Steve Schacher

This problem has come up repeatedly. The solution has always been to upgrade your mouse driver to the latest version. The clue was that the crash always happened when you clicked on the save button. Only once did I get an error message that vaguely referenced the mouse. When I upgraded the driver, the problem went away forever.

Ship collisions are frustrating. I have seen the two flavors that are being discussed: during battle and after hyperjumping jumpgate. I believe the first type is due to the flight dynamics. Isn't capital ship movement being redone to make it move less like a fighter? This might minimize unintended collisions. The second type behaves like there is a single point near the jumpgate that all ships use when hyperjumping from where ever they start from. I wonder if randomizing this point (within a defined radius) would provide enough separation to avoid colliding with other ships waiting to jump.

How about the old marionette show "Thunderbirds?" If you squint your eyes and look real close, I swear I thought I saw little strings running from my BC to the top of the monitor... [This message has been edited by Steve Schacher (edited 07-07-2000).]

Question: When it says "fully cracked," does that mean that it just bypasses the old 1980's style of copy-protection, which was to prompt for words from the manual or some decoder ring? Remember, I'm talking about games that were made for 386 computers with 8-16 meg of ram. SVGA graphics defined state-of-the-art at the time. Many (if not most) of these games were written for the Apple, Amiga, Mac, and IBM AT machines. These images were converted to run on today's Pentiums. I certainly want to do the right thing, and like I said in an earlier post, I own versions of these games that were dedicated to earlier platforms. So what does one do here with these primitive classics?

quote:for some of them it does, but for others they are sooo old I'm not sure That's what I was thinking. I saw stuff that I still own for my old Apple //e. I saw stuff that I still own on 5.25 floppies. I have my original boxes and manuals and disks for all my old games, but I just can't run them on today's computers. I'm talking eight to ten years old, if not older. This site also had games that are still available for sale, but instead of letting you download them, they point you to the seller's site for those games. And they also have games available by permission of the authors. They say that they are preserving games that are "underdogs" in their opinion: games that didn't sell well but were excellent for their themes or innovative for their time.

Yikes! I didn't realize that because it was so easy to find! I thought those sites were closed as quickly as people found them. My sincerest apologies. I'll think twice next time. [This message has been edited by Steve Schacher (edited 07-06-2000).]

quote:I guess it will be more useful in BCM -- the only thing it seems to do now is blind you to incoming missiles in passive mode. You will find lots of things like this as you discover the depths of the game. Remember that you are not buying "Battlecruiser: 3000AD - The Game!" You are buying into "Battlecruiser: The Franchise!" And at the ground floor, too! Derek designed many hooks into features that have not yet been enhanced. Battlecruiser:Millenium and BC:Online will grow the franchise exponentially with improvements on technology. Another feature that has not been enhanced yet is the Communications function. We know it's there, but its time will come. You are arriving at the time when active and passive radar is being enhanced, so you've been spared the agonizing anticipation that the rest of us have endured as the SC has been briefing us on his progress. If you like what you've found so far, then hold on for the rest of the ride...

Be careful when examining the color of the grids. The grids are gray when that station does not have focus. In other words, if you last clicked on the CVD (the one on the right), the tactical display will not have focus and be grayed out. Having focus means that the keyboard commands will affect the active (focused) display. Clicking (or pressing the K key) will activate the tactical grid, which will then turn blue to indicate its active state.

Ahh, but he's an ensign, not a yeoman.

Personally, I like the peanut ones better.

Charles, I wasn't refering to you. I was refering to WarSongDeathMARK's remark quote:ok, im dumb.. i decided to actually LOOK at the web site, so all those multiplayer Qs can be ingnored, or dwelled upon, depending on whether you can forgive or if you prefer to berate me for my ignorance. Sorry for the confusion. I will amend my original note to address the person to whom the comment was directed. [This message has been edited by Steve Schacher (edited 06-20-2000).]

WarSongDeathMARK, No need to berate anyone. You found out on your own by researching this site, which is all that anyone ever asks for. [This message has been edited by Steve Schacher (edited 06-20-2000).]

Have you tried booting it to "Safe Mode?" I'm no PC expert, but maybe it can fix itself when in safe mode. Safe mode disables most of the drivers and gives you a minimal system. If that comes up correctly, then shut down and boot it back up normally and see what happens.

Whisper, Countries have started wars over politics, so don't let this thread hinder your involvement on the rest of the board. The unwritten rule of politics applies here: "What's said in this room stays in this room!"

Ron, Call it "Battlecruiser 1984 A.D."

quote:Democrats - Foreign policy changes dependant upon majority. Actually, this should read: Democrats - Foreign policy changes dependant upon monetary contributions. quote:Now does this make me a left or right winger? Righty. Definitely a righty. An interesting analysis (after this thread is done) will be to correlate everybody's views on gun control and foreign policy with their behaviors on this board and in the game. How many real-life gun-control advocates will be hollering for more powerful weapons and faster ships?

