Schrullenhaft

I have version 3.5.99 of FRAPS working fine in CM games under Windows 10 20H2 x64 with an Nvidia video card using the 456.71 drivers (not the very latest). I'm just using the default options for FRAPS, which includes the hotkeys of F10 (Screen Capture), F11 (Benchmarking), F12 (Overlay) and F9 (Video Capture).
What video card/chip and what drivers do you have installed ? If you're running a laptop, does it have Intel integrated video and a dedicated video chip (Nvidia or AMD) ? Do you have any software loaded up (running in the background/system-tray) that may be capturing any of these hotkeys ? I would guess off-hand that the games where FRAPS may be working might be DirectX-based games, whereas CM is OpenGL-based. However there are no specific controls/options within FRAPS regarding these two rendering systems. Are you using any sort of graphics post-processing for CM like 'Reshade' (which MIGHT interfere with FRAPS) ?

I have version 3.5.99 of FRAPS working fine in CM games under Windows 10 20H2 x64 with an Nvidia video card using the 456.71 drivers (not the very latest). I'm just using the default options for FRAPS, which includes the hotkeys of F10 (Screen Capture), F11 (Benchmarking), F12 (Overlay) and F9 (Video Capture).
What video card/chip and what drivers do you have installed ? If you're running a laptop, does it have Intel integrated video and a dedicated video chip (Nvidia or AMD) ? Do you have any software loaded up (running in the background/system-tray) that may be capturing any of these hotkeys ? I would guess off-hand that the games where FRAPS may be working might be DirectX-based games, whereas CM is OpenGL-based. However there are no specific controls/options within FRAPS regarding these two rendering systems. Are you using any sort of graphics post-processing for CM like 'Reshade' (which MIGHT interfere with FRAPS) ?

I have version 3.5.99 of FRAPS working fine in CM games under Windows 10 20H2 x64 with an Nvidia video card using the 456.71 drivers (not the very latest). I'm just using the default options for FRAPS, which includes the hotkeys of F10 (Screen Capture), F11 (Benchmarking), F12 (Overlay) and F9 (Video Capture).
What video card/chip and what drivers do you have installed ? If you're running a laptop, does it have Intel integrated video and a dedicated video chip (Nvidia or AMD) ? Do you have any software loaded up (running in the background/system-tray) that may be capturing any of these hotkeys ? I would guess off-hand that the games where FRAPS may be working might be DirectX-based games, whereas CM is OpenGL-based. However there are no specific controls/options within FRAPS regarding these two rendering systems. Are you using any sort of graphics post-processing for CM like 'Reshade' (which MIGHT interfere with FRAPS) ?

Modules I'd like to see (staying with the European theater), that I assume could stand a chance of being realistically expected:
1. West Germany / East Germany
2. Britain (BAOR) / Poland / Czechoslovakia 
3. Canada / Netherlands / Belgium / Denmark (Centurions !) / Austria (?)
4. A module that brings in the timeline between '83 to '91. This would update all of the equipment and organizations for the previous modules/base-game. However this would be quite hard to execute with the current licensing scheme (with the desire to limit each module to not requiring other modules beyond the base-game). Winter textures would probably be appreciated too (covering modules and base-game content). Perhaps this module could be done first so that all follow-on modules would have all the equipment/organization of '79 - '91.
 
Modules that would probably be unlikely to be made, but would be cool if they did show up:
5. France
6. Italy / Yugoslavia / Romania / Hungary
7. Norway / Finland / USMC / Sweden (?)
 
I would assume that any content that goes beyond the European theater may warrant enough work to be considered its own base-game. However I could be wrong on that account. This entire game family would remain with the current engine (CM 2, Engine 4 and probably an Engine 5 Upgrade).

Modules I'd like to see (staying with the European theater), that I assume could stand a chance of being realistically expected:
1. West Germany / East Germany
2. Britain (BAOR) / Poland / Czechoslovakia 
3. Canada / Netherlands / Belgium / Denmark (Centurions !) / Austria (?)
4. A module that brings in the timeline between '83 to '91. This would update all of the equipment and organizations for the previous modules/base-game. However this would be quite hard to execute with the current licensing scheme (with the desire to limit each module to not requiring other modules beyond the base-game). Winter textures would probably be appreciated too (covering modules and base-game content). Perhaps this module could be done first so that all follow-on modules would have all the equipment/organization of '79 - '91.
 
