Scourge of War: Waterloo! announced

[Jarhead0331]

The engine is showing its age.

Personally, I thought the engine was showing its age from the first moment it was released.

[Asid]

Twitch feed today

Two days after its release the latest title in the Scourge of War series is back on the battlefield on Twitch! http://www.twitch.tv/slitherinegroup

Stand in the ranks with us as we stream the game today at 20:00 CEST / 18:00 UTC / 2:00 PM EDT on our official Twitch Channel!

Will the Seventh Coalition once again be victorious or will Fate be on the Emperor's side this time? Stay tuned to find out!

Get more information about the game from its official product page

It's not over!

In order to celebrate the bicentenary of Waterloo we will stream a historical reconstruction of the entire Battle on our official Twitch Channel on June 18th!

Be ready for further information!

[Johnnie]

I can't help but notice a little antipathy with respect to this latest iteration of SOW.  Anyone who isn't somewhat familiar with SOW (games system, etc.) has himself to blame as Take Command Second Manassas was published years and years ago, and there have been several new games and/or expansions.  Aside from dealing with Napoleonics, SOW Waterloo is in the same mode.

As to having to disable an antivirus program to play a game, I've been making such accommodations since I've been playing computer games.

I love the era and I think I am going to love the game.

Does this have to do with people having a problem with Norbsoft?

[Jarhead0331]

I can't help but notice a little antipathy with respect to this latest iteration of SOW.  Anyone who isn't somewhat familiar with SOW (games system, etc.) has himself to blame as Take Command Second Manassas was published years and years ago, and there have been several new games and/or expansions.  Aside from dealing with Napoleonics, SOW Waterloo is in the same mode.

As to having to disable an antivirus program to play a game, I've been making such accommodations since I've been playing computer games.

I love the era and I think I am going to love the game.

Does this have to do with people having a problem with Norbsoft?

Well that is insulting. If you want to jeopardize the safety of your personal computer and private data, that is your business, but don't accuse those who do not feel like taking such a drastic step just to play a game of having a nefarious ulterior motive. Although it is unclear from your post, it seems that maybe you haven't even bought the game. I have paid my $49.99 and in this day and age, I shouldn't have to disable anything in order to run it properly. Is your hesitation in buying possibly due to a problem with Norbsoft? huh? well, is it?

[panzerde]

I don't think there's any antipathy. It is an older engine, and the NorbSoftDev team say as much in their forum postings. They'd love to be able to get it updated, too. Like many game engines for wargames we all love, small part-time development teams and tight profit margins can make this tough.

It isn't good practice to disable anti-virus/anti-malware software for any reason. It might occasionally be necessary to do so for troubleshooting but I'd want the system disconnected from the network while doing so. Most AV software will allow you to create exclusions and not scan certain folders, which is certainly a better approach than just turning it off. The "fix" of disabling AV protection isn't a fix at all, it's working around a game engine performance issue that is due to how the architecture of Windows worked 10 years ago but no longer works that way today. It can create a security vulnerability on a user's machine and should be addressed ASAP.

Likewise, I'm less than crazy about games that still need to be run on Windows with administrative rights, and/or require being installed outside the Program Files folders. Again, it's not good practice and something left over from the legacy days of Windows development when the Windows security model was essentially non-existent. If you're a long-time Unix guy like me, that sort of thing is an appalling security violation. This too is a suggested "fix" for issues some people are experiencing with the game, particularly on Windows 8.

Neither of these two issues is unique to NorbSoftDev. A lot of games have one or both of these issues, and the older the engine the worse the issue. A lot of us here have played SOW and TC and love those games. It's legitimate to point out, however, that as much as we may like them and as much as we may like Waterloo (and I most certainly do) there are technical issues with the game that people need to be aware of. I think that's one of the many reasons we all get together on these forums, so we can have rational and transparent discussions about the good and the bad about our favorite games, right?

[RyanE]

How dare you bring fair discussion and balance into a thread.  We should be allowed to overreact and scream in shrill voices without the likes of people like you bringing rational discourse into the discussion.  This is the internet, after all.

[magnus]

What computer game needs you to turn off your antivirus software?

I have literally hundreds of games and I've never run into that.

I also have all of the Take command and SOW all the way up until Waterloo and never had a problem.

I have run into where you had to allow a certain exec. or update to run in your antivirus, but I've never had to shut it off.

