
Minimum Defend Level for Ships)
• more careful to cancel all incoming missions for enemy ships when conquer one of their colonies
(colony ships loading population, load troops, refuel/repair/retrofit for military ships)
FUEL TANKERS
• fuel tankers in fleets will now consider refuelling their fleet ships even when inside dangerous
nebulae (e.g. ion storms) that they are not designed to handle, as long as the tanker is already at
the same location as the fleet and is not disabled
SHIP DESIGN
• removed PreferredWeaponComponentIds from all races (Races.xml) so that ship design and
research is not influenced by these settings. These could interfere with the component policy
settings, causing some confusion. The component policy settings are now fully authoritative
when guiding the ship design automation.
• improved manual upgrade of ship and base designs (Upgrade button) so that engine symmetry is
honored and upgrade process attempts to keep upgraded components in the same bay if
possible (i.e. when new component fits within maximum size of existing bay)
• ensure that manually-designed ships and bases with hangar components always use at least one
external hangar bay so that ships and fighters can properly enter and exit the hangar
• improved selection of shields for automated ship design by tweaking evaluation of some shield
values
• fixed incorrect display of some shield component values where lower values are better
(Penetration Chance, Penetration Ratio)
• improved auto-design for fighters so that will now dispense with fuel tank in favor of second
reactor when required to fulfill power needs
• improved auto-design for fighters so that more likely to add further engines when possible
• automated designs for Spaceports and Defensive Bases now also includes shield recharge
energy requirements when determining how many reactors to add, thus being more likely to
avoid insufficient power output during battle
• tweaked automated Defensive Base designs to typically have more shields and armor
• automated designs now more likely to include countermeasures and targeting components, even
when hull has inbuilt countermeasures and targeting (when components provide better values in
these areas)
• when manually designing a ship or base with a ship hull that only has internal hangar bays then
disable rule requiring at least one external hangar bay to be filled by construction yards, docking
bays or fighter bays
RESEARCH
• reduced research point bonus from Research treaties to 10% (previously 20%)
• removed PreferredWeaponComponentIds from all races (Races.xml) so that ship design and
research is not influenced by these settings. These could interfere with the component policy
settings, causing some confusion. The component policy settings are now fully authoritative
when guiding the research automation.
ALLIANCES
• fixed empire offers to end wars with alliances not properly displaying Alliance Vote screen to
consider offer
• fixed empire offers to end wars with alliances not being properly evaluated when diplomacy is
automated
BASE CONSTRUCTION
• Queue Base task buttons now use more precise determination of whether target is within
construction ship fuel range
USER INTERFACE
• ship damage report now shows more precise level of hull damage when nearing 100% health,
thus making it clearer when a ship needs repair
HIVE THREAT
• greatly improved Hive fleet ability to mine fuel, thus making the Hive more readily available for
attack missions (all capable Hive ships will now mine for themselves and all ships mine faster)
DATA
• adjusted independent freighter ship hulls
• corrected an issue with the Boskara slave world event
• various data fixes to government biases
IKKURO / DHAYUT DLC
• story event typo fix
ATUUK / WEKKARUS DLC
• fixed texture issues for some Wekkarus ships
• story event typo fix
The Galaxy lives on.