Modules that would probably be unlikely to be made, but would be cool if they did show up:
5. France
6. Italy / Yugoslavia / Romania / Hungary
7. Norway / Finland / USMC / Sweden (?)
 
I would assume that any content that goes beyond the European theater may warrant enough work to be considered its own base-game. However I could be wrong on that account. This entire game family would remain with the current engine (CM 2, Engine 4 and probably an Engine 5 Upgrade).

If you're running on Windows 10, then the 'Engine 1' version will not activate (an incompatibility with that version's copy-protection system and Windows 10). What is the latest upgrade that you have purchased ? If it is 3.0 or 4.0, then use that installer since it will have a lot of the content (modules and most patches) in the single installer.

I can't discern anything that is wrong with that screen shot. Going from a TV to smaller, dedicated monitor usually should be an upgrade image-wise, unless you have a very expensive TV with high-end image adjustments.
Are you running at 2560x1440 in CM ? Typically this is done by selecting the 'desktop' resolution (the default) within the Options panel. The significant problem with increasing your resolution is that the user interface (UI) isn't scalable, so it gets quite a bit smaller. Looking at what you have in that screen shot suggests that you MIGHT be running at 1920 x 1080 and NOT at 2560x1440.

The listing of CMBN in the Apps with a 'red X' through it simply indicates that it is an uninstaller and is completely normal.
I'm not completely sure you can fully disable Microsoft Defender. If you have nothing else installed to replace it, then it might still be running (despite attempts to disable it). Supposedly stopping the 'Windows Defender Antivirus Service' and stopping the 'Antimalware Service Executable' as mentioned in in this article would do the job, but I'm uncertain. What makes this confusing is that it seems some people have no problems with Microsoft Defender, while others do.

This is very good news. I had seriously expected OpenGL support to be borked within Rosetta 2. I also didn't expect an ARM-based CPU to do well either compared to an Intel CISC CPU. Hopefully Apple keeps at least this level of support for OpenGL as it rolls out other M1-based (and later CPU iterations) Macs.

Yes, you will need to upgrade to the '4.0 Upgrade' for the module. I would guess that there will be a bundle of the new module ('Fire and Rubble') and the 4.0 Upgrade for those who haven't yet upgraded.

In my experience this is common to CM2 series games. I'm not specifically aware of any setting that minimizes the effect (I don't know if shadows get subjected to the anti-aliasing processes in the video drivers). To my understanding it is a limitation of the shadowing system in CM2. Nicer appearing shadows would have a more significant impact on framerates.

In my experience this is common to CM2 series games. I'm not specifically aware of any setting that minimizes the effect (I don't know if shadows get subjected to the anti-aliasing processes in the video drivers). To my understanding it is a limitation of the shadowing system in CM2. Nicer appearing shadows would have a more significant impact on framerates.

In my experience this is common to CM2 series games. I'm not specifically aware of any setting that minimizes the effect (I don't know if shadows get subjected to the anti-aliasing processes in the video drivers). To my understanding it is a limitation of the shadowing system in CM2. Nicer appearing shadows would have a more significant impact on framerates.

Is this a Mac or PC ? If it is a PC, what videocard do you have ? I'm not certain, but the 'white dots' may be an effect of some anti-aliasing settings. You may want to experiment with whatever settings you have in the control panel/utility for your videocard. If 'triple buffering' is available as a setting, enable that (though it may not make a difference to this particular issue). Try disabling any antialiasing/smoothing settings. With Nvidia, you can make a specific set of settings for each program/game.