Married, so my free time is filled with honey-do lists. Otherwise, I like astronomy (I have a 10" Meade LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain and a 4" Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope). My wife and I also like Broadway musicals. She performs in our local community theater and I volunteer to usher and stuff. I also like to play board games. You know, the cardboard maps and counters from before computers. What? There was a time before computers?

Bush. Not for him as much as for his entourage. Give me Dick Cheney, James Baker and Colin Powell over the likes of Cohen, Allbright and Richardson. Republicans vs. Democrats: Not much difference these days. Democrats are for enabling programs for the poor. Republicans are for safety nets for the poor. In other words, the Democrats measure success as the number of people who go on welfare, and the Republicans measure success as the number of people who come off welfare. Democrats = liberal left. Republicans = conservative right. Republicans are for family values. Democrats are for defending the indefensible. Republicans are for freedom of religion. Democrats are for freedom from religion. There is no accountability in the Democratic Party. What will be the penalty this time for the loss of nuclear secrets? A letter of reprimand to actually be put in a permanent file this time? Ooohh!! I'm shaking with fear... There is no leadership/opposition in the Republican Party. Trent Lott is worthless. Orrin Hatch, Arlen Specter, who needs them? Don't get me started...

The MS Sidewinder Freestyle Pro comes with configuration software that will allow you to set a dead zone in both directions. I don't have centering problems (meaning that I can tilt it slightly and it won't affect the orientation of the ship). This is only an issue when you turn off the AI (in BC3K, other sims may not have this ability). I suppose that if you need to put the controller down without causing the ship to zoom off at an angle, you can always disable the motion sensors first (a simple button-press on the controller). It also comes with a USB adapter, but the throttle control doesn't work with legacy DOS emulation in USB mode. It also comes with a motorcross racing game, although I haven't installed it.

Although it's a bit pricey ($70), the MS Sidewinder Freestyle Pro is a gamepad that acts like a joystick. You won't have the feel of a cockpit in front of you (or the desktop footprint of a joystick/throttle combo), but the motion sensors are great. Just hold it in your hands (lefty or righty), tilt it up or down for pitch, tilt it left or right for yaw (or roll, you decide). I set left/right for yaw and use two index finger buttons on the sides for roll. It has the standard A/B/C and X/Y/Z buttons (which are dual programmable) , as well as an 8-way rocker. The motion sensors can be turned off for games that just want gamepad control. You won't get arm fatigue from using a joystick (especially on Thrustmasters, I used to use the FLCS/WCS combo). I doesn't have a lot of buttons (I used to use the Gravis Phoenix before it broke -- now THAT was a joystick!), but the ones that it does have are sufficient. I use the keyboard for less frequent keypresses.

If you want to see how well your interceptor selects targets on it's own, do the following during a battle (preferably near a station for a better view): 1. Launch Interceptor 1 (I use intercept loadout). 2. Order interceptor to DEFEND BC. 3. Order the BC to DEFEND->FRIENDLY->INTERCEPTOR 1 4. Lock Interceptor 1 in your CVD. 5. Press F10 (target view) and switch to INVERSE TACTICAL view (this will be the target of your target). 6. Zoom out to a comfortable view. You will see your interceptor target an enemy and fly towards it. The BC will cover the interceptor, so you will see it converge on the target and start shooting at it. If a better target shows up, you will automatically be switched to that enemy (your interceptor switched targets). When it switches to an enemy just launched by the station, you may also see the station to the side. Pretty cool to order your ships, and then sit back and watch the battle like a movie!

I've been using the Microsoft Sidewinder Freestyle Pro. It's a gamepad with motion sensors to simulate a joystick. I love it! It has 9 buttons that are programmable, with shift functions allowing for 18 commands. Plus it has an 8-way rocker that is also programmable. It also has a throttle wheel. But the best part is that I just wave it in the air and the battlecruiser twists and turns at my command!

quote:I hates thieves and pirates! They have no honor! What? You don't believe in "Honor amongst thieves?" In the 17th century (a long time ago), pirates were tolerated by local governors when the pirates harassed ships from enemy nations because they would then sell the booty in town, boosting the economy. It's only when it became politically disadvantageous that local governors would oust the pirates. And many pirates were given Letters of Marque (field commissions) to hunt pirate ships from enemy nations. So, if pirates lived in the outer fringes of Insurgency territory and raided Galcom ships in order to sell goods at Insurgent stations, you would still want to kill them all?

Another possible solution to the more general problem of "crashes when clicking the mouse" is to ugrade your mouse driver to the most recent version. This has solved the problem of crashing when clicking on the save game button. It might help here, too.

quote:If I see a Pirate in BCM, his life expectancy is about 30 seconds from that point. What about the concept that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend?" If the Insurgency is fighting GalCom and some band of raiders is ambushing GalCom convoys, then wouldn't the Insurgent just sit back and let the raiders take the risk? [This message has been edited by Steve Schacher (edited 05-17-2000).]