Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

I solved my 20-30 second mouse lag by switching to safe memory mode. What exactly is the difference between safe and auto anyway?

Also why is the frame rate capped to 30 for space combat? Why do I get horrid slow down in ground battles? I have AMD64 3500+ gig o ram and a Geforce 7800GT.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

I disagree. I like to see my ships. As it is you can either see your ships by zooming all the way in, or see your entire system by zooming out.

What's the point of playing, say, the Klingons if you can't see those beautiful ships?

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

AMF means the portraits, not the models, I think.

The idea being that shrinking the pictures and maybe the fonts would allow room for more rows in the list screens like in SE4.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Well, part of the issue is SE5 sort everything into its own tabbed catagory. In SE4's construction que screen, for example, the planet icon, name, and status icons were all shoved together and took up a LOT less horizontal space. But you couldn't sort by planet type, or by "has troops", etc.

Usage per turn was the same way- you could see all three, and sort by minerals, but not by organics or radioactives.

SE5 could still combine things without losing funtionality. There's no reason "on hold", "repeat", and "emergency build" all need their own tabs, for example. All three could easily be combined into what's being built..

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

I seem to come a across a bug involving warp points. I create a quick play game as the humans. First thing I decided to do was design a scout ship. 'kay, all's good so far. While shift-clicking and putting in comps in my scout ship the game crashes.

Alright, take two. I try again same settings. This time I get my scout ship built no problem. I set it to auto-explore. It goes through the nearest warp point into the nearby system. It's empty, just a star. So I hit auto-explore again. It returns to my home system, funny thing is it returned through a different warp point that the one it left through. I try going through the original warp point again and I end up back where I started, at the second warp point, without even leaving the system. I found that a little strange. I decide to investigate another warp, same thing. My ship jumps to second warp point again. I try the fourth warp point. This one works. I takes me to another empty system though. I have two warp points that lead back to my home system and two that lead to empty star systems. At this point I realized I was stuck. There is no where else to go. Anyone else had problems like these?


EDIT: Hmm...tried going through the first warp point again. This time I end up in a empty binary system. Strange.

EDIT2: It seems the warp points work now, and apparently the systems aren't empty, just not explored. This may all be just my imagination and confusion with the new interface working against me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Some Warp points double up for me too.

Does Organic Armour work for anyone? I can't seem to get it to regenerate at all. I like the organic ships though, would be cool if you could make organic equivalents of other components, switch from a minerals based empire to a organics one.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Mineral planets are the best.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Uhh, Kwok, are you seriously telling me you're in here discussing the demo when you don't even have/play it? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I'm majorly underwhelmed with the demo thus far.

It seems to me like it has too many bells & whistles, too much feature creep. There's too much damn flash & chrome that just gets in the way, and obscures or interferes with functionality.

Worst of all, the whole thing is way way way too click-intensive. My first session with the demo ended when my wrist started to ache, something that never happens with SE4. This is going to be an issue for older gamers in longer game sessions.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Kwok has the better IIRC, he doesn't need the demo. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Again, right click is your friend. So are the keyboard commands (backspace for cancel orders especially- no idea why that command got burried..) Ship design not withstanding SE5 doesn't have that many more clicks than SE4- and if you use shift-click, ship design is tolerable.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Hey guys, the SEV demo really, really doesn't like my laptop for some reason. It's got an nVdia GeForce Go 6400 video card. Check out the nastiness.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...eller/sev3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...eller/sev2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...eller/sev1.jpg

I've tried all the detail settings and nothing helps. When I tried bypassing the 3D card by setting the game to RGB emulation, it just crashed continuously. Any thoughts?

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Did you try changing the video from 'Auto' to 'Safe'? Also, what version of DirectX does your laptop support?

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

\

That's just not true, Phoenix.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Aside from ship design and retrofitting, give me an example.

