Canuckgd

Thank you both for this . It's reading time! Glenn

Thank you both for this . It's reading time! Glenn

I'm badly in need of some tutoring in CMAK, CMBB & CMBO. I'm not talking about game mechanics, but the actual handling/movements of troops and armour. In other words, how best to deploy and fight. I had a quick look at the CMBB Strategy Guide and wondered how specific it was to CMBB, or whether the tactics and whatnot would carry over to CMAK & CMBO. If the guide is geared towards the "personality" of the Russians for instance, then that may not apply to the Canadians, British and Americans. However, if it is a more generic guide to how to do battle, that would help quite a lot. Anyway, any and all recommendations would be most appreciated. Thanks much Glenn

I'm badly in need of some tutoring in CMAK, CMBB & CMBO. I'm not talking about game mechanics, but the actual handling/movements of troops and armour. In other words, how best to deploy and fight. I had a quick look at the CMBB Strategy Guide and wondered how specific it was to CMBB, or whether the tactics and whatnot would carry over to CMAK & CMBO. If the guide is geared towards the "personality" of the Russians for instance, then that may not apply to the Canadians, British and Americans. However, if it is a more generic guide to how to do battle, that would help quite a lot. Anyway, any and all recommendations would be most appreciated. Thanks much Glenn

Yeah, tell me about it . I'm an Electronics (Avionics) Tech . I haven't looked at the specs for those, but basically if you start pulling on the power supply to the point where voltages are dropping because current is above the max, then you have a problem (which is what you stated). I suspect I'm going for a new machine outright, built to take the high end stuff. Specs are nice on it, and there's nothing cheap in it, so it should be fun. Will go with the NVidia 6800 GT card. Hopefully that will allow me to run CMAK & CMBB (and CMX2 when it's out) in a higher resolution without the slide-show effect. I'll let you know .

Probably. I had an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro and I think it too needs that PS. These are heavyweight cards for sure.

Schrullenhaft, Man, thank you for this! Your explanation is really great and makes a lot of sense to me. I think my decision to get the Matrox wasn't the best in the end, particularly if the 2D performance of the NVidia is equal that of the Matrox. Such is life, and no great harm done. I've been trying to decide whether to add a PC or simply change video cards. I think I'll do the latter for now. Many thanks again for the assist! Glenn

OK, if I may continue this thread a bit here, if you have a high end processor with lots of RAM and a fast bus, do you believe that a higher end graphics card with more VRAM (such as a GeForce 6800) will make a significant difference in CM when compared with a low end 32 meg VRAM card? I'm thinking of putting together a new machine, so this is why I ask. Thanks Glenn

Thanks Schrullenhaft. I've actually got a bunch of horses under the hood (P4 3GHz 800 FSB w/1 Gig Kingston PC3200 DDR RAM). I recently switched to the Matrox G550 which is an outstanding card, but I was thinking the 32 meg VRAM would be plenty. However, my graphics on a large scenario have slowed to a crawl. On the smaller scenarios it's reasonable, but still not what it should be. In any event, I'm seriously thinking of adding a new PC, and will have it built custom to what I need/want. So, it will be in the 3.4 GHz range (Intel) and I'll put in the high-end NVidia card. The old machine will be a backup for me (I'm a Nature Photographer whose gone digital, so a backup is a really good idea anyway). Thanks for the help - that's good to know . Glenn

Can anyone tell me if larger VRAM helps in the CM series (CMAK, CMBO, CMBB)? Mine is pretty low at 32 megs, but I'm not sure CM actually requires/uses that much VRAM. Thanks . Glenn

OK, the card has 32 megs RAM, and you're right, the Matrox doesn't have AA. I ran the dxdiag program and everything there checked fine, and it does have an entry for "AGP Texture Acceleration: Enabled" so I'm not sure if that means it's enabled IF there are AGP drivers installed, or if there have to be AGP drivers installed in order for that function to be enabled (I would assume the latter). It would be best though if I could confirm that the AGP drivers are installed in some other way. Thanks. Glenn

I went one step further and reduced my resolution to 800 x 600, and things got much better still (although I'm wondering if there is a memory leak somewhere as it started off much faster than it finished). I suspect more than anything, I run at a higher resolution than most people in this game which is likely why other's may not have seen this issue with the CPU and RAM setup that I have. Stats show that most folks seem to run somewhere around 1024 x 768, and I suspect this scenario would tax that a bit (it does on my machine, anyway). So, I'll just run the heavy stuff at 800 x 600, and the lighter stuff at 1024. No big deal. Glenn

Redwolf - this is Michael Dorosh's "Little Stalingrad" - the Ortona operation, and it is huge in terms of map size and object density. It's a city basically, with tonnes of buildings, trees, etc. I think the length is somewhere near 1500 metres or so. I believe the drivers are installed properly - I'm not 100% sure as I had the store do it, but these guys do professional setups for companies, and I'm pretty sure they know what they're doing (in other words, this wasn't installed at Future Shop ). The correct drivers come up in the Properties windows. Is there anything else I can do to check (run dxdiag for instance)? Glenn

