Feedback collected from our forums (cncforen.de)

[Sven]

As the majority of our users can't post in english I opened a thread on www.cncforen.de, in our SW:EaW forum, to collect the feedback from our users.

We made a general outcome and here it is:

Start-up problems:

Error: sweaw.exe - Component not found

Solution: Install DirectX9.0c from Demoinstaller

 

Error: Normal start with all logos appearing, then, after 'loading...' appears the error "An exeption has occurred. See _logfile.txt and _ecxept.txt for details." No logfile existing and nothng found in except.txt.

Possible Solution(guessing): VGA card not 100% ok (GF 4 Ti4200) as same problem with internal graphics chip (IGP345M) on laptop occurs.

 

 

Installation Errors:

Error: Not installing at all but not showing any error messages. Seems like the installer ends itself quietly.

Solution: -

 

Error: Installation exiting with Error: "Error Code: -5004 : 0x80041f42"

Error Information: "*C:\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\InstallShield\Professional\RunTime\11\00\Intel32\iKernel.dll

>inc\CoCreate.cpp (44)

>SetupDLL\SetupDLL.cpp (1390)

pAPP:Star Wars Empire at War Demo"

System: Athlon 64 3000+ / Geforce 6600 GT newest drivers / 1024mb RAM / 80gig HDD

OS: Windows XP SP1

 

 

Graphical Errors/Glitches

Error: On max zoom out flickering triangles are appearing that are moving to the cursor with the sharp corner in front.

Possible cause: Win XP 64bit Edition

 

 

Freezes

Error:Freezes twice in Tutorial 3, once with music playing loop, once with music playing on normally.

(Can confirm, happened to me yesterday, maybe caused by taking screenshots in a row.)

System: AMD Sempron 2400+ mit Asus A7N8X-X / 2*512 MG DDR 400 Infineon / Ati Radeon 9600

(Can confirm, happened to me yesterday, maybe caused by taking screenshots in a row.)

 

 

Bugs:

Error: Playing in Camera-/Videomode reveals the entire map.

 

Error (Or by design?): The shield is not 100% 'waterproof'. Artillery and Bombs destroy buildings and units underneath the shield.

 

Error: I had two transports that I sent to the upper right corner. I moved through the units using the [f] key and suddenly one of my infantryplatoons stood there in space.

Image shwowing error: http://img375.imageshack.us/full.php?image=bild5zb.jpg

 

Error: On lowest details planets are opaque and capital ship s and stations are invisible, only the lightspots that are actually showing the engine output are visible.

System: P4 1,7 GHz / 512 SDRAM / Radeon 9200

 

Error (Or by design?): While Zooming down onto the planet one can see the green ray of money.

 

Error: Sound effects are not adjustable. Voice output on wrong channel?

 

Error: Units or Targets are not selectable.

System: Pentium 4 3,06 ghz / 256 ram / nvidia 5600

Settings: Medium details, 1024x768? (1028*12xx from original posting, pc noob?), game is running smoothly.

 

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Feedback:

First of all we want to cheer at Petroglyph because the demo has proven that the game can be what Star Wars and Command & Conquer fans had expected. The models are animated nicely and when units get destroyed they remain for quite a while. That's how the word 'battlefield' has a meaning in this game. Details were built in that are increasing the fun a lot. Some examples for this:

 

Shield effects

Shadows following an AT-ST unit when it turns

Footsteps of soldiers and AT-ST

Explosions

Units roping down from AT-AT

...

 

Though targetted points are getting hit through other objects this is just a minor flaw. The mixing of battles in space and on the ground is extremely pleasant and because of the weather effects, nebulas and asteroid fields strategic complexity raises - and with it the fun. You did a very good job on the paper-stone-scissors thingy, there's not one unit that couldn't be beaten by another - despite the heroes, but this can be caused by the low techlevel of the demo.

And, as all of us had expected, the music is awesome. And all of this with an engine that scales perfectly to the power of one's machine. The only tiny thing is the very conservative automatic video configuration. Congratulations, Petroglyph.

