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"AoE demo is out..."

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This thread has been linked to the game 'Age of Empires 3'.
Wed 07/09/05 at 23:51
Regular
Posts: 2,781
[URL]http://aoe3.heavengames.com[/URL]

Cracking stuff.
Sun 11/09/05 at 20:28
Regular
"A man with a stick"
Posts: 5,883
Not really grabbing me this demo. Feels too familiar to previous AoE games, which may not be a bad thing for some people, but I was looking for something more. Meh, perhaps I'll just have to wait and see what the full version has to offer, especially if they've sorted out numerous problems from this version of the game.

Loved the graphics though, don't know why it's taken so long for rag-doll physics to make an appearance in a strategy game.
Sun 11/09/05 at 11:22
Regular
"Fishing For Reddies"
Posts: 4,986
SHEEPY wrote:
> It's fun but not really different at all.

Exactly.

Deaf this.... Black and White 2, please.
Sat 10/09/05 at 18:49
Regular
"Selected"
Posts: 4,199
I liked it when I killed them yokels.
Fri 09/09/05 at 18:24
Regular
"Excommunicated"
Posts: 23,284
It's fun but not really different at all.
Fri 09/09/05 at 17:59
Regular
"Captain to you."
Posts: 4,609
gamesfreak wrote:
> Just found something that is possibly dissapointing, there seems to
> be a population limit, a thing which let down the other games.

If a game doesn't have a population limit, i turn everything to lowest settings, produce stupidly high amounts of units and send in to their base, in the hope their computer is lower spec than mine and graphics are on medium or high, laggin out the game for them while i crush everything.
Fri 09/09/05 at 17:23
Regular
Posts: 6,492
Damarus wrote:
> My graphics card is a geForce 2 (A pile of assForce 2). I can put
> all the textures and stuff up to high on HL2 and it'll run. But even
> though all the stuff is on high it won't look as nice as someone
> elses HL2 who has everything on high who has a better card than
> mine.
>
> That was due to your card not being DirectX 9 compatible and
> therefore the game was running in full DirectX 7 detail which is
> completely crap compared to DX9.
>
> SHEEPY has a fully compatible DX9 card and therefore his high
> settings will be the best detail available in the game.
>
> EDIT: I have an X850 XT and I can run the games in completely max
> settings. The 7800 is a better card but it doesn't make the game look
> any better.

This is spot on. It's a thing in DirectX called hardware enumeration and every game has to run through a setup process to start the DirectX system for that game. This involves obtaining a list of capabilities for your card and thhe programmers can work out from there what your card can handle. Things like maximum texture resolutions, numnber of textures per pass etc is all discovered there and then the developer can use these when initialising the level and during the rendering process to work out how to draw the scene.

In theory all fully DX9 compatable cards should support the same features, but some of them are still minimum levels which need to be supported and the newer cards can be programmed specifically to show off. And I'd have a gamble on ATI's cards being pushed harder on this front by a MS game studio as some of these features above what DX9 supports will be in the 360.
Fri 09/09/05 at 17:14
Regular
"\\"
Posts: 9,631
Ohoho.

I remember one of the big improvements from II.

"Please give me chance to leave with my dignity

Accept Decline"

Decline every time baby! I'm wiping you off the face of this planet.

That got on my nerves so much in II.
Fri 09/09/05 at 17:07
Regular
Posts: 2,464
Yeah, I noticed quite a few bugs. Like one where an Indian would slide along the ground away from my explorer unit as he was firing. He didn't even take any health off, he just slid away like he was on a conveyer belt.
Fri 09/09/05 at 17:06
Regular
Posts: 10,364
J Nash wrote:
> I wouldn't say a population limit is a bad thing, it just makes you
> have to choose what kind of units you want.

I suppose, but there again, building a mass army of cannons and mortars would be nice. Except they take up like 5 population places per unit.

Anyway, looks like the demo is far from the 'finished release', some Ensemble developer has mentioned this on a forum: -

"The version I am playing now varies quiet a bit from the demo. We have literally fixed about 1000 bugs since the demo version. For starters, we caught a big bug that prevented the AI from being competitive (it tries too hard to get Wood it doesn't need), and we changed the UI a little bit (the shipment interface completely changed). We have resolved at least 100 compatability issues, and fixed a lot of the low-poly art. We have better support for widescreen mode."
Fri 09/09/05 at 17:04
Regular
Posts: 2,464
I wouldn't say a population limit is a bad thing, it just makes you have to choose what kind of units you want. Otherwise you could just create endless amounts of units and rush the enemy.

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