As an FYI - The actual game has been released. It shipped yesterday, and depending on geography, stores are already receiving it.

I live in RI, and copies have already made it to my local store. (Guess where I am going on lunch!) Check with your favorite software store to see if you have it yet too!

Also of note, there is already a patch for the game to give it the fixes that went into the demo patch.

Good luck,
-Greg

Mine shipped today and will be here tomorrow. I'm going to be worthless this weekend...

FEDEX says mine is on the doorstep. (Don't even try to get my copy!!!) I too will be worthless this weekend.
I have DSL but it may be too slow UL speed to host a game (128). I will try with the full version tonight and post here if I am successful. Unless of course fusto has started a full version server...

Ok, that's it. I'm going to buy it on my way home tonight. Got me spending money. PSHH!

Edit:
Err. I forgot it's not out until Friday. SO, I guess I'll be picking it up then.

just picked it up from EB. So much for working on my MAME cabinet.

There aren't any stores that actually have it on the shelves yet, are there? I was planning on just buying it on Friday, that's why I didn't Pre-Order, but if I can buy it earlier, I definitely will. The release date (I thought) was the 14th, but some places are saying the 13th, and other people that have Pre-Ordered have already got it. Damn it, I should've just ordered it. Maybe I'll do that now and, just so I can play it until then, download an ISO from easynews. ...And that will become my back-up when I get the game. Same thing I did with Warcraft III. :P

just picked it up from EB. So much for working on my MAME cabinet.

AHAHAHAHA you started it Loren! Join the club!!!

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but do you have any pictures on how the MAME cabinet is coming along?

I got mine this morning.

FYI-The ARAMIS server that I'm hosting has been upgraded to the full release.

Z~

Re: BF1942 - Specialty stores like EB will have it in stock today... even if you DID NOT pre-order. I didn't

Re: MAME cab. I'm going to start a thread on it as soon as i get my site up. I am in the planning stages. I picked up a Mortal Kombat cabinet with 27" VGA monitor last weekend at the arcade convention in San Jose for $350 in damn good shape. I've got to put together the PC and control board, do a few touch ups on the cabinet and i'll be there. I'm going to chronicle the whole thing weblog style, which i'll link to when it's up, probably Monday or so. I've done a good bit of research on the control panel and interface so far, but there's so much too learn it may take me a while to decide on what interface to use. I'll keep you guys posted... i'm jumping out of my skin to get it running! So many decisions to make!

I picked up a Mortal Kombat cabinet with 27" VGA monitor last weekend at the arcade convention in San Jose for $350 in damn good shape.

/me pictures an MK cabinet bungee-corded to the top of Loren's Rice Racer, trying to make it home in one piece.

it's NOT a rice car =p

and thank jebus for friends with trucks. Poor bastard has helped me move my apartment, a photo booth, and now an arcade cabinet.

Reminds me of the bumper sticker - "Yes, this is my truck. No, I won't help you move."

So let's hear it! Does it make the demo look like PONG? :-)

- Jon

I picked up a Mortal Kombat cabinet with 27" VGA monitor last weekend at the arcade convention in San Jose for $350 in damn good shape

Wow, thats $150 less then I paid for my 27 inch VGA monitor, and that was without an arcade cabinet. Then again, that included UPS shipping.

I guess thats something that I can use my monitor for once I get a better TV. Glad to know there are arcade cabinets that will accompany it.

Excellent! Thanks fusto for hosting a server for us. I get a consistent 80 ping when I'm on it, but I've never seen more than 4 ppl at one time on it...
I'll be there tonight if I ever get out of work...

I set it up with Battle of the Bilge conquest style.
I can add other maps, and games if anybody wants.

Does upgrading the server deny people using the demo?
If so, sorry...

Z~

Does upgrading the server deny people using the demo?

Very likely, especially if you've set it to a different map than the one included in the demo.

Yes it does prevent the demo folk. You have to run them as seperate servers.

PS... there's a 1.1 patch out for the retail version as well. Damn crunch time!! not being able to play it is torture... that little tank on the cover is tormenting me....

Wow, thats $150 less then I paid for my 27 inch VGA monitor, and that was without an arcade cabinet. Then again, that included UPS shipping.

just to clarify... it's an Arcade monitor... not a PC monitor. Still figuring out what the difference is... but so far i know that the refresh is SUPER low... like 15khz, and the res is pretty low on arcade monitors.

