Feel free to comment and discuss this game here. Also, if you have any useful tips or tricks don't hesitate to share them with the others! Thanks!

Review and Download (if available)

This game looks way better than I had imagined. I'm deffinately gonna try it as soon as I manage to free up some space on my laptop.

You'd better, it's my favorite game. =)

It's also not all that big for new computers with 160 gig hard drive...B)

Edit: Just to let you know, I couldn't get any multiplayer battle screenshots. I won't explain why right now (has to do with my new computer). Although I got one just playing with myself multiplayer where I was outposting. Outposting is important so that you can get position and money. Multiplayer battles aren't like the screenshots in that your islands aren't next to eachother. However those types of battles are usually around outposts instead.

See most recent posts for current information

Wow, looks great, never played it! Thanks Durak! B)

P.S. Are you aware that Durak means "Fool" in Russian? :D

Yes...don't even bother asking me how many times people ask me that...

P.S. You're welcome. :) But it'd be better to thank the people at NSHQ and NetstormWorld for running our servers.

Edit: Also, NetStorm is compatible with Linux, but you need to ask nsworld (the admin's name) at www.netstormworld.com for the information. He's set it up to run on linux and he knows all about that.

netstorm runs in wine (under linux) so little to ask :)

I think one of the only one it definitely doesn't run under is Mandrake, but I may have heard wrong and that's one of the ones it does work under...

wine is application not a linux distrubituin like mandrake.

It will run under mandrake if you install (the right version) of wine

I played that game a lot before. The main reason why I stopped was because of the cheaters and the fact that the game become quite boring after you got all your levels a couple of times...

But I still recommend it. :)

Well that's useful to know. The only knowledge I had was that it wouldn't work under Mandrake. I'd better check up on that. =)

Well with the new patch Eagle there are no cheaters anymore, active admins, and hexing for forts is auto banned.

Yes leveling is very fun the first time you play the game, but later on it's very fun to play 2 v 2 and such.

I played all sorts of games, 4VS4 was fun.

After getting some experience, 3 VS 1 (me) was fun too. ;)

Actually, when you manage to rank up it's often like that. When you can't find opponents of the same rank, you try to find lower ranks to gang up on you. Unless they are experienced, it's usually easy to win 2 VS you even with only two ranks higher.

I found that ranking was terribly boring. All of the good players just stay rank 1 anyway.

finally a full version. I have an uregistered version on CD but that meant random games were limited and mulitplayer didnt work.

Odd, I recall that even the demo had multiplayer but you could only get up to level 7...

Well, enjoy. ^_^

The ranks were there to add a meaning to always playing the same game, I guess. But back then you had a LOT more players in the servers! Finding a suitable opponent was relatively easy.

I suggest you create two accounts: one who stay rank one, and the other which goal is to rank as much as possible. That would probably get you the best of NetStorm. :)

Yup, that's what most people do. However most people find it more fun to just play with a rank 1 level 43 fort (file/character) since there isn't much of a point in ranking except for the first few times you play for fun. Personally when I first played NetStorm I got to rank 8 before I thought of doing it this way.

That's not a turn based game right?

Nope. Not turn based.

This looks like a lot of fun, I'll definitely check it out.

I just noticed that I can vote as much as I want from day to day... So much for me thinking the votes were accurate...

Uh...I guess just don't then? =)

Edit: Well I just tried again but it didn't change the number of votes, so I'm not sure if it does anything.

I'll think about that 2 account idea.. seems cheap to me though, then again starting on netstorm nowadays is almost impossible since all you have is shitty sun weapons. always got owned by the crossbows.

Sun actually isn't bad. A lot of good players can just do a sun rush with sun disk throwers (they're been improved in range and a little power with patch) and beat a person using crossbows. Sun actually isn't bad at all, disk throwers are cheap, sun barracades are really good, balloons are good, generators are needed, whirlibases are good...

Sun is the second best, and Wind is the best because of both crossbows and the flying ship.

Water and Thunder can be good too, I guess it depend on your style. But I really don't like them.

Sun can beat wind. You just have to be fast at that start. As for rain, it can beat wind but it has a little different strategy and you should usually use it with sun for the barracades. Thunder is good in 2 versus 2, or 3 versus 3 if you're in a sort of deadlock near the center on you want to put large pressure on the outposts or key spots.

