Wireframe view in Titanium
SandMan
Is the Wireframe view gone forever? I know when Mercs came out "Inner sphere
mechs didn't have the technology" or "Mercenaries takes place in a timeframe
before wireframe tech" or something like that. But Activision can't hide
behind FASA rules for the game on this, old MW2 and GBL both had wireframe
view and I think it should be put back in. I also kinda liked the green
night vision of the first 2 games too, but I'll let that slide.
[stepping onto my soapbox]
What does everyone else think? Should Activision add Wireframe view to the
Titanium Pack? If you think so, use your voice here and now and let Dan,
Dave and the rest of Activision know!
[stepping down from my soapbox]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------
SandMan
"Some people never go crazy...
What truely boring lives they must lead..."
Email: sandman @ linkup . net
cunn...@primary.net
On Thu, 9 Apr 1998 05:34:59 -0500, "SandMan" <san...@linkup.net>
wrote:
What are you talking about Sandman? Mercenaries, up to version 1.05
had wireframe capability. It lost wireframe view with the 3D upgrade.
This is what you're talking about, right?
Dino Morelli
Oh, man, are you talking about Enhanced Imaging?
Holy crap, if that's missing, this is bad. We use that in league
battles all the time to be able to spot mechs in poor visibility, or
at long range.
On Thu, 9 Apr 1998 05:34:59 -0500, "SandMan" <san...@linkup.net>
wrote:
>Is the Wireframe view gone forever? I know when Mercs came out "Inner sphere
Wolverine
OK guys....sorry, but you are both out to lunch...its the same game
engine..so enhanced imaging is still there. Its just not mapped. here is how
to get it back.
edit your gamekey.map....find where it says infrared vision listed, and
enter the following line under it:
ENHANCED_VISION w
this will give you wire frame. The only bad thing about it, is that lasers
cannot be seen, only progectile weapons...
Dino Morelli wrote in message <352d80dc...@news.nai.net>...
LsureAgnt
Acyually they are right and you are the stoned one. After 1.1 the wireframe
has been deleted and will not respond to changing gamekey.map. It would be a
good answer if actisucks hadnt tried to be true to the fiction. I personally
believe its stupid because the computer game is very different from the
tabletop version. I appreciate actisucks for getting me back into Battletech
but I have to say they have really gone downhill and seem determined to piss
off a VERY vocal portion of the computer gaming market. I have and will
continue to advise friends and strangers both that ALL actisucks games are to
be considered buggy. I had held the belief that most people complaining were
whining, but after careful examination of the facts I have to agree with most
major points.
Regardless of why you promised something, you should do it! I really dont want
to hear that it would cost time and money. Its been 2 years! since MW2 showed
up sans netmech. Then GBL shows up without netmech, finally this whole mercs
debacle leaves such a bad taste in my mouth I cant even discuss it without some
Scope.
I gotta go, just thinking about this is giving me heartburn. Hopefully if any
execs read this they will feel the same!
George Cole
Leisure Agent
At Your Service Travel Co
704-556-3506
Omar Majeed
I thnk that the wireframe enhanced imaging is one of the greatest parts of
MW2. I use it to help filter out all the background garbage that's all over
the place. Hopefully someone at "actisucks" WILL read this series of
messages and realize that they are getting pretty stupid.
Phoenix
Cyril
Hell, wire frame is about the only way to be sure you are even damaging a mech to
find his lag spot.
Cyril
Garfield3d
>Is the Wireframe view gone forever? I know when Mercs came out "Inner sphere
>mechs didn't have the technology" or "Mercenaries takes place in a timeframe
>before wireframe tech" or something like that. But Activision can't hide
>behind FASA rules for the game on this, old MW2 and GBL both had wireframe
>view and I think it should be put back in. I also kinda liked the green
>night vision of the first 2 games too, but I'll let that slide.
>
>[stepping onto my soapbox]
>
>What does everyone else think? Should Activision add Wireframe view to the
>Titanium Pack? If you think so, use your voice here and now and let Dan,
>Dave and the rest of Activision know!
>
>[stepping down from my soapbox]
AHHHHHHHH!!!!! Wait, how did they change the night vision? Night vision has
always been green, because, well, some light refraction and stuff like that. No
more wireframe view? What was that for? How I'm going to check on all those
conditions of eeverything on my screen. Oh, and about Dan and Dave, E-mail
please? Thank you.