It's the real deal Mortal Kombat cabinet with the Jamma board and all and it's in pretty awesome condition for being 10 years old. The monitor was definitely the best part of the buy... they wanted $600 at least for any other cabinets with 27 inchers in them. You can get some of the old NBA 4 player cabinets for pretty cheap with 27 inch monitors. They had one for $450. If anyone is interested i could put you in touch with the folks.

Damn crunch time!! not being able to play it is torture... that little tank on the cover is tormenting me....

Yeah, knowing I'll be here late, then get home, feed the dogs and install the Game of the Year (it's gotta be) and stay up till 2AM only to come back and work all day till dark then repeat the cycle...

The good thing is I don't have it in front of me, it's at home on the doorstep so the tank does not torment me... But I will shoot the tank when I get home for you Loren...

Got it, playing it, loving it, when is the group going to be on the server?

I'll be there tommorow. Hopefully stupid Frys won't be sold out of it when i get there.

Man that game is great.

I'll probably be on later tonight... 11pm PST. Anyone else gonna be around?

Just finished with 2 hours of playing with Fusto, DaveC, and BAKup. I may show back up. But it will be for a short time. I went to look for the sub. Anyone figured out what board that is on??

i'll prolly be on

I had a blast, then moved over to one of the EA public servers, and was on the same map...That is a big...No a huuuuge map. Don't bother trying to walk across it, the game will be over by the time you get there

I'm going to to bed Have to go to work tomorrow...Have to move several computers from the Gallera area down to Clear Lake.

Arrrrgh, just called EB, It's not released in the UK until the 20th

EB generally have no idea when stuff's due out.

However, in this case, they appear to be correct, play.com (where I sometimes buy my games) is listing the same date.

That is a big...No a huuuuge map. Don't bother trying to walk across it, the game will be over by the time you get there

Yeah, if you've only played the demo of Wake Island, the full version maps are like moving from Rhode Island to Texas...

I found the sub in the Guadalcanal arena.
Theres two, one for each team. And a bunch of targets, uh, I mean battleships.

Subs fun. Arrow keys to dive, and watch the depth gauge.

Z~

P.S. Aramis server now has that map.

Fusto, can you set the server to rotate the maps after each game or x number of games?

GAH!!!! FedEx didn't drop it off because nobody was there to sign for it. I thought that you didn't need to sign for a package as long as its value is less than $500. I'm hoping that the FedEx guy tries another attempt after I get out of work (he's done that before).

Fill out a signature release form or FedEx will always req a signature for anything

Oh yeah... heads up. If you get the game at EB there's a $10 rebate coupon on their website.

http://www.ebholdings.com/rebates.asp

Can I do that?
If I can I will. Just not sure how...
The documentation for this game is notoriously poor.

Ill try and find how to do it. If somebody already knows, just post it and Ill get right on it.

Z~

From an article on bluesnews.com about the demo says:

MAPS:
- Game Mode: Select the game mode you wish to host: CONQUEST in this demo. The full game will also provide CAPTURE THE FLAG, TEAM DEATH MATCH and CO-OP.
- Map List: Select the maps you want to have in your server rotation. Each map has been designed with a specific number of players in mind. Keep that in mind when setting the maximum number of players for your server. Feel free to experiment with more or fewer.

So I assume since the demo only had one map, the above pertains to the full version as well. Try it out and I'll see ya'll before you see me... *bang*

Ok, I bought it at Fry's and I'll be leaving work early to go find Aramis...

I'm gonna frag your asses...

- Jon

Ditto on that.

What's the IP again (me says being to damned lazy to find it myself)

65.96.24.33

I got the last one at Fry's. I'll be there later tonite.

you won't be the only one doing the fragging of asses.

What's the IP again
Don't know if it's static but Friday at 6:40PM CDT it is 65.96.24.33:14567
Or you can put ARAMIS in the filter and it'll find it...

OK, I added all the maps that were available.
Its one of those screens with the 2 boxes and the arrow buttons between. You know the kind I mean, you can add or remove from box to box.
Anyway, I added 'em all.
Not sure how it will cycle through. I moved them all over in the order they were in by default. It wasnt alphabetical so I have no idea what the sort is.
Guess well find out soon enough.
Z~

It should cycle through to the next map after the number of rounds you set it to.