Well Under Linux using wineX I have found to be best, Mandrake 9 - 10.1 and redhat/fedora are definite. havent tried on suse 9.1 yet
I did try transgameing but found that all he lettering was in black (never figured out how to change that :OK:
Best Bet is to go to http://www.transgaming.com if you want to find more about playing windows based games on a linux box (and there are many that can be tweeked to play)

As Durak so kindly said Visit the sites, give us your support maybe even join in the ladders.
Oh and ignore the barbarians.
:cheers:

I have to admit that it IS fun, but I cannot seem to create any new senarios. The game always has an error and exits. But on the whole, very fun! nice spin on the strategy genre!

Try heading over here http://www.netstormworld.com/e107_pl...ap/wrap.php?16. and checking it out. You may not have created a .english file which can be the main source of crashes.

I remember playing this game when I was around.. 10 or so. My uncle had a CD with a whole bunch of games burnt onto it and this was one of them. I didn't play it that deeply though, because it was pretty hard to understand.

Now that highspeed is getting hooked up in my area soon, perhaps I'll give this a little look through.

Good choice! :OK:

Always nice to see post's about Netstorm :)

I play quite a bit, am often in the skies and am one of the active Admins Durak spoke of. If you have any questions or queries please fine me.

KAIN

I haven't installed the game yet, but will it auto detect the multiplayer servers?
and would it be too much trouble to ask someone for the source code for the server? so we can host LANs of this stuff?

just some questions that look like they ought to deserve an answer. :OK:

- When you download Nestorm 10.64, (the current version,) it should come with the server address. It does not, however, detect the servers, but www.netstormhq.com should keep you up to date.
- The game comes with 'r.exe,' a LAN server. It cannot be used over the internet easily, but it works well on LANs.
- You can ask for the source code, but it's unlikely that you'd get it.

that's cool, that's why I wanted to know if we could get the source out, to make a server for a lan, but seeing how it works with the game, that's all good. :)

Thanks for the info :D

I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but I'm having trouble getting the game to run...

Whenever I click on Netstorm.exe I get an error - "NetStorm could not open file ".\d\options.cfg". Please insert the NetStorm CD and try again.

I'm hoping this isn't going to be the case, I used to love playing the demo of this game and I was ecstatic when I saw it on Abandonia...

should just qwork if you stick any old cd in the drive though if you got a burner I think thwere might be an article on netstormworld on how to trick it into thinking ther is an netstormcd in the drive.
or just click cancel/escape sometimes works. I run it on linux and it gets by that no problem

Netstorm took over my life for around 2-3 years between 1996 and 1999. I spent wayyy too much time on the game when I should probably have been out doing other things :blink:

On the flip side, it was (and probably still will be should I install it again) one of THEE most enjoyable and damn fun games I ever had the pleasure of playing :Brain:


The cheats ppl mention were still about in the patched version (10.64). This resulted in almost everyone going back to 10.37 once the "sound effect crashing bug" was fixed (10.64 players would use a command to crash all 10.37 players)


I "met" and had a great laugh with a lot of ppl thanks to this game..... Nutstorm, Gordon Gano, Dirty Rotten Scoundrel, RabidMonkey, BarkingMonkey to name but a few as well as helping to work on the proposed expansion pack "Dark Skies" (I went under the name of Colt back then). Cheers for the good times lads :cheers:



The game was wayyyy ahead of its time which, unfortunaetly, helped in its downfall. If it was released around 1999/2000 it would have taken off a LOT more.


Fantastic game released at the wrong time. Damn shame :(

:Titan: This game is just great , i was searching for games to play online with friends, strategy ones, we are playing starcraft, but now i'm trying to convinced them to play net strom :whistle:

You have to have a quick mind and quick decisions to play this game
:Brain:

some times i just hoped my prist had a :sniper: to snipe out some enemy towers

like how many people actually use this forum? btw this will probably be my only visit here so dont expect me to come back.

:sos: i can't beat the 3rd mission struggle to save the island or something so i'm wondering are there any cheats that acctully work in this game?

