Ether Dragon

I don't know the picture you speak of, but as an American, I'm shocked to hear that they needed to doctor some picture up. It shows a lack of effort on the part of the developers, IMHO. There has to be thousands of suitable pictures in the national archives that could have been used in place of some doctored pic. Believe me, it's not part of any conspiracy to rewrite history in America's favor. It always bothers me to hear Europeans express that concern and actually mean it. Americans are rightfully proud of their participation in WW2, but no one thinks for a minute that it was America itself that brought about victory. If there are, it's due to a lack of education, rather than an education aimed at revising history.

Okay, granted I've yet to finish the campaign (partly due to a hard drive crash, partly due to other games, partly due to RL interuptions,) but I don't see how anyone could get bored with this game. It just offers so much. The magnitude of it still awes me everytime I play. I haven't even touched the player-created missions yet. My friends and I can always find a new way to tackle one of the original maps. Unless you're bored with the gameplay. Really, how many times can you shoot the bad guys before it becomes blasé? I'm still not there yet. Of course, I spent a couple of years replaying Rogue Spear (NATO 3 mod) with the same 18 maps over and over. With the sheer size of OFP's maps for comparison, I can't imagine getting bored anytime soon. No, if anything kills this game for me, it's going to be the annoying glitches that we have to put up with. It's annoying to have to turn off anti-aliasing whenever I play to avoid input lag, for instance. Wreaks havoc with other games (some of which lock-up in the absence of AA.) Still, for the moment I can stomach it for what the game offers in return.

Some friends and I have been playing the cooperative map "Lost Squad" on the Malden Island. It's the one where you have to defend a town, get to an extraction point, and get off the island. We can complete the last two objectives - surprisingly easily, but for some reason we can't get a success for defending the town. Last night, we completely owned the mission, when I managed to steal an enemy helicopter and destroy all of their armor and every visible enemy soldier while my team mates called out their positions while hiding in town. The enemy armor never reached town. Part of the squad remained inside the city the entire time. After the helicopter got through, they did a house-to-house and cleared all the hidden bad guys we could find. Still, we didn't succeed. What do we have to do? We've even gone so far as to seek out and kill bad guys on other parts of the map (like near Chapoi or the town you extract from.)

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (S_Z @ April 19 2002,15:02)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">One thing that a really miss is that(like someone here said before) you cant fire from a hull down position. <span id='postcolor'> Sure you can - just get on the back side of a hill. No, it's not an engineer-created tank dug-out, but it does the job.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Uzabit @ April 19 2002,14:46)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">The portions wich are on the ground are not moving forward, the tanks rolls on the tracks. I think that those on top move with double speed.<span id='postcolor'> You got it. It's a bit of a trick question. The bottom portion isn't moving at all - it's laying flat on the ground and the tank is rolling over it (at 30 mph.) As for the top portion, it's only moving 30 mph. The fact that it's rolling forward at the same time the tank is rolling forward might make it appear to be going faster, however. =)

