Rake

Okay, I've been playing with this since my last post. The only way I can get the whole team to stay next to the bocage is to not give a deploy order. Once I do that, the gunner and at least one other team member bug out. Typically, the gunner will move one action spot away while the other guy goes off toward the last action square. Right now, I have not given the deploy order and everyone except the gunner is next to the hedge. The issue, other than the mg not being deployed, is that even though the team can see the American squad, LOS appears to be tracked from the HMG and I can't give a target order to the HMG team... LOS is "blocked" about one AS from the hedgerow: There is obviously room for the gunner to move up in the line next to the bocage, but no matter how many times I ask him to move, he always returns to the place he is in the picture :confused:

I've tried following this discussion, but there are obviously multiple points being made in this thread... somewhere in this forest I'm getting lost. Anyhow, I've had problems in nearly every game of CMFI with support team members running off. In an earlier discussion of the FI forum ( http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=106517 ), it seemed as if the meandering team members had something to do with attempting to set up on difficult terrain. I have since found out that this makes no difference at all. I have an ongoing scenario of Niscemi Highway where an Italian mg unit, in the orchard atop the hill, will not stay together no matter where I ask them to move... the terrain is, for all intents and purposes, flat. With v2.0 installed for CMBN, I'm having a situation similar to that which I've seen described in this thread, i.e., a German HMG unit moves up to the bocage, deploys and the gunner crawls around a bit before deploying away from the hedgerow where he has no LOS while another member hightails it back to the previous waypoint. The remainder have set up along the hedgerow just like I asked them to. I have a save file for this turn, and I've tried several different things (deploy first, deploy last, covered arc, no covered arc, hide, face, quick, slow, hunt...) to get this team to deploy correctly... all without success. IIRC, the Italian team has four members, while the German HMG has 6. The American .30 cal in the post linked above has 5, so the number of crew members doesn't seem to have anything to do with this. If any beta testers want a look, I have save files for each of these although the Niscemi Highway files might take a while to find. I watched the team leader scamper off continuously for ten minutes or more during this scenario, until the team was exhausted and wouldn't move. I'm glad the rest of this Italian platoon was in hiding all this time and I really didn't need the mg team.

Playing this campaign right now, too... I was somewhat impatiently awaiting the patch to fix the wire issue before resuming the campaign. I was quite pleasantly surprised to get v2.0 so soon after the patch. I'm not sure who designed this campaign, but the maps have been exceptional!!! :cool:

The graphics were nice when CMBN was released... What Aris, TaL, Juju, Egger, Marco, Mord, Rambler (and everyone else who's handles I cannot recall) have done for this game is incredible. Now if the only the colors on photobucket looked like they do on my monitor

Yep... It's time I wasted too many words saying the same thing

This kind of stuff is what's making me totally despise the internet... along with the OP's cartoon. The total anonymity allows everyone to act completely (one hopes) different from the way we'd like to be known personally. I'm just guessing, but I suspect if I acted like this IRL, my dental bills would have peaked at one time until I no longer needed the services of an oral surgeon. I believe (and unlike others on this board, I'm frequently wrong) this forum is a place to share ideas. Faxis has shared his and many others have shared disparate opinions. No one is going to change his mind; poking fun just keeps him going and serves no other purpose than to put on display our own immaturity. I know this site has an "ignore" feature, but that usually serves little purpose because it tends to leave holes in discussions making them difficult to follow. I recently left a pay forum, related to one of my favorite sports teams, because I grew weary of this type of behavior; I'd been a member since approximately 1996. I'm not a grog in any sense, I have limited modding skills, I'm still trying to learn the editor, so, in truth, I serve very little constructive purpose within this forum other than to share my enjoyment of the game... I have no doubt that my absence would be missed not a whit. I've stayed out of the cesspool for a reason... is it really necessary for the rest of the board to jump in with them? JMO, Rake

