chiles4

Some background: My gaming buddies and I rotate through several games, one of which being GR. Honestly, even if GR was the only game we played, we'd still find keeping track of all the maps, mods, etc. overwhelming. Here's a typical conversation amongst us: "Hey, remember that GR map we played with the tunnels, the waterfall, boathouse and the forest with those little gun stations on it?" "Yeah, what a ###### awesome map!" "You remember what is was called?" "No idea." "Do you know what map pack it's in?" "Don't have a clue? Harntrox somethin'?" "Think we'll ever find it again?" "Maybe!" and so it goes. What I've always thought about doing (since it doesn't look like we're going to stop playing GR) is to set up an HTML-based visual catalog to serve as a directory of all the maps offered in all the GR mods and map packs. In it would be an index of map packs, a thorough description of the map pack including any new game types, a list of maps each with 4-5 enlargeable thumbnails with larger pics of the map. Such a work would not only help us to re-navigate all the maps when we return to playing GR the next time (maybe up to a year later) and would sure be neat to scroll through when work got overwhelmingly boring. Is this idea nuts? Or simply a very long-winded project? I've already nixed the idea of doing anything with the weapons add-ons as that would truly be a retirement project but I think the map catalog would be great to have. If you have any thoughts on this including any ways that could make it more feasible, I'd love to hear them.

WOW!!! I read that I almost choked. GL, the number of custom mods and maps and gametypes for GR are nothing less than overwhelming!!!

My friends and I never really "move on" to another game. We simply rotate amongst all the tactical shooters that have "made the grade" with us - some of them more "tactical" than others. Of course, a lot of how "tactical" a game plays depends on how the players are playing it. Our list includes: Ghost Recon VietCong SWAT 4 R6:Vegas (it may not be "tactical" but it is fun) Right now, we're playing SWAT 4 (again) and next will probably be VietCong followed by GR. Though I think we may start going through GR "withdrawals" soon. BTW, GRAW failed to make the grade with us and simply because of that, it seems that GRAW 2 will not become part of our rotation either. I guess the rationale is why play the GRAWs when you can play GR? I'm keeping a interested ear/eye on Ground Branch. Aside from that game, I just don't see any of UBI's franchises evolving "tactically". Rather, I see them moving away from that.

Amazon.com (US) is also a very good source for GR Gold in both CD and DVD flavors. Even the DVD version was out long before Vista was. Good to hear it works on Vista. I've heard of very old games working on every Windows OS that comes along simply because the devs stuck to the standards dictated by Microsoft for game installation - what a concept!

Been there, done that...twice. In many rooms in my house you're bound to find a copy of GR even if there's no PC in the room - figure that out! Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's the case. I remember there being something different about this gold version than the old gold version on CD. With the old version, as soon as you loaded IT, you were patched up to 1.4. With the new gold version, you have to apply the patch from the dvd after loading IT. But no biggie. And I like the "flash-like' GUI. I got one copy on fleabay too. It's actually been out for over a year. I gave my best bud a copy when he moved from Albuquerque (where I live) to Chicago as a going-away gift. He said it was probably the best gift he could have gotten - he didn't know it was out on DVD. As good as GRAW and GRAW 2 may be, it will be [GR] that defines the term "classic".

A friend and I occasionally use voice comms when gaming. When we do we still use Roger Wilco and it works just fine. But tons of people are using TeamSpeak and Ventrilo. Neither of those apps worked for us. But I wouldn't be put off by the client/server model. It simply means one person hosts and the other person joins.

Well I went into my settings and, as I thought, I already had 'Tree Detail' set to HIGH. Actually, everything is set to high/max. Here's a pic of the 'bad' trees. It's not that a bad a problem when they're high in the air but when they're at eye level they block your vision badly and can make some maps an exercise in aggravation (and quick death!).

