LO:MAC... issues.

[Stewart]

Well, seeing as this game has its own forum, and a lot of you are raving about it, I though I might pick a copy up, after reading a review...

Problem is, the reviews of this game are very average, to say the least. Hardly seems like a world beater. I've some quotes from a reivew of the game, that maybe some of you who own the game can comment on.


"It doesn't matter if you have a P4 3.2 GHz machine with one gig of RAM and a Radeon 9800 XT; it will bog down at quite a few points in the game (bog down: defined as frame rates dropping into the single digits).

The good news is that the game is designed to allow you to toggle a wide variety of graphics options down or off. The bad news is that even with most of these turned down, high performance systems will still occasionally experience poor frame rates.

For example, flying just above a cloud base will result in unacceptable stuttering on even the heftiest system. If you have a "moderate" setup, say an AMD Athlon 2200+ or a P4 2.4 GHz, with a midrange GeForce or Radeon video card, you'll find it difficult to find any settings that will allow you to play the game with consistently smooth frame rates under all conditions (such as when flying low and encountering a high density of ground units and terrain)."


Now, I have got a decent gaming system, Rad 9800pro clocked at XT speeds, 3200+, gig of DDR400, etc. Is the game still going to be stuttering along on my system?


"There are more issues that mar what is otherwise a superior simulation. Lock On suffers from numerous bugs, as is unfortunately all too common with such complex games.

Some are relatively minor, like options that revert back to their previous settings. Some are serious but may take some time to realize in such an intricate sim--like a bug that causes you to essentially lose control over one aspect of the F-15 radar system, problems with radar sensitivity at low altitudes, odd missile behavior, problems with the padlock system, and more.

And there is one absolute showstopper bug for those who haven't yet upgraded to Windows XP. In spite of what it says on the box, the current version of Lock On will not run on Windows 98 or Windows ME systems."


Not bothered about the '98 thingy, got XP ages ago, but is this a very buggy game?

Slow performance and loads of bugs... sounds like Halo.


"So, what's the bottom line on Lock On? It's absolutely a sim for the self-sufficient. To get the most out of this product--due to the poor documentation, bugs, graphics slowdowns, and so on--you'll need to do a lot of experimenting, tweaking, and reading of helpful hints, tips, and strategies on Web forums that are dedicated to the game.

The included campaign is short and fails to provide that immersive feeling of being in a "live" war that you get in the best campaigns."


Is that a fair summing up? Its a review based on the out-of-the-box version, what have the patches done to the game, since then?

Cheers,

Vaul.

[Skii]

Its a flight sim - if you know anything aout the genre they are inevitably released in rushed and often buggy state.

However this particular sim is designed for the next generation of PCs, it has been designed so that in 2 years time when our PCs have roughly doubled again in speed, it will still look the mut's nut's.

I believe part of the programming has not been sufficiently optimised yet, stuttering when things are being rendered off screen, an overcast cloud base that simply requires too much processing power to render, water being rendered under the land, and other things, so yes, there are bugs and problems, and yes, it could run better for all of us.

Rest assured its being worked on, patch 1.02 is on the way, and there are a number of mods which do allieviate the situation to a degree. It was rushed out the door before it was finished, and it was massively marketed and hyped, so naturally when the greatest flightsim in the history of the known universe didn't deliver 100fps at all times, naturaly there were moans and groans

Your PC is faster than any of us who are already having a lot of fun with it right now, Lowe is running this on a 512/ 9700Pro/ 1.4 PC, I'm running it on a 1Gb/ 9500Pro/2.0 pc, check either of our screenies out in various threads, they are mid action screenies where framerates are belting along at LOMAC is playing smooth as glass, go figure.

I would say that was a fair summing up in the review you posted, but believe you me it IS improving.

[McMav]

Main problem was it was rushed out for xmas sales. It will improve. the first patch 1.01 cleared up a few of the problems. Alot still remain but it is a delish sim. I run on xp2200 1GB ram and rad 9800 pro and its fine you get the odd FPS drop but it dont last and it aint stuttering.