I've kept my mouth shut on this whole "pay for the upgrade" spat, but made up my mind last night that I was gonna stick my .02 in just as soon as I got in off the road today. Since Steve locked axisjaxis' (or whatever the handle was), it's gonna go here... I've been on this board since the wayback times, and at 195 posts, it's pretty obvious that I haven't posted often. I don't gush over the game, graphics, etc., but, since I've purchased every WWII-oriented edition of CM, I would think it's also pretty obvious that I have enjoyed and value the series enough to spend my hard earned cash on it. Most of my posts have been to ask questions, with the occasional tip-of-the-hat to Fuser, TaL and other modders for their exceptional work. Other posts have been for some small wish-list items (like click and drag waypoints), with an occasional, somewhat testy post about the time it took to correct the red button/wire crash. I was extremely PO'd when CMFI told me I was out of activations after installing it on just my laptop and would not let me activate the game on my desktop... I wanted to play it badly enough that I purchased another full install at full price because I didn't want to wait all weekend until the crew came back in on Monday (BFC took care of that for me, for which I am very grateful). In any event, I certainly don't feel I fit the mold that detractors would label '"fanboy", nor am I amongst those inhabiting other boards constantly degrading the CM2 series. All of that said, I am occasionally taken aback by Steve's perceived attitude when reading some of his responses to criticism. BUT, I have to temper my views based upon two things: first, it's very difficult to express one's tone via the internet no matter how many smilies you use. Second, and to me more important, is that this game is his (and Charles, too, of course, but The Brain rarely speaks) creation and his occupation. I wouldn't term my feelings about my job as a "labor of love", but I do pour a lot of sweat and energy into my job each and every day, I'm proud of most of the work I produce and I can certainly get my hackles up when I feel my work is unfairly criticized. Now, on the topic of the upgrade... I don't think I can add much to what's already been covered ad infinitum. I purchased CMSF solely for the purpose of learning the CM2 system with the knowledge that, someday, CM would return to WWII. The one thing that I missed most in CMSF, and in CMBN when it was launched, was moveable waypoints. But, having played CMSF, I knew that they weren't in the game. After reading all the materials related to what was in, I decided to buy CMBN anyways. At that time, I never expected to have CMBN upgraded to employ this facility. I gather from what I've read that some will disagree, but this addition alone was worth $10 to me. Without running on and on rehashing points previously made, the thing is this: things have been added in V2.0 which added value to the game... IMO. These were not things that were "broken" and needed fixing, but additions which I felt make the game more efficient and, therefore, more fun. If I did not feel this way, I would not have purchased the upgrade. The 1.11 patch, which IS free, fixed some of the things which were "broken". I've been upgrading Photoshop since... I can't remember which version. As a semi-pro photographer, I haven't seen a tremendous amount of change which has been of benefit to me (I'm not talking about Lightroom, just PS) between CS??? and CS5. Still, I bought the upgrades (at around $170 per) to stay current... it was my money, and more importantly, my choice. If you don't think you should have to pay for things which were never advertised as being in the software... DON'T! It's really just that simple.

Thanks, Pete. I just deleted the alpha channel completely. I never even saw a check box for the alpha channel option; it must be set as a preference someplace in PS. All is well, thanks again!

Pete... Email, files and PM sent. Thanks!

This is not working for me :confused: I have created a 1 km x 1 km bitmap and save it in my Z folder where CMBN is located. I opened the editor, clicked on "Map", enlarged the map to 1008 x 1008 and saw... nothing. I rtfm and noted that I had to name the file "special editor overlay" (without the quotes), renamed the file as above, restarted CMBN, opened the editor, loaded the scenario and saw... nothing, except the base map. Over on the right edge, there is a note saying that the O key will toggle the special editor overlay, but multiple taps on the O key did... nothing. Any ideas what I might be doing incorrectly?

I don't remember what I paid to upgrade PS to CS5, but it was one hell of a lot more than $10. And, since I didn't upgrade to CS6, if I don't buy the next upgrade, I'm stuck with CS5 unless I want to shell out the whole 600-700 bucks for the whole program. I'd probably have paid half the price of a new module for this upgrade... and not thought a thing about it. And, no, i don't consider myself a "fanboy"; there are plenty of things that I think need fixing. But $10 is a bargain... I got a bit weary of Steve's rant in the other thread, but fully agree with nearly every point he made. I do appreciate the fact that BFC listens and makes appropriate changes, even if will cost a few extra dollars... with gasoline, coffee and a biscuit, I've spent ten dollars every morning before I get to work. Thanks, Battlefront! Edit: I was even more weary of the arguments against pricing for the upgrade. Someone told me many years ago: I feel like I got the best (yet) for far less than full price!

Cross your fingers, but I wouldn't hold my breath There's been a minimum of six weeks from pre-order announcement to release (CMFI) and, IIRC, about eleven weeks for CMBN. Not nearly that much time between now and Xmas...

Hell, I'd be happy with a patch to fix the red button crash... At least that way I could play the scenarios that haven't been available since 1.10 was released back in March :mad:

I'm never happy when one of my tanks blows up :mad: First thing I did after downloading was to open a save file with my 155mm howitzers raining down on German AT and Inf gun emplacements... It was like a grand finale on the 4th of July :eek: Spectacular!!!