I mentioned this problem about a month ago, and never got an adequate response, leastwise nothing that solved the problem. So here I am for round two. Using the built-in voice feature, I can talk over my microphone and my friends can hear me, but when they talk, no one can hear them (myself included.) I'm hosting the game session. We've all used Roger Wilco together before, so we know that our microphones all work with our systems. One of my friends has been getting a "receive only" tag recently when he tries to use Roger Wilco, which has kept us from using it, either. We've all done the microphone setup where you read the text and listen for the playback. It worked for all of us. Anyone have a clue as to what could be causing the problem? I've turned off my firewall and antivirus program, and that didn't do any good.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Blake @ April 19 2002,14:11)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Yes, they suffer damage. But I still would like to see just track(s) turn red disabling moving while retaining turning to just one direction. Rest of the tank could even remain rather intact and crew would stay in.<span id='postcolor'> Actually, if a tank just loses one track, their only options are straight forward or straight back. Â They need both tracks in order to create turning ability. Â One track slows down while the other speeds up, or one goes in reverse while the other goes forward (pivot.) Â The moment the track pops off, you have one track providing forward/reverse, while the wheels on the other side just roll along. Here's a neat little trivia question: Â The top portion of a track (above the wheels) is longer than the lower portion (under the wheels.) Â You can use the picture in one of the replies above me for reference. If a tank is going 30mph, how fast is each portion moving? Hint: The speeds are standard on every tank ever made.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Hardliner @ April 19 2002,10:54)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I know the M1A1 is a tough nut but would a direct hit to its engine ruin it? I mean I know the armor at the front is thickest and less on top and sides but at the rear wouldn't it be weak point? I'v heard people saying that if you hit an Abrams from behind thats it. All tanks would have weak behinds no?<span id='postcolor'> It really depends on where you hit it. The M1 is cool. If it's engine gets hit, it might still go into "emergency mode," which means it operates at about 10% power - enough to crawl away from a battle. However, I think that would be extremely lucky. More likely a direct shot from behind would incapacitate the tank. I saw this in action once during gunnery exercises when one tank confused another from it's platoon's as a target and fired around through the rear grate and straight into the engine. Luckily perhaps, it was a training round and not an actual SABOT. The round lodged in the engine, which caught on fire. The crew was initially confused by the loud "thud" they heard, until the tank commander looked back and saw what was going on. All the crewmen escaped without injury (despite MG fire from the clueless tank,) but the tank burned itself out over the course of the evening. While I was a tanker I operated in safe mode on more than one occassion due to miscellaneous break downs. Despite it's capabilities, the M-1's can be finicky, fragile beasts. My favorite occurance was when a simple cotter pin broke. It took nearly two straight days and three engine switches before they finally found the problem.

Yes, a tank's sites will be obscured by gun smoke for a few seconds after firing.  They not only produce smoke, but also a heap of dust from the muzzle blast.  What's more, when you hit a target, the explosion will likely obscure your target, making it difficult to determine if it's still a threat or not.  If the tank is moving, however, they'll usually run through the smoke in much less time.  Also, if the tanks had thermal imaging (like they should) smoke and dust wouldn't be detrimental at all. As for the M-1 and inclines.  How often do you come across or attempt a 60° slope?  Rarely if ever.  Certainly I haven't seen many in this game.  Most hill slopes in this game wouldn't give a tank any pause at all.  Something to keep in mind, the M-1 tank is governed down to 45 mph.  Without governing, the M-1 reached 90+ MPH in tests.  That's before the tracks flew off.  Their engines have more than enough power, and they can accelerate extremely fast. They can also stop very fast - literally on a dime.  The tracks afford them a huge amount of traction.  However, tank drivers are trained from the very beginning to use very gentle breaking.  Just because the tank can stop doesn't mean the crew can.  I've seen tank commanders and loaders thrown a good 20-30 ft. in front of a tank because a driver stomped on the brakes.  Tank commanders are trained from the very beginning to be very afraid of the back end of the .50 cal. in front of them.  Their faces come in contact with it all too often if they have an inexperienced driver. Edit: Oh yeah, the main gun smoke is white, not black. =)

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Bandit65 @ April 18 2002,15:41)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">One of my personal heros is William Tecumpseh Sherman, of Civil war fame.<span id='postcolor'> Haha. I was going to quote Gen. Sherman in my post, but forgot to when I was wrapping up. I think the quote perfectly states what war is and how it should be fought. "War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over"

Yep, it's for lost squad. Do you have to be in any certain position in order to refuel? Will I have the option from outside the tank, or do I have to be in a crew position? If so, which one? Thanks for the replies. Oh yeah, anyone have any tactical advice to share for that mission? What we've been doing so far (mainly due to not being able to use the tanks) is mining the approaches, planting satchel charges at other key points, loading up on LAW and sniper rifles, and getting the heck out of dodge. We let the mines and satchels take out the armor, and then sit back on the surrounding elevations (hill 74 is sweet) and take out every living thing. The only problems we've had is either missing some of the armor, or running out of sniper targets. Eventually we go in to clear the town room-to-room, and thats where we get killed. It's always that prone guy amongst the corpses that gets ya.

A couple friends and I have been trying to do the Malden Co-op map where you defend the town. There are several empty tanks about, but all of them are low on ammo and out of fuel. Our leader keeps telling me to refuel at some barrels. The only barrels I can find are in the road about 10m behind the tank, but you can't bring up any kind of command option associated with them. The same question applies for reloading. An ammo crate is right next to the same tank, but I can't find any way to reload the tank.

