Supertanker

It was probably caused by a bug in your videocard drivers. Joke! Joke! No hit! ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

This is like a test or something. "Please complete the following sequence of ruined or canceled games from a once-great company: A) Gunship! Tank Platoon! C) Squad Leader D) ..." I still have my unopened copy of Gun****e!, which I purchased in anticipation of M1TP3, err, I mean Tank Platoon! Now we have B-17II coming, without a demo and its most desireable feature torn from it (as noted above) like the Virtual Battlefield promised for Gun****e!/Tank Platoon! Hell, Hasborg should just call their next wargame or sim attempt "Sucks!" I shouldn't completely rag on Hasborg. Rollercoaster Tycoon and Majesty are good games, but they sure aren't what I expect from the Microprose label. ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

If 3dfx goes down the tubes it is bad for the consumer. My old RIVA128 card was crap with a capital C. Compared to the V1/2, it was slow, incompatible, and the image quality was poor. (Did you ever see the D3D patch of Longbow on it? I did, and still shudder at the thought). Why did nVidia get better? Competition with 3Dfx! (Note the old spelling.) If nVidia kills off 3dfx (note new spelling) and keeps ATI out of the high-end market, we can expect much less innovation and advancement in the graphic card industry. Don't believe me? Look at Creative's lack of innovation in the sound card business now that they killed Aureal. This is bad! I'm not sure why people turn into hardware fanboys of one stripe or the other, but I firmly believe that you should always root for the other company to put out something that kicks the butt of your current favorite product. That way, you know that the next generation of your preferred product is on the drawing board. ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mr. Clark: YAAARGH! That thread made it sound like THIS version of the drivers (v 1.06) should have fixed the bug... but apparantly that's not the case. I just know that now that I know what the bug is, I'm gonna start getting it every turn on every game...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yes, I fully expected this driver revision to fix it, but no dice. I usually only see the bug on very large scenarios. All or Nothing is guaranteed to cause it within two turns. Hopefully your charm will hold! ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

The white-out bug has been complained of much in the tech support forum. Here is a link to one thread: http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/Forum8/HTML/000388.html Consider yourself blessed if you haven't hit it yet. It is an acknowledged bug in the V3 drivers, but nobody seems to know the cause. Computing power doesn't seem to play a role, with high-end Intel and AMD chips showing the bug. You can find my machine's configuration in that thread I linked, and it is pretty fast. ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

I look at tanks as support units for the infantry. In fact, the other night, I set up a QB where I attacked with an infantry force vs. the AI's armor force. It was a lot of fun, and the AI lost big time (which I expected). ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

I installed them last night. They seem to be either no different or worse. I have not seen any noticeable performance changes. The "white-out" bug still is there, though maybe with reduced frequency (I never had it too bad, but I just played the first battle of Stolberg - Punching a Hole, and made it through with full detail and the bug only hitting me once. It previously would get me about once a turn on that operation, so I never got past the first battle.). I used to have my monitor set to 85hz refresh rate, and now the adapter settings only allows me 75. Finally, I had to uninstall the previous version of 3dfx tools before I could install the new drivers. ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

Not to mention that BTS specifically asked us if we wanted the game to come out when it did, and wait for the TCP/IP patch, or if they should simply hold the game until TCP/IP was ready. The overwhelming cry was to give us the game, and TCP/IP could wait. So, don't blame BTS, blame us. They are being nothing but responsive to their customers. ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

At the risk of stirring the videocard jihad again, I thought this was interesting. This link compares the GeForce2 GTS 2x2 FSAA with the Voodoo 5500 4xFSAA. They say these are the comparable settings, but I don't know for sure. They also do not discuss the effective framerate of the two, if that is a concern. http://www.3dpulpit.com/Reviews/nVidia_GF2GTS/compare/mdk2_aatoggle.html ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by PzKpfw 1: -You refer to George S. Patton as "Him". <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> This gives me a great idea for a CM (or SB) shirt. Instead of "WWJD?" (that stands for What Would Jesus Do?, and has become a popular slogan among many religious folk in the USA) we print up shirts that say "WWGSPD?" Let it guide your actions as you play CM. ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

This reminds me that next Saturday (11/11 at 12 noon) American Shooter on TNN will have a story on the M2 (and yes, the muzzle was jumping around like crazy in the preview clip). There are a couple of good revolver segments scheduled as well, if you are a wheelgun guy like me. ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

I got my copy for free. I blabbed about it non-stop for most of November and December last year, which led to my brother taking the unsubtle hint and preordering it for me! Aside from that, this has come up before, and the general consensus on this admittedly partisan board is that CM is a bargain at twice the price. If you would rather pay full price for another game, then that is your right as a consumer. Too bad you will be stuck with something that isn't CM.

