View Full Version : Steel Armour - Blaze of War - relaunch/makeover
Details here:
http://graviteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=11793.0
http://combatace.com/index.php?app=gallery&module=images§ion=img_ctrl&img=29819&file=max
It has been rereleased on GamersGate.
http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-SABW/steel-armor-blaze-of-war
From Gravi's Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Graviteam):
- updated to the recent version of GTOS engine
- international version (Eng/Rus in one package; determined from the OS language)
- slightly modified interface and adjusted game mechanics
- revised Iran battlefield and training battlefields
- M60 and T-62 interactive cockpit
- M60 and T-62 driver night vision devices added
If you bought the game earlier, simply redownload it in your library.
...and released on Steam.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/286280/
It has been rereleased on GamersGate.
http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-SABW/steel-armor-blaze-of-war
If you bought the game earlier, simply redownload it in your library.
That worked fine, for me - up and running with a fresh GamersGate download, no hitches.
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_03_2015/post-66801-0-25635400-1425340314.jpg
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_03_2015/post-66801-0-68084500-1425594565.jpg
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_03_2015/post-66801-0-48773600-1425594338.jpg
tried downloading as bought on gamersgate a while back and give me an erro message saying cannot connect to server;initialization failed. any idea?:down:
Weird. Did you log into your GamersGate account, then see SABOW in the panel on the left under 'My library'? After clicking on the entry there for SABOW, a bigger panel headed 'My Library' opens in the middle of the screen? 'Steel Armor blaze of War' should be listed there and to the right, there should be a download link, which will d/l the latest version.
...and released on Steam.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/286280/
Rock, Paper, Shotgun about Steel Armor:
Mar,06 2015
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/03/06/the-flare-path-ablaze/
Best Regards,
Vladimir Zayarniy
Aktungbby
03-07-15, 11:54 AM
zvlad!:salute: After a silent run!
hi, 33 lima. yes i logged in and see it on the right side and click on icon and i keep getting that message. any ideas?
Baffling. Maybe post on the Graviteam SABOW forum - I haven't seen anyone else over there report this - or contact GamersGate for support?
The expanded list of 'Downloader' related problems here, tho none match this one, may suggest some solutions:
http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/info/faq
Try redownloading it again. Maybe it's your firewall or antivirus blocking something? If this doesn't work, contact GamersGate support.
Mission report/first impressions now up, over at CombatAce:
http://combatace.com/topic/85814-steel-armor-blaze-of-war/
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_04_2015/post-66801-0-89678100-1428746001.jpg
SABOW is on sale now at Gamersgate..
http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-SABW/steel-armor-blaze-of-war
...and a further, short mission report is up at CombatAce featuring one of the new 'instant action' missions:
http://combatace.com/topic/85925-instant-action-sabow-style/#entry692122
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_04_2015/post-66801-0-71106100-1429654361.jpg
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_04_2015/post-66801-0-61824100-1428783572.jpg
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_04_2015/post-66801-0-06144800-1428847555.jpg
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_04_2015/post-66801-0-26707100-1429899882.jpg
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_04_2015/post-66801-0-74562400-1429903773.jpg
SABOW now also on sale at Steam (1 May '15). Latest update has some neat new features, including more sophicticated damage modelling and associated effects, like the flare-ups from ammo cooking off in a burning tank:
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_05_2015/post-66801-0-22772000-1430518168.jpg
There is also a new 'active defence' tactic, whereby using a hotkey you can initiate moving into and out of hull-down positions, to take your shots.
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_05_2015/post-66801-0-44828900-1430517438.jpg
Short description of the new training mission featuring this option, previously only seen, I think, in Steel Beasts, is here:
http://combatace.com/topic/85925-instant-action-sabow-style/#entry692689
...and another mission report, featuring a campaign battle played with the latest SABOW update:
http://combatace.com/topic/85925-instant-action-sabow-style/#entry692751 (http://combatace.com/topic/85925-instant-action-sabow-style/)
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_05_2015/post-66801-0-31568800-1430654883.jpg
...and another one:
http://combatace.com/topic/86025-sabow-revenge-of-the-chieftains/
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_05_2015/post-66801-0-37794600-1430946763.jpg
The first may 2015 update is now available. Amongst other things, this includes additional training missions.
