Shogun 2: Total war!

[Spike88]

Another new feature(and if this one already existed in previous TW, than I am totally slacking), is the ability to bring back dead clans through Vassalage.

The exact circumstances went something like this: I started the Date campaign, which has you at war with the Mogomi and in a trade agreement with ClanX(can't remember the clans name). I take out the Mogomi Province 1, and was replenishing my army to take on province 2. Before I could do so, ClanX attacked province 2 and destroyed the clan.

I decide to go to war with ClanX, and precede to attack Province 2. Upon taking over the province, I'm given the regular Occupancy options, plus the option to bring back the Mogomi as my Vassal. It's a great way to bring back friendly clans.

[Dowly]

Total War is not that hard to be able to hold on your own.

Just keep in mind that stuff has changed quite a bit in Shogun 2. Morale breaks MUCH easier, general is a god and the rock-paper-scissors mechanics make you make new tactics. :03:

[Arclight]

You mean general is not a god? You have to earn the perks like extra hitpoints and such.

[Castout]

Just keep in mind that stuff has changed quite a bit in Shogun 2. Morale breaks MUCH easier, general is a god and the rock-paper-scissors mechanics make you make new tactics. :03:

Yeah noticed that in demo the punishment for mistakes is now much harsh but since it applies to everyone it would make the game easier to win from less able opponent :O:. Though much more difficult to win from equal opponent and more able ones.

[Slyguy3129]

While I hope this signals a return to thief roots as it looks, I am still harboring I'll feelings towards CA for the wreck that was ETW. I can honestly say that I was so disappointed and still am with it that I was down right sick because of it.

Given mods like Darthmod went a long way in helping it along it could only do so much, and then of course they flat abandoned it for NTW.

Shogun will have to be a miricle game in order for me to even look in it's direction.

I also agree that "hero" units sounds a bit strange. But will have to see how it's implemented.

[Spike88]

I noticed armies without generals are more likely to break against opponents equal or larger, compared to previous titles.



I know it's a bit soon, but I wonder what the expansion will be.


Personally I'd like the Imjin war.

[Oberon]

:o

Me LIKE! Too bad that I'm not very good, noone would want to play with me :haha:

Nonsense mate, you can't be worse than me :haha:

[Spike88]

Think I ran into my first bug.

Wakko pirates attacked one of my trading posts, but lost the auto-resolve battle. I stopped getting trade from that post, and was unable to move the ships, had to sink them.

[Biggles]

Nonsense mate, you can't be worse than me :haha:

http://images1.memegenerator.net/ImageMacro/4401462/Challenge-Accepted.jpg?imageSize=Medium&generatorName=Challenge-Accepted-HD-1

:D

[stabiz]

So what do people think of it after a few days? I am still a bit meh after reading about it and playing the demo, this is the first title since Rome that I did not buy on day one.

[TteFAboB]

I think Creative Assembly has redeemed itself, stabiz! :up: :DL

So far I find the game to be great.

It more than makes up for the sad disaster that was DA2. I'm doubly satisfied.

8 hours in I find that the AI is indeed improved. It's still an AI though, you must fight it with evenly matched or inferior armies to have a chance of defeat. It won't pull any amazing tricks on you, but it won't fail so badly as usual either, it's a solid standard opponent, and all things being equal it will keep you on your toes, because breaking units is easier now, things go to hell quicker. Peasants are essential anti-cav, yet are cannon fodder to anything else that touches them. Lethality has been increased. You may or may not like quicker battles, but they do work if you can accept them.

Terrain is impressively varied and full of features. Rivers, brooks, hills, lots of hills, cliffs, forests, but also plains.

The campaign is excellent. The map is decently big. Everything has been balanced, so unless you conquer a lot of land you'll not be able to field the best archers, the best lancers, best swordsmen, best cavalry, etc.etc.; you'll have to choose and specialize, first because all of this won't fit in a castle, and secondly because each higher unit requires time invested in the form of technology, so it's no longer about amassing cash, raising an overpowered super-stack of doom and going out conquering the world.

Because battles are more lethal and replenishing much slower, the battles are more decisive now. Momentum counts. Losing has consequences. Winning a battle at the expense of your army is more properly a loss now, or at least a tie. For a change you now think of the men. You don't want them to die. You can't afford to sacrifice them.

Finally, performance is better than in the demo, I'm running higher settings on the final game. :woot:

I'm impressed. I'm pleased. I can now forgive CA for Empire. :salute:

[Castout]

Hi TteFaBob do join our clan http://steamcommunity.com/groups/kaminojishin?

We need every helping hand when we move to tier one league. :DL

[stabiz]

Wow, that sounds good ... almost too good.:) *googles for reviews*

[Arclight]

The things that are really an issue is matchmaking, in particular team-battle matchmaking. It simply ends up in having to restart the game most of the time for some odd reason. Then there's the fact that my stats say I fought like 4 battles, while I have 25 tokens (get 1 per win).

But that's all related to the ladder and clan stuff. Hosting a game on your own (like it was in the previous games) works perfect, so there's nothing stopping you from playing with friends. Victories you have even unlock regions on that avatar conquest map, it just doesn't count towards the ranked stuff.

And then there's the crashes when you alt+tab... luckily they are contained (for me, anyway) to the main menu and the MP map. Once you load into a campaign or battle, you can get away with an alt+tab. Not that I tested it extensively, but thusfar I've never crashed out of a campaign or battle.


Unit selection is rather limited; all clans have the same basic katana samurai for example, with 1 clan having superior ones. Another clan has superior archers, another better cavalry, etc. Though I think that when you consider the scale (just Japan), it kinda makes sense.

Apart from the technical problems, that's really the only thing I can think of that could do with improvement: bit more variation/character for the clans.

Think the AI is leaps and bounds better. Just basic touches like them combining units to replenish numbers, never seen it do that before. It will defend if it can, using terrain in a reasonable manner. Playing the campaign on hard had me on the defensive after my first battle, and when I went on the offensive again my enemy formed an alliance with a neighbor. Seems pretty capable.

[Spike88]

And then there's the crashes when you alt+tab... luckily they are contained (for me, anyway) to the main menu and the MP map. Once you load into a campaign or battle, you can get away with an alt+tab. Not that I tested it extensively, but thusfar I've never crashed out of a campaign or battle.



I have to say it's probably only MP. I've alt-tabbed several times and have not crashed once. I even alt-tabbed for a period of 30 minutes before returning and the game still running. The game always has a small load with loading screen when you come back, but this is never really a problem. Although when you alt-tab on the campaign map and come back, all the terrain will be flat like unexplored land, but will return to normal after 2-3 seconds.

I have to say, Sieges are a lot better, just with the number of ways you can go about them. Have a lot of archers? Just rain death on the enemy, and then assault. Don't have siege equipment? Just climb the walls, burn down the gate, or burn down the gate house(requires Samurai units). I also like the fact that it only takes about a minute to take over the center flag in a settlement.

Another feature I like, is the fact that agent's gain XP whether they are successful or not. While being successful grants more XP, it's easier to level new agents.

Anyone know how to get the cannon you have in the tutorial siege battle? I've looked through the encyclopedia for it(although not very hard) and haven't seen anything on it.

[mr chris]

How does one upload a saved replay to youtube?
Is it possible or do you have to record footage with Fraps and upload that way?

[Raptor1]

Anyone know how to get the cannon you have in the tutorial siege battle? I've looked through the encyclopedia for it(although not very hard) and haven't seen anything on it.

The European Cannons? You have to convert your clan to Christianity, then upgrade one of your Trading Ports up to a Nanban Quarter, at which point you can recruit them from there.

[Skybird]

Did I get it right that when I buy the box, I just find an empty CD that tells me to download it from Steam?

[joegrundman]

Did I get it right that when I buy the box, I just find an empty CD that tells me to download it from Steam?


if it's like empire, i think (but am not 100% sure) that it's not quite that. It still connects to steam and downloads some stuff, but gets most files from the disk. Therefore it is a better option if you don't have fast downloading capability.

[Castout]

Did I get it right that when I buy the box, I just find an empty CD that tells me to download it from Steam?

That's funny :haha:

Get it Skybird join our clan, it;s a good game and you certainly have ore than decent rig to play that and excellent PC exclusive game doesn't come often at all/

[Dowly]

How does one upload a saved replay to youtube?
Is it possible or do you have to record footage with Fraps and upload that way?

Record with FRAPS.