All I can say is HOLY SH*T! These maps are awesome!

I'm sooooo hooked.

I'm not the only one whose load times are ridiculously long am I?

Mine takes a while to load between maps. As long as the map stays the same, there is no load time (besides the server time). The first load is ridiculous as well. Once its in memory, I'm pretty good to go.

There is a huge difference between my load time and my friends, his takes about 3x what mine does to load. I have 768MB RAM, he has 256... but his CPU is faster. RAM is good here!

It takes around 360MB of RAM on my system when ti's running multiplayer maps.

By request, I've changed the aramis BF1942 server to Capture the flag mode with a 45 minute time limit. Its still on the same map it was on last (bocage), and it should continue to cycle through.
If anybody has any other requests or you think 45 minutes isnt long enough (or too long) just let me know.
Z~

I have 256M RAM... Mushkin has PC133 CAS2 256M for $79. I guess its time to put a stick or two on my 'wish list'.

Since we only seem to get 4 players max (that's what I've seen) I think the capture the flag would be a better game. Me and BAKup spent a game of the Conquest type just chasing after the flags to keep the ticket count up. Not a lot of action there, like a dog chasing it's tail. Capture the flag should be more exciting for the small number of players. You might consider dropping some maps that are for the 32-64 players, since that's a lot of real estate to cover for one or two people on a team...
I'm still trying to figure out which map is my favorite, there are some great sniper spots in the ones with cities in them... But the B-17 just plain rocks!!!
Oh yeah I finally got a submarine and proceeded to run it aground in no time at all

Well, I wish I could join you guys in playing this cool game, but it just won't work on my machine. I have tried EVERYTHING I can think of, and it won't work. Maybe, I got a crappy graphics card. The funny thing is, UT2003 works fine - IF I play it in OpenGL. Direct3D crashes. Same thing with Warcraft III - works fine in OpenGL, Direct3D crashes. However, if I run dxdiag, it says everything is OK. Other than that, I've had problems recently with the newer games - Ghost Recon, Madden 2003, and now Battlefield 1942. I have all the drivers updated, so I don't know what to do. Here's my specs:
Windows XP Pro
AMD 1.4 GHz
640 Mb RAM
VisionTek GeForce4 Ti4200
Creative SB Live!

Any suggestions? I tried the refreshlock...

I have XP Pro, 256 mb of RAM, the GeForce4 Ti4200 and an on board crappy sound. The game plays well. What happens when you try to run it?

- Jon

One of two things:
A) The sounds gets caught in a loop, and it hangs, forcing a reboot of the PC
B) When it finishes loading the Mission, the screen goes black, and it dumps back to the desktop with no error message.

When I got the dump-to-desktop error in the demo version, it was corrected when I installed the latest reference drivers from Nvidia.

My friend was blabbing about BF1942 the other day, I'll have the opportunity to play it at my lan party next weekend - but he said that if any vehicle (except ships) touches water, it will blow up (eventually). Is this by design or is this a bug?

Anyway, it sounds awesome - a step above Flashpoint?

Just wanted to note that i grabbed an old game port joystick from a BOX of them they have down in QA/test here at work, hooked it up, found an old driver... and BAM. Flying ROCKS now. I was using a playstation controller hooked up with a USB converter, but the flightstick is just soo much more fun and easy to control. I'd recommend picking up a $10 cheapy if you're into the game at all.

Fixed it!!! Well, sort of. I went into my BIOS and did the "Load Failsafe Defaults" option. I can play it, but I still haven't pinpointed what option in my BIOS could've caused it. I now must go through the task of turning stuff on in the BIOS to see what triggers the 'crash'.

Does the game automatically switch to joystick control when you get in a plane?

umm... sorta. You can map two keys to any action in the controls layout panel, so you just setup your joystick in there, then when you hop in a plane, just grab the joystick and go... while leaving you the option to use the keyboard if you want.

I have the BF1942 demo installed in my computer, and it seems to run. I just don't understand what I am supposed to do to play the game.

I get as far as a dialog box with a countdown timer, asking me to "Select a Spawning Point" and after that nothing I do seems to accomplish anything.

What am I supposed to do here?

tanstaafl.