I don't really count the generals among the war heroes. Certainly they get the most attention, but I think the true war heroes were the guys in the trenches. An exception would be the admirals, like Adm. "Bull" Halsey. Most generals had the luxury of leading from the rear, and never had to face enemy fire, or follow some idiotic command. That's for the guy in the trenches, who soldiers on and does the duty he's assigned, even though it puts his life on the line. I respect the generals for coming up with winning tactics, but it's the grunts that make or break those tactics. As such, I cast my vote for Audey Murphy as well. There are a ton of deserving soldiers from every nation. Not one of them chose to be. They did their job, and they did it in such an incredible way that they are remembered and revered for it. If you could ask any one of them if they felt like a hero, they'de tell you they were doing their duty, and nothing more. They were put in a situation where they managed to come out alive and on top. There are thousands more that could've shined but simply never got the chance.

None taken. I never mind reading other views and opinions as long as they are kept rational. Yours were just fine, even if I disagree with them. =)

I'd say that the vehicles are all scaled pretty well. The T-80 is a small tank - it's designed that way. A low profile helps protect it from enemy fire. Soviet tanks have never been designed with the crew's comfort in mind, and it's very cramped inside due to it's size. The M-60 is taller than the M-1, which took it's profile more into account as well. The M-1 is spacious compared to Soviet tank interiors. I think you can hear an echo in the M-60 turret. Both American tanks also have four crewmen, while I believe the Soviet tanks only have three. Americans rely on a human loader (contrary to the game's version) while Soviet designs have an auto-loading system. The non-armored vehicles, like the 5-ton and jeep, are also well scaled. If you're wondering where I'm pulling this from, I'm a former tanker myself, and have either sat in, or seen firsthand all of the armored vehicles (and some of the wheeled) found in-game. Not to mention the studying that is required for knowing the capabilities of enemy vehicles.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (WKK Gimbal @ April 10 2002,15:38)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I can't help laughing when thinking about a whole squad of marines in front of PCs, playing multiplayer games  <span id='postcolor'> "Hey Sarge, how do I type 'hooah?'"

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Shadow @ April 10 2002,15:55)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Unfortunately this is the way it works, bro' If that's your atitude towards the games-developers, you'll soon run out of games to play <span id='postcolor'> Hasn't happened yet. There are plenty of companies that have provided excellent support for their games. I'm not saying that BIS isn't, or couldn't be one of them. They've given great support so far, from all I've heard, but they have to finish what they started. I'm not asking for extra content, I'm talking about bug fixes. Bugs that are listed in FAQ's, both official and otherwise, and posted about regularly in the tech forum.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Shadow @ April 10 2002,15:23)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Oh and the part about "It's done when it's done, and it should not be considered done when a large portion of the customers are having to deal with issues like the input lag.". This means didley shit. This is business. If BIS can make more money by keep supporting OFP, ofcourse they will do so.<span id='postcolor'> There's more that a business needs to look at than just the bottom line on one product. Â They have to consider the impact that not supporting one product will have on future products as well. Â I, for one, will not buy a game from BIS, or any other company, if they are in the habit of dropping support the moment they feel they've taken enough money from their customers. Â If they get that kind of reputation, they won't be in business for long. Â Reputation is critical in business.

I have to think that there is some damage modeling going on with tanks. I've seen partial damage applied to vehicles that get hit, seemingly dependant on where they get hit. I've seen a tank struck by a mine have both it's tracks blown off, but be otherwise operational. A tank lost one track when a friend hit it with a LAW. The crew bailed out, and I grabbed the tank (couldn't move very much, but could still shoot just fine.) In the same game, a tank had it's main gun knocked out, but the crew refused to abandon it. I ended up in a "tank chase" that lasted for several miles - me driving a BMP without any other crew, it not having a gun to shoot me with. Anytime I tried switching to the gunner position, it was out of view by the time I could fire. I finally just gave up and let it run off (we still won the mission.) Basically, it seems to be more than "x number of shots kills tank."