[mr chris]

Thanks Dowly.

[TheSatyr]

Shogun 2 has gotten some great reviews at a number of sites....but I have a major problem with it. I really do not like the fact that the generals have what are basically generic names,other than the Daimyos and some of the heirs.

No Toyotomi Hidyoshi,no Shibata Katsuie...etc etc. I guess if I want a game with SOME historical accuracy then I'm going to have to wait till Koei developes a Nobunaga's Ambition for the pc. The original Shogun had all the generals...so 2 is quite a disappointment for me.

[Spike88]

Did I get it right that when I buy the box, I just find an empty CD that tells me to download it from Steam?


You get two DVDs which install the game(although it does use steam to install) and then it downloads a patch(or two)


@Raptor: That explains it. I'm playing as an isolationist until I beat the game once, so I wont see it anytime soon.

[seaniam81]

I just bought the game off steam now a 12 hour wait for it to download :damn:

[Dowly]

Might aswell post this here too, Zool from our clan posted it into the clan chat. These animations are all in-game combat animations you see invidual soldiers use. The 2nd battle has been edited so it's longer, but other than that, it's all in-game stuff. :up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFzgA65hjnQ

[Skybird]

Steam it is, then. Hereby ends my few hours of interest into Shogun 2.

[Oberon]

Bye

Amazing looking video Dowly. :D

[Dowly]

Steam it is, then. Hereby ends my few hours of interest into Shogun 2.

Aww, come on Sky. Steam's not the monster it was, it's the best and easiest DRM system there is.

Give in to the dark side, mate. Kami no jishin awaits... :O:

[Arclight]

Assaulting a well-defended castle on hard is not recommended.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj2/EZatHome/2011-03-20_00004.jpg
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj2/EZatHome/2011-03-20_00005.jpg

Give in to the dark side, mate. Kami no jishin awaits... :O:
Weren't there supposed to be cookies?

[Castout]

Weren't there supposed to be cookies?

There is here after the legs comes the sword,

http://pixhost.info/avaxhome/db/a4/000ca4db_medium.jpeg




Just get the retail box Skybird that way it will speed up installation a lot.

[Dowly]

Assaulting a well-defended castle on hard is not recommended.

Oh dear... that's the castle I'm headed to next. :-?

Ah well, it can't be worse than the last campaign's ending battle with me having just over 1000 troops against the almost 4000 guys the baddies had. :DL (Hey, I took ~1000 of them with me before it was harakiri time, yay)

[Oberon]

There is here after the legs comes the sword

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PKdRopRl_3U/TWCbhbrsEjI/AAAAAAAAFFA/PDCYxdBwoYY/s1600/dead_samurai3.gif

Totally...worth...it.... :dead:

[Dowly]

:D
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s306/Naji-ishi/Tila%20Tequila/1099388374_l.jpg

[LiveGoat]

UUUUuaaahhhGGh! That pic is hideous, Dowly! That's clearly a Paul Chen knockoff of a katana that she's holding. :DL

Thanks for the vid. I'm sold. Thank the gods thery're not jumping around like an MMA flick. Getting this one next payday.

[Dowly]

UUUUuaaahhhGGh! That pic is hideous, Dowly! That's clearly a Paul Chen knockoff of a katana that she's holding. :DL

What Kat- :hmmm:

Oh thaaat, sorry, was distracted. :O:

[Radtgaeb]

Is clan enrollment still open? :salute:

[Dowly]

It is. Join the steam group and choose the group as your clan from the clan tab in-game. :up:

[Arclight]

Posted it in the wrong thread...

Right, attempt #2; one of the clan team-battles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeYK8ZgVcj4

[Radtgaeb]

It's listing the clan as having zero members....

[Dowly]

It's listing the clan as having zero members....

You picked the right steam group? Tho, the clan stuff is kinda wonky atm in Shogun 2, so wouldn't be surprised if it's just broken for you. :88)

[Radtgaeb]

Well, if "Subsim Official" is the right group, then yes. :p

[Dowly]

Well, if "Subsim Official" is the right group, then yes. :p

It's not, check my sig. The group is Kami no jishin. :DL

[Drewcifer]

Since oddly enough I trust the opinions of crazy fools like Dowly and Arclight, lol.

I haven't even so much as touched the demo, and I only seen one video on youtube thus far about this game.

How would you guys say it is compared to EmpireTW?

[Arclight]

Er... well the regions are divided similar. There's a fort that can be upgraded, with 1 or more slots to build stuff like dojo's and markets. There's also slots for things found in the province, such as farms, ports and industry (a lot of regions have special resources such as superior stone or wood, giving bonuses when exploited).

There are more types of agents iirc, and there's a greater number of actions for them. So that element got a little deeper gameplay. Agents and generals earn 2 points which you can spend in a skill tree every "level".

Tax is still global, and you can exempt regions that are being difficult. Trade slots are present again, much the same as you know.

The research tree is a little different, in that there are 2 main flows: military and... the other stuff (bonuses to income and happiness, not sure of proper term). Unit selection depends on what buildings you build, some of which have an "Art" requirement (you unlock "Arts" in the research tree).

There's some more details sprinkled in, such as attrition, random events and missions you can complete for temporary bonuses. All things together work nicely to give the game a solid, slightly deeper gameplay.

The Ai seems far more capable. For example, the AI combines depleted units into larger units and they do naval landings. I even had an occasion where an enemy army was marching towards 2 of my cities. I blocked their path by combining the 2 garrisons, and they stopped moving. Just stopped there, waiting. 2-3 turns later a fleet comes into view carrying reinforcements. Clever, imo.

The improvements are reflected in the battle AI, though you can still mess with it. Retreating archers behind a spearwall sees them walking back into position for example, letting you shoot them in the back all the way. But that's only if they hold high ground/an advantage; if they're at a disadvantage they will engage you in melee before you can harass them to pieces. AI will definetly take advantage of terrain when on the defensive.

I really think it is Total War back on track. It just works so much better when you "limit" it to Japan (the map still feels pretty darn big though), and the sword-and-bow gameplay. The AI has its flaws, but thus far I find it an enjoyable challenge for the campaign.

Multiplayer... well what you know from the previous games works fine (host a game, invite people). The new coop or versus campaign works great too (that's hosted by one of the players after all). But the matchmaking for climbing the ladders is just very flaky at the moment. And my stats and points I win for the clan just never register.

Along with the matchmaking, the almost gauranteed crash when I alt+tab out of the main menu or MP map is a big annoyance. Works a treat once on campaign map or in battle though. Those 2 things are really all that could keep me from playing.

They don't, so imho Shogun 2 is a rather enjoyable entry in the Total War series.

[seaniam81]

I'm really loving the Battle UI. It's super slick.

[Falkirion]

Got half an hour in game with Shogun 2 last night. Looking forward to starting a campaign tonight. Hope the gameplay trumps Empire and due to the smaller theatre and focused approach CA have taken I think I'll like Shogun 2, at least as much as I liked Medieval 2.

[elanaiba]

Are you guys playing the clan thing? I joined the SimHQ clan but there's no one fighting but me, would love to take part in a more active clan.

Simply love the Avatar Conquest... not perfect but a very nice twist to multiplayer.

[Dowly]

Are you guys playing the clan thing? I joined the SimHQ clan but there's no one fighting but me, would love to take part in a more active clan.

Simply love the Avatar Conquest... not perfect but a very nice twist to multiplayer.

Yes, Castout made a clan called Kami no jishin, roughly 300 in-game members atm and we're being promoted to the next tier after this round. :up:

Steam group:
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/kaminojishin

Forums:
http://kaminojishin.forumid.net/

[Falkirion]

Hahaha I messed with the AI last night. The AI army consisted of 3 light cav and a general vs my 5 Yari Ashigaru, 5 bow ashigaru and a general.
Pull back to the rear of my deployment area. Set up the archers in the middle of a Yari wall of spears. Archers told to hold fire. Calvalry charged straight into the wall and died. The general required a flanking manuever of getting 1 unit of yari into his back. Army destroyed. No more Miyoshi and Shikoku is mine. The Chosokabe march onward to victory.

[JokerOfFate]

Hahaha I messed with the AI last night. The AI army consisted of 3 light cav and a general vs my 5 Yari Ashigaru, 5 bow ashigaru and a general.
Pull back to the rear of my deployment area. Set up the archers in the middle of a Yari wall of spears. Archers told to hold fire. Calvalry charged straight into the wall and died. The general required a flanking manuever of getting 1 unit of yari into his back. Army destroyed. No more Miyoshi and Shikoku is mine. The Chosokabe march onward to victory.

