MajorH TacOps Developer

Someone is at the door.

Adding modern French equipment is on the wish list but I don't know when I might actually do it. By the way, TacOps3 actually had an optional French language user interface but sales in France were so low that I dropped it in v4 as being not cost effective to maintain. Perhaps after the digital download purchase option comes to pass, I will revist the use of additional languages in TacOps. The code is still present to easily support multiple languages. It is just a matter of being able to fiinance continuing translation support. Skilled translators are expensive. [ April 08, 2006, 07:42 AM: Message edited by: MajorH TacOps Developer ]

New purchase. I already spent most of the money that I previously extracted from you folks.

Select the "Options/Change Combat Speed" menu item. Enter a number that represents 1/60ths of a second. If you enter 60, there will be a one second delay between weapon fires. If you enter 120, there will be two seconds. And so on. Most people stop using this feature after playing a couple of dozen games. In general the more one plays, the less one cares about noting every single fire exchange. As for determining lasting damage, right click on an enemy or friendly unit icon and then select "Info" from the pop up menu that will appear. Or use a faster shortcut - click on a unit icon and just read the line of text in the status bar (information window) at the bottom of the map. [ March 10, 2006, 08:55 AM: Message edited by: MajorH TacOps Developer ]

Battlefront does not currently provide a download option for TacOps and I am not keen on using a third party digital provider at this time.

>Hmmmmm......I tried dropping an >appropriately named .bmp file into the zphoto >folder with no effect. Must not be that easy, I'd >guess something in the unit database needs >turned on for it to look there for the photo. I have changed the code to allow a user to add his own photos for unit types that do not have a factory provided photo. This will appear in the next free patch.

I could, but the unflattering photos that I would be inclined to choose to represent insurgents and terrorists would be politically incorrect.

Nothing is free, somebody has to pay for any system of distribution. Social norms in marketing tend to determine who that somebody is for each possible channel. Digital delivery for TacOps has been discussed several times over the years. Battlefront does not offer the service internally and my analysis has been that using a digital provider other than Battlefront was not worth to me what that third party wanted to charge for its service. Battlefront's share of the pie for its publishing sevices is very reasonable. Yielding another (likely higher) share to a third party is not currently reasonable for TacOps. Most game consumers appear to think that digital downloading has no associated costs. However, there is actually a heavy "shipping & handling" chage for third party digital downloading. At present consumer expectations put that cost on the developer/publisher. Every third party scheme that I have looked at so far was way out of line with the costs of traditional hard copy shiping and handling. Although hard copy S&H charges really bug some people, most consumers have become conditioned to paying them. That being said, things change over time so maybe there is yet hope for digital delivery for TacOps. [ February 03, 2006, 08:43 AM: Message edited by: MajorH TacOps Developer ]

It would be a lot simpler and safer to just give yourself more helicopters. For example, if you want to haul 4 Weisels then just create a CH47 helo marker that contains four helos. I am presuming that you are using TacOps4 rather than TacOps3.

Developer error. I have fixed it in the candidate app file for the next v4 free maintenance update. Any other icon problems? [ January 19, 2006, 10:38 AM: Message edited by: MajorH TacOps Developer ]

http://www.tacops.us/support/ For a few days.

>Do you have a non binding guesstimate of the timeframe? A few months - maybe, possibly, perhaps.

Your first approach was the right one except that you did not know which scenairo to load. The game host probably forgot to tell you that the scenario to use for the CPX was "Custom Scenario USMC.sce". He did the same with me when I asked for the observer log on info but I was familiar enough with the process to know to ask him "which scenario?". Please give it another try upon the next CPX.

> Does this mean that future versions, or upgrades > will no longer run on Windows 95 or 98? Yes, at some currently unknown point in the future. Since I no longer test on a Windows 95 or Windows 98 machine it is actually a bit of a fluke that TacOps4 still works on them at all.

I should mention that there are some changes to the TacOps Windows code that I have been postponing for several years now that will eventually go in and they will almost certainly be incompatible with Windows 95 and 98.

