Some tips for the demo that people might find useful (please add your own)

[Hook]

I think the manual says to use the TAB key for that.  I found it by accident.

Hook

[HarryInk]

For the Info window in 2D (F2) mode or 3D (F3), simply set the transparency max. To do this: "alt + mouse wheel".

(thanks to DC85 on the forum francais)

[Cpl Steiner]

Hi all,

I'm starting to get to grips with the game now and thought I'd share my findings.

Ever thought, wow, so many corps I don't know what to do with them all?

Try this:

During Setup, put your biggest corps right in the middle. Next, put one corps on each flank and one behind - 4 corps in total. You can move a whole corps by hovering the mouse over the corps commander and pressing Ctrl before holding down the right mouse button and dragging the corps where you want it to be.

Now order your central corps to form a deployment line somewhere just behind where you think the enemy is likely to make a stand.

Next, for each adjacent corps, left click on the corps commander and select the "Link to Unit" order. Hover the mouse over the central corps commander and left click again. Once in the dialog window, select either "In Support" (for the rear corps) or "On the Left" or "On the Right". Now when you press "W" to start the game, you willl have a pretty decent 4-corps attack underway right from the start!.

[Doyley]

Thanks for the tip Cpl Steiner, can't wait to try this out later today, sounds great.

[Cpl Steiner]

http://www.nhancer.com/  nHancer is something which can help with gfx options - it will auto-import any settings already made or one may make their own profile for the exe
The site is helpful with understanding the jargon.  

Am now off to see if gamma correction in multisampling affects ground textures.

FYI with ref to cpl Steiners directions the 'multi GPU/display' option is for Sli & multi-monitor rigs



Update - nhancer did a nice job I think - got full res & no crashes!
I am posting the profile I used & 2 resulting screenshots for others here -
http://depositfiles.com/files/fvd7l3kmd
Feel free to play around with the profile - use 'profile' -> 'import'.  (You will of course need to grab the util from the above site)

Hi JCM101,

I tried your profile and while it does make the graphics look better than without I think you still have Anti-aliasing turned off. You need to change the profile to "Override" rather than "Enhance" for AA. Enhance assumes that the game has its own AA controls but HW:LG doesn't have any AA option. Consequently I think you need it to be "Override" to "force" AA on.

It's easy to tell if AA is on or off - just look at the big flags the units carry. If they have jagged edges then it's off.

[Cpl Steiner]

Hi all,

I'm starting to get to grips with the game now and thought I'd share my findings.

Ever thought, wow, so many corps I don't know what to do with them all?

Try this:

During Setup, put your biggest corps right in the middle. Next, put one corps on each flank and one behind - 4 corps in total. You can move a whole corps by hovering the mouse over the corps commander and pressing Ctrl before holding down the right mouse button and dragging the corps where you want it to be.

Now order your central corps to form a deployment line somewhere just behind where you think the enemy is likely to make a stand.

Next, for each adjacent corps, left click on the corps commander and select the "Link to Unit" order. Hover the mouse over the central corps commander and left click again. Once in the dialog window, select either "In Support" (for the rear corps) or "On the Left" or "On the Right". Now when you press "W" to start the game, you willl have a pretty decent 4-corps attack underway right from the start!.

Further to the above, I've been experimenting a bit more and this "Link to Unit" feature is amazingly powerful. Some more tips.

1. You don't even need to move a corps to the correct position during setup. Just select any corps you like on the map and give it a "Link to Unit - On the Left" order and it will instantly form up on the left of that unit. Same goes for "On the Right" and "In Support" (i.e. "To the Rear").

2. You can chain support links together. Example: Pick one unit as your main unit. Now select another corps and give it a "Link to Unit - On the Right" order supporting your main unit. Next, pick another corps and do the same to support the previous corps. In this way you could chain all your corps right across the map.

3. I find if you give all corps that are linked together a "2 lines - mixed order" formation, it works best.

4. Once you have 5 or 6 units all chained to one main one during setup, giving the main one a "Deploy in Line" order somewhere behind the enemy position causes the entire army to pivot to face that location.

I can't see me not using this feature ever again as it's so poweful.

 

[Dagann]

I don't know if it was already said :

To change the font in the game, to standard instead of italic, press F

[JCM101]

Hi JCM101,

.... I think you still have Anti-aliasing turned off. You need to change the profile to "Override" rather than "Enhance" for AA. .....

errrrr not necessarily (I think  )...... I see multisampling & 8xAA with quality enhancement enabled.  
As I understood it, it becomes an over-ride when you are forcing the application to act contrary to its' normal operation, eg forcing V-sync on when its always off etc. Enhancing allows things like more post-processing etc.
Nevertheless, it can & should be played around with relative to the gfx cards/hardware used.  

My feeling is full override via the compatibilty tab would be best based on knowledge of exactly what the core engine is based on/optimised for.  (Of course experiment obviates that if one can cope with the odd glitch.)
When time allows I going to do some more experimentation & hopefully post results.

The big bonus for me was it is a simple way to get the correct resolution & STOP lock-ups on my system occurring when mode switching.  Thought that was worth a share esp as it will possibly help JMM with his debugging..

Thanks for the feed-back.  

