demo

[Hook]

Woah!  I just minimized the game on purpose during a replay of a battle and the time jumped ahead over 5 hours!  I've minimized the game before during play, but I've always paused it first and it works ok.

JMM, we need the game to pause if it's minimized.  That would fix those problems.

Uxbridge, do you have some program running that might bring itself to the foreground, which would minimize your game or anything else that's running at the time?  I'm assuming that you aren't accidentally tabbing out of the program.

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[Hook]

Moondog:  XP gets upset if a program tries to modify files in the Program Files folder... I think.  Either run in Admin mode all the time (which is what I do) or install the game to a folder other than Program Files.  JMM, you might consider this as a default.

The best way I can think of to handle the unit info box is to let us drag it around where we want it.  If we do that, we can also have tool tips and additional information by mousing over the various icons, and could click on the icons do perform some functions.

As for camera movement, I'm currently restricted to using one hand mostly for the game, so if everything can be on the mouse it would be better for me, at least.  Sims 3 has a good set of camera movement commands using nothing but the mouse.

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[englishoo7]

Click on the upper right where it says "Change the forum language".  At least I hope that's what it says... I've already done it and everything is in English.

Hook

Done that, Thanks!

[Franciscus]

The "returns to desktop" that some users are seeing are strange. From my 20+ years experience as PC gamer (for what it's worth  ) I would say that apart from some game bug not many things can be the cause. Namely:
- Memory leak ?. Usually a game code problem, rarely a problem with how much RAM you have and how your OS uses it
- More frequently some interaction between a game file that's being created or modified (in this case, a video or save file ??) and your antivirus software. That's the main reason for the frequent advice of closing all non-essential processes running in the backround. Specially disabling AV should be tried by the folks experiencing these weird bugs.

IMHO it would be wise to try to be systematic in reporting problems, and always try to describe your rig:
- O/S: It is known that Vista (and probably 7) is finicky with some games - that's why I am keeping with XP for now (and even not all XP's are alike. I remained in SP2 because of the reported problems to gamers with SP3)
- Processor (some games do not interact well with multi core processors)
- Amount of RAM
- Graphics card and drivers (the latest ATI drivers, 7-compatible, seem also to have some problems with old games...)
- Directx version (now we can have 9.0c, 10 and 11...)

I have yet to experience CTD or returns to desktop, but my playing time is limited (fingers crossed)

I am running the demo with

Win XP SP2
Intel Core2Duo E7400
4 Gig DDR2 RAM
ATI 4670 (512 Mb graphic RAM), ATI 9.4 drivers
Directx 9.0c


Regards


(PS: Probably my fault, but IIRC in the screen shots available in the HW main site, a compass is visible in 3d images. How to activate it in the demo ? Or is it not present ??)

[Hook]

I don't think I've ever seen or heard of a game that minimized itself due to a program problem. I have fat-fingered the keys occasionally and alt-tabbed out of a program.  I've also seen my anti-virus take over the foreground and minimize a program that way.

Ok, here's a thought:  Is it possible you're accidentally hitting the Windows key or the Menu key?  That would probably account for the problem as well.  I pried both of those keys off my keyboard the day I got it to prevent such problems.

As for CTDs, we found a totally new one recently.  The Sims 3 game would boost the video frame rate up to around 1500 for no good reason, which would cause the graphics card to overheat and the game would crash.  The people who had that problem used a frame rate limiting program to get around it.

Hook

[MoonDog]

HOOK
AH! The Program Files folder issue. Grand.

I still think the unit info box should be at the bottom (where is always is in 3d view) plus any other tool tips or other info could be put at bottom too so as nothing pops up covering any part of the map. I was on this 2d view trying to issue an order to a Corps Commander and even that context menu came up and covered where I wanted to send the Corps to. If I have to start moving boxes or menus out of the way on this screen then by the 100th time I do it I’ll be ready to declare war on France myself. Keep it simple and uncluttered.

OK so for those who lost limbs in previous battles I’m willing to explore the camera controls more … but I am right!! 

[englishoo7]

All regiments dissapear the moment they enter into a firefight, any ideas? (good thing is that the enemy regiment dissapears' too)

Also order arrows stay for a time on the 2D screen then dissapear. Is this because the order is invalid in some way or a bug?

[Franciscus]

Played a bit more, now on the 3rd tutorial, just less than one hour.

No CTD, no returns to desktop, no disappearing units (although some units of one of my corps, that I ordered in defensive line changed their icon in 2d to just a small flag. Probably WAD and in the manual, I know... , but for some moments I thought they had "disappeared"  )

Some thoughts:
- With antialiasing and anisotropic filtering, the graphics are even better.
- No passive AI. Two of the enemy corps started right away marching toward me.
- During battle I suddenly noticed that one of my cavs were returning to my lines leading a group of...austrian prisioners !  Great feature, that I did not know was in the game. Bravo !
- On a small window in the lower part of the screen some useful text sometimes flashes by - stating that some unit is in trouble, for instance - is there any way to retrieve these messages ? Or to auto-pause the game when some such message is received ?
- Any way to get a compass in the 3d view ?? (it IS in the screenies...)

All in all, enjoying it more and more. Thanks JMM for what is certainly a great game. Don't be discouraged, keep going and please, release the game ASAP (after the CTDs, returns to desktop and disappearing units are cleared/solved). We will help you then finding and squashing the bugs that for sure will be present, and improving an already great game.

Regards

[Cpl Steiner]

All regiments dissapear the moment they enter into a firefight, any ideas? (good thing is that the enemy regiment dissapears' too)

Try "Solo" using the Montebello orders of battle for both sides and the Montebello map. Not only do you get an amazing grand battle with Napoleon at the had of a 70,000 or so army, but I think you will find the units never disappear when they enter combat. I think this bug just occurs in the tutorials.

Also order arrows stay for a time on the 2D screen then dissapear. Is this because the order is invalid in some way or a bug?

They usually do come back though. I think it's part of the game (command delay or whatever) rather than a bug. If you run 2d mode at max speed you will see what I mean.

[englishoo7]

Thanks Cpl!

[Hook]

On a small window in the lower part of the screen some useful text sometimes flashes by - stating that some unit is in trouble, for instance - is there any way to retrieve these messages ? Or to auto-pause the game when some such message is received ?

If you press I a few times they stay on the screen longer.

There needs to be a way to scroll through these in case we miss them.  If there is, I haven't noticed it yet.

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[Sean E]

After another attempt at the demo I’m still getting the game minimizing itself and time progressing a couple of hours. Definitely no hitting keys by mistake or anything. Plus the game advances a couple of hours, which would not be explained by that? Somethings not working right.
Attached specs to help.

WIn XP SP3
Intel Core2Duo E7300
2G RAM
Intel (R) G33/G31
DirectX 9.0c

[crazy canuck]

I'm going to take s shot in the dark and suggest it's an XP issue.

I have Vista 32bit. I set the game to XP SP2 compatibility and that's when all my errors were accuring.

I removed the XP compatibility and now everything works fine.

 

[Stoppelhopser]

Well I'm on XP, single core P4, Nvidia card and don't have any stability problems with the demo and I ran it for hours. Not helpful, I know but throwing this in someone more adept may find a solution.

[von Döbeln]

It seems to me that if you play Solo mode and the use the map and armies from the Montobello battle the game works MUCH better than in the tutorials (no teleporting, no missing units, the AI seemed a lot more active etc), so I highly recommend everyone to try it out. I had a couple of great battles yesterday.

LvD