Copy of the email i sent:

Okay, you have that map overlay in the upper right hand corner. When it says select spawn point, you press "Enter" to make the map larger and show the spawn points, which are white dots. Click on one of them to designate where you want to spawn. As your team captures spawn points, these might disappear and new one might show up... so you can change where you spawn after you die. After you've selected one, just hit "Enter" again to minimize the map and wait til you spawn. The "N" and "M" keys will zoom the map while it's minimized. "E" will make you enter a vehicle. When you are in a vehicle... "C" toggles your view... and if there are multiple positions in the vehicle... "1", "2", "3" etc will switch your position. Everything else is pretty much standard FPS stuff. Make sure you read the readme file and the strategies thing on their website. =]

I bought the game. Sub-standard graphics, but i *certainly* care less about that than actual gameplay.

Problem is: I'm on 56K DUN and the game is essentially unplayable. This is the worst net code I've seen since the original QuakeWorld release. It appears as though even basic collision detection is handled server-side which screws the client-prediction model all to hell.

I connected to ONE server in several days worth of tries that was actually playable for 60 or so seconds on end before the "Connection Problem Detected" message pops up. They should have put a small connection icon somewhere on the screeen instead of destroying what little hope I have of guessing what's going on during these frequent problems.

Basically, you're looking at a game that does no more (network-wise) than Tribes2. At least Tribes2 is playable.

I haven't checked the official site for news (although I did upgrade) to see if they're working on better net code, but I have to recommend that DUNies like me stay away from this one.

-Tod

Yeah... agreed. Unless i find a server that's a 70 or less ping, forget it. It's definitely a LAN game, and even then the server has to be the fastest thing on earth. That said, i had a server running last night with Scott and I on my ADSL and it was smooth as silk.

Who's gonna be on aramis tonight? =]

"That said, i had a server running last night with Scott and I on my ADSL and it was smooth as silk. "

Don't waggle your fat pipe at me, Loren.

The one thing I haven't been able to figure out is how to open the front "gate" on the small boats... anyone know that one?

- Jon

Up and down arrows. Hold UP to open, hold DOWN to close.

Same as what you mapped the 'dive' and 'rise' buttons to for the sub. Took me forever to figure that out.

Remembed that there's two places to be in the boat - as a passenger, you can't get it. But as the driver, you can raise and lower the gate.

I wonder if the boat could be stolen? I know you (I ) can swim to the carrier, shoot a few people on the way to the deck, jump in a plane, and then do figure 8's dive bombing it with torpedoes! The boat would sure save time.

I wonder if the boat could be stolen

Yes landing craft can be stolen, but not the ships.

Loren posted these tips in the original Battlefield 1942 thread.

Holy crap... i just installed the Aopen GeForce4 Ti4200 128mb card and wow! I'm now getting regular 60-80 fps. Wooot! I still need more ram as it's chugging on the hard drive every now and then... but damn, for $150 that was totally worth it. You should see Unreal 2003 in it too! And Quake cranked all the way up at 1280x1024. Nuts!

Man, that is cool. I'm sort of regretting buying the GF3-Ti200 now. Anyhow, will a BIG boost in ram increase FPS much? Or does it just help with loading time.

I'm hoping it will help. I noticed last night that the game still hits a wall when it has to hit the hard drive, and i've got 384MB Ram... i'm about to order 512 to beef it up. So yeah.. i think RAM can help since even with a top of the line card, the game chugs without enough ram.

The memory management programmer(s) on that project must suck or something... i dunno.

Planning on playing tonight from about 6:00 pst. I have gotten 4 or 5 friends into BF 1942. Loren, you should have gotten some kind of referral bounty for all the people that you influenced to get into this game!

Who's gonna play tonight?

- Jon

What's the minimum spec for the game, since I can't see it on the website? I've been holding off upgrading my PC at home until I need to do so to play new games - so is it time? Will my Athlon 600 cope? (And if not, anyone fancy suggesting a new mobo & processor?)

Bry.

System Requirements
===================

Minimum:

800 MHz CPU
256 Megabytes of RAM
3D accelerated GeForce 32 MB or equivalent with HTL
(Hardware Transform & Lightning) and 24-bit z-buffer
400 MB of free hard drive space
16X Speed CD-ROM/DVD-ROM
MS compatible mouse
DirectX 8 Compatible Sound Card

Required Operating Systems:

Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows XP or Windows 2000. Note that Windows 95 is not supported.