I've really tried to like all the games, but the insane " devil dance " that my forces seem to do , gets me every time. It ruins my immersion.

I assume that Waterloo has the same problem with the forces mingling through each other or not?

I forgot to add that up until several weeks ago I was running Webroot and had no problems with the above.

[bboyer66]

Anivirus is for pussies. Going commando is the best !!!!

[panzerde]

How dare you bring fair discussion and balance into a thread.  We should be allowed to overreact and scream in shrill voices without the likes of people like you bringing rational discourse into the discussion.  This is the internet, after all.

I know, what the hell was I thinking? Obviously I need more whisky.

[jomni]

I don't think there's any antipathy. It is an older engine, and the NorbSoftDev team say as much in their forum postings. They'd love to be able to get it updated, too. Like many game engines for wargames we all love, small part-time development teams and tight profit margins can make this tough.

It isn't good practice to disable anti-virus/anti-malware software for any reason. It might occasionally be necessary to do so for troubleshooting but I'd want the system disconnected from the network while doing so. Most AV software will allow you to create exclusions and not scan certain folders, which is certainly a better approach than just turning it off. The "fix" of disabling AV protection isn't a fix at all, it's working around a game engine performance issue that is due to how the architecture of Windows worked 10 years ago but no longer works that way today. It can create a security vulnerability on a user's machine and should be addressed ASAP.

Likewise, I'm less than crazy about games that still need to be run on Windows with administrative rights, and/or require being installed outside the Program Files folders. Again, it's not good practice and something left over from the legacy days of Windows development when the Windows security model was essentially non-existent. If you're a long-time Unix guy like me, that sort of thing is an appalling security violation. This too is a suggested "fix" for issues some people are experiencing with the game, particularly on Windows 8.

Neither of these two issues is unique to NorbSoftDev. A lot of games have one or both of these issues, and the older the engine the worse the issue. A lot of us here have played SOW and TC and love those games. It's legitimate to point out, however, that as much as we may like them and as much as we may like Waterloo (and I most certainly do) there are technical issues with the game that people need to be aware of. I think that's one of the many reasons we all get together on these forums, so we can have rational and transparent discussions about the good and the bad about our favorite games, right?

And don't forget... you need to turn on Compatibility Mode if you're using Windows 8.  Would have at least catered to more current OS and machines.  Win 10 is just around the corner.
Appreciate the new content and work on the UI but they seem to not have time to fix the basics.

[Skoop]

Did the UI really need work, seems better to leave the UI and fix the basics.

[mikeck]

I thought the Gettysburg game WAS a new engine? That's not that old. Am I wrong?
I haven't bought Waterloo but based on what I hear...I may hold off.
I want to buy badly but the game is complex enough without having to guess if it's operator error or WAD.

Wish I could play histwar:Napoleon without throwing my monitor into the wall

[panzerde]

I thought the Gettysburg game WAS a new engine? That's not that old. Am I wrong?
I haven't bought Waterloo but based on what I hear...I may hold off.
I want to buy badly but the game is complex enough without having to guess if it's operator error or WAD.

Wish I could play histwar:Napoleon without throwing my monitor into the wall

If you like Gettysburg and Napoleonics, you'll like this.

[Cyrano]

More whiskey is always a grand idea.

Scourge of War is a new engine over against TC in its various iterations, but both use sprites for soldiers.

PC gaming is always such a weird target for developers to hit because you're aiming at a hell brew of PC configurations, OS, on-board software, &c., that don't challenge developers for consoles.  Therefore, there's a whole lot of emptors that should be caveating madly.  Information of the sort provided, then, becomes very valuable indeed.

I've not had to turn off my anti-virus for this one and once Doug showed me the toolbar mod, I was pretty well set to go although, probably because I'm used to it, I would have been just as fine with 100% old UI with a few Napoleonic doo-dads.

As for anything past Window 7, I will be dragged kicking and screaming.  As I said at Origins, I'll likely need a new PC well before then...

[Nefaro]

What computer game needs you to turn off your antivirus software?

I have literally hundreds of games and I've never run into that.

When something goes awry between game and anti-virus, it's usually a specific to both the AV and the game.

I practically never have issues with my chosen AV, but there has been at least one game I own which had issues with it (luckily patched before I purchased it).  It happens sometimes, no matter which you use.