Zuul

Heheh, SC and I went through this whole thing about 2 weeks ago. I even ended up sending him my DxDiag and system settings files. If your reading this SC, no need to go through the whole tech support thing again. Honestly I am just looking for answers as to why BCM would lockup and why no other game ever does. Why does the SBLive not work correctly with it. Why do we have to lower video/sound acceleration. Just want to know why all this has to be done for BCM exlusively. I mean these are very valid questions to ask and everyone here deserves to know. I mean this is the only game people need to do these things for. Btw Soback, I registered BCM the 1st second it came out, and I always post my system settings in the 1st post, didnt realize SC wanted us to post a link of them now.

Well I'm sorry if it "sounded" like I had an attitude. These are posts we are writing here. Theres usualy only two definitive emotions behind a letter, and thats caps lock or not. So I will say it wasnt intentional if it sounded like I had an attitude, but I do have a very valid reason to be upset. And I understand BCM means a lot to you, especialy now. Thats cool, and I respect that. As for my lockup issues, well I understand that you may not be having them, but I am, and so are several others judging by this thread alone. And honestly, I'd be having problems with other programs/games if it actualy was "just" my system causing this. I can go through a huge list of other games I play and they are just as complex as BCM if not more complex in the graphics/sound department. SC made this game, so he should understand more then anyone why it freezes up unlike every other game to date.

Sorry Soback, but I was being polite. This is a serious technical issue with BCM here for me. I did not once blame anybody for anything, did not use any vulgar language, did not do anything except state the facts. I'm a customer, plain and simple. BCM freezes up on me constantly and I need answers. You wanted to flame me for one of my earlier posts telling me to leave and get off the boards for no reason, well I told you to stay out of it this time (and I even said PLEASE). Look whose the ignorant one here buddy. You should have been warned LONG ago for flaming people and giving them ignorant statements, especially on this particular forum. This is about BCM and the constant lockup problem I'm having. So I'm going to say please stay out of this one more time, Im giving you the benefit of the doubt here and will continue to act courteous. [ 12-06-2001: Message edited by: Zuul ]

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: If you for one minute think that BCM will run at 60fps at 1280x1024 in 32bit mode on a P3 866, what have you been smoking? And do you have any left? And please explain to me what tweaks you do, which cause you to boot the system 10 times. I'd like to know what it is you're doing. Ok, first of all, I have NEVER ran BCM higher then 800x600 @32bit. I am currently *trying* to run it in 800x600 @16bit. All I said was that my system can handle 1280x1024 easy for most games. If I drop any lower then 800x600 @16bit for BCM I mide as well be playing an Atari game (it locks up at 640x480 anyways too). I have a GeForce2 GTS 64MB DDR for god sakes. A P3 866MHz with 256MB of RAM. Not some 300MHz, 64MB RAM, Voodoo 2 POS. Trust me when I say I can run most games at extremely high resolutions. But as for BCM I have never went above 800x600. Second off, as for changing system settings, hardware/sound acceleration, reinstalling video drivers, reinstalling sound drivers, disbaling TSR's, changing desktop resolutions, playing around with video BIOS and whatever else needs to be done, your telling me all of this can't take up to 10 reboots or even more? Well it sure does. Listen, all I want is for BCM to work. I paid 50 bucks plus tax for this game and it happens to be the only game in the history of every other game that freezes up constantly for no apparent reason. Do you actualy expect people to cater their system settings for 1 single game when they happen to have 30+ other games loaded up on their system!? I hate to break it to you but BCM is NOT the only game there is. There are thousands upon thousands of PC games out there and most run flawlessly on my system. You need to take into account that people play other games. Lowering graphic/sound acceleration is a huge NONO for ANY game. Why is it BCM is the only game in the world that has problems with the SBlive? 99.9% of every system comes with one. It happens to be THE most prominent sound card ever created. Trust me when I say theyre not the ones with a driver problem. I don't want to hear how "advanced" BCM is either Soback, so stay out of it and mind your own business please. On a side note, I just downloaded the brand new official Detonator drivers and the new RC6 of BCM. So I will try these out and see what happens. I'll keep the TSR's turned off, but I'm not gonna lower the graphics/sound acceleration anymore cause that just isnt an option. If BCM freezes up on me after this, well, I dont know what to say except for that its BCM thats the problem, not my system, not my drivers.