That seems pretty common (I'm on easy, I like to work my up (Easy-normal-hard etc etc)), I had 4 "platoons" (I think thats the right word) of cheap spearmen, the enemy had 3 Generals and 2 light cavalry. They had this silly idea in their heads that cavalry beat spearmen and charged right in, the sad thing is the almost won that fight :nope:

[Drewcifer]

Just bought it lastnight, this thing puts Empire to shame. I don't know what it is but this game just feels 'right' I love the combat, love the family/clan management. Great Game. :yeah:

[HunterICX]

Fancy box :O:

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/9045/imagen0058z.jpg

aw heck...I am beeing moderated :huh:

http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/3788/imagen0059l.jpg

must say the game overall is a hell of a improvement over ETW production quality wise.:yeah:

HunterICX

[Falkirion]

I started over as the Chosokabe last night, as my last campaign didn't involve enough expansion to maintain my empires influence. This time however I made the mistake of backstabbing an ally. Asked for military access to his lands, walked 2 armies up to his capital. Conquered it and suddenly the entirerity of Japan hates me. I'm having to spend copius amounts of cash to get the other clans to even consider trading with me. Boy did I make that mistake well.

[Dowly]

I think you lose honor if you attack without declaring war. :hmmm:

[Castout]

Fancy box :O:

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/9045/imagen0058z.jpg

aw heck...I am beeing moderated :huh:

http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/3788/imagen0059l.jpg

must say the game overall is a hell of a improvement over ETW production quality wise.:yeah:

HunterICX


That is one expensive figurine :O:

As for being moderated :D You did use Shogun 1 nostalgic as the title . . .

I've got these for my samurai figurines in my room

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/roh_kudus/16032010037.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/roh_kudus/Hideyoshi.jpg

[Falkirion]

I think you lose honor if you attack without declaring war. :hmmm:
But I did declare war, they nailed me on a going back on the military access treaty. Its at -40 or so, depending on who you talk to. I've dropped it as low as -10 with some clans in order to try and get some trade going with them but it hurts my economy since I need the trade coming into Shikoku to keep my development going.

Might have to realign my training grounds to suit the fact its an island, shift most of my military production to Kyushu.

I'm currently keep the Shoni busy with a Metsuke running around bribing armies and arresting Christian monks. Hopefully it'll give me enough time to resupply my Daimyo and his army before I steamroll them just like the Ito.

[Arclight]

Having similar trouble, though I did no backstabbing. Control Shikoku and both trade-spots for incense, and still noone wants to trade.

Just started my invasion against the Shoni, taking... that region up North, with the artisan stuff and landbridge to mainland.


In my previous campaign, which I didn't finish due to financial difficulty (didn't secure trade, didn't build up enough economy) I never got into a war with them. Instead, the Bessho invaded Shikoku and I was at war with them.

* hotfix is out btw, think since yesterday:

Multiplayer - Fixed a bug whereby winning a match made battle via the opponent conceding defeat did not register a win statistic or count towards the match made battle victory achievement.
Multiplayer - Fixed a bug that would see The Dishonourable Coward trait from being incorrectly awarded to players. The trait has also been reset for the entire player base.
Multiplayer - Fixed a bug that would see avatar costs incorrectly deducted from funds for a naval battle.
Multiplayer - Fixed instances where players were unable to fully upgrade their General’s Avatar skills.
My guess is matchmaking is still broken, but that's the majority of my issues fixed (assuming they didn't screw it up).

[HunterICX]

As for being moderated :D You did use Shogun 1 nostalgic as the title . . .


eh...the moderated reference is ''Takeda Shingen''

HunterICX

[NeonSamurai]

What am I, chopped liver? And in my forum too :arrgh!:

[HunterICX]

What am I, chopped liver? And in my forum too :arrgh!:

Well chopped liver with Soy Sauce...how's that and you wanta bowl rice with that? :D

HunterICX

[Skybird]

I maintain not only my own system , but the aptops of my Mom and an older gentleman, 78 years old. He just surprised me at the phone that he had bought Shogun 2 when he saw it in a stoe where he was. I knew he was interested in that Japan kind of Samurai stuff, but to buy this game with 78 but not knowing how to run a notebook - my smile was as wide as the distance between my two ears! :DL

I should install it for him tomorrow.

He was laughing. I only tought "Steam". That different Shogun 2 can be for the two of us. I will see tomorrow if I can get it to launch offline play without it wanting to call home to it's Big Mother. Needless to say, I have grim expectations. I don'T trust these idiot-proof fully automatted nursing things that always just want our best: data.

[Skybird]

I installed it this morning, and his notebook is struggling to get it running decently. Well, I cannot help that.

But I picked up a fight when trying to prevent Steam from always connecting to the internet even when you want an offline session to play, it always tries to autolaunch on booting, and even when you manually deactivate it in confic manager and services list - it seesm to stay that way only as long as you do not launch Shogun - it then changes the entries all by itself apparently,m and after the next booting you have it active again from booting on.

I finally gave that up, and left it to blocking Steam in the Firewall program rules after the game was updated (taking almost two hours for download, others have reported they downloaded 14-15 GBs during updates). With firewall blocking Steam, it still runs in the background and does whatever it does without the user knowing what it is that it does, and starting Shogun results in a two minutes pauseing during which Steam and the firewall battles it out, but at least after that break the game is launching.

I stick with my assessment of Stgeam, and I am happy I did not buy it. Checking the forums, it seems it also is incredibly buggy, plenty and plenty of CTDs are reported even after the latest patch.

He wanted to give it back to the shop, I said the box-seal is opened and the account at Steam is activated, so good luck with it.

I'm sure in the future he will ask me before he starts any stunts again! :D

[Dowly]

Oh boo hoo. :O:

[Biggles]

I stick with my assessment of Steam, and I am happy I did not buy it. Checking the forums, it seems it also is incredibly buggy, plenty and plenty of CTDs are reported even after the latest patch.


Really? I had one CTD, pre-patch. Apart from that, no hiccups.

[Spike88]

http://forums.totalwar.com/showthread.php/13904-Total-War-g%20ets-Prehistoric!

New Total War Revealed. :har:

[Arclight]

Patch released:

Multiplayer - More game lobbies are now visible on the Battle List in Avatar Conquest mode.
Multiplayer - More game lobbies are now visible on the Battle List in Multiplayer Campaign Mode.
Multiplayer - Fix for crash when rearranging unit cards in battle lobby.
Multiplayer Battle List - Fix for crash when [ALT] + [Tab]'ing / minimising the game when in a Battle List game lobby.
Multiplayer Battle List - Fix for crash when changing the "Battle type" filter from "Classic Battles" to any other filter.
Multiplayer Battle List - Fix for lag caused by selecting the "Classic Battles" tick box on the Host Battle setup screen (where the player names the game).
Multiplayer Battles - Fix for UI bug where the back button did not function / was greyed out on the battle results screen leaving players stuck.
Multiplayer Battles - Fixed for players having trouble joining 1v1 Match Made battles and being given a default army.
Multiplayer Battles - Fix for Client crash if Host searches battle before Clients leave battle results screen in the Setup Team screen
Multiplayer Battles - Fix for Client crash when Host kicks Client from the game while the Client is on the Retainer, Load Army or Save Army screen.
Multiplayer Battles - Fix for rare crash when alliance goes under AI control due to player leaving the battle.
Multiplayer Battles - Improved accessibility for players attempting to join a 1v1 Auto team land battle or Campaign drop in battle.
Multiplayer Campaign - Fix for rare crash where player leaving battle causes crash for remaining players upon switch to AI control.
Avatar - Fix for crash when [ALT] + [Tab]'ing / minimising the game on the Avatar customisation screen
Battles - Fix for rare multithreading crash caused by interaction between the UI and the game
Land Battles - Fix for crash in deployment phase caused by using the Increase Rank and Increase File buttons on a unit in Spear Wall formation
Land Battles - Fix for rare crash when positioning the mouse over unit proxies when attempting to dock units
Naval Battles - Fix for very rare crash when ordering ships

[mr chris]

Hmm still no sign of the DX 11 Patch i see.

