Posts by guptasa1

I´m a big nVidia fan, so personally I´d probably go for one of the newer GeForce cards. However, the ATI cards are fine pieces of hardware and currently may even outperform nVidia´s. That said, nVidia has had a much better track record with driver updates. At the end of the day, I think you´ll be happy with either option. They´re the two leading cards in the industry. Shop around and enjoy.

Geez - you guys are harsh. Sometimes little mistakes like that slip by whole groups of people. I´m sure some have you have written papers before and have proofread them several times, but still had an error somewhere. Same thing here. In fact, one of my professors talked about a whole ad campaign he worked on once where the whole team who made it (him included) looked over it repeatedly, and they STILL missed a minor error (in this case, capitalization). Trust me - this is a thorough guy. It happens. I think Digital Anvil/Microsoft should maybe investigate why it happened and if it was a genuine mistake that slipped through, maybe a repremand, but firing someone or "beheading" them over this seems a bit much. (And yes, typos do bother me, and it definitely seems more professional without them, but they still sometimes happen).

Have you guys tried different in-game resolutions?

Somebody mentioned this, and it´s worked really well in the trial once I got used to it, though I can´t actually try it against cruise disruptors since there aren´t any in the trial. Engage your afterburner until you reach maximum speed (or just about to expend your afterburner if you wish), then immediately press Z before disengaging it/running out. It´ll cut your engines but keep you flying just as fast with inertia, and you´ll VERY gradually lose speed. When you go to return to normal engine use or engage cruise drive, it´ll drop you back to "normal" max speed, but you could use this to get away enough to engage cruise I would think. It should be noted you can´t turn like this either. Well, you can, but you´ll keep going in the same direction as you were when you pressed Z.

Yup - have the PC version somewhere - been a long time, but it was a fun (if limited) game.

Hmmm. The drivers from Extasy are a longshot as reference drivers USUALLY work better/as well in almost all cases (at least in my experience), but it´s a shot. As far as what happens directly after the Microsoft movie sequences, there should be a short Digital Anvil movie sequence (at least in the trial version - I assume it´s the same in the full). After that comes the main menu, which does seem to use the in-game engine. Some things you might want to try (but unfortunately, you may have to download a lot to try them as painful as that´ll be with dialup): - First I´d try all options you can do without lengthy downloads like decreasing video performance/AGP speed, etc., though frankly I´m doubtful since that only seems to cause problems on ATI-based cards that I know of. - Since it may be related to switching movie files, maybe try updating Windows Media Player (Version 9 was recently released). - Possibly try grabbing DirectX 9, also recently released. - Other Windows Updates like SP1 you mentioned. Only other think I can think - maybe there´s some sort of no movies string you can use when starting the game to stop it from playing them, but I don´t know what it would be. I wonder if anyone does? (Nothing in the readme for the trial version). Good luck to you!

Technically, Hobbes is a blonde too. <img src=smilies/icon_smile_wink.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> And no, I don´t think it´d count as bestiality exactly since he´s anthropomorphosized. Now I´ll shut up before I get myself in too much trouble. <img src=smilies/icon_smile_wink.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>

When you say the &quot;performance tab&quot;, do you mean in the game, or in Windows? There´s a known problem with the Radeon series of video cards that new drivers from ATI should address soon, and a temporary fix is turning 3D acceleration down one notch in Windows control panel. The only other thing I can think of is hard drive space. Not sure if that was a misprint or if you really have 1.44 gigabytes (seems like maybe a misprint?), but I can´t imagine you fitting Windows and much else on it at all. If it´s not a misprint, maybe the game simply doesn´t have enough disk space to run properly. Good luck getting it going. EDIT: OOps - see the &quot;free&quot; now - that should be plenty free, so I don´t know; probably not this. I´m running the demo with NTFS fine, so it´s not that. Edited by - guptasa1 on 10-03-2003 07:03:15

I have to wonder why they just didn´t use the text boxes (exclusively) for most of the conversations and then only used the &quot;cutscene&quot; type dialog with audio for important conversations (like the campaigns or special information). I know I wouldn´t have minded this at all.

Part of my problem with the analysis above is I remember hearing briefly about Freelancer years ago, but just recently got interested with the demo´s release, so I´m not familiar with all the hype and such. Therefore, I really had no expectations going into this and was very much surprised. I think a lot of time hype works AGAINST products. I´ve found personally I enjoy things that come out of the blue and surpise me much more than things I´ve been anticipating for a long time, as they generally disappoint in one way or another. If I had anticipated it as the next Privateer and read and researched on all of the cool features that didn´t make it in the game or were watered down, I´d probably be disappointed. But this game kinda hit me in the face and pleasantly surprised me, so I guess I was fortunate that I didn´t get involved in the hype. One good thing you and Vyse pointed out - even if it´s not the game you wanted, the engine seems very nicely done, and perhaps Digital Anvil will read this board and make their next version with some of the suggestions.

