Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: VCDH

Scenarios hosted by Matrix, using Matrix hosted DBs are the responsibility of Matrix and should be rebuilded [sic] by them.

That has been the model for the Harpoon community for many years. Each database author posts his database to his personal fan site and nowhere else. Does this mean that no other arrangement can work? I certainly hope not.

Seventeen months ago, when StrategyZoneOnline [nee WarfareHQ] decided to establish a Harpoon forum to support the community, there was much trepidation and anxiety over fears that an established company like WHQ would be competition and come to dominate the Harpoon arena. Despite all the reassurances from WHQ management that they was not in competition with other Harpoon fan sites, some sites continued to worry and agitate. Today, everyone can see that their fears were for naught.

In fact, visitation and membership in all other Harpoon fora has risen! Some sites had only 40-50 daily visitors but now have 60-70 in the same period. Sure, SZO has around 100 members and unregistered visitors regularly dropping through every day, but that doesn't mean they are competing with anyone. They just attract the most eyeballs because they already have a huge membership. And when folks visit SZO, they find links to visit other Harpoon fan sites.

SZO has led the way by having a file archive totally open to the membership and it has the largest selection of Harpoon scenarios on the entire internet. Anyone and everyone can post their scenarios or database without fear or restriction to the archive of the biggest and busiest fansite for Harpoon. Quite a feat for a 17 month-old project.

Just as SZO blazed the way with a new concept, so, too, can Matrix. The old World thinking of one database / fansite is just that, Old World. Matrix is about to open the door on Multi-player, why continue to live in the old World?

For Matrix to focus solely on H4DB is very limited thinking. SZO has proven without a shadow of doubt that an open file archive can be a resounding success. As with any business, they are in it to make money. What better way to expand their fan base than to show visitors a huge archive of FREE scenarios? At present, there are about 300 Harpoon 3 scenarios posted around the web. If the price of ANW is in the $70 range and a potential new customer sees 300 free scenarios, even if he only expects to play one-third of them, that translates to less than $1 / game. Do you think that he's going to buy ANW?

Having an archive built around one single database, H4DB, would be akin to renting a billboard for a single Post-It note or visiting a buffet for just the breadsticks. With all the different 'flavours' of databases out there, why limit yourself to just one? Of course there are always going to be folks who just can't bear to 'lose' control of their work so they will continue to hide in their caves in hopes that frequent spam on the various fora will produce a sufficient trickle of new visitors for them.

ORIGINAL: jpkoester1

Hello Reg,

installing additional databases and scenarios in Harpoon 3 ANW will be as simple as extracting the database to a certain folder and adding all scenarios for that database to a subfolder. The new Launcher utility will automatically detect the new database and will allow you to switch to it with a simple mouseclick.


Cheers,
JP

Now that sounds like the way to go!!! Quick, simple and straight forward with a utility to do the hard work.

Have the download area organised with it obvious which files are needed (not just a heap of random files dumped on a page like some sites I found) and you have it made.

Lookin' forward to it.

[Deleted by Admins]

It gets better and better....

David any plans for Multiplayer tournaments etc. etc. ?

How about an area for After-Action Reports [AARs]?

StrategyZoneOnline

HarpGamer

SimHQ AARs

SimHQ Harpoon

FilesOfScenShare

All host separate AAR sections where any member can freely post reports and the feedback has been nothing short of spectacular with many folks coming to try the game after reading them.

[Deleted by Admins]

Yeah was kinda interested in what Matrix was gonna do. [:D]

I was out of line.

Sorry guys. Sorry Herman.

The short answer is: I'm among those re-checking and testing the Beta release of ANW prior to publication. [:)]

All of us, here, were/are in a way or the other involved in making Harpoon a better experience. I tracked down some bug and glitches in the previous 3.6.3 version, and I was happy to see them fixed in the latest public betas of ANW. Of course I do not pretend that my contribution on these issues was the only one, but it was gratifying to have been able to contribute.

And a majority of us is now inveolved in the preparations for a worth publishing of ANW. I'm working on a couple of ideas re: the new multiplayer feature and its potentials, and I'll post them in the following days. Databases are being adapted too, so there should be a good string of third party scenarios to be published along with the official ones.

It s worth mentioning that we all do this in our free time, to improve the game's experience and share our enjoyment of it with others - which is what Harpoon, and wargaming, are all about

[8|]

[&o]

[8|]

Okay, somebody start a new thread. A new topic. Alot of work to do on this FAQ I see.

[Deleted by Admins]

ORIGINAL: VonTommer

Vincenzo,

I am all with your post. Do not mistake that I am somehow confronting you. My questions and comments were for Hermann. You could not have written it any better. Yours is the spirit this community needs. I was not attacking you and your accomplishments.

