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[Dick Laurent]

Let us have another screenshot frenzy.

SPAAAAAAACE!

SPAAAAAAACE...ship and station!

Steamy, steamy Jungle Planet!

Goddamn, I love Precursors.

great screens!

Kinda reminds me of Home Planet, funnily enough by the same publishers, if I'm not mistaken.

guess at the reason there is no international Home Planet Gold, or why it took so long for Xenus 2/Precursors to come out. too bad HPG isn't on yuplay.

 

[Alex Connolly]

I only got to play the demo of Home Planet. I cried when I found out it was never fully localised. Still, as much as I've heard mediocre things, I want to play The Tomorrow War. Any views on that on, Dick?

 

[Dick Laurent]

Tomorrow War is pretty good. Especially very nice atmosphere, I like the Russian space military. The missions are a bit limited, although you can fly off and go wherever you want between checkpoints. But it's actually very linear overall, not quite like those Quazar (Tarr Chronicles/Dark Horizon/Cold Stars), but almost. The localisation is the same deal as these Deep Shadows games, really bad, and there was some missing audio dialogue (in-flight radio chat). So almost the exact same situation, hehe. I think it was the same terrible localisation team as Men of War.

Crioland, the developers, shut down or stopped making games-- so that was why the Faktor K expansion didn't get released outside CIS. And 1C didn't have or couldn't get the source codes for these games for some reason, but one of the 1C guys went through and fixed what he could of the missing dialogue stuff and mission bugs (quite a lot of fixes). So he did pretty much all he could without access to any source code. Game works well with these patches, especially with the audio back in, but there are still some big bugs in the engine/tech stuff where you will encounter some fucked things in game, like when you try to land your ship on asteroids and some other physics stuff. The game isn't a hidden gem type thing like Xenus2/Precursors, but definitely worth playing. It's been really cheap quite often on Gamersgate (around 5 dollars and so on). I managed to get it on DVD while the super limited retail version was easily available, for all of two days or however long that lasted. Haha. [edit: Oh actually you can still find a couple of copies on amazon].

Patches
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=12545
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=13662

 

[george_us]

Precursors looks fucking awesome.

I may pick it up when they iron out all the kinks.

 

[lastplayed]

Great shots Pylon. It's one of those games that manages to look good everywhere.

 

[Alex Connolly]

Indeed! And not only manages to look good, but runs well, too. At least for me. I wouldn't call my new laptop a powerhouse, but when I can run most games I'm interested at their relative max settings and still get a great framerate, it gets the thumbs-up from me.

 

[Alex Connolly]

Nooooo! Bit of a Windows failure! Lost my save for Precursors. Ah well, back to square one.

 

[Diseased Yak]

Have to say, I'm liking Precursors a lot more than White Gold, though it's still a great game. Precursors is just so much more fun because of the sci-fi setting. I still haven't left the starting planet, driving around in stolen buggies, gunning down aliens and bandits alike is just too damned fun.

 

[piratepwnsninja]

New Unofficial Precursors patch if anyone is still playing it

http://www.bluesnews.com/s/118352/precursors-patch

 

[EviLore]

RPS has a new article up on White Gold:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/02/17/the-longest-day-24-hours-in-white-gold/

 

[WanderingWind]

Good stuff. The replies I got back, btw, were of the "they're not big enough for us to cover" or just formulated replies.

 

[bengraven]

"Merged 1.1 patch in and fixed minor text issues, thanks to badmofo."

Um, the games need more than minor text issues. I love the games, but they need a good translation before I can continue on.

 

[morningbus]

Tell those assholes you paid good money for this game and demand they fix it to your satisfaction.

Also threaten to contact your Attorney General.

 

[Metal Gear?!]

For those waiting for a sale, up-and-comer Beamdog has it on sale for $5

http://www.beamdog.com/products/xenus-ii-white-gold

 

[Fredescu]

Nice. What's the deal with Beamdog? Never heard of it.



Edit: So anyway, the deal with Beamdog is that I just bought Xenus 2. SURVEY15OFF code can save you a whopping 75c.

 

[shuyin_]

Is that... your tag?

 

[Metal Gear?!]

GrpUnpack doesn't appear to work for me, it crashes with this error. Choosing "continue" doesn't appear to allow it to do anything either. Is there any way I can just download the modified grp files for Xenus 2?

Nice. What's the deal with Beamdog? Never heard of it.

They have someone promoting the service in the SomethingAwful forums. Beyond that they appear to have no marketing whatsoever.