Brute Dragon
Dino Morelli wrote in message <352d80dc...@news.nai.net>...
>Oh, man, are you talking about Enhanced Imaging?
>
>Holy crap, if that's missing, this is bad. We use that in league
>battles all the time to be able to spot mechs in poor visibility, or
>at long range.
I always used it as a quick way to increase the frame rate in the heat of
battle. I was sorry to see it go in Mercs. :-/
--
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brute...@NOSPAMworldnet.att.net (Remove NOSPAM to e-mail directly)
Home Page: http://home.att.net/~brutedragon/index.html
ICQ #: 10649757
Alan Clark
You can return it by altering the gamekey map file in Mercs
type:
ENHANCED_VISION w
----MechKilla
LoneWolf
Uh nope, ya don't. Which is too bad. Now if Activision would help out
and clue us in to how the hell we can reactivate it that would be great.
I know this isn't your area Dan (Kegel) but since you seem to frequent
the group more often than any of the others could you put a bug in
someone's ear and get them to reveal how in god's name we can get our
enhanced imaging back? With as bloated as the mw.prj file is getting I
can't believe the code has been removed. What's the trick?
LoneWolf
Shawn M. B./A.I.G
>
> want Enhanced Vision
>
> I dont know about the Tit. Version
> But for Mercs add this line
>
> ENHANCED_VISION w
>
> in your Gamekey.map
>
> now you have it.
>
Yibid
Well the code was removed because it didn't look good. One of the
beta version of Mercs had it and it was terrible. So instead of fixing
it they just took it away. They did not think that anybody would miss
it after all the graphics were so much better now. Too bad they
can't figure out what we want. If they would just listen to the gamers
they could clean up. Behind all the bitching are some great ideas.
Clan mecs are supposed to have image enhancement it doesn't have
to be wire frame but enhance the image for targeting and identification.
IS mecs need good night vision, even if its all shades of green with
variable gamma control. Geez someone could get rich by just doing
Battle Tech right.
LoneWolf wrote in message <35340AD6...@cadvision.com>...
Brian
I tried this and it still doesnt work. I modified the gamekey in mercs and
mech2 with no
results. I remember reading a while back that when the 1.1 Mercs patch came
out, people
who run with 3D hardware acceleration couldn't get wireframe. Anyone know if
this is true?
I'm running Titanium in 3D hardware mode with no wireframe.
Alan Clark wrote:
> You can return it by altering the gamekey map file in Mercs
> type:
> ENHANCED_VISION w
>
> ----MechKilla
--
Brian
reply via e-mail: photonic at mediaone dot net
Darrell Mayeda
LoneWolf wrote:
>
> Uh nope, ya don't. Which is too bad. Now if Activision would help out
> and clue us in to how the hell we can reactivate it that would be great.
> I know this isn't your area Dan (Kegel) but since you seem to frequent
> the group more often than any of the others could you put a bug in
> someone's ear and get them to reveal how in god's name we can get our
> enhanced imaging back? With as bloated as the mw.prj file is getting I
> can't believe the code has been removed. What's the trick?
>
> LoneWolf
>
> Shawn M. B./A.I.G
> >
> > want Enhanced Vision
> >
> > I dont know about the Tit. Version
> > But for Mercs add this line
> >
> > ENHANCED_VISION w
> >
> > in your Gamekey.map
> >
> > now you have it.
> >
Sorry, but you're out of luck. Dan has been forced to take a break from
the newsgroups for a while due to medical problems. We just have to
hope someone else is monitoring the newsgroups.:-p
--
----------------------------------------------------
Darrell Mayeda
drma...@pixi.com
spam>@agate.net Shawn M. B./A.I.G
want Enhanced Vision
I dont know about the Tit. Version
But for Mercs add this line
ENHANCED_VISION w
in your Gamekey.map
now you have it.
BloodHand Mercenaries - Astral Dominion League
http://www.agate.net/~shaman/bh_mercs/
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Brute Dragon <brute...@NOSPAMworldnet.att.net> wrote in article
<6gsfo0$j...@bgtnsc02.worldnet.att.net>...
