V1.00.06 beta feedback

[zakblood]

script boxes don't fit screen windows 10 64bit

1920x1080 res



box either needs to be resize able or rollover txt onto another line imo

[zakblood]

installs easy, looks good, loading time average on a SSD, on a slower pc rather long to load and get into game, tried a few settings and speeds so far, high end pc not bad about average for normal testing, low end rather slow tbh, so spec needs to consider this as some basic pc's configs this will be rather slow as it is.

options atm, basic, not all normal game functions are added, the ability to alter screens, windowed etc etc.

first impressions, looks good, but easy of use, well looks rather complex on first glance, another large manual needed, no tutorial, and nothing else to select, it's full or nothing atm it seems

in game quick glance, first 5 mins, map scroll good, but speed around map and general speed, can be sluggish, will re test on a few pc's and make up some other tests to see and form a different or better opinion on this, as it's not fluid either atm

tested on windows 10 64bit, 16gb of ram, with a 4 gb nvidia card i7 cpu, so a middle of the road setup and not my top end, but by no means my bottom end either

will go into more depth as i give it more time.

i5 3230m-3.0ghz 4gb of ram onboard vga chip

i7 2700k cpu with 16gb of ram (on test atm) for quick test and look for feedback

i7 3960X cpu with 32gb of ram

i7 5960X cpu with 16gb of DDR4 ram

have a few low end and medium pc's to check as well so as the test progresses, will see what works and what doesn't, 4gb of use for vga atm doesn't give a great display so maybe needs some optimization work later or still needed etc[X(]



options high, scripts oh my, loads and on and on and on, no idea what most if any do, but some will be in high heaven with the choice, for most they just won't visit this part imo

menu's and overall looks is very good.

loading time of pressing first load and into first screen for battle is slow, seems to take forever, first load for me i thought it had crashed it took so long, been a while a new beta had taken so long to load.

clicking any button seems to make the game pause while it thinks what to do for AI to give an answer or reply, so quit, or dismiss first screen for instant, isn't instant and is followed by a longer than normal pause.

even scrolling in an out isn't instant and makes the normal windows wait icon show until the action is done, this is rather concerning tbh, as if basic commands take longer, does make me wonder what a turn ending will be like[:(][>:][X(]

so first impressions isn't good speed wise atm i'm sorry to report, on given pc tested, i'd hate to use or test on anything a lot slower or less powerful but will be later on to compare [;)]

clicking on new game and play campaign is one of the slowest with nothing being displayed or shown, but time to get to first screen for me is rather slow

[zakblood]

map and unit colors seem to blend into each other on some levels of zoom with txt being very small to read also, this is and will be another area where users with not great eye sight or some display sizes will find it harder to play or use, on my size screen prolonged use would be harder on all but the next to closes zoom levels to fully see clearly with colors used and res chosen




altering bases on or off makes finding them easier, but not which side is which, giving a user the ability to make the icons or models larger or smaller to suit or the map etc could help, default isn't great as it is imo

[sPzAbt653]

They posted that some of the stuff you are talking about is still being worked on, if you hadn't seen this message:
tm.asp?m=4105023

[zakblood]

ok thanks, just giving my late impressing on what i see so as of yet not even looked or checked if it's been said or reported before, the hex darkness or G key for me is good, but with no options to alter the darkness or size of the hex size, eg a thin light hex can't be seen as well as a darker thicker line, if this has already been mentioned then sorry for repeating as i'm late and just come off hols[:(]

it seems even moving the mouse a few hexes makes some of the menu's disappear and get re drawn and re displayed, again rather odd and strange and not seen before tbh

[zakblood]

while leaving the mouse still displays more info, or less for a few hex moved




so screen redrawn for a few hex moved for me is overkill and imo also not needed, and distracts from what needs and what doesn't need displaying, as it alters your focus until it's redrawn and makes map mouse movement a higher than normal CPU and GPU cycle use than maybe needed, and it's slower to start off with, without the screen refreshing so often as it is

[sPzAbt653]

Welcome back ! And yeah, there is a ton of stuff to read here, I'm stopping in several times a day to try and keep up.

it seems even moving the mouse a few hexes makes some of the menu's disappear and get re drawn and re displayed, again rather odd and strange and not seen before tbh

Several others have commented the same. It seems to be the #1 Annoyance, followed closely by Subs having a tough time.

[zakblood]

ah good to know thanks, i tend to waffle on without reading what others put as my impression may be the same or different and as we all have our own pet likes and dislikes there all feedback and personal impressions while i test, i tend to either write notes or type, depending on how much time i have, atm i'm typing while testing, but it's doesn't come across as beta atm, and more like an early alpha i'm sorry to say,

reason are UI

lack of options, it's campaign it seems or nothing else,

lack of tool tips, or in game guides

clicking on one item seems to cancel half of what is displayed on the rest of the screen




which i find odd, new, but odd or strange.

like rather odd terrain, map size doesn't seem to fit given world atm either, as where i think certain types of terrain is, it's isn't, so map scale, unit of a given type can't stack? seems i have some reading to do and catch up as jumping straight in has given me mixed feelings so far i'm sorry to say

[Ostwindflak]

zak, have you played any of the previous SC titles?