[HunterICX]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak63sjKvXqs&feature=channel_video_title

Ahum......:roll: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak63sjKvXqs&feature=channel_video_title)
I say no more....:nope:

HunterICX

[Oberon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak63sjKvXqs&feature=channel_video_title

Ahum......:roll: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak63sjKvXqs&feature=channel_video_title)
I say no more....:nope:

HunterICX

Could be worse....

Could be Clod.... :03:

[Arclight]

They really screwed up gunpowder units imho. They reload too fast and are too accurate as it is. Increasing it through veterancy makes them bloody insane, not too mention off-the-wall unrealistic.

[Task Force]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak63sjKvXqs&feature=channel_video_title

Ahum......:roll: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak63sjKvXqs&feature=channel_video_title)
I say no more....:nope:

HunterICX

Ive gotta get me some of those. I may win something!!!

But can i give them STG 44s instead of bolt action?

[HunterICX]

But can i give them STG 44s instead of bolt action?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umDr0mPuyQc&feature=related

HunterICX

[Task Force]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKss2uYpih8

:stare:

HunterICX

Dont worry, they will be like MOW Assault squads AI, they wont fire till you tell them to, and will forget how to shoot!

[Raptor1]

Dont worry, they will be like MOW Assault squads AI, they wont fire till you tell them to, and will forget how to shoot!

You mean they won't fire until you tell them to, at which point they will pick up a katana and throw it at the enemy? :O:

[Oberon]

目
的
は
、
リ
ー
チ
ゾ
ー
ン
に
あ
る

[Spike88]

目
的
は
、
リ
ー
チ
ゾ
ー
ン
に
あ
る

The goal is in reach zone?

Or
And
The
,
List
ー
Ji
Shin Chan
ー
The
To
Ah
Ru

Speaking of which, Shin Chan is teh awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f311XTtqPgc

[Raptor1]

The goal is in reach zone?

No, no. Aim is in the reach zone!

[Task Force]

No, no. Aim is in the reach zone!

FOR UNCLE SAM!!!

Ah Men of war... and its Ai.

[Oberon]

FOR UNCLE SAM!!!

Ah Men of war... and its Ai.

There is many a tale of woe to be told whenst arguing with the AI of your troops in the original Men of War. Particularly tanks...oh so very much tanks... :yep:

[Arclight]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/04/15/shogun-2-dx11-patch-to-land-early-may/

A DirectX 11 patch will be released in the first week of May.

Oh look, they finished the game. :lol:

More than just DX11 btw, it's really a substantial patch.

[mr chris]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/04/15/shogun-2-dx11-patch-to-land-early-may/

Oh look, they finished the game. :lol:

More than just DX11 btw, it's really a substantial patch.

Ah good news indeed. CA always seem to stick to releasing monster patches. I remember one from Medieval Total war 2 that was over 600mb.

[kiwi_2005]

Shogun 2 is now available in New Zealand, ordered it last night hopefully I'll get it this weekend. :rock:I also brought the rpg Risen as it came as a discount along with Shogun 2. Mixed reviews with Risen hopefully the bugs are fixed by now.

[HunterICX]

I guess the most with Steam already have noticed...the Patch is released and it's quite a beast 2.1Gb

HunterICX

[Dowly]

Change log

Additions
---------

DirectX 11 support, including
Advanced Shadows
Support for MSAA 2x,4x,8x.
Enhanced Depth of Field
Tessellation Support
Anti-aliasing support

Note: Enabling Anisotropic Texture Filtering on DirectX9 is not working in this update. This will be fixed in the next patch.


General fixes (includes single player and multiplayer fixes)
Fixed firing-arc overlay for blinding grenades to show minimum range
Slight changes to the intercept for igniting buildings
Fix for battlefield dominance being awarded to both players
Fixed triggers for the Elusive Strikeforce and Inspiring Counterattack achievements
Legendary force achievable in single player
Fix for stacking effects
Ninja hiding tweaks
Change to how victory types are assigned so that Heroic victories are a bit rarer (they're the most common now) and decisive / close are more common. Pyrrhic can be more common than before
Fixed entities floating outside castle wall when they get knocked down or knocked flying while climbing off the top of walls
Fixed bug with looping transition animation due to move orders with invalid path locations being spammed by the squad repeatedly
Capture buildings cache if the building was captured from held before telling the Aide de camp
Improved torch caching
Fix for crash in battlefield zone cursor intersection
Adjustment to AI to make it more difficult for the AI to use cavalry against spearmen
Fix for drop-in ambushes not starting if the player under ambush presses 'Start Battle' first
Ship banners are now appearing correctly in replays
Fix for men staying at the bottom of the walls when they are attacked whilst climbing
In naval replays, some ships’ flags were appearing in the wrong colours, now fixed
Order to burn down a building now finishes if the building is destroyed by other means
Fix to rare crash when placing mines in naval battles
Experience system revision: experience-level thresholds rebalanced to allow for faster overall level-progression. Per-unit-type threshold multiplier introduced that scales the thresholds to compensate for differences in the damage output of different unit types. AI experience levels now fully derived from combat (the AI experience boosting mechanism has been removed).
Updated pre-battle speeches to take greater advantage of available situational information
Grass and scrub no longer gets in the way of the camera during pre-battle speeches
Armies sharing the same deployment zone are no longer deployed on top of each other by default
Fixed bug in tracking-camera caused by restricted camera behaviour activated by Legendary difficulty mode
Improved first-person camera and projectile camera: time dilation effect is now relative to projectile speed. Artillery engine crew now trigger the projectile camera when their engine fires. Projectile camera remains stationary at the projectile's terminus to allow the player to see the results
Pre-battle speeches now distinguish between multiple causes of the gates being forced open at the start of the battle
Adjustments to morale calculations, dependent on who is in control of an army and in what context. Allows for fine-tuning of morale calculations separately for single-player humans, multiplayer humans and AI armies
Improved the calculation of unit combat status. This corrects errors in the reporting of a unit's tooltip win/loss state, and also fixes some issues in the unit morale calculations that use this status information
New weather gameplay effects added: Fog now causes a range penalty to all missile units, and causes non-commanding units to be hidden at a distance of 600m or more, even if they are out of cover
Fixed issue where the Total War camera sometimes snaps downwards when switching the camera type and/or starting a transition. (This was particularly evident at the end of the pre-battle cinematic)
Fixed issue in reinforcements system that allows multiple armies to feed more units into one army than is allowed on the battlefield
Fixed crash-bug caused by placing Yari Ashigaru into pike wall formation, then incrementing/decrementing their formation width and moving the unit before ending the deployment phase
Fixed issue that allowed siege defenders in ‘fight to the death’ mode to continue fighting in the end phase of battle after their fort was successfully captured by the attacking force
Pre-battle speeches are now disabled in custom battles if the player does not field a General
Fixed crash bug where the Stand and Fight special ability was used in a custom battle on a general unit that had been removed and re-added to the battle setup
Fixed crash bug resulting from construction of an RTS camera with specified position
Fixed crash bug that could sometimes occur when the FPS camera's context-entity died
Cinematic camera movement speed is no longer height-relative. This allows for greater control and adjustment of camera positions in the cinematic editor
Fixed flaw in unit logic that could cause a crash in the multiplayer lobby when interacting with a veteran unit that has zero men.
Pre-battle speeches now allow for minor clans to be playable.