It's no fun if you have to cheat :P
On that mission, make sure you bridge all the way around the enemy thunder cannons, so that they enemy cannot build any more. Espicially make sure that he cannot attack your sun barricade generators, otherwise you will definately lose. Make sure you send your golems to the safe geysers at the top and bottom first. When you have enough money, attack the enemy workshops and temple with your sun cannons, but be wary of thunder cannons, as the enemy can place them a long way away and destroy your attackers.

Well, I have already beat all the single player missions and won a few multiplayer matches, but I'd still like to know of any cheats for this version of the game, just to fool around a little. ^^

I have tried a certain cheat that I saw on the net in which you had to type in the message box .cheatorama 8675309 , and that would unlock a cheat menu, but it doesn't seem to work. I was wondering if anyone could help me. Thanks. ^_^

:sos: I hate to say it but I can't beat the fourth mission. I just don't have enough Storm Power and then when i run out of Storm power the enemy destroys my cannons and over runs my base and i lose. Any help?

The way I beat that mission was to first build bridges keeping the enemy from building bridges to my island. Completely surrounding his island with your bridges would be best. Then you'll be safe to build cannons that will attack his workshop from a safe distance to avoid disk throwers. He may keep rebuilding the workshop, but that only means more storm power to you every time you destroy it. Then, when he can no longer build any disk throwers you attack his temple and capture his priest. Simple. :D

Don't mind harvesting for storm power. If you do it right, you won't need to. =P

thank you! :D

This version was patched by gamers of NetStorm when Activison shut down their online servers and stopped working on the game. This patch greatly improves the game since .37 (Current is .64 but .70 is coming out shortly) had lots of bugs that were abused and online play was full of hackers that could do almost anything in the game. In .64 the .cheatorama 8675309 was also removed for one reason or another (and cheating isn't any fun anyway :bleh:) so you can't cheat anymore in single player OR multiplayer.

When .70 is released (Loads of things are being tweaked by a great team) I will hopefully get Kosta to update it here when I can but you can also check www.netstormhq.com if your version is out of date for the newest one.

I have also written a bunch of campaign reviews so if you're having trouble go to www.netstormworld.com and look under the walkthrough section. Good luck and hopefully I'll see you all in the skies.

Hi!
I'm new here!
As i read through your posts, it seams someone's hosting servers for Netstorm?
Can't access the homepage www.netstormworld.com mentioned above!
Could any of you guys post a server address for direct connect!
Would be fine!
Speedy

Well, we're going to release a new patch soon (version 10.70) which will be available through www.netstormhq.com. As for ranking, and things of that sort, they will be adjusted in 10.70 so that it doesn't get so repetative, although As Durak was explaining, most players don't rank up anyways. The thing I most enjoy about Netstorm is the small, tight knit community. This means everyone knows who everyone else is, and when you become really good at the game, you earn respect and fame. It's an interesting feeling for an online game, as with games like Warcraft etc. it's next to impossible to be good enough to get recognized, whereas on NS, anyone that's played for a couple of years is known by everyone else

Periodically netstormhq.com and netstormworld.com go offline, but it's almost always temporary for some reason or another. If you already have NetStorm these are the servers to add (Although you need .64 to play on them, can still connect though and chat or notice you are out of date)

Main Server: netstorm.game-host.org:6800
Backup Server: play.netstormworld.com:6800

How do you build generators(?) on bridges? Whenever I try that the top left corner is always red and wont let me do it.

You place generators and all the static units (but not the collection units like golems and balloons) at the end of a bridge, not on them (they can also be placed on land which isn't owned by anyone else and you have a connection to).

the game is bug'n out on me when I start it. The colors go all off about 10 seconds after I turn it on and every time I try switching the video mode it goes back to normal for about 10 seconds and then freaks out agin. Anyone know what's going on?
-M

What do you mean by "the colors go all off"? Some people (including myself) have at one time seen the colours change to bright purples and blues when they alt+tab back into the game, but this can easily be solved by re-alt+tabbing back in and out of the game. Hope that helps.

Ugh, the 6th campaign mission, Dissolved Alliance, is extremely difficult. :help: I keep building crossbows and towers for defense, but, either the rain & thunder destroy them, or my golems & sail skaters...

