Schrullenhaft
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Posts posted by Schrullenhaft
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I haven't played the designed scenarios (saving for double-blind PBEMs), so I haven't seen this.
However the "armored clown car" description is damn funny and apt.
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Is it hanging doing anything specific (i.e. - does it always hang playing certain sounds or running movies, during the orders phase, etc.) ? Does the game seem to hang after playing it for a certain amount of time ? If you have any details about the nature of your lockups they may help.
One of the bigger differences between the Gold version and the Full version is that sound is sampled at 44kHz instead of 22kHz. This will tax your sound card a bit more and depending on your card's CPU utilization, slow down your machine (which may or may not be noticeable).
If you feel that your sound card is to blame, then you may want to try the latest drivers (which you may already have) these are the AMD 3D Now enhanced drivers for Win 9x:
http://www.vortexofsound.com/drivers/drv_v19x-3d.htm
There is also the possibility that your sound card is sharing an IRQ with another device and the larger sound samples of the full version and pushing you system into lockup (that is strictly a guess though).
You will also want to shut down any other programs running in the background. Several people have reported problems running Outlook/Express in the background and having problems.
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I believe most of this wishlist will have to be applied to CM2's release. Tiles can be modified (in texture appearance), but if you modify an open-grass tile with dead cows for example, then all of your open-grass tiles would have dead cows (as far as I know).
Most of the improvements are going to require modifications to the game and code, so a patch to address most of the wishlist items may be a bit beyond what BTS wants to do. However, BTS has said that they will attempt to retroactively upgrade previous versions of CM to the current version (so you may see CM1 with the features of CM2).
Hopefully BTS will consider expanding the number of different tiles and the possible variety of textures for them (though this would be an extreme VRAM hog).
[This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 06-26-2000).]
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I don't know the answer to getting your screen grabs out. But your Monster card is a 3dfx Voodoo and this is what is affecting your screen captures. Instead you are getting what the ATI video card is holding in its memory.
You may want to do a search on screen captures and Voodoo cards and see if you come up with the names of some utilities to capture the screen.
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It looks like your DirectX sound driver is crashing (Direct Sound). I would suggest running Scandisk on your system, reinstalling DirectX 7.0a and then reinstalling the latest Aureal 2.0 sound drivers:
http://support.a3d.com/downloads/index.htm
Download the w9x2048_NODEMO.zip file (about 11Mb)
This website has some FAQs, etc. about Aureal Vortex cards:
http://www.vortexofsound.com/techhelp/helpv2-02.htm
After reinstalling DirectX 7.0a you may want to reinstall your video drivers just to avoid the possibility of problems. This is the Elsa website and you'll have to navigate to get to the Elsa Erasor X drivers:
http://www.elsa.com/AMERICA/WELCOME.HTM
[This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 06-24-2000).]
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Most motherboards (though newer ones no longer require jumpers) configure themselves for supporting a CPU with jumpers. These jumper combinations tell the motherboard what voltage, frequency and multiplier to use for a certain CPU. These settings are often unique to each motherboard. If you have a manual for your motherboard (or system if you got a name-brand one) it should hopefully have instructions on setting the jumpers to support your CPU (these may be switches instead of jumpers).
That is a good jump in CPU speed from 200Mhz to 450Mhz. Your motherboard may not specifically support your new CPU. The AMD K6-2 450 uses a "front side bus" of 100Mhz (your 200Mhz used a 66Mhz "fsb"). Your board may not support this frequency. Also your new CPU may require a lower voltage than your old one (1.9 - 2.2V, I can't remember). This information is often printed on the top of the AMD CPUs (voltage and frequency).
So basically your motherboard would possibly need to support a lower voltage, a 100Mhz bus speed ("fsb") and have a "clock multiplier" of 4.5X. Without these settings you probably won't get much more out of your CPU than what your previous 200Mhz was doing. There is also the possibility that if your motherboard doesn't support your CPU that you may damage it if the voltage is too high.