I'm maxed out also and the LOD limitations happen on my computer, too. My machine doesn't slow to a crawl moving through vineyards, but I do drop to 12-15 fps from 30+ while moving around the map, including through trees.

Exceptional, Aris!!! I'll be looking for this tomorrow at GaJ's. Thanks again for your work. I would think that the debris could be anything from rocks to tree roots to infantry pieces-parts... Explosions happen quickly enough that it will be difficult to tell what's what except when the action is stopped for a screen cap.

Steve... thanks for posting this. I spent yesterday hunkered down from Sandy and downloaded several of the Hamel Vallee game files. Being able to follow along the AAR with the files made it much simpler to understand what was happening and where... I thought I was watching Jackson's boys at First Manassas :eek: I'd really like to see a sticky-post with all the AAR's along with a "tips and tricks" thread; thanks again for your part!

There is no toggle that I'm aware of , nor do I recall a mod to remove them. It wouldn't take long to mod the bases out. Unfortunately, I'm swamped at work this week and then leaving town for the weekend. If you're still looking early next week, send me a PM and I'll try to fix up the mod. Do you want to do away with the wounded/KIA bases also? Personally, I have a hard enough time identifying everyone in a team or squad with the bases (especially the wandering gun crews) and bases do disappear when you deselect all units. But. to each his own... I can fix something next week if you still need it.

I use McAfee SiteAdvisor, and as soon as Gamershell loaded, I got a McAfee screen saying "WHOA! Are you sure you want to go there?" I've learned the hard way not to spend much time on sites they recommend against... I went somewhere else to get my d'load.

No, no, no, no ,no... ADT! is when the CMBN (or to be more accurate, CW) patch comes out. Please don't get me wrong, because I am enjoying CMFI, but I'd really like to go back to Normandy. Actually, in CMFI, the only bug patched that I'd noticed was the T30 gunner casualty issue. Well, there's the wandering, awol crew member thing, too, but that's in both games. How long has CW been out? :confused: I can't remember, because the first thing I did was fire up the KG Engel campaign, finish the first scenario, start the second and watch the game crash because of the red-button-wire thingy. I have not played CMBN since. BFC... Puh-lease patch 1.10!

I had an issue just recently with a MG team addressed in this thread: http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=106517 I've sent in the save file; hope this is addressed in a patch soon. In CMBN, I've also seen it happen with one member of a squad that had been split into teams... Like Michael mentioned above, by the time the team had rejoined, they'd been out of the fight for ten minutes or more in addition to being exhausted When squad troops run off to take a leak, it's an annoyance ... when an entire AT gun crew has to go, it's a major p!$$@r :eek: :mad:

I cannot vouch for Sicily considering that I've never been there, but I can give you an idea of the design parameters... Many years ago, I was working for a small engineering firm who subcontracted to design a cross-country power line for the regional company. I was the lucky one that got to handle the project. I can recall two criteria which had to be met: 1) Maximum spacing between poles was 400' 2) There was a minimum clear distance above the ground that had to be maintained. This was calculated from the sag caused by the weight of the line over "X" distance. 27 feet sticks in my head for some reason, but it's been close to thirty years since I worked on this. I'm also sure there was a maximum pole/mounting height, but I have no clue what this was. The design area was hilly to mountainous and crossed many spurs and "hollers" (it was in southwestern Virginny ). It was often difficult to obtain the maximum spacing due to the irregularity of the ground profile along the right-of-way. Spacing between the poles was basically set by trial and error... I'd place a few poles, calculate the minimum ground clearance of the wires and, if all was good, try placing another two or three. If everything worked to maintain the design parameters, great! But, usually I'd have to go back and make adjustments to get the required ground clearance. I'd expect that JonS is probably pretty close with his 80 - 100 meters between poles... except possibly in urban areas. If there was power in a built up area, it likely ran down one side of every block, meaning a pole near each intersection, maybe one near mid-block in a long run. In rolling terrain, placing a pole near the high point helps maintain the ground clearance. In any event, in CM, I'd tend to think less is more.

Over and over and over and over and over and over and..... I just don't ever get tired of WWII

Nope, I have the terrain packs, too, so maybe I do have them all. And now, thanks to yourself and our benefactors at CMMODS, I also have a brand new, dusty Kubelwagen

That was my recollection, also :confused: