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OT But Get this: Dissed on Moo Board

OT But Get this: Dissed on Moo Board

Geez. Talk about a bunch of defensive morons. The new "patch" for Moo3 is out which addresses a few of the issues. However, its not an easy direct install like the GalCiv patch. You have to copy files over to different directories in the Moo install file. Not the end of the world I know, but when I SIMPLY asked why there couldnt be a direct install to the game (not even mentioning GalCiv so as not to get their shorts in a bunch) half the responses attacked me for being unable to run a computer. I was derided and it was implied I was stupid.
One cant question ANYTHING about that game on the board without some rabid geek jumping down your throat. I hope some of the crossovers from the Moo area who may have some respect and influence on their boards will try to do something about that but alas I think its hopeless.
I wont be going back there other than to check from time to time for the latest patch. This board it the way gamers should conduct themselves. Even when I myself overreacted a few times (I got better) I was tolerated and then given credit for straightening up my act. Had I done that on the Moo board they would have sent people to my home to tp my yard and kidnap my pets.
Cheers.
2,339 views 61 replies
Reply #26 Top
MoM came out in 1994, and I thought MtG's alpha was in the early 1990's. I started playing MtG in 1994, and Dark and Legends had been taken out of production by then.
Reply #27 Top
I never heard of the thing before I bought it randomly, which is why I'll bring it up, but if you're looking for a MOM2 experience, check out Age of Wonders 2. Lawsuitible amount of the same concepts.
Reply #28 Top
Did u say a computer version of Empire in Arms....I bought the game like 20 years ago and never found some one to play with....yes,yes i play with myself sometimes.....wait , that didnt come out right....

Where did u get the info on the Empire in Arms computer conversion?


~SDC~
Reply #29 Top
The MOO3 data patch is a piece of cake to install.

1) Download the zip file patch.

2) Right click on the new zip patch file in your MOO3 game file directory. (It is a folder with a `strap' wrapped around it)

3) A list of options for what to do with the zip file comes up - choose `extract all'. This is just standard `zip file' extraction procedure, good to know how to do it even if you're a casual computer user.

4) Once extracted, click finish.

5) Inside the newly extracted zip file (which will appear as a folder in the same game file screen you're already in) there are only TWO (2) files that you simply copy and paste in to 2 different locations in the MOO3 game file.These locations are CLEARLY defined in the README that is inside the new patch file.

6) When you click `paste' in the appropriate file locations, it will ask if you want to over write the existing files - click `yes', because if you click `no', you will just end up keeping the original file versions that are already there.

Zip file extraction procedure, and Copying and Pasting files, are BASIC Windows Operating System Concepts that are CLEARLY explained, step by step, in your Windows Operating System Help Program.

I saw the response you were talking about, and yes, it was a rude remark.

However, your question was one that you could have easily answered for yourself IF you took the TIME to READ your own Windows Operating System Help program, like the people you were expecting to answer your question have already done for themselves, including me.

And yes, it takes TIME to read your Windows Help Program. It takes TIME to answer questions clearly for people who haven't taken the TIME to READ their OWN Windows Operating System Help Program. There is a lot of useful information on how to perform routine tasks with Windows, but you need to spend some TIME reading it.

What you're basically expecting is for other people to do your work for you, and some people find that to be rude behavior in itself. Therefore, even though it was uncalled for, you got a rude response.
Reply #30 Top
Discipels II is a fun game.
AoW II is very cool imho, I never played AoW tho (perhaps if I find it cheap somewhere)
HOMM III and IV are also nice, alto somehow III had more 'soul?'
Besides, HOMM would be so much better if multiple players could move at the same time as like in AoW(II)

Galciv is cool :)
Still busy on my 1st gigantic game (in gold version that is)
Reply #31 Top
"One cant question ANYTHING about that game on the board without some rabid geek jumping down your throat."

Any board has it's bad posters. I've seen many good comment/suggestions shot down here with cries of "Troll!" when the poster clearly was not trolling.
Reply #32 Top
StarGalax: You are right installing a zip file this way requires some knowledge of the windows system, or better how to unzip zips into the right directory. Still it takes you 6 steps to do so. It would have been much easier for everybody if the zip file would include an exe setup file to install the patch in the standard or customized install directory. I agree the help file tells you how to do it, but then again this way of installing is still very difficult for non experienced computer users. Alot of people simply run programmes and games on their computer, and if they update normally this simply means dl the update and run the update exe and everything works fine after that. Every professional programme and game update works this way.
Reply #34 Top
Star Pilot: MtG is a card game. It's been around for a long time.

