umm... sorta. You can map two keys to any action in the controls layout panel, so you just setup your joystick in there, then when you hop in a plane, just grab the joystick and go... while leaving you the option to use the keyboard if you want.

I have the BF1942 demo installed in my computer, and it seems to run. I just don't understand what I am supposed to do to play the game.

I get as far as a dialog box with a countdown timer, asking me to "Select a Spawning Point" and after that nothing I do seems to accomplish anything.

What am I supposed to do here?

tanstaafl.

Copy of the email i sent:

Okay, you have that map overlay in the upper right hand corner. When it says select spawn point, you press "Enter" to make the map larger and show the spawn points, which are white dots. Click on one of them to designate where you want to spawn. As your team captures spawn points, these might disappear and new one might show up... so you can change where you spawn after you die. After you've selected one, just hit "Enter" again to minimize the map and wait til you spawn. The "N" and "M" keys will zoom the map while it's minimized. "E" will make you enter a vehicle. When you are in a vehicle... "C" toggles your view... and if there are multiple positions in the vehicle... "1", "2", "3" etc will switch your position. Everything else is pretty much standard FPS stuff. Make sure you read the readme file and the strategies thing on their website. =]

I bought the game. Sub-standard graphics, but i *certainly* care less about that than actual gameplay.

Problem is: I'm on 56K DUN and the game is essentially unplayable. This is the worst net code I've seen since the original QuakeWorld release. It appears as though even basic collision detection is handled server-side which screws the client-prediction model all to hell.

I connected to ONE server in several days worth of tries that was actually playable for 60 or so seconds on end before the "Connection Problem Detected" message pops up. They should have put a small connection icon somewhere on the screeen instead of destroying what little hope I have of guessing what's going on during these frequent problems.

Basically, you're looking at a game that does no more (network-wise) than Tribes2. At least Tribes2 is playable.

I haven't checked the official site for news (although I did upgrade) to see if they're working on better net code, but I have to recommend that DUNies like me stay away from this one.

-Tod

Yeah... agreed. Unless i find a server that's a 70 or less ping, forget it. It's definitely a LAN game, and even then the server has to be the fastest thing on earth. That said, i had a server running last night with Scott and I on my ADSL and it was smooth as silk.

Who's gonna be on aramis tonight? =]

"That said, i had a server running last night with Scott and I on my ADSL and it was smooth as silk. "

Don't waggle your fat pipe at me, Loren.

The one thing I haven't been able to figure out is how to open the front "gate" on the small boats... anyone know that one?

- Jon

Up and down arrows. Hold UP to open, hold DOWN to close.

Same as what you mapped the 'dive' and 'rise' buttons to for the sub. Took me forever to figure that out.

Remembed that there's two places to be in the boat - as a passenger, you can't get it. But as the driver, you can raise and lower the gate.

I wonder if the boat could be stolen? I know you (I ) can swim to the carrier, shoot a few people on the way to the deck, jump in a plane, and then do figure 8's dive bombing it with torpedoes! The boat would sure save time.

I wonder if the boat could be stolen

Yes landing craft can be stolen, but not the ships.

Loren posted these tips in the original Battlefield 1942 thread.

Holy crap... i just installed the Aopen GeForce4 Ti4200 128mb card and wow! I'm now getting regular 60-80 fps. Wooot! I still need more ram as it's chugging on the hard drive every now and then... but damn, for $150 that was totally worth it. You should see Unreal 2003 in it too! And Quake cranked all the way up at 1280x1024. Nuts!

Man, that is cool. I'm sort of regretting buying the GF3-Ti200 now. Anyhow, will a BIG boost in ram increase FPS much? Or does it just help with loading time.

I'm hoping it will help. I noticed last night that the game still hits a wall when it has to hit the hard drive, and i've got 384MB Ram... i'm about to order 512 to beef it up. So yeah.. i think RAM can help since even with a top of the line card, the game chugs without enough ram.

The memory management programmer(s) on that project must suck or something... i dunno.

Planning on playing tonight from about 6:00 pst. I have gotten 4 or 5 friends into BF 1942. Loren, you should have gotten some kind of referral bounty for all the people that you influenced to get into this game!

