BF2142 has Spyware? /dropkick

[Strazos]

I do have 9.0c. No big deal. I'm certainly not going to mess with my drivers to play a demo of a game that I have zero intention of actually buying.

EDIT: I don't need Grammar Snake bites.

[Viin]

I do have 9.0c. No big deal. I'm certainly not going to mess with my drivers to play a demo of a game that I have zero intention of actual buying.

Thats the spirit!

I found it annoying too - especially since it wasn't a "nice" error message to tell me to upgrade to 9.0c. All I know, is that when I downloaded the DirectX updater it updated a few files and the game worked fine after that.

I'm using the Omega drivers on my ATI card but didn't have any problems.

[HaemishM]

Write up a FIFA 07 review for me so I can decide if it is worth checking out 

Review posted. Though it's a lot of words to say "Yumm, good."  :-D

[Trouble]

Somewhat on-topic: The demo instantly crashes on my system. Apparently, it did not like my "non-standard" drivers.

I had the same problem and I searched for the dll it was bitching about. Found this page and I fixed my problem.

http://www.toymaker.info/Games/html/d3dx_dlls.html

[WayAbvPar]

Write up a FIFA 07 review for me so I can decide if it is worth checking out 

Review posted. Though it's a lot of words to say "Yumm, good."  :-D

Cool! Gracias.

[sinij]

Found this interesting post on slashdot:

As someone who once had the toe-curling job of implementing in-game ads for a game (shudder), I can 100% cast-iron pledge an assurance to you, that if you had ads on loading screens, the minimum duration of that loading screen would be hardcoded in the game and written explicitly into the advertising contract, regardless of what spec your PC was.
They would probably also want assurances that the art assets, sounds and code for displaying the ad was sufficiently encrypted to make it difficult to remove, AND contractually oblige the developer to automatically replace any such 'cracked' ads detected by any patches.

Yes, they really are that fucking evil.

I also want to add following:

With advertising, you are the product. As a result you will not see any benefit from it or competition in the market. Suits will figure out a formula that will tell them exactly how much advertising most people will tolerate, they will apply it to maximize add exposure and will proceed to compete with other publishers by  lowering costs of placing adds . Lowering title price or reducing number, intrusiveness or amount of adds shown is not even part of the equation!

[Miasma]

Have those ads gone live yet?

[Surlyboi]

Pretty much all Intel ads at the moment.

For what it's worth, considering the environments you're fighting in in the game, they're pretty unintrusive. Much less so than the ones in PS.

[Megrim]

And to second what Kitsune said, if you wish an ad-free version, buy from Australia. Apart from that, i think this might be the first BF game i've actually enjoyed. The physics are still gimmiky and the average intelligence level of my fellow players is somewhere between that of a stapler and a very agitated squirrel, but the gameplay is quite fun and improves dramatically if played with friends in a squad and whatnot.

[Calantus]

Whats the deal with the Australian release (as in why)? I must have missed that.

[Megrim]

I don't really know to be honest. It's a common enough thing though, i think the DRM verson of the second-last Splinter Cell got shipped here without the DRM. May have something to do with the Aus gaming lobby requiring this stuff be stripped from games published here.

[Akkori]

I don't even notice the Intel stuff really. Sadly, the exec's will find this out, and future ad's will be garishly lit and colorful. But if they implement them in this non-intrusive way, then it won't be too bad.
I miss the free-fall phsics, and the ability to "fly" your parachute. It's pretty much all about falling straight down  now. Takes away some cool opportunities.

[Megrim]

Haha yea, but my housemate killed a fully loaded transport helo by steering his landing drop-pod into it.

[Strazos]

Sort of like "Rods from God"?

[Megrim]

I'm sorry, but i'm not familiar with that expression. Went right over my head. 

[Strazos]

Wikipedia is your friend.

[Akkori]

You know, I have yet to figure out how the hell to steer those things. NO matter if its a squad beacon or the APC, it goes up, and comes straight down. I wanted to use it to get the squad on top of buildings by placing the beacon right next to it so when they drop, they can steer to the roof. No luck so far.

[Miasma]

I don't know about now but in beta you could steer the pods with ease and travel halfway across the map in seconds, the devs didn't like it because people were just jumping from silo to silo and it made the game too "hectic" so they nerfed them.  You can only really steer the pods if the opposing Titan is near by, otherwise they only go a few feet in the air and come right back down.

[Murgos]

The beacon is for dropping your squad members back in at your position when they die.  It's very useful during operations away from a spawn point as it's only about 10 seconds from when they die to when they are back up and in the fight.  They are only marginally steerable but it's enough to land on a roof vs an alley if you want.

I haven't found a good use for the APC launch pods other than to bail out when the thing is going to blow.

[Calantus]

I went out and bought myself a copy of this and I'm having a blast. Can't comment on the adds because I'm Australian and thus don't have them.

This is the first BF game I've played since loading up the first and shutting it down in disgust due to being thorougly sick of the WW1/WW2 themes (even then, and they still make 'em). At first I hated the vehicles being in the game, especially since I just don't like the missile launchers the engineers get. Since then I've been getting used to finding the right turrets, hiding like a little girl until they leave, and fighting fire with fire to deal with armor and they're not so bad anymore. Does the engineer's anti-armor rifle "Pilum H-AVR" work nicely? If so I might have to shoot for that for those times I need to take out mechs and vehicles.

The one thing that I still hate is dying because some chucklehead destroys the vehicle I'm spawning in right as I spawn, especially if said chucklehead is the driver.

My favourite kit right now is assault. I prefer the support's LMG more for shooting, but it's hard to go past med kits and the reviver. So far I've unlocked all the general unlocks up to but not including the 3rd grenade, as well as the first 2 medic unlocks for assault. My plan is to grab the top medic weapon (which I've heard is the best assault weapon) and then grab the rocket attachment for my rifle. Does that sound solid? After that I'm not so sure. Recon is out since I'm not a fan of sniping. Will probably unlock some support toys unless the engineer's Pilum is worth the trouble.

[Etro]

You know, I have yet to figure out how the hell to steer those things. NO matter if its a squad beacon or the APC, it goes up, and comes straight down. I wanted to use it to get the squad on top of buildings by placing the beacon right next to it so when they drop, they can steer to the roof. No luck so far.

if the squad leader drops a beacon beside a building, just as the timer is about to hit zero for you to respawn, grab the mouse and move it sideways really quickly (ie as if you were making your character look around in a 360 circle). The pod when it launches now goes into a crazy spin and puts you about 10 metres away from the beacon position.

You could also try holding W or W+A down while you do this too.

Once your on the roof, if your a squad leader, you can try shooting out your beacon and dropping a new one on the roof, and huzzah!

squad vs. squad fights on roofs are really fun btw!

[Akkori]

Hey! Don't I know you!?

Thanks for the tip... !!