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Shadow @ April 10 2002,12:04)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Ether Dragon: Try playing the game from version 1.0 and patch it ones in a while. You'll soon discover all the fixes and improvements BIS have done to it <span id='postcolor'> Granted, I might get to see all of the bugs the game originally shipped with, but just because they've knocked out a lot of the bugs doesn't absolve the company from fixing the remaining ones - especially when those remaining bugs are common and greatly affect gameplay. It sounds an awful lot like you're saying, "they fixed my bugs, so quit worrying and celebrate." Frankly, the thought that previous bugs made the current patched state seem acceptable to many makes me wonder how the game ever got such a good reputation. All I see is a game that's been out for around nine months and that I had to fight with tooth and nail in order to play. It's pretty disturbing that people are actually arguing that the game is no longer in need of support just because they can play without problems. Just because the game has been out for x months, or they've released x patches does not mean everything is hunky dorey. There is no magic number that means support just up and quits. It's done when it's done, and it should not be considered done when a large portion of the customers are having to deal with issues like the input lag.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Tex [uSMC] @ April 10 2002,12:01)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">What are you talking about? I use EAX in OFP all the time! What kind of sound card do you have?I have a SB Audigy Gamer<span id='postcolor'> If you look at the FAQ at Avon Lady, you'll see that the Audigy is the only supported card out there, as Creative Labs recently created a new driver. Even then, from responses I've seen in Tech Support threads, a lot of Audigy users still have the problem. Once again I ask, if EAX didn't work until a new driver was released, why the heck was the option ever provided in the game?

I'm still looking for a REAL fix to the input lag problem rather than a work-around that screws every other 3D game available. I'd also love to see them resolve the lack of EAX support. I love the excuse that it's a problem with EAX drivers. If it's never been supported by EAX drivers, why did you put EAX in the options panel to begin with? Either fix EAX (and hardware acceleration) or take it out altogether. Excellent support? Sorry, I'm fairly new to the game, so all I've seen is a broken option and work-arounds in lieu of actual patches.

So after the numerous threads hyping the eDimensional glasses and how well they work with OFP, I couldn't resist ordering my own pair. Â They arrived yesterday and I didn't waste anytime hooking them up. Â After doing some quick configuring, I jumped into OFP so I could...do some more configuring! Â No, really. Â I spent the rest of the night trying to tweak the game so it would work. Â Nothing I did seemed to bring me any closer to that goal. I think the largest and most immediate problem is the siting system. Â I've read a number of posts saying that these glasses actually improved their game, and I have to ask how??? Â The sites are 2D, and I quickly found out that they're almost impossible to properly align with a target. Â I resorted to closing one eye when aiming, which gave me a 2D view. Â Um, doesn't that completely ruin the purpose of using 3D glasses? The other big problem I experienced was faint ghost images, especially around larger objects like tanks. Â Perhaps it's the sheer scale of the maps, but if I adjust the stereo seperation one way, distant items have more pronounced ghosting, and if I try to correct that, suddenly near items, like my M-16 get a dual image. Â Either way, it's very hard on the eyes. Â The game got excellent marks from nVidia, which gives me hope that my inexperience with setting up the glasses is the cause. Â I tried Rogue Spear, a game with equally high marks, and it was even worse. Â I expected it would be improved due to the small map size, but no. Lastly, I tried IL-2 Sturmovik, and suddenly the world was right. Â Without having to do any configuration at all, suddenly nearly everything was in focus. Â I found myself flying nape of the earth for the first time, as I could accurately discern my distance from the ground. Â There was only a slight inconsistency with the cockpit display, a little ghosting around the gauges, and a clear double image of a canopy rail that extended to the top of the screen edge. Â The game wasn't without problems, however. Â Whenever I tried to access the in-flight map, or toggle the padlock view, my computer froze and required a reboot. So, for those of you that have experienced bliss with your glasses, I'd appreciate any tips you can throw my way for improving my new pair. Â Oh yeah: nVidia drivers GeForce 2 Mag 800V 19" monitor Windows XP

I've spent several hours tweaking the stereo effects, and was unable to find a decent set-up. That's why I'm asking advice from other users. What did you do that got you up and running in about ten minutes? Also, how do you handle the 2D crosshairs? I can't hit the broadside of a barn. I've heard how great the glasses are supposed to be in the game, but my experience thus far has me wondering if we didn't have some ringers from eDimensional toting their product on the forums.

Hmm. I'm using 28.32, so I don't think that's it. I've messed with the nVidia controls a lot, but I just can't get the hang of them. I read through nVidia's entire user's guide, too (you can download it off eDimension's site.)