Kobra

First of all, it isn't a Geforce 4 5200. It is a 5200FX card, and that card was one of the WORST cards ever made. Not only is the card completely out of date (by about 2 years), but it was very lousy the day it was released. If you are going to buy a new card, buy a CURRENT generation card at the very least. You can pick up a fully loaded 6600GT for only $125 now. It would be silly to buy something like a 9600 or 5700 at this point.

I continue to be underwhelmed by the demo, and thinking it might be best to wait for int.games.1c.ru/ww2/ instead of this one. [ July 27, 2005, 12:08 AM: Message edited by: Moon ]

Spybaz, one thing to consider - and sim developers know this - sim fans usually have ancient hardware. Most of my pals into sims are using old Geforce4 cards - or older - and none of them are over 2ghz in processor speed. (while here I sit with multiple 3Ghz+ boxes with 6X series Nvidias) Second, you are right, the graphics are definately 4-5 year old in quality. Deforming terrain or otherwise, they speak of a garage game effort. With all due respect, you need to look at this game as a garage game effort by a small indy developer. As such, it can never - ever - measure up to the standards of productions costing millions of dollars with 70 people working on them. Price wise, I haven't ordered it because I consider $35+Shipping to be much to high. For a garage game, i'd happily pay $19-25 for it, no more. At this point and because the demo didn't enthrall me, I will sit on the sidelines and hope they drop the price to meet the quality of the game.

There is a HUGE difference between "Flakey, unstable, and finicky workaround" than a "Crack". Some versions of Starforce can be semi-bypassed with USB DVD Burner - but how many people do you know that will run out to buy a $200 burner to play a couple games? Also there are several "Levels" of Starforce available to publishers.. Chaos Theory uses all levels, and thus far, has been proven to be unbreakable. Other games only use some levels, and are STILL not cracked. I don't count unplugging drives, USB Burners, and other half arsed methods as cracked - because they preclude the masses of average joes from using them. The fact is, most pirates are so frustrated with Starforce, they just avoid even bothering to try and crack games with it. (even if it was possible) For the record, SHIII has *NOT* been cracked beyond the first version. The first version was protected with 1 layer and they goofed, so they patched it to 1.1 and reprotected it. Thus far from 1.1 to 1.3 SHIII has been uncrackable. So go ahead and play old unpatched and buggy versions of Silent Hunter 3. I will take my patched up, stable retail version.

38 FPS in the game, with everything maxed to the highest possible settings at 1280x1024. Intel P4 3.6Ghz 1024MB PC3200 CL2 BFG 6800Ultra-OC 512Mb Graphics Card Audigy 2 This engine seriously hasn't been optimized.

There must be some corrupt demos out there, or the install is flakey. I finally downloaded one from Gamershell and it worked. It took 4 different downloads, and about 10 times re-installing it before I got one that would "Take".... No clue which is the problem at this point.

The turning commands I found aweful. I just didn't feel like I was really controlling anything. The demo didn't feel "Immersive". At least not as incredibly immersive I felt in M-1 Tank Platoon.. The part that bugs me is M-1 is like 15 years old or something, and plays far far better than this game. I want M-1 Tank Platoon 2005.

Just like they should advise if it uses SecureROM7, which installs 3 drivers and one system service? Or if it uses SafeDisc4 which installs 2 drivers and a service? Please.. The fact is, the masses - where the money is - don't give a rats arse what kind of CP a game has. Or how about Creative, which installs 4 hidden drivers 3 lines above Starforce? Incorrect, this isn't even close to how Starforce works. It doesn't deactivate any software product. This is a pure myth, perpetuated by a few paranoid folk. NO product is 100% compatible with every mickey-mouse setup out there. Starforce is no different. The sheer amount of "BS" attributed to Starforce is mind blowing. Most of the time we find out it was the persons improperly configured BIOS or something else entirely. WTF stress? Yea, those 5 minutes a month really add up on a reader that is rated for 55,000 hours. Really? They've been trying to crack Starforce3 for nearly 8 months and have failed. The FACTS are, Starforce by best guesses is installed on an estimated 52 MILLION computers. On average, Starforce fields 4-5 tech support questions a WEEK. Figure it out.

My mistake on the mouse, I missed that. How about my other issues? I so want a great tank sim, but i'm getting vibes that this is only a "Decent" tank sim. :-(

I'm a huge tank sim fan. M-1 Tank Platoon was my all-time favorite game. I even have the one and onl y tank-sim for consoles (Panzer Front for Dreamcast - RARE). I've tried the demo, and I just can't "fall in love" with it as much as I try.. The controls don't feel very intuitive - why no mouse support for the main gun, etc? Everything feels pretty unrefined and clunky, and in general - not very realistic or fun. The graphics are pretty lousy on my high end machines - and the performance doesn't match up to the lackluster graphics. Is there something i'm missing or is this just a small, unpolished, and low budget production?

Exactly.. 99% of the people out there will not bother to sign up and post. They'll just uninstall the game and you won't hear from them again.

Ditch the crappy 5200FX.. One of the worst graphic cards in all of history.. You can pick up a 6600GT for $125... I don't recommend going with anything less than that. Including the 9800Pros, which are previous generation. I agree though, from trying the demo, it looks like the engine wasn't coded very well - and not optimized.

Ahahah! Nice one Brian. I'm so sick of the "Starforce" rhetoric by a few radicals that my head is going to spin. They treat it as if it murdered their first born or something. As a result, i'm doing my own counter-boycott of Starforce, and actively SEEKING titles with Starforce in them and purchasing them. Then i'm emailing the publishers to praise them for using it.

Come on battlefront, get your crap together. Even the link to download the Balkans demo in the download section links to CMAK instead. Sheesh. The simple things.

Thx for spoiling the ending.