Joel Schultz

Hehe, so long as we're starting yet another silly countdown, here's some potential future countdowns to consider: Countdown to second patch (first is practically there already due to ATI's blundering) Countdown to MP patch (ok, I'm pessimistic, I don't really believe that MP will be out by the second patch either, but SC is free of course to prove me wrong ) Countdown to EFM Countdown to WW2 game Countdown to modern game Countdown to GCO Countdown to BCM add-in thingy for FP in ships Countdown to ATI fixing their current drivers (um, how long would it take to count down from infinity? ) Countdown to ATI releasing their first good drivers (same question as above) Countdown to bunnies shoving lemmings off their proverbial cliff in MP Countdown to lemmings stewing some bunnies for dinner in MP Countdown on Indies double-dealing everyone and ruling the galaxy in MP (hey, if Galcom=commies or lemmings and Insurgents=bunnies, what do we call Indies?) Countdown for the first person to take down SC in MP!!! Countdown to SC threatening banishment for starting a new countdown

Hey, did anyone notice that editting posts doesn't produce those [EDITED ON] bracket messages anymore?

quote: I've already hacked in a fix for Radeon cards so that the game works on them out of the box. Where are my manners?! Thank you in advance for doing that on behalf of all ATI BCM gamers. Who hopefully will learn their lesson and won't be ATI gamers for too much longer, budgets willing of course.

Ok how about this: What races/castes ought a newbie start playing in right away if they want to have as diverse of an experience as possible, without being completely overwhelmed. E.g. a full-fledged Battlecruiser commander would let you have the most diverse experience but could be overwhelming for newbies. I'm asking this: what races/castes with smaller (and hence simpler) roles to play would introduce the newbie to BCM with as diverse of an experience as possible? Or another way of looking at it: if Joe Newbie wanted to sit down with BCM for two hours and play one type of game, and then sit through another two and have a totally different but just as interesting or challenging experience - what races/castes would you recommend he try out? Why am I asking? Well - for one thing most of us are probably newbies to playing as other races/castes. And two - before I settle down into a meat-n-potatoes campaign, I want to goof around a little to see what's out there. Who knows, it may even influence my decision on how to play a longer-term game...

Actually, Advil, I've been seriously looking at Gainward. It has been reviewed - I'm kind of surprised you didn't think so. Maybe its because they keep a low profile since they don't put their stuff in stores (on-line is another story). But PNY - there's something I've yet to see a review of so I'll steer clear, thank you (and GREG). Ditto for "eVGA" - never heard of them. Various reviews: [*]Anandtech review of their original Geforce 3 Golden Sample card [*]Anandtech again, July roundup of Geforce3 cards. I notice it got the best 2D quality marks. [*]PC World.com's review of their Geforce 256 DDR. Not as "glowing", but Gainward is still in the "top 10" list. Heh, the card (Guillemot) I had at the time it was written was too. [*]Bench-house review of GeForce 3 cards. [*]Hot Hardware review of their GeForce 3 Golden Sample. [*]Tom's Hardware round-up of GeForce 3's. Gainward comes out on the "recommendations" list. No disrespect to ASUS, they are rock solid to infinity - which is why I use them for mobo's - but you pay somewhat more, and quite frankly, they ARE a bit pricey of a card with too many money-consuming extras. MSI has a strike against them to me: their GeForce3 had poor 2D quality. As did Asus, though not as bad in the reviews done on them. I use 2D far more than 3D, so I don't like sacrificing quality on that front. Leadtek - hmm. Seems to be all around OK card, though their own GeForce 3 drivers had some minor problems according to Hot Hardware (not so when used with nVidia's). Odd. But they got a good review. Bad point for me: their Ti 200's higher price seems because they included "extras" again on the hardware that the basic Gainward lacks. It seems to me Gainward is a cheap (not cheapest) but reliable vendor for GeForce 3's. Any naysayers with bad experiences with their stuff? Because if not, I'm extrapolating that they will continue to be a reliable vendor for the GeForce 3 Titanium too, and am leaning heavily in their direction right now.

quote: then Nvidia will acquire ATI Radeon Technology AMEN! I think they're the only hope of ever getting that power unleashed now. ATI ought to license it to them or something like that. And maybe then we'll see what a real Radeon can do, and maybe nVidia will get their 2D stuff together. 2D's always been their weakness, but bottom line is that it WORKS, regardless that it isn't as pretty and strong as some of their competitors.

