Joel Schultz

Partitioning can also be a safety feature. Say you completely screw up the FAT beyond all hope on one of the partitions and are forced to reformat. You only lose data on that one partition. The remaining partitions are unaffected. It can also be used for disk fragmentation control. Some put application installations on one partion and one only. Since these files rarely get written to, that partion stays relatively unfragmented. On the other hand, data goes into a separate partition. Data is always changing and gets fragmented quickly. Why defragment your WHOLE disk (data + apps) when you can arrange things so you only need to defragment PART of it (data)? ------------------ Cmdr Alan Mach GCV Cavanagh

quote: I still think the ship needs a rear view mirror so I can hand shrunken insurgent heads from it .... Or fuzzy dice! Yeah! ------------------ Cmdr Alan Mach GCV Cavanagh

Hey, SC, That's a very important point you make about the difference between us demo guys and your beta team -- one I didn't pick up on right away and so got some posts deleted Just a thought...it might be worthwhile having that little tidbit up at the top of the various threads to clarify their purpose, just so newcomers see it and are *clear* that these aren't meant to be your "report-any-and-all-broken-features" type deal. Or might that confuse them into not reporting any problems at all? Or am I just dense and the only one (well, besides one or two others out of everyone else here who made the same mistake) who overlooked that distinction? Ah well. My $0.02, take it or leave it. ------------------ Cmdr Alan Mach GCV Cavanagh

Been monkeying around the demo again, and found yet another cool thing to look at, one that's not in-game (so this post belongs in this thread, right?). Check out all the 3D models in bcstudio.exe! (Ahem, I do believe this was suggested somewhere else by someone else, but as typical I neither remember who or where.) Lots of stuff is in there we haven't even glimpsed in the demo, including the character models that will be *you* Space stations, ground installations, the Insurgent New America asteroid (minus the installations/buildings), marines, ship models... But the icing on the cake for me was the ability to play the SFX animations! Wow, that was a very nice feature to include! I especially liked turning on the "destroy object" SFX and watching DED in action. You can also watch the hyperspace and cloaking animations up close too. It makes a very nice teaser, and an interesting break from the game-play. Anyone else have any cool models/animations they've discovered in bcstudio, or in-game for that matter? (Hey, post #50 for me! ) (Hey #2! How'd I just get promoted from Ensign to "Cmdr"???) [This message has been edited by Joel Schultz (edited 03-21-2001).] (Thanks for the answer Tyrn. Doh! Talk about not putting 2 and 2 together I sure feel dumb.) [This message has been edited by Joel Schultz (edited 03-21-2001).]

I notice that the BC3K voices and BCM demo voices sound practically the same (of course BCM sounds much cleaner than BC3K, but that may be due to using DirectX on the same old sample). Regardless, some voice actors were used. So: does anyone know who are the voices behind our officers and pilots? Anyone we know here (a few site vets' voices, perhaps)? Same goes for their faces. Just art, or based on people we may/may not know? [This message has been edited by Joel Schultz (edited 03-21-2001).]

quote: Had you actually READ the version control file, you'd have noticed the WIP letters in Red Ah, yes...I do seem to recall reading that in the VC file. That's classic me, all the way -- I carefully read 100% of the docs and promptly forget 90%... quote: Perscan and Tacops are part of the bridge primary sub-system (like NID/TACSCAN/CVD) and are in no way connected to the secondary sub-system (LOGISTIX/TACTICAL etc). So, they won't be in the drop-down menu. Has been this way since BC3K, back in 1996. I knew there was probably a logical explanation. That "primary" vs. "secondary" explains it perfectly. Thanks for pointing out the distinction. I look forward to the improved (smaller) menu visuals. ------------------ Cmdr Alan Mach GCV Cavanagh [This message has been edited by Joel Schultz (edited 03-20-2001).]

quote: By any chance did you visit Trion? Why no I didn't...I was attracted to the big swirling red thingy and jumped through that instead Oooo...pretty... BTW -- is the red swirlie a wormhole and green swirlie a flux-field or is it the other way around? ------------------ Cmdr Alan Mach GCV Cavanagh