Naval combat
Fixed intercepting with surrendered ships
Fixed ships getting stuck on the edge of the battlefield
Fixed sail-configuration not fully working when using speed-up
Fixed enemy naval mines being visible in deployment
Hull-damage indicators now consistent across campaign and naval battles

Audio
Audio rebalancing
Added projectile injury sounds
Added special ability UI sounds
Added new unit melee sounds (male/female units, swords/spears, mixed)
UI sound when unit ordered to climb wall
Naval mines trigger launch sound
Front-end seasonal sounds to match scene
Fixed problem with music not playing on custom battle screen
Music volume now defaults to 75%
Fixed rare issue with sounds not triggering after extended gameplay
Separate sounds for female units
Added reverb for distance sounds
Fix for host being able to hear UI sounds for units that have been gifted to another player
Fixed move-UI sound being played instead of attack-UI sound when choosing artillery bombardment location
Added new sound when buildings selected in campaign map
Aide de camp now supported during pre-battle speech

User interface
Fix for some effect-bundle tooltips being cut off
Fixed finance summary profit totals
Fixed radar map image not updating when new clan discovered, and fixed rebel-owned region tooltip
Fixed front-end camera transition
Fixed mpc win movies showing same faction for both allies
Fixed radar flee- icon crash bug
Changed public-order display on finance panel to show current factors (rather than predicted)
Re-enabled slider for mission-event text
Fix to block co-op tax exemption exploit
Fixed assassination-movie location bug with garrisoned generals
Fixed bribe/move options panel text
Fixed mpc multi-turn move diplomacy panel exploit
Added extra update for diplomacy 3D model view
Fixed avatar snapshot uploading so that it only occurs when avatar changes
Made regions with imminent rebellion flash red on public order maps
Changed ‘become shogun’ event message into a movie popup
Mousing-over factions in diplomatic relations now previews faction details
Fixed avatars with bow-skill not loading customised model into battles
Added display of convalescing characters into radar list
Fixed agent options crash bug
Customised avatar of opposing player in MP battles now loading correctly
Fix for saving replays in results screen
Battle-regroup flag now has tooltip and is shown on radar
Fix for cards getting stuck to cursor
Enabled right-click on multiplayer units to show encyclopedia
Made selected cards more recognisable
Minor chat fixes and polish
Fixed toggling of group-behaviour
Text input improvements
Added timer to special-ability buttons to display cooldown in minutes/seconds when mousing over
Morale and charge bonus icons now show correct images on unit-information panel, and now show in campaign
Weather/Waiting panel in battle now gives details on effects current weather will have on battle
Added extra guarding for accessing model to prevent potential crashes
Modified drag-out behaviour so if user holds CTRL while dragging out units, they will walk to destination

Battle camera
Fixed bug in historic battles where the camera would be left in cinematic mode after the end of the intro cutscene (particularly in Okehazama where it never returned to normal)
Sekigahara and Okehazama historic battle in-game cutscenes are now skippable
Heat haze in Nagashino historic battle reduced

Campaign map
Katana cavalry is no longer immune to attrition
Wako trade ships upkeep cost reduced (to match other trade ships)
Various fixes in general's retainers
Increased chance of critical success for successful actions
Slightly increased the value of resources not traded away
Changed general skill ‘strategist’ to award the movement extension instantly (not just in the beginning of a new turn)
Fixed issue where rebellion in regions could happen without prior warning of unrest
Fixed issue where rebellion could happen in region on the turn after it was captured
Finances map now shows regions that will rebel next turn as flashing. Tax-exempt regions with negative public-order value also flash
Movement-distance display now updated when skills applied
Random first-level art picked for research in first turn if researching nothing
Accuracy mod bonus applied correctly
Fix for issue where double-click on character skills could make skill points get lost
Added preferences variable to control campaign-camera edge-scroll delay
Re-added ‘trade route raided’ messages
Fixed navies being deregistered from trade nodes when the commander dies
Trade-route raiding now updates when war declared
Fixed predicted number of turns for replenishment
Fixed issue that wouldn't always allow navy-merging very close to trade nodes.
Fixed rare lockup with agent acting against garrisoned settlement
Fixed Namban trade port not updating number of available trade routes correctly
Fixed path-finding state bug which could leave armies unable to move for a turn.
Fixed inability to disembark army from navy in port which is under blockade.
Fixed negative bonus-value modifiers for looting
Fixed instance of trade route removal not cancelling existing raids
Fixed rare disembark-at-port problem
Reordered code on becoming Shogun to prevent inappropriate messages being issued
In Diplomacy, probability of acceptance is now reported as high for gifts
Fixed crash in family-system after adopting uncle back into family
Workaround for bad path-finding data in starting position
Fixed rare lockup where army disembarks from navy into zone-of-control in player settlement, the navy is too close to a third party neutral navy, and the player declines to attack the disembarking army
Fixed rare load-crash when loading a pre-battle save game during an AI turn when that AI had previously issued a multi-turn order that involved an army disembarking from the navy in a future turn
Agents will no longer play multi-turn action animations if the player cannot afford the action
Autoresolve battle visual fix: army cannot drop to zero soldiers before the last round
Night battle support for pending battle power-bar. Will update if night battle is selected (and if the UI queries the value again)
Autoresolver will destroy or capture ships that are too weak to be used in battle
Repairing a ship in a port no longer invalidates its hull panel information.
Fixed a glow under the shroud when a castle is under siege
Kyoto has an additional defence bonus in the autoresolver
Improved defensive behaviour of single-region clans when building up forces to attack
Improved force conglomeration when pulling in defensive forces from distant regions
Fixed Bribe and Demoralise action-usage
Fixed naval-repair behaviour
Fixed minor clan alliance-breaking behaviour
Fixed a number of issues that may lead to corrupted save games
Fixed a number of AI-recoverable lockup issues
Fixed number of AI/model positional inconsistencies
Some efficiency improvements
Fixed case where ninjas could end up standing on top of each other
Fixed issue with not being able to back out of a sally-out attack
Fixed issue with not being able to withdraw from an attack against an army that is standing very close to a castle (but not besieging) when the attacking army is inside that castle
Fixed various issues with agents remaining in castles or armies they shouldn't be in after creating a vassal or bribing an army or castle
Fixed AI lockup involving agents attempting to join a force that already contains three characters
Fixed not being able to issue an order to blockade a port when the cursor was over a navy inside that port
Fixed rare crash in recruitment system where armies could end up with the wrong unit leading the force
Fixed issue with being unable to issue orders to agents inside a castle
Improved recruit-to-general performance, especially when clan has a very large number of regions
Sabotage Building action now applies a varying amount of damage linked to the ninja’s skill
Fixed rare bug of a new Daimyo spawning a castle where a battle had just occurred, forcing the battle to be fought again
Fixed spawned Ashikaga clan armies appearing on top of Ninjas
Agents can no longer be recruited within besieged settlements
Reinstated missing realm-divide event-log entry
Fixed generals defecting to Wako or European Traders
Fixed issue with AI not correctly issuing Demoralise and Bribe orders
Fixed rare crash bug where merge-cursor would appear when the cursor was over a farm or special building, when the user had a navy with an agent onboard selected
Fixed night battles being able to exclude a human player from participating in a battle
Fixed lockup when carrying out a bribe action when another character is moving
Building Sabotage events now show region name
Fixed rare crash involving ambushers standing on top of each other
Fixed Generals enlisted statistic so it takes into account generals acquired via dilemmas
All newly recruited Geishas will be between 18 and 25 years of age
Agent options dialogue no longer appears if the target army is in the same clan but already contains the maximum number of agents
Removed gap in Agent Indicator flag on enemy army which signified Ninja presence
Fixed bribed armies not ending their siege
Fixed armies created via Incite Revolt appearing on top of the monk that incited the revolt
Fixed rare crash in matched animations on campaign map

Units
Removed passive ‘encourage friendly morale’ bonus from General’s units
Increased flanking morale-penalties
Changed casualty morale-penalties to be smaller at low casualty levels, and higher at large casualty levels
Reduced siege-unit accuracy
Increased detonation-radius on fire rockets
Inspire ability bonus to morale reduced to 10 from 12
Inspire ability bonus to accuracy reduced to 15 from 40
Inspire ability bonus to reload reduced from 50 to 20
Inspire ability bonus to melee attack reduced from 7 to 3
Rapid Volley reload-rate bonus reduced from 70 to 30
Whistling Arrow penalties to units reduced
Fixed Hattori Daimyo's portrait in campaign
Tweaked AI recruitment-priorities so more clan-specific units are recruited
Added in missing bridge map from Iwami province
Fixed errors with some Yari Ashigaru unit morale values, so clan specific versions now always have higher morale than generic versions

Multiplayer-specific fixes
--------------------------

Unit costs
Increased multiplayer costs of Cannon bune and Nihon Maru to 4000 and 5000
Morale for Warrior Monks reduced by 2
Naginata Warrior Monks melee attack reduced by 3
Bow Cavalry cost reduced to 650
Katana Cavalry cost reduced to 800
Yari Cavalry cost increased to 850
Fire Projecting Mangonels cost increased to 1500
Fire Rockets cost increased to 1800
European Cannons cost increased to 1500

Gameplay
14k is now the maximum fund bracket for matchmade battles
Reduced siege unit accuracy
Inspire ability bonus to morale reduced to 10 from 12
Inspire ability bonus to accuracy reduced to 15 from 40
Inspire ability bonus to reload reduced from 50 to 20
Inspire ability bonus to melee attack reduced from 7 to 3
Whistling Arrow penalties to units reduced
All siege maps: Defender has 60% of funds instead of 50%