Also there may be the matter of updating your BIOS, which leads into the possiblity of different revisions of your board. Sometimes a manufacturer may support certain CPUs and features with a certain revision of the board. Previous revisions usually can't be modified to do the same thing (in other words you would need a new motherboard).
The other remaining caveat here is that if you run your motherboard at 100Mhz "fsb", then you need "100Mhz DIMMs". You may current only have 66Mhz SIMMs or DIMMs. To reliably run at 100Mhz FSB you need memory certified to run at that speed (which basically only comes in 168-pin DIMMs, 72-pin SIMMs just don't support 100Mhz reliably).
So your upgrade may require a few more bucks to be spent in order to get the speed increase that you were looking for.
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What "monitor" do you have defined in your Display control panel ? Sometimes the driver will limit its resolution based on the monitor you have installed on your system (via .inf file settings). You may want to delete your "monitor" (but make note of what model it is) from the Device Manager in the System control panel. On reboot it may redetect your monitor. If not then go select the specific model of your monitor in the Display control panel or as a default select "Standard VGA 1024 x 768". Now see if your resolution slider will work. If not then you are probably going to have to do an uninstall/reinstall of your video drivers and possibly DirectX.
There is also the possibility that your latest drivers require DirectX 7.x. If you have Windows 98SE and you haven't installed DirectX yourself, then you may be running v. 6.1 (v. 5.0 for the first edition of Windows 98). If you do reinstall DirectX, then install your newest video drivers AFTER you install DirectX.
If things still aren't working then we will need to get a bit deeper in removing some of your previous drivers.
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Same here too Matt. Netscape doesn't like your site (4.61).
Ahhh... the joys of coding a website...
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The A3D-based sound cards should be good. Some of the newer cards out have more voices (128 +), but I'm not sure how much of a difference that may make in CM. The question is are you happy with the sound you are getting in the Gold demo ? If so, then you may be fine for sound (the Gold demo uses 22kHz samples, while the Full version is using 44kHz samples). The full version will have more sounds and ambient sounds which your card should handle.
If you do desire to upgrade then the Creative SoundBlaster Live series should do an excellent job (they are PCI cards, which your current sound card is probably too). The retail "Live X-Gamer" should be fine. Most of the differences in the retail versions are the software that is bundled with each card (though the "Platinum" has some extra connectors).
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KIA - Do you know what ROM revision and driver version you have for your G400 ? This info MAY help GhostOne and others with the G400.
I wonder if there are any Direct 3D settings that can be changed to support the transparencies any better. Most of the control panels don't offer much in the way of tuning such settings.
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Ugh... I was afraid that was the case. I had the feeling that the shipping was taking a bit longer to get out of the warehouse than was estimated.
Oh well, it won't kill me. Especially considering that I'm up to asses and elbows in a system transition at work. I have NO idea what kind of pain I'm in for...
Thanks for the update Steve it really is appreciated, even if it wasn't what we all wanted to hear.
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MantaRay - Wayne doesn't necessarily have an AGP port. His SiS 530 is a video controller built into the southbridge (?) of his chipset. I believe it uses a shared memory scheme where it gets its frame-buffer memory from the system memory. Depending on the board mfg. they may have decided to save a buck and not put in an AGP slot because they assume that the customer will be using the built in video ("value" oriented board design).
Wayne - you need to check the manual of your motherboard (if you have it) and see if it mentions if you have an AGP SLOT (it will probably tell you that you have "AGP video", but that isn't what we're looking for here). If you don't have the manual, then you'll need to open up your case and look inside. An AGP slot will usually be brown in color and will be further away from the back of the computer than the PCI slots (which are often white in color). It will usually be the slot that is closest to your CPU.
Whether you have an AGP slot or not will really affect what video card choices you have. Most of the current high-end cards are AGP, though some manufacturers are still making an occasional PCI video card, but not too often.
By the way. Here are the latest drivers for the SiS 530. They're DirectX 7.0 compatible (v. 1.07). There are eight files that you need to download (get the right set for whichever version of Windows you're running) and copy into one directory. You'll need to extract each of the files (they're all self-extracting archives) and then run the setup program that gets extracted from the first one.
