Demo Impressions

Jedi Master · Post by **Jedi Master** » 27 Apr 2006, 06:47

Are you certain those req's aren't for the FULL GAME and not the demo?
My guess is they wouldn't bother to say "you need Y to play the demo, but the game will need an XYZ system!"

I mean, the demo ran plenty well on my system, but with max detail in the game things may not be the same.

Anyway, unlike Lockdown, which I was on the fence about and finally declined since no one else got it, I think I'll get this one for the MP at a minimum.

Mooseman · Post by **Mooseman** » 27 Apr 2006, 07:10

On the MP side of things, i've read somewhere (and i forget exactly where) that it will be limited to 4 players max on release....HOWEVER anyone who's familiar with modding GR will be able to open that up to a max 8 players. Alledgedly.

Anyway, i liked the demo. Thought it ran well on my new system (Athlon 3800+ X2 Dual Core, 1G Ram, Geforce 6800 XT), and that the game as a whole was a good experience...looking forward to the release version.

Hammer · Post by **Hammer** » 27 Apr 2006, 08:13

yeah - i think the specs are for full game...

i actually did not notice much difference between this game and the original, except this is urban combat - seems everyone is jumping on that bandwagon. ArmA may be my only savior.

i like the new hi tech tools you get to use...

i don't like the red diamonds on the enemy.

KODIAK · Post by **KODIAK** » 27 Apr 2006, 08:51

i don't like the red diamonds on the enemy.

Agreed, I find them simply distracting, and at the end of the day - unrealistic to say the least. One point that is certainly 'consolitis' infected. I hope there's a cure! :lol:

Gator · Post by **Gator** » 27 Apr 2006, 09:55

I do have a few issues -- not sure if the full retail will address them. None of them are deal breakers for me. I'm planning to pick this up Tuesday afternoon if it's avail at that time.

1) Anyone else notice that you can see real-time enemy movement on the tactical map - even without having red diamonds on them? It seems like the tac map is a real time satellite view that shows all items whether you have eyes on them or not.

2) I don't like the way the coop storyline mission ends when the "leader" dies. That is, no respawn for the leader. All other human team mates respawn into any available ai pawns.

3) This is the generalization of item 2. I think this must be a demo issue only since there were so few mp options avail in the demo. I would like to be able to specify number of respawns for the team, etc. My conjecture is that it's only this way for storyline missions. I'm assuming that the full game will have more mp game types including coop non-story missions.

Further, and this correlates with what Buff mentioned. I understand that the first update is nearly ready for release as well. My understanding is that this is not a mere patch, but rather a full-on update to add/modify features that were not ready at launch. Additionally, I understand and have looked into the xml config files and see much room for tweaking. There were way more options in the graphics config file than are in the gui. I would take this to mean that either the gui in the full game will be more advanced or that you can tweak the config files to your heart's content.

PanzerMeyer · Post by **PanzerMeyer** » 27 Apr 2006, 10:07

In my never ending quest to experience new things I have decided to try the demo again sometime tonight and see if I get some different impressions of the demo. If you guys decide to play this again online, let me know. I'd like to try it as well.

Hammer · Post by **Hammer** » 27 Apr 2006, 10:33

Panzer! Great! Remember I tried to get into LOMAC too...

Pick up that hamaci application. it is VERY slick and allows LAN only type games to be played via internet.

Gator,

1) so it is realistic then. if it is a satellite view then it should see stuff that you can't around the corner. i do think that is the intention.

2) lame...hopefully it can be gotten around. these guys are supposed to be elite SpecOps, they do not quit because the leader is hit/down.

3) hopefully...

lots of mod capability. i bet we can get rid of the red diamond thing...

PanzerMeyer · Post by **PanzerMeyer** » 27 Apr 2006, 10:47

Steel wrote:Panzer! Great! Remember I tried to get into LOMAC too...

Pick up that hamaci application. it is VERY slick and allows LAN only type games to be played via internet.

...

Cool. I'll download it tonight. Sorry about my tirade last night. I strayed a bit too much onto the Dark Side.

Jedi Master · Post by **Jedi Master** » 27 Apr 2006, 10:57

Steel wrote:Panzer! Great! Remember I tried to get into LOMAC too...

Pick up that hamaci application. it is VERY slick and allows LAN only type games to be played via internet.

Hmmmm...maybe this could fix the CS:S problem Panzer and I have been running into...

Which version? .999 or the 1.0 beta?

Jedi Master · Post by **Jedi Master** » 27 Apr 2006, 11:00

I don't think it's supposed to be a satellite, I think it's supposed to be a persistent UAV, maybe a Hunter, like you can use in BF2.

I'm fairly certain those diamonds are able to be switched off in the options menu.
When I was playing, though, it only worked about half the time. The other half there were simply no diamonds at all. I liked knowing where my team was, though, and in that respect it's not very different from most other tac shooters that give you instant SA on your teammates.

Hammer · Post by **Hammer** » 27 Apr 2006, 11:39

we got the release version, not beta.

that thing works great!

KODIAK · Post by **KODIAK** » 27 Apr 2006, 11:44

I'm not so bothered about the team-mate indicators - it adds back a little of the SA you would normally lose in a game of this nature (peripheral vision), so no problems with that. But the diamonds over the bad guys is fairly unrealistic, unless the idea is to simulate target tracking that has been injected into the helmet visual system, sourced I presume from the overhead UAVs or satellite coverage. No biggy, not a showstopper, but would rather get rid, especially for the MP side of things.
What I DO like about the video feed, is that you can be isolated, and still be assisting your team - say, as a sniper.