One problem with a 'public' bug reporting system (using publically submitted bugs) is how much duplication there is in reporting and the quality of that reporting. Even among the beta-testers this happens on occasion. This causes a bit of 'noise' in the reporting, where the developer has to sort through the multiple reports trying to find the best or most workable reports. There is also the issue of attempting to confirm the bugs. Some issues may not be bugs or the details aren't sufficient to reproduce the problem and that clutters up the reporting system. With publically submitted bugs this can be a significant issue.
The closest thing that would be workable with a developer of this size is a public list of acknowledged bugs. This has its pitfalls too though, with the time it takes to resolve some bugs or even what is considered a bug and what isn't. This can give the perception that the game is buggy and will remain so in some customer's views.
 

One problem with a 'public' bug reporting system (using publically submitted bugs) is how much duplication there is in reporting and the quality of that reporting. Even among the beta-testers this happens on occasion. This causes a bit of 'noise' in the reporting, where the developer has to sort through the multiple reports trying to find the best or most workable reports. There is also the issue of attempting to confirm the bugs. Some issues may not be bugs or the details aren't sufficient to reproduce the problem and that clutters up the reporting system. With publically submitted bugs this can be a significant issue.
The closest thing that would be workable with a developer of this size is a public list of acknowledged bugs. This has its pitfalls too though, with the time it takes to resolve some bugs or even what is considered a bug and what isn't. This can give the perception that the game is buggy and will remain so in some customer's views.
 

One problem with a 'public' bug reporting system (using publically submitted bugs) is how much duplication there is in reporting and the quality of that reporting. Even among the beta-testers this happens on occasion. This causes a bit of 'noise' in the reporting, where the developer has to sort through the multiple reports trying to find the best or most workable reports. There is also the issue of attempting to confirm the bugs. Some issues may not be bugs or the details aren't sufficient to reproduce the problem and that clutters up the reporting system. With publically submitted bugs this can be a significant issue.
The closest thing that would be workable with a developer of this size is a public list of acknowledged bugs. This has its pitfalls too though, with the time it takes to resolve some bugs or even what is considered a bug and what isn't. This can give the perception that the game is buggy and will remain so in some customer's views.
 

One problem with a 'public' bug reporting system (using publically submitted bugs) is how much duplication there is in reporting and the quality of that reporting. Even among the beta-testers this happens on occasion. This causes a bit of 'noise' in the reporting, where the developer has to sort through the multiple reports trying to find the best or most workable reports. There is also the issue of attempting to confirm the bugs. Some issues may not be bugs or the details aren't sufficient to reproduce the problem and that clutters up the reporting system. With publically submitted bugs this can be a significant issue.
The closest thing that would be workable with a developer of this size is a public list of acknowledged bugs. This has its pitfalls too though, with the time it takes to resolve some bugs or even what is considered a bug and what isn't. This can give the perception that the game is buggy and will remain so in some customer's views.
 

When CMC was in development it was initially aimed at CMBB. A special version of CMBB was necessary in order to get the stats from a battle and to possibly read the battles that would be created by the Campaign game (which required all of the maps for the campaign to be pre-made in CMBB). Right now I don't think any of the CM2 games has any code like this at the moment. The 'military contract' versions of CMSF2/CMBS put out some end-game stats and, I assume, have the ability to have some weapon behavior/data modified. The end-game output stats however may not be of the type that would be most useful for a campaign system to utilize (from a consumer player perspective). I don't know if BFC would have the rights to distribute this version of the games (they certainly wouldn't have the classified data).

Is this a Mac or a PC ? Even though this is a Demo of CMFI, I wonder if requesting the 'gsClean' utility from the Helpdesk might be warranted here ? This error tends to appear when there is a licensing issue between the game and the computer. Though this Demo doesn't require a license key, it appears to be suffering from a problem related to license keys.
Open up a ticket with the Helpdesk by clicking on the blue '+new ticket' button in the upper right corner. Tell them the platform (PC or Mac) that you're attempting to play the Demo on and perhaps they'll send you a 'gsClean' utility that might help to get the Demo running.

