Author Topic: Geometry Wars available for PC! Kinda... (Read 7509 times)

idolminds · « **on:** Wednesday, March 07, 2007, 11:21:40 AM »

Link

$8, but it requires Vista.

I have to wonder....61MB? What is included to make it that large, because its obviously not art assets. You can download GridWars, a nice PC clone (thats free and runs on XP, imagine that), and its only 4MB.

iPPi · « **Reply #1 on:** Wednesday, March 07, 2007, 11:50:41 AM »

I think the 360 version was like 14 or 24 MB or something like that.

Not sure why it's so much larger. Anyway, awesome game, but you kinda need a gamepad to play it (or at least dual analog sticks)

gpw11 · « **Reply #2 on:** Wednesday, March 07, 2007, 05:30:35 PM »

Gridwars with XBCD was great...untill it stopped working.

Cobra951 · « **Reply #3 on:** Wednesday, March 07, 2007, 09:53:32 PM »

Obviously the game does not require Vista in any real sense. Fuck them. I can't wait for someone to crack this so it works with XP.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #4 on:** Wednesday, March 07, 2007, 10:40:09 PM »

Cobra said what I was thinking. I'd definitely like to try it, but the 360 isn't an option for me and neither is Vista. Maybe I'll try out Gridwars or something.

iPPi · « **Reply #5 on:** Wednesday, March 07, 2007, 10:46:02 PM »

Why is the 360 version not an option for you?

Quemaqua · « **Reply #6 on:** Wednesday, March 07, 2007, 10:53:29 PM »

No connection hooked up, and hooking it up is a pain in the ass, and no HDD.

TheOtherBelmont · « **Reply #7 on:** Wednesday, March 07, 2007, 11:29:57 PM »

I play Geometry Wars whenever its slow at work on the demo 360, its pretty cool, I would buy it if I had a 360. The whole Vista requirement thing for the PC version sucks though.

idolminds · « **Reply #8 on:** Wednesday, March 07, 2007, 11:44:47 PM »

http://gridwars.marune.de/

iPPi · « **Reply #9 on:** Thursday, March 08, 2007, 12:05:17 AM »

The 360 version is like $4. All you need is a 360

gpw11 · « **Reply #10 on:** Thursday, March 08, 2007, 12:23:59 AM »

I believe if you buy a 360 mem card it comes pre-loaded with Geometry Wars right now. I remember reading something like that at digg.

But yeah, go gridwars. Some people like it more. I can't comment on that, but I do know i miss it. I miss it a lot.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #11 on:** Thursday, March 08, 2007, 02:18:34 AM »

I guess I just assumed the mem card wouldn't be enough. Don't know why, honestly. Maybe I'll try it.

Then again, why bother? I tried GridWars and... holy crap that's addictive. It's nearly 1:30 and I should have been in bed at least a half hour ago, if not an hour. Damn.

Xessive · « **Reply #12 on:** Thursday, March 08, 2007, 02:19:51 AM »

Here are some more funky games from the creator of GridWars, Mark Incitti: My Blitz Creations.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #13 on:** Thursday, March 08, 2007, 02:21:33 AM »

They actually asked him to remove the download? That's shit. Hey Bizarre Creations... maybe if you weren't in bed with Microsoft I'd care, but since you are... I'm playing GridWars and you can kiss my ass. Yes, I'm just a vindictive jerk. But it's fun.

Xessive · « **Reply #14 on:** Thursday, March 08, 2007, 02:33:29 AM »

Yeah, that was pretty shitty.. But at least GridWars 5.3 is still floating around on Download.com! With full gamepad (and dual-stick) support

TheOtherBelmont · « **Reply #15 on:** Thursday, March 08, 2007, 03:52:45 AM »

Quote from: idolminds on Wednesday, March 07, 2007, 11:44:47 PM

http://gridwars.marune.de/

Fucking awesome, I'm surprised how identical it is to Geometry Wars.

gpw11 · « **Reply #16 on:** Thursday, March 08, 2007, 07:24:03 PM »

fuck, why doesn't it work for me anymore?

And I'm actually kind of suprised you're suprised they were asked to remove it.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #17 on:** Thursday, March 08, 2007, 07:39:00 PM »

I'm not really surprised, it's just shitty. And, of course, I've never played the original so I have no idea how closely it truly resembles it. I always assumed it wasn't *that* closely.

Anyway, funs. Why doesn't it work for you anymore, gp? And what's XBCD?

Cobra951 · « **Reply #18 on:** Thursday, March 08, 2007, 07:51:51 PM »

XBCD is an app which lets you map buttons any way you want to the 360 controller (used on a PC). Let me find the thread where we talk about that.

Edit : Here. I have a link in my very 1st post there.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #19 on:** Thursday, March 08, 2007, 07:55:01 PM »

No need, it rings a bell. I sort of wouldn't mind having a controller for this, but after playing with the mouse it would be hard to get used to not having that super-fast movement at my disposal, heh. I'll have to try it.

