Madmatt

CMAK is the first CM game from Battlefront.com which uses an actual functional game installer (and unistaller) and as such we decided to better intergrate future games by having them, by default, go into a new Battlefront program group. We are also hoping to start making *smart* patches which identify where the game is located and install themselves without any troublesome manual copying and pasting which was sometimes required in the past. Madmatt

Updates to CMMOS and CMHQ are both in the works to better support and accomodate CMAK. In fact I am working on some new exclusive sound mods for CMAK which will be hosted only on CMHQ. Madmatt

The installer is much more different (and complex) than before. It actually uses a program called InnoSetup and I do not know of any program that will allow you to extract the files from the setup.exe Even though the CD has a single Setup.exe file, it is actually made up of several large self extracting Winrar archives but you can not manually extract them from the setup.exe, or if you can, I do not know how. The main one is COMMON.exe, it contains the bulk of the graphics, most of the sounds and support files. There are also three language specific self extracting Winrar archives called English.exe, French.exe and German.exe. Each one includes the manuals, language specific graphics and scenarios. Next there are a few sound effects that are packed as self extracting .exe's using a program called "Wavpack". That is the 0005000.exe and 0005001.exe etc, files you saw. When Setup.exe is launched, either manually or with the autorun script, it first copies itself to your harddrive. It then extracts Common.exe, and whatever language file you selected. Common.exe then runs and creates all the folders and begins extracting the graphics and sounds. Once that completes, the language specific archive launches (for example English.exe) and extracts the scenarios, manual and remaining localized files. Lastly, each of the eight wavpacked sound effects (between 00005000 and 00005010) runs in a small dos window and extracts itself into the Wav folder. Once those files are extracted the installer cleans up all the archive files and should exit. One thing to be sure of though, is to NOT install the game into an existing folder. Let the installer create a new directory when it runs. It might be a good idea to just stick with the default location and see if that works and then move the entire CMAK folder after the game is installed it's not where you want it. Be sure you turn off your virus checker as well during the install, it might be keeping one of the archives or the wavpacked sounds from properly running and extracting themselves. Also, If you try and install the full game into the demo directory it could cause a problem and halt the installer. It shouldn't but thats the only thing I can think of offhand that might be causing what you are seeing. You should be able to access the full common.exe (598 megs)and English.exe (7.50 megs) after they have been unpacked from the Setup.exe but before they themseleves begin to extract or possibly while they are extracting but I believe if you cancel the installer manually, it will clean up (delete) all the files that it had originally unpacked. Madmatt [ December 05, 2003, 12:06 AM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

The FOG in the African regions is not humidity/condensation fog like you get in Europe but rather very fine sand particles that are in the lower atmosphere, normally occuring in the morning. It's effect in the game is bascially equivalenet to the normal "Fog". As to the sand and dirt from moving vehicles, if the conditions are right for dust clouds to appear, you will be able to see then in the game, regardless of where they occur. That is a limitation of the game code unfortunately but in most situations it is very close to how it was in reality where clouds of dust from vehicles could be spotted many miles away. The same thing occurs with smoke, but no one ever seemed to notice. Madmatt

Can your email handle large attachements? I could compress it and send it to you if you would like. Email me at matt@battlefront.com and we can figure something out. Madmatt

Yeah, we were just being modest I guess. It turned out to be much bigger than we expected it to be too! In fact, as far as total data size goes, its a lot bigger than CMBB. Madmatt

Pre-orders are always the first to ship out and they are indeed on their way even now. Madmatt

We ship from Ireland to European customers and from our warehouse in Vermont to US/Canada this side of the planet customers. I think some orders may of have gone out late yesterday so it is indeed possible that people will see them by the end of this week or even tomorrow, but I can't obviously guarantee that. Madmatt [ December 03, 2003, 12:39 PM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

I believe it was fixed, in the 1.03 patch. What Treebursts is seeing may or may not be a bug though. Even a simple adjustment still requires the weapon to be re-adjusted by hand and mistakes do happen, although it would not seem to be a common occurance. I will run some tests on my own and see what I can come up with. Madmatt

Let me step in here. The font size was adjusted down one point but you can easily adjust your browser (IE at least) by holding the control key and using your wheel button on your mouse to change font sizes. If it really seems too small though I can set it back to what it was before. Doesn't matter much to me. As to the EDITED line, there is now a 3 minute grace period that you can edit a post without that appearing. If you go back after that time it will still show up. You seem to have all noticed the new Post Total and Reg. date info now displayed at the bottom of the posts. Just another way that Big Brother can keep an eye on things. One last change is that you can now see who was the last person to post in the thread summary list and click it to go that post. Madmatt p.s. Oh and CMAK is now shipping!

