Best PC games of all time by Rock Paper Shotgun - CM Barbarossa to Berlin got in

[Hister]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/11/24/best-pc-games/24/

[Erwin]

"Second-generation CM is prettier, more realistic and more flexible than Beyond Overlord, Barbarossa to Berlin, and Afrika Korps, but as it also tends to be fiddlier, more heavily scripted and less generous, some dinosaurs like Yours Truly still prefer the original trio..."

Nice that CM1 still gets a good rap even after all these years.  More an entertaining game than a simulation.

 

[DougPhresh]

I do miss the gigantic TOE and OOB though. Pz 38(T)s and T-26 in the same game as Tiger IIs would be difficult with the fidelity of the CM2 games.

[Erwin]

Just started playing perhaps the last huge CM1 tourney battle organized by WeBOB with over a Regiment inf on each side plus a company or two of AFV's on a (modest for CM1) 3Kmx 3Km map.

Anyone interested:  https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/webandofbrothers/invitiation-to-participate-in-bb13-round-4-t19054.html

 

 

[freecats]

I still enjoy them much more than the newer games. Just so many things to love. Map procgeneration, large toe, large scope, simpler control, and so many missions and campaigns. Plus more varied AI and simplistic units. Makes it feel like a tabletop game. 

[danfrodo]

I picked up CM2 early last year and have been having great time with all the WW2 titles.  In the early years of the century I had picked up CM1 titles, but really had no idea how to play, even though I bought their excellent manual.  Sounds like some of you still play CM1 -- so how does it hold up?  I am thinking I might get CMBB & CMAK just to play in those theatres with that equipment. 

[freecats]

Just now, danfrodo said:

I picked up CM2 early last year and have been having great time with all the WW2 titles.  In the early years of the century I had picked up CM1 titles, but really had no idea how to play, even though I bought their excellent manual.  Sounds like some of you still play CM1 -- so how does it hold up?  I am thinking I might get CMBB & CMAK just to play in those theatres with that equipment. 

Mechanically they are still really solid. Not much has changed in the newer games from the earlier games when it comes to control scheme. AI I enjoy more on the older one. Map Generator is brilliant. Graphics are a bit archaic, but they do their job and don't hinder the experience too much. One thing is that fog does not function. Nvidia used to use a thing called fog tables to render fog. They have stopped supporting it. That is what the original CM games used. If anyone knows how to fix that I would be grateful, but I don't know of any fix for it.

[DougPhresh]

They really do play like a tabletop game, which takes me back. The spotting system is a pain though, as you often end up with a dozen yellow lines on you as soon as you’re spotted!

[danfrodo]

good info, thanks for that, y'all

[TheGreatRadish]

1 hour ago, freecats said:

Mechanically they are still really solid. Not much has changed in the newer games from the earlier games when it comes to control scheme. AI I enjoy more on the older one. Map Generator is brilliant. Graphics are a bit archaic, but they do their job and don't hinder the experience too much. One thing is that fog does not function. Nvidia used to use a thing called fog tables to render fog. They have stopped supporting it. That is what the original CM games used. If anyone knows how to fix that I would be grateful, but I don't know of any fix for it.

See my posts at the bottom of the thread here here - hope it helps.

[freecats]

7 minutes ago, TheGreatRadish said:

See my posts at the bottom of the thread here here - hope it helps.

Thanks for the information. I'll try that when I get some time.

[freecats]

41 minutes ago, TheGreatRadish said:

See my posts at the bottom of the thread here here - hope it helps.

Can you tell me what compatibility settings you have for your game? It starts up really quickly, loads quickly, and is more responsive. Sadly it never draws anything on screen when I get into a mission.

Edited December 12, 2017 by freecats

[danfrodo]

ahh, sounds like might be work.  Thanks

[TheGreatRadish]

34 minutes ago, freecats said:

Can you tell me what compatibility settings you have for your game? It starts up really quickly, loads quickly, and is more responsive. Sadly it never draws anything on screen when I get into a mission.

I didn't change any of the compatibility settings, just ran the exe as is.

[freecats]

2 minutes ago, TheGreatRadish said:

I didn't change any of the compatibility settings, just ran the exe as is.

Thanks for the feedback. Weird. It doesn't work with or without anything changed. Menus are slick and responsive though.

[TheGreatRadish]

Oh, that's a shame.  Works with all CMx1 titles for me - sorry to hear that.  The DDraw dll is definitely in the same folder as  CombatMission2.exe?  I heard another program called dgVoodoo2 also works but I didn't try it because DDraw did so well.  I'm using the CDV retail trilogy disk version, running a new NVidia GTX 1060 card, the latest experimental DDraw release. 

For info, this is my DDRaw log:

 

Quote

11532 21:08:04.022 Process path: D:\Program Files (x86)\Combat Mission 2\CombatMission2.exe
11532 21:08:04.022 Environment variable __COMPAT_LAYER = "DWM8And16BitMitigation DetectorsXP"
11532 21:08:04.022 Loading DDrawCompat from D:\Program Files (x86)\Combat Mission 2\DDRAW.dll
11532 21:08:04.023 Disabling external hook to DirectDrawCreate in apphelp.dll
11532 21:08:04.023 DDrawCompat loaded successfully
11532 21:08:04.175 Installing registry hooks
11532 21:08:04.175 Installing Direct3D driver hooks
11532 21:08:04.175 Installing DirectDraw hooks
11532 21:08:04.190 Hooking user mode display driver: "C:\windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_f936d37e592b25aa\nvldumd.dll"
11532 21:08:04.215 Installing Direct3D hooks
11532 21:08:04.217 Installing GDI hooks
11532 21:08:04.220 Installing display mode hooks
11532 21:08:04.220 Finished installing hooks
11532 21:08:04.585 GDI used DC cache size: 1
11532 21:11:20.300 Detaching DDrawCompat
11532 21:11:20.474 DDrawCompat detached successfully

 

[freecats]

7 minutes ago, TheGreatRadish said:

Oh, that's a shame.  Works with all CMx1 titles for me - sorry to hear that.  The DDraw dll is definitely in the same folder as  CombatMission2.exe?  I heard another program called dgVoodoo2 also works but I didn't try it because DDraw did so well.  I'm using the CDV retail trilogy disk version, running a new NVidia GTX 1060 card, the latest experimental DDraw release. 

For info, this is my DDRaw log:

 

 

Thanks for the info. My DDraw Log looks about the same. I am using the version from battlefront's store. I'll try out dgVoodoo2 now.

[TheGreatRadish]

Ok, good luck - DDraw has a forum too so maybe the guys might be able to help.

[freecats]

Just for future reference if anyone needs it. With DGVoodoo2 I was able to get everything running smoothly, except fog still does not work.

[Erwin]

3 hours ago, danfrodo said:

I picked up CM2 early last year and have been having great time with all the WW2 titles.  In the early years of the century I had picked up CM1 titles, but really had no idea how to play, even though I bought their excellent manual.  Sounds like some of you still play CM1 -- so how does it hold up?  I am thinking I might get CMBB & CMAK just to play in those theatres with that equipment. 

WeBOB is just now starting a CM1 CMBB tournament:  3Km x 3Km map, a Regiment or more of infantry and a couple companies of AFV's on each side if anyone is interested:

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/webandofbrothers/invitiation-to-participate-in-bb13-round-4-t19054.html

When well-modded, CM1 still looks graphically competitive with CM2 at levels 3 and higher.  Of course CM2 looks much better at the lower close-up levels.