Almaniac

Hmmm just found the original discussion about this in the forum archives.... seems the answer then was "forget it". Still, I think it's a good idea. I understand the cheating issue around releasing the file format but there must be someway around that... How about the developers make a 1-way converter to go from MappingMission to CM files... it would be a big help and wouldn't require releasing any proprietary information... [ January 26, 2005, 04:30 PM: Message edited by: Almaniac ]

I've been plugging away at converting my topos into CMBO maps. I've tried MappingMission and it was pretty good, excellent really when you factor in the price , but what it really needs is an ability to natively export CM maps. I'd really like to start-up an open-source map editor project (hopefully with participation of Pyewacket and the author of MappingMission). I think an active open-source collaboration could give the community (and BigTime Software for that matter) a much better solution for creating maps. The problem is, without the file format specifications for the various flavours of CM it isn't going to go anywhere. Is there anyone out there at all who has details about the binary format of the CM files? Are any of the developers of CM listening in?

So, I decided I won't write my own software for converting the topo, but I have come up with a pretty good way to do it by hand. I'm in the process of writing it all down here: http://www.schoonerproductions.com/allan/combat_mission.html BTW, there are some huge pictures on that page... sorry dial-up users. [ January 17, 2005, 09:17 AM: Message edited by: Almaniac ]

BTW, are the files actually encrypted or are they just binary?

I think I'll take a look at the two editors Pyewacket suggested before I run off and start programming. Of course, the advantage to writing a new tool is that you could make it general-purpose, say for SPWW as well. Anyway, I'm off to get MM and MC....

I am sitting here with a 1:25000 map of the Canadian sector around Juno beach and Caen and I want to turn it into a set of CM missions. While thinking about how to do it I had an idea for tool to help me turn that topo map into Combat Mission maps. To really get the most benefit I'd like this tool to output CM map format files to use as a starting point for scenario creation. Does anyone know the format for map/scenario files?

Actually, it turned out to be the motherboard that was at fault, so I replaced it with a K7S5A (no AK73's in stock). It's working beutifully now and I've gone ahead and ordered. Cheers! -Allan

Thanks for the informative reply. I've always wondered what that setting was for, but I have seen all of those memory issues you described many times. In my case it turned out to be the motherboard that was the culprit. I couldn't get a replacement AK73 Pro A so now I'm running the demo with an ECS K7S5A with 2 512MB PC133 DIMMS. No more lock-ups. Unfortunatly I now get "Unhandled Exception" errors (I saw you reply to someone else who had the same problem). I can play for awhile before it happens so I've gone ahead and ordered the game. I realise that an exception error is software related so I'm sure you'll eventually patch it (or Microsoft). Anyway, thanks again! -Allan

Thanks Hubert. I was hoping this wasn't the case, but I just tried it with one DIMM at a time. With two of them the game locked up every time, but with the third one it worked fine. I guess it's off to exchange a couple bad DIMMS...

On a whim I checked with one DIMM at a time. Lo and behold it locks up with two of them and works fine with the other one. I guess it's a hardware problem.

Yes, I've never had any trouble with the CMBO (full version) at all, and it's running fine now. But the DEMO still locks up. As for the AGP, I had it set higher but read another post where you suggested dialing it down, so I tried all the settings (128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 4) with no results. BTW, what exaclty does the apeture do? For sound I have a SoundBlaster Live! with the latest drivers.

I've tried playing the demo about 5 times now and in every case I encountered an absolutely solid lock-up. The computer stops responding in any way at all and a single high-pitched tone is heard over the speakers. It seems to be random and not connected to any particular action. My machine: AMD Athlon 1.3 GHz Acer AK73 Pro A motherboard GeForce 2 MX 32MB WD 80GB drive 3x512 PC-133 RAM Windows XP Pro SP1 I'm having exaclly the same problem with the Strategic Command demo although my copy of CMBO works perfectly as does the Airborne Assult demo. I have already made sure I have the most current VIA drivers and the 30.82 version of the nVidia drivers. I have also disabled 4xAGP and dialed the apeture back to 4MB. I love the game but I'm not going to plonk down the cash if I can't get the demo running. Please help!

I've tried playing the demo about 5 times now and in every case I encountered an absolutely solid lock-up. The computer stops responding in any way at all and a single high-pitched tone is heard over the speakers. It seems to be random and not connected to any particular action. My machine: AMD Athlon 1.3 GHz Acer AK73 Pro A motherboard GeForce 2 MX 32MB WD 80GB drive 3x512 PC-133 RAM Windows XP SP1 I'm having exaclly the same problem with the Strategic Command demo although my copy of CMBO works perfectly as does the Airborne Assult demo. I have already made sure I have the most current VIA drivers and the 30.82 version of the nVidia drivers. I have also disabled 4xAGP and dialed the apeture back to 4MB. I love the game but I'm not going to plonk down the cash if I can't get the demo running. Please help!

I've tried playing the demo about 5 times now and in every case I encountered an absolutely solid lock-up. The computer stops responding in any way at all and a single high-pitched tone is heard over the speakers. It seems to be random and not connected to any particular action. My machine: AMD Athlon 1.3 GHz Acer AK73 Pro A motherboard GeForce 2 MX 32MB WD 80GB drive 3x512 PC-133 RAM Windows XP SP1 I'm having exaclly the same problem with the CMBB demo although my copy of CMBO works perfectly as does the Airborne Assult demo. I have already made sure I have the most current VIA drivers and the 30.82 version of the nVidia drivers. I have also disabled 4xAGP and dialed the apeture back to 4MB. I love the game but I'm not going to plonk down the cash if I can't get the demo running. Please help!