Not to mention you're attacked from all directions.

Any tips, or something..? This level is really starting to piss me off. :ranting:

That level is all about money management. Make sure you place units in needed places and wisely. Make sure you flank the enemies and don't just do half hearted attacks when you go with them. Flanking thunder can give you lots of money but white is more of a threat at the start.

For my walkthrough of the campaign check out www.netstormworld.com and click on Walkthroughs.

Edit: Oh, and about the old cheats if anyone else will ask. The .cheatorama cheat could be changed to work in multi player, so we took it out, not realising we made it no longer work for single player. You can skip the mission however.

If you type .m NAMEOFNEXTMISSION

You must make for sure there is no spaces in the name, and no " ! ", if you do it wrong it will give you a message and pop up back to the main menu, if you don't enter anything after .m or .mission you will crash.

Heh, I've know netstorm for quite a while (like 6-7 years) but I havent played it cuz I always sucked, I've only restarted just recently. Anyways, it's lookin for Netstorm that I found this site and I'm just posting so that all u ppl who are hesitating between whether to try it or not should definetly give it a go. I know some ppl think it's Old Skool and some will hate it, but those who get hooked on are addicted for life!!! Wut have u got to lose? Just download it, it's not even 14mb!

Anyways, I also notice that the User Rating for rhis game is 3, so I say if u like the game, just come give it a 5 so we can move Netstorm up to the top of this site's list and maybe more ppl will start downloading it. I mean seriously, Netstorm is just as good as Starcraft of Warcraft III, maybe even more so as it doesnt need flashy graphics to entertain you. Ppl dont play this cuz their comp sucks or cuz it's free, but really because it's hell of a good game. Take my Word for it ppl! We need more players in the skies of Netstorm!

- RockLee

level 6...level 7?!?

I can't even pass level 3...Man I must really suck at this. Even after a million tries or so, I just can't do it...can't even pass beyond the enemy's firts lines of fire...anyone gor some tips or help about this level?
I would be so gratefull... Thanks!!!
:wall: (<- I'm feeling like this at the moment)
:rant: (<- like this in about 5 minutes)
:cry: (<- after that)
al the while trying to tell the missus that I have no temper...

Check out my walkthroughs here. Hopefully they help you out, if not leave me a suggestion.

it says when i try to play a multiplayer lan game it says more than half the players need a cd and i cant start... please help

Wow, another great game from Abandonia!!! Thanks Durak for the review and your answers. I am also stuck at Level 4 (stop the Wind Man from harvesting the storm power). I just downloaded this game yesterday and really like it.

Only the tutorial is a bit difficult to understand, after that, all fun. I definitely recommended this game! I think this game is very original and exciting real time strategy game, compared with AOE, AOK or Starcraft.

:cheers:

The new patch should be released VERY shortly, hopefully I will get it updated on Abandonia shortly after.* Lots of big changes. Also I will be redoing all the walkthroughs after the patch because of changes and improvements.

I doubt you'll get many answers as to problems about the game here because not enough people play the game and I don't have time to check the forums, so please direct concerns to www.netstormhq.com as not to plague Abandonia.

*Edit: The new patch, .74, has been released. You can obtain it at www.netstormhq.com or here. It is released with an auto updater that you must run whenever you want to play online to allow continuous development.

Kako te igrce tle gor igramo al pa downalovdamo nj kdo pove prosim

Igric se ne da igrati preko neta. Potrebno jih je sneti (downloadati). To narediš tako, da pritisneš rdeč gumb, na katerem piše GET IT (nato pa moraš to še enkrat potrditi, ko se ti pokaže nov zaslon in znova pritisniti na rdeč gumb GET IT). Ko igro shraniš jo ekstrahiraj in igraj.
Žal pa je nekaj iger, ki jih ni mogoše sneti (tedaj bo na gumbu pisalo BUY IT - igro lahko naročiš in kupiš pri njenem zakonitem prodajalcu; ali pa bo pisalo NO GO - tedaj je igra pod zaščito družbe imenovane ESA in je ni mogoče zakonito dobiti).
Upam, da ti je sedaj kaj več jasno, drugače pa mi lahko pošlješ e-mail (Sebatianos@abandonia.com).

