What process had you used for joining? This might sound silly, but I just have to check, since I haven't seen this and have succeeded in loading multiplayer saves in this version.
I used the regular way (as you described). Since we were frequently having de-syncs, we'd immediately save and then restart the game (exit to Windows, restart), and re-join. No problems until this version.
Also, I should mention that leaving the game entirely worked to slow down the desyncs more than just quitting to the main menu and restarting. That led me to think that the desync was related to resource leakage.
Attached please find the save game that would not load (filename "Final" in it). Do you need the user names? I assume they are put in there as it always says "Waiting for you" in the join screen.
Hmm, this is distressing, I have not seen this. Do you frequently pause the game?
Well, we turned off TBS-friendly pausing since we read something about it in the sticky thread in the support forum. There were not frequent pauses; they were actually relatively infrequent, given the limited utility of non-TBS pausing. (Usually only when going into a sector with an ion cannon so as to locate it.)
I will attach the other two save games - that should have been identical unless we neglected to pause it properly (identical, that is, aside from the desync). They are the ones not labeled "final".
Impulse does get the patches weekly, and you can still use their client for those and just overwrite the files for our game with the latest prerelease, same as you would with a non-Impulse version. We release "official" patches on the same frequency as Impulse does for our game.
It is the lag on the official releases that I don't like Impulse for. Also, Impulse's predecessor (Stardock Central) used to have a "beta" install option as well, where you could put betas. I don't know if Impulse does that, but if so, you might consider tying into there as well, and seeing about streamlining the process with them (i.e., no Impulse personnel required to update your game/assets/changelog, etc.).
That said, when possible I buy from Impulse now-a-days because I trust Stardock not to mistreat me as a customer, as so many other (large) companies seem to do these days. I don't even trust Amazon or Apple, and Amazon has some of the best customer service I've seen in the last 12 years (since becoming their customer in early '97).
Cheers!
PS: Now that you have larger attachments... Do you still prefer gmail or attachments?
PPS: Is there any private or identifiable information in the saves that I should consider before posting them on the forums?