Deals And Sales - Star Wars Games, Most On Sale All Weekend - May The 4th Be With You! [Notification]

Just a quick reminder or for those that may not have noticed yet, that Star Wars games (on PC and Consoles) are going on Sale like crazy everywhere right now, most places having them On Sale over the whole weekend, into Monday or Tuesday. Check out places like Good Old Games (now GOG.com), The Steam Store, EA's Origin Marketplace, HumbleBundle (to help Charities!) and more... Have fun shopping for yourself or your loved one(s) - and have a Happy Star Wars Day and May The 4th Be With You!


Edit:
I forgot to say - if you Login to Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG by May 7th, you will get an Astromech Droid pet after May 9th! Details from swtor.com:

•  Log in by May 7th to qualify for your very own M4-Y7 Astromech Droid Mini-Pet! A deeply loyal and rugged Droid, the M4-Y7 Astromech Droid is known for its steadfast and stoic reliability. No matter how far your adventures take you across the galaxy, the M4-Y7 is your “DBFF” (Droid Best Friend Forever)! Your new Astromech Droid can be claimed beginning May 9, 2018 at 11:59PM PDT (May 10, 2018 at 6:58PM GMT) through your in-game mail.

The M4-Y7 Droid, animation/GIF from the SWTOR.com website

http://www.swtor.com/info/news/news-article/20180501-0




[Note: I am not affiliated in any way with GOG.com, Steam, EA, Origin, HumbleBundle, LucasArts, Disney or any other company mentioned herein and I have not, and will not, receive any compensation in any form, for mentioning them here. I am merely a fan of the Star Wars franchise/products and an enthusiastic gamer, wanting to inform and help out others, as I can.]

How To Report Players in Star Wars Battlefront 2 ...(Or Any EA Games) [Tutorial via Screenshots, Short and Long Versions]

Recently, I've been seeing a lot of people asking how to report players in the Official Star Wars Battlefront II Forums (via Electronic Arts). To summarize, for those who may not know, there is an issue with players in the newly-released game, "exploiting" how the in-game currency is given out. It seems that many players realized that they could end up with 'Credits' at the end of a match/round, by not doing anything at all and/or jumping in one spot (known as "AFK'ing", which comes from the acronym 'Away From Keyboard'). Deeming these actions unfair and having a negative effect on the game experience of other players, many having been wanting to know how to 'report' these people who are doing this, to EA Game Administrators.


In response to seeing this asked so much [not just in EA Forums], I wanted to make a 'Quick Tip style' post on how to do just that. There was mention of a system in-game (ie. within SWBF2 itself), where you can click on a players' name in the Scoreboard - but I have not been able to get this working, personally - therefore, I wanted to share a more 'universal' way of reporting players that may be going against the conduct/terms of [any EA] games.

As a Reminder, a Community Manager recently re-posted information about Rules in SWBF2 on the Star Wars Battlefront II Forum:  

The steps to Report A Player (In Any EA Game) will be presented in two versions, Short and Long:

Short Version:

1. Search for the player's name in the Origin Client or at the Origin Website.
2. Click on the arrow next to Send Friend Request and submit a Report 
3. Don't forget to mention the reason for the Report and include Evidence if possible

• Xbox Live: Find the player name in the Recent Players list, click File Complaint, then Cheating, then Submit.
• PlayStation Network: Use the PlayStation Network's "Report Inappropriate Content" form

Long Version:

For any EA game at all, if you wish to report a player for doing something negative in a game (Cheating, Hacking, not contributing at all to the game (aka. "going AFK"), making RealLife™ threats, etc): you can go to the Search for Players, via the Origin Website [Note: These steps look the same in the Origin Client as well]. The area to Search for other Players looks like this, below:

In the Search Field (where you type, usually indicated with a Magnifying Glass), simply type the players' name or portion of it and hit ENTER (or click on the Magnifying Glass) to begin a Search for the name/ID. Soon, a set of results should come up for the player(s) found. An example of what a Result looks like, is below:

