Second non-annual OD Worms compo! Win prizes!

[Melon]

Welcome to the second non-annual OD Worms Compo! We've got a very special prize this time! First place will recieve BRAGGING RIGHTS! You won't find that in the shops!

Rules:

The sign up period has closed. You'll have to wait until the next competition if you wish to join in.
The matches are of the Team17 scheme. You'll need to use a particular variation that can be found below.
All matches must be played on a randomly generated 2 layer cavern, and each team must be given 4 worms for every game.
The contest will begin with 2 league groups, and everybody will play each member in their group twice. You score 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a loss. The winners of these groups will then go on to play a final round that's best of 3. If there are any ties in points between two or more players of a league, then it will be solved in a similar way.
League games will last only one round, however, you can always play both of your rounds one after the other, just treat each round as a seperate game.
Feel free to post the replays of the games, in fact, it's encouraged to do so.
There's no time limit to the competition because a lot of us don't always have the time.


Scheme:

www.kieranmillar.com/wa/OD_Team17.wsc



I haven't got time to make a sexy looking table at the moment, so here's the set up until I can get round to it:

Table 1:

worMatty
Run
Squirminator2k
Star Worms
Bonz
Bloopy
Babylon
Future Worm


Table 2:

Alien King
Paul Power
Melon
Akuryou 13
Mr Bunsy
SupSuper
Plutonic
BetongÅsna



The first compo can be found here (http://forum.team17.co.uk/showthread.php?t=34959)

[Run]

All matches must be played on a randomly generated 2 layer cavern, and each team must be given 5 worms for every game.

blasphemy! it's normally 4 worms

otherwise, sounds good

i'm pretty much online all the time so if anyone's ready for a game, send me a PM, or give me a buzz on msn (aaaaaggggghhhhh@hotmail.com)

[Melon]

blasphemy! it's normally 4 worms
Is it? I forget how many is the standard. Actaully, it's probably better as 4 worms. 4 worms it is then. 4 worms. 4 worms.

4 worms.

[bonz]

Oh, no!
Run is in my group.

[Run]

Oh, no!
Run is in my group.

condolences

[Alien King]

Whee! I might be free at some point during the weekend.

[Paul.Power]

Figures I'd get a 3-to-1 lead over Dan and then proceed to lose :p

Also figures I'd ask for a "doesn't count" warm-up game because I'd never played T17 before, which I won.

Still, well played etc.

[BetongÅsna]

Damn, I wish WA would just run on Boot Camp. You know I'd beat you all! (self-satisfied evil snigger)

[thomasp]

Don't see why it shouldn't run on Boot Camp - that just allows you to boot into Windows as if you were using a "normal" PC...

Or do you mean without the kerfuffle of running windows?

[BetongÅsna]

No, I've got Windows running and everything. It's XP, it's Leopard, it should be fine. I thought some lack of DirectDraw or something could be the problem. Or possibly because I had to copy the WA disc, as it was starting to crack (which it promptly proceeded to do soon afterwards), it isn't installing correctly?

Either way, the program crashes when opened.

[FutureWorm]

No, I've got Windows running and everything. It's XP, it's Leopard, it should be fine. I thought some lack of DirectDraw or something could be the problem. Or possibly because I had to copy the WA disc, as it was starting to crack (which it promptly proceeded to do soon afterwards), it isn't installing correctly?

Either way, the program crashes when opened.
and you did patch your copy of W:A?

[SupSuper]

Figures I'd get a 3-to-1 lead over Dan and then proceed to lose :p

Also figures I'd ask for a "doesn't count" warm-up game because I'd never played T17 before, which I won.

Still, well played etc.I call it winning by sheer inactivity.

[BetongÅsna]

and you did patch your copy of W:A?That's actually a fair point - I can't remember.

If this was the problem I'll kick myself.

[Akuryou13]

PM me or catch me on XFire whenever for setting up a game. unlike most of you people, I'm almost always free cause I'm a loser....hence my post count on this forum :p

[Star Worms]

Me too. Although please ask in advance so I have chance to practice before playing.

