Team Fortress 2

[In Credible 0]

I've been hyped for this game since TFC was relevant. Through several delays and changes in direction the final product will be shipped with the upcoming release of Half Life: Orange Box. My brother is playing the beta for PC (if you preorder through steam then they let you play the beta) and I was very happy with how it turned out. If you are a fan of TF or TFC then you'll know what to expect in this game. They've taken out grenades and the Demo man is the only person with access to grenades (via his launcher) but most of the gameplay is the same old fun. The graphics are fantastic and look like a Pixar film in a video game. They've really expanded on the classes and have made them much more unique from one another.

 

Here are some trailers, they will give you an idea of the gameplay as well as the unique style and humor that they've established with the new game.

 

 

 

Meet The Engineer

 

 

Classes Trailer (my favorite trailer)

 

 

[World's Worst Man 0]

I remember when TF2 was supposed to be a Quake 2 mod. Then a Half Life mod. Then a stand-alone game. Now finally it's coming out. The sad thing is, even though I'm an original TFer and was in the clan that was supposed to play in the first TF2 match, I really have little interest in the game right now. I think it's because I know my PC won't be able to run it well enough to play competitively, and there's so much competition within the genre. If my buddies are getting it, I may have to break down and get it anyway, so hopefully it's worthy of the TF name.

[Thoth 0]

This game crashes predictably and repeatedly on my Vista rig.

 

When it runs for a short period of time, it looks great, though.

 

Keep in mind it is in beta.

[In Credible 0]

I'll be getting it for 360 btw, even though Im sure Id be better on PC I dont play PC games enough to justify upgrading.

[theintensifier 0]

"How am I going to stop some big mean motherhubbered from tearing me a structially surperficalis new bee hind?"

 

"The answer...is a gun."

 

Fucking insane. The solider is hilarious as well.

 

"WHO TOUCHED SASHA?!?!"

[Thoth 0]

I fixed my crash bug by running in DX 8 and turning off HDR.

 

HOLY SHIT THIS GAME IS FUN.

 

All urges I had to go out and buy a 360 and Halo 3 just vanished.

[Broward83 0]

I fixed my crash bug by running in DX 8 and turning off HDR.

 

HOLY SHIT THIS GAME IS FUN.

 

All urges I had to go out and buy a 360 and Halo 3 just vanished.

 

Wow, you're fickle.

 

Could just get the Orange Box for the 360 which has TF2 and a few other games as well...

[Thoth 0]

I fixed my crash bug by running in DX 8 and turning off HDR.

 

HOLY SHIT THIS GAME IS FUN.

 

All urges I had to go out and buy a 360 and Halo 3 just vanished.

 

Wow, you're fickle.

 

Could just get the Orange Box for the 360 which has TF2 and a few other games as well...

 

I get the Orange Box for free with my video card.

[Vanhalen 0]

For anyone who is cheap, get Fortress Forever, its an awesome Source Reimagining of TFC, and its free!

[EricMM 0]

I'll probably pick this up sooner than later.

 

The Orange Box, such a value!

[ZGangsta 0]

I remember when TF2 was supposed to be a Quake 2 mod. Then a Half Life mod. Then a stand-alone game. Now finally it's coming out. The sad thing is, even though I'm an original TFer and was in the clan that was supposed to play in the first TF2 match, I really have little interest in the game right now. I think it's because I know my PC won't be able to run it well enough to play competitively, and there's so much competition within the genre. If my buddies are getting it, I may have to break down and get it anyway, so hopefully it's worthy of the TF name.

 

Actually the Source engine scales really well for less powerful systems, so just let it auto detect graphics settings and then tweak stuff so you get the best performance. I mean, if you have a 5+ years old system it might be stretching it, but within reason all of the Half-Life 2 offshoots can strike a really good looks/performance balance.

 

This game crashes predictably and repeatedly on my Vista rig.

 

When it runs for a short period of time, it looks great, though.

 

Keep in mind it is in beta.

I'm running this on Vista64 and a dx10 video card and it's been completely rock solid for me. You got the latest drivers for your card? Running the game as administrator?

 

Pre-ordered on Steam and so far I'm having a blast with this game. The graphical style is just amazing. The designs and animations for the characters are brilliant. It's still a beta so there's a few things that could use to be tweaked (I hate that the spawn times are so long) but definitely off to a good start.

 

I would hate to play this with a controller rather than mouse and keyboard though since it's so fast paced and manic.

[Thoth 0]

It's not just me, a lot of people are having this problem on a wide variety of confiugrations. I have Catalyst 7.9 for my 2900XT. Not running the game as administrator (Launching from Steam). Go look at the Team Fortress 2 forums on Steam, there's a huge thread about this.

 

How do you launch an app from Steam as an admin? Or do you make a desktop shortcut, and launch from there?

 

How I fixed the problem:

 

Forced the game into DirectX 8.

Turned off HDR.

Non wide-screen aspect ratio.

 

I'll try turning that last one off and see if it still doesn't crash. Other people have tried this exact solution and are still crashing.

