Ad Astra is an open-ended space exploration game which has attempted to model a Galaxy of over 110,000 real stars based on the 1997 Hipparcos Star Catalogue. The application supports fractal planets, procedural flora and fauna with uninterrupted game play whilst within a particular solar system.


VERSION 1.3c now available via the Download Game page.

VERSION 1.3c : Released 28th June 2010

ENHANCEMENTS
Updated German translation courtesy of Mathias Merboth

Update to DirectX9 Version which should now fix the outstanding Windows7 64bit incompatibility issues that some users have been experiencing. I would like to thank Mathias Merboth and Wallace McGee for helping me test this version of the game.

BUG FIXES
Fixed disabled Joystick which was a bug introduced in Version 1.3b.
Fixed Salvage release for 3rd party spacecraft.

SAVE GAMES
Partially compatible with previous revisions - the 'Jump' button should be used instead of the 'Load' option.

PROBLEM CONCERNING MISSING MENU STRUCTURES
Some users have reported an issue concerning missing menu components particularly with respect to Nvidia Graphics Cards. It has been determined that the underlying cause of this problem is that Antialiasing has been enabled in the Graphics Cards control panel. This option should be set to 'Application Controlled' or 'Disabled'.

PROBLEM CONCERNING WINDOWS7 64Bit OPERATING SYSTEM
It has been reported that Ad Astra does not execute correctly under the Windows7 64Bit operating System. It is suspected that the cause of the problem is that the game utilises DirectX7 rather than a later version. Consequently DirectX9 versions of the game have been provided that may fix this fault.

PHASING OUT OF DIRECTX7 VERSION
Release 1.3b supports both a DirectX7 and a DirectX9 version of Ad Astra. The intention is to phase out the DirectX7 implementation of the game provided that no significant adverse reaction is received.