Schrullenhaft

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>I can only hold out so long!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Sounds like a virgin in a brothel. (Said in humor only, no offense intended)

It sounds like a DirectX issue (ok, duh, that sounded obvious). The game is making a DirectX call to draw to the screen and your DirectX software doesn't understand the command. I'd suggest installing DirectX 7.0a (approx. 6.5Mb download): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=16819 This may also be an issue with your video driver (depending on how old it is). I personally haven't read through the help topics for problems, so this may already be in there.

Man... You've got a prehensile monkey tail... that's gotta come in handy !

A few more points I forgot to mention: Before installing you latest video driver, you may want to install/reinstall DirectX 7.0a. It may or may not detect your video card (usually doesn't if you have it set to a Standard SVGA). If your video card has 4Mb or less of memory, then there is a good chance that the drivers that come with DirectX 7.0a will possibly be the latest that are available (DirectX detects the chipset of your video card, so a Diamond may be detected as an S3 Virge, etc.). These "generic" drivers MAY solve some problems since they are, uh... tested... by Microsoft (or at least "approved" in some way). The point here is that DirectX may have the "compatible" driver for your card, rather than the actual manufacturer. This will be true for cards that are several years old (in general). These generic drivers however don't have all the frills that some of the manufacturer's modified drivers will have (Diamond for example), so you may be giving some things up (occasionally that may mean a little speed improvement being given up also). For those with 8Mb or larger amounts of video memory, then either the "reference drivers" from the OEM chipset manufacturer (i.e. - NVidia, S3, etc.) or the manufacturer's drivers are what you'll need to upgrade to. Sometimes you'll be given the choice between "Beta" and "WHQL certified" drivers. It's a toss up between the two. Beta drivers sometimes fix problems, speed up the card or give you additional features, but they can also be very buggy. WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Lab - if you really wanted to know) certified drivers have supposedly been submitted to Microsoft for approval and have passed some sort of testing. These drivers may not have all the fixes (and are often several revisions behind), but are supposed to work (with Windows at least - not your game !). Better manufacturers will sometimes document the reasons/fixes in their drivers. You obviously won't see CM being listed, but you may find similar issues with other games that may apply to CM. Oh... several of the 3D video cards out there probably want DirectX installed beforehand. DirectX 6.1 usually works with most of them, but you'll see some of them starting to "require" DirectX 7.0a. Unfortunately DirectX 7.0a is SLOWER than 6.1. I think Charles mentioned this before on the board. However some of the feature sets of these drivers may have been written with a specific version of DirectX in mind. For those people having problems with Transparency effects, DirectX 7.0a may be the answer. Maus, thanks for the toast. I hope something helps. That's all for now... the hamster has jumped the wheel and I'm shuttin' down.