Yikes, you know things are bad when the SC's gotta vent it on his soapbox.

Um, thank you for the recommendations for Asus, BUT there's a reason I listed the cards I did: they all come with MINIMAL "extras" that hike up the price. And since I'm looking only at GeForce3 Ti 200, I'd imagine that all cards with it are close enough together on the benchmarks to the point that it really doesn't matter if one is slightly above the other. Keep in mind I'm shooting for $200 (maybe a little more) or less, I've been to Pricewatch and know which cards I'm looking at. So unless ALL of them have bad reps, that's my price range and I'm sticking to it. Thank you again for your advice... [ 10-25-2001: Message edited by: Joel Schultz ]

Specifically, I wonder what the pros/cons are with respect to the various manufacturers who will be producing nVidia GeForce 3 Ti 200? Obviously, some include various "extras" like TV out, dual-head, 3D glasses, game CDs, etc. I don't care about any of these, the closer to a plain old monitor out, the better. And of course driver support is important - but I suppose everyone just DL's nVidia's anyway. I suppose what's important is that it works out of the box. Has anyone heard pros/cons with regard to the following guys reputations? Or can recommend one? Looking to spend PNY Technologies (Verto) Leadtek (WinFast) Visontek (Xtasy) Gainward (CardExpert) Inno3D (Tornado) Example of a card with way too much oozing off of it that I won't buy, despite me liking Hercules: Hercules (Prophet III Ti 200) [ 10-25-2001: Message edited by: Joel Schultz ]

SC, what exactly did go wrong with the 8500 drivers? What were the problems you saw?

OK I'm very mad at ATI right now - and I used to like them. I'm not due for another video upgrade for a year, and I have this problem going on (posted about over here) and then I hear about this news, meaning my planned replacement is CRAP! So...can anyone recommend a way to ditch a Radeon (preferably one that would put some $$$ back in my pocket) and a decent replacement card that's going to have to survive the next two years of gaming?

quote: Joel, I hate to break this too you - but you can play BCM without EVER touching the keyboard. Try it sometime, you might just like it. Undoubtedly . But agree with Epsilon 5; all else being equal the fastest mouse-clicker in BCM or any game can be beat by a guy with a mouse + keyboard (especially true in RTS games). Two input devices vs. one = twice the command input rate, combine with not having to go through hierarchical mouse menus = better than twice the command input rate? That Saitek rig is a little too locked into flight-sim. IMHO Nostromo would seem to do better in other game genres as well. [ 10-23-2001: Message edited by: Joel Schultz ]

Demo: E2 Driver: 4.13.7189 (15-OCT-2001 release) Board: ATI Radeon 32MB DDR, no funky features, just plain old monitor out. DirectX: 8.0a I just upgraded to the latest ATI Radeon drivers. And demo 2 stopped working, in that the graphics don't work at all, even with /nd1 and /nd2. Symptoms: I get NO texture rendering at all anywhere. No buildings on the ground, no ships in space(though I get ghostly afterimages of the drive) - nothing but the HUD, J/K/L computer screens and the left/right sidebar icons. I tried monkeying with Z-buffer depths. Setting it to 16 as per FAQ instructions caused graphical problems with the HUD. Tried toggling the various settings on the Direct3D tab. Still nothing. Though I got it to the point where I'd get it not to start at all (hour-glass+arrow cursor, then nothing). I think I need to reboot or something after that occurs. And worst of all, my downloaded Tweaker 5.1 program crashes. I can't even do a low-level driver tweak! 1st question: should I even care? I mean, I'm talking E2 demo but what matters is the Gold disk. Does the Gold work with the above driver? (It may still require /nd1 or /nd2, but just "working" would satisfy me for now). 2nd question: am I on a wild goose chase? Are ATI's latest drivers really too buttly to hope to use? (Ties into 1st question). 3rd question: has anyone else got this problem with these drivers and figured it out? I'm still experimenting and running through threads referring to Radeon. But I thought I'd get something started in here in the hopes someone else gets an answer quicker than I do.

