Rock, Paper, Shotgun

dsmart says:

@ James

In the instant action, Not able to find the new controll toggles in the menus, still driving with the shoulder buttons. However I did manage to fly a craft and Kill something finally! then i accedentally activated mouse flight while looking for night vision and promptly ploughed into the ground…

The new controller options were not in the 1.18.17 version. You did read the version control notes, right? They are in the just now released 1.18.18 version.

Is there any point in continuing to play once you have to start walking from the desert?

*sigh*

Dude, press CTRL+Y and you will teleport to the nearest base.

Serondal says:

Okay after playing around with the demo for a while I have to say I am amazed man! You’ve taken all our advice about what we thought was wrong with FPS mode and made it more or less perfect man! Love the air distortion effect when weapons fire. All the vehicles look amazing, the buildings amazing everything is mind blowing.

I think you’d have to have played UC and BC:M ect to tell just how much of a leap in technology this game really is.

Serondal says:

SAme here Jon

Howard says:

@dsmart
Finally got time to install the update. Superb work mate. The FPS is drastically improved as is the rendering in general. Had a run around a quick scrap with some random bloke who turned up: was most fun. Most importantly though: JETPACKS! This sells me on any game =)

However… many, many new bugs – sorry:
-The server browser always shows no players in any servers even when there are.
-XBOX 360 control pad is crazy. When usin it the system CONTINUALLY (like every 10 seconds) kept recalibrating it so that I would be left stranded in mid air doing loop the loops or heading for the ground at huge speed
-If you die, you get respawned in the middle of nowhere, so far out teh game thinks you are not on the map anymore – had to quit and reconnect each and every time.
-Quit a view issues with death in general, particularly if you die from crashing a vehicle. I flew a plane into a building, exploded and died but then the camera just zoomed out and remained there; no respawn timer nothing and my jetpack still worked even though I was VERY dead.
-Not a bug but would it be possible to let us redifine what axis does what ont eh 360 pad? Having steer and acc/brake on the same axis is useless as it means you can only do one or the other. Steering/rolling should be on left stick and thrust/brake should be on the triggers really for it to be workable

Other than these though, all of which are obviously fixable, the game is now looking VERY good indeed. My only last complaint is possibly when you play in the dark (in the game, not in RL =) ). It is bloody hard to judge where the ground is. I get the feeling there may be a readout that tells me altitude but I have yet to find it though…

Howard says:

@dsmart
Okay scratch the problem with the 360 controller recallibrating all the time. That was a confusion caused by an unclear menu option.
There is however another issue with vehicles. If you crash a vehicle into the ground about a third of the time the game has a fit.
Crashed one of the very fast interceptor type birds into the landing pad at base and it took no damage. From the cockpit it looked as if it was stuck in the floor and indeed none of the controls work. Ejecting from the ship I could see that it was in fact hovering about 10 metres ABOVE he ground and after a few seconds it suddenly shot into air at greater speed before lazily drifting to the floor. Even though I hit the ground at full speed neither the ship or I took any damage

dsmart says:

We found the respawn issue. It was related to a suggestion we implemented in 1.18.16 a few days ago in which all players of the same race would spawn from the same base so that players were together. Its fixed now.

Demo v1.18.19 is up. Just download and install.

Build 1.18.19

The version control file shows whats new since the original 1.18.15 release

dsmart says:

@ Jonfitt

There doesn’t appear to be any bots. Whenever I die I appear in a field miles from home and the warping it does nothing. :(

There weren’t any bots enabled in those builds. I have now added bots to two or the three official servers. You will see [BOTS] in the server name.

@ Reverend

Also, to my mind ‘mouselook’ is not ‘mouseSTEER’. I never asked for mouse steering in vehicles. I wanted to be able to look with the mouse (like one of the car passengers) independantly of steering with the keys.

Sorry if it wasn’t done exactly to your desires, but the fact is, what was implemented is perfectly adequate I think. You are an extension of the vehicle so if you look left, you can drive in that direction.