To clear previous video drivers from your system you will need to: First check to see if there is an uninstaller for your current driver. Run that first. When it is finished and it has you reboot (or reboots for you) remember to press the F8 key to get the command prompt-based Startup Menu. Then: 1) Boot in SAFE mode (#3). 2) Go to Control panels - System control panel - device manager tab - click on the plus next to Display Adapters. 3) Delete/Remove ALL video drivers listed here. You may notice that there are several drivers listed here, depending on how many different video cards your computer may have had and how many times you may have installed drivers. 4) Once you have deleted the video drivers listed close up the control panels and go to the Start Menu. 5) Go to Run on the Start Menu and type in "regedit" (without the quotes). 6) This brings up the Registry editor. Any changes made here take effect IMMEDIATELY. There is no save function so any mistakes that are made are permanent (to a degree). 7) Go to the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" key (click on the plus sign like the Device Manager) - ENUM - PCI. 8) Once in the PCI key you will want to click on the "VEN...." keys one at a time and then select the "item" below the initial key. Read through the lines in the right frame of the Registry editor. You will find text in there that describes this key. We are looking for keys that have "Display" in them. Looking further down you will see the name of the display adapter as it would appear in the Device Manager. 9) Since we deleted all of the display adapters in the Device Manager we may find nothing here. If we do, then we will want to delete it. Highlight (in the left frame) the "Ven..." key and then click delete (on your keyboard should be fine). Make sure your mouse doesn't wander and you end up deleting the wrong key. 10) Load up Explorer (file manager) and go to Windows/inf/other. In here we are going to look for .inf files that are descriptors for ATI video cards in particular and any other VIDEO cards in general. You may be able to tell what device the .inf is for by its name; other times you will have to open the file up in Notepad and read through it in order to determine what it is for. 11) Once you have deleted the .infs (if you found any) you can reboot your computer. During startup the computer should discover your display adapter. Hopefully it will just use the "Standard SVGA" driver" and not detect it as an "ATI compatible" or something else. Once this driver has loaded up then you can run the latest ATI video driver installer. 12) Unfortunately all this may be in vain, but again I have gotten the same card (an Xpert 2000, which is a Rage 128 32Mb) to work fine with CM. If you have further problems we can discuss BIOS upgrades and tinkering with the CMOS settings (which isn't permanent, but a BIOS upgrade can be). [This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 05-11-2000).]

It definitely sounds like a video driver problem, but sorry to say, I have an ATI Rage 128 32Mb card here and it seems to be working fine. The diferences between this setup and yours are: Intel LX board w/ PII-233 SB16 Value ISA Software driver-wise the setup is the same as yours. You MAY want to tinker around in your BIOS/CMOS and make sure your "AGP Apeture Size" is 64Mb or larger (probably doesn't have anything to do with this, but you may want to try). You can also experiment with "VGA Frame Buffer USWC" (caching) and/or Video Memory caching (whatever your BIOS may have). The only other things I can think of may be to upgrade your motherboard BIOS (if you can identify it). BIOS upgrades for your motherboard may "patch" CPU microcode (if AMD is using this) or possibly "fix" AGP issues. However, be VERY careful with updating your BIOS if you haven't done it before - it can ruin your whole month if it goes bad. As for software settings, this system is set to the installation defaults. On the "Direct 3D" tab of the Display control panel the settings are "Wait for Vertical Sync" CHECKED, "Enable Anti-Aliasing" CHECKED, "Use Pallete-based Textures" UNCHECKED and "Support Z-buffer bit depths" 16,24,32. If nothing else works for you, then you may need to remove your video driver, clean out your registry of other video drivers, install the "Standard SVGA" driver from Microsoft and then reinstall the latest ATI driver (the current machine I'm working with had this done to it, though CM wasn't the issue with it). [This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 05-10-2000).]

Sorry, I don't know the answer to your problem. You may (if you trust Microsoft) want to try the "Windows Update" option at Microsquish's website. Most of the patches for IE5 are security related loopholes. There is a 5.01 patch, but again I don't know if it will fix your issue. Be aware that if you want to update IE5 it may take several hook ups to Microsoft's website as some of the downloads are exclusive (you can't install other patches at the same time).

Logitech has some newer drivers (assuming that you're using Logitech and not Microsoft's Logitech drivers). Mouseware 9.0: http://www.logitech.com/cf/support/mousefiles.cfm Unfortunately newer drivers can also be problematic. Save a copy of your older ones in case these cause more problems. There was also an issue with cursors with the Beta. Go with the standard "Windows Default" ones. For your video card here are NVidia's latest OEM drivers (that are released on their website - there are newer ones on other websites: v. 5.x). Detonator 3.68 (there's a PCI and an AGP version): http://www.nvidia.com/Products/Drivers.nsf It is also possible that you may have to unistall previous video drivers, clean out your registry and install a generic Win 9x SVGA driver - THEN install the lastest video driver. You may want to try the same with your mouse.