Aja, pa ponavadi se na forumu pogovarjamo v angleščini :OK:

Quick translation for the rest of you:
This guest asked how to play the games online or download them - so I explained it.

it wont let me join a multiplayer game, nor will it let anyone else join in when im battlemaster...but i SERIOUSLY doubt that this message will be seen because noone posts here :sos: :sos: :cry: :wall: :wall: :rant: :wall: :wall: :titan: :cry: :sos: :sos: :sos: :sos:

Ahh, good old Netstorm :D Finding it again after all these years brought back the sleepless nights of 6 months that it took to beat the game... (well, actually, to get to the last mission. For some reason, when it loaded and I saw what I had to do, i exited the game and didn't open it again). And that memory brought back the previous 2 months in which I had the demo and was desperately trying to beat the 3 levels it had...
*sigh*

I tryed to download it and it's like 300 KB and the review says it's 12 MB. What's up with that ?

Okay, let's get you all up to date.

First of all NetStorm is being occationally patched by the team at netstormhq and it is currently on .78.

Secondly the game has been changed since the initial placement on Abandonia (.64) so that you now download the installer which provides an autoupdater file, nsLaunchC.exe, that you run and downloads the full game off of netstormhq.com and mirrors.

The autoupdater was added in .72, as well as many new functions and changes in the game itself, which allows the game to be patched for little changes such as unit balances as well as upcoming larger patches. I will also add this was mainly done so that to access the multiplayer server you must run the autoupdater and it checks what files you have, so that cheaters are completely prevented.

Campaigns and Other - "I can't beat the campaigns, I'm not very good at multiplayer!"

This game has a steep learning curve so don't get frustrated. If you would like help for campaigns look on netstormworld.com and netstormhq.com for guides. As for mutliplayer it just takes practice and surely some people on the multiplayer server will try and help you out. You can also download more campaigns from netstormhq.com and get all the recent information and news about the game.

The only reason you shouldn't be able to play a mutliplayer game is if you join a game where the battlemaster can't host (firewall etc.). To be able to host yourself you need to open port 6800 TCP on any firewall you may have. Sometimes you need to disable windows firewall, and sometimes some people can't serve at all depending on your own hardware.

At .72 NetStorm recieved an autoupdater that's only 300 KB and it installs the rest of NetStorm when you run it. With a NetStorm full install and patched it is 26 MB .

Note: Game was made for Windows 95 so it does take a little less RAM if that affects any of you.

Durak you newb why are you never on NS anymore? LOL Nice pic with me in it ;)

I've been busy =(. If I have the time maybe I could fix up the review and update the screenshots, AND come on NetStorm =D.

I've downloaded the 300kb launcher, and run it, but it tells me that it has a problem downloading the mirror list, so it doesnt download anything at all.
The .txt file called "mirror list" is empty, if thats of any relevance...

how can i solve this?
danke schon!
Albi

well...errr....the problem never happened to me. O.o
but this game is head braking fun!!!!! :wall: :wall: :wall:
u all got to try this! :sniper: :sniper: :hypocrite:

hmmm, if i remember correctly there was a secret level with additional tutorials in it,justcant remember where..

i'm having trouble with mapediting, whenitry totest the battle, the game crashes. help :sos: ?

There could be lots of reasons for a crash when testing a map you created. For a wonderful guide head over to netstormworld.com (which is now switching over to wikipedia) and click on Editing Netstorm.

Has anyone played this game on the net?

Of course, this game is BEST played over the internet. There are two servers set up that you can connect to, and the large portion is on NetStormHQ.

That's why it was overlooked at the time - it was an online game (and a great one) before anyone was playing them :)

Why is the download less than a megabyte, but the description says it is at least 20?

I'm pretty sure the description is correct. Your archive is probably broken, so try redownloading.

No actually the zip file is under 1 mb.

hey I'm trying to test battle( edit area) but it keeps saying theres an error is this normal or just me

this is me
now it can't find the mirrors this game worked no it doesn't(that sucks)
:\ :tai: :mad: <_< :sucks: :whip:

The file is so small because it's an auto updater.

