Madmatt

Okay, here is the offical word. Can the game be hacked? YES We have known for some time that with enough effort someone would eventually be able to hack the data sets. We are actually surprised it took this long for some one to do it (4 years). Just like pirating, there is only so much we can do to prevent such cheating and your best defense in a situation like this is to pick your opponents with caution. Madmatt

As the person most directly responsible for testing AND for the sound effects in the CM series let me briefly make a few comments. First off, the question was asked about testing methodology and techniques... The answer? I employ Chubacabras. They are cheap and follow orders. Now as to the sound type in the new CMx2 engine, yes I agree that waves are not at all optimal and I was in fact pushing for a better technique all the way back with CMBO in fact, but there were reasons that they were used at the time. Just like the graphics though, the sound schemes in CMx2 are also planned to get a major overhaul and update. Madmatt

Only the invisible non-intrusive type... Madmatt

No, no plans for a Mac version at this time. The game is developed by a Russian team and I don't think Mac gaming is too big over there... Madmatt

Yeah guys, thsi is piracy pure and simple and thats not a permissable topic on our forums. Madmatt

Yeah guys, this is piracy pure and simple and thats not a permissable topic on our forums. Madmatt

Hi guys, Don't worry I am looking into every issue that has come in over the past few weeks (or before). Right now, here is what we know. Since the holidays, and before, we have noticed a marked increase in time for USPS (our primary shipping vendor) to deliver items. Items are leaving our warehouse on time, but are taking far longer than normal to arrive to customers. Inclimate weather and post holiday backlog seems to be the main reason for the delays. In late November we had a different problem that was traced to a corrupt order log file but I believe most of those orders have since reshipped and should have been received by customers by now. I have a conference call scheduled with the warehouse tomorrow and I am going to go item by item down my list of open issues to make sure EVERYONE gets taken care of. Madmatt

Try it now. Madmatt

He broke the forum rules repeatedly, was warned repeatedly and is now banned. Simple as that. Madmatt

Kuniworth, It's really not relevant if you decide to accept or not to accept JJR's banning. He broke the forum rules, he was warned in the past, and he was banned. Simple as that. His past contributions to the forum, while impressive don't excuse his behavior. We have been telling you guys for months now, you break the rules, you face the consequences. Don't like it? Go somewhere else. It's really that simple. Posting here, on our forums, is not a RIGHT, its a priviledge and one in which we can pull, anytime we deem appropriate. As to a temporary versus a permanent ban? Thats always an option but it would require some sincere reassurances from JJR that he understands why it was he was banned and that his recent behavior is not going to be tolerated and that he needs to follow the rules here and even then, such a move is at our discretion. Okay, thats enough on this topic, I am closing this down now. Madmatt

I am still trying to locate an old copy of the 3.61a drivers which came out in August which I had heard from several customers DID actually work with the older 650 series of SiS chipsets. If I can locate a copy, and confirm that it works, I will post it as well. Madmatt

Just got an update from Schrullenhaft that these new drivers still may not work with some of the older SiS chipsets and GPU's based on the 650 series (SiS 650, M650, 650GX, 650GL and 651/652). These drivers should work with the following chipsetsthough: SiS661FX (P4), SiSM661MX (P4-M), SiS760 (AMD64), SiS760GX (AMD64), SiSM760 (AMD64), SiSM741 (AMD), SiS741 (AMD), SiS741GX (AMD), SiS740 (AMD), SiS730 (AMD), SiS630/S/E/ET (P3/P2). Madmatt [ December 13, 2004, 12:26 PM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

I just now uploaded a set of drivers to our website that should work for your SiS video card. Here is a link to the file: http://www.battlefront.com/misc/sis650_740.zip It is a 1 meg zip file, just unzip it to a temp folder on your computer and read the included "Install.txt" file to see how to install them for your system. Madmatt

Hi guys, I have just posted the drivers from the Windows Download page here locally. It is a 1.2 meg zip file. Unextract the file into a temporary folder somewhere on your computer and then read the "Install.txt" file to see how you go about installing them. Here is a link to the file: http://www.battlefront.com/misc/sis650_740.zip Madmatt

Hi guys, we are working with the warehouse to get to the bottom of both of your issues. Madmatt

Let me try and answer your three questions above. #1 If I can aquire a copy of the drivers that do work, I will of course post them and link to them in the troubleshooting guide (which I obviously need to update once more). 2. We have, multiple times, but SiS dont really pay much attention to software developers and there is nothing on our end that we can change to fix the problem. 3. This is apparently related to issue #1. Apparently, SiS released a new set of drivers back in August that DID work, which MS then offered on their download page. Sometime later, SIS released a newer set of drivers which once more did not work, it is those drivers that are now on SIS's and the Windows Download page. As soon as I can aquire a set of the older drivers that work, I will make them available for download. Madmatt

