Newbie Suggestions

[WCG (OP)]

I just downloaded this game yesterday, and I know it will be a challenge to learn, but as a complete newbie, some things about the start seem needlessly confusing. Maybe there IS a reason, and it's simple enough once you learn it, I'm sure. But I have a few suggestions from the point of view of a rank beginner.

Keep in mind that I'm a newbie, but I did spend a whole day reading through the tutorial, the wiki, and other postings here, and taking voluminous notes. (I'm not very computer-literate, but in some ways, I'm such a nerd!)  I really thought that I was about as prepared as I could get.

1) So I started the game, checked over the "Game Details" screen, and clicked "Select." Oops! Nothing came up but a window title and toolbar. Did I screw up the installation somehow?  

[Venec]

I can understand your feelings  

On a side note, If you're still having problems with windows (buttons not showing due to small resolution, etc.) try:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Sys ... able.shtml

It takes some practice resizing Aurora's windows but it's better than nothing.

Cheers  

[Erik L]

The window title and toolbar IS the main window. When you click Select, rather than New, it loads the game listed in the drop down (usually Steve's current game).

[WCG (OP)]

The window title and toolbar IS the main window. When you click Select, rather than New, it loads the game listed in the drop down (usually Steve's current game).

Yes, I know that now. It's just a surprise that that's all you get when you try to start the game for the first time. To the uninitiated, it looks like something's broken, don't you think?

BTW, I was wrong about #3 above. Putting a copy of MSSTDFMT.DLL into the Aurora folder (as I'd seen suggested as a fix somewhere in this forum) seemed to work, in that I was able to open the Galactic Map afterward. However, as I continued with the tutorial, I got the same error when I tried to open up the System View window (F9).

So I had to run regsvr32 to "register it" (I have no idea what any of this means), and I can access that window now. In other words, just including that file in the Aurora install wouldn't work, I guess. So scratch that suggestion.  

[ShadoCat]

WCG:

Most of this is old hat to me but then I've been playing with Aurora since the beginning.

One thing to remember is that Steve originally created the game to assist him in playing a 4X campaign.  The fact that he makes it available to us and supports it here, makes me very happy.

1&2. I think that he's have to lose some functionality to do as you suggest.  Some of the game details are on the opening screen because users might want to change those for the current campaign.  One common rule that those of us who played Starfire use is no NPCs until X turns.  You can easily do that by setting the NPC chance to 0 when you start and then, later, opening the game and giving a non-zero percentage.  The same goes for Berserkers.  

3. I think it is because that file can be different for different versions of Windows.  Having install instructions that tell you how to find and copy it would be nice though.  If Steve wants to get really ambitious, he can have the install routine look where the file is suppose to exist and copy it automagically.  Personally, I'd rather he spent his time getting 5.0 out the door.

4. The game is database driven.  In the sense that you are talking about, the game continuously saves since everything is stored in the data base.  Any time you exit and then come back, you will find the game in the state that you left it.  If you want to save the game in case of crashes or the like, you can copy the .mdb file to another folder.

Welcome to the gang.

[WCG (OP)]

Most of this is old hat to me but then I've been playing with Aurora since the beginning.

Yes, I'm sure that's the case with most people here. My intent was just to demonstrate how it seems to someone brand new.

One thing to remember is that Steve originally created the game to assist him in playing a 4X campaign.  The fact that he makes it available to us and supports it here, makes me very happy.

Oh, I agree. I do appreciate that. And the game is really fascinating. I just hope that I'm smart enough to play it.  

[ShadoCat]

4. The game is database driven.  In the sense that you are talking about, the game continuously saves since everything is stored in the data base.  Any time you exit and then come back, you will find the game in the state that you left it.  If you want to save the game in case of crashes or the like, you can copy the .mdb file to another folder.

Thanks. I did discover that, after searching here. It was just such a surprise when I couldn't find any way to save the game before exiting.

Maybe some of this could be explained in a simple ReadMe file during installation? It wouldn't have to be much, just to indicate how to install the game, how to start it (once you get to the System Map, you can always explore the icons there), and how to exit.

I wonder if it might be good to just put a link in it to the appropriate tutorial file here.  That would give Steve just one place to change documentation.