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Forgot how good these games are


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I saw the comments about CMBB and CMAK available on gog.com for $6 each.  Thought, what the heck?  Bought them and was immediately reminded why I have such fond memories.  To me, they are much more of a joy to play than CM2.  CM2 has a lot going for it, but the slow pace of development and patches has soured me on them a little.  The refurbished CMBB and CMAK are a breath of fresh air, if you can get around the clunky mouse interface.

The thing that really shocked me was the smoothness of running the game on a modern system.  Its glass smooth relative to CM2.  and the little dxcfg program  that gog includes with the game actually makes a very big difference in texture quality.  Is it the same level of graphics quality as CM2 game...absolutely not.  But the gog versions install with no hassle, no DRM keys, no errors, and stable as hell.

I have an i7-8750 with a GFX 1070 and in a mid-sized game of CM2 its still a little choppy on mid-settings.  In CMBB and CMAK, it doesn't even tickle the fan on my laptop.  Again, it lacks a lot of the modern sophistication, but its a lot friendlier to my laptop.  And the scope of WW2 combat they cover is so much more than all the CM2 WW2 titles.  As more modules eventually come out for CMRT and maybe CMFI, I'll get drawn back to CM2.  But for now, I am going to hang with my old friends for a bit.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 6/23/2019 at 6:35 PM, Thewood1 said:

I saw the comments about CMBB and CMAK available on gog.com for $6 each.  Thought, what the heck?  Bought them and was immediately reminded why I have such fond memories.  To me, they are much more of a joy to play than CM2.  CM2 has a lot going for it, but the slow pace of development and patches has soured me on them a little.  The refurbished CMBB and CMAK are a breath of fresh air, if you can get around the clunky mouse interface.

The thing that really shocked me was the smoothness of running the game on a modern system.  Its glass smooth relative to CM2.  and the little dxcfg program  that gog includes with the game actually makes a very big difference in texture quality.  Is it the same level of graphics quality as CM2 game...absolutely not.  But the gog versions install with no hassle, no DRM keys, no errors, and stable as hell.

I have an i7-8750 with a GFX 1070 and in a mid-sized game of CM2 its still a little choppy on mid-settings.  In CMBB and CMAK, it doesn't even tickle the fan on my laptop.  Again, it lacks a lot of the modern sophistication, but its a lot friendlier to my laptop.  And the scope of WW2 combat they cover is so much more than all the CM2 WW2 titles.  As more modules eventually come out for CMRT and maybe CMFI, I'll get drawn back to CM2.  But for now, I am going to hang with my old friends for a bit.

Which version of CMAK did you get? Was it the fully patched 1.04 version? Thanks.

The CMx1 games are still not available in the new Battlefront store.

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On 7/12/2019 at 6:48 AM, Thewood1 said:

I am assuming you saw I bought them on Gog.  They are fully patched.  Why not just go there and take a look?  I am not sure your point.

Thanks for letting us know about gog. I just saw now in a comment that it is patched only to 1.03 which should be fine they say. I bought it. Thanks again.

The reason I asked about patches was, if you see the other threads, people have trouble getting it patched depending on how they acquired the game.

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On 6/23/2019 at 8:35 PM, Thewood1 said:

and the little dxcfg program  that gog includes with the game actually makes a very big difference in texture quality.  Is it the same level of graphics quality as CM2 game...absolutely not.  But the gog versions install with no hassle, no DRM keys, no errors, and stable as hell.

What is this dxcfg program?  I have Version 1.04 from Battlefront and have two graphics problems:

1)  the screen resolution is too long and narrow; I've tried changing the game's resolution, but the only other available options were worse; and

2)  the in-game graphics are much clunkier than I remember them being, they look almost like lego models...

Any tips?

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The CMX1 games lack true widescreen resolutions. If you're running standard HD (1920 x 1080), then CM's closest resolution would be 1600 x 1200, which may result in some 'stretching' on your screen. I believe, but haven't used it myself, the dxcfg.exe program that GOG provides can adjust the display/video driver so that the image isn't stretched, but instead 'centered' (and thus there will be a black border around the game). I'm not certain what else it may do.

The clunkiness of the 3D models can't really be changed, though there are texture mods that can make some things look a little better. I think the GOG version may have a lot of those mods included (though not installed and running by default).

If you purchase the GOG distribution, you could use the dxcfg program with your standard 1.04 programs from Battlefront (as far as I know).

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  • 1 month later...

In respect to the OP, me too.

Not content to simply lament the state of campaign play in CMx2 games, I got all proactive about it :)

Bought CMBB and CMAK for the operations. I played CMBB religiously through about 2008, but for whatever reason I had skipped CMAK. Having a discussion about it on another board the thought struck me that maybe, just maybe, CMAK has operations too! Not sure why it took me 15 years to realize this, but I am now one happy campaigner with all of these new (to me) operations to play.

I got the GOG versions, and technically they are sound, as I was worried I could run in to issues. So far so good though. Sure, there are things missed from the newer games (relative spotting and mouse wheel camera elevation at the top of the list for me), but no problem to look past it's datedness and just enjoy it for what it is. The wave of nostalgia rolled over me when I hit the main menu screen, but it's deeper than that.  These games are simpler, but retain the tactical appeal and stand the test of time, and far better than just about any other games from their era, aside from Falcon 4 perhaps :)

Plus, they have Combined Arms setting in QMB!

Eventually I will be seeking new campaigns and operations to try, but with all that are included in the base game I'm set for some time to come.

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Over the weekend I dove in head first and played through three or four CMBB Operations. Good stuff. Running CMBB in 1920x1080 seems like witchcraft. But it all plays great, runs great.

