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[Cthulhu]

Going by the discussions there was something wrong with the camera that they're aware of, and they removed camera control while they fix it.

[scriver]

That's a terrible choice to make for a demonstration I must say

[Robsoie]

After playing a lot of the Total Annihilation Escalation mod, i started to check the other ones, and ran into Total Annihilation Zero.
http://zero.tauniverse.com/

And i was absolutely amazed by it, all the units have been remade visually (overall they look more "stylish"), and they have incredible animation (seeing your lowly kbots rushing enemy tanks while slashing them with their sword is something) , the explosions and other special effects are all much better than in the original.
There's even a 3rd faction but haven't yet played enough to test everything.

The AI is actually challenging in skirmish without the need of extra file, it's a really fantastic mod, must play for TA fans.

For those interested, here's an how to get TA Zero running on window 7/8/10 :

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

- Install the GOG Total Annihilation
if you already did (and didn't modded it yet or unofficially patched it yet) make a copy of the installed "Total Annihilation" directory and name it "Total Annihilation Zero" )
if you already modded your GOG Total Annihilation, rename it and reinstall from the GOG Installer as you want an untouched TA for TA Zero

Put this "Total Annihilation Zero" folder in C:\ directly so you obtain C:\Total Annihilation Zero
(this is so you will not have to change path in the dxwnd file later)

- Download TA Zero Base from there :
http://zero.tauniverse.com/ta-zero/
Open the TA_Zero_Base.zip , go into the "Zero" folder that is inside, then take all the files/folders present and move them to your
C:\Total Annihilation Zero\
accept to overwrite the couple of files of the same name.

- Download TA Zero Alpha 4d  from there :
http://zero.tauniverse.com/ta-zero/
Open the TA_Zero_Alpha_4d.zip , take all the files/folders present and move them to :
C:\Total Annihilation Zero\
again accept to overwrite existing files of the same name.

- Download TA Zero Map Pack from there
http://zero.tauniverse.com/ta-zero/
Open the TA_Zero_Map_Pack_v1d.zip and take the 2 files present there and move them to :
C:\Total Annihilation Zero\
it will not overwrite anything this time.

- - Download the ddraw fix (ddraw-fix11a.zip) from there :
https://www.tauniverse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46048
Open ddraw-fix11a.zip , go into the "Zero" folder of it and move the 4 files (aqrit.cfg, zdraw.dll, pdrawl.dll and TAZero.ini)
to your C:\Total Annihilation Zero\
Overwrite files of the same name.

I recommend to open the TAZero.ini and set
FullScreenMinimap = TRUE;
into
FullScreenMinimap = FALSE;

reason is that in many mods (not only Zero) that feature the megamap i got some bugs with it.
While it is a cool feature (it allow to play like in the zoomed out Supreme Commander rts games), it's not worth the bugs that can pop up in my opinion (losing your units line of sight and gaining suddenly the line of sight of opponents for some reason wasn't that rare of a bug in my tests).

- Download this version of DxWnd :
https://sourceforge.net/projects/dxwnd/file...ld.rar/download
Create a new text file and copy paste the following into it :

Code: [Select]

[target]
title0=Total Annihilation Zero
path0=C:\Total Annihilation Zero\TotalA.exe
launchpath0=C:\Total Annihilation Zero\TotalA.exe
module0=
opengllib0=
notes0=
registry0=
ver0=1
coord0=1
flag0=1048742
flagg0=138969433
flagh0=16
flagi0=205520896
flagj0=4096
flagk0=268435460
flagl0=0
flagm0=0
tflag0=0
posx0=0
posy0=0
sizx0=1280
sizy0=800
maxfps0=0
initts0=0
winver0=7
maxres0=-1
swapeffect0=0
maxddinterface0=7
(if you moved the "Total Annihilation Zero" directory somewhere else than i suggested, change the path in the text up there accordingly.)
Save the changes and rename the .txt extension into .dxw

Extract "v2_03_56_build.rar"
In the extracted folder, right Click on dxwnd.exe -> Properties -> Compatibilty tab and set the compatibility to Window XP Service Pack 3, then OK

Launch dxwnd.exe, click on File -> Import and select your self made .dxw file then OK.
Wait a few second and a button with the name "Total Annihilation Zero" will appear.
If you have "Total Annihilation Zero" path correct as i suggested before, the button will be green, if not you did something wrong, check your paths.
 
