Thunderdome 2015 » Printable Version of Topic

Forum: Games
Topic: Star Wars Battlefront
started by: Cakedaddy

Posted by Cakedaddy on Jul. 17 2005,23:08

I had played this game on the PS2, and found it entertaining. Didn't do online play or anything. Was just playing Co-Op with my son. I almost despise playing FPS games on consoles, so, I never really got into it. However, knowing that Battlefront 2 was due out this fall, I knew it was only a matter of time before it dropped from it's $50 price tag for the PC. It finally did, and I picked it up. Two in fact, so both me and my son could play. That's why it had to be on sale. . . Anyway. . . I like it MUCH MUCH better on the PC. So much more at home with the mouse aiming thing. Over all, the single player game is fun. The AI at medium and below is pretty easy. The AI on hard on some of the missions I'm finding impossible though. For the most part, the mission is irrelevent. I don't even read it. I just dive in and start shooting the enemies. You can control all the vehicles on the screen. From X-Wing/Tie Fighters to AT-ATs and Speeder Bikes. The list goes on. Weapons/characters are quite balanced. They all have their strengths and weaknesses.

Played on line for a few hours. Was much fun. There was a fair amount of 'mine spamming' as I call it. But, it's a valid technique for the most part. Run around and lay mines in the capture zones after you catch it. So, when the enemy comes to recapture it, they blow up first. However, there are some that will camp the capture zones that you own as that is where you respawn. They will run in and drop mines all over the place, and get out before they capture it. So, as you respawn, boom. You're dead. I don't like that. That's cheap. At other times, they will park outside the zone with a heavy tank or something and spam missles in there. I don't mind that either. At least I can get another tank and make them stop. If not, then my team lost, so be it. Over all, there's not a whole lot of lameness going on as far as characters/weapons go. Short falls. . . Pretty limited on the number of servers being hosted out there. As in, 3 worth playing on. That is, low ping, and people on it. Not sure if the game just wasn't that hot, or what. Maybe I need to load the Game Spy client to find the large number of servers to play on. Also, there's no accuracy penelty for shooting while running. In fact, as the sniper, you can zoom in, run, and shoot with dead on accuracy. If you're good enough with the mouse and stuff. Although, it's not a show stopper. Perhaps it's because it's in a make believe star wars space universe. I forgive the lack of physics there.

In summary, it's a pretty good game for $20. It's fun playing as all the various characters from the movies (as in storm trooper, rebel soldier, pilot, etc. You can't play as Luke, Vader, etc.). And I would like to propose that this game replace AvP2 as the official DTMAN FPS game of choice. And that everyone here should go buy it, and someone setup a dedicated server, and then we play and stuff. If not, that's cool too. Cause I don't need any of you anyway. I'm just sayin'. Oh, the other cool thing is that when you host the server, you can specify the number of AI units to participate on each side. So, even if there's only 4 people on the server, you can beef up the action with some easy/medium/hard level AI players. And that way you aren't running around the whole map looking for the other two people to shoot at.

Posted by Paul on Jul. 18 2005,05:59

(Cakedaddy @ Jul. 17 2005,23:08)
Q U O T E	I almost despise playing FPS games...

< Some people are nuts about FPS's. >

Posted by Leisher on Jul. 18 2005,09:36

Beware the NWS pictures at that link.

Posted by GORDON on Aug. 02 2005,10:39

You better not have gotten tired of the game, yet. I just ordered it.

Posted by Vince on Aug. 02 2005,19:09

I have it on Xbox.

I like it for mindless fun.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Aug. 02 2005,19:50

I haven't had enough time to play it to get tired of it.

Posted by Paul on Aug. 08 2005,10:53

It's been #1 on my list of "games to get" since I heard it had dropped to $20.

Not that I play much Xbox anymore.

Posted by Malcolm on Aug. 08 2005,11:14

(Vince @ Aug. 02 2005,19:09)
Q U O T E	I have it on Xbox. I like it for mindless fun.

Yea, that's about it, though. Didn't exactly blow me away.

Posted by Vince on Aug. 08 2005,22:02

(Malcolm @ Aug. 08 2005,13:14)

Q
U
O
T
E

(Vince @ Aug. 02 2005,19:09)
Q U O T E	I have it on Xbox. I like it for mindless fun.

Yea, that's about it, though. Didn't exactly blow me away.

But sometimes you just want to blow shit up without worrying about how many lives you have or... you know... stuff.

Posted by Malcolm on Aug. 09 2005,07:21

(Vince @ Aug. 08 2005,22:02)

Q
U
O
T
E

(Malcolm @ Aug. 08 2005,13:14)

Q
U
O
T
E

(Vince @ Aug. 02 2005,19:09)
Q U O T E	I have it on Xbox. I like it for mindless fun.

