LarryHookins

WB Hammer! I remember a Hammer from the old days. Good to have you back. Hook PS. WB = Welcome Back. Remind me not to post when I'm in IRC.

Even better, talk your unit into buying a full PRO license. Then you can request certain new features, if they're willing to pay extra. Hook

There are no bases as such in Steel Beasts. There may be command and control centers. If they are in a scenario, they are probably worth points for destroying them. Steel Beasts is very unlike any shooter game you've played. But the video was funny. Hook

Turns out the CPU heating was another problem. A new heat sink with clips that weren't broken fixed the overheating. It idles at 44 now. Larry

Doesn't matter where you get your first aid training, as long as it works and you apply it properly. Sounds great to me! Larry

Just out of curiosity, what is the other simulation? I just upgraded from a 7300 GT to a slightly overclocked 8800 GT. I posted in another thread about my frame rates. You can max the settings for two of the sliders in SB Pro, but ground cover is a real frame rate killer. I dropped it back from 100 to 30 and got an additional 10 frames per second. You could probably run it maxed if you really wanted. My computer originally came with a 6600 GT. It was a great card, much better than the 7300. But it didn't like having dust in the fan. Heck, I didn't even know it HAD a fan! If that other simulation is, by any chance, Microsoft Flight Simulator X, don't expect much improvement by the video card upgrade. The biggest boost you'll get from the better card is the ability to run higher screen resolutions at similar frame rates. Larry

Hey! I had butterflies in MY tummy when I ordered too! Larry

I just got the card today. I may need to tweak stuff a bit. Backing the ground cover off to 30 added 10 frames per second to the first two scenarios. Honestly, I didn't notice any difference in the ground clutter with that setting. Something I'm finding odd now is that my CPU runs hotter than it did. At idle it used to be around 50C. Now it's up to 55. I even cleaned out the fan and heat sink while I had the computer open. Larry

I got the 8800 GT overclocked by eVGA to 650MHz, I think. I set all the sliders to max and ran a few scenarios. Screen resolution was full screen, 1024x768x32. In one test I was driving around some very complex terrain in a Hummer, no other action going on. Frame rates were around 15, not really bad. Playing the M2 multi units scenario, frame rates were 15 to 30+ depending on what was going on. At one point the frame rate dropped to 8 momentarily, but I was looking close-up at smoke with lots of terrain around me. M1 gunnery tutorial D ran at 50+ frames per second. I wasn't using anti-aliasing, so I don't know what effect that would have. Would be nice if that was controlled in the game. Larry

I'll let you know. I've got one on the way, should be here tomorrow some time. Only $300, just to play games. Larry

I think if your explosions were a bit less asymmetrical I'd like 'em more. I think Major Magee thinks so too. Larry

Most people just wear wristwatches. ahem. Larry

Last I heard (many years ago... either SB1 days or M1 Tank Platoon 2 days) everything about the Merkava was classified. One guy in the community was in the IDF and posted some interesting info about the Merkava... then realized he wasn't supposed to and deleted it. I used to have the file somewhere. That was probably 3 or 4 computers ago. The Merkava is indeed an interesting tank, and I'd love to see it in the game. Larry

Once Pandora's box has been opened, there's no way to unopen it. Try looking at the same scene in the mission editor external view. Turn the TIS on and see what the difference is. Here's another example from the game. Larry

I think the question of whether or not it is a cheat can be answered easily enough. If you were playing H2H in very low visibility, possibly without map updates and a bunch of computer controlled units in the scenario as well, would you be happy if your opponent had this mod and you didn't? Larry

I have a good idea what you did to get that effect. I'll give it a try myself and let you know what I think. I suspect the main effect will be to extend the effective range of the TIS considerably. You'll be able to identify details on vehicles at somewhat longer ranges. You can see a similar effect when testing a scenario in the mission editor. When you're in external view, you can toggle the thermal imaging using the normal commands. The view is very clean compared to what you see through the sights. Larry

You only have 3 graphics files in that new version. Fire Fireball Xplode1 There's also a readme file Larry

At least he won't be alone. I remember many of them from my days in the Pentagon. There was one contract company called CACI. I don't remember what it actually stood for, but we usually referred to it as Captains and Commanders Incorporated. At least it's better than some of the people we could get. The fact that Steel Beasts is as good as it is (in those areas where it really shines) comes from the fact that almost everyone on the development team has been a tanker or ex-tanker. Apparently there are a lot of things on the table to improve infantry. Hang in there. Larry

I was about to say, "That looks pretty darn good!" then realized it wasn't the game! I remember muzzle flashes being somewhat bigger. It looks like the camera caught that pic before the flash reached full size. I'd estimate the size of the muzzle flash as a ball about 20-30 feet in diameter seen from the rear, but I've seen pics that show it as being elongated in the direction of fire. For those who haven't experienced the real thing, the muzzle flash is quick, like a flash bulb. The sound is very much like a shotgun, but louder. If you're anywhere near the tank you feel the heat from the muzzle flash. The color is what you see in that picture: yellow/white. You don't notice the color difference at the edges of the muzzle flash because it's so quick. The edges aren't perfectly smooth. When HEAT hits a tank, you just see a flash. But in infrared it looks like a fountain. We didn't have thermal sights in the M60A1 days. Larry

I just checked it in a couple of scenarios in SB Pro PE. A unit sitting in a defensive position (not dug in) with a conditional retreat command will usually pop smoke when the retreat command is executed if that unit is engaged at the time of the retreat. The CV9040 Introduction scenario in the tutorials for that vehicle shows this happening. Hook

A retreat route option will sometimes pop smoke if the unit is engaged at the time it retreats. Or it would in SB1... oops. Um, anyone know for sure in SB PE? Larry