Click File -> Save to make it so you don't have to reload the .dxw file every time you'll launch DXWnd.

You'll launch TA Zero by double clicking on the green button, it should work with no problem with window 10 this way.

When ingame, go to the options, and set the resolution to 1280x800 (the same as the one in the .dxw file) , you can change the resolution if you want , but it must always match the resolution you did in the .dxw file to avoid image tearings or crashes.

if you're adventurous, you can try some of the beta of the next version for more new units and etc..
https://www.tauniverse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43734&page=12

[Cthulhu]

Beat TLOU2.  Giving a 3.5, maybe 4 of 5.  Good game, pretty good story, a lot of the complaints I've seen are mostly unfounded or based on weird misinterpretations of characters.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A common complaint is that Joel's death is out of character since his character in the first game was defined by lack of trust for others and he gets killed by trusting a stranger.  This is completely ignoring his character development across the first game and in the first scenes of this one as well, to be honest the complaint makes no sense.

[Zangi]

Beat TLOU2.  Giving a 3.5, maybe 4 of 5.  Good game, pretty good story, a lot of the complaints I've seen are mostly unfounded or based on weird misinterpretations of characters.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A common complaint is that Joel's death is out of character since his character in the first game was defined by lack of trust for others and he gets killed by trusting a stranger.  This is completely ignoring his character development across the first game and in the first scenes of this one as well, to be honest the complaint makes no sense.

I’ve only watched someone stream/YouTube the first few hours of the game, but yea, I agree with you there.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Is not like Joel spent the last bunch of years becoming a trusted member of a yuge community that has fallen apart from paranoia and dumbassery.

[Egan_BW]

Bought Persona 4 on steam recently. I like its style, except every single (animated, not in-engine) cutscene stutters randomly, complete with audio distortion. Tried changing settings, closing other programs, restarting my OS, nope. Leads to a lot of "well this would be a cool moment if I could see what's happening properly."

Other than that, I'm like 2 hours in and haven't yet made any meaningful decisions or experienced gameplay past fighting a couple weak enemies and a tutorial boss. But I expect that. That's normal, because this game is both a JRPG and a VN. ;P

[Press A to hear teenagers complain about being teenagers]

[Cthulhu]

I'm playing Persona 5 now that TLOU2 is over.  Pretty interesting, went in mostly blind as far as themes go and find out it's some kind of gnostic kids-on-bikes, which is pretty lit.

[Jopax]

Creeper World 4 has popped out a demo on Steam it seems. Has a handful of the intro missions and then some generated ones.

If you like the previous games, you'll pretty much like this one as well, more of the same with some new stuff like the factory and in 3d which is a pretty nice implementation that's just as readable as the 2d was. And hell even if you never played the previous ones, give it a try if you're into a pretty good take on tower defence with a twist.

[Mephisto]

Creeper World dude has a somewhat engaging YouTube channel chronicling his progress on 4, if anyone is curious.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbGtYZWsfRxVaXqXmtS1yuA

[MCreeper]

   Out of some masohistic desire, i got Valkiria Chronicles 4 while knowing well what it is. Straight up deleted it on chapter 7 (or whenever those clowns are mock-fighting for fresh bread). Besides the expected and known idiocy of all things: Too. Damn. Easy. And it's not only way too easy, no. Devs show you that they can make it hard, they rub it in your face, and then immidiately destroy all semblance of "hard" before your eyes. So i went into that "Omaha beach" mission expecting something interesting for once. Normandy flashbacks, it's raining bullets! They even gave us an armored transporter so we can get footmen to the place where it does not rain bullets! Ah, nevermind, just a decoration. Well, if you actively try to get into "bullet's" way for half a minute, you get hit for 4 hp out of 150, the horror. Maybe the actual machine guns pose the threat? Nope, mortar will destroy everything and takes no pity. Why do we need a transporter, again?
  Fast forward few rounds, three tanks that are impenetrable from the front appear! Nope, you will not need to juggle your tank and lancers around, they are impenetrable only for this round. And on next you gain three of exact same tanks just nearby. Have fun. And what is the one and only danger on this mission? Lone scout that beelines for your flag. FUCK YOU. About the same stuff in first game, by the way.