You would benefit HUGELY in creating an FPS by labeling a few weekend’s RESEARCH and playing HL2 and TF2 and taking many, many notes on the UI.

Stop being condescending please. Frankly your posts are beginning to annoy me.

The UI is fine. We’re not changing it. If you don’t want to get used to it and the fact that this not like any other game, please stop playing and go back to TF, HL2 or whatever tickles your fancy. This game is ours. It is unique to what we set out to do. You don’t have to like it and we most certainly didn’t set out to please everyone.

There was a month long public BETA. You had a chance to be a part of the game’s direction. You opted to sit it out. Now that we’re close to release and tying up loose ends you think we’re going to make drastic changes to suit your playing style and desires? Seriously?

@ Howard

-The server browser always shows no players in any servers even when there are.

You need to refresh it manually before joining so that you get the latest listing.

-XBOX 360 control pad is crazy. When usin it the system CONTINUALLY (like every 10 seconds) kept recalibrating it so that I would be left stranded in mid air doing loop the loops or heading for the ground at huge speed

Seems fine here.

-If you die, you get respawned in the middle of nowhere, so far out teh game thinks you are not on the map anymore – had to quit and reconnect each and every time.

Yeah we fixed that.

-Quit a view issues with death in general, particularly if you die from crashing a vehicle. I flew a plane into a building, exploded and died but then the camera just zoomed out and remained there; no respawn timer nothing and my jetpack still worked even though I was VERY dead.

This was in multiplayer, yes? Did you try it in single player? If it was in multiplayer, then maybe the server packet got lost or something. Will investigate though.

-Not a bug but would it be possible to let us redifine what axis does what ont eh 360 pad?

Probably not.

Having steer and acc/brake on the same axis is useless as it means you can only do one or the other.

It is not useless. It was done to make it easier – especially given the limited number of buttons on the controller.

Steering/rolling should be on left stick and thrust/brake should be on the triggers really for it to be workable

Yah, thats how it was previously if you recall. If we put the throttle back on the triggers, that means you would have to use the F/Z keys for VTOL up/down since there would be no available controller buttons to put those on. I wanted all vehicle/craft/fps controls to be on the controller without having to use the keyboard if the controller is your choice.

Anyway, it was done this way in order to avoid confusion and for movement to be similar to the fps and aircraft movement without confusing the player.

I’ll see if we can come up with controller presets e.g. Ace Combat 6 has two, novice and normal (more control).

My only last complaint is possibly when you play in the dark (in the game, not in RL =) ). It is bloody hard to judge where the ground is. I get the feeling there may be a readout that tells me altitude but I have yet to find it though…

manual p16-17. There’s even a picture! :) Your altitude is next to the VTOL/FTOL text to the left section of the HUD.

James Brophy says:

“-XBOX 360 control pad is crazy. When usin it the system CONTINUALLY (like every 10 seconds) kept recalibrating it so that I would be left stranded in mid air doing loop the loops or heading for the ground at huge speed”

“Seems fine here.”

Apparently if you hit the left shoulder button (not the trigger) then you recalibrate the center of the left stick.

This can result in some odd course changes when flying. espically if you try to roll while turning. because when you hit the left shoulder button and your stick is leaning any direction then you can recalibrate the center to the edge of the stick.

I am getting concerned that this is starting to be frustrating for you to read. Please under stand I don’t mean to offend. I only bring my problems up because these are things I perceive to be missing or lack reasonable options.

I would have loved to have been part of the open beta but this rps article is the first I’ve heard of this game.

dsmart says:

@ James

However, pitch control has now shifted to the RIGHT STICK

!

Was always that way. The RSTICK controls your view – just like in fp mode. However, this is being changed in the upcoming update as in:

LSTICK – roll or yaw depending on config setting, pitch up/down
LT/BTN7 – throttle up (W)
RT/BTN8 – throttle down (S)

Apparently if you hit the left shoulder button (not the trigger) then you recalibrate the center of the left stick.

