Tech suppport for a troubled newbie

[Magic99]

Hello all,

nice to be here. I have just purchased and downloaded Harpoon3 ANW to supplant Harpoon classic 97, which I have been running for Donkeys years. I have a few installation problems and wonder if anyone would be kind enough to offer their thoughts?

The program will not run anywhere near full screen and possibly only 60% absolute maximum. This isn't a good start Resolution is set at 1280X1024. Also the little DOS like box is telling me that my colour depth is unsupported. (Radeon 9600, 256MB at 32 bit colour)and cannot load. I have just stripped out the video drivers and replaced them with latest drivers from ATI. No change.

This I hope, is connected to the above problem. The map quality is horrible. Just a green outline on a black background. You cannot zoom out far either. No texture either. Harpoon classic, looked like a badly aged Windows 3.1 program and I was looking forward to playing the new and upgraded Harpoon on a standard Windows type interface. What I have at the moment looks as though it predates Win 3.1 by a good five or six years. It looks like a very old DOS program.

I said that I wanted very much to play my old Harpoon scenarios as well. Can anyone advise where I might find an import option in the menus? My particular interest is in the GIUK Gap and especially airborne operations. I can't see any options in ANW for import at all and so need those older "Classic" files.

I am confident that there is an installation issue here. I must admit to feeling rather shocked when I look at what I currently have.

Best Regards,


John

[hermanhum]

I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but you may have gotten the 'wrong' game. Harpoon3 ANW and Harpoon Classic are two separate branches and they are totally incompatible. Files / scenarios created for one will not run on the other system. Different mapping systems, control systems, databases,....

There is a new version of Harpoon Classic Commanders Edition [HCCE] that is scheduled for release later this summer. It is probably what you are looking for if you want to continue with a game similar to the Harpoon 97 that you have been playing. Unfortunately, it does not have multi-player capability.

Now, to help you out with your ANW installation, in order to run it in Full-Screen mode, hit the Harpoon3: ANW launcher program and look at the different tabs at the top.

Select the ".opt-File" tab.

Check to see if the "RunInWindow.Opt" is enabled or disabled.

If it is enabled, select it and then hit the Disable button.

Look under the "Video and Sound Options" and you can change the screen resolution to something you like.

I hope that this helps. I own both games and enjoy them both equally. I don't think that you are losing out by owning them both. [8D]

[JRyan]

Herman is correct. You do have an older looking game. Harpoon 2 and Harpoon 97 are the originals. Harpoon 3 Advanced Naval Warfare and Harpoon Commanders Edition will be the latest versions of said games.
 
Please do not be discouraged in any way as to your purchase though. Give it a shot and I think you will come to love your purchase. H3 ANW might not have the pretty grahics you seek, but what is under the hood more than makes up for it. It is IMHO the more detailed of the 2 series, much more realistic, but again that is only my opinion. For example, you can now control SAM launches etc.
 
If you have played harpoon 97 for years then it will not take much to transistion into Harpoon 3ANW. The level of detail will amaze you. As for the graphics, well they are actually fairly close to the CIC in an AEGIS warship, at least the first generations anyway. The sim was redone for the game engine and multiplayer, not for catchy graphics. That will come in what they are calling "The Next Harpoon" which should be a mixture of the 2 harpoon styles.
 
 
 
 

[TexasAg]

Magic99......the steps Hermanhum posted using the -->".opt-File" tab. / "RunInWindow.Opt" is enabled or disabled.....will fix the screen size, worked great for me.

[rsharp@advancedgamin]

Adding a couple points here,

The ability to use greater resolutions will be available with the maintenance release. You will be able to fill almost any screen while running in a window. In fact, right now we are looking for players with 21" or larger screens to test some of the higher resolutions.

Also, how far you can zoom out is dependent on the size of the scenario. This is chosen by the scenario designer.

Harpoon Classic Commanders Edition is going through the end of beta testing with no hard release date set. You may be able to get in on the beta testing if you like that sort of thing.


Russell Sharp
Advanced Gaming Systems, Inc.

[starkweatherr]

I think I started playing the version of Harpoon that became Classic 97 back in the early 90s, when there was only one set of scenarios. Sometime around 2002 I reached the point where I could beat about half the scenarios, no matter which side I played, without editing them. I was really proud of myself.

I bought a Mac PowerBook so that I could try Harpoon II, and it didn't really impress me. This version, however, although it looks the same as Harpoon II to me, also looks like it has potential. Unfortunately, I ran into a lot of trouble just going through the tutorials. Fortunately, this forum has been a great help, and I am almost ready to start a real game.

Other than the illegal action by ships issue that I mentioned elsewhere, I'm having video issues. I was trying to Alt-Tab back and forth between the game and the manual and found that the game screen doesn't refresh until you move the mouse, which uncovers one very small screen segment at a time, or push a button. Unfortunately, its hard to get enough screen refreshed to find a button.

Another issue is that when I try to drag windows open horizontally, it doesn't always work. What I end up with is a narrower window and part of a window border. The only way I can get rid of the window border fragments is to create a zoom window and drag it around like an eraser. Tracking windows seem to be very flakey, and I avoid them like the plague.

Basically, I would like to see a little more work on the windows, which don't seem to have changed much since Harpoon II. How about docked buttons to bring up the Game Status and Unit Status windows?

I know its nit-pickey, but I spent a lot of time as a programmer and specialized in user interface design. Some of the UI decisions made in the design of this new version seem a little . . . unexpected.

[hermanhum]

ORIGINAL: starkweatherr

Other than the illegal action by ships issue that I mentioned elsewhere, I'm having video issues. I was trying to Alt-Tab back and forth between the game and the manual and found that the game screen doesn't refresh until you move the mouse, which uncovers one very small screen segment at a time, or push a button. Unfortunately, its hard to get enough screen refreshed to find a button.

After you Alt+Tab back into the game, you can re-fresh by tapping the ESC key, too. Sure, it is awkward, but it is a quick and easy work-around solution. [;)]

[starkweatherr]

Thank you very much. I don't even consider that awkward.