Well, I used to like Paradox games, but they have even seriously tried my patience this time...but regardless of my current problems, I WOULD NOT remotely relate this game to Forge of Freedom (FoF)!
FoF worked out the box and continues to do so
I would definitely say I had more fun with FoF than with HoI2 (I can't talk about HoI3 because it refuses to run!). Hearts of Iron games are eventually enjoyable...but you should do what most sensible people do and wait till patch 4 or 5 before you buy, otherwise it will be an experience in frustration (IF you even get it to run).
HOI3
Moderator: maddog986
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JudgeDredd
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RE: HOI3
Alba gu' brath
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bairdlander2
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RE: HOI3
It depends on the individual.If you dont like micromanagement I would not recomend it.Even though you can assign the ai to do things its not recommended.I do find it intellectually stimulating.And fun seeing how decisions,whether trades,spies or diplomacy changes things.But overall it can be daunting to a casual wargamer.Try the demo,though very buggy,it gives a sense of map size and basic gameplay.ORIGINAL: Slick Wilhelm
Would you guys say that Hearts of Iron III is more work than fun? Or is it intellectually stimulating in the way Forge of Freedom is where you can spend hours thinking about what to do on any given turn?
RE: HOI3
OooooK....
I got the sucker (acronym for Hearts of Iron III) for $7.50, and I played it for quite a few hours...
But before I could even install it, I had to reformat my harddisk, because the install-shield app couldn't be initialized, and without that -> no installations. I disabled quite a few services and used to use a custom hosts file, but there's a chance that I got some malware on a TV stream/movie on demand site, which was packed with commercials and ads, so i had to disable the hosts file... guess I'm half guilty. He he.
Ok, fresh XP install (yeahyeah Win7 next year, after the first service pack [:D] ), I launch the game and play the 1944 scenario and pick the US. I see neat animations, enhanced menues (compared to Hearts of Iron II), etc., in general: neat stuff.
But then the first crash (while i was trying to select one unit in a region with 10 units. Selection via the marquee function (and then just selecting from the list) worked well, nice detail, but if you just try to left-click to cycle through the 10 units it's like the "hitbox" (term used in First-Person Shooters [FPS]) either disappears for a while or keeps moving. If there's a pop-up window coming up right in the second when you try to select a unit, you may end up with the marquee tool on your mouse, often resulting in a crash, as the pop-up has a higher task-priority, it seems. The game crashed on me like 5 times in a row, and like 15 times since I got it.
The faders in the production menu ("plus" - "minus" buttons) are aweful too, if you try to find the hitbox you have to search and keep performing a mouse-click-fest until you hit the hitbox, eventually.
I've got a Quad AMD Phenom II X4 940 @ 3GHz, but the game is pretty choppy, even on 2nd slowest (">>") speed. The scrolling appears to warp even at normal speed, as after each hour ingame time, the amount of computations will let the game freeze for a second. If you don't take that into account, say if you try to scroll from let's say London to Paris, you may end up in Italy, just because the game will continue to scroll even though the screen freezes every "hour". So you have to scroll carefully.
I guess the game doesn't use multiple CPUs, the game should be extremely smooth if it would use them, I am pretty sure.
On faster game speeds the freezes appear more often (well according to the speed you set), which makes it hard to press the pause-button, as it can't be clicked during a freeze.
I installed patch 1.3, but I tend to think that this game may be playable and fully enjoyable around patch 1.9, seriously...lol
In the current state, I am almost tempted to say that even $7.50 is too much for such a HOI "beta version".
Whoever's done the official beta testing (erm, besides the unofficial testing done by the customers) should be tarred and feathered.
My 2 cents.
I got the sucker (acronym for Hearts of Iron III) for $7.50, and I played it for quite a few hours...
But before I could even install it, I had to reformat my harddisk, because the install-shield app couldn't be initialized, and without that -> no installations. I disabled quite a few services and used to use a custom hosts file, but there's a chance that I got some malware on a TV stream/movie on demand site, which was packed with commercials and ads, so i had to disable the hosts file... guess I'm half guilty. He he.
