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[Mrbob]

I want to be home so I can play more of the campaign. I have to harken back to the starcraft and warcraft 3 days to find a campaign I'm so enthralled with.

Yeah this game is fantastic. Easily the best singleplayer campaign I've played in an RTS.

Anyone else playing on Low settings, even with an 8800GT? I'm running an E6600 @ 3.0GHz and an 8800GT @ 700/990. Going from Low to High shader setting halves the framerate, to an annoying ~30fps. I play with models/textures at high of course, since those have little effect on performance.

I'll check my settings when I get home, but I think I run my shaders on medium. It will also depend on what res you run at. My monitor is 1440 X 900 so it isn't as intensive as other setups which run at 1650 X 1080 or 1920 X 1080. My system is actually slightly less powerful than yours (e2180 @ 2.88ghz and 8800GT clocked slightly lower). I'm also running on XP.

 

[Minsc]

Great to hear everyone loves the campaign so much, I look forward to my copy arriving.

Also curious to see if Eurogamer's hits against the campaign hold true for the people in this thread, mainly that after the beginning, it gets very boring and repetitive as there is no need to change your tactics, formation, or anything, each level is the same thing you've done before.

 

[Ninja Face]

I've been looking to get back into some kind of RTS. How is this compared to company of heroes? The setting of this is definitely more appealing to me.

 

[shuri]

Great to hear everyone loves the campaign so much, I look forward to my copy arriving.

Also curious to see if Eurogamer's hits against the campaign hold true for the people in this thread, mainly that after the beginning, it gets very boring and repetitive as there is no need to change your tactics, formation, or anything, each level is the same thing you've done before.

I'll be real honest.. I like the gameplay, it is well done, but the single player campain got repetitive to me after about 5-6 missions, and I honestly have no real desire to go back to it . Why? Simply because it feels overscripted and you are so limited. You have a bunch of squads and.. thats it.

I just feel like i'm wasting time playing in those 'limited' missions, because i could be enjoying skirmish mode where i can do what I want, and use what I want. The bosses so far feel very pattern-based, kinda like in megaman. The gameplay feels really alive and SOMEWHAT realistic (of course we all know what I mean by that), and then suddenly appears a really videogamey boss that takes 10 grenades, an artillerie strike and non stop heavy firepower for 2 minutes.

It really took me out of the game.

Also, except for boss fights, I realised I didnt even use my main hero most of the time. my squads would handle everything just fine. He has no personality compared to the other guys, and he's just.. not really interesting. Some of the voice acting is really strange too, some orcs sounds super cool, and then you have other orcs voices that sounds like one of the coders using a shareware program to deform his voice. It happens very early into the firstr mission when that modified garbage truck (or something) crushes thru the walls with a bunch of orcs; you finish them off, and he says something about running away and etc, his voice sounds super cheap, and then you have another ork coming in on the radio to say that he's a pussy (or something like that, i cant remember the exact dialog), but I remember how HUGE the difference between those two were.


Skirmish mode is where its at, but it's so horribly limited. you only have two modes of gameplay, compared to so many diverses modes in the original game, and the fact that the game shipped with 7 maps is completly unexcusable.

I played it a lot yesterday and the day before, but i think that i'll be done with it really fast, which is a letdown compared to how i was still playing dow:dc last week, and i bought every edition of dow..

The gameplay is fine and really fun, its just that there isnt enough variety of maps, and the single player mode is a bit letdown compared to DOWC's.

 

[AzerPhire]

Would any of you be able to tell me if this has LAN play?

 

[Truant]

Runs really well on my machine at 1680 x 1050 on Ultra settings. I almost wish I could push it higher, as the image is a little noisy.

Anyway, loving the gameplay. Playing on the easiest settings since I'm not really an RTS-fan, though I liked CoH. The RPG aspect is what makes it for me.

 

[Proc]

Would any of you be able to tell me if this has LAN play?

you bet your ass there is lan play.

this campaign rocks. can't be said enough.

 

[Mrbob]

Shuri you shouldn't have played the campaign on easy.

 

[Datawhore]

If you're running 32-bit Vista, you will be more susceptible to out-of-memory crashes until we get in our next code patch.

In the mean time, reduce some of your graphics settings to prevent the crash. Texture Detail and FX Textures to Medium (instead of high or ultra) will stabilize things.

We're working on a fix right now.

