On the Fence...

[TF-M]

I am very interested in this game but a tad bit concerned by some of the things I have been reading. It seems like the game has a significant amount of signifcant bugs that effect gameplay...how DOES this effect gameplay?

Also am I correct that this is now the only version of the game available because I don't care much about multiplayer if other versions of the game were more stable.

Also it does not sound like this game is going to be supported very much longer by the publisher as they seem ready to move on to the business of getting the next version of the game out. Is this true?

I mean the best here, I am not trying to be negative, just trying to make an informed decision.

PS I never was able to get the demo to work. All I ever got was the .INI dialog box but could never figure out how to get it to load the game.

Also one other question. Is there any sound in the game?

[hermanhum]

ORIGINAL: TF-M

I am very interested in this game but a tad bit concerned by some of the things I have been reading. It seems like the game has a significant amount of signifcant bugs that effect gameplay...how DOES this effect gameplay?

Also am I correct that this is now the only version of the game available because I don't care much about multiplayer if other versions of the game were more stable.

Also it does not sound like this game is going to be supported very much longer by the publisher as they seem ready to move on to the business of getting the next version of the game out. Is this true?

I mean the best here, I am not trying to be negative, just trying to make an informed decision.

PS I never was able to get the demo to work. All I ever got was the .INI dialog box but could never figure out how to get it to load the game.

Also one other question. Is there any sound in the game?

Yes, there is sound. [:)]

The demo does work. Lots of folks are trying it. If you have problems, just post them up. Someone will be around to help answer them for you. Try it again. After you get the .INI box, try hitting the Harpoon3.exe, again.

IIRC, the first time the *.INI box appears, it is just setting up your *.ini file for you. The second time actually starts up the demo. Get the demo here: AGSI if you want to try, again.

The older 3.6.3 was, IMO, stable. Lots of bugs, but at least you knew about them [after the bug lists were published] and could try to work around them. ANW, IMO, has lots of new behaviour. In time, I suspect that we will find out the new bugs and be able to do the same.

I don't use the MP function, either. But I'm finding and reporting many behaviours to AGSI. Hopefully, they get fixed. There are certainly some major Scenario Killers out there. For example, if the ViCond Bug I just reported is as extensive as it might be, then any scen you play in ANW is likely to evaluate erratically. They just might not be winnable no matter what you do!

[YankeeAirRat]

The game is stable and those few bugs that are out there right now are not major killers to the basic mechanics of game play. The bugs as far as I know are affecting the multiplayer side of the house.
 
This is now the most current verison of Harpoon 3 out there. However, the cousion to this which is called Harpoon classic is still for sale via the publisher. That too will be coming over here to Matrix soon and be published by Matrix as well.
 
This game will be support for as long as there is a fan base. This version started out as an attempt by a few of the originally designers and writers of the code for predacessor to this version which was called Harpoon 2 (aka H2)and make it windows compliant. Harpoon 2 was strictly a DOS game and was very much a pain to run, had a large number of bugs and was just there on becoming a great game but was rushed out the door by its publisher Three-Sixty Games. After a while of people monkeying around to make H2 work in Win95, a couple of the orignal coders got the rights to the game and started to make changes and created Harpoon 3 (H3) (and originally for MAC)and slowly worked thier way up to crushing bugs and making this a very stable game inside most Windows shells. The fan base were ones that volunterred for beta testing, for bug reports, and gave money over numerous times over to purchase this game and move it up to where it is today. According to the design company as long as there are people asking for updates and improvements they will be writing these improvements
 
There is sound in this game. You will hear aircraft/helos taking off, a staff assistant reporting new contacts, music played when you lose or win a scenario, weapons being fired, etc. For those that are really interested there is also some short videos of said events. However, most people turn them off after the first couple of scenarios since they do get annoying in some of the larger scenarios.
 
I would recommend that you get the demo again and play around with trying to get the demo to work to see for yourself if you want to purchase this game. If you want help setting up the demo, I am sure that there are people here more then willing to help you out. Just got to ask

[TF-M]

Ok. Got the demo to work. I am monkeying around with it now. Thanks. If anyone else has opinions about this game I would love to hear them.

Thanks.

[Hertston]

As a total Harpoon newb, I'm really enjoying it, although still very much finding my feet. I've not had any bug trouble yet, although to be honest anything that wasn't too obvious I might well miss at present.

ORIGINAL: TF-M

Also it does not sound like this game is going to be supported very much longer by the publisher as they seem ready to move on to the business of getting the next version of the game out. Is this true?

My own impression is that it probably isn't. If by "the next game" you mean the Commanders Edition, as I understand it that is a different (albeit closely related) game which will be sold in parallel to ANW, not as a replacement for it. Any other significant version seems a very long away, and I've seen no evidence that this one won't be supported for some considerable time.

