!!!AATF DEMO RELEASED!!!
 

The release version (vice BETA version) of the DEMO is now up at our website.

http://www.prosimco.com/aatfdemo.zip

There is also a tactics article, using JRTC 01 from the demo, up at The Wargamer.

http://www.wargamer.com

Thank you, everyone, for your patience. Enjoy!

Re: !!!AATF DEMO RELEASED!!!
 

Dear Patrick,
looking forward to seeing your last masterpiece coming out!

I downloaded the demo and installed it. But once I press the "Campaign Scenario" button, the game freezes and I have to kill it. Anybody else is experiencing the same problem?

A clarification: this demo you are referring to is a step forward in respect to the beta demo that came out last september? I'm asking just because on the calendar the link to the demo is still the beta one.

Regards
Niccolò

Re: !!!AATF DEMO RELEASED!!!
 

The file is in the same place, and has the same name, but the file is updated to the new version. It is the same version as that which will ship in december, except that it is the DEMO version (loading and some other things are disabled).

I am sorry to hear you are having problems. I am going to need a little more info to help you solve your problem:
[*]What speed is your computer?[*]What video card are you running, with how much memory?[*]What version of DirectX are you running? Is hardware acceleration enabled? (To Find out, go to the control panel and click on the "DirectX" button).[*]What version of Internet Explorer is on your computer?

Re: !!!AATF DEMO RELEASED!!!
 

Hi Patrick,
the computer I'm using is a:
-Pentium 4 with 3,00 GHz cpu, 1 GB ram,
-NVIDIA Geforce 5200 Fx video card (128 Mb),
-Directx installed is vers. 9.0c with hardware acceleration enabled,
-Actually I'm not using IE but Mozilla 1.5.0.8, but this doesn't seem to create any problem.

I had no problems running the previous beta demo of AATF. Now, what I will try is to uninstall the current demo and install again. I hope everything will run fine.
Thank you
Niccolò

Re: !!!AATF DEMO RELEASED!!!
 

Do you have IE installed? If not, I am shocked the BETA ran. The game requires that IE at least be installed, and be version 6 or later.

I would look there. That would explain why it is crashing when you try to bring up the order.

Re: !!!AATF DEMO RELEASED!!!
 

Actually IE is installed, even if it is not the default browser. Launching the aatf.exe file results in the correct opening of the browser (mozilla) window "buy AATF" or something, and the other window where you can "play the game" and so on. Pressing the "play the game" button I am taken to the black screen with the big AATF logo. It's when I choose the Campaign Mission button that the game freezes and I have to kill it.

Re: !!!AATF DEMO RELEASED!!!
 

Right. The "Campaign Mission" button takes you to a screen that allows you to select the campaign and scenario. That screen relies on underlying internet explorer technology in order to run the in-game "browser". You will need to insure that the internet explorer version on your computer is at least 6.0, or the browser will not run correctly (this version ships with the release version of the game).

You might, also, try adjusting the video settings. To do this, select "Options" from the same menu that hosts the "Play Game" button. In general, 32-bit color "plays nicer" with every computer. You might also try windowed mode, which might cooperate better with your computer if the issue is some program running in the background.

Again, I am sorry for the problems. If you would like to troubleshoot further, please contact me directly at:

pproctor@prosimco.com

and I will help you track down the problem.

Re: !!!AATF DEMO RELEASED!!!
 

Also, if you installed the BETA demo version, make sure you uninstall it, using "Add/Remove Programs" from the control panel, and THEN install the DEMO.

Re: !!!AATF DEMO RELEASED!!!
 

thank you for the support.
Tonight, once I get home, I'll check the IE version and try with the video settings. I hope to succeed in running the game, otherwise I will contact you by mail as suggested
Niccolò

Re: !!!AATF DEMO RELEASED!!!
 

I definitely recommend, if you downloaded the BETA DEMO, uninstalling it and then installing the Release DEMO. Several people have had issues with the game not starting at all, and this fixed their problem immediately.