Construction que? Same. Report screen? One extra click, less if you setup a custom layout. Movement? Same. Selecting ships and planets? Same. Research? Arguably less clicking (click on the slider itself, not the buttons to either side! Much faster.). Cargo transfer and retrofit take one extra click to access.

You do have to scroll the system screen a bit, but nothing too major. Canceling orders is burried for some bizzare reason, but keyboard shortcuts help there..and you don't need to cancel as much, since orders can be edited now.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Attack order takes what, 5 clicks? SE4, you hit a, click target, click ok (or hit enter). Retrofitting? Easy, simple in SE4. SE5, its some 5 or 6 clicks _per ship_.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Starting to really dislike that the "cancel" order for ships is on a different screen than main one ... this positioning of that order bugs me but what will a SE: newbie do. Maybe they'll learn the "WAY" SE:V does it. Or they may think that this along with some other UI issues just are not worth their computer time and they also might give bad word of mouth to their friends. (word of mouth is what sells games unless you are Sid Meier, a football game with Madden in the title, or WoW).
I'm still playing and I'm still liking what I see, I just had hoped that I could say I loved the experience. It's not there ... yet.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

That fixed it! Thanks, man.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

In the main window, would it be possible to have some kind of border around the system when you are zoomed out?

If you are playing with the hexes switched off, as I do, zoomed out so you can tell your teeny tiny ship where to go, you cannot tell where the system ends until you click somewhere and your ship does not respond. Then you click closer to the center of the screen, and still your ship won't move. Then a little closer...and finally your ship begins to move.

If SEV is going to become all fancy with the graphics, perhaps a "plasma barrier" or something could be added to the system view so that you can see where the system ends.

And I'll say it again: ship icons need to be larger.

Planets, also, look much worse in the system map than in SEIV. Most of them just look like smudges of color. The planet images in the description windows look quite nice, but in the system maps they look horrible.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

In SE5 you hit a, click target. End.

Yes, retrofitting is borked. But only if you need more than one ship- otherwise SE5 takes exactly ONE extra click. Yes, the cancel button is in a wacky spot. The keyboard shortcuts are tolerable though, which makes both those issues livable.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Cystaline Armor doesn't do anything either, thats both crystaline and organic, do the other armor types work?

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Ahh, Phoenix-D. For the casual and the new SE:gamers the feel of SE:V is not as intuitive as SE:IV was.
I'm very glad that with custom layouts you can do wonderful things; but most casual and new gamers will have dropped this title before they have enough experience to do those wonderful things, the same goes for keyboard shortcuts and slider bars because if these helpers are not WELL documented, they don't exist to them.

These people are the new Fan base ( and the people who can make this game a money-maker for MM as well). Some of you core SE:gamers may have hundreds or even thousands of posts on SE alone. And the Mods and customizing that you can do are beyond belief .. but if a game can't motivate a new group to become Fanatics like most of us here who participate in this Forum, It has failed.
I hope this game was designed for success for both groups. I was a lurker here for ages B4 I ever replied to a post and UI elegance is a key in keeping most of those people who want to DO what <INSERT TITLE> game says it can do; whether its a Space 4X, MMO's, wargame, Shooter, or even a dance-dance-music game.

Bugs are fixable (usually), but UI issues either take patience, strong familiarity with possible work-a-rounds or shortcuts, or Superb documentation. or the casual gamer moves to something else before he/she becomes a Core - player. One 'extra click' keeps SE:V from acheiving the elegance of design my fondest games usually have. Since 4X space games are my favorite, I'll BE patient, DEVELOP a strong familiarity with the UI, and READ, and re-read, and reread, and ... the manual.

I hope that some of the new and casual gamers who decide to buy this title also do so because we need to keep growing this base. And if someday there's to be a SE:XII (in true hologramic display) with all the bells and whistles all the SE:XI players have been asking for, we'll need SE:V to be (and be perceived to be) a true level up from SE:IV. I' like what it can do but is it where it needs to be, or is it still climbing those step to get there (the next Level in 4X gaming experience)

Re: SE5 Demo Bug ReportsD
 

Don't put too much hope on reading the manual. The SE4 manuals were useful for..nothing, really.