During calibration (CTRL+ALT+J) you shouldn’t touch ANY buttons. In fact, you should leave the controller alone!

Also, make sure you check Control Panel and ensure that your controller is fine there as well.

I am getting concerned that this is starting to be frustrating for you to read. Please under stand I don’t mean to offend. I only bring my problems up because these are things I perceive to be missing or lack reasonable options.

I have NO problems with your posts, bug reports etc. I only commented on Rev’s tone because…well, read his posts.

We didnt’ start this game yesterday. It has been two years in the making. Our first dedicated fps game. So it has been a little bit of a learning experience but we’re doing our best. Its not like I’m going to release the game tomorrow and then patch it later. I could, but I don’t have to because we still have a bit of time. The [reasonable] issues you guys have reported – even asking us to revise things which WERE NOT BUGS – have been done. And we’re still working on things so that those (like you) who are INTERESTED in the game, can have the best experience possible and within the limits of the game.

We could’ve been like those other guys and leave the game at 1.18.15, sign off on it as Gold next week as planned and then everything else that came after would be in a patch. But why do that when we can take a few days to polish and tweak further – things that make all the difference?

I would have loved to have been part of the open beta but this rps article is the first I’ve heard of this game.

Well you can still get in and work with us on the issues you are having. We ALWAYS welcome fresh eyes because even those we have a slate of official testers, those used to the game take things for granted. As is evident in the 1.18.15 as released in the demo.

Also, most in the public IGN beta just wanted to play the game. We got a few reports here and there, but not as much as we expected. But that was probably because the game was so far along.

Anyone (e.g. you, Howard, Rev etc) with a genuine interest in the game and who wants to join in these final stage of tweaking and such, should go to our forum area and register. Then search for the Supreme Cmdr user and send me a PM telling me who you are. I’ll then give you access to Area 51 where you can join in the fray.

I had a rather Sisyphian experience of constantly spawning in the wrong base. I had 16 seconds of invincibility before people started shooting at me but the teleport takes 30 seconds. getting to the nearest car took a little over 20 seconds and once I did get there I got to drive with a heady excitement of “Woo I’m alive!” a little before being destroyed by a local missile.

Are you sure you spawned in the wrong base or were you playing and then jumped to a hostile base? I ask because if you end up in a hostile base on a server that has bots activated, you’re going to die. A lot.

Flight controls are still split across the pad. tried ejecting from a plane and landed on the ground. that was fun. teleported back but found that while I could get into planes I wasn’t able to make any of them take off, so got in a truck instead.

If you are using the xbox controller, the LT allows you to take off in VTOL mode. Unless you lift off, you can’t fly anything. All crafts have VTOL capability.

Only now did it occur to me that the server seemed to be lacking bots.

If the server has bots, this will be displayed in the server description. Of the three servers, only two have bots.

dsmart says:

@ Howard

Good catch that! The A/P needs to be reset to avoid player confusion I think.

When you register, be sure to send me PM on the board letting me know who you are (from your RPS handle).

Once you get access you can download the full game and uninstall the demo. Will send you instructions.

dsmart says:

Howard, you’re in. Go to the board and check your PM!

Reverend Speed says:

Hi there. After a fun weekend, thought I’d drop in the response I’ve been dying to make. Apologies in advance for shitty formatting. Here we go…

Press 0 to kill engines. And do try not to park on inclines.

Would still like to get autobrake. Occasionally people are firing missiles at me as I get out of my car and I’m easily distracted.

No. Use Fraps

Fair enough. Just a thought.

Probably. Depends on how well the game does as that will determine if I should throw additional resources at prepping the materials for the public.

I take the point that it makes more sense for you to see what the take up is before cleaning up and releasing tools. Would be nice to hive off bases to modders, though. S’all good.