Does anyone here own a Belkin Nostromo? It got a good review at AVault, and given Battlecruiser's heavy reliance on the keyboard I wonder if it could help some... Then again, BC(M) has twenty gazillion keystrokes so it may be a little much even for it.

E-mail sent last night, and in case you didn't catch it (I editted my previous post after you announced the winner) - thanks again! [ 10-16-2001: Message edited by: Joel Schultz ]

quote: besides bcm where can i get some more the music is great! Well, SC had uploaded the MP3's for BCM a while back. I think I have a complete collection at work, but not here at home, sadly. And no facilities to upload them to either. Maybe some other kind soul around here could assist you, JJ?

HEY! It's 10/15, guys! Isn't SC supposed to pick the winner or something?UPDATE: SC HAS DECIDED THE WINNER (SEE NEXT POST) Well, it was fun, but now it's done... (OK, I'm almost ready to shut up. I added in the few leftover choices that hadn't made this list yet. Now I'm through.) (OK, one more thing: thank you, SC!!! ) Adrian Dune . Virtual Life Immersion . Complete Reality Immersion . Complete Reality Transcendence . Virtual Gaming Life . Complete Reality . Complete Transcendence . Transcend Reality Gaming . Total Life Immersion . Total Transcendence . Total Reality Transcendence . Omniscient Gaming Reality . Complete Omniscience . Total Omniscience . Universal Odyssey . Superior Simulation . Superior Smart Simulation . Universal Freedom . Smart Reality . Smart Reality Simulation Andergum . Multiple Environment Galactic Combat and Trading Simulator (MEGCATS) . Intergalactic Multiple Environment Combat and Trading Simulator (IMECATS) aramike . Now that's a game (NTAG) axis . Electronic Battlefield . Digital Battlefield . Virtual Galaxy . Level of Detail Simulator (LoDSim) Billy Bob . "category/genre all it's own" . The only game ya gotta have and the only game you'll ever need! Blackdawgg . Kickass Charles Lindsey . Multiple Perspective Simulation . Multiple POV . Juxtapositional Universal Galactic Simulator (JUGS) Cmdr Jeffery Eu . THE GAME Cmdr Nova . Sci-Fi Epic . Total Space Simulator . Complete Sci-Fi Adventure Simulation Cmdr P. Laracuente . Futuristic Advanced Stratagic multi environment epic simulation . Total Inmersion Epic War Simulation (TIEWS) . The next Generation War Simulation . Futuristic advanced strategic multi environment epic war simulation . Total inmersion epic war simulation Commander Blake . science semi-fiction living space simulation (SSFLSS) . science fiction living space simulation (SFLSS) . sci-fi life sim (SFLS) Cur . Capital Ship Simulation desolator . Non-WASD RTFM SpaceSim . Derek Smart Simulation DeSylva . Multi-Environment Integrated Simulator/Multi Engine Integrated Simulator (MIES) . Multi-Platform Integrated Simulator (MPIS) Eclipse . Living Universe Emmett.hendrick . FREEDOM . CHOICE Epsilon 5 . Complete simulation . SKFJGHMD (E5, what's this mean?) . Multi-class futuristic militarised simulator . GAME OF THE NEW DECADE . Eat This Shirley or Fabio or Taco Supreme or Gordon (ETSFTSG) Fendi . FUTURE SIMULATOR Jaguar . "IT IS A GENRE OF IT's OWN" . Derek Smart Simulation Joel Schultz . (Genre) Free-form adventure/simulation (Subgenre) science-fiction/space kalniel . sci-fi universe simulator . space commander sim Korono Lakeela . Look You B*****d Publishers I Did It My F*****g Self (LYBPIDIMFS) (censored - you get the idea) LordDavid . BattleField Millennium (corrected spelling) . Advanced Battle Combat Defence Everything(else) Fighting Game with Hacking Inteligense Journeying Killing Losing Machines Nanotechnology spaceOpera Persistant nonQuitting Realtime Space Trading Universe Version With Xplosions nonYawning(action) Zone Game (ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ) . It Luc . Battle Command Simulator (BCS) . Fully Immersive Battle Simulator (FIBS) . Fully Immersive Tactical Simulator (FITS) . Totally Immersive Tactical Simulator (let's not abbreviate that one, shall we?) . Virtual Reality . Multi Environment Dynamic Real Time Simulator . True Realtime Immersive Multi Environment (TRI-ME) . Fully Encompassing Simulator (FES) . Multi Environment Combat Simulator (MECS) . Dynamic Environment Combat Simulator (DECS) . Simulation, Multi Environment Game (SMEG) . Tactical Environment Combat Simulator (TECS) . Multi Environment Tactical Simulator (METS) . Interactive Wild Advanced New Technology Immersive Tactical (I-WANT-IT) Macon De'Witt . Virtual Reality of Mass Destruction (VRMD) . Fantasy Electronic Battlefield (FEBF) . WISHBAG (double acronym: With Industry Software Hype Being All Garbage/Why It Should Habitually Be About Gaming) . What You See Is What You Kill (WYSIWYK) . Derek's House Of Pain (DHOP) . Persistent Real-time Economic Galactic Oppression (PREGO) . Immersive House Of Pain (IHOP) . Your Own Battlecruiser Imersive Tactical Economic Multiplayer Engagement (YOBITEME) . F*** You We Can Do What We Want (FYWCDWWW) (censored) . My Winning Battbruiser Name That Genre Entry (MWBNTGE - I win na na nuh na na it says so right in the acronym) ("Battbruiser?) Mano Faber . Universal Strategy Gaming(/Simulation) . Galactic Strategy Gaming(/Simulation) . Galactic Supremacy Gaming(/Simulation) Melcar . Freeform Galactic Simulation Menchise . Strategic First Person Combat and Trade Simulation . Strategic Combat and Trade Simulation . MultiView Combat and Trade Simulation . MultiView Combat and Trade Strategy Simulation . MultiView Real Time Combat and Trade Strategy Simulation . MultiView Real Time MultiBased Strategic Combat and Trade Simulation (MVRTMBSCTS) . MultiBased Strategic Combat Simulation (MBSCS) . Strategic Multi-Combat Simulation (SMCS) . Multi-Combat Strategy Simulation (MCSS) . Multi-Combat Simulation (MCS) . Strategic Multi-Combat and Trade Simulation (SMCTS) . Multi-Combat and Trade Simulation (MCTS) MidnightGreen . Life . SMART SIMULATION mO . realistic space combat simulator mostlikely . Future-live simulation (corrected spelling) Outlaw . The last game you'll ever play that will ruin your social life forever! . BCM is the only game u need to play Paddy Gregory . 42' (because it's the answer) quantum . Space/Land/Sea/Air Combat Immersion . 4-G or 4-Gen (Sim/RTS/FPS/RPG) R_wilco . Sci-Fi action sim . Multi-gameplay Sci-Fi sim . Multi-genre . OmniGame Riga . Total immersion Scrivener . Personal Simulation Scotty . Multi Environment Combat, Trading and Exploration Simulation (MECTES) (borrowed from Luc, doesn't want credit for this) . Multi Environment Military Simulation (MEMS) (borrowed from Luc, doesn't want credit for this) $ilk . THE GENRE . Massively Persistant Universe Simulating First&Third Person Sci Fi Shooting and Flying simulation . Sci-fi Roleplaying Simulation . The Evolving Genre . Process Intensive Genre . RL to RP conversion module . EPIC IS TOO SMALL A WORD . INDECISION . PLAYER-ORIENTED . PLAYER-DECIDABLE . PLAY AS YOU CHOOSE . IT's YOUR GAME YOU CHOOSE HOW YOU WANT IT TO BE . Choose your Point of View genre (CPOV) . Sci-fi Command Simulator . All Inclusive RP . Shoot this is hard... (yeah, I know you were joking, LOL) . Infinite Scenario Distribution Engine (ISDE) . Genuine Environment Naval Space Incorporated Simulator (GENESIS) . Who What When Where How You Want To Be (WWWWHYWTB) . Evolutionary Prototype Chassis & Environmental Planetary Travel Incorporated Over Naval And Revolutionary Engine (EXCEPTIONARE) ("X"? "C"? "E"?) SmileyMan . Alternate Reality Simulation . Alternate Future Simulation Space Grunt . Grandiose Reality Simulation SpotSD . FREELANCE . Quad Environment Immersive Galaxy Simulator (QEIGS) . Compleatly, Immersive, Action (CIA) . Simulation, Compleat, Unparelled, Dynamic (SCUD) . Immersive Realtime Simulation (IRS) . Simulated, Immersive, Multi enviroment (SIM) . Immersive Tactical Simulation (ITS) . Simulated Massively Immersive Large Environment (SMILE) . SmartÔÇÖs Massive Awesome Realtime Tactical Simulation (SMARTS) . Best Engulfing Strategic Tactical Simulation (BESTS) . Massive Awesome Realtime Simulation (MARS) . Eat This Shirley (ETS) . Gigantic Awesome Simulation Package (GASP) TBone . My Game Is Better Than Your Game . My Game Can Beat The Crap Out Of Your Game . My Game Has Your Game And 4 Others Built Into It . My Game Has Survived More Flame-Wars Than A Crop Of Virally Infested Crops Deemed Unhealthy By The Federal Department Of Agriculture . Your Game Smells Like Poo Compared To Mine The Mole . SPACE ODYSSEY/ADVENTURE Tim . "unique among games...BCM style of game" Urza . Complete Seamless Galactic Warfare Simulator (CSGWS) Wolferz . THE BATTLECRUISER GENRE XenoZohar . RPSimCombatSpaceFPS-OH-MY-GOD-I'M-LOCKING-THE-DOOR-AND-NEVER-COMING-OUT! [ 10-15-2001: Message edited by: Joel Schultz ]

