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Demo -- First Impressions

Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:43 pm
by Philippe
I broke down and downloaded the demo to get a look at the map.

I too am one of those people who run their desktops at a lower resolution than they like to run their games. This didn't cause any problems in the Saxony scenario, but made a mess out of the map when I loaded the Grand Campaign. The problem went away when I started over after resetting the resolution of my desktop, but I hope adjustments to the setting file will make that work-around unneccessary in the future.

The first thing I did after loading the map was to run the cursor along all the map borders. The gloved hand is a great improvement over the batons and pens in flag colors. I like the portraits of the national leaders, and got an extra smile from noticing German place-names where I would expect to see them (e.g. Hungary). But my glee turned to delight when I spotted the roof of the palace in the lower left-hand corner. I don't know which I like better, the plucked chicken of a Prussian falcon, or the winged putto waving a world globe. Well done!

The one thing I'm missing is the Elster River. I glanced at Leipzig and noticed that is was sitting in the middle of some open fields, with no water in sight. This would have made the drowning of Marshal Poniatowski and part of the French army after the battle of Leipzig in 1813 hard to comprehend. Unless you tell me that the river and its marshes were easily fordable in the middle of the 18th century. Leipzig commanded a major choke point, and it would have effected how armies maneuvered.

Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 7:39 am
by Pocus
Thanks for your impression Philippe (nice name by the way ;) ).

About the resolution problem, it is fixed in the hotfix now (that you can find in the main demo thread). Also a new demo is underway including the fix from the start.

Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 7:09 pm
by Philippe
Pocus wrote:Thanks for your impression Philippe (nice name by the way ;) ).



Whenever I visit this forum I understand what it must feel like to be named John Smith.

Thank you for the demo

Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 8:46 am
by timurlain
I have the game preordered but I couldn't resist playing the demo as well. I like the fact that you guys are polishing the user interface and making it more playable with each of your games. The icons next to the cities showing what they offer is very nice as well as all the other subtle details.

Thank you for a lovely game to play.

I found the minimap will take to master, but that's ok.

Two minor things: What was the reason for creating a Slovakia region containing all North Moravian provinces and almost none genuinely Slovakian ?

Coming from said region is the only reason why I would notice, so I am not trying to be a smart ass, but rather wondering what was the design decision.

Same idea with the fact that bohemia doesn't own any of its bordering mountains.

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 7:55 pm
by Nikel
Philippe wrote:Whenever I visit this forum I understand what it must feel like to be named John Smith.



Are you Philippe Divine, the creator of the graphic mods for HPS Napoleonic Battles? ;)

http://hist-sdc.com/add-ons/nb/pd_mods.html

Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 4:15 pm
by Philippe
Yes.

But just to be clear, my mods are really more of an editorial process -- I combine works or art with adjusted portions of appropriate mods (some of which happen to be my own) in order to achieve an overall look.

Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 6:00 pm
by Nikel
OK, thanks :)

Your mods do not include better portraits of the generals, right?

Did not know there were many HPSers here, I only know of Berto ;)

Have you tried to mod NCP?

Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 9:21 pm
by Philippe
Nikel wrote:OK, thanks :)

Your mods do not include better portraits of the generals, right?


Have you tried to mod NCP?



Portraits are on the agenda, but after the next two versions of Eckmuhl and Wagram. Have done part of the preliminary work, though.

No plans to mod NCP, largely because of its geography and map issues.