Tom

Well, Tom, first of all this is the wrong thread to have a debate on personal issues. Second, if you have these issues with Herm, I think that you should PM him - with a factual list of what bothers you, not allegations - so he can answer. The story of the community is complex and multi-layered, so it would be not easy (nor this is the place) to summarize it in a few words [:)]

Vince

I "take back" what I said. All of it. We are again moving forward.

Herman: Keep up the good work! I look forward to our new dialogue. Thanks for being open to that after I was such an "Attack Dog", at best.
I consider you to be a new friend. Hope you feel the same way and that we can now debate and fight on as "comrades". We don't always have to agree on all the "creative" points, but it's clear now that we can work together and have an open dialogue. I apologize for my tactics.

If the two of us can mend things, after all this, others can follow the same example! Let's see it, you "others."

I risked flaming myself to make this point and poor Herman got the brunt. Herman was on point, I was on point and we met. Well, I ambushed! I should have done it another way.

Others, on both sides, should have managed this sooner. I should have spread my wrath to include some of you! There is responsibility a plenty!
I now carry it too.

I admire Herman because I know, one does not risk injury if one does not engage! Herman engages. You have to respect that.

Let's get something done. Herm and I can't do it alone. Let's see some of you other guys take point and start setting a new table. Positive exhanges. Build it out of the ruins of my reputation, but drop this feuding!

Sincerly,

Tom [:)]

ORIGINAL: VonTommer

I "take back" what I said. All of it. We are again moving forward.

Herman: Keep up the good work! I look forward to our new dialogue. Thanks for being open to that after I was such an "Attack Dog", at best.
I consider you to be a new friend. Hope you feel the same way and that we can now debate and fight on as "comrades". We don't always have to agree on all the "creative" points, but it's clear now that we can work together and have an open dialogue. I apologize for my tactics.

If the two of us can mend things, after all this, others can follow the same example! Let's see it, you "others."

I risked flaming myself to make this point and poor Herman got the brunt. Herman was on point, I was on point and we met. Well, I ambushed! I should have done it another way.

Others, on both sides, should have managed this sooner. I should have spread my wrath to include some of you! There is responsibility a plenty!
I now carry it too.

I admire Herman because I know, one does not risk injury if one does not engage! Herman engages. You have to respect that.

Let's get something done. Herm and I can't do it alone. Let's see some of you other guys take point and start setting a new table. Positive exhanges. Build it out of the ruins of my reputation, but drop this feuding!

Sincerly,

Tom [:)]

The sentiment is appreciated and this message certainly speaks to character.

Game on!

ORIGINAL: Reg
... so I picked up a 2nd hand copy of Harpoon 2 (way... past it's release date) which I still have installed on the machine I am typing this on.

Playwise, it was a huge improvement on the original but I could never get into the supplied scenarios (one Korean and a few South American skirmishes). I tried to downloading a few interesting looking scenarios and databases but to this day I have never gotten any of them to work. (I had just started night school and really didn't have the time to do much mucking around).

Your explanations above have been very enlightening as to what was going on but I feel that this remains an issue if you want to attract and retain new devotees.

Well, I have been inspired with the info above and had another go. I from updated from V2.0.1 to V2.1.13 with the AE patch and had a few issues with CTDs caused by configuration issues but seems to be OK now. I then was able to load custom scenarios (after carefully cross referencing to the correct databases) and get them to run. Yahoo!!

Downloaded scenarios remain a bit of a grab bag a with some running under HUD, some under the standard database and some don't appear to be compatible with any database at all (not the published versions anyway). Not having a editor means I am stuck with the database the scenarios were compiled with. Nothing was on TV so I threw together the database loader below to make the changing databases a bit simplier whilst I tested which scenarios work. (BTW , this loader is based on Andrew Browns work).

I think ANW is well worth getting if it does all these things for you and adds all the improvements in the game engine as well. I'm just happy I got things to work!!

I found Hermanhum's PlayerDB to be very professionally done with all downloaded scenarios working very nicely even with my old program (admittedly without all the new pops and whistles). You gotta love the updated Platform Database as I'm not a walking Jane's.....

BTW Hermannhum, a minor error in the PlayerDB database. You have got Australia covered very nicely, even including C-17s which haven't even been delivered yet, but you have the wrong version of Mirage listed. Australia operated Mirage IIIO and IIID aircraft not Mirage 2000D. The Mirage IIIO (for Orstralian I suppose) was a derivative of the Mirage IIIE with minor changes in the fuel system and avionics. Reference: www.adf-serials.com/3a3.shtml

As a plug for ANW, I showed ANW to a friend of mine who was a real Harpoon fan (he's an ex-maritime professional). He had exhausted all the supplied scenarios in the original H2 release and was disappointed by a lack of an editor so he had moved on. This has rekindled his interest so I'm sure you'll be hearing from him soon.