Snappy

Hey Grim Reaper. Let me see if I can give an impression of what I see in SBProPE. A) first and foremost, this isn't a game, it's a high fidelity desk trainer for armies.. what this means is, the ammo, targeting, tactics command models are created to satisfy tanker teachers in a way that is true to form as compared to the actual training in the field B) think of this game as a flight simulator in accuracy, but I think it needs to said that flight simulators have had a long history of being 'retail able' and as such, have more development dollars backing them.. Steel Beasts until very recent, has had one programmer.. the development is as fast as can be, and the changes are deliberate yet steady - for instance, many armies won't buy the latest and fastest PCs to keep pace with the software, so this keeps the game from becoming a graphic extravaganza C) the game can be as easy or hard to play as you decide.. if you load up a mission requiring you to just gun from one tank, it would be easy.. easy in the sense that the switchology and mechanics of gunning can be, yet still difficult to be good at it.. easy to play, yet hard to master, like leading to drive a car, or being a winning driver in a F1 car - the game becomes much harder, when you advance to making tactical and strategic plans for controlling the units, and even harder as this is often done on-the-fly in the heat of battle D) the cost of the game seems high, yet do know that it is updated quite often, and has been around for decades, so the value is great.. now and then a major update comes along, and eSim charges a small fee for that, which is awesome - the community isn't huge, they don't profit from the gamers, they make their money from the army contracts.. it's a real great thing that eSim even offers this sim to gamers, I imagine most sims as this are hidden away from the public! E) unfortunately, there can be limits and errors in this sim that likely affect gamers more so than the military customers, and therefore aren't a priority to be fixed.. or possibly fixing them would break something else.. I'm only guessing, but the AI 'pathing' can be a frustration at times, such as simple tasks as crossing a bridge often has units getting stuck in a river.. also, due to the developmental limits, the performance of the game engine are 'tight'.. ideally a total rewrite of the engine now and then throughout the game's life cycle would be ideal, for instance taking advantage of multiple CPU cores F) there is nothing else that compares to SBProPE.. this sim is totally distinct, and if you're slightly interested in what it offers, GET IT (period) G) the mission / tactical planning is very thorough.. unit routing is really cool and the way they can be directed/programmed to move is amazing.. very logical with boolean operators H) to really excel at this 'game', I'd guess that you need to really understand unit tactics, their limits, how they work together as a team-unit, logistics and resupply, and command... if you've been in the army, you're set to understand this game better, and a lot of the players have this experience.. I don't, and couldn't tell the difference from a batallion from a company.. unit map markings and the terminology involved is a bit overwhelming, yet if you research this stuff, then mastering this game is possible.. kind of like ARMA, to really do well and run with the big dogs, you gotta know your stuff - yet, as the community is small and very tight, they welcome all comers, and playing online is a joy, and if all you feel you can do is drive the tank and take direction from the tank commander, then you will have fun! Anyways, I hope this response isn't taken anymore than just one person's opinion of what the game means to me. I've played it off and on since the original release of Steel Beasts, but consider myself a noob at it - totally! I don't play it enough, and blame my joystick and wish I had a gunners handles station to use (why can't the community come together and manufacture something affordable?). I download and play the easiest missions I can find, and have yet to join in on an online mission. Snappy

I concur. PUUUHLEEEZE. Video!

For those of you who haven't seen, or those who are new to the sim, or those who've forgot, go check out Cobrabase's YouTube channel. 140+ videos: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6AA6A05EDFD7457F "Enthusiastic" is putting his gameplay mildly... Maybe plug the youngster's ears as some of the action commentary is spirted! Snappy / ZSnt

I bought M1 Tank Platoon for the PC, even before I had bought my 1st PC! Pretty sure I still have it packed away somewhere. I'm ecstatic that eSim sells to us, the public, what is a desktop military trainer. Unlike flight sims, which most likely garner more funds from their branch of the military, and as such have more resources to develop their sims into something more flashy and graphically appealing, I think eSim have done wonders in creating a solid simulation, like no others. What with their update of the graphics engine, I'm sure as time and funds are available, they will continue to refine and update the graphics. They've done so in the past. My point is, the graphic engine work is started. That's the foundation for them to add on to it and tweak it, and add graphics features down the road! Awesome!

