Madmatt

It's actually the sound of artillery shells passing overhead on their way to somewhere else. Yes, the immersion those sounds add was totally intentional. Madmatt

The German voices in CMAK were a mix of old and new samples. Madmatt

There is no need to, they are the same as in CMBB. They were already good enough that there was no reason to redo them in CMAK. Madmatt

The halt is most likely due to your sound card or more directly your sound drivers. You should see about updating your sound drives. The ambient sounds are all about 10 megs in size though so as the game accesses them you might be encountering a slight delay due to a slow harddrive or slow memory or any number of other performance hampering issues with your computer. You might want to try and adjust your level of sound acceleration via the DirectX control panel, one notch to the left. As to playing the sounds back out of the game, use WinAmp, it has no problems with any of the sounds. Madmatt [ December 08, 2003, 05:07 PM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

The halt is most likely due to your sound card or more directly your sound drivers. You should see about updating your sound drives. The ambient sounds are all about 10 megs in size though so as the game accesses them you might be encountering a slight delay due to a slow harddrive or slow memory or any number of other performance hampering issues with your computer. You might want to try and adjust your level of sound acceleration via the DirectX control panel, one notch to the left. As to playing the sounds back out of the game, use WinAmp, it has no problems with any of the sounds. Madmatt [ December 08, 2003, 05:07 PM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

Ambient sounds were the last ones I did and took the most amount of effort of all the effects in CMAK. I usually start with a *base* sound in stereo. For 0005000.exe it came from a large Sound Library collection that we own. This particular sound was from a windy day recorded in the desert. Next I layer other sounds on top of the original, which includes background artillery fire, explosions, extra wind noise. Those layered effects are usually created ahead of time and I make several batches at once. This makes it easier for me to paste in groups of sounds at once. With each batch of sounds, for example a artillery barrage, I try and visualize what it is I am trying to depict first. Then I use my sound editing software to create the proper reverb, echo and distance from the map that I am trying to convey. For example, the night sound (and I have some new ones that will be in a mod in the future) has the artillery much further away from the listener than a day background. That is because at night I am trying to model artillery further behind the lines engaging in Harrasement and Interdiction type barrages. Once I lay down the base sound, and then apply all my specific effects I play around with the stereo panning and layer on another level of flange, reverb, echo or whatever else to make it sound "Full". In some of my most complex sounds, there are in excess of a hundred layers or effects, all mixed together. On average I can crank out a full set of weapon effects for a specific gun in a few hours. Each ambient sound took over a week of constant tweaking and mixing to get them to sound just right, or as close to how I wanted them to be as I could. I actually use this multilayered approach to all the sounds, including small arms. Even though I use real world recordings of weapons when available, I still have to remix them and add in extra effects to get the best sound that I can. Sometimes I also have to play around with the pitch and tempo in order to accurately match the cyclic rate of whatever gun I am audibly modeling. For example, with the MG-42, if you listen closely you can hear the belt linkage and spent brass *tinkle* in a pile as the gun fires. With the new M1 Garand sound you will occasionally hear the small cartridge clip "Ching" as it ejects after the final round has been fired. CM is actually rather limited code wise in what it can do with sounds but I have come up with many tricks in order to create as much variety in the sounds as I could. In CMX2, I am going to work with Charles very closely to bring the sound engine up to par with the high fidelity that the new graphics engine should have. But you'll have to wait to hear more on that... My one regret with CMAK is that we simply ran out of space and time to include all the sounds and effects I had wanted. I do plan on releasing some of these as Mods in the very near future but there were many ideas that would have had to been coded for specifically that would have been cool to do as well, but those will have to wait to get implemented at some other time. Madmatt [ December 08, 2003, 05:09 PM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

How was 'what' recorded? Tell me what your asking about specifically and I will tell you how I did it. Madmatt

Thanks for all the info guys. We are aware of the problem and will be testing this internally to figure out what the problem with the CDV version seems to be. As soon as I get any more info I will of course be posting it here. Madmatt

It looks like the second CD includes Demos and other CDV type stuff, still waiting on my copy from the CDV production run to find out what else they may have put on the 2nd CD but they didn't add any game content if thats what you were asking. Madmatt

Its not really a bug, it's just that the 2D editor portion does not realize that the player can and will place elevations that are too steep or cause too many irregularieties in the ground surface to place the buildings. It is not until you go into the 3D preview that this is realized. Madmatt

Monty, try here: ftp://ftp.combatmission.com/misc/00005000.exe It's a self extracting archive. Let me know via email once you get it. Madmatt [ December 07, 2003, 04:42 PM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

I too have noticed this and was never able to figure why WMP takes a dump on some of the files but Winamp seems to play them all fine. Regardless, they all work in the game as they are supposed to and thats the key. Madmatt

Sorry guys, just lamenting my home team Bengals falling to the Ravens. Anyway, hopefully new CD's will fix you guys up. I have tried to replicate the issue with several PC's I have access to but it always works for me so I am thinking its probably just a pair of bad discs for the two of you. % wise, there will always be a few bum disks in a production run but I am encouraged that the defect rate seems so low at this point. Madmatt

I am going to keep all reports of this issue to one thread. http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=004220 Madmatt

Monty, I tried to send you the file several times but your ISP seems to indicate your mailbox is over its limit. Madmatt