Ah, finally got the HC demo. First impresssions: Well, Installshield did upgrade itself, forcing the reboot, during which my system hung (I think I have a system instability related either to my Santa Cruz sound card or else an undervoltage problem, this happens far too often). Looked at some of the documentation. Whoever drew the new Galaxy Map did an A+++ job of it. Read the FAQ, decided since I have a Radeon 32DDR I'd try not disabling fast AGP in the BIOS to see what happened (BCM worked anyway ) -- I always read the directions and then try to see if I can get it to work my way anyway Saw the 3000AD company logo animation. OK -- maybe its time 3000AD got a new logo video (something more flashy or in 3D, old one looks good for BC3K but BCM is special). But who cares, anyway? I jumped into first scenario. Cool! Ship handling way different than it was. Hyperjumps took time -- a chance to think about what I was doing next. Graphics were about what I expected. Several magnitudes better than BC3K, but definitely not "bleeding edge" bells'n'whistles. That's not to say the ship models were bad, they were excellent, very detailed. And there's more models yet to come, plus the terrain engine... So I can't pass any final judgements yet. Of course, the scale between the models (e.g. spacetrooper vs station) puts Freespace (which vaunted its scale between figher/capital ships) to shame The cloaking effect seen from outside was cool to watch. I ended up getting into a fight with some Gams, and put the whole thing on AI control and watched it play out on an outside camera. Very nice job, especially the DED when the Gam cruiser blew up. Then I got boarded by 10 intruders, who overpowered my marines (two were flying around in a shuttle, and two were injured and in Medibay, which left 6 to deal with them). Ouch. Lost my officers quarters, then recalled someone saying that stations will help round up intruders so started to make my way over to Alderon. At that point, my machine froze up I'm guessing it was the sound card drivers again. It's running on beta drivers (actually, so is my video card) because the betas address various problems I have on my machine. And yes, I am aware of the numerous warnings by SC to use OFFICIAL drivers, but as I said -- I like to see how far I can push things. Besides, I've seen this freezeup occur in things other than the BCM demo too, just not as often since I got the beta. So I rebooted and tried the Gam scenario w/ fleet C&C. Cool to have my own battle group, ended up slugging things out with some raiders, but couldn't find my objective, that station or whatever I was supposed to blow up. Where was it anyway? At any rate, it was late so I decided to call it a day. ------------------ Cmdr Alan Mach GCV Cavanagh

The volume envelope max on my machine (particularly for the music) seemed to be way way down (I have a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, BTW). To fix that I had to go out to my desktop and crank the master volume up (to the point where a regular Windows "ding" was just shy of being deafening) just so I could hear the music clearly (I like it kinda loud ). In my experience, Turtle Beach cards tend to be somewhat quieter (either that or my speaker system doesn't have a strong enough amp, though it was much louder for a junky old ISA card I had), so I'm wondering if the volume adjustment in BCM could have its max boosted some for those of us whose cards tend to be quieter than normal. ------------------ Cmdr Alan Mach GCV Cavanagh

OK, this is going to be a mixed review -- the good + the bad. Of course, the bad is going to be lengthier since I want to explain why I thought it was bad, but on the whole I must say I like the redesign. I would have to agree that the bridge menus should scale with screen resolution. They're too stinkin big! And one other point of contention: those resemble context menus in Windows, and so to my mind should behave and be controlled like them. Could they be made to pop up on a right-mouse click too? Or make that a configurable option? I realize that's likely a low-priority issue, but the redesign made them look so much like context menus that my brain "forgot" that BC was left-click and automatically started right-clicking again. Erk! And now, for my favorite screeen: Perscan! I like the new Perscan interface. Very cool looking, especially the personel graphics, too bad we don't have a graphic for intruders, oh well. Two points of complaint. The first and most important: why is the Perscan comp being beat like the red-headed step-child and swept under the rug (no offense to you red-headed step-children out there ) What I mean is that all major comp screens are accessible via the "roll-down" menu that you see from screens like the Navitron and Tactical. Why isn't Perscan in that list? It's in the big blue bridge menus. Actually, come to think of it TACOPS is missing from that roll-down menu too, and that is even more significant than Perscan. I might add that Perscan is not among the buttons available on the TACOPS screen (actually, I take it back, I think it was but the button doesn't work -- BUG?). Also, minor cosmetic issue with Perscan: couldn't our flight engineers have a slightly different uniform than system engineers? Like a variation in color? Tacops: like the redesign. Would suggest that Perscan button be looked into, and also putting back the "full zoom" button that zoomed you out all the way and oriented you in a top-down view of the grid. Wish list: have buttons that allow you to select a "mouse mode" for the grid (toggles for pan/rotate/zoom). I never have felt comfortable with the mouse control on that screen. A couple times I selected a menu item but was informed that it wasn't available because "X was not on station." As a UI designer myself, I'd think that if one can tell at that point if its available, one could tell before that point as well. In general it is more helpful to disable unavailable commands in the first place ("ghost" it out or something) than to leave them available and honk at the user when they try to use it. "Individualizationity-ification" of the shuttle/figher/missile controls on bridge. I like how you can clearly see everything you have in stock, and then with a second click eliminate the stock graphics and leave just the icon. Nice way of letting the user control clutter. Preview mode for the Bridge comps -- yet another good idea. Like the iconification of everything, somewhat easier to identify right out, though I'm still adjusting. Oh, and your galaxy map pic that came with the demo ROCKS! Two thumbs up (more if I had extra ) to whoever drew that. ------------------ Cmdr Alan Mach GCV Cavanagh

System internals makes a screensaver that simulates a WinNT BSOD. Complete with faked hard-drive "bad sector/lost cluster" scanning while it runs. And it won't go away when you jiggle the mouse (you have to use the keyboard). Fooled one IS guy where I work with it. ------------------ Cmdr Alan Mach GCV Cavanagh

I just had another thought about why it's a good idea to unload your shuttles' mining drones and ATVs. Not only can you fit more cargo in during cargosweeps, you have less replacement equipment to buy should said shuttles be turned into free-floating atoms by some chance mishap... ------------------ Cmdr Alan Mach GCV Cavanagh