Unfair comparison. They put the base on a flat plane nestled between mountains. Well, we have those too. Except that this base (one of ten) happens to be in a DESERT and a predominantly flat part of the map.

So I took a teleporter tour of the game, few pictures here http://img196.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=aaw19.png Went to the most mountainous bases I could find – happy to take suggestions on other ones to visit. Without exception, terrain within the base is exceptionally, remarkably flat. The areas surrounding the bases (within walking distance) are exceptionally, remarkably flat. Took a gunship out to one end of a desert mountain base plateau, set a waypoint on the other side – R10.00 in distance, according to the waypointing system. Flew across it at ground level, fairly slowly.

Very, very flat.

Took a trip out to one of the canyons (starting to get to know the bases fairly well at this point, I should mention) in order to document varied terrain from an infantry level. (First four images – http://img29.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=d01m.png ) From the air it looks pleasantly detailed, but on foot there’s a great deal of seemingly low-resolution, stretched textures and jagged / flat poly work.

Also included some caps taken from Quake Wars (I’d use other games, but it’s probably the only large-scale FPS game I have. Well, Flashpoint 1. And Tribes 2. But it’s the only one I have installed) so that you may have the option of comparing infantry and air terrain shots (obviously, disregard foliage). These pics were taken to attempt to provide a closer point of comparison with the images you linked to -

http://www.3000ad.com/aaw/media/shots/08-11-06/thumbs/005.jpg
http://www.3000ad.com/aaw/media/shots/08-11-06/thumbs/001.jpg
http://www.3000ad.com/aaw/media/shots/08-11-06/thumbs/002.jpg
http://www.3000ad.com/aaw/media/shots/08-11-06/thumbs/026.jpg
http://www.3000ad.com/aaw/media/shots/09-05-13/pic028.PNG
http://www.3000ad.com/aaw/media/shots/09-05-13/thumbs/pic025.jpg

Shots also include three of the virtual cockpit in QW for a later discussion we’re probably not going to have. =)

Hopefully everybody’s now on the same page re Desk Top commanders comments,
Desktop Commander:

: I’m curious why the game has such high system requirements for such spartan visuals.

: I don’t know of a place on earth, in metre-scale, that’s as devoid of detail as the AAW planet. Say what you will about system specs and I will point you again to ArmA – another multifaceted large-scale combat game with similar or lower requirements that somehow managed a few little details.

With regards to:

dsmart:

: 400 sq. km of map to explore and people are nitpicking about one small 20km area.

That’s a most valid point. I’m trying not to make any value judgements about this myself, I’m just trying to illustrate and make clear other people’s points on scale v. content. As I said,

Regards the Crysis comparisons, of course, the key point is the amount of content per square inch it delivers. Sheer scale is not everything.

Honestly, considering the size of team and the overall size of the environment I don’t really have any problems – I think that in this respect AAW is an inspiring achievement. But that’s probably unwanted input also. =) I’ll shut up on this.

A game that has been developed for the console target but ported to the PC. Or developed as multi-platform but with console as the target audience. MANY games fall under this category.

That’s groovy – was just curious to know if you operated under the belief that because a console is the primary target that a game would necessarily be less complicated or complete as a product made for the PC.

Cookie-cutter fps: All first person shooters which are like the one before it.

So Halo (interesting game, didn’t especially like it) isn’t a cookie-cutter fps but Halo 2 is, despite the emphasis on storyline and multiple protagonists? That makes a fair amount of sense to me.

We can’t all make games for the same people.

But you can’t quantify worth without a level of commitment and thus investment (time, money, whatnot)

So you wouldn’t accept the argument that a game should demonstrate worth (a couple of simple, rewarding actions in the first 20 seconds, say) before expecting investment of time and effort from the player?

My goal is always to make a game that I want to play and which a bunch of others find worth in buying and playing. And if that bunch is large enough to justify the development, then its already a blockbuster for me because then I get to make more games.

