I cant believe I paid 125.00 for.........

Pebble sized rocks that are taking out my tanks.

Thats not exactly the quality I was looking for when I paid more than the normal price. This is something I expect in budget titles. Apparently a problem thats not going away either. I spend more time keeping my eye out for pebbles than I do the enemy, seems the rocks are the more dangerous of the two.

Well, the problem isn't easy to fix, actually. Of course, we could increase the tolerance of all vehicles against those rocks. But that's just doctoring with a symptom of an otherwise desirable feature: You need to set a threshold somewhere.

The real problem lies in some of the terrain themes that are being used in the scenarios. We can't remotely uninstall files that are on our customers' computers. The best strategy to deal with the whole issue is to open those scenarios that have these stones in the mission editor, and go to the "map info" menu. You can see which terrain theme file is responsible for the map. You then open the theme file in the map editor, and either take away the rocks from the terrain types where they cause pain, or shrink their size to, I think, 8% of the default size. Save the theme file. Go back to the mission editor, and load a different theme for the scenario, then load the old one (which you just fixed before), then save the mission.

Alternatively you can check for fixed scenario files at http://www.SteelBeasts.com . I admit that the whole issue stinks, but the workaround described above is the most reliable way to deal with the situation.

Thank you Ssnake,

The email you sent was very clear as to why the problem exists, and the step by step procedure it editing the problem out was very welcome. Thank you for being very detailed in what I could do to work around this issue, and your explanation made sense.


Jim

You're welcome. Your inquiry has spurred us a bit to look into the whole situation once more; I guess that since most of the old-time users were applying the workaround some time ago the issue is not so urgent for most users anymore (so it tends to slip from our radar screens as well).

Yet concede that the workaround can't be the end of our remedial efforts. As much as I'd like to see a speedy solution, I'd like to see speedy solutions to many other open issues as well, and priority should be given to those issues that are similarly annoying but for which no workaround exists.

Thanks a lot for your understanding.

And the above exchange is why I'm happy I paid $125 for the product. Know of any other devs that would do the same?

Then again, how many games do you pay $125 for.

Counting expansions or subscriptions?

NTM

how about MMORPGs?

I'm sorry, I wasn't aware SB pro was subscription or an expansion.

It's not. (At least, not for the first expansion or two)

But considering how much money I've paid on IL-2 or Dawn of War, SB suddenly doesn't look that bad.

NTM

Interesting though he we dont think twice about forking out hundreds for peices of hardware that will probably be replaced as soon as the nextest bestest thing comes out BUT baulk at the idea of paying a hundred odd follars for a "game".

Mailman

think about it ;

il-2 sturmovik,

il-2 Forgotten Battles

il-2 ace expansion pack

pacific fighters

il-2 complete edition

pe-2 addon

all of the campaign addons

il-2 1946...

Apparently they are better marketeers than we are, at least as far as pricing for consumers is concerned.

saitek x52...

rudder pedals...

Storm of War: Battle of Britain... (still WWII stuff...)

The simulation market is tough to please, the only way to make even a marginal profit is to raise the price to recoup costs for our never ending demands for more realism. This is why most development houses wont even touch a flight simulation or tank simulation today. The time required to get it right never brings in a profit. I would pay for a 125.00 flight simulator if it had the same attention to details as Steel Beast Pro.

me too-but to me not even allied force beats steel beasts pro

Ive got you beat.........1300.00 + for the VBS version of OFP


Now THAT one really took a Looooooooooong time to click the submit button in my cart.

wow-i could buy a new laptop with 1300 dollars...

I wish I had trust me

The other thing you dont get with any other project despite cost.......when is the last time you actually received concise tech support? Not the typical form letter that totally skips over what you sent in, the type that states to update your drivers blah blah blah when your question had nothing to do with drivers?

I wont copy/paste Ssnakes email, but in principle, it was roughly 8 paragraphs long with detailed explanations, and he also took the time to add screenshots to make even easier to follow.

Trust me, you dont get this from Electronic Arts.

double post oops

thats true-esimgames has just about the best tech support in the history of simulations as far as i know. i would say that battle of britain 2, dangerous waters, etc are close but still in a different class.

hmmm...if Nils allows it I would host the document for all to DL and peruse at will.

of course they could do the same at the SB.com web site.

what document?

The money I spent on this sim has given me five times the gameplay of any other sim I purchased in the last year.

I paid the money just to support a great publisher! I haven't played it much, family work and all takes up much time but well worth the price just to go to the Tank Range.

Merry Christmas!

EA has a customer service department?

Wow...you learn something new everyday. lol

It's name is HAL, and when contacted by a customer, (randomly) sends one of 9 pre-written e-mail responses, 3 of which are nothing more than lists of upcoming titles on PS3, 1 is a 2 year report on their stock performance, and another simply thanks you for your purchase.

The other 4 contain their troubleshooting list:

1:Make sure PC power cord is plugged into wall.

If this did not solve your problem, please procede to next step.

2:Don't use pirated software and your game will work fine. Criminal.


Thank you for contacting our support department, your satisfaction is our goal.

No need to be so nasty ... to a homicidal, maniac computer of fine film history.

Oh how often I have thought exactly that in recent weeks and months!