 

[Fredescu]

Is that... your tag?

It was World Cup flag, but imgur broke it. It works for me but a lot of people are not able to see it.

 

[Alex Connolly]

GrpUnpack doesn't appear to work for me, it crashes with this error. Choosing "continue" doesn't appear to allow it to do anything either. Is there any way I can just download the modified grp files for Xenus 2?

If you've nabbed the original Russian sound files from the Xenus 2 forums, just dump them into the Xenus 2 directory...I forget within which folder...but yeah, they don't need to be unpacked like the Precursors ones. At least, they didn't for me.

 

[Corto]

Hoping for a similar deal on The Precursors...

 

[Metal Gear?!]

Since I was able to watch the intro video thanks to replacing files, I just realized that the "//" in "Xenus //" are actually two lines of cocaine...

Hoping for a similar deal on The Precursors...

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3378573&userid=42391#post389409214

If you've nabbed the original Russian sound files from the Xenus 2 forums, just dump them into the Xenus 2 directory...I forget within which folder...but yeah, they don't need to be unpacked like the Precursors ones. At least, they didn't for me.

I have the ones from this post

Russian Sound Files (split zip file)
Part 01
Part 02


EDIT: Ok nevermind, those are the files for PRECURSORS and thus the wrong ones. Downloaded the files for White Gold from here and it works fine

 

[Corto]

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3378573&userid=42391#post389409214

Hey... Ask and you shall receive indeed! hehehehe Thanks a bunch. I'll mark next weekend on my calendar.

 

[JasonUresti]

Xenus 2 is pretty near so far. Yes, it isn't the smoothest game, it has that Eastern Euro development "charm" all about it, but damn it if it isn't bold, ambitious, and despite the technical crud, still seems capable of delivering on that ambition more often than not.

 

[Sinatar]

Any tips on how to get this grp unpacker to work? I run it on the unzipped sound files and it errors out right away saying it can't open some sound file in the lvl0 map or somesuch.

 

[Frawdder]

Going to post this here to see if anyone can give a solution or some tips to solve my problem.

I bought White Gold from Beamdog on the weekend when it was on sale, downloaded it and couldn't launch it. Applied some patches and fixes which did nothing. I uninstalled it to start over but every time I download it it gets stuck at 16.7% or 634MB downloaded.

This is what appears on the Details page within the Beamdog launcher, it won't move from this state.

Anyone got any ideas?

 

[BigKaboom2]

Can't believe I missed the $5 sale.

 

[Metal Gear?!]

Going to post this here to see if anyone can give a solution or some tips to solve my problem.

I bought White Gold from Beamdog on the weekend when it was on sale, downloaded it and couldn't launch it. Applied some patches and fixes which did nothing. I uninstalled it to start over but every time I download it it gets stuck at 16.7% or 634MB downloaded.

This is what appears on the Details page within the Beamdog launcher, it won't move from this state.

Anyone got any ideas?

I have no idea, I had no problems downloading and running the beamdog version. Maybe try installing beamdog on another drive/somewhere other than Program Files?

Also try posting a support thread on their site, they have actual staff who responded to me and helped me quickly with manually "gifting" the game to a friend.

 

[Frawdder]

I tried installing it on a different drive and opening some port numbers I found on the forum, but neither worked. I fired off an email detailing my issue, hopefully they can help me.


On a more positive note, The Precursors is on sale for $7.50 - 75% off

 

[morningbus]

Damn you Beamdog! $2.50 more for Precursors?

You've won this round, for now.

 

[Enk]

Good thing I checked my thread subscriptions this morning. I've been waiting for The Precursors to go on sale. Downloading it now as I type.

 

[morningbus]

Damn it. I shouldn't have waited to buy the Precursors from Beamdog. They've run out of keys.

 

[Tain]

Damn, how did I miss these?

 

[Monroeski]

Damn it. I shouldn't have waited to buy the Precursors from Beamdog. They've run out of keys.

The site says they'll extend the sale when they get the new keys, though. Should have them on Monday.

Just to be clear on this, Beamdog is offering just a digital version of the game while GamersGate sends the game on a DVD, right?

 

[EviLore]

The site says they'll extend the sale when they get the new keys, though. Should have them on Monday.

Just to be clear on this, Beamdog is offering just a digital version of the game while GamersGate sends the game on a DVD, right?

GamersGate is a digital distribution service as well.