Ok, fresh XP install (yeahyeah Win7 next year, after the first service pack [:D] ), I launch the game and play the 1944 scenario and pick the US. I see neat animations, enhanced menues (compared to Hearts of Iron II), etc., in general: neat stuff.
But then the first crash (while i was trying to select one unit in a region with 10 units. Selection via the marquee function (and then just selecting from the list) worked well, nice detail, but if you just try to left-click to cycle through the 10 units it's like the "hitbox" (term used in First-Person Shooters [FPS]) either disappears for a while or keeps moving. If there's a pop-up window coming up right in the second when you try to select a unit, you may end up with the marquee tool on your mouse, often resulting in a crash, as the pop-up has a higher task-priority, it seems. The game crashed on me like 5 times in a row, and like 15 times since I got it.
The faders in the production menu ("plus" - "minus" buttons) are aweful too, if you try to find the hitbox you have to search and keep performing a mouse-click-fest until you hit the hitbox, eventually.
I've got a Quad AMD Phenom II X4 940 @ 3GHz, but the game is pretty choppy, even on 2nd slowest (">>") speed. The scrolling appears to warp even at normal speed, as after each hour ingame time, the amount of computations will let the game freeze for a second. If you don't take that into account, say if you try to scroll from let's say London to Paris, you may end up in Italy, just because the game will continue to scroll even though the screen freezes every "hour". So you have to scroll carefully.
I guess the game doesn't use multiple CPUs, the game should be extremely smooth if it would use them, I am pretty sure.
On faster game speeds the freezes appear more often (well according to the speed you set), which makes it hard to press the pause-button, as it can't be clicked during a freeze.
I installed patch 1.3, but I tend to think that this game may be playable and fully enjoyable around patch 1.9, seriously...lol
In the current state, I am almost tempted to say that even $7.50 is too much for such a HOI "beta version".
Whoever's done the official beta testing (erm, besides the unofficial testing done by the customers) should be tarred and feathered.
My 2 cents.
"Aw Nuts"
General Anthony McAuliffe
December 22nd, 1944
Bastogne
---
"I've always felt that the AA (Alied Assault engine) had the potential to be [....] big."
Tim Stone
8th of August, 2006
General Anthony McAuliffe
December 22nd, 1944
Bastogne
---
"I've always felt that the AA (Alied Assault engine) had the potential to be [....] big."
Tim Stone
8th of August, 2006
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JudgeDredd
- Posts: 8362
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RE: HOI3
Good luck Goodguy.
I give up now. Honestly, I've spent more time trying to get HoI3 working on my computer than I have playing it, and I promise you, that is no lie!
I know it's system specific, because there are people out there using it - but the lack of presence of any devs to support the people reporting issues just smacks of "if I close my eyes and ears, they'll go away"...unfortunately for me it's a policy that has worked. I've got lots of good games. I don't need the hassle and the stress that this game has caused me over the last 2 weeks. I've uninstalled/reinstalled/downloaded it so many times I simply can't count anymore. I've also tried/retired to install/reinstall a plethora of other programs in the hope that it might work!
Sarge and Killroyishere - laugh it up. You were right. [&o] I won't give them a bloody penny in the future until the game is working....that normally means bargain bin where you win on both counts.
They can scream for money from me in the future. I'll do what "the sensible" bunch do...wait for it to hit the bins after a year of patching so I get it patched and cheap.
I give up now. Honestly, I've spent more time trying to get HoI3 working on my computer than I have playing it, and I promise you, that is no lie!
I know it's system specific, because there are people out there using it - but the lack of presence of any devs to support the people reporting issues just smacks of "if I close my eyes and ears, they'll go away"...unfortunately for me it's a policy that has worked. I've got lots of good games. I don't need the hassle and the stress that this game has caused me over the last 2 weeks. I've uninstalled/reinstalled/downloaded it so many times I simply can't count anymore. I've also tried/retired to install/reinstall a plethora of other programs in the hope that it might work!
Sarge and Killroyishere - laugh it up. You were right. [&o] I won't give them a bloody penny in the future until the game is working....that normally means bargain bin where you win on both counts.
