Black grass?

[delusan]

OK - bought the game -v.102. Attempting the tutorial, but all the terrain(grass?) is black. Installed the latest Nvidia drivers, but no change in the terrain color. Running Vista 32-bit, Nvidia GeForce 8500GT. Help!

[PipFromSlitherine]

Check my response to your post on the Slitherine forum.

Cheers

Pip

[delusan]

Thanks for the quick response. Changed the game settings from 1680X1050 32 bpp to 1084X786 16 bpp, and appears to be working fine now.

Very happy with the support provided by the people at Slitherine!

[delusan]

The Odyssey of a Slitherine game buyer ...

Can you give me some clue on beginning to make a map with the map editor? I have MS .NET installed, but get nothing but a long list of errors when trying to load a map into the editor. Have tried both loading an existing map and creating a new map.

[PipFromSlitherine]

What are the errors...

Cheers

Pip

[delusan]

An unhandled exception has occurred in your application. If you click Continue the application will ignore this error and attempt to continue etc, etc. Invalid parameter used. Exeception text: System.ArgumentException:Invalid Parameter used. at System.DrawingGraphics.CheckErrorStatus(Int32 status,\),then 2 DrawString() errors, 1 UserControl1_paint() error, and many others along the same lines.

[PipFromSlitherine]

Not something we have seen before. What version of .NET do you have installed? You will need (I think) 1.1 to run the editor. Note that (IIRC) having (say) .NET v3 installed doesn't automatically give you the 1.1 framework, they are seperate - you should be able to see them in your Add/Remove Programs list.

Cheers

Pip

[delusan]

My add/remove programs list does show MS .NET framework 1.1

[PipFromSlitherine]

At what point do you crash - on running the editor, or on trying to load a map?

What is version of windows are you running on, and did you install the game to the default folders?

Cheers

Pip

[delusan]

Crash occurs on attempting to load a map (both from File->Open and File->New)in the editor. There is a brief flash of what looks like a small grid map with splashes of green and yellow color on it - then the error message window appears. I am running Vista 32-bit. No changes were made to the installation directories. Game graphics settings are 1024x786 32bpp, changed from the installation graphics settings of 1680x1050 32bpp (I had black grass terrain in the game at that setting as indicated in a previous post).

[delusan]

So much for Slitherine support. Second time I've been burned on Slitherine's so called "editors" - this and Battlefield Academy. Thats it for me. No more Sliterine games ... cant trust their product descriptions.

[PipFromSlitherine]

22 hours without a response it too long to look into a machine specific crash? The editor works - it would have to, given every mission in the game was built with it. So we are happy to continue trying to determine what the issue is on your machine - my current guess would be based on your desktop colour depth, and whether it might need to be 32bpp, but we are continuing to work on trying to relicate or solve your issue.

[delusan]

Save your time and your breath ... Im finished with Slitherine products. Hard to believe Matrix would put up with what is, in my opinion, misrepresentation in a product description. Bought Combat Command - the map and unit editors are a dream, not another Slitherine nightmare. Maybe I can unload Slitherines Great Battles Medieval on Ebay or elsewhere.

And guess what? With Combat Command - No dealing with "machine specific crashes", "bpp?", "Microsoft .NET framework 1.1?", "version of windows?", "installation to default directories?", "desktop color depth?", etc. etc. Nope. None of that at all. Just download, install, make maps, units, place them and play. You ought to check it out. It will give you an idea of what the better game companies are producing for gamers these days.

[PipFromSlitherine]

PC games all suffer from compatibility issues to some degree. There are tens of thousands of copies of GBM already being played, and this is the very first editor problem I have heard of. If you play PC games long enough then you will run into these issues. We have been and are happy to solve the issue with you.

Combat Command is a great game, and hopefully its hex and tile editor will provide a level of complexity you are comfortable with.

[delusan]

You may think you're adept at obfuscating the issue, but you are mistaken. At issue here are the Slitherine inaccuracies in their product descriptions. I have found them to be misleading in two instances so far. PC games are too costly to waste money buying a misrepresented product when there are so many companies producing games that accurately describe what the gamer is getting - and actually live up to the advertised game features.

And i need neither a lecture on PC incompatibilities, nor further information from you. The game is gone, along with my money.

The above are my own personal opinions, based on the purchase of more than one Slitherine product. Your mileage may vary. But, as they say - LET THE BUYER BEWARE.

[PipFromSlitherine]

The product descriptions are entirely accurate. The editors are there and provide enormous power to alter the game, well beyond that provided by almost any other games in the genre. In fact for GBM we even provide the source code for the editor in case people wish to tinker with that aspect.

Commenting that they are not a simple as you would like is fair comment. Implying that somehow you are being misled is a flat lie. I hope I have avoided obfuscating that point.

