Matrix Games Forums

Colored platform pictures first appeared in patch 3.90, and it seems this new feature will become the standard feature since then. But the problem is those pictures cost so large harddisk space--more than 300MB, and many platforms have no pic at all. Compared with the original b&w ones, I think the colored one is not so good as the original one. The original one is not only small in size (about 150MB only) but also much more in quantity. What's more, the original pics also has a profile image, which clearly shows the platform's figure. (As to aircraft, there are images from 3 different angles). Thus, I just want to know the opinions from other players.

I never use the images. 

My only personal concern would be to keep the downloads as small as possible.  I guess that would make me in favour of the original pics if I had to make a choice.

If pictures and images interest you so much, it is possible to collect and create your won picture library.  I believe that HarpoonPages.com has a utility whereby you can make your image collection.  I don't know how/what software (if any) is required to make images for ANWs image viewer.

ORIGINAL: hermanhum

My only personal concern would be to keep the downloads as small as possible.  I guess that would make me in favour of the original pics if I had to make a choice.

Well, I quite agree with you. In the recent patch release, the colored pics occupy too much hard disk space. So after applying the patch, I had to disable the mediaviewr and deleted all the colored images. And that will reduce the game size to about 400MB (otherwise, the game will be 600MB+).

One of the reasons that there are less color pictures is that was a volunteer effort. I Imagine at some point there will be more. Personally in the age of 100GB drives and such, H3 could be 2Gb and it wouldn't bother me. I love the detailed database and pics.

I have broadband and a modern gaming computer, so the requirements the colored images pose on my system are, to be honest, laughable, compared to what any other game I have installed needs. I am in favor of using the best media available, as long as there is always the option of using no media at all, for those with slow connections or/and old computers.

ORIGINAL: Shemar

for those with slow connections or/and old computers.

You mean smoke and sound signals?[:D][:D][:D]

ORIGINAL: Taitennek

ORIGINAL: Shemar

for those with slow connections or/and old computers.

You mean smoke and sound signals?[:D][:D][:D]

Hehe, well something like that. Harpoon can be played on a pretty old computer and there are some people that have no interest in playing modern games with 3D graphics and such, so they don't have what we would call a 'gaming system'. There is no reason to exclude these people for the sake of pictures, since we can have it both ways [;)]

So what about finding a way to convert those platform pics into smaller size ones? In HCE the colored pics are much smaller in size. Maybe H3ANW can adopt the same method?

We are considering the idea of making the game media it's own optional patch. This would help those with low bandwidth or just less hard drive space.

If you want smaller images then I suggest an application called Irfanview. It's a small application that can handle batch image handling. Just dial down the quality and dial up the compression.

Veteran players know what they have under their command within Harpoon environment. But for newbie players, a Library with pics and up to date text descriptions in the DB involved is of course fine.
 
As long it does not harm the game [another list of bugs] [;)]