Xfire: starworms

[Akuryou13]

Me too. Although please ask in advance so I have chance to practice before playing.

Xfire: starwormsspeaking of which, I need some practice as well. I've never played this format before :p anyone willing to teach a noob in a practice match before the real thing? :p

[BetongÅsna]

Egads - it works!

Is that extra place still open?

[Run]

only one game has been played so far so i'm sure you can be squeezed in

[Melon]

Fantastic, an extras person was just what we needed. You've been squeezed into table 2.

I guess I should get round to drawing that table......

By the way, I've got a bit of coursework at the moment, but I should be OK for a game most of the time.

[BetongÅsna]

Cool. Anyone who doesn't have me on MSN should add me, then. Address in profile and all that.

[SupSuper]

I got bored.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/supsuper/odcompo.gif

[Plutonic]

Ahha! Forgot about this... I should be about this weekend, if not I should have stopped stressing about work once I've recovered from the hangover I'm going to have on wednesday.

[Babylon]

Ahha! Forgot about this... I should be about this weekend, if not I should have stopped stressing about work once I've recovered from the hangover I'm going to have on wednesday.

Ditto, kinda forgot myself but life has been a tad busy. Should haev plenty of free time for setting up a game or two now, at any hour. Here's my MSN name if it helps for setting things up: babylon2@live.co.uk

[Star Worms]

I'm free from around 20th March (depends when I go back) to early-mid April, excluding the Easter weekend.

[Melon]

*Kicks thread hard, in the shin*

Now it's Easter, I have time to spare. Woo!

[Run]

good because this hasn't exactly been going to plan, has it :P

[Akuryou13]

so yeha, about that game people were supposed to be contacting other people (such as me in this case) about? when do said people get contacted? :p

[SupSuper]

Hey it's not my fault I'm stuck playing everyone that doesn't pop up on MSN. :p

[bonz]

Run defeated me in both games.

Not even 3 bananas in a row (in the first game) could stop him in the end. :p
You all have lost already. :-/

[Alien King]

MSN: alienk@btopenworld.com

XFire profile: alienk

If I'm free, I'll play. But I'm away for the next two weeks starting Wednesday.

[BetongÅsna]

My internet has been broken, now it's working. Contact me when you will!

[SupSuper]

This went from sad to lousy for me.

[Melon]

I was just about to post them too.

http://www.kieranmillar.com/wa/odcompo2.gif

By the way Sup, what font did you use for this table? I couldn't work it out so I made an ugly rushed attempt at a font instead.

[SupSuper]

Calibri, it comes with Office 2007.

In any case I had already updated the old pic. :p

[Babylon]

Fair to say I pretty badly defaulted on this one.... but RL kicked me quite badly in the nads and seems to continue to do so lately. :D

[Melon]

So I upgraded my laptop. Yay!
It has a dual core and it's awesome. Yay!
But it has Vista. Boo!
It also has an Intel graphics chipset. Boo!
So I can no longer play WA. Boo!

So yeah, if there's somebody out there who can play and wants to join in, you can take my slot. I can't see me solving this problem any time soon.

And in case you were wondering, no, I can't put XP on my laptop. That was the first thing I tried when I bought it, but there aren't any compatible drivers for it.

In related news, Vista has also just screwed me out of a scanner/printer too. F*** you Vista. And HP; your lack of support sucks too.

[worMatty]

You can't blame Vista for your problems if you decide to switch to a different platform. Someone has to take charge and push things forward whilst making few allowances.

Are you sure there are no XP drivers for your hardware? Have you considered running XP within Vista virtually? Don't the standard drivers included in XP run the screen and what have you?

[Run]

the tourney hasn't exactly been running at full pace anyway so i shouldn't worry too much

there'll be plenty of time to sort something out

[SupSuper]

Can you sort out graphics cards on laptops though? Intel graphic chipsets should be banned.

