Going to take the dive...

[Sledgehammer427]

And buy Steel Beasts Pro PE soon
Can any of the players tell me what I should look into getting, or are there any mods (I know theres a skinning community out there)
Any experience in Online multiplayer?
How is that?

I have steel beasts 1 (found it in my stepdads attic, go figure) and it was great, so I'm going to take a dive and get Pro PE with some christmas money I'm going to be getting soon.

Just wondering what I should be expecting

[Skybird]

Congrats, if tanking, tactics and realism is your thing, it will deliver - promised. You will be surprised how easy it is to handle - and how tactically challenging to master.

SBP-PE knows only these types of player-made content:
- missions for SP and MP
- vehicle skins
- some object skins
- sounds
- new maps

eSim does not allow vehicle and ammo design, in order to not ruin the realism of the balance and physics and to prevent the creation of what Ssnake called "Frankentanks". Mind you, most guys making the design decisions on these things are tankers themselves, so they know their stuff better than just us gamers, and can make better assessments and projections.

But skins and sounds have undergone developement by eSim several times now, and I would recommend you just wait and see and hear what you already get by default. It is impressive both in quality and ammounts. Check the screenshot thread after the resources, latest entries first. The pics cover different versions (and skins) from the past 5 years. The oldest may not be actual anymore.

For MP, you need to head over to the eSim homepage and the forum there - that is where the SBP music plays. I do not play online myself, but have read tiome and again by onliners that it is stable and a blast. If you like online play, you should definitely try it with this babe, so head over there and ask the guys for a date.

I refer to the stickied SBP reasource thread in the upper part of the thread list. You will probably get the v2.460 disc, the resources thread lists one patch available.

Plenty of missions are already included, around 400 more are available for download, but many of them have been summarised in just one download by some friendly guy, that is easy and comfortable to download and install. But before you do that, just play the included content - it already is MUCH.

And I score for just another happy convert.

Tip for beginners: after you spend the first one or two days trying all the different vehicles for curiosity what they look like, start to focus on just one tank, preferably a Leopard-2A5 or higher (they offer better situational awareness for the TC than the Abrams), and then stay with that one for a long time to come. Become familiar with it in handling and firing. After the start, larn to command your wingmen from TC, and how to manouver in formation and chnage formation on the move. Make yourself familiar with the map tool from very early on - the mission editor and the map command tool essentially are the same, if you understand the control logic and how to influence it via the map planner via conditioned routes, then you have mastered the first grades for tactical control of your formation. Choose small battles first (platton level), like they do in real life as well. Use the editor to change any missions that give you a playable tank that is not the one you have choosen to focus on at first, and make the playable tank(s) the model you have chosen.

Use the after action report (AAR) to watch your mission afterwards, switch to vehicle display and "all visible", so that you can understand why what happened.

Several different tanks and IFVs come weith their own set of tutorials, and some do the firing and ammo selection thing as well as leading and lasing very very differently from the crowd. So run those tutorials! Print the briefings.I have four Din A5-spiral binders with material about SBP. Some vehicles, the CV90 for example, have their own almost 100 page manual.

If you play huge battles (company and more), consider to give vehicles unlimited ammo. That is no cheat, but it increases realism, for this reason: no commande rin the field is expected to fight with his own tankl, hiw own platoon, and then micormanage the ammo status of 40 other vehciles on his side. The AI usually is very, very good, but like every AI, it occasionally messes things up - like firing volley after volley onto a target that is so well covered by terrain that iut simply refguses to be hit and die, and so your blue friends waste all their ammo in case that you, the ultimate master, do not realise what is going on, jump there manually, take control of the tank and deal with the situation, or you manually need to order tank fpor tank into safe positons where they can meet with the ammo trucks. That is muc h work overload, so if you play with m ore than one company, switching all ammo tu unlimited I really recommend. It adds realism by giving an effect of as if tank commanders intelligently manage their supply levels all by themselves.

In MP, that is considered a cheat, of course!

If you happen to own a HOTAS from your flight sims, use it for command mapping. Learn to shoot not only with the stick, but also with the mouse. The pros are faster and better with the mouse!

Enjoy your quest. There is plenty of rewarding challenges ahead of you. Whjat SBP gavbe to me in the combat sim department, I can only compare to the Falcon expereince. For further questions, I am here, and there is the eSim forum. Their support is world top class, members of the team are practically omnipresent.

Edit:
P.S. There is a shooting test in the menu. Do it, and do it rpeatedly. The score you get detemrines the overall IQ of your AI buddies. Practice gunnery there with a Leopard model (easier than the Abrams), and try to bring your score to a 100% mark sooner or later.

