Questions, Flames, Gripes?

[Bis71]

Originally Posted by ExMachina

ok, i'll gripe

camera control is pretty bad. might be a deal-breaker as the game relies a lot on being able to move about the map efficiently. i'll see if i can get any more comfortable with it and will try some of the other camera-control options the game offers.

saving grace might be the ability to fight from the 2D map.

otherwise, seems like a very impressive game.

At the very beginning of RJW, I had the same feeling, then I realized that I was stuck in an old paridigm. Once I realized what SES was trying to do with a PoV separate from a unit and starting to use all camera options, view became comfortable.

[AVGWarhawk]

There are several ways to use the camera. It is a bit strange at first but once you know what keys to us for what camera view, it all make sense. Hit F1 for you keys to use for the camera views.


Screenshots, any idea how to take them?

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

There are several ways to use the camera. It is a bit strange at first but once you know what keys to us for what camera view, it all make sense. Hit F1 for you keys to use for the camera views.


Screenshots, any idea how to take them?

Shift-F8

[Bullethead]

Originally Posted by darius359au

Shift-F8

In Jutland, they go in their own folder off the main folder. When you take one, the default file name is the scenario name + a gametime stamp. If the game is paused, all gametime stamps will be the same so any existing shots will be renamed to "backup X scenario name gametime stamp". Thus, you don't overwrite previous pics taken with the game paused.

In the RJW, the screenshots go into the main folder and DO get overwritten if you take more than 1 with the game paused. This is something that will probably get fixed in the 1.5 upgrade.

BTW, use SHF-F7 to get rid of all the GUI stuff to take more realistsic screenshots.

[Thomen]

I just took a quick look before heading to bed..

Not bad at all. It even supports resolutions up to 3840x1024 at least on my old machine.
Even though the graphics got pretty pixelated and the models are out of proportion. Gonna look tomorrow if there is an option to fix this.

[AVGWarhawk]

Thanks for the screen shot tip! I had a few last night that I wanted to take.

Thomen, yes, the game supports many resolutions. I have it on my 22 inch widescreen. Supporting different resolutions these days is a must in my book. Looks great on the widescreen.

[Thomen]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

Thanks for the screen shot tip! I had a few last night that I wanted to take.

Thomen, yes, the game supports many resolutions. I have it on my 22 inch widescreen. Supporting different resolutions these days is a must in my book. Looks great on the widescreen.

Got it fixed! I do play on lower details and without AA, tho.
Are we allowed to post screenshots here? Or rather link to ours? I'd rather not post one in a forum post.. it ought to blow the post out of proportion.

[AVGWarhawk]

Sure, start a screenshot thread

[Thomen]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

Sure, start a screenshot thread

Done

[Janus]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

SUPPORT THIS COMPANY! People with the courage and imagination to find a new way of fighting piracy when the old way has been long discredited deserve our support.

Definitely not! I agree that small companies like SES deserve me buying their games but I don't want to "own" a game which is requiring an internet connection in order to function properly. This paranoid copy protection simply is a no-go for me and it's a pity because I've only heared and read positive feedback about the games themselves.

At least you have a presence here at subsim now Bullethead, before that it was almost impossible to make contact with your company unless you were registered at the 'official' forums - there isn't even an ordinary contact email adress listed on stormeaglestudios.com which interested non-customers could write to...

[Bullethead]

Originally Posted by Janus

Definitely not! I agree that small companies like SES deserve me buying their games but I don't want to "own" a game which is requiring an internet connection in order to function properly. This paranoid copy protection simply is a no-go for me and it's a pity because I've only heared and read positive feedback about the games themselves.

I was wondering when this subject was going to come up....

I believe you have been somewhat misinformed about how our DRM works. Jutland's version of it works like this:

Every time you start the game, it tries to phone home. If it succeeds, the game will work just fine. If it doesn't succeed, the game will still work just fine, provided it's been less than 7 days since it last made contact. However, if you go longer than 7 days without an internet connection, it will stop working. BUT ONLY until such time as you regain an internet connection. The game still keeps trying to phone home every time you run it. Once you regain contact, the game will start working again just fine, although you'll have to re-enter your license number.

The reason it's like this is actually for your protection. I know that sounds strange, but hear me out on this....

Your license is associated with the hardware of a single computer, so it will only run on 1 computer at a time. You can easily switch the license from computer to computer, or upgrade your hardware of the 1 computer, no problem. You just release the license on the machine it's on now and then put it on the other or the upgraded machine. However, you do these things deliberately and so can take care of the license beforehand.