They can scream for money from me in the future. I'll do what "the sensible" bunch do...wait for it to hit the bins after a year of patching so I get it patched and cheap.
Alba gu' brath
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bairdlander2
- Posts: 2318
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RE: HOI3
I had the same problem,untill i lowered the scroll speed in the options menu.Also helps to remove the trees and "real water" options.My pc barely makes the minimum specs for this game and I have no problems,yet others with better pc's do.As for the production que,click where it says "need" and the amount should go to that,no need to click + or -.The forum has a tech thread if you would like to solve any other problems.But I agree that we as customers shouldnt realley have to be fixing things in game.ORIGINAL: The scrolling appears to warp even at normal speed, as after each hour ingame time, the amount of computations will let the game freeze for a second. If you don't take that into account, say if you try to scroll from let's say London to Paris, you may end up in Italy, just because the game will continue to scroll even though the screen freezes every "hour". So you have to scroll carefully.
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SlickWilhelm
- Posts: 1854
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RE: HOI3
Thanks for the comments, guys. I think I've got better things to do that spend what little free time I have fighting with a buggy game.
Beta Tester - Brother Against Brother
Beta Tester - Commander: The Great War
Beta Tester - Desert War 1940-42
Beta Tester - Commander: The Great War
Beta Tester - Desert War 1940-42
RE: HOI3
ORIGINAL: Slick Wilhelm
Thanks for the comments, guys. I think I've got better things to do that spend what little free time I have fighting with a buggy game.
Me too, like fighting with a different buggy piece of software. [;)]
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Arctic Blast
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RE: HOI3
Paradox' response to this game has been baffling. Instead of taking months adding new fixes to massive 'uberpatches', they should be throwing fixes out the door as fast as they can. It doesn't make any sense doing things the way they are now.
Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily.
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JudgeDredd
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RE: HOI3
What is more galling to me than the shoddy mess (which I expected, though this release shocked even me) is the lack of official support. Johan seems to be running around other boards standing his corner and hitting back when I would much rather he responded to my problem (though I expect his reply would come under the guise of "It's your system"...a comment made all to often nowadays and, whilst true in a lot of cases, regardless of the system specifics, details should be passed between developer and user in order to get the damn thing working they purchased in the first place.
Alba gu' brath
RE: HOI3
I read the promo info for HoI3 and -- like EU3 -- the game has become less historical.
The rationale was that trying to script actual WW II events causes the AI to act bizzare, so apparently Paradox has decided to let the whole game become a "what if" scenario for better playability.
I'm all for playability, but what's the point of an ahistorical sim?
The rationale was that trying to script actual WW II events causes the AI to act bizzare, so apparently Paradox has decided to let the whole game become a "what if" scenario for better playability.
I'm all for playability, but what's the point of an ahistorical sim?
Stratford, Connecticut, U.S.A.[center]
[/center]
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Home of the Chance-Vought Corsair, F4U
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[/center][center]"The Angel of Okinawa"[/center]
Home of the Chance-Vought Corsair, F4U
The best fighter-bomber of World War II
RE: HOI3
I have had terrible experiences with some Paradox titles... Victoria (and revolutions expansion) is very inaccurate, a lot bugged, an incredibly slow game and has totally been abandoned by the developers. There's a good mod but it can't beat the problems the engine shares with EUIII, sadly.
EUIII itself is most certainly the game where the worst AI has been helped with the most cheating. No matter how hard you struggle as Great Britain you can never outperform even Ireland with trade/production... with good or bad ruler, with good or bad advisor... no way. Funny enough you start the game with domains in France and you can barely field 20.000 men without going bankrupt while France fields about 80.000 and can never stop sending fresh troops to the front. Meanwhile to siege a region you need an year or so and attrition kills more than the frenchmen do. Unbelievably unfair.
The best mod out there is magna mundi... it's so heavily scripted (and needless to say it can't fix the problems with the engine) that the computer freezes very often and the animations go sluggish even at slow levels of time compression. Cherry on the cake, since last update, when I play EUIII my computer turns off by itself (I presume a problem with overheating) and that says it all considering i play COD4 with full detail without problems.