ALL: My dongle wasn't working, had an error that was deemed "broken". I sent it out to the California address awhile back, and a new dongle arrived today. It was empty of the SBProPE license, but after emailing eSim Games (this time it was Ssnake), within a few minutes he responded (heck it's 1AM there right now)! Through my web browser, that is setup with Java, a new license was applied. I then upgraded to the latest version, which went just as smooth, and the newer license was also applied. EVERYTHING IS NOW WORKING, was very easy to do! Snappy

Pfft! Anyways, I dropped my WIBU CodeMeter stick off with Canada Post today, the shipping back to California was so cheap, I did it AIR. $7. Unfortunately, I don't think the service I chose has a tracking number (which makes no sense), but it is insured for $100. PO BOX. Aptos, CA. My fingers are crossed. Must be a suburb, just not one I've ever heard of! It's been "years" since I played the sim, and even then, I had a hard time getting the practise in. Can't wait to do some tank busting again! Snappy

Heh, you're SeanPatrick... but some other guy named Sean emailed me with instructions, to add another server address to CCC... sean AT seans.info I wasn't sure if that was you as well, but I think it may have been Sean, the Steelbeasts.com forum administrator. He setup a trial period on a license for me to use. Different address, and without using Hamachi that time. BUT, Hamachi worked just fine, and provided a nice and secure method for borrowing. That was a wee bit confusing for a moment, but it's all OK now, and once again thankyou for helping me gather some information and using your spare license SeanPatrick! I will remove your server address from my CodeMeter WebAdmin settings. eSim games emailed me this AM to mail my stick in. They called WIBU on the phone and were told that the symptoms I had, were a fault in the stick, with no means to fix it myself. :-( Still, I'm paitent, and will wait for the replacement! :-) Snappy

Sean, Hamachi worked like a charm, once I installed v2.6 of SBProPE. It was really much easier than I planned for. :-) I tried my lower license version(s) first, with a few different versions of the CodeMeter Runtime Kit, but none of that worked. (i think) I was running SBProPE v2.328 and the latest v4.50c CodeMeter runtime (plus older runtimes), but like I said, this combination didn't allow me to borrow your license. On game execution, it kept asking me to install my CMStick into a USB port, and to [retry]. Finally, installing SBProPE v2.6 + Runtime v4.40b (either 32bit under XP or 64bit under 7) worked just as you instructed, and the game fired up. I went off on a few tangents, trying everything under the sun, with the WebAdmin, but this was due to the fact that SBProPE was an older version ...I think. I had to allow CodeMeter Control Center access thru my firewall, then once that was done, running the game worked. Note, I was wrong, no ports needed forwarding at all, in my router. (duh, this is usually only for inbound traffic) I simply downloaded and installed the SBProPE2_654 files, and installed (the game and runtime) as admin. Then added your Hamachi IP into the 'server search list', removed my dongle from the USB port, and the game fired up. Also, adding another 'demo' license to the server search list, without using Hamachi, worked like a charm as well. Almost too easy this.. Thanks again! :-D