[hermanhum]

ORIGINAL: Hertston

My own impression is that it probably isn't. If by "the next game" you mean the Commanders Edition, as I understand it that is a different (albeit closely related) game which will be sold in parallel to ANW, not as a replacement for it. Any other significant version seems a very long away, and I've seen no evidence that this one won't be supported for some considerable time.

Bang on description. [:)]

I often liken Harpoon 3 and Harpoon Classic to the National Football League and the Canadian Football League. If you look at them quickly, you will see that they come from similar roots and same general idea. However, if you dig deeper, you will find significant differences in how they try implement the fundamentals. The same applies to how Harpoon Classic and Harpoon 3 try to simulate modern naval warfare. Both are fun games, but they just are not interchangeable.

[Late Edit: Forgot the word "Not"]

[Anonymous]

[Deleted by Admins]

[Sergeant]

OK, I guess I'm still on fence too over system requirements. If the game requires 512 megs of RAM to run and I only have 192 Megs (64 in each of the three slots) what does a memory cache do for me towards that requirement?
32 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Should I try to install additional RAM in the three slots? I'm not very technical minded - but I figure I need about 200 in each for this to work properly. Is it possible to upgrade Magahertz too?

I'm in a quandry on what to do. If I recall correctly memory is sold in DRAMS... is that correct?
I guess this is turning into computer guts 101 for me.

[Erik Rutins]

Sergeant,

192Mb is definitely on the low end. If you can, please follow the instructions in the Support sub-forum to create and post a DxDiag file. That should give us enough info on your system to determine if it can run H3ANW or not.

Regards,

- Erik

[Anonymous]

[Deleted by Admins]

[hermanhum]

ORIGINAL: Sergeant

OK, I guess I'm still on fence too over system requirements. If the game requires 512 megs of RAM to run and I only have 192 Megs (64 in each of the three slots) what does a memory cache do for me towards that requirement?
32 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Should I try to install additional RAM in the three slots? I'm not very technical minded - but I figure I need about 200 in each for this to work properly. Is it possible to upgrade Magahertz too?

Allow me to interject some anecdotal findings. This is only for H3.6.3 but you can draw whatever conclusions you wish. It is not definitive and should not be mis-interpreted as absolute.

When I first started playing H3, I had 1.6 gHz processor with only 128mB RAM. And, I started playing all the biggest scenarios. In fact, I played all the Monsters by Klaus Behrmann before I tried the smaller ones. It was difficult, but they all ran. Sometimes, it would take 30 seconds of Real time for 1 second of Game time, but it ran.

After upgrading with an additional 256mB RAM to 384mB RAM, things ran more smoothly. Now, from my testing of ANW, I am finding it running at 65-80% of the speed that H3.6.3 ran. (This is purely subjective!) I did do a benchmark test on a Monster-sized scen and found that the run speed for it was 9 times slower than the exact same test time for the exact same scenario in H3.6.3.

So, what might you infer from this anecdote? Well, IMO, your computer will likely be able to run it. However, it might be so slow that you will take a baseball bat to it. [:(] The really tiny scens will probably run, but any medium+ will run like molasses. Also, if you are in it for the MP, even if it runs, it might make your opponents 'despise' you if their systems are constantly waiting for your computer to catch up to the action. [;)]

Again, allow me to reiterate. This is only my opinion and should not be mis-construed as sound technical advice.

[jpkoester1]

ORIGINAL: hermanhum
Also, if you are in it for the MP, even if it runs, it might make your opponents 'despise' you if their systems are constantly waiting for your computer to catch up to the action. [;)]

Again, allow me to reiterate. This is only my opinion and should not be mis-construed as sound technical advice.

Don't nail me down on it, but from what I understand in MP the server does all the heavy computing and the clients only display the results. Main bottleneck for MP would thus be network bandwidth.

Cheers,
JP

[TF-M]

So far I am enjoying the tutorial scenarios. My favorite touch is when the crew reports a new contact or that a contact is loss. I love the com voice. [:)]

[hermanhum]

You Freak! [:D]

Glad to hear that you are enjoying the experience. Now, turn out the lights and put in a Red light bulb.

"Alpha Sierra reports, New Contact bearing...."

[FransKoenz]

ORIGINAL: TF-M

So far I am enjoying the tutorial scenarios. My favorite touch is when the crew reports a new contact or that a contact is loss. I love the com voice. [:)]

Wait until you hear the lovely ladies-voice that reports a new sub-contact.

[center][/center]

[Sergeant]

Thanks for all the input guys. I'm going to look into upgrading my RAM in the next day or two.

Hope I don't break anything in the process!