http://combatace.com/index.php?app=gallery&module=images§ion=img_ctrl&img=30530&file=max
One is a new driver training session on the M60A1, illustrated below:
http://combatace.com/index.php?app=gallery&module=images§ion=img_ctrl&img=30527&file=max
http://combatace.com/index.php?app=gallery&module=images§ion=img_ctrl&img=30528&file=max
http://combatace.com/index.php?app=gallery&module=images§ion=img_ctrl&img=30529&file=max
M60 night mission report using the latest patch here:
http://combatace.com/topic/86104-sabow-m60-night-attack/
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_05_2015/post-66801-0-70109400-1432244991.jpg
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_05_2015/post-66801-0-86628800-1432245277.jpg
Second May update now available for Gamersgate versions; this includes some additional missions, including one featuring (AI-controlled) air support.
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_05_2015/post-66801-0-27275300-1432401138.jpg
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_05_2015/post-66801-0-26070300-1432401661.jpg
...and another mission report. Since this one, Graviteam have already released another update, tweaking the scoring system:
http://combatace.com/topic/86159-sabow-m60-day-attack/
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_05_2015/post-66801-0-91788100-1432464611.jpg
Eichhörnchen
06-13-15, 06:40 PM
I spotted the boxed game in my local Game Station today (I don't have the option to download or play online). Now I've never heard of this sim before, so how does it compare with "Steel Fury"? I haven't yet been able to experience that one either, but it does seem to be the benchmark for you guys, judging from what I've read on this forum so far.
Despite the common developers, SABOW doesn't have a lot in common with Steel Fury, quite apart from the different time periods.
Steel Fury (modded) has a massive set of playable vehicles (most witout 3d interiors, but all with sight, hatch and exterior views).
http://combatace.com/index.php?app=gallery&module=images§ion=img_ctrl&img=28679&file=max
http://combatace.com/index.php?app=gallery&module=images§ion=img_ctrl&img=28703&file=max
http://simhq.com/forum/files/usergals/2014/08/full-21559-84772-shot_2014_06_03_00_41_23_0029.jpg
http://combatace.com/index.php?app=gallery&module=images§ion=img_ctrl&img=28701&file=max
http://combatace.com/index.php?app=gallery&module=images§ion=img_ctrl&img=28180&file=max
SABOW hasn't but, it seems, is about to have more added as DLC, possibly with new maps and theatres.
SABOW is technically better. For example like Steel Beasts it implements the speed of sound so you don't hear everything instantaneously. SABOW's AI is better and you have much more control over your platoon; as well as the ability to jump to another playable tank. If you are knocked out in SF, it's game over. Your AI driver in SABOW seems more human; he may speed up, slow down or adjust his course to avoid obstacles as necessary. The pyhsics and damage models seem better in SABOW.
SABOW's more modern graphics are significantly better, with (for example) better tank crew animations and better hit effects (visual and audio). SABOW's weather during a mission can change, from bright to torrential rain, nights can be darker or lighter, plus it gets dark or light at the appropriate times.
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_05_2015/post-66801-0-42446400-1432466347.jpg
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_06_2015/post-66801-0-65856900-1433591776.jpg
The more modern tanks in SABOW mean they have more features, which the sim represents very well; eg in the M60A1 if commander, you can use the stereoscopic rangefinder, or if playing as gunner, ask the commander to take a range with it for a selected target, and key it into the analogue fire control computer, thus setting your main gunsight for the correct range. SABOW does a very good job of replicating the active IR night fighting systems of the time, which of course aren't in SF, being WW2.
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_06_2015/post-66801-0-21809300-1433599665.jpg
Apart from the period, the biggest difference is missions and campaigns.
In SF, missions are scripted. Campaigns are basically sets of scripted missions. This has some advantages, because with a relatively simple mission editor, users have made lots of extra SF missions (tho few campaigns). Being scripted, the briefings can be as thorough or realistic as the mission designer chooses to write them, or is able to. You read the briefing, launch the mission and - often within seconds - the shooting has started.
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_02_2015/post-66801-0-66238900-1425072590.jpg
Battles in SF tend to be short and sharp. You play as a platoon commander usually (sometimes as a single vehicle) with fairly limited control over your platoon. The friendly and enemy AI isn't hopeless but it's not great either eg your platoon-mates often seem to make near-suicidal charges at the enemy. Light AFVs on both sides also tend to close with the enemy regardless. Missions often have few survivors.
