SP with better Graphics?

[antonm]

I wonder if it would be possible to take the SPWW2 gameplay codes and give them a new visualization. Thinking about state of the art graphics and nice zooming and scrolling. I sometimes find it hart to distinguish my infantry from forests or to define different levels of altitude without hovering over each hex or using the line of sight for giving hints. Other tactical wargames show better solutions for these problems, however none reaches the depth of spww2.

[Roman]

Hello Antomn. I can not answer whether they can improve the graphics, that will make developers. But I can tell you to identify forest troops start your id tags in the preferences. Over time you can get a rough idea of the heights of the land and if not when you hover your mouse over a hexagon tells you the height at the top of the screen.
Greetings

[antonm]

Yes right, this is how one can help himself a little bit. In the past I have been playing different versions of steel panther once in a while. I am just wondering, concering the superior game algorithm which the game contains, there was never an attempt to put the playablility (graphics, scrolling, zooming) onto the next level. - Is it due to some kind of code inherent impossibilies or because it was just not done?

[Roman]

Originally Posted by antonm

Yes right, this is how one can help himself a little bit. In the past I have been playing different versions of steel panther once in a while. I am just wondering, concering the superior game algorithm which the game contains, there was never an attempt to put the playablility (graphics, scrolling, zooming) onto the next level. - Is it due to some kind of code inherent impossibilies or because it was just not done?

I do not know. Perhaps as this game comes from a very old game has its limitations but do not really know. The graphics are not bad for me. Personally I think it gives a more serious. I've seen other games were changed to 3D graphics and lost character.
What I do know is that I wish I could change the zoom with the mouse wheel.

[Imp]

Dont understand what you mean its a 2D grapics game & looks fine to me. Scrolling works fine as does zooming & want fixed not variable zooming as you get a feel for distances after a while. With variable zoom you probably never would but set levels it does not take long for your brain to judge distances fairly well.

[antonm]

Yes right, zooming with the mouse wheel would be more conviended than searching with the cursor the sensitive areas (I play winspww2 in windows; otherwise the side rations will be seriously distored).
Receiving and sending PBEM files from out of the game would be fine as well.

Concerning the graphics. I agree that the graphics give some kind of old school feeling. Speaking from my point of view, I value better graphics higher than that feeling. Especially if the classic feelings comes with hard to distinguish units.
Other games, for instead the Close Combat series, have basically the same top-down view, but the graphics (and also in animations) are way better (of course, it is a new development game).

I can completely understand if players are fine with the classic feel of steel panthers. However I want to point out that there is also a market for a game using the steel panther algorithms and an updated surface and handling.

[Roman]

I think everything can be improved. We see that this game has surpassed his predecessors. I think it is good to take time for improvements to be discerning. Would have to see that developers think. With regard to what you say about the graphics, they can not see some units in woodlands, it is not as close to reality? It is a great way to see how the camouflage. In these cases active flags to differentiate my units.
Greetings

[DRG]

I have wondered in the past if the graphics complaints might not be sometimes related to the way people set up the brightness level of their computer. I have seen on two occasions games installed on other machines that had severely washed out graphics and that was because they had the brightness set way up and to be quite frank the game looks like crap when it's too bright

The problem with describing what it "should" look like is that everybody has their own preferences on how they are comfortable looking at their screen and how they have it set up will influence how examples look but if you game looks more like the thumbnail on the right you have the brightness turned up too high on your monitor.

Another test is the "black" flag that appears when you fight one country against itself. If you can see a diagonal bar across that flag your monitor is set too bright. Every monitor is different and everyone sets them up differently ( and everyones eyes are not the same ) but my monitor is and always has been, set to 50% brightness and 85 % contrast

Don

[Cross]

My 2 cents:

I like the 2D environment and the graphics.

I like to play with the Hex Grid turned OFF. It perhaps took a whole game to get used to, but I've found that I can more easily recognise map features and in particular hill levels and slopes. This has not been the cause of misclicks! I mostly PBEM so you can't take back wrong moves, and so I would soon be using the Grid if it caused problems.

There's a Hot Key '.' (dot) to turn the map Hex Grid OFF and ON. I recommend using it. I only turn it on briefly, a couple of times a battle, to count hexes and figure out where some hidden ATk gun/MG fire is probably coming from.

There's a couple of different infantry mods available if you want more visible infantry icons; and you can also turn on ID Tags (flags) in the preferences screen (there's no Hot Key for ID tags).

Cross



or two to

[gabeeg]

Originally Posted by Cross

My 2 cents:

I like the 2D environment and the graphics.

I like to play with the Hex Grid turned OFF. It perhaps took a whole game to get used to, but I've found that I can more easily recognise map features and in particular hill levels and slopes. This has not been the cause of misclicks! I mostly PBEM so you can't take back wrong moves, and so I would soon be using the Grid if it caused problems.

There's a Hot Key '.' (dot) to turn the map Hex Grid OFF and ON. I recommend using it. I only turn it on briefly, a couple of times a battle, to count hexes and figure out where some hidden ATk gun/MG fire is probably coming from.

There's a couple of different infantry mods available if you want more visible infantry icons; and you can also turn on ID Tags (flags) in the preferences screen (there's no Hot Key for ID tags).

Cross

Cross, I just discovered the hex grid off in my last PBEM game...you are absolutely correct. It made map reading much easier for me...still not perfect, but much easier. I am glad you brought this up, it may help others.

As for the infantry mods, I have a problem with the small infantry...I do not like spending time hunting when a PBEM turn has taken awhile and I do not exactly recall where everthing is (even with ID tags...since I like mine small). A long time ago someone came up with a larger infantry mod where the helmets are a bit bigger and contrasts a little better with the surroundings. I am pretty sure I found it in an old TOE post...does anybody recall this mods name or author? It may help those that have issue with locating infantry in forest hexes, etc.