Clicking on the player will open up their Player Profile, which shows their Avatar (image they chose) and some information about them (Achievements and other Details may possibly be Hidden by the Player). Next to the large orange button in the upper-right corner/area, there should be a small circle with a downward-facing chevron in it (looking like a "<"). Where this is located and how it looks can be seen, below:

Clicking on the small icon will open a pull-down menu with the choice "Report User" within it. What this small menu looks like, when opened, can be seen below:

Some details should be filled in, such as what exactly happened and when; to assist EA Administrators in isolating/tracking the occurrence. Give as much information as you can. Include any Links to Videos or Media that you can, even if it is just a Screenshot. The fields to fill in, can be seen below:

Even a Screenshot alone, will give a lot of weight to the complaint you are submitting. Without it, it is more work for EA Admins to track down what happened and what occurred and the overall process will take much longer. It really helps if you can submit anything at all to assist with your case.

If you are unsure of how to share Links to your media you'd like to share... Here is a small list of a few places you can Upload your Screenshots (copying the Link/Address/URL to the image, to paste into the Report):

https://imgur.com/
http://tinypic.com/
https://imgbb.com/
http://www.imagebam.com/
https://prntscr.com/gallery.html (requires free account to upload images to share)

[Note that the above list is not a complete list, there are many places that allow you to Upload your images, to share/link to others]

Lastly, you can also Report Cheaters/Hackers/etc through Customer Support service via the EA main website:

https://help.ea.com/en/contact-us/?product=star-wars-battlefront-ii&category=game-information

[Note that the above Link will forward you to the Contact Page for EA related to Star Wars Battlefront 2 - but the reference can be easily changed, if you are Reporting a Player from a different game (simply click on "Change Game")]


Although the stimulus for this posting was originally 'Reporting AFK Players in Star Wars Battlefront II' - the steps above can be followed to Report a Player for any EA game. I hope this helps make things easier for others to help 'clean up the community'!



Update - 2017.12.14:

In the latest Patch for SWBFII  (Patch 1.0, Dec.13/17) there is a line in the Patch Notes that states:

• " Made improvements to the idle-kick logic that detects players who aren’t participating in the match"

So it is nice to see that they are making efforts towards alleviating this issue. Way to go, EA/Dice!

See You In The Game!

And More: A Simple Explanation Why 'Loot Boxes' May Be Considered "Gambling", In Games Like Star Wars Battlefront II, Et Al... [Editorial]

((Portions of this article
may or may not have
information obtained
from this unidentified
Imperial Officer))

Recently, in the game Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (EA, Dice), there was the introduction of "Loot Boxes". These are purchasable 'crates' that can contain multiple items. These items are generated randomly (RNG, Random Number Generation) and are obtainable by using "RealLife™" Money [my superscript as pun] - and therein lies the problem being discussed.

In an attempt to explain it simply on a Steam Forum Thread a few days ago, I posted the comment below. I replicate it here, to share with others, so that this whole 'issue' may be understood more fully:

"If I may pop in, to explain the reason why "loot boxes could be considered gambling"; it is due to a few factors:

- There is an RNG factor in the potential items from the Loot Boxes (the items are random, and some items are worth more than others)

- The inclusion of the possibility of utilizing RealLife™ Currency to obtain them.
[Because of this element, more than anything, it could possibly be construed as "gambling"...]

- Because the items (1) can be exchanged in the game for other items that 'cost RealLife™ Money (2), they are 'gambling on the possibility' that they will 'save money' if there are better/higher items in the Box purchased (i.e. they will 'save money' if the RNG produces higher/better items in the Box; they will not have to buy much more)

Together, all three points mean the game essentially has "gambling" within it...
I assume the reason why some parents are getting upset about it, is that there is a possibility of a Minor using their RealLife™ Money to obtain the Loot Boxes (in any game).

The solution is simple however; remove the possibility of utilizing RealLife™ money to obtain the Chests/Boxes/etc OR the possibility of getting 'better items' that will 'deconstruct into elements that can accrue to get better items' ("saving money" if the better items appear via RNG) and there is no longer the possibility of it being "gambling", as it were."