General
Removed passive encourage friendly morale bonus from generals units
Increased flanking morale penalties
Changed casualty morale penalties to be smaller at low casualty levels and higher at large casualty levels
Increased detonation radius on fire rockets
Rapid volley reload rate bonus reduced from 70 to 30

Bugs
Alt-F4 problem fixed. When any player disconnects from a matchmade battle, they will accrue a loss regardless of whether they are the host, or not. The player disconnecting will also suffer a 5% penalty on their ELO rating. The player not disconnecting will receive a win. It is, however, possible that wins accrued in this way will not update correctly on the leaderboard and avatar stats. All other gains from the win do work (eg unlocking of units, clan points, ELO skill rating etc)
Enemy avatar customisations are now viewable in battle
Bug where team matchmade battles always use small funds has been fixed
Veteran unit speed upgrades are now working
The ‘Hold firm’ clan speciality has been fixed
The ‘Scares enemies’ clan speciality has been fixed
Bug where matchmade battles sometimes result in incorrect battle type has been fixed
Occasional soft lock in ‘opponent found, arranging battle’ has been fixed
Various fixes to the matchmaking system and networking code
Ability to delete hero units has been removed.
Ability to clone veteran units has been fixed
Bug where players randomly drop ELO points has been fixed

4 new multiplayer maps:
Aki
Hida Mountain
Flood Plains
Sanriku Ria

[Skybird]

A patch is out, hear hear. Yesterday I got a call by that older gentleman whom I assist in his computer issues, I told of him before, he bought S2 wqithout asking me first. He plays it occasionally (or tries to :lol: ) in SP, and I arranged the installation so that the Firewall blocks Steam. Launching the game results in one minute of wait, then a hint that the steam server cannot be accessed, and then transportation to the menu from where to start SP.

But yesterday he panciked once again, saying he cannot launch the game anymore, it says that the Steam account cannot be reached.

Could it be that Steam is bypassing the Firewlal and penetrates the system althoiugh the user delibertyl has chosen to not allow it access, and that by this way the game tries to update, the linke is locked by the crowds, and so even SP is blocked? Maybe I am too hostile to Steam when assuming they even intentionally break firewalls, but nothing surprises me anymore with companies like this, and the coincidence of patch released and SP play breaking down is too obvious than that I could ignore the possibility.

What to do next, then? Mind you, I do not have the game installed myself, it is a foreign system that I see and remote-control maybe once a week.

[HunterICX]

The solution is very simple Skybird, since it was his choice to purchase the game and it's his computer.

ask him if he wants to keep on playing Shogun Total War 2.
if he does, tell him it'll need Steam to work properly and undo the thing you've done to prevent it from accesing internet.

You did inform the guy when you blocked it all it will have consequences and prevent his game of getting any updates that might increase the game's stability and/or performance?

HunterICX

[Dowly]

Think you're being a tad too harsh towards Valve, Sky. :hmmm:

[Skybird]

The solution is very simple Skybird, since it was his choice to purchase the game and it's his computer.

ask him if he wants to keep on playing Shogun Total War 2.
if he does, tell him it'll need Steam to work properly and undo the thing you've done to prevent it from accesing internet.

You did inform the guy when you blocked it all it will have consequences and prevent his game of getting any updates that might increase the game's stability and/or performance?

HunterICX
The guy is - tatarataaa - 78 years, I think. I set up and maintain the machine for him. He has a strong interest in Japanese history and Samurai and he loves to just look at the screen during battle. Laughing all time long!

I described it, I have blocked Steam, so that when he starts the game the thing nevertheless tries to connect, after a minute says it cannot connect, and it then proceedes to the main menu wehre you can also choose single player. This way it worked, until yesterday. He now gets a message that the game is not available. How could this be when it is available, on the HD, for SP, and has worked before? If this message is related to Steam online play, I wonder how this suddenly could happen although the game should be unable to access internet and steam anyway? He should instead just wait a minute and then get to the mainscreen for sp.

I had a look at it via remote control this morning. And by that I also tried with now open firewall, but still no way to launch the game.

It seems that Shogun 2 simply breaks throuigh the firewall - it should not even know right now there is a patch somewhere out there. How could it know of an update and refuse to work or update with an active, blinking firewall? He should be able to play in SP. But even SP does not work anymore.

If it is caused by Steam patch,m then that confirms my "prejudice" and mistrust that has hindered me to buy it myself. It alos means that steam players depend on the functiuonality of steam servers even when playing SP.

If it is not the patch, then i have no idea why the thing on the day the patch was released refused to work in SP any longer.

[Skybird]

Think you're being a tad too harsh towards Valve, Sky. :hmmm:
I don'T think so. I always did not like their business model. It makes the user a puppet hanging at the end of a very long string. For the same reason I do not tolerate games that need constant online connection in SP for being playable.

However, I need to know what to do for that old man now.

[HunterICX]

Will you please first verify what steam says?

The first post it says Steam account not accesible now you say the game is not available.

if it's the game you might want to unblock everything for Steam and click ''Verify Game cache files'' Steam will then scan the files for anything gone corrupt and fixes it by re-downloading some of the files that need to be replaced.
ofcourse it'll probally will upgrade to game to the latest patch which is 2.1GB
just have get that sorted and if you wish shut everything down again to prevent steam to connect.

simple put....just get the door open and shut if when everything works again.

if the above fails try this:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4595-wexn-6831

what also could be the culprit is the authentication of the game..I don't know if Steam requires you to authenticate once in a while. I tried to google how Steam's integrated DRM actually works but can't fine anything specific about it.

It makes the user a puppet hanging at the end of a very long string.

makes me wonder why you are connected to the internet at all...so many e-e-e-e-eeeevil coorperate companies harvesting everything you do on the web including your posts on subsim.
the only thing is to be sure is to unplug your computer and dispose yourself from any form of digital entertainement by tossing that computer of yours out of the window..preferably in my lap so I can steal your lovely components...Muhahaha.

HunterICX

[Skybird]

Actually it is the game saying that the game is not available. Mind you, I do not have steam, whether there is a difference between this message and a steam account I cannot tell you. I needed to somewhat register the copy when installing it, and it had some hundred MBs of download after it was installed from the DVDs. That'S some weeks ago.

And I alrerady said I tried both firewall on an off. Doesn'T matter, it is the same error message "game not available".

Which makes me wonder if the firewall has any function regarding steam at all, or whether steam penetrates right through it.

Anyhow, it probbaly is too late anyway. The man is so upset, saying that he payed that oney for it, and then they do not let him play it when he wants, that he has called again just minutes ago and told me next time I'm over there I should deinstall it.

I told him he should not buy anything without me. :DL I'm sure he has learned his lesson now. :D

[Dowly]

Anyhow, it probbaly is too late anyway. The man is so upset, saying that he payed that oney for it, and then they do not let him play it when he wants, that he has called again just minutes ago and told me next time I'm over there I should deinstall it.

I told him he should not buy anything without me. :DL I'm sure he has learned his lesson now. :D

Right. So, you firewall something that is supposed to be mainly an online software (and blocking something usually isn't the best choice anyway). Now there's problems possibly due to you blocking Steam and both of you blame Steam for it?

I would go as far as say it's your paranoia that keeps him from playing the game he bought, not Steam.

[Skybird]

makes me wonder why you are connected to the internet at all...so many e-e-e-e-eeeevil coorperate companies harvesting everything you do on the web including your posts on subsim.

If you are so uncritical of everything, then this is your problem. However, when Google or servers store data, I at least must not pay them for doing so, nor am I depending on foreign servers for using my installed software(s) to properly work. And again, it is not my steam thing, but somebody else's. I decided not to buy S2 in the first, like I already have said somehwere earlier in this thread. ;) Because I have forseen problems like this, and have read too many reports in past years about problems like this.

With the exception of RoF, which I did niot like anyway, I have no working software or game installed on my system that makes me depending on internet access. Nor would I ever consider to kick money out of the window for such a title.

The great cloud computing - will take place without me. At least were it is payware or touches upon my sensitive data, or both.

[CCIP]

Wait, I don't understand all this Steam blocking business. Why make this so complicated if a connection is available? Or why not just throw steam into Offline mode and instruct the gentleman not to let it connect?

Sorry, but when you buy a game that's connected to steam and then use some sort of backwards way to bypass the connection, I wouldn't be surprised it eventually breaks...

First thing I'd do is get Steam to check the game cache integrity. Second thing I'd do is get it online and let it update.