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_02_2015/post-66801-0-65070400-1423771762.jpg
SABOW has real dynamic campaigns with events carrying over from one mission to the next. It is tanksim inside a wargame. You start each campaign mission in the role of a higher-level commander, with several platoons at your disposal, sometimes including other arms like mech infantry.
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_05_2015/post-66801-0-04912200-1432475653.jpg
You have the option of deploying and giving orders to each, before you move onto the tanksimming.
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_05_2015/post-66801-0-14323200-1432474730.jpg
When you get there, you can play the role of any tank or platoon commander, in a playable tank (as well as drive or gun in either playable tank). Battles tend to last longer and to develop more slowly; for example an expected enemy attack may not come, it may take some time to develop, or it may come somewhere other than where you're expecting it.
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_05_2015/post-66801-0-15585200-1431040283.jpg
In SF you are basically playing your own tank, with some capacity to control maybe two 'wingmen', in short , scripted missions, with limited scope for planning or tactics, beyond individual tank or platoon level. SABOW gives you a tactical level as well, with battles that tend to last longer, give you more time to think, and are more unpredictable.
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_05_2015/post-66801-0-76480900-1430780356.jpg
AFAIK there is an April 2015 update for the boxed SABOW which is available cheaply but it isn't updated as frequently as the GamersGate and Steam versions and has been described as 'semi-supported (AFAIK Graviteam started updating SABOW after they got the rights back from the original publishers, who seem to have pushed it out the door before the developers would have liked).
Eichhörnchen
06-14-15, 02:59 AM
Thanks so much, 33lima, for such a prompt and comprehensive answer; I didn't expect that, and I'll be picking that disc up tomorrow!
The environment and special effects is always important to me in a sim or game, so this seems to have it all, and I'm virtually certain my pc will run it (it's a bit of an animal).
Thanks again, Buddy... here I come http://i.imgur.com/rR1WdEK.jpg
Good luck then I hope you like it!
My PC's a bit of an animal too, possibly a mouse (without the plastic tank!) or other such creature (eg GTS 250), but it copes ok with both sims at fairly high settings (activating SABOW's 'reduce smoke' option still helped but as you can see from the screenies here and at CombatAce, I think I still get plenty of that!). It chokes on the action and unit-intensive 'Weisensee' missions for Steel Fury but is ok with 'normal' SF and SABOW.
BTW apparently, don't use graphic driver antialiasing with SABOW or SF - the latter needs an Nividia Inspector tweak (if you have that type of card) to get any and SABOW has its own settings.
The April update (and there's a patch for it too) for the CD version, usually referred to as the UIG version from the title of the original publishers - is here:
http://graviteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=10223.0
If you like it enough and see value in doing so, you might then consider picking up the better-supported downloadable versions eg in a sale. I'm not sure now which of the listed improvements came in the May update.
The SABOW learning curve is (perhaps like M1TP2 in a way) higher than the 'usual' tanksim because you go thru the wargame screens to to get at the tanksimming, so it's a case of 'Patience, Grasshopper!' The new quick missions bypass this. Tho composed before these arrived and better manuals and some tweaks otherwise helped, SimDeck's video I found very helpful in explaining how to breeze through the map and basic icons needed to get organised in the 'operational', pre-simming phase:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uROyjrKSB9Q (http://graviteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=10223.0)
The same map and icons (the 'orders' subset anyway) is also available in-game as a tactical map which you use to monitor developments and give new orders beyond your own tank and tank platoon, so it helps to get the hang of these. After returning to SABOW in early 2015 when the updates started, a little persistence, reading the new manual (including the quick start guide here: http://graviteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=11215.0) and watching that video quickly got me over the hump and to the position where it clicked, the penny dropped and after that, it's pretty instinctive.
The other thing you'll notice is that in SABOW campaign missions, you get a briefing at the start which is sort of a combined operational directive and briefing. This may be updated as the campaign unfolds but you don't get individual new orders, for each campaign mission. In this respect it is like a wargame, where you're in charge and have considerable latitude in deciding what to do, as the wargame element develops the overall situation, with terrain and enemy forces being the main things you'll want to hit.