Who's gonna play tonight?

- Jon

What's the minimum spec for the game, since I can't see it on the website? I've been holding off upgrading my PC at home until I need to do so to play new games - so is it time? Will my Athlon 600 cope? (And if not, anyone fancy suggesting a new mobo & processor?)

Bry.

System Requirements
===================

Minimum:

800 MHz CPU
256 Megabytes of RAM
3D accelerated GeForce 32 MB or equivalent with HTL
(Hardware Transform & Lightning) and 24-bit z-buffer
400 MB of free hard drive space
16X Speed CD-ROM/DVD-ROM
MS compatible mouse
DirectX 8 Compatible Sound Card

Required Operating Systems:

Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows XP or Windows 2000. Note that Windows 95 is not supported.

GeForce compatible cards will be supported and should work. If you do have such a card and experience problems please report type of card and drivers used.
-----

And trust me, the minimum will barely cut it... ESPECIALLY if you want to do singleplayer games. The AI takes insane amounts of CPU power... 80-100% according to the readme.

Well, I have everything bar the processor. Sod it, time to upgrade, especially if it's as good as everyone seems to be saying!

Thanks,
Bry.

Anybody seen the server? I can't find ARAMIS server tonight

I can start a server if need be...

As soon as they release a Linux server, I'll be setting up a small private server at work on our T1

Here's a question for the players, what(if anything) are you using for voice chat in the game? I've been out of the loop with windows gaming(You know, Linux freak) that I don't know what is used anymore.

I never liked Voicechat. If people's pings were really shitty, it'd be all broken up and unintelligible. Plus, no one really every had anything of interest to say. Is voice chat even available in BF1942? If so, i've never heard anyone use it.

I use Microsoft GameVoice with a friend to play BF1942. He neglected to tell me I had to sign up for MSN Messenger & Passport.NET to use it before I bought it. But it works really well, quality is close to that of normal telephone quality, but a major PIA to get working properly..
AFAIK there is no voice chat in BF1942 itself.

I'll have to snag one of those, I need a headset anyways. I've already got the pasport account and MSN setup, so it shouldn't be too much of a pain.

I use RogerWilco. Works good, and there's even a Linux Base Station server.

The guys at work are all PISSED that BF1942 doesn't have built in voice. They all got really used to using it in Counter Strike, and now can't stand not having it. Most of them said that's their biggest complaint about it.

BF1942 has killed my computer.

Actually, it's probably just coincidence... but I have to wonder.

I told my chief engineer at the radio station where I work about BF1942 and how a bunch of people on the bbs really liked it... so he went out and got a better video card for me (a GeForce3 Ti200 with 128 MB of RAM) and made me download the demo version of the game so he could see it. Gee, ain't life tough in the radio biz?

I did get the game up and running last Friday. [heresy] But I didn't care for it very much -- too much thinking, not enough action, too slow. [/heresy] So this morning I made the grand demo -- got to "Select Spawning Point" and had no mouse cursor. To the best of my knowledge, there is no way to gracefully exit the game without a mouse, so I had to hit the reset button.

That was the last time I ever saw video from that new video card. We put the old card in, everything worked fine (not BF1942, old card won't support it) and we were back in business. Swapped the new card back in, no video.

I figure it's all Loren's fault -- he was the one who first pointed out this dreadful game.

The engineer says he'll get me another card, and maybe tomorrow we can try and see if we can kill my computer again.

tanstaafl.

I had a problem where BF1942 would switch to my second display (TV) and my monitor would blank out, and go to sleep. This would happen even after rebooting. I have a Geforce4MX card... so you may want to check that out. And hit esc to exit the game... takes you back to the menu.

And hit esc to exit the game... takes you back to the menu.

But even at the menu, there is no way to quit without a mouse. (There probably is, really, but I just wasn't smart enough to figure out how...)

...would switch to my second display (TV) and my monitor would blank out, and go to sleep. This would happen even after rebooting. I have a Geforce4MX card... so you may want to check that out

Can you elaborate a bit on that? I don't quite understand what you are saying. We swapped the GeForce card in and out (with rebooting, of course) twice; it gave no output, but the old card did give output. What would I check for and how would I check it?

tanstaafl.