Monthly Archives: January 2012

Grass Worlds Beta is officially OPEN!

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Please apologise for the delay. We’we worked hard in the past few hours to bring you Block 2: Grass Worlds. The patch for Classic Worlds is also released that addresses few bugs and do technical corrections.

Known issues with Grass Worlds:

  • Level 14: Allies Torn Apart is missing – Please apologise for that, I don’t have permission from the project leader to release it. It will be added later is now released and fully functional.
  • Level 16: Evil Land has no AI yet. I’ve not included it as it’s still very buggy to date but I’ve included a sneak preview in the Beta pack so you can see how it will look like.
  • Level 10: Forging Alliances: The AI don’t know the current time left so it can’t increase it when Chumara gets hurt, they’ll have a weaker army if you let Matak in.
  • Level 11: Teamwork Forever: Chumara simply builds where they find space. I can’t really control where the AI should build so to reserve space build a “wall” from huts.

Good Luck and Have Fun playing Devil Worlds. Remember, your feedback is very important so please take the survey after playing – it’s entirely anonymous, only your input and the version numbers are sent. Thank you. Your feedbacks are also welcome via comments on the website.

Update 1: If the survey screen don’t appear or you encounter a launcher crash during the launch progress please opt out of the beta, restart the launcher and opt in again.

Update 2: If you have an old launcher that doesn’t support the beta test click the Update button to update your launcher. Once updated you can opt in to the beta test and click the Update button again to download Grass Worlds.

Update 3: If you don’t have Ghost Army on a level where it’s supposed to be please ensure that the memedit.exe can be started by the launcher (if it can’t be started you’ll see the level IDs instead of the numbers on the list). Some antivirus programs may prevent this, in this case add your Populous folder to the excludes. If you have Reduce Memory Hacks enabled in the launcher disable it or wait 5 minutes. It should be look like this when you cast the swarm anytime anywhere on Forging Alliances:

Grass Worlds beta opens soon!

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First of all, Happy New Year for all Populous fans! After a month without any news (sorry about that) I’m happy to announce that the Grass Worlds public beta test will open at the 8th of January. Do you remember what happened at that date 8 years ago? It’s the 8th anniversary of the official EA matchmaker closedown.

Update: The BETA patch is being prepared at the moment. It’s just few hours until you can play Grass Worlds. Be sure to opt in to be notified instantly when your download is ready!

To participate please tick the Allow BETA Updates checkbox in the launcher. As soon as the beta test opens you can download the new levels and play. Before or with the beta pack a patch for the launcher and Classic Worlds will be released that corrects 2 fatal and 1 minor bugs, also utilizes few technical changes that you won’t notice. The new launcher will be a little smaller and will use even fewer memory by reducing the number of windows. It also comes with extra features that you can use:

  • Send anonymous stats: Allows the launcher to send statistics for us. The information sent is the level IDs you’ve played and the approximate game length. Default value: Depends on the Allow BETA Updates option (Off if it’s off, on if it’s on and can’t be disabled in this case). The statistics will be public.
  • Reduce memory hacks: If you prefer to play long on levels instead of completing them as quick as possible of if you have a slow CPU, enable this option to reduce the frequency of memory hacks applied to free up CPU time. Default value: Off
  • Force survey level list: Displays all beta levels on the survey list instead of only those you’ve played. Use this if you want to play all levels first and give feedback later. Default value: Off The launcher will auto-check the levels on the survey list that you’ve been played, but you can override it.
  • Disable IP check: Your IP address will not be determined and displayed when entering IP Game mode, this speeds up the progress if you don’t have Internet connection and want to play over LAN only. Default value: Off
  • Windows 7 color fix: This option will patch your registry to fix the in-game color glitches on Windows 7. WARNING! This affects the original game too!

See you soon in the Grass Worlds beta, we’re waiting for your feedbacks.

Another thing that I want to tell you is that one of our old addresses (populous3.freefronthost.com) will go offline at the 16th of January! From that day this address will no longer work. If you’ve bookmarked this address or you’re linking to it please update your bookmarks or links to the latest address (populous-online.co.uk) as soon as possible – as I’ve still seen traffic coming through it. Thank you.