Schrullenhaft

If the file names have a .zip on the end, then they are compressed. Windows should be able to decompress these files by double-clicking on them. Windows then opens up another Explorer file manager window that shows what the files are inside. To decompress the files you can right-click on the .zip file and select 'extract' from the popup menu. If you have a compression program such as WinZip, 7-zip, WinRAR, etc. then double-clicking on the file should open it up in that compression program and allow you to extract the files. You may to create a directory for the original download file and extract to that directory (instead of possibly the Desktop, which can make it a bit messy with the extracted files). With the files extracted you will want to run the .exe file to execute the setup program. For example the 4.0 Upgrade for CMBS (Black Sea) is 'CMBS_v200_Setup.exe'. Double-clicking on this file should run the setup program. Before doing this you MAY want to temporarily disable your security software since it is possible that the file may get falesly identified as malware (I haven't heard of this in particular with the 4.0 Upgrade programs, but it is always a possibility). During the installation process the installer should present the directory that it will install the files to. This is where you want to make sure that the game files are installed to. Typically it should identify the default directory, but if you haven't used the default, then you will want to direct the installer to where the game is currently installed to.

The 'upgrade' files are typically .zip compressed. Did you uncompress the files (Windows should be able to do this or possibly use 7-zip or other compression programs) ? These files don't need to be anywhere in particular (the 'installer' will put the files where they need to be). Once uncompressed you have to launch the installer and this should actually install the upgrade files (as long as the installation is going to the correct location of the game).

The 'full' version is just that, a full installation from scratch of the game. For games that have modules and battle packs, it will often include those too (which have to be activated with a license key for each). The 'update' version is smaller and expects to see a version 3.0 installation to update that (only providing the files that have changed). Modules and Battle Packs typically won't be included with the 'upgrade' files (other than to upgrade the module executables or changed data files). For Black Sea (CMBS) there is a Battle Pack, but I believe it may only be included in the 2.10 patch. So an 'upgrade' download may be sufficient here. For Final Blitzkrieg there are no modules or Battle Packs, so the 'upgrade' download should be sufficient too.

Login to the main Battlefront website (www.battlefront.com). Click on the 'Login' button near the upper right and login with your Battlefront Store login, which usually has an 'Username' that is your email address (this may be different from your Forum login). The 'My Account' info then shows up, click on the link that says 'My Orders'. This will be a listing of all purchases from Battlefront since 2007. Identify the order by clicking on the 'Click to view' text at the end of an order and this will open up the order details. The 'Order Content' section will list the products purchased and possibly their license key ('Activation code') if it involved a download. For downloads click on the hyperlink near the bottom of each item (it will usually have 'battlefront.sharefile.com' in the link). This will take you to Battlefront's service on Sharefile. In here will be a graphical presentation of possibly several folders icons that represent files (typically .zip compressed files). Click on the checkmark box in the upper left corner of each file that you want to download. There may be Mac and Windows versions present within the list, so read the file names carefully by hovering your cursor over the file name (to read the entire file name). With the files that you want checkmarked, click the blue 'Download' button towards the lower right of the file listing. If you select more than one file, the file name may default to 'Files.zip', which requires being extracted to pull out the individual installers/files that you selected.

Interesting. I assume that this external sound card may have been hooked up when you originally activated the game (CMBS). If that is the case, then it may need to be connected each time you run CMBS. I'm not sure why the CMBN Demo wouldn't work though. Parts of the copy-protection system are disabled (to my knowledge) for the Demos, but perhaps what remains might be dependent on a system configuration that an activated game has used.

I believe Steve **MAY** readd this title to the store in a few weeks. I know the CMx1 titles, CMBO, CMBB and CMAK will be added once Steve gets the time.

The old eLicense copy-protected games would require you to 'unlicese' the old installation first in order to preserve the activation (two per license key - an internet connection is necessary for the unlicensing). CMSF, CMA, CMBO, CMBB, CMAK, most of the Strategic Command series and a number of other games used this copy-protection system. Newer games from CMBN and on utilize a newer copy-protection system that does NOT have an unlicense function. Instead each license key has four initial activations and you simply activate the new installation on the new computer (or reinstallation of your OS, etc.), using a second activation, etc.. When you run out of activations you can simply contact the Helpdesk to request more activations (providing the license keys of those products that need new activations).