But suppose your HD crashes, your mobo fries, or whatever. In this sort of case, obviously you hadn't released your license ahead of time. So your computer is down for however long, a few days at least. When you get it running again, the game will see it as a different computer, so your license won't work on it. HOWEVER, after the 7th day passes from whenever the game last phoned home, you can re-enter your license and it will start working again.

Say it takes you 3 days to fix your computer. Then you only have to wait 4 more at most. That's assuming you played the game the day the computer died. If you hadn't played the game for several days before the computer crashed, then you have correspondingly less time to wait once you're back up, all the way down to zero.

Basically, you've got an unlimited number of reinstalls and switches between computers when things are all working. AND if something goes wrong somewhere along the line, there's a fallback mechanism to get you going again in a reasonable amount of time.

The 7 day thing is really a pretty good compromise. The longer we make the time interval in which the game will work between calls home, the longer it will take to come back if your computer dies.

Note that this all means that after 7 days, you can put the license on ANY computer. IOW, suppose you go on a 2-week trip but forget to swap the license to your laptop before you go. After 7 days, you'll be able to put your license on your laptop without having to release it from your home computer.

Anyway, I know the whole DRM subject is a hot button to a lot of people. However, we're stuck with using one because we have to go download-only. Being a niche product, we can't get any shelf space on stores, and it's not economically feasible for us to mail-order DVDs. But we have tried VERY hard to make our DRM as benign as absolutely possible. IMHO, ours is the best one on the market today.

[Janus]

Thanks for the thorough explanation Bullethead. I know how your DRM works, I am not some kind of ignorant who starts criticising something he doesn't have a clue of. I did not want to start an in depth discussion of the DRM at this point. I only wanted to give a feedback about it so you know there are people who would buy Jutland or DG but won't due to the copy protection (many people stated this over at the battlefront.com forum, too). I should have done it via private message instead maybe.

[Bullethead]

Originally Posted by Janus

I did not want to start an in depth discussion of the DRM at this point. I only wanted to give a feedback about it so you know there are people who would buy Jutland or DG but won't due to the copy protection

No problem. We're well aware that some folks hate DRMs so much that they refuse to own anything (or so they think) with a DRM. Such folks periodically drop by our other forum to flame us about it, and some go so far as to actually lie about having bad experiences with it in an effort to turn away other customers. They also spread such tales elsewhere, which leads to much disinformation. Thus, I'm happy for the the chance you offered here to set the record straight .

I find it humorous that the only DRMs people complain about are on games. I guess that the folks who say they refuse to buy DRM'd products don't realize just how many DRMs they have to deal with every day. Or maybe they just don't have an iPod, a cell phone, a computer, or Windows. Many of the DRMs on these things are QUITE nasty, requiring visits to the shop to solve problems with them. And yet they get on SES for the very benign DRM on our games.

Every day, the use of DRMs increases. I firmly believe that we're living in the last days of discs of all sorts. They've already been rendered obsolete by downloadable software, music, movies, and even books, each with its own DRM scheme. Thus, it's only a matter of time until physical media for all such things go the way of the flint spearhead. Economics will force it--it's WAY cheaper to just have a download server than it is to have a disc factory, printing shop, warehouse, delivery trucks, retail outlets, and the employees and utilities for all of that. Economics are already forcing download-only on us small companies, but the big boys will be next. Until that happens, though, us on the leading edge of the wave are necessarily going to take some flak.

[CaptHawkeye]

So lately i'm kind of wondering what's up with the British Light Vessel AI. The moment I get into a fight with Brits, they call their light ships away from my fleet. That's all well and good, until you realize that they don't ever really *stop* running. It's happening every time, in every scenario. British Destroyers, Light Cruisers, ACs just completely abandon the dreadnoughts. Moreoever, this only happens to the British, German DDs and other assorted escorts remain in formation or nearby capital ships at all times.

This seems to have occured recently. A few patches ago it didn't happen.

[Lempereur1]

Originally Posted by CaptHawkeye

So lately i'm kind of wondering what's up with the British Light Vessel AI. The moment I get into a fight with Brits, they call their light ships away from my fleet. That's all well and good, until you realize that they don't ever really *stop* running. It's happening every time, in every scenario. British Destroyers, Light Cruisers, ACs just completely abandon the dreadnoughts. Moreoever, this only happens to the British, German DDs and other assorted escorts remain in formation or nearby capital ships at all times.

This seems to have occured recently. A few patches ago it didn't happen.

Capt Hawkeye:

Others have reported the exact opposite since we made an AI pass a few updates back. If you have a saved game and campaign game file, please goto our customer support server, open up a ticket and attach your saved files.

We will look at it to see if its a problem or you are scaring the crap out of them with your billiant tactics!

SES Customer SUpport Server.
http://www.stormeaglestudios.com/rea...k/default.aspx