Just went through the demo.

[von Murrin]

Or at least the training part. Lotsa fun!

I loved Privateer and Elite way back in the day and have long wanted to have something more "modern" to live up to them. Freelancer held my attention for a while as it was the only thing out there even close, and most recently I've been mucking about with X2. Freelancer was a bit too arcadish, and X2 combat doesn't do it for me.

Way more fun! The physics are rather well developed (since when has anyone ever bothered to make space an actual vacuum? It took me a bit to catch on to that. Nice job.), and your wingmen do what they're told. While SS isn't as pretty as FL or X2, it feels a lot better than either ever did. I'll give it another whirl tomorrow and post my thoughts on the rest. [:D]

[David Heath]

Hi Guys

You can find the demo here http://www.gamershell.com/news_BStarsha ... Demo.shtml

David

[John DiCamillo]

Hi von Murrin,

Thanks for the positive feedback! One of the things I worked the hardest on was getting the "feel" of combat right, so I'm glad you approve of the end result. Starshatter explores many different types of spaceborne and airborne combat - from nimble interceptors up to hulking cruisers - and each of them has a slightly different feel and method of control. You should give the arcade flight model a try as well, for a new twist on a vintage experience. You can select different flight models from the Gameplay tab of the Options dialog, and you can even change flight models during a mission (press Escape, then choose option 4 with the mouse or keyboard).

On the other hand, please note that Starshatter is not an Elite clone. You are not a freelancer or a privateer out to make a name for yourself in the lawless wastes. You are a commissioned officer in a military organization, and you are involved in a cold war that is about to heat up into a real shooting match. The dynamic campaign engine generates missions for you based on the strategic situation in the overall war.

[Mr.Frag]

Pulling the demo now ... boy is this a sadly missed area of the market. You've got my vote!

Like the previous poster, Freelancer was fun for a bit, but after the weekend, it got retired. I go back to the Megawars days on CompuServ, to my eyes nothing has ever come out since that ASCII art game to pick up the torch.

[von Murrin]

ORIGINAL: John DiCamillo
On the other hand, please note that Starshatter is not an Elite clone. You are not a freelancer or a privateer out to make a name for yourself in the lawless wastes. You are a commissioned officer in a military organization, and you are involved in a cold war that is about to heat up into a real shooting match. The dynamic campaign engine generates missions for you based on the strategic situation in the overall war.

Oh, I was looking at it from a "hall of fame" POV. Elite and Privateer both belong in a space sim hall of fame of sorts, and anything that can match up is good stuff. SS is certainly enough fun to get there, although I really need to relearn how to fly if I'm ever going to get anywhere in it. [:D]

I've gotten past training as well and so far can't really find any flaws in either the game itself or the governing concept. The only unfortunate thing is on my end. My stick went all squirrelly on me and I somehow have to find a replacement. [8|]

[Catphish]

i downloaded it but got an display error
I will retry later today

looks like i will love it

[John DiCamillo]

i downloaded it but got an display error

There are two known display issues with the Starshatter demo.

1. If you have an ATI Radeon card with Catalyst 4.2 drivers, Starshatter will not be able to set its default screen mode of 800 x 600 x 32. To fix this, grab the file "video.cfg" from the Starshatter download page here and save it in your game installation directory. You may also be able to work around this problem by setting your desktop resolution to 800 x 600 x 32 before starting the game, but I haven't tested this.

2. If you have a 3Dfx Voodoo card, Starshatter may not be able to set its default screen color depth to 32 bits. If you are in this situation, contact me through email.

Thanks!

[Mr.Frag]

1. If you have an ATI Radeon card with Catalyst 4.2 drivers, Starshatter will not be able to set its default screen mode of 800 x 600 x 32. To fix this, grab the file "video.cfg" from the Starshatter download page here and save it in your game installation directory. You may also be able to work around this problem by setting your desktop resolution to 800 x 600 x 32 before starting the game, but I haven't tested this.

Hmm, don't know about that, I have an ATI 9800XT with 4.2 drivers with no problems.