And yeah, the shortcuts aren't obvious and should be. Hence why I keep repeating them to people. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

good god, man, didnt you ever finish jr school? PARAGRAPHS!!! PLEASE!!! Your post is too painful to read.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug ReportsD
 

W/o that online manual I woulda not figured out the game and quit... Mb that would have been better. Damned addictive game.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Dizzy, Someday I want to become a Writer (really), but for now I'll just practice to write better. You are absolutely right.

I type very slow and think really fast .. same issues that a powerful modern Graphics card would have going thru a old Pentium II chip and board set. Still, I'll try to do better.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Hmm... he must have listened and changed that then.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Dare I ask how it was before?

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

I think he is talking about simultaneous, where you need to choose between attack seek and attack.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

..I'm not seeing how those two could be different, unless attack is just "go here, kill anything that happens to be at that location" (why can you not move onto enemy units now, anyway? it -must- be an attack order?)

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Quick start game locked up at about turn 48. "processing players turns" Had to close the game down.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

The general reason is to make sure that's what you want to do (since you can't cancel a move order - well in sequential at least) - in other words making it more newbie friendly.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

The Log Report entries are too big on the screen. Would be nice if it showed all units/vehicles built at one location as a single entry and more entries were visable at one time. Only seeing 3 at a time and having to scroll through 25+ items only to discover that it's only telling you you've just built 23 troops and 2 ships is kinda anoying.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

I had the same complaint earlier in this thread, or perhaps another one. I was informed that clicking on the tab above the images gives you smaller or no image next to the log entry, so you can see more than three at a time. I also wished for multiple construction-completion items at a single location to be merged. Time to start bugging Aaron for that in a patch http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

You should see the log entry I generated once building troop complements for 50 or so planets during 1 turn. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Thanks Will! that "will" be helpful. ahahahahahahhah
Problem is, this thread is already getting too large to read through. I tried. I really did, http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I'm curious how the usage stats for this and other forums (se.net and St1st) have increased since the Demo came out...

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

I'd say the number of viewers at this forum has doubled, with posting probably 3-4x the recent average.

My own site has also spiked to nearly double the recent average of visitors per day. It looks like Fyron's site has seen the same jump.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Dunno if it is a bug or WAD. I cannot seem to be able to bombard a planet with my beam frigates. They just sit above the planet and do not fire until combat is over although i have clearly indicated the planet as target. Has anybody experienced this, too?

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Don't know if this has happened to anyone else but, my right click functionality does not seem to work properly. By that I mean when I right click, the box comes up, but the lettering or words I should say do not appear, it is just blank. I hope you all understand what I mean, I apologize if I make no sense. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Have you checked to make sure the weapons you're using can target planets? Certain weapons cannot, IIRC.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

ok, by now I have played about 70 turns of the demo. I very much like the animated combat (although the interface is also somewhat tedious here). However, there seem to be so many bugs and shortcomings that i am a little bit worried how Aaron is ever going to get the game in any shape for the release. Just my main hick-ups:
1) Crash bugs. that's how i just "terminated" my game, no clue what caused them.
2) Diplomacy: just does not seem to work. I propose a treaty and specify it. Then I receive an information that my message had been sent. However, in most cases there is never any reaction from the AIs.
3)AI: Seems to suffer from the same weaknesses as in SE4 (here I am really disappointed - I thought building on SE4 was a good idea, so you did not have to start from scratch but could develop the AI into a new dimension of quality. This soes not seem to have happened), namely a lack of "memory" (always making the same mistakes) and an inconsequent behaviour (the AI attacks on of my planets in a system, the withdraws instead of attacking my other colonies with its much superior forces).
4) The really tedious UI with its complicated ways of doing things and its unsuitable proportions between buttons, legends, units and map. mentioned by dozens of others before me

Hopefully Aaron does n otmind working 24h a day...