[Vanhalen 0]

Im having horrible problems with any Source game under steam with Vista, I've gone back to TFC and CS 1.6 its been so bad

[ZGangsta 0]

Yeah to get the 'Run as admin' for Steam games I create a desktop shortcut for the game and then set that to run as admin. Apparently it's also important to install Steam (and all games actually) as Admin (ie right-clicking on the installer and going 'run as admin').

 

But yeah, I've seen a lot of talk about TF2 not working on Vista, all I know is it works fine on my system. I've also seen a lot of people fixing it by getting the latest video card/sound card/whatever drivers, but then that's not always working either. Apparently running it in windowed mode works sometimes...

It IS a beta so there's bound to be configurations that just don't work for some people.

 

(also this hotfix can fix some shit sometimes too.)

[Thoth 0]

Tried that hotfix, no good.

 

The good news, is that Valve posted directly in that thread, asking for mini core dumps. These things are huge files, so it means if they want these, they are serious about fixing this.

 

It looks like a hang that could happen on Vista is getting patched in a matter of hours, barring passing smoke testing. Another hang that is responsible for 90% of hangs is on the verge of a fix.

 

Another suggested fix is wiping your config.cfg file.

[ZGangsta 0]

Oh man, playing a Spy in this is so fun. You really have to act like the appropriate character that you're mimicking and not raise the suspicion of your false comrades.

[Thoth 0]

The game has been patched and runs flawlessly now for most of the playerbase. For the rest, if they have AVG, uninstalling it seems to work.

 

I love it when the Spy takes the disguise of my class, and I see a guy running around with my name. I scream "SPY" into voice chat and fire wildly. On second thought, not the best approach, tactically. Fun though.

 

I've been getting a problem where the animation of characters and sentry guns seems jerky. This is apparently due to a setting in the server being different then the default. If you notice this, changing servers can help.

[ZGangsta 0]

Yeah, seeing another player with your name is pretty funny. Also awesome is that you can call 'Medic!' for the other team when you're disguised and get some sucker medic to heal you... and then stab them in the face.

 

I've never seen a server with friendly fire on, but I can't imagine how tough that would be if you couldn't shoot at your own players to check if they were a Spy.

It would also be tough times for Pyros when you're flooding a choke point with fire to not get a lot of team kills.

[Thoth 0]

I hate how my teammates always shoot me to make sure I'm not a spy. I know popular opinion is FF off, but I mean, it takes away, I think. A Spy on the other team is supposed to cause paranoia, but that goes away every time you can shoot your teammates without consequence.

 

Also, getting an enemy medic to heal you is an Achievement. Anyone else like the concept of Steam having Achievements? I'm glad they're not worth points, on the basis that different developers have different ideas on how much should be awarded (Remember King Kong on the 360?), but everything else is intact. Also, on the acheivement list itself, it shows how close you are to accomplishing your goal.

 

I guess Portal and HL2:E2 will have these as well?

[In Credible 0]

I cant wait for this game!!! I am a little bummed about the lack of grenades, but it's not that big of a deal. I love playing the Spy and also the Engineer. The game has so many more variables than most FPS and has a lot more room to be clever in your tactics.

[ZGangsta 0]

So are there going to be more maps when the game 'officially' comes out in a couple weeks or are all the features present in the beta? Or are they going to put out maps over time (or over Valve Time I guess that would be).

[In Credible 0]

From what I hear they basically worked on 6 maps and made them really good for the release, because in most games people only play certain maps. They will be releasing more over time though.

[Thoth 0]

The CTF maps still bug me, I feel like I'm floating around. I guess mainly because if you're not a Scout, you have no business running the flag.

 

Edit: One of the latest patches to the beta removes the ability of the server to turn friendly fire on. Friendy fire is now always off. Guess that helps the Pyro.

[Invictus 0]

I've been loving TF2 as well, been waiting for it ever since it was originally announced back in like 1999.

 

Absolutely, 100 percent the most fun I've had in a multiplayer game in a long, long time.

 

 

[ZGangsta 0]

I'm kinda on the fence about FF, on one hand it would make playing a spy a lot more fun and require a bit more skill with the explosives and high rate of fire stuff, but on the other hand it would cut down on some of the super manic and fast paced gameplay.

I prefer FF on every other online FPS I've played, but Team Fortress may be the exception.

[Thoth 0]

So if other people are playing the beta right now... what are your Steam IDs? I'm hesitant to start a Steam ID thread, because I think it would get a low response, but if anybody here is in it, let's add each other to friends, (and maybe get that friend team achievement thing)

[Vanhalen 0]

Steam ID: Vanhalen2007

[Thoth 0]

Well, sometime after midnight tomorrow, ths is no longer in beta. One of the good things about the beta testnig of this was that they found bugs in Half Life 2: Episode One that have been fixed.

 

Sadly, there won't be any new maps at launch, though I played on a user-created map yeseterday that was pretty straightforward, cp_lazytown. One of the weaknesses of it is that the defending team basically has the game locked up once the middle control point is secured, due to a heavy high-ground advantage.

[Guest Tsukuyomi]

God, I only hope they'll do more of those class interviews. The Soldier's speech is now one of my away messages.

[Thoth 0]

The next one is the Demoman, coming soon.