KODIAK · Post by **KODIAK** » 27 Apr 2006, 11:47

Some of us have already made use of Hamachi. Can't rem when or who was with me, but we used it to create a link for one of the games. And yes, agreed. It DOES a fine job, eh?

Gator · Post by **Gator** » 27 Apr 2006, 14:15

what i've found with the red diamonds is that they only show up if a teammate has direct visibility to the enemy. If the enemy is truly hidded/unseen, the diamond disappears. I would agree with the comment that it's a bit distracting ... in that if you get to where you think "all is clear since i don't see any diamonds"

The thing with the tac map, i don't think it's supposed to be a uav. my understanding is that you could actually direct a uav to spy on a position and that it could be shot down. that doesn't jive with a persistent uav. however, i can easily convice myself that's it's a high alt uav and get over it.

Gator · Post by **Gator** » 27 Apr 2006, 19:18

I figured out how to turn off the 'markers'

in the file

F:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Demo\Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter Demo\Settings\profiles\graw_profile_default\profile.xml

There is a setting:

<show_markers value="true" />

You can also change your mouse sensitivity in here. Looks like 0.4 is the default.

Looks like the graphics settings are in:
F:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Demo\Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter Demo\Data\settings

This file is full of other tidbits as well. Worth a look for you tweak seekers.

Softball · Post by **Softball** » 27 Apr 2006, 21:23

Is that a client only or server setting? Or if the server has it disabled, will clients still be able to utilize it? Something we should test.

On a side note.....Sorry I wasn't online tonight, as I was walking down the hallway to my computer room(7:15pm PST), I noticed a wet squishy feeling on the floor. I lift up the rug that we have laying in our hallway and notice a 2x3 foot wet puddle on the carpet. Upon closer observation, I hear a faint "drip" coming from where the hot water heater is in a hallway closet. I open the closet door to the hot water heater and what do I see? A 2-3" deep, 3'x3' puddle of hot water underneath the hot water heater, flooding under the wall, onto the carpet in the hallway. FUN!! So, you can guess what I spent my night doing, flood control. I am glad I caught it when I did, and that it started AFTER we were home from work. Omg! I would have hated to come home from work and see the house flooded! I promtply shut off the water to the house and the gas line to the water heater. Looks like I get to stay home from work tomorrow and wait for a plumber. Looks like a new Hot water heater is in order. Anyone know what those cost? I sure don't. :\

KODIAK · Post by **KODIAK** » 28 Apr 2006, 06:39

A few years back, just before we got married, we went up to Scotland for the weekend, and returned to find our boiler had burst, and was flooding the whole block (LOL!). Anyway, the council decided to blame us for it happening, saying it would've been alright had we NOT switched our heating off before going to Scotland. Apparently, leaving it on would have stopped the pipes from freezing and bursting - even though it was the middle of summer. :roll: :shock: Jeez, they must think we're friggin stupid!
On further investigation, the boiler unit was found to be some 40-odd years old. (Am sure that had nothing to do with it!

). And upon enquiry to several different firms & manufacturers we found that not one of them would provide warranty for such an item for longer than 15 years. :lol:

Jedi Master · Post by **Jedi Master** » 28 Apr 2006, 11:44

Why do you have a hot water heater SB?

You don't need to heat hot water...

Grifter · Post by **Grifter** » 28 Apr 2006, 11:53

Are you being fascicious Jedi? Or is there another way to get hot water without a hot water heater? Really, I'm not a plumber and I would have no idea. In any case, yeah, they can be pretty expensive SB though I couldn't quote one for you. They can run from 500 to 1200 bucks on average depending on your household needs. You sure it needs to be replaced? Perhaps a part replacement can solve the issue? or is it that far gone? You might also want to invest in a hot water pan. They stand about 3 to 6 inches high and about three feet in diameter. They come with a floating ball, which when connected, will shut off your water heater in the event that it has failed and is flooding. I know I should probably get one myself actually.

BaD KaRmA · Post by **BaD KaRmA** » 28 Apr 2006, 14:22

Gator wrote: Didn't you see that some of the graphics options are not avail in the demo? The max texture setting available was MEDIUM.

Actually MEDIUM is the highest available for texture quality unless you have a 512MB vidcard. I have the full game and no HIGH available to me (7800GTX 256MB).

I can't read the text that well at the resolution I play at, but I played up to the 2nd level. What level is the demo of? I thought the gameplay was pretty good. Definitely not run and gun, more methodical advancement. My gripes right now is not being able to use AA. Something about HDR always being on and cannot work with AA. Hopefully there'll be an option to turn off HDR and allow AA in the future.

I also like the "feel" or "immersiveness" of GRAW. It really gives you a proper impression of a hot gritty dusty day in Mexico. I didn't get too far in the 2nd mission, I crossed a few openings where bad guys opened fire on me, lead my team across the opening into a courtyard where all hell broke lose. I had them cover me while I booked it for a stationary car on the right flank. I dove behind the car while it's windows were getting blown out and then a jeep with a turret heads my way. I had no chance with the stupid peashooter I picked for a weapon, but I'm liking what I've seen so far.

PS. The dropoff/pickup is pretty nice too. I like how you don't just start the mission on the ground with a chopper hovering above you.

PPS. I'll jump on Ventrilo when I get a chance see if I can catch some coop action. Been a LONG TIME guys!

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