 

But also there are some shadows, small things that players are missing or at least decrease the valuablity a little. Having a veterancy for units was expected and wanted by many of us, this would have made the 'Retreat' option even more interesting. Also the benefit for the attacker would have been a little larger as he can only call in limited reinforcements. This way the attacker's forces would have gained experience and some kind of dynamic balancing would be more interesting after a retreat.

During space battles it's a little sad that asteroids don't move and the scatter of the covered areas in space is visible, disturbs the really pretty graphics. Some users also said that the galactic view could have been a lot better in terms of graphics. It feels somehow different, disturbing, compared to the great, detailed other modes.

In addition, large objects on the ground are slowing down scrolling speed. While zooming out to the max, the interface disappears - strange as this view would be the best option to coordinate units and to send them across the map. We think that fading out the interface happens to soon, especially when the units are spread across the map.

As last negative feedback we'd like to name the cinematic view. It hops from unit to unit too fast and is not really intuitive to use. Sometimes it's even showing areas where nothing is currently happening, sometimes not even a unit is in while at a capital ship is blowing up right next to it.

 

But all in all we can just say that Petroglyph and LucasArts did a brilliant job with this demo that gave us a good taste of what to expect for the full game.

 

 

Some questions came up after it was said that speed and other things were adjusted for the demo.

 

Questions:

Is free building placing possible on planets?

 

How long does it take to move a fleet from one planet to another in the final game?

 

Are there videos for the cutscenes or is all happening in realtime using the game engine?

I apologize for not keeping the format that is required in here to post any errors but as our single thread is of a completely different nature than the ones in here it had to be this way. I also do apologize for spelling errors - but I had a hard time translating all this stuff and I simply refuse to correct any erros right now...

Though, I hope this is a kind of help to the devs

 

I especially point out these two occurances:

Having a platoon of infantry in space

Being able to view the entire map by using the cinematic view

 

You can view the entire 'Bugs and Feedback' Thread here:

http://www.cncforen.de/showthread.php?t=66088 (7 Pages, german, 30 posting each)

 

To devs:

If you are requiring more information, please contact webmaster@sw-eaw.de and include my name into the topic. I will try to act as your interpreter and to make more information available from the individuals who experienced bugs or errors (screens, reproduce....)

Edited January 22, 2006 by Sven

[Jmaster3265]

As the majority of our users can't post in english I opened a thread on www.cncforen.de, in our SW:EaW forum, to collect the feedback from our users.

We made a general outcome and here it is:I apologize for not keeping the format that is required in here to post any errors but as our single thread is of a completely different nature than the ones in here it had to be this way. I also do apologize for spelling errors - but I had a hard time translating all this stuff and I simply refuse to correct any erros right now...

Though, I hope this is a kind of help to the devs

 

I especially point out these two occurances:

Having a platoon of infantry in space

Being able to view the entire map by using the cinematic view

 

You can view the entire 'Bugs and Feedback' Thread here:

http://www.cncforen.de/showthread.php?t=66088 (7 Pages, german, 30 posting each)

 

To devs:

If you are requiring more information, please contact webmaster@sw-eaw.de and include my name into the topic. I will try to act as your interpreter and to make more information available from the individuals who experienced bugs or errors (screens, reproduce....)

 

What are you talking about, all the members here know and or speak english.... ???

[Nevets]

He is talking about the forum he is coming from, which from the look of it is a german forum.

[Jmaster3265]

He is talking about the forum he is coming from, which from the look of it is a german forum.

 

Re-read my post i know about that, i'm referring to everyone here speaking english.... :

[Sven]

What are you talking about, all the members here know and or speak english.... ???

As Nevets mentioned, these comments are from users of www.cncforen.de.

And as they are german, austrian or swiss, many of them don't speak english well enough to tell you what they found.

So maybe you should re-read my posting? I'm talking about the users there, not here....