I renamed all of the slate_ files which makes for a much faster startup. I can’t find the trademark screen one or whatever it is that comes up first, but that’s an acceptable improvement. Thanks a lot!
skyride
1662
Alpha Protocol is so buggy it crashed my room. Seriously, 3 times the lights in my room flickered and the monitor turned off for 5 seconds. I have never had this happen. Coincidence?
I’m going to go with … yes?
The game doesn’t seem buggy to me, with the exception of the hacking mini-game wich is unacceptably broken, but still doable.
The controls seem a little off with mouse/keyboard but I only own a wireless 360 controller and I don’t think it’s really the controller that’s throwing me off - it’s just something about the way my character handles, I can’t really explain it.
It’s a fun game though, I’m eager to get out of the early levels where I assume my skills will be more noticably useful and the decisions I’m making now will prove interesting.
I wish I didn’t suck so hard at sneaking though. :(
Chuck
1664
I’ve encountered the vanishing enemies bug upon reloading after dying in the Saudi section of the game. It kept me from proceeding because a key cut scene wasn’t enabled. The solution was to start the level from scratch and complete it without dying.
Never noticed that bug in other levels, though.
olaf
1665
PC version. Installed it a while back, no tweaks yet, and had never played it until last night. I had a few beers in me and the hacking game made me feel like I was completely wasted. It also made me feel retarded, at first I was like no way is this possible. I got the hang of it eventually but it still felt really tough.
Yeah, it’s a repeatable bug with at least one part of the Saudi level, especially with the guy on the turret in the airfield (where it actually lets you do a modestly challenging part really easily after reloading). I’ve never had it prevent a cutscene from loading.
re: other comments. The sneaking gets a lot easier with the associated skill (don’t forget to confirm that you aren’t wearing armor: it’s a lot easier to sneak in casual clothes until you can afford decently stealthy armor, even to the point of eschewing upgrades until you do), as does hacking (with sabotage, also with the stackable upgrade devices that I strongly recommend). Plan b would be the EM bypass.
Either way, like most stealth games it will seem impenetrable until you understand the limitations of the AI, and then you’ll be moving quickly through most everything that allows a stealth approach.
I’ve had this bug in other levels, but it has never prevented me from moving forward. I always thought it was a nice a break, because it never happened in a room that I had attempted less than 5 times. So it was like the game called a mulligan and moved me on.
Reminds me of a cross between the original Commandos and Microprose’s Covert Action. I’m liking it though.
ShivaX
1669
Ok theres like 50+ pages on this bitch and I’m not reading all of that.
Is there any way to fix the camera stutters easily? Cause its really about the only thing I can’t stand. I’m looking/moving one way then BAM I’m going a completely different way.
I know a lot of people have an issue with it, but I can’t seem to pinpoint a solution outside of like gamefaqs and I’d rather not trust those people for anything. Ever.
For me it just ended up being something I could sense was about to happen and make sure not to try and move the controls until the stuttering past. I think it’s caused when you enter new areas and the game is spawning enemies, so if you proceed slowly you could feel it happening while you were hidden and just weather the storm.
There’s a link on the previous page to a forum thread with pretty thorough ini tweaks to help with graphics problems. I haven’t had enough to make it worth my while, but it should be a simply matter of copy paste.
ShivaX
1672
I actually found it, and it was caused by… nothing that I could tell. I had it happening all over the place in areas I’d already been in or had nothing in them. Walking around the base in the opening was doing it and nothing new was spawning or loading.
I’m running 1920x1080 on an ATI 5750 and I had a problem that sounds similar to yours. Turning off motion blur helped out a lot. Maybe that will work for you.
Yeah, and if there’s a way to permanently shut that off it’d be even better. For some reason it keeps resetting to on.
The biggest two fixes that helped me are these ini changes. The file is located in your documents folder under “Documents\Alpha Protocol\APGame\Config”
Edit these lines in the APEngine.ini file:
Kunikos
1676
Thanks, I’ll try this first before dorking around with the ini.
I think I used a stealth armor once. Every other time I used casual clothes, which I’ll keep doing until I get the uber stealth armor that improves sound dampening. I did this also because the character model looks more like an agent. I chose the freelancer background, so my character has a long beard, sunglasses and wears a baseball cap backwards, which goes pretty well with the casual clothes (especially the ones Mike wears in Rome or Saudi Arabia).
On a more general note, I’m really enjoying the RP parts of the game, and it’s very satisfying because you can often see what would have happened if you made different choices. <SPOILERS> For instance, there’s a part in the recurring Leland conversations where he asks you if you had any external help to invade the embassy. In my current playthrough, I could have answered “Sis” or “Sis?” or just lied. I lied and then Leland mentioned SIE, who he was thinking about all along, and he wasn’t aware of Sis or Albatross. Great moment. </SPOILERS>
However, I just don’t understand why there are RPG mechanics for the action parts of the game. It feels arbitrary, and it would be much better to have a Splinter Cell or modern Thief type of game with all the meaningful dialogue choices that actually make it an RPG, as if the level system were there just “because we labeled the game RPG”. It just seems to me that the level system serves no meaningful purpose in the game and doesn’t offer the same sense of progression as Dragon Age or Baldur’s Gate or many other RPGs.
Wolff
1678
I’m really enjoying playing the game as a recruit. I started out trying to be stealthy and would routinely fail and have to have a bloody shootout with lots of guards. Something about this game just clicks with something inside me. Playing through as the all american hero and already looking forward to my veteran/sneaky/suave/own agenda playthrough.
Can you block in this game when doing CQC? The enemy does it to me all the time and then just hits me when my combo is done :(
You’ve made your own statement exceedingly controversial by comparing it to BG and DA in one breath. Other than that, while I approve of the concept of a Splinter Cell or modern Thief game with a real storytelling component, I’d have to say it’s really a matter of taste. While some of the upgrades are more subtle or obviously useful than others, I don’t think there’s any comparison between what a character in different leveling tiers is able to do in combat and that’s an important litmus test. It feels like there are gradual upgrades (melee system) right alongside starkly game-changing ones (when you first get invisibility, or always-on awareness). I much prefer it to “more slightly differently animated spell choices” or “damage number that increases in tune to enemy HP” or many of the other options that RPGs prefer to make the emphasis of their character stats.
Not to my knowledge. As far as I can tell it’s all offense and damage soaking for you. That’s why I prefer 0 martial arts and focusing on stealth based attacks, since you can take down multiple foes without any effective reaction with your standard neck chop while your stealth ability is engaged.
You’re right, now that I think of it, the warrior skills in DA, for instance, didn’t do much to change how you played your character. However, whenever Morrigan got new spells those opened up new tactics. I remember that as soon as I got the ice cone spell for her, for a while my strategy revolved around freezing enemies and shattering them with my warrior. But in general it was pretty much about “damage number that increases in tune to enemy HP”.
So “sense of progression” probably isn’t what made me more comfortable with combat in DA or BG2. I suppose what makes the action parts of Alpha Protocol feel weird is that I’m not used to games in this perspective and with these mechanics (stealth, over-the-shoulder aiming) being tied to RPG advancement. I’m more conditioned to accept a warrior missing a sword strike in an isometric RPG than seeing my pistol shots be so inaccurate.
There’s a similar issue in Fallout 3, and I do think mods like FWE which make the combat more like STALKER improve the game.
