Getting back into Steel Fury

I've been mostly into flight sims of late - the combat variety, naturally, no fun without blowing stuff up - but for a change I recently dusted off my little-played but modded install of SF '42 (or should that be 'SF K '42?') and had forgotten how good it could be. Still haven't got the hang of all the controls or explored playing from the tank commander standpoint rather than the gunner, but still, I'm having a blast...literally, if not always successfully:



Posted impressions in the form of a mission report here:

http://combatace.com/topic/81863-tiger-tiger-burning-bright-sf-42/

Couple of questions, if i may.

Am I right in thinking that anti-aliasing doesn't work on Nvidia cards? Haven't tried recently or the newer FXAA option but last I tried, no AA.

Also, can anyone recommend a Tiger I campaign (or mission set) available which will let me beat up KVs and T-34/76s in the Tiger hey-day of 1942-43 without meeting any of those really nasty T-34/85s or Su-100s? Or a decent mission editor tutorial, in case the answer is 'No, but go for it'? Mission balance is fine and dandy but there are times when I'd be quite happy just to stomp the enemy, either in a Tiger in 1943 or in a T-34 or KV-1 in 1941 rather than in 1942...now THAT would be fun, too, come to think of it.

33Lima I strongly recommend you join us on the Steel Fury forum on Graviteam.com. You are using the SPM 2.0 which is over 14 months old and has been superseded by NTA 1.8 ( last update is the March one yet to come. There are new tanks and many new missions .Here's the link:http://graviteam.com/forum/index.php?board=1.0

Re enabling AA I know that it 's possible to force it with Nvidia and AMD gpus. Here's alink to the sticky that a guy posted about that on our forum:http://graviteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=3882.0

Cheers.

Great battle report by the way!

Many thanks Frinik! Such time as I'd spent in SF '42 had been with SPM; I'd never tried the NTA alternative and only found SPM 2.0 yesterday (the mission report was in 1.5!) so I thought that was that! Will head over and register now at Graviteam, download all those great goodies, and maybe file another report to feature NTA so folks get a better picture of what's available now, which was pretty darn good before.

Also looking forward to getting into SABOW which I got a while back but gave up after finding the interface somewhat impenetrable, another good reason for being on the Graviteam forum!

Great see you there!

If you're keen on a challenge, give my Panzer III and Panzer 38(t) campaigns a try.
At the very least, they will be a pleasant change of pace.

Hi 33lima,

It is a nice surprise to see you in the tank forum.
I also have this game a long time ago, however, I have not really play it, since there were bugs.
I remember trying the driving tutorial mission and get stuck in the mud, could not do nothing,
and the gunnery tutorial was also confusing, very hard to hit the target and when I did, the target won't get damaged.
Also widescreen monitor was not really supported, I remember there is a fix, however, the messages on the top of the screen is still unreadable.

To make it worse, the manual is badly translated, it is hard to understand.
And lots of keyboard command do not work.
Foe example: for do ranging the target before shooting it:
The manual say to use "Home" and "End" however, they do not work on mine.

However, after reading your posts here, I decide to give it a second try.
I hope all those bugs are fixed with the latest mods

I have been playing this game for 5 1/2 years and it's the first time I hear of these bugs?????Anyway the training tutorials are a must but not an obligation and can easily be skipped!

Hi Frinik,

I have reinstall the game with the nta 1.8 mod.

Now the tutorial works fine, I can finish all of them successfully.
However, the widescreen fix is still broken, the upper part of the message is still not visible,
as you can see here:







Did I install something wrong?
Is there a newer fix?

Hi Tirta
I'm losing the top of the message box too, and am not sure there is a fix. They seem mostly useful in the training missions, only. I didn't see one in the Tiger mission reported over at CA, and just saw one or two in the Sherman mission.

It appears to be related to the widescreen bug. There's a fix for this posted in the links section.

Alternatively you could try fiddling with the game resolution config and the video driver settings. More details here:

http://graviteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=11121.msg31264#msg31264

The key here, I think, is to change the desktop resolution to something lower, before changing it back.
And don't restrict video modes in-game.

Hi 33lima,
I guess you are correct, the widescreen fix is not good for 16:9 monitor.



Hi Kyth,
Those screenshots are after I have applied the widescreen fix from here:
http://www.4shared.com/zip/j_vtcmdc/SF_Fix_Widescreen_Bug.html

I have changed the desktop resolution to something lower first,
then tried editing the config file in data/k42/loc_rus/config
from:
bb_wid = 1920;
bb_hei = 1024;
to:
bb_wid = 1680;
bb_hei = 1050;
and have tried other resolution too (1600x900).

and have tried checked & unchecked the 'Do not restrict Video Modes'
and have tried checked & unchecked the 'Desktop Resolution'
and have tried changing the aspect ratio to 4/3, 16/9, 16/1, 5/4,

but no matter what I choose, there is no effect for the game messages, it is still cut.

The only time the game messages is not cut at the top is when I use 4:3 resolution.

Is there other fix?

Hi,

Here's a link to another suggested fix for the screen cut-off:

http://graviteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=11498.msg39541#msg39541

I think it involves changing the on-screen font-size for the message box.

Hi Kyth,

Thanks for the solution.
I really appreciate it very much

I have tried it and it really does fix my screen cut-off.

All credits to Flanker15, who put in the time experimenting with the settings,

after finishing all the tutorial missions,
what missions is suitable for a beginner like me?

how do you suppose to play the game? as TC? or gunner?
in what view do you spend most of your playing? F9?
I am having difficulties in spotting the enemy,
how do you do it before the enemy hits you?
lots of times my tank is killed/damaged by something that I do not see.
what do I do wrong?

can someone please give me some tips?

For rank beginners, it is essential to choose a heavy tank that will outclass your opponents by a wide margin. That should give you an easy time while you 'learn the ropes' as they say.

I have noticed that the KV-1 missions are a walk in the park. So too, the missions featuring the Tiger 1.
However, try not to get stuck at that level! After gaining some confidence and expertise, you can go on to try the medium and light tanks. That is where the game really shines and tactical maneuvering gets justly rewarded.

Try using the 'F8' situation map, which usually displays sighted enemies. And man the gunner position so you can deal with threats immediately.

thanks for the tips, Kyth.
how about game setting - balance?
is 1 the easiest? or 10?

I'd say, don't sell yourself short, leave the settings at the default level,

you'll be grateful for the experience later on.

what is the default setting for game setting - balance?
is it 5?

and after my tank is killed/damaged,
is it possible to know which tanks who did it?

The dafult is 5.I persoanlly play at 10 because I am highly competitive. Playing the stock campaigns and missions at level 10 is not too difficult.But playing Kyth's campaigns at level 10 is a real challenge which i always relished.Rather than playing the stock campaign to make your teeth try the Combat Episodes, ity's sseeries of 7 or missions all set in 1943-44 featuring heavies like the JS-2, KV-85,the Tiger I and II, the Ferdinand.They are much better and interesting than the vanilla missions.Then you can tackle Kyth's campaigns with the Panzer III or Panzer 38(t), Rends' Barbarossa or Lockie's mission packs for variety....