GregDude

I notice this old thread pinned here. Auran is the Aus distributor for Silent Storm and Sentinels, available from http://www.auran.com/auran/shop/Display_Product.php?PID=66 and most retailers.

A game programmer. I not going to talk about the companies I've worked for, or the projects I have worked on in a public forum. I am happy to discuss things related to game development in general.

Sounds like a whole lot of unnecessary side taking here (I'm sure Munky just said he wished the missions were shorter, the reason for this post). I am not bashing the game, I was simply saying that as single mission can take multiple hours to play through. I recall as a student 15yrs ago, I didn't think twice about playing a game that took all day. Now, with busy work, wife and kids, anything that takes more than an hour or so doesn't easily fit into life (it ends up as an idle icon, tantalising me from the windows desktop). I program video games for a living, so I know a little about software design. I know that there are loads of ways to solve all of these problems without compromising the game play. We've discussed examples like save games, real time, sub missions, smaller maps etc. And that's far from the limit of tools available for game design. I will probably refrain from further rants. It seems we're still talking because there is otherwise not a lot of action in this forum. I suppose we're still waiting on half the world to get their hands on this gem of a game.

Yeah, I remember the mission brief, and I already had an engineer. I'm just saying that games are meant to be all play, no work, all fun, not frustrating. The game doesn't need to baby sit the player, just just achieve those values using creative methods. I personally have no issues with cheating in a single player game, other than disappointment that it was necessary to consider it. As much fun as some games are, I hate repeating things, or being forced to repeat them (you can imagine how many platform games I own.) I was also disappointed how much I have to save and reload when things turn out bad, but now with some competent team members, that is less necessary.

Sorry, didn't even mean to bring up x-com except to agree that a) hunting down the last hidden alien was a pain, and the real-time mode in these new games solves that. And b) the random generated x-com missions could often be done in a shorter time. I see what you mean though, the SS missions are not random generated and the tactical combat is the focus. Since many SS missions have zones (like above and below ground), there are logical places for pausing or saving the game in a otherwise long session.

I did this mission recently, and almost without cheating. What I did wrong, was a) not bring enough mine probes for my engineer to diffuse the bombs, and b) use the 3 I had to diffuse mines in the down stairs hallway. From reading other posts, I probably could have shot some of the bomb planters to reduce the number of bombs. Anyway, I cheated by giving my engineer 4 more mine probes and had him run around like a mad hen diffusing before the big pop. The mission was hard, but the insane part was a couple of enemies who were invisible unless I stood one step away form them. Totally stupid level design for such an early mission, unless they expect you to play a mission that takes many hours, get near the end and then go 'oh, I should reload an ealier save, do a bunch of random encounters to get properly equiped, then restart this mission.' The mission should have had a box of mine probes, and not let you start without an engineer (may already do so), instead of a box of dart guns.

After stuffing around with patches and windows versions, I did try DosBox. I installed my original game v1.3, patched it to 1.4 and it runs perfectly. The latest version of DoxBox is great, and my Athlon64 can emulate quite a few mhz now. I can view the game at 100hz (easy on the eyes), and so far, after trying a couple of missions, no issues have appeared.

Slaughter, saving anywhere/anytime is great, but breaks the flow of the game in the same way stopping a movie and watching the rest the next day does. I find with another favorite game Master Of Orion, that if I save the game and come back the next day, I have lost a lot of interest in that particular game, and also forget a lot of the micro decisions and event that were occuring. MOO helps by being configurable, a small galaxy game can be played in 45 minutes. Pete, yes, hunting that last hidden alien used to be the worst part of some of the x-com games. Silent Storm (and JA2) improve on this with the real-time when not in combat, which speeds the hunt, and the 'sneaking around' parts.

I love this game, but I rarely play it. After just finishing another mission, I realised why... A single mission can take 2-5 hours to complete. When do you ever sit down and think 'I've got 5 hours to kill'? I remember that some of the earlier similar games like X-Com and Jagged Alliance managed to fit a mission into 30min-1.5hrs. I think game/level designers really need to make games that can be played with 1 hand (to eat food with the other) and a 'session' can be played within 1 hour to fit a lunch break or night time. I have another strategy game called Galactic Civilization, which I play even less, a game can take upward of 10hrs! It's been a long time since I was a student and had that much free time, and then, I didn't have money to buy games anyway. At least I know a round of Unreal Tournament is going to last 20 minutes, I might just have a quick game of that.

Thank you! That fix did fix the garbled graphics. However, the game now freezes after about 2 minutes, even with Win95 Compatability set. This freeze doesn't even respond to ctrl-alt-del. I also noticed the game uses the 60-75hz low res refresh rates which hurt my head. Anyway, thank you for your quick help. I might experiment with it a bit more before giving up. I don't think DosBox will work with the original game, but I might try that also. Edit: Ah, I see there are some related posts in the X-COM Support forum you mention.

I notice FilePlanet has a XCom/UFO download called "X-COM UFO Defence Game Client DOS" which is apparently a windows version of the game. I won't post the link because of the forum sticky warning. I do have the original game on CD, but I tried this version hoping it would be a new windows version, perhaps with some windows related improvements. Anyway, when I run the game, the graphics appear, and the sound is audible, but the screen is corrupt. Its like every second line is wrapped around or such. Does anyone know how to get this version, or other version to work under Window XP? I havn't played the game in years, and wouldn't mind checking it out again.

Thanks for responding. I have had a brief look at the save game files, however, the way the game data has been serialized makes them extremely difficult to work with. It would take me longer to create the tools I'd need and make the changes, than it would to restart the game. I think I will persist with the game, and if it becomes frustratingly difficult on occasion, I can use the built in cheats to get by if necessary.

Is there any way to adjust the difficulty level after starting a campaign? I wouldn't mind changing the difficulty setting, but I don't feel like playing the first bunch of missions over again.