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Empire Total War's DLC's are just *.ini trick. You have all DLC's on your hdd but they are locked... When you buy them you are downloading nothing, just ini trick.
Post edited October 29, 2009 by acare84
[url=]http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=1214[/url]
Brief interview with one of the Gearbox developers (spoilers near the end on the third page). The good news is it sounds like they are dedicated to providing additional content and reacting to the community so long as the game maintains a decent following.
It's good to see because one of the main reasons I opted for the game is it wasn't just going to be a 'you get what's in the box' type of deal like a single player game.
Don't get this on PC...it's a horrible port. No V-sync, no push to talk option, no way to alter any of the options without messing with the ini file, no mouse support on menus...such a mess. A real disappointment. Oh, and when you have a game dedicated to multiplayer, you should at least have put in the effort to make a decent server browser, which shows ping and location and the like, not just use gamespy which loads up a list of existing servers with no other information at all.
Also, the siren's Assassin skill, which gives melee +800% damage, doesn't actually function at all, for anybody. Does nobody test this crap?
Post edited October 29, 2009 by Crimsoneer
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Crimsoneer: Don't get this on PC...it's a horrible port. No V-sync, no push to talk option, no way to alter any of the options without messing with the ini file, no mouse support on menus...such a mess. A real disappointment. Oh, and when you have a game dedicated to multiplayer, you should at least have put in the effort to make a decent server browser, which shows ping and location and the like, not just use gamespy which loads up a list of existing servers with no other information at all.
Also, the siren's Assassin skill, which gives melee +800% damage, doesn't actually function at all, for anybody. Does nobody test this crap?

I specced my Lilith out as an Elemental, so can't comment on that.
And what do you mean about no mouse support? I use the mouse in all the menus...
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Crimsoneer: Don't get this on PC...it's a horrible port. No V-sync, no push to talk option, no way to alter any of the options without messing with the ini file, no mouse support on menus...such a mess. A real disappointment. Oh, and when you have a game dedicated to multiplayer, you should at least have put in the effort to make a decent server browser, which shows ping and location and the like, not just use gamespy which loads up a list of existing servers with no other information at all.
Also, the siren's Assassin skill, which gives melee +800% damage, doesn't actually function at all, for anybody. Does nobody test this crap?

There is mouse support in menus... it just isn't implemented well. The UI needs a bit of work for it to be more intuitive on the PC. Some screens Mouse 1 works as ENTER, others it doesnt. Some screens you can click an X to close it, others you have to hit ESC. The menus right now are a bit too keyboard/gamepad centric in my eyes - I am hoping for a patch to update it though :/.
The UI is definitely a bit clunky on the PC but I wouldn't weigh that as a substantial con.
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acare84: Empire Total War's DLC's are just *.ini trick. You have all DLC's on your hdd but they are locked... When you buy them you are downloading nothing, just ini trick.

That's true of the special forces edition. But I don't think it's true of the more recent DLC. It was also the case with DoW2 and the pre-order DLC. Just a small file unlocking the content.
...these reports on 'consolified' menus are very disapointing... here i was thinking in getting Boerderlands (for PC obviously) and now i hear that the developers went the stupid way: release a PC game that plays better with a console... sure, it doesn't seem as bad consolified as say, Deus Ex Invisible War (that game was a true piece of-you-know-what on PC), but this are dire news all the same. I hope the patch this ASAP and remind them all that this very detail kept UT3 from really taking off at its launch on PC - even if it was corrected by EPIC later on, it was late for the damaged image. Gearbox should really address such things...
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acare84: Empire Total War's DLC's are just *.ini trick. You have all DLC's on your hdd but they are locked... When you buy them you are downloading nothing, just ini trick.
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Navagon: That's true of the special forces edition. But I don't think it's true of the more recent DLC. It was also the case with DoW2 and the pre-order DLC. Just a small file unlocking the content.

It is true for Warpath Campaign too. I bought it and nothing has been downloaded. ;)
Post edited October 30, 2009 by acare84
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acare84: It is true for Warpath Campaign too. I bought it and nothing has been downloaded. ;)

Seriously? Nothing? So all of the content for that campaign was either finished before the game was released or added in one of the patches. This is why I'm not so fond of DLC overall. When you're doing nothing more than giving people content that should be (and in fact is) in the game already then that strikes me as a dirty practice.
But it also seems like an easy way to get free extra content, given that acquiring a few bytes is all that's required.
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acare84: [...]
But it also seems like an easy way to get free extra content, given that acquiring a few bytes is all that's required.

...still a bad practice. Essentially, you're paying for something you already paid for and have in your system, they just want more money for it. Because, if you already have it with your initial bought, surely that was accounted for in the final price of retail when it lauched. Developers wouldn't want to risk investing money developing content like that and then have people not getting DLC.. and one day figure this scheme out and get some patch/ctack on the net and have it for free or something...
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zM: ...these reports on 'consolified' menus are very disapointing... here i was thinking in getting Boerderlands (for PC obviously) and now i hear that the developers went the stupid way: release a PC game that plays better with a console... sure, it doesn't seem as bad consolified as say, Deus Ex Invisible War (that game was a true piece of-you-know-what on PC), but this are dire news all the same. I hope the patch this ASAP and remind them all that this very detail kept UT3 from really taking off at its launch on PC - even if it was corrected by EPIC later on, it was late for the damaged image. Gearbox should really address such things...

