Need help with CMBO running Win7 on Boot Camp

[sluggo337]

I recently got Win 7 running through Boot Camp on my iMac and downloaded the demo for CMBO to make sure it works. I've seen other posts indicating this combination should work. However, on startup of the first scenario I noticed a couple of issues. First, in the control panel at the bottom, everything looks fine except the fields where values are supposed to be - such as Turn __ of __. Where the __'s are, instead of showing the actual value, all I see is a white block. Anywhere on the screen that is supposed to display a value it only shows white blocks. Is this a driver issue? I loaded the Windows drivers off my Snow Leopard disk and thought these were the latest. Perhaps not. My second issue is the game doesn't seem to recognize any keyboard inputs. It doesn't respond to the function keys, arrow keys, etc. Again, could this be a driver issue.

Thanks for any help.

[Schrullenhaft]

It appears your Mac has an ATI/AMD Radeon video card and what you're seeing is a common problem unfortunately. The workaround to this is to download the 'Radeon_Text_Fix' and extract the bitmap files from that archive into CMBO's bitmap (BMP) folder to replace the text bitmap files that the game uses. With this replacement the text will now appear as yellow text on a black background. It's not a perfect workaround (since the text is often on a transparent background normally), but it should allow you to see most of the text in the game.

Here's the Knowledgebase article on the missing text. The link to the file is inside the article, but it does not stand out very well.

One other thing you may run into, especially CMBB and CMAK, is that the screens with 2D information in them will appear blank. In those cases you may need to Alt+Tab and minimize CM and then re-maximize it and hopefully that should force a refresh to draw the screen with the missing text. When you run into this problem this process may be necessary for EACH 2D info screen before you load up the 3D game.

[sluggo337]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll check to confirm the video card. Will this continue to be a problem with CM:Normandy? If I run it through Boot Camp? If I run it natively on the Mac (assuming a Mac version will be available)?

[Schrullenhaft]

CM:Normandy is a completely different game engine which uses OpenGL compared to CMBO's use of DirectX. I'm not aware of any issues at the moment with ATI video cards and CMSF/CM:Normandy using the latest drivers.

I don't know all the details about a Mac version's availability, hopefully such information will be available in the near future.

I'm not sure of the reason for the keyboard inputs not working for CMBO. Is there anything unique about your keyboard ? The only thing I found regarding Mac keyboards and Windows 7 was this Apple Wireless keyboard issue, but the keys mentioned are not function keys or arrow keys. Here's another article on Mac keyboards in Windows. One other thing do you need to press the 'fn' key to use the function keys ?

[sluggo337]

Thanks again for the help. Good to hear I won't (hopefully) have the same problem with Normandy.

[Aragorn2002]

Will CMBO, CMBB and CMAK run well with Windows 7? Currently I'm using Windows XP 64, but I'm thinking of upgrading to Windows 7. But not if it means losing my favorite games.

[Schrullenhaft]

Yes, CMBO, CMBB and CMAK can run with Windows 7. There are updates (not free however) for CMBB and CMAK for Windows Vista/7. These two programs have been updated with some slightly newer DirectX commands to fix a problem initially seen in Windows Vista. However driver updates from Nvidia (and I think ATI/AMD suffered from this problem too, at some point) fixed the issue also. So for some users the 1.03 versions of CMBB and CMAK may work fine.

There has been an issue with ATI/AMD drivers causing some random, text-filled 'blots' on the 3D screen. None of the driver updates fixed this, but it did seem to disappear with the 1.04 patch (again, not free).

The reason that the 1.04 patch is not free was because it was done by a third party at the time (our new programmer, Philip). It also uses eLicense, so if your older copy of CMAK or CMBB used disc-based copy protection, then the 1.04 patch would convert it to an eLicense.

CMBO seems to have run OK with Windows Vista and Windows 7 to our knowledge, but there is always the possibility that something may not work (newer video drivers, etc.).

Oh, one thing that seems to have disappeared for Nvidia users is "fog effects". Under Windows XP the fog would be there, but under Windows Vista and Windows 7, fog seems to have disappeared. It still works for ATI/AMD to my knowledge though.

[Aragorn2002]

Thanks, Schrullenhaft. I don't mind paying a bit for being able to continue to play CMBO/CMBB/CMAK.

And with regard to fog. For me it is absolutely essential. I'm going to use the ATI Radeon 4850 X2, so hopefully that will allow fog. At the moment I use GeForce 8800.