1 more problem. Quite a few people for various reasons can not download .rar files. I know it is supposed to be better and all that but .zip files can be down loaded on any Windows machine without having to jump through any hoops. I myself had to go get a time limited trial version of winrar just to download the maps and you can bet I sure aint paying for something winzip does for free.
I recommend 7-zip.
See www.7-zip.org
You can decompress rar-files with it. The compression in 7-zip-format (.7z) may even be better than in .rar:
So HoiKann’s files are compressed to 541.641 Bytes in .rar. The same files compressed in .7z only take 221.015 Bytes.
And: 7-zip is free and Open Source!
I ended up downloading something called peazip (open source freeware, not just demo/time-limited license and got decent reviews) to extract the version that was out there a week or so ago, but started seeing some flakiness going on. Probably just a coincidence since there’s plenty of flakiness in my machine normally, but I uninstalled it for now, just in case.
RAR may be better, but since zip is integrated on most machines these days it is definitely easier to use. Maybe just put both formats out there?
rar isn’t time limited: the only thing you get when the time limit has passed is a pop-up the time limit has passed: the program still works fine.
But I’ll put on a zip version too, only to show it is worse (as in: takes up more space) than rar :p
@Gnarl536:
I recommend 7-zip.
See www.7-zip.org
You can decompress rar-files with it. The compression in 7-zip-format (.7z) may even be better than in .rar:
So HolKann’s files are compressed to 541.641 Bytes in .rar. The same files compressed in .7z only take 221.015 Bytes.And: 7-zip is free and Open Source!
Hmm, interesting… Allright, WinRar is officially abolished in favor of 7-zip, tnx :)
Something tells me you mean kb, since I have yet to see a way to store data in .015 bytes on a computer. :lol:
Even so, I have a half-empty 500GB hard drive with an external 750GB hard drive. I don’t care if it takes an extra 300 kbytes for the files. The difference in download time is negligible. Disk space is cheap. Labor (i.e., my free time) isn’t!
And even if I did care, I have to download and install a new application that takes up several MB, in order to save 300kb? Somehow this doesn’t quite fit my definition of “better” :-D :-P :wink:
Something tells me you mean kb, since I have yet to see a way to store data in .015 bytes on a computer.
Lol, no, I really mean 221015 bytes. It’s just a matter of using “.” instead of “,” in Germany.
So for Germans it is 221.015 bytes that equals 221,015 bytes you are used to.
@HoIKann:
Allright, WinRar is officially abolished in favor of 7-zip, tnx
You are welcome :-)
WinRar opens 7-zip files too, I believe.
And I confirm that when WinRar trial is expired, you get a popup saying expired, but you can close it and continue to use the program.
Even so, I have a half-empty 500GB hard drive with an external 750GB hard drive. I don’t care if it takes an extra 300 kbytes for the files. The difference in download time is negligible. Disk space is cheap. Labor (i.e., my free time) isn’t!
And even if I did care, I have to download and install a new application that takes up several MB, in order to save 300kb? Somehow this doesn’t quite fit my definition of “better” :-D :-P :wink:
=> You’re looking at it the wrong way: you still have to unpack it at your hard drive, so it will always take up the full amount of space on your hard drive, no matter how good or bad it is compressed. Alright, for those of you not liking a little moralistic speech, skip to the next post:
The big advantage of compressing things (be it with winzip or whatever), lies in the nature of uploading/downloading/internet storage. Internet storage is not as cheap as a HD, and in Belgium we’ve got upload and download limits which limit our internet traffic. Besides that, every byte put on the net needs a server running 24/7 using up valuable energy.
Now, take the 200 kB, make it 200 MB, and figure out the time and energy saved by uploading 200 MB instead of 600 MB. If I could save 67% of my time uploading stuff, this easily makes up for downloading 10 MB for the 7-Zip program. En plus, I get to down/upload 67% more if everyone would use 7-Zip. So that’s why I’m advocating everyone to use it, even for small files, so people are used to the program when the need arises. I know for some people, it doesn’t matter how big their files are, but to other people (for instance with a telephone connection), it does. Besides, In these times of environmentalism and economic crisis, don’t waste energy/money needlessly by putting huge files on the net where small would also suffice. Why do you think this board limits its files to 256 kB?
See it like this: riding 1 km with a suv doesn’t require a lot more gasoline than riding 1 km with a small hybrid car. But drive 1000 km, and everyone agrees the small hybrid is cheaper. So promote the hybrid, not the suv.
I fully agree to that.
And even if I did care, I have to download and install a new application that takes up several MB, in order to save 300kb? Somehow this doesn’t quite fit my definition of “better”
Just to clarify:
The download of the 7-zip program is only 917 KB. Once installed you can delete all the language files you don’t need and the program will take only 2 MB of your HD. So this is definitely no “bloatware” compared to some other packers.
:-)
Is there any reason I can’t get the far right side of the board to appear? I get Alaska but WUS, CUS, and those sea zones just won’t appear. I’ve tried maximizing the screen, i’ve tried stretching the screen, but no dice.