Demo Crashing
 

I downloaded the demo a few days ago, and have been really enjoying it so far!

However, the longer I play a scenario, the slower the game seems to get. This is especially noticable in the second scenario, which starts slowing down to the point of being unplayable once the reinforcements arrive, and inevitably crashes soon after.

I'm running a P4 1.7GHz with 1GB of RAM and an ATI Radeon screen card with 64MB of memory, so it seems my system should definitely be able to handle the game.

Has anything like this been happening to anyone else, and/or does anyone know what to do about it? I've tried pretty much all possible combinations of graphics settings, to no avail.

Re: Demo Crashing
 

I still have problems with the demo, too, but I cannot even launch a scenario. The game freezes once I press the "Campaign Scenario" button. This happens on my desktop PC (3 ghz P4, 1 GB ram, NVIDIA Geforce 5200 Fx 128 mb). Instead, the demo runs fine on another machine, a laptop(3,2 ghz P4, 1 gb ram, ATI radeon 9700 128 mb).
I tried all the possible graphic settings, but without results, too.
I came to the hypotesis that it is a video card issue, even if I installed on both machines the latest drivers.

Re: Demo Crashing
 

Delta,

You are operating at the minimum system specs in video memory for the game (64MB). It sounds like you are running out of video memory.

I would suggest the following:
[*]Ensure that every unneccessary process is closed[*]Make sure the display is set to 16-bit color.[*]If the problem persists, try switching from "picture" icons to "NATO symbol" icons for vehicles. This uses much less video memory.

Let me know if this doesn't solve the problem. You can contact me at:

techsupport@prosimco.com

Re: Demo Crashing
 

Nicdain,

This sounds like the game is freezing while trying to open the HTML file containing the scenario selection pages. This suggests that the game may be locking up due to a firewall warning.

Please ensure that your firewall is set to allow, or at least silently (without warning window) block the demo. Otherwise, your computer will hang on a firewall blocker window that you cannot access.

Running the game in windowed mode might or might not allow you to break out of the game to close the window, if this is the problem.

Re: Demo Crashing
 

Sorry I didn't catch this before, but as I look back / this thread, I realize you are actually operating BELOW min system specs for AATF. The game requires a minimum of 128 MB of video memory. You are operating at 64. This is, no doubt, the source of your problems.

I'm sorry I didn't catch this before.

Re: Demo Crashing
 

Dear Patrick,
after several attempts to solve the "freezing" problem of AATF demo on my desktop computer, I installed the demo on my notebook, where all went well! I couldn't wait to play (BTW I've just ordered the release version) and I definitely enjoyed the game. My compliments! A really good job.

But, as I always say, a machine (the PC) cannot have a leg up on an human being! So I started again trying to figure out what is wrong in the configuration of my PC that prevents AATF demo from running.

I changed almost all the available settings of the firewall (I also disabled it) and I updated all the video card drivers, but nothing changed.

Besides having different video cards (which seems to be irrelevant) the other difference between the desktop and the notebook PC is the antivirus. The notebook has Norton, while the desktop has Avast.

Another information, if it can be useful: the Windows event monitor application tells me that AATF is affected by an "application hang" (category 101), and as you said before, this happens while the app tries to open the html start page. The fact that I use Mozilla firefox as default browser (though I have IE6 installed), shouldn't be relevant, since TSATC demo doesn't show any problem opening the browser pages.

Forgive me if I am annoying you with this problem! I am going on looking for a solution, probably it is something stupid under my eyes but I cannot figure out now!

Best regards
Niccolo'

Re: Demo Crashing
 

Norton is notorious for interfering with perfectly innocent applications that try to save data to files. Have you tried shutting off Norton anti-virus and running the application.

Also, what time zone and language is your problem computer set to? perhaps there is some time zone issue that we did not spot during playtesting.