- Ash

~SDC~
Reply #35 Top
I have MtG cards from 1994 and they're not from the "First Edition", either, so they've definitely been around longer than MoM. :)

ZIP File extraction may be "basic" procedure for newer versions of Windows, but you need an external program in versions earlier than Win98SE, at the least, so it's not necessarily something everyone would have dealt with before. It's certainly not in the Win98SE "Help" file; I just checked. :) And you certainly don't need to know how to use zip files to run Word, Excel, Outlook, IE, MoO3 'out of the box' and so on.
It is not an intuitive process unless you have dealt with zip files before. So 'Joe Public' who has visited the site, downloaded the "zip" file and tried to install it is NOT going to know why it won't just run and patch the game by itself.

~SDC~
Reply #36 Top
MTG is far older than MoM. And I believe that MoM was actually SUPPOSED to be a MTG game until something happened, so they just changed the name etc. etc.
Reply #37 Top
Stargalax-youre out of line. I SIMPLY ASKED WHY, not HOW. Since I simply downloaded GalCivs update directly into my installed game. I was just wonderinf why MOO patches (if you can call that a patch) couldnt be doent the same way. A few on the Moo board had the courtesy to tell me why it had to be done that way. Cool ok fine, I had my answer. A few others insulted me...just like your THINLY VEILED insulted me. Thanks for the tip, buckaroo, but I KNOW how to get the "patch" "installed".
Save your insulting posts for the MOO board where it belongs.
Reply #39 Top
My problem with HOMM 4 was the lack of random maps. My friend and I played HOMM3 a bunch online with random maps. It adds tremendously to the replay value of the game. I like the idea of building from a fresh start, not playing through pre-set scenarios all the time. Plus, I think they tried to add way too much to the game. I plead with them to make a random map add on, they said no way, I said pack sand, cya later...

But hey, that's just my humble opinion.

~SDC~
Reply #40 Top
Not that I want to show my age or anything, but here are a few facts with regard to the MoM and MTG comments in this thread.

Magic the Gathering, created by Richard Garfield, came out in summer 1993. In fact there is a Global Event slated for July 26-27/2003 to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of its creation. If you would like to know more about this you can visit this page,
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/arcana/324

Richard however played Magic the Gathering during 1992. Of course this was during the card games development. Read the following:
http://www.omnimag.com/archives/chats/em120197.html

Master of Magic, created by Steve Barcia, was released by Microprose in late September/early October 1994. The game actually was in development while Magic the Gathering was in its creation stage ;) MoM actually had a Microprose advertisement inside the box for MTG when the game was released. Yes I have the original game and all the included material, I'm looking at it now :)
In fact it states:
"Coming Soon for Your PC...
Magic the Gathering
The first interactive multiplayer computer game based on the award winning and top selling card game
Magic the Gathering!"

Of course it was quite some time before we saw MTG as a PC game and it wasn't Microprose ;)

Wizards of the Coast is in Renton, Washington. SimTex, Steve Barcias company was located in Austin, Texas. So did MTG influence MoM ? Well only Mr. Barcia can answer that for sure. Interesting that Microprose was advertising Magic the Gathering for the PC though...
In case you don't know, Richard Garfield didn't join Wizards of the Coast full time until into 1994. If I recall around the time frame MoM was released.

More tidbits although these happened a few years after the games released:
Spectrum Holobyte owned Microprose when MoM was released. In 1997 Hasbro bought Wizards of the Coast. Not quite one year later Hasbro rescued,(bought) Spectrum Holobyte in 1998.
Curious about those inter-relationships ? Well this article might clear up a few things, it's also an interesting read in general.
http://pc.ign.com/articles/067/067053p1.html?fromint=1

Hasbro still owns Wizards of the Coast but effective January 2001, Infogrames Inc. acquired the video game unit of Hasbro-Interactive that published CD-Rom products and Games.
http://www.hasbro.com/hasbro-infogrames.html?CFID=11914191&CFTOKEN=24908066

So whats Steve Barcia up to these days?
Well he can be found at Retro Studios, http://www.retrostudios.com/retro.htm
in Austin Texas,which Nintendo helped to fund in March of 1999. He just recently finished up Metroid Prime for the Nintendo. http://www.gamepro.com/index.html?/nintendo/gamecube/games/news/27167.shtml

What's Richard Garfield up to?
Hmm, well he's no longer with Wizzards of the Coast. He will still be a consultant on MTG though. If you were unaware of this follow the link: http://www.wizards.com/sideboard/article.asp?x=sb20010501a
Here is a link to a recent interview with him and an interesting blurp I clipped from it :)

http://www.ugo.com/channels/games/article.asp?articleId=8866
-----------------------------------------------
UGO: You have a keen eye for creating game situations that can be used to drive opponents crazy. Call us crazy, but it seems that your style of game design could lend itself really well to a turn-based or real-time strategy PC game.

RG: I have been interested in such a project for a long time, but have had a tough time convincing publishers to go along with them. They are very interested in my ideas, but when it comes to actually paying for the development they typically balk, because the ideas don’t fit in a mold that is easily understood. I don’t necessarily blame them – the things that excite me game wise are bound to be high risk ventures. I will keep working on it though and someday I may be talking about such a strategy game.

