Second Impressions with pictures!

Well like most people when I played the first version of Empires I discovered a game filled with lag. Because of this I was quickly turned off by the mod and promptly uninstalled it. Now after a few patches (v1.08) I decided it was a good time to go back and give the mod another shot.

The first thing I noticed when starting the game was that there was no background outside of the default HL2 one. This may be because of my resolution 1280x768 16:10 widescreen, but other mods I have played supported this resolution. http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/4503/emp1gp1.jpg

The first server I tried to connect to and the only one with people in it did this to me: http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/6191/emp2wm0.jpg and continuted to do it to me except once. The one time I was able to join a game with people my team lost within 5 minutes of me joining and the map changed and I got that mesage again. So I gave up trying to play on a server with people.

So I connected to an empty server and played around a bit. My general impressions of the maps is not good. They are all large and empty and fairly uninspired except the city map I quite liked that one. Many of the textures in the maps are all standard HL2 textures many of which were not made for large empty fields which most of the maps seem to be. In the large open field maps you spawn inside a building in that building I got 15fps but outside I got 40-50 fps, really doesn't make alot of sense and I do not even want to imagine how bad things would be if there had been other people playing with me. Oh yeah and about the city map, why does it have ladders all over the place you cannot use, looks funny.

Vehicle models look great I like the detail in the command vehicle. The only other vehicle I was able to see looked like a cross between a WWI tank and a large cannon, I cannot say I was impressed by it but it wasn't bad.

Don't have any complaints about the player models but they aren't anything amazing and are the imperial troops supposed to look like nazi stormtroopers? http://www.empiresmod.com/media/imp_soldier.jpg

Weapon models are also quite plain, many look like textured tubes.

The mod uses a lot of default HL2 sounds which really hurt things for me. I love mods that have custom sounds.

And as a good ending for this here is a dump file for a crash I had joining a server. Ended up having to restart my computer because I couldn’t get out of the frozen game to shut it down. http://www.secenter.org/Steam__2928__2006_11_17T4_53_53C796328.mdmp

So in summary, most of the maps are plain empty fields that really don't look that great and the textures don't help things. I would have liked to comment on the gameplay but due to the bug described above I was not able to play with anyone. Weapon models are dull and on some the textures look terrible. Vehicles are nice but I am not sure that’s enough to make up for the rest. I can't say that this is a mod that I am going to be playing alot after this. Maybe in a few more versions I will try again.

 

I have no idea why the background is not working for you, but Empires has one. And it's true the mod needs a bit of spit-shine, but that's all in the works. Check the Empires front page - you'll find some links to new media there, including some beautiful maps and redone weapon models.

 

I think you were autokicked on the ON|E Server. I had a couple friends try to learn the game this week, and if they didn't change their name from emp_Recruit within like, 10 seconds, they were kicked. I didn't understand it, and it could have been anything else, but when they changed their names, they were safe.

Ladders would be nice
Textures will be nice
What default HL2 sounds? The only thing I can think of is an Explosion.

 

the vehicles

 

About the maps...

The reason most of them seem to be very large and under-populated when you join an empty server is that this mod has huge space requirements. When you're actually building bases, that space soon fills up. Open environments are essential in providing varied gameplay.

Custom sound packs are available on the forums. I agree that the official sounds do need re-working, but this is hardly a priority. The same goes for the textures. This is a beta, and once the core gameplay is completely implemented, then more effort can be put into prettifying it.

I would suggest that you make a post in the bugs section of these forums, so that we can try to help you out with these issues and get you playing the game as it was meant to be played: with other people. Please reserve judgement until at least that point.

 

Auto-kick because of "EMP_RECRUIT" is the most pathetic thing i have ever heard of a server doing. does the ON|E server realise how many bloody new players have probably been turned away from this game by now because of that? "oh, but garry's mod does it." that's because in garry's mod there are hundreds of servers, and you can play the game single player to get used to the game first. so then they have time to change their name.

if that's what you're doing ON|E, just because you can't be bothered to help noobies learn to play, then you're hamstringing this entire mod. It would be better that your server was taken down than they did this.

 

If you didn't get the correct background when playing the game, you didn't install 1.0 before 1.07 which is required. I'm surprised you got the game to work at all.

 

i got that background once, but the list of options was almost off the top of the page.
force quitting, then running again worked.

 

Play again at a later time, mate. Playing on a full (24 players) server is an absolute blast. You haven't seen a tenth (ok, honestly, a fifth) of the gameplay judging by your review.

Also, here is a link to the Empires Wiki: www.empiresmod.info
Check for "Client Optimization" in the left tab if you're having fps troubles.

 

Oh I very much installed 1.0 first, 400 some mb download then what seemed like a painfully slow install process so I could finally play. I even ran the game under 1.0 before I installed the 1.08 patch, no background under either.

I am happy with the responses I got in this thread they were more mature than I was expecting and that gives me some confidence in the mod. I suspect I will be seeing you all more often.

 

Don't worry.
We have a large amount of very mature players... even though a lot of them don't act mature...
Well Empires is always improving and with the maps, Don't forget that this is always improving, and once you get the game running and know what to do, you will at least like it.

 

Do you have HL2DM installed? I believe it's required with the current version (I believe soon to be changed in the next patch)

Also, are you sure you installed correctly as the latest official version is 1.07 (unofficially 1.071 with the beta patch)

For reference sake, the install order would be 1.0 > 1.07 > 1.071 (Downloadable here

I hope we/you get the mod working for you so you can have a proper game some time. I'd just like to add that with all the construction going on, the maps kinda need to be pretty bare

regardless, whether you enjoy the mod or not, I'm sure we/they're thankful you at least gave it a try

EDIT: I'd also like to add that the next patch will be seeing quite a bit of graphical overhauling amongst other things. 1.08, from what I've heard and seen is going to be one of those "big" releases so you might want to wait around like so many of us are at the moment =D

 

1.08 is out? WHERE?!?!

 

Its not out she was talking about WHEN it comes out. Some one needs to switch to decaff.

Also after the 1.00 you need to install 1.07 then 1.071

Edit: Wait a minet wtf. How could Combat Wombat have 1.8? I just now caught that. Krenzo?...

 

I'm sure it was a mistake

 

eep sorry I have 1.07 not sure why I typed 1.08, must have just got it in my head for some reason.

 

If you really had 1.08 you'd become the most hacked computer on the interwebs in under a day.

And then everyone would have 1.08.

 

Well I gotta say that the mod has improved quite a bit was playing last night for the first time in almost 2 years got thrust into the commander chair and won Played a few more games on different servers and different maps and am very impressed at the progress. I think I may be quite the regular player from now on.

Thanks for the great mod and keep up the good work

 

I already posted the background picture, and next time just join a different server.

 

Notice that this topic is around two years old.