Yea, that's about it, though. Didn't exactly blow me away.

But sometimes you just want to blow shit up without worrying about how many lives you have or... you know... stuff.

If I want mindless violence, I'll dl the source for Doom. Least none of the imps reflect my shotgun blasts back at me.

Posted by GORDON on Aug. 11 2005,19:37

Trying to install it, but getting an error.

Hit the SWB forums, and there are over 10 pages of people having problems with the game, including several with my EXACT error.

Here's the suggested fix by the developers, and half the people say "That didn't work." There are never any follow-up suggestions.

Q
U
O
T
E

If you are receiving errors attempting to install the game once you have disc 2 or disc 3 for the game in the CD drive during the installation process, and you have more than 5GB free on your harddrive, the following work-around solution may get the game installed successfully for you. If you have a printer, you may want to print these instructions for easier reference.

Programs running in the system tray can sometimes cause conflicts with DirectX games. These programs can also take up system resources which may need to be freed up for the application to run smoothly. The system tray runs on the side of the taskbar (the bar with the "START" button). These icons are programs that are running on your system, some of them loading at start up. Some of these programs can be shut down by right-clicking on the icon, and choose to Exit, Close, Suspend or Disable the program/utility. Others can only be shut in Windows 2000/XP down by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL which brings up Windows Security, click on the Task Manager button near the bottom of this window. Next, click on Applications and highlight the program you want to close, and click on End Task. You should try closing any other applications here before you install or launch the game to see if this resolves any problems you're having with the game.

You can also temporarily disable startup items as follows:
- Click on the Windows Start button and choose Run.
- Type MSCONFIG and click OK.
- Please select " Selective Startup "
- Please remove the check marks next to Load Startup Group Items (and Process Config.Sys & Process Autoexec.bat as well if you are in Windows 9x).

After making these changes, you will need to click Apply and OK and then restart the computer for these changes to take effect. (After installing the game, please go back into Msconfig and re-check those boxes and then select Normal Startup, clicking OK and restarting the computer to go back to your original startup.)

It may help to do a system disk cleanup as well before attempting to install the game again. Open My Computer, right-click your C: drive and click the Disk Cleanup option. Try removing temporary internet files & temporary files and empty the recycle bin.

To check your harddrive space, open My Computer, right-click your local drive (C:) and choose properties and look at the free space. You can also use a local disc (harddrive) other than C: if you have more than one, just substitute the correct drive letter for C: in the following instructions.

1. Make sure your system is set to view system and hidden files.
- Open the My Computer window, go to VIEW on the menu bar in Windows 9x (go to the TOOLS option in Windows XP/2000), and select Folder Options.
- Select the View tab, and click on the option to "Show All Files" in Windows 9x or select the option to "Show hidden files and folders" in Windows XP/2000.
- Below this option (for Windows XP/2000) remove the check marks next to the "Hide extensions for known file types" option and the "Hide protected operating system files" option so these options are turned off. Click Yes on the Warning dialogue box that appears.
- Click Apply & OK at the bottom of the Folder Options window.

2. Install DirectX 9.0c from game disc 1 before continuing. Insert disc 1 and exit the launcher if it appears. Open My Computer, right-click the CD icon (BF_1) and choose open. Open the DirectX folder and double-click the dxsetup.exe file (with the blue computer icon) and follow the prompts to install DirectX 9.0c. The computer will need to restart after this. Since DirectX will already be installed when you next attempt to install the game, we recommend you use the Custom install option rather than the Automatic install.

3. Place disc 2 for the game in the CD drive. Click OK and ignore the prompt to insert disc 1. Open My Computer and right-click the CD icon (BF_2) and choose open. Click Edit on the menu bar and choose select all. Then click Edit and choose copy once all the files in the window are selected.

4. Open My Computer and open the C: drive, or the local disc (harddrive) which has lots of free space available. Click File on the menu bar and choose New Folder. Name your new folder disc2 and hit enter. Open this disc2 folder and click edit on the menu bar and choose paste to place all the copied files from CD#2 into this folder. If you get a read error while copying files then you may have a bad CD.

5. After all the files for disc 2 are copied to the disc2 folder, place game disc 3 (CD#3) in the CD drive. Click OK and ignore the prompt to insert disc 1. Open My Computer and right-click the CD icon (BF_3) and choose open. Click Edit on the menu bar and choose select all. Then click Edit and choose Copy once all the files in the window are selected.

