It's huge, it's mature, it's online - TibiaME reviewed

slitchfield · #1 20-07-2007, 10:22 AM

Krisse explores the TibiaME phenomenon and reviews the new S60 3rd Edition client. Is this, 'the world's first phone-based Massively Multiplayer Online RPG', also one of the best games of the moment?

Read on in the full article.

krisse · #2 20-07-2007, 12:15 PM

As usual, any questions about the game should be posted in this thread and I'll try to answer them.

chilko · #3 20-07-2007, 04:27 PM

for some reason it fails to start on e61. does anybody experienced the same?

luarvique · #4 20-07-2007, 05:29 PM

Does not work on E70. Gives "System Error -1", that is a "Can't find specified object" error. God knows what "object" it is trying to find.

krisse · #5 20-07-2007, 07:16 PM

Did you make sure you used the S60 3rd Edition?

Did you use the Gold version or the Free version?

If you still have problems, perhaps you could try the Java version?

"for some reason it fails to start on e61. does anybody experienced the same?"

It works absolutely fine on my E61, in fact I reviewed it on an E61!

luarvique · #6 20-07-2007, 08:10 PM

I have followed the link and chosen Nokia E70 as the target device. The site gave me a .SISX file to install, I guess it was the free version.

chilko · #7 20-07-2007, 11:03 PM

the file is called tibiame_s60v3_145_free.sisx

when i try to run the game, the screen just blinks and nothing happens

luarvique · #8 21-07-2007, 03:44 AM

Unless you enable the system error messages, the application will just quietly quit on errors. So, my guess is, you are getting the same error as me.

luarvique · #9 21-07-2007, 04:10 AM

Ok, I have found the problem. You have to install this game to the phone's memory (C: ) rather than the memory card (E: ). It starts up and runs when installed onto C:. Does not like switching screen orientation too much, though.

krisse · #10 21-07-2007, 07:43 AM

Ahaa... yes, I installed it to the phone's memory, so that's why I never saw the problem. I seem to remember the very first versions of TibiaME did the same thing. It caused a lot of problems on early S60 models because they only had a very limited amount of on-board memory, just a few megabytes.

Well done luarvique, I'll try to tell the developers to look at this thread.

luarvique · #11 21-07-2007, 11:15 AM

You may also tell them to process display size changes correctly and do something about the 416x352 display size - the game comes up as a tiny rectangle at the center of that display. Weirdly, looks ok on the 352x416 display (probably scaled from 176x208).

krisse · #12 21-07-2007, 11:31 AM

As I said in the article, the graphics really should be updated to take account of modern screen sizes and resolutions. The current graphics date from 2002/2003 when S60 was first launching, S60 phones have moved on since then.

The PR person from CipSoft told me they would discuss the problems mentioned in the review at their next development meeting. They also have a public feedback form too so anyone can tell them if the game doesn't work properly on their phone:

http://www.tibiame.com/service/?lang...topic=feedback

There's also a support forum, which CipSoft staff monitor and post on regularly:

http://www.tibiame.com/forum_en/?c=2

ebo · #13 21-07-2007, 06:39 PM

The idea is nice, but 176 x 208 pixels shown on center of QVGA screen made this game completely unplayable for me. I couldn't even see all the texts.

Nokia N95 was not listed as supported device, so I downloaded the version intended for N93. It also has a QVGA screen, so the experience shouldn't be any different.

krisse · #14 21-07-2007, 08:25 PM

"The idea is nice, but 176 x 208 pixels shown on center of QVGA screen made this game completely unplayable for me. I couldn't even see all the texts."

Well, that's one of the problems I mentioned in the review. I didn't find reading the texts a problem, but of course that's a matter of taste and eyesight. In any case, I believe the developers are already working on a higher res version of the game.

"Nokia N95 was not listed as supported device, so I downloaded the version intended for N93. It also has a QVGA screen, so the experience shouldn't be any different."

I think the S60 3rd Edition versions are all the same game file, just pick a model you know is S60 3rd.