Tseng
As I understand it, the Clans and their 'mechs are SUPPOSED to have enhanced
imaging (wire frame) and low light amplification (which is green). The Inner
Sphere DOESN'T have enhanced imaging and ONLY have thermal optics (i.e.,
infrared, which is red). Does anyone think that it would be impossible to
implement this in future games/patches? After all, you have to follow the
story line; don't you?
Darrell Mayeda
Sorry, but I think Activision completely removed Enhanced Imaging in the
Mercs 1.1 so you don't get it in any of the three games. Thank you
activision. NOT!!!!!!!!!!!
Skinner/Tsoth (Dennis E. Weldy)
> No.
>
> john
>
> -------------------------------------------------
> jo...@pball.com Pursuit Ballistics, Inc.
> If the blues don't kill you, Brother, they'll
> make you a mighty, mighty man.
Hehe, Activision sure didn't. As for the tech thing: don't assume that because
Activision sez thermal is all the IS had, that this was true. IS has the
equivelent of Starlite scopes and many other sensory systems. Most of the ability
to improve and maintain them has been lost, however. The Clans systems, like
everything else, just worked better. Activision seems to have chosen to effect
this as to have the IS have less options. To be perfectly honest, IR cameras are a
_higher_ tech, NOT lower then simple light amplification. US tanks use smoke
grenades that mask off most other sensoery systems of old soviet equipment while
their IR systems see right through it.
--
"In wildness is the preservation of the world."
-Metallica
X Remove "spam.me.not." when relpying X
LoneWolf
I could be all wet here but in many of the Btech novels, I have read
many times where an IS pilot has engaged magres imaging. It seems to me
that this might be a pretty fair equivalent to the Clan's use of so
called 'enhanced imaging', either of which being equally believable as
the wireframe view in the game. Despite Activision's lame excuse about
the IS not having anything comparable it just doesn't wash.
If it were a technical problem in the conversion from 8 bit graphics to
16 bit, it might be more believable except that they seem to have done
it just fine in Heavy Gear. It's not like the game engine is so vastly
different from Mercs or MW2 either. If you peruse the .prj file you see
tons of leftovers from Mercs in HG. In addition to this, the 8 bit
version on the Titanium CD does still permit wireframe with the well
known change made to the gamekey.map file.
The problem with Activision lay not with the programmers or the testers
or anyone else deeply involved with the projects. I cannot be made to
believe that anyone would be willing to work 16 - 20 hours a day for
weeks on end with the intention of delivering what we see on the shelves
being the product they were killing themselves for.
No, the blame belongs solely to the suits in sales and marketing. Those
are the bastards whom should be made to suffer the tortures of the
Spanish Inquisition for their heinous misdeeds. Forgive my strong
language, as I have no intent to offend the good folks who frequent this
newsgroup, but I sincerely hope that every one of those pricks
responsible for perverting what was to be and instead pushing this
bastardized rehash of Battlepack out the door, somehow suffers some fate
too awful to mention, involving neverending longlasting pain. At least.
As a final note, I say good for Tim Morten and everyone who left with
him. Looks good on ya Activision!
LoneWolf
tsc...@activision.com
I admire your candor and I partially agrree with you. There is a lot of
pressure on us (the people who make the game) from the sales/marketing folks
you mention, but that is not an excuse for the quality of the games I
release. I personally take responsiblity of Titanium as the producer, but I
also took the resposibility to try inform the public (this newsgroup) of the
current status of the project (see previous posts). There is a few things
you should know, I am given a specific amount of time and a specific amount
of money to do my job. When either of those two things are gone, I have two
choices, kill the project, or release what I have. In the case of Titanium I
chose to release what I had with an attempt at letting everyone know what I
was providing. I am a concerned gamer who is interesetd in hearing your
input. Please feel free and e-mail me directly if you think your questions
are not being answered on these newsgroups.
Tyler
Producer Activision
PS The ideas presented are my own and do not necessarily indicate the ideas
of my employer.