Maybe you oughta take a better look at my system specs Soback. My system runs any game on the market at full speed 1280x1024 full screen at 32bit flying at 60fps almost always. I can even go into 1600x1200 mode easy if I wanted to. I never stated I didnt like BCM. I think the game is great, but it has stability issues that need to be addressed. This thread alone will have over a thousand posts with stability problems by the end of the month if not closed. Dont take my word for it, take everyone elses that are having the same issues with the game crashing and/or freezing constantly. I refuse to reboot the cpu up to 10 times changing system settings just to get a game of BCM in, then when I'm done playing resetting all system settings back to full power again resulting in another 10 reboots. Don't tell me that isnt just plain ridiculous and extremely tedious. No game is worth doing all this for no matter how good it is.

I hate to add to this, but BCM locks up on me constantly still. I'm tired of having to re-configure my whole system every single time I feel like playing a single game of BCM. You honestly cannot expect people to keep video and sound acceleration turned to a minimum, have BIOS settings changed, and reinstall the game a hundred times to get the game to work. And several other system changed settings like keeping the screen depth and resolution down. I have 30+ other major titles loaded up on my system and they all work beyond perfectly fine. But in order to get a halfway decent game of BCM going I need to do all of this every single time? I already know what fixes are needed to stop the crashes/lockups, but you are asking us to reconfigure our whole system every single time just to play BCM. Why should we even have to do ANY of that to get a single game to work!? Don't tell me its my system configuration either at this point. Like I said, I have games that are a hundred times more graphic and memory intensive.... Gateway P3 866 256MB SDRAM GeForce2 GTS (Det v2183) SBLive DirectX 8.1 Windows ME BCM v1.0.01 final release

Word of warning about the Nvidia 2280 beta drivers. They seemed to work great with BCM and if you only play BCM then I guess everything is well with them. They do not work with 90% of the other games though. You will have massive problems using these drivers if you play other games as well. I just had to switch back to the 21.83 drivers to get all my other games working again. So hopefully BCM still works for me now. I was crashing like crazy in BCM the last time I used them, so we will see....

Nice SS. Pooooor John!

Let me add that in order for the drivers to work flawlessly you need to: 1) Uninstall previous Detonator files by uninstalling them from add/remove programs in control panel. Reboot 2) Go into Display and adapters and switch to standard PCI VGA graphics adapter. Reboot 3) Go back into adapters and point out where the new drivers are located. Reboot 4) Reinstall DirectX 8.1. Reboot. (This is optional, but in my opinion needed after a video/sound driver update) 5) Delete completely any games you have including their folders. Reinstall them from scratch. (Another optional step, but again for stability reasons a good idea to do) These steps are common practice to get your games running as smoothly as possible, especially BCM! [ 11-28-2001: Message edited by: Zuul ]

quote:Originally posted by Cmdr Nova: Don't use leaked drivers of any kind. The only NVidia drivers that are supported at the moment, are the latest official ones; 2183. If you are having problems with leaked drivers, go back to the official ones and try that before coming here. I've been using the 22.80 drivers ever since SC told me to switch to them last week. They have been a hundred times more stable with BCM then the 2183 drivers could ever hope to be (havent crashed once yet with them as opposed to crashing every 10 mins with the 2183 drivers). And they work great with every other game too. Not only that, SC clearly states that he himself even uses the 2280 drivers! If your having problems with the 2183 drivers, use the 2280 drivers. Even if you dont have problems I would use the 2280 drivers anyways....