Ted, Try and alt-tab to your install folder WHILE the install is running. You can use F5 to refresh the directory contents. You might be able to get the common.exe that way, but if its corrupted in the actual setup.exe archive you may not be able to. Did you already contact sales to get a replacement. I still want you to do that of course as all of this could simply be a bad disc but I wanted to continue to work on this while you waited for the replacement to arrive. Madmatt

You should now use the uninstaller that comes with the game to remove CMAK. Unlike CMBO and CMBB, CMAK does make one small registry entry and that will allow us in the future to *hopefully* make any patches install without you having to tell it where CMAK is located. You can also remove CMAK using Windows Add/Remove Programs feature in the control panel. Madmatt

Glad you like them! Check out my own tile by tile recreation of the original CMBO Demo's Last Defense map. I did have to tweak a few elevations near the river but nothing noticable. Thats still one of my favorite all time ever battles. I did actually make a full recreation of the battle itself but since I had to mess around with the dates to get a close approximation of the troops in the original we didnt include it. Perhaps if you ask nicely I might post it up at CMHQ. Madmatt [ December 06, 2003, 02:50 PM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

Ted, I just thought of something to try which might help me to get to the bottom of your issue: I want you to try something. Run the Setup.exe again. You will notice that a WinRar window pops up after a moment and begins to extract files. those are coming out of the Common.exe archive which is now on your sysyem. As soon as you see a WinRar window appear and begin to extract files (but before it gives you the error, browse to your install folder. You should see a few folders as well as the Common.exe file itself. Now, whats happening is that the Common.exe file is self extracting but I want you to try and COPY it before it completes. Copy and Paste it somewhere safe. It should be about 615 megs or so in size. This will not keep that error you get from occuring but it will give you a *pure* copy of the file to test with. Whats happening is that once the installer detects there is a problem, it then moves on to the next archive file (English.exe) and then deletes the Common.exe file (which is the majority of all the files) as it thinks it no longer needs it. When you get that error, just hit Ignore, this will allow the install to move to the next file and then finish up. Now, what we have is a incomplete install of CMAK in the destination folder and then a Common.exe file by itself somewhere. First, try and just double click the Common.exe file. Tell me what happens and list out ANY Error messages you see. The next part is a little trickier, it will require that you have a copy of WinRar installed on your computer. You can get it for free from www.rarlabs.com I need to see what WinRar is seeing in that file so it might be better to do this part via ICQ, IM or even my chat system at CMHQ. Let me know if we can work on this together via chat and then we can proceed but for now, try and get a copy of that Common.exe file saved away. One last question, how memory do you have installed in your system? Madmatt

YD, I want you to try something. Run the Setup.exe again. You will notice that a WinRar window pops up after a moment and begins to extract files. those are coming out of the Common.exe archive which is now on your sysyem. As soon as you see a WinRar window appear and begin to extract files (before it gets to that 90% part) browse to your install folder. You should see a few folders as well as the Common.exe file itself. Now, whats happening is that the Common.exe file is self extracting but I want you to try and COPY it before it completes. Copy and Paste it somewhere safe. It should be about 615 megs or so in size. This will not keep that error you get from occuring but it will give you a *pure* copy of the file to test with. Whats happening is that once the installer detects there is a problem, it then moves on to the next archive file (English.exe) and then deletes the Common.exe file (which is the majority of all the files) as it thinks it no longer needs it. When you get that error, just hit Ignore, this will allow the install to move to the next file and then finish up. Now, what we have is a incomplete install of CMAK in the destination folder and then a Common.exe file by itself somewhere. First, try and just double click the Common.exe file. Tell me what happens and list out ANY Error messages you see. The next part is a little trickier, it will require that you have a copy of WinRar installed on your computer. You can get it for free from www.rarlabs.com I need to see what WinRar is seeing in that file so it might be better to do this part via ICQ, IM or even my chat system at CMHQ. Let me know if we can work on this together via chat and then we can proceed but for now, try and get a copy of that Common.exe file saved away. One last question, how much memory do you have installed in your system? Madmatt [ December 06, 2003, 11:59 AM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

HAHA! Just got mine today (actually I got about a dozen, membership has its privledges!) and DAMN we did a nice job on the layout and art. That Quick guide is SWEET! YEAH US!!! YEAH US! GO BATTLEFRONT! IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!!! Madmatt

Yeah, I would try again and wait at least ten minutes. While the CD scans the disc it can seem as if the system is totaly locked up, just be patient. Several people have emailed me with almost the exact same issue but when they waited, the cd install eventually did kick off. Most light surface scracthes can be removed by simply cleaning the disc with a diluted solution of alcohol and a Q-tip. See the troubleshooting guide for more info on that. Of course, if none of this works, get the info from your buddy and then contact sales@battelfront.com Madmatt

In the immortal words of my mom. "Quiet your bitching and deal with it!" Madmatt

No worries at all. Remember, we use a order fulfillment and warehousing company to handle our product shipments so I have no direct control over their processes. The shipment emails was something they recently implemented and I only today got word that they were going out without proper subject lines. I have asked that they change this process and hopefully they will do so. You may now return your warm glass of shut the hell up to the bar for a refund. Madmatt

Sasha, would you and your friend be willing to work with me to try and test a few things to try and get to the bottom of this? If so, please contact me when you can at my direct email address of Matt@battlefront.com as I have a few things I want to test and need to get some more info. One way or the other we will get to the bottom of this and get it sorted out. Madmatt