Hi Sean & Nils, I went over to a friends place yesterday. His PC I used is pretty bone-stock WinXP, not for gaming and with a (rather) new OS install. I tried to install SBProPE from the original disc and used the dongle, and it gave the same API (60) error on starting the sim, that I've had from the beginning of my ordeal. Then later, back at the ranch.. I must have spent 12 hours in total, over the weekend, doing some serious diagnostics while using a fresh Win7 install on my home rig. Borrowing a demo license over the 'Net (following directions more closely) I managed to get it to work. (thanks again to ALL who lent me the licenses to help diagnose - all lent licenses work) Here's my guess, I believe there is a likely hardware/firmware fault with my stick. I believe this is the case, because I could get the game to run on my PC, with the lent license. I know Windows well, and my USB subsystem isn't showing any events or other issues at all.. My gut tells me my hardware & Windows subsystems are fine. SOME DETAILS THAT I NOTICED: a) it blinks orange/green 5-8 times when plugged in, and always has (seems normal) b) after plugged in, it shows up in the CM CC (taskbar icon is blue) and WebAdmin with my SBProPE 2.x license intact as it should look c) it has a very old (2009) certificate timestamp, that cannot be updated (error 400 or 300).. this is likely the failure, as I noticed that everyone else's cert timestamps are current d) ..also, attempting a firmware update, after downloading, always fails (error 9101), then the stick's LED is lit solid orange (ANGRY!) e) when firing up the game it fails (API error 60) in a Windows dialog f) "BOX EVENT HW60-507", "API event WB0060 (BOX ERROR)" on updating time certificates (CM CC-->PROCESS-->UPDATE TIME CERIFICATES) g) the kicker is, the game installed from CD, doesn't work on a 2nd 'black-box' Dell PC, and on that PC I got the same errors, and the real-kicker is I couldn't update the time certificate on that PC either.. same error "400" doing this too h) on my 100% fresh Win7 partition, DX9.0c, 130+ windows and firewall and antivirus updates, all chipset drivers are the latest versions, no router, installed as admin, whitelisted in UAC, AV+firewall shut off and the dongle plugged directly into (all ports were tried) the back of the motherboard... after all of this, the dongle fails... the borrowed thru the 'Net license on v2.6 works fine.. plug the stick in, remove the lent license entries, and it fails with same "BOX" error Just thought you all would like to know I'm playing/practicing the game again! I've v2.6 of SBProPE installed, and once this CMStick issue is resolved, I don't think I'll want to go back to the older 2.x version of the sim, and will likely get the latest license. I only wish someone would fabricate up some Cadillacs for us to buy, AFFORDABLY! :-D Snappy

I'm a Albertasauraus myself Ssnake. Roar.

I've Tapatalk on my Nexus7 tablet, and it works I suppose, but I'll be honest, I can see the benefit, maybe the iPad applet is better, but AFAIK, I like the browser interface better. I paid for it, maybe I need to learn to use it more fully, maybe in a cellphone it has more use, but for me, Tapatalk isn't the cat's ass. Now I know not to go looking for SB forums in that applet. ps I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks 'apps' are a bunch of baloney either. Give me a real program to run, with 100's of features, not a hundred little 'apps' and icons on my device, doing a hundred tiny seperate features... Snappy

Ah, I'm back. Too many changing email addresses for me these days, All - I found the problem and it's fixed, my account is up and working again. (whoops!) Ssnake, I FWD'd you the email I sent CodeMeter about my API 60 error, thanks for the response! Thanks for the efforts! Sean, thanks for the offer of the borrowing of your spare licence. I sent you a PM, with my "best"/current email address if you have time to attempt to lend me your licence. I'm hoping if nothing else, this might help diagnose if my CMStick is pooched! (..and let me do some T72 smashing in the meantime if I have to wait for a replacement) AGAIN, SSnake and Sean, thanks for the assistance, and I'll wait patiently for a day or two, to see what the support staff at CodeMeter say to my errors! Snappy/Darryl

I'm hoping someone will help my (ahem) Dongle Problem: I DID: a) used to work fine, licenced for original 2.x SBPro PE only at this point b) installed SBPro PE and 64bit v4.5 CodeMeter server on BRAND-NEW Win7 64bit INSTALL c) diasbled firewall and antivirus d) added both the SBPro and CodeMeter executables to DEP's whitelist e) turned off UAC during the install f) running the WebAdmin, it shows a licence for SBPro, 100146 eSim Games, Product Code 11051, QTY-1 g) ran CMDust and emailed CodeMeter the results h) was running in the past under WINXP, and the error and action under both the fresh WIN7 and the old WINXP install are identical i) tried different USB ports, skipping the hub and plugging direct into the motherboard j) checked the BIOS USB settings, tried having the stick AUTO and HDD forced, with a 20 SEC delay on the POST (pretty much default) k) haven't tried it in a 2nd machine... Everytime I run SBPro PE I get a Windows dialog named SBProPEcm.exe stating: " CodeMeter API error occured (Error 60)! " Of course the game fails to load. If I try to update the firmware of the CMStick (v1.14 now) through CodeMeter Control Center, by pressing the circular arrow button, it runs (permitted thru the firewall), warns me of the impending update, then fails saying: " The firmware Field Update process failed. The CmDongle rejected the update because the update file is corrupt (WB47). " Is my stick busted, and will CodeMeter respond with a fix? I wanna smash some T72's!!! Waaa! AUUUUUUGGGHH! Snappy