vogelap

This is cool news. Thanks for doing that, Derek!

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: And you can't find it because - according to DC - its selling like mad.I am really happy to hear that, and hope it continues to sell well for a long time!

I've got every edition of the BC series that Derek has released... Including a signed copy of one of them!

I really like those pics. Amazing stuff. I'm having fun getting re-aquainted with the universe in The Game... I'd love to see more "TRY THIS!" type fun things to do in UC.

I noticed something comperable... The bars on the left side of the screen do not line up with their text description (Sheild, Armor, etc)... They're all shifted a bit. The screenshot here does not exhibit the problem I am experiencing. I'm running the Game at 1024x768. If necessary, I can get a screenshot showing the issue this weekend. Anyone else seeing this issue?

quote:Originally posted by Cougar_DK: Would it be possible to make it easier to print i.e. no background color and one asset per page?That would be awesome. I'll hold off printing it until we hear if that's possible.

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: Thats not the splash screen. That screen is the SafeDisc splash screen.Gotcha. I misspoke when I called it the splash screen instead of the Safedisc splash screen. Still, it was strange to see that when I was expecting UC! Otherwise, I'm enjoying the more-intuitive menu scheme and new graphics engine. I also agree that the FPS aspect could use some improvement to bring it into line with the quality of the rest of the game.

It was a little jarring to me to see a BATTLECRUISER GENRATIONS splashscreen when I coulda sworn the product I bought was UNIVERSAL COMBAT. Yup. That's what the box says. The CD too. But the splash screen calls it BATTLECRUISER GENERATIONS. Strange. I also had the sinking thought of, "I've bought this game before" when I finally got into the game. The graphics look much nicer, though. Not much time right now to play with it more, but I'll give it more time soon!

Well, I just got my copy of UC from Electronics Boutique, and am quite excited to get back into this world. In my anxiousness to step back in and see the latest offering from the mind of Derek Smart, I installed it on my machine at work machine. As expected, it didn't run on my aging rig here (my video card isn't nearly strong enough!), so I've got to wait a while more before installing it. I wanted to tell you about the conversation I had with the sales guy at Electronics Boutique... I came in and picked up the game and we chatted a bit while he was ringing me out. He said he'd heard a lot of great stuff about the game, and that he'd sold three other copies (in addition to mine) today. He'd even pulled a copy of UC off the shelves 'with intent to buy'. I think our conversation cemented his purchase decision. Congratulations to DS from an old-timer, and I'm anxious to get into this new world!

I've been here since the VERY FIRST version of BC. In fact, I've got a copy of the very first one on my shelf at home, as one of my prized possessions. What a long, strange trip, eh?

Actually, I found ANOTHER error on the box. An ADVERTISING error. Or maybe it's an error with The Game. See, on the box, big as life, it says, "A DEREK SMART SIMULATION". I'm standing in the store, thinking, "Gee... It would be REALLY cool to be Derek Smart! I've always wanted to be an independent game developer -- or EVEN BETTER -- play a simulation of an independent game developer! And here is a simulation that allows me to do just that!" So, I plunked down my money and bought the game. I expected to be able to boot into the Derek Smart Simulation and experience life through Derek's eyes (as rendered by my GeForce ULTRA) -- see him getting up in the morning, showering, shaving, eating breakfast, maybe reading the newspaper, writing code, debugging, planning enhancements, taking a drive in the Florida sunshine, and just generally running his empire. However, as I play this Derek Smart simulation, I can't find ANYTHING in the on-screen display that indicates that I am, in fact (well, in VIRTUAL fact) Derek Smart. False advertising? I think SO! (Just in case you don't already know -- I'M KIDDING!)

quote:Originally posted by $iLk: There are screenshots in the BCM screenshots part of the website of the billboards. Which page of screenshots? I looked at all 15 pages of thumbnails for something that looked like a billboard, but didn't see anything that caught my eye.

quote:Originally posted by ooJAYoo: Has anyone come across in the midst of space any Tribles, Space Flies or Space Whales (These were found in Star Glider, I may be showing my age here)... anything wierd I mean etc. I remember these from Star Glider! Wow... We're OLD! It would be kinda fun if Derek would scatter a BUNCH of things out and around in the galaxy... Maybe an award or even a prize for someone who maps them all. Heck, I'm still waiting to see a screenshot of those billboards I'm hearing about!

How about some screenshots of you hanging upside down!? I'd love to see them...

quote:After all, who whould want to download a patch when you don't have the actual game? The release of this patch unfortunately coincided with the release of the RETURN TO CASTLE WOLFENSTEIN demo, so servers across this great land were slowed due to demand. The BCM patch has been downloaded 575 times from FilePlanet at the time of this message.

I'm running the 23.11 video drivers, and the latest (000505) version of my SBLive! drivers, which are dated 8-26-99 on the SBLive! site. I suspect that the SBLive! drivers are (hopelessly) out of date, but they're the newest on www.soundblaster.com. If anyone has more current drivers for SBLive! under Win98SE, please give me a link!