   And i just can't help but compare mortars in Men of War and mortars in VC4. Former:
Modest steel tube, is carried around by two men for a reason.
Hits like a truck, flying off a ridge.
Range: thoroughly unimpressive, but sufficient for what that is.
Precision: well, at max range, 5 out of those 24 shots will maybe hit something besides the ground.

Latter:
Humongous hunk of metal that is really supposed to weight half a ton, is carried around along with ammo by a slim girl (what's up with horns? And i know it's not even funny).
Hits like a truck, crashing trough the bridge.
Range: IIRC, almost on par with a snipe.
Precision: literally 10 times better than a snipe - unless debuffed, always hits the dot (in some rare cases, "the dot" may turn out to be a wee bit wider than it looks, but it's still precise enough to give garanteed headshots at max range).
It really looks like it wasn't supposed to be able to shot immidiately after moving, but they scrapped the idea at the last moment.
Because fuck game balance.

[Robsoie]

- Agent 47 you are tasked to infiltrate this high security factory compound.
-- Ok.
- Agent 47 we recommend that you use an appropiate disguise to stay undetected.
-- No Problem.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Hitman Absolution

[Iduno]

I always wore the Winter Coat outfit from Hokkaido every time I went to Haven in Hitman 2.

[scriver]

People said Absolution was the worst of the hitman games. But I don't know, from what I can see, it is clearly the best.

[Robsoie]

It's an odd case, because it's really the worst of the serie (though i never played the 2 most recent Hitman), but that does not mean the game is bad, because in fact it's very good (out of the story being rather stupid with stupid dialogues and stereotype characters and Agent 47 being an idiot most of the time in cutscene, who wrote that crap ...).

There's also some bad design choice that hurt the replay value (no ability to replay the missions with your own unlocked weapon/costume choice like in past Hitman, you can only replay with the default loadout, and the removal of the Contract mode instead of making it available offline too is beyond idiocy) but in the end some of the maps are very fun to replay .

[Robsoie]

Learned about a Spring game named "Beyond All Reason"
https://www.beyondallreason.info/
Apparently it's the follow up on the various evolution of the Balanced Annihilation spring game, the goal being to have an actual modern Total Annihilation.

they explain on how to install on their discord server, i posted the how to install in the spoiler for those that can't be bothered with those discord things :

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

    Option 1:
    Spring Lobby

legacy system, robust and has all the options/settings you want. Though on some systems it can give problems f.e. with install or auto-download » please follow the *TIPS* below to avoid this

Download this latest version of SpringLobby:

https://springlobby.springrts.com/dl/stable/springlobby-0.270-win32.exe
TIP: Preferably install this outside your "program files" or "my documents" to prevent possible blocking of auto-downloads.

In Springlobby:

- Click Server > Connect... (disconnect if already connected)
- Click "Create New Account" (blue)
- Set the Server to road-flag.bnr.la:8200
- Enter your preferred nickname and password, no need for email verification and press ok
- Agree to the agreement
- Login with the user you just registered

TIP: BEFORE joining a server or starting a game, please go to Edit / Preferences and click the "Downloads"-tab. Preferably choose a location outside of "Program Files" or "My documents" to ensure good auto-downloads.

---

Option 2:
    Chobby

based on ZK-lobby (called Chobby), one install file and updater will do the rest. Generally Chobby is less buggy but it has it issues and a lot less configuration options, Also data/settings/downloads *are deleted when a new version comes out*

- Download Chobby installer from this link:
https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/BYAR-Chobby#download-links
- Install it anywhere
- Login/Register in pop-up window that should show up when you first time launch Chobby.
- Sometimes the first run gives graphical artefacts - quit game and restart and these will be gone

Not going to try myself until they'll have hopefully someday a way non-lobby/chobby based to install that game without those "registering an account" thing when you're only interested in AI skirmishes and have no interest in online play.