When I say 'you're in charge' there's another convention it helps to understand here, which is that on campaign, you are in charge of the friendly forces in one sector only. Based on your and the AI's moves, if and when a battle is calculated to be in prospect (complete with on-screen music, flashing status labels etc), you are taken usually a level further down, to the sector within your sector where the battle is imminent. There is a 'command all allies' option which gives you greater control but generally, you end up in charge of anything from two to about five platoons. I've tried to describe how this usually works out in the mission reports at CombatAce. This system has its good and bad points but overall, I think it might actually be the best SP campaign system any tanksim has had.
Anyway, good hunting!
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_04_2015/post-66801-0-71106100-1429654361.jpg
http://combatace.com/uploads/monthly_04_2015/post-66801-0-32288400-1428521326.jpg
Eichhörnchen
06-14-15, 08:10 AM
Thanks again; got the sim today and installed it. Would you believe it, there's not even a manual on the disc! So your extremely helpful links to the quick-start guide and SimDeck video in particular, are timely indeed.
I hope it's not a bad sign, but the "tutorial" just won't start. However, the mission-setup interface functions just fine and, as you say, I'm just going to have to be patient and learn the ropes first. Squirrels and heavy armour may ultimately prove incompatible, but I want to give this a try; other tank sims have all been a bit of a disappointment with either third-person viewpoint only, cruddy graphics or both.
Cheers!
Thanks again; got the sim today and installed it. Would you believe it, there's not even a manual on the disc! So your extremely helpful links to the quick-start guide and SimDeck video in particular, are timely indeed.
I hope it's not a bad sign, but the "tutorial" just won't start. However, the mission-setup interface functions just fine and, as you say, I'm just going to have to be patient and learn the ropes first. Squirrels and heavy armour may ultimately prove incompatible, but I want to give this a try; other tank sims have all been a bit of a disappointment with either third-person viewpoint only, cruddy graphics or both.
Cheers!
I have the Gamersgate version and after installation, the manuals (tanks, tactics and controls, in the updated version anyway) are in the folder Steel Armour Blaze of War/Docs/Support.
Maybe you have installed the April update and patch already but if not, for the GG version anyway, the update process is unusual; drop the downloaded update (filename something like sabow_apr15_patch_eng.gt2extension) into the install folder, double-click the batch file update.cmd (also in the install folder) and use the dialogue window which then opens to locate and enable the update. That's the process for the GG version, likely for the disc version, too.
Eichhörnchen
06-14-15, 01:34 PM
I haven't got into that yet (I thought there might be a patch or two on the disc, but no). And no doc files on the disc at all, just the AutoRun, EULA, Setup plus three Setup bin. files... not even a Readme!
BTW, it's a "Black Lime Games"/" UIG Entertainment" release, only £2.99 so maybe you get just the barest minimum. I'll keep trying and post some screenshots if I get rolling...
E
I haven't got into that yet (I thought there might be a patch or two on the disc, but no). And no doc files on the disc at all, just the AutoRun, EULA, Setup plus three Setup bin. files... not even a Readme!
BTW, it's a "Black Lime Games"/" UIG Entertainment" release, only £2.99 so maybe you get just the barest minimum. I'll keep trying and post some screenshots if I get rolling...
E
With a bit of luck, the manuals will be installed with the game; they're likely in one of those bin files. I'm pretty sure it won't include the updates as the UIG version pre-dates Graviteam getting the rights back and starting to patch/update the game, officially.
As the original release was reported to have some issues, and the updates - as well as adding some features, like tank-laid smoke screens - make some interface changes that you don't want to have to re-learn, I'd definitely recommend patching it right away, after installation.
There's a brief discussion about patching the boxed version here, best place to post if you hit any diffs:
http://graviteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=11932.0
Eichhörnchen
06-14-15, 03:36 PM
Check! Thanks again...
Hello.....
I bought this when it came out on disk. However I found the interface clunky and hard to use, I couldn't even figure out how to get in 3D mode to play the tanks in Campaign mode.
It seems this has been made a bit more accessible with a Easy Mission editor and quick game setting?
Also is it at all possible to play the Centurion now, or via mods? Would be nice to play on the side of SADF in the Angola campaign.
In any event is it better to get this from Gamergate or Steam...anything that either of the two versions don't have in terms of features, moddability or DLC?