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

[quote]
AMF said:
Have you checked to make sure the weapons you're using can target planets? Certain weapons cannot, IIRC.

That was my bad, sorry. One of the rare occasions when I got diplomacy to work, I concluded an alliance which banned planetary bombardment. Only saw it later...

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Hopefully Jowe the demo isnt a new build and most of the obvious bugs are already fixed.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Apparently the demo is buggier than the latest better- more Access Violations and the like. Probably due to a rush-job in coding the demo restrictions.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Yea, my greatest disappointment in SE:V the AI behaviour. Based on the demo experiences it isn't much improved since SE:IV, although a turn based game mostly for single player, where a good AI guarantees a high replayable factor.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

We'll have to wait until we start building a library of AI scripts. There's a ton of items that can be tweak already that would help with performance, but it's going to take some time though.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Sorry for duplicates if any.

[annoyance]Log window is awful. SE4 was much better, though not perfect also. I think log window should have:
* more info in screen (~13 entries in SE4 is much little too);
* ability to go back to last log entry that I left with 'Goto' button from Main System window.
* summary info per empire/per system. E.g. little subwindow in the corner, telling how much my research/resources/ships has in/decreased during the last turn.

[img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Bug.gif[/img] I select a drone, a planet, a sattelite in the same sector, i order them to warp. I go to the orders and I see these orders for the planet and sats, though they cant move. I even see movement lines, if I arrive at the item via 'GoTo' button.

[img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Bug.gif[/img] The 'requirements' subwindow in research tech detalization is always empty. Even if I click on already researched technology.

[img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Bug.gif[/img] 'Manual' button doesn't work in Help window. (In fact DEMO doesn't include any PDF files, though the message says it shouls).

[img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Bug.gif[/img] AI doesn't progress if I ALT+Tab SEV program, when it is performing its dirty tasks.

[img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Bug.gif[/img] Quadrant window shows warp point connector entries, even if those warp points have not been seen yet.

[feat request] I would like to have checkboxes on the right instead of radio buttons in 'Filter' windows. That would allow players to filter list by few types of info at once. (And would allow less clicking).

[feat request] Windows with only one 'CLose' button should be able to close with right mouse button click.

[feat request] ability to remove star glowing would be nice. (It makes unseeable what is behind it).

[???] Under empire omptions, select vehicle sizes. It shos that I lost a few colonisers, though I colonised planets with them. I don't this means I lost them...

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

If you click the column header for the picture, you can shrink or hide it.
This will improve the data density significantly.

Having an indication that the sizes are optional would be very nice.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Just a general question about some of these bug requests:

Whats up with the Alt+tab? It seems like a number of issues revolve around the Alt+tab, but I cannot, for the life of me figure a reason why I would want to Alt+tab out of a runnning game?

It seems like a lot of people do it, so what in the world is behind the game, running in the background that you all are Alt+tabbing too? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

IRC, web browsing, text files to make suggestions, whatever. In SE4, it was nice to alt-tab away while waiting for the turn to process, especially for a very large game that could take a couple of minutes to process.

The answer to "the game has a bug" is never "you shouldn't have been doing that anyway". http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

For most of us, it would be this forum, the IRC channel, a music player, and similar things.

Socializing while you play is the best.
It really takes the edge off of the longer turn times late in a game, and spreading propaganda about your latest turns in a PBW game to the enemy while you play it is always fun.


And, of course, when processing some of the big CarrierBattles turns, they can take two or three hours. Letting se4 chew on it in the background is infinitely superior to the game tying up your entire computer during "prime time".

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports
 

Sometimes I want to alt-tab because I'm making screenshots or sometimes during turn processing I want to browse the forums (although that's not working) or sometimes I want to double-check an item in the data file when testing a mod etc.