Cheers

 

[Speculator]

Shuri you shouldn't have played the campaign on easy.

Just about to say that myself, feels like a mistake that I chose Primarch diff level...but its too fun and intense

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

Ok...so after jumping through Steam's hoops and finally getting it to download and then linking my Gamertag to my Windows Live account...

...I wasn't exactly enamoured with the game and I hadn't even played it yet.

I put four hours in last night and WOW.

I love this game. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

It put me in a frame of mind that was similar to playing Baldur's Gate way back in the day. This really is exceptional work and I love the fact that I don't have to micromanage a build tree and everything else that will be part of the Starcraft II package.

If forced to put this game into a category, I'd put it into RPG before RTS...but that's just me.

This is a really wonderful game and I can't wait to get some co-op rolling.

 

[K.Jack]

Just about to say that myself, feels like a mistake that I chose Primarch diff level...but its too fun and intense

Yeah Primarch is rough, and I'm trying to resist backing down to Captain difficulty. :lol

 

[thaOwner]

Yes it is. The first was your standard RTS setup, where the story would take you mission to mission, and you would build up, and defeat your opponents. Nothing carried over, heroes and what-not.

The hero aspect of the game makes me like it even more since I loved Warcraft. I'd
go out and pick the first one up right now if it played like this.

 

[Zeliard]

I can't believe how phenomenally well-optimized this game is. It's ridiculous. I have everything at its highest value, even settings like texture quality and effects fidelity at ultra that are normally capped at "high" unless you have a 64-bit OS (I believe, which I don't).

Still getting a steady 40+ FPS. It both looks and especially runs a lot better than Company of Heroes. I'm very impressed.

Edit: forgot to mention my rig has a Q6600 + 8800 GTX, a nice machine, but certainly not a top-of-the-line rig anymore.

 

[godhandiscen]

Why can I only see like 4 or 5 custom games at a time? Most RTS games have dozens...

ping. They don't want you to join games with low pin because you would screw the experience for the other players.

 

[Des0lar]

ping. They don't want you to join games with low pin because you would screw the experience for the other players.

High ping

 

[Zeliard]

Also, except for boss fights, I realised I didnt even use my main hero most of the time. my squads would handle everything just fine. He has no personality compared to the other guys, and he's just.. not really interesting.

The Force Commander is supposed to be "you", though. You project your own personality onto him.

 

[Mohonky]

Yeah this game is fantastic. Easily the best singleplayer campaign I've played in an RTS.

Anyone else playing on Low settings, even with an 8800GT? I'm running an E6600 @ 3.0GHz and an 8800GT @ 700/990. Going from Low to High shader setting halves the framerate, to an annoying ~30fps. I play with models/textures at high of course, since those have little effect on performance.

What?

I'm running the game on Ultra (512mb 8800GT / C2D 2.2ghz / 3gb DDR2). I did notice the game performed considerably better at Ultra instead of High though, @ 1680x1050. Not sure why you would be getting such poor performance.

I am absolutely loving this game, especially the loot factor and character customisation. I do however, suck at the game. I can't see any real viable reason to use the infiltration squad, instead I stick with Avitus (?), the jump pack squad and my bolter marines.

What are some peoples advice with this game, tactically? Do you guys just spam the special abilities? Do you move forward with one squad and more the other in rather than forward the entire group? I just get the impression (especially with some tackling Primarch difficulty) I'm missing something from a tactical stand point as I just got to Meridian yet some of the battles have been fairly reasonable to this point on Normal, I'm not exactly struggling but I'm not exactly going through easily either.

 

[Kestastrophe]

Damn, the level with the first Eldar walker was tough. I don't have any vehicles yet, so it feels kind of unfair when the enemy has vehicles and you have to grind them down gradually. Game is really fun

 

[Zeliard]

What are some peoples advice with this game, tactically? Do you guys just spam the special abilities? Do you move forward with one squad and more the other in rather than forward the entire group? I just get the impression (especially with some tackling Primarch difficulty) I'm missing something from a tactical stand point as I just got to Meridian yet some of the battles have been fairly reasonable to this point on Normal, I'm not exactly struggling but I'm not exactly going through easily either.

Flanking is key. You'll find that before almost every small battle, you'll have at least two seperate routes you can take to get to the enemy mobs. What I usually do is split up my four leaders into groups of two and have them come from both ends.

