Messages posted by: Vagrant0

Joehtosis wrote:

Um... Why do you think they released the CC a few months early? It was their way of making sure that there was enough user-created content available before the launch of the actual game.

But in all fairness, they did this with The Sims too, to a lesser degree. The Sims was only made tolerable once you had installed several gameplay modifications, and had downloaded a vast assortment of clothing, furnishings, and pre-made buildings. The only difference is that each of the Sims expansions actually added something to the game, and improved upon the game. With spore, all we get are more disconnected mini-games that were made by other players.

Carlos wrote: If I use these "cheat mods" i can't get the achievments?????
(thats why i'm not using these kind of mods, I'm an achievment collector)

/Sorry for my English/

Mods don't affect achievement gains, why would it? There are only a few achievements which could be modded to make them easier to get, and most of those are things which can be gotten easily enough without mods. Although there is a mod for nearly instant achievements, it's kinda broken, and may result in all your achievements being removed since it's obvious that you're using a mod to get it. Normal modding won't make achievements easier to get, it just makes the game more tolerable.

williwalli wrote:
Multiple people experienced giant problems when using the asymmetrie mod + you weren´t able to upload them 100% correct.

Dunno, the asymmetrical creations i had uploaded worked fine. The problem was more because of the complexity limits imposed by the server, not that those creations weren't being uploaded properly.

williwalli wrote:
All the other Mods are better cheats, though some of them would be very usefull, but not needed at all. I compare it to other Games. Spore now almost reached it´s 6 month of release and there are absolutely no serious Mods around. As an example, Fallout 3, had about 100 Mods 3 days after release^^

Not really true. Until there was an official modding tool for fallout 3, almost all the mods were either re-textures of equipment, or the very same sorts of gameplay adjustments that are possible in spore. There were no mods for new areas, or anything of particular significance because none of those things are possible without having a tool that works with most of the game coding.

With spore, we have not had the privilege of having such tools at our disposal. All modders have access to are those portions of the game packages that they have managed to decode through many hours of hard work... Fallout 3 also had the benefit of having similar file structures to Oblivion, so most of those early user-made tools were not made from scratch so much as made by re-working existing tools for use in Fallout 3. Spore is an entirely new game, the only thing we had to go on for those first 3 and a half months was some very basic understanding of how to work with .package files.

The other kick in the pants to spore modding is that outside of changing various settings related to AI, tools, abilities, pollination, almost everything else is either hard coded or encrypted. This means that many of the things you consider "real" mods, just aren't possible in spore, not because there aren't people who havn't tried these things but because the game itself will not allow it. Even with these restrictions, some modders hand managed to release some particularly interesting changes to the game.

williwalli wrote:
I really like and appreciate Mods, but I think we have to face the facts, that there will never be some serious Mods. And no infinite Staff of Life is no Mod, it´s a cheat...

Unfortunately, this is how a good portion of modding gets worked out. By creating cheat mods, you get experience working within the limits of that game and finding new ways to break those limits. The other way modding gets started is by trying to fix those parts of the game you find broken or lacking... Both already have several instances.

Spore modding is still in its infancy. It wasn't until recently that there was any particularly capable modding tool available for spore. New parts, and other things are in the works, they are just fairly limited due to what the games coding allows. By no means will cheat mods be the entirety of what spore modding is about. There are even some mods which are designed to make the game actually hard for reasons other than instant hate from everyone. There are, right now, mods for new tools and abilities, there are mods for new artifacts, there are mods which change how large empires will expand and attack each other, there are mods which adjust tribe size, how many creatures are in each herd, how active creatures are... And so on. Given what people have to work with in this case, they have done rather well.

Honestly, there isn't much else to the game to really mod that isn't hard coded. ALL modding is limited by whatever there is in the game code which is open to change. Some games have quite alot because their environments are more complex, and are made of things which MUST be created outside the game. That isn't the case with spore since almost everything used by the game was made within the game. Because of this, adding new things to the game from outside is not something which can easily be worked out due to the whole lack of things to pull apart and analyze.