Oy. First of all: If you are so terrified that a game might not be hardcore PC that a semi-clunky menu stops you, you probably have issues. Lots of pure-PC games have horrible interfaces. And honestly, we have been getting dumbed down ever since we got menus. A REAL PC gamer doesn't need a menu and just boots to a blank screen adn a console.
And the reason UT3 failed so miserably is because the level design was not up to Epic's previous standards and the menus took a long time to use, NOT because they were "consolified".
But, to clarify. Borderlands is not "consolified" or whatever. It just has a really piss-poor menu system. The game plays just like a PC FPS should.
Post edited October 30, 2009 by Gundato
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Gundato: Oy. First of all: If you are so terrified that a game might not be hardcore PC that a semi-clunky menu stops you, you probably have issues. Lots of pure-PC games have horrible interfaces. And honestly, we have been getting dumbed down ever since we got menus. A REAL PC gamer doesn't need a menu and just boots to a blank screen adn a console.
And the reason UT3 failed so miserably is because the level design was not up to Epic's previous standards and the menus took a long time to use, NOT because they were "consolified".
But, to clarify. Borderlands is not "consolified" or whatever. It just has a really piss-poor menu system. The game plays just like a PC FPS should.

...thanks for clarifying the Borderland point. As for UT3, the issue was corrected later on with patch. Before that, was terrible indeed. As for level design, it's a matter of opinion, as i find UT to end up being better overall than its sucessors (UT2003, UT2004), and that is also highly debatable from person to person.
As for the consolified menus in general, yes. I do think it is a problem, and especially so if it somehow extends to controls ingame (like DX:IW example). The game just isn't right when playing. On the point of black screen to boot that is purely opinional (< that a word??); as i see it, stuff either games or non-gaming software *should* be user-friendly and that translates directly to being accessible to anybody, not just people in the know of technical was to put something up and running - not all people are computer "experts", or they might just not have the time to learn and use all there is to know about each and every program. Case in point: i play Quake etal for years and i still can't give a damn about cvars. Sure they are usefull, but apart from 1 or 2 for one or other game using such system, i don't know and i really don't have the time or patience to 'play' with those. And from an person-program interaction standpoint, they are not user-friendly to the common denominator. Sure, many options are problably best off a newb's hands, but...
P.S. : And no, i'm not a console-kid, nor do i use Mac products, should some of you somehow make the connection. It's just a matter of ease and functionality. Surely you would have a hard time driving a car if each and every brand had its own set of rules to get the vehicle to work, and some of them somewhat obscure. Its a matter of common-sense, i suppose.
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zM: As for the consolified menus in general, yes. I do think it is a problem, and especially so if it somehow extends to controls ingame (like DX:IW example). The game just isn't right when playing. On the point of black screen to boot that is purely opinional (< that a word??); as i see it, stuff either games or non-gaming software *should* be user-friendly and that translates directly to being accessible to anybody, not just people in the know of technical was to put something up and running - not all people are computer "experts", or they might just not have the time to learn and use all there is to know about each and every program. Case in point: i play Quake etal for years and i still can't give a damn about cvars. Sure they are usefull, but apart from 1 or 2 for one or other game using such system, i don't know and i really don't have the time or patience to 'play' with those. And from an person-program interaction standpoint, they are not user-friendly to the common denominator. Sure, many options are problably best off a newb's hands, but...
P.S. : And no, i'm not a console-kid, nor do i use Mac products, should some of you somehow make the connection. It's just a matter of ease and functionality. Surely you would have a hard time driving a car if each and every brand had its own set of rules to get the vehicle to work, and some of them somewhat obscure. Its a matter of common-sense, i suppose.

That was kind of my point. What is user-friendly? Simple settings and minimal complexity. And honestly, if they just fix the mouse-lag and provide better mousewheel support in the menus, Borderlands already has this.
Hell, let's use Invisible War. The original Deus Ex had a VERY clunky interface for using powers and items in-game (seriously, the F-keys? :P). We are used to it, but it still was far from user-friendly, and I think almost everyone remapped a few keys. Hell, the Jedi Knight games are similar. Has anyone NOT remapped push and pull to the mousewheel? And probably mapped their favorite force powers to keys around WASD (or ESDF, if you used to play Tribes).
And nobody really accused you of being a "console-kid". We clearly understand you don't like consoles and think they are all idiots because they are killing PC games (blah blah blah). But the point you raise is pretty damned good: What if every car had a different method of using the accelerator and the brake? Why, maybe if they went with a standard and approached the lowest common denominator, it would work.
Wait a moment... Consoles don't have mouses, but they have buttons and arrows. PCs have mouses, but we also have keys and arrow keys. Why not just skip the mouse entirely?
Hell, I find I tend to prefer to navigate menus with my keyboard, just because so many games use crappy cursors that obscure what I am pointing at or have overly (or underly) sensitive mouses.
But I digress. Suffice to say, while Borderlands has a lot of issues with regard to the interface, it isn't consolified. It just has a crappy menu system.
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Gundato: And nobody really accused you of being a "console-kid". We clearly understand you don't like consoles and think they are all idiots because they are killing PC games (blah blah blah). [...]

...on this note, you're wrong :) I guess i sit in the middle. I like what consoles offer, but i clearly lean towards PC for all the games and actual functionality. And no, consoles aren't 'killing' PC gaming, it just bothers me that many dev studios just clearly go for consoles first and deliver a 'lesser' game when it comes to PC, not using its proper advantages [of being a PC]. It is an unfortunate pattern its starting to settle (for PC gamers). We can all understand why they do it, but that doesn't make it any better for the people who elect PC as a gaming machine (especially when it comes into deciding between a PC or console version of a given game).