It brings back so many good memories, starting a battle or operation and seeing the map and reacting like "I remember this one!".

It plays differently than CMx2 of course, and some things are missed as CMx2 spoiled me in some ways. Spotting, as mentioned, is the biggest difference for me. What I wouldn't give to transpose relative spotting in to CMx1!

Command delay is a great feature I think, especially on the East Front, where it has a telling effect. I miss the more robust artillery mechanics from the newer games too.

On the other hand, I like how you can plot indirect fire on areas of the map with no LOS. It was one of my first complaints when playing my first CMx2 game. In CMx1 you can drop rounds for instance anywhere, regardless of LOS. See a crossroads on the map that you want to shell? Have at it. Accuracy is affected as the fall of shot is unobserved perhaps. But it can be done. In CMx2 it's tied too strictly to LOS.

A perfect example is an AT gun poking through a hedgerow on the other side of a field. You place a mortar in a hedge with LOS to the opposite one and call for fire. Round after round drops 5 feet short. You cannot place the fire just behind the hedge since you cannot see it. 

Mortar fire for example should be allowed anywhere within the weapon's range, with of course accuracy penalties for unobserved fall of shot. As it is I can't shell that crossroads on my map because I can't see it through the copse of woods. But it's right there on my map! Can't I transmit co-ordinates or something, like over the radio?  Any object should be considered an aiming stake for indirect fire. Even if I know that place is full of enemy, I can't get mortar rounds in there unless I can see the spot. I can't lob rounds over that barn to hit troops behind it if the mortar squad or a spotter cannot see that ground. In CMx1 you can, with varying degrees of accuracy, and that's good in my view.

Can anyone point me with a link to the best places to grab Operations for CMx1 games?

Edited by landser
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3 hours ago, landser said:

Over the weekend I dove in head first and played through three or four CMBB Operations. Good stuff. Running CMBB in 1920x1080 seems like witchcraft. But it all plays great, runs great.

It brings back so many good memories, starting a battle or operation and seeing the map and reacting like "I remember this one!".

It plays differently than CMx2 of course, and some things are missed as CMx2 spoiled me in some ways. Spotting, as mentioned, is the biggest difference for me. What I wouldn't give to transpose relative spotting in to CMx1!

Command delay is a great feature I think, especially on the East Front, where it has a telling effect. I miss the more robust artillery mechanics from the newer games too.

On the other hand, I like how you can plot indirect fire on areas of the map with no LOS. It was one of my first complaints when playing my first CMx2 game. In CMx1 you can drop rounds for instance anywhere, regardless of LOS. See a crossroads on the map that you want to shell? Have at it. Accuracy is affected as the fall of shot is unobserved perhaps. But it can be done. In CMx2 it's tied too strictly to LOS.

A perfect example is an AT gun poking through a hedgerow on the other side of a field. You place a mortar in a hedge with LOS to the opposite one and call for fire. Round after round drops 5 feet short. You cannot place the fire just behind the hedge since you cannot see it. 

Mortar fire for example should be allowed anywhere within the weapon's range, with of course accuracy penalties for unobserved fall of shot. As it is I can't shell that crossroads on my map because I can't see it through the copse of woods. But it's right there on my map! Can't I transmit co-ordinates or something, like over the radio?  Any object should be considered an aiming stake for indirect fire. Even if I know that place is full of enemy, I can't get mortar rounds in there unless I can see the spot. I can't lob rounds over that barn to hit troops behind it if the mortar squad or a spotter cannot see that ground. In CMx1 you can, with varying degrees of accuracy, and that's good in my view.

Can anyone point me with a link to the best places to grab Operations for CMx1 games?

See http://www.the-scenario-depot.com/ (scenario depot 2 so to say; 3 is for the newer games).

Scenarios link near the top allows you to search for Battles or Operations with a ton of filtering criteria.

Gerry

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Thanks Gerry, that's helpful. I looked here already, but didn't see the advanced search where I could filter by operations, so cheers for that.

I'll be trying some of these shortly.

Which CMAK and CMBB Operations are your favorites?

Ideally for me it's around company-sized, but I can work up to a battalion if it's a good one.

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I bought CMBB a long time ago and never played much. Bought it again and did the same. Now I bought CMBB and CMAK on GOG but life is very busy for the next year unfortunately so I am only dabbling with small scenarios vs the AI. So unfortunately I haven't got into operations yet. Maybe in the future.

We used to play Squad Battles some years ago I believe.

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Thanks all the same, with your user name perhaps I assumed too much :)

I've managed to play through several operations by now, and will grab a few new ones from that link.

Operations aren't perfect, but I like them.  Static and advance operations work well enough, I like that preservation of force has some meaning, and how the front line moves to reflect your success or failure. I haven't worked out how the new front line is calculated. Seems to be somehow attached to your force's 'mass'. Tied to where the bulk of your forces end the previous battle. Not really sure, but I like how it allows you to capture key terrain and benefit from that in the next battle as well as deny it to your enemy.

For example in the Op Dergatschi Roadblock there's about 1000m of mostly open ground before you reach the edge of Kharkov, but if you can get there, you'll have buildings to deploy in for the start of the next battle. If not, you're left deploying once again in open ground.

Edited by landser
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Another site to check is the Blowtorch one:

http://www.blowtorchscenarios.com/Newest Scenarios/newest scenarios.htm

Lot of themed scenarios by George McEwan and a colleague plus at least one is an operation - Sunday Dance.

Haven't played these as they seem big? But found the site as Jason from the forums has his Russian Training Scenarios posted there:

http://www.blowtorchscenarios.com/

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