EDIT - Haha, thanks.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #20 on:** Friday, March 09, 2007, 12:43:47 AM »

Yeah, so this XBCD thing doesn't work for me at all. It reads the inputs wrong or something. I can't get both sticks to work to save my life. I thought it was GridWars at first but then tried the setup utility again and noticed it totally wasn't reading the stick movement right. Back to the drawing board, I guess.

EDIT - Okay, it seems to work fine in the "Windows" tab, but not "Xbox". I don't get it.

gpw11 · « **Reply #21 on:** Friday, March 09, 2007, 12:49:38 AM »

I actually had that problem with Gridwars as well. It was gridwars for me, although I didn't have a problem with the setup utility...so things might be different. The thing is that both gridwars and xbcd have options to select the axis for each stick. If I remember correctly I had to set the X and Y axis to two completely different categories (like Y was Z and and X was RX or the slider or something like that) to get the right stick working correctly. Worth it in the end though. it really is quite a bit better with the xbox pad.

As for why it won't work for me anymore, I have no idea. I reformated my pc, carried the .zip over from a disk, launched it and it was fine. I then hit the bomb button and the game just crashes to the desktop. I've tried it with a fresh download, an older version, and in compat. mode, and nothing. I can change settings and acess everything but the actual interactive portion of the game. I'm thinking it must be my ati drivers or something, because everything else should be exactly the same with this install as the last.

Real upsetting.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #22 on:** Friday, March 09, 2007, 12:54:56 AM »

Well, that blows.

So with the XBCD thing, should I be getting an accurate read on the "Xbox" tab? When I move the right stick, nothing happens. When I move the left, going up or down moves the crosshair left or right. It makes no fucking sense. Everything seems to be set right, but it just doesn't work according to the visuals onscreen.

gpw11 · « **Reply #23 on:** Friday, March 09, 2007, 12:56:36 AM »

What gamepad are you using? An actual xbox one?

Quemaqua · « **Reply #24 on:** Friday, March 09, 2007, 12:59:12 AM »

Actual 360 controller, yes.

Anyway, whatever it is, it doesn't fucking work. In GridWars, I can set the right stick's Y axis to "V" and it'll go up and down, but nothing else will make it operate like an actual stick. The X axis just never does anything no matter what it's set to. Left stick works fine. I think I'm just going to let this die and play with a keyboard or mouse. I never have any luck with this unofficial third party bullshit. I don't know why I try. Although those Omega drivers were pretty cool back when I had ATI stuff.

Eh, anyway...

gpw11 · « **Reply #25 on:** Friday, March 09, 2007, 01:03:00 AM »

Hmmm, but do both sticks work in the xbcd configuration? If so, that's the case and I got it to work. I'm not at home with the pc I had this set up on, so I can't check for you but I got it through trial and error eventually. Just keep xbcd open in the backround and play around to both until you can get it working. Or give up. I hate getting frusterated with shit like that as well.

Sorry I can't be much more help.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #26 on:** Friday, March 09, 2007, 01:05:18 AM »

It's cool. I'd keep at it but both sticks don't seem to operate properly even in the setup program, leading me to believe this is just hopeless. And I sort of wasted an hour trying to get it to work, which means I basically have no time to do anything before bed now, which kind of pisses me off. So I think I'm going to give up and go do something else before I waste any more time.

scottws · « **Reply #27 on:** Friday, March 09, 2007, 01:09:28 AM »

So what do I need to make my (wireless) 360 controller work on my PC? I have a USB adapter for the PS2's Dual Shock 2, but it's not exactly ideal since the left stick gets stuck sometimes - in software - until you flick it.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #28 on:** Friday, March 09, 2007, 01:14:43 AM »

You could try just plugging it in. I mean, that'd probably work for some stuff. And you could try this XBCD thing. It seems nice... except for the fact that it doesn't appear to be working for me. Bunch of others use it successfully, though. *Shrug*

So, also my GridWars now looks like ass. It was all sexy when I first installed it, but now it's like permanently suck on shitty graphics mode or something. Nothing I do changes it. I don't get it. So now I can even bring myself to play it because it's fugly.

This is not my night.

gpw11 · « **Reply #29 on:** Friday, March 09, 2007, 01:15:51 AM »

try altering the config file manually?

As for the wireless controller, that's something I have no idea about.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #30 on:** Friday, March 09, 2007, 02:39:52 AM »

So I decided to just buy Geometry Wars on Live, and... I sort of regret it and I sort of don't.

On the one hand, it's cool to compare to GridWars. The sound is vastly superior, and the graphics are superior in certain circumstances. It's just as addictive and I'm totally up too late again from playing it. I said, "Okay, one more," and "No, that one didn't count," and a billion other things multiple times. And, of course, it works when you want it to and you don't have to screw with it.

On the other hand, GridWars is practically just as good. They're nearly identical at face value, but when you look at it a bit deeper, GridWars may well be the superior of the two for some. It isn't quite as ridiculously hard, which may be good or bad depending on how you look at it, and the pacing is different. Geometry Wars seems kind of... scripted. Stuff happens in an order and you have to go through the order. It seems randomish and all because of the chaotic gameplay, but you always know that all the blue diamonds are gonna' spawn from the corners after you play a bit, or the green boxes will do it, or the crazy snake things are going to come out in droves. I didn't get that feeling at all from GridWars which seems much more random. Also, GridWars felt like it was paced a little better. There's a few seconds more downtime after you die that I don't like so much, but then there never feels like there's a ton of empty space while you wait for things to spawn. With Geometry Wars, you have to fight through the really boring early stages every time you start a new game and that kind of sucks after the chaos of the later game.