[Knoxville]

I've not had any immense problems running it, on a 2.2ghz machine with 512mb of ram and a 9700pro it looks sweet and is a running at a very playable fps.

[Lowe]

I run LOMAC on a very basic PC, verging on the minimum spec. However I can run most of the detail settings up in 1280x960x32 with 2x aa and 8x ansio and still hit 25-30fps in the cockpit, with externals a bit above that. Looks like this:



Remember this is a flight sim, not an FPS. Huge frame rates are nice, but not critical. Most of the combat flying you'll be doing involves sitting at 15,000ft looking at a small screen for blips with the odd bit of dodging. Doesn't sound fun but believe me it's hugely addictive.

Now the critisism about the manual is valid. Its a bit cheap and tacky, doesn't tell you a great deal but there is a more detailed manual in a .pdf on the CD. Luckily a lot of the controls and systems are identical to Flanker 2.x a game I'd got experience with so it wasn't such a huge learning curve. For a n00b though it could be tricky..

Saying that though you have a forum here with many enthusiasts who are a just post away from helping you out should you get stuck.

[Allen]

Not really that much of a learning curve if you've played a flight sim before. I've only played IL-2: FB for a few weeks and two days into playing LO:MAC and I'm taking off and landing ok... well, I've only landed once so far coz it kept crashing!

It's just the insane amount of controls there are. I have a real problem with starting up the engines for some reason, and once I opened the cockpit and couldn't figure out how to close it again!

Is there an actual keyboard map out there, coz the little manual only has some of the controls listed at the back, and the big manual the Flibb kindly printed and sent to me is very difficult to read. I also can't seem to find any controls in the big manual, it only seems to be help with displays and manoeuvres and the such...

The radar and tracking and weapons systems are a complete mystery to me at the moment, I hit 1 and 2 a few times followed by D to select weapons and a few buttons on my stick and managed to get a lock on an enemy plane, but god knows how! Was cool to see it explode!

[McMav]

there are keycard at the official site to dl I think.

have a lok at www.lo-mac.com

Also try and land on a carrier

[Allen]

there are keycard at the official site to dl I think.

have a lok at www.lo-mac.com

Also try and land on a carrier

I know how to, i.e. the physics of flight, but I wouldn't have a clue what keys to press to get the hook down and stuff like that. I can't even remember to get clearence to land let alone find the blooming carrier. Gimme a few weeks!

[[GSV]Trig]

I cant play this on my rig, turn the gfx rite down and its ok but then I loose the plane and stuff when I swap to external views..

[Allen]

I cant play this on my rig, turn the gfx rite down and its ok but then I loose the plane and stuff when I swap to external views..

What setup you got? Mine's quite pooh apart from the 9600XT yet it still runs ok...

[Cesium]

The bad news is that even with most of these turned down, high performance systems will still occasionally experience poor frame rates.

absalute tosh, if youve got evrything on low settings (high end system), you will never go below 20fps (at the least!)

As for the bugs, as many people have already said, it's a flight sim and patch 1.01 is out, and as Skii said 1.02 should be arriving within the next few weeks

That is in no way a fair summing up.
When i first got the game (the day before it came out gotta love gameplay.com ) i was very disappointed. Gave it about a week, tweaked the graphics and now i absalutely love it!

[[GSV]Trig]

What setup you got? Mine's quite pooh apart from the 9600XT yet it still runs ok...

XP3200
1Gb PC3200 RAM
Radeon 8500, latest cats, when I fly the cockpit disapears and when I go to externals the plane disappears... :'(

[McMav]

8500 has issues

[[GSV]Trig]

I figured that bit Mav, cheers

[McMav]

9800's cheap at ocuk if you trust them

non pros and AIW's

[[GSV]Trig]

Dont tempt me chap, got a car that needs rebuilding before I start on the PC again, my next gfx upgrade is already a fair way past due, I bought the 8500 when they were new and I usually upgrade every 2/2.5 years....