Rather than reposting that massive genre list multiple times on this page, I'm only going to repost it when the page rolls over (not much time left, so it may not happen). I have updated the list on this page with the latest entries since last Friday. Click here to jump to the top of the list on this page. [OK, I think the link is working now... Yep, it's working, at least for IE 6.0] [ 10-12-2001: Message edited by: Joel Schultz ]

SC said this other thread was going off topic, so here's my two bits on the creation of Newbie forums under the new system, quoted from that other thread: quote: What about multiple newbie forums (one for each major section)? Actually, that may be hard... Or how about hyperlinks on each major forum's top-level page to a main newbie forum? Something like: "Are you a newbie, or have newbie questions that need answered? Post them _here_!" at the top of every forum where it will be prominantly seen, and then have it link to the one and only official newbie forum?

What about multiple newbie forums (one for each major section)? Actually, that may be hard... Or how about hyperlinks on each major forum's top-level page to a main newbie forum? Something like: "Are you a newbie, or have newbie questions that need answered? Post them _here_!" at the top of every forum where it will be prominantly seen, and then have it link to the one and only official newbie forum?

I can't believe no one out there knows the lyrics to that BCM song... *sigh*

I too would be shocked if it was Menchise. He seems a decent fellow. Hard as it is to form accurate judgements given the anonymous nature of the Internet - I dunno, I think a troll wouldn't be able to hide their true colors for that long, without giving something away by their tone or content. Like what happened with Ent1ty. Menchise doesn't seem to fit the profile, in my most extremely humble opinion... Besides, without him we wouldn't have those windy political debates between him, Aramike and Jaguar, would we?

[ 10-09-2001: Message edited by: Joel Schultz ]

Anyone have links to the Mr. T vs. CATS or Smurf version?

YAY! I guess this means shipping starts shortly after 10/15, but who cares? This is cool! Um, out of curiosity what's "macrovision duplication"?