Modding... Only redeeming thing left about the game. The unmodded game is just too troublesome to really even play. Disasters every 10 minutes in space does not make the game hard, it just makes it annoying until you stop caring since you already have 80,000,000 sporebucks, and there is no way to actually die.

With mods, you actually have time to go out and do some exploration, meet empires, and make allies that don't just keep demanding tribute, or insist on attacking other allies, then complaining about how you weren't there to help. Modding is essentially the only way to fix some the MANY gameplay issues that make spore as big of a disappointment as it is.

Joehtosis wrote:
Does anyone here think it has potential, or is it just another wash out add-on that the game doesn't really need?

http://sporedum.net/spore-expansion-galactic-adventure/spore-expansion-galactic-adventures-videos/
The problem is that the expansion which was supposed to fix the lack of gameplay really doesn't. Galactic adventures, atleast from what I've seen from videos, looks to be little more than just another editor where people can make their own little stories. The big problem with this is actually 2 fold. First, these stories aren't related to the actual game in any significant way, it contains the same kinds of creatures, the same kinds of buildings, but is more of a minigame than any sort of gameplay upgrade. Meaning that the main game, the one we have will still be little more than just hopping around from planet to planet trading spice and dealing with constant requests to kill 5 fuzzy-wuzzies on the other side of the galaxy every 15 minutes, just now you have the ability to hop down to some random planet to play some side mission to help reduce the monotony of one disaster after another. Second, because the content is user-created, and because there will undoubtedly be plenty of achievements related to making and completing these missions, 89% (or more) of the missions you'll be able to get will likely be extremely simple, broken, or unfinished. So although it does tie in somewhat to the main game, since it would be rather dull to select which mission to do on each planet you visit, you will likely be stuck dealing with these poorly created things, or being bored as you run out, and get sick of maxis created ones.

As for the muddy texture issue, It's hard to tell since Youtube is already low resolution, but the baked, ugly textures still seem to be there... You are just now able to get closer to them.

Personally, I'm not going to be buying this one. I've given EA enough of my hard earned money, and this will certainly be another disappointment which is cool for maybe the first day or so, but would leave most people remorseful over the game they just rented for another $50.

Happening since day 1, happens for everyone who wants their own creations registered to them, has been repeatedly asked about... No response as yet, which s odd since you'd think at this point they wouldn't mind cutting down on the number of things being uploaded. Maybe in a future patch (whever that will be), but don't get your hopes up, if they havn't done anything about it for 4 months, they probably won't.

DarkPlasma wrote:Vagrant seems to have ignored the fact that Maxis already has released several free stuff in patched and are still making expansions. I'm also guessing he's trying to imply he's not considered a person, since he himself played the game earlier today. Funny how that works.

Many people have stopped playing this game. Just take a look at the number of uploads a day, the amount of activity on the forums, and such. I'm really only starting to look back at this game because modding has started having decent progress in correcting the MANY flaws of the game, and because I want to gain some value from the money I spent on this game.

You totally misunderstand the point, none of the patches contained new achievements. So far, they've only removed one because they wanted to reduce the amount of sporn being uploaded. They won't add achievements in a patch because there is no reason for them to. If they do, they will likely make the patch specific to C&C or the expansion just so that more people will have to buy those additions in order to get them. It is almost certain that the expansion will contain new achievements anyway, just because there is (hopefully) more to do.

I think the "sporecasts available when buddy only content is enabled" was suggested in week 1. Yep, all these things are great ideas, that might make certain aspects of the game more tolerable, but if they havn't done it by now, they probably don't care, or are waiting to release it as a "feature" in the expansion so that people have to pay for it.

Still not fixed. I'd send in an e-mail or PM, but really don't feel like going through the 20 step process that EA Customer service puts you through to guess what problem it was that you specifically described in detail. They'll probably start by asking me if I've registered to their site. Then when I respond, ask me if I'm logged in. When I resoind, ask me if I have cookies enabled. When I respond, ask me if I'm logged in, again... And so on, and a maybe a month later, they'll tell me that it's working as intended and that this must be a problem on my end.

magicmace wrote:these are some i think they should add to spore.