The other part of the equation that often goes unmentioned is the quality of the monitor. I'm always surprised when someone will spend $300 or more on a video card, and then run it through some cheap crap monitor. Personally, I have a hard time looking at anything that isn't a Trinitron (or Diamondtron, I'm not picky). You might want to consider running a color utility as well, though I do like to saturate things a little more. I still remember the shocking difference in picture quality when I moved from a RIVA128 to a Voodoo3. The RAMDAC was so much better, it was like getting a monitor upgrade in the bargain. ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

Reichmann beat me to it, but Berlightingens' post does stand out as one of the best smack-talk posts so far. There are a few in the Peng thread that made me laugh, as well. My favorite personal post is this one: http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/Forum1/HTML/001583.html Two reasons: I have a giant ego and this thread massages it by showing my tiny contribution to CM, and (best of all) Madmatt whines about having suggested it first. And while I'm going on about myself, I still think this was pretty funny: http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/Forum1/HTML/001352.html And, of course, there is my .sig: ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

Howzabout one of those Microsoft Strategic Commander things, or the Saitek equivalent? Or Game Commander 2? Or MS Game Voice? Those peripherals are probably of some use in CM. In fact, I just noticed that Game Commander has a profile for CM posted. ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Teamski: APCR- Armor Piercing Cannister Round IIRC- If I Recall <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Not to be too persnickety, but APCR is Armor Piercing Composite Rigid, and IIRC is If I Recall Correctly. APCR & APDS appear in the game as tungsten rounds. I lobbied for there to be 37mm cannister rounds for the Allies, but BTS (Big Time Software) kept relying on those damned historic facts (i.e. the stuff was barely used in the ETO). ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

I tried clearing the cache, and I had done the critical updates, but still the same problem. The only plugins I have are Shockwave and Flash. However, in checking the critical updates, I realized I was not up to IE 5.5 yet, so I installed that and replaced the Microsoft Virtual Machine. One of those has apparently fixed the problem. Thanks for help! Brad "Supertanker" Wohlenberg ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

I actually ordered a V5 5500 right before I saw this thread! I decided on that over the GeForce2 because I decided the V5 is better for the types of games that I play, i.e. mostly sims, wargames, 2D stuff (like Baldur's Gate II), and several old Glide games. On the other hand, I play very little Quake3 or 3DMark (har). If I play a FPS, it is almost always Unreal Tournament (domination games with Infiltration or Special Ops weapons - mmmmmmmmmm, good), which runs much better in Glide. All of these signs point to the V5 over the GeForce (amazingly, this theory even holds up in the discussions over at hardocp.com), but it doesn't mean one card is bad and the other is good. It is not like this is a obvious choice like it used to be (such as between an S3 Virge and a Voodoo1), they are both good products. Now, the worst part is that my V5 was purchased almost entirely with Amazon.com gift certificates that my wife earned through Freeride.com (only $20 out of pocket after a $50 rebate). OK, OK, that is actually really good, but it means that this counts as my Christmas present, and she is threatening to make me wait until then before I can install it! She can have steely resolve about such things, but I'm hoping after a couple weeks of my whining she will crumble like a lump of sugar in front of a firehose. ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

This isn't exactly a CM problem, but as will become clear, I cannot get to the site causing the problem to report it there. I don't know what it is, but anytime I try to go to Madmatt's site or Wild Bill's, IE (IE5, updated via Windows Update) immediately locks up. I haven't had that problem with any other site, and I am running a pretty fresh install of Win98 (built a new machine and formatted the HD in September). I know it isn't anything else causing the problem, as it still happens after I use End It All to close everything but Explorer and Systray. Before the reinstall, this would happen whenever I went to www.bluesnews.com and www.shugashack.com, but now those two work fine. Even more oddly, this did not start happening until a couple weeks ago. Aside from being bog slow, the sites used to work fine. Obviously, this makes it quite difficult to get mods and scenarios. Any ideas? ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Juardis: Is it my fault for not providing an infantry covering force for him?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> At the risk of inflaming your pissy mood any further , yep, it is your fault. If you had a regular infantry squad there, they would stomp that crew like a big, juicy bug. Sometimes this is not feasible, in which case the AT team becomes a sacrifice. I have found that the post-patch ability of AT teams to run for short distances can sometimes put them safely behind their covering infantry. All that said, my vote was always for giving the AT teams some pistols or carbines, but IIRC that is impossible - one weapon to a customer.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Baker350: Are there alot of paintball players playing CM? It would seem to be an overlapping market to some respects. I have played in the NPPL for a few years(since 1994), and I hope CM will teach me to read fields a bit better<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I am a long-retired player. I started playing in 1984, back when it was lots of sneaking around in the brush with bolt-action Nelspot pistols. I participated in the arms race up to a point (I own the 53rd constant air gun ever made), but when semi-auto fire replaced most of the sneaking part, I gave it up. Does anyone play "stock gun" games anymore, or with limited paint (20 rounds, max)? I might come back for that. I always loved the look on someone's face when I popped them in the back or the side, and they never knew I was there. That doesn't happen in the semi-auto unlimited paint games, as people just blaze away at every sound. ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

Someone wrote a satirical Ballad of the Black Berets. Here's a link to it on the Motley Fool message boards: http://boards.fool.com/Message.asp?mid=13549254&sort=threaded

Perhaps it is time for a California Shootout? If we want to antagonize the NoCal people into an intrastate battle, we should constantly refer to San Francisco as "San Fran" or (better yet) "Frisco." I grew up in the East Bay (Pinole), and choose to live in LA now. Explaining how much better the freeways in LA are over Frisco really tweaks them, too (I've spent plenty of time on both, there is no contest). Oh, and the worst day at Dodger Stadium is better than the best day at FacelessTechCompany Park. ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

I'm in South Pasadena. There are several other board members in the San Gabriel Valley. ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Rommel22: I can't wait for Mechwarrior4, out due christmas, that game is going to kick ass. there was a promissing preview on it in PcGamer. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Did you try the alpha tech demo of MW4? Talk about disappointing! I found it more quakey/arcadey and less simmy than the previous versions. Hopefully, they will dial up the detail & difficulty in the final version, but I doubt it. ------------------ We eat like kings, drink like czars, and game like fat drunken king-czars. - CaSCa