Is there any reason I can’t get the far right side of the board to appear? I get Alaska but WUS, CUS, and those sea zones just won’t appear. I’ve tried maximizing the screen, i’ve tried stretching the screen, but no dice.
you know if you hold right-click you can move the map?
I do now! haha thanks a bunch.
I hope you realize I was just trying to give you some goodnatured ribbing. Mostly it just boils down to the fact that I’m just lazy. Although, I think it is very rare that something like this could become a standard from a grass-roots basis, you’re welcome to advocate and proselytize. The cost difference between good-enough and better is often hard to justify a change to the existing inertia. (I know, that doesn’t mean it’s not the right thing to do.)
And I’m not even going to touch the argument about the environmental impact of the energy needed to put a few extra KB on disks and through the net. I’m pretty sure I’d do a better job reducing carbon emissions if I just ate one less burrito a month. :-D :-P
Oh, and sorry about that ,/. thing. We stoopid americans tend to forget there’s other people out there who might actually do things differently ;)
Is anyone else having trouble getting the latest files? I just tried to grab them and got an error from mediafire: “The page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.”
Given the recent discussion, it would serve me right if this is because you’ve exceeded bandwidth limits or something similar.
I hope you realize I was just trying to give you some goodnatured ribbing. Mostly it just boils down to the fact that I’m just lazy. Although, I think it is very rare that something like this could become a standard from a grass-roots basis, you’re welcome to advocate and proselytize. The cost difference between good-enough and better is often hard to justify a change to the existing inertia. (I know, that doesn’t mean it’s not the right thing to do.)
And I’m not even going to touch the argument about the environmental impact of the energy needed to put a few extra KB on disks and through the net. I’m pretty sure I’d do a better job reducing carbon emissions if I just ate one less burrito a month. :-D :-P
Lol, that’s right, but still, if it’s the right thing to do, plus you’re allowed to eat extra burrito’s, I wouldn’t doubt a second :-D
Is anyone else having trouble getting the latest files? I just tried to grab them and got an error from mediafire: “The page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.”
Given the recent discussion, it would serve me right if this is because you’ve exceeded bandwidth limits or something similar.
Nope, no problems here… Poena Dei :-P
I guess us mac people are SOL?
I guess us mac people are SOL?
Perhaps. You mean to say that you cannot run any old DOS program on your mac? How old is your operating system! All new macs ship with Windows so they can definitely run Battlemap (or any DOS program out there.)
You could always run it in a shell as well if you have an antiquated Operating System like OS/Linux, etc.
@Cmdr:
How old is your operating system! All new macs ship with Windows so they can definitely run Battlemap (or any DOS program out there.)
You could always run it in a shell as well if you have an antiquated Operating System like OS/Linux, etc.
Ok maybe I’m not SOL, but there’s no nice simple mac version I take it.
I have a macbook pro which has the intel chips. I’m pretty sure that all new macs ship with the ability to run windows, but they don’t ship with windows per se. I do know that some computer retailers sell macs with windows pre-installed.
I could partition my computer and install a windows OS (not free), but there are a number of reasons why I don’t want to do that. I could also run a virtual environment like Parallels (not free) but I don’t really want to do that either. There are also a few applications, like CrossOver, that allow macs to run some windows apps without partitioning, installing OSes, or running virtual environments. However these usually work only for a few applications (like Outlook) and I wouldn’t expect it would work for this.
Thanks for the response cmd jfr. I’m not exactly even sure what a shell is, I assume it’s a kind of separate environment. Just so you know, I’m not as technically literate as you, and diving into mac’s terminal usually results in me becoming frustrated.
A shell is a virtual system that is totally encapsulated to protect the rest of your system from a program and to allow it to run on an operating system it was not designed for.
The problem is, macs and their proprietary (as in not boxed and shipped to every software development firm to use for making new software compatible) operating systems have never been, exactly, user friendly or very prolific in the personal computer market, thus, there never was a plethora of programs written to write on their systems. Windows gave away code needed to write programs that would work with it. Added to the incentives they gave computer retailers to sell their OS you had a situation where everyone could use windows because it was so user friendly, AND it was universally recognized as the go to operating system that just about every program has been written specifically for windows first and other operating systems later if the developers felt like it.
I’m pretty sure OS10 has a program in it already that will run rudimentary dos based programs. Remember, ABattlemap is designed to run on just about any computer from 1985 on.
Help! I’m ready to start trying to play AA50 online, but I’ve got a small problem.
I live in China, and I haven’t been able to access mediafire.com for the last few months for some reason. Could someone please make the AA50 modules available in some other format or e-mail them to me? I have already downloaded the Battlemap program.
Thanks in advance.
China’s government is mounting an offensive against “indecent internet”, blocking acces to sites containing material or linking to material they deem improper. This includes porn, falun gong, tienanmen, dalai lama/tibet… So that’s why I think you’re not able to reach mediafire :(
'nyhow, mail me your e-mail address, and I’ll send them through. Mine is <my username=“” on=“” this=“” forum=“”>(a) gmail (.) com</my>