Over the past 6 months I've noticed some trees not rendering correctly in several maps. Surrounding the leaves or fronds of the tree or bush will be large dark rectangles that contain the frond. I've noticed it in the 10mm Bogota Jungle map, a custom Alpha Squad map and especically in Year of the Monkey. Apparently, it's got nothing to do with the map designer. I asked my co-op buddy if he ever noticed these and he said, "yeah, every now and then." Interestingly, I'm using an X1950XT (with Cat 6.12) and he's using a 7950GX2 with the latest Nvidia drivers. Anybody know what's going on with these or if there's some tweak to get rid of these wack trees?

Here's a link to the latest non-beta version of Alchemy. This is supposed to restore hardware sound to DirectSound games under Vista. I have not tried this as I don't run Vista.

I guess I'm falling into the "every now and then" category. My focus lately has been on playing R6:Vegas which I find alot more enjoyable than GRAW. But I'm still playing GR more than anything else. I'm looking for very good missions to play co-op with as opposed to Tango Hunt. So far, Alpha Squad rules.

I think Rocky put it quite elegantly above. I think maybe I'll put a little less elegantly. I just don't think the co-op gametype lends itself to savegames. Co-op, at its best is meant to be an affair involving no respawns where you get one shot and one shot only to complete the mission. If your dog runs away, too bad. If you have a sucking chest wound, then intubate it and move on. If you die, then enjoy the view of others completing the mission and learn from what you see - assuming the game in question has death-camming. If I mentioned savegames to my co-op buddies, they'd either look at me like I had two heads or simply shoot me in the ass. This is simply the tradition of playing co-op in "tactical shooters". EEE-YUCK! Hey does anyone know a good way to get grease paint off? I understand that not everyone is "hardcore" and people want to play at different difficulty levels but I can pretty much guarantee you that you'll never see MP co-op savegames in any game that approaches being considered a "tactical shooter". Given the type of gamer attracted to tactical shooters, there will simply never be a large enough demand for it. Of course, I'm limiting my comments to the PC crowd and not including the console crowd. I've found that its possible for two guys (sometimes even one guy) to finish many (or at least some) co-op maps in the [Ghost Recon] with no casualties. But the missions in GRAW are way too long and the AI is much too capable to pull that off with only two guys - at least consistently. So I can totally relate to your frustration when playing the storyline missions in GRAW in game type Co-op. Those are my favorite too because of the great map design and event scripting. I can kind of see having checkpoints if you're playing the actual game missions in co-op. With the GRAW missions, it would be a huge help. But there is always the possibility of the devs coming back and saying that that is completely impossible based on the way that multiplayer is coded. Maybe...maybe not. I have no good solutions to the difficulty of surviving in GRAW gametype "co-op" (not type [GR]). Due to our inability to complete those missions in co-op with only a few guys, we gave GRAW a rest and are currently playing the [Ghost Recon] with a slew of awesome mods.

I had the same problem with an Nvidia 6600GT in a rig with a Thermaltake 420W PSU. The problem somehow borked my OS install as after it occurred, I would get spontaneous reboots soon after booting up even if was using other video cards with tiny power reqts. (Radeon 7000, GF3 Ti 250). I ended up having to lay down the original ghost image I made and then put in a Radeon 9550. After that, no problems at all. It's not a gaming rig. What's interesting is that in my gaming rig where I have a 550W Rosewill PSU, I have an X1950XT (overclocked to 682/954) which requires 30A on the 12v rail and I have no problems at all! Is it possible that Nvidia hits harder on the 3V rail than ATI???

Keep in mind that quad-cores are clocked slower than dual-cores so dual-cores currently outperform them. Actually, since I only game on my PC (and delete junk e-mails) I still haven't found any reason to buy a dual-core...except for the simple fact that a Core 2 Duo, in an of itself, would outperform my proc.

The user id I use to connect when playing GRAW is part of my username at Gamespy. The full user name is one of my email addresses. This account name was no longer "unique". Don't know why? Duplicates? Gamespy wants me to change that user name. I guess the only way I'll know if things are jacked up is to into GRAW and try and go online.

Here's the text: All I know is that this is related to the login I use for playing GRAW MP and I'm wondering if that's going to get jacked up. Anyone have any insight on that?