Just a comment on what it would likely look like, I would make every effort to make it so that click speed wasn’t as important as strategy, and yet the game moved quickly. This should be very possible; consider speed chess. Speed chess is not a slow game, but no one loses because they couldn’t “click on their pawn fast enough”, At least rarely.
------------------------------------------------

Lastly for those who are interested here's a brief history of Microprose:
http://www.joystick101.org/story/2001/5/16/141529/198

Now since I'm recently unemployed from the Gaming Industry, excuse me while get back to enjoying Galactic Civilizations 8)

Reply #41 Top
Ooops... slight correction regarding this statement:

So whats Steve Barcia up to these days?
Well he can be found at Retro Studios, http://www.retrostudios.com/retro.htm
in Austin Texas, which Nintendo helped to fund in March of 1999. He just recently finished up Metroid Prime for the Nintendo.
http://www.gamepro.com/index.html?/nintendo/gamecube/games/news/27167.shtml

Steve is no longer with Retro Studios:

http://www.gamepro.com/index.html?/gamepro/domestic/games/news/28922.shtml

"Retro Studios President Leaves
11-APR-03
Nintendo of America announced this morning that Steve Barcia, head of Retro Studios and executive producer of Metroid Prime, has stepped down from his position as president of the company. He'll be replaced by Michael Kelbaugh, the testing director for Prime and former director of Nintendo's business development group.
"When we were starting to see Metroid Prime come together, and parts of it were turning out to be really fun, we knew that we were going in the right direction," Barcia said in an interview last autumn. "Even though there had been some opinion that it wasn't a good direction to go, we could see for ourselves that it was going to be fun. So we knew it was the right direction."

A Nintendo representative has confirmed with us that Barcia is completely out of Retro Studios. There's no word on what his current plans are; hopefully he'll be back in the game industry soon."

Reply #42 Top
Actually there was a magic: the gathering game by Microprose.

Have a look:
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=1550

Cool game, but it's hard to make it work on new PCs.
Reply #43 Top
Well what do you know they did get it out 8)
I stand humbly corrected, told you I was showing my age ;)

Thanks very much for the info, I should have known this. It's missing from my collection. I'll find it...

I still have an old 286, 386 and a 486 around just to play some of my old favorites. Quit laughing.. so what I like reliving the past ;)

If you like the older games or are into nostalgia you might want to check out this:
http://moo3.quicksilver.com/game/starlords.html

It's the original incarnation of Moo. Yes you can download it, but it runs under Dos.

Okay off to play Galactic Civilizations now...
Reply #44 Top
Hey anyone remember DARK LEGIONS...? I got it to work on a old Win95 computer that I used as a back up. Lots of fun... Chess meets D&D with a bit of arcade action thrown in for the fights. Is it me or does it seem that computer games now a days lack originality...Anyone know any ground breaking strategy type games that are not base on past games?

Oh the good old days
Reply #45 Top
"Hey anyone remember DARK LEGIONS...?"

Yep, I loved that game... Even if I wasn't all that good at it. :D

Archon Ultra was much more like chess, though. It also let you control the piece in combat for the square on the board, with bonuses depending on whether the square was white or black at the time.
There's so many old games like these that, if revived, would probably be deemed "revolutionary" by people who hadn't played the original, since there's been little like it since. :notsure:

~SDC~
Reply #46 Top
Oh for an edit button... :)

I actually have the MtG game by Microprose mentioned above. It was a lot of fun, especially the overland adventure type mode, which let you roam the countryside amassing cards for your deck to battle various wandering monsters and try to take control of castles and such.
Tried installing it again recently but they've obviously not programmed it to take into account the much faster computers of today. It's impossible to play the overland mode with any sort of skill, since you move like a bullet across the map and often run into an enemy before you get a chance to react. :(

~SDC~
Reply #47 Top
There was a fun MtG game by Microprose with a few expansions, and a really really really lame MtG game by Acclaim (Magic: The Gathering Battlemage). That's one of the reasons why, despite the fact that I enjoy RTS titles, I hate the adoption of RTS as a design buzzword.

~SDC~
Reply #48 Top
Most computer users take for granted how difficult and confusing certain "basic" functions can be. Believe it or not...but not everyone knows and understand what a zip file does. Some computer experts do not realise that the majority of computer users are your "average joe". They don't want to ruin their computer, they don't want to install something that can potential ruin their computer, they do not want to do something they totally do not understand. Granted, there are instructions and help file avalible that can help them....but insulting them for asking? Too far....

Installing the patch for MOO3 is easy... but insulting someone for asking???

~SDC~
Reply #49 Top
It is strange.

I have to help one of my housemates with winzip and winrar all the time and he's not too bad with computers. :)

~SDC~