I don't have an absolute answer for you, but a number of vehicles do not have the correct 'visible' model in both CMAK/CM3 and CMBB/CM2. This was intentional due to so many vehicles being in the games in the first place. There either simply wasn't enough time or resources to make all of the models and textures for each unique vehicle. So 'equivalent' vehicles were used in their place. This is true of quite a few other vehicles in the game beyond what you've noticed.

The license keys should work, even if the order doesn't show up in the system. The eLicense system that CMSF and CMA uses is not dependent on the store (as long as the license key is valid and entered in corrrectly). While downloads would have a license key listed in the store account (if purchased after the store went online), 'hard goods' license keys did NOT show up there unless it was a 'download + delivery' option. 'Delivery only' would have a sticker with the license key on the disc case, but there would be no license key in the order listed in the store. The old store didn't go online until months after CMSF was released in 2007. So all of the 'pre-orders' never had a listing in the old store account. Moving to the new store this would remain the case, since the data wasn't there to move over. The record of the sales were in external files (not part of the website).

What video card and driver are you using on your Windows 10 computer ? Generally I would expect CMBB/CMAK to work under Windows 10, even with just the 1.03 version. However I have seen issues with Radeon video cards (pre-1.04) and I haven't really kept up what other drivers might currently experience with Windows 10. You CAN upgrade to the 1.04 patch (originally for 'Vista compatibility' at the time) with your CDV 1.03 game. The patch will convert you to using eLicense (which can run into some issues with DEP and some security/anti-virus programs). To see if 1.04 will work for you, try the current 1.04 CMBB demo. If this works, then purchasing the patch should get you going again. Unfortunately the store won't open until today or in the next several days (don't know exactly when).

Krautman - I have CMBB 1.04 running under Windows 10 (v 1803) with a GeForce GTX 770 (with the 388.13 driver - I haven't tried anything newer). No special driver was needed (aka the 'Ddraw' DLL file mentioned in another thread). In the 'Properties' (right-click on launching icon) and going to the 'Compatibility' tab I only have 'Run this program as an administrator' checked. The menus seem to come up fine with this driver and display. It IS necessary to Alt-Tab out of the game once you reach the 3D battlefield and then remaximize the game. This will allow the game to run at a normal speed (otherwise it is very slow). I'm not sure what copy-protection CDV 1.03 may be using (if any at all - I believe the 'Anthology' edition had no copy-protection). With the 1.04 patch you will want to make sure that it overwrites the CDV executable (this may require manual placement of the executable file and some other files that come with the 1.04 patch) and that it is that particular file you are launching (I'm not sure if the CDV version uses the same filename or not). You will need to activate the license key you got with 1.04 (if you haven't done that already on this particular computer). Typically if you haven't activated the license key you should see the license dialog box. Once activated you may need to go through the resolution selection process if this hasn't been run before on this Windows 10 installation. This will be automatic if no 'prefs' file is found. The resolution selection process usually is a series of boxes with the listed resolution and vertical refresh rate listed inside. If you're running 1920 x 1080 or less, then the first (and typically the highest) resolution offered is 1600 x 1200. However it may run this resolution at a really high refresh rate (possibly 160 or 120 Hz). If you can't read this on your display (it either 'blacks out' or scrambles the image), just sit tight and within about 5 seconds the next lower vertical refresh rate at that same resolution should be offered. Once you reach 60Hz, then the next offering will be the next lower resolution, but again at the highest vertical refresh rate available. This continues on until you reach 800 x 600 at 60Hz. After that you get a DirectX error and the game closes down (if unfortunately can't 'loop' around to start over again). If that happens, simply run the game again and hopefully an usable resolution is offered.

Video drivers DO NOT always get better with newer releases and not all fixes are cumulative (or even 'permanent' as some bugs come around again and again). It is unfortunately common for video driver developers to create bugs in their drivers in attempts to optimize them. Typically many 'optimizations' are in reality shortcuts, which are made with certain assumptions about game code. What may work fine with a certain set of calls ends up being broken with a different set of calls (that perhaps aren't as common). As IanL pointed out, most games on the PC are DirectX and not OpenGL, so you're unlikely to see the same bug in most other games. You're probably unlikely to find another game on your computer that is OpenGL 2.x based. If an older driver works fine, then you know that the newer one has bugs and is the source of the problem. Unfortunately it may take some time for a fix to show up (several releases, possibly a year or more sometimes). It's possible a fix may come, but you won't necessarily see it mentioned in the release notes. OpenGL 2.x is a bit dated, but in general it offers some of the best compatibility and broadest support (in the number of video cards/chips and drivers to support it) compared to newer OpenGL revisions that require newer video cards. Utilizing newer OpenGL calls may alleviate some of the issues found in some drivers releases, but it would be quite a bit of work to potentially get any speed improvements and improved compatibility (more than likely more than a year of programmer time).