But the weird thing is this... Even if I do NOT use EndItAll, my computer still hangs when I try to shutdown after playing BCM. Here's what I just did, and experienced a crash: Fresh reboot. Close PowerBar, Logitech Wingman Control Panel, SocketWatch, POW! (popup window killer), and my virus programs. Run MaxMem to free up any memory. Run BCM. SNG, CC career. Play for a while, do some planet scanning in Tacops (that's so cool). Exit the game to desktop. Try to shutdown. Screen goes black and it sits forever. Strange. And it does it every single time.

512 memory actually is solid in my Win98SE system... I've been doing heavy-duty development on that machine with that much memory for over 6 months, and it's been as solid as a Microsoft product can be , so I don't think it's the memory.

After any session playing BCM, my system will successfully return to the desktop, but when I try to shut down, it LOCKS UP the machine and will respond only to a warm reboot and has to run scandisk. I run EndItAll to delete all non-essential background programs before running BCM. This instability only happens when I run BCM... Any ideas what could be causing this, or how I can fix it?

Thermidor opens mouth, inserts foot: quote:From what you have stated it's apparent that you haven't even played BCM. Actually, you're completely wrong. I purchased BC3K (1.0!) the day it was released and still have the boxed copy on my shelf. I purchased BC3K (2.x) the day it was released (oh, and if you look at the credits for that game, you'd see my name for working on the manual) and received an autographed boxed copy from Derek for my assistance. I purchased BCM the day it was released and have played the daylights out of it since. I've logged many HUNDREDS of hours in the BC universe across all the different versions. My comment about Falcon stands. Falcon is an extremely complex sim, which also managed to have nice graphics. BTW, the patched eFalcon is quite playable and even approaches 'enjoyable'!

Here are my thoughts... Graphics AND Gameplay are both REQUIRED by games these days. Gone are the days of 'one-or-the-other'. I feel that I am a wise consumer... I understand that gameplay is what makes a game fun and make me want to continue playing it. However, graphics usually contribute a bunch (along with word-of-mouth, reviews, features, and my enjoyment of that particular genre) to why I BUY the game in the first place. It's not the most important thing, but a game with great gameplay AND great graphics gets my $$$ faster than one that's just got one or the other. I understand that Derek chooses not to use pre-rendered movies or in-engine cutscenes. But I disagree with this decision. I think that cutscenes and movies help immersion and involvement in a game. I respect Derek's decision, however, the games I enjoy most -- the games that stick with me -- are the games that feature both pre-rendered movies and in-engine cutscenes. Think UNDYING, IWAR, IW2, Diablo 2, etc. In BCM, I REALLY enjoyed watching my crafts do planetfall and my AE transport down to a planet. These graphical touches help flesh out the game and make it more enjoyable. I hope that Derek will continue to add these in-engine cutscenes for other events -- like docking, etc. In my opinion, BCM does the gameplay piece better than most other games currently in the genre. I would quibble that BCM needs a more compelling, less open-ended campaign applied on top of the existing (and excellent) open-ended game that exists now. However, BCM's graphics, while improved over previous incarnations, still fall below current gaming expectations. I feel that the reviews have been mostly fair in their assessment of this fact. Reading Derek's soapbox on this topic, especially the section of it that talks about bringing a machine to its knees with too many crafts on screen, my only thought was "OPTIMIZE THE CODE!". Heck, if Freespace 2 can have massive battles without impacting framerate, I'm sure BCM can be tweaked to do the same. Falcon 4 is every bit as complex a game as BCM, and it's got very nice graphics and detail. BCM is unusual in the 'one-or-the-other' group in that it focuses on GAMEPLAY instead of GRAPHICS. Most 'one-or-the-other' games feature glitzy graphics with razor-thin gameplay. My fantasy for BCM is a combination of it's OUTSTANDING gameplay (and an added 'story mode' with missions for single player) with the graphical richness of IW2 -- everything that IW2 offers -- from the pre-rendered movies to the in-engine cutscenes. This, in my opinion, would add the glitz to the gameplay that would propel BCM to the top of the heap.

How about a couple of screen shots! I'd love to see the billboards until I get home to see them 'live'!

quote:If you want to "see what they see" simply target your support craft and hit F10. It will give you a view of whatever you are targeting. I know about that, $ilk, but that just shows the CRAFT. I'd like to see through their eyes, so to speak...

Just wanted to mention how COOL the OBSERVE PLANET mode is in BCM! I love the way it looks... Awesome work, Derek!

Gotcha. Thanks for the tip... I remembered this functionality from BC3K, and, honestly, I liked it for the flexibility of being able to pop into various crafts to "see what they're seeing". I liked to launch a BUNCH of different things, and then to be able to check up on them by popping in. I understand why it was removed for BCM (to enhance the RPG feel), but I sure do miss the old feature!