[Melon]

Well this is the hardware/specs:

Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core mobile processor T2370 with 2MB L2 cache and 1.73GHz processor speed
2GB DDR2 memory for multitasking power, expandable to 4GB
Multiformat DVD±RW/CD-RW drive with double-layer support records up to 8.5GB of data or 4 hours of video using compatible media
Glossy 15.4" WXGA high-definition widescreen display with 1280 x 800 resolution
160GB Serial ATA hard drive (5400 rpm)
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 integrated graphics with up to 256MB as allocated by Windows Vista; high-definition 2.0 audio; S-video output
Top-side media buttons to easily play, pause, stop, fast-forward and rewind at the touch of a button; travel remote included
8-in-1 digital media reader supports Secure Digital, Secure Digital High Density, Secure Digital High Capacity, MultiMediaCard, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, xD-Picture Card and SDIO formats
IEEE 1394 (FireWire) interface and 4 high-speed USB 2.0 ports for fast digital video, audio and data transfer
Built-in Dell 1395 wireless networking mini-card (802.11b/g); Dell's advanced antenna design features 3 antennas to find and connect to networks with ease, delivering enhanced wireless reception; standard Wi-Fi Catcher to quickly locate wireless hotspots
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet network card; 56 Kbps modem
Weighs 6.2 lbs. and measures 1"–1.5" thin for portable power; 6-cell lithium-ion battery
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium operating system with Service Pack 1 (SP1) preinstalled; software package included with Microsoft Works 8 and roxio Creator Basic

The major problem is that Dell won't supply XP drivers for it. Sure, there may be individual drivers for each piece of hardware, but we really tried to stick XP on this thing and problem after problem kept occurring. It just wasn't happening.

If I'm totally honest, I couldn't give a damn about not being able to play WA again, as I tended not to play it anymore anyway. It's the fact that HP refuses to support my printer/scanner that seriously ****es me off, seeing as they still sell the model. I really want a printer and scanner, but I'm not prepared to buy a new one just yet.

VMware seems to be the next thing to try. Failing that, a linux or mac dual boot.

[worMatty]

What were the problems that kept occurring?

[Melon]

Well first off all, we couldn't install it, as it kept saying it couldn't find a hard-drive. It seems we had to go into the BIOS and change it from ATA to something else (can't remember what it was called now) and disable flash caching, whatever the hell that is. Of course, if we tried to turn it back, it BSOD'd on us, so I guess we were forced to lose some of the awesome features of the laptop we paid for.

After spending hours and hours just trying to install XP, we then couldn't find any drivers, so we just got fed up at that point and re-installed Vista.

[FutureWorm]

You can't blame Vista for your problems if you decide to switch to a different platform. Someone has to take charge and push things forward whilst making few allowances.
of course you can, it's microsoft's responsibility to make sure that their new os should be as compatible as the old

which is why macs are better

[SupSuper]

which is why macs are betterApple make the software and hardware (in a general sense), it'd be silly if they weren't compatible.

[FutureWorm]

Apple make the software and hardware (in a general sense), it'd be silly if they weren't compatible.
right, that's my point - an entirely integrated system means no compatibility issues

[worMatty]

But at greater expense. PCs are more open.

How old was the version of XP you were using, Kieran? Does it come with any service packs preinstalled?

[SupSuper]

I don't think you can rely on an OS to include drivers for newer software. I always had to stick my hard disk drivers in a floppy so the XP installer could detect it.

[Melon]

How old was the version of XP you were using, Kieran? Does it come with any service packs preinstalled?
Service pack 2 Student edition.
I don't think you can rely on an OS to include drivers for newer software. I always had to stick my hard disk drivers in a floppy so the XP installer could detect it.
This is true, but as we found out by doing a search on the internet, we can't do that because this doesn't have a floppy drive.