The above points, along with the fact that the 'items' can actually affect a players' performance (i.e. a person with more items or better items can actually live longer or do more damage than someone without the items), is the sum of the whole problem that is upsetting many gamers, the entire issue becoming aflame in the recent release (Nov.17th) of "Star Wars: Battlefront II".

Other games (eg. "Team Fortress 2"), handle this concern for the most part by making sure that the items contained in their 'loot crates' are only 'cosmetic items' (hats, skins, costumes, etc) that do not affect player performance against other human players. It remains to be seen whether the "RNG Factor" involved in such 'Crates of Loot' in these other games, like TF2, are going to still become a 'gambling' issue, or not.



Hopefully this helps you dear reader, in understanding the issue at hand and why some people are getting 'up in arms' about it at this time. 

~Troy from The Game Tips And More Blog

Star Wars: The Old Republic Gets Anti-Aliasing - NVIDIA vs AMD/ATi Still Image and Video Comparisons

I haven't played SWTOR in a while and it was great to see when logging in that a patch installed a much-asked for anti-aliasing capability to the game engine (which came out only days after our post poking fun at it, but it was something asked for since Beta). Great job listening to your customers, devs!

To turn it on, simply open up the Preferences in SWTOR and under Graphics, it's a pulldown menu that allows Off, Low and High settings.

The HERO engine was said to not have this capability, so either they injected it, programmed it, or it must be a post-processing filter, similar to Skyrim's FXAA (Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing) and BF3's Post Filtering, where the calculations (the detecting and blurring of the edges) isn't done at the drawing stage but afterward.
It works well:

Having now a set of good mid-range video cards, one NVIDIA and one AMD/ATi, I thought I'd see what the difference was in-game, when each was set to High.
Here is a short video showing the two side by side, in a short clip speaking with an NPC, and a pan and still shot of a FRAPS captured frame from the game:

There aren't really any big differences by the look of it, unless you really want to nit-pick. Both do a great job. Textures seem to be slightly crisper with ATi, slightly clearer, and NVIDIA seems to use higher-quality settings for AA from the get-go, just picking High makes it look great. I find with the newer ATi cards that forcing Higher Quality Anti-Aliasing (Supersampling, HQ A.I., etc.) results in a higher-quality picture overall versus the NVIDIA, using a GTX560 as a comparison against an HD6870. Again, both do a great job though - if you have those cards or higher the game is smooth as silk to play. Hopefully your video card can handle turning on Anti-Aliasing. If it can, things will run a little slower but the sometimes-distracting jaggies are heavily reduced with this great addition to the game.


To celebrate this new option from the developers and my upgrade of a monitor (Thanks, P!), I present a larger size Star Wars Loading Screen Desktop Wallpaper at 1920x1200, from us to you:

The Star Wars: The Old Republic Loading Screen Desktop Background Wallpaper at 1920x1200

See you in there!

Forcing Anti-Aliasing In Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) with Video and Screenshot Example

Since Beta, I have been attempting to force Anti-Aliasing in Star Wars: The Old Republic. I see that many many people are also trying to do the same. I have read that Bioware themselves states that with this game's HERO Engine, there is no such capability (I am guessing to allow possible merging with consoles, allowing console play in the far future, I see few other reasons other than keeping the gaming overhead low for older machines, to increase marketability).

I have a GTS250 and Santa gave me an ATi/AMD Radeon HD 6870 for Xmas. I want to share here, my findings:

Nvidia AA set in the Nvidia Control Panel VS Amd-Ati AA set in the Catalyst Control Panel.
Unedited (cropped and pasted only) other than the 3 logos put in, FRAPS capture, same area, same NPC.
Either one is stretching or one is squishing, take your pick. I always wondered why all the females seemed to have huge butts in the game. Actually, I think it's just the character models are different (randomly generated), the main thing to notice is the difference in the aliasing ('stair-stepping' on the edges of the lines/models)
Click to see Full Size.

With the Nvidia GTS 250, I was unable to, in any way, shape or form, enable or force Anti-Aliasing. I tried Ntune and other applications that work with Nvidia brand video cards, I tried initialization tweaks (.ini file editing), everything. Nothing worked and judging by the images on the internet of people who 'HAVE IT ENABLED LOOK AT THE SCREENSHOTS', it is never really enabled and there are still jagged edges all over the screen.