As with your CMFI thread, I would recommend downloading the all-in-one CMBN installer (about 4GB, I believe; 'CM Normandy 4.00 Full Windows'). Your current install is missing some patches, such as 3.12 and possibly the 2.12 patch (I'm not sure what the 'normandyv220.brz' file comes from). The full installer will install everything you need. If you decide to go that route, I suggest backing up any saved games and/or non-standard scenarios and campaigns that don't come with the game by default and of course any mods that you're using.

Interesting - I have no idea why the affinity would make a difference unless the other cores are busy with OS duties and other tasks. I seemed to have resolved it by renaming the 'intro.wmv' file to 'intro-off.wmv', which appears to have prevented it from loading/playing. The menu and in-game audio seemed fine after that.

This has happened before with Apple. Apple abandoned QuickDraw RAVE 3D (what the original CM1 games were programmed with) when they moved from OS 9.x to OS X. Of course that was a VERY significant change to the very nature of the OS, so it was somewhat expected. However Apple had claimed that there would be some sort of compatibility layer that would allow such games that utilized the QuickDraw RAVE 3D API to continue to run, but it never came about. I think there may have been attempts, but they were abandoned at some point before OS X's release. They had libraries and APIs to help developers move over from OS 9.x to OS X, but they didn't touch any 3D capabilities. You had to start over with OpenGL. DirectX, in and of itself, doesn't necessarily provide better stability and performance on the PC. As an API it still suffers from 'overhead' like OpenGL does. However video driver developers definitely spend much more man hours supporting and optimizing their DirectX drivers. DirectX 12 is somewhat like Apple's Metal API in that it is 'closer to the metal' with reduced overhead with the price of increased code complexity. However optimizing/structuring your graphics code to wring every possible bit of speed (while still being maintainable) is a very laborious process, even with newer APIs which usually provide more/newer effects rather than higher performing functions. Unity would allow for developing one code base that targets both Windows and Mac. However the Metal support in Unity is still fairly basic at this point with some more progress expected over this year and next.

The problem with this is that you have to develop for an unique graphics API ('Metal') on the Mac. Currently the CM2 series utilizes OpenGL for both Windows and Mac (and, I assume, some tweaking to get it working properly for each environment). This allows Battlefront to simultaneously develop for both Mac and PC without having two significant code bases (saving time coding and testing). Dropping OpenGL on the Mac means that development time could nearly double since the PC and Mac versions would have significant code base differences. This does NOT bode well for Mac since it is the smaller share of game purchases, which could mean the Mac gets MUCH later releases of game titles IF they get developed at all (speaking of CM here, but it's probably true for most small game developers). From what I gather it is actually HARDER (or simply more time consuming) to write graphics code in Metal (or Vulkan) than OpenGL since the API is 'closer to the metal' and thus requires more code to accomplish the same thing. There is less API 'overhead' with these new APIs and so they're potentially a bit faster than OpenGL (when what you're coding suffers from the API's inefficiencies). The biggest problem with this announcement is that the future compatibility of the current CM2 series is in doubt. 10.14 or later may break OpenGL compatibility (this is especially possible in the video drivers that Apple includes in their OS releases) significantly enough that the CM2 series will not run on newer MacOSes. Battlefront would have to develop a new graphics engine utilizing Metal and that could take quite awhile (years). There are some ways around this, but it depends on the support of those environments to support Metal fully, and that too could take some time.

If none of the above suggestions have helped, then I would suggest uninstalling and reinstalling CMBN. This is fairly easy if you have the 'all-in-one' CMBN 4.0 Upgrade installer which installs everything. All modules and upgrades should remain activated too with an uninstall as long as you're installing to the same Windows installation that the game/modules were activated on previously (you should see the icons for everything load up in the lower left of the initial CMBN main menu). If you're installing to a non-standard location and/or your user folder has been modified to redirect elsewhere, then you may want to mention that in your Helpdesk ticket.