I've installed all of the CM series on multiple computers with Windows 10 (from version 1607 to 2004) and I haven't run into a problem like yours at all. I personally haven't used Windows Defender on a Windows 10 computer in quite awhile, but that is the closest I can come to guessing the culprit in the issue that you've experienced. I don't know why AVG didn't work for you. I've typically used Avast and haven't run into any issues.
For a game like CM there really isn't much that would need to be done in order to run it on Windows 10 compared to Windows 7. The CM series are fairly monolithic applications that aren't highly dependent on the OS for their functionality (it is dependent on other libraries such as Qt). OpenGL works the same on Windows 10 and Windows 7, but that really is in the hands of the developers of the video drivers rather than Microsoft and Windows. There's no major handicap that CM is running with on Windows 10 and there's no major re-engineering that is necessary specifically for Windows 10 and CM. While CM uses the OpenGL 2.x API for its graphics, there's really no change that Battlefront needs to make to in order for it to run on Windows 10 and with newer hardware (as long as the video drivers don't stop supporting OpenGL 2.x calls). The copy-protection system is what could possibly trip up most users, but it has been fairly benign and worked in the vast majority of situations. The only issue in regards to Windows 10 was with CMBN 1.x. In that case the copy-protection system wasn't compatible, but an update to the copy-protection system that was part of the CMBN 2.0 Upgrade resolved that situation (I believe the 2.0 Upgrade came out BEFORE Windows 10).
I don't believe your issue is a forebearer of problems to come with CM and Windows 10. Admittedly my installs of CM on Windows 10 v. 2004 were in place with an earlier version of Windows before an upgrade of the OS to version 2004. I've typically had Avast installed before CM was installed on my Windows 10 computers (though I don't see that as a significant issue to your situation). My installations have typically gone to their default locations and I've had administrator-level privileges during installation and running of the games. Typically an installation to a custom directory should be a bit simpler since those aren't managed and protected by Windows (such as 'Program Files' and 'Program Files (x86)', but if a custom directory hasn't worked, perhaps trying a default one and seeing how that works out.

With the 'Classic Shell Start Menu' (4.3.1) installed (and no other options installed for Classic Shell), I was able to install and activate CMFB 2.02 (4.0 Engine) to the 'C:\SIMS\BF\CMFB\Combat Mission Final Blitzkrieg' directory. Since this computer has Avast installed, I temporarily disabled it during installation and activation. I activated the 4.0 Upgrade license key first (a mix up - I had intended to license with the Base Game license key first).  I exited from the 'success' dialog box and attempted to run the game again, but it wouldn't. I had to launch the Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del > Task Manager) and in the Processes tab I had to end the 'CM Final Blitzkrieg (32 bit)' application (I think it was listed as a 'Background process' rather than an App). I was then able to launch the game again (using 'Run as administrator' - it didn't seem to want to run otherwise) and the license dialog box came up and I provided the Base Game license key. With a successful activation of that license key I exited from the Success dialog box (rather than clicking 'Play') and made sure that the CM Final Blitzkrieg executable wasn't running in the Task Manager. The next launch the game came up fine. After exiting CMFB I re-enabled the Avast software and the game continued to launch fine and didn't seem to require the 'Run as administrator' option.
This particular PC has a GeForce RTX 2070 Super with the 445.87 driver (nothing setup for CM within the 3D Settings for Nvidia), running Windows 10 Pro v. 1909 with the latest updates. The CMFB installer (a .rar compressed file) was extracted with 7zip. The computer uses an 'Administrator' account that is local (not an MS online account, though that shouldn't be an issue to my knowledge).
So with your setup being 'virgin', I'm not sure what to suggest if you've been able to successfully activate both the 4.0 Upgrade and Base Game license keys (for CMFB) and 'Run as administrator' doesn't seem to help. The 'Activate New Products' shortcut found in your CMFB directory can be used to activate the second license key, rather than running the game executable again (although that is what the 'Activate New Products' shortcut is actually doing). Make sure that 'CM Final Blitzkrieg (32 bit)' isn't running in the background as that will prevent the game from launching (in a visible manner).
It shouldn't be necessary, but if you want to add an exception within Windows Defender it can be done. Again this should only have an effect when Defender does a scan of the system.