***

Grabbed a minute to post these shots before I was dragged into the battle & forgot what day it is...


As I have it set in the file I posted (-looks like AA is active to me)


Super sampling 2x1

My PC doesn't struggle on these settings it seems & things look pretty good.  Have also tried 16x AA +Q w/out slow-downs etc.  Don't want to hijack this thread tho - so won't post pages of screens!

[Hook]

You already know that if you press F6 you get an overall view of a unit from a high viewpoint.  If you press F6 again, you get the same overall view from a lower viewpoint.

Hook

[Cpl Steiner]

errrrr not necessarily (I think  )...... I see multisampling & 8xAA with quality enhancement enabled.  
As I understood it, it becomes an over-ride when you are forcing the application to act contrary to its' normal operation, eg forcing V-sync on when its always off etc. Enhancing allows things like more post-processing etc.
Nevertheless, it can & should be played around with relative to the gfx cards/hardware used.  

My feeling is full override via the compatibilty tab would be best based on knowledge of exactly what the core engine is based on/optimised for.  (Of course experiment obviates that if one can cope with the odd glitch.)
When time allows I going to do some more experimentation & hopefully post results.

The big bonus for me was it is a simple way to get the correct resolution & STOP lock-ups on my system occurring when mode switching.  Thought that was worth a share esp as it will possibly help JMM with his debugging..

Thanks for the feed-back.  

***

Grabbed a minute to post these shots before I was dragged into the battle & forgot what day it is...


As I have it set in the file I posted (-looks like AA is active to me)


Super sampling 2x1

My PC doesn't struggle on these settings it seems & things look pretty good.  Have also tried 16x AA +Q w/out slow-downs etc.  Don't want to hijack this thread tho - so won't post pages of screens!

Hi JCM101,

Yes, it definitely looks like AA is enabled in those screenshots. When I tried your downloadable profile I was getting "jaggies" on flags but I guess everyone's PC is different.

As a lot of potential players of HW:LG are likely to be of a, dare I say, "older" generation, I just thought it useful to point out how you can tell if AA is enabled or not. Basically, look for the jaggies and if they are there, try something else!

[Franciscus]

Further to the above, I've been experimenting a bit more and this "Link to Unit" feature is amazingly powerful. Some more tips.

1. You don't even need to move a corps to the correct position during setup. Just select any corps you like on the map and give it a "Link to Unit - On the Left" order and it will instantly form up on the left of that unit. Same goes for "On the Right" and "In Support" (i.e. "To the Rear").

2. You can chain support links together. Example: Pick one unit as your main unit. Now select another corps and give it a "Link to Unit - On the Right" order supporting your main unit. Next, pick another corps and do the same to support the previous corps. In this way you could chain all your corps right across the map.

3. I find if you give all corps that are linked together a "2 lines - mixed order" formation, it works best.

4. Once you have 5 or 6 units all chained to one main one during setup, giving the main one a "Deploy in Line" order somewhere behind the enemy position causes the entire army to pivot to face that location.

I can't see me not using this feature ever again as it's so poweful.

 

Great tips, thank you 

[von Döbeln]

Is there a way to move/remove the bottom info window in 2d view? The one with the timer and info about what is happening to the units. I got a corps commander behind it during set up and after the game started and the info window showed itself in that spot the only way I could give orders to him was in 3D view since he was hidden behind the info window.

EDIT!
Disregard - that window is also removed with HOME key.

LvD

[JCM101]

Hi JCM101,

Yes, it definitely looks like AA is enabled in those screenshots. When I tried your downloadable profile I was getting "jaggies" on flags but I guess everyone's PC is different.

As a lot of potential players of HW:LG are likely to be of a, dare I say, "older" generation, I just thought it useful to point out how you can tell if AA is enabled or not. Basically, look for the jaggies and if they are there, try something else!

Older players ??? don't I recall a cpl steiner saying something about a man being what he perceived himself to be??? 

I of course agree the info about 'jaggies' is useful to the general audience seeking help.

As everyones skill sets are different I wanted to share the profile as a leg up to those w/out the gfx tweaking experience.
(Plus the debug aspect) but given the varieties of hardware it won't be fool-proof.  If you see jagged textures I would agree that it is unlikely the AA is (optimally) active for you.  I see the profile as a starting point & the tool as a means to make the process less opaque.  (ie Knowing it works OK for someone often helps people make their own adjustments - cos it's not a completely unknown quantity.)
And as a general advisory:-
I'm using the latest drivers 195.62 & they have been pretty good.  Most stable version prior was the 191.07

Obviously it depends on the card etc but I would say anything above a 9600 should really get a boost from these.  Earlier cards often seem better on the 181 & 186 series of drivers.   But its trial & error with each system ultimately.

Getting the game to run on the 'unofficial' super sampling setting was interesting as stuff looks very smooth.  I now have to play for a few hours to see how it behaves under pressure  .

Anyone wishing to try different drivers - huge catalog on http://downloads.guru3d.com/
they also have the excellent driver sweeper util http://downloads.guru3d.com/Guru3D---Driver-Sweeper-(Setup)-download-1655.html- but be very cautious about what you remove if this is unknown territory.