Age of Empires 3 Demo is OUT!

[notuptome2004]

no the graphics actually got better once I compared them

I dont know what you did but when you jack up the quality settings on the nvidia drivers (same with the ati drivers) the true quality shines :) and its exactly the same as the screenshots earlier.

edit: compare this with this

actually, look at this screenshot instead.

things to note in the comparisons:

1. I was using vista, so the quality settings were not touch(ed/able)/adjust(ed/able).
   
2. My card is a 5700 ultra, so some things may be lacking by default
   
3. The game supports HDR but it is turned off by default (Help & Tools >> Options >> Graphics Options >> Bloom Effect)  (turn it on and im positive the screenshots will match in terms of quality
   
4. Water reflections from this angle are poor. While in-game, water reflections improve drastically :)
   

586502330[/snapback]

well the 5700 shot the 2nd shot you showed is not as good as the first the Fx series dont support DX9 effects very well due to lack of a wide array of shaders. anywho HDR in fact is not supported on FX cards now it is possable they could add a DX8 light bloom effect but it wont look as good as the 1st shot ya showed

[notuptome2004]

well it seems I cant edit my old post anymore. Here's a shot of the water compared to the water microsoft showed off 4 months earlier.

The polygon counts of everything seem to be relatively similar. If I had a warship (called a monitor) built, then I would have shown to you that the polygon counts are the same. Also, the water quality is exactly the same :)

586502449[/snapback]

and to you in your game screenshot what was the Wind facotr on the water you have to take that in to account in the Ms shot the wind is blwoing the water making it more wavery and shimmiering type wavery

[SciGuy65]

This seems to be either the same version they showed at E3 this year or a similar build. I don't think they've even run the code optimization algorithms on it yet, so it makes sense that it runs a little slowly on some systems. Other bugs (like pirates moving sans animations) were there at E3, as well. It seems to me that Ensemble simply chose to release an earlier build rather than spend the extra time to make a demo closer to the RTM quality.

[Leo Natan]

Some of the bugs were caused because of reckless deleting of files. On the official forums, someone said ES just copied all the stuff to another PC and deleted what they wanted out, but deleted some stuff they shouldn't have, like animations.

[briangw]

This seems to be either the same version they showed at E3 this year or a similar build.  I don't think they've even run the code optimization algorithms on it yet, so it makes sense that it runs a little slowly on some systems.  Other bugs (like pirates moving sans animations) were there at E3, as well.  It seems to me that Ensemble simply chose to release an earlier build rather than spend the extra time to make a demo closer to the RTM quality.

586503544[/snapback]

I don't think there's been a demo in recent history that reflected a RTM build, unless it comes out after the game is out.

[Alpha2004]

I don't think there's been a demo in recent history that reflected a RTM build, unless it comes out after the game is out.

586505359[/snapback]

Hehe. What about f.e.a.r demo?

[Budious]

The AI is not impressive, second day I've played the demo and already beaten the comp on expert AI twice. Never remember AoE or AoK being this easy. Also I get sound errors after 30 mins my sound starts freaking out with high pitch tones. Have to reboot system for sound to return to normal.

[Alpha2004]

The AI is not impressive, second day I've played the demo and already beaten the comp on expert AI twice. Never remember AoE or AoK being this easy. Also I get sound errors after 30 mins my sound starts freaking out with high pitch tones. Have to reboot system for sound to return to normal.

586510156[/snapback]

Ai is not that impressive because this time around it doesnt cheat :p

[briangw]

Hehe.  What about f.e.a.r demo?

586505966[/snapback]

Still buggy. I've read complaints on their forum. But then again, what game really isn't?

[Raraku]

The AI is not impressive, second day I've played the demo and already beaten the comp on expert AI twice. Never remember AoE or AoK being this easy. Also I get sound errors after 30 mins my sound starts freaking out with high pitch tones. Have to reboot system for sound to return to normal.

I actually think the AI is quite good, especially for an early demo. I don't usually suck at these sorts of games, but they're giving me a pretty good run for my money on moderate... they attack from different sides, in different numbers, with different units, quite frequently.

I'm still really enjoying the demo by the way, and really wish people would give this game a chance and play a skirmish all the way through rather than complaining about the interface... I also thought it was a little big at first but honestly don't even notice it anymore. The only thing at this point I think could use some improvement (aside from small things that will be fixed before the release) is the unit models... when they're in metal they look great, but in the early age with just normal textural clothing they look somewhat drab...

Still a great game...

[ITNetworker]

downloading @ 800+kbps I can't wait to play this :D!