[Skybird]

Right. So, you firewall something that is supposed to be mainly an online software (and blocking something usually isn't the best choice anyway). Now there's problems possibly due to you blocking Steam and both of you blame Steam for it?

I would go as far as say it's your paranoia that keeps him from playing the game he bought, not Steam.

What parts exactly is it that you do not understand in what I say?

The SP mode worked before, with blocking firewall. Which makes perfetcly sense, becaseu I asked in this thread earlier whether it would or not and the crowd say "It will", and because for SP you do not need online connection. and for some time, it has worked indeed.

On day of patch release, it all of a sudden does not work in SP anymore. Although the software should not even know there is a patch - because it is blocked from checking: the blocking firewall, mind you.

My questions were two-fold, first what to do, and second whether it is because of the coincidence with the patch release.

I finally said that I tried it with now open firewall, and that it causes the same problem: no gameplay anymore, no SP.

Have I made the issue clear enough now for you two? :nope: The same error message, no matter the firewall setting.

I do not care wheter any of you love steam or not, nor am I interested in getting involved in a useless debate on steam and online games. I'm looking for a solution to help this guy out. I do not have the game, nor do I use Steam. So far I do not know how to help him, therefore, what to tell him, and whether or not the issue is related to the patch or not. Just the coincidence is striking.

[Raptor1]

If the game is completely unavailable both on Offline and Online mode, then I think it's just a coincidence regarding the patch. What I would do is put it online, let it update, then use Steam's cache integrity verification option to check if any of the files are corrupted. Failing that, completely uninstall everything, reinstall Steam, the game and then let it update before putting it offline again.

If that doesn't work, well, I have no idea beyond asking Steam for support.

[Skybird]

If the game is completely unavailable both on Offline and Online mode, then I think it's just a coincidence regarding the patch. What I would do is put it online,

How?

[Raptor1]

Well, if you load Steam up while connected and without any restrictions on it connecting to the internet, it should load up in Online mode. If it still loads up in Offline mode, there should be a button somewhere in the Steam menu to 'Go Online' or something.

[Skybird]

Well, if you load Steam up while connected and without any restrictions on it connecting to the internet, it should load up in Online mode. If it still loads up in Offline mode, there should be a button somewhere in the Steam menu to 'Go Online' or something.
That'S not how it works for him.

The software always makes an attempt to connect to internet. If firewall blocks it, it then transports you to the main menu from which you can start SP offline. It does not ask you before the main menu of the game wheter or not you want to play online or offline.

If you activate just the steam software, it still tries to connect to the internet. When the firewall blocks it, it then brings you to the main menu, see above.

Starting either the game icon or the steam icon with firewall either active or deactivated, now always says the game is not available, and does not bring you to the main menu, and does not launch the game, but leaves you on desktop.

I don't want to be rude, but you guys give me the feeling to talk to a wall, really.

Installation of this game is a pain and lasted very long (on a 4-core 3.06 system and 6000-DLS, all fresh installed, defragmentation of those several GBs also took eons, and then the download some weeks ago after installation when first starting the game and checking for updates beyond the DVD version again took 1.5 hours. Just after that I blocked Steam in firewall, so that Steam does not constantly do things nobody knows and he and me are not aware of. The idea was to open the firewall only when I know that I wanted to update his installation. He NEVER plays online. Gosh, he is 78! Fresh like with 60, but still, he is no computer wizard. Not at all. Its terra incognita for him for the most.

I think it is not worth the troubles and so will not encourage him to rethink his decision. I delete that nonsense next time I'm there, and good it is.

He better should play chess. He is the only opponent I personally know who can beat me in mail-chess. When he plays Shogun - what am I supposed to do in that time, eh? :stare:

Edit. P.S.
I am talking about the DVD version, not a steam-downloaded version. Maybe your steam versions that do not need DVDs indeed while working different.

[CCIP]

When Steam starts up for the first time, yeah, it will always try to connect to the internet and update. However from the main options menu, you can also choose to "go offline". This restarts steam in offline mode, where it will not try to connect to the internet. Every time after that when Steam starts up, it will prompt the user about it and ask if they want to "go online". Selecting to "stay offline" will keep it offline. Worked pretty reliably for me on my laptop where I didn't want to be getting updates while traveling...

[Skybird]

I think that principle starting screen you talk of never has been there from all beginning on. On first start, there was just a pop-up screen saying that it updates, and then the machine was busy for 1.5 hours. After that I blocked steam in firewall, and when clicking the game icon, a very small windows says it tries to connect to steam, and a minute later it say it could not, and the game menu within the game - not steam, but the game - appears.

I also could start by clicking the Steram entry in the starting menu, but it gives the same procedure like above and makes no difference.

A steam menu screen that gives a choice to decide for offline or online, there simply never has been. That gets exclusively controlled from the in-game main menu.

It has woprked for him until pacth day. On patch day, both online and offline became unavailable. No matter the firewall setting. No matter wheter using the S2 or Steam icon. No matter wheter wanting to go online or offline.

[Arclight]

... if you let the firewall block it, you interfere with normal operation. You're honestly surprised it gives trouble now? :doh:

Let it go online and update. Then start Steam in offline mode; don't block it or any of that, just start it in offline mode. It will never bother you again.

Steam typically hides out in the system tray. Double-click the icon there and it will bring up Steam. Yes, it is a program, with an interface, like most other programs.
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj2/EZatHome/Untitled-3.jpg

My guess is that it is the client that calls in when you start it, requesting version information for the games and Steam cloud content. As a result, a firewall can't block it: it is the local machine that makes the connection (outbound) and a firewall only blocks inbound connections. No spyware here, that's just how it works. For any application.

[Skybird]

... if you let the firewall block it, you interfere with normal operation. You're honestly surprised it gives trouble now? :doh:
:damn: :damn: :damn:
Have you even read what I wrote? For the hundredth time now: The game used to run when steam was blocked, it ran since weeks, it waited a minute trying to connect, then said in the small window (much smaller than what you present up there) it could not connect, and the main game screen appeared. And there you are in true single player offline play without steam exchanging traffic between computer and internet. In the main menu of Shogun you could chose SP campaign, SP battle, SP whatever - it runs well as long as you do not try to play online, which he does not do at all.

And since patch is out, it does not work anymore this way. It does not work at all. Not with open firewall. Not with closed firewall. Not for wanting to play SP. Not for wanting to go online.

Is this clear now? Or must I repeat it for the onehundredandfirst time now? :damn: :damn: :damn:


Let it go online and update.
:dead: To hell, it does not go online at all since patch is out. not for checking for updates, not for playing, not for anything. the steam entry in the firewall is unblocked. Single player is bropklen as well. Since patch release day. thus my question which started this mess.


[Then start Steam in offline mode; don't block it or any of that, just start it in offline mode. It will never bother you again.
First, there never was an option for offlione mode in any Steam window. Second, Steam constantly ran in the background, even with no game related to steam being started. It is auto-launched on booting, and thus I blocked it in firewall, because that gives quicker access to that setting than if you manually deactiovate the whole service in the service panel of Windows.

And that way, the game worked. He says he has not had a single problem with it on startups. Until yesterday, and since then it is broken. No matter the firewall setting.


Steam typically hides out in the system tray. Double-click the icon there and it will bring up Steam. Yes, it is a program, with an interface, like most other programs.
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj2/EZatHome/Untitled-3.jpg


That window is different for him, I am telling by memory here. even the options are different. When using the icon in the system tray, it gives you an entry for Shogun to launch (no word on offline or online), and to launch in certain graphical modes. It looks different than what you give in that pictures, and it has different options. You could as well click the Shogun2 icon that was installed on desktop. It leads into the same launching procedure like the Steam icon.

Steam produced spikes in the CPU load every couple of seconds, going up to a ,load maximum of up to around 15%. It also produced a regular data traffic spike even when Shogun was not launched since last bootin g. Obviously it does something on the system, and obviuously it nevertheless wants to connect to internet even when not online game is wanted and no SP Shogun is played. I hate unwanted, unidentified and uncontrolled activities like this, for I cannot tell anything aboit wheter it does something harmful or not, shovels in spamware or not, or whatever. So I blocked it in the firewall, planning to only activate the access when I update the copy for him.