So I have mixed feelings. I also feel dirty for giving my credit information to Microsoft. The marketplace stuff *is* slick, but it's... weird. I don't know. I just can't quite find myself digging it. I like my 360 better when the cable plug is in my computer. Being "connected" just makes me feel like a tool. I don't know.

Anyway, if you're having doubts about whether or not you're missing anything with GridWars, I'd say you should put those fears to rest. It's apparently a pain in the ass sometimes, but if you can get it set up with a nice dual analog controller and stuff, I don't think you're missing much.

Still... those black hole things just look amazing in Geometry Wars. Pretty satisfying in GridWars too, but there's just a little something extra there, heh.

idolminds · « **Reply #31 on:** Friday, March 09, 2007, 09:51:57 AM »

Nice part about GridWars is if you screw it up...just delete it and unzip the files again and you're back to default. Also, try hitting F3...changes the playfield style around.

As for getting the sticks working, I had to manually set mine in the program. Just click on the blue strips that say "X Axis: JoyR()" or whatever it says for you. Heres how I got my sticks working:

Stick 1
X Axis: JoyX()
Y Axis: JoyY()

Stick 2
X Axis: JoyU()
Y Axis: JoyR()

Or do it the easy way and drop this config file into your GridWars directory.

Cobra951 · « **Reply #32 on:** Friday, March 09, 2007, 10:05:01 AM »

Quote from: Quemaqua on Friday, March 09, 2007, 12:54:56 AM

Well, that blows.

So with the XBCD thing, should I be getting an accurate read on the "Xbox" tab? When I move the right stick, nothing happens. When I move the left, going up or down moves the crosshair left or right. It makes no fucking sense. Everything seems to be set right, but it just doesn't work according to the visuals onscreen.

Sorry I wasn't here earlier. Read my thread (the one I linked). For some reason, that tab never worked right for me either, but you can still use it to set the inputs the way you need, including axes on the joysticks. It's been a while since I did this, so the details escape me at the moment. But it is workable, easy in fact. You just need to overlook the applet's weird behavior, which took me a while to discover too.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #33 on:** Saturday, March 10, 2007, 11:05:57 AM »

Odd. And idol, I tried about every setting in GridWars I could think of, nothing worked. Pretty sure I used that combination. I may try again, but right now I'm happy enough to just play on my Xbox. We'll see. Thanks for posting, regardless.

idolminds · « **Reply #34 on:** Monday, March 12, 2007, 11:58:36 AM »

Update: the hacked version so it runs on XP is out there now by a group called Baka. I'm going to give it a shot.

poomcgoo · « **Reply #35 on:** Monday, March 12, 2007, 12:01:55 PM »

Quote from: scottws on Friday, March 09, 2007, 01:09:28 AM

So what do I need to make my (wireless) 360 controller work on my PC? I have a USB adapter for the PS2's Dual Shock 2, but it's not exactly ideal since the left stick gets stuck sometimes - in software - until you flick it.

You can get a wireless adapter that plugs into your PC's USB port which will pick up your wireless controllers. I think it's like 20 bucks.

iPPi · « **Reply #36 on:** Monday, March 12, 2007, 12:22:59 PM »

Yea I've seen those wireless adapters in stores now for the 360 controllers. I think that's a pretty good move on Microsoft's part to get the wireless controllers to work with the PC.

idolminds · « **Reply #37 on:** Tuesday, March 13, 2007, 07:49:05 AM »

Well, I downloaded the hacked Geomoetry Wars for XP. Works just fine. Way to go MS, limit your customers for no reason!

Cobra951 · « **Reply #38 on:** Tuesday, March 13, 2007, 01:24:01 PM »

Dammit . . . I'm batting 1000 here. The Baka release hangs. I got it to work for a short while, but then it froze. The shooting was all wrong too. It was going off of the face buttons rather than the right stick (and it was set for right stick). I think XBCD may be to blame here, but the crash is too ugly for me to keep trying. It basically hangs the screen, and I have to reset. Fortunately, a quick tap on the "power switch" will shut down Windows. It looks exactly like the 360 version, and I already have that. So, no loss for me.

idolminds · « **Reply #39 on:** Tuesday, March 13, 2007, 01:51:29 PM »

It might be XBDC. I recently uninstalled it (I needed to for the game InThePit to recognize the controller), and havent gotten around to reinstalling. So GeoWars saw it and everything was all set up from the start.

According to Gamespot, stick with the 360 version anyway. PC version doesnt have Retro mode, no achievements (they could still have the goals in place for you to beat...come on), and no leaderboard if that matters to you at all.

News:

Author Topic: Geometry Wars available for PC! Kinda... (Read 7509 times)