In article <3539A4D0...@cadvision.com>,
-----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
http://www.dejanews.com/ Now offering spam-free web-based newsreading
Marty
Tyler,
I have to admit that I'm disappointed in what Titanium turned into, from
what ActiDave and others were telling us that it would be. What is really
disappointing, is that I already owned Mech2, GBL and Mercs before I bought
Titanium and was expecting something that fixed bugs and tied the three
games together. All I got out of the $50 bucks that I spent was a 3dfx GBL -
not much comfort knowing that I can get a mail in rebate and the multiplayer
versions included in Titanium are now up on your web site.
As far as running out of money or time for a project - I'm a product manager
in the technology group for the company I work for. I don't want to sound
harsh, but I can't imagine having a job if I put a project plan together,
and failed to deliver the "as specified product" to my customers. Maybe
it's different because my customers are my own company's operations.
We (mech gamers) have seen this become a trend at activision over the last
couple of years. Mercs typifies the fact that Activision is pushing too
many projects to be "completed" in a "marketing" specified time frame that
is unrealistic without the appropriate resources being assigned to the
project. This is simply a recipe for a product development disaster. I
personally saw an incomplete and not fully tested product get thrown over
the wall to the customers while I was beta testing - despite numerous beta
testers voicing their disapproval.
As producer for Titanium, you should have put a detailed Gantt chart
together detailing all the tasks, with resources and time tables for
completing those tasks. As milestones were not met in your project, you
should have alerted management and detailed what resources were needed to
deliver this product. I have personally shut down projects that did not
meet specifications to avoid my company delivering an inferior product to my
customers (your customers now feel slighted and many have sworn off
Activision). At some point, you obviously began to realize that you had
seriously underestimated the scope of the project, and had not planned
appropriately. As the Producer, that product and its successful
commercialization are your responsibility - you should have either shut it
down, or allocated the resources to complete it. Throwing your hands up and
releasing what you have should NOT have been an option.
Sorry if this sounds like a bitch slap - just voicing my frustration with
every Activision game I've bought since Mech2.
JagdMech
tsc...@activision.com wrote in message <6hj206$nap$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>...
Dan Kegel
All good points. However, look at Battlezone; I think that's proof that
Activision can sometimes get it right. There are some indications that
Civ3 and HG2 will also do things right.
The deal with Titanium may have been partly that there was no lead
programmer on the Activision end- only on the contractor's end.
(Being a lead programmer, I of course think that lead programmers are
the keystone of any successful development effort :-)
So nobody was minding the technical store, as it were, which
caused the schedule to slip more than it was allowed to.
Also, they swapped producers near the end, which caused a little more
slip.
Just my two cents.
- Dan
--
Reply to dank at alumni.caltech.edu
The opinions expressed in this message are my own,
and are not the opinions of my employer.
Charles Darwin - a guy with a Vastly dangerous idea!
aa
bb
cc
dd
munch
aa
November 17
On Wed, 22 Apr 1998 23:51:20 -0700, Dan Kegel
<da...@alumni.caltech.edu> wrote:
<sniped: praises of BattleZone, Civ3 and HG2.>
<sniped: excuses why the Titanium Pack is so lame.>
>Just my two cents.
Which in reality is probably MY two cents, and the LAST two cents
Activision will ever get from me!
Fool me once (v.1.1 patch for Mercs), shame on you. Fool me twice
(Heavy Gear), shame on me.
"Homey" DON'T buy Activision no more!
Dennis Thompson
>All good points. However, look at Battlezone; I think that's proof that
>Activision can sometimes get it right. There are some indications that
>Civ3 and HG2 will also do things right.
>The deal with Titanium may have been partly that there was no lead
>programmer on the Activision end- only on the contractor's end.
>(Being a lead programmer, I of course think that lead programmers are
>the keystone of any successful development effort :-)
>So nobody was minding the technical store, as it were, which
>caused the schedule to slip more than it was allowed to.
>Also, they swapped producers near the end, which caused a little more
>slip.
>
>Just my two cents.
>- Dan
>
>--
>Reply to dank at alumni.caltech.edu
>
>The opinions expressed in this message are my own,
>and are not the opinions of my employer.
>
>Charles Darwin - a guy with a Vastly dangerous idea!
>
welcome back dan!
thought you split :)
just teasing, come back anytime
it's good to hear the voice of sanity in the wilderness..
SEE THE ADVENTURES OF GHOSTDOG AT:
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