It downloads the game for you. And it keeps it updated.

Man, I love this game. I can't say I don't get frustrated when I lost almost every game I play online because they're all vets on there, but it's still quite fun.

I'm currently stuck on the priest training mission with the man o wars and the sun barricades. I actually can beat it. I've come quite close to it several times. But the thing is, when I play too long, NS crashes on me. Usually random pieces of my bridges fall out all over the map. It happens a few more times like that over the span of several minutes. And then the game just crashes.

What I need is a quick strategy for victory so I don't have to play long enough for it to crash on me.

EDIT: Never mind. xD I beat it. Bridge them off, keep the other islands and the backmost island from being able to connect to eachother. Go for the back one first. Don't need to destroy them. Just snatch their priests.

And your walkthrough links are broken.

EDIT: LOL, now I've beaten them all except for the very last one. I don't seem to have a chance at that one.

For the last mission you may want to try destroying red (the top island) first, then salvaging your temple and rebuilding it on his island for safety. That helps a lot.

Also, www.netstormworld.com is now a wiki site, so the walkthroughs are located here.

This game is fantastic, i think it's one of the best gameplay i ever experienced so far. Every rule fits perfectly, no unit become unuseful even in the hardest levels. Simply great.
Modern strategy games should learn from this one :)

Some nice original idea behind this game. I have it on cd, got it like years ago... First time i played it i thought it was junk now i think its pure gold :)

A very interesting and original game, one of the best strategies around here - but not without a catch. It has very limited single-player mode, and the only server online is almost empty and run by a very... strange people. If you get to play a 5 minute game after an hour of waiting, consider yourself lucky. And while you're waiting... be prepared to get jeered at by admins (there are literally more "admins", "heads", "officials" and "assistants" than players) and their friends, who come to the server just to chat and have their idea of "fun".

So download this game right now - but stick to single player for your own sake.

Forgot to mention - of course you can play over LAN without going to that server.

or use hamachi to play with friends over internet :)

Or get your friends to play with you on the main server, so that the community base of new players is increased and you can find games easier.

I'm at my nans place so i cant download cause the PC has no room <_< but on netstorm but i get back in 1 day anyway this game is awesome i love it!!!!! ^_^

I love this type of game,and that's very amazing play it with other friends!!!!:)

Is this game under protection or not?! :huh:
The german site says ESA the english say downloadable.
BTW: I saw this game on the screenshot quiz and got interest in it by that. It working... :amused:

It's Freeware :).
You know there are some problems with languages...I can't change German game status', it gives me a strange error.
Edit: I'm working on it.
Edit2: nothing...I will ask.

Can't download
 

Hi, guys. Well, I have a problem here. It seem that no matter what browser I use, I download a 355KB archive (although the game's supposed to be about 26MB) and the archive is corrupted. Need help. Thanks in advance! Not only this but I find an Adware.Gen inside the archive... :oh:

Thanks for letting us know :whops:

I've temporarily blocked downloads of it and we'll replace the archive today. How this happened I have no idea... but it's very, er, concerning. :ouch:

Sorry, peeps.

Looks like it happened a while back. The copy we have in last year's backup is corrupt as well.

File replaced.

Hey guys, saw this game in yesterday's screenshot quiz and remembered playing this when I was younger. Couldn't remember the name but seeing that today the answer was posted I went to download immediately...

...and unpacking the zip file I get an installer that wants to have access to the internet and my antivir tells me that the netstorm.exe file it's installing has something like this http://www.avira.com/en/threats/sect...oader.gen.html in it. Is this safe?

The installer wants to check for updates.
This behavior is misinterpreted by your antivirus program, resulting in the warning.

Don't worry,re-download it and you'll be fine.I scanned the .zip with Avira,and it found nothing :3:

Also, I use avira, but sometimes gets riled up by completely inoffensive behavior and doesn't really help you a lot with the virus/trojan/whatever information... those false positives get me mad, sometimes...

netstorm
 

this game is simply awesome i remember it as a kid and simply had to play it again


there is quite a difference between playing bots (cpu) and players
after a bit of playing the cpu becomes easy to see its stratigy

where as a human play u have no clue what they are doing (for the most part)