That’s interesting – and a pretty damn cool way to live. Not sure I’d agree with your definition of ‘blockbuster’, but may you always be satisfied with your own standards. =)

Rubbish. Manuals are written for a reason. If you choose not to read them, thats you problem not mine. Heck, even the dishwasher comes with a manual.

I’d argue that a dishwasher isn’t a different game from 2009 and thus is an unfair comparison. Perhaps it would be fairer to compare it to a more complex board game like Arkham Horror… and in that case, it’s almost always more fun to learn from an experienced player. Putting the onus on regular players to explain the game to new players is viable, but it does tend to gamble on aquiring a population of patient, friendly, regular players. I’d imagine that a modern in-game tutorial would give a more certain result… But granted, that’s a guess from a non-developer.

…is wot I think. =)

And you are entitled to those opinions. I, like many, don’t share that opinion, but that doesn’t make it any less important to you.

…is wot u think. =)

Add /use_godmode to the shortcut and you won’t die in single player.

Perhaps add some difficulty levels?

Jonfitt said,

I had real trouble entering and exiting vehicles. It seemed I had to hunt around trying to get the little icons to appear to click on, and if I go too close to a vehicle I would be killed by touching it even though it was stationary. This happened a lot.

I really like the interface, though it’s a little fiddly when you’re in a rush. Could you make the icons or their area of effect a little larger, perhaps? Another alternative is that you could ‘use’ the vehicle, then select the seat from a menu like the one for the weapon supplies? It’s not as clever, but at least you’d know what to hit when panicked. =)

dsmart said,

The demo looks just like that. If you go to those areas.

Jonfitt said,

Also, I understand I don’t get to make any decisions, but if the desert is just one part of the map and is the most dull, why not situate the demo in a forest near a river?
I’ve only seen desert so far in this demo and the videos.

This makes a lot of sense, even for a post-gold version of the demo. Keep in mind the amount of comments that have been made about the variety in terrain (and the time you’ve had to tell people about godmode and teleportation – why not blow away those comments in one stroke by changing the demo starting base? Expose those features! =)

I don’t really play that many flight simulators so I’m going to take a pass on commenting on the vehicle controls for the most part (though they seem a bit odd – isn’t the convention for joypads to use the left stick for forward, back and strafing, then binding the other to x and y rotation SHUTTING UP, SHUTTING UP, WON’T THINK ABOUT THIS).

Yes. Not gonna change it because the E key does about five different things. And making E exit, will cause problems with docking and suicide. Making E exist also makes it error prone because it is easier to accidentally press E than it is to press CTRL+E. How you would like to eject in mid-air because you pressed E by mistake?

W/regard ejecting from vehicles, QW bound a key exclusively to entering and exiting vehicles. Cluttered up the keyboard slightly, but prevented accidental ejects while remaining a single button press.

Oh god, one more. Would you consider making the weapon-select button on the joypad allow the player to select weapons by immediately pressing one of the directions on the d-pad after hitting the button (“SELECT WEAPON”)? Just a thought – two presses on a pad might be faster and more certain than trying to check a toggle while in combat.

I even got them all into a gunship and took them on a tour to view the scenery. While we were being shot at by forces from below. It was fun. At least for me.

I’ll second that, great fun was had. Another RPS session? Please?

Serondal said,

I’ve played FPS games since you couldn’t even duck, or look up or down at all for that matter matty.

Duuude! =) Eye of the Beholder II for me! Always nice to meet another grandpa gamer. =)

Serondal also said,

the way ducking/prone ect works in this game is nothing new. This is how it works in Rainbow Six type games, OPflash ect because it allows you to change your position with great detail and is pretty common way for keys to be set up.

