Well, I managed to get the original IWar up and running today (it won’t run if you have more than 500 MB of Virtual Memory).
I’m using the Glide Wrapper and able to play it at 1600x1200. Gameworld graphics are decent but the interface is scarring to the eyes and obscures most of the screen. There also seems to be a bug with the Glide Wrapper that will crash the game upon mission completion- though it does look like the progress is acurately saved.
is the virtual mem thing the reason why it may crash after the idwar intro movie? I can change that in control panel right?
Gameworld graphics are decent but the interface is scarring to the eyes and obscures most of the screen.
I recommend pressing Tab to go full screen and hide the cockpit graphics (the cockpit is 640x480 res unless you have Defiance which has an 800x600 cockpit). The graphics are dated now, but still not bad for a 1997 game.
Mine crashed before the intro movie. You can change it under System in the Control Panel. Just make sure your max is less than 512 MB.
Thanks for the Tab tip- that should help.
Parts of the graphics have held up pretty well (the models in particular). Still its amazing how far Particle Systems went in graphical detail in the four years between games.
Well, I’ve played a fair amount of Independence War 2 this weekend (nearing the end of Act 1) and I must say that this is making a run at Freespace 2 as my favorite space sim. Its really apples and oranges but wow is this a great product. The level of detail and polish is just incredible.
My only complaints is that its fairly unforgiving early on (dodging missiles is a real bitch) and the trade system is a bit too rudimentery. I needed some jewelery to trade for an Imaging Modifer (zoom scope) and figuring out where to go to find a convoy carrying jewelery was very challenging. I wish the game had used a monetary system vice straight barter.
I likely would have been a bit more frustrated but the ingame location finder and walkthrough mods have made this a pleasure.
Thanks nuke! Pity I can’t try 1 :)
Cal
IW2 is indeed a Very Good Space Sim.
I loved it, bugged missions and all, up until I was challenged by the Omans. I won’t ruin the surprise to any of you who haven’t played the game that far, but one of the challenges was a VERY BAD DESIGN DECISION imo. I’ve ranted about this in prevoius threads about this game. I guess I’m getting old, repeating myself like this…
As far as combat being a challenge, I found it easier if you just go full throttle with rapid pbc’s blazing. Slowing down is very bad because that will make you an easy target. Better to keep up speed and make several passes at your target. Always make sure not to try to turn to steep so you end up slowing down. High speed and turning keeps missiles of your back. Try a 90 degree turn just before the missile is about to hit. And when you get the wingmen, keep them attached and armed with rapid pbc’s.
“He’s intelligent, but not experienced. His patterns indicate… two dimensional thinking.” :)
The best way to avoid enemy fire while concentrating yours is to set up a chaotic orbit around your target by flying sideways and corkscrewing while facing him at all times. Don’t use the throttle, instead use the foreward/backward overrides to maintain an optimal distance.
If you’re endangered by missiles and you’re not in an LDSI field, perform a Parias Bootlegger (quickly activate and deactivate your LDS drive to instantly change your velocity to 1 km/s in the direction you’re currently pointing).
We’ll have you guys withstanding withering fire from multiple cruisers in no time. :D
Where does that term come from?
Turrets made all the difference in survivability for me. They’re relatively accurate so in the middle of a furball I can let them deal with targets as they please while I focus on missile avoidance. With gatling cannons they’re pretty lethal.
Finding the right combat speed is an ongoing challenge. Too much speed and I find its hard to reclose the distance after a flyby. I’m finding about 1000-1200 km/s to be a pretty good speed target.
Rapid PBC’s I usually let one of the turrets handle. Since it doesn’t work with the auto-targeting I find the turret gunners are a more accurate shot than I.
Great tip! Thanks!
when I run it with the glide wrapper listed above it freaking chugs like no other. I have a really nice rig too. Any cause of this thats common?
MAF, Do you have starfield blur enabled? Evidently having it on makes it chug even on modern rigs.
I don’t know if this is the same issue you’re seeing but I have a problem where the framerate is insanely smooth but everything leaps forwared in space a bit every four of five seconds. This is a known issue with the wrapper and IWar 1 evidently but I someone on the Atari forums told me they solved it by turning their sound acceleration down a notch but I haven’t confirmed that.
thats probably it then, I did have it turned on. Thanks. Ill try the sound acceleration thing too and let you know.
But Gatlings run out of ammo…
There is a “match speed” module that you can install. Maybe that can help. I didn’t use it much though…
Rapid pcb’s don’t autotarget? You mean that they don’t track targets in front of you? That’s not how I remember it.
IDWAR Rocked. Cant wait to get home and get it working.
I’m talking about computer assisted aiming- I just confirmed it in the ingame encyclopedia and they don’t have the assisted aiming. I noticed in game when I found I was much worse of a shot with the Rapid PCB than with the regular PCBs.
Yeah, I’m hoping to find the blueprints for Gatling ammo soon so I can start recycling a lot of the crap I’ve accumultated in random piracy.
Where does that term come from?[/quote]
From the guy who first discovered it and shared it with the masses on the I-War forums. :)
Yes. Now I remember. I used Rapid PCBs on my turrets and had them focus fire on my targets usually. Maybe that is why I thought I had assisted aiming… Wonder what I used for my main gun then? A Gatling perhaps…?
Man, I have to reinstall IWD2! All this theoretical stuff makes me want to play!
Rapid Fire PBCs do have automatic aiming, although their arc is a little smaller than other PBCs. The Encyclopedia entry was for an earlier version based on I-War 1’s PBCs, which you could toggle into rapid-fire mode at the cost of aim-assist.
That does it! When I get back from work I WILL INSTALL!!!
No more talk! From now on, only ACTION can prove RIGHT OR WRONG!!