3 ms·

Wow, Stars! I loved this game so much as a child. Back then, after upgrading from shareware I had to wait for a floppy disk to arrive in the mail.

Majromax 6d ago
Wasn't the shareware version fully featured, such that only the key was necessary?
- MaulingMonkey 6d ago
  The final shareware version (2.6) was fairly comparable to the retail version (2.7). This says the shareware version just lacked some sound effects...? https://web.archive.org/web/20091129230733/http://wiki.gible.net/index.php/Patches_and_versions https://web.archive.org/web/20091129230733/http://wiki.gible... However, I believe the first shareware version I had was 1.x (distributed via CD that was packed full of shareware) which was significantly different. I remember mining fuel, which tracks with the above link. Stars! was one of my very first video game purchases. I remember mailing a money order, and recieving a copy in the mail - I didn't have internet at the time. I'm not sure I even knew the internet existed then, although I would soon after if not.
- giantrobot 6d ago
  AFAIK this was the case. I played a lot of Stars! (almost exclusively the shareware) and it had all the races and tech trees. It showed higher level tech trees but those were only available in the registered game. Map sizes were also limited in the shareware. Later versions might have required additional resources for the retail upgrade but I believe the version I had (2.5?) could become the full registered copy with just a key.
- philipov 5d ago
  The shareware version I had was missing stuff until I upgraded. It was before 2.0 came out, but I don't remember the details after all this time. I believe it didn't have all the techs? Something important wasn't available.
mike_hearn 5d ago
Ha, same! As teenagers me and my friends got into it and we'd play by sneakernet. Every day at school we'd exchange floppies with that day's turn. It sounds insanely slow but turns in Stars! could easily take an hour to prepare one the game got going because of all the micromanagement required to handle a large empire. So it fitted OK around homework and dinner. I played a lot of it back in the day... makes me nostalgic to play again. But this emulator requires Intel and I have ARM Macs. Probably these days it wouldn't be hard to vibe up a modern equivalent especially with the MCP the author talks about.
- altairprime 5d ago
  Works perfectly fine in Crossover. Enable Hires in a bottle, Configure Wine to 217ppi under Display tab, copy Stars-x86.exe to C:/Prog(x86)/Stars/, simulate reboot, wait a minute for Crossover to rescan, double-click Stars-x86 icon. It launches behind other open windows so click the dock icon or cmd-tab to it once it’s running.

Majromax 6d ago

Wasn't the shareware version fully featured, such that only the key was necessary?

MaulingMonkey 6d ago
The final shareware version (2.6) was fairly comparable to the retail version (2.7). This says the shareware version just lacked some sound effects...? https://web.archive.org/web/20091129230733/http://wiki.gible.net/index.php/Patches_and_versions https://web.archive.org/web/20091129230733/http://wiki.gible... However, I believe the first shareware version I had was 1.x (distributed via CD that was packed full of shareware) which was significantly different. I remember mining fuel, which tracks with the above link. Stars! was one of my very first video game purchases. I remember mailing a money order, and recieving a copy in the mail - I didn't have internet at the time. I'm not sure I even knew the internet existed then, although I would soon after if not.
giantrobot 6d ago
AFAIK this was the case. I played a lot of Stars! (almost exclusively the shareware) and it had all the races and tech trees. It showed higher level tech trees but those were only available in the registered game. Map sizes were also limited in the shareware. Later versions might have required additional resources for the retail upgrade but I believe the version I had (2.5?) could become the full registered copy with just a key.
philipov 5d ago
The shareware version I had was missing stuff until I upgraded. It was before 2.0 came out, but I don't remember the details after all this time. I believe it didn't have all the techs? Something important wasn't available.

mike_hearn 5d ago

Ha, same! As teenagers me and my friends got into it and we'd play by sneakernet. Every day at school we'd exchange floppies with that day's turn. It sounds insanely slow but turns in Stars! could easily take an hour to prepare one the game got going because of all the micromanagement required to handle a large empire. So it fitted OK around homework and dinner. I played a lot of it back in the day... makes me nostalgic to play again. But this emulator requires Intel and I have ARM Macs. Probably these days it wouldn't be hard to vibe up a modern equivalent especially with the MCP the author talks about.

altairprime 5d ago
Works perfectly fine in Crossover. Enable Hires in a bottle, Configure Wine to 217ppi under Display tab, copy Stars-x86.exe to C:/Prog(x86)/Stars/, simulate reboot, wait a minute for Crossover to rescan, double-click Stars-x86 icon. It launches behind other open windows so click the dock icon or cmd-tab to it once it’s running.