Also, do not forget to make yourself familiar with fighting with damages TIS and ESM, that means no modern technogizzmos, and you estimating ranges and lead manually via the gunner'S secondary sights and the markings in it - like in WWII. Your tank will get damaged, and you will lose these sight more often than you like. To be competent in handling the auxiliary sights and shoot from there makes the difference between you living or dying a quick death. Trust me, it is essential to be competent with the GAS and turret emergency procedures! So try hard to gain that competence. It also gives you that WWII drama feeling that you guys seem to like so much.

[Castout]

There have been 2 paid upgrade since the last time. I haven't bought any upgrade yet and if I want to do I need to buy the two separate upgrades for 2x25 or just one fee of US$25.00?


Thinking to get the upgrade if the game runs smooth on Windows 7. Had poor performance in Vista then.

[Skybird]

I think the updates are cumulative, so if your disc has a version previous to these updates, you need them both.

SB Pro PE 2.262---2006/04/30
SB Pro PE 2.273---2006/06/22
SB Pro PE 2.304---2006/11/13
SB Pro PE 2.328---2007/01/23
SB Pro PE 2.328---Hotfix---2007/05/22
SB Pro PE 2.370---Beta---2007/12/13
SB Pro PE 2.460---Upgrade---2009/04/03
SB Pro PE 2.483---2009/09/02
SB Pro PE 2.538---Upgrade---2010/08/27

To be sure, ask again in the eSim forum.

Edit:

No, I am not sure anymore you need both, in the ordering section they list only the latest upgrade, not the first one anymore:

http://www.esimgames.com/purchase.htm

Which makes sense, because it is the complete sim with updated exe and stuff that gets delivered (without dongle).

[Sledgehammer427]

P.S. There is a shooting test in the menu. Do it, and do it rpeatedly. The score you get detemrines the overall IQ of your AI buddies. Practice gunnery there with a Leopard model (easier than the Abrams), and try to bring your score to a 100% mark sooner or later.

In Steel Beasts Legacy, I scored a 91 out of 100 in the Abrams, but I was on fire that day and I had an easy time of it for some odd reason.

Tip for beginners: after you spend the first one or two days trying all the different vehicles for curiosity what they look like, start to focus on just one tank, preferably a Leopard-2A5 or higher (they offer better situational awareness for the TC than the Abrams), and then stay with that one for a long time to come.

I will probably latch onto a Leopard. My mainstay is gunnery, I'm not a great commander yet, but in SB 1, I was much more adept with the Abrams PGS, when I lased the target it automatically compensated for lead and range IN THE SIGHT ITSELF, where the reticule moved around, I got a sense of actually doing something, instead of the Leopard (2A4, I think it was) which had fixed sights, and I had to hold down the middle mouse (no joystick here yet) in order to add the Dynamic Lead and I had a harder time with targets.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Sledgehammer427

In Steel Beasts Legacy, I scored a 91 out of 100 in the Abrams, but I was on fire that day and I had an easy time of it for some odd reason.

100% is possible. Key is to not miss a single time, and get the shot off within a reasonable timeframe (some seconds). Also, aiming Sabots is easier than Heats, and I seem to remember the Australian Leo-1AS is equipped with Sabot exclusively.

I will probably latch onto a Leopard. My mainstay is gunnery, I'm not a great commander yet, but in SB 1, I was much more adept with the Abrams PGS, when I lased the target it automatically compensated for lead and range IN THE SIGHT ITSELF, where the reticule moved around, I got a sense of actually doing something, instead of the Leopard (2A4, I think it was) which had fixed sights, and I had to hold down the middle mouse (no joystick here yet) in order to add the Dynamic Lead and I had a harder time with targets.

Both tanks handle lead differently, so does the sim. The movement in the Abram's GPS when lead is active, can be irritating. You also need to manually switch off lead in the M1 (it gets activated automtically by lasing), and the gunner also has to remember the called-out loaded round, and set the ballistics switxch accordingly. If he forgets to de-lead or to set the ammo selector correctly, he misses. In the Leopard it is easier and more fail-safe, you have lead only as long as you keep the button pressed, it is indicated by no sight shift but a light going on in the display, and no ammo selector for the gunner needs to be set - the loader does it. The TC also has an indepedent thermals and periscope, while the early M1A1 and HA, that can be mounted in SBP, lack both. That gives the Leopard superior scanning options.

I think the later versions of the Abrams at least got the indepedent themal sight for the TC. But the M1A2 which now also is in the sim since the latest upgrade, is not yet crewable.