Yeah, SP:WAW is not going to hold a candle to CM. CM is just so different (and "native" for you Mac users) that nothing will come close. However, if you long for some other "theaters" of combat, then SP:WAW MAY do it for you. It's hex-based, has annoying LOS, some "gamey-ness" to it and is an overhead view. It definitely has its limitations, but Matrix has done a lot with it considering that most of them weren't doing it for a living when they started (and it's FREE). It would be nice if they could change further things with it, but that would require rewriting the whole game, which is just too huge of a task to ask of them right now. Admittedly, if you've never played any of the Steel Panthers games, then you will probably be turned off on SP:WAW. If you HAVE played them, then it is probably the best version to date (even better than SP: WWII).

Swweeeet Jee-Sus !!!

You poor soul... attempting to play PC games on a Mac with a PC emulator. Panzer Elite was made by Wings in Germany. Their distributor (Psygnosis) closed shop in Europe a year or so ago. Psygnosis' parent company, Sony, decided to close them up altogether. So, Wings isn't out of business, but their distributor is. Activision is distributing the game in the US and I don't know who is doing Europe, etc. Admittedly, losing your distributor is going to affect finances, etc. This is going to delay the long awaited patches for PE. It's all up on their web site. -30- (A little joke at the end, if I got it right)

Say CCJ have you made any further decisions on releasing the textures you've created ? (Pardon me if I missed your final decision on this) I still think that they are very worthy options for what will be released with the final version of CM. Great job on the sky/background texture. Nice cirrus clouds. Actually being too bright does give it that "noontime" look.

I'd suggest a SB Live Value also. These are usually OEM models (i.e. - they don't come in a retail box to my knowledge). If you do decide to purchase a SB Live, make sure that you're using LiveWare 3.0 or later (the driver package). Version 2.0 didn't make a number of sounds under the CM Beta (including gunfire, etc.).

Those who know about aviation are probably familiar with "bird strike". I've personally seen the damage done by birds to an F/A-18 (thawed even) and it seems surprising what a little bird can do. They're not the LITTLE INNOCENT THINGS they appear to be at the bird feeder. Noooo... they are SAVAGE masters of the sky that must be brought down with impunity.... Hopefully the man-portable version of the "chicken launcher" will be considered a highly regulated weapon to be issued only to federal, state and local govt. agencies. I shudder to think what would happen to our streets once this weapon was mass-distributed to teenagers.

There has been mention of "deceleration" on the board before, but I can't remember how to search for it. My GUESS would be that if you are telling the Sherman to go full bore down the road (by plotting a distance further than it could reach in 60 seconds), then at the end of 60 SECONDS it is still travelling at that speed. The stop is for animation purposes (signalling the end of the 60 second phase). At the start of the next 60 second phase the Sherman is traveling at the same speed as the previous turn (assuming its not still accelerating). I don't know if there is an actual representation of deceleration or not (haven't paid close enough attention). If there is, then it is possible that it may be bending the laws of physics a little to stop quickly. There are limits to what the graphics engine of CM is set up to do and this MAY be one of them.

mch - Overly familiar with the Euro stereotypes. Laughed my butt off. tom w - I concur with Madmatt - beauty on the "EuroEnglish".

On the Panther I wouldn't know. Sounds quite plausible, but then again Vietnam didn't completely lend itself to armored warfare of most sorts. To my knowledge the French forces in IndoChina were heavily equipped with American surplus equipment (primarily WWII-era); AFVs, aircraft, artillery, heavy weapons, etc. According to some documentaries that I've watched (my ONLY source on this opinion) the French were HIGHLY encouraged by the Americans at that time in their fight against the Vietnamese nationalists/communists. All in the name of communist containment.... As for the ex-SS unit; were these French nationals that were once SS or were they German SS (or other nationalities for that matter) ? Sorry if I've taken this a bit too off topic. I just blab on what little I think I know. [This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 04-27-2000).]