[zakblood]

map or icon delays seem rather excessive imo?

clicking on a given port, or anything tbh, not playing, just testing response or UI for me gets a delay before information is displayed, exiting a given icon gives same amount of delay, so nothing is instant or ready for display, everything gives a given delay in item given a information response, imo this is off somewhat for the previous game of the type or series

[zakblood]

ORIGINAL: Ostwindflak

zak, have you played any of the previous SC titles?

yes

Strategic Command European Theater

Strategic Command World War Two Global Conflict GOLD

so older ones only, interface is known to me, but not anything else, i don't play games much anymore, just test them, so none have many hours in, in an long time, so most have been forgotten tbh so it's a clean fresh start for me here, nothing from the past to compare as i forget and tend not to see one or another as less or more etc

[Ostwindflak]

Just checking. [:)]

[zakblood]

to be very honest i'm not a great player, just have more spare time than most to test, so you will all maybe beat me at a given game, but i can tend to spent longer in a given test time wise, i have little idea if a given gun is correct for the time or not, but i can break stuff and find stuff as easy as most[:D][;)]

i have no pre likes or pre dislikes, i'm more of a what works imo and what doesn't work kind of guy, again in my opinion only mind you

with a kind of no one is right or wrong with feedback or impressions as it's there choice or history or background that has given them there answers as long as it's honest and fair, balanced and in depth, it's fine for me




an example, upgrade-able units displayed on screen, default screen zoom size, sorry i'd need a pilots eye sight to see this on the best zoom level, button use v's ease of use is low, display on screen is of no or little use if it can't be seen or displayed without having to alter the zoom level to see clearly in a given default screen zoom level.

color of icon used is also a shade of green, so not only is it imo too small, but not clear enough for the background colors used to be of much use, this for me is alpha stages, while beta should be imo play testing and play balancing, not UI work, you can't easily alter some stuff with numbers for a given unit can be edited at will, UI work tends to be deeper rooted / coded

edited

for me also once i select upgrade info to be shown, i can't disable it so it's not hide or show, it's click once and show it and then have it displayed for ever and a day it seems[;)]

[zakblood]

map zoom level again imo needs to be one more level zoomed in, as it's still rather small on some resolutions and still i wonder why the colors of units are so close to background ones as well so making them even harder to see clearly, imo this should have been picked up in alpha stages, as it's too easy to miss a given unit on terrain with the same background color as the uniforms are.

battle testing today, so will have 6 to 8 hours on the campaign and then post results as feedback

edited, one thing i did note is save sizes, atm a basic save is 19mb in size and that's rather large for a normal game save, maybe auto zip or compressed would be better?

saving time isn't bad, but loading a save is rather slow, the overall game speed is for me a disappointment and also a surprise with the UI and map zoom and colours used, it doesn't stand out atm as very polished, hopefully this is what we or our comments are for, while i don't wish to sound critical, there are more than a few large issues imo that stand out to make it very awkward to play, the same old my old eyes comments for one will fill the forums as it's not been design to be clearly seen on any of the sizes i've tried atm, with some txt and basic side recognition being hard to next to unusable on some terrain types with bases off, and not everyone will want to use them on either

[zakblood]

upgrading a unit with none bases selected also gives that unit which has been upgraded a base as shown on screen, if you chose or select to not show bases in the menu's pre game, upgrading imo should give it a base so for me this is the first of many hopefully bugs i've found, unless already reported that is



like i say on all my alpha and beta testing, i'm not playing the game, i'm here to break it and test it only, so expect stuff that may look and sound stupid, plain silly or odd, as i wish to look at everything with the idea of if it can be done i'll try it

[zakblood]

proof of concept re settings shown




so a BUG in my eyes

[zakblood]

and now 2 units pre and after upgrade, without and with bases

[zakblood]

there doesn't seem to be any alteration in starting up as easy or hard, so guessing it's added or taken away from the other side only, and not an increase as shown in what you get as a added bonus etc?




so green as shown above means 100% less for the AI, with you staying the same no matter what you select, nothing to select or chose which gives you 100% more? only the AI less, correct?

[sPzAbt653]

the colors of units are so close to background ones as well so making them even harder to see clearly,

I tried 'National Colors = Off' and this made it a little better for me. All the unit counters are also very close in color, making it a bit difficult to tell who is who, especially when there is a jumble. I was looking at the bmp's in the graphics file and couldn't tell which ones went with what country. I asked in another thread but no answer yet. [:(]

[zakblood]

thanks, still not read others feedback as only just started my own first play test, bit of eye strain already and only been on an hour, so looks like i may have to limit the amount of time testing on this one, as some of the reading is too small for me, but thanks for the tips so far, it all helps