Yup, two days early even. We aim to please! Madmatt

Just a quick note to let everyone know that CMAK and the new CMAK bundle are NOW SHIPPING! Madmatt

Guys, give it a rest. If you want a giant Nazi flag mod then go ahead and download it, or make one yourself. If you want a flag mod with a sheep on it with that "Come here big boy" grin on its face (Sit down Harv!), go ahead and do that as well. IT'S YOUR GAME! Do whatever the hell you want to the graphics on your copy and PLAY IT, that's why we made it, but don't judge someone else for doing the same. Madmatt [ December 02, 2003, 12:18 PM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

First off let me make a few things clear. #1 This is not a BUG, its simply a feature that ATI does not support, for reasons known only to themselves, in their Windows drivers. They do support fog tables in their Mac drivers. #2 There is nothing for us to *fix* since it is not broken. #3 The only other option to render fog would be to use vertex based fog. This would have required a significant code change and also would have drastically affected game performance. In a game like Unreal or Quake, your viewable distance it but a few hundred feet (if that). In CM, you have to remember that we have maps kilometers in size and all of it viewable. Adding vertex based fog at that level would have been a huge performance issue. #4 Application based Anti-Aliasing is very rare and I can't think of any game today that uses it. Rather anti-asliasing is handled by the drivers and hardware themseleves and in the CM games, if you have it enabled in your video drivers, the game will benefit from it with smoother (jaggyless) edges. #5 CMAK is already being offered at a low price of $35. The choice to buy or not to buy is yours of course but the addition of hundreds of new units, thousands of new sound effecrs, graphics and effects is much more than a "scenario" upgrade, as you so mistakenly called it. Madmatt [ December 02, 2003, 12:05 PM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

Actually, I noticed that as well a few months ago but there were more pressing issues to deal with and Steve never had a chance to redo them. Madmatt

True, but I made it so now you don't have to! :-p Madmatt

The only entity alive in the universe that knows for sure about how the code handles this is Charles, and he has been notified of this thread. Now we all gotta wait while he composes his answer... Madmatt

A lot of time, our automated confirmation email is blocked by a persons ISP as *suspect* or *Possible SPAM* for all sorts of reasons. Normally, what occurs is that the ISP puts the email in a temporary folder and sends a request for confirmation to the originator. The problem, in this case, is that the originator is an automated function of the order system itself, so it doesn't know that it needs to fill out a email verification page. So, what that means, is that not getting a email confirmation does not mean the order didnt come in. Contacting sales@battlefront.com is the best way to find out for sure if the order was received and recorded properly. The sales team has been a little overwhelmed the last few days but they should be getting back to you. Did you see a final order confirmation webpage with an order number? Do you still have that order number by chance? If so, I can look up your info as well. Madmatt

Okay, it seems everyone has gotten everything off their chest so probably best to close this one down now. Jammer Six, obviously the construction business and software businesses are different on great many levels. I should have come up with a more appropriate analogy. I can say though, with complete confidence that had we stopped developement of CMBB and CMAK, to recode the core game engine to support OS-X, there would not be a Battlefront.com today, of if there was it would not in a position to do the things that we can. Its really as simple as that. We took the road that allowed us to survive and even prosper. Mac sales are indeed miniscule, but our commitment to supporting OS-X with CMX2 shows that we have not given up on the Mac gamer. The root of this issue seems to be people saying that we gave up on OS-X with Combat Mission. Not at all, its just taking us time to get the proper support up and ready. Thanks for all your comments everyone. Yunfat, we go back pretty far and I knew what you meant and why you are agravated by all of this. Take care everyone, and those of you with OS-X only systems, keep checking back for updates. Madmatt

There is nothing in the demo that should make it run slow at all, especially considering you say that CMBB runs so well. Check all the usual things first of course. Make sure nothing else is running in the background, instant messengers are turned off etc... By the way, which video drivers and you running? Madmatt

No, that is not planned. All focus is now squarely on CMX2. Madmatt

We did increase vehicle turn rates pretty much across the board. Madmatt [ November 21, 2003, 12:49 AM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

They get shot up due to the quality of the Sharpshooter in the Italian scenario (he is Crack). In CMBB 1.03 we recoded the TacAI to wait at least 60 seconds to unbutton if the player manually issued a button command. That code is also in place for CMAK. Are you seeing the TC's pop up before the end of the same turn you issued the Button Up order or is it later on? If you want them to stay buttoned, go ahead and reissue the command each turn, by having them unbutton and rebutton. Normally the TacAI is pretty good about keeping their heads down, but sharpshooters can make this tricky and if you absolutely want them to stay down, just *force* them to each turn until you can flush out that guy and give the all clear. If you notice that your TC's are popping in less than 60 seconds, try this trick, give the command twice in the same turn (button, unbutton, button). The internal clock doesn't reset with a second command issued(but it doesnt simply double either) so that should guarantee they stay down a full turn. The following turn, just do it again. Let me know if that doesn't work though but I just ran a bunch of tests with the demo, and I couldnt ever get a TC to unbutton in less than 60 seconds myself. Madmatt [ November 20, 2003, 10:48 PM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

They are not backwards, they are set up as we intnded them. They flash the current STATE the playback is in. Madmatt

You lika da music eh? The music good? Yes? I bring you more music! Madmatt p.s. We went round and round for weeks trying to find a good piece of music (ask Rune about what he wanted!) and out of the blue Charles offered up what we ended up using. No one knows where he got it (How does a bodiless brain go anywhere?) and he never told us.