OK, sounds like there's not a lot to be done. This is a really big operation mostly inside Ortona with lots of landmarks, zillions of houses, etc (it's a really impressive looking battlefield - Mike did a great job on this). OK, I'll see how it goes. At lower resolutions it does get playable, albeit still very jerky. Thanks junk2drive. Appreciate the feedback. Glenn

Howdy Gang, I just changed my video card out (as some of you know) from an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256 to a Matrox G550. The latter is not a 3D card per se, but I got it mainly to do photo-editing on my machine, and that one would show fog in CM (which it does). I was under the impression that CM didn't use a lot of 3D in the game so I wasn't too worried about performance. Since I switched though, CM has slowed to a crawl on some of the larger battlefields, or where there is a lot of detail. I have turned off many of the graphics stuff in the game, but that really defeats the purpose of having got a card that will show those things. In the Operation I'm playing now, I had to finally reduce my screen resolution to make the scenario playable (in the higher resolution - 1280 x 1024, it would take 1 to 4 seconds after clicking on a unit for the unit to actually be selected). So, question is, will the video card make that much difference in CM (especially CMAK and CMBB)? My rig is a P4 3GHz, 800 FSB with 1 Gig of Kingston PC3200 DDR RAM with Windows XP Pro, SP2 for the OS. I will likely end up getting a new machine that's strictly used for gaming and probably will equip it with an NVidia card, but before I do that, I'd like to get to the bottom of this mystery so that I don't spend $700 on a video card that isn't going to make a difference . Thanks for any help/feedback. Glenn

OK, I'm probably the second-best strategician in the world. Who's first, you ask? Well, just about everyone else . Question for those who have played the Subject scenario in CMAK. In the window when the game is underway, it shows the Germans as being the attackers and the US as being defenders. I'm confused by that, because it is supposed to be the Rangers attacking the German guns, is it not (and as for that, all I see are flags, no guns)? Second question is (referring back to my first para), has anyone found a way to beat the Germans in this one? It seems I'm outnumbered and attacking in broad daylight. Obviously I'm doing something wrong (yeah, like LOSING! :mad: ), so my strategy is "suspect", but I'm not sure how one would tackle this problem. Any advice on tactics would be great. By the by, I'm calling into question my tactics and "skill", not the scenario or the designer of said. It's a neat scenario. Thanks,

Ahh, saw that one. Thanks!

I just received my copy yesterday afternoon. Thanks - just what I needed - a new addiction . Great book, very informative and I like the style of different fonts used for the descriptions vs. reports. Well worth the money, and I am looking forward to getting into some of the scenarios that go with it. Good job!

Ahh, glad to hear it. AV software is often the culprit on any installation. I'll be in touch . Glenn

I read that Michael Dorosh has made an Ortona Operation for CMAK. Am I correct in this, and does anyone know where I can get it? I did a search at the Scenario Depot but came up empty. Thanks Glenn

OK, it *sounds* like it might be that another program is running when you are trying to install CMAK. Perhaps the first thing to try is an uninstall, then a reinstall, and make SURE no other programs (especially anti-virus) are running in the background. If that doesn't work, and you still think it's a graphics card problem (not likely if it's causing a CTD), then right click on the desktop. Go to Settings then Advanced. I forget exactly which tab it's under, but start checking around in those until you find Anti-Aliasing. If it's on, deselect it. I wish I could remember exactly what tab that is under as I used a Radeon for quite a while. Anyway, don't make ANY changes you are unfamiliar with. When backing out of menus (if you don't find the AA under that tab), use Cancel rather than "OK" - just in case. Good luck, and hopefully someone else here might be a bit more knowledgeable on this. Glenn

OK, deal is done. Both folders are backed up. Any recommendations on best place/best (i.e. SAFEST ) mods to get for either CMAK OR CMBB? I'm not looking for a lot of them at this point, but would really like to get some snow uniform mods (whites) asap. Many thanks. Glenn

Good ideas! I'll be wanting to add some mods as time goes on, so I'll do both those suggestions. Many thanks! . Glenn

Sounds good Tooz! I think you'll be happier in the long run with NVidia. The "atmosphere" in CM games is fantastic, so if you can't crank it or even use it, it really takes a lot of the fun (and "fog" - literally) out of things. Now that I just got CMAK (still waiting on CMBO), I'll start looking at mods and scenarios. I'll definitely keep an eye out for scenarios from Bannon . Me-thinks he's "rejuvenated", and that's a good thing for the rest of us . Glenn

Thanks junk2drive - I did and it's in successfully . Looks really good too. I'm going to do the tutorial scenario this evening (I've been playing CM for a year and a half now, but I still like doing the tutorial because I relearn things I've forgotten). One thing I REALLY like in this version is the neat que-card/quick-manual that the disk comes in. Man, that's handy! Some of the "cartoons" are pretty hilarious as well, so great job again CM! I got the companion book with it as well, so there'll be my reading for a bit. Gotta remember to get the add-on scenarios before I go, too. I'm off to see if I can get myself KIA'd or Surrendered in the tutorial then . Catch you later, and thanks for the feedback Glenn