ichadwick

If I remember before I click start.... but why should I, the user, have to turn sound on and off every time I want to play? Having music that can't be controlled, even during load, is considered a poor design feature. Has been since the earliest PC games. I reviewed games in the 80s and 90s that had this flaw, and for the most part designers have gone past that. Well-thought-out games today offer separate music and sound controls. It's the game equivalent of elevator or supermarket music - you can't control it; you're forced to listen to it. It's also like those annoying web sites that start music when you visit, with no embedded volume control. It grates. It joins things like TV sets in restaurants or coffee shops as someone else's tastes being foisted on the public. Sure I can Alt-Tab to my desktop, load the volume control, mute it, let the game load then Alt-Tab back to restore the sound. But that's a user-hostile process. For me, it's a design flaw. And as much as the game interests me, I'll wait for confirmation that the music can be turned off in the game, and for good, before I buy it.

Wow. I haven't managed to win it at all... tried maybe ten times, every time my tanks get spotted impossibly far away and blow out of the game before getting even halfway along the map. Send them to the left or right, same thing. Got down to about six-ten men and perhaps that many Germans once - and they still had their AT. They could see me easily through the bocage, while I stumbled into their crossfires and died trying blindly to locate them. The AT is remarkably, supernaturally accurate for the distance it can disable tanks. They get disabled at the edge of the fields just outside the setup zone, whenever I play. Managed to get one about 2/3rds down the map, mostly by using fast speed, hiding and sacrificing the rest. But the AT took it out as soon as it found a place where it could fire back. A bit frustrating for a "demo" scenario.

Ah. Been trying to figure out why mortars wouldn't fire... probably have the HQ too far away. Thought it was just disabled for the demo.

Alt-S doesn't work when loading, only in a static screen. If you press Alt-S during loading, it waits until a scenario loads, then turns off all sound when the game starts. Bug? That means having to either find the Windows volume control and use it while the program loads, or listening to the annoying, generic soundtrack. Pain in the butt either way. If someone can point me to the location of the appropriate sound file, I'll simply delete it.

Just want the MUSIC turned off, not the whole sound. Sound effects are okay during the game, but music is annoying, especially bduring the lengthy loading process.

Just playing the demo - love the game and it works like a charm on my system. Big question: How do I kill the opening music? Without killing all the sound, that is. The game loads with music I really don't want to hear and it annoys my wife - so I need to kill it. Once I know how to do that, I can order it! Thanks

It's a pretty sad flick. Wooden acting, improbable plot, silly background premise, puerile political propaganda, ridiuclous ending... but probably no worse than Dawn of the Dead, Batman or Ice Age 3 for a film-to-game idea. I am surprised that you think "most Americans" would have seen it. It wasn't that good. Gone With the Wind, yes, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Inherit The Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, Young Frankenstein - these are films I can imagine most Americans watching. But Red Dawn? That's like saying most Americans watch South Park. Or Beavis and Butthead. I think you disrespect the good taste of the average American.

Yes, I do, although I'd be more interested in seeing some 56-67-73 scenarios for that region (Arab-Israeli wars). I have an interest in various areas of military history - Napoleonic and WWII at the top of my attention. Modern warfare offers some additional challenges - I play some of the new modern FPS like Flashpoint and COD. But I want strategy, not merely tactics. And I liked the CM:BB game style so much. This seems a natural upgrade (until CM:BB2 arrives...). But does the basic version have a printed manual?

Thanks. Looks like I'll get the whole package this week. Just a final question - does the CD have the latest updates or will I need to DL the patch as well?

I was a CMBB and CMAK fanatic for a couple of years, but now want to go on to the latest level of this system. Would have done it sooner, but other demands on my time got in the way, then I got a new computer (and didn't reinstall CMBB or CMAK), started playing the ukulele, got a dog, etc., etc. Time to return to the fold. Newbie questions: aside from the map and mousepad, what is the difference between basic and deluxe versions? Does the basic version come with a printed manual? Is it worth getting the Marine/Brits add-ons immediately, or should I wait until I've got some familiarity with the system? I was highly torn between CMSF and Theatre of War, but the RTS component of TOW makes me cautious (and limits some MP play). I like the chess-like stratey style of CM games and the opportunity for PBEM. PS. I notice the sale price for the basic version says $35 but the delivery options say $45. is that a mistake?

Never mind, found the previous thread and fixed it with the replacement BMPs. Now on to victory!

Can you point me to a link to those replacement BMPs? I'm having the same problem. Thanks

I recently upgraded to a new computer system and re-installed CMBB and CMAK. Oldies but great games! Unfortunately, I have to teach myself how to play all over again. But I need some tech help before that. I am running an ATI Radeon 4800 and a 22" monitor with 1680 x 1050 resolution, 60 Hz, with Win XP SP3 and Directx 9.0c. I have patched both games to 1.03. CMBB and CMAL only let me run at 1280 x 1050, 70 or 75 Hz. Can I change that? I realize it doesn't have widescreen, of course, but I want to alter the refresh rate. The display looks a bit odd, stretched to the sides, but I can live with that. The opening screens of CMBB and CMAK appear fine, but when I go to play and the map loads, the bottom information area of the screen doesn't show all the graphics. Instead of text and information, I get white bars in the boxes. It shows the outline of the command box. So I can't see any information about my units. This also happens when I use the map editor preview: white bars instead of content. All of the map labels have a white highlight on them, too, and the hotkeys box is simply a bunch of white bars. So there's a lot of in-game text I simply can't see. Any way to correct that? Everything else seems to work - sound and AI appear fine. Is there any CMBB/CMAK graphics tweak utility? I'd really like to be able to play these games again and get back into some scenario design. But as it stands, the games are not playable. Help, please.

Well, it depends on the circumstances and the battle. Would this be a situation where either side's air units would have good reconaissance of the enemy? So extreme might be inappropriate. Certainly extreme for partisan battles, and likely for or heavily wooded areas. But not necessarily for steoppes, open farms and fields. I try to adjust it according to what I deem more realistic for that particular scenario.

Why is anyone answering this dolt? CMBB and all those FPS games are so entirely dissimilar, that there's possible comparison. Might as well ask why the Red Army didn't use light sabres instead of rifles... It's a set up. The troll asks "why don't battlefront..." Surely his inability to use the correct version of the verb should have warned the serious posters here.