Hey, I expected that I'd eventually end up upgrading at some point, but it what gets me is that compatibility with old stuff always gets broken. OK, I expect some old stuff to end up becoming incompatible, but Vista is like the new Windows ME, it's totally unnecessary, and seeing as Microsoft have said that they'll be supporting XP until 2010 and are releasing a 3rd service pack for it, it should be obvious to companies that people still want to use XP and will continue to do so for some time, but they refuse to make XP drivers for new stuff solely because Vista is out and they're probably getting some back-hander from Microsoft given their business practices.

Well, that and HP refuse to create drivers for a printer/scanner that may be an old model, but they still sell it. Morons.

[Paul.Power]

You can buy portable floppy disk drives, you know.

Well, I assume you still can. I know I've got one.

[SupSuper]

In the end you can blame both parties. Microsoft sucks at keeping things compatible but manufacturers also love cutting corners, that's why I usually avoid the ones with **** support. ATI/Logitech are pretty good at keeping their hardware compatible.

Well, that and HP refuse to create drivers for a printer/scanner that may be an old model, but they still sell it. Morons.The drivers for my HP printer/scanner that came in its disc are more recent than the ones on their site. :rolleyes:

[Melon]

The drivers for my HP printer/scanner that came in its disc are more recent than the ones on their site. :rolleyes:
It was worse in my case. It wouldn't let me install the ones on my CD as they are only for XP and older. So I went to the site and grabbed some Vista drivers. But after 6 hours of trying to install them, it seems that they said elsewhere "We aren't supporting that model any more. Consider upgrading to a newer model."

So they aren't upgrading a model they sell, but yet they put drivers on the site that don't actually work. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!!! ARE YOU REALLY THAT STUPID?

HP suck. Terribly.

[Star Worms]

I agree, HP suck. We had a printer which doubled as a paper shredder. Oh how I would've loved to smash that up with a sledgehammer...

We had a Canon printer before that, which lasted for [i]ages[i]. I've since bought a Canon printer, camera. Mum has a new Canon printer. No problems with any of them, which is what should be expected.

Also, if you've just bought the printer and the box stated that it works with Vista, and then you find out that it doesn't due to them no longer making available the necessary drivers, then you should be within your rights for a refund. They have sold a product that claims it will work, when the fact is it never will.

It's annoying companies that spurred me on to put my list of shame in my sig. Everyone gets annoying encounters with companies who have crap support etc. HP didn't make my list, because all they did to me was make a poorly designed rip-off printer that doesn't function well. The other companies listed have been much more of an annoyance.

[Melon]

Also, if you've just bought the printer and the box stated that it works with Vista, and then you find out that it doesn't due to them no longer making available the necessary drivers, then you should be within your rights for a refund. They have sold a product that claims it will work, when the fact is it never will.
I bought it last year, and it never said on it that it would work with Vista, but I kind of expected it would. Then again, I wasn't really expecting to get Vista so it didn't bother me at the time.

[FutureWorm]

In the end you can blame both parties. Microsoft sucks at keeping things compatible but manufacturers also love cutting corners, that's why I usually avoid the ones with **** support. ATI/Logitech are pretty good at keeping their hardware compatible.

nvidia's way better than ati in that regard

[worMatty]

Kieran, you can create special XP installation discs that already have the drivers for your hard drive included, so you don't need a floppy drive. There's a web site about it but I don't remember its URL. Have a search.

A Service Pack 2 copy should have a compatible SATA driver on it, TBH, though. Hmm, odd that.

[SupSuper]

nvidia's way better than ati in that regardLast time I had an Nvidia card on Vista, their standard drivers were glitchy and not even work with WA, their beta drivers worked with WA but caused BSDs, and the card eventually imploded.

[Akuryou13]

Last time I had an Nvidia card on Vista, their standard drivers were glitchy and not even work with WA, their beta drivers worked with WA but caused BSDs, and the card eventually imploded.well it's better now :p they're not 100% stable but neither are the ATI drivers. last I'd heard ATI's were in worse shape, but I imagine by now they're as good as the NVidia ones....at least I would hope

[SupSuper]

Haven't had any problems so far (running on an ATI card).

[Plutonic]

I think my Xfire login is Plutonic, I will log in when ever I can play.