With Thaddeus and company (the rocket-boosting guys), I always send them in first along with the Force Commander (who I'm having be strict melee) and have my long-range people offer support and clean up afterwards.

 

[Mohonky]

Flanking is key. You'll find that before almost every small battle, you'll have at least two seperate routes you can take to get to the enemy mobs. What I usually do is split up my four leaders into groups of two and have them come from both ends.

With Thaddeus and company (the rocket-boosting guys), I always send them in first along with the Force Commander (who I'm having be strict melee) and have my long-range people offer support and clean up afterwards.

That's basically what I am going with atm. I send Thaddeus in with the rocket jump ability (which now causes suppression) and have my Force Commander follow in (also like yourself, strictly a melee attacker. I use Avitus and the bolter marines as support groups to fire upon my targets and suppress them. If another group comes in from the side, I use Frags from my bolter group to stun or at least weaken them or to take out enemies bunkered down in buildings.

Thats pretty much the extent of my tactics right now though. I just equipped Avitus with a rocket launcher as I suspect my first visit to Meridian may require it.

 

[cmmart]

I have not had a proper PC in years.
I built my first ever this week. Truly harrowing process.

That said, DOWII makes glad I did so. This game is awesome.
Thanks Relic. I am enjoying the RPG elements of the loadout.

 

[fatigues_gasolini]

Damn, the level with the first Eldar walker was tough. I don't have any vehicles yet, so it feels kind of unfair when the enemy has vehicles and you have to grind them down gradually. Game is really fun

I hated that level. I had to retreat so many times because I didnt take the squad with the rocket launcher.

 

[dork]

What OS do you have?

vista 64, got it working thanks

was a pain

you have to install the driver twice...makes no sense to me but it worked

 

[xbhaskarx]

I'm confused, how do I play a skirmish match against the computer?
All the multiplayer options seem to be for playing against other humans...

 

[godhandiscen]

I'm confused, how do I play a skirmish match against the computer?
All the multiplayer options seem to be for playing against other humans...

Host a game and add computer opponents instead of looking for players.

 

[Truant]

Is the Ultra setting bugged or something? Ultra textures don't really look that hot. Haven't had a time to do comparisons.

 

[K.Jack]

I'm confused, how do I play a skirmish match against the computer?
All the multiplayer options seem to be for playing against other humans...

Select Custom Game, then choose Private.

 

[Facism]

Damn, the level with the first Eldar walker was tough. I don't have any vehicles yet, so it feels kind of unfair when the enemy has vehicles and you have to grind them down gradually. Game is really fun

Melta bombs do wonders.

 

[cmmart]

The game has crashed quite a few times on my new
machine.

According to the devs, ultra settings have had led to
some crashes on some people machine. Beware.

I had to turn the game on high and it did not crash.
strange.

 

[Decado]

If the single player campaign gets repetitive, is there any real value for people are aren't likely to play online?

 

[Sinatar]

If the single player campaign gets repetitive, is there any real value for people are aren't likely to play online?

Skirmishes.

 

[TheExodu5]

What?

I'm running the game on Ultra (512mb 8800GT / C2D 2.2ghz / 3gb DDR2). I did notice the game performed considerably better at Ultra instead of High though, @ 1680x1050. Not sure why you would be getting such poor performance.

Alright, I'll try all max settings and see how it goes.

edit: runs like shit. 20fps.

 

[Fragamemnon]

If the single player campaign gets repetitive, is there any real value for people are aren't likely to play online?

Just an aside to this-and past performance is no guarantee of future awesomeness-but the modded skirmish AI for the original Dawn of War was one of the best AI's I've ever skirmished against to test out new build orders/timings and what not. Only the Blizzard ones are more beastly awesome. So if the same team brings it over, you'll be in for a real treat even if you don't play multiplayer.

 

[K.Jack]

Anyone have any ideas on what Melee Skill and Will Combat Doctrine affect?

 

[TheExodu5]

Specs:
Core2Duo E6600 @ 3.0GHz
512MB 8800GT @ 700/990
4GB DDR2-800

----------

Low (w/ high textures and models):

----------

High:

----------

Ultra:

(with Anti-Aliasing on)

(with Anti-Aliasing off)

----------

Yeah, I don't know what's up, but it's running like total shit.

 

[godhandiscen]

What is your resolution? I updated to the newest Nvidia drivers and I gained a couple frames.

 

[TheExodu5]

It's in my settings screens there. 1680*1050.

