JTCS 2.0 Patch - Thank You Thread

[Kool Kat]

Gents:

There is a similar "Thank You" thread over on the Matrix Forums, but I wanted to start one here at the Blitz too!

Berto, Jason, and the Matrix Team:

A hearty and sincere "THANK YOU VERY MUCH" from a "middle-aged" gamer who first cut his teeth on East Front II way back in 1998!

Your Team has breathed new life into an ageless and classic game system... and I am grateful for all the dedication, and hard work that has made JTCS 2.0 possible!

Looking forward to enjoying many hours with the "new gal"!

[kolc]

Thanks much. Great work!

[Warhorse]

We are very glad you guys like it!! We are still working!

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

I guess I will be the bad guy here. First, I'm a kiss method and if it ain't broke don't fix it kind of guy. I'm glad the graphics are still the same. However, it looks like these people at Microsoft and other places trying to justify having a job when it comes to the changes that should not have been made.

When going to view options, why switch the 2d to the bottom of the stack when there was nothing wrong with the way it was. It was in numerical and size order, why switch them around? Now, one has to get used to new placement. This seems like a waste of time.

With the menu buttons at the bottom of the page, why add all the extras reducing the size of easy to see icons and changing others. It was way better the way it was. Again, it seems like wasting time on stuff that didn't need to be done. Different sized, too many and some icons different. That's three hits. There was more than enough space along the bottom border to add the new icons and not change the looks of any of the old ones so you wouldn't have as much to get used to. The key to doing things the easy way is to be organized, but the bottom icons now look like a jumbled mess. You can put the old icons at the bottom back the way they were and put the new ones at the very bottom where the starshell and smoke totals were and they could all be back the same size and loo they were.


In my opinion, a patch should be fixing errors that are found, maybe adding new scenarios or adding new techniques or rules changes to the game, not making it look like a whole new game. But again, this looks like those at microsoft that changed the looks of things when it should have just been left alone. It looked better the old way, but if one doesn't patch up, you will find very few opps as almost all will patch and not go through the hassle to go back the other way unless most people also go back. I appreciate the work, but maybe should have put out some actual size screenshots to get opinions.


Sorry to be the bearer of bad news from my little part of the world, but I call it like I see it.

[Antoni Chmielowski]

I guess I will be the bad guy here. First, I'm a kiss method and if it ain't broke don't fix it kind of guy. I'm glad the graphics are still the same. However, it looks like these people at Microsoft and other places trying to justify having a job when it comes to the changes that should not have been made.

When going to view options, why switch the 2d to the bottom of the stack when there was nothing wrong with the way it was. It was in numerical and size order, why switch them around? Now, one has to get used to new placement. This seems like a waste of time.

With the menu buttons at the bottom of the page, why add all the extras reducing the size of easy to see icons and changing others. It was way better the way it was. Again, it seems like wasting time on stuff that didn't need to be done. Different sized, too many and some icons different. That's three hits. There was more than enough space along the bottom border to add the new icons and not change the looks of any of the old ones so you wouldn't have as much to get used to. The key to doing things the easy way is to be organized, but the bottom icons now look like a jumbled mess. You can put the old icons at the bottom back the way they were and put the new ones at the very bottom where the starshell and smoke totals were and they could all be back the same size and loo they were.


In my opinion, a patch should be fixing errors that are found, maybe adding new scenarios or adding new techniques or rules changes to the game, not making it look like a whole new game. But again, this looks like those at microsoft that changed the looks of things when it should have just been left alone. It looked better the old way, but if one doesn't patch up, you will find very few opps as almost all will patch and not go through the hassle to go back the other way unless most people also go back. I appreciate the work, but maybe should have put out some actual size screenshots to get opinions.


Sorry to be the bearer of bad news from my little part of the world, but I call it like I see it.

And your addition to this thread is most welcome.

Your differing opinion is as valid as everyone elses and is appreciated.

Regards

Toni

[Crossroads]

[snip]

Thank you for your feedback Mark. I hear what you are saying.

