The Political Machine: Beta 4B now up!

..almost...there...

from JoeUser Forums

Beta 4B of The Political Machine is now up with lots of bugs fixed, play balancing, and more interview questions.

PLEASE try this beta out and let us know how it's working for you! We are getting pretty close to going gold so we want to ensure that everything is working. We have done various things to the videos to see if we have improved video compatibility.

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43,412 views 56 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
No doubt you're working on it and I appreciate you're '...almost...there', but at this stage the game is still 100% completely UNplayable for me because the overlays are still nothing more than a few triangles on the map and the player icons are entirely misplaced. I've described the problem in detail in previous threads and I've sent DirectX diagnostics to you.
Is there any progress in duplicating this bug and solving it?

Thanks!
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
Hi,

there is one bug in particular that came to my attention. When playing in campaign mode and winning an election, once back at the screen where you would encounter your next opponent, I have the "Ready" key, yet when I press it the game dies. If I wait a little (5 secs) it works... I suspect the "Loading..." from when initially selected is the problem, the "Ready" is available to early.
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Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
The same problem as strategic alliance... I even tried to play, and seems great... But you know, no overlays and misplaced states and figures somewhat hamper the play.

If there is something I can provide, I would be glad to.
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
For all you having the large triangle problem...

1) Open PolMachine.ini. It should be in the same folder as PolMachine.exe
2) Find "BehaviorFlags=68". Change 68 to 132.
3) If that doesn't work, change the 68 to 36.

Please let us know if it fixes your problems.
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top


For all you having the large triangle problem...

1) Open PolMachine.ini. It should be in the same folder as PolMachine.exe
2) Find "BehaviorFlags=68". Change 68 to 132.
3) If that doesn't work, change the 68 to 36.

Please let us know if it fixes your problems.


First of all, the line BehaviorFlags is not present in my .ini file. So I added it under [Options] and all three values don't give a change, so it still doesn't work.
The only thing present in my .ini file is ForceTextureUpdate.

Greetz,
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
I am sorry, but neither 132 or 36 helped. The problem persists without any visible change. Anyway, just noticed strategic alliance answer - I had the line in my ini file with the value 68.
Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top
Haven't downloaded it yet (have to wait til tonight) but I do hope an AI-vs-AI capability can be added, if it hasn't been already. I want to be able to experiment with pitting certain candidate types against others, without having to manage (or mis-manage) one of the campaigns.

Also, re: the discussion of a "strategy map" (in another thread), here's an interesting example:

http://www.edwardsforprez.com/dailykos.html
Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top
Ok, so after Memorial Day weekend I've had a little bit of time to work on playing the game a bit. Let it be said that I'm lovin' this game, even though I despair of anyone ever making a political simulation that I'll actually adore. I think I want it to be too realistic.

I've been playing as Wesley Clark in Campaign Mode, and I've gotten up to Ronald Reagan. (Well, "Regan" here, and I'm not sure if that's a mistake or not...)

1. The opening movie, for me, shows garbage in its lower half. It's flashing, colorful static (in primary colors, naturally!) The text that would normally show up in the very center of the screen during the opening movie is showing up in the lower half of the screen with the rest of the garbage.

2. Beginner's mode that far up the campaign tree -- is it supposed to be this difficult to beat? 'Cause, like, WOW. I've tried three different strategies, including co-opting my opponent's likely political endorsements, to no avail. I know that Reagan was a formidible opponent, but sheesh.

3. Political endorsements seem to have gone from being too powerful to being not powerful enough.

4. No Crashes to Desktop thus far in this build! Woo hoo!

What follows are grammatical errors I noticed.

2. In Campaign Mode, the text for Teddy Roosevelt has some grammatical errors:
a) It should be "nation's", not "nations' "
b) there should be a comma after "stick" I believe.
c) The text is too long, and there's no scrollbars, to fit the box.
d) There's something wrong somewhere around "sensitive issues", but annoyingly my note just says "sensitive issues".

3. In Campaign Mode, the text for Ronald Regan:
a) There should be no comma after "actor".
b) Again, the text is too long.

4. In campaign mode, for the opening blurb before the race starts:
a) Add a comma after the first instance of "Regan".

5. NightTime:
a) For the soft money question, the choices are too long.
b) There should be a comma after the word "contributions".

6. 50/50:
a) "grandchildren", I think, not "grand children", though I'm sure the children are truly grand, in one of the responses. Sadly, I don't know which one! Darn note-taking...

7. Summary screen after race:
a) "Clark spent more money..." -- should be "voters' ", not "voter's" -- I know for a fact I got more than one vote in the race.

8. O'Malley -- France question:
a) "Repear our relationship" -- should be "repair".
Reply #9 from JoeUser Forums Top
I'm having a problem getting the game running. Until rc 003, everything was fine, but from then, everytime
i try to run the political machine, it says my serial number is unvalid. I validated my drengin.net key in stardock central,
everything is fine, and it dosn't expire until august 2005.

Thank you for your help
Reply #10 from JoeUser Forums Top
What I had to do, Calin2, is actually take the Drengin.net key, copy it, and paste it into the Political Machine's serial key section (through the dropdown); maybe that will work for you?

It was non-intuitive; I figured that drengin.net's key would apply automagically everywhere.
Reply #11 from JoeUser Forums Top
StrategicAlliance and Peter Sly,

We're trying to reproduce your hardware configuration in house so we can debug the problem. Please be patient.

Peter Sly, can you tell us what video card and drivers you have installed?
Reply #12 from JoeUser Forums Top
ganderson,

That's how our map works. Just go into the mode and start clicking away. You'll see the electoral votes changing.
Reply #13 from JoeUser Forums Top
Campaign mode crashes to the desktop for me (probably because there's a saved campaign from an earlier version).