Well the title pretty much sums it up. I have added a new dedicated Campaign Overview area to the DIF website as well as posted a new AAR between Dan and Harv playing the Solomon Islands Campaign. Check it out! Down In Flames Campaign Overview and Solomon Islands AAR Madmatt

Actually, i just heard fropm Charles that this is not a bug. It was asked to be added from the Australian Defense Department and he decided to leave it in for the commerical version as well. The Mg-34's being left out of those early 1941 German TO&E's is a omission though and if we ever do a 1.04 patch (which is however unlikely), that will be fixed. Madmatt

...hmmmm... could be.... Madmatt

CMHQ does not permit passive mode downloads anymore. You will need to turn that option off in your browser settings. Madmatt

Of course you guys could just wait until we ASK for new ideas to put into CMx2. heheheh Madmatt

The installer should never create a "new" folder, at least not the installer that I made. But you can just as easily just copy whatever is IN this "new" folder into your CMAK one and it will overwrite all those old files with the correct ones. Anything in "new" BMP folder goes into your old one, Anything in the "new" WAV folder goes into the old one. And then overwrite your old CMAK executable with the new one. You could also rename your old CMAK executable file instead of overwriting it. That should be it. Madmatt

So, I see how you guys are. I try and be nice for months at a time and I get emails and comments asking "Hey Matt, whats wrong?" and then when I decide to come down hard on someone for posting simply by quoting (which I think is bad form) I get everyone whinning that I am picking on someone. Interesting... I am not sorry for what I said as I found junk2drives post rather annoying and un-neccesary, at least when done so without any personal comment. If someone wants to take a position about something we did or how we operate, fine, then show some balls and do so with your own words, but just quoting us repeatedly with no comment will do nothing but piss me off. Hey, you know what guys? I would LOVE to go back and add all those things you've all mentioned in the past and add a bunch of fixes and changes and add new vehicles and new sound effects and new textures and expand the TO&E's even more and a million other things. I really would, but the reality is that the CM engine as it stands has been pushed, tweaked and coddled as much as we can afford to do. It's old, cumbersome and takes far longer to make what would appear to be easy changes than you would ever believe. As Moon said above, there comes a time when you reach diminishing returns with regards to continual work on a product and we are at that point. Okay, so Germans don't have MG-34's during a couple of months in 1941. Fine, its a mistake, a mistake I hasten to add NO ONE seemed to notice for almost a year since it was like that in version 1.01. Alright, Dorosh, you mentioned a few other issues above which could constitute a new patch, let us looks at them. PBEM issues...Yup, and it was fixed less than 72 hours after it was noticed with the v1.03 patch. Crash Issues... I haven't seen one yet that was due to the patch or game itself. Its always something else and I can usually tell the person what to do to fix it (i.e. reconfigure the firewall). Missing BMP's for the captured L3/33, fixed less than 24 hours after it was reported and since that time the 1.03 patch was updated with those files. You know, everytime something like this comes up there is always a group of forum posters that want to lament some kind of "change" that Battlefront.com has gone through. "Oh woe is me, they are out to make a buck and don't care about us grogs anymore!", "Oh they have lost their focus and sold out!", blah blah blah... Well you know, here we are now 5 years and counting after the release of CMBO and we have more exciting titles coming and in development than ever before. You know, if you don't like how we do things, great, LEAVE. It's simple as that. Hell, I will hold the door open for you and wish you all the luck in the world. No hard feelings at all! If you want to stay and try to affect change thats cool too, but you had better do so with maturity and respect. I think we have earned that, as many of you have earned the same from us. You also need to understand that it doesn't matter how many posts you make listing out all the things you dont like in CMAK, it doesn't mean will will address them all. We have our reasons for doing business the way we do. Sometimes it means you get what you want, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it means we get to do what WE want, sometimes it doesn't. But our business model has been run, from day one, to make sure we are still here on day two, day three and beyond. Regardless to how much devolopment and testing time is exerted, there will ALWAYS be bugs in code. All we can try and do is minimize the amount and more importantly their severity and document them so that if the oppertunity presents itself, they can be fixed. Right now, that window of oppertunity is no longer open for CMAK. If that changes, I got a laundry list of little things I want Charles to look at and I argue more vehemetly for changes in patches than you guys might ever know! So, unless the current situation changes, and thats not likely, this crusade for yet another CMAK patch is OVER. Madmatt

Hey junk2drive, I'm sorry, but where is the computer game you designed, researched and spent years working on again?? Madmatt

November 23rd, 2004 New TacOps Bundle Offer Available Battlefront.com and Major Holdridge have decided to offer a new TacOps Bundle pack which combines the award winning game TacOps 4 with the resource packed Military Reference Library Volume 1 CD. The TacOps Bundle is being offered for only $35 which is a savings of ten dollars over the cost of each title separately and is a great opportunity for both old and new customers to check out both these titles. [Read all the details and order the TacOps Bundle here...] Madmatt