I think you have to say I was LUCKY. What's really weird is that I don't get shot once with no wound. If I get shot once, I'll always be wounded. That's why I thought this was some wacked out bug. Actually, I don't think I'm using what you call Droopy's General Realism mod. The mod I use from Droopy is very small and only includes changes to enemy weapons.

I was playing Embassy with 60 tangoes (HX5, Veteran mode) when I leaned out from one of those alleyways between buildings and engaged the enemy. I got shot and tried to retreat but got stuck in one of those nightmarish loops where you get shot over and over and you can't move or do anything. My friend next to me said I took five rounds. Finally I was able to move and I checked my health...not a scratch!! Are we wearing functional vests in GR? Is this a bug? If we are "packing pounds" I could see taking one maybe two shots without injury but five??? I am using Droopy's Enemy Realism mod but this looping bug has happened to me many times over the years. BTW, I highly recommend that mod. We're getting injured alot more, the enemy is missing alot more (no you can't snipe with an AK at 200 yards thank you!), and it's cutting down on the instant deaths alot. Makes for much more realistic firefights.

What about an ATI X1950XT? I just ordered one yesterday for $200 with a $20 rebate. I don't know what your budget is but according to this article, the X1950XT will best all the cards you listed...even the 7900GTX. I've also heard that it overclocks well. Note that I mentioned the 256MB version. The 512MB version of the X1950XT can be had for $250 with a $20 rebate.

I don't think you'll ever see a develop release a shooter that has save points in any form of multiplayer - as convenient as that might be. The downer about GRAW co-op is that the maps are so big that actually finishing one (completing all objectives) is rare - unless you have a TON of time on your hands.

I always use the "Don Miguel" method when I back up my e-mail on my business box. Actually I just right-click on the Identities folder and click "Send to Compressed (zip) file". Works great for messages but yeah, it doesn't grab anything else.

Thanks everyone for all the great info and links - especially Buehgler.

Sorry to hear there aren't an endless supply of AS missions. I figured as much or I would have heard about them. That's exactly what I thought...a gametype with great potential but only workable on maps that have been specifically tailored for it. We tried "Stealth Recon" on some randomly picked maps and it was "ugly". Thanks for the heads up on the other mission packs. I knew of the excellent rep of "8 Days" and "12 Weeks" but have never tried them. And I hadn't even heard of SBTO. I snagged that one too. Wasn't there mention of some recent tournament missions being released to the general public soon?

A little background if you'll indulge me... I'm trying to wean my GR co-op gaming buddy away from a "bloody assault" style of GR to a much slower, stealthier approach. After playing a co-op session of HX5 SuperCastle, we got our butts handed to us. He ended up with 35 kills/15 deaths. My ratio was worse. At this point, I said to him...what are we really achieving with this many deaths? So I convinced him to play what I call "hardcore" (probably just normal style for all you experienced GR players). We move very slow, stay prone alot, use binoculars ALOT, coordinate our movements, use only supressed weaspons and try to be as stealthy as possible. So we cranked up Jungle - South Bogota (standard firefight) and we go stealthy. Well we cleared the entire map without a single death except for when he shot me in the back of the head from behind while trying to "save me" from a tango coming around a corner (I'm sure many of you can relate ). It was probably the most satisfying session of GR co-op we've ever had. So now I go "for the kill" and try to convince him to play an Alpha Squad Co-op mission. Our previous experience with Alpha Squad missions was trying to play the "stealth recon" game type. He hated it and we did not do well at all!! So convincing him to play an AS mission was like pulling teeth! To sum up, we played two AS missions, "The Informant" and the 2nd Vilnius mission in the pack. Last weekend we played for hours and had the best fun we've ever had in GR. The in-game tension was over-the-top! Is it possible to get any more AS missions besides the ones in the 2.6 map pack?

I just first looked at an GR XML doc just a few months ago!

Okay...so which one of us is going to re-make [GR] using the CryEngine?