Total lack of Auran support, be warned

[johnwhelan]

Thanks for the advice tips with a view to getting the product working. I had installed with admin rights, tried installing various codec packs etc, and have a good working knowledge of computer i.t.

In answer tosome of the comments, I would have rather have dealt through normal channels with Auran, but the only way to contact them that I colud see was through there non existant suppoprt tickets. I tried toobtain a direct contact email, but couldn't so rightly or wrongly posted here as a last resort.

I know it is near impossible to make a piece of software work in every setup/enviroment, but spent time trying the fixs that I knew might help, and in the end needed support. I am in business, and it just seems so wrong to be able to advertise and supply a product via download, with no support or any means to recourse if the product will not work. Although it will run on Vista, there is no audio, I have all the latest drivers installed etc. On xpit just wont run, no matter what setup/compatibility is tried.

My son is 6 nearly 7,and has always been into simulators, especially trains. His wish for Christmas was just for simulators, any sort and Auran have many in their online store.

At the end of the day, it was not an expensive purchase, and I willput it down to expierience, but I had been planning to purchase other simulator product from Auran.

Jaybee

Sorry I missed the bit about it being Tank Sim and not an Auran product as such. I think you need to go back to the game creators whoever they are.

My personal view is N3V / Auran should stick to selling what they produce rather than fill the store up with older versions of other software.

Cheerio John

 

[Red_Rattler]

Jaybee63, if you can't get the product to work, then take it back to place of purchase, and let them know that the product is not working.

The contract is between the customer and the place of purchase, NOT between the customer and manufacturer/supplier, unless you brought it direct from the manufacturer/supplier.

 

[jaybee63]

Sorry I missed the bit about it being Tank Sim and not an Auran product as such. I think you need to go back to the game creators whoever they are.

My personal view is N3V / Auran should stick to selling what they produce rather than fill the store up with older versions of other software.

Cheerio John

I never realised when purchasing that it was not one of their products. Trainz is a really first class product, one we have been very impressed with, and as such, expected all products they vendered, to be of suitable quality.

Maybe I should not have posted on this forum, but it was out of frustration at the inability to contact them and receive a reply, and it was because of the quality of the Trainz product that we bought the tank sim product from the online Auran store.

regards

Jaybee

 

[jaybee63]

Jaybee63, if you can't get the product to work, then take it back to place of purchase, and let them know that the product is not working.

The contract is between the customer and the place of purchase, NOT between the customer and manufacturer/supplier, unless you brought it direct from the manufacturer/supplier.

Bought it from the Auran online store, hence they are my only point of contact.

Jaybee

 

[Red_Rattler]

Bought it from the Auran online store, hence they are my only point of contact.

In that case, Auran/N3V Games Pty Ltd have the responsibilty. They aslo have the responsibility of contacting you in a reasonable amount of time. If not, then I suggest going above Auran/N3V Games Pty Ltd. Unless it is your only choice, I would stay away from buying simulators via the download method.

Jaybee63, see PM in about 5 minutes or so.

 

[big_b]

jaybee

Don't be too disappointed about not being able to get the game to load.You may be more upset once you do.My Grandson ( 8 yo ) has this game & he became bored with it as I did after about 15mins play.It is now deleted.

It's not a true sim as the tank bounces off trees & fences & more or less has to stay on a predefined track to complete set objectives.

Depending on the age of your son other tank sims may be more interesting to him.

Dave

 

[Euphod]

Thanks for that review Big B,

I was mulling over the idea of buying said game for my son, but he's a stickler for realism and that obviously wouldn't sit well with him...

 

[jaybee63]

So what would members rate as the best simulator games avaliable, rather than purchase blindly.

I would really appreciate any recomendations, and these would be mainly for our seven year old, who enjoys Trainz, msts, and flight simulator.

Jaybee

 

[NikkiA]

I was mulling over the idea of buying said game for my son, but he's a stickler for realism and that obviously wouldn't sit well with him...

The last good tank sim came out in the 90s, there was a brief time period where a handful came out - including an updated (for the late 90s) M1A2 simulator. Between that (M1 Tank Platoon II) and Panzer Commander, they covered tank simulations pretty much.

And as bizarre as it is to say this about 2 1998 games, having seen the graphics for 'Military Life: Tank Simulator', I suspect both M1 Tank Platoon II and Panzer Commander both have Tank Simulator beaten on graphics and realism.

 

[NikkiA]

So what would members rate as the best simulator games avaliable, rather than purchase blindly.

I would really appreciate any recomendations, and these would be mainly for our seven year old, who enjoys Trainz, msts, and flight simulator.

Jaybee

Sigh, windows locked up on the first attempt to reply to this, so if my reply seems disjointed, it'll be because I forgot to repeat something I said the first time...

Combat Flight Sims:

The IL2 series is one of the best options here for WW2 era simulations, and you can pick up a combo pack of IL2 + all the expansions fairly cheap. Also there is a sequel on the way iirc, but I don't think its out yet.