Any does anyone know if disk customers get a discount somewhere to get the improved game?
Thanks,
G
Hi Akula
I had exactly the same experience with SABOW, originally finding the interface about as user friendly as the proverbial cornered rat. Parked it for another day.
When that day came this Spring, two things solved it for me. Ok, three things, at the risk of sounding like that Python sketch.
First, I decided I would make the effort, whatever it took.
Second and third, that effort was reduced by:
1. Sim Deck's SABOW intro videos, notably this one - tho I think made before the updates, they are still helpful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uROyjrKSB9Q
2. The update's improvements, notably;
(a) the 'quick mission' option which enables you to bypass most of the wargame element and get nearly straight to the tanksimming; and
(b) the instant action missions, which go directly to tanksimming, which started with two training missions, since increased, as described here:
http://combatace.com/topic/85814-steel-armor-blaze-of-war/#entry691073
There's still a lot of features I use little or at all but the tanksimming basics I find no more complicated than many another tanksim. It's well worth now making the effort also to get to grips with the wargame interface because that's needed to play campaigns fully and it adds an extra dimension to the game. Reminds me of Steel Beasts in some respects. Once you have cracked it the first time, the wargame interface's main features are suddenly fairly intuitive.
You can update the CD version, but its updates lag behind those for Steam and Gamersgate. I bought the Gamersgate version in a sale, so it was well worth it. I have the impression GG tends to get updates slightly sooner. There's no discount for CD buyers to get the D/L version but a sale renders that moot.
Modder WHUKID had a (beta, partial?) IDF mod with a playable IDF Centurion but I'm not sure it's still available and it may not work with the new version. Graviteam have said they want to start releasing DLCs, plans not public yet. Personally, dreaming being free, I want a playable Chieftain, then preferably 1970s-1980s NATO-v-WARPAC, then WW2. The first DLC is coming soon, it seems:
http://graviteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=11793.300
PS more up-to-date illustration of the increased range of 'instant action' options is here; more added since, including directing artillery fire:
http://combatace.com/topic/85925-instant-action-sabow-style/
adrians69
08-21-15, 02:09 PM
I just picked this up today, a nearly new pre-owned DVD copy for the princely sum of 50p!! I can't believe what I got for that ridiculous amount. I'll have to look out for the updates and install them manually like I just did for the latest 2015 core update and patch, but that's OK, that's how we used to do it before Steam & GG etc. isn't it?! :D
New DLC - Basra 86 (http://store.steampowered.com/app/399860/) released on Steam.
The action takes place in a new area of operations in the flood plain of the Shatt al-Arab river during the Iran-Iraq war. Two operations for Iranian and Iraqi armies, and a single mission are available to the player. Pontoon bridges, floating armored vehicles, and Iranian-produced UCAVs are widely used during the game.
At the end of December 1986, Iranian forces launched the next operation - Karbala-4. IRGC frogmen crossed the Shatt al-Arab river and captured a number of the border islands, as well as a bridgehead on the right bank. Then, pontoon bridges were assembled across the river, which lightly armed Basij militia units of the "Prophet Muhammad" division used to cross to the right river bank and began an offensive in the general direction of Basra.
Sepp von Ch.
11-17-15, 11:12 AM
Gentlemen, can you help me with installing of IDF mod to this game?
I found this IDF mod - Whukid's IDF mod, but for the installation, I need these older mods and I can´t find them:
-Patch 577
-March 2012 update
-FlashBurn's Mod v1.5
Can you help me please?
subunit
12-11-15, 01:07 AM
Gentlemen, can you help me with installing of IDF mod to this game?
I found this IDF mod - Whukid's IDF mod, but for the installation, I need these older mods and I can´t find them:
-Patch 577
-March 2012 update
-FlashBurn's Mod v1.5
Can you help me please?
Flashburn on the SABOW forums mentioned that since SABOW is being actively updated again, those mods no longer work, and are thus not being maintained/are no longer available, at least for the time being.
Sepp von Ch.
12-12-15, 03:27 PM
Flashburn on the SABOW forums mentioned that since SABOW is being actively updated again, those mods no longer work, and are thus not being maintained/are no longer available, at least for the time being.
Yeh, but I use this game without last updates:
http://graviteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=11776.msg46112#msg46112
I need these old mods, pls help...
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