Also, Gephardt is spelled with only one h.
Reply #14 from JoeUser Forums Top
The opening video is still significantly corrupted for me, in exactly the same manner as earlier betas.

The Issues section of the Candidate Information screen remains poorly documented and nonintuitive. Additionally, issues are still not in alphbetical order.

Some candidate qualities seem out-of-date, such as Experience. The cost to win an endorsement is certainly not varying. Additionally, candidate quallities have a porrly documented affect on the game itself, since the user never receives much feedback (outside of interviews) on when the qualities are important.

Where's the debate?

Many answers in the interviews seem skeletal, while others are fleshed out completely. This inconsistency makes it difficult to judge which answers are, strategically, better -- the one with the more appropriate title but the 1-sentence description, or the one that is the opposite of your position but has a page and a half?

The 'winning' music is corrupted for me, as in the last beta.
Reply #15 from JoeUser Forums Top
I have signed up at drenigan, can not find the beta version of the politcal machine. Any direction you can provide would be helpful.
Reply #16 from JoeUser Forums Top
I'm still getting crashes some of the times when I go to the Win Endorsements screen.

Also, in one interview a question on taxes featured two answers on taxes (lower taxes on the upper class, and lower taxes and spending) and two which seemed to be coming from a question on terrorism.
Reply #17 from JoeUser Forums Top
I have ABIT Siluro GF4 MX (chip GeForce4 MX440), as for drivers, I use standard factory drivers (ABIT 2.7.5.0, nv4_disp.dll ver. 6.13.0010.2750). I am running WIndows XP Professional 5.1, I have DirectX 9.0b (4.09.0000.0902), AMD 1800+, 512MB. Never encountered any grafic problem with any game or software (but I tend to play old games

I feel sorry for you, we have encountered similar unsuqshable bug in business software we sell and searched for it for quite a time. Good luck, and dont hesitate to ask me (you can email me, if you like. I can send you a screenshot, if it will help).
Reply #18 from JoeUser Forums Top
Those with video corruption: We gotta have your hardware setup, particularly video cards otherwise we can't really do anything.
Reply #19 from JoeUser Forums Top
Sorry about that, FB.

System Information report written at: 06/04/2004 01:11:46 PM
Item Value
OS Name Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
Version 5.0.2195 Service Pack 4 Build 2195
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name HOMECHI1
System Manufacturer Dell Computer Corporation
System Model Dimension 8100
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 0 Stepping 7 GenuineIntel ~1495 Mhz
BIOS Version Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A06
Windows Directory C:\WINNT
System Directory C:\WINNT\system32
Boot Device \Device\Harddisk0\Partition1
Locale United States
User Name HOMECHI1\kcavness
Time Zone Central Daylight Time
Total Physical Memory 523,344 KB
Available Physical Memory 213,496 KB
Total Virtual Memory 2,549,048 KB
Available Virtual Memory 1,898,756 KB
Page File Space 2,025,704 KB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys



[Display]
Item Value
Name NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 Ultra
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0311&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_A1\4&14FF97CE&0&0008
Adapter Type GeForce FX 5600 Ultra, NVIDIA compatible
Adapter Description NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 Ultra
Adapter RAM 128.00 MB (134,217,728 bytes)
Installed Drivers nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version 6.14.10.5303
INF File oem31.inf (nv4_NV3x section)
Color Planes 1
Color Table Entries 4294967296
Resolution 1600 x 1200 x 60 hertz
Bits/Pixel 32
Reply #20 from JoeUser Forums Top
Whoever is having serial trouble still, please fire up regedit.exe and browse down to HKLM\Software\Stardock. Right-click on the folder/keys at left and select Export. Save a .reg file with all the subkeys off that branch.

Please put that .reg in a zip file and email it to kwilas@stardock.com.

Is anybody having problems who does _not_ have Drengin? Just the regular PM serials from preorders?
Reply #21 from JoeUser Forums Top
We're looking through the nVidia issue. This is great help, Stargoat! Thanks!
Reply #22 from JoeUser Forums Top

IMPORTANT:

We do need you to install SmartException which is available in the "free stuff" area in Stardock Central. Make sure it's running and email us the .cra file. It will tell us the exact line of code that crashed along with the call stack. Makes fixing bugs much easier.

Reply #23 from JoeUser Forums Top
As a note to the above, if you are a software developer make sure that you stop it running after you get the crash log and don't have it running on startup, because there is a bug with the current that prevents second-chance exceptions from firing correctly in VS.NET. (If you don't understand the previous sentance, it doesn't apply to you. )
Reply #24 from JoeUser Forums Top
I just tried to run the Political Machine and I get a crash to desktop with the error message "failed to initialize display"

GF4 Ti4600
Forceware 56.72
WinXP Pro
Running 1280x720
Running Video off of the DVI port.
I also tried 800x600 and get the same error message.
Reply #25 from JoeUser Forums Top
JoshuaN, can you please try running with the command line parameter debug and then send me your debug.err file?

If you're unfamiliar with how to do this, create a shortcut to PolMachine.exe and then right click on it. Choose properties. In the field labeled Target, put a space followed by the word debug. If there are quotation marks around the target, the space and debug should follow the closing quotation mark.

You can also use the shortcut to run in windowed mode. The parameter for running in windowed mode is w. This sets up the Direct3D device slightly differently than in fullscreen mode, so it might work for you.

The resolution of Political Machine is 1024 x 768. You may want to try running in that resolution or higher; maybe Direct3D can't figure out how to change up from the smaller size of 720.