ADG Episode 33 - EarthSiege

[@thewhyzer]

That "highest skill setting" you describe seems to accurately represent what fighting AI-controlled war machines would be like :)

[@det.bullock4461]

Thank you for making me discover this game! My only contact with the series was a demo of Starsiege from a PCgamer demo disc and since my english at the time was a bit lacking I couldn't make heads or tails of it. Since it was freeware there was no reason not to try it. I never experienced lockups though, only once I got a glitch with one of the crew dying in a mission, after that the game wouldn't let me access the crew menu and I noticed only after three missions. Fortunately I installed the patch so I could make a separate save after each mission and cuould replay the mission making sure not to lose anyone. The patch is useful also because when you check the WCS option in the preferences it enables a series of throttle presets activated by pressing CTRL with the number keys that facilitate the mapping of a joystick throttle with an external mapper. I had to make a script for the throttle for it to work (for those who have a CH Pro Throttle: I have uploaded the profile on CH Hangar) but I guess with other softwares might be easier. It's really disappointing that they didn't upload the expansions since it includes the game patch and corrects the wrong data in the weapons menus (most energy weapons ranges are grossly overstated there) also the Expansion comes both on floppies or CD, the floppy version is technically compatible with the CD version but it makes the base game behave like the floppy version disabling the FMVs from what I read. Also good luck finding the manual for the expansion online if you don't have it, I was able to find only the manual of the base game.

[@NstHarlequin]

I loved this game and its awesome sequel, thanks for the vid! Not many people know that Tribes is in fact a spinoff of this series :)

[@JimBobJoeB0b]

A lot of these old DOS games seem to be designed in a 16:10 aspect ratio, which is the reason why everything appears stretched horizontally in 4:3.

[@Pixelmusement]

+MasterBuchannon Actually, most aren't, as widescreen CRT monitors didn't exist back then; they were ALL 4:3 aspect. Now, that said, there are a handful of DOS games which do tricks to force a different aspect ratio such as Jazz Jackrabbit, and there's also a sizeable number of DOS games which decide to just ignore that aspect ratio is a thing in favour of pixel accuracy for their content, but for any 3D game, just look at a circle. If it doesn't look perfectly round, you've got the aspect ratio wrong. ;)

[@JimBobJoeB0b]

Pixelmusement Yup, you’re right, suns it up nicely.

[@ChrisRedfieldsbloodline]

It really was a burden to have the enemy start shooting at you before they were inside the draw distance. Thank God ES2 fixed that.

[@mairujyat]

Juuust because I'm not sure anyone pointed out: The noise during the Raptor segment are the Flyers: at least two of them were present in that scene. DAMN annoying things, those.

[@VorpalDerringer]

Maximum difficulty? No wonder I had such a problem in the campaign! I think I got past the first two missions...I think.

[@Maggerama]

Woah, them graphics are amazing. I wish I knew about the game back then - it would've blown my mind! It also would've kicked my ass so hard that I'd drop it after a few hours and forget about it until... wait a minute, this is exactly what happened.

[@Pixelmusement]

EarthSiege 2 is a way better game and not too difficult to get working on modern compys either since it's not hardware accelerated! (Still have to use extra programs though like DXWnd on Win10.)

[@Maggerama]

@@Pixelmusement Yup, I took a note there! Had no idea it existed for some reason.

[@shan2752]

chris, what is your control setup for this game? and are you playing it via dosbox? I have a CH flightstick and throttle and cant set it up to work properly. thanks

[@Pixelmusement]

AFAIK, Earthsiege is very difficult to set up joysticks in. In terms of DOSBox though, in order to use more advanced joystick features like throttles and such, you need to set the joystick type to FCS or CH mode from the DOSBox config file.

[@det.bullock4461]

I know I'm three years late but: You need the game patched to make the throttle work properly (it can be found at sierrahelp) or have the expansion installed. If you have the USB CH Throttle I made a profile which has a script to make it work once you activate WCS in the game options, you can download it from CH Hangar.

[@hartzaden]

so the problem with the lockup is the format of the videos, you just need to reformat them and it fixs the issue, works for both of them.

[@CotSwossel]

I love the interactivity the clickable hud gives. Just one of the many things I didn't like as much in Starsiege.

[@RyushoYosei]

You mention using a dual analog gamepad for it, but how do you set it up for this game? I have been trying to figure it out since I downloaded Earthsiege 1, and 2 to play since it is now available for free.

[@Pixelmusement]

+Ryusho Yosei Go into your DOSBox configuration file and turn "buttonwrap" off so you can access beyond the fourth button on whatever gamepad/joystick you use. From there, while inside the game, you can press CTRL+F1 to access DOSBox's keymapper and you can map keyboard keys to joystick functions. You may also have to set the joystick mode itself to CH or FCS to get the D-Pad working on a gamepad as the D-Pad is often treated as a hat switch under Windows.

[@realavt]

EarthSiege 1-2 is totally free now - www.tribesuniverse.com/

[@SomeOrangeCat]

*falls over

[@NaviciaAbbot]

Hi-Rez owns the rights to the Earthsiege Franchise. The entire series is officially freeware now. tribesuniverse.com.

[@Pixelmusement]

+Joshua Cain Been like that for awhile now; already had a link in the video description! ;)

[@gpgp01]

Just one thing I wished to be fixed on this game was large deadzone of joystick. Thus hard to control precisely. ES2 was better, however was not as much precise as mech2&3.

[@alexanderschulze7767]

Apocalypse had plasma guns which were op as fuck

[@SeekerLancer]

I still have a soft spot for this one though it's hard to revisit after Earthsiege 2. The best thing about it is how easy it is to get to run compared to that game. Dynamix really had some of the funnest sim games of the era. This one has gotten pretty swept under the rug which is a shame because it's one of the better non-MechWarrior mech games out there. I really like the unique cockpits as well, something borrowed from Wing Commander!

[@Pixelmusement]

+Christopher Blair That's actually an interesting question... if Wing Commander was the first sim game, with first person graphics, to feature different cockpits depending on what you were piloting. LHX Attack Chopper has this feature and came before Earthsiege but after Wing Commander... Hmm...

[@MrEk0o]

ahhh Siera On-line, that company name reminds me of the good old days when games were more fun , challenging , interesting ..and so on..

[@koalabrownie]

Two sequels man. Earthsiege 2 and Starsiege.

[@koalabrownie]

called Hercs in this man ;)

[@mrtyler603]

remember kids if it wasn't for this mechwarrior clone we would not have had the tribes games

[@SeekerLancer]

I mean to be fair it wasn't so much a clone as it was Dynamix making their own psuedo-sequel to the original MechWarrior after losing the rights to it. It's interesting because it gives us a look at what a Dynamix MechWarrior 2 would have been. The early builds of MechWarrior 2: The Clans, before the game got rebuilt basically from scratch, also had a bit of an Earthsiege look and feel to it.