My guess is that it is the client that calls in when you start it, requesting version information for the games and Steam cloud content. As a result, a firewall can't block it: it is the local machine that makes the connection (outbound) and a firewall only blocks inbound connections.
That is wrong, a firewall blocks both inbound and outbound content - when the installed software is marked as not having access to internet. Else you would loose half of the security a firewall is meant to provide!!!

[Arclight]

My understanding of a firewall may be wrong, granted. But all your answers are right there. If you can't figure it out, it is perhaps time to start questioning yourself, rather than anyone that tries to help you. :roll:

You honestly believe you know better than the people that have used Steam for several years now?

[Skybird]

All I can say is what my eyes have seen, and further: that it is not helpful if people "contribute" with their wisdom but do not even precisely read what I have repeatedly described. When you have to repeat yourself endlessly and peopl simply ignore you, then that is funny with the first guy, but if the whole conversation is running like that, it is simply annoying a behavior. Sorry, not wanting to be rude, but this is not helpful one bit.

What I have repeatedly described now is what the game is looking like on his system, and how it gets sdtarted, and has worked flawlessly since weeks, since I installed it for him. He does not even have the knoweldghe to mess up the installation! And I, it is not my rig, I maintain it once a week only or so. But hell, of course I have checked the game on his system and watched it and checked the options and checked steam.

My descriptions of how Shogun is handled on that rig, and has worked until the patch release day, and what Steam does on that rig in CPU load and internet traffic even when no steam title is being launched, are precise, and exact. An that I varied the firewall settings etc I have said SEVERAL time. Point fingers at me for my many typos. But if people cannot take not of what what I give in descriptions, and just ignore it, and let me explain it several times and still do not take note of it, then this is not my fault, and it is not helpful, but simply annoying. Makes you feel like an idiot talking to stones.

I deinstall the whole thing like he said today, next time I am with him. Something tells me that getting rid of steam will be a pleasure, too.

[CCIP]

I think it's only fair to say we're trying to help resolve this positively. I'm no Steam lover either, but it's not really an application I've had a lot of trouble with to be honest. I'd still be more inclined to think it's something worth a reinstall for - it's possible that the version of Steam that installed with Shogun is seriously out of date. The current Steam interface is pretty universal, and Arclight has explained it pretty clearly.

But your choice I suppose. I don't own Shogun by the way, so I can't specifically try and mess around with this myself for the sake of experiment...

[Crécy]

Perhaps it would be better to create a new thread for this particural discussion...

[Castout]

I've come from steam hater to actually steam lover. I love that when u buy from steam or when your physical copy is tied to steam like in TW series you can always download the game. So this means no worry even if you lost the game disc.


Second I looked at some of their special offerings....my God the whole Hearts of Iron 3 pack expansion and all DLC only for about 15-18 bucks!! :up:
And it's only a 2Gb of download time/size.

Third some games use Starforce copy protection which has gained bad substantiated reputation and if you buy from steam instead you won't have that notorious copy protection installed on your PC!!!

Love steam now. if only my paypal could get verified . . . .

[mr chris]

Loving the DX11.


http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/128/shogun4l.jpg

http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/2443/shogun3.jpg

http://img806.imageshack.us/img806/3972/shogun1.jpg

[CCIP]

Not sure I'm a fan of all that blur :hmmm:

But the unit graphics are sure spiffy!

[Arclight]

Same, disabled some effects, like the 'vignette' thingy. Ambient Occlusion sounds fancy too, but I've yet to see any appreciable difference with it on or off (shadows shift a bit; lighting effect). Not gonna sacrifice performance on something I'll never notice. :)

[mr chris]

Will be trying out the various different options.

Ran the DX11 benchmark 1080p High and had a average FPS of 40.
Not really had a drop in performance so far. The big test will come when i start having battles with 5000+ troops on the map.

[CCIP]

33% off on Steam this weekend

http://store.steampowered.com/news/5557/

Is it worth it? :06:

[Crécy]

Is it worth it? :06:

Depends. Does Sengoku era Japan appeal to you? Did you like previous total war installments? In my opinion Shogun 2 is best total war since Rome. I say it's totally worth it.

I guess you should watch some videos, read a few reviews/player comments, try the demo and then make the call.

[Raptor1]

I'd say that if you're interested in the whole thing, it's probably worth it. There are quite a few things which I don't like about it, but it's a pretty good game overall.

BTW, the new patch is out along with the new Ikko-Ikki DLC (My predictions came true, ha!). They're billing them as a 'warrior monk clan', which is rather far from what they actually were, but we'll see how they turn out.

[CCIP]

I'm a TW fan and have been for a long time, although my interest dropped off sharply after Rome. I loved the original Shogun (owned and played it almost from Day 1), although to be honest, I don't think tactical battles alone can keep me interested anymore, at least in single player campaigns. And it was ultimately the crude, and often broken strategic aspect of the campaigns in more recent games that ultimately turned me off.

How is the multiplayer, though? That's the one thing that I guess would possibly make up for my lack of interest in tactical battles against the PC.

[Arclight]

I really like MP at first, but if you play with the avatar general and using veterans, the late-game becomes ridiculous. Think the patch nerfed quite a bit though, need to try again. :hmmm:

[Arclight]

Add-on campaign anounced; Rise of the Samurai: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-11-shogun-2-rise-of-the-samurai-revealed

[Spike88]

Second expansion announced:
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/debut-trailer-total-war/724407

The official stand-alone expansion for critically acclaimed Total War: Shogun 2 puts you against modern world Europe and America. Can you master the sword and carry your country in the final battle for Japan's future?

[Raptor1]

Sold. It's a bit too much to hope they won't screw it up, but I can at least hope they don't screw it up too much...

[Dowly]

http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/25000000/Nathan-Algren-the-last-samurai-25028624-431-300.jpg

[Takeda Shingen]

I don't know, think I'd take the Gatling gun.

[Spike88]

They've released a blood pack for $1.59. Feels like something that should've been patched in for free(sort of like horse armor), but I guess $1.59 is a fair price.

They've also released a Hattori pack for those people who didn't get it with release.

[Spike88]

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/total-war-shogun-2---fall-of-the-samurai

It's metascore is pretty high at the moment, with the following:
90 XGN
90 CD-Action
89 PC-Gamer
89 PC-Master
80 Eurogamer Italy
80 Videogamer

To be honest, I've only heard of PC gamer, and Eurogamer.

Part of me wants to get it right off the bat so I get the Tsu clan, part of me wants to wait for a price drop or Darthmod.

[steve_the_slim]

*Watches trailers*
*sees fleets of ironclads blasting each other to bits*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3YMRp36Ad8

I must have this game right now. Also a new computer to run it.

The naval combat in this will probably be an order of magnitude more fun than the actual "Ironclads" games.

[Spike88]

*Watches trailers*
*sees fleets of ironclads blasting each other to bits*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3YMRp36Ad8

I must have this game right now. Also a new computer to run it.

The naval combat in this will probably be an order of magnitude more fun than the actual "Ironclads" games.

I had to click your link. :stare:

It'll be more fun, no doubt, but it will not be more realistic. But then again, fun is sometimes better than realism.

Out at sea, naval combat still has problems, too. The powerful guns and torpedoes of the new steam ships make for more decisive battles, but wet war is, by its very nature, a sluggish affair. Scrambling for a broadside while your ship executes huge, slow turns is just frustrating. You can now take direct control of your cannons and aim them, but this often means trying to pick the enemy out through a forest of masts. It***8217;s hard to do a better job than your AI crew. I found myself accepting the extra losses and auto-resolving most of my naval battles.
A wider problem is the lack of difference between the Imperial and Shogunate sides of the conflict. Each clan starts in a different position and each has their own specialities, but they travel down the same clan development tree and, towards the end, fight with the same units. You can try to stave off the advance of technology to stay in line with the Shogunate***8217;s traditionalist values, and you***8217;ll experience fewer revolts among the populace if you do, but obstinately avoiding the chance to play with some of Fall of the Samurai***8217;s finest units is a move for alternate history buffs and the terminally traditionalist only.


The only two problems PC gamer has with the game.

[Krauter]

Absolutely loving this game since I bought it. My only gripe with the campaign is that in both campaigns I have, I'm in a stalemate where due to circumstances there are three major clans (including myself) plus the Shogun.. what follows is all of us war for a little bit, peace, war, peace war.. It's kind of annoying but I guess is kind of realistic in that its similar to the Three Kingdoms period from China.. still kind of annoying though.

Anyways, all I can say is that the Hattori clan is my favourite by far. If they were on an island I think I'd love them even more.