Certain things between the Leo2A4 and later Leo2s (A5 and higher) are different in keyboard commands. Pick the A5, E or 122, while being different in ammo, map screens and GAS, they still all handle basically the same way. The Leo-2E is probabbly the most heavily armoured tank you can mount, followed by the STRV-122, then the Leo-2A5 and the two mountable Abrams (A1 and HA). The Leo-1s again are a bit different, and the Australian Leo-1 is slightly differently equipped than the Danish one, it lacks thermals even for the gunner.

The other combat vehicles you probably focus most on are the three CV90s, the Bradley, the Pizarro and the Centauro. They all have unique fgeatures and fiully modelled 3D interiors. the CV-9035's interior is a frame hog on my old machine, though, I avoid it therefore. Do n ot underestimate the fun to gte from IFVs, they are as much fun to play with as are the MBTs. You miss nothing if you play scenarios that set IFVs versus IFVs only, it is a different kind of fighting, and you can have more action-filled shoot-outs, depending on which vehicles meet.

Don'T be irritated by the Challenger 2s. They are incredibly tough, but are depicted with the first gun they were equipped with, and that gun seriously lacked punch, that'S why they later equipped a different, better one. In the sim you will note that the Challengers are hard to kill, but also find it hard to deliver the kill to the enemy. But that is a finding that eSim stubbornly defends on the basis of the data it based it's models on.

Later Challys with the new gun became more lethal.

[Castout]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Edit:

No, I am not sure anymore you need both, in the ordering section they list only the latest upgrade, not the first one anymore:

http://www.esimgames.com/purchase.htm

Which makes sense, because it is the complete sim with updated exe and stuff that gets delivered (without dongle).

Thanks I lost my password to the forum.

I just reinstalled SB Pro PE. Version is 370beta.

I don't think with that version I'm able to play online with the other people running latest version. If anyone still playing the 370beta feel free to drop me a PM to set up game if you like.

I did a test with the advance to Radjik mission and got terrible fps I mean below 10 sometimes. It was really a struggle worse than my previous system and I've changed my system twice each new one runs SB Pro PE heavier scenario worse. .

Installing didn't go smooth either since my AV detected virus in the 32 bit CodeMeter.exe. It was doing funny thing like calling Nero Back up .

Now it's all ok though.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Castout

Thanks I lost my password to the forum.

I just reinstalled SB Pro PE. Version is 370beta.

I did a test with the advance to Radjik mission and got terrible fps I mean below 10 sometimes. It was really a struggle. .

Vista?

I would create a new account and ask them about it. Vista also had troubles with SBPPE and a certain kind of soundcards.

The sim is no frame hog, really. I fear it is something system-depending. Im running it on an almost 9 year old computer at 1680 resolution and fluent frames from the low to the high 20s.

And the AV you may want to try to deactivate while playing?! It should not detect the donmgle software as a problem either.

[Castout]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Vista?

I would create a new account and ask them about it. Vista also had troubles with SBPPE and a certain kind of soundcards.

The sim is no frame hog, really. I fear it is something system-depending. Im running it on an almost 9 year old computer at 1680 resolution and fluent frames from the low to the high 20s.

And the AV you may want to try to deactivate while playing?! It should not detect the donmgle software as a problem either.

I'm running Windows 7 x64 with a new system.

It's all ok now my AV is not reporting anything and Nero is not prompting itself any longer.

[Skybird]

And frames are well now, too!?

[Castout]

It turned out that I underestimated the game requirement much. I turned down the slider from full to default and now getting fantastic fps!

Much better than it was in my 2 previous systems.

Thanks Skybird

It's 50 or above now even being static at 62 a lot of times with all sliders in default position.

It's still weird I cannot crank all the game sliders up to 100% though.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Castout

It turned out that I underestimated the game requirement much. I turned down the slider from full to default and now getting fantastic fps!

Much better than it was in my 2 previous systems.

Thanks Skybird

It's 50 or above now even being static at 62 a lot of times with all sliders in default position.

Ooops! And back you are in business!

It's still weird I cannot crank all the game sliders up to 100% though.

That is normal. It is because of the complex line-of-sight calcuations regharding ground objects and trees. in SBP these equal the complexity of the bubble-world in Falcon. However, the grass is just cosmetic - you cannot see through it, but the AI can. Many players prefer to set to zero, therefore, to neutralise the AI advantage.

[Castout]

Originally Posted by Skybird

However, the grass is just cosmetic - you cannot see through it, but the AI can. Many players prefer to set to zero, therefore, to neutralise the AI advantage.

Aye I'm aware of that.

I prefer to see a little of grass still however.

We must appreciate ArmA 2(BIS Studio) attempt to make grass to affect AI as well as human players