GeForce compatible cards will be supported and should work. If you do have such a card and experience problems please report type of card and drivers used.
-----

And trust me, the minimum will barely cut it... ESPECIALLY if you want to do singleplayer games. The AI takes insane amounts of CPU power... 80-100% according to the readme.

Well, I have everything bar the processor. Sod it, time to upgrade, especially if it's as good as everyone seems to be saying!

Thanks,
Bry.

Anybody seen the server? I can't find ARAMIS server tonight

I can start a server if need be...

As soon as they release a Linux server, I'll be setting up a small private server at work on our T1

Here's a question for the players, what(if anything) are you using for voice chat in the game? I've been out of the loop with windows gaming(You know, Linux freak) that I don't know what is used anymore.

I never liked Voicechat. If people's pings were really shitty, it'd be all broken up and unintelligible. Plus, no one really every had anything of interest to say. Is voice chat even available in BF1942? If so, i've never heard anyone use it.

I use Microsoft GameVoice with a friend to play BF1942. He neglected to tell me I had to sign up for MSN Messenger & Passport.NET to use it before I bought it. But it works really well, quality is close to that of normal telephone quality, but a major PIA to get working properly..
AFAIK there is no voice chat in BF1942 itself.

I'll have to snag one of those, I need a headset anyways. I've already got the pasport account and MSN setup, so it shouldn't be too much of a pain.

I use RogerWilco. Works good, and there's even a Linux Base Station server.

The guys at work are all PISSED that BF1942 doesn't have built in voice. They all got really used to using it in Counter Strike, and now can't stand not having it. Most of them said that's their biggest complaint about it.

BF1942 has killed my computer.

Actually, it's probably just coincidence... but I have to wonder.

I told my chief engineer at the radio station where I work about BF1942 and how a bunch of people on the bbs really liked it... so he went out and got a better video card for me (a GeForce3 Ti200 with 128 MB of RAM) and made me download the demo version of the game so he could see it. Gee, ain't life tough in the radio biz?

I did get the game up and running last Friday. [heresy] But I didn't care for it very much -- too much thinking, not enough action, too slow. [/heresy] So this morning I made the grand demo -- got to "Select Spawning Point" and had no mouse cursor. To the best of my knowledge, there is no way to gracefully exit the game without a mouse, so I had to hit the reset button.

That was the last time I ever saw video from that new video card. We put the old card in, everything worked fine (not BF1942, old card won't support it) and we were back in business. Swapped the new card back in, no video.

I figure it's all Loren's fault -- he was the one who first pointed out this dreadful game.

The engineer says he'll get me another card, and maybe tomorrow we can try and see if we can kill my computer again.

tanstaafl.

I had a problem where BF1942 would switch to my second display (TV) and my monitor would blank out, and go to sleep. This would happen even after rebooting. I have a Geforce4MX card... so you may want to check that out. And hit esc to exit the game... takes you back to the menu.

And hit esc to exit the game... takes you back to the menu.

But even at the menu, there is no way to quit without a mouse. (There probably is, really, but I just wasn't smart enough to figure out how...)

...would switch to my second display (TV) and my monitor would blank out, and go to sleep. This would happen even after rebooting. I have a Geforce4MX card... so you may want to check that out

Can you elaborate a bit on that? I don't quite understand what you are saying. We swapped the GeForce card in and out (with rebooting, of course) twice; it gave no output, but the old card did give output. What would I check for and how would I check it?

tanstaafl.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no way to gracefully exit the game without a mouse, so I had to hit the reset button.

Well, if you're in-game you can goto the console (~) and enter "quit" and that will exit the game (just like every other FPS engine past Quake). Thing is, it doesn't work if you're in any kind of menu. Then, of course, you could just give it the three-fingered-salute and kill the process.

sorry man. I've made a lot of enemies spreading that game... but mostly from lost sleep and lost work =]

BTW, remember all, that any ram you buy will be lowest common denominator on speed, so if u have 64M of PC100 and you buy 512M of PC133, you're better off yanking the old ram out. Same goes for HDD's, In any master/slave pair, the slowest drive sets the speed.

BTW, those WD Caviar Special edition dives /w 8M of cache are PHENOMENAL. I bought 2 of em and striped them in win2k (raid 0), BLAZINGLY fast transfer speeds and loads!