Wanna talk about East India Company? I wanted to buy it but I've been told it's so bugged it's almost unplayable... some players, after a few patches still can't play at all after buying it and it's pretty bad.
Don't know about HOI but I don't think I'm ever going to buy a paradox game again... but @ the top side, they acquired Sword of the Stars publishing after lighthouse interactive went broke (well actually the company owning lighthouse went broke) and that's a TREMENDOUS hit (IIRC it's the same way they acquired East India Company). I haven't seen Armada 2526 but i don't really think it can beat sots (yea the AI here cheats big time too but if with good scenario settings, if you play at your best it's a wonderful game).
I ultimately agree with Dredd, nothing can beat Forge of Freedom. The expansion pack will be a big boom on the market. It's so good I am so terribly sad the team went to Crown of Glory... maybe I'm not sad, just impatient! [8D]
EUIII itself is most certainly the game where the worst AI has been helped with the most cheating. No matter how hard you struggle as Great Britain you can never outperform even Ireland with trade/production... with good or bad ruler, with good or bad advisor... no way. Funny enough you start the game with domains in France and you can barely field 20.000 men without going bankrupt while France fields about 80.000 and can never stop sending fresh troops to the front. Meanwhile to siege a region you need an year or so and attrition kills more than the frenchmen do. Unbelievably unfair.
The best mod out there is magna mundi... it's so heavily scripted (and needless to say it can't fix the problems with the engine) that the computer freezes very often and the animations go sluggish even at slow levels of time compression. Cherry on the cake, since last update, when I play EUIII my computer turns off by itself (I presume a problem with overheating) and that says it all considering i play COD4 with full detail without problems.
Wanna talk about East India Company? I wanted to buy it but I've been told it's so bugged it's almost unplayable... some players, after a few patches still can't play at all after buying it and it's pretty bad.
Don't know about HOI but I don't think I'm ever going to buy a paradox game again... but @ the top side, they acquired Sword of the Stars publishing after lighthouse interactive went broke (well actually the company owning lighthouse went broke) and that's a TREMENDOUS hit (IIRC it's the same way they acquired East India Company). I haven't seen Armada 2526 but i don't really think it can beat sots (yea the AI here cheats big time too but if with good scenario settings, if you play at your best it's a wonderful game).
I ultimately agree with Dredd, nothing can beat Forge of Freedom. The expansion pack will be a big boom on the market. It's so good I am so terribly sad the team went to Crown of Glory... maybe I'm not sad, just impatient! [8D]
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RE: HOI3
ORIGINAL: Joe D.
... what's the point of an ahistorical sim?
Ah! The good old historical versus less historical (or ahistorical) question! Will be fun to watch this discussion unfold and see if there are any new arguments put forward [;)]
RE: HOI3
I shelved mine..for the duration til the modders start tinkering...even then I don't know if there is a real "fix" for the game, to make as playable as HOI2..I wished I had gone for Sins of a Solar Empire instead of HOI3, but I am more of a WWII gamer, than Sci-Fi. Although I did like Empire's STARS when it came out back, back, back in the day. But today noone knows this game even existed it seems.
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JudgeDredd
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RE: HOI3
I agree...there is plenty of room for ahistorical and historical games.ORIGINAL: Widell
ORIGINAL: Joe D.
... what's the point of an ahistorical sim?
Ah! The good old historical versus less historical (or ahistorical) question! Will be fun to watch this discussion unfold and see if there are any new arguments put forward [;)]
Historical allows you very little (if any) room for manoeuvre - what exactly is the point? I understand why people want historical and don't mind historical games out there...but I want to see how I can do as Germany. I want to see if the choices I make afford me victory. What's the point in playing it if I know Germany is going to lose?
I prefer ahistorical over historical anyday...the outcome is not certain and I get to do my bit! And the market can support both...so I never understood the "What's the point" argument. There are plenty of historical games out there to keep budding history buffs happy...and there are plenty of games out there to keep us "what ifs" happy...everyone's a winner!