No problem with these features – and I change my key config in everything I play anyhow. =P Still using the config I set up in Duke3D! Oh, ’space’ is jump (hate that) – but can reconfig. My problem is with some more obscure decisions – not making third person a toggle, making ctrl-e eject as the default across all vehicles – areas where there are well established conventions. Ideally players shouldn’t have to relearn basic stuff – they should be able to spend their time in areas where AAW is unique, clever and new! =)

Then Serondal said,

You guys can attack a base with some gunships and fighters ect, I can attack it with a warmonger battle cruiser for sub-orbital levels HAH :P

You desk jockeys have no idea what it’s like on the ground. *spits* Old command, just like the new command. =)

dsmart said,

When swimming in real life, don’t you see your arms in front of you when you do that stroke?

Yikes! Not like that! http://img208.imageshack.us/i/aaw05.png/ As an enthusiastic swimmer I can fairly confidently say that I’ve never put my arms in that position if I’m trying for breast stroke on the surface (and I can’t really imagine doing that underwater either). Check this out and see how often she raises her hands above her eyeline http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/swimming/4225756.stm

Sorry if it wasn’t done exactly to your desires, but the fact is, what was implemented is perfectly adequate I think. You are an extension of the vehicle so if you look left, you can drive in that direction.

Sorry, I’m obviously not explaining myself adequately. My concern here is that I appear to be locked into looking forward in first person – and due to the way the monitor fails to reproduce my peripheral vision, it’s like I’ve been strapped into the drivers seat of a car, had my forehead strapped to the headrest, been fitted with blinkers and told to drive.
My situational awareness of my local terrain is uncomfortably, nay, dangerously limited.
Add to this a car that turns left when I want to look left and we’ve a recipe for disaster, at high OR low speeds. =) Essentially, a car’s turning circle is far wider than the turning circle provided by my neck, real or virtual.

I love how I can look independently of the car’s direction as a passenger, but if there’s a technical problem with this for the driver, perhaps you could implement it for third person? Keys steer, mouse rotates camera in x and y? Players who want a greater situational awareness could pop into third person, move the camera around and either steer there or switch back to cockpit view.

I should point out that your map screen almost allows this already, as it’s currently intercepting increase and decrease throttle commands (from the keyboard and joypad, at least) and I can easily zoom in and swing the camera around. The feature’s already there, then – it would only have to be made official.

Or so I would imagine. =)

Stop being condescending please. Frankly your posts are beginning to annoy me.

Yeah, sorry, read over the TF2 and HL2 comments and they were a bit snotty. I’d like to apologise for that – I was under some pressure when I wrote ‘em, but please understand that they were written with the best interests of the game at heart.

I’m reminded of one of your comments during the RPS test run… “This IS my first FPS”. I’m just worried that without enough of a shared language with other FPS/Simulator hybrids you might not actually get as many people to try your game as you deserve because they’ll be frustrated by the lack of so many conventions they’ve come to expect and rely upon.

Not intending to be condescending, just trying to speak honestly and helpfully to the issues as I see ‘em.

this not like any other game

I’d say it’s VERY like a great deal of other games, just not enough like ‘em where it counts for new players.

There was a month long public BETA. You had a chance to be a part of the game’s direction. You opted to sit it out.

This is true. I did see the beta. I did sit it out – the game didn’t seem especially appealing to me. I installed the demo on a whim and to my surprise found that I liked the technology and the direction the game suggested it would take.

I had problems with the UI and provided feedback.

Now that we’re close to release and tying up loose ends you think we’re going to make drastic changes to suit your playing style and desires?

No, you think I’m trying to fit the game to my own styles and desires. That’s not how I see it… but I DO see a parting of the ways coming up fast. =) Fair enough.

Howard said,

The server browser always shows no players in any servers even when there are.

Just out of curiosity, how many servers are there overall?

Random issues I came across while attempting to play and taking pictures…

1)Map intercepts forwards and backwards commands

2)I’m using the 360 pad with standard MS drivers in the .19 version of AAW, keep having to recalibrate the joypad

3)In the map font, a ‘D’ can often look like an ‘0′, readability issue.