SiS 530:
http://www.sis.com.tw/support/download/530.htm
[This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 06-21-2000).]
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Greg, I think you're being serreptitiously punished by the United States Postal Service. They're withholding your copy of CM because they know that you want it.
Were you ever mean to a postal person/drone ?
[This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 06-20-2000).]
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The latest "reference" driver from 3dfx for the Voodoo Banshee is dated Feb. 9, 2000. It's version 1.04.00. To be honest I don't know if will address the issue of using transparencies for smoke/explosion graphics. To my knowledge it doesn't. Unfortunately I don't expect 3dfx to be updating this driver any time soon.
3dfx Banshee reference driver:
http://www.3dfxgamers.com/drivers/voodoo_banshee/voodoo_banshee_win9x_new.stm
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Wayne - I think one limitation you are going to run into with your current motherboard is that you more than likely will not have an AGP slot. I could be wrong, in which case Hemo2's or DrD's advice should work (you may want something less expensive though).
If you have the money then the 3dfx Voodoo 5 5500 PCI would probably be a good bet, but it will probably retail for just under US$300 (and it isn't available right now - just preorders). Being on a budget and requiring PCI I would suggest either a video card based on a NVidia TNT/TNT2 (in PCI) or an ATI Xpert 128 PCI 16Mb going for about US$80 (here's ATI's on-line store http://www.shopati.com/searchresults.asp?dept_id=1 ). Some people have had problems with the ATI drivers, so it is a bit hard to recommend something that is going to be absolutely problem-free given your system restrictions.
[This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 06-20-2000).]
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I wouldn't think that there is much of a difference in the requirements between the Gold Demo and the Full version. The only difference would be that larger scenarios are going to play slower.
Did you do a "FULL" install of the game (which requires over 300Mb) ? If not, then you will probably get CD accesses during your playback (GhostOne mentioned this).
As for the "off key" or "lines of color" in one of the setup panels... I'm not sure what would be causing this. Maybe your video driver isn't cooperating with a certain graphic file.
If you want to share any further details on your system in the CM-Tech section, then some people here may be able to offer some suggestions.
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There have been some rumblings regarding the Voodoo 5 drivers and CM. I believe some people have had your problem (and some haven't), but I don't know if they've found a solution yet or not.
Some of the posts:
http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/Forum1/HTML/005920.html
http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/Forum1/HTML/005475-2.html
This may be an issue between your mouse drivers and the Voodoo 5 drivers (though you may not see the same glitch in other games). You may want to investigate any updates to your mouse driver if you haven't already. If you already have the latest drivers, then you may want to uninstall them and go with the Microsoft generic ones (that come with your OS CD). You'll lose any mouse software features, but you may get rid of the "mouse droppings".
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Great job MadMatt and KwazyDog on MDMP-1. Thanks for your time on the mods.
MadMatt - couple of questions on your new GeForce 64Mb... how's the speed and image
compared to your previous TNT2 Ultra, especially with the 4X FSAA ? Is the 4X FSAA worth the speed hit ? Would you rate your new card a worthwhile upgrade or is the difference minimal (I know... a bit of a subjective question there) ?
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I'm pretty sure you can take your pick. The only problem will be identifying the textures (on the PC they're a billion separate .bmp files). So you could take the Panther from CCJ and the Jagdpanther from MDMP-1, etc.
If there is any installer that may make things a bit more complex, but I don't think that there will be.
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Sorry to say, but I believe that is a known issue. CM seems to have a problem with the Voodoo's and their RAVE extensions. The following topics (found in the main forum) give a couple of details on this. Until 3dfx updates their RAVE libraries to be more compatible with CM, you are going to have to probably play in "software rendering" mode.
http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/Forum1/HTML/004251.html
http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/Forum1/HTML/004292.html
http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/Forum1/HTML/004687.html
I believe you will need to disable both your 3dfx GLIDE and RAVE extensions and restart. Delete your prefs file in the CM folder (that is where I think it is on a Mac). Run CM and see if it gives you the black screen with the resolutions. Hopefully you will get something at this point. I'd suggest running at a resolution lower than 1024 x 768.