Thanks Papi, but I knew that I've gotten stuff like free armor upgrades on cargosweeps. I just was wondering about settings waypoint "height", that's all. ------------------ Cmdr Alan Mach GCV Cavanagh [This message has been edited by Joel Schultz (edited 03-11-2001).]

quote: Altitude? That's a good idea. I think so too. I also seem to have trouble setting "altitude" (depth above/below planar grid) in space view in TACOPS. Kind of makes it hard to fly a shuttle to a debris field for cargosweeping when it arrives at the right XY coords and the field is still 1000 km(?) away. Or is that in the manual too? ------------------ Cmdr Alan Mach GCV Cavanagh

Well, I suppose that answers that. Actually, Steve, I never did try using the time acceleration function, so I never realized it was disabled. There's simply a ton to keep track of in BC3K at normal speed, let alone at 2x or 4x. Hm. Was that in the Version Control file? I did a quickie scan of it prior to posting, just in case. Probably missed something. ------------------ Cmdr Alan Mach GCV Cavanagh

With regard to downtime under station repair: According to the BC3K keyboard reference there were keys to accelerate the passage of time up to 4x and as slow as 0.25x. The availability of this feature in BCM would perhaps help speed up the "penalty" of waiting for repairs without letting you off scot-free either. Without violating the NDA, would it be safe for anyone to say if this feature carried over? ------------------ Cmdr Alan Mach GCV Camhanach

Nah, I was just wondering about a couple of things, plus some stuff related to the back-history of Galcom. ------------------ Cmdr Alan Mach GCV Camhanach

Hey, what would be the appropriate forum to post questions relating to technical details on how my BC works? Stuff my chief engineer would answer, things like "so how does that Radine reaction really work?" I've always enjoyed technical manuals for SciFi stuff (does this make me a certifiable geek? Probably... ) and feel like starting up some threads along those lines... ------------------ Cmdr Alan Mach GCV Camhanach

I think it's the image link you use: http://www.3000ad.com/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm5.gif http://www.3000ad.com/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm42.gif [This message has been edited by Joel Schultz (edited 02-07-2001).]

I have to agree with Joaquin about warning to search first -- and then making "search" a bit more noticeable. From personal experience, I didn't even realize the forums had a search function initially -- till one day I happend to see in itty bitty letters the word "search" under the "post reply" button among some other links. Of course, I probably should've paid more attention in the first place On the other hand, perhaps a more prominent link to the search page would encourage both its discovery and use?

Did I miss a download cut-off or something, SC? The links in your original post seem broken. The *.scr file is located in the main bc3kscript-source.zip downloadable, but I can't find the *.des file (nor remember what it's for -- time to read the docs again...) On the other hand, the gbs-ddocs.zip link is okay.

You might want to brush up on TACOPS. From there, you can select planets, zoom in (observe) the surface, and set waypoints for any ships you control. Details in the manual. (What Kush said ) Wow Kush, your post must've gone in during the minute it took me to do mine! Sorry for the redundant reply [This message has been edited by Joel Schultz (edited 01-24-2001).]

Reading the manual, and the appendixes, I consistantly come across references (see end of post) that imply that the solar reactor works by channelling solar energy into a battery, which can be tapped later. However, I've yet to really see any behavior like this. Here's what I observed. * When near a star, changing the ship's orientation makes the SRE meter on your HUD change its level. This models the changing angle of the solar panels, and is consistant with the given documentation. * The output of the solar reactor always seems to be added to total power output, and is dependant (as mentioned) on ship orientation. This seems true regardless of the state of anything else, including the energy being channeled into the reactor according to Logistix Power control. * Turning off the solar reactor from Logistix (reducing its power level to 0/10) seems to increase total available energy for other systems since it isn't going into the reactor. I would have thought it would reduce it since the reactor is no longer providing power? * I've never seen the solar reactor output power when the solar panels are shaded, as if from a reserve battery. I checked this by turning off the main reactor and orienting the ship so the panels were in the shade. Had absolutely no power for anything. So I guess I'm asking: what's the solar reactor doing anyway? Do we really need to have it turned on in Logistix? What's the point to that power control in Logistix anyway? What happens if I turn on the solar reactor power to something other than 0/10 or 10/10? Maybe I just didn't try the right experiments. Anyway, here's the references that confuse me. The "battery" bits puzzle me most, although various references to "deploying solar panels" also confuse me since AFAIK they always seem deployed. Manual, p 96 par 5 Manual, p 137 par 6 Appendix L, p 1

quote: I am running Windows ME. Correct me if I'm wrong, guys, but hasn't it been posted elsewhere in this forum to the effect that BC3K is "unsupported" on WinME?

In no particular order: Am playing or recently (re)played: * BC3K (plus a little GBS) * Thief II -- best first-person game I ever played * Redguard -- sole reason I keep my original Monster3D Voodoo 1 card around * Total Annihilation * Timeshock! Pinball Will be playing: * BCM * Myst III: Exile [This message has been edited by Joel Schultz (edited 01-05-2001).]