Still ... it is suspicious that two folks have the same problem after so many years of no problems. Question still remains whether it is because of the last TacOps update or because of something else drawn in from the Internet.

If the problem does not go away then unistall TacOps by using the Wndows Add/Remove software control panel or by selecting the UnInstal TacOps item from the TacOps menu group in the Windows Start Menu. Then reinstall from the TacOps CD. Then download and reinstall the v406AE patch from http://www.battlefront.com/downloads.html

>When I double click on Tacops it doesn't open anymore. What version of Windows are you using?

>I have been having problems with launching TACOPS4. The program does not >launch after clicking on the tacops4.EXE ahortcut. Yet, when I bring up >Program Manager, it shows that TACOPS4 is running. (NOTE: IF I bring up >TACOPS after rebooting the PC. it works fine;if I check my e-mail or go >online first, it will not launch.) Yours is the first report of anything like that. I just did a quick check using an old Compaq which still has W98 SE on it. All worked as expected. However, that PC doesn't have any software installed on it that is less than three or four years old (other than TacOps4). In other words, everything on that PC dates from a time when W98 SE compatibility was still a consideration for the big guys. The symptoms that you described suggests that there is not enough system or video memory available after running the other programs for TacOps to successfully create its splash screen or its initial setup window or an alert window to tell you that there is a problem. If you are running a newer browser and email program on your PC it is possible that they are eating up your system or video memory. You could also have a host of background programs taking up memory. Virus? Spyware? You might try this experiment. Do some Internet surfing and check your email. Then use the appropriate control panel to set your screen colors to only 256 colors. Then try running TacOps4. If the program then starts up OK then that would be solid evidence that some program or programs are taking great chunks of your memory and not properly releasing it when done. How long has it been since you last did a clean reinstall of W98 SE? That is the easiest way to get rid of a long term accumulation of garbage background programs. I used to do a clean reinstall every quarter when I was running W95 and W98. Do you have ten percent or so of your hard drive space free? If not, then archive some stuff. An over packed hard drive can cause problems for W98's virtual memory scheme. Have you defragmented your hard drive lately? That is unlikely to be the problem unless it has been years since last done, but is still always a good thing to try. > I've had numerous other problems not related to TACOPS, > most of which now seem to be resolved. Having mysterious problems across several different applications strongly suggests that a clean reinstall of the OS might be helpful. Then again, I have seen that kind of behavior on a three to five year old, heavily used, PC just before it dies. >Any suggestions, besides:' get rid of that 5 year old piece of sh*t and >get a new computer'?(WHICH IS PROBABLY THE ANSWER!) I would never suggest that a person get rid of a faithful old friend but perhaps it has earned its retirement. By the way, unless you want to start playing high video tech shoot-em-up games, there is no burning reason to pay a lot of money for that newer PC. In my opinion, the current $500 to $600 desktop models do a fine job for probably 99% of adult home computer users. As do the $600 to $700 notebook PCs.

Yes, assuming I can get networking to work once my other OSX stuff is debugged.

Lots of folks have problems with colors on computer monitors - not just those who are color blind. Dark lines on a dark background are problematic for just about everyone. You can change the shade of the marker backgrounds somewhat by using the "Options/Change Unit Symbol Color Preferences" menu item.

Red markers with white silhouettes/white NATO boxes indicates a version of TacOps prior to v4. That color scheme had to be dropped when I added six more force colors for the Army contract that led to v4.

welcome back. Have you downloaded the latest patch?

By the way, I have decided that photos of WWII items will always be done in B&W/grayscale, even on those rare occasions when I am able to find a public domain color image. I also have a preference for WWII photos that include people or action in the frame, even when there is a less cluttered or more posed photo available that provides a technically clearer view of the primary weapon system. At some point I will try to replace the remaining grayscale photos of contemporary items with color images so that the contemporary vs WWII visual distinction is complete.

I have not decided yet whether/how to extend the "easy small arms change" to WWII items.