[stephen_0002]

Well .. i downloaded this game a few nights ago .. played a full skirmish this morning..... and i was very impressed... it's not often i buy a game.... but this one i will definaltey pick up the day it comes out... BTW.... The Trains are nuts!!!

[Alpha2004]

Well .. i downloaded this game a few nights ago .. played a full skirmish this morning..... and i was very impressed... it's not often i buy a game.... but this one i will definaltey pick up the day it comes out...  BTW.... The Trains are nuts!!!

586511242[/snapback]

the trains are the only laggy part of the game for me...its like watching a slideshow!

[stephen_0002]

aww too bad. .... i seen the upgrade.,.... i thought "trains... yes OooOoK" ...... then the update finshed.... and i said "C-R-A-Z-Y"

[rootwiler]

woot ! can't wait to play. dling 250kb/s in CANADA!

[Phil Mossop]

Think I'm going to buy this too when it comes out. It's nice that they have returned to their roots, I never did like AoM.

[stephen_0002]

AoM was good .. but it just wasn't a AOE type game ...... judging from the demo ... this game feels like a classic ......

ok .. soo i've plaued the demo .... campaign .. skirish .... etc ..... are they're any cheats for the demo now ???

[Samduhman]

Hey everyone. If your complaining about the graphics then I think you'll be happy to hear that the official release will look even better. I read on another site that they left out the high res textures in the demo version due to the size of the demo file.

[Inplode]

demo was very buddy :( i hope they get it fixed on the final release

[Alpha2004]

http://meia-boca.com/Age3_Trial_Enhancement.zip

trainer for the game.

Option #1: 99999 Food/Wood/Coins -> Toggle On/Off

---> Gives 99999 Resources to you, for when you just wana fight!

---> Usage: Try to Build a House, or Something that Updates the stats.

Option #2: 99999 Population Limit -> Toggle On/Off

---> Removes the Limit (200) Of the Population.

---> Usage: It will set your current Population Space to 9999, so if you dont

want to cheat too bad, wait until you reach the 200 cap, then enable it

and spawn upto 9999 units.

Option #3: Gain XP Past Level 9: -> Toggle On/Off

---> Removes the Limit (9) at which you stop gaining levels for the XP Gained.

---> Turn it on, and if you have enough XP, see your real level, if not keep

gaining them levels!

Source: http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessag...&topic=23482075

[XanDaMan]

It looks nice...plays nice enough...

But that interface is horrible. Huge, uninuative. RoN got the interface right 1st time, this on the other hand is subpar.

[Alpha2004]

OMFG the factory rocks! The rocket launcher rocks bigger!

[radsqd]

aoe series rocks

only problem aoe3 cant be run on my computer damn

[InternalStorm]

Okay okay... it hasn't happened here yet, but on other forums this is a big issue.

ATI users are left in the dust and can't run the Bloom effect or HDR (which is supposedly the Very High shader level?) Now it is unclear what is really implimented in the demo.. is there real FP HDR going on here, is there really Shader Model 3 stuff? Does bloom really need SM3 or any of the fancy stuff on the nVidia cards or will it just not enable on the ATI cards because it hasn't been implimented for ATI in the demo?

Whatever it is, HDR (or bloom, hard to tell what is what) looks very washed out to me, but in some instances like the ground and a bit in the water, it makes things look better and more "smooth" like it flows together into a nice realistic scene. But this screenshot comes directly from the nVidia website showing the HDR and non HDR in AOE 3 and to be honest it looks really wahsed out and blurred, and the top of the cathedral looks low quality in the textures compared to non HDR.

http://nvidia.com/docs/IO/24708/hdr_full.jpg

So really it's hard to say what will happen in the final release, but seriously, this sucks for ATI customers just because they don't have the option of the floating point and SM3 stuff that nVidia has. Developers should really be working to impliment this stuff on both companies cards, because frankly lots of people still use older hardware, and ATI doesn't even HAVE cards that support this stuff yet, and nVidia only has one REAL generation people can afford that can do this stuff which narrows the market down considerably. This is pitiful. Hopefully things will change and the tides will turn.

I am still a hardcore ATI fan and will never go nVidia unless I see a real benefit. Just because ATI is one generation behind with this stuff doesn't mean I hate them, because they have superior drivers and also speed and product, but being left in the cold by the developers and the stupidity of ATI this last generation just makes me angry. Not angry enough to break a hole in the wall, but angry enough that I have one of the fastest cards in the industry and can't even use that power to render HDR in a friggen AOE game because of a few little things that ATI didn't think was necessary.

[saiz66]

was a little dissapointed in the game... but nonetheless had fun