4)Consider biasing server ‘time’ to daylight. It’s easier for newbies to navigate and it makes a night-time server an exciting difficult spike.

5)Really like the solar farm assets, they catch your eye in the distance, look excellent.

6)Running into one of the launchpad ramps in a CAB seems to give less lift (forwards or backwards) than running into one of the side walls – I stop dead.

7)I jumped out of a buggy (with the engine switched off) and watched it pass right through another parked vehicle. Game crashed shortly after this, so I can’t give you coords or a picture.

8)Jumped out of a HAV van at full throttle (making the joypad vibrate). While I was out and the van was a long distance away, the pad continued to vibrate. It only stopped when I entered a plane.

We didnt’ start this game yesterday. It has been two years in the making. Our first dedicated fps game. So it has been a little bit of a learning experience but we’re doing our best. Its not like I’m going to release the game tomorrow and then patch it later. I could, but I don’t have to because we still have a bit of time. The [reasonable] issues you guys have reported – even asking us to revise things which WERE NOT BUGS – have been done. And we’re still working on things so that those (like you) who are INTERESTED in the game, can have the best experience possible and within the limits of the game.

We could’ve been like those other guys and leave the game at 1.18.15, sign off on it as Gold next week as planned and then everything else that came after would be in a patch. But why do that when we can take a few days to polish and tweak further – things that make all the difference?

You guys really are fucking champions. You’ve done an amazing job. I wish you the very best.

AAW! SELL, MOTHERFUCKER, SELL!

PS: More RPS reader sessions would be great.

Serondal says:

My God Reverened Speed ! You should register at 3000AD and start your own thread over there ;P

dsmart says:

Rev!! my gawd man, I actually HAD to read all that.

Anyway, I’m not going to quote everything, but it is all noted. Some comment about issues that stand out

Could you make the icons or their area of effect a little larger, perhaps? Another alternative is that you could ‘use’ the vehicle, then select the seat from a menu like the one for the weapon supplies? It’s not as clever, but at least you’d know what to hit when panicked. =)

I thought of that before but the reason I was done the way it currently is was due to conflict resolution. If player A entered an asset and got the menu, then player B entered almost at the same time, if player B was quicker in selecting the driver/pilot before player A, then the menu visible to player A is now aged and not current. So what you’d find it player B has now taken off. Where is player A? Still standing on the runway staring at a menu.

Maybe we’ll come up with a better method in a future patch.

Perhaps add some difficulty levels?

Unfortunately due to the way the AI works, thats not feasible within the current framework. The AI engine is very sophisticated and not something I want to mess with.

Sorry, I’m obviously not explaining myself adequately. My concern here is that I appear to be locked into looking forward in first person – and due to the way the monitor fails to reproduce my peripheral vision, it’s like I’ve been strapped into the drivers seat of a car, had my forehead strapped to the headrest, been fitted with blinkers and told to drive.
My situational awareness of my local terrain is uncomfortably, nay, dangerously limited.
Add to this a car that turns left when I want to look left and we’ve a recipe for disaster, at high OR low speeds. =) Essentially, a car’s turning circle is far wider than the turning circle provided by my neck, real or virtual.

You can use the F7 (third person view) and achieve the same results.

The issue with doing mouselook is that then you cannot use the mouse for menu items. Thats why there is a Y key toggle for even the mouse steer.

Slaving the mouse to the vehicle’s view also requires a bunch of camera related changes that aren’t worth it.

Would still like to get autobrake. Occasionally people are firing missiles at me as I get out of my car and I’m easily distracted.

No can do. If you exit a vehicle that is still moving, it will move until it comes to a stop. If you don’t want that, use the 0 key to kill the throttle before you exit. Same thing.

I’ll second that, great fun was had. Another RPS session? Please?

Sure. Lets setup a date/time and do it. I think Alec was also interested I believe.