You made identical complaints against BA, and were answered in full both by us and the BA community. The sheer scope and inventiveness of the mods we have seen is testament to both the modability and the support we provide.

[delusan]

Well, now ... since we have agreed to eschew obfuscation (heehee)-
In my opinion, the product descriptions were NOT entirely accurate. If the editors are so wonderful, why do I see no user created scenarios here? This GBM forum is the deadest of the dead ... and it's no ball of fire over at the Slitherine forum either. Great Battles Medieval has been out since what? - 2009 for ipod or cell phones or whatever - and has been ported to PC use. Am I correct on that? The game is, in my opinion, a greatly watered down knock-off of Total War Medieval, with graphics, animations, strategic and tactical play that fall far short of Total War Medieval. I feel that I wasted my money on GBM, but that's my problem. You think your product descriptions are accurate. I don't. It's a matter of opinion.

As far as Battlefield Academy editing is concerned, I suggested that adding easier to use editor features would give BA greater appeal for those gamers not interested or proficient in coding, scripting, etc. I thought that this might be beneficial to both Slitherine and purchasers of the product. You are correct - I was excoriated for making such a heretical statement.

Perhaps your product descriptions should emphasize that a particular editor is excellent for in-depth MODDING, but not really well-suited to the mechanics of map and scenario creation. Scenario creation time is better spent on research on terrain, unit composition, OOBs etc. - not on trying to place trees that are blobs of green on a square grid "map", or being able to program or use a scripting language or be knowledgeable in passing variables to a function of a particular coding engine. Again - this is NOT a sharp stick to Slitherine's eye, but just a friendly suggestion. The problem of more accurate product descriptions could probably be resolved by a quick meeting with your product description writer ... in far less time than you are spending here with me. I'm sure you're very busy. Me? I have the time and can continue this discussion indefinitely.

Now, as far as I'm concerned, this discussion has reached its limit of my interest, and probably that of those few who have taken the time to wade through it. If you wish, we can continue, but I much prefer spending my time having fun building my own scenarios using the excellent editors provided with Steel Panthers, Combat Command, John Tillers Series, TOAW, the Combat Mission series, Advanced Tactics, and on and on. The soon to be released Battlefront Combat Mission Normandy also looks fantastic, with editors that appear to be both "powerful" and intuitively usable. From personal experience, I know their product descriptions are accurate. This is not to take anything away from MATRIX. MATRIX remains my absolute favorite PC game provider - there is none better, and MATRIX will continue to receive, by far, the major portion of my considerable gaming dollars. Viewing what MATRIX offers makes me feel like the proverbial kid in the candy store.

By the way - I thought your comment about 22 hours is not too long to wait for a reply from Slitherine support was interesting (actually, I didn't mind the wait). Maybe Slitherine can institute a policy whereby the buyer doesn't have to send you payment for purchase of one of your products until 22 hours after they receive it. Seems fair.

And Pip(Ian), thank you for reminding me that I must be far more careful with how I spend my gaming dollars.

[Erik Rutins]

Delusan,

Perhaps I'm missing something, but as far as I can tell from the above thread, you reported an issue with the editor and before Phil even replied to try to figure out why it was happening, you gave up? It looks like you jumped from reporting the issue you experienced to declaring that the game actually has no editor, stating that the marketing was misleading and refusing any help for your issue? We're happy to work with you to figure out why the editor had an error on your system and there's no obfuscation when we say that the editor works on other systems and it is thus not misleading to list it as a feature.

Regards,

- Erik

[delusan]

Mr. Rutins -
Thank you very much for the reply and for providing a forum for the expression of opinions. I have expressed my opinions, and attempted to follow along with Sliterines replies - not switch arguments in midstream. I never said it had NO editor. My posts stand as written. Read them again if you feel it to be useful. I tried to express my opinions accurately, and hope I did not fall too much off the mark. I have no interest in Slitherines help in "fixing" my computer so that it conforms to Great Battles Medieval's demands because I no longer have an interest in Great Battles Medieval.

Thanks also for the other great products MATRIX markets. I remain a faithful customer.

[IainMcNeil]

The game released on PC as a digital download in 2009. It was built and eesigend for PC not ported to PC. It released in Europe in 2010 at retail. The game is about to release at US retail. It is not out on iPad or any other mobile platform, but is out on PS3 and X360 in Europe. All of the traffic was back in 2009 on initial release. The scenario editor is all about placing units and order of battle. Nothing to do with placing trees. As you've never seen the editor running you would not know what features it has. There is some technical conflict with your PC which we can only track down with more information from you but as you said you are no longer interested in the game we can't help. Being a PC gamer you'll be familiar with these issues. It might be you have another program installed that is not functioning properly and blocking the game or some driver bug. If and when you have the editor up and running please let us know your thoughts on its feature set, but that is goign to be hard to do when you cannot run the editor.