Third Wire's simulators, the 'Wings Over' and 'Strike Fighters 2' series are a good set of realistic-but-playable Cold War era sims (that all plug together to make one uber-sim, and there are a lot of 3rd party planes available too). Be careful though, the two series are the same game, just re-written for Vista/7, so if you want, for example, the Cold War Europe game, you want 'Wings Over Europe' for an XP system, or 'Strike Fighters 2: Europe' for Vista/7. They do not run on the other system, ie, 'Strike Fighters 2: Europe' won't run on XP, and Wings Over Europe won't run on Vista/7. Shame, but good games all the same. Might be too heavy for a laptop though.

For die-hard flight sim fans, DCS's KA-50 and A10C simulators are about as close to military hardware as you can get - *every* switch and display in cockpit is accurately simulated, and it is possible to do a full power-up sequence that mimics the real thing precisely. Almost certainly too graphically intensive for a laptop by a long shot, and only for the die-hards anyway.

Driving:

SCS's truck simulator games are good, fun, driving sims, 'UK truck simulator' isn't that old, so doesn't look too aged, and their latest 'European Truck Simulator' is the latest and greatest, with a focus on mostly german (IIRC) truck operations.

Ships:

Ship Simulator 2010 just came out, and while it's not perfect, it's a step up from the 2008 version. Don't be fooled by Auran's store here, this is another game that Auran are simply distributors for, and they won't be able to offer much in the way of tech support. The game was developed by 'Lighthouse Interactive'. 2010 may be too hardware intensive for a laptop, 2008 should still be available for a slightly lower set of hardware requirements.

Dangerous Waters came out in 2005, but it still holds fairly good as a sub sim today. Probably runs better on a laptop than Silent Hunter 4 will too

Other:

Farming Simulator 2009 and 2011 are supposed to be surprisingly good, and offer some fun activities. 2011 adds a career mode rather than just being disjointed missions, iirc.

 

[johnwhelan]

I never realised when purchasing that it was not one of their products. Trainz is a really first class product, one we have been very impressed with, and as such, expected all products they vendered, to be of suitable quality.

Maybe I should not have posted on this forum, but it was out of frustration at the inability to contact them and receive a reply, and it was because of the quality of the Trainz product that we bought the tank sim product from the online Auran store.

regards

Jaybee

I'm quite glad you posted since I had mulled with the idea of buying it myself.

Actually I wonder what it would take to put a tank into Trainz. There might even be one that works.

Whecsailor made a few, I reskinned a Stuart tank to be a product so turning it into a loco won't be a problem. I think I reskinned a tiger or two as well. Invisible track on a layout should work quite well. Pantograph would give some movement, horn could be a gun firing. Different paths could be done by switches or points in the track using drive to. A reasonable engine spec and engine sound shouldn't be impossible. Cab view could be just a periscope view.

I might add it onto the list of things to do some time.

Thanks

Cheerio John

 

[big_b]

My grandson plays the following after a little help he can manage them quite well by himself now

Panzer Elite Action
Tank Combat
Iron Warriors
Gulf War

If he likes war sims -- Battle Stations Midway: ( Grandson also loves this one )
Either as single missions or as complicated battle groups under your command. ( includes trainer missions )

Aircraft Carrier &
Aircraft Dive Bomber .. Fighters .. Heavy Bombers
PT Boat
Sub
Battleship
Destroyer



Dave

 

[cascaderailroad]

My first game was Atari-Pong ... I once played Missle Command for 9 hrs straight, (there was no pause) and got to the 42nd level, everything went to hyper speed and was flashing like a strobe. I have it packed away in a cardboard box ... I wonder if the Atari game still works ? Someone sold (one of the only remaining) their first video game at an auction for like ... a million dollars.

 

[jaybee63]

Thank you Nikki for your advice, and to others who contributed.
We will be purchsaing soem of the simulators from you suggestions, but it's sad to say that I would not purchase again from Aurans store any product apart from Trainz.

!9 days and stillno reply to a support ticket,even thou I chased them after a week and updated the ticket to critical. They ask you to give them up to 5 days to reply, but there support is non eveident and a joke.

if they had any short term issues with providing support, for example staff sickness, then they should post a message. The support/ticket system would appear to affer so much, yet is just a front.

As a recomendation, if offering many other products for download/sale, they should offer a route to contact them for support/problems/refunds.

Wishing everyone a good Christmas.

Jaybee

 

[Red_Rattler]

Jaybee63, at this point in time, I would not even purchase direct from Auran anything, including the Trainz simulator. Let's put this way, word-of-mouth is one of the best ways to say what a person thinks about a product to others, and at this point in time, your customer service will not have a good .

(Corrected the ! to a 1) 19 days and stillno reply to a support ticket,even thou I chased them after a week and updated the ticket to critical. They ask you to give them up to 5 days to reply, but there support is non eveident and a joke.

Naturally that is up to 5 working days, however Jaybee as said she as been waiting almost three weeks.

That is unacceptable from a retailer, and in Jb's case, N3V Games is the retailer.

Is it true that their is only one customer service staff for the helpdesk?