For those who don't know, a Tip of what Anti-Aliasing (A.A.) is:
When a graphic adapter (video card for example) talks to the monitor to draw dots and objects so you can see things with your human eyes on the screen and attempts to draw a straight line at an angle, it cannot do so properly, due to the fact that the screen is made up of dots. The result on the screen can only 'resemble' or 'imitate' a straight line at an angle. Thus, the result is termed an 'alias' or 'fake version' of a line at an angle. This is fine, but the jagged edges are distracting to the human eye, especially as they move and jiggle when there is movement on the screen.
Because of this, we have the option to try to get rid of them (which is impossible, but we can try to 'hide' them) via a technique that blurs the jagged edge over and over a few times and blends it with the surrounding dots - and that very "attempt to hide the problems of the jagged imitation of a line at an angle" is termed Anti-Aliasing. Literally, we are against and trying to get rid of, the jagged representation of a straight line at an angle that is being displayed by dots on a screen by blurring it over and over. That's it. 

[Hey, that means we can have rallies and find members by asking them "ARE YOU AGAINST ALIASING??" and they can shout back "HELL YA I AM" and then we can high five each other and all drink and shoot guns together to loud music, celebrating our brotherhood of jagged-free-ness.] 

I had planned on recording a New Series for the Game Tips And More blog, using SWTOR (it actually began with the game Bully, but I haven't uploaded those videos yet) it was to be a series that I entitled "Let's Play Without Talking" (because...well....I don't talk - other reasons for this name will be explained with that Series of uploads/videos/posts). In recording my gameplay and annoyed at not being able to get Anti-Aliasing working with the Nvidia card, I threw in my shiny new Radeon and attempted to force AA in the Control Panel (as I did with the Nvidia Control Panel for the GTS). What resulted was AntiAliasing in SWTOR. Wonderful.

The 4xAA difference can be clearly seen, especially in the front of the brown armor, along the neck and down the bars of the holding cell behind. There is really nothing more I can add, this video is proof: As of Christmas 2011, The Way To Fully Enable Anti-Aliasing In SWTOR is to buy an AMD/ATi video card!


See you in there!



**Update 2012-01-22:
There has been a patch that enables AA within the game itself.
Creating testing videos and will post em once compiled...
Compiling.............
.......................................
Done!
Article and new video can be found here:
http://gametipsandmore.blogspot.com/2012/01/star-wars-old-republic-gets-anti.html

Star Wars: The Old Republic Beta - First Impressions and Screenshots

I have been in MMO Open and Closed Betas such as World of Warcraft, Champions Online, Allods, Rusty Hearts, Victory and more. The most recent is none other than Star Wars: The Old Republic Beta and since the NDA has been lifted, I now share with you my First Impressions and a bunch of Screenshots!

Without giving away any of the actual story itself (and a few other limiations I believe still in effect) I will discuss the graphics, gameplay, how it performs, the setting, audio, mechanics and more. I believe that anything more than that is still not allowed at this time, and I wouldn't want to spoil 'too much' of the game for you regardless. I attempt to utilize screenshots and video that does not give away any important storyline aspects. If any of this coverage oversteps any bounds of the Game Tester Agreement, anyone, please let me know and I will correct it so as to honor the Agreement.  

Not from the movie, from the game.

 First of all, the main source of all the hype and excitement, this is Star Wars we are talking about. STAR FRICKEN WARS. You can't get much of a better licence than that these days (except for maybe Star Trek (nerd fight (including myself) incoming)). At the helm of the Frigate is Bioware, developer of Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic. Taking in all of that and especially the last one, it makes sense that they are doing SWTOR. A proven track record and most of all, making fun games, you just know before even touching the keyboard that these Canadians are going to create something great. You just know it.