Them BTS guys is usin' alien technology to make CM. Then they'll be refinin' it to TAKE OVER THE WORLD ! It's about "precious bodily fluids"... and I will deny them mine. (A big ass "smiley" for Herr Peng to feast on while he writes his alcohol-infused rebuttal)

I had read that there was some sort of ceremony at the Turkish town nearest Gallipoli that was attended by the Australian & NZ PMs (& the Turkish Foreign Minister). Apparently thousands of student Aussies & Kiwis "pilgrimaged" to there for the ceremony. Yeah, I'm workin' on being the Antartic correspondent for AP. "Penguins... they do the strangest things.....".

Nah... it's a T-28 (T-29 ?) Super Heavy Tank that never got fielded to my knowledge. A pic that MadMatt took at Fort Knox's Armor museum. The following link is to a pic of a MODEL. I couldn't really find much more: http://accurate-armour.com/pics/k43s.htm Oopss... took too long to post that one. The barrel on that beast looks almost comically super long. [This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 04-26-2000).]

I think several members mentioned problems with the ATI Rage Mobile chipsets (Rage LT's in some other laptops ?). I know BTS has mentioned some tweaks that they have done regarding reading the resolution from the video driver, but I don't know if that applies here or not. Laptop video chipsets are a bit notorious when it comes to resolution issues due to the type of displays that they are driving. Hopefully the Gold Demo will provide an answer. Otherwise it may be a tortuous wait for Dell/ATI to update the video driver (at least it is a newer product, so there's some hope). You will probably have to go to Dell to get the updated drivers (unless, as you mention, you use the other Rage Pro series drivers).

The first image that comes into my mind reading this post is of a two year old asking questions really fast until they are blue in the face. My OPINION/GUESS (which isn't what your lookin' for) is that these SPECIFIC details won't be covered. I assume the manual will cover all the interface details and applying tactics in CM (I'm sure it will be KICK-ASS ). But the details you are asking for I believe go "against the grain" of what BTS is striving for with CM. Admittedly I can't speak for what exactly Steve & Charles intend with CM, but from what I gather the details that you want are a bit on the "micromanagement side" that BTS says they don't want to pursue. Again, this is just MY opinion. [This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 04-25-2000).]

Don't know about "stacked rocks", but hedgerows/bocage consist of raised earth with dense trees/bushes/undergrowth. I assumed that they were maintained that way as "property dividers" or something to that effect. I'd guess, to accurately simulate bocage you would need a "tile" with a slight elevation increase & decrease along with the hedgerow on top of it. The close-ups of the hedges showed the branches in them and that looked pretty cool. I am hoping that BTS refines the bocage I've seen in POTDs to reflect the branches, etc. However, everything looks like near-solid, leafy green shrubs at a distance in the POTDs. Ugh... grey-cells are on vacation today and I'm just plinkin' away at useless details I'd like to see...

Looking through some of the previous posts on this problem (or problems with Voodoos in general) it looks like the solution is to reduce your video hardware acceleration. This can be done from Control Panels - System - Performance tab - Graphics button - move Hardware Acceleration slider to the left (recommend starting with NONE). If your problems clear up, then you can close down CM and move the slider a notch to the right (reboot) and try CM again. You can progressively do this until you duplicate the problem again and then go back to the acceleration setting where the video was OK. If this doesn't do it, then you can search for "Voodoo" or "video problems", etc. and see what problems people have run into. There also may be other settings in your Display control panel that may affect CM's appearance. If you need more help give us more details on what kind of graphic anomalies you are seeing. [This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 04-24-2000).]

You mean the "Matt Faller Face" made it into CM ?! BTW who is the other Wehrmacht "face" in the picture? From what my numb mind can discern... it doesn't look like a "skin" that would exist in the game. Those hedges look great. Now if the same treatment can be done to the hedgerows... "We want a... SHRUBBERY!" Borg Cube... Uh... I better start lookin' busy here at work.