Moon
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Posts posted by Moon
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Yeah, the ribbons were a little "bug" when the new skins were first implemented. It's been fixed since. We just didn't want to throw out all the nice pics because of it
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Louie, probably you have the game installed inside the Program Files folder. This is a restricted folder (Microsoft wants it so). You need elevated privileges in order to be able to write files into that folder if you have User Access Control on.
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Pre-orders give you the "mail&download" option by default. This option will cost $55 + S&H after the release. You are getting it for $45 + S&H now, as a pre-order. So you save $10 off the later regular price.
Downloads will cost $45 later on. "Mail only" delivery will cost $45 plus S&H.
Martin
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That's a great find, Gromit! Some great reading is also to be found in a number of the books from the Nafziger Collection, available via our Battlefront Bookshelf:
http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=21&Itemid=26
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There is no printer-friendly Marines manual, sorry.
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Yes, pre-order customers will receive an email. In fact, they will receive it some time before the official release announcement, so you'll be (in theory) the first to download. Make sure to whitelist sales@battlefront.com in your email program (putting it into the "safe sender" list or even sometimes just into the address book should help).
Martin
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John, there is a known redirect bug in this version of vB which, after logging in, redirects you back to the login page. Perhaps that's what bugging you? (no pun intended)
It is possible that the system "logs you out" after some time. Usually this has to do with your "cookies". If you erase them, you lose your login status.
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Pre-ordering a download doesn't make any sense. You won't be able to download any sooner than when it's released.
The discount we offer on some pre-orders is to provide an incentive for people to buy the hardgoods with the printed manual. This is a little "reward" for fans who like the game and do care about the manual, and for us it makes planning the printing a little easier, so it's a win-win. Even if there was the option to pre-order a download, we wouldn't offer any discounts on it.
PS. It's $20 for European customers. $10 for domestic. $20 is only about 14 Euros at the current exchange rate, not a huge amount of money.
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Edit: One item that comes to mind in the CM:SF Manual that does not make sense is the way Condition parameters are defined as well as presented in the Editor.
Based on the definition of Condition (which is found several places in the Manual) it should be shown as-
Friendly Condition < X% - for example, Friendly Condition < 20% meaning less than 20% of Friendly Troops are panicked, routed, exhausted, etc...
Enemy Condition > X% - for example, Enemy Condition > 30% meaning greater than 30% of Enemy Troops are panicked, routed, exhausted, etc...
The way it is in the Manual and in the Mission Editor now, is opposite of what I described, and is bassackwards.
Not sure what is wrong with what is in the manual (v1.20) right now?
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The manual is an often forgotten part of the product done at the last minute when everyone is rushing out the door to go home.
I can't speak for other developers, but that's certainly not the case with us. However, there are some practical limitations:
a) you cannot start to write the manual too early, or you'll end up rewriting 90% of it as the game develops, concepts are tweaked or designs thrown overboard. The main problem with the CMSF manual was in fact that we had started it too early while certain game engine elements were still in flux. This meant portions had to be left vague or were even misunderstood, or ended up being coded slightly differently than originally designed.
unless you are happy to wait half a year longer for the game while the manual is being written in meticulous detail (and of course we cannot use this time for development, because when things change, the manual has to change!), there is always a certain inherent urgency to get a manual done fairly quickly.c) the manual cannot be everything to everyone. Everybody has their own issues they would like to see covered. People have different experience levels with the game. People have different areas that they understand better than others...
But the manual has to "work" for anybody, from the bloodiest novice who breaks open a CM game for the first time, to the hardened veteran. This is an impossible task. Therefore, it is bound to fail for everybody, because it cannot provide all that every single individual wants.
d) we only have so much space to work with. 200 pages is the actual practical real-life limit. Both in terms of cost, but also in terms of what can be packaged and mailed out to customers without having to increase the Shipping & Handling. CM is a complex game, and it is simply not possible to touch upon every little thing within the scope of 200 pages. And before you start with "yes, but at least cover XYZ"... note that everyone has their own list of XYZ's. We cannot cover all of them. Not. Possible.
Having said the above, I think the CMBN manual will be better than the CMSF one. We're more familiar with the base engine. Perhaps more importantly, we know better which concepts are more difficult for users to understand, so they are going to be treated in more detail. And lastly, a number of plain mistakes that were in the CMSF manual are removed (having said that, I recommend to everyone to read the v1.20 CMSF manual if they haven't done so. It is a vast improvement over the printed v1.0 version). The v1.20 comes free with the v1.20 patch (and it's available in the Online Viewer, too).
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Since, the problem with UAC seems well known, is there no way to make a patch for runservice.exe and/or any other eLicense files to solve this?...
I can't speak for the eLicense people. However, we're not waiting for one
Perhaps the improved eLicense will work fine now, but and if it does, will it still work fine when Microsoft will release a new update to it's UAC? or a new Service Pack for Vista or 7? or a new Windows?...Errr... obviously, the people you should ask is Microsoft. If they break compatibility with their new releases, and you use their new releases, then you have to go to their forum and ask them why they did it
We cannot program for things that will happen in the future, sorry.BTW, we are not going to use "an improved eLicense". We are switching to a completely different DRM with this release. It is fully compliant with UAC, Vista, and Win 7.
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Matrix owns Wargamer.com, so it wouldn't be entirely surprising I guess to see them both down at the same time (if they were, I didn't check). Perhaps some server maintenance or a glitch.