I installed CMBS on Ryzen 7 3800X with a Radeon RX5700 XT (32GB RAM, 860 Evo SATA SSD). Using the 20.2.2 driver, running a single display at 1920 x 1200 I got fairly quick load times of less than 1 minute for battles of various sizes. I'm using the default graphical settings within the game and the Radeon Software. So there is no anti-aliasing, vertical sync/FreeSync, etc. For the game I have the default settings for the 'Options', typically 'Balanced'. There wasn't much loaded up in the background (browser, antivirus, SSD util, etc.).
Running FRAPS for framerate counting I got about 21 - 52 fps in the setup of one quick battle (a map with forests and some hills). The larger the resolution, the more trees and buildings and possibly the more varied the terrain elevation, the lower your framerate will be. The in-game camera height/view and the how much of the battlefield is 'in the window' also makes a difference in framerate.
So if you're running a really high resolution (above standard HD, 1920 x 1080), you may want to reduce it in the game 'Options'. 'Balanced' for the 3D Texture and 3D Model Quality might also help. You may also want to turn off Vertical Sync, unless you're certain you're benefiting from it.

I think part of the 'slow loading' issue may be the fact that you have a Radeon video card. In the past there have been loading issues associated with the Radeon drivers. I don't know how much this changes between driver versions, but in the past there has been a significant speed difference between Radeons and GeForces when it comes to the loading times. I assume, but I don't really have solid knowledge, that the OpenGL drivers from AMD may not be quite as good as the Nvidia ones - in certain respects. Rendering-wise within the game they give similar quality levels.
In-game performance may be a matter of expectations. You'll never get FPS-like performance out of the CM series. The CM games are primarily CPU-bound (and single threaded, for most game functions) and while a Ryzen 5 3600 is fairly fast I don't think any current CPU is fast enough to make the current engine perform like many people may expect. It's possible that the OpenGL 2.x calls have significant limitations performance-wise, but they possibly make graphics development a little more straightforward and possibly help with compatibility. With only one programmer it is pretty amazing what the CM series has in it. Several programmers on hand could definitely help to 'optimize' the graphics performance, which can be a pretty complex task.
As for the CTD's, is there more info about the error (Event Viewer, etc.) ? I suspect this MAY be due to video drivers, but I don't know. I wouldn't know what exact Radeon driver to recommend with CM and your RX 5700 XT. On occasion the latest driver MIGHT NOT be the best. I would suggest trying to minimize anything running in the background. The loading process is actually one of the few spots in the code that can utilize multiple threads.

Since you only have the 'Classic Shell Start Menu' installed, the rest of your Windows 10 interface should be the same as a standard Windows 10. The attached image (hopefully it is big enough to see decently) shows the Windows 10 Task Manager. The 'Processes' tab is the default tab/view when you open it up. I've outlined in red the 'Apps' and 'Background processes' portions of that tab.
After activating the license key of a game and exit that dialog, the game will still be running, though you can't see anything on the screen. Opening up the Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del) and looking through the 'Background processes' of the Processes tab should show the game executable listed. You may have to scroll with the scroll bar on the right of the Task Manager to possibly see the game listed within the Background processes. You then have to highlight the game's listing in the list and then click the 'End Task' button in the lower right to kill it and then you should be able to run the game (assuming there isn't something else blocking its functioning). In this particular screenshot CMFB is already licensed and running (as a 'foreground app') and it is shown in the 'Apps' section.
A reboot of the computer should also kill CMFB or any other CM game that has recently been activated. You should be able to run the game normally. If for some reason you are getting a license dialog box when you run a game that you believe you have already activated the appropriate license keys for, then there is some sort of issue with the licensing of that game. With the 4.0 Upgrades you often have to have both the 4.0 Upgrade license key activated and either the 3.0 Upgrade or the base game (if the base game is based on the 3.0 Engine). With games that are 3.0 Upgrade, you would have to activate both the 3.0 and 2.0 Upgrades (to my knowledge). The game shouldn't automatically come to the license dialog box for any modules. That requires the 'Activate New Products' shortcut (since the base game can run without them and thus it will not automatically bring up the licensing dialog box).