At work, we used MS Office 2003 for the longest time, until a couple of years ago we moved to MS Office 2010. We had a training class to learn about the new mechanics, which was needed as the UI saw some significant changes. I still have MS Office 2003 at home, and I just hate using it as I have the newer one at work.

Then, MS "forced" an MS Office 2013 update on us. What worked nicely in Office 2010 was changed and tweaked in some places, for better somewhere, unnecessarily in some other places imho.

As for the 2.00 UI, it was our intention to provide a Office 2010 vs Office 2003 experience for everyone.

Great effort was taken, that most often needed commands would all be available as icons. That required a lot more icons than previously was the case, and it was decided they need to fit one row as before. So they became smaller.

At the same time, a conscious effort was taken to have all commands available as Hot-keys. With that, changes were also introduced to make them coherent to one another.

Some often used Hot keys were changed that require an adjustment for the player, like Ctrl-P is now the Opportunity Fire.

Some others are a godsend, such as my pet peeve Numpad-5 for Airstrikes. How often I have triggered it when trying to change unit facing instead I have lost the count a long time ago!

As for the View selection in the menu, they follow the numbering now.

I realise all changes are not for everyone's taste, and I see the logic in pointing out the icons are now smaller.

Hopefully, in your case, the wide availability of hotkeys will render the use of menus and icons unnecessary.

[Scud]

I have yet to download it, but only because I've been so busy. I'm sure there will be lots to like and lots, even, to dislike. It must be said, though, that thanks to the new JTCS team, we can voice our opinions and they will not only be heard, but if valid, revised on subsequent versions. New ideas and wishlists are now possibilities, instead of dreams. Wasn't so long ago none of that was the case. If fact, it wasn't so long ago this game was dead.

Thanks guys!

Dave

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

As I mentioned above, the view was in numerical order beginning with 2s and then 3s. That is already the natural order of counting from day one. Now the order is 3s, then 2s, counting backwards. If you added a view, just slip it into the order that was there rather than changing the whole order. The icons at the bottom, I think someone should just try it and see how it would look to put them back to the same size and graphic as they were and add the new ones along the bottom where there appears to be plenty of room. Where your smoke and starshells used to be, you can put the new icons there. I've never heard of any rule saying there could only be one row of icons. That would keep things in the familiar place that everybody is already used to with the newer ones added along the bottom. Right now, and it only took the beginning of one turn for me, they are too small, the graphics aren't recognizable and have to wait for the text to appear and then have to find the one I was looking for. The game still plays the same, that part still rocks, but now it is getting around to the part that does rock is not as easy. The drop down menus and icons where they were are very important and overrides hotkeys, IMO. When one plays many different games or systems and they all have their own menus and hot keys, the menus and icons are much more valuable.

I used to be a Manual Drafter and when that work started slowing down, I started practicing on Autcad and Microstation to keep on working while waiting for more hand drawing to come in. What I did was take a job waiting to be worked on, make a copy of the file and start messing with it, looking for answers and asking questions when I couldn't find the answers I was looking for. The reason I made a copy was if I screwed something up, the original was still there to be worked on if I wasn't ready to dive in yet. I say this because I do think somebody needs to look at it and make a copy of the old or new and create the changes I mentioned and see how it looks. With the copy, the old and new originals do not get messed up while doing this.

[berto]

Now the order is 3s, then 2s, counting backwards.

Or looking at it differently, now the order is 1-key, 2-key, 3-key, 4-key, then 5-key mode, counting forwards.

[Jason Petho]

Patch - this is what we refer to when offering a fix for bugs or other game data that requires modification in order to perform properly.

Update - this is what we refer to when we are fundamentally updating the game. The 2.00 UPDATE is so significant, we decided to change the version number from 1.05 to 2.00.

Will there be a learning curve? You bet. Is it a drastic learning curve? No, I hardly think so. I'll be posting some of the manual revisions to help with the transition.

Our efforts are to improve the game play experience and enhance it. Every member of the team loves the game. It's that passion that keeps this old game alive.

Jason Petho