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For CM:BN, we are going to refine the manual somewhat and address some of the issues that people (and testers) have been asking for since the CMSF manual. But the manual can only do so much, since it has to also cover the nitty-gritty stuff, so it can't be everything for everybody.
Luckily, one of the the testers from the beta team has put a lot of effort into creating a number of tutorials that hopefully will be included with the release (and partly in the manual, as well).
But either way, the community made tutorials are a great tool, and we're thrilled with how much effort people put into them. Definitely recommended reading. I'm sure we'll see them for CM:BN as well.
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In addition to that, there is a Knowledgebase article up on our Helpdesk, explaining the entire (re-)installation process to get to the latest version:
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There is no har "install limit" and you cannot get "more keys" (other than by buying more). The way eLicense works is that you can not have more than 2 active games *at the same time*. But there is no hard limit - you can unlicense and relicense as often as you like.
If you forget to do that, then at some point your key will spit out an error 11, which means that you didn't unlicense two previously installed games. If you still have the PCs they were on, simply unlicense them now, and you will be able to use your key immediately afterwards. If you don't, then you can also go to www.battlefront.com/helpdesk and click on "Submit Ticket", and request a reset. Do not forget to include your key.
Martin
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Download only, as well as Mail only and Download & Mail delivery options will be available once the game is actually released.
The Shipping & Handling to Europe is $20 currently (about 14 Euros).
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Please contact support@1cpublishingeu.com
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We have a Knowledgebase article on how to completely remove eLicense including the Control Center application:
How can I completely remove the eLicense Control panel?
True that Vista is good at corrupting itself (especially the registry), but in the eLicence case, to make a short story, everytime I tried to create a shortcut I got an Explorer error popup (check web or close program). I gave Microsoft technician access to my PC. He found traces of eLicence, remove it, solving the problem: I was able to create shortcuts again...There is nothing at all connecting eLicense to being able to make shortcuts in Microsoft, or Explorer, or anything of that sort. eLicense is a completely passive application (unlike most DRMs out there)
What's the point of having a 'eLicense Control' icon in Control Panel if clicking on it do nothing?It doesn't do nothing. On most XP systems, it is giving you an overview of the eLicense apps on your PC. On Vista and above, UAC may be preventing this. There is no user functionality tied to it, though, that isn't available elsewhere, but the ControlCenter is (part of) the main eLicense app to manage your activations.
Why I have no problems installing programs from Steam or another wargame online company? No need to play around UAC orsuch...
UAC poses problems for applications that were coded before Microsoft introduced UAC. They tried to code some compatibility features into it, but they do not always work or work as intended. This isn't specific to eLicense or DRM as such, but includes legacy programs as well that are not coded specifically to be UAC compliant (which isn't possible if they were coded before UAC appeared).
So, it's great that you didn't run into any problems yet. But they do exist aplenty. For example, if you're using anti-virus software and set it to heuristic scanning (aka "guessing" at anything unknown to them), you will have all sorts of issues with any protected game. You will also run into issues with many older games under Vista or Win 7 with UAC on. Even Steam has these issues - I know of cases where updating CIV IV via Steam is being blocked by AV programs.
Glad to hear you're, at least, trying to improve eLicense, but sorry, I still have doubt...Not improving eLicense. We're introducing a new system for future releases. I don't know what there is to doubt about it, since you don't even know what we're going to do :confused:
Martin
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Do that much, Moon? Or only on the weekends?
Michael
Only during a full moon.
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Hell if that person could just step up now and give me the weather information for the area day by day I'd love them forever.
I may be hallucinating, but I seem to recall having stumbled upon a website once which had daily weather records for the Normandy region and timeframe. Perhaps try Google and see what comes up. Unfortunately, I have not the slightest idea anymore where I saw this...
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- Strategic Command 2 Blitzkrieg
At the time, I used XP and the game installed without problem. But later I got a new Vista PC. I tried to install SC2 on it, but to no avail. And eLicence managed to corrupt Vista!!! I had to call Microsoft for support...
Heh... eLicense cannot corrupt Vista. Vista can corrupt Vista
The only thing you ened to do usually in order to run eLicense on Vista is to make sure that you launch and install the game with full administrator rights, due to the Windows User Account Control. That's it.- Strategic Command Global ConflictSuccessful installation, but when I clicked the Shortcut of the game, nothing happens...
I had to go to the troubleshooting to find that it was the fault of the clumsy eLicence (RunService.exe in DEP, dx7vb.dll, etc...)
No, the fault is in Windows' clumsy User Account Control
It is block the execution of the encrypted eLicense software because it doesn't know what it is (well, it's encrypted).Having said that, Strategic Command World War 1 The Great War will indeed be using a (slightly) different DRM, and I think you'll find the changes very positive, especially for computers running Vista or Win7 with UAC on.
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More dead bodies on the field, as men carry out order attempts they never would even receive in reality, and entirely realistically get blown apart for their pains.
It sounds like you are blaming the game for mistakes made by the player?
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PS. An alternative is to not install in the Program Files folder (or one of the other protected folders such as Windows or System), but somewhere else.
unless you are happy to wait half a year longer for the game while the manual is being written in meticulous detail (and of course we cannot use this time for development, because when things change, the manual has to change!), there is always a certain inherent urgency to get a manual done fairly quickly.
New German screenshots!!
in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy
Posted
Heh... a hint: there are 10 different vehicles per banner (10 US and 10 German), appearing randomly in groups of 3.