6. Open My Computer and open the C: drive, or the local disc (harddrive) which has lots of free space available. Click File on the menu bar and choose New Folder. Name your new folder disc3 and hit enter. Open this disc3 folder and click edit on the menu bar and choose paste to place all the copied files from CD#3 into this folder. If you get a read error while copying files then you may have a bad CD.

7. After all the files for disc 3 are copied to the disc3 folder, place game disc 1 (CD#1) in the CD drive and attempt to install the game once more. You may want to select No when it asks about installing GameSpy Arcade to see if you can get the game installed first.
- When you are prompted to place disc 2 in the drive, do not insert CD#2 in the CD drive, simply browse to the C:\DISC2\GAMEDATA folder and click OK to continue.
- When you are prompted to place disc 3 in the drive, do not insert CD#3 in the CD drive, simply browse to the C:\DISC3\GAMEDATA folder and click OK to continue.
- When you are prompted to place disc 1 in the drive to complete the installation, browse to the CD drive, and open the GAMEDATA folder and click OK to see if this completes the installation.

If the installation is successful, you can manually delete the Disc2 and Disc3 folders you created on your harddrive.

If you appear to have a defective game CD, we suggest you try exchanging the game for another copy from the store where you purchased the game. If they will not replace the game for you, you can send the CD(s) to us for replacement. There is a 90-day warranty on all of our games. During this period you may return a defective CD and receive a free replacement (please send a dated copy of the proof of purchase). If it has been more than 90 days since the date of purchase you can send in the defective CD(s) plus a check or money order to cover replacement costs (shipping & handling is already included). We charge $5 for a replacement CD or set of CD?s for a single game. Send the CD(s) and payment (if out-of-warranty) to:

LucasArts
Attn: Product Support
P.O. Box 29908
San Francisco, CA 94129

Please attach a short note specifying that you need a replacement of the item(s) sent, with your name and address also appearing on the note.

Posted by Malcolm on Aug. 12 2005,07:24

I see Lucas Arts is still up to its high standards in Q&A & support.

Posted by GORDON on Aug. 12 2005,07:26

It's one thing for an independant company to rush a product out the door because they have no money.... but it's just wrong for Lucasarts to do this. Crap like this pushes more people toward consoles, which hurts the PC game industry.

Posted by GORDON on Aug. 16 2005,17:31

I got a disk image of disk 3 from a friend, and it worked like a charm.

Game installed flawlessly with new disk 3.

Launched the game, it told me to update, first.

Loaded the curent patch and updated.

Every time I launch the game now, it reboots my computer.

Back to the ol' support forums.

This game is fun!

Posted by Leisher on Aug. 16 2005,18:38

Is it wrong that I'm laughing?

Posted by GORDON on Aug. 16 2005,18:49

Updating my video card driver so it would play this 2 (?) year old game fixed it, but that didn't have anything to do with the original disk 3-problem.

I assume it's a couple years old, as the sequel is about to ship.

There is no "search" function on their support forums, and hundreds of pages of people who had reported bugs. Several threads were there asking for a "search" function.

Good ol' Lucasarts.

Posted by Malcolm on Aug. 17 2005,07:11

Remember when shit like TIE Fighter, X-Wing, & Full Throttle came about? I don't recall as many problems installing them.

Posted by mbilderback on Aug. 17 2005,07:13

Hell, I still have/play X-wing and Tie Fighter.

Posted by GORDON on Aug. 17 2005,09:34

(mbilderback @ Aug. 17 2005,10:13)
Q U O T E	Hell, I still have/play X-wing and Tie Fighter.

I've even played it recently.

You can't set resolution higher than 640x480.

I'd pay full price to have a technologically updated version of that game with no changes, otherwise.

Posted by mbilderback on Aug. 17 2005,11:04

X-Wing vs. Tie was a good game and more advanced than those two. But, the plots in those would definately be worth updating the originals.

Posted by GORDON on Aug. 17 2005,11:08

Oh, I thought he said XvT. My bad. THAT'S what I loaded, recently... my old Xwing AND Tie Fighter games are on floppy disks, and I didn't install a floppy drive on this PC.

The missions are hard enough on XvT that a couple missions I couldn't defeat even after 20 attempts. Even Cakedaddy and I teaming up on a mission couldn't beat it.

Too bad all y'all wouldn't jump in when we were last talking about it, < http://www.dtman.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=5;t=1830 >

Posted by Paul on Nov. 03 2005,13:29

My brother-in-law has Battlefront. Normally we play Halo or Halo 2, but now all we play is Star Wars Battlefront. I'm pretty sure I'll be getting the game for my birthday in three weeks.

You can system-link the game, right?