PC: Alien Swarm

[Darkdrium777]

Hey guys, I'm here to show you a pretty nice looking coop game for the PC.
Best of all, it's free! All you need is a Steam Account (which you can create in seconds here (http://store.steampowered.com/about/) just after you download Steam) and then you'll be able to download Alien Swarm and play coop with other people! (Including me! :g)

Alien Swarm was a mod for UT2004 where you controlled your character in a top down view and killed aliens that were trying to over-run you. Sounds like fun doesn't it? Now it's coop up to four players, and there are four character classes you can choose from, as well as tons of weapons (And tons of fun xD)

Here's the website (http://www.alienswarm.com/)

Plus it comes with the map editor so we're sure to see many awesome custom levels and etc.

You can download the game on the Steam Store Page (http://store.steampowered.com/app/630/).

I hope to see you at least try it, it doesn't require a very beefy PC to run (Source engine) so we can play some games together? :)

PLAYERS:
(Click names for Steam Profiles - Mic means voice chat enabled)

Darkdrium777 (http://steamcommunity.com/id/Darkdrium777) - Mic
mdhay (http://steamcommunity.com/id/mdhay/) - Mic
Amorbis (Amorbis)
rdmx (Insertcoin)
A-M (amplificated)

MAPS:

MODS:

[Dan Locke]

Looks like a 3D, multiplayer version of Alien Breed. Awesome. :clap

[mdhay]

Having L4D2 on my lappy will let me play it, right?

[Darkdrium777]

It doesn't say that you have to own another Source Engine game to play it (It doesn't appear to be a mod, but a standalone free game.)
But if your laptop runs Left4Dead 2, the game should run as well if that's what you were asking. ;)

[mdhay]

Oh, good to know. :D :+

[rdmx]

I think anyone who bought Alien Breed: Impact is gonna be really really cut about this
Looks good, I'll be sure to try it out

[RedScar]

Free? Oh hells ya I'm going to try this out. Great find DD777

[Darkdrium777]

Come on, any non-currently-on-steam-people gonna try? xD :g

But yeah let's set up some games :) When it's out of course.
I wish we had the option to preload it so we don't find ourselves blocked by the server, but whatever. It's free, no rush (Not much anyways :D)

EDIT: Oh here's my steam (http://steamcommunity.com/id/Darkdrium777)

[RedScar]

DD777, what is your steam ID? I don't believe that I have you on my friends list already.

[Darkdrium777]

Yeah it's up there, I just edited it in. Here it is again (http://steamcommunity.com/id/Darkdrium777) (Profile page)

[SaturnReturn]

I re-downloaded steam so that I'll be ready to get it. I don't expect much from my laptop but we'll see how it runs. I was slightly offended that the steam installer showed a US flag next to the language option of English though, not even American English.:bomb

[Darkdrium777]

Does your laptop have a dedicated ATI or NVIDIA chip? If so it should run fine, if it is not that old. Source Engine 2 is quite old and should run on any computer with a dedicated GPU today. Perhaps not maxed on all of them, but most of them.

[SaturnReturn]

Well it's got a NVidia GeForce 8600M GS 256 MB. Went with that back in the day in stead of the GT, because I couldn't see any discernable difference and this laptop came with a HD-DVD drive too. Later found out that the GT is kinda twice as good for some reason, and HD-DVD, well we all know how that turned out. Still, will give it a go.

[mdhay]

Well, my laptop is new (ish), and has an ATI Radeon 5470 card, plays L4D2 with only minor Anti Aliasing problems, so you should be fine like D777 says. :D

[Amorbis]

I'll try anything that's free, I'll be sure to add some zoners to my Steam friend list if they want. If there are enough people on here with Steam we could even have a WipEout Zone group for any game.

One of the reasons that I use steam is the freebies, I originally downloaded it for Trackmania. Thanks for the tip on this one D777. :)

[Darkdrium777]

NVidia GeForce 8600M GS 256 MBYou're fine with that. I have a 9200GS (which is less powerful) and it ran the Alien Breed demo (unreal engine 3) on lowest just fine. Source is much less demanding than unreal engine so it's gonna be all right for you ;)

And yep, I love them freebies. Portal was really nice, now I'm probably gonna get Portal 2 because of that.

[mdhay]

Damn, when was that free?

[Darkdrium777]

It was free until May 24th

CNET (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13845_3-20004938-58.html)

[mdhay]

Oh man, I had to let my brother use my steam ID, didn't I? He's been acting like it's his. :(

What's your Steam ID, anyway?

[Darkdrium777]

Look up, I gave a link to my profile (First page) ;)
It's the same as here anyways if you prefer.

Just to confirm, I loaded Portal today on my laptop and it ran at my native resolution 1280x800 at low settings at about 35FPS. I had to turn off the Portal reflections though, down to 1 from the recommended 2 (It can go up to 9.)
You should get better results than that with your laptop Saturn. I should too, since it's gonna be a top down shooter.

[Darkdrium777]

Okay so it's released now, who's gonna play with me? :g

[SaturnReturn]

I'm just getting error message telling me that the Steam servers are too busy. Perhaps it's everyone trying to download this game. I'll try again tomorrow.

[Axel]

I was able to start downloading but i can't get past 50kbs. I give up :/

[Darkdrium777]

Yeah servers are hammered. If you want to give it a few tries, switch download servers, some are freed up more than others.

To do that, open the main Steam window.
Click Steam in the upper left corner.
Click Settings.
Choose the Download+Cloud tab.
And from the dropdown in Download Region choose a server.
You will need to restart steam and try redownloading the game from the store page on the new server.

