Rob38

I am helping a friend build a new computer and wanted to get feeback before showing her what I got.  She has a $500-600 budget.  She wants a quality running computer that can play WOW.  Here is what I have put together:

MSI B85-G43 GAMING LGA 1150 Intel B85 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - $94.99

Intel Pentium G3440 Haswell 3.3GHz LGA 1150 53W Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics BX80646G3440 - $89.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL - $45.99

Western Digital WD Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive - OEM - $54.99

EVGA 01G-P3-2631-KR GeForce GT 630 1GB 128-Bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - $59.99

Rosewill CAPSTONE-450 450W Continuous @ 50°C, Intel Haswell Ready, 80 PLUS GOLD, ATX12V v2.31 & EPS12V v2.92, SLI/CrossFire Ready, Active PFC Power Supply - $59.99

Cooler Master HAF 912 - High Air Flow Mid Tower Computer Case - $59.99

Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit - OEM - $99.99

SAMSUNG DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA Model SH-224DB/BEBE - OEM - $19.99

Total comes to $585.91.  Thoughts on this?  Any areas I can cut the price further?

Welcome to Version 1.3 of The Elven Alliance: Community Edition!

The mod has been uploaded to the following locations for download:
Moddb

Version 1.3 contains significant changes to the AI and campaign (both good and bad).  The Hard Mode AI has been adjusted to be more balanced, and the campaign has been adjusted for increased difficulty and challenges!  More balance changes and bug fixes are included in Version 1.3.  Finally, a camera system has been included in the mod. 

A few things to note:

• You do NOT need any previous versions of TEA:CE installed to play this mod.
• You can view a complete change list of the mod here.
• If you have any questions about installation or have problems running the mod, please use this topic in our forums.
• You can view the official Elven Alliance forums here.
• Vote for this mod here.
• View our Moddb page here.

Please use this topic for questions and assistance on installing The Elven Alliance: Community Edition 1.3.  Before posting though, please make sure you read the installation instructions for the mod HERE.

This topic will be used for any questions I have regarding coding, mapping, scripting, modeling, etc.  Any help is greatly appreciated.    

My first question is about hardware fog.  Does anyone know if it can be adjusted at all during the game?  Is there also a way to turn it on and off during the game?  Hardware fog can create some very nice looking environments, and I want a hardware fog set up for the day time and then  one for night as well.

If you have any good ideas or thoughts about Helm's Deep Last Hope and what you would like to see in it, please let me know in this topic.  Now, just a FYI, just because you post something does not mean it is going in the mod.  I would like to hear any feedback or thoughts from the community and fans though as I am willing to consider other people's ideas.

My first focus (once I get my new computer all set up) is to really delve in the major gameplay mechanics of the mod.  I can work on all the artwork and models, but if I cannot implement them successfully into the mod, then there is little point to it.  Mt. first hurdle is figuring out how to manage the large Isengard army.  As most of you already know, EA handled this by creating “waves” of enemies.  The first waves were relatively easy but they became increasingly harder as the game progressed.  There are two problems though I have with EA’s wave system.  First, you never got the feeling that a massive Isengard army was laying siege to Helm’s Deep.  Instead, it felt more like multiple small independent armies attacking in succession.  Second, there was periods in-between the waves of little to no action.  At least for me, what made the Isengard army so dangerous to Rohan was its relentless pursuit to achieve their objective.  In EA’s version though, you got a breather multiple times during the level.  The last time I checked, Aragorn did not have time to stretch his legs and take a restroom break

So now comes the question on what can be done differently to resolve the above issues.  Obviously, simply spawning 10,000 enemies and having them move towards Helm’s Deep will lead to a complete and horrible mess.  There is no way the SAGE engine (and even many modern games) could handle this.  There has to be some level of structure and control so that the engine does not get overwhelmed by commands.  I have several ideas to try and develop this effectively.  What they are, I will keep secret for now until I test and see if they are even feasible.  If anyone though has any ideas that I can look at testing, I am all ears.