 

[Corto]

Monday it is then... You better not fail me beamdog! *shakes fist in the air*

 

[Semblance]

Wowow. Glad I randomly dipped into this thread. Precursors sounds like my kind of game, and I can pick it up for $7.50? Why yes, I think I'll take advantage of this.

<3 Euro gaming.

 

[Snuggles]

I'll take advantage of that deal when they restock the keys. Looks like it's my 3 favorite genres mashed up into one game.

 

[shintoki]

What is DRM like on the services?

 

[Corto]

What is DRM like on the services?

According to their FAQ page:

http://www.beamdog.com/about/faq

How many computers can I install my games on?

We do not limit the number of computers you can install your games on, we do however limit concurrent usage of those games. When you buy a game from us we grant a license to run only one copy at a given time. If you log into another Beamdog Client, we log you out of the previous session.


What happens to my games if you shut down?

We are committed to thinking of our customers first, so if for some unforseen reason we are forced (yes, I say forced as we'll fight tooth and nail to keep the service going) to shut our service down we will remove all date based expiry in the system.

 

[Enk]

Has anybody else with the Beamdog version of Precursors or White Gold been able to apply the flickering patch onto that version? It doesn't seem like I am able to with how they have their files set up.

 

[shintoki]

Has anybody else with the Beamdog version of Precursors or White Gold been able to apply the flickering patch onto that version? It doesn't seem like I am able to with how they have their files set up.

This isn't something I wanted to hear. I've just went through the entire thread and copying down all the directions to fix it too. I'm still not very good with PC titles, so this is making me nervous on the new service.

 

[Corto]

Has anybody else with the Beamdog version of Precursors or White Gold been able to apply the flickering patch onto that version? It doesn't seem like I am able to with how they have their files set up.

Regarding White Gold it seems that Beamdog released it as an official patch:

http://www.beamdog.com/forum/forums...cs/xenus-2-white-gold-flickering-fix-released

 

[Nishastra]

Beamdog's got Precursors keys again, if anyone else missed it before

I'm downloading it as I type this! Can't wait to play it.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

RPS has a new article up on White Gold:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/02/17/the-longest-day-24-hours-in-white-gold/

Fuck me, that video is outstanding.

 

[shintoki]

Beamdog's got Precursors keys again, if anyone else missed it before

I'm downloading it as I type this! Can't wait to play it.

Bought it and services seems like a piece of shit.

Download Rate -- --

Been like this for about 10 minutes.

 

[morningbus]

Try pausing and restarting the download. You can also enable "turbo" mode in the settings.

I've had some problems with overall speed, but then again I've only downloaded from them during peak times (when White Gold and Precursors were on sale, which I assume has been the most amount of traffic the service has ever seen). Once I got the download rolling correctly, however, I had no problem in averaging 2mb down.

Apparently Precursors is patched up to the most recent official patch. Could anyone compile a list of recommended fixes and unofficial patches? The information on this seems to be scattered all about the place (and it probably deserves a home in the OP, too)?

 

[Semblance]

^ I tried all that and it's still downloading at a snail's pace. When it downloads, that is. h8 u Beamdog.

I'll get to play this someday though!

 

[shintoki]

Try pausing and restarting the download. You can also enable "turbo" mode in the settings.

I've had some problems with overall speed, but then again I've only downloaded from them during peak times (when White Gold and Precursors were on sale, which I assume has been the most amount of traffic the service has ever seen). Once I got the download rolling correctly, however, I had no problem in averaging 2mb down.

"Unable to connect to server, Unable to download title"

...

They give you a key, so it's not like I need to download from them(Hopefully). Just making sure I never purchase from them again is all. Heh.

 

[Nishastra]

I downloaded it fine earlier.

I am having a problem, though. Once I get past the intro part, getting into combat drops my fps to something below 1. It makes combat... a bit difficult.

The game runs great out of combat.

 

[Semblance]

Well, Beamdog still sucks, but it finally finished downloading. Man. Precursors is something else. Controls kinda suck and textures occasionally pop in whenever they feel like it ... but it's still absurdly cool. I was having fun just walking around the initial desert town, talking to people, checking out their garbled dialogue. There was even a legless panhandling robot lawl. I didn't hand anything over though. Fuck him.

So yeah, definitely janky, and I'll probably run into some awful bugs soon enough (it runs pretty smooth for me so far, no audio issues either), but I think it's pretty neat. I can't wait to dive in for more later. Really glad this thread exists, I would've missed this game otherwise.