  

Star Wars: The Old Republic is no exception, from what I have seen thus far. Many elements of their past games, from Neverwinter Nights to Dragon Age, are present in this game. Without listing them all in this Mini-Review, the most notable is the '3 Choices' game mechanic. Before even that, I have to mention that every NPC that has to do with Quests is voiced. I mean they talk and tell a story. In a cutscene (animated with the game engine). Most games have a few 'main' NPCs that have a paragraph or two of voiced acting and the rest are just a "Hello" with text that you read yourself. Not here. Every single NPC with a thingy above their head that has to do with giving, helping or receiving quests has a voice actor and is animated in their own cutscene. That alone already has my clothes off. The '3 Choices' of previous Bioware games is here, with the ability to use the mouse or the keyboard to choose your reply to their questions or assignments.  

Example of the 3 Choices game mechanic, similar to other Bioware games. Click to see Full Size.

Differing from what I have seen and played of Mass Effect and Dragon Age, your replies actually make a difference. Not only are their differing responses from the NPC, depending on the choice you make, you will get Light or Dark points in the The Force, which you use for your Force Powers in the RPG portion of the game.

You can choose your reply 1, 2 or 3 with the keyboard to create suspense and see how your choices are judged by the game and NPCs, or you can mouse over the choices to see which response will give you Light or Dark Force points, ahead of time. The way you choose and grow is up to you. 

Ruins in the forests of Tython. Click to see Full Size.

As you can see already,  to compare to some other MMORPGs out there, the graphics style is more World of Warcraft and less RIFT/Aion. It has more of a stylized cartoon-y nature than highly detailed realism. I suspect this choice was made to lighten the load on game rigs and open the game up to older systems with less horsepower, thus encouraging more players/subscribers. It turned me off at first, but after you get used to it (much easier for people who have watched The Clone Wars animated series) it actually does a good job of representing Star Wars. The robots and ships suffer from oversimplification the least, then the architecture and environments, then the character models, which seem like rounded versions of The Clone Wars Series. Despite the simplified models [possibly for future console gameplay/games?],  from the very beginning of character creation and you see your character class story in a Yellow Text Crawl in space, you really feel as though you are entering the Star Wars Universe.


The Republic's Trooper Class selection screen. Click to see Full Size.

Imperial Officer in a Space Station. Click to see Full Size.

NPCs wear proper attire for the time period, and buildings, ships and droids all have a primitive-empire/republic look to them. Even the friggin sounds of engines, weapons and droids are slightly less 'clean' than the movie versions if you listen carefully. Wonderful.

Hallway in a Sith Academy, with Droid. Click to see Full Size.

 

A Taxi on Tyhton. Click to see Full Size.

The simplification of the graphics does seem to help the gameplay. On the system I played on, a couple years old now, I was able to get 40-70fps for the most part (120+ if you are looking directly at the ground) and it went down to about 25fps in more complicated/heavier areas and in battles. Not bad at all. With that and less than 70ms latency from Central North America, I did not feel like it was stuttery or laggy, and the loading times between each zone seemed fine at about 10-15 seconds. The zones have a lot to do in them and aren't too small, so you shouldn't be loading a lot as it is. I can't distinctly remember how many times I have seen a loading screen, other than at the beginning/logging in.

A Sith Loading Screen. Click to see Full Size.

The areas are literally packed with Quests. Everything you see and pass by has some use, even if it isn't by you. I wondered what some ornaments were as I ran by sometimes, only to find out when I tried another class they were now my Quest Objectives. NPCs sometimes feel spread a little thin in spots, but there are ample numbers running around performing their tasks, whatever they may be. You can pause awhile and watch Recruits around you run to their classes, meditate, or spar in practice battles. Imperial Officers hassle bystanders. Drunks wobble around in front of Cantinas, which yes, have Twi'leks and performing bands inside. Nothing absolutely ground-breaking perhaps, but it does have the desired effect of making you feel like you are part of that world, that things are going on around you; but not so distant from you that you lose interest. 

See if you know what this is. Click to see Full Size.