Anyway, first mirror for the new demo build is up

http://www.atomicgamer.com/file.php?id=78952

dsmart says:

If your stick has a wonky throttle, go the the game options and disable it. Then the game will ignore it and use W/S

dsmart says:

The servers take some time to come up, but I just checked and they’re all up now.

Polysynchronicity says:

Regarding the issue with ending up in the wrong seat while boarding a vehicle – why not handle it like Red Orchestra does? Boarding the vehicle puts you in the first available seat, from which you can then switch into the other ones.

Example: in a T-34 in Red Orchestra, you can run up to the vehicle and press “Z” (use) from any point on the vehicle. If the vehicle is empty you will end up as the driver. If that seat is full you will be the gunner/commander. If both those seats are full, then you will be in the MG position.

You can switch from any seat into any other (empty) seat by pressing 1, 2 or 3 (although you may already be using those keys – I haven’t played the demo yet due to problems with my PC not booting)

Reverend Speed says:

@Poly,

Was thinking this, but in Quake Wars (don’t know how it is in RO) you always have a parachute that can open and start braking incredibly quickly.

In AAW, given the scale, should you find yourself a passenger in a flying craft the odds are you’ll find yourself very high and miles outta the range of another vehicle VERY quickly.

If you have no jetpack your only hope is either suicide or, if you survive the drop, a 30 second wait for a teleporter back home.

All very frustrating.

So I can see why you’d want to avoid automatic passenger-making on the runway.

Without changing how the teleport timer operates and/or making vehicles much easier to get to, I’m not sure how to fix this.

dsmart says:

@ Alistair

My crash at login was reolved by one of two things – updating Java or running as Admin. (Vista 32)

Both of which are already mentioned earlier in the thread and referenced in the Knowledgebase ;)

Glad you got it going. Don’t forgot to patch to the latest version.

Reverend Speed says:

FORMATTING SUCCESS!

And in case you missed this in the previous post:

NEW DAVID BRABEN ELITE GAME FOR PC!

http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2009/06/16/elite-iv-confirmed-for-ps3/

Woo!

Major Disaster says:

What a shame the other thread had to be locked, thought this was an excellent “story” to read so lets hope it doesnt get spoilt.

I for one will now try trying the Demo tonight, will make a change from Left4Dead, where I suspect the Valve Devs could do with a bit more community interaction the mo…….

Perhaps RPS could get them to comment :-)

Yes/No says:

Here’s a rundown of my demo playthrough.

Choose marine mission, walk forwards, see car, get in car, get shot by sentrygun. Die instantly.

Respawn, walk forwards, don’t get in car, get shot at, locate elite guard 500 somethings away, shoot at him, miss, get shot, die.

This was the most recent play through but it basically sums up my experience. It’s kinda of like playing some kind of demonic, poorly created romhack of Operation Flashpoint, I guess.

The main difficulties are that there’s absolutely no cover unless you rush to barracks and the AI is feeling sporting enough not to shoot you, the fact that the AI never seems to miss and can spot me from miles away, including from behind walls and also that the enemy apparently have access to metric fuckton of heavy ordance which basically means if I don’t get shot by the enemy, I’ll get shot by a missile from some tank 800 miles away.

And don’t get me started on the VTOL missions. And the crashes and bugs (I count the AI seeing through walls as a bug, as well as the view shaking from crashing a plane even after I start a new game).

However, I didn’t mind the controls (GASP) although I think this is because my years of not having PC capable of running anything other than DOS games and Roguelikes have conditioned me to check the commands before playing. Although I must admit Roguelike controls tend to make more sense.

So no, not sold me.

Also on a petty note, the voiceovers are annoying. Listening to “WARNING HOSTILE LAUNCH DETECTED” over and over again really starts to grate on my nerves after a while.

dsmart says:

Final Build v1.18.23 for the demo is now up.

dsmart says:

No, that program ended awhile back.

The full game and demo use the same engine, so they work the same way.