[rdmx]

Good fun, challenging though - mics are a must I reckon

[Darkdrium777]

Yeah it's hard, the mod for UT was that way too. Mics are a plus definitely, also knowing what the missions are and what classes you need too of course.

[amplificated]

the game has some serious problems with lag - screen shaking violently when you're hit for any reason, enemies being able to attack you from wherever they are once they start attacking you until they die, some random jumps... really making this game hard to play.

Other than that it seems fairly stock standard. Not that good, not that bad. If they can fix those issues somehow, it would probably be okay with a decent team. But they probably won't unless some people set up some good dedicated servers like what's been done for l4d.

[mdhay]

So, erm, yeah. No node map, unplayable. Should I just admit that something that should be so goddamn simple goes like the rest of my life; down the crapper?

Looks like I'm not the only one, either. Seriously, Valve, you didn't think to reply to the many threads about it not working?

[omega329]

My download speed was rather bad last night, but I left it on overnight, and came back to it this morning to find a completed download.

Finding a working server was hard at first, but over the course of the day, I've had nothing but positive experiences with this game.
GeForce 8600 GT here

[Darkdrium777]

So, erm, yeah. No node map, unplayable.You still have that problem?
I'd just delete the entire game and try again. It doesn't make any sense.
You say other people experience the same problem?

[rdmx]

Before deleting and redownloading, try verifying your steam cache

[mdhay]

I've tried that, no joy. And one other person has, they've made a thread on the Steam Forum, although it wouldn't suprise me if others have it. At least it isn't a CTD. Brilliant but Broke - ass Fallout 3 has given me enough of them for my lifetime. ;)

[rdmx]

Stupid question:
graphics drivers up to date?

[mdhay]

Yep. It's the Node map that's missing, the part of code that tells NPC's where to go (AKA Navmesh for G.E.C.K. users).

[omega329]

why are you playing with AIs? you can 2-player online all the way through normal difficulty :P

[mdhay]

I can play with AI's? I wanted to practice. And, seeing as I'd like to be able to play when my internet screws up, which is likely.

[Darkdrium777]

Yeah you can play with bots. You can toggle which one you control too with F1 through F4.

[mdhay]

Cool. Shame I can't. :g

[Darkdrium777]

How's that mdhay?

Also, I'm gonna go ahead and edit the first post with the names and steam profile links of anyone who plays this game, so we can know more easily who to talk to. I won't do it for you without your permission though, so you must post your steam profile on this thread if you want me to put it in the first post. Also, if you have a microphone for voice chat and can use it, that's even better so mention it too along with your profile ;)

I'll also make an attempt to track any future mod worth mentioning, feel free to make suggestions if you find something ridiculously awesome. It can be TileGen maps as long as the gameplay is good.

[mdhay]

Node map error. Turns out, I just needed to wait for it to unfreeze, and promptly got my arse handed to me. I would have waited all the other times, but Task Manager said it wasn't responding, and the warning disappears. And yeah, add my steam ID to the OP. And I do use a mic, just am not able to sometimes. :P :+

EDIT:
As those who have viewed the Steam page will be aware, AS comes with a map editor. You may be wondering where it is, and thanks to some wonderful guy some where in the interwebs, I've found it.
First, you need to have Source SDK installed (Which can be found on the tools page here (steam://install/211)) and the console activated inside the controls menu. THen, at the main meu, type "SV_Cheats 1" (minus quites, of course) into it. then, during the game, (preferably in offline practice, so it will pause), type "asw_tilegen".
Have fun trying to figure it out. :D :g (http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Swarm_TileGen)

[amplificated]

My issues seemed to fix themselves out, so I've managed to play for a bit. The game's alright as long as the lag holds off.

The one campaign is over pretty quickly, there needs some more. But, what the game does, it does as well as every other decent top down shooter on the planet that has come before it, but with nicer graphics. As long as other people are playing it, it'll be a decent game to play.

If I had to make just one complaint, it's probably that the public/p2p rooms are pretty gay. It's like nobody has played a top down shooter before. At least you don't need to rely on them in normal and hard unless they're a tech.

[Darkdrium777]

The game is definitely at it's best on Insane with a group of four players who can rely on each other and communicate well.

Why not post your Steam ID so we can perhaps arrange a meeting instead of playing with pubs?

Also, a website has come up for map downloads. Nothing much yet, but you might want to check it out for yourself. Swarm Armory (http://swarmarmory.com/).

[amplificated]

I've played competitively in a handful of international matches, and the lag has always been an issue. An Australia - Canada connection would probably be between 250-350, if not higher to a player rather than a dedicated host.

If you want to add me, my name on steam is A-M; but a word of forewarning though... it won't end well :P

I do have a few players on my f list I have the odd game with, and that's always of a higher standard.

[Darkdrium777]

Oh, yeah I didn't look at that time zone thing, thought you were in England as well like mdhay (With whom I've played without much of an issue, I think it was okayish for him too.)
You could talk to rdmx, if he likes the game too. Insertcoin on here.

Also if you want your Steam Profile to be posted, send me a link to it. A-M (http://steamcommunity.com/id/A-M) isn't you I'm pretty sure ;)

[amplificated]

I already have rdmx from an earlier instance, and I think he's the only other Aussie interested in computer gaming here, so all's well :P

And you were right, neither of those were me.

[rdmx]

Oh! You're A-M - I forgot who you were >_>
And I'm no longer insertcoin ;)

[amplificated]

Yeah I thought you would've forgotten who I was, I don't see you much on steam :P

[RedScar]

Been playing this a few time so far. Great fun when your pounding around with a good squad.

Add me on steam,
tehredscar

[mdhay]

By the way guys, My Steam ID is now mdhay_wz. I've had to make a new one because my brother was using it and started joining groups and signing me out. So I've rectified it. :D