If playing CM is a priority for you, then you may want to invest in an ATI-based video card. I'm not sure how many models are available on the Mac, but this is the video chipset that Apple has standardized on (to some extent) with their models that have on-board video.
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Thanks Crapgame. Your gratitude is appreciated.
I'm currently a "systems analyst" doing database administration on a Sun platform. I've done a lot of work w/ PCs and Macs over the years, but I forget most of the details half of the time. I'm constantly amazed by how much people know here. I figure that helping with some of the problems is the best way I can contribute to this forum. My knowledge of military hardware, tactics, history and physics is not up to par of a good number of people on this forum.
If you're doing network administration on top of your normal duties, then I really have empathy for you. Hopefully the extra effort is paying off for you in some way.
Sosabowski - if you decide to get another video card from your "system builder/friend" I would suggest trying to get one with 8 or 16Mb (if you can afford the difference). This will help you with the large number of textures in the game and upcoming mods.
[This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 06-18-2000).]
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If you want the TCP/IP patch, it will probably be even longer than that.
Depending on the business guesses that BTS has made, their second run may have "v. 1.02" patch with the TCP/IP support. If demand is greater than BTS has expected it may have to wait 'til the third or later pressing.
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ARCHANGEL - do you have two cards for your video or just one ? The Voodoo 2 based cards provide 3D features only. Your system is dependant on another card to provide your actual 2D/day to day video. If you have only one card then you may have the Creative Blaster Banshee.
This is the Creative site with the latest drivers for the Creative Voodoo2:
http://www.creative.com/support/files/download.asp?prod=db_voo&OS=Win95®=0&select=Get+Files
I just thought of something here. If you actually have a Voodoo 2 you may need a cable that hooks up externally between your video card and your Voodoo card. I believe that the monitor actually hooks up to the Voodoo 2 and a video cable hooks up from your main video card's output over to the second connector on the Voodoo card. Check to see if this cable is hooked up. If not you may need to call Computer Renaissance to see if they took off the cable and forgot to put it back on.
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Sosabowski - You are still seeing the screen corruption when you load CM ?
Looks like you have a Jaton video card based on the Trident 9850. This video card (as you probably already know) won't support transparencies. According to Trident this video chip doesn't support DirectX 6.x in hardware - in other words the new features in DirectX 6 & 7 will have to be software rendered.
To install the driver you'll need a zip extracting program (like WinZip). Open up the file and extract it to a directory you'll remember (preferably one you've just created with Explorer - call it "trident"). When you've unzipped the file go to Control Panel > System control panel > Device Manager tab > click on the plus next to or double click on the Display Adapter entry > highlight your video card and press the Properties button > goto the Driver tab and click on the Update Driver button. Click the Next button and select "Display list...". Click on the "Have Disk" button and point it to the "trident" directory. Hopefully it should be fairly automatic from here.
If this driver doesn't solve your problem you can download the latest from Trident at:
http://www.tridentmicro.com/videographic_comms/html/drivers/3dimage_9850.htm
The driver is about two years old, but it is a bit newer than the Jaton one. I don't know how much an improvement Jaton may have made on the driver, but I wouldn't assume it has been much, so the Trident driver may be a better bet to fix your problem, but try the Jaton one first.
Disappearing Cursor
in Combat Mission - Tech Support
Posted
What mouse drivers are you both using ? If possible you may want to use the default drivers from Windows 9x (if your mouse can be supported by them). A generic PS/2 driver might clear the problem up. As for the "box" that jheydt is seeing, this may be related to the video driver. I would suggest updating your mouse and video drivers if you are not already using the latest. If this doesn't fix the problem, then uninstall your mouse drivers and install some generic drivers from Windows 9x.