Which version of Windows 10 do you have ? Referencing version 1803, go to the Start Menu > Gear icon (Settings) > System control panel > Display menu item (on left). In the right pane, towards the top in the section labeled 'Scale and Layout', make sure that the setting selected in the drop down dialog is set to '100% (Reommended)'. Underneath that setting click on the text that says 'Advanced scaling settings'. In here in the section towards the top and the text that says 'Let Windows try to fix apps so they're not blurry', set that to 'OFF'. Below that in the 'Custom Scaling' section make sure that there is no entry type into the box (no numbers at all). Click the 'Apply' button if you've made changes. With changes it may be necessary to reboot (I'm not sure). For the 'Change high DPI settings' within the app's compatibility tab UNCHECK both boxes and see if the error goes away on your laptop. If that doesn't work, then check the box for the 'Override high DPI scaling behavior' and in the drop box below it select 'Application' and try that out. Basically what we want is for Windows to NOT scale the DPI settings (in whatever manner it does this). This behavior seems to interfere with CM games and I assume your laptop may be set to use some sort of scaling.

Windows 10 is capable of controlling the audio level for individual programs. Perhaps the setting for CMBN is on 'mute'. Here's an article on adjusting the volume for individual programs in Windows 10.

I haven't. Are you using any mods, especially interface mods (it doesn't look like it from the screenshot) ? If you minimize the game (Alt-Tab, Esc, etc.) and re-maximize it does it clear up the button display issue or does it remain ? Do the buttons with the actual graphics on them (play, fast forward, etc.) work or do you have to click in the region of the button that is below ?

If you're trying to install CMBN 1.x on Windows 10 you'll run into issues with attempting to activate that 1.x license. The copy protection system used with CMBN 1.x is NOT compatible with Windows 10. You'll need CMBN 2.x or later to actually activate your license key. Do you have access to any downloads for CMBN, especially the 'all-in-one' installer for the 4.0 Upgrade ? If you do, then you'll want to install that instead. If you don't, then you'll want to wait before activating any license keys until you've installed most of the upgrades and/or modules. If you need more details, we'll need to know exactly what installers you have access to (DVDs, downloads, upgrades, modules, etc.).

Do you have CMA (Afghanistan) ? If so, does it work ? It uses the same copy-protection system as CMSF and its engine is the closest to CMSF compared to the latter games (CMBN on).

The network provider that Battlefront uses has a distributed network. It's possible that the closest 'node' to you is experiencing issues and/or may be overloaded hosting some other customer. You can contact the Helpdesk (providing your physical location and possibly the ISP you're using) and Battlefront may contact their network provider to see what the issue is and if there is anything that they can do about it.

You may want to try out an OpenGL benchmark and see how your card performs. I assume most of your other games are DirectX and could behave a bit differently compared to CM with OpenGL. One to try is GFXBench 4.0 (Desktop edition). See if your results are close to the median for Radeon RX 550. If they are wildly different from the median, then there would seem to be something going on with either the video card, the drivers or something about your OS environment. AMD's OpenGL drivers DO result in slower scenario loading (up to 3 or 4 times slower). My assumption is that some OpenGL calls used for setting up the 3D environment are very un-optimized compared to Nvidia's OpenGL drivers. Within the game though the performance should be mildly comparable on nearly equivalent hardware (i.e. - AMD will NOT be 3 - 4 times slower doing any sort of graphics work in-game). What sort of mouse do you use ? You may want to see if there are updated drivers for it if it isn't a common, wired mouse (which would likely just use Microsoft Windows provided drivers). If necessary, close down any mouse-specific control panels and be sure to use 'standard' cursors (rather than 'animated' or 'custom' cursors - which are not commonly used anymore). If your mouse is wireless, you may want to try a wired mouse if you have access to one and see if that makes a difference.

The Radeon RX 550 should be a general improvement over a GeForce GT 720, even if the OpenGL drivers from Nvidia typically work a bit better. Does this 'jerkiness' happen regardless of the scenario being played ? In other words even if you were to play a small scenario you would be seeing this jerkiness in movement ? Are you playing real-time or a turn-based game ? What are the other specs of your computer (CPU, memory, etc.) ? What Windows version are you running and what drivers do you have installed ? If you have the latest drivers, then perhaps uninstalling them and installing a slightly older driver MIGHT help. I don't know if there is a particular Radeon driver that is having issues with CM. Was the GeForce GT 720 previously installed on this particular computer; if so, were those drivers uninstalled ? What resolution do you run the game at and have you made changes to the video card's settings or the in-game graphics settings ?