I´m going to take some middle ground here. I don´t believe this game is for everyone, and unfortunately, bershe, from the sound of it, you´re one of the people who it just won´t appeal to longterm (I don´t mean at all - I mean enough to justify it´s purchase). I agree with most of what ZeroGravity said (as I´ve mentioned in a few other posts). I think this is a game for patient explorers, not people wanting a long campaign. That´s in no way a flame and there´s nothing wrong with the fact you´re disappointed - games just appeal to different people, and I just think you thought maybe there was more fit here than there actually was. I do agree that having more varied random missions would have really boosted the longevity of the game and it´s too bad there are not more types (hoping for a patch or expansion pack), but by the same token, between all the systems, all the stations to visit and land on, all the anomalies, and all the abandoned ships to loot, not to mention all the ships, weapons, etc. to find and try (and yes, the ships are somewhat similar, but they do have different weapon configurations, etc.), I think this game can keep the right type of person occupied for a while. Anyways, just my opinion, but some expectations seem too high. The game´s not perfect, no, but I think people are being a bit harsh too. Though I can understand that - if I´m disappointed I might be too.

I think it´s an older game, but I don´t know more than that about it.

Just a few: - In response to someone else´s 86. The guy at Radio Shack says, &quot;no we don´t have any shield batteries, but check out this great Tandy computer&quot;, you immediately snap it up because it´s older and might have a chance in hell to play the original Privateer. - Every time your friend comes over, you glance to your significant other, then back to your friend and say &quot;I don´t really run this place, but I have an understanding with those who do.&quot; - You realize Liberty Ales and Sidewinder Fangs both exist and become intent on trying them in real life. *OR* - You realize Liberty Ales and Sidewinder Fangs both exist in real life, which begins a downward spiral as you lose your grip on reality and eventually are institutionalized for no longer being able to tell what´s real from what isn´t.

A few questions. Did the trial version work for you? Also, you say you have the latest drivers - have you gotten the nVidia drivers from http://www.nvidia.com instead of the ones specific for your card - sometimes they work better. You could try turning down sound acceleration (or DirectSound) off in Windows as discussed in other threads here - that´s worked for some people.

I´m not a console gamer (though I have no problem with anyone who is - from what I´ve seen consoles have great games too, though I personally have chosen the PC route for myself). If you prefer the cockpit view, that´s fine and I respect it - just some of us feel you get a better view for maneuvering from 3rd person. And as far as this being a simulator, that is debateable, but I´d say it really isn´t. Actually, it´s somewhere in between simulator and arcade shooter, but if I had to pick, my opinion is it´s more arcade (whereas Starlancer, for example, is more of a sim).

Check out this article: http://support.microsoft.com/d…aspx?scid=kb;en-us;814550 Maybe that´ll help you work around it? Good luck.

Actually, I think MAYBE I have some hope for you. Assuming you reinstalled Windows XP overtop of itself, it MIGHT have made a new account for you (in Windows - not Freelancer) and so your old My Documents (where the Freelancer saved games are) is there, but under your old account name or a backup account name. Freelancer save games are normally stored under My Documents -&gt; My Games in a Freelancer folder, so what you´ll need to do is locate this folder with your saves in it and move it to My Documents -&gt; My Games. To find the folder (hope you´re good at Windows), right click your start menu and choose Explore. You should see a list of things under Documents and Settings (Administrator, All Users, Your Current Name, etc.). See if your old username (or a backup copy of it) is there and check the My Documents folder under it. My guess is, from experience, Windows simply renamed/moved your whole account slightly (including My Documents) and made a new one for you to avoid problems. If this is the case, just move the whole My Games folder from My Documents in the old account to My Documents in the new account and you should be set. Good luck and I hope this helped and I got what I was trying to say across okay.

In response to saying one wouldn´t take their time with their universe in danger, no, but then again Trent doesn´t exactly come across as the &quot;Superman&quot; type. LOL. If I was a freelancer, I sure wouldn´t do the missions or go into an unknown area of space until I thought i was certainly good and ready and equipped as best can be for it. No point going somwhere with a tricycle and a pea-shooter if you can have a tank. <img src=smilies/icon_smile_wink.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> That´s not saying I´m going to take FOREVER between missions either, but I´m not going to rush - I´m going to wait until I have a ship I´m comfortable progressing in. I just hope I don´t run into the Juni not coming back bug (if it is one). Thanks for letting me know you haven´t had any problems, WhiteTiger. Hmmm...I wonder what the difference is for people who have had problems and those who haven´t.

Yeah - glad you see the similarities I´m talking about. Yeah, pistol view was a lot like turret view in a sense (though the turrets in that game were autoiaming, which worked well for it). Can´t say which game is more fun at this point, but I thought I76 was pretty hard to beat. I´m sure this one will be around the same level for me though. Edited by - guptasa1 on 09-03-2003 22:56:05

I don´t know the answer to this for sure, but personally I wouldn´t since from what I hear the demo is a little different than the full (not a ton, but a little). I know there were some posts about this in the &quot;Freelancer Discussion&quot; forum, so if you still want to do this you may wish to check there. Good luck if you attempt it.