Running 179.23.

I'll see if there are newer Windows 7 drivers available.

 

[godhandiscen]

It's in my settings screens there. 1680*1050.

Running 179.23.

I'll see if there are newer Windows 7 drivers available.

Ohh windows 7. Yeah, people are also having crappy performance in Windows 7 with the new Empire game. I am pretty sure it is the OS in this case. Specifically, the drivers not being up to par.

 

[K.Jack]

179 is for notebooks isn't it? Why aren't you using a 180-182 series driver?

I'm using 179.48, but I'm actually playing on my notebook.

 

[Cat in the Hat]

Just hit lvl 20 and there is a cap

I don't want it to end....I'm ready for the expansion Relic

 

[thaOwner]

179 is for notebooks isn't it? Why aren't you using a 180-182 series driver?

I'm using 179.48, but I'm actually playing on my notebook.

Am using 185.20. The game runs godly. I have it set to ultra and haven't into any massive
slow downs or anything like that.

 

[TheExodu5]

179 is for notebooks isn't it? Why aren't you using a 180-182 series driver?

I'm using 179.48, but I'm actually playing on my notebook.

Newest drivers available for Windows 7 are 179.43.

 

[Cat in the Hat]

I don't mean to be a dick but why do PC threads always have to be about tech issues. I know its more prevalent problem for the PC but it so fucking lame to read this driver/framerate stuff rather that the actual game.

Again i understand the problems but maybe relics forums might be more help than neoGAF.

http://forums.relicnews.com/

 

[TheExodu5]

I don't mean to be a dick but why do PC threads always have to be about tech issues. I know its more prevalent problem for the PC but it so fucking lame to read this driver/framerate stuff rather that the actual game.

Again i understand the problems but maybe relics forums might be more help than neoGAF.

http://forums.relicnews.com/

Maybe some of us enjoy talking about performance?

Anyways, it looks like Vista drivers install themselves as Windows 7 drivers (even though they don't say so on the NVidia site). I'll install the newest beta drivers and report.

edit: tried the non beta 182.06 drivers first.

Ultra settings (1680*1050, with AA on)

Holy friggin' shit!

WOOOOOOOOO!

edit2: okay it says 1fps...that was just a FRAPS bug. :lol It was actually running at 48FPS.

Time to try the 185.20 drivers.

edit: 185.20 drivers are considerably worse, for Windows 7 anyways. 37fps.

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

I don't mean to be a dick but why do PC threads always have to be about tech issues. I know its more prevalent problem for the PC but it so fucking lame to read this driver/framerate stuff rather that the actual game.

Again i understand the problems but maybe relics forums might be more help than neoGAF.

http://forums.relicnews.com/

Here's an awesome one.

I can't play the game because Steam's servers are too busy. They're kind enough to tell me that I can try to play my fifty dollar game again in a few minutes.

I'm new to Steam. Has this ALWAYS been the case? How do people gush about Steam when completely ridiculous shit like this happens?

Nice to know I paid fifty bucks for the opportunity to play and not for the actual game itself.

Last Steam and last Relic purchase ever.

 

[TheExodu5]

I can't play the game because Steam's servers are too busy. They're kind enough to tell me that I can try to play my fifty dollar game again in a few minutes.

I haven't had that happen in months/years. It's not normal.

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

I haven't had that happen in months/years. It's not normal.

If this was Left 4 Dead...if this was some kind of MMO. If this was some kindof game that had a significant portion of it's gameplay tied into being online...then fine. I understand that.

I just want to play the campaign mode.

I'd try to get my money back but they still haven't actually actioned a ticket I put in two days ago about problems with downloading the game so I highly doubt that getting a refund is a reality.

It's shit like this that encourages people to use only consoles or use their PC solely as a Blizzard Box.

 

[TheExodu5]

If this was Left 4 Dead...if this was some kind of MMO. If this was some kindof game that had a significant portion of it's gameplay tied into being online...then fine. I understand that.

I just want to play the campaign mode.

I'd try to get my money back but they still haven't actually actioned a ticket I put in two days ago about problems with downloading the game so I highly doubt that getting a refund is a reality.

It's shit like this that encourages people to use only consoles or use their PC solely as a Blizzard Box.

Just set Steam to offline mode then. I don't see what the problem is.

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

Just set Steam to offline mode then. I don't see what the problem is.

No idea there was an "offline mode"