The Quests themselves do have standard MMORPG fare (Kill X of Y, Deliver This, etc) but it is not all the time and even when they occur, they certainly don't feel like it. Again, each and every Quest NPC has a game-engine cinematic with full voice. With this, you are pulled further into the stories and world. Not all interactions have a Light/Dark Points question, but the conversations are definitely not left boring. Each NPC has various responses based on your choices, so even if you make a couple of characters in the same area (2 classes share a starting area) you may still not eventually see all of the responses, even if you make different choices each time (there are three options per choice for the most part). There is an ability to see and hear your party members' conversations and interactions, and they in yours, during Quests. You can even 'roll' to make a reponse choice when in a group. When starting a conversation, there is an option to wait for other party members, or start the conversation for yourself. If your party members are not in the immediate area, they can join by Holocall and will show up as a hologram next to you, ready to engage in the conversation.

Party members can join in NPC conversations and roll to make choices as well via Holocall. Click to see Full Size.

Even when a Quest may be simply "Kill This Person" or "Retrieve This Item", there is always a story, always a mood, always a character that will all be a part of the Quest and the result is that even if you run into two of the same archetype of Quest back-to-back, you won't mind it. To run into a lot of similar Quests, you'd have to go out of your way, anyway. Quests felt varied and interesting. The presence voice acting at every turn is a huge difference in feeling enveloped in the game, coming from MMOs where NPCs are standing around and if you click on them you only get a paragraph to read and start you on your Quest. Here, every NPC has a story (which you can skip through faster if you want, you don't have to listen to each part, if you desire) and each Quest in an area felt different. One would have you find someone and bring them back, another would have you kill someone, another would have you collect an item, and all the while, within each Quest there are choices to be made. Do you bring the person back if they don't want to go? Do you kill the person? Do you take the item to someone else, or sell it yourself, or do your job and take it back? Not only these, but how you respond and go about these actions, as Conversation Choices, all add to the engulfing atmosphere and stories and universe - and this is the Star Wars Universe we are talking about.

Republic Loading Screen. Click to see Full Size.

Just attempting to think about all the movies, books, games, Expanded Universe and more, there is a huge amount of material to be pulled from. If this game is successful, you can pretty much be guaranteed Expansion Packs for the next decade. From what I've seen and how I've heard those who have played talk about it, unless Bioware/EA pulls some crazy, huge, insane mistake or change of some sort, this game is pretty much guaranteed to be successful as is. Based on how Bioware seems to be listening to what people are saying and how they have looked at past games and listened to what people want, it is going to be a long, wonderful ride.

A Taxi on Dromund Kass. Click to see Full Size.

You want Mounts? I saw Level 20's on vehicles (trying to play all the classes, I did not get to 20, hah). You want Sidekicks/Pets/Companions? You get them before you are Level 10. You want PvP? Starting at Level 10, you got it. Requeuable (automatically join again after the round is over), from anyhwere (don't need to go to a certain area/NPC), solo or group join and you're in. I only played a couple games of PvP in the Arenas. MMO Player Versus Player is usually a slower pace, with things such as Auto Aim, when compared to First Person Shooter action type games, but it was fun. Voiced instructions for each Arena and Play-By-Play Announcers of what is happening in the Arena are just two more things to add to the List Of Things That This Game Does That Kicks The Asses Of Other Games. It's a long list.

The Pit, PvP Arena. Click to see Full Size.

And Now... More Screenshots!

(At this time, with an NVIDIA videocard, there seems to be no way to enable Anti-Aliasing (helping filter out the stair-stepping effect that occurs when the game attempts to represent a straight line at an angle, usually along the edges of shapes, etc.) even forcing it in the Nvidia Control Panel in Windows, or editing an ini file or any other way)

This is sort of a Game Tips And More Blog Screenshot Exclusive - as it's not normally something you would see in the game. When I took a shuttle to an orbiting space station, what was supposed to be the docking bay walls and windows, took a little bit to load. In the meantime, I got this great view of the planet below and hit the Capture button. After I did, the docking bay loaded and all you can/should see is the moon after that and a little bit of the planet in a much more restricted view out the bay doors. I just thought it was a pretty view and wanted to share it with you.  Click to see Full Size.



  



My New Wallpaper. Make it yours. Click to see Full Size.

See you in there!