Using Stardock Central
Stardock Central is a program that manages your Stardock games. It combines software updates, live chat, message boards, and document updates.
To download the latest version of Stardock Central go here: http://www.galciv1.com/download.asp
Here's how you use it.
[1] After you install, it will ask you to create a Stardock.net account. This information will allow you access your games from any computer, participate in message boards, and streamline any technical support you may need.
If you need to edit your account later, you can go to the Tools->Edit Stardock.net Account...
When you finish creating your Stardock.net account we'll send you an email that lets you validate your account. Once you do this, you can continue to the next step.
[2] Register GalCiv with Stardock Central. You do this by going to the Tools->Register Products menu item. On here, simply copy and paste the serial # you received in your email and then press the "Register" button. This is important because if you do not register your product, you will not be able to see updates.
[3] Now you're ready to download. Galactic Civilizations is part of Stardock's TotalGaming.net suite of games. Click on the software button and then click on the TotalGaming.net tab. Stardock Central will scan your account and make available which games you have access to and shareware/demos of ones you do not.
For your convenience, we have broken Galactic Civilizations up into a few modules that can be installed at different times (other than the actual base game of course). Each module has its own version number.
To update or install, select the module you want and then press the Install or update button on the left side. Alternatively, a button will appear to the right of the listing on the screen (see screenshot) and you can choose that.
If you have any questions, you can click on the Discussion button and go to the GalCiv forum. Or you can chat with us live by clicking on the "Chat" button and pressing "Connect" to connect to our IRC server and following the instructions on how to get to the #galciv channel.
We hope you enjoy the game and let us know how we can make your experience better.
Q: I purchased GalCiv at the store and when I go to update the base game it wants to download some 80+ meg file?
A: Sometimes the order in which these things are installed matters. Probably the easiest and least painful way to get around this is to simply reinstall from the CD (or the setup image you downloaded) and then re-install Stardock Central from scratch. While there may be a simple solution to your specific case, doing this is almost certain to solve the problem and is quicker than trying to trouble shoot the reason it's trying to re-download the whole game. To repeat: Reinstall GalCiv from the CD and then reinstall SDCentral. It is the SDCentral setup program that does the detecting of what version of GalCiv is already installed and prepares it to not have to download as much.
Also, make sure you are installing and not downloading and archiving. If you try to download and archive it will always grab everything.
Q: Help! I can't see new versions!
A: Make sure you have entered in your serial # into the "Register Products" area.
Q: I lost my password to my Stardock.net account!
A: We will soon have a way to look this up within SDC, for now, go here.
Q: How can I tell exactly what build I have installed?
A: Go to Tools->Settings and choose display revision numbers.
Q: When I am downloading it aborts for no apparent reason!
A: Sometimes a download will time out, especially over a bad connection. Just try again. It will resume where you left off.
Q: Can't I just download updates as a regular old "patch"?
A: Yes, we will be providing standard downloadable patches. But these won't be nearly as often as the frequent updates we make via Stardock Central since there is a lot more effort involved in building an installer. The reason Stardock can provide such frequent updates to its software is because of the infrastructure that Stardock Central is able to hook into. Keep an eye out on the Downloads area on GalCiv.com for traditional patch updates.
Q: I heard there's a "beta" update of GalCiv available, how do I get that?
A: In Settings you can turn on "show alphas/betas". Note: Beta versions are just that -- betas. Use at your own risk.