Steel Beasts Pro Discussion Thread

[Jack Nastyface]

I still have yet to learn arty & infantry/IFV details.  Mostly just getting familiar with the interface & it's commands.

Learning how to adjust artillery using the "mils" thing was THE HARDEST thing I've tried doing in SB Pro PE.  I read one of the guides, thought I was doing everything right, but the rounds end up landing in the wrong place  :-\ .

[Asid]

Screenshots from the mission modded for Judge Dredd (see post 97). Challenger 2's on the offensive.

Recoil after firing.


2 Challenger 2 tanks from my platoon on the attack


AI (in my platoon) engaging and destroying enemy tank


Premature dismount? Maybe they should have stayed in the vehicle? Maybe not. lol


Regards

[Nefaro]

Hrmm..

I'm still getting that occasional hitching.  I've seen the like in the past, with other programs.  It was always some software bug or compatibility issue.  Perhaps I should force it to run on only one processor core or something.  The program will freeze for a whole second and then continue on for awhile as if nothing had happened.  I fear it may screw up multiplayer syncing and cause some serious problems there.  :(

It's usually not a problem in single-player, but happens often enough to be annoying.  Especially if it happens right when I'm ready to pull the trigger.

I think I read a brief complaint from a user about it "not being fixed yet" somewhere else, but that may have been something different.

[Asid]

I think I read a brief complaint from a user about it "not being fixed yet" somewhere else, but that may have been something different.

Time it. Is it every 2 minutes? I think there was an issue at one time where the sim would write to the AAR every 2 minutes that could cause an issue but that was fixed. Have you tried updating graphics drivers etc? Latest Directx? Just a thought. Does it do it in every view?

Time it and let me know.

Regards

Edit: Have you tried installing the beta 64?

[Nefaro]

I think I read a brief complaint from a user about it "not being fixed yet" somewhere else, but that may have been something different.

Time it. Is it every 2 minutes? I think there was an issue at one time where the sim would write to the AAR every 2 minutes that could cause an issue but that was fixed. Have you tried updating graphics drivers etc? Latest Directx? Just a thought. Does it do it in every view?

Time it and let me know.

Regards

Edit: Have you tried installing the beta 64?

Yes, it happens at quite regular intervals but a ways apart.  My drivers were updated within the last month and it does it with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of SBPro (I've been using the latter in the last couple days).  That previous write bug you mentioned does sound like the same kind of behavior.

I'm running it with V-sync on, otherwise my FPS would be insane and I'd get screen tearing.  It stays between 53 and 60 fps at all times so I don't think it's performance related unless it's not behaving well with my newer video card's drivers.  I may try to force some extra video buffering or something to see if it makes a difference. 

[Yskonyn]

If it is the sim writing the AAR then make sure you keep your harddisk healthy and defragged.
Perhaps invest in a quicker harddisk or an SSD.
Microstuttering is usually caused by harddisk I/O. If its health is low things get worse.

[Nefaro]

If it is the sim writing the AAR then make sure you keep your harddisk healthy and defragged.
Perhaps invest in a quicker harddisk or an SSD.
Microstuttering is usually caused by harddisk I/O. If its health is low things get worse.

I suppose I could re-install it onto my SSD but everything loads quickly as-is.  I've only installed games on the SSD that have exceptionally long load times, and this one certainly doesn't.  Not sure how my licensing thing will react if I do so, either.  I always expect such DRM to be buggy when you change stuff.  :-[

I've not encountered a single game that requires it to be loaded on an SSD anyway.  That's more an attempt at a workaround, if the AAR recording is what's causing the problem.

My hard drive automatically defrags on a regular basis.  Never been an issue.  I'd expect to have experienced this problem when recording gameplay on a CPU intensive sim a few months ago, if it were a system write speed problem alone. 

Maybe sometime I'll try it on my older desktop and/or laptop.  I suspect it will probably run fine on those, and that there's some quirky hardware specific issue going on in this case.

Edit: When I've seen these types of measurable stutters in other programs, in the past, they were nearly all related to the program not getting along with specific graphics or sound hardware/drivers.

[Nefaro]

Now that I think of it, I still have my HOTAS plugged in.  But I checked the option box to nullify joystick inputs.  Maybe this is making it act up?

Ehhh.. I'll jack with it as necessary.  I can live with it in single-player at the moment, but I fear it may cause issues over the 'net if it gets de-synced.  Depends on how strong the net code is, I suppose.  There are some games that go nuts if one player freezes or loses packets for a second, while others are near invincible for a long stretch.

[Asid]

I run Steel Beasts Pro on a lowly pc with a slow HDD and 6 year old GPU. This sim does not need a fast/gamer pc.

It may be that you have a driver issue. I have had one in the past.

I unplug any joysticks before play.

The network code is pretty resilient especially in the new Beta 64 bit 3.019. It will tell you at the end of a MP session how much the clocks had to be synced by. Why not try it?

Whenever i play a sim/game I:
Turn off virus checker
Turn off any auto defragger
Any unnecessary background services.

Reinstalling
If you have a usb dongle license then you can install the sim on any pc and just plug in the dongle. No black magic or voodoo.

If you have a time limited license/beta license then that resides on the pc it was installed on.

There is really no big issue/problem/deal in playing online (if that is what you want).
Hope this helps

Regards

[Yskonyn]

Just for reference: my HOTAS is always plugged in too and I have also ticked the box in SB to ignore joystick input. No stutters for me.

[Nefaro]

Just for reference: my HOTAS is always plugged in too and I have also ticked the box in SB to ignore joystick input. No stutters for me.

Thanks.

I'll start unplugging stuff like my HOTAS and TrackIR5 if some other tweaks don't help.  Trying to avoid it if I can.

I run Steel Beasts Pro on a lowly pc with a slow HDD and 6 year old GPU. This sim does not need a fast/gamer pc.

I built this one around the end of last year.  It's been great.

Reinstalling
If you have a usb dongle license then you can install the sim on any pc and just plug in the dongle. No black magic or voodoo.

If you have a time limited license/beta license then that resides on the pc it was installed on.

There is really no big issue/problem/deal in playing online (if that is what you want).
Hope this helps

Regards

I have a time-limited license right now, as I wanted to check everything out and see if I had any issues.   ???   I'm hoping that a reinstall on the same machine, but to a different drive, won't cause any issues.  Not in a hurry to test that theory, however.  ;D   Hopefully it's just a setting or something plugged in.

As for the sim, I'm still getting familiar with the AI behaviors.  They often do fine, other times not so much and you gotta intervene.  But I'm not fast enough with the UI to stay on top of them all the time.  Practice, practice, practice.  Right?  :))   I'll join you guys sometime soon.

[Asid]

Nefaro

I am on TeamSpeak now if you want me to check it out for you :)

Regards

[Nefaro]

Nefaro

I am on TeamSpeak now if you want me to check it out for you :)

Regards

I missed this message earlier. 

I'm bouncing around between various stuff lately but I'll get around to troubleshooting it before long when I can devote a stretch of time to go down the list.  It's still playable anyway.

Now that I've been paying attention to the symptoms more, it may not be happening with evenly placed regularity (like the example of every 2 minutes).  It may actually be happening more in groups, with longer stretches of no stutter in between.  I still think it's likely some video/driver issue so I'll delve into my vid card settings and do some tweaking next, if unplugging extra hardware doesn't work.

[Asid]

I missed this message earlier. 

I'm on now :) ... just doing some SB

[Nefaro]

I missed this message earlier. 

I'm on now :) ... just doing some SB

I may look you up tomorrow sometime for some MP.  I'm not on my desktop PC right now.