Alba gu' brath
RE: HOI3
ORIGINAL: JudgeDredd
I agree...there is plenty of room for ahistorical and historical games.ORIGINAL: Widell
ORIGINAL: Joe D.
... what's the point of an ahistorical sim?
Ah! The good old historical versus less historical (or ahistorical) question! Will be fun to watch this discussion unfold and see if there are any new arguments put forward [;)]
Historical allows you very little (if any) room for manoeuvre - what exactly is the point? I understand why people want historical and don't mind historical games out there...but I want to see how I can do as Germany. I want to see if the choices I make afford me victory. What's the point in playing it if I know Germany is going to lose?
I prefer ahistorical over historical anyday...the outcome is not certain and I get to do my bit! And the market can support both...so I never understood the "What's the point" argument. There are plenty of historical games out there to keep budding history buffs happy...and there are plenty of games out there to keep us "what ifs" happy...everyone's a winner!
After updating the latest patch, I recently fired-up HoI2 and Hint #100 appeared on my screen: HoI is a game w/outcomes always in doubt, not a computer simulation.
If so, then why even bother packaging historical scenarios?
Stratford, Connecticut, U.S.A.[center][/center]
[center]"The Angel of Okinawa"[/center]
Home of the Chance-Vought Corsair, F4U
The best fighter-bomber of World War II
[/center][center]"The Angel of Okinawa"[/center]
Home of the Chance-Vought Corsair, F4U
The best fighter-bomber of World War II
RE: HOI3
I have always thought that the best part of wargaming on a computer is the 'what-if' scenarios.
If yoo cannot affect the outcome of a battle or campaign by employing yer own tactics and making yer own choices, then whats the point? For that kind of wargaming, I go down the war-reading route, as a game that does not allow any room to experiment is just a glorified book IMHO. [:D]
Cheers
Jev
If yoo cannot affect the outcome of a battle or campaign by employing yer own tactics and making yer own choices, then whats the point? For that kind of wargaming, I go down the war-reading route, as a game that does not allow any room to experiment is just a glorified book IMHO. [:D]
Cheers
Jev
I am really quite mad yoo know!
RE: HOI3
ORIGINAL: D.Ilse
I shelved mine..for the duration til the modders start tinkering...even then I don't know if there is a real "fix" for the game, to make as playable as HOI2..I wished I had gone for Sins of a Solar Empire instead of HOI3, but I am more of a WWII gamer, than Sci-Fi. Although I did like Empire's STARS when it came out back, back, back in the day. But today noone knows this game even existed it seems.
I don't care for Sins Of A Solar Empire any better than HoI3. It's not full of bugs though.
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JudgeDredd
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RE: HOI3
So the user can start at that historical point and say "Right...how can I change what happens from here on?"...that's all.ORIGINAL: Joe D.
ORIGINAL: JudgeDredd
I agree...there is plenty of room for ahistorical and historical games.ORIGINAL: Widell
Ah! The good old historical versus less historical (or ahistorical) question! Will be fun to watch this discussion unfold and see if there are any new arguments put forward [;)]
Historical allows you very little (if any) room for manoeuvre - what exactly is the point? I understand why people want historical and don't mind historical games out there...but I want to see how I can do as Germany. I want to see if the choices I make afford me victory. What's the point in playing it if I know Germany is going to lose?
I prefer ahistorical over historical anyday...the outcome is not certain and I get to do my bit! And the market can support both...so I never understood the "What's the point" argument. There are plenty of historical games out there to keep budding history buffs happy...and there are plenty of games out there to keep us "what ifs" happy...everyone's a winner!
After updating the latest patch, I recently fired-up HoI2 and Hint #100 appeared on my screen: HoI is a game w/outcomes always in doubt, not a computer simulation.
If so, then why even bother packaging historical scenarios?
There is no real logic to the complaint that it's ahistorical. There is a market for both. The complaint that it's ahistorical is only really a valid complaint if you were sold it as an historical game...otherwise it is what it is.
Alba gu' brath