Only problem I have seems to be with my Microsoft Intellimouse Optical ... your instructions at various points refer to clicking or double-clicking the wheel (MB3) which does really strange things to me.

[Pheagey]

2. If you have a 3Dfx Voodoo card, Starshatter may not be able to set its default screen color depth to 32 bits. If you are in this situation, contact me through email.

And after awhile the video ram fills up and you start lossing textures...

[Hertston]

Very impressed with the demo, another one for the purchase list. Sometimes I wish I could just stick to wargames like many here.... curse you, Matrix [:D]

This one upcoming is excellent news after hearing that the team behind Babylon 5: IFH havn't even started on the game proper yet [&:] ... the prequel is my favourite space sim at present. Still, one can hardly complain about delays in freeware !

[John DiCamillo]

ORIGINAL: Hertston

This one upcoming is excellent news after hearing that the team behind Babylon 5: IFH havn't even started on the game proper yet [&:] ... the prequel is my favourite space sim at present.

Well, to whet your appetite even more, here is a little snapshot from the Hold the Line Babylon 5 mod for Starshatter:

[Hertston]

Aaaaahhhh.. [&o]

[Pheagey]

ORIGINAL: Hertston

Aaaaahhhh.. [&o]

Dang streight! Damo and his team did a heck of a job. And now he's working aon a new mod called Project 7. Should be interesting.

[Bigs]

I have downloaded the demo from 4 of the sources adn each time i try to install it i get a corrupted install error.

To say the least i am fustrated.

Bigs[&:][:@][&:]

[Mr.Frag]

ORIGINAL: Bigs

I have downloaded the demo from 4 of the sources adn each time i try to install it i get a corrupted install error.

To say the least i am fustrated.

Bigs[&:][:@][&:]

I ended up pulling it from the Oz site, none of the others worked for me. The problem with demo hosting sites is that they are always busy ... Just on the off chance as the file is zipped, make sure you have a current version of an unzip tool. Lots of folks get caught by that problem.

[Sky_walker]

Write somethink about your's computer configuration (system, etc.).

[Bigs]

system

AMD 1500 cpu
256 meg memory
Abit Kt7a Mobo
Geforce2 AGP 64mb

Windows 98se with Dirext X 8
winzip 9.0

[MLeoDaalder]

ORIGINAL: John DiCamillo
1. If you have an ATI Radeon card with Catalyst 4.2 drivers, Starshatter will not be able to set its default screen mode of 800 x 600 x 32. To fix this, grab the file "video.cfg" from the Starshatter download page here and save it in your game installation directory. You may also be able to work around this problem by setting your desktop resolution to 800 x 600 x 32 before starting the game, but I haven't tested this.

Hi. I just managed to get the Demo (it kept coming out corrupted, stupid network).
And I had the above problem (I now have an ATI Radeon 9200 SE with Catalyst 4.4 drivers). So I downloaded the video.cfg, but it still didn't worked. I lowered the 32 bits to 16 bits, and it did worked. Now is my question, is there a way around the 16 bits? It's a bit anoying since on my old computer (with a TNT2 Ultra) I could play (a custom mission) it with 32 bits.

Thank you for your time. And sorry to bump up an old thread.

[John DiCamillo]

Well, once you get the game running in 16-bit color, you should be able to set the video resolution to something that will make the ATI card happy. I don't know why it won't work for you in 32 bit color. Can you try the video.cfg file from my site again and send me an error log showing the crash?

As always, send the error log to milo@starshatter.com

Thanks,

[MLeoDaalder]

ORIGINAL: John DiCamillo

Well, once you get the game running in 16-bit color, you should be able to set the video resolution to something that will make the ATI card happy. I don't know why it won't work for you in 32 bit color. Can you try the video.cfg file from my site again and send me an error log showing the crash?

As always, send the error log to milo@starshatter.com

Thanks,

Done. If all is well, you should have mail.

Another odd thing is, I have my desktop set at 1024x768x32...