Full body
got every body part in creature stage

Addict
Getting from cell to space stage in under 2.5 hours

if you have any more idea for achievments add them here

i thought if this because i got every part in creature stage and got nothing in return.

There was a large thread of these several months ago, when people still played this game. Ultimately, EA doesn't care unless it is something that makes them money. You bought the game, you game them their money, you could use it as a frizbee (as many have) and EA couldn't care less so long as you also buy the expansions. They won't implement new achievements in a patch because it doesn't earn them money, and requires more recording within user accounts.

Hate to break it to you, but the verb system is in the game, it's just more simplified. As an example, try picking up a seashell, or stick some time, and see how your creature holds it. The "drag a kill" thing was likely taken out just so that the game could fit with the E rating. Blame the ESRB (although they only affect US ratings, as EA is a US based company, this is what they base their content from), and deal with it.

There are other verbs too, essentially, every interaction between the creature and the environment is a verb, which is generated according to your creature. Different hand locations mean different animations... If you want to get demanding, start demanding that the verbs we have be less generic (tiny arm stretching 3 feet toick up a twig).

OneBlackbird wrote:What browsers are you guys using? I have no ads in Firefox or Chrome and it's not as if I've configured anything via adblock, etc.

I'm using IE, which, while it might be part of the problem, is also what many people are using. The script which block the content may only be getting run with IE. The problem itself seems to be a bit inconsistant, related only to that particular ad group. I was recently, today, able to use the sporepedia for a bit, but am now once again locked out, meaning that it is a specific ad, and not any thing related to my browser, sporepedia, or any security software I have.

PacoPaco wrote:

Vagrant0 wrote:

PacoPaco wrote:I often forget there are ads. I thought for a moment people had gone crazy. Then I checked. And went, "That's right, there are ads." And the ads seem to be children charities fighting child abuse. So I really don't mind them. I just don't focus in on it.

Again, it's nto the ad that's the problem. It's that the page won't load at all once it detects a hostile ad.

I see. Well, that is an issue. Maybe that's why Google Chrome flips out sometimes.

It might be. It seems that there's something special with how the sporepedia is setup, other sites which have this issue pop up still load fine, but those ads aren't shown. It's almost like the coding on the sporepedia is designed to force people to see ads before anything else is loaded. I could understand this if the site were more choosy of what ads were being used, and was entirely dependant on ad renvenue for even maintaining the site, but here... It just seems a bit too maligned if I'm seeing this right.

I would have hoped that by now, a company which has already had enough PR issues would have solved the problem, but they have not. As almost all key components of the site are linked to sporepedia, this is a bit more than an inconveinance for those who happen to try and maintain being malware free.

The grox are needed to make the game difficult and to add some real challenge. Without them, the game is kinda boring since nothing else can really stand up to you at that point.

War is only a problem because of the rediculous timers, and the silly reputation settings that come with playing normal or hard. I would rather see a patch which fixes this problem, in exchange for harder attacks, or more varied opponents than any sort of cheat command.

God mode... why even play?

Epic Mode... Ok, fun, but more the stuff of some sort of minigame since you wouldn't be able to advance.

Called modding. Kinda ruins the point of playing.

The problem with complexity is 2 fold; First, too much, and you run into serious processor issues. With a game that is already rather poor at processing things, not really a good idea. Second, there's that whole upload aspect, more complex things get rejected, as all things used when playing a creature are uploaded, there's an obvious conflict. Higher complexity wouldn't be too bad as a general part of the game, but probably won't happen due to the 100 or so extra bytes (not kb, 1/1000th of a kb) which are added to the creature filesize. With all the millions of downloads/uploads a day, that extra 1gb might really hurt the server.

Generally, cheats aren't any good with this game in that they prevent earning achievements, or totally screw over your game. A few more console commands might not be a problem, but cheats... no. This is why god created mods.

PacoPaco wrote:I often forget there are ads. I thought for a moment people had gone crazy. Then I checked. And went, "That's right, there are ads." And the ads seem to be children charities fighting child abuse. So I really don't mind them. I just don't focus in on it.

Again, it's nto the ad that's the problem. It's that the page won't load at all once it detects a hostile ad.