quote:Originally posted by EAGLE: I agree first your want to drop colonists next you'll want to tell them what to build. its not CivIII. Not exactly. I never said I wanted to assume full control of the new colony that is being built, (although that would be great). If I wanted to build cities manualy and in real time I would just go play Imperium Galactica II or a game along those lines. What I am disturbed about is that you cannot even drop colonize or worker castes onto an empty planet in the first place. If I could just drop them off and let them build up bases based on their own needs via some kind of script that would be just fine (call it expanding your races influence). I know the NPC Explorers can do it as per what the Appendix states. The appendix even states exactly how they go about creating new settlements as well (based on the colony needs). At least it would give the Explorer caste a clear definition on what they are supposed to do and give you some sort of accomplishment that you actualy did something. I understand that you can roleplay an Explorer by just roaming around exploring new places. But a Trader can do that too. So can a military caste. So can an assasin or a raider, or any other caste in the game. As it stands, every caste can do what an Explorer does but with a different title. And they can do it a thousand times better because they actualy have a capital ship with weapons and marine compliments. Simparadox hits it right on the head when he says that the Explorer and Diplomat castes are useless. At least when you play one yourself. They have no special abilities that sets them apart from other castes. I will say it again; An Explorer is the same exact class as a Trader with a different title. It just doesnt make sense whatsoever that you can actualy play these castes when the Trader caste is identical to them in every way. The only playable castes should be the aggressive ones and a Trader. Maybe a Paramedic too since no one seems to attack them. All other playable castes should be eliminated or given something that sets them apart from the other castes.

I know that NPC Explorers and other harmless castes do what they were intended to do. I'm not questioning that at all. The problem is with PC Explorers and the rest of the harmless castes (exluding the Trader). I mean why not give the PC the ability to do what a NPC can do? I know I am not far off at all when I say an Explorer is a Trader with a different title when you play with one manualy. It would just be nice if Explorer vessels (controlled by the player) realy did come with colonize and worker castes so that we could drop them off on a deserted planet/moon for them to build up a new empire. Same goes for the Diplomat caste as well. But like everyone else is saying, maybe someone will make a script where you actualy can do this stuff, although it should have been part of the game or at the very least introduced in a future patch.

Just to clarify, I can't complain about BCM whatsoever except for the harmless castes. I love the game and think its a great concept. I am definitely not trying to put the game down in any way, shape, or form. Get these harmless castes doing what theyre supposed to be doing and the game will then weigh in as the most in-depth game ever created. As it stands now, aggressive castes, FPS, and Trader careers are the only options available if you want to have a good time. The other several castes are Traders with different names.

quote:Originally posted by Soback: The reason for making them is that you can actually exlore space without getting constantly attacked. Soback, with a statement like this it is obvious you have never even played the game as an Explorer. They get attacked by almost everything. And there is absolutely no way to defend yourself either (which doesnt bother me that much considering I AM an unarmed transport). What bothers me is that certain classes such as the Explorer and Diplomat are completely useless. An Explorer finds new planets/moons and colonizes them as per what the Appendix states. But in reality you can't do any of that when you play an Explorer. All you can do is roam around and mine minerals from planets and trade. Hmmm, sounds mighty familiar to the Trader class, no? Same for a Diplomat, and a number of the other harmless castes. If I play an Explorer I better damn well be able to colonize planets and other Explorer type functions. If I play a Diplomat he better be able to do some diplomacy. The game only caters to aggressive castes, FPS careers, and the Trader class. Every other caste is worthless to play as they cannot even perform the functions that their very existence is based on. And again, sorry if it sounds like I'm upset, but I am. Something definitely needs to be done about these castes. I don't want to be a military commander. I dont want to be an insurgent or a raider. What I want to be is an Explorer and actualy be able to do what an Explorer does, not roam around pretending to be a Trader. Whoever agrees with me, please by all means post your thoughts and keep this thread bumped.

Ok then... What exactly is the purpose of playing an Explorer or any other caste that isnt an aggressive type caste like military commander or a FPS career? I'd honestly like to know. Why even add any other castes as playable besides the aggressive castes if you can't even do what they are intended to do? What am I supposed to do, fly around in an unarmed transport just sending probes out and collecting minerals and avoid getting blown to pieces by armed ships for my entire career as an explorer? So, diplomats cant use diplomacy. Explorers cant colonize planets. Why not just eliminate these two castes as playable then. Sorry if you don't like my opinions, but everyone is entitled to them.